BEYOND PUBLIC SPACE:NEGOTIATING POWER FOR PUBLIC-MAKING IN DOWNTOWN CAIRO

Abstract

Since the Egyptian revolution in 2011, two main processes have attracted attention in urban research. The first could be observed in the ways conventional public spaces, e.g. main squares, were temporarily used for protests and art performances. In this regard, academic literature was rather limited to the temporal reclamation of Tahrir square and the surrounding streets. The emergence of new urban practices in Cairo, instigated by the revolution, led to a second stream of debates that focused on Cairo post-2011. This invited different readings on the new ways of social engagement to revolutionize urban space production in Cairo post-2011. Despite the variety and enriching dialogs these studies offer, yet, the reading of this emerging phenomenon in Cairo is premised on a rather inflexible conceptualization of public space. Cases in the context of Cairo, offer the possibility of adding to debates on ‘the right to the city’ and ‘reclaiming public space’, by expanding the concept of public space beyond conventional views, towards an understanding of it as a process; intrinsically contingent to the context of its production. Thus, this research focuses on how the revolution was a catalyst, whereby a new mode of practice is influencing the production of publicness in urban space. Here, the concept of public space has a limited adherence to the conventional divide between public and private, for it obliterates the intricacy of these concepts, not only from a feminist point of view but also with regard to the Arab/Muslim context. The aim of this research is to explore how young middle class-led initiatives in Cairo make use of the potential attributes of space, both human and non-human (Latour, B. 2005), for various ways of public-making (Iveson, K. 2007), thus providing an in-depth understanding of how power of space is differently negotiated by various publics in Downtown Cairo. KEY WORDS Public space; Public-making; negotiating power relationship; urban activism; process-based interventions; spatiality of publicness