From medieval Cairo to modern Masdar City: lessons learned through a comparative study

Abstract

Today, researchers of Arab urban centres will observe a few differences between Arab and Western cities. The Arab city is now westernized; this quality cannot protect it from the hot dominant climate, and obscures the architectural heritage acquired over centuries. Traditional Arab-Islamic urbanism has been ignored for decades, and Arab architects have been unwilling to revive traditional features or complying with the New Urbanism movement, which emerged in the early 1990s. This study reveals why the conventional urbanism of Arab-Islamic cities has been ignored, and investigates the potential of bringing it back to the modern metropolis by comparing medieval Cairo with contemporary Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. This paper will highlight the urban values inherited from the historic Arab-Islamic city, and the precautions that should be considered before reviving it. This research concludes that the traditional Arab city is rich with architectural and urban techniques that could be innovatively applied to contemporary municipalities. Present-day planners should learn from urban heritage, rather than dismissing it. When re-introducing old models, today's planners should focus on solving the paradox between the need for narrow, winding streets to maximize shade, and wide, straight streets to facilitate the movement of pedestrians and permeability. Architects should examine beforehand changes in sociocultural life based on feminism and concerns about public and private spaces.