Making Cairo modern? Innovation, urban form and the development of suburbia, c. 1880–1922

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Cairo has often been seen as a ‘dual city’ divided between a ‘modern’ European city and a historic ‘traditional’ core. This article challenges this view through a historical exploration of suburban Cairo, a subject neglected by mainstream urban historians. A comparative examination of Ismailiyah, Garden City, Zamalek, Maadi, Helwan and Heliopolis illustrates that these suburbs took very different forms and reflected a wide range of historical and contemporary architectural tastes and design perspectives. Not all suburban developments were products of modern technical innovations and by 1922 no suburb had a majority of European residents. The use of the term ‘modern’ to characterize Cairo's suburbs therefore has the tendency to privilege western concepts of the modern and obscure the complexities of suburban social and economic development.