Responsive homes of old Cairo: Learning from the past, feeding in the future

Abstract

By investigating the social dynamics of home in one of the enduring communities of Cairo, this article reveals the way ordinary people construct and consume their private and public domains on a daily basis. It reveals what is central and what is marginal in the cognitive idea of home. This article adopts an interdisciplinary strategy of investigation, utilizing sociological and anthropological data to read and visit spatial practices in the home. Building on historical as well as contemporary accounts of residents and families, the concept of home is envisioned as a spectrum of social spheres that is liberated from the physical determinants of space, hence revealing a new domain of part-time spaces and dynamic spatiality. The emergent idea of home intertwines work, domesticity, recreation and hospitality in an interplay of space–activity–time relationships. Homes of old Cairo have proved to be responsive to continuous change, and have evolved dynamic forms of the temporal settings required for accommodation of emerging home-based professional activities such as hospitality, home-workers and care-homes.