Sep '06 - Nov '08
Studio Prix had the month of February off, so my wife and I took advantage of travel time. We hiked in Cinque Terre in Italy along with some short visits in Venice, Florence, and Rome making our way to Cairo where my sister teaches in Maadi.
We've been here for 9 days and are headed back tomorrow to get ready for the upcoming semester. I had the opportunity to visit Garbage City in Cairo which many of you may be familiar with already. Luckily, I was able to get out and walk a bit through the streets to take some pictures and brief video of it all.
For those unfamiliar like I was, Garbage City is where a significant amount of Cairo's trash is brought. A very specific system exists in which the trash is sorted and then recycled to make new products for use once again. This is all done by those literally living in all the trash.
I hope to document what I have learned in more detail when I have the chance, but for now, here are a few pictures that I took.
Other than that, it'll be all the necessary errands back in Vienna before Studio starts along with trying to get my Macbook fixed:last week the keyboard and trackpad stopped working all together. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of the currency exchange rates here in Cairo and picked up a
USB keyboard for 8 Euros.
Later 
10 Comments
Reminds me of Dharavi or other slums in the developing world which serve as the recyclign/resuse centers of their respective cities.
Why do they do a better job of it then we in the Developed world do?
Reuse=Better
try to go to Napoli it looks worth than this!!!
you know Michael
when i start a comment i say dear or friend
but u r not dear for me , and i do not want to b a friend
i want 2 say that am an Egyptian and am living in Cairo , Egypt mother of the world
u know this photos r taken from a region called garbage Vally
i know where is it .... and i know who is living in it
i will say 2 other ....... and i don't want 2 b understated wrong ....... not from u because ur opinion is no thing with respect to me .... but 2 the others who will read the comment
i will where is this valley is
it is the only way that lead to monastery called samaan el-kharaz
and the people living in it r Christian look carefully to the secondary and the last one
i am sure u do not know about Islamic architecture ( the spiritual architecture )
or u know it will and the feeling of spite is running in ur blood
make a small search in google about Islamic architecture in Cairo
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u know i do not want 2 wright any more because speaking 2 people like u is disgusting
i know that my comment may do not appeal to u
i know there is expression freedom but there is limits
every thing has limits
i can attach thousands of bad photos of poor regions in ur country
please take an interest in architecture
architecture 4 architecture
only
salama ..... from the best place in the world
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wha?
I apologize if the idea for the entry offended you. After looking at the title "Cairo:Garbage City" it implies that Cairo is a garbage city. This what not my intent, but only to show a very interesting a unique place in Cairo in which people inhabit. I could have just as easily shown images of other places in Cairo , like Maadi, where we have been staying that is very nice. That isn't the point. I was not interested in exploiting this part of the city, and I recognize that you could also point out places in the US or anywhere else where the poor live. However, what fascinates me specifically is how this place in Cairo works. It is a very finely tuned system that ultimately reproduces a multitude of different things to be used again-on site as well. To say that this has nothing to do with Architecture is simply misstated. As Architects, and aspiring ones, it appears only critical to me that we investigate and learn how people use spaces to carry out the things they do each day. Garbage City or Garbage Vally relies heavily on the infrastructure that is in place to be successful. Also, it serves as a model that many other cities and communities use to reconsider how trash or waste is handled. Do I think it is a good model-you bet I do. Do I think it could be improved-possibly so, and I think as Designers and Architects, it is important and crucial for us to always be aware of how things work-systems, process, etc...that exist within cities. This has everything to do with Architecture and the process of making it.
Is that dog on fire?
i'd have to say, a large part of the reason that this model exists here or in mumbai don't have to do with anything like "they've figured it out," but rather, that ppl are in such circumstances that they're literally handsorting trash to feed their families. I wonder if you ask them if they're doing it out of concern for the environment, they might give you a funny look.
informal systems like these have often to do with gross inequities in a city's social structure -- and its very hard to have a system like this in a place which has some tolerance for preventing the kind of inequities those systems operates through.
it often goes deeper than the social structure as well -- i wonder what the rural to urban migration situation is in egypt, or how long the citizens living in that area have been engaged in this refuse trade. In India, for example, a major reason migrants come to the cities is b/c agriculture in India has become increasingly unprofitable due to unfair international trade practices, thus is born one reason contributing to urban overcrowding - ppl would rather handsort trash in dharavi than continue an agrarian lifestyle. (this has been slowing down, thankfully, as of late - however, the city's growing population is now internally produced rather than the cause of migration.)
unfortunately, architects (sometimes, rather famous ones) are rather poor at asking those foundational questions when "analyzing" transitioning third world cities - which is a pity, b/c i think this kind of objective (rather than celebratory) interrogation of informal practices in cities such as Cairo has the potential to spark some very engaging discussion and design ideas.
i also hope the dog isn't on fire.
I remember from grade school a teacher once said, "In the future we will be mining our landfills." 25+ years later I'd say we are doing it.
As architects we participate in creating huge amounts of construction waste. Many times when I've been on a job site I've dumpster dived into a roll off for something of value to me. More importantly there are companies that are now recycling construction waste. I know of one local company that is claiming recycle rates of up to 65%. They sort everything both mechanically and by hand. I've seen the process and it's truly inspiring. That's real progress.
At home we've also made progress. When my teacher made the comment about mining landfills we didn't have recycle bins. Everything went into the trash, and presumably into a landfill. Today we're separating recyclables...and what cannot be recycled for me goes on to one of several waste to energy power plants where there is another manual/mechanical separation.
So in this 21st century world I wouldn't say those in Cairo are that far separated from the waste/recycling companies in the western world. Of course it's more labor intensive in Cairo, but the end result is related. Both are fine tuned systems that are exploiting a resource for its inherent wealth.
Are you people crazy? Christians are forced to live in this place as punishment for being Christians.
This is political and religious persecution. They recycle because they are not allowed the basic necessities of life. They dont chose to live there or migrate there, they are forced here. It is also called the city of the dead because they are considered dead by their families for converting to Christianity.
Hope the reality doesn't hurt the study of architecture, but at some point, we, as architects have to start considering more than the physical world we build.