Does Foster + Partner's Maspero District masterplan neglect the local residents?

2015-12-23T13:29:00-05:00

[Tarek] looks down at the glossy graphics, and then up again, before gesturing around at his neighbours. “Where are we in this picture?” he asks... Norman Foster’s practice has chosen to partner with a government widely condemned by international human rights groups for its brutal crackdowns on dissent and widespread use of torture; in return, the company seems to believe it can carve out a place for itself in the vanguard of a progressive new era of urban design... Is it right?

Jack Shenker and Ruth Michaelson take a more in-depth, on-the-ground look at the political context of the Maspero District masterplan, which I discussed a few weeks ago. The Foster and Partners-designed project would remake a part of Cairo that was the site of numerous protests since 2011. The neighborhood houses the headquarters for the state-run media and propaganda machine, alongside both informal settlements and high-end real estate.

The authors note that Laila Iskander, whose record I praised, was booted from her job as head of the Ministry of Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements in September. The previous article has been amended to reflect this.

The selective amnesia of Foster + Partners' Maspero Triangle District Masterplan

2015-11-11T04:21:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has won a competition to redesign the area around the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) headquarters in Cairo’s Maspero area, according to an announcement made yesterday by the Egyptian Ministry of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements (MURIS).

“On the banks of the River Nile, the future of Maspero burns bright,” states Grant Brooker, Senior Executive Partner at Foster + Partners. “And we are sure our sustainable model of development will set the benchmark for urban regeneration throughout the country.”

The Maspero Triangle District Masterplan, as the initiative is called, endeavors to dramatically remake the Nile-adjacent neighborhood while still maintaining its current demographic heterogeneity, which comprises informal settlements of around 12,000 people interspersed among high-end real estate. The plan will rehouse the majority of the low income population in the same area, the press release states, and, unlike others in recent history, this d...

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Does Foster + Partner's Maspero District masterplan neglect the local residents?

The selective amnesia of Foster + Partners' Maspero Triangle District Masterplan