Re-appropriating the Neighbourhood and Re-positioning of Urban Actors in Post-2011 Egypt
One of the many social and political consequences of the Egyptian revolution seems to be the reinforcement of the role of neighbourhoods in the collective imaginary and urban action. Under Mubarak, the neighbourhoods, though important in the structuring of urbanisation (in Egypt 60% of housing is informal) were not used as a measure for urban policies: local administration was managed by the central state, while the delimitation of districts and quarters in the governorates was done without reference to the actual use of space, and in the ‘new towns’ at the periphery of cities the design of neighbourhoods was left to private developers. It was only after the January 25th revolution that the neighbourhood suddenly emerged at the urban and even national level, with the creation of spontaneous popular committees (lajan sha’abeya) to protect citizens after the collapse of the state’s security apparatus. Today, inspired to some extent or another by this unprecedented instance of collective action, many urban actors attempt to (re-)engage the local scale of the neighbourhood. The ruling Muslim Brotherhood increases the number of actions and public announcements aimed at satisfying and ensuring the loyalty of the popular electorate, often attracted through charity work at the infra-urban level: decentralisation laws, municipal and local elections to be held shortly, new strategies of urban upgrading for informal settlements (ashwa’yyat), etc. Moreover, a new generation of ‘urban-activists’ coming from civil society has emerged in the past two years. Advocating the Right to the City and forms of ‘local democracy’, they promote concrete and participatory actions in certain areas of Greater Cairo, aimed notably at the maintenance of public space. We, therefore, witness, in Cairo and other large Egyptian conglomerations, a redefinition of territorial action at the local and infra-urban level, validating the thesis of a re-appropriation of the neighbourhood by urban actors, here analysed as a geographical effect of the January 25th revolution.