When it says “huge project”. Even today, Egypt could not be outdone. With a growing population, a congested capital, cars and scooters bouncing in endless queues, buildings scattered everywhere by a flurry of activity that escapes schedules and controls, local authorities have decided to make the point and over again. Will rise a new Cairo. It will be “The Capital Cairo”, the city administration, designed to bring a new sense of urban order and a new impetus to the country. The beginning of work on the new capital was announced by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb during the Conference for Economic Development held in Sharm el Sheikh recently, in the face of an audience of representatives from several other countries interested in investing in ‘ enterprise.
Of course, the Cairo already has increased in the recent past: in the west of the capital by the end of the seventies is the 6th of October City, an important university, industry and finance. To the east of Cairo for over a decade growing New Cairo, the result of rational planning, well innervated by roads. The new capital will announce different. It will move to the corridors of power: the seat of the President, Parliament, ministries, and at least one million apartments. There is a deadline for the conclusion of the works, but the dimensions are quite clear: there will inhabit
over 5 million people on an area of over 500 square kilometers, more or less extensive than a dozen Manhattan . “The architecture of the new city – said Ibrahim Mehleb – will inspire you to some of the historic districts of Cairo, and to study how to coordinate tradition and innovation we have seen what happened in other cities such as Barcelona.”
It will be at the border of the technical architecture and town planning. The consortium that will preside over the work is the same who worked to build Burj Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world. Even the architectural firm involved in preliminary projects is the same: Skidmore Owings & amp; Merrill (Som).
There is talk of the town garden, large green squares, wide boulevards, smart city, pedestrian areas … This will stand out sharply from the other large administrative center which was built completely from scratch in ’900 Brasilia. This fact was designed to measure traffic. It was in the fifties, when the era of the automobile was booming. Today is dusk and rendering of “The Capital Cairo” you only see people walking in open spaces dotted with trees, from canopy systems and skyscrapers. A city “friend of the family ‘means to proclaim the advertising time available online. And, according to current trends, its neighborhoods are planned all distinct and identified by a particular style. All with the workplace, leisure, life, all kinds of services: as if they were independent villages. In comparison with the propaganda statements of the other large urban businesses in various parts of the world, the peculiarity of the new Egyptian capital is promising in every district the presence of religious centers: attention that was conspicuously absent in urban projects, for one thing, post-war Italy. And the fact that there is talk of “religious centers” is not specifically defined, implies a perspective that goes beyond the dominant faith in the region. Besides the maquette of the girls passing in renderings of the project they are mostly bare-headed, without veil.
“We are still in the preliminary stages of the project – says Philip Enquist, responsible for urban planning of Som – the new city will be built for a population of young people, there will be many centers for education and will offer you many perspectives of economic and employment. ” The idea is that the activities in the new capital will generate about one and a half million jobs.
The site chosen is between the current Cairo and the Suez Canal, in the process of doubling: expected a significant increase in trade in transit from the East to the Mediterranean. When he opened the current Suez Canal, Europe and the Far East were experiencing a phase of great approach: witness, among other things, the fact that the Art Nouveau, typical of the period, also manifested obvious oriental influences. Today, this approach only serves to strengthen and the world is full of objects, not just of commercial value from many Eastern countries.
The new Egyptian capital – proclaim prospects – will be “a massive undertaking aimed at building up the national spirit, to promote consensus, to deliver sustainable growth and to solve the problems of Egypt.” It will not just places to live and work, but also tourist attractions to visit. The ads speak the language of today’s culture, technological and politically correct. Of course some people look with skepticism the announced prospect: will really achieve it? For now, beyond propagandistic intent, there sees a commitment: new capital, new life. “The Capital Cairo” is perhaps the greatest among the great projects that have been announced at the beginning of the new millennium. A place that exudes optimism and a great vision for the future. Something that even in old Europe would not be so bad …
The projects pharaonic antiquity remain as a benchmark in the history of civilization, who knows if this city, which today looks like novelty, a few millennium will not be visited with care similar to what we now raise the not distant pyramids of Giza.
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