Culture-led regeneration projects and gentrification in Middle East historical urban centers : evidence from Khedivial Cairo

Overview & Synopsis

In many Arab cities, the real estate sector and the state are leading the urban regeneration initiatives, driven by the adaptation of neoliberal policies and the rise in international competition. Consequently, many cities in the MENA region are analogous to developing metropolises in their advanced globalized landscapes with opposing underprivileged districts in many regions. Nevertheless, many threats have been posed to the heritage. The environment that was vernacularly built has been damaged and the urban fabric has been ruined. In some cases, heritage and authenticity have been commodified for the sake of tourism and consumption under neoliberal urbanism, and later became one of the effective forms of displacement. Therefore, urban regeneration process in many of Arab cities in MENA's region is a led gentrification process in which the State and the real estate development industry are at the forefront of this process for the sake of capital accumulation. The Greater Cairo region typically illustrates how the built environment has been shaped by policies driven by profit within the framework of neoliberal and post-political movements. The stated goal is to make Cairo competitive with other major metropolises; nevertheless, the urban development strategy threatens to displace tens of thousands of low-income and informal areas. The distinctive heritage of khedival Cairo and the growing valorization of the Belle époque era sparked media and official interest to revitalize Cairo's colonial. Khedivial Cairo urban regeneration plan entails a wide variety of actions, from short-term cosmetic upgrades for city marketing to long-term structural and economic reinvention. This study stresses that the urban regeneration of Khedival Cairo serves various gentrification purposes. The gentrification process of Khedival Cairo can be considered an investment approach led by both the State and the private Sector. Hence, it confirms how capital can be predominant over sustainability and publicly oriented policy decisions, manifesting how urban place has been used as an asset for capital accumulation and commodification. In Arab cities, gentrification process is a localized response to politico-economic changes driven by strong pro-development interests rather than being a sociocultural process that impacts socio-economic mobility and culture production. Hence, the growing capital investment return, especially in the real estate market, is determined by this process.