UPGRADING
MOBILITY
DOWNTOWN
CAIRO
TOWARDS
FRIENDLY
Nunes, J., Landscape Architect, PROAP – Landscape Architecture (joao.nunes@proap.pt)
Zoilo, I., Architect, PROAP – Landscape Architecture (inaki.zoilo@proap.pt)
Campos, T., Landscape Architect, PROAP – Landscape Architecture (tiago.campos@proap.pt)
Sanz, B., Landscape Architect, PROAP – Landscape Architecture (proap@proap.pt)
This paper addresses the challenge of proposing new standards in Downtown Cairo towards innovative,
friendlier and more sustainable mobility.
Cairo emerges as one of the main Mediterranean megalopolis, with fundamental geo-positions at national,
regional and global levels. Over the last decades, the city has been growing more rapidly than its infrastructural
and mobility services, and most attempts to correct its mobility systems may have arrived too late, sometimes
even with serious environmental and social repercussions.
Sustainable mobility models arise in this research as integrated approaches where mobility, public space and
appropriation mechanisms evolve in profound interrelation. In this context, the concept of ‘shared-space’ is
proposed as an operational methodology which promotes the coexistence of mixing fluxes at very low speeds.
Mobility can reorganise Downtown Cairo’s urban perimeter, by redefining the relations between pedestrians,
private and public transports, public space and green structure. One believes that it can actually enhance the
quality of the urban environment by creating more efficient urban fluxes.
This research is part of a wider masterplan, presented in an international competition sponsored by the
Government of Cairo for the entire Downtown upgrade. It is a challenge to demonstrate city’s historical value
as a boosting factor for friendlier urban living, higher-quality public spaces’ conditions and tourism.
The proposed methodology deepens the study of mobility’s expression in different operative scales, seeking
connections and defining main strategies to promote new solutions in public spaces and transport networks.
Though recognizing the importance of policy makers and public opinions in such wide urban innovations, this
paper demonstrates the importance of cohesive systematized solutions, both in architecture and landscape
architecture terms, for bold solutions in historical cities. Downtown Cairo can be considered as a leading space
for implementing innovative solutions which could be replicated in other places in Greater Cairo.
Keywords: Downtown Cairo, Green structure, Public space, Shared-space, Sustainable mobility
1. Introduction
Mobility arises, today, as one of the most fundamental concerns in dense urban regions. In a
strict sense, mobility refers to “access to transportation that meets the broad scope of
economic and social needs” (Lagan & McKenzie, 2004). But it has to be managed as a wider
concept which also involves some negative aspects, such as pollution, outdoor comfort and
life quality.
Over the last decades, massive growing of transport’s negative impacts on local populations,
especially within great and complex metropolitan territories, has been subject to different
technical, political and social studies. Conclusions point out that in developing countries,
especially among poor communities, direct and indirect mobility negative effects “hinder
local, national and even regional economic growth” (Lagan & McKenzie, 2004).
Unsustainable mobility is an urban problematic that cities have inherited from massive
human inflows, which has to be strategically defined on a global level and, simultaneously,
solved in operational terms on a local level.
1
This paper addresses the challenge of proposing new standards in Downtown Cairo towards
innovative, friendlier and more sustainable mobility1.
For millennia, Cairo has been one of the centres of the world. Being the largest city in the
Arab world and even in Africa, its importance has been fundamental, as a tactical crossroads
of all sorts of trading and social routes (Cook, 1984). However, and despite all political and
infrastructural efforts to the contrary, it has been declining in terms of its efficiency and urban
management to the point that, today, Cairo’s mobility is, indeed, a problem of great extent,
particularly in historic centres, such as downtown (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Aerial view of Cairo (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Cairo has been growing more rapidly than its infrastructural and mobility services. All the
attempts to correct mobility systems, such as the metro network or road overpasses, may have
arrived too late. Furthermore, some of these solutions have been having serious
repercussions, not only to the environment (in the case of great infrastructures), but also to
pedestrian circulations (in the case of increasing traffic lanes to the detriment of sidewalks)
(Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010). Up until now, the city has been unable to manage the
implementation of an adequate network of public transport or to dissuade individual
transport’s dense use or informal collective transport.
1
World Bank defines sustainable mobility by referring to the three pillars of:
Economic and Financial Sustainability. “To be economically and financially sustainable, transport must be costeffective and continuously responsive to changing demands.”
Social Sustainability. “Transport Strategies can be designed to provide the poor with better physical access to
employment, education, and health services.” In addition, customer satisfaction is a key ingredient in creating a
socially sustainable transport system.
Environmental Sustainability. “Transport has significant effects on the environment that should be addressed
explicitly in the design of programs. Making better use of readily available and cost-effective technology is
necessary, but not in itself sufficient. More strategic action is also required in the form of better-directed
planning of land use and stricter management of demand, including the use of pollution and congestion charges
to correct the relative prices of private and public transport.”
2
Private vehicles (individual or collective), followed by their negative impacts on urban
environment, arise as “one of the main concerns, if not the greatest, for the rehabilitation of
Downtown Cairo” (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Sustainable mobility models are the ones which combine transportation networks, efficient in
sustainability’s three main operational vectors – economic, social and environmental –
without sacrificing human values within urban context. These models are considered one of
the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century’s metropolises, not only because they are
the support of cohesive and coherent urban development, but also because they are the main
procedures to reduce important negative side effects on millions of people, such as air
pollution, traffic congestion, noise, sprawl and public safety.
This research had, as its starting point, a proposal for a wider masterplan – the Masterplan for
Khedive, Cairo – presented during an international competition and sponsored by the
Government of Cairo. The proposal had a theoretical basis, conceived by a multidisciplinary
team of architects, landscape architects, engineers, managers and economists, and focused on
the definition of important strategies concerning the city’s centre rehabilitation. It was not a
winning proposal, but still, it induced important research methodologies towards creative and
innovative solutions in terms of pedestrian mobility, traffic, green structure and public space
(Figure 2).
Figure 2. Aerial view of Downtown Cairo (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Upgrading Downtown Cairo towards friendly mobility is a contribution to the progressive
development of a more humanised, cohesive and environmentally sustainable urban space,
seeking to improve urban citizens’ quality of life and outdoor comfort conditions within this
wide territory.
2. Current state of today’s Cairo mobility system
Cairo, a city with millennia of history, has been validated as one of the world’s greatest urban
centres. When considering the three Cairo Region Governorates, the total population in 2006
amounted to eighteen million people, but it is estimated that the northern Egypt territory has a
growing population of close to fifty million inhabitants, occupying a surface similar to twice
3
the metropolitan region of New York and almost the triple of its population, which
transforms into one the largest existing megalopolises.
This ancient densely populated area can be explained by its excellent physical conditions and
its continuous progress “as one of the densest and best ordered agrarian regions in the world”.
Its natural evolution has turned Cairo into one of the main centres of a highly urbanized
territory (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Cairo’s relatively rapid urbanization processes have triggered an equally fast demand for
transportation. Statistics dating from the 1970’s decade stated that daily trips increased from
five million to an exceeding eight million, a growing tendency that has been reported until the
present decade (Cook, 1984).
Over the last five decades there has been an explosive increase in the number of private
vehicles registered in Greater Cairo, with a growing rate of approximately twenty per cent per
annum. Even so, private car ownership is low, at around 26 per thousand inhabitants versus
300-450 per thousand in many European and North American cities.
The development of the Central Business District (CBS), in the 1980’s, generated, by the end
of the twentieth century, an estimated 600 person trips per hour per hectare, compared to 139
trips per hour per hectare in Central London. According to Cook (1984), the reason this
number was so high in Cairo might be due to inadequate communication systems, but, even
though, it is representative of changing mobility patterns, with growing demands within the
city centre.
Private vehicles are in the centre of this dramatic growth, enhancing the already problematic
challenges in the provision of transportation within poor mobility networks. With some
remarkable exceptions of certain high income suburbs, such as Heliopolis, Maadi and Dokki,
Cairo’s road networks are extremely poor. In the 1980’s, reports such as the work done by
(Cook, 1984), accounted that “foot-paths were frequently un-surfaced and blocked by
materials and parked vehicles, forcing pedestrians into the streets”. What is even more
extraordinary is that this situation, reported more than thirty years ago, has been testified until
today.
In some city sections, besides the almost non-existence of secondary roads, a great
percentage of the areas are unpaved or have not an adequate surface road network (Parque
Expo 98, S.A., 2010). A series of interrelated problems concerning public management and
safety can be listed: waste removal, emergency vehicle access, uncontrolled flooding or even
lack of security due to insufficient lighting systems.
Further to these identified problems with physical expression, there are other situations,
perhaps not so easy to measure, that confirm a cultural lack of respect and coexistence
between drivers, pedestrians and authorities. As a result, Cairo is ranked among the countries
with the highest traffic accidents in the world, more than twenty times when comparing to the
levels of Europe or the USA.
The conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians are increasingly dangerous by relatively long
peak traffic jams, impeded traffic flows, inadequately developed secondary road networks
and insufficiently effective traffic management and engineering systems.
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The third group of problems is composed by pollution related issues. Greater Cairo alone
accounts for fifty five per cent of the total Egyptian transport sector’s emissions. Although
the total emission of CO2 per year is low on a global scale, authorities show a growing
concern with the city centre’s air quality (Godard & Houpin, 2009) .
But perhaps one of the most dramatic problems Cairo is registering today may be the
progressive degradation of the urban environment, with the overwhelming presence of private
vehicles invading almost all public spaces, which has been contributing to an actual decrease
on the number of visitors. The secondary role given to pedestrians and collective
transportation repudiates more tourists each year, which is translated into a real decrease in
tourism incomes (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
It is important, at this point, to refer the new metro network as one possibility to reduce
mobility problems as well as environmental impacts. Even though it is small when compared
to the total urban surface, according to Godard & Houpin (2009), in 2001, the metro network
accounted for as little as four per cent of the energy consumed by Cairo, while already
assuring seventeen per cent of the total daily transports. In such extremely dense
megalopolises, metro networks appear as highly efficient modes of transportation, when
comparing energy consumptions, CO2 emissions and the total amount of subsidies granted to
both constructers and users.
In order to reverse this paradigm, one has to acknowledge the serious consequences that the
excessive presence of vehicles within the city have to the deterioration of environmental,
social and even economic values of the territory. Pedestrians and collective transports must
be seen as primordial elements towards a new friendlier and more sustainable mobility
system.
3. A new mobility concept – the ‘Shared-space’
Mobility evolves, hand by hand, with urban planning and urban design. In large metropolises,
such as Cairo, which have been under exponential urban growth during the last decades, this
interrelation is quite clear 2.
In the twentieth century, Cairo became a model city within the African continent, by being
the first city to have a metro train network. As previously mentioned, it is a small network
when compared to other metropolis, even though it has settled important urban
transformations 3. Today, Cairo aims to be the first to evolve into new models of sustainable
mobility.
The proposal for the potential Master Plan for Khedive was presented as a challenge to
rethink and upgrade Downtown Cairo by managing accessibility and mobility in a more
sustainable way. The main conceptual goal was to articulate local mobility strategies directly
2
Sustainable mobility, as defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is the ability to
meet society’s need to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade, and establish relationships without
sacrificing other essential human or ecological values, today or in the future.
3
According to recent statistics, Cairo metro network is small (65,5 km) when compared to London metro
network (402 km) and to New York metropolitan metro network (1.355 km) (NY MTA, 2010).
5
related to the city’s spatial planning with public space design and management (Parque Expo
98, S.A., 2010) 4.
This plan’s approach sought the comprehension of mobility as a system and intermodal
network, where all forms of transport coexist complementarily. Operational resolution
models were presented for the main urban problems, in an attitude which acknowledges the
inseparable relationship between mobility, pollution, quality of the public space and
coherence of the urban green structure. Throughout this document, the following concepts
will be explained:
 The efficiency and quality of the mobility networks by redefining the relations
between pedestrians, private vehicles, public transport, public space and green
structure;
 The relation between road traffic’s efficiency and the quality of the urban
environment, with respect to air pollution and noise;
 The enhancement of public space’s quality, by optimizing microclimatic conditions in
public spaces (humidity, temperature, radiation and breezes);
 The reinforcement of the green structure within the urban tissue, by enlarging tree
densities in streets, squares and parks.
This study for the future masterplan carried the notion of integrated approaches where
mobility, public space and appropriation mechanisms evolve in profound interrelation. In
central urban areas, people need to feel comfortable and safe while walking, cycling, or
shopping in outdoor public spaces. In such areas “priority has to be people, space and then
cars and not the other way around” (Alves, 2011).
‘Shared-space’ 5 is a well-tested solution which promotes the coexistence of mixing fluxes at
very low speeds and in one same area. Several shared-space projects have already been tested
in European and, more recently, North-American cities and are currently functioning with
high degrees of efficiency (Alves, 2011).
To implement shared-space related concepts to Downtown Cairo means, above all, a change
in mentality. People in urban contexts need time to adapt to significant changes in their living
environments. Therefore, this research and the project that supports it are also tools to
promote different approaches phased in time, where policy, technical and even if
technological decisions can be validated within innovative attitudes towards public spaces’
design processes.
4
Mobility plans are operational work tools for the implementation and management of cities’ mobility policies,
which have to be developed simultaneously with all other sorts of urban management and development
instruments.
5
Shared space is an emerging approach to urban design, traffic engineering and road safety, most commonly
used in Europe and, increasingly, in North America. It was firstly used as an operative concept by the English
author Ben Hamilton-Baillie, in 2003, as the research result of identifying a common thread in most urban areas
on how to reduce the adverse impacts of traffic. “Shared space is the concept of integration”, with a clear
distinction from the principle of segregation, (Hamilton-Baillie, 2006). Therefore, the idea of separation
different functions and users in cities is confronted with the opportunity to develop a more inclusive and
accessible urban environment within public spaces.
6
Some of the main strategies concerning pedestrian, public transport and roadway networks, as
well as some parking policies were theoretically tested in some specific public spaces within
the intervention area (Figure 3).
1 – El-Tharir Square and Cornich EL-Nil
2 – Ramses Street
3 – Ramses Square
4 – Attaba and Opera Squares and
Azbakiyya Garden
5 – Abdeen Square
Figure 3. The five intervention areas define an urban core in Downtown Cairo (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
3.1. Pedestrian Network
The new concept for more effective appropriation of Downtown Cairo by pedestrian can only
be achieved through a continuous and safe pedestrian network. The study settles exclusivity
to pedestrian circulation in some important central routes. With this measure, the network is
able to maximise pedestrian fluxes along the public space and facilitate the access to metro
stations, Ramses rail station and collective public transport terminals (Figure 4).
Structural pedestrian artery
Pedestrian priority zone
Street with dedicated pedestrian space
Reference public space
Figure 4. Pedestrian network (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
7
From the analysis of the image above, it is possible to identify some of the most important
intervention projects, namely:
 Creating a structuring pedestrian artery, connecting El-Nil Square and Opera Square
and, therefore, defining one main trunk of the pedestrian network which can become
the nuclear generator of new urban ways of life. The artery will be consistent in
pedestrian fluxes’ distribution across the urban fabric, reinforcing it within the
existing road network;
 Creating and delimitating priority zones for pedestrian circulation, which constitute
pedestrian network’s capillaries towards the structuring pedestrian artery. In these
areas, road speed is limited to 30 km/h, and vehicles loose priority over pedestrians;
 Re-profiling the existing roadway network, by introducing more consistent spaces for
pedestrians and facilitating pedestrian network’s continuities throughout the
intervention area;
 Rehabilitating and reorganising public spaces that represent blockage points in the
pedestrian network, especially squares identified as primary accesses to Downtown
Cario. In this regards, the most significant interventions are located in Riyad Square,
El-Tahrir Square, Ramsis Square and Attaba Square;
 Adapting public space for all user types, responding to a more inclusive mobility.
Safety and comfort arise as important principles for pedestrian network’s design,
especially when concerning people with reduced mobility. In order to minimise
conflicts between the different users traffic-calming measures and pedestrian’s,
protection may have to be implemented.
3.2. Public Transport Network
Public transport network can be optimized by improving the existing infrastructures: creating
new intermodal connections; enhancing accessibility; and amplifying existing services.
Considering the new proposal for public transport it is estimated that practically the whole
intervention area will be reached in less than ten minutes from metro stations and more than
fifty per cent of the area will be reached in five minutes, with the new scenario of metro
system.
Main projects proposed by the plan are:
 Improvement of access, capacity, security and comfort of the metro system. The
reasoning behind this purpose is that the metro network is able to partially absorb
some of the road users that normally move through central roadway networks, such as
private cars, taxis or buses. In this case, synchronization between public transport
system and public space is quintessential, promoting adequate integration of access
points to stations with pedestrian networks (Figure 5);
 Improvement of intermodal transport by creating an interface in Nasser metro station,
which can connect different modes of transports and services.
 Creation and improvement of public transport stops, therefore increasing the capacity
of public transport network to reduce conflicts with pedestrian circulation. In this
regard, appropriate urban furniture and equipment, platforms shelters, signage,
information points must be introduced as a complement.
 Installation of new bus corridors in order to improve conditions of bus circulations.
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Metro stations
Urban bus stops
Bus regional network
Ramses station
Relevant road network
Metro lines
Nile boat terminal
Figure 5. Public transport networks (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010)
3.3. Roadway Network
Roadway network’s main strategies aim the reduction of vehicles entering and crossing
Downtown Cairo daily up to 25-30% of cars (which translates into 10000 to 15000 cars per
hour) during peak hours (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
This reduction implies the reorganization of the circulation systems, in order to impede, or
strongly diminish, through-travel carried out on streets with a desirable local character. If, on
the one hand, traffic is concentrated along central road axis, with greater capacity to meet
traffic levels, on the other hand, it is possible to reduce those levels in minor streets. The
strict traffic management controls as well as crosses between roads with different hierarchy
are necessary, in order to implement this new circulation system (Figure 6).
Level 1 – Urban Expressway
Level 2 – Urban Primary Arterial Street
Level 3 – Urban Secondary Arterial Street
Level 4 – Collector /Distributor Street
Figure 6. Hierarchy of Road Network (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
9
When concerning the roadway network system, two main intervention projects are carefully
mentioned in the present proposal (Table 1 and Figure 7):
 Reorganization and re-profile of the roadway network, considering a new roadway
hierarchy, which differentiates local, urban and sub-urban traffic. The roadway
hierarchy defined for the intervention area seeks to channel most significant traffic
flows into specific corridors, in order to free up area for pedestrian paths;
 Introduction of traffic management and control measures, ensuring the reduction in
number of vehicles entering in the pedestrian arteries or priority zones for pedestrians.
A centralized traffic-control system based on the installation of traffic lights at the
principal junctions is able to record the number of vehicles and adjust the existing
traffic levels to the capacity of each junction, avoiding the creation of traffic
congestion. Complementary to this, traffic lights optimize internal Downtown’s
circulation and protect pedestrian crossings.
Table 1. Future road network conditions
Functional classification
Max. capacity (hour/lane)
Number of lanes per way
Urban expressway
1.500 vehicles
3 or more
Urban primary arterial street
1.000 vehicles
Max 3
Urban secondary arterial street
700 vehicles
Max 3
Collector /Distributor street
500 vehicles
Max 2
Local street
300 vehicles
Max 2
Traffic volume
(vehicles/peak hour)
0-600
600-1200
1200-1400
2400-3600
More 3600
Figure 7. Future traffic conditions (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010) .
10
3.4. Parking policy
The mobility plan within our proposal also examines parking on public streets. It puts
forward the implementation of fee-paying parking to certain arteries within the intervention
area. A careful analysis of parking demand demonstrates the need to identify areas with a
clear lack of parking and to draw up an action plan to meet existing needs. Although in a
conceptual level, the main parking policies were taken accordingly to the urban densities of
the different homogeneous urban fabrics.
Guarantying fee-paying parking on public streets essentially meets the demand by visitors for
temporary parking. In addition, connections between the pedestrian network and parking areas
are also analysed in terms of pedestrian’s accessibility and safety (Table 2 and Figure 8).
Table 2. Parking policy
Zone / level
Parking
Share of streets
Prohibited 8.00AM to 8.00PM
50%
Parking with fee
50%
Prohibited 8.00AM to 8.00PM
30%
Parking with fee
70%
Prohibited 8.00AM to 8.00PM
20%
Parking with fee
80%
A
B
C
Level A (high urban density)
Level B (high to medium urban density)
Level C (medium urban density)
Out of A, B, C
Figure 8. Parking policy (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
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4. Green structure
4.1. Vision and main strategies
The present document strongly defends the consolidation of the green structure in close
relation with the development of the public space. Once again, the main goal is to redefine
the urban relation between pedestrian and roadway networks.
The concept of “landscape oasis” 6 is pointed out as an opportunity to establish an
interconnected, but not necessarily continuous, green framework, as gaps between spaces of
different types and scales, as well as private and public characters, are respected.
Furthermore, the green structure is understood as a realistic possibility to optimise the set of
conditions which enhances micro-climatic comfort in outdoor spaces and decreases traffic
noises’ levels. Vegetation plays a key role within urban perimeters due to its ability to:




Promote shaded areas;
Manipulate, positively, temperature/humidity ratio;
Enhance wind breezes;
Support consistent protection and framing buffers (Nunes, Marques, Campos, &
Coutinho, 2011).
It is expected that this concept for the green structure improves public space’s quality,
guarantying a friendlier and more sustainable city centre. A green urban system that works
both as a collection of urban experiences for citizens of Cairo and as a network made of
ecological corridors with important environmental value for the El-Nil River itself and
Downtown Cairo.
The proposal proposes to reorganize, redesign, increase and reconnect green urban spaces at
various levels: from big parks and gardens to small squares and tree-lined streets. The aim is
to recover spatial connections between the distinct green subunits, by imprinting on them a
more human scale when facing, and solving, most problems caused by traffic circulation
systems.
As previously mentioned, shared-space 7 appears as a nuclear approach in green structure as
well. In fact, the plan proposes a dilution of the classical models of road design, where
pedestrians and vehicles are strongly segregated. On the contrary, the presented masterplan
seeks the creation of a system of public spaces consistently designed also through the green
structure and with integrated approaches, where pedestrian areas acquire a central position
towards road lanes. A system independent from the traditional codes of road design.
6
The urban life in Cairo is concentrated around the margins of the El-Nil River. For its peculiar scale within the
urban fabric, the river emerges as an urban “landscape oasis”, especially in Downtown area, due to the effect of
both riversides towards a more comfort microclimate (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
7
Shared space, in its most inclusive conception, integrates fundamental green structure principles as premises
for an integrated design of public space. Green structure improves micro-climatic conditions, favoring or
improving more intense pedestrian appropriations, therefore, allowing a more consistent coexistence between all
sorts of users (Alves, 2011).
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The different scales of the proposed green structure establish a continuous pulse between the
great urban spaces and the household outer space. And, in strategic terms, the plan reveals an
even stronger drive, as it accounts with the detected great urban voids in the peripheral limits
as additional opportunities to incorporate them into the green system, enlarging and
reinforcing the structure from the centre towards suburbia (Figure 9).
01 – Al-Azhar Park
02 – Maldan Salad Ad-Din
03 – Al-Fostat
04 – Governmental Park
05 – Garden City
06 – Gazira
07 – Ramses Square
08 – Ataba and Opera Squares
09 – Abdeen Square
10 – Tahrir Square and Nile
11 – Six of October and Ryad
Figure 9. Strategic green structure (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
The green structure was proposed in an intimate relation to the mobility network,
complementing and reinforcing it. The proposal defined the following composition:
 Structural green spaces on a local scale (Figure 10):
 Large recreational green areas with historical and cultural values or spaces
with iconic and representative character, such as the El-Nil River riverfront;
 Spaces interconnected through a local network of soft mobility and tree-line
arteries, forming continuous links within the urban fabric;
 Green areas developed around the structural arteries for pedestrian circulation
within Downtown Cairo, such as: Ramsis, Khullud, El-Sheikh Rihan, Qsar ElNil, El-Gummhuriya;
 Structural green corridors on a strategic scale (Figure 11):
 Corridors that assure green structure’s continuity at the metropolitan level;
 Linear structures that incorporate consolidated of foreseen public and private
areas;
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
Tree-lined arteries along both pedestrian and traffic networks that ensure the
continuity of the ecological infrastructure.
Figure 10. Conceptual project for Opera Square with the reinforcement of the planting areas (Parque Expo 98,
S.A., 2010).
Figure 11. One of Downtown’s most important arteries, transformed accordingly to shared-spaces principles
(Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
The two types of structural elements above mentioned ensure the continuity of the green
structure, not only on a local scale, but at the metropolitan level as well. Furthermore, they
actively contribute to the urban reorganization of public spaces, enhancing their
environmental quality. On a strategic level, the green corridors are important complements to
the main networks of soft mobility that interconnect different Downtown areas.
4.2. The influence of the green structure on outdoor microclimatic conditions
Recent development plans of large urban areas in great metropolises brought a growing
concert to promote bioclimatic comfort in outdoor public spaces. When carefully studied and
implemented, an urban green structure can positively manipulate outdoor microclimatic
conditions, therefore enhancing comfort-related parameters. The conceptual idea behind this
relation is the manipulation of natural climatic characteristics, adapting them to “the ideal
conditions of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind protection” (Nunes, et al.,
2011).
When achieving thermally comfortable outdoor spaces so that they can be used throughout
the year, and with special concern to hot summers such as Cairo’s, energy uses and
associated carbon emissions are strongly reduced. If a holistic sustainability’s definition is
taken into account, this reasoning becomes relevant not only because it promotes the
continued use of space, but also because it minimizes system’s balance of inputs and outputs
(Nunes, Marques, Campos, & Coutinho, Modular landscapes in arid climates, 2011)
Microclimate regulation with shade, vegetation or wind breezes is achieved through the
manipulation of the ratio between temperature and humidity:
 Combination between both natural and artificial shades decreases air temperature
decrease by limiting direct and indirect radiation. Furthermore it enhances air
14
circulations and thermal exchange (Nunes, Marques, Campos, & Coutinho, Modular
landscapes in arid climates, 2011);
 Use of plants, recognizing its strong result on microclimate control, effectively
reducing energy for cooling purposed through evapotranspiration. Furthermore,
vegetation provides solar protection by shading (Panagopoulos, 2008);
 Reinforcement of wind speed and direction through the succession of open and
enclosed areas, generating local wind breezes which can provide microclimatic
comfort. The presence of outdoor shading structures can generate important air
renovation and produce spatial gradients between air and paved surfaces’ temperature
throughout day and night (Nunes, Marques, Campos, & Coutinho, Modular
landscapes in arid climates, 2011).
This research focused on some of these passive tecnhiques as means of achieving higher
standards of outdoor comfort in public space. In some intervention areas, such as the proposal
for Opera Square, vegetation reinforcement was a primordial strategy for more effective
appropriations patterns (Figure 12). Other important strategy in this project may be the use of
artificial shade for positive handling of this square’s microclimatic conditions (Figure 13).
Figure 12. Conceptual image for one Opera Square’s main pathway (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Figure 13. Conceptual image for shaded areas in Opera Square (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Vegetation and artificial shades play key roles in the positive manipulation of microclimatic conditions.
5. Conclusions and considerations. Human car free city
The proposed mobility system within this research, in profound accordance to Khedive’s
masterplan’s main procedures, seeks to meet people’s needs and desires concerning
accessibility, commerce, recreation, cultural facilities and residences, by using minimum
resources.
Mobility is seen as an operational approach within Downtown Cairo’s urban perimeter,
which redefines conceptual and physical relations between pedestrians, private and public
transports, public space and green structure. It is reasoning with the explicit drive of
demonstrating that the higher the efficiency on people’s urban fluxes, the higher the quality
of the urban environment. This demonstration is explained in close relation with quantitative
measure parameters, such as air pollution, noise, or microclimatic conditions.
Upgrading Downtown Cairo towards more sustainable and efficient forms of urban living
involves strong processes of creating consolidated areas for the pedestrian fluxes, of
controlling access to certain road arteries in an attempt to facilitate circulation, of
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implementing parking rules and restricted areas where public transport prevails. Furthermore,
it is recognized the importance of complementary measures that go beyond the scope of this
investigation, namely: projects and other proposals for urban concentration around central
collective transport systems’ hubs, especially in stations with heavy fluxes; or even measures
which reinforce re-urbanisation processes in existing quarters, redefining concepts of
neighbourhood (Figure 14).
Figure 14. New Boulevard towards Cairo’s Museum, where pedestrians acquire a leading role (Parque Expo 98,
S.A., 2010).
This proposal is a challenge to achieve a friendlier and, as much as possible, car-free
Downtown Cairo. This experiment brings the importance of organising vehicle transit routes
so that pedestrian fluxes acquire a central urban role in terms of area, continuity and
connectivity. With these public spaces’ redefinitions, one believes that it will be possible to
walk along city’s main arteries from any point in city centre to the river with unrestricted,
rational and, at the same time, increasingly stimulating movements (Figures 15 and 16).
Figure 15. Conceptual image for the new marina area near the museum (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Figure 16. Conceptual image for the redesigned Abdeen Square (Parque Expo 98, S.A., 2010).
Green structure is pointed out as a design strategy to reinforce the urban tissue. Once again,
this system has an important potential role in redefining fluxes’ relations within very dense
urban centres. Its strategic importance is strengthened by the conscience of its active role in
microclimatic conditions manipulation. The higher the standards in outdoor public spaces, the
more effective become potential appropriation from distinct users.
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Public space and mobility networks can be integrated and consolidated at the expense of a
cohesive green structure, which emerges as a complement to new mobility models, such as
shared-space. The proposed green structure takes advantage of existing large green spaces –
strong symbolic and historic public areas –and green corridors – main urban arteries – and
acquires an essential strategic value by promoting connections with EL-Nil River banksides,
as well as, with other potential spaces in Cairo’s suburban areas.
A rehabilitation process such as the one proposed for the potential Khedive’s masterplan for
Downtown Cairo is a complex, perhaps quite slow, evolutional mechanism. Supporting all
urban measures and action plans with spatial expression lays a mentality change that is based
on the collective will to improve citizens’ urban conditions.
This document presents an example of how innovative urban, architecture and landscapearchitecture solutions can positively interfere on existing mobility networks. It should be
understood as a theoretical case-study, with strong and realistic design approaches, that can
eventually be expanded to other areas of Greater Cairo for further improvement of social,
economic and environmental standards and dynamics of this growing metropolis.
6. References
Alves, M. (2011). Mobility - Shared-Space (oral communication). Portugal.
Aronson, S. (2008). Aridscapes-Designing in harsh and fragile lands. Barcelona: Gustavo
Gili,SL.
Cook, D. (1984). Transport Problems in Cairo. In The Expanding Metropolis coping with the
urban growth of Cairo (p. 152 a 157). Egypt: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Godard, X., & Houpin, S. (2009). Report of the Workshop on "Greater Cairo Case Study on
trends and prospects of urban mobility". France: Blue Plan Regional Activity Center.
Hamilton-Baillie, B. (2006, August). What is Shared-Space? Retrieved October 10, 2011,
from
Hamilton-Baillie
Associates:
http://www.hamiltonbaillie.co.uk/_files/_publications/6-1.pdf
Lagan, C., & McKenzie, J. (2004). Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Transportation. Retrieved
September 23, 2011, from Eart Trends. The environmental information portal:
http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?fid=54&theme=4
Lagan, C., & McKenzie, J. (2004). Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Transportation. Retrieved
09 23, 2011, from Eart Trends. The environmental information portal:
http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?fid=54&theme=4
Nunes, J., Marques, A., Campos, T., & Coutinho, R. (2011). Modular landscapes in arid
climates. In L. A. PROAP (Ed.), EFLA 2011 Anual Congress (p. 14). Estonia: EFLA.
Nunes, J., Marques, A., Campos, T., & Coutinho, R. (2011). Modular landscapes in arid
climates. EFLA 2011 Anual Congress (p. 17). Estonia: EFLA.
Nunes, J., Zoilo, I., Jacinto, N., Nunes, A., Campos, T., Pacheco, M., et al. (2011). Mistingcooling systems for microclimatic control in public space. EFLA 2011 Anual
Congress (p. 16). Estonia: EFLA.
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NY MTA. (2010). Subway and bus ridership. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from
MTA.info: http://mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/index.htm
Panagopoulos, T. (2008). Using microclimatic landscape design to create thermal comfort
and energy efficiency. Actas da 1ª Conferência sobre Edifícios Eficientes (pp. 1-4).
Faro: University of Algarve.
Parque Expo 98, S.A. (2010). Masterplan for the revitalization and upgrading of the central
zone of Khedive's Cairo. Portugal: Parque Expo 98, S.A.
7. Main authors’ biographies
JOÃO NUNES
Lisbon,1960
Founder and CEO of the Landscape Architecture Studio PROAP, which gathers a vast group
of professionals in a cross-disciplinary team, with distinguished levels of expertise in
landscape, in its most inclusive conception.
As International Director is responsible for the strategic, executive and tactical leadership of
the three international offices: Lisbon (Portugal), Luanda (Angola) and Treviso (Italy).
Develops PROAP’s conceptual and creative design and defines the strategic orientation of the
research processes.
Has been lecturing at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon (Agronomics Institute,
Technical University of Lisbon) since 1991. Currently also lectures at the Istituto
Universitario de Architettura de Venezia, Politecnico de Milano, Politécnico di Torino, Roma
La Sapienza, Roma Ludovico Quaroni, Facoltá di Architettura di Alghero.
IÑAKI ZOILO
Zaldibia, 1972
Partner at the Landscape Architecture Studio PROAP, which gathers a vast group of
landscape architects, architects, designers and plastic artists, part of a core oriented by João
Nunes.
Involved in PROAP’s strategic direction and management, oversees research and design
projects to assure conceptual and artistic coherence.
As senior overall project manager is responsible for the coordination and implementation of
all projects. Leads the organisation and the development of the design competition teams in
their conceptual and technical execution.
Frequently participates as guest lecturer in international design and art workshops,
representing PROAP.
TIAGO TORRES CAMPOS
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Lisbon, 1982
Research Manager at the Landscape Architecture Studio PROAP, which gathers a vast group
of landscape architects, architects, designers and plastic artists, part of a core oriented by João
Nunes.
Managing Editor for PROAP’s publications. Jointly runs the international communication
processes, manages graphic and written project information sent to media requests
worldwide.
Participates tactically in the creative processes, review and critique of projects.
Frequently participates in international workshops and conferences, representing PROAP.
BERTA SANZ PEÑA
Madrid, 1980
Landscape Architect /Researcher at Landscape Architecture Studio PROAP, which gathers a
vast group of landscape architects, architects, designers and plastic artists, part of a core
oriented by João Nunes.
Degree in Landscape Architecture at Wageningen University and in Agricultural Engineering
at Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos – Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
PhD candidate at the same university.
Participates in several international project designs, research processes and paper writings for
publications and conferences.
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