Author Description

This Book Moves Beyond Superficial Generalizations About Cairo As A Chaotic Metropolis In The Developing World Into An Analysis Of The Ways The City's Eighteen Million Inhabitants Have, In The Face Of A Largely Neglectful Government, Built And Shaped Their Own City. Using A Wealth Of Recent Studies On Greater Cairo And A Deep Reading Of Informal Urban Processes, The City And Its Recent History Are Portrayed And Mapped: The Huge, Spontaneous Neighborhoods; Housing; Traffic And Transport; City Government; And Its People And Their Enterprises. The Book Argues That Understanding A City Such As Cairo Is Not A Daunting Task As Long As Pre-conceived Notions Are Discarded And Care Is Taken To Apprehend Available Information And To Assess It With A Critical Eye. In The Case Of Cairo, This Approach Leads To A Conclusion That The City Can Be Considered A Kind Of Success Story, In Spite Of Everything.