Book Reviews Living with Heritage in Cairo : Area Conservation in the Arab

There is a great need throughout the Middle East and North Africa for contemporary urban research that goes beyond classical analysis of the traditional Arab City. Important topics include urban transformation, the flow of global capital and its affect on urban realities, urban structures and polity, changes in social life and lines of inclusion and exclusion , and such " metropolitization " forces as migration, slum formation, and neoliberal investment. Living with Heritage in Cairo attempts to move in such a direction, skillfully investigating the history, politics and reality of contemporary urban conservation. Its author, Ahmed Sedky, spent some ten years conducting field research in cities of the Arab world. His specific emphasis here on the deterioration of Cairo's ancient fabric grows from and reflects this larger research effort. Through its various sections, the book addresses the difficulty of projects in areas such as Bab al-Nasr, Al-Darb al-Asfar, al-Tumbakshiya, Al-Mu'izz Street, Al-Azhar Square and al-Ghuriya, al-Batniya, and Darb al-Ahmar. As the title suggests, Sedky considers the problem to be an ongoing and dynamic one. The book is particularly strong in its investigation of competing interests in area conservation efforts. Sedky has divided stakeholders into three general groups. First is what he calls the " U " group: local users and inhabitants whose main concern is to continue to occupy heritage areas in traditional ways. Next is the " W " group: international organizations and institutions such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, which claim to represent the interests of the world community. Third is the " N " group: city and national institutions and organizations, such as the Egyptian Ministries of Culture, Awqaf, and Tourism, whose interests and responsibilities often conflict with those of the first two. In Part One (" What to Conserve "), Sedky investigates the meaning of historic Cairo. He describes the old city as an Arab-Islamic phenomenon, defines its cultural significance, identifies its key values, and assesses the dilapidated condition of its historic areas. He then addresses the cultural, demographic and urban transformation of Cairo over the last several centuries. A typical Arab-Islamic city at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Cairo underwent Westernization during the era of Khedive Isma'il (1863–79), a neo-Islamic revival at the turn of the twentieth century, and a later turn to social modernity, especially during the Nasser era after the revolution of 1952. The first section of the book also looks at the …