Circular Sky Garden – Nabil Al-Hadi

I actually wrote here about the loop road that was expanded a few years ago and there are upcoming projects on it, especially frequent buses, because I have had unpleasant experiences driving on this road, especially after the expansion, which I don’t like. It’s nice to mention it, especially since I sold my car for more than three years and I mainly use bicycles and subways as my means of transportation.

Now I seldom cross it by car, but I happened to pass by the section between the highway and the metro the other morning, and in this short distance I looked around and saw traces of attempts at beautification in the houses overlooking the road, with drawings apparently printed on the walls of some of the houses facing the road, and then large tapestries installed. I had read before about the efforts of the Cairo and Giza governorates, in cooperation with Ain Shams and Cairo University, to beautify this section of the ring road and the section of the Nile leading to Giza, as part of preparations for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in the shooting range long since. I had also read about the confusion caused by some drawings to the east of this arch.

I think of the huge controversy that happened a few months ago about the continuous loss of trees in Cairo, at a time when we desperately need something to relieve the burden of the continuous heat waves. I also recall some projects that my students did on planted rooftops, especially in unplanned areas, because I asked them to imagine the streets where they lived and most of the residents had planted rooftops. I remember how much these streets were transformed by the planting of trees, not just on rooftops, but also on balconies and small gardens of homes, and that everyone planted a tree in front of their house through joint coordination between the community and neighbors.

Two master students, Asma Makkawi and Reham Murad, propose small, group-coordinated interventions based on rethinking windows as a unique place for every citizen and human to overlook the city. Within this framework, any existing window can be modified in the following ways. Give it a color or add a small protrusion on it, or a small planter to express who lives inside and make his life better, even if just a little. These small interventions – if they can be coordinated between neighbors through careful discussion and experimentation, and perhaps with a little help from engineers and artists – can create a place that is not more beautiful from a distance, but more importantly its inhabitants feel satisfied with it.

I also thought about something I was interested in a few years ago and wrote about it at length in the context of rewilding Egypt’s cities. How wild plants (many of which have medicinal properties but are not directly edible, perhaps unlike vegetables that can be grown on rooftops) would not be significantly affected by the large amounts of air pollution created by the heavy traffic on the ring roads. It would also provide good insulation, especially for residents on the upper floors of the homes, which also provides other direct benefits for these plants. It is also possible to build a small vegetable greenhouse on a relatively large rooftop, and the air entering the greenhouse could be filtered so that crops that can be used for daily food can be grown.

I also imagine that the concrete columns that many residential buildings have while they wait for their owners to build concrete roofs when it rains could be used temporarily, with the help of a new, simple to receive network of solar panels that could provide energy to the residents and those around them.

Visual art can also be integrated, especially on the ground floor and at the entrances of residential buildings, not necessarily as cosmetic paintings on the walls, but with the participation of local residents, professional artists and male and female art scholars. Inspirations from reality and imagination can be drawn to add vitality and hope to these areas. I remember one of my students suggested that she turn part of the façade of the building she was designing into a so-called memory wall and people’s diary, through which anyone who wanted to could share events or knowledge with their neighbors. It could be recorded visually at the end of each day so that the next day, adults, teenagers and even children could experience these anecdotes.

Could this vision be transformed into a cumulative process, developing the residential areas around the ring road, and perhaps not only in this part, into a set of sky gardens dotted with solar panels, in which various harmonious windows emerge? This process could take some time, but would require the participation of residents and non-governmental associations, especially those interested in urban agriculture, but also those interested in the environment and climate change. For part of the costs of the current beautification projects, the government could support by helping to create some prototypes through which people could be persuaded to adopt the idea. Such a partnership could produce real, not artificial, beauty, expressing a real concern for residents and putting them above tourists. It could also create a wonderful narrative that, even if it will undoubtedly face challenges, will influence those who know about it, among whom first and foremost are tourists and visitors. It would also divert the funds spent on temporary beautification – such as those that have been implemented and which will not last long – towards a better, cleaner air and more sustainable place, not only for residents and tourists, but also for other areas of the city. Residents.

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I am not too fond of blaming government agencies because I know to some extent the limitations and challenges of their work, but I blame more the two universities that are advising the two provinces in this project because their mandate requires them to insist on doing good long-term research and thinking for more sustainable benefits because engaging with the heads of the administration can change our situation, reduce the huge deterioration around us, and seize the opportunity to turn things around and create the hope from within that we need and deserve.