#agouza

مراكز صيانة سامسونج المعتمدة | اتصل الان تليفون صيانة سامسونج العجوزة تقدم جميع خدمات الصيانة الفورية قطع غيار سامسونج الاصلية بالضمان من خلال رقم صيانة سامسونج اتصل الان نصلك اليوم مركز صيانة سامسونج العجوزة هو المتخصص في صيانة اعطال اجهزة سامسونج كما ان فريق صيانة سامسونج متميز للغاية في كل انواع الاصلاح وستجد خدمة عملاء صيانة سامسونج العجوزة دوما الحل الامثل خدمات الدعم المقدم مركز صيانة…

Cairo now and this is where the real fellowship fun begins! Today I commenced work at the EES office located in the British Council at Agouza with Fieldwork and Engagement Manager, Essam Nagy (pictured above). Essam is a former Inspector at Karnak and archaeologist with many connections. He’s across all the current archaeological missions working in Egypt and, without a doubt, also has at least one good friend tucked away on each of these missions too! Speaking of which, Dr Angus Graham, Director of the EES Theban harbours and waterscapes project (pictured below left) came by the office today to borrow some fieldwork equipment and have a good old chin-wag before his team starts work tomorrow. Essam and I will be heading down to Luxor to visit Angus’s project in the coming weeks - photos of which will certainly be posted here.

Apart from starting work, I’ve also found time to secure a place to live for the next 3 months. Thanks to some dear friends, this has been a most enjoyable experience without any of the hassles I was expecting. I’m living in a very plush apartment - with more living rooms and sofas than you can count on one hand - about 5 minutes walking distance from the British Council. It also has Nile views (well, if you dare open the shutters and pass your head through all the electrical cables hanging from the apartment above!) and other frequent quirks (such as light switches that never turn off and doors that you are told to keep permanently locked)! I’ve been offered a maid to cook and clean up after me (it’s a little bit tempting, but let’s see how long I can resist) and the boab (doorman) downstairs is also very friendly and keen to run small errands, as well as collect the garbage. To be honest, I’m a bit afraid of getting used to this lifestyle. There’s certainly no way I’d ever be able to sustain it back in Sydney, not to mention the fact it will probably make me even less domesticated than what I already am!

Resident Perspective is a series of standardized interviews with Cairo residents to get their views on the city and their neighborhoods.

Where in Cairo do you live? I live in Agouza, a middle-to higher class residential district, with very few retail, food and beverage locations.

List the most positive and the most negative aspects of living there. I live along the Nile, so I do have a beautiful view looking onto the Zamalek side. Unfortunately that also means highway traffic on my street as well extremely loud music being blasted by nearby Nile party boats.

How do you move around Cairo (modes of transport) and what would you like to see different regarding the future of transport in the city? I walk, hitch a car ride or take cabs. I have given up on driving years ago in order to retain my sanity. I would like to see Cairo being a more walkable city, with alternative modes of transportation that includes bicycling, and an effective public transport system that is clean, safe, and less crowded.

How does your district fit within Cairo? What would you like to see changed in that relationship between your neighborhood and the city? Central. I would like to stay central.

What are your top complaints about Cairo and what would you suggest to solve those problems?

1) Traffic: Cease building satellite communities that adds the load of traffic going in and out of the city everyday. Encourage public transportation and carpooling. Introduce tougher traffic laws, regulations and tougher penalties for those who break them. Invest in other cities in Egypt instead of the over-investment in Cairo, to allow them to grow and encourage the overpopulated Carieans to relocate. 2) Heat: Encourage building sustainable developments with dense buildings and narrow streets to allow for maximum shade, instead of the wide streets of asphalt and concrete that increase the heat gain. Encourage passive cooling systems with the urban community. 3) Garbage/Trash: Introduce more effective waste management and recycling systems by empowering the waste industries and financing research initiatives that encourage using waste products as alternative energy solutions.

What do you like the most about Cairo and what are your favorite places in the city.

Zamalek: Because of the walkability, quality of life / standard of living, and because it is very self sustainable as an island (meaning i would never have to leave the island on a daily basis) Islamic Cairo: rich with heritage and culture, with a smart built environment that is very responsive to both climatic and social constraints.

Do you relate to the historic heritage of your district or of Cairo in general? Do you think you have a good sense of history of the city? Would you say you are have “civic pride” or are proud to live in Cairo?

I do relate to the historic heritage of Cairo (my district has very little). I do think I know a lot about the history of Cairo, and I am very proud to live in Cairo.

Do you understand how the city is governed/managed? Do you think your community/district would be better or worst if residents from the community/district were involved in local government (محليات)?

I am not informed as well as I should be, reason I say this is because i am quite surprised that the residents of the district are not involved in the local government (as your question suggests). And yes, I do think that is a must.

In the context of Cairo, what comes to mind when you think of these keywords?

Green Space/Parks: Nadi el Gezira, golf area. As a city we have a lack of public green space and parks, and I am not sure we are a culture that understands what a park is (case in point the small patches of green space randomly placed around the city and labeled as parks).

Gated communities:  6th of October suburbs. A social travesty that started with the 19th century import of Haussmann Paris to what is now called Downtown, where the rich is trying to distance themselves from the poor - causing the social rift and tension we experience in the country today.

Museums: Poorly designed exhibition spaces informal areas: a stroke of genius that should be encouraged (via regulation) and not stifled.

Informal areas: If these communities are willing to build their own districts without government help, then we should allow them this opportunity as opposed to stick them in the low-cost matchbox nightmares that the housing department conceives. Given certain formal, spatial and material parameters, these "informal areas" or "slums" could be transformed into some of the more interesting and economically boosting areas in modern Cairo.

Downtown: A beautiful part of Cairo that started as a terrible idea. Injecting a foreign alien urban culture different to our own (separating rich from poor - houses looking out instead of looking in), this part of Cairo represents the beginning of the social rift that has seen two-three revolutions over the past 150 years and a large widening gap between the rich and the poor.

If you could move to another district in Cairo where would you move to? Zamalek, for the reasons previously mentioned in this survey.