A l'heure ou dans les pays riches riches et occidentaux, on ne cesse de parler de développement durable et d'éco-quartiers (voir, entre autres, la très caricaturale exposition Villes rêvées, villes désirables ? financée par EDF et PSA), j'avais juste envie de vous proposer la photo ci-dessus d'un quartier du Caire. Titrée Garbage City et réalisée par le talentueux Bas Princen, elle a le grand mérite de rappeler à quoi ressemble aujourd'hui la croissance urbaine et la réalité quotidienne dans de nombreux pays du monde. Pas forcément rose et pas forcément ni très viable ni très durable, tant sur le plan écologique que social. (Sur Garbage City, voir là et là)
Pour aller plus loin sur la croissance urbaine égyptienne, voir le très bon travail conduit par l'ETH Studio Basel dirigé par duo Herzog-de Meuron, sous le nom de Nile Valley et dont vous trouverez ci-dessous l'explication de la démarche.
"The Nile Valley covers only about 5% of the territory of Egypt, while at the same time it provides a living environment for 95% of the countryʼs population. This thousand kilometres long and fertile strip of land embedded within the smooth topography of the valley with a natural and sharp edge to the Sahara desert, allowed the genesis of the oldest civilisations dating back as far as 3000 B.C. Today the sublime beauty of this ʻlinear oasisʼ meandering through Sahara is still recognisable, still showing the extraordinary achievements of its ancient cultures.
Throughout the 19th and the 20th century, modernization processes have tremendously transformed Egypt and Nile Valley with multiple layers of urbanisation and the new technologies in agriculture and water management. This growth was also a reflection of a society that repeatedly underwent significant political and economical breaks, from the period of Muhammad Ali, to the British protectorate, to independence under Nasser, Sadat and since 1981, Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt is today considered a developing country with its main economic revenues from pass-tolls of the Suez Canal, the real estate market and the tourist sectors. However, the main challenges to the countryʼs development remain the scarcity of water, land and above all a rapid population growth of more than one million people each year. Egyptian society is also experiencing an increasing social and economic divide, with the formation of new and affluent elites, while a large amount of population continues to live in poverty.
The governmental apparatus and the economic management are strongly centralised and concentrated on the Greater Region of Cairo. By contrast, the major agricultural regions in the Upper Egypt and in the Nile Valley seem to have less political and legal means for controlling their future. In this situation, various informal energies emerge as a vital, self-sustaining mechanism.
A large portion of new construction in Egypt and the Nile valley belong to informal housing, which seems more advanced than elsewhere in developing world. The massive demand for housing is also not meet through the so-called New Town or New Settlement program, run by the state since the 1970s. This long-term project has developed until today through three generations of cities spread all along the Nile valley on desert land, mainly intended for an upper middle-class and incompatible with the actual family needs."
Et toujours sur ces nouvelles formes de croissances urbaines dans les pays arabes, voir l'autre travail conduit par l'ETH Basel Studio appelé Investigating Specificity : Cities in the middle east, et plus spécialement centré dans un premier temps sur Beyrouth et Damas.
PS / Et toujours à propos de" villes arabes", mais à l'heure ou le modèle de croissance développé à Dubaï s'écroule, vous pouvez toujours jeter un coup d'oeil là, là et là.
