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Thursday, 21 July 2016

Why is your day in Cairo so hard — and what can we do about it?

Cairo is a tough city to love. It takes from us, on average, four hours of our lives each day commuting to and from work and getting errands done. For those not fortunate enough to live in a gated community, public space is often a rented plastic chair on a bridge or a blanket in the middle of a roundabout. The implications for human health and happiness of a life spent in Cairo are well-known and reasonably well-documented.

It wasn’t always this way: Our grandparents and parents tell us stories of a time when they could walk to university, ride a bus (and find a seat) and have access to public space that was maintained and pleasant to use. Cairo was referred to as the Paris of the East.

What happened? We grew and changed — and Cairo didn’t adapt. Citizens from across the nation migrated to Cairo like never before, and the capital city grew at alarming, unprecedented rates.

Today, Cairo is at a crossroads. Turn right, and we can rebuild one of the world’s most iconic cities. Or keep left on our current course and continue to grow far below our potential. The only way to move off the default path is for all the actors in our city — business and government alike — to  agree to shed yesterday’s baggage and preconceptions and start a real conversation. [ Tap here to read the rest of part one in the series. ]

** This is part one of a five-part series by SODIC, a leading real estate developer and proud sponsor of Enterprise. Here, SODIC shares its view on how business and government can work together to save Cairo — doing good for more than 20 mn people and making a reasonable profit at the same time. Subsequent instalments will appear each Thursday morning, exclusively in Enterprise.

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