The New Administrative Capital, An investigation into the triggers of the construction of new capital cities in Egypt and the evolution of the discourse around their development
The Construction and Discourse of New Capital Cities in Egypt
N. Gemiei (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
J.M.K. Hanna – Mentor (TU Delft - History, Form & Aesthetics)
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Abstract
The New Administrative Capital of Egypt is a city from scratch located in the desert, 60 km east from Cairo, set in motion in 2015 and already visible on site. Egypt’s government promotes the new capital as the key to reducing Cairo’s urban load due its explosive overpopulation. The main strategy is to relocate the government buildings from their current location in Downtown Cairo to the new capital with the aim of drawing people away from Cairo’s saturation. This desire to build a new capital is not unique in Cairo’s rich history with Nasr City, in 1958 and Sadat City, in 1977, both built to tackle the same problem. The purpose of this research is, through understanding Cairo’s’ explosive population, explore the framework of the emergence of each of the three capital cities and analyse the evolution of the discourse around their development, how they were promoted to and received by the people, revealing their individual agendas.