The Imbaba neighborhood in Cairo is one of the largest informal housing Mega-slums in the world. The region is overcrowded, lacks basic access to clean water, and the electricity can be cut-off without a moment’s notice. Imbaba is seen as an inconsequential rural settlement struggling to operate as a city, with unfinished brick buildings encasing the small market streets. Despite its sheer size and density, the Egyptian government has long ignored much of the region, until recently when, as a part of the Cairo 2050 plan, this land seemed too valuable to go to waste as informal settlement.

The government put into place a new urban plan for Imbaba, one that would allow for a new urban park, roadway extensions, and low-income housing for the long ignored residents. However, as shown, these new apartments disregard the existing hierarchy of the informal urban environment developed for access to the market, neighborhood relationships, and visual privacy. None of the planning or intention of the informal settlement is recognized by the government’s formal plan. This lack of acknowledgment exemplifies the struggle between the ruling body and the inhabitants. Why is the informal city viewed as unplanned and therefore inferior? Why is the vision of Cairo’s master plan valued more so than the informal settlement? It seems to be that the power to create a planned vision of the city seen as forward-thinking and recognizes the ideals of Western cities. Is this an image Egyptians should seek to manifest? Is the image of a planned city inherently greater than the function of an informal one?