From garbage dump to municipal park.
The impressions of Alexandria I shared in a recent post were largely negative, so here I’ll present a happier picture: a green oasis in Cairo built upon a former garbage dump. The photos are mine; the background information comes mainly from touregypt.net.
Hard to believe, but this delightful site was formerly a municipal garbage dump. Some 80,000 truckloads of debris that had accumulated over centuries were cleared as part of the park’s development. In comparison, the Hiriya project near Tel Aviv should be a piece of cake. (See: Going On A Picnic to Tel Aviv’s Garbage Mountain.)
The 74-acre park was inaugurated in 2005 and funded ($30 million) by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. According to touregypt.net: “The Aga Khan decided to donate a park to the citizens of Cairo in 1984, out of the Islamic belief that we are all trustees of God’s creation and therefore must seek to leave the world a better place than it was before us.”
More from touregypt.net: “The multidisciplinary project presented a range of complex technical issues, including highly saline soils which first required the creation of specialist nurseries to identify and grow the best plants and trees for the soil, terrain and climate.
“Over two million plants and trees were propagated, of which over 655,000 have now been planted in the park. This also required the incorporation within the park of three large fresh water reservoirs for the city of Cairo each 80 meters in diameter and 14 meters deep.”
“The park’s vegetation varies from dry, succulent plants on the western slopes to lush, grassy meadows with shade trees, to formal gardens and, finally, to bustan-like orchard spaces. “
Of course, all is not rosey in Cairo. Besides the park’s proximity to the historic Citadel and Muhammad Ali Mosque (visible at the top-right), it is also adjacent to one of the most impoverished areas in Cairo – the City of the Dead, a neighborhood built among the tombstones.
Cognizant of the stark contrast between the lush park and its dire surroundings, the park’s developer – the Aga Khan Trust – has initiated a range of community-based urban renewal projects and offers micro-credit loans to enable residents to open small businesses.
More on Cairo:
Keep It Clean Cairo
Tap Into Solar Energy at MENASOL
Get A Ride With Egypt Car Poolers
Author: Ira Moskowitz
When his kids were small, Ira would point to litter on the ground and tell them: “That makes me angry!” He still gets angry about pollution, waste and abusive treatment of our world, but is encouraged by the growing awareness of environmental issues and has been following the latest developments in cleantech with great interest. Ira grew up in the green hills of western Massachusetts and moved to Israel in the early 1980s after completing an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. He has worked as a software developer and journalist, and translates works of Hebrew fiction and non-fiction to English. Ira is trying to age gracefully, but refuses to surrender his youthful belief in the potential for change, including a collaborative future for the peoples of the Middle East. To contact Ira, email ira (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
this will be of interest Mt. Rubble: Reconstructing the 2006 Landscape
proposal to turn a rubble mountain from 2006 war n Beirut Lebanon to a memorial garden
http://spatiallyjustenvironmentsbeirut.blogspot.com/2011/10/mt-rubble-reconstructing-2006-landscape.html