By: Does

Does — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:36:45 +0000

Euhm,

You forget to mention why Egypt doesn’t fall in the developing nations category. Is it too rich, or too poor? And with which mayor third world cities do you compare it? I don’t have the book with me anymore, but the author wasn’t comparing it with the poorest cities in the world (so not with Port-aux-Prince or Moghadishu for example) but with important megalopolises like Bombai, Sao Paulo, etc (am just guessing them, so don’t shoot me if I get it wrong). Why would the intelligentsia want to claim Egypt to be a developing country while it isn’t?

And the third comment, that’s of course what we all know as the environmental Kuznets curve. Cairo actually has a relative low degree of car ownership (compared to the cities mentioned above), especially in the informal areas (not in Doqqi or Mohandiseen).

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:07:39 +0000

I love that article,
however the comparison to other “third world” countries is a bit inacceptable for me.
First, the term itself is a bit dodgy, but I’m not a friend of general Neusprech anyway.
Second, Egypt with especially Cairo does not fall into this category of “developping nations” or however we name it, even if its intelligentsia wants to claim it that way sometimes.
Third, the more a popluation develops economically the less the infrastructure should work in the medium or short term… meaning all the other “third world” cities i’ve been to, had remarkably effecient infrastructure (much btter than Cairo), since few people own cars to block the road.

Thanks

Comments on: Understanding Cairo Beyond the Complaints

By: Does

By: Martin