All over the Arab world .. the village is not random

I visited Al-Arish in 1986 and we were accompanied by Dr Abbas Al-Zafarani, professor of town planning at the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University. As soon as we stepped on the ground, and the city became clear to us with its straight, parallel streets, which were completely perpendicular to the shore line, Dr Abbas exclaimed: “Is this about what do they call random cities? ”Cairo is what really is a random city!

We listened to his words as the cool air blew over us from the sea, permeating the urban fabric of the city with low, light buildings.

We city dwellers are used to looking up at the countryside, and we are used to seeing the traditional village as a haphazard and backward entity compared to the “modern” city, of which Cairo is a model!

The truth is that our “ modern ” city was born and developed in the context of the tradition of the Western civilizational model and its traceability, without regard to the civilized characteristics of the society, nor to the socio-economic conditions which make it. characterize.

Living tissue

I had previously studied the Araishi dwelling in North Sinai in 1980, and at that time I noticed that the construction started with the outer wall, so that the private space of the dwelling was separated from the general space of the street and the city. The height of this fence was such that the camel rider could not see (reveal) the private space of the house.

Here it is important for me to refer to the dynamic dimension of the construction of the house: after the construction of the wall, two rooms are built deep into the interior space of the house, with palm trees, olive trees and lemon trees and vegetable ponds, with the acquisition of the sheep or goat, which provides a material basis for the self-sufficiency of the family, after which the construction is carried out.The mandara, which is the guest room, is at the ‘front of the interior space. So that the house allows the opening to visitors without compromising the privacy of the family. Thus, the rooms of the house are created according to the needs of the extended family who live in the house, which consists of the father, mother and married children.

“Terracotta construction is characterized by absolute flexibility – compared to absolute rigidity in the case of reinforced concrete construction.”

Usually, the family members together, and the parents on the side of the paternal and responsible persons, take part in the construction of the Araishi house, and the adults and the children cooperate in it, and only the mason and the porter are used of the family outside. The Aradi house is built using mud and hay to make bricks, separating barley and wheat with clay to make mortar and palm fronds for the roof, etc.

What I would like to emphasize here is the secondary socio-civilizational logic behind this type of construction, as this construction is a process led by the living, civilized social fabric, and that construction as a physical construction is, in the end, expression of this civilized social fabric.

It is clear from the above that the Aradi house qualitatively differs from the model of housing in the modern city, which is a ready-to-live-in product for a small (nuclear) family that is forcibly imposed a negative relationship with the void, and This model reduces its vitality to a much lower level than the Aradi case model.

Neighborhood selection

I live in one of the “ modern ” apartment buildings in Nasr City, which is one of the vertical cities, and when I asked in 1983 to book the accommodation I occupy now, I did not choose my neighbors on the same floor, nor those above or below me. We were all able to prepay for ourselves the highest possible value for the unit price. In other words, our existence together has been the result of competing for a limited number of homes, with those paying the most! We had not seen each other during this competition which was replaced by the Records of the Homebuilding Fund. No other social or cultural neighborhood criterion has been governed in the same building, street or neighborhood, is this not the greatest coincidence?

My accountant friend told me about his southern town of Sohag and his family (Al-Hawashmeh), which occupies entire streets adjacent to the town and neighboring with other families, he told me that he often went to Sohag, just to communicate with uncles, uncles and their children who live in the city, and that his family has a permanent seat which they call “The seat”, they meet there, especially during weddings and funerals.

Respect the environment

When I was conducting a field survey for the northwest coast, following Alexandria – from the center of the Hammam in the east to Salloum in the west – at a depth of 25 km in the desert, I noticed that the diagram dominant urbanization is the diffuse pattern. In other words, small Bedouin communities, each of which includes a limited number of Bedouin houses with a heavenly court.

The main idea of ​​this model is the need to be compatible with a layer of drinking groundwater and low growth (about 60 cm) from the rain, which floats on the salty water of the sea. will lead to salting the well under the tyranny of salt water.

Then I asked myself: is it fair to consider these random gatherings? What is the most appropriate model of urbanization if we want to move from the Nile valley to the desert? Could this be the generalized pattern that the Bedouins of Western Sahara presented as a model, or the type of urbanization offered by “modern” cities in Egypt based on vertical city growth and overpopulation? And who needs dense energy sources for lighting, sanitation, heating – and also – air conditioning?

Absolute flexibility

During one of my visits to the villages of New Valley in 1986, I saw a scene that I will never forget in all my life: the owners of a house built of mud bricks of clay or clay, and armed with wheat hay – one of the oldest known building techniques in Egypt – tear down the walls and rebuild the house with the same use. Construction materials. What is the significance of the scene you saw?

“Diversity is like treasures that must be discovered everywhere with the local community, which allows us to benefit from the comparative and competitive advantages of each developing village”.

This means that terracotta construction – in short – is characterized by absolute flexibility – compared to absolute rigidity in the case of a reinforced concrete building – in re-use, as well as by reconfiguring the elements of the dwelling. according to the needs and desires of the population.

I am talking here about building with clay, because it is an idea that can be applied with many alternatives in materials (the archives in the oasis of Siwa, the little girl in the oases of Dakhla, until gypsum in many desert areas!), as well as design alternatives (molds and surfaces), but the common denominator between them is It is the inhabitants of local communities who build by themselves and with local resources. What is best for the village? Development of traditional construction methods or reinforced concrete construction by contractors or construction companies?

I address my speech to those interested in development in the rest of the Arab world and I dream that we will be able to realize the immense diversity that characterizes the countryside of our country. Whether traditional villages, oases or Bedouin settlements.

This diversity can be revealed by different environmental conditions, geological data and local resources, different historical experiences, rich networks of social relations and the uniqueness of cultural values ​​which translate in the form of different psychological equations that allow members of local communities settle and survive, as well as technical heritage, the result of the accumulation of knowledge over thousands of years in dealing with the surrounding environment and available resources in order to meet basic needs.

I see this diversity as treasures that must be worked to discover with – and for the development – of the local community everywhere, which allows us to benefit – in an economic sense – from the comparative and competitive advantages of each developing village, and what makes each village capable of creativity and progress Its own contemporary model, and what allows us to crystallize our development model at the national level.

This topic was produced via the regional office website SciDev.Report In the Middle East and North Africa region