I love juxtapositions. Today saw one of the most stark and flagrant ones I've encountered. This is akin to Bellevue, Washington or more closely Tech City in Hyderabad, India -
Cairo's version is "Smart City." So all of the downtown and area in Cairo near the Nile (95% of Egypt's 80 million people live within a few miles of the Nile) it's mostly 15 to 20 story buildings which look like they've been beaten down by the sun for ages. The colors are drab and they look like maybe they were state developed. Not sure how new construction is handled here but would not surprise me to learn it's government involved. It's all quite homogonous looking, and the skyline is speckled here and there with grandiose mosques. The population is 95% Sunni muslim - the balance mostly
Coptic and small pockets of others. The mosques are quite beautiful really. But outside Cairo a 45 minute drive is an enclave of state of the art glass and concerete and very modern looking buildings called Smart City. Getting there it's like you're driving through the desert on the road to Alexandria, then you come on this outcrop like an oasis planted in the middle of a sheet of sand housing all the big tech: Mobinil, Microsoft, Vodaphone, the Ministry of Telecommunications, a couple Universities, Etisalat, etc. Then the other half of Smart City (funny name) is the big finanical center housing the Egypt headquarters for all the big finance. It's quite a development and with literacy rates around 45% (that's less than half who are able to read in any language) and GDP around $2000 USD and this magnificent outcrop of buildings in the middle of nowhere just hanging out doing business in as Western of a fashion as one could imagine.
Cairo's version is "Smart City." So all of the downtown and area in Cairo near the Nile (95% of Egypt's 80 million people live within a few miles of the Nile) it's mostly 15 to 20 story buildings which look like they've been beaten down by the sun for ages. The colors are drab and they look like maybe they were state developed. Not sure how new construction is handled here but would not surprise me to learn it's government involved. It's all quite homogonous looking, and the skyline is speckled here and there with grandiose mosques. The population is 95% Sunni muslim - the balance mostly
Coptic and small pockets of others. The mosques are quite beautiful really. But outside Cairo a 45 minute drive is an enclave of state of the art glass and concerete and very modern looking buildings called Smart City. Getting there it's like you're driving through the desert on the road to Alexandria, then you come on this outcrop like an oasis planted in the middle of a sheet of sand housing all the big tech: Mobinil, Microsoft, Vodaphone, the Ministry of Telecommunications, a couple Universities, Etisalat, etc. Then the other half of Smart City (funny name) is the big finanical center housing the Egypt headquarters for all the big finance. It's quite a development and with literacy rates around 45% (that's less than half who are able to read in any language) and GDP around $2000 USD and this magnificent outcrop of buildings in the middle of nowhere just hanging out doing business in as Western of a fashion as one could imagine.
