At the end of April 2014, I participated in a workshop to develop ideas for the transformation of two passageways in the centre of Cairo, Egypt. Over the course of four days, I worked with a team of seven people to research, create a design solution, visualise and present the solution.
The workshop was based around two different passages, the one I worked with is called the Philips Passage. The Passage contains shops, cafés and food kiosks and caters for an older traditional audience. The idea was that we worked in two different teams across disciplines and nationalities. In total, we were a Danish and an Egyptian artist, a Danish and an Egyptian architect and three students in the Philips Passage project.
Background for the workshop
The workshop was organised by CLUSTER (Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research), DEDI (Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute) and CKU (Centre for Culture and Development) with the aim of exploring ways in which the private and creative sectors can be drivers of economic and social development in downtown Cairo and thus providing an alternative framework for urban development. Since the revolution, the boundaries between public and private space in Egypt have become very fluid Public space has become a bit of a jungle and CLUSTER wants to work with this energy in a more organised way, giving public space a clearer shape.
The competition element
The idea was that we would compete in teams with another group. In our two teams we agreed to join forces as we felt that working together would be much more fruitful for the final product. We could all bring different competences and skills to the table, which together gave us lots of exciting ideas, and we could reach a wider audience with more hands. We wouldn't be optimising resources by doing two different proposals in parallel - just spreading the energy.
The Passage
The problem was that the passageway catered mainly to the older traditional generation and that this customer group was declining. Therefore, the traders wanted to attract a different customer group, but it was difficult for them.
The two more tourist-oriented shops, located at opposite ends of the passage, created a barrier, hence it was not clear that this was a passage where one could stroll through from a-b.
The main sales in the passage were food and beverages. There was a good dialogue between the eateries and one could easily eat somewhere while drinking tea from the restaurant next door. In addition, the passage was rich in office supplies, electronics and lighting supplies.
The Method
It was a very intensive programme. In three days we had to research, build trust and get the context under the skin. CLUSTER had prepared background material for the workshop, but we wanted to get an overview of the potential and challenges of the site.
We started by going around and saying hello to the shopkeepers. We then split into three groups: one to interview shopkeepers, one to interview the customers, and one to observe the physics and analyse. We met along the way and shared our experiences. By being a unified group, we were able to go further into the site investigation, we got to talk to more people and get more input. Once we had gained a good insight into the problem of the passage, an idea emerged that later developed into our concept.
As we also wanted to bring about organisational and social changes in the arcade, such as more dialogue between the traders, we held the arcade's first dialogue meeting where the future of the arcade was discussed.It was a very intensive programme. In three days we had to research, build trust and get the context under the skin. CLUSTER had prepared background material for the workshop, but we wanted to get an overview of the potential and challenges of the site.
We started by going around and saying hello to the shopkeepers. We then split into three groups: one to interview shopkeepers, one to interview the customers, and one to observe the physics and analyse. We met along the way and shared our experiences. By being a unified group, we were able to go further into the site investigation, we got to talk to more people and get more input. Once we had gained a good insight into the problem of the passage, an idea emerged that later developed into our concept.
As we also wanted to bring about organisational and social changes in the arcade, such as more dialogue between the traders, we held the arcade's first dialogue meeting where the future of the arcade was discussed.
The Concept
We started from the site's resources and tried to upgrade them. The main concept was to attract a new clientele to the existing sales. The new clientele would consist of people who buy art tools etc. As they were already selling office supplies, it didn't take many new products for the stores to attract architects, artists and designers, for example. In addition, the appearance of the passageway needed to attract this audience and demystify the passageway. This was to be done through large gable murals, more lighting and an overview of the passage and its contents via a map.
On the organisational front, we wanted the shop owners to have a dialogue about joint improvements to the passage. Despite the fact that they all had a relationship with each other, no one had ever tried to get the two stores that formed the two ends to understand what this meant for the other retailers.
CLUSTER has the means to implement the range of our proposals that they want to move forward with and that the stakeholders want. We did a lot to include the store owners in the process, but they don't own the buildings. Therefore, the property owners also need to be on board with the ideas. One of the most important things was that we got the business owners thinking about how they need to work together to improve their shared passageway and thus the survival of their own store.
