A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, October 4, 2010

A Pipe Dream for a Monday Morning: Cairo's Future "Ramses Park"

If you love Monday mornings as much as most people do (and I'm on my fall issue deadline), how about a little fantasy pipe dream to start your work week? It's a vision for a future park in Ramses Square, where Cairo's main railway station, main tram line, main subway station, and several main roads converge. If you know Cairo and the present mess (which I haven't seen for a few years, so it's probably worse now), it's an intriguing vision, though I doubt I'll live to see it realized; if you don't know Cairo there's some (unnecessarily speeded up) video at the beginning to give you an idea of the present mess. (Via Zeinobia):



Just one question: the narrator says, "In what is officially called the Mubarak [Metro] Station, we create a different atmosphere. We open the ceiling of the station and let daylight come into each level. It becomes fresh and transparent."

There's a slight emphasis on "what is officially called the Mubarak station." What, do they think the name might change someday? And is somebody hinting st something with the whole "fresh and transparent" thing? Nah, couldn't be.

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