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| Algier’s Casbah |
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| New York’s Liberty Square near Ground Zero and Wall Street | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Top: Bab al-Wazir historic area in Cairo (developed in the 11th century); bottom: Fustat Plateau area (developed in the 1980s) source: Understanding Cairo by David Sims |
"
It is a necessity that we need to invent our Casbah by whichever mean we can think of." this is how
the funambulist commented on the impact of urban fabric on revolutions and confrontations between state and people comparing how the chaotic urban fabric of Algiers gave Algerians the edge over the french paratroopers, to how the grid iron network of New York helped the police to control the latest protest in wall street.
more in this article
Urban Insurgencies: Algiers’s Labyrinthine Casbah vs New York’s Weaponized Grid Plan
I wonder how powerful will the impact of the spontaneous urban fabric of the informal settlements around Cairo be on the future confrontations between state and citizens?!
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