Sudanese Refugees as City-Makers

Cities worldwide are increasingly affected by forced migration. The United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), states that there are over 120 million persons that are forcibly displaced. In the Global North, refugees are accommodated in temproary housing until their papers are processed, and they are prepared to join the “working force” of the hosting country. Contrarily, refugees in the Global South are either contained in humanitarian camps, or automatically embedded in the hosting country as part of its working force. Cairo is a city shaped by migration (forced and voluntarily), due to economic shifts in history. From the establishment of the “two cities” – European and Islamic (Abu Lughod 1986) in the early 1900s, towards drastic population increase and consequently, the housing crisis since 1960s (Shawkat 2020), Cairo has always been a city built through waves of migrations; however, most of these movements remain undocumented. This research, complemntary to other research that is being conducted on Syrian refugees in Cairo, aims to understand the role of Sudanese refugees as active city-makers. Currently, the UNHCR states that there are more than 700,000 Sudanese refugees in Egypt, most of which end up in Cairo. Sudanese refugees would settle in different parts of the city: from its informal settlements, to historical areas, and gated communities. Yet, the majority seems to be concentrated in the informal western parts of Cairo.
Focusing on Boulaq Dakrour and its surrounding, this research project aims to answer the following question: how do Sudanese refugees contribute to spatial-physical and economic urban transformation in the area? What forms of new spaces and economic activities have emerged after their arrival? To answer this question, this research looks into the different economic activities that have emerged around the southern part of Boulaq Dakrour. It aims to map these activities: from shops and restaurants, to bakeries specialized in Sudanese bread, to Baleela seeds and street vendoring. What forms of urban ecologies, relationships and cycles have developed in Boulaq Dakrour, and in relation to its surrounding? What aspects of food processing practices have developed and why? And most importantly, how did the dispalced Sudanese communities in Boulaq utilize their knowlegde and skills to appropriate spaces and architectures of the neighborhood to meet their daily needs? To answer these questions, the research will build on a variety of methods such as semi-structured interviews, participatory observations and experimetal mapping to visualize the findings.
Collection of data will be take place through the support of architecture students taking part in the upcoming Design Studio at Boulq Dakror; and selected participants from the Sudanese community, with the support of Amal Rahal and her local Refugee-Led Organization (Future Hopes Community Foundation), located in the neighborhood.