Towards Sustainable Cities and Communities: Right of Use of Sidewalks in Cairo

Abstract

Sidewalks are open public spaces that serve pedestrians for walking safely around the city. Regretfully, in some parts of Cairo, Egypt, sidewalks do not only accommodate pedestrians but are claimed—or even taken over by shops, markets, and street vendors, changing the features of the sidewalks, causing harm and threats and depriving pedestrians from a basic right to the city. The paper at hand tackles this topic. It explores the perception of territorially of sidewalks within Cairo’s streets from the viewpoints of both the shop owners as well as pedestrians. The objective is to bi-folded, to redefine sidewalks as secondary territorial spaces, through developing field research tools for environmental behavioral studies. The methodology is based on a literature review of the concepts of walkability and safety. Then, an empirical study is conducted in one of the most controversial Cairene streets, Abbas El-Akkad—Nasr City, and semi-structured interviews with shop owners and survey questionnaire with pedestrians were conducted in addition to an observational study to complement data obtained from the interviews. A pilot study was implemented to get acquainted with the selected street and refine data collection tools. Discussion of the findings addresses the reasons behind the different perceptions of both shop owners and pedestrians. It is aimed that the outcome of this paper encourages environmental behavioral theorists, urban designers, and decision-makers to consider all stakeholders in the ongoing developmental happenings currently taking place in our city victorious.