Tale of Two Cities: the Origins of Modern Cairo

Abstract

The major metropolis in almost every newly industrializing nation is not a single unified city but, in fact, two quite different cities, physically juxtaposed but architecturally and socially distinct. Many observers have noted this in non-western countries throughout the world. These dual cities have usually been a legacy from the colonial past and, while increasing national autonomy and “nativization” are tending slowly to blend the two patterns, many generations may be required before the bifurcations drawn in the nineteenth century have been erased.