ROOTED RECLAMATION

For decades, an entire city has been overrun by garbage. Mansheya Nasir, located a short distance from Cairo, is home to the Zabbaleen people and much of the surrounding area’s waste. This densely populated city is overrun by garbage brought in by its inhabitants and the surrounding municipalities. The streets and homes are filled with trash. Living conditions are unhygienic and dangerous due to a lack of regulations. Hazardous waste is mixed in with, and buried, by the ordinary waste creating many health risks for the sorters. Many have proposed solutions, but all of these destroy the lives of the inhabitants of Mansheya Nasir. Their lives and livelihood revolve around sorting and selling the trash that fills their city. The very thing hurting them is also the same thing keeping them alive. This urban proposal seeks to renew and restore a healthy, active community while enhancing and amplifying the methods of waste sorting and repurposing. The urban renewal process will be phased in an effort to cause as little disruption to the Zabbaleen way of life. By creating temporary waste reclamation centers, the Zabbaleen will have places to continue their work in a safe, controlled, hygienic environment while the city is slowly reclaimed and transitioned from a slum to a prosperous and industrious renewal site for the garbage of Cairo. The urban renewal process will be phased in an effort to cause as little disruption to the Zabbaleen way of life. By creating temporary waste reclamation centers, the Zabbaleen will have places to continue their work in a safe, controlled, hygienic environment while the city is slowly reclaimed and transitioned from a slum to a prosperous and industrious renewal site for the garbage of Cairo.

All work featured in this project was designed in collaboration with:

Huntington Brown

(Huntington Brown | LinkedIn)