Egypt’s Northwest Coast and its Settling Bedouin: Towards a Resilient Urban [?] Future by karimelaraby

Egypt’s Northwest Coast and its Settling Bedouin Towards a Resilient Urban [?] Future

Karim El-Araby 1

Egypt’s Northwest Coast and its Settling Bedouin: Towards a Resilient Urban [?] Future Karim El-Araby 2

Master of Architecture Candidate 2022; Urban Design Certificate Candidate 2022 email: kme3kk@virginia.edu

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including phoyocopying, recording, or other elecctronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of either the University of Virginia, School of Architecture, or the author, unless in brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

In fulfillment of the requirements for ARCH7100 Design Research Seminar At the University of Virginia School of Architecture Instructor: Matthew Jull Associate Professor of Architecture University of Virginia Student Instructor Assistant: Matthew Slaats PhD Candidate, Urban Planning

Cover: Google Earth May 2021

Preface This book represents a continuation to a somewhat sporadic research process on a place that I’ve come to admire over the past few years. To me, Marsa Matruh was merely another great place for tourism on Egypt’s Mediterrainean coast with a bustling city center and beautiful scenery firther west until I visited again in the Summer of 2019. That visit was different in many ways. It was the first time I visited Ageeba, a beautiful plateu west of the city, with at least some semblance of experience in the architecture field. It was the first time I had a glimpse of the Bedouin’s way of life there by complete chance through conversations with a mutual friend. It was the first time I looked to the popular Ageeba scenery through a critical eye of its depleted, stale infrastructure, and later learned about other planning projects to happen in the area and along the rest of the coast to the west. This led to the start of a project with an uncertain direction, to study the place through writings and research, in addition to my relatively short experience in the field of architecture. The project was first manifested through a series of conversations with the mutual friend, who explained that the community living in the less developed, more deserted regions in the west needed educational facilities. I then proceeded to design a school, built fully by the local community through low-energy means using locally sourced sandstone. The school also has research rooms and is meant to encourage outdoor learning and research, specifically about the local botany and geology. It was meant to make Ageeba a place shared between “citizens and strangers”, as my thesis advisor Prof. Peter Waldman eloquently put it. But by just hearing about and looking at news articles showing the future of the coast as a whole, my aspirations stretched further. Egypt’s Northwest coast is one of the few remaining virgin natural land that is now vulnerable to being a victim of expensive, exclusionary, concrete-and-steel planning which does not only threaten the environment, but more importantly, as I discuss in the book, the livelihoods of the Bedouin that were sedentarized in the first place. If there’s a “research question” to frame the graduate Design Thesis project I intend to take on, it is about such future. If Egypt’s urbanism is indeed meant to expand to the northwest, how can it do so without such destruction?

Karim El-Araby

Contents

CHAPTER I MODERN DAY BEDOUIN

March 2021

- Egypt’s Northwestern Valleys - The Case of Ageeba - The City of Matrouh - Exclusionary Touristic Architecture - The Educational System and Ageeba’s Bedouin

CHAPTER TE II URBAN A CONDITIONS N

- A Brief History of Sedentarization - Changes in ways of life - Integration with the Urban - Northwestern Egyptian Bedouin culture - Matrouh Bedouin Blessings and Struggles - Bedouin Natural Products + Business Operations - Bedouin Relations with Tourism

CHAPTER III POTENTIAL DESIGN INTERVENTIONS

- Geological + Botanical Research Centers? - A System of Schools? - A “Masterplan” for Egypt’s Northwest? - A “fluid blockade” to future touristic development?

The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (Arabic: ‫ )بدو‬are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Levant, the Arabian PEninsula, Upper Mesopotamia, and North Africa. The English word ‘Bedouin’ somes from the Arabic word ‘Badadwi’, which means ‘desert dweller’. Currently, there are about 1,000,000 Bedouin in Egypt (out of approx. 93,000,000 inhabitants). Only a total of 1.7% of the population of Matruh speak Bedouin Arabic, and the overwhelming majority of the population are originally from Urban centers. 12

Source: Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers: Egypt’s Changing Northwest Coast

Ageeba beach Marsa Matrouh’s urban center and local airport

Bedouin settler housing

Significant areas in Marsa Matrouh19

Exclusionary touristic complexes along the north coast21

Valleys feeding into the mediterrainean23

Modern Day Bedouin along the Northwest Strip

Arab states, including Egypt and newly founded ones such as Saudi Arabia, viewed the nomadic Bedouin as a problem, apparently as a factor that withheld some of the aspirations these nations have had in an era dominated by industry and urbanization. In Egypt, where the overwhelming majority of the population (95%+) were living (and continue to) in the Nile Valley floodplain (~3.5% of Egypt’s total area), more and more people started working in industrial fields rather than agriculture, ironically starting a “desertation” of the Nile Valley, leading to directing development to the vast desert lands in the country. One of the target areas for development has been “Marsa Matrouh”, a beautiful coastal strip that is home for sedentarized Bedouin. During the 1960’s the population of the area grew rapidly, at the same time when the Arab League was initiating sedentarization projects under the name of “protecting” the Bedouin.Currently, Marsa Matrouh is a popular resort for local and international visitors in Summer, and is also home for a growing trend of exclusive touristic architecture. Most of these tensions occur to the east of Marsa Matrouh (closer to Alexandria), but beyond that, the land remains deserted and scarcely populated.These lands constitute elements that create vast potential for both the Bedouin community and the country (the latter albeit indirectly). There are valleys that feed into the Mediterranean, soil that grows products like oil and fig, plants used for medical purposes, a unique geological makeup, and a group of people that still possess cultural habits and norms sustained for hundreds of years. The year 2019 represents the latest event in which Bedouin in this region have protested the confiscation of their land, owned by means known among them as “urf” but not recognized by the government, to be sold for further exclusivist developments by foreign-owned companies.

sedentarization Egypt’s modernization has long been described as challenging. Not only is it extremely difficult to break from the geographical constraints created by the lushness of the Nile floodplain and the dryness of the desert land flanking it, but the Bedouin have always presented a perceived hurdle to the process. The unique culture of the Bedouin, differing from tribe to tribe all across the country, in addition to thier nomadic and habitation patterns in what is isolated relatively distant lands, was a thorne on the back of modernization pursuits and efforts throughout Egypt’s modern history. The Egyptian government has been attempting to normalize Bedouin integration with the rest of the urban makeup of the country for more than a century, ever since the Kingdom era at the end of the 19th century. The earliest efforts to normalize the integration of the Bedouin in the Western desert came in the 1870’s at the Kingdon back then attempted to streamline jurisdiction and legal practice across the country including all its desert land (the western and eastern deserts and Sinai). That effort failed after the government decided to renege on the process. Three decades later, in 1905 and again in 1908, the government passed legislation that sought to impose the country’s administration on the Bedouin firmly. The law was an effort to fight back against the trend of false claims that in individual descends from Bedouin to avoid mandatory military service. The set of new laws was aimed to organize Bedouin tribes in a similar manner to to that of towns and villages.

Despite the efforts, the government was again forced to concede considerable power to the tribe leaders in such sparsely inhabited land. The formality of the new legislation wasn’t effective, and the Bedouin continued to be seen as another people. In 1940, German commander Erwin Rommel (for whom a beach in Marsa Matrouh is now named after) launched a military campaign across the Egyptian and Libyan Sahara that would go on to last for three years. Five months later, the Bedouin population sent a petition to the government. It was a petition that came in light of complete disregard for Bedouin people who found themselves put in a prison reserved for foreign subjects. The petition demanded an explanation for this treatment, as if they were foreigners, and demanded the government to find them another country to find compensation for their families. The petition continued: “We truly believe that we do not belong to the Egyptian government; for, if we did belong to it, adhering to its laws (as we do), it would not subject us to [such] treatment as foreigners”.

In hindsight, the sedentarization of the Bedouin seems far-fetched from the simplicity of just changing the ways of the Bedouin from pastoralism to agriculture, and lots of other complex factors came into play. Not only in Matruh, but also throughout the rest of the Arab world, many Bedouin resorted to working in government and in other industries, but from the start, many Matruh Bedouin crossed the border to Libya in search for better job opportunities, There was even a trend of trade activities between them and other merchants in Libya, some of which was illegal. When the Libyan border was shut down (in the early 1970’s), development projects in Northwest Egypt were underway. With the provision of food and housing to the Bedouin over the course of a decade, starting in 1963, the Bedouin became tempted to settle. They made decent income from selling some of the food supply that was provided by the WFP, and later funding to the Egyptian government to develop housing projects encouraged more and more of them decide to settle. One educated Bedou from the prominent Awlad ‘Ali tribe claims that “[n] ot everybody settled back then, but many did. In the past, people used to move, and they did not think about services like health and education. All [the Bedouin] wanted was their grazing land and to plant a bit of barley. In Egypt, the era of urbanization had begun, and the government started looking closely at areas to expand outside the Nile floodplain which was (and still is) oversaturated with inhabitants, especially in Cairo and other large governorates such as Giza and Alexandria. Matruh was an obvious choice; along the coast of the Mediterrainean, there are valleys that make the strip (and other parts of Matruh) areas that are primed for agriculture. Schooling became easier with settlements, but, of course, many deficiencies still remain.” 28

The State initiated a project called ‘Ta’mir As-Sahari’ (The Development of the Deserts), of which the main objective was indicated as being “to change the Bedouin from Nomadism to Agriculture” in Matruh. This initiative also took flight in the 1960’s, an era that proved to be of great change to Bedouin culture and furture outlooks. In hindsight, the sedentarization of the Bedouin seems far-fetched from the simplicity of just changing the ways of the Bedouin from pastoralism to agriculture, and lots of other complex factors came into play. Not only in Matruh, but also throughout the rest of the Arab world, many Bedouin resorted to working in government and in other industries, but from the start, many Matruh Bedouin crossed the border to Libya in search for better job opportunities, There was even a trend of trade activities between them and other merchants in Libya, some of which was illegal. When the Libyan border was shut down (in the early 1970’s), development projects in Northwest Egypt were underway. With the provision of food and housing to the Bedouin over the course of a decade, starting in 1963, the Bedouin became tempted to settle. They made decent income from selling some of the food supply that was provided by the WFP, and later funding to the Egyptian government to develop housing projects encouraged more and more of them decide to settle. One educated Bedou from the prominent Awlad ‘Ali tribe claims that “[n] ot everybody settled back then, but many did. In the past, people used to move, and they did not think about services like health and education. All [the Bedouin] wanted was their grazing land and to plant a bit of barley. Schooling became easier with settlements, but, of course, many deficiencies still remain.” 29

In hindsight, the sedentarization of the Bedouin seems far-fetched from the simplicity of just changing the ways of the Bedouin from pastoralism to agriculture...

Bedouin settlements south of the Mediterrainean

integration with the urban The educated Badawy also explains that there were two parts to the government scheme for sedentarizing the Bedouin of Madrouh: food aid and housing loans and allowances. The government also provided wooden beams, wood frames, a door, and a gate for free. The Bedouin would usually sell the food supply and use that money to complete the house. In total, he calculates that the total amount of aid given was about $1000 which was enough to “to build a house with two rooms and a reception room” The Bedouin are (to this day) the architects of their own houses who also made their own decisions about where to locate them. They settled first around the valleys where their fathers and grandfathers planted barley and other crops, and then dispersed outward from them into the interior on the plateau. They were generally also located within their lineage territories based along the coast. Currently, Bedouin youth and children are much more integrated with the urban via the city of Marsa Matrouh , which is a small, urbanized city containing most of the governorate’s infrastructure and services, including schools, factories, and an airport. The soft buffer between generations of Bedouin that grew up in the desert and those that didn’t is evident. About five years ago, Michael Bananav of the Geographical Magazine interviewed two siblings; one was 35 and the other 18. The elder, Eatimad, yearned for the days of the past when she grew up in the desert, saying that she misses the quiet and the nature.

“In the desrt, you are free” , she says. “There is no traffic, no nois, no filth and your day runs on a natural schedule, not by the clock”. Her younger sibling, Iness, had never lived in a tent and was used to being in the city. “I like my cellphone, and Facebook. I want to finish school and one day be a lawyer or a journalist. There’s nothing for me in the desert”. In my own recent visits to Marsa Matrouh (which I went to as a tourist a few years ago, much like most Egyptians would do in the Summer if so), I would regularly interact with Bedouin who have a mutual friend or with others that work in markets and restaurants, and I would recognize their differing dialects that depend on who they’re talking to. To me, and other people that come from urbanized areas, they would be closer to a normal Egyptian accent, and then revert swiftly back to their “Badawy” accent when talking to a fellow Bedouin. Many of the Bedouin that live at a proximity to the city have established a firm footing in the urban environment. Others, however, haven’t. It seems that some people that are nostalgic to their past ways of nomadic life may be ones that struggle in the urban environment. The aformentioned Bedouin woman, Ines, also mentions that she is a skilled weaver who struggles to find a reliable source of income because it’s getting more and more difficult to raise sheep and harvest their wool for her own production. Buying wool from outside is obviously not a viable option either, so she earns modest daily wage working at a small carpet factory.

a brief conversation with a family friend.

A family friend from Cairo (who will remain anonymous at this time) spoke to me about the Bedouin ways of life. He works in Marsa Matrouh in the tourism architecture development industry, and collaborates with Bedouin on certain projects (the relationship between Bedouin and tourism will be discussed later). About a year ago, we spoke about the Bedouin he’s come to encounter over the years he spent working west of the city. After an informative conversation about their day-to-day habits, lifestyle, and other cultural practices, he mentioned that the Bedouin are still a community that is proud of its culture. Until very recently, they were so protective of their blood and lineage that they didn’t allow a Bedouin man or woman to marry an outsider, but that has changed with the integration. He also mentioned that traditional forms of land ownership, for example, still hold true: the land is owned by “urf” [Arabic: ‫]عرف‬, which is a way of ownership that is recognized via mutual agreements from within the community or tribe but doesn’t involve paperwork and official documentation that is recognized by the government.

A striking conclusion was what he relayed to me about not only their pride, but also their ambition. He gave me an implied idea that, only a few decades ago, the Bedouin weren’t interested in integrating with the modern, urban ways of life, but that younger generations aim to be well-educated and have illustrous, successful careers in medicine, engineering, contracting, and law. They are even encouraged by their families to take these pursuits. The flipside of that is that, in the case of Bedouin that live in the western areas to the city, which is somewhat remote, find it difficult to send their children to school. As they seek higher-quality government or public schools, they end up having to move to the city schoolyearround. Schools that are in more isolated areas aren’t up to a high standard, he said. That means that families could leave their homes for a cumulative 8 months or so out of the year to rent property in the city, so that their Bedouin children can attend better schools. “They need a school”, he said.

Inside a classrom in a Matrouh city school [source: Egyptian Streets]37

Urban Conditions Along the Coast

Exclusionary planning has characterized all of the developments on Egypt’s Northwest Coast (NWC) since the 1980s. It initiated by the 3 pilot projects (Marakia, Marabella and Marina) developed by the public sector to set an example, followed by the private sectors’ leapfrog developments that have consumed the coast ever since, completely neglecting the informal sprawl of the hinterland where the locals (Bedouins) live as well as context and identity. Finally, this approach is currently undergoing completion by an even bigger plan to construct the Alamein New City that so far has had the reputation of being anything but inclusive since it is unaffordable, attracting only the elite (mainly foreigners), who can afford a millions of Egyptian pounds worth apartment in extravagant towers along the coast that are characterized by imported architecture- setting the context aside. This project is one of several projects currently under construction in order to attract people out of the overcrowding Nile valley.

tourism and exclusionary planning

The relationship between tourism and the Bedouin is a curious one. The bright side of that relationship is one that has the Bedouin heavily involved in the operations and businesses of tourist infrastructure development, in addition to serving tourists themselves. Bedouin tribes usually organize events for tourists, including safaris, sightseeing trips and Bedouin camps. Some Bedouin are currently working in contracting, and aid the constriction of private houses and resorts for Summer tourists as well. Despite the great success of modern hotels, even at the end of the 20th century when tourism development was still at early stages of growth, Donald P. Cole and Soraya Altorki (1998) demonstrate an interesting opinion from one of the oldest migrant settlers in the area. “We should have left Marsa Matrouh as it was. The camps with all the tents were really attractive. The people who stayed there enjoyed the tents. [...] But we built all these new buildings. Apartment buildings, tall hotels. They are very near or right on the beach and they are not in the interest of tourism. We have beautiful sands, a beautiful beach. The area by the sea should have been left unspoiled. The new buildings block the people from reaching the sea. The local people have no access at all to the beach.” This leads to the other, uglier face of tourism is one that involves the exclusion of the Bedouin from lans they had occupied and moved from and into nomadically for hundreds of years. The following is an excerpt from a dissertation about exclusionary architecture in Marsa Matrouh that highlights the history of Bedouin exclusion in tourism planning.

In the society-centered models, the first one called the ‘society class’ analysis was the one most relevant to the NWC region. It describes policy as the outcome of conflicts between social classes. Policy is seen as the prerogative to the dominant class and is a means of securing the reproduction of the already existing discriminatory societal relations of the capitalist mode of production. The state is perceived as an instrument of the domination used by this class, where policy is a reflection of their wants and interests, completely disregarding the subordinate class. Hence why the locals (Bedouins) livings in the hinterland no longer have access to the continuously developing Mediterranean coast and why only the elite can afford living and accessing the privatized, capitalist driven region. Attia (1999) found out through discussions with several members of the local community that many locals had identified that their major problem was their inability to access the beach. Attia also mentioned that according to Cole and Altorki (1998), “the walls of the touristic villages along the NWC region block most of the local people from access to areas that, with their development, have been lost to the Bedouin as part of their patrimonial heritage. The walls of the holiday resorts protect the elites from intrusion by ‘ordinary’ people from the masses who might spoil the scene with crowding, noise, and unstylish appearance” Attention was paid to the needs of the holidaymakers, disregarding those of the Bedouins who have lived in that region for hundreds of years. (Mansy, 2019)

Attention was paid to the needs of the holidaymakers, disregarding those of the Bedouins who have lived in that region for hundreds of years...

Touristic development in Marsa Matrouh [Source: TripAdvisor.com] 43

Source: Middle East Monitor 45

the valleys

There is a tendancy to think that the Western Desert in Egypt is almost completely arid, with the exception of five major oases scatterd around such a massive footprint of the country. But the valleys that feed into the Mediterranean, for the apparent neglect the Egyptian governemnt has given them, has exceptional potential to allow stormwater to be harvested, crop production to increase, and drinking water to also be harvested and used by the future urban population that the government is planning for. As part of Ta’mir As-Sahari, the government did construct dams and dikes to claim and control the water, and some of those aged and were replaced. But flooding in some parts of Matruh occasionally occur, which cimplicates matters with sedentarization and with the presence of more hardscape in settling Bedouin communities. The Bedouin remain dependant on rain for agriculture, with rain ‘storm events’ supplementing that water and stored by dams and cisterns constructed en masse by the government to some of the settled Bedouin.

Aerial view of the valles west of Marsa Matrouh City [source: Google Earth] 49

the new alamein project

As an aspiration of the government, urbanizing outside of the Nile floodplain in Egypt is now essentially inevitable. The fact that roughly 96% of people still live on and around the Nile floodplain with the recent population increase has triggered several new urban developments, from new housing projects, to planning entirely new cities, to the development of massive urban projects including a new administrative capital and a new megacity in the northwest. Perhaps the most prominent project that is currently under development is New Alamein. The New Alamein City project is meant to primarily attract new jobs and social infrastructure, as opposed to tourism (which is the obvious common theme of development on the mediterrainen coast). Like virtually all sich new urban developments, New Alamein is developed to attract investment from both local and foreign businesses. The following is an excerpt from a news article describing the city, which is expected to be in operation in the next few years.

New Alamein City which considered to be fourth generation cities, has perceived as “the diamonds of investments in the region”. The developers show efforts to make these developments approachable to both marketable and housing communities, as the newspaper reports. As a state-owned developer, City Edge Development is nationally driven by strategic and national projects, making its vision recognizable. The company is the product of the collaboration between the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), the Housing and Development Bank (HDB), and the Holding Company for Construction and Development. “The population to accommodate the city is about 3 million according to the city strategy. The city is intended to rebrand Egypt’s North Coast region. Moreover, the city design is to incorporate the most up-to-date technologies to attain the welfare of its dwellers and endure its properties for the next generations. “The gate towers by City Edge will become one of the wellrecognized landmarks in New Alamein viewing the world’s most alluring coasts, Alamein lake. The towers’ design is uniquely conceptualized as the city’s custodians that oversee a stretching road to the sea.”

New Alamein City masterplan [source: World Architecture]53

Potential Design Interventions Towards a Resilient NWC

And so, the northwest coast is mostly untouched natural land, some of which is starting to become “touched” by both Bedouin settlers and mega-rich investors. Not only is a great natural resource becoming occupied without a real concern for environmental impacts (as seen in the New Alamein project), but it’s also causing a duality in the relationship between Bedouin and strangers; some Bedouin welcome tourists and new settlers, while others lament the takeover of their lands without proper compensation. Can harmony be achieved between the capitalistic development that is currently sprawling from the outskirts of Alexandria towards the west, and the potential urban conditions that can be achieved in favor of the Bedouin population? Can capitalist planning be inharmony with socially conscious planning? How can architecture foster a harmony (of which there is already some semblance) between the Bedouin and tourists, rather than completely block the Bedouin out of the coast in a spatial sense?

Addressing plateaus that are popular for tourism as a more purposeful attraction Barley and medical botany

Target:

Water storage to be more effective to avoid more flood events New road connections should avoid cutting through the valleys

The Valleys ‫الوديان‬

Bedouin settlements to be preserved

The Wadis along the Northwestern coast provide ample opportunities for not only touristic architecture, but also for plantation and for programming that allows the unique natural elements to be explored and researched. The Wadis could serve as sites of visitor centers that bring income into Bedouin communities in an inclusive manner, providing a renewed urban design strategy that is outside the exclusivist box and respects the environment with buildings that have a low carbon footprint with locally sourced materials.

B.S. Arch Thesis Project by author, University of Virginia, May 2020

Target: Schools ‫مدارس‬

Educational facilities are some of the public infrastructures that are most lacking in Egypt’s northwestern areas that are occupied by sedentarized Bedouin. educational facilities. This is a design of a school that was proposed as part of my undergraduate architecture thesis project. It involves a repetitive design strategy that extends along the Wadis and involve materials that some of the Bedouin are familiar with, including stone, palm wood, and tent fabric. This way, some design strategies could involve ideas inspired by social impact design and spatial agency principles, such as those adopted by Burkinabe architect Francis Kere in several projects that he’s designed in African villages. 66

B.S. Arch Thesis Project by author, University of Virginia, May 2020

Target: Communities ‫األهالي‬ Matrouh lacks a place that creates a network of resources for their people to up their craft and be able to sell them and create sustainable businesses for themselves, as seen by Eatimad. This is a series of precedents that present designs of community centers in Sinai and the eastern (Red Sea) coastline, also occupied by Bedouin. By investing in the Bedouin’s craftsmanship, and cultivating local materials, the result is a wonderful manifestation of low-impact architecture inspired by nature that serves the local communities through their craft.

Abu Gaddan Community School by Hand Over (Source: Forbes)

Abu Galoum Protectorate by Hand Over (Source: Round City)

Wadi Gharba Community Center by Hand Over (Source: LinkedIn)

bibliography “Bedouin in Marsa Matrouh protest Egypt confiscation of their land”. Middle East Monitor, Aug 19 2019. https://thearabweekly.com/unspoiled-egyptian-resort-marsa-matruh-attracts-tourists Cole, Donald P., and Soraya Altorki, Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers: Egypt’s Changing Northeast Coast (American University in Cairo Press, 1998) Ellis, Matthew. “The Bedouin People who Blur the Boundaries of Egyptian Identity”. Zocalo, July 20, 2018. https://www.zocalopublicsquare. org/2018/07/20/bedouin-people-blur-boundaries-egyptian-identity/ideas/ essay/ “Egyptian architects use rammed earth techniques for Abu Galoum Project”. Round City, Jun 2 2020. https://round-city.com/egyptian-architects-userammed-earth-techniques-for-abu-galoum-project/ Hand Over. Linkedin, https://www.linkedin.com/company/hand_over/ posts/?feedView=all. Accessed 12 Feb 2021 Hany, Mariez, ‘Building Better Communities: Hand Over Architecture Projects’, Linesmag.Com <https://linesmag.com/building-better-communities-hand-over-architecture-projects/> Hobbs, Joseph J., Bedouin Life in the Egyptian Wilderness (University of Texas Press, 1989) Kamaly, Asmaa, ‘New Alamein Is Branded as The Diamond Of Investments in Egypt’, Worldarchitecture.Org <https://worldarchitecture.org/article-links/ egpge/new-alamein-is-branded-as-the-diamond-of-investments-in-egypt. html> Mansy, Maha, ‘Exclusionary Planning on Egypt’s Northwest Coast: The Case of Marassi by the Dubai-Based Emaar’ (Politecnico Milano, 2019) ‘Matruh - Egypt | Data and Statistics - Knoema.Com’, Knoema.Com <https:// knoema.com/atlas/Egypt/Matruh> The Cairo Post. “School children killed due to poor school maintenance in Egypt”. Egyptian Streets, 27 Oct 2014. https://egyptianstreets. com/2014/10/27/school-children-killed-due-to-poor-school-maintenancein-egypt/

Yeoh, Neil. “Egyptian Millennial Entrepreneur Builds Sustainable Housing in the Desert. Forbes, Jan 29 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilyeoh/2018/01/29/egyptian-millennial-entrepreneur-builds-sustainable-housing-in-the-desert/?sh=1f7296263c48

Hard deadline

Comprehensive Timeline of the M. Arch. Thesis Process

Karim El-Araby

Design sequence

March 2021 - May 2022

March 2021

Other arrangements Academic Breaks

Wellness day!

Brief meeting Mona El Khafif

Thanksgiving

Reading Day

Weekly Advisor Meetings

Brief meeting Jose Ibarra

A4 due WS Grant Writing

Weekly Advisor Meetings Interview w/ Matrouh Bedouin

WS Book

A7II due

Midreview

Spring Recess

THESIS I

A7I due

A5 due WS Synthesis

REVIEW

Historical + Context Research

PHASE I TOPICAL RESEARCH

Site Visits

PHASE II DESIGN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW

Specific Programming

ARCH7100 FINAL 5:00 pm

REVIEW

Resource-finding / research

REVIEW

Brief meeting Mona El Khafif

Design Scope

Resource-finding / research

REVIEW

PHASE II DESIGN RESEARCH

REVIEW Final deliverables (models, renders etc)

A7II works

Finalize A6II

REVIEW Architecture scale development, final

A7I work

Finalize A6I

Large-scale programming

Midterm prep

Urban scale development, final

Work on final book

A study of urban strategies

Writing the Grant

Reading: Exclusionary Planning on Egypt’s Northwest Coast

Intermittent interviews

Writing the Grant

Reading: Bedouin, Settlers, and Holiday-Makers

A6I due

THESIS II

A6II due

m Interview with acquaintance with ties to Matrouh Bedouin

may 9

may 2

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SPRING 2022 dec 13

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FALL 2021 aug 30

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SUMMER 2021

SPRING 2021