This stream offers a glimpse of everyday life in Cairo as experienced over the course of a typical weekend day. It highlights the layered nature of the city’s soundscape, where moments of calm and activity continuously overlap. Early morning unfolds with the Fajr prayer, followed by the gradual emergence of street life, as residents and vendors begin to occupy the space. As the day progresses, the presence of car traffic, an integral part of Cairo’s identity, blends with human interactions and informal exchanges at street level.

This stream is by CLUSTER – Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research – was founded in 2011 in Downtown Cairo, as a platform for urban research, architecture, art, and design initiatives. CLUSTER engages critical discourse while being grounded in professional practice, with an emphasis on participatory design processes.

CLUSTER’s scope of activities includes research, mapping, design, programs and training. Previous design implementation projects range from Downtown and Cairo’s urban core to informal areas in its peripheries as well as a number of ongoing projects in Alexandria, Mansoura, Port Said, Amman, Beirut, Tunis and Tangier.

CLUSTER aims at establishing a space for critical urban discourse and design practice, negotiating the blurred boundaries between formal/institutional regulations and everyday urban informality.

More information: https://clustercairo.org/