Two versions of 'New Gourna' and the dilemma of sustainability in new urban communities in Egypt

K. G. Ahmed; L. Elgizawi

doi:10.2495/SDP090642

Two versions of 'New Gourna' and the dilemma of sustainability in new urban communities in Egypt

K. G. Ahmed, L. Elgizawi

Department of Architectural Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Gourna, a vernacular village in Upper Egypt was built above the Pharonic heritage site. In order to protect the monuments from theft, the Egyptian government commissioned Hassan Fathy in the 1940s to design a new settlement for the Gourna residents. Unfortunately, the project failed as most of the residents refused to move to the new village. Recently the government repeated the attempt, but this time the second version of the New Gourna was significantly different from Fathy's one. The main objective of this paper is to investigate if the second version of New Gourna is going to overcome the problems associated with Fathy's New Gourna and deals successfully with the sustainable vernacular architecture of the region. It has been found that both of the two 'New Gourna' projects reveal how the top-down official processes might end up with either a superficial mimicry to the authentic sustainable vernacular architecture or an imposed alien built environment.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Sustainable Development and Planning IV
Publisher	WITPress
Pages	691-701
Number of pages	11
Volume	120
ISBN (Print)	9781845641818
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2495/SDP090642
Publication status	Published - 2009
Event	4th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, Sustainable Development 2009 - , Cyprus Duration: May 13 2009 → May 15 2009

Other

Other	4th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, Sustainable Development 2009
Country/Territory	Cyprus
Period	5/13/09 → 5/15/09

Keywords

Gourna
Sustainability
Urban communities
Vernacular architecture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Environmental Science

Access to Document

10.2495/SDP090642

Cite this

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title = "Two versions of 'New Gourna' and the dilemma of sustainability in new urban communities in Egypt",

abstract = "Gourna, a vernacular village in Upper Egypt was built above the Pharonic heritage site. In order to protect the monuments from theft, the Egyptian government commissioned Hassan Fathy in the 1940s to design a new settlement for the Gourna residents. Unfortunately, the project failed as most of the residents refused to move to the new village. Recently the government repeated the attempt, but this time the second version of the New Gourna was significantly different from Fathy's one. The main objective of this paper is to investigate if the second version of New Gourna is going to overcome the problems associated with Fathy's New Gourna and deals successfully with the sustainable vernacular architecture of the region. It has been found that both of the two 'New Gourna' projects reveal how the top-down official processes might end up with either a superficial mimicry to the authentic sustainable vernacular architecture or an imposed alien built environment.",

keywords = "Gourna, Sustainability, Urban communities, Vernacular architecture",

author = "Ahmed, {K. G.} and L. Elgizawi",

note = "Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the support we have received from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the Danish National Research Foundation. We are indebted to Axel Skytthe for research assistance in providing the data used in this research.; 4th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, Sustainable Development 2009 ; Conference date: 13-05-2009 Through 15-05-2009",

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AU - Elgizawi, L.

N1 - Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the support we have received from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the Danish National Research Foundation. We are indebted to Axel Skytthe for research assistance in providing the data used in this research.

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Gourna, a vernacular village in Upper Egypt was built above the Pharonic heritage site. In order to protect the monuments from theft, the Egyptian government commissioned Hassan Fathy in the 1940s to design a new settlement for the Gourna residents. Unfortunately, the project failed as most of the residents refused to move to the new village. Recently the government repeated the attempt, but this time the second version of the New Gourna was significantly different from Fathy's one. The main objective of this paper is to investigate if the second version of New Gourna is going to overcome the problems associated with Fathy's New Gourna and deals successfully with the sustainable vernacular architecture of the region. It has been found that both of the two 'New Gourna' projects reveal how the top-down official processes might end up with either a superficial mimicry to the authentic sustainable vernacular architecture or an imposed alien built environment.

AB - Gourna, a vernacular village in Upper Egypt was built above the Pharonic heritage site. In order to protect the monuments from theft, the Egyptian government commissioned Hassan Fathy in the 1940s to design a new settlement for the Gourna residents. Unfortunately, the project failed as most of the residents refused to move to the new village. Recently the government repeated the attempt, but this time the second version of the New Gourna was significantly different from Fathy's one. The main objective of this paper is to investigate if the second version of New Gourna is going to overcome the problems associated with Fathy's New Gourna and deals successfully with the sustainable vernacular architecture of the region. It has been found that both of the two 'New Gourna' projects reveal how the top-down official processes might end up with either a superficial mimicry to the authentic sustainable vernacular architecture or an imposed alien built environment.

KW - Gourna

KW - Sustainability

KW - Urban communities

KW - Vernacular architecture

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BT - Sustainable Development and Planning IV

PB - WITPress

T2 - 4th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, Sustainable Development 2009

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ER -

Two versions of 'New Gourna' and the dilemma of sustainability in new urban communities in Egypt

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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