Cairo’s streets, once crowded with corner cafés, kiosks, and the ebb and flow of pedestrians, are giving way to sweeping change. In some neighborhoods in Downtown Cairo and Heliopolis, historic streets have been replaced by overpasses and widened roads.
A surge of flyovers has turned walkable streets into car corridors, erasing green spaces, and pushing residents to the city’s margins, ultimately stripping away the pedestrian life that once gave the city its character.
Since 2014, the Egyptian government has embarked on a large-scale infrastructure plan. Thousands of kilometers of new roads and bridges are transforming the city. From 2014 to 2024, Egypt has built 945 bridges and tunnels at a cost of EGP 132 billion (USD 2.7 billion), according to a statement by the Ministry of Transport.
Though aimed at easing congestion and promoting the use of public transportation, these plans can result in the loss of leafy streets and undermine community life.
In the Heliopolis neighborhood, the historic tram system was removed in 2019, and streets were widened for highway integration. The densely populated neighborhood of Heliopolis has witnessed the rise of multiple bridges and overpasses in 2019, cutting through residential areas, removing much of the greenery along sidewalks to connect Cairo with the new eastern cities.
According to the Heliopolis Heritage Initiative, established in 2011 to revive and protect the quality of life and heritage in Heliopolis, more than 375,000 square meters of greenery, from trees and medians to open spaces, have been replaced by concrete by the end of 2019. About 2,500 trees were replaced by concrete surfaces that trap heat.
A 2022 study by Ain Shams University finds that flyovers severely hinder social interaction, pedestrian access, and public space usage. Streets once animated by human presence are now cut off, reserved for speeding vehicles.
Downtown Cairo revival efforts, including luxury hotel conversions and cultural refurbishments, offer aesthetic appeal and commercial promise. Yet, critics argue they risk driving out the mix of artists, vendors, and local residents who define the area’s urban charm.
While modern infrastructure promises progress and improving citizens’ quality of life, the cost is often Cairo’s enduring street culture. Neighborhoods like Heliopolis were once home to spontaneous interactions, chatting in doorways, sipping tea at corner cafés, and markets thriving under shade. Now, these spaces are swept away for traffic flow and sleek facades, including the Maspero Triangle in downtown Cairo.
The Maspero Triangle, once a dense historic neighborhood in the late 2000s beside the Nile Corniche and the state TV headquarters, was home to about 5,000 residents in informal settlements. Initially neglected, its buildings were deemed unsafe after the earthquake of 1992, yet residents were barred from renovating them.
In 2008, leaked documents from the Cairo 2050 project further revealed plans to redevelop the area into a tourist, recreational, and development center. In the same year, the state began resettling families to distant housing projects for public safety, despite community protests that did not want to leave their homes and their only community.
The Maspero Youth Association, founded by residents of the triangle, has described the relocation and demolition of the district as gentrification.
By mid-2018, most of the Maspero Triangle was demolished. Some residents received compensation or relocated to new housing, while others were promised return-only units after the redevelopment phase.
Currently, the Maspero Triangle is being redeveloped into a high-end residential complex of four towers, each tower consisting of five tall apartment buildings. According to Youm7 newspaper, 935 families received their assigned apartments.
A balance between progress and preservation remains highly in demand. Flyovers make way for faster and smoother transportation, yet much of the space beneath these elevated highways remains neglected, dim, uninviting, often dirty, and in visible decline.
While the government has built some urban interventions, such as a pedestrian path with cafes on both sides, under El-Merghany Bridge, some do not favor the bridge and urban activity over the green space that it replaced. Public spaces were also created below the bridges and flyovers of Heliopolis.
The new spaces could be used for community facilities such as libraries, art exhibits, cafés, public venues, and recreational centers, but Cairo’s streets will hold the memories and stories of its people, their gatherings, commerce, and culture.
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