#illegal building
In May 2021, I was sitting with my Arabic teacher in an informal street restaurant located in a few tight alleyways in Alexandria’s Shatby district. I was asking him about the area. He looked up, “all of these buildings are illegal you know.” I followed his gaze up to the towering constructions tightly packed around us. He pointed to a building that was banking to one side, a modern day leaning tower of Pisa. “People are still living there,” he…
