Tucked within the bland press junket website for the inauguration of Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Egypt are several PDFfiles documenting the project from concept to built reality. Also documented is the wider conservation and urban revitalization plan for Darm al-Ahmar, the historic neighborhood where the park is situated. No doubt great resources for designers and preservationists. The juxtaposition of the park as a barren earthwork in the beginning and as a lush oasis amidst a dense urban environment is quite startling and marvelous.
But let's see how the park matures and enter into the daily fabric of the city. For now, the photos reveal a park devoid of people or the multitude of activities it was designed for, which seem to have a decidedly Western flavor. Time, “the crucial dimension of landscape,” will only tell.
