A Land in Transition Egypt as a place is no stranger to the change that marches hand-in-hand with the progress of time. It is a unique place in the world. The lands made habitable by the flowing waters of the Nile River and its delta house a civilization amongst the oldest, stretching back thousands of years to leave a mark on the modern world. Throughout this long and rich history, the places where Egyptians lived shifted along the path of a shifting river delta as well as cultural and political tides. Cairo has been populated in various stages for over 1,000 years. In its earliest history, Cairo began as a settlement near a strategic point between two of the Nile’s natural features–its delta and valley. The area grew over time as rich trade routes were established across the north of the African continent. As Cairo expanded and contracted over the centuries, various settlements, forts, and communities rose and fell. The legacy of time and change can still be felt throughout Cairo’s built environment. In many ways, Cairo is a patchwork example of this change–where new and old coexist simultaneously to create the area we see today. What we see today as a beautiful and often chaotic tapestry is the legacy of this coexistence. From the perspective of this legacy and its impact on Cairo’s built environment, there are several projects currently happening in Cairo that are poised to set the framework for this relationship in the future. A Rising Guideway–the Cairo Monorail There are a number of ongoing large-scale infrastructure projects currently underway in Cairo and its surrounding lands–responding to the needs of a shifting population. Of these transportation and infrastructure projects, there are perhaps none bigger than the Cairo Monorail, which runs 96-km across the heart of Cairo. This ambitious project–owned by the Egyptian National Authority of Tunnels (NAT)–is intended to create a direct connection between Cairo, the New Administrative Capital, and 6th of October City via a two-line rapid transit system. When completed, this will be the longest driverless monorail system in the world. The Cairo Monorail system will represent the public transportation links between the New Administrative Capital and the 6th of October City. The monorail’s concrete guideway now rises high through the landscape of Cairo and its surrounding metropolitan area. At either end of this long-spanning system are two depots–one for the East of Nile (EoN) line and one for the West of Nile (WoN) line. Construction began on the Cairo monorail in September 2020, and engineering work is nearly 90 percent complete with work currently ongoing completing formal submissions for systems assurance documentation. The next step in regard to engineering is finishing as-built drawings as the project continues to progress through its construction phases. Additionally,
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