ABSTRACT
The nineteenth-century market halls of Cairo, Egypt, were built as places where the social elites could buy hygienic food in a secure environment. Today, after decades of decay, these market halls represent opportunities to restore their socio-economic role as places for encounters, trade, and social inclusivity. The Attaba market hall was strategically positioned between two urban grids and two urban socialities, bordering Cairo’s medieval Islamic city and the nineteenth-century Haussmannian quarters of Khedive Cairo. The building once espoused presents an architectural language that reflects its function, with impressive massing and subdued decorative elements. Contrary to its European equivalents, the tree-lined avenues, street grid, and market hall itself created an intangible social dichotomy between two radically different cultures of the elites and locals, yet adjacent communities. After the 1952 revolution, the hall and its surrounding areas witnessed changing hegemonies and social policies leading to intrusive urban planning decisions that altered movement flows and prioritized cars. Informal and formal trading expanded in and around the hall and changed the social dynamics, ambience, and provisions, creating social divisions between local and in-country migrants.
