Abstract

The Egyptian government has touted the new Administrative Capital City near Cairo as a flagship for ‘Smart City’ developments across Africa. Despite its association with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, critics argue that the project will be highly detrimental to existing cities, their inhabitants and the natural environment. Using a normative framework derived from the UN goals, this paper examines whether the design of Phase One of the Administrative Capital City (2015–2020) delivers on its grand narratives and commitments. It reveals that the project fails to meet many of its aspirations and is likely to compound Egypt’s water supply issues, conflict with fragile desert environments, be vehicular-dependent, isolate everyday Cairenes from Egypt’s governance institutions and entrench the power of an autocratic leader. As such, the new capital presents a problematic model of urban development for dealing with Cairo’s environmental and societal issues, and for broadly accommodating Africa’s rapidly urbanizing population.

摘要

埃及政府将开罗附近的新行政首都吹捧为非洲“智慧城市”发展的旗舰。尽管该项目与联合国可持续发展目标有关，但批评者认为该项目将对现有城市、其居民和自然环境造成极大危害。本文使用源自联合国目标的规范框架，检验行政首都城市一期（2015-2020）的设计是否兑现了其宏大的叙述和承诺。它揭示了该项目未能满足其许多愿望，并且可能会加剧埃及的供水问题、与脆弱的沙漠环境发生冲突、依赖车辆、将日常开罗人与埃及的治理机构隔离开来，并巩固专制领导人的权力。因此，