Syrian Textile Market in Street 18

Investigating The Dynamics Behind Refugee-Led Urban Transformation: The Case of The Syrian Textile Market in Street 18 in Guesr Al Suez, Cairo

As displacement phenomena increased through decades, displacement studies emerge framing urban transformation through the lens of different displaced groups like migrants, urban refugees and camp refugees. Egypt is one of the top countries hosting migrants and urban refugees who emerge with their own needs and practices. One of the main survival needs is being economically independent, so they contribute to formal and informal markets. The research problem is that Urban transformation caused by commercial activities of displaced groups in Egypt needs investigation. This research aims to develop analytical tool to analyze the economic driven urban transformation caused by displaced groups in Egypt. Accordingly, it is necessary to understand from literature what are the aspects of urban transformation. Studies showed that different displaced groups contribute differently to urban transformation. This research analytical tool names this contribution as ‘urban indicators’ that shape urban transformation, and mainly focuses on urban refugees for the limited studies analyzing their contribution to urban transformation. Inductive research methods are used in the field work of this study. To select the case study, preliminary fieldwork was done in nominated areas of potential. The selected case study is the Syrian textile market in street 18 in Guesr al Suez in Cairo, which was originally shaped and developed by Syrian refugees. The analysis showed market’s high contribution to all core aspects of urban transformation; economic, socio- cultural, urban governance, and spatial reconfiguration. As ethnic market, it has a flow of urban transformation that flows between urban aspects. The study conclude that the economic aspect is the first to trigger urban transformation parallel with culture and identity. Then, changes start to happen in urban governance to adapt the commercial needs. As a result, strong special reconfiguration happens in scales of building, street and neighborhood. Additionally, each aspect of urban transformation in ethnic markets is dominant within certain timeline of the transformation procedure.