IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v8y2023i1p67-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patterns of Detachment: Spatial Transformations of the Phosphate Industry in el-Quseir, Egypt

Author

Listed:
  • Mirhan Damir

    (Department of Monument Preservation and Building History, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany / Department of Architecture, Alexandria University, Egypt)

  • Martin Meyer

    (Habitat Unit – International Urbanism and Design, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

  • Hellen Aziz

    (Department of Urban Renewal and Planning Theory, Universität Kassel, Germany)

Abstract

The establishment of phosphate mines and processing plants by Italian entrepreneurs in el-Quseir in 1912 revitalized a town that had faced a steady decline after the opening of the Suez Canal and re-linked it to the world economy. To this day, the now defunct industrial site occupies a large section of physical el-Quseir and plays a key role in its identity. In this article, we explore the impact of the company’s successive industrialization and deindustrialization based on archival research, interviews, and mapping. By tracing physical changes on-site and in the city of el-Quseir from the founding of its phosphate industry until today, as well as the historical and current interactions of citizens with the industrial facilities, we hope to better understand the “cluster value” of the industrial plant in quotidian life and the effect of the vacuum left behind after the termination of production. As machinery and buildings are slowly eroding in the absence of expressed interest by the former Italian and current Egyptian owners, we aim to discuss the relationship between the citizens and their el-Quseir phosphate plant as a crucial element of its heritage value at the local level.

Suggested Citation

  • Mirhan Damir & Martin Meyer & Hellen Aziz, 2023. "Patterns of Detachment: Spatial Transformations of the Phosphate Industry in el-Quseir, Egypt," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 67-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v:8:y:2023:i:1:p:67-82
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/6053
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v:8:y:2023:i:1:p:67-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.