In 1984, His Highness the Aga Khan first proposed to create an urban park in Cairo. In 1990, a protocol between the Governorate of Cairo and the Aga Khan Trust set out the conditions for what would become al-Azhar Park, a thirty-hectare stretch of land (formerly a rubbish dump) near the Citadel and abutting the remains of the Ayyubid Wall and the City of the Dead. This book describes the construction of the Park, its architecture, the renovation of a large part of the Ayyubid Wall, and the extensive socio-economic and rehabilitation work undertaken by the Trust in the neighbouring community of al-Darb al-Ahmar.
In addition, it tells the story of Cairo's development into a modern megalopolis with a need for green spaces such as al-Azhar Parks and considers the situation in the project area many years later.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Jodidio Philip, editor. Cairo: Renewing the Historic City. Munich: Prestel, 2018.
Prestel and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture