For many, informal settlements, or ‘slums’, are deemed ugly and chaotic with their high density and ‘unfinished’ structure. They are often built as a result of rapid population growth coupled with a lack of urban planning. In Cairo, informal areas represent more than 60% of the urban environment, and as a result, I decided to create these illustrations, inspired by different pockets of the city, to emphasize these neglected neighborhoods. While they take up the majority of the built environment and often exist just around the corner of many attractions in Cairo, they are sparsely shown in commercial photos.
This illustration is the beginning of a series, as part of an individual project, which will include further illustrations around the same topic. Stay tuned.
