Dreamland: the parasitic city
Dreamland is the oldest of a number of gated communities in the desert on the outskirts of Cairo. Constructed within the past decade, it is part of 6th of October City: quiet, remote (but accessible via a network of linked roads to Cairo), free of clamor and filth, a haven for the elite, who have banished “the street” to the realm of the the impoverished. The street now represents danger, noise, poverty and risk. While investors refer to it as a “satellite city”, I think it functions more like a parasite.
Like much in Egypt that has recently been privatized, the desert land on which Dreamland is constructed was once public property.
Like a parasite, Dreamland fosters a highly specialized lifestyle. One does one’s shopping at HyperOne hypermarket, an enormous combo supermarket and department store with the requisite sprawling parking lot. Imagine four or five WalMarts stacked atop one another. For entertainment, visit the Dreamland amusement park, after which the housing development is not ironically named. A golf course, cinema multiplex, country club with gym, two restaurants, specialized game rooms, swimming pools, and shooting range extend the options for amusement.
Dreamland has parasitically reproduced since its founding. Many new settlements in the desert have appeared, offering a sense of sanitary safety to Cairenes in semi-exile. With new technology, the desert has turned from sand to a vast development opportunity.
Certainly, Cairo is overpopulated, noisy and polluted, and the new desert settlements are a utilitarian expansion. But to whom is the opportunity for exile being offered? Is Dreamland a true parasite, increasing its fitness by exploiting its host? The city will not be abandoned: the poor will be left to inhabit it. They may find their commute reversed: out into the desert to feed the parasites, back to the center to live in “the street”.
