Available in: English / Arabic
English version
If you are moving on the ring road in the area between "26 of july "and “Saft Ellaban” you will pass by Al Mu’tamidia exit ramp . This exit is a bit different than any other exit on the ring road as it is not done by the government , It is done by the people of Al Mu’tamidia during the 3 months of the collapse of the secuirty apparatus after Moubarak ouster.
To know the story from the begining: Al Mu’tamidia is like any other informal settlement in Cairo is cut off from the main road beside it and don’t have access to it and this leads to daily transportation problems but people always manage to find pop up solutions by building small stairs leading to the ring road where there is always “informal” microbuses stations.and this is accompanied by more small interventions like tea stands ,coffee shops and car repair points.
The people of Al Mu’tamidia needed to build this exit from a long time ago and when the chance opened for constructing it they took the chance during the “temporary collapse of local authorities “.
That project is a huge project that costed 1 million Egyptian pounds, including 4 ramps like the official exits from the ring road, and people of Al Mu’tamidia contributed to it with effort, money and expertise through a local community initiative called "Al Mu’tamidia baladna” which means “Al Mu’tamidia is our country” .They documented the process of construction in a video and after finishing the exit they invited the local authorities to come and inaugurate the exit.
That was a scene from a big scale urban intervention in Cairo which “we” knew about it from the amazing work of cluster , you can know more about these interventions and more in this publication which is the source of this story.
## Arabic version
لو انت ماشى على الدائرى فى المنطقه بين محور 26 يوليو و صفط اللبن ,حتعدى على نزله المعتمديه . النزله دى مختلفه عن باقى نزلات الدائرى ,دى مش الحكومه اللى عملاها دى اللى عملها اهالى منطقه المعتمديه فى التلات شهور اللى بعد سقوط مبارك اهالى المعتمديه انتهزوا فرصه انيهار الاجهزه الامنيه و عملوا نزله من على الطريق الدائرى
المعتمديه زيها زى مناطق كتير غير رسميه مقطوعه عن الطريق السريع اللى جمبها وده بيسببلهم مشكله يوميه فى المواصلات بس الناس عموما دايما بيلاقوا حلول بسيطه للمشاكل دى زى بنا شويه سلالم بتودى لمحطات الميكروباص غير الرسميه و ده دايما بيبقى مصاحبه نصبه شاى ,قهوه ومحلات تصليح سيارات.
المشروع ده مش صغير دول 4 نزلات زى النزلات الرسميه كلف مليون جنيه و ساهم فيه اهالى المنطقه مع جمعيه المعتمديه بلدنا . مش بس كده دول سجلوا المشروع كله فى فيديو وبعتوا دعوه بيه للمحافظ و رئيس الشرطه لافتتاح النزله.
ده كان مشهد من التدخلات الغير رسميه فى العمران المصرى عرفنا عن طريق كلستر و ممكن تعرف اكتر عن طريق المطبوعه
دى اللى هى مصدر الرئيسى للقصه