The Creative Cities: Re-framing Downtown conference, co-organized by CLUSTER and the American University in Cairo, invited international examples of successful models of creative cities that may be relevant to the future development of Downtown Cairo, and in dialogue with local stakeholders considered the role culture can play as a catalyst for development.

Looking critically at the changes that have taken place in Cairo over the past few years, and building on the wealth of studies of both urban history and contemporary conditions that Cairo enjoys, the Creative Cities international conference was organized to emphasize comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to issues related to public space, heritage and urban culture, the revitalization of downtown in the context of gentrification and securitization.

The proceedings of the two-day conference are available in a publication and website: www.creativecitiescairo.org