What is EZBET Project ?
“EZBET” is an academic initiative in the frame of cooperation between the University of Stuttgart and Ain Shams University.
EZBET project was initiated in 2012 with an aim to promote education, health and professional skills, which became later the main three pillars of the sustainable development approaches of the project. EZBET is an academic collaboration project between University of Stuttgart and Ain Shams University, and also fully supported by the DAAD-Programme (Universities Partnership). It provides basic urban and social facilities in informal ares in Cairo.
Project Profile
The novelty of the project lies in its aim to provide the basic urban and social facilities in the informal areas of Cairo through engaging three main stakeholders in all its activities and development phases:
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Inter-disciplinary students, researchers, professors and academic staff.
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The Ezbets’ informal areas’) residents who are the direct beneficiaries of the project and its future owners’).
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Other entities including the government and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as well as other civil society organizations.
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EZBET aims to develop and create a prototype model for real sustainable community development to be the seed for more development projects in other informal settlements in Egypt. The project aims to impact the local individuals intellectually and economically along with impacting the whole Ezbet’s built environment and infrastructure. With the belief that only a healthy and well-educated society can contribute to the development process, Ezbet project is still working on promoting the three main pillars of development, which are Health, Education and Profession.
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The project is being institutionalized as a research and consulting centre, namely the city lab “Kairos” at Ain Shams University. It binds student and faculty activities of both universities in Stuttgart and Cairo with the necessary urban development projects in informal areas as a major topic for development on the local and the global level. Throughout the project, workshops and participation programs with the local community are held, where the residents and local craftsmen of the involved informal areas work hand in hand with researchers, students, and experts from all planning levels integrated into the implementation phases. The workshops expand the knowledge of the students through seminars, group discussions, and practical applications of the learned lessons.
" It is difficult to ignore the rapid development of urban cities and the urbanization growth all over the world and especially in the global south. The role of urban planner and designer is not limited to making new designs and nice architecture for unknown users. For me, after having worked with different social and cultural contexts and with different disciplines, I recognized how architecture and urban planning studies are strongly intersecting with social studies as well as how important it is to get in direct contact with the community (our clients). I was then concerned to gain more validity for users’ perspectives (Utilities) in life who often get neglected. "
- Manal El Shahat, 2018
Our Vision
Improve LIFE … along with the PLACE.
EZBET Project’s vision is to improve and develop individual’s lives along with their surrounding built environment. Informal settlement development as a fact and solution, not as a problem.
Our Mission
Upgrade the urban and social fabric without changing itslogic, culture and identity.
EZBET Project aims to create and develop a bottom-up prototype for a sustainable community development and become a model for other development projects in informal settlements in Egypt. The project also aims to impact the livelihood of local residents along with the existing environment and infrastructure.
HEALTH EDUCATION PROFESSION
As a community development project, EZBET seeks to improve the quality of the individual's life together with the surrounding environment. With a firm belief that only healthy and well-educated communities can participate actively and contribute positively to the development process, EZBET is focused on implementing the three sustainable development pillars: HEALTH, EDUCATION and PROFESSION.