Prioritization of Heritage Buildings in Historic Cairo for Restoration Funding

Abstract

Egypt is one of the richest countries in its historic and tourism attractions which are among the main contributors to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Historic Cairo which has hundreds of mesmerizing historic Coptic and Islamic structures (mosques, churches, mausoleums, etc.) has been identified by UNESCO as a world heritage site since 1979. However, it has been noticed that its share in the tourism revenues is quite low compared to its value. One of the reasons is that many of the historic structures are closed because they are severely deteriorated due to urban expansion, pollution, environmental hazards, and aging. To revive the tourism in Historic Cairo, the government has been directing its efforts towards the conservation of those structures and reopening them to the public, and thus increase tourism-based revenues. However, the funding needed to restore all structures is very limited. There are hundreds of historic structures in need for restoration with a budget of more than one billion EGP. Accordingly, this research proposes a decision support system inspired by infrastructure asset management system (IAMS) to guide the fund allocation process. It follows the sequential steps of IAMS from asset inventory, condition assessment, up to prioritization and fund-allocation, yet considering the unique value of each heritage building and the expected socioeconomic benefits of restoring the structures and upgrading their surrounding areas. Therefore, this new structured decision support system will help policy makers develop the best rational restoration plan that will help rejuvenate Historic Cairo, and subsequently Egypt’s tourism revenues.