Paper short abstract:

This paper explores space as a key mechanism of social stratification in the context of Cairo's increasingly segregated cityscape. Being able to access, negotiate and feel at home in up-market Cairo has become a decisive measure and important instrument of local class configurations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores space as a key mechanism of social stratification in the context of Cairo's increasingly segregated cityscape. New divides in middle class Cairo revolve around interrelated dichotomies of cosmopolitan versus local, English versus Arabic, and private versus public. These divisions find material expression in the form of a distinct exclusive up-market Cairo versus a vast, more diverse and less select cityscape that caters to middle, lower middle and working class Cairenes. I argue that being knowledgeable about, and able to access, negotiate and feel at home in up-market Cairo has become a decisive measure and important instrument of class divisions and distinctions. Space can thus be seen as key to the creation of class hierarchies in 21st century Cairo.