'Chi proteggerà l'Egitto libero?'. Il Cairo tra conservazione e città informale

The site of Historic Cairo was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979 in recognition of its absolutely unques-tionable historical, archaeological and urban importance. The Urban Regeneration Project for Historic Cairo, drawn up between 2012 and 2014, try to develop a strategy for protecting and rehabilitating the whole World Her-itage Property, not only as a spatial and functional entity, but also as a cultural and socioeconomic asset, defining a new boundaries. Despite the URHC, degradation of the urban fabric has increased and the situation has been exac-erbated by the continuing approval of demolition permits for protected buildings that could be considered unsta-ble with a highly adverse impact on the urban ancient center. The essay aims to underline the criticalities and po-tentialities that emerge from the implementation of the management plan referring to the state of conservation of Historic Urban Landscape, with the goal of guaranteeing to Cairo’s heritage community to be able to benefit from the material and intangible values of its world heritage site.