Livelihood Reports Al Amrikeya Area - Final Assessment | Page 145

lar from both sides. Both Syrians and Egyptians
agree that the Syrians revived the commercial
activity in the area. However, the Egyptians
accuse the Syrians for raising rent prices. Sur-
veys revealed that out of 22 Egyptian respond-
ents, 68.2% see a positive effect of Syrians on
the business, 13.6% see a negative effect and
18.2% are neutral. On the social level, out of 20
respondents, 80% see a positive effect, 5% neg-
ative and 15% neutral. These results show that
Egyptians are accepting the presence of Syrian
businesses despite their causing rising rents.
Egyptian shop owners regard their Syrian coun-
terparts as strong competitors yet they respect
their competence and envy their resourceful-
ness. Most Egyptians say that Syrians are very
smart and good at commercial business and
they accuse them for raising the rental prices
of the area. Regarding the labor, usually both
hire employees from their own nationality for
the ease of communication. Some Egyptians
however mentioned that Syrians prefer to run
their own businesses, while some Syrians stat-
ed that the Egyptian labour is not reliable. On
the other hand, Syrians regard Egyptians as
kind hearted and helpful, especially in resolving
Figure 51: The zones where there is conflict over public space.
87 | Understanding the development context
problems with officials. In summary, the model
of coexistence, competition and mutual benefit
between Egyptians and Syrians in AAA should
be handled with care and not be meddled with.
On the other hand, several conflicts take place
in the public open space, between the CA from
one side, and the shopkeepers/owners and
street vendors from the other. Shopkeepers/
owners use the sidewalks for outdoor exten-
sions dependent on their activities, while street
vendors use both sidewalks and streets for their
independent activities. The CA usually visits the
area, to monitor the legal use of public space.
Consequences of these visits are removing fur-
niture and products from public space or de-
stroying them. One shop owner indicated that
he is forced to open his café very early to be
there if the CA arrived and take the precaution-
ary actions. Hence, the unresolved issue with
the CA increases the conflicts in public space
and contributes to worsening the working con-
ditions of the Syrians in addition to raising their
monthly expenditures to replenish the lost or
broken items. (Figure 51)