Urban planner & author David Sims isolates in the French countryside

“[David Sims] is one of Cairo’s sharpest observers.” That is how the Los Angeles Review of Books describes the American economist and urban planner who has led a number of studies about Cairo’s urban development and housing. Sims is the author of Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control (AUC Press, 2012, paperback) and Egypt’s Desert Dreams: Development or Disaster? (AUC Press, paperback, 2018). We recently asked him how he and his family were spending these confinement days.

“We are in our chateau in the countryside in southwest France, in Dordogne, the least affected of all of the country’s departments. A very smart move from Zamalek in Cairo, if I may say so.

“Life here is a mix of home schooling for our son Alexander, lots of little projects such as manning a vegetable patch, maintaining a huge garden, following the global virus saga, and trying to finish my book.

“We easily slip out into the surrounding forests for long walks to enjoy springtime, where we never meet anyone.”

 

 

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