Research Interest(s): Urban hydraulic infrastructures, History of contemporary Egypt, Environmental history, Economic history, Informal imperialism
Discipline(s): History
My thesis examines the drinkable water and wastewater pipes in Egyptian cities from the beginning of the 19th century to 1956. This study is at the crossroads between economic and environmental history, and aims to show what economic interests are at work in the transformation of Egyptian urban environments. The aim of this research is to put the Egyptian infrastructures in the context of the imperial economic networks that underlie them, and to understand hw a natural resource, water, becomes a financial one. In that sens, I am interested in the history of the companies managing these urban infrastructures, and in the careers of French, English and Egyptian engineers and businessmen in competition for this new water market.
David Todd and Giacomo Parrinello
"Water, networks and capital: A history of urban water infrastructure in Egypt (1817-1956)"