Innovation

• Al-Azhar Park, Cairo Set in the middle of one of the world's most congested cities, the newly opened 74-acre Al-Azhar Park in central Cairo is the result of a decadelong, $30 million project sponsored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Our judges were drawn to the extraordinarily multifaceted approach of this project: Al-Azhar provides leisure and recreational space to a city that has little; acts as an engine of social and economic development for neighboring residents; and is a catalyst for historic preservation. In a city where the amount of green space per resident was roughly the size of a footprint, Al-Azhar is a much-needed green lung for Cairo's 17 million inhabitants. The park—which transformed a 500-year-old derelict dumping ground into a landscape of waterfalls, citrus trees, and formal gardens—has created more than 250 permanent jobs for skilled workers. Aga Khan has also played an integral role in the economic revitalization of the neighboring Darb al-Ahmar district, which has an unusual concentration of 12th- through 14th-century Islamic art and architecture, by drawing attention to this previously neglected area and aiding in restoration projects. Al- Azhar has proven to be one of the most significant urban renewal efforts in recent history. www.akdn.org