Residents and Municipalities: Renegotiating Political Space and Public Goods in Cairo How do particular neighborhoods of a city develop an identity and a sense of their centrality to the city? In Cairo, where large swaths of the city have been settled within three decades while other neighborhoods are centuries old, how do residents from newer, informal areas understand their place in the city, demand representation, and negotiate their fair share of public resources? This paper examines how municipal level governance during the Mubarak era and the larger centralized government constrained the emergence of a residential identity as local district councils managed and secured neighborhoods, rather than building community and engagement. At the same time, it will examine how mobilization at the local level over the distribution of public goods and services and new demands for representative government following the 2011 Egyptian uprising, may be contributing to a more defined residential identity for Cairenes. The paper will explore the ways in which local popular committees, formed after the revolution, and other collective actors are trying to broaden the possibilities for representation and participation through residential solidarities. It will examine the former and current system of local administration in Cairo at the district level to understand patterns of negotiation and political engagement between residents and local district managers and local councils. How has the design of local government, as a result of constitutional and executive policies emanating from the national government and new, more activist, political sensibilities at the local level, built a more residential identity—stratified as it may be. Theoretically, this paper will engage scholars who theorize about participatory governance, Lefevbrian ideals of “The Right to the City,” and local democracy at the municipal level.