埃及总统希望在沙漠地带兴建一座新的行政首都。阿卜杜勒•法塔赫•塞西(Abdel Fattah al-Sisi)似乎不畏惧可能的成本、对开罗1900万市民的影响，以及这个城市1000年的历史。不过，他也许可以从尝试过类似实验的国家汲取一些有用的经验，从澳大利亚、巴西或土耳其，到近年的哈萨克斯坦和缅甸。
There can be good reasons to attempt a transplant of government. When Australia opted to build its capital on the site of Canberra, the reasons included security from naval attack, climate and, above all, a wish to prevent either Sydney or Melbourne dominating the new federation. Brasília was founded with similar aims of sharing resources and influence across a large country. It was also planned on utopian principles, from the aeroplane shaped design declaring Brazil to be modern and global, to the residential blocks intended to promote social equality.
试图迁移政府所在地可能有很好的理由。当澳大利亚选择在堪培拉建造首都时，其原因包括避开海上打击的安全考量、气候，以及(这一点最重要)希望阻止悉尼或墨尔本主宰新的联邦。巴西利亚建都的目的类似：在一个幅员辽阔的国家共享资源和影响力。它的规划还基于乌托邦原则，从宣告巴西将变得现代和全球化的飞机形状的设计，到旨在促进社会平等的住宅楼。
Another honourable example is Ankara, whose elevation from provincial backwater to capital of the Turkish republic was driven by military necessity. Istanbul was under allied occupation. Ankara became an embodiment of Ataturk’s secular, westward-facing republic — an exercise in urban planning with the great man’s mausoleum more visible than the minarets.
另一个值得称赞的例子是安卡拉，它从一个落后的小地方升格为土耳其共和国首都，是由军事必要性推动的。当时伊斯坦布尔在盟军占领之下。安卡拉成了现代土耳其之父凯末尔(穆斯塔法•凯末尔•阿塔图尔克，Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)建立的亲西方的世俗共和国的象征;在城市规划上，这位伟人的陵寝比清真寺的尖塔还要醒目。
More recently, the construction of Abuja made sense as a means to lessen Nigeria’s regional, ethnic and religious rivalries, and to take the pressure off Lagos, whose explosive growth had made it unmanageable. The new capital has in some ways become a showcase of what Nigeria can be like when it is well run. This has come at a cost, though — in the form of countless procurement scams, ruthless clearance of informal settlements and lingering resentment at the funds Abuja sucked up at the expense of other regions.
时间再拉近一些，阿布贾的建设是有道理的，它有助于减少尼日利亚的地区、民族和宗教对立，并且为拉各斯减压;此前拉各斯的爆炸性增长让它变得很难管理。从某种角度看，新首都展示出管理有方的尼日利亚会是什么样的。然而，迁都是有代价的，其形式是不计其数的采购欺诈、对非正式居住区的无情清理，以及人们对于阿布贾独吞财政资金、牺牲其他地区利益的不满。
There is a fine line between creating a national showcase and pursuing a vanity project with ample scope for corruption that may offer a less flattering reflection of an autocratic regime.
创建国家形象与追求面子工程之间只有一条细微的界限，后者会制造出大量腐败空间，可能会让一个威权政权呈现出不那么得人心的形象。
The decision by Kazakhstan’s leader Nursultan Nazarbayev to abandon Almaty for a hastily built capital on the country’s empty northern steppe had some strategic merit, to fend off Russian claims to the territory. But the result, Astana, is bizarre: dotted with structures commissioned from international architects, but conceived by the president and plastered with his portrait, from a shopping mall shaped like a nomad’s tent, to a tower that references Kazakh folklore.
哈萨克斯坦总统努尔苏丹•纳扎尔巴耶夫(Nursultan Nazarbayev)抛弃阿拉木图、在该国北部大草原匆忙建都的决定，在当时有一些战略逻辑：阻止俄罗斯人对这块领土的主张。但建成的新都阿斯塔纳是一个怪异的城市：委托外国建筑师设计、但由总统构思的建筑散落在城市各处，建筑上张贴着总统的画像——有像牧民的帐篷一样的购物中心，还有取意于哈萨克民间传说的高楼。
Then there is Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, built in secrecy under military rule in an apparent bid to move the country’s parliament as far as possible from most of its population. Vast, gilded and strangely empty, there could be no better illustration of the isolation and paranoia of the junta.
还有就是缅甸首都内比都：在军政府统治时期秘密建造，目的显然是为了将该国的议会搬到尽量远离人口中心的地方。这个庞大、金灿灿、空荡得吊诡的城市，堪称军政府与世隔绝、疑神疑鬼的最佳象征。
Even for the well-established capitals of Canberra and Brasília, the question remains whether people want to live there. Canberra’s functional suburbs — more politely described as the world’s biggest garden city — are notoriously unloved. As one official review notes, Canberra is often used simply “as a surrogate pejorative to describe decisions made on Capitol Hill”. Brasília’s residents appreciate its unusual architecture, but many still decamp to Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo for fun at weekends.
即便是堪培拉和巴西利亚这样建成已久的新首都，也依然存在人们是否想要住在那里的疑问。堪培拉的功能性郊区被礼貌地形容为世界最大花园城市，在缺乏人气方面出名。正如一份官方评估所指出的，堪培拉往往只被用作“一个指代来自国会山的决定的带有贬义的名称”。巴西利亚的居民欣赏这座城市别具一格的建筑，但很多人周末仍然跑去里约或圣保罗玩。
Egypt’s government should take note. Yes, civil servants might be glad to escape Cairo for a sanitised new capital. But to most Egyptians, prioritising a vast, military-led construction project while the country grapples with rising inflation and worsening militant violence might look like an attempt to bury heads in the sand.
埃及政府应该注意这些前车之鉴。没错，公务员或许乐于逃离开罗，搬去一个洁净的新都。但对大多数埃及人来说，在该国仍然受到通胀不断上升、武装暴力活动不断加剧的困扰之际，优先推进一项庞大的、由军方牵头的建筑工程，看起来可能像是在要把头埋在沙子里。
