A Solution: Urban Chaos in Cairo
Name: Sherif Nader A. GOUBRAN
ID: 900092358 Date: 13-5-2010
Class & Section: English 201-02 Dr. Loubna Youssef
Subtitle: Research Paper (final Draft)
A Solution: Urban Chaos in Cairo What is known today as the Greater Cairo Region is in fact a combination of a number of neighbouring cities and governorates (including Cairo, Giza, Helwan, Qalyubia and 6th of October. Since the first establishment in the region, Al- Fustat in 641 AD, Cairo was in continuous growth. The numerous and different reigns over Egypt since the establishment of Cairo, different Islamic periods, Ottoman, French, English until the revolution in 1952, have led to the inconsistency in development and urban planning which gave rise to cumulative problems. During the course of the last fifty years, the population of Cairo has increased dramatically as a result of high birth rates and large rural-urban migration from other parts of the country (Yousry and Aboul Atta). Currently Cairo is considered one of the biggest cities in the world with a population averaging at 14-15 million (Sims, 2003). The fast and continued increase in the population has been a major urban challenge that the city encountered. Today, the urban landscape of the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) is somewhat unclear: main built up, dense areas are surrounded by a number of satellite settlements at the periphery, but most importantly occupied by infinite unplanned and random constructions in the core and surroundings of the city. Informal settlements, that are named after their informal legal condition, gradually, but rapidly, took over a large area of Cairo’s landscape and crawled over agricultural and deserted land. Informal growth started in Cairo as early as in the 1960s as a response to the increasing unsatisfied demand on housing and the increasing prices of land and houses inside the formal developed areas of the city. At their start, informal constructions were mostly at the periphery of the city on agricultural
ID: 900092358 Date: 13-5-2010
Class & Section: English 201-02 Dr. Loubna Youssef
Subtitle: Research Paper (final Draft)
A Solution: Urban Chaos in Cairo What is known today as the Greater Cairo Region is in fact a combination of a number of neighbouring cities and governorates (including Cairo, Giza, Helwan, Qalyubia and 6th of October. Since the first establishment in the region, Al- Fustat in 641 AD, Cairo was in continuous growth. The numerous and different reigns over Egypt since the establishment of Cairo, different Islamic periods, Ottoman, French, English until the revolution in 1952, have led to the inconsistency in development and urban planning which gave rise to cumulative problems. During the course of the last fifty years, the population of Cairo has increased dramatically as a result of high birth rates and large rural-urban migration from other parts of the country (Yousry and Aboul Atta). Currently Cairo is considered one of the biggest cities in the world with a population averaging at 14-15 million (Sims, 2003). The fast and continued increase in the population has been a major urban challenge that the city encountered. Today, the urban landscape of the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) is somewhat unclear: main built up, dense areas are surrounded by a number of satellite settlements at the periphery, but most importantly occupied by infinite unplanned and random constructions in the core and surroundings of the city. Informal settlements, that are named after their informal legal condition, gradually, but rapidly, took over a large area of Cairo’s landscape and crawled over agricultural and deserted land. Informal growth started in Cairo as early as in the 1960s as a response to the increasing unsatisfied demand on housing and the increasing prices of land and houses inside the formal developed areas of the city. At their start, informal constructions were mostly at the periphery of the city on agricultural
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