Photo credit: Francisco Anzola

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An ambitious plan to change the course of Greater Cairo by 2050

Shaima Abulhajj, Cairo Community Manager

Cairo, 1 January 2016

As with other mega-cities, Cairo is the main engine of economic growth and the main population center in Egypt. Yet, this note comes with many key challenges – most importantly, planning, infrastructure and service delivery, which have barely managed to keep up with very rapid urban growth over the past four decades. In an effort to re-plan Cairo and regain its competitive endowments and improve service delivery, the Egyptian government has recently launched an ambitious project, in collaboration with UN-Habitat and UNDP to prepare a Strategic Urban Development Plan for the region in order to ensure that Greater Cairo manages to attain a better quality of life for its inhabitants and enhance its position as a "global city" and a prime urban destination in the Arab World.

The project’s main objective is to develop a vision for Cairo until 2050, using a practical participatory approach. It is also designed to prepare well-tailored plans for prioritizing subsidiary projects with national significance, such as the urban development and upgrading of the north sector of Giza city. There, the goal is to implement a new public-private partnership to develop informal settlements and prevent expansion of slums. Furthermore, it seeks to establish the Local Urban Observatory Unit for Greater Cairo Region as a monitoring mechanism for urban development to support the development of future urban policies, in addition to strengthening the capacity of local actors in participatory and strategic planning, management and implementation.

Under the umbrella of this project, many measurements were taken, including a communication strategy that was developed for the project to increase its outreach and communication with all stakeholders. The vision for Greater Cairo is being finalized and will be shared with stakeholders for a national dialogue. Detailed studies were prepared for a number of urban areas, and some feasibility studies were developed for the revitalization and upgrading of some central zones. Additionally, strategic master plans were developed for several districts, and a coordinating body responsible for collecting and analyzing data to compute urban indicators has been established.

The project has many outcomes and expectations, but the long-term goal of the project is to contribute to the sustainable urban development of the Greater Cairo Region and increase its competitiveness on both the regional and global levels. The big vision will be achieved through a number of short-term impacts, such as strengthening the global linkages and integrating the existing urban built-up area and new urban communities; defining the economic role and the competitive economic clusters of the region to leverage their potential; increasing the efficiency for managing the region; and consolidating the active participation of key stakeholders in the decision-making and planning process through the strategic planning approach.

The time horizon for the project is the year 2050, but will start with short- and medium-term action involving a few key activities, such as developing upgrading plans for existing slums and informal settlements within the region and surrounding them with new planned areas to prevent their informal expansion. Also, there are plans to transfer ministry and governmental buildings from the old inner-city center to a new governmental center; relocate polluting land uses outside the inner city areas; and develop a new traffic and transportation strategic plan, among other main deliveries. If successful, Cairo in 2050 will be a much more equitable and sustainable city – and, perhaps, be among the global urban players.

Photo credit: Francisco Anzola

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