Egyptian City Planning processes

Examples and Learned Lessons

By Dr. Abdullah El-attar

Teacher of Urban design and Landscape  Faculty of Urban & Regional Planning
Cairo University
The experience of planning New
communities
 Ministry of
Planning new communities in Egypt Housing
Planning framework (Law 119/2008)
1. National strategic GOPP NUCA
2. Regional strategic
3. Governorate strategic Regional Detailed
City council
strategic regional plan
4. Local (strategic and detailed planning).
New Communities Law (Law 59/1979) Strategic City Detailed City City master plan
& detailed Monitor
plan plan
planning

Implementation
Planning new communities in Egypt
Agriculture
eng.
The role of Urban designers and planners
Electrical Psychologi
eng. sts

Urban planner
Observes Urban designer Contractor
and
s
monitor Government
and Developers

Economist Traffic eng.

Civil eng.
•Roads
network
•Water supply
•Sanitation
Network
The experience of planning New
communities

The largest metropolitan area in Egypt, the

Middle East and Africa

The Greater Cairo Region (GCR) – made up of

Cairo Governorate and parts of the Giza and
Qalyubia Governorates –population of
20.2 million in 2017
The experience of planning New Dr. A. Barrada , professor of urban planning and former dean FURP

communities
The Egyptian New Cities program, 1979-2005:
The program started in the wake of 1973 war with Israel by three new cities

Locations of the first two large new cities of that type ( 10th of Ramadan and Sadat ) were
chosen half way between Cairo and Suez canal region ( 50 km from each ) for the first and
Cairo and Alexandria for the second ( 90km ). The location of the third large independent
city was planned 50 kms west of Alexandria. The locations of the 4th ( and last )
independent city ( Badr )

To avoid their development as satellites

The sizes of those five cities were predetermined at 500,000 inhabitants each. That size
was thought to be the economic size and that which also allowed the new city to act as a
development pole.
The experience of planning New Dr. A. Barrada , professor of urban planning and former dean FURP

communities
In 1979 the General Organization of New Communities was established and 3 SATELLITE
TOWNS with industrial areas were started near Cairo. They were at a much shorter
distance ( 8,23 and 15 kilometers ) and in smaller sizes ( 150,000 and 250,000 inhabitants )
. , however population was almost nil as residential plots were sold to middle and high
income groups who can afford it and tend to speculate on it.

By that time (1982) NUPS study was completed, and during that elapsed period ,the
sprawl of large informal settlements around Cairo reached unexpected levels . A new
greater Cairo master plan was drafted proposing 10 new totally residential settlements
around Cairo, intended solely for low-income groups with the objective of reducing the
rate of informal sprawl on scarce agricultural lands .( they were started in 1986 –1990).
The experience of planning
New communities
The Egyptian New Cities program,
1979-2005:

© A. Barrada , professor of urban planning and former dean FURP

 © A. Barrada , professor of urban planning and former dean FURP
Planning approaches and methodologies :
All Egyptian new towns & cities have adopted the master planning approach and followed almost the same methodology, which was run
briefly as follows :
a- SITE INVESTIGATIONS ( topography, hazards of floods, climate, ….), local and regional resources .
b- study of possible sources of supplying the new towns WITH INFRA STRUCTURE.
c- ECONOMIC BASE STUDIES were performed exploiting the various location potentialities within the context of regional & national
needs & resources.
d- EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS were carried out for the various sectors, including the service sector.
e- Sizes of the various income groups determined & their housing & other needs
determined.
f- Using international standards of services, densities, modified at adhoc bases, land budgets were determined for the various uses (
figure 4 )
g- A number of alternative structural plans proposed. The chosen alternative is then DEVELOPED INTO A MASTER PLAN.
h- Finally the plan is costed, phased and implementation processes recommended.
e- All those stages as well as execution and land allocation sales as well as management CENTRALLY BY THE GENERAL
ORGANIZATION OF NEW COMMUNITIES.

The plans.
Most plans adopted a linear urban form that allows, growth for all elements of the city in proportionate & linear manner.
© A. Barrada , professor of urban planning and former dean FURP
Planning new communities in Egypt

Types of new communities

According to regional role Independent Cities (‫)المدن المستقلة‬ Dependent Cities (‫)المدن التابعة‬

According to City’s economical Commercial Cities Administrative Cities

functions

According to City’s Future Supra Mega Metro Meso

population

According to City’s Location Coastal Cities

 Planning new communities in Egypt

The Methodology:

Approximate
Political decisions and urban policy and

location
regional studies

Projected
Population

Economical
base and
functions
 Planning new communities in Egypt

The Methodology:

Approximate
Political decisions and urban policy and

location Environmental
studies

Infrastructure
regional studies

Projected studies
Population
Demographical
studies

Economical Economical
base and studies
functions
 Planning new communities in Egypt

The Methodology:

Approximate Spatial and

Political decisions and urban policy and

location Environmental location carrying

studies capacity

Social structures
Infrastructure
regional studies

and
Projected studies demographical
Population characteristics
Demographical
studies Economical
functions + labor
Economical structures and
Economical
studies generated job
base and
vacancies
functions
 Planning new communities in Egypt
Planning
The Methodology: standards and
regulations

Approximate Spatial and Land suitability

Political decisions and urban policy and

location Environmental location carrying map- land use

studies capacity allocation – spatial
and structure plan
Social structures
Infrastructure
regional studies

and
Projected studies demographical Housing program
Population characteristics
Demographical Services program
studies Economical
functions + labor
Economical
Economical structures and
Economical program
studies generated job
base and
vacancies
functions
 Planning new communities in Egypt
Planning
The Methodology: standards and
regulations

Approximate Spatial and Land suitability CITY VISION AND

Political decisions and urban policy and

location Environmental location carrying map- land use STRATEGIES

studies capacity allocation – spatial
and structure plan PLANNING
Social structures ALTERNATIVES
Infrastructure
regional studies

and
Projected studies demographical Housing program
Population characteristics CITY STRATEGIC
PLAN
Demographical Services program
studies Economical
functions + labor CITY MASTER PLAN
Economical
Economical structures and
Economical program
studies generated job DETAILED PLANS
base and
vacancies
functions
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt

Conventional (Common)
practices

Source: Urban Planning Lectures – 6th semester Architectural department- Zagazig University- Unpublished
lecture.
Planning new communities in Egypt
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 The modern destruction of urban structure: The neighborhood unit + the functional
hierarchy of streets

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The new urbanist model: neighborhood unit,
transit and non-hierarchical street design

Doug Farr’s diagrams

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The debate: the elements and their combinations

• Urban Nucleus
• Pedestrian Shed
• Neighborhood
• Urban Thoroughfare
• Local Streets

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The centered-shielded option (CS)
• Placing the urban nuclei at
the center
• Shielded from heavy traffic
• Overlap of neighborhood
and pedestrian shed
• Static – nuclei cannot
extend and join
• Disjoint between local and
district-metro movement
and economy
• Transit not congruent with
land use

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Edge – Exposed (EE) option
• Joining of the movment economy with
nuclei
• Separation from neighborhoods
• Pedshed fractured by heavy traffic
• Difficult to create a main street

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Centered – Exposed (CE) option
• The traditional city
• Put into crisis by increased car movement and
the response to transform main streets into
arterials
• Instability at low-medium densities and high
traffic flows
• Transforms into CS or EE as a result of traffic
engineering and planning practices

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Edged Shielded (ES) option
• Purely theoretical
• Worse of all worlds
• Communities are disrupted by
traffic
• Urban nuclei are not connected
to the movement network

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Key Point: The neighborhood is not the same as the
pedestrian shed
• An urban nucleus is by definition the centre of its own pedestrian shed
• Which may or may not be identifiable as a neighborhood
• Urban designers have tended to identify and attempted to fix community
by their commercial and symbolic centers and pattern of accessibility
• Neighborhoods arise out of the spatial structure of the city:
• its inevitable discontinuities
• local administrative boundaries (sometimes arbitrary)
• basins of different social services
• the transportation network particularly major streets
• the dynamics of different populations within the city,
• etc.
• Neighborhoods are socially constructed in time and mediated by shared
patterns of use of space

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The emergent neighborhood model
• Urban nuclei are placed in the best location
for their development and growth
• Neighborhoods are free of the pedestrian
sheds of the nuclei
• Allowed to center on multiple nuclei – or non
commercial uses
• Some services and shops may locate away
from the major streets – forming minor nuclei

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Urban nuclei, main streets, and
sanctuary areas: the “400-meter
rule” or the quarter mile rule

• We cannot design neighborhoods

• We design:
• Pedestrian sheds
• Main streets and sanctuary areas
• Historical cities demonstrate
remarkable similarity in the size of
areas between main streets

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The main street – sanctuary area
form is generated by a gradual
urbanization process

a. Urbanization along main roads

b. Minor streets giving access to rear
areas
c. Hemmed in by new main streets
• Bisecting shortcuts
• Later may become minor commercial
streets

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 The emergent neighborhood in
the urban region
• The formation of denser development in
proximity to transit service of a higher
rank.
• The generation of mixed-use corridors as
an outcome of contiguous urban nuclei
merging along such systems.
• The aggregation of local foci along local
main streets within sanctuary areas as a
result of the “spill-over effect” from
urban main streets.
• The continuity of a connected ecological
network of linear and planar “green”
elements such as parks, tree lines,
boulevards, or rivers all over the urban
fabric
• arrangements at intersections with main
streets that maintain the critical
connectivity of the system.

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
 Building it up…
• Main Streets
• Public transit
• Built up areas
• Natural and
landscaped
system
• The whole…

©Michael Mehaffy, Sergio Porta, Nikos Salingaros, Yodan

Rofe
POUNDBURY
Dr. Abdullah AL-Attar – Urban design department
Dr. Abdullah AL-Attar – Urban design department
Dr. Abdullah AL-Attar – Urban design department
Dr. Abdullah AL-Attar – Urban design department
Dr. Abdullah AL-Attar – Urban design department