The Impact of Global Change on the Urban Growth in Cairo city and its Suburbs

Transcription

1 The Impact of Global Change on the Urban Growth in Cairo city and its Suburbs Sahar Soliman Abd-Alla, Associate Professor, Department of Housing & Architecture, HBRC, Cairo, Egypt Cell: , Fax: , Maha Samy Kamel Associate Professor, Department of Housing & Architecture, HBRC, Cairo, Egypt Cell: , Fax: , Abstract According to the 2006 census, Egypt s population is estimated at 73 million living on 5.5% of the total area of the country. Cairo, the capital of Egypt, has a total population of about 14 million in Within the last three decades, its total built-up area increased more than 270%. In the late seventies, the government started establishing new cities and communities, to redistribute population, upgrade the quality of the living environment, and to protect agricultural land. Now new urban settlements are bounded Cairo on its outer ring road. The paper presents the demographic growth of Cairo city and its urban problems related to. It focuses on the new urban settlements around Cairo, and evaluates the socioeconomic concept of gated communities in the suburbs, as an impact of the global change. It exposes to the identity of gated communities as a global culture, as segregation or integration patterns in the Egyptian context. Key words: urban growth, new settlements, gated communities. Introduction Egypt's rapid population growth is placing severe pressures on the country's resources. According to the population censuses, Egypt's population has doubled from 9.7 million to more than 18 million in fifty years since 1897 to 1947 (Serag el Dean, M. & 1

2 Others, 2000). The second doubling took almost thirty years from 1947 to 1976 reaching around 36 million according to 1976 census. In 1986, population reached 48.3 million, and by 1996 it was 59.3 million. During the twentieth century the population of Egypt has increased by more than 5 times. Population is projected to reach 94 million by 2020 and 101 million by 2025, an addition of almost 1.35 million annually. Population growth can also contribute to urban environmental problems. Figure 1. Population growth in Egypt from1960 to Rural Urban Paper objectives - Analysis the urban transformation of Cairo and the policies to control its physical problems. - Contributing in understanding the global change and its effect on the urban context. - Suggest recommendation. Methodology An in-depth qualitative study based on theoretical analytical approach through the following: - Analyze the demographic growth of Cairo and its physical problems. - Explain the policies, master plans and the existing situation of the GCR. - Focus on the new urban settlements, and evaluate the socio-economic concept of gated communities as an impact of privatization and global change. 2

3 The Capital City- the Demographic factors The Greater Cairo Region, [GCR], occupies an area of about 928 km 2 distributed over three governorates [Cairo, Giza & Qaliubiah] (El Araby, M., 2002), with population about 16 million. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world [385 inhabitants/ km2] (USAID, 2006). Its population has increased by nearly 16 times during the period from 1800 to Between 1986 and 2006, the city's population grew from 9.5 million to more than 14 million (CAPMAS, 2006). The table below presents the population and growth rate in Egypt and the capital city during the twentieth century till now. Table 1. The population in Cairo, Egypt from 1900 to 2009 (CAPMAS 2009, 2006, 1996, 1986) year Cairo Egypt Population (millions) Growth rate Population (millions) Growth rate , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,083 Cairo & Its Rapid Urban Growth After the 1973 war, the policy of the government moved from a socialist and publicsector-dominated economy to the "open-door" policy. The latter aimed at encouraging the private sector and attracting international and Arab investment. A large part of such investment was directed to GCR, fostering further rapid urban development. The urbanized area doubled between 1968 and 1982 increasing from to hectares, which influenced the urban real estate and led to the inflation of land values and construction costs (Serag el Dean, M. & Others, 2000). During the 1980s and 1990s, informal and illegal 3

4 housing appeared in many areas on the outskirts of the city. In 1994, the population was representing more than 20% of Egypt's total population and about 40% of its urban population. At the same period it was estimated that more than 4 million people were living in illegal settlements in the GCR. The efforts of the government to control the growth of the city have not been sufficient as it kept growing in most directions. The physical expansion of the city did not match the rapid population growth, as a result the population densities rose to surprising levels. In 2000, the total built up area of GCR was about 524, 4 km2. Policies and Master Plans for the GCR Due to the urban problems and population growth, a master plan was formulated in 1973, suggested to construct a ring road surrounding the existing built-up area of the city to control its growth. Secondly, it was recommended that self-sufficient new communities be established at suitable distances from the city to attract additional expected growth. In 1983, the 1973 plan has been updated taking in account the importance of socioeconomic changes that occurred after 1974 as a result of the open door policy. The master plan aimed to improving the living environment in GCR by directing the growth to the new settlements, providing alternative to informal areas (Lo, F.-C., Yeung Y. M., Yousry M., Abu-Zekry, T. & Yousry A., 1998). It was considered that population could be accommodated by incremental development, in proposed major housing projects, within the existing area and the rest will be accommodated outside the built-up area through the establishment of new communities with a target of 250,000 each. It was estimated that 4,745,000 inhabitants would be absorbed in these communities by the year The master plan was updated in 1991, and then in It expected that the region population will reach 24 million by the year 2020 which means 8 million more than the 4

5 current population, considering that capacity of the new cities can absorb about 5.6 million of this increase and the rest will be in the existing urban built-up areas. The Existing Situation of the GCR In 2006, the total population of GCR was 14 million in addition to 1.5 million in new cities, which presented about 22% of the total population of the country, and about 43% of the total urban population. The increase in population as well as their high density, and the rapid urban growth led to the emergence of many problems, such as over crowdedness, lake of services, deterioration of the built environment, and the increase in pressures on utilities and infrastructure. The Capital city suffers from environmental degradation and major transportation problems with severe traffic congestion. All this lead to the deterioration of existing residential areas. Another problem is the spread of squatters and informal settlements with all its negative impacts on the environment, beside the destruction of arable land. Recent comparisons of satellite pictures indicate that informal encroachment on agricultural lands continues at a rate triple that of formal expansion. Nearly 3.5 million live in squatter areas in GCR, about 184 settlements (UNDP, 2003). These include chronically inadequate infrastructure and growing social inequities. Such informal settlements met the housing needs of middle and low- income groups in Cairo city. A number of actions have been taken by the government to solve the problems caused by the population growth and the uncontrolled urban sprawl. They tried to stop this development by building low cost housing, however, the demand for this housing is much higher than the provided stock (Friederike Z., 2007). Figure 2. Extent of Informal Settlements in GCR 5

6 New Cities and Communities The government established new communities to absorb the increase in population and to decentralize the population of Cairo. Now new urban settlements are bounding Cairo on its outer ring road, which varied from small new communities within existing cities to large independent communities that have their own economic base. We can classify the new towns and satellites surrounding Cairo city as shown below (Serag el Dean, M. & others, 2000): New towns, which are independent cities at a sufficient distance from the center city that their resident will not commute in to work. It required strong employment base, residential areas and services.[10 Th. of Ramadan, Badr, El-Amal, Sadat City] Satellite city are similar to new towns, but are situated closer to the city center, adjacent to the boundary of the region but not included in it. [ 6 October, Al-Obour, 15 of May ] New settlements are areas of mostly residential development which take advantage of existing employment bases and offer an alternative to living in the informal settlements. New Settlements and Satellite city around GCR Cairo surrounded now by eight new satellite and settlements. The new settlements are smaller and are physically and functionally tied to the urban agglomeration conceived as partially self-sufficient communities for a target population of 250,000 each. The Population of the agglomeration in 2000 was about inhabitants. 6

7 Figure 3. New Settlements and Satellite Cities around Cairo New communities have suffered from a lot of resettlement problems, while their current population sizes is far behind their projected targets, representing 15% less than their anticipated at 2006, this is beside the very low occupancy rate representing 40% of their established housing units (CAMPAS, 2006). The responsible planning ministry GOPP expected that 1.9 million people from mainly the lower and middle classes find accommodation there, besides providing 80% of its population with job opportunities. The new communities program intended to direct the population out of crowded GCR while offering housing and accessible employment and services. The intentions of these new cities were to provide better alternative to the middle and low income classes rather than informal settlements. Government offer of public housing was not embraced by the population; many of the units built between 1982 and 2000 are still empty or already deteriorated (Abdelhalim, H. T., 2006). Evidently, these towns are no alternative for the lower class, which resemble a large number of the residents in the informal settlements. Consequently a lot of the employees reside in their quarters and commute to work every day. They prefer to be shuttled everyday from distant informal settlements rather than move near their jobs (due to economic and social aspects). 7

8 On the other hand, the upper and the high middle classes are switching from the capital city to private estates at the suburb; so called gated communities. This results in an intensified segregation between different social classes, which could also lead to the development of social hot spots and riots. The new cities fit the high middle and upperclasses rather than lower income families. It didn't meet housing needs of the low-income people. Global change and the privatization concept Privatization is the process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector {government} to the private sector {business}. It has become with many meanings from restructuring basic economic institutions to foster a competitive free enterprise system, to various methodologies for encouraging the private sector to perform services now being provided within the public sector (Bayoumi,. A., 2009). Since the late 1970's the Egyptian government adopted an economic reform strategy changes from socio-political regime (socialism system) towards the free-market enterprise (open door economy) at 1975 till 1987, followed by adaptation of the privatization scheme, then the laissez-faire ideology through 1992 to 2001, and then the privatization and globalization era (from 2001 and onwards). The Egyptian economy changed from a planned economy to a private sector led one. The interaction of these economic and political factors created a new social and culture environment in Egypt. These changes have worked for the benefits of the rich and excluded the poor from the housing market in GCR and from the new communities. Due to globalization most economic activities has been internationalized. The international system becomes autonomized, as markets and production become truly global 8

9 (Rogers, J., Worty, H. & Boyer, R., 1997). The government integrated into the global economy by singing many agreements with the overseas and trans-national companies which have asked to be allocated further land parcels in the notable focal points, particularly those located in newly development areas within the GCR new towns. Socio-culture Polarization The implementation of the open door policy has led to large inequalities in the socioeconomic structure of the Egyptian society. With the implementation of the privatization policies, influential upper level groups exerted pressure to accelerate the public-private transformation process. An acute socio-cultural class polarization has occurred as a result of the structural changes in the Egyptian economy. During the last two decades the privet sector in Egypt had engaged with large scale urban development projects in the GCR new towns, seeking for the huge speculative revenues. According to estimates by the Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction in 1992, the private sector contributed 97% of the total investment in housing. Since low and middle cost housing is not very profitable, investors started to build exclusive residential estates. Therefore they either concentrate on establishing the exclusive gated communities for the most profit luxury housing market ignoring the needs of the vast majority from the poor and low income. Unfortunately, these residential projects are responding to the global change and the privatization concept. Since the privatization of space has led to new processes and new forms of urban space arrangement. Gated Communities and the Privatization of Urban Space GCs are enclosed residential communities with private urban spaces including various amenities. These communities are characterized by a closed perimeter of fences, walls, or landscaping that provides a physical barrier to entry, it also have strictly controlled entrances 9

10 providing security. The existence of security features distinguish GCs as a residential setting which is significantly different from non-gated enclaves (Blakely E., & Snyder, M., 1997). GCs represent a form of urbanism where public space is privatized. The privatization of space occurs when a planned community implements policies which allow only the members of that community exclusive rights to what was previously public goods. Public goods are amenities and/or services that are available to all members of a society equally and do not require any significant additional fee to use. Examples of public goods include physical locations such as sidewalks, streets or community resources, such as parks or recreation areas. Other examples of public goods include services provided by local government to all citizens, such as police protection and road maintenance (Elena, V. & Matthew C., 2002). Gated communities are a result of the socio-economic and the socio-political changes. These gated communities create exclusive zones for the wealthy to satisfy their desire of enjoying a better quality of life than provided by governments (Glasze, G., Webster, C. & Frantz, K., 2006). The concept of gated communities led to fragmentation of the urban community. These private residential communities exist in a setting of governmental regulation and taxation. The Background of Gated Communities The concept of gated communities is not new. While historically we knew the cities surrounded by walls to stop the enemy s armies and to prevent them from entering easily into the city. There was an enormous gate to go through, this was the main entrance guarded by soldiers. Smaller gates were the secondary entrances to the city. These cities were named Walled Cities. In more recent times, a much larger number of gated communities has rapidly developed and spread all over the world. 10

11 Gated Communities in Egypt The expansion of gated communities in Egypt began in the early 1980s when the government started to sell land for the construction of villages along the beaches of the northwest coast. Then, GCs have been established or are under construction in this area. This kind of GCs has also started to spread along the coast of the Red Sea and along the beaches of Sinai.. In the1990s, the Egyptian government sold large portions of public land in the new communities around Cairo (about 100 km2) to real estate developers (USAID, 2006). Since the mid-1990s a similar development has been observed around Cairo, where luxurious settlements surrounded by high walls are under construction or already inhabited by the elite. These GCs are developing very fast and have become an important trend for both the realestate industry and the prospective homebuyer. Since these new form of housing fits perfectly with the model of global consumption. The massive growth of GCs developments has been one of the major urban changes in the suburbs around Cairo. The real estate product has also been successful in adapting to change with great efficiency. It has been able to meet the needs of very different markets by imposing a new form of housing that fits in perfectly with the model of global consumption. Gated Communities in the new communities around Cairo GCs are a new urban trend that grow fast in the new towns. Since living in private enclosed compounds has recently been associated with a distinctive and elite lifestyle. In the early 2000s, more than 320 real estate companies planned the construction of many GCs bearing names such as Dream Land, Utopia, and Beverly Hills. Private investors initiated housing projects that were in their conceptual design very similar to gated communities all over the world. 11

12 The Egyptian GCs offer social prestige since the social segregation promoted by the limits of the enclaves isolated the wealthy classes from the problems of the public sphere. Due to the high cost of living, the lower classes are excluded from these areas. The quest for security, social prestige, property value, an escape from the city and protection from what lies outside, are the main reasons for the success of these developments. Figure 4. Architecture Form & Features in GCs Gated Communities, segregation or integration patterns The new communities have become divided into an area where the affluent have walled themselves off and an area where the social, and middle classes remain, almost creating two separate cities. Furthermore, as gated communities continue to evolve and their means of security become more developed, this security by design concept maintains the separation between the different classes within these new communities. GCs have often been diagnosed as a form of urban pathology (Davis, 1990) that is associated with destructive forms of splintering urbanism (Graham and Marvin, 2001). The privatization of space has led to new processes and new forms of urban space arrangement. Scholars and observers have discussed the link between gating and segregation. There is a wide range of academic arguments from scholars supporting the idea that gating is in fact a process which contributes to residential integration, while others believe that it is a form of exclusion and segregation. In 1997, Blakely and Snyder argued that gated 12

13 communities were creating new forms of exclusion and residential segregation, aggravating social division which already exists. In 2001, Webster argued that they are characterized by the presence of striking social injustice and housing inequalities. In many communities, the wall or fence does not so much serve for protection and security but rather as a way of reinforcing prestige; it becomes an element that symbolizes the power of the development and of its inhabitants (Bellet, C.,2007). Gated Communities, pros and cons Gated Communities have become attractive to a wide spectrum of people: highmiddle and upper classes. It offer luxury housing, clean environment, and good infrastructure for those eager to escape the polluted, crowded, and noisy Capital city. GCs allow residents to enjoy all the benefits of suburbia but within the city, a quiet life, extended open spaces with green areas, more privacy, and safer environment for children. The physical barriers surrounding the GCs create an extra layer of enclosure, which ensures the privatization of space. The word 'gated' means different things to different people, some people think of gated as "exclusive". Some think of it as "security", others think of it as lifestyle and prestige, but most think of ' privacy". Scholars point to GCs that it ensure the appreciation of the property values, offer better protection from crime and more of a sense of community (Blakey & Snider, 1997). On the economic level, property values in large gated communities show a better resistance to market fluctuations. Furthermore, GCs were successful in providing employment opportunities, due to reviving crafts related to building activity, but on the other hand, a vast capital was invested to serve 3.5% of the Egyptian population. The architecture in the GCs did not reflect local heritage or appropriateness to a desert 13

14 environment. Architectural features were imported from western forms in an eclectic way, not following any pure style or movement. It represent new urban form affected by the western pattern, which appears in the architecture vocabulary, details and in the urban forms. The gating acts as a border between the public and private systems which encourage social segregation and increase social exclusion. GCs can create social paranoia due to the security-oriented life-style. Gating can lead to a relocation of crime outside the gates and within adjacent non-gated communities. It can have a negative impact on property values in non-gated adjacent neighborhoods. Access control and security features represent a substantial cost for the homeowner. These communities contribute to the increase of urban inequality. Conclusion Global Transformation has been aggravated in Cairo by its orientation towards globalization. The paper deals with the rapid urban growth of Cairo City and the urban problems related to it, since the urban development policies for the GCR have not yet achieved their major goals. New cities were one of the solutions in which the government suggested to control the urban growth, and to absorb the extended population. As a response to the strategic move towards the market economy, new settlements around the GCR offered advantages for private sector investment since they were provided with basic infrastructure. Gated communities are a form of residential areas which spread in the new communities around Cairo. These GCs represent a form of urbanism with high urban quality, it is by no means a universal urban phenomenon representing the fragmentation of urban patterns within the city. GCs are a reflect of the global change and the concept of privatization, since the Egyptian society has manifested a rapid socio-economic 14

15 transformation. The physical features of GCs are distinguished from other residential areas that are not gated. The existence of fences, walls and security created a type of segregation between the in and out of the gates, strengthening social differences and therefore endangering social cohesion. Gated Communities participate in the urbane development of the new cities, just for the high middle and upper classes. This urban development didn't help in solving the housing problem of the majority, since the developers ignored the objective behind the new towns, and changing the demographic mix by replacing low income housing by middle, upper middle and luxury dwelling. On the other hand, the shortage of housing units for low income groups led to the extension of informal settlements which represent the major means for low-income families to access shelter. Scholars expect more expansion of informal and illegal pattern of growth in the future. It is expected that if the current pattern of growth continues in the future, the GCR will continue to expand rapidly along its major regional axes, particularly the Cairo- Alexandria axis. Moreover, the new towns will extend on the desert land which is surrounding the GCR and eventually both will be connected to each other. The gap between the pattern of housing growth for the different social classes of the society is continuously expanding. We can see the contrast between gated communities in new cities and the informal settlements in the GCR. Recommendations - Establishing long term policies for the future of urban planning in the GCR and its surrounding cities. - Restudy the land use in the new communities and their influence on the GCR. 15

16 - Integrate and coordinate between the policy and the implementation of our urban and master plans. - Adopting a strategy of sustainability should be our goal, sustain private investment in the low and middle income housing in the new settlements. - We can learn from our successful gated communities to improve our urban planning and to maintain the urban environmental quality. - New communities represent an invaluable asset and promising potential, so they deserve more attention from the specialists. References - Abd-Elhalim, H. T., (2006). Egyptian New Towns: Lessons to Learn & Mistakes to Avoid. France, I.U.G., University Pierre Mendes. - Abdel-Kader, N. & Ettouney, S., (2009). The Egyptian New Communities- Between Objectives and Realization, Three Decades Later. Cairo, 5 th.. International Conference, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. - Barada, A.E.M., (2005). Development & Urbanization outside Egyptian Urbanized Places and Relative Environmental Problems. Cairo, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, - Bayoumi, W. N. A., (2009). The Tale of the Unsettled New Cairo City-Egypt: A Review for the Implications of the Adopted Privatization and Laissez-Fair Policies on Excluding the Poor from its Housing Market. Belgium. The Regional Studies Association. 16

17 - Bellet, C., (2007). Privatization, Security and Spaces of Simulation in the New City: gated communities in the metropolitan area of N. Y. Paris, 4 th International Conference of the research network private urban governance& GCs, Paris University- Sorbonne. - Blakely E. & Snyder, M., (1997). Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press. - CAPMAS, (1976, 1986, 1996, 2006) General Census of Population and Housing, Cairo - Sims, D., (2003). Understanding Slums: The Case of Cairo- Egypt, Human Settlements, and GTZ. - El Araby, M., (2002). Urban growth and environmental degradation: The case of Cairo, Egypt, cities- volume 19, pp Elena, V. & Matthew C., (2002). Gated Communities and Spatial Inequality, USA, University of South Carolina, Columbia. - Fahmi, W. & Sutton K., (2008). Greater Cairo s housing crisis: Contested spaces from inner city areas to new communities. Cities, Volume 25, Issue 5, Pages Friederike Z., (2007). Urban sprawl, informal settlements and government responses in the megalopolis of Cairo Egypt. Germany, University of Cologne. - Glasze, G., Webster, C.& Frantz, K.,( 2006). Private Cities: global and local perspectives. USA, Routledge Group. - Landman, K., (2003). Urban transformation and gated communities: a framework to map the re-production of urban space and its impact on urban governance, paper no. 034, - Lo, F.-C., Yeung M., Yousry M., Abu-Zekry, T. & Yousry A., (1998). Globalization and the World of Large Cities, The impact of Cairo's orientation towards globalization. USA, UNU press, pp

18 - Phillips, D. R. & Antony, G.O.,( 1987). New Towns in East and South-east Asia: Planning and Development. New York, Oxford University Press. - Rogers, J., Worty, H. & Boyer, R., (1997), Contemporary Capitalism the Embedded-ness of Institution. UK. Cambridge University Press, (pp ). - Serag el Dean, M. & others, (2000). Aga Khan Program, Cairo 1800:2000, Planning of the Capital City for the Context of Egypt's History and Development. USA, Harvard University, - Thomas H. S., (2002), Social Capital and New Urbanism: Leading a Civic Horse to Water? National Civic Review, vol. 91, no. 3, l. - UN, (1996), National report of Habitat Conference. Istanbul - UNDP, (2003). Egypt Human Resources Report. - UN-Habitat, (2009). Planning Sustainable Cities: The challenge of urban growth in Cairo. N. Y., Global Human Settlements Report, D. of P. I., News & Media Division.. - USAID, (2006). Urban Studies in Cairo, Egypt, Woodrow Wilson (I. C. for S.) 18