Applying green urbanism during spatial urban transformation: a schematic plan, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Applying green urbanism in Nasr City during ongoing spatial urban transformation in Cairo, particularly in east Cairo, is the main concern of this paper. This paper also investigates spatial urban development that has been launched in Cairo since the 1970s and its expected impact on contemporary districts, particularly Nasr City. It is hypothesized that Nasr City is facing different stages of deterioration, as a result of ongoing spatial urban development toward new satellites and communities, mainly, to east Cairo. Cairo, in fact, had experienced various spatial expansions and developments since its founding. Consequently, Cairo’s old districts, including Old Cairo, Shubra, Khedavy Cairo, Azhar, Abasia, Helwan, etc., suffered diverse degrees of deterioration, especially environmental impact. Within this context, Nasr City is also expected to experience the same evolution and, in turn, deterioration that old districts in Cairo had been experiencing. Deterioration might include increase air pollution rates, high population and building densities, informal housing, low building quality due to lake of maintenance, land-use interface, etc. Therefore, the investigation includes the Greater Cairo urban development policy, particularly, new satellites and communities adjacent to Nasr City, such as New Cairo, Al-Shrouq and Bader cities, and the New Administrative Capital. The development policy analysis will be explored along with the spatial urban transformation to define the urban and environmental issues that may arise in Nasr City. Finally, the assessment of the potentials and constraints of Nasr City development will be conducted to outline A schematic plan for achieving green urbanism in Nasr City.