Quality of Life of Children in the Egyptian Communities: Investigating Current Situations, Cairo as a Case Study

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating relationship between Quality of Urban Life (QOUL) in different cities' contexts and children urban needs, their services, amenities, and security. The paper argues that current approaches of planning are not inclusive of all residents' needs, it calls for an approach, which can be more appropriate to Egyptian social, economic, and urban constraints. It digs into the concept of Quality of Life (QOL) for children in the Egyptian context; and focuses on children based services in Greater Cairo Region (GCR). The research consists of two main parts in addition to the introduction and the conclusion. The first part includes the literature review discussing the concept of QOL, and related urban issues. The second part investigates the quality of urban services of children in different socio-economic contexts. This part presents an empirical pilot questionnaire held with a cluster sample of parents, focusing on primary school children from age 7-12 years old. The questionnaire is checking the availability, use and quality of some services. It focuses on current situation, moreover, it discusses how parents deal with urban aspects regarding their children. The discussion reflects the interrelationship between concept of QOUL and services targeting children in order to investigate how to achieve inclusiveness, and effectiveness, appropriate to the Egyptian context. The paper is documenting current perception, provision and use of children services in Cairene communities.