The Nile Delta: Urbanizing on Diminishing Resources

Abstract

201 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 40 NO 2 the socio-ecological dimensions associated with each. About 95 per cent of the Egyptian population (84 million in 2012) live on the scarce agricultural land in the Nile Valley and Delta in a country that is otherwise a desert (see figure1). With a population density of 1,500 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is already the most densely populated delta in the world.1After Cairo, the delta is Egypt’s main economic region with industry, agricultural production, natural resources and tourism. While shrinking in size, an estimated population increase from 48 million in 2010 to 75 million by 2050 will require more jobs, housing and food production. Unprecedented rapid informal urbanization in the absence of enforcement, following the 2011 revolution and the exposure to projected sea-level rise, is turning the Nile Delta into a highly vulnerable coastal The Nile Delta is one of the world’s largest river deltas. From Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers 240 km of Mediterranean coastline. From north to south the delta is approximately 160 km in length starting 20 km downriver from Cairo. As a region it is shaped by an interplay of urbanization processes, agricultural and industrial land uses coupled with an increasing state of urgency defi ned by water scarcity and pollution, sea-level rise, desertifi cation and population increase. For Egypt, the Nile Delta remains the most important source of ecosystem goods and services. It is also a site of amazing cultural heritage and the north coast is one of Egypt’s major national and international tourist destinations. The Nile Delta testifies to the consequences of past and, more urgently, present climate change, anthropogenic transformations, and The Nile Delta: Urbanizing on Diminishing Resources