Towards a system of integrated policies to deal with the urban sprawl areas in large Egyptian cities

Abstract

Urban sprawl is considered a global phenomenon, though it varies in its severity from one country to another. This phenomenon reflects positive effects on life and development, but at the same time, it reflects a negative impact on various economic and social aspects. In the Arab Republic of Egypt, the population pressure on the urban centers during the past years led to an increase in the urban sprawl areas towards the agricultural land that surround cities, which devoured more than 1.5 million acres for the urban and rural extensions until now, and still devour more than 60 thousand acres per year. The study discusses the absence of an integrated system that deals with the urban sprawl areas in the preparation project of the urban strategic plans for cities, which leads to the neglect and lack of implementation of the detailed plans for these areas. This study addresses the concept of urban sprawl phenomenon, and its most important problems at the global, Arab and local levels. The first part discusses the problem of urban sprawl areas in the Egyptian cities, and presents an analytical study of some of the Large Egyptian cities (more than 100 thousand people),which indicates the most important features of the urban Structure of the Egyptian cities, the most important attraction factors and trends of urban sprawl. And this part discusses the most important consequences resulting from the urban sprawl of the Egyptian cities, The second part discusses the reality of urban sprawl and its sustainability in the national strategic plans project of the Egyptian cities in terms of challenges and opportunities to deal with. The study concluded to propose a vision for the formulation of integrated policies, at the national, regional and local levels, to deal with the urban sprawl areas in the Large Egyptian cities (more than 100 thousand people) within the framework of the preparation of general and detailed strategic plans of the Egyptian cities.