Collective planning process: a driving seat for formalising urban informality in Egypt

摘要

In Egypt, between 1982 and 2004, agricultural land was being lost at an estimated annual, daily and hourly rate of 54,545, 149.4 and 6.22 feddan, respectively. In early 2006, the General Organization for Physical Planning introduced a programme, based upon a participatory approach, for setting up General Strategic Urban Plans (GSUP) for 231 Egyptian cities; as an attempt to prevent further urban sprawl on agricultural land. Detailed Plans for Urban Expansion Areas (DPUEA) as a main outcome of the GSUP of the city of Kotor is examined. This article examines two aspects; first it looks at the process, and the various challenges, of carrying out the DPUEA as the main outcome of the GSUP. Second, it investigates the process of collective planning; by which the stakeholders' participation played a major role to facilitate/improve the outcome from a guided land development plan. Accordingly, this article sheds light on the assumption that abolishing obstacles of the DPUEA process, with 'technical enablement' at the local level, combined with a collective planning process would facilitate land delivery system for the urban poor and eradicate further urban sprawl on agricultural land. It concludes that a collective planning process with 'technical enablement' would facilitate land delivery system for the urban poor in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, the government should play the role of an agent for urban sustainability in order to magnify the political goal of saving and rescuing agricultural land and to encourage a guided sustainable urban development in the back desert in Egypt.