THINKING AHEAD

How to utilise the potential of informal housing areas in sustainable ways

Informal areas in Egypt are an immediate solution to the housing shortage a rapidly growing population faces. The settlements reflect effective private initiative and investment where governmental strategies are slow to respond. In Cairo, informal areas do not host only the urban poor, but also middle class young, educated families, university students and public sector employees in search of an accommodation at reasonable prices. The responsiveness of informal areas to the acute needs of residents in the context of an intensifying housing crisis is an aspect that is worth fostering and building upon in designing policy response.

The following problems remain in informal areas in Greater Cairo that need to be tackled at policy levels:

  • Public services in informal areas severely lag behind those provided in formal housing areas. Many residents do not have access to clean drinking water.
  • Sewage and waste disposal are inadequate.
  • The extreme density of housing gives rise to environmental pollution.
  • Residents are often subject to harassment during the construction process, given the informal nature of building agreements

Moreover, the following key issues need to be addressed in the domain of informal housing in the future:

  • Strategies for dealing with informal areas within the vision of the development (planning) of the city: for example the integration/inclusion of informal areas in the city at large (socially, economically and physically or planning-wise).
  • The state and limits of informality: what to formalise and what to leave informal (land titling, internal transportation, informal businesses, etc.).
  • Operationalising strategies (bridging the gap between planning and implementation).
  • Monitoring upgrading efforts (urban observatory function).
  • Control of informal growth (containment) and enforcement mechanisms.
  • Institutional setting and organisational arrangements for scaling up (which departments do what on the district, city and governorate levels in terms of dealing with informal areas, and how do they work together).
  • Capacities of local administration for dealing with informal areas and incentives for their development.
  • Public participation in decision-making in informal areas upgrading (who participates in which decisions; how does bottom-up planning integrate with technocratic decision-making).
  • The role of NGOs in informal areas upgrading (modes of cooperation with local government: separate, parallel roles or integrated processes, management and maintenance of public facilities).