Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4.5 Conclusions
Unmanaged or chaotic urban growth is considered a significant obstacle to
sustainable urban development. In a report about Egypt's achievement of
the MDGs, it was recommended to plan and develop environmentally sus-
tainable urban communities with affordable low-cost housing and improved
operation and maintenance of water and sanitation services [12].
Because more than 60% of Egypt's urban development is informal, it is
vital to study informal areas and to analyse their sustainability. Through
case study analysis, some of their green characteristics are highlighted. They
are compact, walkable and dense. They provide for lifelong needs with a vari-
ety of housing and mixed uses. Initially, they are needs driven and depend
mainly on their communities' participation in development. However, other
absent sustainability aspects should be introduced such as green trans-
portation and promoting access to nature. This can be done by controlling
the encroachment of informal areas on agricultural land (belting informal
areas) and by providing more sustainable housing opportunities and transit-
oriented development. However, the case might be different in slums and
in squatter areas because they tend to be more environmentally hazardous.
The people's way of developing is 'smart'; however, their settlements need
a more comprehensive approach to ensure the provision of needs, housing
and services in a more environmentally responsive pattern. This must be the
basis for projects—whether upgrading or redevelopment. The redevelop-
ment projects show that it is important to maintain high densities, walkabil-
ity, mixed uses and mixed housing and to integrate with nearby open spaces.
Providing access to safe water, sanitation, secure tenure, durable housing
and sufficient living area should not divert projects from attending to other
sustainability aspects.
On the other hand, new formal developments—especially for medium and
upper strata—should not overlook the lessons learned from informal develop-
ment. Low-density dispersed suburbanisation is not the way for environmen-
tally sustainable development. Henceforth, there is a need to develop theories
and guidelines for formal planning to address sustainability issues in both
informal areas and their upgrading programmes and new formal development
deduced from the liveliness of informal areas and global guidelines for sustain-
able urban development and more locally tailored theories and practices.
References
1. Khalil, H. (2010). New urbanism, smart growth and informal areas: A quest for
sustainability, In Steffen Lehmann, Husam AlWaer and Jamal Al-Qawasmi (eds.),
Sustainable Architecture & Urban Development
, CSAAR, Amman, pp. 137-156.
