Urban poverty in Cairo (Egypt)

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: B, University of Birmingham (International Development Department- School of Public Policy), course: Urban Development, language: English, abstract: This paper summarises the characteristics of urban poverty in Greater Cairo (GC) region as one of the most important regions not only in Egypt but also in MENA region. The targeted region is administratively extended across three governorates which are Cairo, Giza, and Qaliobeia. It includes the urban areas of the three governorates with exception to only some scattered areas that constitutes an area of about 2900 km2. Discussed within are the factors that contributed to urban poverty within GC and its associated problems. The paper also discusses the experienced difficulties by the Egyptian Government while alleviating the urban poverty prevalence, which resulted from the complex nature of poverty in urban areas of GC region. In order to understand the nature of urban poverty in GC it is important to recognise the definition of Urban Poverty which refers to poverty in urban areas. However, poverty has lots of definitions according to the approach that used for defining it; whether it is a monetary approach based on incomes and consumptions, or based on the capabilities of people or their social situation if they are included or excluded or based on a participatory approach that considers how poor people defined themselves as poor (Laderchi, Saith and Stewart, 2003). The World Bank refers to the Urban Poor as those who are deprived from access to employment opportunities and income, adequate and secure housing and services, living in peaceful and healthy environments with social protection mechanisms, and access to adequate health and education opportunities (World Bank, 2008) Urban Poverty has a different nature from a place to another as each region has its unique national, demographic, economic and governance contexts. Furthermore, the factors that formulated its nature in every country are different (Sims, 2003).