THE FIRST EGYPT URBAN FORUM 2015 The First Egypt Urban Forum 2015 “My City My Responsibility” Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 2016 All rights reserved United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Headquarters P.O. Box 30030, GPO Nairobi 00100, Kenya. Tel: +254 20 76 23 120 Fax: +254 20 7624266/7 (central office) E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.unhabitat.org UN-Habitat Regional Office for the Arab States- Cairo Office 1 Ismael Abaza Street, Qasr El-Eny, Cairo 11516, Egypt Tel./Fax: +202 27923086 DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expres- sion of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat off the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. 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Designed By: Takween Integrated Community Development Design Team: Adam Dot, Ibrahim Garcia-Bengochea, Yusuf Halim, Mostafa Zohdy Cover photo © Ahmed Adel Ibrahim FOREWORD he platform provided by the Egyptian Urban Fo- overwhelming to the different parties, is a prudent way T rum offered an unprecedented opportunity for to overcome the challenge. collaboration amongst the many factions invested in the While this forum comes within the preparations shaping of the urban landscape. The challenges that con- for Habitat III, it was also an acknowledgement of the front us in the urban sphere are numerous, and we can government’s eagerness to engage with all parties, and of no longer presume that we, as government entities, can our eagerness to listen to other voices with regards to all deal with them without the contribution of all the other aspects of urban development, including planning, gov- stakeholders that are directly impacted by our work. The ernance housing, urban economy and service delivery. boom in the urban population over the last few decades We look forward to adopting it as a regular platform for has resulted in unplanned city extensions and a deterio- dialogue among all the relevant stakeholders on Egypt’s ration of public services and infrastructure. This made us sustainable urbanization. Dr. Mostafa Madbouli believe in the necessity to work on even more inclusive Minister of Housing, Utilities policies that bring everyone to the drawing table. Bring- and Urban Communities ing more people into the loop is a way of ensuring the efficiency of managing urbanization as well as facilitating the implementation of cities’ strategic plans. The forum helped add momentum to the paradigm shift that is currently underway in urban politics, mov- ing away from a direct pursuit of economic capital and focusing more on social capital. Social networks are a valuable asset in any community, and the strengthening of local governments and local actors combined with in- clusive policies is the basis of social cohesion. The forum helped cement the idea that cities, when managed in an inclusive and engaging manner, will not only ensure the wellbeing of their citizens but will also be an investment for all parties concerned. While the Government is keen to reinvigorate the urban sphere, we know that the transition from theory to practice is not always as smooth as we would like; and adopting an engaging transitional process, that it is not he Egypt Urban Forum was a landmark event The Forum candidly discussed reform of public poli- T which captured the vibrant voices of a dynamic au- cies which had previously supported forced evictions, dience preoccupied with issues surrounding growing cit- relocations to desert locations for undetermined periods ies and the potential for inclusive urban renewal. Urban of time with no written guarantees of subsequent re- challenges were candidly presented by young urbanists, housing situations. Discussions centered on the shift to as well as seasoned practitioners, thinkers, researchers new policies, which sought to address limited capacities and policy makers. The Forum expanded its reach to so- of local level authorities in areas of urban management. cial entrepreneurs, artists, journalists, community actors. Participatory approaches to imagining how upgrading of informal settlements might occur given the huge diver- This eclectic gathering creatively engaged in rethink- sity in urban settings opened up highly engaging conver- ing ‘Informality’ of urban settlements. Their discourse sations around that topic. Dr. Laila Iskandar shifted from the human tragedy of slum dwellers’ hous- Minister of Urban Renewal and ing travesty to a discussion of communities’ rich re- It was a real pleasure to meet with a community of Informal Settlements sources to design the future of their neighborhoods. The practitioners who are changing the urban renewal map pre-revolution plan to vacate the city of Cairo from its of Egypt by working closely with communities, by de- majority slum dwellers and relocate them to desert areas, parting from the conventional spatial approach to urban opening up investment opportunities for high rise office development and who are unafraid to break with tradi- complexes and high end residential and business districts tional norms of the profession. It is heartening to see this shifted to approaches which sought to invest in people’s young and budding cadre take its place in the national asset base, their livelihoods and their collective actions. and international discourse on the future of cities and to see them bring the voices of local people to shape these Policy makers came together with young urban plan- cities. ners, architects, community mobilisers, national and international specialists to explore how to give informal settlement dwellers voice as well as agency to occupy a central place in the life of the vibrant city. They ad- dressed land titling issues, transport initiatives, redesign- ing public spaces for community use, SME and liveli- hood upgrading, service improvements in local schools and clinics, mobilizing and financing NGOs to imple- ment development initiatives, among others. very day more and more people move into cities strategies and tools to promote non-motorized transport E around the world making the 21st century the urban and reduce the dependence on private vehicles, reform- century. Egypt is at the forefront of this urbanization. ing the appropriate legislation for stronger protection of Not only is Cairo one of the world’s largest megacities, historical sites and Egyptian Heritage, and revamping but also 43% of the country’s population lives in urban the legislative framework to implement the sustainable areas. We know that urbanization can be a strong eco- urbanization principles as laid out in the constitution.” nomic driver, but it also poses a number of challenges Registration to the forum was free of charge which such as congestion, overcrowding, insufficient provision offered to the public a rare opportunity to engage with of basic services, scarce public space. UN Habitat has high level government officials including ministers, gov- been working to support the Egyptian government in ernors, and chairmen of technical agencies. To my mind, addressing these challenges and to harness the positive the true success of the EUF was in creating an opportu- Mrs. Rania Hedeya impact of urbanization. nity for rich and complex dialogue between all relevant UN-Habitat Egypt Manager In 2015, UN Habitat worked side by side with the stakeholders. The forum really enabled the full participa- Ministry of Housing to launch the first ever Egypt Urban tion and engagement of attendees who were able to voice Forum, under the title of “My City, My Responsibility.” their opinion. This is what transformational change is More than 600 participants and 120 panelists and mod- about. erators from across Egypt, Cairo, Giza, Upper Egypt, We will look forward to building on this momentum, North and South Sinai, Ismailia, Tanta, Alexandria at- and will work with the government to ensure that the tended the forum, as well as participants and guests from EUF is held every two years. 10 countries across the world. The forum was the result of a year-long consultative process with civil society, aca- demia, practitioners and the government. It was also the outcome of an outreach to local actors in all Egyptian governorates to bring their voices to the national level. The lively discussions during the 28 sessions of the forum culminated in a final declaration calling for rec- ommendations and policy changes. These recommen- dations included “a housing strategy to ensure the right to appropriate housing of every citizen is met, adopting policies to encourage and incentivize use of renewable energy and sustainable urbanization, putting forth the REPORT METHODOLOGY This report was prepared through the use of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources included videos of the sessions, corresponding English audio translations, and Power Point presentations provided by panelists. These sources were mainly used to summarize and ana- lyze the panelists’ points. Secondary sources such as news articles, research publications, and rapporteurs’ notes were used to verify some of the statistics and facts pre- sented by panelists, as well as to elaborate on some of the panelist’s points to provide further context for the reader. The background section at the beginning of each session was based on the concept notes prepared by UN-Habitat for distribution at the EUF.