2 Assessment of Information Needs and Collection of Additional Data
2 Assessment of Information Needs and Collection of Additional Data 2.1 Introduction Greater Cairo Area and Population Cairo or rather the urban region of the Greater Cairo Metropolitan Area is the largest urban area in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East and amongst the most populous metropolises of the world. It occupies the 10th rank within mega cities across the world in the period between 2000 and 20152. Greater Cairo has been the centre of gravity for many of Egypt’s activities. It has grown mainly due to increased migration from rural areas, and high growth rates were witnessed during the second half of the 20th century vis-à-vis investments, economic activities, job opportunities and number of students. At the turn of the 21st century, Greater Cairo started to get its contemporary structure as a “main dense urban area” with varied socioeconomic levels encircled by the Ring Road and an “outer belt” of 8 new satellite cities as shown in Figure 2.1. In 2006, the population of Greater Cairo Area reached 17 million people spread across Cairo, Giza and Qaylobiya and the new cities listed in Table 2.1 below. The urbanization continues to progress, and the performance of the entire transport system is less than desirable, despite the massive efforts striven by the Egyptian government to tackle traffic congestion and environmental deterioration, by introducing a metro system and a comprehensive bus network. Table 2.1: New Cities around Greater Cairo- Type and Population 3 City Type Population in 2006 6 October Industrial 500,000 Al Sheikh Zayed Residential 48,000 15 May Industrial 180,000 Al Oboor Industrial 100,000 Badr Industrial 60,000 Al Shorooq Residential 62,000 New Cairo Residential 302,000 2 “World Urbanization Prospects, the 2001 Revision”, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations Publications, UN, 2002.
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