Auc Input For Egypt's Strategy For Dealing With Slums
Khaled Abdel Halim.
Overview
In brief, it is argued here that the phenomenon of slums cannot be understood and dealt with on the basis of its physical conditions alone; these physical conditions are the manifestation of malfunctioning processes of economic integration, social inclusion, good governance and preservation of citizenship rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups. The complexity of the issue of slums should not be reduced to the decision of whether to relocate them and where to, but rather of how to make slum dwellers true citizens and active and productive members of society. Planning for dealing with slums, in this case, becomes planning for inclusive development of these communities and not only improvement of the urban structures of slums. It is equally believed that a national strategy for dealing with existing slums has to be complemented by policy measures for preventing the emergence of new ones. The document addresses slums throughout its three parts: Egypt's situation analysis regarding slums; the principles governing dealing with slums in terms of global and local objectives; and the strategic approaches for dealing with slums including slum prevention proposed measures.
