What Could Socially Just Housing Policies Look Like Today?

Despite Egypt leading the world in per capita housing production, millions here find access to adequate housing that is affordable, safe and has proper utilities, a challenge. In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to Egypt's housing policies vis a vis residents’ responses to them, tracing this dichotomy over the past century. With a focus on understanding the diverse housing ecosystem, participants will examine typologies spanning tenure regimes (formal/informalized), social housing programs, commodification and financialization, and the urban-rural divide. Through legislative and data analysis, mapping, and co-production methodologies, this workshop will equip participants with practical skills and theoretical insights to reimagine how housing polices can be more just and realize the right to adequate housing in Egypt.

Instructors

Yahia Shawkat is a housing policy strategist and co-founder of the 10 Tooba research studio. There he leads its Built Environment Observatory, an open knowledge portal producing equitable housing and spatial policies and advocacy, including on the Informalized Housing Reconciliation Law, and the investigative mapping Who Owns Cairo?. Yahia is a widely published author of books, academic papers and op eds, including Egypt’s Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space (AUC Press, 2020), which traces a social and statistical history of rental, self-built and mass housing, and co-edited Nashtari kul shay’ (We Buy Everything), (Dar al-Maraya, 2022) that investigates the commodification of housing and the city.

Ahmed Zaazaa is an urban designer and researcher, focusing on spatial and climate justice issues in housing and planning. Zaazaa co-founded 10 Tooba in 2014, where he has conducted research and produced participatory needs and design manuals addressing spatial inequities. Zaazaa also leads participatory projects with deprived and marginalized communities in different informal areas in Cairo. Zaazaa is also the co-founder of Madd Platform that works closely with local communities, in participatory research, planning and advocacy.
Academically, Zaazaa has 14 years of teaching experience in various Egyptian universities. He was an assistant professor of practice in the Nile University and Co-Tutor in the Arab Academy for Science and Technology.