3rd Session: Urban Equity: Egyptian Cities from the Legal Perspective
The Workshop Series "Egypt Urban Futures" has been initiated to build a platform to exchange approaches, experiences, best practices, and opinions on issues and strategies concerning urban development for all stakeholders engaged in the field. "Egypt Urban Futures" will strengthen active dialogue among public institutions, civil society, activists, the private sector, development organizations and researchers and open up rooms for collaboration and strategic alliances on building a sustainable urban future for Egypt.
The workshop is a joint initiative by the CEDEJ, UN-HABITAT and GIZ (Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas – PDP) and a continuation of the Expert Discussion Meetings on urban development that have been carried out monthly since 2008. The aim is to hold approximately three "Egypt Urban Futures" workshops per year. During this event, feedback will be collected from all participants in order to develop the design of upcoming workshops.
The third round of the EUF (GIZ-PDP/UN-HABITAT/CEDEJ) will endeavour to reflect upon the World Urban Forum 2014 taking place in Medellin, Colombia; a global event addressing the topic of "Urban Equity in Development". Hence, the third round of the series will address "Urban Equity in Egypt" in the light of the 2013 Constitution in an attempt to relating global debates on Urban Equity in the Egyptian context.
"Urban Equity" in an international perspective: World Urban Forum 7 Debriefing
The search for equity has been on the fringes of the international development policy agenda for a long time. Until now there has been no clear urban policy and strategy to tackle it. The consequences of inequality in cities worldwide are a fundamental concern. The 7th Session of the World Urban Forum serves as an occasion for stimulating new ways of thinking on urban equity. The following EUF session - just a few weeks after the World Urban Forum and its many Egyptian contributions - takes the opportunity to debrief us about internationally discussed objectives and strategies for integrating equity in the urban development agenda: What were the key messages from the WUF7 regarding urban equity? What are the experiences of other countries in terms of aligning policies and strategies to ensure more urban equity and lesser social marginalisation? The World Urban Forum's discussions will introduce us to the EUF session's topic on urban equity; in addition the experiences of the host city of the Forum, the City of Medellin will be presented. How did Medellin achieve equity in development? Which actors were involved? To which extent a rights-based approach has been used for improving urban living conditions? At which policy level and in which spatial locations the "right to the city" approach was used as a leitmotif for reform?
1. "Urban Equity in the Egyptian context"
Making cities more equitable is a laudable objective, having found its place in the core of public policymaking and development agendas. However, in a world where 50 % of the population are already dwelling in urban areas; cities are exactly those places where inequalities among inhabitants abound, such quest appears utopian. In Egyptian cities, these inequalities are mirrored in the social fragmentation of territories: on the one hand, the surge of protected residential areas for the wealthier strata of the society living on the outskirts of the city and, on the other hand, the growing share of informal areas, which already comprise about 65 % of Cairo's inhabitants (Sims, David, 2012). With the latter scarcely enjoying access to land, accommodation, and public services in comparison to the higher social classes, urban equity seems illusionary. This issue invites us to have a closer look on universal rights and the legal system concerning the development of urban equity. In this regard it seems fitting to discuss the evolution of standards of urban action and the application of law in the face of growing informal urbanisation and the political instability or change that Egypt has known since 2011. What are the provisions to define urban space from a rights perspective? How far has the legal system been altered since the revolution? To what extent are laws adopted or bypassed by the habitants? How are city governance and urban authorities regulated by legislation? And is the law effectively applied in practice?
2. "The Rights AND the City" – Government perspective on the legal frameworks regulating urban development & city management
It would be of interest to get back to the legal resources that are related to urban development in Egypt. The Housing and Construction Law of 2008, as of today, seems to represent the main reference addressing the issues of land rights and construction. Has this law and the jurisdiction thereof evolved to the better? What are the roles of the public institutions in this development (e.g. General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP), New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) and Informal Settlement Development Fund (ISDF))? And what is the residents' view on their actions? What about the pending Local Administration law? Are there any developments in this regard? Are the strategic planning documents such as ("Cairo 2050" or "Egypt 2052") in harmony with urban equity notions? How do they capture the issue of land ownership rights and the financing of development measures? How are the issues of Informal areas (unplanned and unsafe) and affordable housing polices, if any, are being addressed and integrated within the Greater Cairo Development Strategy 2050? What are the processes that produce a National Strategic document for Urban Equity? Are there any intentions to hold a 'National Dialogue' for such concept? And what are the guarantees for sufficient public consultation and consent? How the government does reach out to know the preferences of the citizens? And what is the role of the civil sector in that regard? Non-governmental urban actors and residents are heavily involved in the creation and construction of their urban habitat, and conceive different standards or norms in relation to the official entities. How does the government react to this? And what kind of modalities come out of this interaction? On the 15th of January 2014, Egyptians voted on a new constitution that has passed with an overwhelming majority of 98% yes. This might seem as a real progress that Egypt has done after three years of revolution, but what does that really mean for the people living in dire conditions in informal areas? What does it bring in terms of equitable policies and lesser social marginalisation? What is the relevance of urban development as a political domain for tackling these questions? Has the government put any of the constitutional articles into action yet? Are there any corresponding laws that will be issued to ensure the activation of these articles?
3. "The Right TO the City" - Civil society perspective on urban activism and its influence
The 2011 Revolution gave the youth an unprecedented opportunity to engage in an urban struggle seeking change which aimed at claiming justice not only on political terms but also (and especially) on spatial terms. In Cairo and several other Egyptian cities, a rise in urban activism can be witnessed indicating that the revolution had also transcended to the urban management of the city and its layout. The phenomenon of the rise of urban activism appears in an international context which is punctuated by the appropriation of urban issues by civil societies. Therefore, beyond the revolts which occurred in the context of the "Arab Spring", this phenomenon is part of a global social movement having led to a return of critical urban development theories that seem to have been adopted by Egyptian activists. This became evident by the reference made by some to the "right to the city" as described by Henri Lefebvre. It can be understood as a right to challenge urban policies, the right to access to land, housing, key public services, and the right to citizen participation.
The Egyptian Center for Housing Rights is one of the pioneering groups in that regard, which started its activities in the mid-1990s, when the Bulac-Maspero district in Central Cairo was subjected to mass evictions. Following its lead many new NGOs and CBOs have emerged since the revolution of 2011: the Right to Housing Initiative, New Urban Communities Youth Alliance, Tadamun, etc. Eight of those organisations have created a project named "Habitation Constitution" aiming to foster urban equity in Egypt. Now the question is whether these actions and initiatives can sustain themselves in the course of the political changes that Egypt experiences in these days. Are they able to have a tangible influence on the urban legal system? In other words, does the advocacy for the "right to the city" furthers in a meaningful way the rights of city dwellers in the current context in Egypt? Had these initiatives had any significant influence on the drafting of 2013 constitution?
Program
Opening and foreword by Moderator 09:00-09:30 Dr. Roman Stadnicki (CEDEJ), Dr. Mohab Elrefaie (GIZ-PDP), Ms. Rania Hedeya, (UN-Habitat Egypt Office) Moderator : Dr. Khaled Abdelhalim, AUC*
World Urban Forum 7 debriefing: “Urban equity in International perspective” 9:30-10:00 GIZ-PDP/UN-Habitat Philipp Schuck & Safa Ashoub (GIZ-PDP), Katja Schaefer (UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States)
Topic 1: “Urban equity in the Egyptian context” 10:00-10:20 Dr. Lise Debout (CEDEJ/Univ of Lyon II, France)
Questions & Answers 10:20-10:50 Moderator: Dr. Khaled Abdelhalim
Coffee break 10:50-11:00
Topic 2: “The Rights AND the City” – Government Perspective 11:00-11:20 General Organisation for Physical Planning (GOPP) - Dr. Assem El Gazzar, Head of GOPP 11:20-11:40 Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) - Dr. Atwa Hussein, Head of Environmental Sector Department
Questions & Answers 11:40-12:00 Moderator: Dr. Khaled Abdelhalim
Coffee break 12:00-12:30
Topic 3: “The Right TO the City” – Civil Perspective 12:30-12:50 Egyptian Center for Housing Rights – Ms. Manal el Tibi 12:50-13:10 Habitat International Coalition (HIC) -Mr. Rabie Wahba 13:10-13:30 Tadamun - Eng. Kareem Ibrahim
Questions & Answers 13:30-14:00 Moderator: Dr. Khaled Abdelhalim
Coffee break 14:00-14:30
Open Discussion & Concluding Remarks 14:30-14:45 All; Moderator: Dr. Khaled Abdelhalim Closure 14:45-15:00 Dr. Guenther Wehenpohl – GIZ/PDP
Simultaneous translation English-Arabic will be provided. Please confirm your attendance by sending an email to safa.ashoub@giz.de
