Abstract
Both public authorities and mid-high income groups, in many instances, tend to see urban informality as an illness that should be treated and/or eliminated. However, urban informality provides several attributes that contribute to the livelihood of many communities and surrounding residents. Urban informality possesses potentials that would facilitate both formalization and integration of such areas within the city, considering that it is currently the most prominent urbanization method. Consequently, unsafe areas’ upgrading and resettlement projects should not be limited to providing housing, clean water, or enhanced sanitation. They should extend to make fair use of the existing inherent potentials to improve livability for both slum dwellers and surrounding areas. Aiming to enhance the dwellers’ quality of life (QOL), upgrading projects should ensure the actual implementation of economic, social, institutional, and urban programs. This would entail the cooperation between various stakeholders to achieve inclusive development, create a sense of community, and attract local small and medium investments. This paper aims to develop a QOL Index tailored for unsafe areas’ upgrading/resettlement projects. Based on the literature review of various existing indices and case study analysis, the paper develops a set of criteria to define relevant urban, social, economic, and institutional indicators to assure QOL for unsafe areas’ dwellers and guide new resettlement projects with a focus on the Egyptian context.
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Notes
ISDF, unsafe areas annual report, April 2018.
This will be clarified in detail in “Economic Aspects” below.
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Abdel-Moneim, N.M., Khalil, H.A.E. & Kamel, R.R. Developing QOL Index for Resettlement Projects of Unsafe Areas in Egypt. Urban Forum 32, 349–371 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-021-09419-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-021-09419-7