Solution Model for Infrastructure Planning and Design for Urban Slums: Egyptian Case Study

Abstract

Urban Slums represent a chronic problem to Egypt. According to official statistics, there are 1,221 urban slum inhabited by 17 million people in Egypt. These urban slums suffer from deterioration in infrastructure; this includes lack of access to proper sanitation, inadequate water distribution networks and congested street networks. These issues in infrastructure systems are reflected on the social aspect and the quality of life in these areas with problems such as high crime rates, health problems and spread of epidemics.

This study aims at presenting a solution model for improving the infrastructure networks in urban slums taking into consideration the urban, engineering and network design aspects. Suitable guidelines and bases of design are set in a solution model that can be revisited by studies and projects which encompasses infrastructure development in urban slums. The model considers different factors of social, economic and engineering aspects that may affect efficient and effective solutions.

A case study presented in this study is Al-Sharabiya that is one of the low-income neighborhoods located in North Cairo. This neighborhood suffers severely from social, political and economic issues including uncontrolled population growth rates, low-income levels, high crime rates, drug abuse, high unemployment rates and deteriorated public services such as health, education, and transportation. The Egyptian Planning Authorities focused on this area and initiated an urban development and renewal project to enhance the urban fabric of the neighborhood. In this study the presented model is applied on the proposed urban development maps. The defined scope of this case study is divided into three main components for infrastructure systems design that encompasses transportation network planning and roads design, water distribution network, and sewage system network. The infrastructure systems are designed to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the neighborhood through providing adequate transportation, water and wastewater network systems.