- 01 Mar 2024 06:27
#15305993
I was watching a documentary about Egypt. There is a problem of overcrowding in Cairo, so the government spent a large amount of money building a city with infrastructure out in the desert. The government built many apartment buildings. But today these apartment buildings are only 20 percent occupied. It's not a bad city, but people say there are not enough jobs in this city.
This was despite the fact that some wealthier people established a small area within the city, with small mansions surrounded by tall fences.
So simply moving people to an area will not necessarily create jobs. Even when government builds cities and buildings.
This proves that people do not simply create jobs. Things do not actually work that way.
Here's an excerpt from a report that gives more detail on the situation:
There is a clear mismatch at the regional or governorate level between government housing supply and housing need. ... new housing schemes may be located in awkward, remote, or otherwise undesirable locations. As can be seen in Table A-4, significantly higher than average concentrations of government housing (as expressed in units built per 1996 resident household) are found in the frontier governorates and in Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, and Damietta.
For those governorates which have publicly-owned hinterlands, major land tracts allocated for subsidized housing are located mainly in desert sites which are usually far from existing densely populated agglomerations. Decades of urban expansion through supply-side State land policies have already used up or locked out those near-fringe desert lands which would be best suited for public housing, and there is an ever increasing centripetal search for new sites, usually accompanied by stiff competition among different State entities.8 As pointed out elsewhere,9 within and around Egypt’s urban agglomerations residential location is of crucial importance, especially for the poorer segments of urban populations to which subsidized housing programs are theoretically targeted. Distance creates a serious direct (and rising) transport cost to all members of a family, and there are a host of indirect costs (especially loss of time, hassles, lack of social networks, lack of informal business opportunities etc.) associated with living in remote housing estates. It is no wonder that vacancies in these projects exceed 50 percent of all units recently built. There is already a serious transport crisis faced by the vast majority of residents in new towns and those in far-flung housing projects in the governorates who do not own cars.10 In these estates, government public transport is practically non-existent and the private micro-bus system cannot provide convenient service due to a lack of the necessary critical mass of customers. And heavily subsidized fuel prices, which until 2006 have kept micro-bus fares affordable (at least for shorter distances) cannot be expected to continue forever. There are various schemes to improve public transportation to the new towns (rapid light rail is being proposed to link both 10th of Ramadan and Sixth of October with Cairo proper),11 but either fares will be completely unaffordable or the State will have to structure massive subsidies to make these new modes attractive. Experience has shown that government housing estates which are remote and badly located (in terms of access from major towns and transport corridors and in terms of proximity to popular and dense urban areas) tend to remain largely vacant and depressed for years, regardless of the success in distributing units.
US Aid - Review of Egyptian Subsidized Housing Programs and Lessons Learned, 2007
publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for
International Development, prepared by David Sims
transcript from video:
But are the government "New Towns" the solution, or an even bigger problem?
"With unemployment skyrocketing and unrest everywhere, these poor neighborhoods are the first to be radicalized. Even in the best of times foreigners are not welcome here. In an effort to solve the city's growing population the government has zoned eight new towns outside of Cairo, smack in the middle of the desert. Here the roads are wide, and smooth. There's no traffic, and plenty of parking. There's even a tree or two. The government already put in all the infrastructure: sewage, electricity, and water. At incredible expense. And then built tens of thousands of apartments. Most of which have been standing empty for so long, they're falling apart. Some of Cairo's new towns have only 20 percent occupancy. It's because there are so few jobs out here. And no public transportation. But a few areas have become wealthy enclaves. Luxurious gated communities, hidden behind walls of manicured greenery. With swimming pools, water-intensive lawns, and lots and lots of flowers. People to trim your hedges, collect your garbage, and country club membership. And most importantly, malls. Filled with American franchises."
gko92589yow - TikTok
"Cairo: Chaotic Construction, Close-knit Communities", Our Human Planet
Cairo is one of the densest cities in the world. Wander through its crowded streets and it looks like there's no room to shoehorn in even one more apartment. But are the government "New Towns" the solution, or an even bigger problem?
Our Human Planet
Explore a side of our human planet that few outsiders have ever seen. For twenty years, award-winning National Geographic filmmaker Karin Muller has traveled world alone.
This was despite the fact that some wealthier people established a small area within the city, with small mansions surrounded by tall fences.
So simply moving people to an area will not necessarily create jobs. Even when government builds cities and buildings.
This proves that people do not simply create jobs. Things do not actually work that way.
Here's an excerpt from a report that gives more detail on the situation:
There is a clear mismatch at the regional or governorate level between government housing supply and housing need. ... new housing schemes may be located in awkward, remote, or otherwise undesirable locations. As can be seen in Table A-4, significantly higher than average concentrations of government housing (as expressed in units built per 1996 resident household) are found in the frontier governorates and in Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, and Damietta.
For those governorates which have publicly-owned hinterlands, major land tracts allocated for subsidized housing are located mainly in desert sites which are usually far from existing densely populated agglomerations. Decades of urban expansion through supply-side State land policies have already used up or locked out those near-fringe desert lands which would be best suited for public housing, and there is an ever increasing centripetal search for new sites, usually accompanied by stiff competition among different State entities.8 As pointed out elsewhere,9 within and around Egypt’s urban agglomerations residential location is of crucial importance, especially for the poorer segments of urban populations to which subsidized housing programs are theoretically targeted. Distance creates a serious direct (and rising) transport cost to all members of a family, and there are a host of indirect costs (especially loss of time, hassles, lack of social networks, lack of informal business opportunities etc.) associated with living in remote housing estates. It is no wonder that vacancies in these projects exceed 50 percent of all units recently built. There is already a serious transport crisis faced by the vast majority of residents in new towns and those in far-flung housing projects in the governorates who do not own cars.10 In these estates, government public transport is practically non-existent and the private micro-bus system cannot provide convenient service due to a lack of the necessary critical mass of customers. And heavily subsidized fuel prices, which until 2006 have kept micro-bus fares affordable (at least for shorter distances) cannot be expected to continue forever. There are various schemes to improve public transportation to the new towns (rapid light rail is being proposed to link both 10th of Ramadan and Sixth of October with Cairo proper),11 but either fares will be completely unaffordable or the State will have to structure massive subsidies to make these new modes attractive. Experience has shown that government housing estates which are remote and badly located (in terms of access from major towns and transport corridors and in terms of proximity to popular and dense urban areas) tend to remain largely vacant and depressed for years, regardless of the success in distributing units.
US Aid - Review of Egyptian Subsidized Housing Programs and Lessons Learned, 2007
publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for
International Development, prepared by David Sims
transcript from video:
But are the government "New Towns" the solution, or an even bigger problem?
"With unemployment skyrocketing and unrest everywhere, these poor neighborhoods are the first to be radicalized. Even in the best of times foreigners are not welcome here. In an effort to solve the city's growing population the government has zoned eight new towns outside of Cairo, smack in the middle of the desert. Here the roads are wide, and smooth. There's no traffic, and plenty of parking. There's even a tree or two. The government already put in all the infrastructure: sewage, electricity, and water. At incredible expense. And then built tens of thousands of apartments. Most of which have been standing empty for so long, they're falling apart. Some of Cairo's new towns have only 20 percent occupancy. It's because there are so few jobs out here. And no public transportation. But a few areas have become wealthy enclaves. Luxurious gated communities, hidden behind walls of manicured greenery. With swimming pools, water-intensive lawns, and lots and lots of flowers. People to trim your hedges, collect your garbage, and country club membership. And most importantly, malls. Filled with American franchises."
gko92589yow - TikTok
"Cairo: Chaotic Construction, Close-knit Communities", Our Human Planet
Cairo is one of the densest cities in the world. Wander through its crowded streets and it looks like there's no room to shoehorn in even one more apartment. But are the government "New Towns" the solution, or an even bigger problem?
Our Human Planet
Explore a side of our human planet that few outsiders have ever seen. For twenty years, award-winning National Geographic filmmaker Karin Muller has traveled world alone.
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