An Effective Framework for Monitoring and Measuring the Progress towards Sustainable Development in the Peri-Urban Areas of the Greater Cairo Region, Egypt

Abstract

Sustainable development (SD) has become a crucial challenge globally, particularly in developing countries and cities. SD of peri-urban areas (PUA) has been tackled by a limited number of studies, unlike that of urban areas or cities. The PUAs of Greater Cairo (GC) are no exception; no study had addressed the state of the PUAs in terms of SD. Thus, this study sought to measure and evaluate the progress towards the SD in the PUAs of Greater Cairo, Egypt. Thirteen indicators were extracted from selected documents of the competent international organizations to measure and evaluate the performance of SD in the study area. The study resulted in a variety of charts and maps to explain the progress of SD in each municipality of the PUAs and then classify these municipalities based on their performance in sustainability indicators. The results revealed a wide gap between PUAs’ municipalities and the urban core of Greater Cairo. These results can help urban planners and decision-makers to better recognize the underdeveloped areas on the Greater Cairo peripheries, and hence, to develop the appropriate strategies and policies to improve SD in such areas.

Assessing Progress Towards Sustainable Development in the Urban Periphery: A Case of Greater Cairo, Egypt

“…The reason for low percentage of literacy rate in the peripheral municipalities is the lack of interest in this issue by most of residents who are farmers [23]. However, the enrollment rate in the primary education has witnessed a remarkable improvement in most of the peripheral municipalities due to increasing number of schools in these municipalities over 1996-2017 [23].…”

“…The reason for low percentage of literacy rate in the peripheral municipalities is the lack of interest in this issue by most of residents who are farmers [23]. However, the enrollment rate in the primary education has witnessed a remarkable improvement in most of the peripheral municipalities due to increasing number of schools in these municipalities over 1996-2017 [23]. On contrary, the enrollment rate in the primary education in Al-qanatir Alkheiriya municipality has declined due to the rapid increase of number of students in the corresponding age group without the same increase of number of schools in many of villages.…”

“…For instance, the United Nations (UN) has adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a set of 246 indicators to measure the progress towards SD [19][20][21][22]. The SDGs provide a framework for indicators in order to enhance SD globally [23]. Hence, at the local level, cities use these goals as a framework for their own sustainability performance.…”

Requirements for Reaching the Sustainable Goals of Development to Plan New Areas in Arab Republic of Egypt

“…Thus, Sustainable development is the process of developing land, cities and societies, as well as business, provided that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs [17,18].…”

Nocturnal Surface Urban Heat Island over Greater Cairo: Spatial Morphology, Temporal Trends and Links to Land-Atmosphere Influences

“…The Greater Cairo is the largest metropolitan area in Africa. It has witnessed rapid changes in population, urbanization, and extensive economic activities over both space and time, inducing critical impacts on the local environment, carbon cycle, and even climate change [1]. For example, the population of Greater Cairo has increased dramatically over the past decades from 2.4 million (1950) to 20.58 million (2018) and currently represents more than 20% of the total population of the Egyptian territory [2].…”