On Tuesday, United Nations Developed Program (UNDP) hold a new session regarding the 11th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 11) entitled Sustainable Cities and Communities.
During the session, UN-Habitat reviewed Egypt's urban context, in addition to the efforts of the Egyptian government and UN concerned agencies regarding the mentioned matter.
The concept of Sustainable Cities and Communities means that the cities' abilities to be smarter through using the advanced technologies to serve their residents، alongside managing smartly the resources of the cities such as water resources and energy to meet the needs of the residents.
Moreover, the concept includes the means of adapting to global warming and climate change by using more eco-friendly methods of reducing the levels of carbon emissions and depending more on recycling and smart waste management.
According to UN-Habitat Egypt's Office Director Rania Hedeya, Egypt's population growth rate reached 1.9, moreover, 43% of Egyptian residents live in urban cities which is estimated at 50 million persons. So, the population growth rate reached 2.2 %, compared to 1.3 % in the countryside.
Hedeya added that those rates reflect that there is inequality in Egypt's demography, that's why the expansion in establishing new cities can improve the urban context of Egypt.
Regarding the issue of unorganized urban complexes, Hedeya highlighted that the percentage of those complexes ranged between 30% and 37%. Therefore, the government set a more balanced population plan to improve the concept of balanced population density.
Furthermore, the new governmental projects such as in housing fields "Sakan Karim," and "Al Eskan Al Egtemaay" contributed deeply to decreasing the percentage of unplanned urban communities.
In the same context, the Head of Urban Governance, Policies, and Laws at UN-Habitat Egypt Amr Lashin explained that Egypt approved new policies that create better management for properties and urban communities in the state to reduce the unorganized population density. Furthermore, the state initiated founding stronger and advanced housing facilities and services.
Lashin added that the new strategy includes a better organization for streets, creating an equal population density, identical design of buildings, increasing the domestic growth rate of the cities, smart management for water resources, and enhancing the technologies of safe and eco-friendly transportation including the maritime ways such as Bike Sharing, PRT.
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