Housing Production In Urban Egypt: The Inert Formal Sector Versus The Ungovernable Informal Sector | ||
| Journal of Urban Research | ||
| Article 7, Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2016, Pages 119-144 PDF (939.08 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jur.2016.91581 | ||
| Author | ||
| Sawsan El Sayed Bakr | ||
| Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| By focusing on formal and informal housing production both at the national and governorate levels, this paper argues that while formal housing production over the 1982/2013 period is characterized by inert capacity in addition to major deviation from plan leading to acute economic housing shortages, it is not solely the main driver of informal housing production. In other words, overproduction is an intrinsic characteristic of the informal sector; while it has been responsive to acute formal housing shortages in several governorates; it has not been responsive to actual housing needs. The analyses of formal housing at the national level showed that significant economic housing shortages during the 1997/2013 period are partially explained by the inert capacity of the formal sector and the private sector's shift away from economic housing towards middle income housing. During the1996/2006 and 2006/2013 time periods, formal housing production at the governorate level only achieved targets and small surpluses in a few small and medium size governorates while it contributed to significant housing shortages in the largest governorates in the Greater Cairo Region and Alexandria. The analyses of formal and informal housing production during the 1996/2006 period showed that: there was an overproduction of 1.4 million housing units; production in the informal sector contributed more to housing production than the formal sector; production in the formal sector was uneven and failed to cover housing needs in many governorates; and production in the informal sector was excessive and highly concentrated. The informal sector accounted for almost 74.8 % of total overproduction during the 1996/2006 period, of which 70 % was in the three governorates of Cairo, Alexandria and Qalyoubia. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| informal and formal sectors; housing production; overproduction; household formation; vacancy; closed units; Urban Egypt | ||
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