In Pictures

Gallery|Poverty and Development

In Pictures: Cairo’s urban planning

Housing problem remains one of the biggest crises faced in Cairo, one of the world’s most rapidly growing capitals.

In the front lays the debris of downed buildings, former residences of Egyptian families who bought the land decades ago and are still in the possession of the purchase deed. They are now ordered to leave the site, as this will be used for military purposes.
By Al Jazeera
Published On 10 Jun 2014

Cairo is one of the world’s most rapidly growing cities, with nearly two percent annual population growth. This has prompted the Egyptian capital’s inhabitants to seek solutions for an intensifying housing shortage.

Entire families have taken refuge in small huts on rooftops of apartment buildings, and some have even moved into family tombs in suburban Cairo. Meanwhile, wealthy Egyptians have seized the opportunity to illegally build skyscrapers for those urgently looking for a home; some of these units are sold unfinished, with no amenities, and the sellers then vanish. 

Proper hygiene cannot be maintained in some of these accommodations, putting the health of many Egyptians at risk. Meanwhile, in an attempt to start controlling the city’s urban planning, the government has decided to tear down all illegal settlements.

“Sixty percent of the population in Cairo lives in informal areas,” said Yahia Shawkat, housing and land rights officer at EIPR. “These areas are not planned by the government and therefore the ownership is heavily contested.”

Even before the uprising in 2011, the housing problem in Egypt became a hot topic. After the nationalisation of land in the late 1950s, owning land became almost impossible. Those who wanted to build a house or cultivate land would get a lease on the land, but would never become the actual owner of it.

“Since the [2011] revolution more and more private constructors have abused the current problems and instability in the country to build flats without permits,” said Manal El-Tibe, a human rights activist and researcher on illegal housing in Egypt. “But for the people who have inherited land, or those living in informal areas for decades, the government needs to develop a proper plan.”

Together with his sister Habiba, Mustafa is waiting for the storm to come. Their house is the next to be taken down, but they have nowhere else to go so they wait until the moment bulldozers enter the site.
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Mohamed Bilal is looking for anything valuable between what is left of his house after dynamite destroyed it. Household appliances first, but iron as well, to reuse or sell afterwards.
Abady, Karim, Mustafa and Mohamed are guarding the place where their homes once stood. They have now set up tents, in which they take turns sleeping in.
All around and in Cairo, necropolises serve as houses for the poor. This is a newly established necropolis outside the city in the suburb October 6. Here, the tombs are still reserved for the dead. The left photo is of the Islamic tombs, while the right is of the Coptic tombs.
One of the biggest necropolises is located inside Cairo. It is unclear how many people are living in the tombs of their families. Some say only dozens, while others say maybe thousands. Tariq, the gravedigger, opens the tomb of one of the families. Underneath the earth, several rooms are found.
Seif is the four year old grandson of Ismailiya. Ismailiya herself doesn(***)t remember her age because she didn(***)t keep track of the years passing by. They are living atop the tombs of Seif(***)s father and grandfather. A nearby mosque in the necropolis provides them with little electricity, just enough to keep the fridge and television set working.
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Yasmin, Marwa and Mama Mona are standing outside their house above the family tomb, feeding the newborn Hanan. Mounya, the eldest granddaughter of the family, sits inside. She goes to school, but not everyday.
Hanan(***)s house, above the family tomb, consists of two rooms. One room is to spend the nights, the other one to spend the days. She stands in the latter, the most colorful one, decorated with flowers and Quran phrases.
A top view of the small houses built on the roof of one of Cairo(***)s skyscrapers. Usually there is one room per family. A family often counts more than five members.
Aoutif lives in one of the newest rooms on the rooftop. With a monthly rent of LE200, 25 USD, for those recently arrived, she has one of the most expensive rooms up there. A Christian, she is taking care of Ziyad, the grandson of one of the Muslim neighbours. For Aoutif, there is no place as good as this, where everybody lives together as a big family. Here is where her heart is.
An overview of a district in northern Cairo. Several flats include little rooms on the roof, while other buildings are unfinished. This is a common scene in Cairo, since taxes are only paid once the entire building is completed.