Using GIS in constructing area-based physical deprivation index in Cairo Governorate, Egypt

A worldwide consensus on poverty has acknowledged slums and the living conditions of slum dwellers as a major challenge faced by humanity. Formulation of appropriate policies and intervention programs to improve the living conditions and secure the well being of slum dwellers requires a strong knowledge base that clearly defines, identifies, and signifies the main points of commonalities and diversities among these slum areas which are commonly unavailable in many cities in developing countries. The current research provides an overview of slum challenge in Cairo governorate, Egypt. It further develops a physical deprivation index that allows the ranking of small geographic areas accordingly to their levels of physical deprivation. Using four of the basic GIS layers for the governorate of Cairo and the principle component analysis, an index of physical deprivation for these small areas “mantiqas” is constructed. The proposed index is a composite index of four main dimensions characterizing physical attributes, sources of pollutions, available services and security of each mantiqa. Validation tests of the index revealed the ability of the proposed index to capture slums identified by the current governmental official list of slums in addition to other areas that were as equally deprived but not included in the official list of slums.