Urban strategies and environmental policy: Towards urban sustainability within the Egyptian context

- The case of Egypt mirrors the tension between environmental and urban agendas.
- Dominant development paradigms drive urban plans that favor economic priorities.
- Political support is considered central factor in achieving sustainable development.
- Coordination between environmental and urban authorities is needed
- SEA should be introduced in Egypt to promote achieving sustainable development.

Many developing countries are currently undergoing increasingly rapid economic growth, which contributes in turn to urban development. Though this urban development would seem to benefit these countries, it can also, if inappropriately managed, create distinct challenges for them. In this article, it is illustrated how dominant urban development agendas over the last six decades have favoured an economic model development at the expense of environmental considerations in Egypt which is historically significant as a center of habitat and biodiversity. The Egyptian case mirrors the tension between environmental and urban development agendas. In other words, it is argued that the Egyptian government has conflicting objectives of pursuing urban development to accommodate the fast growing population, and preserving the environment with the former currently taking priority over the latter. Despite attempts to reconcile the two agendas in the last decade, extensive environmental degradation remains a major challenge facing development processes and leading to unacceptable levels of negative impacts. This paper examines the relationship between urban development and environment, through the evolution of development strategies and environmental policy making in Egypt during the six decades from 1950 until 2010. It seeks through a critical evaluation to provide some practical recommendations that could help to effectively advance the balance between environmental and urban development towards sustainability and propose ways forward to environmental policy making and implementation.