THE ANALYSIS OF URBAN CONCENTRATION AND DECENTRALIZATION IN EGYPT: CASE STUDY OF PORT SAID GOVERNORATE.

Abstract

The structural spatial imbalances in Egypt have received considerable attention in recent years. Discussions have been characterized by both a focus towards the importance of the exploitation of the competitive advantages of regions and the reduction of socio-economic disparities by directing development towards backward regions. Those two opinions are drawing attention towards the need for an in-depth analysis of concentration and decentralization policies and their impacts on the land use distribution. This paper analyzes the urban growth scenarios in Port Said governorate within a framework of a decentralized concentration approach for the allocation of economic activities. The purpose of this approach is to support the preparation of a spatial and socio-economic plan that could assist in closing the gap between the rural/urban inequalities and socioeconomic disparities. The analysis of urban growth in Port Said area reveals that there is a strong need to create new employment centers along new transportation corridors to create polycentric regions, each functioning as an integrated socio-economic system that is formally independent from the others, yet connected and concentrated. Meanwhile, rural development has to be promoted as independent functional units that form an agropolitan system. It is concluded that the combination of urban polycentrism and rural concentrated decentralization could present a solution to the unmanaged urban growth on arable land, rural to urban migration and the low quality of life at the urban fringes of the main urban centers.