MANAGING DISTORTIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SPATIAL SYSTEM: DOES THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT POLICY PAY OFF?

Abstract This research reviews the recent trend of the Egyptian national development policy of which major objectives are alleviating the intensity of untamed urban growth - and - population concentration in urban cores, and better integration of the national economy subsets. Despite attempts to reconcile these objectives in one agenda, the paper concludes that main issues endemic to the national spatial development policy in Egypt remain dangerously undervalued. The paper poses the question of whether the current spatial development policy paradigm can contribute effectively to managing the Egyptian spatial system imbalances. An answer was sought through policy analysis, which included the utilization of a two-pronged approach of comparing the currently adopted policy development paradigm to the Event-Based Public Development model postulated by Gore & Nicholson (1985), and the examination of data extracted from the three consecutive statistic census' results of years 1986, 1996, and 2006.