Spatial Justice in the Greater Cairo Region

Spatial Justice
in the Greater Cairo Region
Planning [in]
Justicewww.tadamun.info

What is poverty, equality
and justice?

What is Poverty and Urban Poverty?
Poverty arises when incomes are below a certain level which experts deem the minimum
amount necessary to fulfill the basic needs of daily life. This level is known as the“poverty
line.”Urban Poverty arises among people below the poverty line within urban areas.
www.tadamun.infoPlanning [in] Justice

What is the difference between
Equality and Justice?
“Equality”suggests that each person receives the same resources as others, while“Justice”
suggests each person receives the share of resources that corresponds to his/her needs.
For example, in an “equal” tax system everyone pays the same percentage regardless of
his/her income. In a“just”tax system people pay different percentages depending on their
income, so the rich would pay a larger share than the poor.

Spatial justice refers to the distribution of public resources among different geographic
areas – such as governorates, cities, districts, neighborhoods, and villages – according to
the varying needs of each area. For example, in a spatially just city, a higher share of
subsidized public services would be invested in poorer districts rather than richer ones.
What is Spatial Justice?

In Egypt, most studies focus on the national level and compare resource distribution and
poverty levels between urban and rural areas. Research shows that urban areas receive a
larger share of resources, while rural areas are typically poorer than urban areas. However,
inequality within urban areas is higher than in rural areas. This necessitates examining
inequality and injustice at the lowest spatial levels.
What is the status of spatial injustice
in Egypt?

What are the causes and
impacts of spatial injustice?

Centralization
In a centralized state, the national government is responsible for distributing public
resources with no real participation from the local level. This, in many cases, leads to a
misallocation of resources, and/or a distribution of resources in a way that does not
respond to local needs, leading to spatial injustice.

Treating land as a commodity
Despite the abundance of land as a national resource in Egypt, state trends over the past
few decades have regarded land as a commodity rather than a public resource that should
be used in the public interest. The rising price of land in Egypt has made housing unafford-
able to most people, which has caused much of the spatial injustice we witness today.

Unaffordable housing
When the state does not ensure that adequate housing is available to those with limited
incomes, or when all subsidized housing is located in remote areas far from job opportuni-
ties and services, this results in the spread of informal areas. Informal areas are then
labeled by the state as“haphazard”or“unplanned”areas, but in reality, this phenomenon
reflects the process of people filling a gap that the state failed to address.

Misallocation of public resources
To ensure that development takes place in a just manner across different areas, public
resources should be distributed according to each area’s needs and degree of deprivation.
Without the proper tools to target deprived areas, spatial injustice is often exacerbated.
Unfortunately, resources are often distributed based on political negotiations among
government officials. Hence, deprived areas remain deprived, creating a vicious circle
where spatial injustice leads to more injustice.

Absence of local elected entities
Elected local officials can be an effective channel for public participation and accountabili-
ty in governance. Through elections, residents can voice their needs, hold local officials
accountable, and motivate officials to pay attention to solving local problems. Without
such channels, where the poor are voiceless and only privileged people can have their
voices heard; richer parts of the city continue to obtain more resources.

Lack of transparency and access
to public information
Important information about national and local statistics, public budgets, and govern-
ment projects are inaccessible to most people. This makes it impossible for citizens to
monitor development initiatives in their areas. Without transparency and access to public
information, citizens cannot properly hold officials accountable for the misallocation or
misuse of resources.

Lack of reliable indicators
Due to the lack of proper indicators that reflect spatial injustice, especially at the lowest
spatial levels, many pockets of deprivation remain invisible to those in charge of public
resource distribution. This makes it extremely difficult for officials to target such forms of
deprivation, which results in a misallocation of resources, leading to continued, deeper
deprivation and spatial injustice.

Administrative boundaries do not
reflect development needs
Administrative subdivisions do not take into consideration the existing urban characteris-
tics, socioeconomic networks, and development gaps. Some communities with homoge-
nous developmental needs are scattered among different districts or governorates that
have varying priorities and resources. Thus, the needs of such communities are addressed
inconsistently or entirely fall between the cracks.

The creation of“Poverty Pockets”
When certain neighborhoods are deprived of public resources and services, life in these
areas becomes less costly than in the rest of the city. These areas become attractive to
people of limited means, creating a so-called “poverty-pocket.” Such areas continue to
attract more poor people, creating a spatial concentration of the poor and a vicious circle
where spatial injustice generates more injustice.

Redundancy of aid and development
efforts in certain areas
The lack of effective tools to identify spatial injustice and levels of deprivation leads to the
oversaturation of development efforts in some areas, leaving few resources for other areas
with great needs.

The project aims to collect and analyze data and increase public awareness
regarding the absence of spatial justice in the distribution of public resources
between different urban areas.This is in addition to examining the institutional
causes that enable this situation in Egypt, with a special focus on the Greater
Cairo Region (GCR).
In pursuing this aim, the project works on developing tools to identify,
measure and address these inequalities and making these tools available to
other active groups in Egypt. Planning [in] Justice is a project of TADAMUN:
The Cairo Urban Solidarity Initiative.
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Planning [in] Justice
Planning [in]
Justicewww.tadamun.info

Spatial Justice in the Greater Cairo Region

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