EGYPT’S

DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING

THE PROCESS OF
NEW GOURNA,
HOUSING FOR THE POOR
EGYPT Located in North Africa
The third largest country in the Middle East after Turkey and Iran in terms of
demography.
in GENERAL POPULATION
83.082.869 (July 2009)
AGE STRUCTURE
0-14 years: 31.4% (male 13.345.500/female 12.743.878)
15-64 years: 63.8% (male 26.823.127/female 26.169.421)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 1.701.068/female 2.299.875) (2009)
Population growth rate
1.642% (2009)
Birth rate
21.7 births/1,000 population (2009)
Death rate
5.08 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009)
Religions
Moslem (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic 9%, other Christian 1%
Most of the population is concentrated along the Nile River, especially along the
Alexandria and Cairo, the Nile Delta and near the Suez Canal.
Ethnics : Egyptians 76.4 million (97-98 %)
Bedouin Arab, Nubian, Beja, Roma Clans, Fayyum
Area
Total area covered: 1,001,450 sq km
Land: 995,450 sq km
Water: 6,000 sq km
Egypt divided into 4 main parts, The Nile Valley, The Arabian Desert, The Libyan
Desert , and The Sinai . 95 % is covered with desert, mainly the Sahara Desert
covering two thirds of Egypt.
4.2% of GDP (2006)

http://www.123independenceday.com/egypt/places.html
http://www.indexmundi.com/egypt/demographics_profile.html
COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN (CDP)
National Plan : 5 year action plan
20 year strategic plan
DOMAINS
Urban development
Social development
Economic development
Administrative development
Resource conservation and
environmental management
GOALS
• multi-dimensional transformation of local communities
• Integrated involvement of local community sectors (urban, social,
economic and environmental)
• Structural transformation
Planning in Egypt remained essentially a blueprint for
investment, and the balance between supply and
demand was adjusted through quasi-market
mechanisms and fiscal and monetary policies. (a)
RESOURCES
National general budget
Private sector
Grants
Self generated funds
(a) http://www.mongabay.com/history/egypt/egypt-
development_planning.html
(b) Journal Dr. Ahmad Gaber, Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University President, Chemonics Egypt
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
1. Urban Infrastructure
(Urban Development)
Completion of infrastructure
Low-income housing
Restructuring utilities
2. Social Services(Social
Development)
Education
Health and Housing
Training and Rehabilitation
Women, Children and Youth
3. Investment for poverty
alleviation (Economic Development)
Promote investment
Youth recruitment and small projects
Marketing development
Recruitment with government funding
4. Develop local community
administration (Administrative
Development)
Support decentralization
Improve local community
administration
Encourage public participation
5. Resource conservation and
environmental management.
(Environmental Development)
Journal Dr. Ahmad Gaber, Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University President, Chemonics Egypt
EMPHASIZING of PLANNING
Housing ; Social Development
Project Name: New Gourna Village, Egypt (1945-1948)
Project Type: Housing Development, New Town Planning
Usage: Residential, Urban Design and Development

CONTEXT ISSUES FUNDING

The site of New Gourna is • Inhabitans located on Egypt Government through
located on the western bank of Pharaonic Sites Department of Antiquities and
the Nile at the level of Luxor with • Some part has demolished Director of Excavations
which it makes up Ancient Site

STRATEGIES
• Relocation
• Reconstruction
Architecture For The Poor, 1973
 SOCIALIZATION
The idea for the village was
launched as a potentially
cost-effective solution to the
problem of relocating an
entire entrenched community.

This heritage has already

been severely damaged to
somewhat general
indifference. Every measure
should now be rapidly carried
out to preserve what is left,
restore what is left, restore
what has been altered and
reconstruct what has
disappeared to bring it to its
original form and signification.

LIVING CONDITION
(Old Gourna)
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
AIMS
TO UNDERSTAND THE ATTITUDE
TOWARDS EARTH CONSTRUCTION
METHODS
WALKING THROUGH THE VILLAGE
SELECTION ON LOCAL’S DIFFERENT OPINIONS
OF EARTH CONSTRUCTION
SITE VISITING ON BOTH DAMAGED AND
PRESERVED BUILDING
POTENTIAL ANALYSIS
THE INHABITANTS ARE PRIMARILY CHOOSING
TO REBUILD IN BRICKS OR BLOCKS
PRESERVED BUILDINGS ACHIEVE
COMFORTABLE CONDITIONS
THE VILLAGE HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO
DETERIORATE LEAVING FEW ORIGINAL
BUILDINGS
THE SUCCESSFUL RELOCATION OF A SETTLED
COMMUNITY REQUIRES THE FULL
CCOPERATION OF THE PEOPLE
RE-EDUCATION OF THE INHABITANTS IN THE
BENEFITS OF EARTH CONSTRUCTION IS
REQUIRED
A STABLE FOUNDATION WOULD PREVENT
WATER COMPROMISING THE STRUCTURAL
INTEGRITY OF THE BUILDING
DESPITE THE PROBLEMS THE VILLAGE COULD
STILL FUNCTION SUCCESSFULLY WITH
SENSITIVE INTERVENTION
RDSE Egypt New Gourna Study
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
This pilot-village relocated on other side of Gourna
(far away from the Pharaonic Sites)

Provide a settlement (housing) for 20,000 inhabitants

Played in the formation of contemporary conceptions
about local tradition and cultural identity, and about
modernism, urbanism, technology or ecology. BLOCK PLAN

UNIT PLAN
UNIT PLAN Source: archnet.org
 SECTION

SECTION ELEVATION

Source: archnet.org
POST-PROJECT EVALUATION

only part of the plan was realized between 1946

and 1949, due to political and financial
complications and opposition on the part of the
residents to relocation.
nearly 40 percent of the village has been lost
due to lack of maintenance and demolitions. The
boys’ school has been razed; the theater, the
Khan, and the market, as well as numerous
homes are on the verge of collapse. Increased
urban and the tourism pressures are
compounding the situation.
PHASE II
More than twenty years after work on New
Gourna had ground to a halt, the architect was
drawn back to the site again by a project for a
touristic village
CONSIDERING
unrealized potential of New Gourna's close
proximity to the ferry landings on the bank of the
Nile and the main highway that sustains endless
busloads of tourists travelling back and forth
from these landings to the Valleys of the Kings
and Queens.

Source:
archnet.org
Steele, James. 1989. The Hassan Fathy Collection. A Catalogue of Visual Documents at the Aga
Khan Award for Architecture. Bern, Switzerland: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 18.
CONCLUSION

1. Collective action is needed to ensure the preservation of this complex legacy of

modern town planning and vernacular heritage
2. This project assess the effectiveness of nationally formulated development
programs in promoting social, agro-industry and infrastructural development
3. Identify the critical planning factors involved in promoting or retarding
development

New Gourna not only situate the model village within the socio-political circumstances of its locale, but
also how to contemplate the role of this model community within broader discourses on nationalism,
decolonization, modernization, modernism/anti-modernism and environmentalism. Through an
interdisciplinary outlook that integrates historical and theoretical perspectives on modern architecture with
critical perspectives on the cultural politics of modernization, representation and post-coloniality,
REFERENCE
1. Steele, James. 1989. The Hassan Fathy Collection. A Catalogue of Visual Documents at the
Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Bern, Switzerland: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 16-18.
2. Fathy, Hassan. Architecture For The Poor, 1973
3. RDSE, Egypt New Gourna Study
4. Gaber, Ahmad, DR, Preparation of Egypt Local Development Master plan: General Framework
for Comprehensive Development Planning