Environmental impact assessment of new and upgrading projects in unplanned areas to support public services and infrastructure: Four case studies within the scope of Greater Cairo - Egypt

Slum or informal areas continue to be among the major challenges of urbanization, especially in the major cities. They are facing the most devastating impacts of local and global challenges, including climate change. This gives a high priority to upgrading projects in these areas. However, a special concern should be given to the environmental and social impacts of these areas and the required upgrading projects to achieve sustainability in the short-term and long-term. This research paper aims to extract the common environmental and social issues in four informal areas in great Cairo and identify the required upgrading projects in these sites. It relies on 31 EIA studies of upgrading projects in four slum areas within the Cairo metropolis the researcher share in their preparation; Izbit Khayrallah, Al Zawya Al-Hamraa, Ard Al-Lewa and Mît Uqba. The comparative analyses were used to highlight EIA outcomes and their added values that could support the sustainability in these areas and in similar projects of other slums in Egypt. Site visits and interviews with stakeholders and local people were accomplished, during the construction phase of these projects, to investigate the acceptance of mitigation measures. Finally, guidelines and learned lessons were extracted in order to enhance the whole EIA procedure within a similar context.