Current+growth+-+patterns+and+causes

=Cairo's Current Growth =


 * Factors/patterns influencing the city's growth:**

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· The centralization of government has influenced the growth of Cairo. All major decision makers, businesses, and elite groups are located in the capital, attracting outsiders. Also, the wealthier districts have more services to offer since the elite powers live there.=====

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· Deterioration of rural areas in Egypt has also contributed to the increase in rural-urban migration. Rural dwellers must find other means of income when the arable land outside of Cairo is no longer as productive, so they travel into the city.=====

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· Cairo is the center of financial activities throughout the country and thus offers more opportunities. The city is what connects the country to the rest of the world, making it important and logical that services and investments be concentrated in Cairo. The providing of services increases Cairo's growth, attracting people seeking opportunity, education, etc., but also widens the gap between the poorer and wealthier parts of the city as well as between the greater Cairo region (GCR) as a whole and other regions in Egypt.=====

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· Cairo is the center for international relations, which brings foreigners and investors into the city. This attention from the outside world increases the expenses spent on improving the city, as well as increasing the attractions the city has to other Egyptians and foreigners.=====

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· Foreign workers (traders, investors) also arrive in Cairo because it is the heart of the country. Students travel there from other parts of Egypt for as best an education they can receive. Also, immigrants from neighboring countries flock to Cairo for jobs and safety.=====

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· Cairo also has better communications, with railroads and transportation routes. The underdevelopment of these communications elsewhere in Egypt prevent other areas of the country from becoming more developed, keeping Cairo at a much higher level of development. Being the most developed region in Egypt means more people will arrive there in hopes of finding jobs, etc., increasing Cairo's growth enormously.=====

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· Being the capital of Egypt, a well-known, large city, Cairo is also simply attractive to people living elsewhere in Egypt. "Bright-light Syndrome" has brought people to the big city in Egypt where the wealth and power are located, with the hopes of finding opportunity and living better lives.=====

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· Centralized government has provided infrastructure and services to only the wealthier areas of GCR where they are located, while poorer areas have little services and are becoming increasingly overpopulated.=====

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· With the government, services, international relations, and industry all concentrated in the GCR, the inequality between this richer region and other regions in Egypt increases, only forcing even more people from around the country into Cairo where there are more opportunities. It's like a never-ending circle, as the services are more and more concentrated in Cairo, they attract more people from other regions in Egypt. Cairo then requires even more investments, and this continually increases the inequality between the GCR and the rest of the country.=====

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· Coupled with the overpopulation, worse off areas in the GCR provide very poor housing, which forces people to live wherever they can, including, even, in cemeteries and tombs among the dead. Sixty percent of the population in Cairo is estimated to live in informal housing.=====

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· As the greater Cairo region continues to spread and grow; surrounding villages and smaller cities have sort of absorbed and incorporated into the large capital. Rural land that is needed to support the country is also being used up. This is particularly important because Egypt is so largely made up desert and non-arable land, so all that is available is needed for agriculture=====

Sources:

http://mikedorseyweb.tripod.com/mest/submissions/maruta_urbanization.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/africa/1858022.stm http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu26ue/uu26ue0e.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5054052.stm