Description
A provocative analysis of the roots of Egypt's housing crisis and the ways in which it can be tackled
About the Author
Yahia Shawkat is a housing and urban policy researcher who specializes in legislative analysis, data visualization, and historical mapping. He is research coordinator for 10 Tooba, a research studio he cofounded in 2014 that focuses on spatial justice and fair housing. He also edits the Built Environment Observatory, an open knowledge portal identifying deprivation, scrutinizing state spending, and advocating equitable urban and housing policies. His work has been published in Egypte Monde Arabe and Architecture_MPS, and he has contributed to Mada Masr, Open Democracy, Heinrich Boell, and the Middle East Institute, among others.
Reviews
A great deal has been said and written about Egypt's perpetual housing 'crisis' over the past three decades. This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the housing question from the historical, political, economic, and spatial outlooks. Written by one of the most erudite observers in the field, it addresses a critical question that lies at the heart of the social-policy crisis and popular contention. * Asef Bayat, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign *
Egypt's Housing Crisis provides novel insights into the historical evolution of the varied causes and consequences of Egypt's housing problems, focusing primarily on the vicissitudes of successive postcolonial regimes' ideologies, discourses, and policies in contexts of unprecedented urbanization and heightened demand for housing. Shawkat combines superb archival research with critical analyses to lift the veil on a multi-layered and apparently opaque housing system, characterized by capricious assertions of power at all levels of society. Ordinary Egyptians' experiences of informality and insecurity, particularly in times of neoliberalism, are constantly foregrounded to give a human face to an apparently intractable housing crisis. * Noor Nieftagodien, University of the Witwatersrand *
Finally, a tour de force that explains, historicizes, and critiques Egypt's poorly targeted, ineffective, and unfair housing policies which have excluded those in need from decent housing while producing millions of vacant apartments in rural and urban areas. Shawkat's seminal contribution convincingly unpacks the complex but traceable legislative, financial, social, economic, and political roots of this untenable housing environment over eight decades. * Diane Singerman, American University *
Very provocative * Karim Malak, Borderlines, a journal of Comparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East (CSSAAME) *
Shawkat's book does not only offer a detailed and thoroughly referenced history of housing policies in Egypt since their introduction in the 1940s, but it also gives a thorough mapping of many elements of the housing problem, especially those related to affordability and finance. * Al-Ahram Weekly *
Book Information
ISBN 9789774169571
Author Yahia Shawkat
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint The American University in Cairo Press
Publisher The American University in Cairo Press
Weight(grams) 562g