Greater Cairo as an Emerging State-Coordinated Megalopolis: Reassessing Global-South Urban Models | ||
| Journal of Urban Research | ||
| Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 23 October 2025 | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jur.2025.427897.1206 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Muhammad M Elkhayat* ; Mona Abdel Fattah; Walid Nabil Bayoumi | ||
| Department of Regional Urban Development, Faculty of Regional and Urban Planning, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Over the past five decades, the Greater Cairo Region has undergone rapid economic and demographic expansion and sustained urban transformation, reaching 26.8 million residents in 2024 (CAPMAS, 2024) and prompting a classification question: metropolitan region or emerging megalopolis? Focusing on Cairo’s tri-nodal structure—the historic core (Cairo–Giza) and two peripheral poles (New Cairo–New Administrative Capital and 6th of October–Sheikh Zayed)—the study tests Western megalopolis criteria against Egypt’s spatial and functional realities and delineates prospective megalopolitan boundaries. Methodologically, a multi-scalar design combines analysis of national policy and state visions with spatial assessment of economic activity, population, and morphology. To overcome limits of conventional density measures—especially where compact settlements interweave with agricultural land—the study uses the spatial distribution of commercial services as a proxy for urban activity and applies a 5×5 km grid to compute built-up coverage ratios, enabling boundary delineation based on continuity and compactness rather than administrative lines. Findings reveal a dense, continuous urban corridor alongside uneven functional integration across the three cores. Grid-based metrics reduce misclassification from administrative averages, while service-based proxies identify concentrated functional nodes. The study offers a critical reinterpretation of the megalopolis concept and an analytical framework tailored to Global South conditions, and classifies Greater Cairo as an Emerging State-Coordinated Megalopolis, reflecting a centralized governance trajectory distinct from Western models. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Megalopolis Delineation; Greater Cairo Region; Urban Morphology and Spatial Structure; Global South Urbanization Models; Comparative Metropolitan Analysis | ||
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