Zeinab Shafik – författare

This volume provides visionary approaches within the multi-disciplines engaged with informal settlements covering three main themes; ‘Innovative Policies and Strategies to Informal Urbanism’; ‘Production, Operation and the Life-World of Urban Space’ and finally ‘The Dynamics of Informal Settlements’. 

The book reflects multi-disciplinary experiences dealing with informality, where authors from a number of global regions present cases, practices and ideologies related to their respective context. This is elaborated through fifteen selected papers, most of which, were presented at the International conference: ARCHCAIRO 6 (the 6th International Conference), "RESPONSIVE URBANISM IN INFORMAL AREAS TOWARDS A REGIONAL AGENDA FOR HABITAT III". The conference was organized as a collaborative activity within the “Informal Urbanism Hub” of the HABITAT University Network Initiative (UNI), the Regional Office for Arab Countries, and Cairo University, aiming at reducing the gap between academia and practice.  

This book seeks to push forward the boundaries of current practices and knowledge to embrace innovative solutions, novel approaches, and grounded technologies within realistic comprehension of economic risks and environmental implications. It investigates different scales and situations, various urban forms and morphology, and various localities and totalities. The book presents a platform of recent research, findings, and answers to pressing issues of building new cities and expanding existing ones in the Middle East and Egypt, within their ecological limits, formulating images, architecture, and public spaces to create liveable, working, and productive cities.

At the time of transformation, people continue to influence their habitat and beyond. While facing the compelling challenges of the present, innovative development poses itself as an inevitable response to future demands. In socio-economic disparities and environmental crises, innovation necessitates a mode of actionto act responsibly in addressing issues in unconventional manners. The production of space becomes a responsibility towards the development of human resources, promoting their needs, capacities, and advancing a decent quality of life.