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The Effectiveness of Public-Private Partnerships in Addressing Residential Urban Development Challenges in Greater Cairo
Get PDFThis research explores the effectiveness of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in tackling the residential urban development challenges facing Cairo today. In the past two decades, PPPs have emerged as a dominant mode of housing production, positioned as collaborative ventures between state agencies and private developers. They have become integral to the expansion of Greater Cairo, producing vast new urban extensions under the promise of mobilizing private capital, technical expertise, and delivery capacity. Yet, questions remain about whether these arrangements genuinely address Egypt’s most urgent housing needs, or whether they reproduce market-driven logics that leave large segments of the population excluded. The study engages this question through three interconnected layers of analysis. The first maps the landscape of stakeholders shaping the housing market in Egypt, revealing a complex web of public entities, private actors, and foreign-led financial institutions. The second examines four local PPP case studies that reflect different partnership structures and outcomes, each offering insights into the challenges of governance, financial structuring, and risk-sharing. The third introduces a comparative dimension through the Dutch case of Leidsche Rijn. Rather than serving as a blueprint, this case is used to illuminate how different governance cultures and planning traditions, coupled with the constant updated data accumulation on both the population and existing housing stock can open alternative ways of framing PPPs and their potential for more inclusive development. By situating these case studies within the wider context of Cairo’s urban challenges ranging from high vacancy rates to persistent affordability gaps; the research argues that PPPs in Egypt remain constrained by a narrow focus on land provision and revenue generation. Their current form does little to address the deeper structural misalignments between housing supply and actual demand. The findings highlight the need for a recalibrated PPP framework one that is based on informed planning, one that positions the public sector not only as a land allocator but as a genuine urban development actor capable of safeguarding social value, integrating citizen needs, and steering housing provision toward a more sustainable and equitable future
Optimized Fabrication of Transition Metal Sulfide Electrodes for Supercapacitor Applications
No full textThis study systematically investigates seven metal-sulfur composite electrodes synthesized on nickel foam substrates via the Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) method for supercapacitor applications. The seven different metal-sulfur composite electrodes—nickel-sulfur (Ni-S), chromium-sulfur (Cr-S), iron-sulfur (Fe-S), iron-nickel-sulfur (Fe-Ni-S), chromium-iron- sulfur (Cr-Fe-S), chromium-nickel-sulfur (Cr-Ni-S), and chromium-nickel-iron-sulfur (Cr-Ni-Fe-S) are all systematically investigated in this extensive study. The goal of the study is to use the synergistic effects of multi-metallic sulfide systems to further the development of high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. The structural and compositional characteristics of the synthesized electrodes were uncovered using a comprehensive set of characterization procedures. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shed light on the nanoscale architecture and crystallinity of the active materials, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the SILAR method produces homogeneous, nanostructured coatings with high surface area and interconnected porosity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated the presence of multiple oxidation states, confirming the coexistence of redox-active centers necessary for pseudocapacitive charge storage. In contrast, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) verified the uniform distribution of constituent elements across the electrode surface. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and long-term cycle stability evaluations, electrochemical performance was thoroughly examined in a 1 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte. By offering superior electrical conductivity, structural stability, and a sizable accessible surface area that promoted quick ion and electron movement, the nickel foam substrate significantly improved overall electrode performance. The most promising option among the electrodes under investigation was the chromium-nickel-iron-sulfur (Cr-Ni-Fe- S) composite. In the device arrangement, this electrode outperformed its single- and binary-metal counterparts with an impressive specific capacitance of 1441.60 F/g, an energy density of 21.08 Wh/kg, and a power density of 1034.33 W/kg. Notably, after 15,000 continuous charge-discharge cycles, the Cr-Ni-Fe-S electrode maintained 99.1% of its original capacitance, demonstrating exceptional electrochemical stability and highlighting its applicability for real-world energy storage applications. The synergistic interaction of many metal centers, which produces a rich network of complimentary redox pathways, improves electronic conductivity, and maximizes ion transport, is responsible for the Cr-Ni-Fe-S electrode\u27s outstanding performance. In addition to demonstrating the critical role that multi-metal synergy plays in optimizing electrochemical performance, these results provide a strategic framework for the logical development of next-generation electrodes specifically suited for high-energy density supercapacitors. This discovery opens up new possibilities for the development of effective, long-lasting, and scalable energy storage technologies by providing a solid basis for future studies into sophisticated multi-component electrode system
‘CASAR Public lecture: 100 Days of Trump: America, the Middle East, and Beyond’
Get PDFThe entire world is literally getting new updates about Trump\u27s internal & external policies almost everyday now....can you imagine that we are still yet to reach 100 days?? USAID cuts, Chinese and Canadian Tariffs, DEI revokes, Gaza War, Ukraine War, the case of Iran, National Economic Emergency in the US, ICE arrests in the US & so much more to discuss.....Trump\u27s policies impact the US as well as everywhere in the world, but what are the repercussions so far?
Speakers: From AUC: Dr. Sean Lee, Assistant Professor, Political Science Department - Amb. Dr.Alaa El-Hadidi , CASAR Adjunct Professor.
The panel was moderated by CASAR Director Dr.Mark Deets
Date: Wednesday, May 7th, 2025
Time: 1-2 pm
Venue: Tim Sullivan Lounge - Alwaleed building (first floor) - AUC New Cairo Campus
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Being Alone in Ancient Egypt
No full textAfter an extensive exploration of the multifaceted forms and networks of sociability, cultural historians have turned their attention to the study of those who, voluntarily or not, have been located at the margins of society or outside them: in other words, those who have been alone. Relative to ancient Egypt, this thesis hopes to offer preliminary thoughts toward an understanding of when and how aloneness was experienced and, more so, expressed by the Egyptians. The topic is challenging since aloneness lacks definitional standardization both within and across social science disciplines. It additionally implies to explore cultural representations that may be unfamiliar to the modern ‘us’. Despite being an anthropological constant, the expression of aloneness is, indeed, culturally anchored. This thesis, mainly based on literary primary sources, follows three avenues of research. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis topic while providing a historiography and background research. Chapter 2 offers an analysis of how aloneness was expressed in the ancient Egyptian language and explores the various nuances that the words and expressions may convey: ‘positive’ aloneness (solitude), ‘neutral’ aloneness, and ‘negative aloneness’ (loneliness). Chapter 3 focuses on the topographies and temporalities of aloneness: the condition, it seems, has favorite places and times to emerge, which are, for the ancient Egyptian culture, the island (or any place separated by a body of water), the desert, and the night. Chapter 4 investigates aloneness through the prism of community and social solidarity, the latter of which is defined in the ancient Egyptian culture by the concept maat. In addition to summarizing the key points of this thesis, the conclusion introduces, as an area for future research, the idea of death as the ultimate form of isolation
Decorated Wooden Ceilings of the Burji Mamluk Period in Cairo
No full textThe decorated wooden ceilings still located in their original surroundings within Cairene-Burji sites form the starting point of this work. A survey of these artifacts in their intended location provides a useful opportunity to reflect on their lived context, and to study the reciprocity between forms and designs across various artifacts in the same site, woodworked or otherwise. All aspects of the structure and decoration of these ceilings are examined in the present study. A provisional typology will first be presented for ceilings from the late-Ayyubid period up to the Burji-Ottoman cusp. In view of the similarities between late-Ayyubid and Bahri ceilings with those found later in the Burji period, it seems pertinent to include them for consideration. Various connections are explored with relevant traditions outside of Cairo and Egypt, in particular those from Bilad al-Sham, Yemen, Iberia and North Africa, in order to arrive at an understanding of the wider context, possible origins, and significance of these styles. The focus then moves to a consideration of the concurrent development of cornices and spandrels, linked intrinsically to the ceilings which surmount them, then to a review of materials and techniques, and after that to an analysis of ornamentation and epigraphy. Finally, a brief inquiry into the development and forms of lantern ceilings, of which none survive intact from the Burji period, will be conducted
From Misconception to Inclusion: Policy Pathways for the Integration of Migrants and Social Cohesion in Egypt
No full textEgypt is located at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, with over 9 million migrants, including around 1.5 million migrants living in vulnerable situations (IOM, 2022) and around 992,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers from 133 countries (UNHCR, 2025a) according to the latest available data. Public and policy discussions, however, remain shaped by the widespread stereotypes and confusion in distinguishing between migrants and refugees. This can promote exclusion, disinformation, and social tension. Misconceptions can hinder integration, limit access to services, and erode social cohesion in a country navigating economic constraints and adapting to ongoing demographic changes. This policy paper unpacks how these stereotypes are framed in Egypt through indepth interviews with practitioners of migration, experts, and policymakers, as well as a roundtable discussion attended by a myriad of stakeholders. The research synthesizes qualitative information and research literature to articulate the root explanations of migrant stereotyping: economic scapegoating, cultural and racial biases, political rhetoric, and media narrative. Of special interest, this policy paper reflects on the term “guests”, which is often used in both official and press discourse, blurs the line between migrants and refugees, and suppresses critical distinctions in law, prospects, and contributions. The relevance of this topic cannot be overstated. Egypt’s stability, economic development, and international standing are closely tied to its ongoing efforts to strengthen social cohesion and effectively manage diversity. As migration dynamics evolve and demographic shifts continue, fostering inclusion and social resilience remains a key policy priority. Enhancing public awareness, expanding youth engagement, and supporting civil society initiatives can further contribute to building a more cohesive and adaptive society. Building on the identified challenges and opportunities related to social cohesion and diversity, this paper seeks to address how narratives surrounding migration influence Egypt’s social fabric and policy environment. It aims to identify dominant narratives about migrants in Egypt, assess their implications for social cohesion, and explore how migrant-related perceptions shape the broader migration discourse. To achieve these objectives, this paper used a triangulated qualitative approach through conducting semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders, hosting a roundtable of 25 representatives and experts to validate findings and co-develop policy solutions, and conducting an analysis of Egyptian and international literature, media reporting, and policy documents to contextualize findings and verify them
Predicting the Indirect Cost of Construction Projects in Egypt: An Artificial Neural Network Approach
Get PDFCost estimation is one of the vital processes in construction management that needs to be done early in any project in order to determine the project\u27s budget. The accuracy of the cost estimate is a key factor in the success of construction projects since it enables project managers to successfully control the project’s expenses. Construction costs mainly consist of direct cost and indirect cost. Generally, indirect costs can be categorized into two types: site overheads and general overheads. In a construction project, overheads, particularly site overhead costs, make up a considerable portion of a contractor\u27s budget. Accordingly, accurately estimating the site overheads of construction projects is a crucial task that needs to be done in order to manage projects efficiently. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to enhance the contractor’s ability to accurately predict the site overhead costs of construction projects in Egypt through identifying and analyzing the key factors influencing site overheads in the Egyptian construction industry. This study proposes three-stage ANN approach for predicting site overheads of construction projects. The first ANN model estimates the total site overhead percentage while the second and third ANN models then utilize both the predicted total site overheads percentage and existing project data to forecast the breakdown of site overhead across its different subcategories and across the project’s different construction phases, while incorporating both economic and non-economic variables. In order to form the model’s database, the major factors affecting the site overheads were first identified through an extensive literature review. These factors were project type, project location, project duration, contract type, project direct cost, client type, class of contracting company and lastly macroeconomic indicators such as inflation rate, interest rate and currency exchange rates. In addition, cost data from 55 real-life projects executed during the past 10 years were obtained to be used as a database for the learning process of the ANN model. Cost data for 5 new projects were then used to test each model. Model 1 had 2.75% MAE for training set and 3.9% for testing set. Model 2 had 2.62% MAE for training and 2.83% for testing while Model 3 had 2.12% MAE for training and 2.31% MAE for testing data set. Overall, the models performed well and can be considered a useful tool for the predicting the percentage of site overheads as well as the percentage of site overheads allocated to each subcategory and each construction phase. Thus, these models offer a valuable tool for contractors to enhance cost estimation, improve decision-making and mitigate financial risks
Sustainability Transformation for Healthcare Facilities Following Net Zero Model
No full textThe healthcare industry is a field undergoing huge development. Focused on SDG 3 “Good Health and Well-being”, the healthcare industry, as the main health service provider, was marked by experts as a sector that should lead sustainable development by example. The current work aims to formulate a sustainability rating system for new and existing healthcare facilities to encourage the Egyptian healthcare industry to move towards sustainability according to net zero concepts. Additionally, the transition to net zero waste is investigated though experimental work to test the possibility of utilizing sterilized medical waste in cement-based bricks.
The rating system starts with two general prerequisites for management, and covers three specialty sections energy, water and habitat. Each section has prerequisites and credit awardable implementation actions that are awardable upon fulfilment of requirements. Additionally, an approaching net zero assessment system is formulated for energy, water, waste and GHGs emissions, where a baseline benchmark should be calculated and subsequent targeted savings achieved.
experimental work to assist the approach to net zero waste was undertaken, where shredder/autoclave waste, and bottom ash from medical waste incinerators are used to fabricate cement bricks. Also, marble and granite powder are tested as additives to increase the brick strength. Shredded/autoclaved waste was agglomerated before utilization, and the compressive strength test concluded that the 10% agglomerated waste with 10% marble powder additive showed satisfactory results compared to ASTM C55 requirement. While the bottom ash sample performing closest to target was 15% bottom ash, with 5% marble and only 10% cement
Navigating the Future Advancing Autonomous Vehicles through Robust Target Recognition and Real-Time Avoidance
Get PDFThe problem being tackled by this thesis is a very important one and very relevant to our days and times: it is about making improved target recognition and enhanced real-time response skills in AVs under simulated conditions. Our plan is to put some enhanced sensory capabilities into these vehicles and see if that makes them safer and more reliable. We are using as our base a particular object recognition algorithm (YOLOv7) and a particular simulation environment (CARLA). We utilized the CARLA 0.9.14 simulator on Ubuntu 20.04 as a more stable option than the initially used CARLA 0.9.15 on Ubuntu 22.04, where both were used in an unreal engin 4.26 environment. This research work drew upon the CARLA simulator and used stereo cameras and LIDAR to create a robust simulated environment for the collection of times of the day, weather conditions, and urban and rural scenarios across different town layouts. An annotation effort by us resulted in the labeling of a more focused dataset of 4,113 images from a broader set of 160,000 generated through sensor fusion,stereo camera and LIDAR overlayed model. The object detection algorithm used in this work was YOLOv7. The nuance of this work comes from the testing of enhancements made in this new model over previous models of YOLO. Comparisons were also made to some other recent methods for object detection in autonomous vehicle applications. The main object classes of interest were cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, because these are the most dangerous classes with which an Autonomous Vehicles might have a collision. Detection capacity for the YOLOv7 model dramatically improved over previous iterations, from 100 epochs to 700 epochs. At an intersection over union (IoU) threshold of 0.5, YOLOv7 achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 76.3%, which is better than its predecessors with an increase of 12%. YOLOv7\u27s performance also varied depending on the target class, with cars being the most accurately detected object class, showing a precision of 0.841, a recall of 0.843, and mAP values at the 0.5 and 0.5:0.95 thresholds of 0.835 and 0.590, respectively. In real-world applications, YOLOv7 should yield impressive results for detecting and tracking a wide variety of object classes across many different environments. While the thesis robustly validates the performance improvements of Autonomous Vehicles systems within simulated settings, future work should focus on the physical implementation of these technologies in actual vehicles and testing in real-world scenarios. In Addition, further research should explore integrating real-time object avoidance capabilities to enhance the practical applicability and safety of autonomous vehicles in dynamic and unpredictable environments
Expectations Versus Reality in New Cairo\u27s Gated Communities: an Interdisciplinary Analysis of Socio-Spatial Features
Get PDFThis research aims to introduce a new framework to identify the disparities between gated community residents’ experiences and real estate developers\u27 visions towards the development. As New Cairo experiences significant growth, many residents are increasingly relocating to gated communities. It has become crucial to assess users’ expectations before moving and their lived experience post-moving to allocate the gaps between their expectations and reality, otherwise, the GC developments will grow apart from users’ updated preferences. The research focuses on the socio-spatial qualities such as accessibility to services and facilities, community interaction, and vast green areas between buildings for privacy, all of which impact housing satisfaction and overall quality of life. The studied socio-spatial factors are investigated through interdisciplinary methods conducted on gated communities’ users and real estate developers’ members. Surveys were conducted on users to assess their socio-spatial experiences, and six semi-structured interviews were conducted with real estate developers to assess their vision for the same studied socio-spatial factors. This research identifies significant gaps between residents\u27 expectations before moving into gated communities and their lived experiences afterward, resulting from differences in property characteristics and economic factors. The findings revealed the indicators of disparities between users’ experiences and developers’ visions, which are a result of differences in priorities and other economic drivers. The analysis suggests that there must be stronger communication between the developers and their residents by including them in the processes in case of any changes in plans. These findings enhance users’ housing satisfaction and quality of life in gated communities