Understanding peri-urban growth in Greater Cairo: A thematic literature synthesis (1990-2025)

Abstract

Peri-urban areas in the Global South are expanding rapidly under the pressure of demographic change, sociopolitical dynamics, and economic development. Yet, in Greater Cairo, where peri-urbanisation has accelerated since the 1990s, hardly any systematic research has examined its dynamics, leaving planners and policymakers with insufficient evidence to address emerging challenges. This study addresses the limited understanding of peri-urban typologies, by exploring their drivers, challenges, prospects, and transformations through a structured literature review, thematic synthesis, and content analysis of 39 publications (1990-2025). The analysis identifies three peri-urban typologies shaped by location, core-periphery relations, and rural-urban transitions. Expansion was driven by factors such as population growth, flat topography prone to encroachment, road accessibility, unequal job distribution, limited low-income housing, and weak land management. Consequences included agricultural land loss, deteriorating air quality, poverty, unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, severe health risks, and informal land tenure. At the same time, peri-urban areas also hold potential for food production, ecosystem services, economic diversification, and social cohesion. By highlighting these interlinked dynamics, the study provides a framework for understanding peri-urban change in Greater Cairo and calls for future research on resilience capacities to guide more adaptive planning and policy responses.