Introduction

In 2007, the majority of people were already living in cities. Simultaneously, the number of slum dwellers in the world exceeded one billion dwellers, where one in three city residents lived in inadequate housing (Carmona et al., 2010). This fact makes slums a critical topic nowadays. It draws inevitable attention with the continuous growth of the phenomenon estimated to have reached 1.4 billion by 2020 (FAO, 2015). Since 2000, with the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), where target 7D was to “improve the lives of 100 million people from slum dwellers by the year 2015” (L’Alliance des Ville, 2010; United Nations, 2015b; World Bank, 2013) representing about 15% of slum dwellers worldwide then (Satterthwaite, 2003), many developing countries began to restructure their upgrading strategies to meet these goals and targets. According to the UN-Habitat, in 2003, the highest percentage of slum dwellers worldwide was 99.4% in Ethiopia and Chad, 98.5% in Afghanistan, and 92% in Nepal (UN-Habitat, 2003). In Egypt, in 2010, slum/informal dwellers comprised 39.9% of the urban population, around 11.8 million people (Khalifa, 2011). Despite the vitality of the MDGs, there was very little progress towards achieving any of them. Subsequently, the current Sustainable Development Goals focus on improving urban dwellers’ living conditions precisely through SDG #11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (United Nations, 2015a). Hence, it is imperative to alleviate current living conditions for all and specifically for slum dwellers.

According to an UN-Habitat’s report dated 2006, Egypt was one of the “on track” countries (UN-HABITAT, 2006) in reaching the MDGs as it succeeded in reducing slum dwellers by three million during the period 1990 to 2005. In 2008, the Informal Settlement Development Facility (ISDF) was established (Presidential Decree #305/2008) in Egypt to coordinate efforts and finance slum development. The ISDF introduced a new definition and classified slums/informal areas into unsafe areas and unplanned areas. Its report in 2009 stated that there were 404 unsafe areas, while its mapping in 2018 indicated the presence of 262 unsafe areas.Footnote 1 For the ISDF, with similarity to UN-Habitat definition of slums, unsafe areas are territories in which 50% of its housing structures suffer from one or more of the following conditions: lack of improved water, lack of improved sanitation, structure instability, insecure tenure, and insufficient living space (Informal Settlements Development Facility, 2011). They are ranked into four categories according to risk level/degree and thus the urgency of intervention: life-threatening, unsuitable shelter, health risks, and insecure tenure (ISDF, 2010).

Since the 1990s, Egypt has begun to alleviate its informal dwellers’ living conditions. Currently, resettlement/upgrading decisions are based on the ISDF unsafe areas of classification. For the first degree of unsafety, dwellers have to be relocated. For the second-degree, dwellers can have two choices; either relocation or in situ resettlement, mainly depending on either land availability and/or dwellers’ preferences. Within the past two decades, there have been several projects for resettlement and providing new housing for unsafe areas’ dwellers. These projects focus on only providing housing units in the most efficient way. However, the Government has not introduced minimum standards to ensure adequate QOL and improved livability for dwellers in resettlement projects until now. Therefore, this research aims to investigate Egypt’s resettlement policies for unsafe areas of first and second unsafety degrees. It studies different aspects of QOL, within existing unsafe areas and resettlement projects, in an attempt to reach a comprehensive set of indicators to guide development. These indicators for resettlement projects aim to develop the human being within his/her context, foster an existing sense of community, and fulfill rights such as the right to the city, adequate housing, and social justice.

Methodology and Limitations

The methodology used for this paper has twofold. First, a thorough review and analysis of various QOL indices were developed by different international organizations to extract four categories of indicators. These categories are then used to create a QOL Index by detailing each category and highlighting the significant indicator. Second, a scoping study was conducted for several local cases of unsafe/informal areas (Ezbet Khayrallah, Batn Al-Baqara and Doweika) and relocation projects (Zeinhom, Othman Housing and Haram City) in the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) using field visits, observations over 3 months, and around 50 random non-structured interviews with inhabitants in addition to secondary data from previous studies (additional areas included Manshiet Nasser, Istabl Antar Ezbet Abu Qarn, Maspero, Boulaq Abu Al-Ela, Al-Basatin, Ain Shams, Imbaba, Misr Alqadima, Markaz Alabhath, and Ezbet Alhaganna). The responses were analyzed qualitatively to critically examine each indicator’s relevance and responsiveness extracted from the literature.

This research focuses on areas and projects within the GCR. It is limited to projects conducted after the establishment of the ISDF in 2008 as the ISDF initiated the categorization of unsafe areas and the use of the terminology in the first place. Hence, the paper is critically examining the approach adopted by the Government through the ISDF.

This study is more explorative with the aim to develop a responsive QOL Index. The application and validation of this index are beyond this paper’s scope and will be conducted in a follow-up paper.

Quality of Life: a Tool to Assess Human Settlements

Using the notion of QOL to define the multifacets that upgrading/resettlement projects should aim at first necessitates a study of the concept, its evolution, and significance in various international development agendas. QOL first appeared in measuring the impact of health problems on people’s everyday lives (Power, 2003). Since then, QOL has been used in various aspects of human life. This is evident in the Universal Declaration of Human Right, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, where both emphasized the importance of social, urban, economic, and political characteristics that are considered QOL criteria, also a synonym for individuals and communities’ well-being. In this regard, QOL indicators “include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation, leisure time, and social belonging” (Zelinsky, 2009). Furthermore, QOL was defined as “an evaluative judgment based on objective and/or subjective indicators of one’s physical, cognitive, and emotional state and of one’s social life in various contexts” (Costanza et al., 2008). For measuring QOL, there are two approaches: either “objective” or “subjective well-being (SWB).” The objective approach “focuses on measuring facts, such as income or living accommodation in m2” (Khalil, 2012b), while the SWB approach includes life satisfaction, fulfillment of needs, and adequate surrounding (Costanza et al., 2008; Diener, 2000; Seligman, 2011).

Various organizations adopt different indications when evaluating QOL in cities within their fields. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), since 1990, uses the Human Development Index (HDI) for assessing long-term progress with three basic dimensions of human development: life expectancy, education, and standard of living (UNDP & Malik, 2014). This Index falls short to acknowledge more comprehensive indicators of well-being (Khalil, 2012b; Veenhoven, 2007). While the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) QOL Index consisted of nine factors based on a unique approach that links between results of personal surveys for individual self-satisfaction, in addition to objective indicators for QOL in different countries (The Economist, 2005).

The Nation Ranking QOL Index (NRQOLI) is also considered a mixture of the two approaches objective QOL and SWB evaluation, to determine the nation’s standard of living in proportion to the level of population, consisting of six sub-indexes (Nation Ranking, 2011). Furthermore, in 2012, the UN-Habitat developed the City Prosperity Index (CPI), based on five dimensions to measure the current prosperity of cities and “enable decision-makers to identify opportunities and potential areas along the path of prosperity” (UN-HABITAT, 2012). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) developed the Better Life Index (BLI), which allows comparing well-being across countries by identifying eleven indicators. The BLI mixes between objective QOL and SWB and allows for changing the eleven indicators’ relative weight according to one’s priorities (OECD, 2013). Political Studies Center in Colorado used 11 indicators to measure QOL in the Pikes Peak area (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013). In 2015, the United Nations approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 with 17 goals and 169 objectives as a continuum to the MDGs (United Nations, 2015b). Finally, the New Urban Agenda has articles 77 and 97 that commit to developing the informal areas and articles 11 and 115 that announce QOL enhancement and other articles’ importance. Although these goals and articles do not provide QOL evaluation standards, they identify development objectives in various life facets (UN-Habitat, 2017).

The previously analyzed QOL indices, in addition to related SDGs, can be classified into four main categories: urban, social, economic, and institutional, highlighting commonalities and variations as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Quality of life indexes, Source: authors
Full size table

QOL Indicators in Upgrading/Resettlement Projects

According to the previous review of various QOL indices, the paper critically examines such QOL indicators’ applicability to unsafe areas upgrading/resettlement projects, specifically in Egypt. The authors review resettlement projects in the following sections and how specific QOL indicators are relevant/applicable. This is done to develop a tailored QOL Index for such projects considering the overall aim of improving livelihoods rather than limiting efforts to provide shelter. This Index is divided into the same four categories of Table 1.

Quality of the Urban Environment

When the state takes on itself to improve cities and build new communities, it must be sensitive to people’s way of living and fortifying sense of place. The urban environment as the physical aspect of cities is mainly composed of three aspects: infrastructure, the built environment, and the natural environment. It is worth mentioning that the NRQOLI does not extend to include significant QOL indicators or factors that cannot be evaluated in quantity. The paper develops relevant indicators for each aspect derived from various QOL indices and pertinent to the research focus.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is always the priority of governments to achieve justice and real prosperity for cities. In 2008, after the rockfall off the Mokattam cliff (locally known as the “Al-Doweiqa accident”), Cairo Governorate transferred part of the inhabitants of three unsafe areas “Ezbet Khairallah, Ezbet Abu Qarn, and Al-Doweiqa” to a newly built public housing project “Othman Housing” on the west outskirts of Greater Cairo (TADAMUN, 2016). Although the area had clean water and sewage system, it lacked paved roads, streetlights, gas networks, garbage systems etc.

The CPI allocated one indicator to evaluate infrastructure, while the BLI measures the availability of necessary facilities (OECD, 2013). Interestingly, the Colorado QOL Index has infrastructure-related indicators included within other indicators, where sanitation and water are linked to the structural environment. Moreover, it has mobility indicators, including road pavement and lighting. Lastly, the economic indicator includes all the indicators above but regarding costs (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013). On the other hand, the SDGs’ sixth goal focuses on guaranteeing “availability of water and sewage system for all and to have sustainable management” (United Nations, 2015b).

Built Environment

The built environment includes urban design quality, housing characteristics, mobility options and quality, and public space design quality.

Neighborhood Inclusive Design

“Inclusive design creates an environment where everyone can access and benefit from the full range of opportunities available to members of society. It aims to remove barriers that create undue effort, separation or special treatment and enables everyone to participate equally in mainstream activities independently with choice and dignity” (London Mayor, 2016). For this reason, the state should consider the daily lifestyle of dwellers to create cohesion between different social classes and between individuals and spaces, thus enhancing the sense of belonging. The design transforms from just a mere policy to becoming an enabling mechanism for realizing such a balance. SDGs’ eleventh goal stresses the importance of “keeping the cities and human settlements inclusive for all, safe, and able to withstand, and sustainable.”

Inclusive urbanism is manifested in self-built neighborhoods as they are built by the residents catering to their specific needs. In such areas, within the Egyptian context, mixed uses and mixed housing opportunities are widely deployed, thus catering to the needs of the various dwellers (Khalil, 2010; Khalil & Gammaz, 2020). By analyzing the Egyptian-built environment, the average density within Cairo’s informal area reached, in 1998, 528 inhabitants/ha compared to 300 inhabitants/ha for formal areas, and in some informal/unsafe areas like “Mansheiet Nasser,” density reached more than 1500 inhabitant/ha (Séjourné, 2006), while in “Markaz Alabhath,” density reached 1900 inhabitant/ha (Khalil & Gammaz, 2020). However, resettlement projects inhibit the existence of mixed uses in most cases with only one or max of two available prototypes (Khalil, 2010, 2012a), which limits the responsiveness to various needs.

Buildings and Housing Characteristics

Tosi (1994) summarizes determinants of “Traditional House” as infrastructure availability, the suitability of housing regarding crowding, i.e., the number of persons per room, allocated space for each in square meters, housing suitability regarding lifespan, and structural condition (Turkington et al., 2004).

The BLI measures housing indicators by defining the number of persons per room and allocated space per person (excluding kitchen, toilet, garage, and shops) (OECD, 2013). As for the Colorado QOL Index, three indicators have been set for the quality of buildings and housing, which include a variety of housing units, building lifespan, and building license (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013).

Although resettlement projects provide new licensed, structurally stable units, the units used in various resettlement projects around Egypt show almost typical configurations.

Means of Transportation

First: non-automated means of transportation: One of the most significant characteristics of the built environment is pedestrian-friendly. According to Newman and Kenworthy (2006), “Ped Shed” is considered 10-min walking and creates a distance of around 220–550 ha on the basis that speed ranges between 5 and 8 km/h (Gärling & Steg, 2007; Newman & Kenworthy, 2006). As such, the procedure of getting services and basic commodities in a society becomes easy, an action that does not consume more than minutes.

Second: mechanical means of transport: The eleventh goal of SDGs stated in its second objective the need to supply secure, affordable, sustainable, and readily accessible means of transport to all. Hence, it is vital to ensure public transportation availability that is accessible, affordable, and of adequate quality.

Construction Material

Climate change resulting in increased thermal stress in urban areas threatens the health conditions of inhabitants. Thus, it is vital to carefully consider the materials used in construction and their effect on reducing heat stress. Two recent work bodies (GIZ, 2016; Khalil & Ibrahim, 2016) have investigated the issue in informal and unsafe areas in the Egyptian context. The set of recommended interventions included painting exterior walls with high albedo materials, installation of green walls or vertical gardens, rooftop planting, and increasing shade in outdoor spaces. This comes in line with SDGs’ objective #13, “take urgent measures to address climate change and its effects” (United Nations, 2015b).

Places and Public Spaces

Public spaces, available only in the form of streets (Arisha & El-Moneim, 2019; Khalil et al., 2018), are the only outlet within crowded, unsafe areas for people to meet and interact and share common interests without, presumably, engaging in their differences. This can be traced in the difference in vibrancy between spaces of existing informal areas, as the case in vibrant Meet Okba marketplace interacting directly with ground floor commercial uses, and the unresponsive space design in Zeinhom in situ resettlement project, where uses are restricted to residential (based on a field observation conducted by the authors).

Banerjee (2001) stressed the need to focus on the concept of life as practiced within spaces instead of public spaces themselves. Interestingly, “life flourishes in the privatization of public space, not only in the private parks but also in small businesses such as cafes, libraries and other places, which lie between the public space and its official and non-official uses, heralded the third place” (Abd El-Moneim & Galal, 2017). Residents of the “Zeinhom” area amended the use of some open spaces to meet their needs. In some cases, they built a fence or structure to mark a specific territory and placed a billiard table and table tennis. Another example shows that open spaces as planned within the “Othman Housing” district did not positively affect residents. Despite the vital role of such spaces in creating a communal life among newly resettled groups, the lack of careful inclusion of relocated residents’ needs resulted in complete neglect and abandonment (Ariane, 2015).

The CPI has one indicator to evaluate public spaces (UN-HABITAT, 2012), while the “Colorado QOL Index” depends on the use of the land index to measure the area of public spaces, 49% in the case of Pikes Peak Province total area (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013). The resettlement examples above show that the mere quantity of public space is not enough. Instead, it is the design quality that matters. Similarly, the seventh objective of SDG #11 stresses that all green areas and public places should be secure, comprehensive, and accessible for all (United Nations, 2015b).

The Natural Environment

The natural environment includes air pollution, green areas, energy use, and efficiency.

Air Pollution

UN-Habitat slums’ characteristics consider pollution areas; similarly, the ISDF uses this criterion to classify unsafe areas with the third degree of risk. Through its upgrading efforts, the ISDF calls for pollution reduction. Globally, the NRQOLI measures environmental performance regarding carbon dioxide emissions (Nation Ranking, 2011), while the “Colorado QOL Index” offers two criteria: for air quality: emissions and ozone levels (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013). Finally, the “CPI” uses environmental sustainability to measure the environmental life quality (UN-HABITAT, 2013).

Green Areas

Farr (2008) stresses the fact that park space must not be less than 666 m2, whereas the average area of parks in a residential neighborhood should not be less than 2000 m2. This is far from reality in most Egyptian cities and undoubtedly unsafe areas. The dwellers of Ezbet Kheir Allah—an unsafe area—illustrated this issue by drawing trees when asked about their needs during a community meeting (TADAMUN, 2013). This is also evident in relocated areas “Haram City” where dwellers have an unplanned public area that also lacks trees.

The “CPI” provides an indicator of environmental sustainability by measuring the availability of green areas (UN-HABITAT, 2012), while the “Colorado QOL Index” has two indicators: land uses and the protection of the territories (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013).

The Consumption and Efficiency of Energy, Waste Recycling

Most QOL indices consider materials and energy use and efficacy. Simultaneously, the “Colorado QOL Index” sets a criterion for waste recycling and five criteria for energy-efficient consumption: energy sources, electricity, water quality, water use, the use of natural gas (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013). SDG #11 is mentioned in the sixth objective to “Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management” (United Nations, 2015b). The shortcomings of unsafe areas regarding limited access to energy or water are notable. However, in many instances, limited resources invoke efficiency to use. The waste is highly reduced due to the efficient reuse of materials before discarding them. Hence, the recycling value of the generated waste (after extensive reuse) is minimal, only confined to potential composting of organic waste (Khalil & Al-Ahwal, 2021). However, in several cases around GCR, dwellers of unsafe areas work in the recycling business as the case in Manshiet Nasser and Ezbet Alhaganna relying on waste coming from more affluent neighborhoods. Their recycling waste efficiency reaches 70 to 80% (Aguirre, 2015; Khalil & Al-Ahwal, 2021). Moreover, renewable energy is lacking in these areas, but this also extends to the Egyptian cities’ formal parts.

Quality of Social Life

The concept of the quality of social life was suggested as an indicator for measuring the level of acceptable citizens’ everyday lives quality (Walker & van der Maesen, 2004). Moreover, as Walker and van der Maesen (2004) indicated, the quality of societies details specific indicators to measure this concept: social cohesion, social exclusion, and social capital (Ariane, 2015). While Carmona et al. (2010) confirmed that there is a close relationship between place and society, it is hard to imagine a community without social substance and a society without spatial components. He divided the social dimension into six elements: people and space, public realm, neighborhood, safety and security, access and exclusion, and equitable environments (Carmona et al., 2010). In this context, the paper correlates these aspects to unsafe areas’ resettlement projects resulting in subcategories and indicators.

Equity and Social Justice

The University of Groningen explained “Social Justice” as equal opportunities where opportunities and rights enjoyed by some are available to all members of the society (Gärling & Steg, 2007). The European Union puts eight qualitative indicators to measure social justice issues (Schraad-Tischler, 2015) including prevention of poverty, equitable education, social cohesion and non-discrimination, health, justice between generations, and availability of the labor market.Footnote 2

It is evident that equity and social justice are strongly tied to other social, economic, and institutional aspects. It has a broader implication as indicated in SDGs’ tenth goal: “Reducing inequality within and among countries” (United Nations, 2015b).

EIU measures life satisfaction regarding the role of available worshiping places. As for the BLI, one of the most comprehensive indices in measuring life satisfaction, it measures the degree of individual life satisfaction as a whole and the quality of community relations.

Social Cohesion

Neighborly relationships reflect social relations, based on “proximity-based relations” (Bruscaglioni et al., 2015). Discussions have unanimously agreed regarding social exclusion that the idea of deprivation is not only economic and social, but there is also social deprivation among family and neighborhood relations (Sen, 1999). Previous studies highlighted the importance of QOL and its contribution to the sense of community. This is particularly evident in unsafe areas where social networks are used as a safety net (Beukes & van der Colff, 1997). The analysis of a person’s social relations makes it possible to determine the degree of participation in various social levels (Negri & Saraceno, 2000). A social analysis of community and family structures in Maspero—unsafe area—shows that 64% of households have their relatives living in the same area, in return for 31.6% with relatives living outside the area (MADD, 2015).

Kalayani mentioned that forced and successive evictions destroy lives in various dimensions as people are taken away from their work and social relations network (Menon-Sen, 2006). Unsafe area relocation projects, even if the move is due to life risk, in all circumstances, destroy the inhabitants’ lives. Gopal confirmed that resettlement projects where the transfer was made for part of Mumbai inhabitants, separated from the rest of the group, had a harmful impact on the population and destroyed their community structure (Contractor et al., 2006). Separation of the residents also increases social capital’s disintegration, loss of mutual assistance within the district, and social ties between persons (Contractor, 2008). The second objective of the SDG #10 stresses “Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or another status” (United Nations, 2015b).

Social Services

Within all upgrading/resettlement projects, it is imperative to ensure availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of required social services (Khalil & Gammaz, 2020).

Education

The HDI measures access to knowledge through the number of years of schooling among adults and the number of years of education expected for children at school admission age (UNDP & Malik, 2014). According to the CPI, cities should aim to raise the level of education, assure educational quality, expand access to education, and provide well-located and adequate public schools (UN-HABITAT, 2012). The BLI measures education by schooling and students’ reading skills (OECD, 2013). The NRQOLI describes education as the access to and quality of it, indicated by the adult literacy rate and school life expectancy (Khalil, 2012a, b). Lastly, the Colorado QOL Index measures the quality of education through the level of population education beyond 25 years and the literacy rate at each stage of schooling (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013).

It is evident that unsafe areas face a severe educational problem, with a severe lack of good public education, and more than a quarter of the dwellers are literate (ECES, 2016). This requires much effort to cope with SDG #4, which emphasizes: “Ensuring quality of education, top-seeded and comprehensive for all and to promote opportunities for lifelong learning for all” (United Nations, 2015b).

Health

Westaway et al. (2001) identified “good health as a significant predictor of personal quality of life in informal settlements” (Richards et al., 2007). The HDI and CPI measure a long healthy life-by-life expectancy (UNDP & Malik, 2014). On the other hand, the BLI adds self-reported health to life expectancy to measure health (OECD, 2013). Nevertheless, the NRQOLI defines health as the health of the average person and the access to and quality of health care, which can be indicated by life expectancy at birth, mortality due to inadequate health care, infant mortality, and access to health care (Khalil, 2012a, b). Moreover, the Colorado QOL Index measures the quality of health through expected average age, causes of death, the proportion of people without health insurance, suicide rate, and psychiatrists’ percentage to the population.

According to the quantitative health indicators mentioned above, Egypt provides adequate health care. The ratio of infant mortality is only 0.16% of total births (CAMPAS, 2013). Almost 50% of Egyptians are subject to health insurance (CAMPAS, 2014). Nevertheless, looking at the qualitative indicators, there is a rapid decline in the state’s health care quality with limited public expenditure on health. This has accentuated the gap regarding quality and affordability between public and private health services. SDG #3 advocates for state reforms of the health system to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” (United Nations, 2015b).

Security and Safety

It is vital to differentiate between “fear” and “risk,” as well as between “a sense of security” and to be actually “secured.” The meaning of fear changes according to gender and age group, as women and children have different perceptions. In 2017, the UNICEF published a report about the child well-being dimensions in which protection came as one of these dimensions. The report reveals that 12.3 million children up to 17 years suffer from violence protection deprivation (UNICEF, 2017). Interestingly, the “Colorado QOL Index” added an important indicator besides indicators of crime and family violence, the extent of feeling secure when walking alone at night in residential zones (Greenwood, 2001). Hamdan and Turkoglu clarified that social cohesion and good relations between community members increase the sense of safety (Hamdan et al., 2014; Turkoglu, 2015). This can be observed in the “Othman Housing” district, where residents feel unsafe and have a permanent feeling of fear. This can be mainly traced to the lack of social coesion among the population caused by the relocated population’s different backgrounds who came from other areas around Cairo and African and Syrian refugees. The results were a complete separation among area residents.

Recreational and Cultural Aspects

Most QOL indicators fall short in explicitly referring to recreational aspects and cultural rights, including the SDGs. Nevertheless, the “Colorado QOL Index” measures recreational life through public parks and recreational sports ratio, comparing and ranking gardens, their maintenance cost, and some of the organized sports events. On the contrary, unsafe areas are devoid of recreational life. They are usually not being taken into account in resettlement project design.

Quality of Economic Life

The economic life quality will be addressed through the four most essential aspects extracted from Table 1: standard of living, poverty, wealth, and savings.

For decades, GDP was the only indicator to measure people’s prosperity. According to the UNDP, Gross National Income (GNI) per capita measures living standards (UNDP & Malik, 2014). However, the CPI instead measures a prosperous city by its “contribution to economic growth through productivity, generating the income and employment that afford adequate living standards for the whole population” (UN-HABITAT, 2012). The BLI measures income by household disposable income and household financial wealth (OECD, 2013). Moreover, the NRQOLI describes the wealth index as the average person’s wealth, which can be indicated by GDP per capita and the GINI coefficient of the national income distribution (Khalil, 2012a, b). Finally, the “Colorado QOL Index” has 17 criteria in this category where the most important are income, employment conditions, GDP, real GDP per capita, job growth/losses, the rate of unemployment, cost of living, the population of working age, and small business (Pikes Peak United Way, 2013).

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Egypt is the 141st country among 222 countries in GDP (CIA, 2014), with a 25.2% poverty rate and 12.3% unemployment rate among males in unsafe areas (CAMPAS, 2013). Consequently, the informal areas’ inhabitants are the poorest among the Greater Cairo neighborhoods, especially in central Cairo, such as Ain Shams, Imbaba, and some parts of Bulak Abu al-Ela, al-Basatin Manshiyat Nasser, and Masr al-Qadimah. The reason behind this result is the higher population concentrated in central Cairo more than the outskirts (TADAMUN, 2018).

Therefore, while choosing relocation sites, planners should carefully consider either creating job opportunities in the new area or better providing relocation within a range of 5 km2 from their original location to maintain the financial network. This needs adequate attention as SDG #1 promotes “elimination of all forms of poverty everywhere” (United Nations, 2015b).

Institutional Quality of Life

The quality of the institutional and political life is always associated with the concepts of “rights” and “freedom,” which were concluded from Table 1 as the right to the city due to participation, right to housing, and efficient management.

Right to Adequate Housing

“The human right to adequate housing is more than just four walls and a roof. It is the right of every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and community in which to live in peace and dignity” (OHCHR, 2003). In that sense, the United Nations has defined a set of requirements for adequate housing: legal security of tenure; affordability; habitability; availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure; accessibility; location; in addition to cultural adequacy.

It is evident from the analysis above that the right to adequate housing is closely linked to all quality of life indicators. In contrast, Egyptian relocation policies represent a threat to these objectives. It sometimes reduces the unsafe areas’ dwellers’ rights, especially if it is a relocation far away from the original location. In many cases, relocation is often against residents’ choice; thus, it is usually accompanied by “forced evictions.” Many unsafe areas within the GCR faced forced evections to 6th of October city such as parts of Manshiyet Nasser, Ezbet Khayrallah, Istabl Antar, and Batn Al-Baqara. Despite that, unsafe areas’ dwellers do not mind the relocation concept because of their unsafe buildings. Still, they do not like the relocation process (Amnesty International, 2011).

Many unsafe areas are located in life-threatening locations and thus have to be relocated. It was specified in points “15” and “16” of the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement that “countries should inform all results of the decision to forced evictions that harm dwellers … people have the right to full participation and consultation and propose alternatives” (United Nations, 1997). Additionally, section “g” of point “28” states that “the process of relocation should be in full consultation and participation of affected inhabitants, and countries should take into consideration all alternative plans suggested by affected persons” (COHRE, 1997). The Egyptian Constitution in section III (the rights, freedoms, and duties) in article #63 states, “All forms and types of arbitrary forced displacement of citizens shall be prohibited and shall be a crime that does not lapse by prescription” (Egyptian Government, 2014).

Moreover, article #78 of the same section provides that “the State shall ensure the citizens’ right to adequate, safe and healthy housing in a manner which preserves human dignity and achieves social justice” (Egyptian Government, 2014). The UN-Habitat specified a set of main criteria in contributing to the relocation projects’ success: participation of the population, development of resettlement areas, granting of compensation, and social development (UN-HABITAT, 1991). This is evident in the first objective of SDG #11 “Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums” (United Nations, 2015b).

The Right to Participate

The right to participate has been considered since Agenda 21 as one of the main challenges for different policies. Everyone should be allowed to participate in decision-making processes (United Nations, 1992). Moreover, participation is at the heart of development and poverty reduction based on human rights, where the poor must be seen as active partners and a major stakeholder for development strategy (ICEHR, 2015). The United Nations Population Fund confirmed, “All people have the right to participate and access information concerning decision-making processes that affect their lives and welfare. The rights-based approach requires a high degree of participation of local communities and civil society, minorities, women, youth, indigenous peoples and others” (UNFPA, 2005). Moreover, SDG #11 promotes the third objective to “enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.”

Egypt has started steps to try to engage inhabitants of unsafe areas in the decision-making process. Since 2010, with the onset of the implementation of resettlement projects, the ISDF held public conferences to explain different policies. However, in most cases, the inhabitants’ views were not taken into consideration.

The City Between Theories and Rights

Henri Lefebvre formulated the right to the city as the right to urban life. Harvey confirmed this concept by emphasizing that the notion of the right to the city not only arises through intellectual creations but also primarily as a reflection of the streets and neighborhoods, in response to a request for assistance, stemming from the social strata of the oppressed under challenging times (Harvey, 2012). The fundamental problem lies within the claim for the right to the city, where the open concept depends on who gives it its substance and puts a definition to it; every person has the right to that definition. This can be traced back to Lefebvre’s conclusion “the city that was previously known is rapidly disappearing and could not be retrieved” (Harvey, 2012).

In 1967, Lefebvre requested the consideration of the present urban life, in an attempt to create an alternative urban less aversion and adjust the right to the city to take into account users’ right to the urban environment and the declaration of his ideas and his activities in any place in the city rather than falling into ghettos (Harvey, 2008, 2012; McFarlane, 2011).

This is reflected in the case of “Othman Housing,” where different groups are self-secluded from others, which increases the sense of exclusion and marginalization. This is similar to Harvey’s notion regarding the dramatic change in the pattern of life of residential suburbs leading to many social consequences (Harvey, 2008). Furthermore, Lefebvre explained that the right to the city means the right to leadership of the civil process as a whole (Lefebvre, 2003), which lacks in many cases.

Unlike Lefebvre and Harvey, there are other movements led by the International Social Science Council (ISSC), international non-governmental organizations, UN-Habitat, and UNESCO. These groups seek to find a consensus between central authorities on policies that ensure citizen’s sustainable and equitable right in cities of democracy and the inclusion in current systems as the international organization exists; on the contrary, it does not aim at the transformation of the scheme as a whole (Mayer, 2009; Meagher, 2010). This concept has been circulated in Latin American cities where the inclusion of the right to city was included in the Brazilian Constitution in 2001, where it confirmed that the right to the city must be attributed to the importance of social movements in urban areas, particularly within the housing, which helped the consolidation and strengthening of democracy (Holston, 2008).

The HDI overlooked the measurement of quality institutional life. In contrast, the CPI mentioned, “the city is only prosperous to the extent that poverty and inequality are minimal” (Khalil, 2012a, b). This indicator combines statistical measures of inequality in income and consumption and inequality in access to services and necessary infrastructure (UN-HABITAT, 2012). The BLI mentions “the criterion of governance” among its indicators, which should be measured by the voter turnout and consultation on governance (OECD, 2013). Nevertheless, the NRQOLI has the indicator “democracy” described as individual rights and freedom, which can be examined from political freedom, civil freedom, and freedom of the press (Khalil, 2012a, b).

Efficient Management

To ensure the success of unsafe areas’ resettlement projects and achieve sustainable development, shortcomings in management should be avoided and the overlapping between authorities. Considering the efficiency of the available resources and recruitment, providing the necessary funding, and bearing into account the capacity to pay is essential. The five dimensions of development projects success should be employed: fund, quality, integrated project, delivery in time, follow-up, and constant improvement (Bell, 2014).

Discussion: QOL Index for Upgrading/Resettlement Projects

Since this study aims to provide a model to assess resettlement projects, its technical review develops to reach a set of indicators for enhancing unsafe Egyptian areas’ QOL and considering the particularity of each area. After examining a variety of QOL indicators represented in Table 1, the research deduces a list of indicators, illustrated in Fig. 1. This compilation of indicators is meant to measure the QOL of urbanization and social, economic, and institutional components in unsafe areas’ resettlement projects.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Proposed QOL Index for unsafe areas’ resettlement projects. Source: researcher based on Table 1 and developed in line with characteristics of unsafe areas

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The urban environment has been divided into three aspects: infrastructure, built environment, and natural environment, with nine sub-aspects and 27 assessment indicators. Thus, to emphasize—firstly—the concept of inclusivity, as cities are centers for thoughts, trade, culture, social development, and much more, they enable citizens for advancement socially and economically. Additionally, they assure the equal distribution of land and resources among different districts within—Egyptian—cities which are mainly governed by market mechanisms. The design and construction materials must consider climate and varied needs regarding family size, contradicting the suitability determinants promoted in the “traditional house” by Tosi. As urban designers design cities for people, public space has to receive significant attention, especially the third place within the resettlement projects. Obviously, “the support of those small projects contributes to the prosperity of the inhabitants’ public life where it reflects the actual interests in combining the local economic development with the revitalization of the general life and community development” (Abd El-Moneim & Galal, 2017). Walkability and bicycling as public transportation should be afforded, as elaborately formulated by the Mayor of Bogota; “a developed country is not a place where poor have cars. It’s where rich people use public transportation” (Peñalosa, 2013).

The social aspects are divided into three factors: equity and social justice, recreational aspects, and safety and security, with nine sub-aspects and 21 assessment indicators. Diener and Veenhoven emphasize the relevance of measuring life satisfaction and happiness as indicators of inequality in society (Diener, 2000; Veenhoven, 2012). That expressed the importance of people’s self-assessment of their life satisfaction, reflecting their actual needs arranged according to relevance. Moreover, Carmona said that when people choose not to use a particular part of their area either because of not feeling comfortable or insecure, this implies that the surrounding physical environment is low (Carmona et al., 2010). It was found that the last aspect had no precise measurements within different organizations. The authors assumed indicators to measure safety and security: the violence rate, crime rate, and the extent of the feeling of security. Finally, the careful attention to social indicators helps attain a better QOL, fostering social cohesion with equal opportunities for all to enable diversity.

Economic aspects have been summarized in poverty, standard of living, and wealth and savings, with eight sub-aspects and 14 assessment indicators. Hesselberg and Abebe confirmed that unemployment is relatively common among relocation projects, where resources to provide livelihoods are threatened by added expenses of commuting (Gezahegn & Hesselberg, 2014; OECD et al., 2012) and missed economic networks that used to facilitate small home-run businesses at the original location (Koenig, 2009).

Finally, the institutional aspect was divided into four aspects: right to the city, right to housing, right to participate, efficient management, with ten sub-aspects and 16 assessment indicators. Harvey stressed the fact that the right to the city is “more than giving individual freedom of urban resources access but the right to change; change society through a change of the city, which is a joint right of society rather than to the individual right, and depends on the collective efforts to restore urbanization processes” (Harvey, 2008). To ensure prosperity in Egypt, implemented policies for unsafe areas’ resettlement projects should be reconsidered as those used now reflect the authorities’ objectives. Moreover, the exclusion of NGOs should be reassessed to ensure rights and avoid inequity and deprivation.

The comprehensiveness of the proposed index shows the multidimensional nature of resettlement projects and focuses on urban issues as most current practices in Egypt. These indicators must be considered while implementing a resettlement project, whether in situ or relocation, to maintain an adequate standard of human well-being (see Fig. 1). Further studies and surveys are currently being conducted on different resettlement projects either in situ or relocated to be published in a follow-up research.

Conclusion

Egyptian resettlement projects currently suffer from many setbacks, where failures usually appear after dwellers’ occupation. State policies are all about resettling dwellers in new houses without considering many aspects that have to be present to assure dwellers QOL and city prosperity as a whole. The concept of cities’ QOL would lift the well-being of citizens and guarantee their rights. The lack of QOL concept in many resettlement projects was clear. The resettlement projects’ role should be to develop an integrated system to ensure QOL and change any negative trends, which could be urban, institutional, social, or economic, thus contributing to the well-being of all city dwellers and their rights. The role of resettlement policies should not be restricted to providing clean water or sanitation or dwellings.

On the contrary, they should aim to improve the area as a whole, its dwellers, and weave them into urban life. The objective is to provide access to a decent life and create an urban environment that meets residents’ needs and fosters a sense of belonging. Following sustainable neighborhood development concepts, resettlement areas must be for people and not for vehicles, without barriers, with mixed uses, and pedestrian- and cycling-friendly, where green areas and public spaces are open for all. This type of planning helps reducing crime, affords safety in the city, and creates an environmentally friendly built environment to emphasize sustainability. Above all, enhancing the capacity of community groups to participate in future self-help development endeavors is vital. Finally, the state has to secure tenure for dwellers by modifying laws and regulations. This could lead to the aspired inclusive city that provides quality of life for all its dwellers and ensures social and economic equity for unsafe areas’ dwellers as an intrinsic player in the urban scene.