Cycling in Egypt? Cycling as a Means of Transport Seminar held at NVIC Thursday, 18 October 2012 ABSTRACTS FIRST SESSION Prof. Dr. Martin van Maarseveen A global perspective on the role of cycling in urban transport systems This presentation deals with general experiences with the promotion of cycling within urban transport planning in cities worldwide. To be able to understand the renewed and increased attention for the role of active transport (walking and cycling) in urban transport planning, it is essential to be aware of global trends in urbanization and motorization and to have insight in the basic elements of urban transport planning. The success of an urban transport policy with explicit attention for and the intention to promote cycling strongly depends on the planning and implementation approach. Global experiences demonstrate that an integrated multi-disciplinary approach is needed. Cultural, institutional and behavioural aspects are as important as planning and engineering. Dr. Martin van Maarseveen has an MSc degree with distinction in Applied Mathematics and received his doctorate degree at the University of Twente, the Netherlands in 1982 with a PhD thesis on Dynamic Traffic Management. Currently, he is a full professor in Management of Urban-Regional Dynamics and head of Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente. In the past he has been senior researcher and director of the Traffic and Transportation Department of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO in Delft, and founding father of the School of Civil Engineering & Management, full professor in Strategic Transport Planning and Sustainable Development and Head of the Centre for Transport Studies, all at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Martin van Maarseveen has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research and consultancy in the field of transport studies and traffic engineering. His current interests include integrated land use and urban planning, transport policy studies, travel demand analysis, spatio-temporal modeling, climate change and sustainable development. He has a vast experience in international projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is guest lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is also the chairman of the international Cycling Academic Network (CAN), a collaboration between universities in the North and South studying the role of cycling in sustainable urban development.
2 Prof. Dr. Khaled A. Abbas Encouraging Shift to Cycling: A Way Forward for Relieving Traffic Problems The traditional strategy for tackling traffic problems has been, for years, to add more capacity to the network supply system through widening existing roads and constructing new ones, thus allowing for better traffic conditions. However, this approach has its limitations, in terms of absorbing an enormous amount of scarce financial and land resources, and possibly increasing the environmental and safety hazards. Above all, this approach has frequently been reported to ultimately cause the generation of new and suppressed traffic. In many countries, where resources are becoming limited, the tendency has been to adopt policies and measures that enable the utilization of the road network in the most efficient and optimum manner. Such strategy is known as Traffic Management & Control. Both of the above strategies can be grouped under the heading network supply-based strategies In recent years, a significant change in thinking had emerged. This advocates demand-based strategies whereby policies and measures that affect the pattern of the demand for people to travel are selected and implemented. Such measures are known as travel Demand management (TDM) or Mobility Management. These are supported by other policies and measures that can be grouped under the heading Land Use Management (LUM) strategy The primary purpose of TDM is to reduce the impact of travel on the road and transport system This can be done by first making alternative high occupancy and non-motorised modes (walking & cycling) available. This is accompanied by applying incentive, disincentive and other measures that are meant to modify car users behaviour towards shifting to other high occupancy and non-motorised transport modes, spreading the demand over time and space and reducing the amount and need for car travel. All in all, this is expected to ultimately reduce the number of vehicles using the road system at any given location and point in time, Although walking and cycling are termed slow or non-motorised transport modes, yet cycling may be faster than driving or public transport over shorter distances. Actually both walking and cycling retain the flexibility of the car, in terms of being able to travel at any time and to any location within reach. This presentation will explore reasons that encourage commuters to choose to use nonmotorised modes as well as those factors that discourage travellers from cycling. A classified inventory of Travel Demand Management incentive policies and measures to encourage usage of cycling is presented. Several worldwide cycling experiences are presented and a discussion on the potentiality of their application in Egypt is explored. Dr Khaled Abbas has over 25 years experience in transportation consultancy, research, training and education. He worked in several countries including Egypt, Australia, Saudi, Dubai, USA and UK. He is currently Dean of Egypt National Institute of Transport as well as being a Professor of Transportation Planning & Traffic Engineering. Dr Abbas is a Board member of several transport organisations in Egypt including National Authority for Tunnels, Holding Company for Roads, Bridges and Land Transport Projects. Previously he worked as Chief Specialist of Transportation Studies and Planning at Roads and Transport Authority (Dubai). He also held the position of Manager of Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering at Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation in Australia and is currently acting as Technical Principal in the same company. Previously he was a Professor at King Faisal University (Saudi Arabia). He was also seconded to the United States Department of Transportation, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
3 He was elected as Fellow Member of Institute of Engineers Australia and chair of Transport Branch Canberra. Won several awards, recognition and thank you certificates from organizations including RTA, SMEC, KFU, etc. His graduate studies include a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering and Operations in 1991 from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Masters courses from the same university. He was a Fulbright visiting scholar the University of Texas (USA) in 1995 and a Hubert Humphrey fellow at Cornell University (USA) in 2000/2001. He was involved in more than 150 transport consultancy projects and published more than 100 technical papers/articles, taught more than 30 specialised transport courses as well as designed and conducted more than 35 training courses to professionals and senior managers. Dr. Abbas is currently a member of a number of several editorial boards including Journal of Advances in Transportation Studies and Journal of Transportation Technologies. Dr. Eng. Ahmed Mosa Urban Traffic in Egypt, facts and figures In modern cities, traffic situations deteriorate rapidly with an increasing population and an increasing number of vehicles. Congestion has become more of a common phenomenon than a rare occurrence. The population of Egypt is growing by 1 to 1.5 million people per year and is expected to reach 80 million by 2015. Together with the growing economy, this is inevitably putting more pressure on the country s transportation system. The problems are particularly acute in the Greater Cairo area, one of the world s mega-cities with a population of more than 17 million and where the demand for mobility has greatly outpaced the capacity of the public transportation system to cope. The gap has been primarily filled with private owned and operated shared taxis (so called informal transport) and the use of private cars. Consequently, congestion has become a major problem and the air quality has deteriorated to an alarming level. By continuing the current baseline development with the increasing population and the increasing use of private vehicles and shared taxis at the expense of more efficient public transport modes, the average trip speed of all the modes will drop from current 9.6 km/h to 5.6 km/h in 2015. Another indicator showed that commuting trip takes about 85 minutes by car on the average at present, while it will take more than 150 minutes by car in 2015. The estimated value of time loss due to traffic congestion is about 9.5 billion L.E. / year. Furthermore, in 2008/2009, the transport sector was responsible for 38 % of the final energy consumption in Egypt and for about 25 % of the energy related CO2 emissions and is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions in the country. The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in Egypt in 2008/2009 was estimated at 39 million tons of CO2. Solving these problems by suppressing demand or expanding supply is not realistic as in either case there are constraints in place. In recent years we have been witnessing the emergence of alternative data sources. In particular, the opportunity to gather real-time data about the location and movements by means of mobile phone may have an enormous impact on traffic data collection tools and management. The use of mobile phone data appears to offer a broad range of new opportunities for sophisticated application on traffic management and monitoring. Indeed, due to the rapid market penetration of mobile phones, it allows the use of very detailed spatial data at lower costs than traditional methods. In addition visual sensing nodes can capture and enumerate vehicle information, such as size, type, and speed, detect law violations, track vehicles and analyze pedestrian activity and interaction with vehicles. This valuable information can enrich our database and enhance our models.
4 Furthermore, this case study presents an overview of a new Integrated Land Use, Transportation, and Environment system. This system will play an important role in combating traffic congestion, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting compact, sustainable urban communities. In addition, the potential use of innovative technology based traffic surveys methods to address the critical data needs of Cairo particularly in terms of traffic data collection is explored. Keywords: land use, urban system, housing demand, transportation systems, Sustainable Transportation, traffic surveys methods, real time traffic data, and mobile phone data. Dr. Mosa received his degrees in engineering, economics and environmental studies (M.Sc., Ph.D.) from the University Of Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Mosa has over 12 years of experience that combines research/academic knowledge and practical experience. He is a proven research leader who has shown attention to detail and project tracking skills that are necessary for the successful and timely completion of this project. Throughout his education and research career, he won several awards, authored and co-authored more than 35 refereed conference and journal papers, and attended major transportation conferences. Moreover, Dr. Mosa participated in several transportation projects in Egypt and Japan. Dr. Mosa s research has mainly focused on the development of analytical methods for modelling and understanding travel behaviour, and its implications in the overall urban context. He is a pioneer studying the impacts of Information and Telecommunication Technologies (ICTs) on transportation and travel behaviour, future mobility, modelling the Interdependence of Social Network Interactions and spatial choices, public transport planning, intelligent transport systems, traffic simulation models, multi agent systems, household interactions, Negotiation models, Human activity-travel behaviour and urban planning. He has also focused on the relevance of understanding travel demand as derived from the people s need for performing activities, and the relationship between people s travel decisions and other key aspects of their lives, such as their use of information and communication technologies, and the characteristics of their urban environment. Furthermore, he has focused on studying how changes in land use patterns are related to the transportation system, focusing both on existing empirical evidence as well as on methods to analyse this relationship. Dr. Eng. Ahmed Mosa Associate Professor of transportation planning and Intelligent Transportation Systems Faculty of Civil Engineering The German University in Cairo (GUC) New Cairo City- Main Entrance Al Tagamoa Al Khames, Egypt Tel: +20-1009-9124-70 ahmed.mosa@guc.edu.eg
5 SECOND SESSION Eng. Mohamed Fathy Non Motorized Transport (NMT) Pilot Projects in Shebin El Kom and Fayoum Cities, under the "Sustainable Transport Project for Egypt" (STP) The Sustainable Transport Project for Egypt (STP) is a five years project 2009 : 2013, with a total budget of 44 million US$. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) / United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provide a fund of US $ 7 million, and the local contribution of the Egyptian Government & Private Sector is US $ 37 million. The Executing Agency is the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency / Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs (EEAA / MoSEA). The main stakeholders are the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Ministry of Interior, Cairo, Guiza, Fayoum, Monofia Governorates, and the private sector. STP aims to reduce the growth of the energy consumption and the related greenhouse gas emissions of the transport sector in Egypt, while simultaneously mitigating the local environmental and other problems of increasing traffic such as deteriorated urban air quality and congestion. STP objective is to create an enabling policy and institutional environment and to leverage financial resources for the sustainable transport sector development, including public-private partnerships, measured by the amount of financial resources leveraged for the first pilot projects, level of success in initiating their replication and the level of adoption of the required institutional changes and improvements in the general policy framework. STP initiates the work through concrete well designed pilot projects, the strategy of the project is, on the one hand, to demonstrate the rationality, feasibility and direct benefits of selected sustainable transport actions, thereby gradually building up the broader policy support and, on the other hand, to demonstrate the need for and to provide a platform for addressing the more fundamental policy and institutional development needs to facilitate their effective replication. STP is envisaged to achieve this by working with the following sustainable transport concepts under five main project outcomes / components: 1) initiating the concept for the development of new, integrated high quality public transport services for Greater Cairo and its satellite cities (to exert shift from car use) and facilitating its effective replication; 2) promoting non-motorized transport in medium sized provincial cities; 3) introducing new traffic demand management measures, with an objective to gradually scale them up over the time; 4) improving the energy efficiency of freight transport; and 5) enhancing the awareness and capacity and strengthening the institutional basis to promote sustainable transport during and after the project. STP Outcome / Component # 2: The modal share of non-motorized transport (NMT) in middle size provincial cities increased or sustained. STP Component # 2 is designed to increase or sustain the modal share of non-motorized transport in middle size provincial cities. Shebin El-Kom and Fayoum Cities, the capital cities in Monofia and Fayoum Governorates respectively, have been selected to implement the pilot project, so as to test the concept and, in case of a successful outcome, initiate its replication in additional 27 middle size cities.
6 The residents in Shebin El-Kom and Fayoum Cities are increasingly relying on the use of shared taxis and, more recently, three wheelers (Toktok) and motorcycles as a substitute mode for walking and cycling trips. Consequently, congestion has became a problem and air quality has been deteriorating. The objective of this component is to work against this trend and to raise the status of nonmotorized transport, namely walking and cycling, as a comfortable, healthy, safe and cheap way of moving from one place to another within the distances suited for this purpose. The construction costs of these pilots will be shared as follows: 50 % from GEF / UNDP, and 50 % from the local Governorates and the private sector as a part of their social responsibility. The main activities to be implemented under STP Component # 2 are: 1. Constructing two pilot NMT corridors along the main streets in Fayoum and Shebin El-Kom Cities with a total length of about 14 km in Shebin El Kom City, and 13 km in Fayoum City. 2. Manufacturing and installing bicycle parking racks. Concerning that activity, types of bicycle parking racks have been selected, numbers and locations for fixation in the 2 cities have been identified. All designs, specifications, estimated quantities, cost and Tender Documents are prepared. 3. Providing a number of bicycles to the community members in the 2 cities as the students, workers, and employees, via different soft granting schemes. 4. Improve the NMT supply side services such as supporting bicycle repair and maintenance workshops.. 5. Promotional campaigns to raise the social acceptance of cycling, and to lower the barriers to bicycle purchase and use.. 6. Effective control and maintenance of the infrastructure built, so as to avoid its deterioration or occupancy by other operations obstructing NMT. Global benefits: 262,000 tons of reduced CO 2 over the next 20 years as a direct result of successful implementation of the proposed pilot projects, and a potential for over 4 million tons of CO 2 through successful replication in all the identified 27 middle size cities. Eng. Mohamed Fathy mohamed.fathy@stpegypt.org Project Manager for 2 projects: the "Sustainable Transport Project for Egypt" (STP) funded by UNDP / GEF & Support To An Improved Urban Transport System In Cairo funded by AFD / FFEM - United Nations Development Programme in Egypt (UNDP) & the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) Education: - 1986 B.Sc. Civil Engineering / Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. - 1999 Environmental Engineering Diploma from the American University in Cairo. - 2003 Environmental Management Diploma from Sadat Academy for Management Sciences in Cairo.
7 Key Qualifications: - Development, management and implementation of demonstration and community development projects / programs in the following sectors: environment, solid & hazardous waste, potable water supply and sanitation. - Design, construction, and supervision of different civil engineering works. - Projects design, planning, budgeting, technical & financial monitoring / evaluation. - Capacity building of the national organizations / agencies, governmental departments, local authorities, NGOs, CDAs in environmental and projects management and engineering. - Coordination activities between national and international organizations / agencies, governmental departments, local authorities, and Donors. Leo de Jong, M.Sc. Practical Challenges for Cycling in an Urban Environment. The development of cycle infrastructure requires a multi disciplinary approach. Practical experience from different countries (the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland i, SriLanka ii, etc) show that purely infrastructural measures, however good, do not result in the expected modal-shift change towards cycling. During the last decade it has been recognized that the promoting of the use of bicycles requires both an policy approach, spatial and network planning, sound engineering skills and lots of attention to human behavior. Two multi disciplinary approaches have gained merit in their applicability: the Whole System Design iii and Functional Design Approach iv. The Whole System Approach (WSA) observed that in too many cases the initial requirements for a system were not addressed in totality and a total system life-cycle approach to design for sustainability was not assumed from the begin. The WSA is a stepwise design approach of the system that calls upon creativity and ability to innovate as we search for new ways of redesigning systems, processes, infrastructure and technology. Focusing only on the optimization at the component level of a system will not deliver the resource productivity needed. Optimization at the system level is critical. The Functional Design Approach start from the observation that often the shape, function and use are not balanced. The process of restoring this balance is part of the design cycle. In case of an unbalanced situation three possibilities to restore the balance avail: adapting shape, influence the use of changing the function. In the M.Sc. course Management of Infrastructure and Community Development (MICD) v the Whole System Design and the Functional Design Approach have been made specific for use in the civil engineering domain. A pitfall that has often been encountered is the following. Too often huge investments in infrastructure improvements did not generate a proportional increase in cycling. Seemingly, the objective and the means did not properly correlate. What went wrong? And how can this be avoided? The Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic vi elaborate the steps required to create a bicycle friendly infrastructure. It starts from the role of the bicycle in the transport system and describes the characteristics of the cyclist. This results in the design requirements, which can briefly be described as cohesion, directness, safety, comfort and attractiveness. These five design requirements are the domain of different expertise: cohesion and directness are dealt with by spatial planners and network specialists. Safety and comfort is an issue for engineers. Attractiveness, and partly safety, is more subjective and the domain of human behaviorists. 1 Cities make room for cyclist, Ministry of transport, Public works and Watermanagement, the Netherlands 1 Interface for Cycling Expertise, the Netherlands: cycling inclusive post-tsunami project proposal 1 Whole System Design, an integrated approach to sustainable Engineering. Earthscan, supported by a.o UNESCO 1 University Twente, lecture notes Verkeersbouwkunde, Functional Design approach 1 University of Gadjah Mada, Yokyakarta, Indonesia. M.Sc course MICD, http://pipm.pasca.ugm.ac.id/ 1 Design manual for Bicycle Traffic, CROW, http://www.crow.nl/nl/publicaties/publicatiedetail?code=rec25
8 As described in the Functional Design Approach the design challenge is to look for a (virtual) balance between function, design and use. In a system with three drivers three possibilities exist to address the problem? Starting from Function (network, spatial planning) has the risk of creating a plan that does not reflect reality. The cyclist will make his/her own decision on choice of route and behavior. Enforcement will be the only way to push for an alternative choice. Enforcement might not be a sustainable manner. Starting from the design aspect (infrastructure engineering) certainly is a way to facilitate and support bicycle use. A huge investment is required. Main issue is whether the solutions do match the demand. But certainly the provision of direct and safe infrastructure is a requirement. Remains an approach that takes the user requirements as a starting point. The author advocates an approach to start from the user needs and user requirements. The establishment of social infrastructure is a requirement for participative planning. A user group, cyclist union or whatever social organization of the target group will facilitate the design process. From different countries the lesson had been learned that the creation of (social and political) pressure for cycling infrastructure actually is the base for a solid, sustainable and effective cycling infrastructure. But who is the target group? It is, like in marketing, very important to define the main user. There are different possibilities. Is cycling promotion geared towards the improvement of the accessibility of the underprivileged? Or do we aim at a modal shift by putting an alternative for private vehicle users that travel in rush hours. Or is it to offer physical exercise, thus satisfying a recreational objective? Depending on the definition of the main target group a strategy can be developed for the promotion of the use of the bicycle. The establishment of user groups might be the first. To react on their demands an requirements, an infrastructural investment should fit in a spatial plan in which the future cycling network has been drawn. And last, but not least, the infrastructural works should be well designed and engineered. At the same time this approach recognizes the importance of social, cultural and climatological conditions. Specific knowledge on cycling has been developed and is available. The application indifferent different countries however requires an adjustment to the local situation, human behavior and cultural habits. The Dutch Design manual for bicycle traffic has become a designers handbook. With a critical approach with open discussion on the Egyptian setting, the manual could serve the Egyptian planners, designers and human behavior scientists to develop a cycling inclusive design approach. Leo de Jong (1954) holds a M.Sc degree in Civil Engineering. Since 1979 Leo worked both on national and international assignments. He started his career as a consultant Urban Development and Infrastructure in the Netherlands, took up a 3 year assignment as Departmental Head at the Ministry of Transport in Kenya, worked 7 years as a Programme manager for the infrastructure development program in Nepal. After his return in the Netherlands ( 1994) he became ass. professor at the Twente University. He put in place the foundation for the M.Sc. course Civil Engineering and Management. Leo combined his academic activities with consultancy. He established Keypoint Consultancy ( www.keypoint.eu) and developed and lectured in the M.Sc course Management of Infrastructure and Community Development ( university Gadjah mada, Indonesia).
9 Dr. Ir. Mark Zuidgeest Challenge of Designing Cycling Infrastructure This presentation discusses cycling and planning for cycling in the social, economic, cultural and planning context of The Netherlands, and aims to show that planning for cycling is all about inclusiveness, i.e. its current successes can only be explained by the integrated approach that has been followed consistently since the 1970s. The presentation, however, also discusses that cycling in The Netherlands could not and cannot be taken for granted. Yet, there is still a great need for continuous improvement (especially in response to new challenges of climate change, public health, etc.), and yet there are still large barriers to a further increase in the use of cycling as a utilitarian travel mode. The talk ends with trying to look for chances and opportunities for cycling in Egypt from this Dutch integrated planning and policy perspective, and in response to the Egyptian presentations. Dr. Ir. Mark Zuidgeest graduated as a civil engineer (1997) from the University of Twente (UT) in The Netherlands. He earned his doctorate degree from the Netherlands Research School for Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics (TRAIL) with a PhD dissertation on Sustainable Urban Transport Development (2005). Currently, he works as assistant professor Urban Transport in the department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management. Next to this, he works part-time with the Centre for Transport Studies (Faculty Engineering Technology), also at the University of Twente. Prior to joining the UT, he worked as a lecturer in Transportation Engineering at UNESCO-IHE Delft. His main fields of teaching, research and professional interest are sustainable urban transport development (non-motorized transport, public transport, transport related social and spatial equity, resource optimization, EIA/SEA in transport, climate change), geographical information science for transportation and road infrastructure, as well as methods and models for urban transport planning and assessment, primarily in cities in developing countries. He has worked in several cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Dr. Zuidgeest is secretary of the international Cycling Academic Network (CAN), a collaboration between universities in the North and South studying the role of cycling in sustainable urban development, as well as (through ITC) a member of the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT).
10 THIRD SESSION Eng. Ahmed El-Dorghamy The Cycling Movement and Activism in Egypt This presentation is a product of the team work of the Green Arm members, volunteers, and partner cycling groups and environmental activists who have all had input into its content. The presentation shows the recent history of the cycling movement in Egypt since 2005. It starts from the birth of the first cycling groups that rapidly duplicated with the empowerment of online social media. Some have expanded to exceed 5000 members in Cairo and Alexandria, others have extended activities abroad, while many others continue to nucleate elsewhere and serve different segments and areas. The presentation then discusses the main drivers behind this movement as well as the challenges to the promotion of urban cycling that are unique to Egypt, with focus on the socio-cultural aspects, as well as opportunities. This is followed by a presentation of lessons learnt from the social marketing activities conducted by the civil society, the segmentation of the market (who cycles, why, and how are they informed/influenced) the different models of operation of different groups, and the role of social media. Finally, compiled demands of the sustainable-transportation activists directed to the public, private, and civic sectors will be presented with recommendations. Eng. Ahmed El-Dorghamy is an Energy & Environment Consultant at the Center for Environment & Development in the Arab Region & Europe (CEDARE), an international notfor-profit organization of diplomatic status, and co-founder of the Green Arm of Nahdet El- Mahrousa NGO. El-Dorghamy graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm where he completed his MSc in Energy Technology followed by a MSc in Environment driven by his passion and ambitions for environmental development in Egypt. In the past five years since his return to Egypt he had worked in environmental consultancy and later joined the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project for the capacity building of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) for three years. He later joined the JICA study team for the Greater Cairo Metro Line No.4 project planned for 2017 managing the Environmental Impact Assessment. El-Dorghamy later worked in Tri-Ocean Energy in the fields of renewable energy and environmental projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) before lastly joining the Strategic Concerns Program department of CEDARE. He has been active in many volunteer activities promoting environmental education and awareness, such as carrying out the Energy and Environment free school program of El-Sawy Culture wheel over the summer of 2008, and delivering numerous lectures and workshops elsewhere such as in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Cairo University, and other activities including co-founding the Cairo Cycler s Club and supporting several other outdoor sports and environmentalist groups. In 2008 he was awarded the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition 2nd place award for a business plan addressing Cairo s air pollution. In 2009 he became a board member of Nahdet El-Mahrousa NGO and co-founder of the Green Arm, an incubated project aiming to promote sustainable transportation, healthier lifestyles, and improve the urban environment. Email: ahmed.dorghamy@nahdetmasr.org
11 Yahia Shawkat Non-motorised transport in Egypt's cities One of the most overlooked modes of transport in Egypt is the non-motorised mode, where a 2001 study has shown that about 30% of commuters in Cairo, Egypt and the region's largest city, walk, ride a bicycle or drive an animal cart. It is even more so for Egypt's smaller cities where NMT is estimated to take up half the trips. In contrast, government spending and awareness of NMT is grossly disproportionate to its popularity, where laws, transport policy and economic policy have consistently worked against those, that for reasons not wholly related to their lower level of income, have cost the state, the tax payer and the environment, the least to get from A to B. This presentation looks at the existing NMT modes and how they can be properly integrated into the transport eco system, and their main disadvantages addressed. Yahia Shawkat is an architect and built environment researcher. Yahia is currently a recipient of a Ford Foundation grant to study the link between built environment policy and the right to housing, through the Right to Housing Initiative, documenting community struggles and achievements. Yahia also regularly critiques urban policy and promotes the right to housing and the right to the city through his blog, ShadowMinistryOfHousing.org. Yahia Shawkat has taught a course using participatory and community-based design methods, which culminated in the online booklet, Curbitecture, and as a founding member of the Green Arm, his study, Towards a socially just and sustainable transport strategy (2011) outlined the diversity of NMT modes (accounting for approx. 30% of trips in Cairo) and how to address their needs and upgrade them. In 2010 Yahia received the National Award for Architecture, and in 2008 he curated the Egypt Pavilion at the 11 th Venice Architecture Biennale.