Driving Factors of Urban Expansion in Peri-Urban Areas of Greater Cairo Region

Since the early 1980s, the Greater Cairo Metropolitan Region (GCMR) has witnessed a rapid urban expansion that has been mainly concentrated in the peri-urban areas (PUAs). Most of this expansion was against urban planning laws and has presented a critical challenge to the urban environment. It has also led to spatial fragmentation and loss of enormous agriculture lands. This research analyses the urban expansion in the PUAs of the GCMR, during the period (2001-2017) using GIS and remote sensing. In addition to presenting a set of driving factors of this expansion, which were extracted from the literature review and previous studies. The results of this research show that the urban expansion rate during the mentioned period reached to 461 hectares per year. Moreover, the population growth and accessibility were the most significant driving factors in the PUA of the GCR.