Insights on Current Pressures and Future Challenges Facing Cities: Cairo's ranking in Worldwide Indexes

Abstract

Today, more people are living in cities than ever and turning them into critical points where social, economic, technological, and ecological changes occur. Cities in developing countries including Cairo are experiencing this growth more than those in the developed countries amid the poverty, inequality, and the pervasiveness of slums that they experience. However, despite the challenges facing these cities, there are opportunities for achieving sustainability and resource efficiency. The efficiency with which resources are used is related to the quality of life of city residents. Cities that have resource efficiency integrated in their operations have higher productivity and innovation and reduced environmental impacts. Efficient use of resources
depends on several factors such as redefining the understanding of the urban systems and having a shared language or standard for the evaluation of the sustainability of cities. Additionally, resource efficiency has to be aligned with human development. This paper provides a presentation of the challenges, pressures, and trends that modern cities face. In the
second section, an outline of options for realizing resource efficient cities is looked at. The third section describes the approaches that cities can use to be sustainable and resource efficient.