Toward Biophilic Egyptian Cities. The Case of New Administrative Capital in Egypt.

Abstract

Human beings need contact with nature and the natural environment. Nature is not an optional, but absolutely essential quality of modern urban life. Biophilic city is a city full of nature in many different forms, it should consider nature at all levels, it is a place that learns from nature and emulates natural systems, incorporates natural forms and images into its buildings and cityscapes, and design and plans with nature, the experiential evidence of the truth of Biophilia, and social, psychological and other benefits from direct and indirect exposure to nature. It's important for emotional health and well-being, and human needs it for planetary health as well. It is not optional but essential. Capital Cairo is one of the newest Egyptian cities; it builds national spirit, provides for long-term sustainable growth, and aims to solve various issues faced by Egypt through a new city. This vision plan explores a set of strategies to guide growth over the next 40 to 50 years. Consequently, it must be resilient and sustainable enough to adjust to future changes and needs. This paper aims to sketch out guidelines needed to shift toward biophilic cities in the Egyptian new cities, based on Beatley’ s biophilic cities framework. Moreover, it explores how we can apply them to make the capital Cairo more biophilic, resilient, and sustainable.