ABSTRACT
In Egypt, a number of planning institutions were involved in the spatial remaking of the city, which operated through setting national and local urban planning strategies. Planning practices in Cairo may be traced back to the 1850s. Throughout colonisation, the pressure towards self-government seeded the ground for creating a local government administered by foreign communities based in Cairo. It took 30 years to establish sufficient planning machinery in Cairo to replace the Tanzim Department. Besides, the re-planning profession was perceived only from the narrow angle of standardisation, even in built-up quarters. The radical changes driven by the Infitah policies in 1974 impacted the planning institution in Cairo; and, in some cases, the Muhafzah faced serious management complications and overlapping roles. The early 1980s were marked by the introduction of the Physical Planning Act of 1983, which sought to establish a central spatial practice framework for planning.
