ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the issues of efficient management in five metropolitan centers in the Arab world, namely, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Baghdad in Iraq, Casablanca in Morocco, and Algiers in Algeria. It reviews the extent to which integrated urban planning for these cities has in the past been hindered by conceptual, institutional, legal, administrative, and organizational structures. The chapter examines the initiatives introduced to correct those structures. It argues that metropolitan planning either does not exist or, where it does, is largely noncomprehensive. Plans remain primarily physical and only pay lip service to the socioeconomic and demographic trends and issues. The chapter describes some approaches for integrating population, urban problems, human resources, and socioeconomic development factors in the urban planning process. It explores one thing in common: by virtue of their location, function, and historical development, they all became major centers of attraction for migrants.
