The enforcement mechanisms of regulatory frameworks on building contraventions in the urban environment in Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Egypt has been facing the challenges of illegal construction since decades, and most of intervention policies practiced have failed to effectively solve its problems. The issuance of the Building Reconciliation law no.17/2019 has imposed a new reality as a temporary exceptional solution to the long-existing phenomenon, allowing legalization and reconciliation with the previously stigmatized illegal constructions which Egypt has long been facing its challenges. The law’s issuance opened a legal, political, environmental and social debate because of its ambiguous results and impacts in the Egyptian environment, which is why this policy requires an in-depth research especially with the scarce available data concerning this topic. Therefore, this research is an attempt to study the legalization mechanisms in general and the law’s framework in specific, together with its implementation and impacts on the urban environment, aiming at assessing the law’s framework and finding possible adequate methods to optimize the experience’s results and impacts, from analyzing similar international experiences. However, that would not be possible without seeking answers to the following questions both nationally and internationally; How is building construction ruled and regulated? How are building contraventions dealt with? What is building legalization? What is the current situation in Egypt? How was it dealt with? What is the Reconciliation law? And does it differ from former-ruling building laws? What are the carried out legalization examples? Is there any similar examples to the Egyptian case? If yes, what were the outcomes of those similar international examples? And what are the possibilities for similar outcomes? What are the law’s implementation so far yielded outcomes and impacts? In addition, do they validate the concluded possibilities? So far, has the law achieved its goals? If yes, how can we sustain the desirable results? If not, how can we achieve optimum results from the current situation?