Students: Mulan Sun, Yungfang Xu

This research topic focuses on the rapidly developing and transforming edges of the city of Assiut. Like El-Minya or Sohag, Assiut is a regional centre in the Nile valley providing the surrounding territory with services (for instance, the University of Assiut is third largest in Egypt and it is a place where 70’000 students receive education). Due to a strong population increase since the mid of the XX century and an ongoing urbanisation of the entire valley, these cities are constantly expanding into the surrounding agricultural land. Most of such developments are informal: people would occupy a plot of land over night and start with their construction, which can then last even longer than a generation before its completion. During the 1970s and 80s the state tried to steer the city expansion by developing different types of public housings, but these efforts are now largely diminished.