الفهرس 
Upgrading of Informal Settlements by Participatory approach
Participatory Design Degree in the processOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Informal settlements are one of the biggest urban challenges that face urban planners
worldwide. On these grounds, the basic needs for a motivated human community
require coherence between the environment and well-being. Thus, various interventions
are being implemented to improve informal settlements conditions, through upgrading
programs that target one or more sector such as social, economic, political, and physical
improvements. Some of these programs adopt the participatory approach to their needs’
assessment, development plan, and later implementation. Others adopt the top-down
approach where community involvement is minimal. Participation is claimed to be the
solution for the upgrading process. Contrariwise, there have been contraventions on
excessive use of the term participation hamstrung its content.
Consequently, this research postulates that the participatory approach became lately
misused as an objective or a target itself rather than a tool to reach a target. Regarding
that, the research passes through three phases to test this hypothesis. The first phase
includes reviewing literature: to investigate norms of participatory design and the
contraventions on its application in the upgrading process. The second phase
contextualizes the upgrading process of informal settlements in Cairo and the issue of
participation in this context. The third phase, represent the empirical study, which
examined the informal settlement of Manshiet Nasser in Cairo; as this area acquired
great attention through upgrading by the participatory approach.
The research spots the light on a descriptive analysis for two projects took place in the
area where participatory approach is claimed to be adopted. Qualitative methods is
followed for tills investigation that are observation, secondary data analysis, and semistructured
interviews
The first project is the civil society buildings and the second is the youth training
project. As a rebuttaJ to this point, the projects are being criticized by assessing the
efficiency of the participatory upgrading program through a list of indicators that
adheres to the theoretical standards of public participation.