Abstract
The Middle East and North African (MENA) region is experiencing accelerated urbanisation. With a total population of 311 million inhabitants in 19991, urban dwellers represent a majority of the population, and their share will continue to grow (figure 48.1). It is expected that in 2025 there will be 70 million additional urban dwellers. With an average growth of 5%/year during the past few years, only in a few cases has urbanisation caused serious imbalances. Based on these figures it may be argued that complex challenges are emerging, among them a high population concentration along the coast, known as littoralisation. This rapid growth has further aggravated the vulnerability of the environment and an exclusion in shanty districts which has become a source of tension and political violence, especially in the Arab world where the youth is in a majority and where freedom of speech is lacking.
The data given are for 1999, unless otherwise stated.
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The approach dealing with the concept of metropolis suggested by J. F. Troin (2000: 13) is in general valid for “diversified and complete towns, ensuring both production (sometimes in satellite centres), regulation, financing, trade, exchange, ordering and control, coordination, innovation, training and research, promotion of the cultural heritage”. In absolute terms, this is not always the case, given not only the North-South relations of dependence but also due to most phenomena examined in 48.4 below.
From “18 years of waiting”, a letter written by Seba Mohamed, 9 rue Ahmed Ben Nabi, Algiers, in: El Watan (Algiers), 1 June 2000: 15.
Report by the local correspondent of El-Watan, during the youth revolt in Sidi-Amar (Annaba), Algeria, published in El Watan, 12 June 2001.
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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Sari, D. (2003). Increasing Urbanisation and Pollution in the MENA Region: Causes of Conflicts?. In: Brauch, H.G., Liotta, P.H., Marquina, A., Rogers, P.F., Selim, M.ES. (eds) Security and Environment in the Mediterranean. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55854-2_52
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55854-2_52
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