Spatial analysis of the 15-minute city concept in three historically distinct urban areas across metropolitan greater Cairo

This paper explores how the 15-min city concept plays out in Greater Cairo by examining three neighbourhoods: Agouza, Madinaty, and Badya. To do so, it draws on a systematic approach that includes selecting case studies, identifying key service categories, extracting POI and street-network data, mapping service areas in ArcGIS, and presenting the results through service area analysis and thematic mapping. To complement this, accessibility was assessed through four measures: cumulative opportunities, land-use entropy, functional redundancy, and space syntax (integration) metrics. The findings show that access in Cairo depends not just on distance but also on the diversity of available services, the degree of proximity between services, and the way streets connect different areas. Cycling makes a clear difference in widening reach and reducing accessibility inequalities and fragmentation. The findings suggest that, in addition to clinics and schools, social anchors such as souqs, ahwa, and cultural places emerge as vital parts of daily urban life. The paper argues that in Cairo, the 15-min city concept, whether built from scratch or adapted to existing urban fabrics, should not be treated as a universal recipe but as a flexible framework. The concept is part of a longer lineage of planning ideals, adopted in the planning of several areas of Cairo, from the Garden City movement to New Urbanism. It should build on the city’s own urban vocabularies, shaped through layered urban planning and lived experiences, which continue to define how urban spaces and services are used and valued within the 15-min radius or beyond.