Abstract
Sohag new city is considered one of the third generation cities, which was constructed according to the presidential decree No. 196, 2000. It lies about 18 kilometers in the southwest of Sohag city. The new city started its own steps towards development through establishing parts of road networks and housing and service projects. It seeks to complete its vital utilities and infrastructure according to the city master plan, and to attract investors and inhabitants.
The city construction and development coincided with the beginning of activating and establishing Sohag New University projects in the allocated 830-acre lands, north of Sohag new city. Since Sohag University independence in April, 2006, the university master plan has been set and establishing its utilities, infrastructure, and several buildings such as Faculties of Commerce, Arts, Education, and Engineering has begun. Within five years, these faculties will be moved from the university old headquarters in Sohag old city to its new one at Elkawamel and work in other faculties will be completed.
The paper aims at highlighting the anticipated impact of constructing Sohag University with its new institutions and activities on development rates, flow of investment and inhabitants, and attraction of service projects in Sohag new city. This paper is an attempt to have a correlation between the new city and the university in its first stages of growth and in the following stages in order to find coordination and integration between the two aspects. The paper also attempts to investigate the role of private sector in providing services and architectural development in the city.
The present paper is based on the theoretical analytic approach, which analyzes the available data of development rates and the anticipated impacts of the educational institution on the city. This is through similar cases in some Egyptian cities or in the new ones. It also depends on theorizing what would be expected for rates of quantitative and qualitative development in Sohag new city due to university construction, flow of students and staff members to it, the consequent daily and weekly movement of inhabitants, and possibilities of settlement in the city.
The main hypothesis of the paper relies on the existence of some impact for constructing a new university on the growth and development of a new neighboring city: on the short run, it is represented in increasing growth rates in the city as a result of the university institution activity; on the long run, it includes the city development and its economic social flourishment.
The paper consists of three parts. The first part discusses problem of the research represented in the impact of a university educational institution on development rates and aspects in its city on both short and long runs. The second part deals with the changes which would emerge to the city current plan, role of private sector in supporting and providing services in the city, and the mutual and integrated impacts between the educational institution and the new city for the sake of supporting and developing the city in all different fields. The third part includes research results and recommendations.