Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Despite the many arguments of planning practioners and educators regarding the disconnection of planning practice and education in Egypt, both represent two sides of the same coin. On one side, both are driven by market demands and focus on large scale formal projects. On the other side, both still deal with planning as a technical; and physical activity. Throughout time, media had played a strong role in communicating these perspectives of planning; among planners, and also to the public. In this paper we argue that what is out of media is out of mind aiming to investigate how to use media tools to plan and design spatial justice. This is to broadly understand how media of planning could lead to spatial and social justice. Throughout this paper the communication of three selected neighborhoods in mass media is analyzed in parallel to an analysis for the public perception towards these areas. The selected case studies are: a gated community, an old highly populated district, and an informal area. A qualitative analysis accompanies the content analysis of media and interviews with media experts, professional planners, as well as the inhabitants.