Nasser City

Nasser City (Arabic: مدينة الناصر madīnat an-nāṣir), officially Gamal Abdel Nasser City (مدينة جمال عبد الناصر madīnat jamāl ‘abd an-nāṣir), is the capital and thirteenth most populous city of the Arab Union, home to a population of 2,456,338 as of the December 2020 census. It also forms the urban core of the Upper Jordan Valley, the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area with an estimated population of 8.85 million. Nasser City forms a federal district organised as a unitary authority, which is administered by an elected council deriving autonomy through devolution; it is one of only two jurisdictions separate from the republics (federated states) of the Arab Union, alongside the Kurdistan Autonomous Region. As the seat of the government of the Arab Union, Nasser City is home to such institutions as the Arab Congress, Garden Estate, Council of Ministers, Central Bank and Ain Shams Armoury, in addition to which all federal ministries, agencies, authorities, offices, enterprises and other entities have their headquarters within its boundaries, as well as most federal government facilities and institutions.

Nasser City is bound by the Sea of Galilee to the north and the River Jordan to the west; it is the largest planned city in the Arab Union, established in 1971 following the death of first President of the Arab Union Gamal Abdel Nasser, after whom the city was named. The decision to create a federal capital city outside the jurisdiction of any of the 20 republics was mainly a response to the primacy of Cairo, the capital of the Egyptian Arab Republic and federal capital from 1958 to 1971; since Egypt already constituted almost a third of the total Arab Union population by 1970, President Hafez al-Assad decided the seat of the federal government should be moved to a more neutral setting. As such, following the passing of the Establishment Act, 1971 by the Arab Congress on 5 April 1971 and its ratification (and thereby incorporation of the new municipality) the following day via a presidential executive order, Nasser City was officially established. Construction began 10 June 1971, and was completed 22 November 1974, with the federal government finished moving to the new city by the start of 1975.

As per the planned setting for the new federal capital detailed in the Establishment Act, the Palestinian Arab Republic was to cede all territory east of the River Jordan and south of the Sea of Galilee to the federal government. As a planned city, its urban landscape reflects its status as federal capital, and is composed of seven boroughs divided from each other by parks, gardens, greenways, and other natural and public spaces. The Presidential Palace, known officially as the "Garden Estate", sits on a mount to the west of the city centre in the borough of Kiryat Jalil, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, while the Arab Congress is located on Victory Square, the nucleus of the city centre which is also home to many other federal government agencies as well as many corporate and non-governmental offices.