The General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP), which was established in 1981, shows Egypt divided into seven regional units for physical planning purposes (urban planning, the founding of new towns, new cities and such). The government body works on aspects of urban planning, land use in consideration of the economic conditions of regional units. However, it's been said that planning based on these units has been unrealistic. Thus decentralization efforts were put in place. Each governorate has a General Administration of Planning and Urban Development (GAPUD) government body, in order to decentralize the functions of the GOPP.
In 2014, plans were discussed to expand the seven regional units to eleven but it didn't happen. There are seven, containing the following governorates.