Enabling quality of urban spaces in Cairo’s new suburban settlements: a community character approach for New Cairo, Egypt

A global concern claims that activities and functions that once filled traditional public spaces are privatized being less and less oriented to the public. In Cairo’s new settlements, public spaces don’t seem to contribute to its public life. Each community’s most valuable assets are the ones they already have; thus, urbanisms advocate the role of retaining traditional street patterns, vistas, and landscape of a community’s distinct character. The research aim is to identify design attributes to be added to the literature in terms of designing public spaces for the specific cultural context of Cairo, Egypt, and its new suburban settlements. The methodology then follows a comparative analysis study to reach the desired objectives of buildings a community character approach. In an exploratory method, two case studies of public spaces in Cairo are chosen following a purposive selection most relevant to the study. The target is to choose two cases in proximity for users to be familiar with the two of them and enable a reliable comparison. It then conducts a survey that involves the user’s evaluation of their public spaces in correlation to their needs. Jan Gehl’s twelve criteria are adopted by this paper’s field investigation for the assessment of public spaces’ quality. Findings of the study include an elaboration on Jan Gehl’s twelve criteria either by highlighting the importance of existing aspects or the addition of further criteria that showed value to public space quality and their users. The findings provide guidelines that help in designing quality public spaces in Cairo’s new settlements. The added value from this study is in identifying a set of factors or attributes that consider users’ needs for a given cultural context.

Modernization and Culture in García Márquez’s Caribbean

Gabriel García Márquez offers rich accounts of the Colombian Caribbean’s experience with the historical forces of progress that test traditional societies and their predominant values and attitudes. Colombian historiography identifies various broad stages of secular change in the Caribbean since independence: (1) the emergence of enclave economies, (2) the arrival of people fleeing violence, (3) the foundation of new settlements in the hinterland, (4) the rapid industrialization of Barranquilla, and (5) the region’s full integration into the national project. García Márquez’s fictional towns and generations exist in phases 1–4, which roughly correspond with one hundred years of postindependence history. His Caribbean, like the real one, follows a messy path to modernity where traditional values are tested. It has fuzzy political, cultural, and economic borders and is governed by overlapping elites who, unintentionally, leave vacuums of power for the reproduction of morally loose, intercultural, and miscegenated societies. These societies see the dominant civilization and are familiar with its technologies and social projects. News of progress comes to them in leaf storms, books of knowledge brought by gypsies, trains arriving out of nowhere, or the speeches of shady politicians. This article argues that such broad changes shape values and attitudes as people adapt to new patterns of organization. In the standard modernization account, traditional values (i.e., survival/family orientation) give way to secular values (i.e., self-expression/trust in anonymous institutions). But this cultural transition is neither smooth nor complete. Rather, traditional and secular values coexist in constant tension, and García Márquez shows how.

‘I Have Made a Highway of Biainili’:

After emerging in the Lake Van Basin of Turkey, the Urartian kingdom expanded its territory across Eastern Anatolia, Northwestern Iran, and Armenia between the late 9th and early 7th century BC. The high altitude of these regions and the climatic conditions, especially long and harsh winters with heavy snowfall, likely forced the Urartian monarchy to establish a reliable network of communication: new roads and new settlements along these roads were established between the capital city Tušpa and other parts of its territory. This study presents a reassessment of the archaeological and textual evidence on Urartian routes used for military campaigns, settlements located along these routes, ancient road remains and means of transportation.

“To Rewrite All Ranks of People and Newcomers from Russian and Pomor Cities”: Migrations in Tara District at End of 17th Century

The article is devoted to the study of the resettlement processes that took place on the territory of the Tara district of the Tobolsk category at the end of the 17th century. The source for the study was the Tara County Sentinel Book of 1701. It is noted that the main participants in the resettlement were service people and peasants, while a significant part of them arrived in Siberia at the call of the authorities, few moved voluntarily. The reasons for migrations, both organized by the state and independent, of a strategic, socio-economic nature, are considered. There are two types of migrations: external, carried out from the European part of the country, and internal, occurring on the territory of the Siberian region. It is shown that the flow of residents and their subsequent redistribution in the region itself caused the emergence of new settlements, contributing to the creation of an area of continuous settlement. Calculations were made of the number of migrants who arrived in the Tara district at the end of the 17th century, and villages were identified in which the largest number of them was considered. It has been established that the most active participants in the migration processes in the Tara district were peasants; a significant proportion of immigrants arrived here in the 1690s. A conclusion is made about the potential of the 1701 Sentinel Book in terms of reconstructing an integral picture of the colonization of Siberia at the end of the 17th century.

GIS-based Multicriteria Decision Analysis for Settlement Areas: A Case Study in Canik

In addition to population growth throughout the world due to migration from rural to urban areas, population density is constantly increasing in certain regions, thereby necessitating the introduction of new settlements in these regions. However, in the selection of settlement areas, no sufficient preliminary examinations are conducted; consequently, various natural disasters may cause significant life and property losses. Herein, the most suitable settlement areas were determined using multicriteria decision analysis in Canik District, where the population is constantly increasing. Therefore, this study is aimed to incorporate a new perspective to the studies on this subject. Within the scope of the study, landslide and flood risks, which are among the most important natural disasters in the region, were primarily evaluated, and risky areas were determined. Thereafter, suitable and unsuitable areas in terms of biocomfort, which affect people’s health, peace, comfort, and psychology, and which are also significant in terms of energy efficiency, were determined. At the last stage of the study, the most suitable settlement areas that are suitable in terms of both biocomfort and low level of landslide and flood risks were determined; the calculated proportion of such areas to the total study area is only 2.1%. Therefore, because these areas are insufficient for the establishment of new settlements, areas with low landslide and flood risks but unsuitable for biocomfort were secondarily determined; the ratio of these areas was calculated as 56.8%. The remaining areas are inconvenient for the establishment of settlements owing to the risk of landslides and floods; the ratio of these areas was calculated as 41.1%. The study is exemplary in the respect that the priority for the selection of settlement areas is specified, which can be applied for selecting new settlements for each region considering different criteria.

The Adaptation Strategy of Flash Flood Victims in Urban Areas, Garut Kota Sub-District

In 2016, various settlements in Garut Regency, notably Garut Kota Sub-District, located along the Cimanuk River, were affected by a flash flood. As a result, many residents relocated to other places, far from the city. This research was conducted in three residential relocation areas: Gadok Housing, Kopi Lombang Housing and Cisereuh Housing. The purpose of the study is to determine the adaptation strategies of relocating communities. The research was conducted using mixed-methods techniques with descriptive quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The results are shown in the adaptation strategies of the affected communities and demonstrate that the relocated communities living in new settlements pursued adaptation strategies such as adjustment and adaptation with reaction. Adaptation by adjustment was carried out by accepting the post-relocation situation and taking up jobs in different sectors. Meanwhile, adaptation by reaction entailed making changes to the physical form of buildings, planting mixed gardens or constructing pet cages in the yard. Relocating residents often lacked the motivation to move to alternative shelters due to financial inability and a sense of comfort in their new settlement.

Construcción comunitaria a partir de la resignificación de lugares de culto. Una propuesta para las franjas urbanas de América Latina

The urban fringes of Latin American cities are the result of the accelerated growth that entails the formation of new settlements, that do not meet the basic needs of their inhabitants, and where the facilities have lost their meaning as a space to build the social and urban fabric. Starting from this problem, this text addresses the development of a place of worship that incorporates the concept of device as a piece of social articulation. The proposal starts from the analysis and diagnosis of the area and proposes two intervention scales under the “option generator model” (Carvajalino-Bayona, 1985) framework. The first consists of the improvement of the neighborhood in its main urban structures, while the second consists of the development of the architectural project that integrates worship activities with the dynamics of the neighborhood, from a multifunctional perspective. In this sense, urban relationships are strengthened, but at the same time, give continuity to the reflection raised from the design, where the participatory process is an opportunity to build dialogue and social fabric between the players involved, which in this case are part of communities in conditions of vulnerability.

ASSESSMENT OF THE PROBLEMS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF URBAN HOUSING (A CASE STUDY OF OWERRI MUNICIPALITY, IMO STATE)

The high rate of migration, coupled with population increase triggered rapid urbanization. However, a great proportion of the population still lives in substandard and low quality houses in a deplorable unsanitary residential environment particularly in developing countries. Urban and Economic growth have brought about all typical problems associated with rapid urban development resulting in housing shortage both quantitative and qualitative, slums, illegal settlement and squatting as experienced in owerri municipality. These have resulted into many urban and housing problems within the state capital owerri. This study examined the nature of urban growth and housing problems in owerri municipality. Also it tries to examine residential housing stock, identity the nature of housing problems, government policies and programmes in other to address the problems. The pattern of growth was determined using spatial analysis, and the housing problems were identified through questionnaire and field surveys. Findings revealed that the growth of urban housing in owerri municipality increases by 1034.0 hectare which is equivalent to 38.5% which is in line with Maurice (2004). It was also discovered that over a period of time, new settlements have evolved. Also, the construction and expansion of road networks are evidences of urban growth in owerri municipality. KEYWORDS: Development, Urban growth, Housing problems, population, owerri municipality.

“Old”/“New” Settlements and Administrative Centers in the Ottoman Provincial Administration: Ala Kinise/ Osman Pazar and Hotalich/ Servi (Selvi) (According to Ottoman Documents From the 15th–17th Centuries)

The study raises questions about the fate of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses and urban centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration, which has repeatedly been discussed in Balkan and Ottoman studies. These debates are constantly related to the issues of continuity in the administration and ruling of the Bulgarian lands, evidenced in the territorial overlap of the medieval administrative structures with the new Ottoman ones, as well as in the names of the sanjaks, nahiyes and vilayets. One of the problems that is yet to be completely solved has to do with the medieval fortresses and settlements, registered with their pre-Ottoman names as important administrative centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration (nahiyes, vilayets, kazas), but most likely destroyed during the conquest or earlier. New settlements are developing near them which have different names but the same administrative functions. Many of them are problematic to be localized, but for centuries, these “old” settlements and centers of power have been referred to in parallel with the “new” settlements as another name (nam-i diğer) for the respective administrative centers. The present study focuses on two of the examples of continuity and parallel designation of the “old”/“new” settlements – nahiye Ala Kinise (Kilisa)/ Osman Pazar and nahiye Hotaliç/ Servi (Selvi). These administrative-territorial units are typical of the Ottoman model of administration at local level, as well as regarding the presence of a particular continuity from the medieval Bulgarian state. The complex approach applied in the research and interpretation of the Ottoman register material allows us not only to trace the indications of continuity in the development of individual settlements, but also to understand the pre-Ottoman period of their existence within the medieval Bulgarian state. In a broader sense, it provides a real opportunity for a well-grounded reconstruction of the Ottoman model of power, demographic and economic control of the Bulgarian lands at local level.