IUSD Journal Sixth Edition

IUSD Journal Working Manuscripts 2018

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Table of Contents The City Context and the Environment Climate Change-Resilient Productive Landscapes Seasonal Cities Towards a Water Sensitive City Retrofitting Urbanism The city at Eye Level Pedestrianizing Streets in Amman, Jordan Toward Eco-houses Human Behaviour in Spaces around Metro Stations in Cairo

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City Context and the Enviromnent

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Climate Change-Resilient Productive Landscapes

An Assessment of Climate Adaptation for the Community of Cerro Negro, Nicoya, Costa Rica Author: Giancarlo Muñoz Ramírez Supervisor 1: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. Jan Dieterle, Professor of Landscape Planning and Ecology, University of Stuttgart Supervisor 3: Prof. Dr. Ricardo Radulovich, Professor of Biosystems Engineering, University of Costa Rica In tropical dry-wet climates, the agricultural production of smallholder farmers is heavily threatened by climate change. In the specific case of the North Pacific region of Costa Rica, irregular rainfall patterns and water scarcity related to the El Niño climate phenomenon are affecting seasonal crop yields and jeopardizing the livelihoods and economic stability of remote rural communities. In order to broaden the understanding of the vulnerabilities and adaptation needs of these communities, a study was conducted in the mountain farming community of Cerro Negro in the canton of Nicoya. A vulnerability assessment was conducted with the farmers in order to characterise the vulnerability of the socio-ecological productive landscape and to identify

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their existing adaptation strategies as well as their needs. The farmers are particularly vulnerable to water scarcity, temperature rise, and intense rainfall and wind, which affect the seasonal patterns of cultivation and diminish the agricultural production to a minimum. Several adaptation practices based on local and external knowledge are available to the farmers to reduce vulnerability and risk. However, accelerated processes of youth migration, lack of financial resources, and lack of access to infrastructure and services seriously affect the overall adaptation capacity of the community. Increased external support, in the form of knowledge and resources, is needed to improve the resilient capacities of the community and secure their livelihoods for future generations.

Keywords: dry-wet climates; socio-ecological productive landscapes; ENSO, climate change; vulnerability assessment; adaptive capacity; agricultural practices; rural communities; Cerro Negro; Nicoya

Introduction In tropical dry-wet climates, the agricultural production of smallholder farmers is heavily threatened by climate change. Irregular rainfall patterns and water scarcity, due to the increasing episodes of drought, are affecting seasonal crop yields and jeopardizing the livelihoods and economic stability of rural communities in the global south.

According to the United Nations University, 70% of global food production is still taking place in small farms (UNUIAS, 2013 p.5) and agricultural adaptation to climate change is identified as one of the major challenges for rural development that need to be considered in the future development strategies of poor countries (UNIQUE 2013, p.6).

This claim is also supported by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which recognises that ‘a healthy and dynamic agricultural sector’ is the foundation of rural development and an essential component for poverty eradication in a global scale (UN 2015). As a dry-wet climate region located within the boundaries of the Central American Dry Corridor, the North Pacific of Costa Rica is highly vulnerable to climate variability and extreme climate events related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO), which affect the region periodically and threaten the livelihood systems of thousands of smallholder farmers and their families.

To address this issue, the understanding of the vulnerabilities and adaptation needs of rural communities is a fundamental step that can lead to the development of successful climate adaptation strategies aimed at the empowerment of local communities through awareness raising and capacity building. Despite the growing body of knowledge related to the development and implementation of climate vulnerability assessment methodologies in rural communities all over the world, in Costa Rica, there are very little documented cases of the application of this tool and even fewer cases addressing remote rural communities. As a result, there is limited information regarding their overall vulnerability to climate change and the adaptation mechanisms that have been developed internally by its inhabitants to respond to the adverse effect of climate change and climate variability. Using the mountain rural community of Cerro Negro in the canton of Nicoya, Costa Rica, as a case study, this research aims at understanding the ongoing internal processes of change and adaptation in remote rural communities of the North Pacific region of Costa Rica by answering the following question: ‘What are the linkages between the currently used agricultural practices based on traditional knowledge and the climate-adaptation capacity of Cerro Negro’s socio-ecological productive landscape?’

To achieve this, a semi-participatory vulnerability assessment was conducted with the inhabitants of the community of Cerro Negro followed by an assessment of the adaptive capacity of the productive landscape to the hazards of drought and seasonal weather phenomena. The study is focused on documenting and assessing the performance of

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the agricultural practices used by the farmers, with a special emphasis on the practices based on traditional knowledge, in order to identify their relation with the overall adaptive capacity of the community.

1.

Background

From the rise of the sea level to the shifting of global climate zones (Chen et.al 2013, Mahlstein et.al 2013), the scientific evidence for the warming of the climate system is unequivocal and imminent (IPCC 2014, p.4). According to the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), ‘climate change is one of the key future challenges for both developed and developing countries. With a growing world population, rising demand for food, water and energy and a dwindling natural resource base, climate change will act as a threat multiplier, aggravating resource scarcity and putting further stress on socio-ecological systems’ (BMZ 2015, p.12). The level of threat, however, is not equal for all: despite the fact that industrialised countries are the main producers of greenhouse gas emissions, poor and marginalised people from developing countries are the most threatened by the current climate variability and future climate change. According to IPCC, these differences of exposure and vulnerability originate from non-climatic factors and multidimensional inequalities that are often the product of “intersecting social processes” (IPCC 2014, p.6) and uneven development processes which end up shaping dissimilar risks (IPCC 2014, p.40).

Rural areas of developing countries are generally the most vulnerable to the negative consequences of climate change due to their high dependence on agriculture and natural resources, risky geographical locations and limited access to infrastructure and services (IPCC 2014, p.617). According to IPCC’s AR5, the ‘major impacts of climate change in rural areas will be felt through impacts on water supply, food security, and agricultural incomes’ (IPCC 2014, p.616).

In addition, rural people in developing countries are subject to many stressors not related to climate such as underinvestment in agriculture, lack of incentive to the small producers, problems with policies related to land and natural resource management as well as processes of environmental degradation that compromise their adaptation capacity (IPCC 2014, p.616). Moreover, climate change poses big challenges on the preservation of the traditional knowledge of rural areas as it exposes communities to unknown climatic conditions for which their local practices becomes worthless (Shaw et. al., 2009). Certainly, the resilience capacity of the rural community systems is being challenged by current pressures associated with climate change, accelerated globalization and unprecedented rates of rural to urban migration (UNU-IAS, 2013 p.10). However, the dynamic nature of the transformations occurring in rural areas is viewed by researchers worldwide as an opportunity to assess, in a short term, the impacts of climate change and the adaptation possibilities for the communities living in these areas.

The development of climate change adaptation strategies is believed to be the best way to reduce vulnerability and increase the resilience capacity of rural communities. Implementation experiences of climate adaptation strategies in all continents have already shown a great deal of success at national, regional and community levels. However, prior to the execution of such interventions, a broad comprehension of the relationship of the cause and effect between climate change and its impact on people, economic sectors and socio-ecological systems is required (BMZ 2015, p.20). For this purpose, several development agencies, organizations and think tanks worldwide, have developed a variety of vulnerability assessment methodologies which, in recent years, have proven to be the most effective tools to evaluate the susceptibility to climate change in human and natural systems. The implementation of such methodologies not only allows a ‘better understanding of the factors driving the vulnerability of a particular

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climate change hotspot’ (e.g. agriculture) (BMZ 2015, p.26) but also allows the identification and prioritization of adaptation interventions according to the real needs and availability of resources of any studied context.

2.

The context

The North Pacific region of Costa Rica is one of the most vulnerable regions in the country to climate variability and climate change. A combination of environmental factors, such as extreme variations of precipitation levels between the dry and the wet season (as shown in Figure 2), increase in averages temperature, high exposure to extreme climate events as well as future projections of severe water scarcity (IMN/MINAET 2012, p.29), are aggravating the pressures on the already difficult socioeconomic reality of the region1, and raising the discussion regarding the need to prioritise the design and implementation of adaptation strategies to tackle the adverse effects of accelerated climate change. Like many other regions with high rural populations (62%) (INEC 2012), small farmers become the most vulnerable groups to threats related to climate change due to their heavy reliance on agriculture2 as the main source of income for them and their families.

Figure 2: Distribution of seasons in the North Pacific region.

Source: Author with data of the Liberia Canton provided by the IMN 2018

One of the most particular characteristics of the North Pacific region is the presence of a cyclical climate phenomenon known as the El Niño-South Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO)3 which affects the region periodically in the form of seasonal droughts and other hidrometeorological phenomena such as tropical waves and hurricanes. In recent years, however, the frequency and intensity of ENSO-related phenomena has been increasing in a pace and intensity that is uncommon for the dwellers of the region. In the last 10 years, a constant and accumulative succession of climatic extremes that started with a severe drought of 2009 has worsened the vulnerability of the families that live in the region into a complex situation that encompasses the loss of livelihoods, decapitalization of household economies, impoverishment, migration to urban areas and food and nutrition insecurity (FAO 2016, p.1). The El Niñ0 drought episode of 2015 - the strongest in the last 78 years (La Nación 2015) - and the ‘Nate’ tropical storm of 2017 - associated with La Niña and categorised as one of the worst natural disaster of the country in decades (EFE 2017) - had devastating effects on the agricultural sector and the economy of the region (as shown in Figure 3).

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Figure 2: Annual rainfall in the Nicoya Canton for the years of 2013, 2015 and 2017 Source: Author with information provided by the IMN 2018

3.

The case study

In order to analyse the internal processes of change and adaptation taking place inside remote rural communities faced with climate change within the North Pacific region, the community of Cerro Negro, in the canton of Nicoya, was used as the case study for this research (as shown in Figure 4). Cerro Negro is a remote community of 130 people located in the mountain region of the Peninsula de Nicoya. It is characterised by its agricultural activity and for being the only community in the region with a consolidated farmer’s organization which has favoured the preservation of the livelihood activities of dozens of small farmers (through the access of new markets) and has been detrimental for the enhancement of the productive landscape’s adaptation capacity to climate change (through the access to new knowledge and infrastructure). Despite its advantageous position compared to other remote communities of the region, Cerro Negro is heavily affected by several environmental hazards and socioeconomic issues which pose a threat to the future resilience capacity of the community.

In order to identify problematic hotspots, an analysis of the biophysical and socioeconomic systems was carried out focusing on the micro-watershed area of the settlement considering its higher agricultural activity and population concentration. The findings showed high vulnerability to climate events associated with the ENSO phenomenon, deforestation of high areas, and accelerated depletion of water sources in the dry season which were identified in the analysis of the biophysical system as some of the main threats for the community. On the other hand, the analysis of the socioeconomic system revealed the bad condition of the access road, lack of services and infrastructure (especially the lack of a water supply system), lack of jobs opportunities, and increase in youth migration as the most pressing issues affecting the inhabitants. Once the main hazards and issues were identified, the following phase focused on determining the extent to which each of these problems was affecting the different social groups and livelihoods within the community, for which a vulnerability assessment was conducted following a mixed approach that included community participation and expert input.

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Figure 4: Water flow reduction during the dry months.

Source: Left image: https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g309241-d1011909-i50165419Cabo_Blanco_Absolute_Natural_Reserve-Nicoya_Province_of_Guanacaste.html. Right image:Author

4.

The assessment

With the aim of understanding how the interaction of the biophysical and socioeconomic factors present in the microwatershed determine the susceptibility of the socio-productive landscape to the impacts of climate change and variability, and which are the measures taken by the farmers to respond to these impacts, a vulnerability assessment was developed divided in two separate phases. The first is a participatory assessment phase which aimed at the identification of key vulnerabilities in the micro-watershed, while the other is an expert assessment phase which aimed at determining the adaptation capacity of the socio-productive landscape to the main hazards affecting the community.

Initial Vulnerability Assessment (IVA) Through a participatory workshop, the IVA was conducted with the purpose of analysing the exposure and sensitivity of a social group or livelihood in relation to an existing issues or hazards and to develop a ‘common understanding of the hazards that have posed and are likely to pose the highest risk to groups of community members in a landscape and their livelihoods’ (OXFAM 2016, p.9). The pre-vulnerability values revealed “drought and temperature rise” and “seasonal weather phenomena” as the hazards that ranked higher and showed the highest levels of vulnerability across many social groups and livelihoods.

Impact Chain (IC) While the IVA allows to identify which hazards affect any given system, the impact chain aims to reflect on the consequence of such hazard throughout the landscape in question ‘in order to better understand how it propagates through a system via its direct and indirect impacts’ (OXFAM 2016, p.30). The final outcome of the IC exercise was the identification of the main actions being taken by the farmers to address each of the observed impacts, which was necessary to develop a catalogue of the main agricultural practices used by the farmers in which each practice was categorised based on its purpose and origin (as shown in Figure 5). For the scenario of ‘drought’, rain water harvesting, increase of agrobiodiversity, improvement of water management techniques, improvement of soil moisture retention, weather-protected cultivation, and preservation of indigenous species were identified as the main

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actions, while for the scenario of “seasonal weather phenomena”, weather-protected cultivation, soil conservation in sloping cultivation lands and pest-control practices were identified as the most developed actions.

Figure 5: Left : Impact chain diagrams for the scenarios of Drought. Right : Sample of catalogue of practices Source: Author

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Adaptive capacity assessment (ACA) By analysing each one of the practices in an isolated way, it was possible to determine how much each practice supported (or not) each of the adaptive capacity actions being assessed in the IC phase (as shown in Figure 6). Some of the main findings of this phase identified a lack of

efficient

pest-control

practices,

an

undeveloped water harvesting and water management system, and lack of weather protection measures which are the main weaknesses of the community, while soil conservation actions represent its strenght.

The relevance of traditional knowledge-based practices and how they play a big role in the adaptation capacity of the community was also confirmed,

showing

a

good

level

of

performance in the different categories of the assessment. Among these, agrisilviculture reveals itself the one with the highest amount of benefits attached to it. By confronting local practices against external practices, is it possible to notice that, while local practices performed better for conservation purposes, external

practices

performed

better

for

protection purposes. This aspect exposes a gap in the community’s traditional knowledge

Figure 6: Performance assessment of climate adaptation practices need Source : Author

regarding damage-reducing measures that to be considered.

Overall adaptation capacity The adaptation capacity assessment results show a moderate adaptation capacity of the socio-ecological landscape when social aspects are not considered. The scenario of the drought presented not only more diversity of actions for adaptation but also better performance of the practices analysed when compared with the seasonal weather phenomena scenario.

These numbers reflect a good level of awareness of the farmers to the existing susceptibilities of the biophysical system and a moderate level of response to the hazards that affects their livelihoods. However, when overlapped with the values obtained from the socioeconomic variables assessment, they revealed/reflected the big influence of the societal environment on the overall adaptation capacity of the community (as shown in Figure 7).

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This has a direct impact on the development opportunities of the farmers who often times find their adaptation initiatives limited by physical, economical or infrastructural constraints (e.g the construction of a rainwater harvesting reservoir). The intrinsic relationship between these two realms needs to be carefully taken into consideration when proposing the introduction of new adaptation practices in the community.

Figure 7: Overall adaptation capacity value Source: Author

5.

Discussion

The whole body of information obtained through the development of this research allows us to finally answer the research question posed in the first chapter of this thesis: ‘What are the linkages between the currently used agricultural practices based on traditional knowledge and the climate-adaptation capacity of Cerro Negro’s socioecological productive landscape?’ Based on the findings obtained from the assessment of the adaptation practices, which exposed the degree of influence that each practice has on the correct accomplishment of each adaptation action, it is possible to conclude that most of the practices based in traditional knowledge have a big weight on the overall adaptation capacity of the socio-ecological productive landscape specially for the actions that involve conservation of some type (i.e. water, soil and agrodiversity). However, the inability of local practices to properly address key climate hazards, such as crop damage from weather exposure and water scarcity is also recognisable, exposing the equal importance that external practices have had filling the gaps not covered by the knowledge of the locals. In conclusion, the adaptive capacity of the community is determined by the harmonious coexistence of local and external inputs confirming the important role that external cooperation has for the improvement of the climate change resilient capacities of remote rural communities in the North Pacific region.

6.

Conclusion

- Community organization is a fundamental step to enhance resilience and to raise the voice of the needs of remote rural communities. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to first modify common behaviours of excessive individualism among the small producers of the North Pacific region.

- Farm clustering under a model of shared production and tasks allows a better distribution of efforts and resources under a common goal, reduces competition and creates reinforced communal identity.

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- The level of resilience of Cerro Negro is determined by the interaction of internal environmental and socioeconomic factors as well as by external factors related to the lack of governmental support and change of market policies in the past years.

- The socioeconomic situation of the community is the defining factor of the level of vulnerability to the negative effects of drought and seasonal weather phenomena. Even though the productive landscape showed moderate adaptive capacity to climate-related impacts, variables such as lack of infrastructure and lack of labour force exponentially reduce the opportunities of the inhabitants to effectively cope and adapt. This limitation of economic resources has also prevented all farmers to equally adjust their farming practices.

- External cooperation certainly has a big impact on rural development in the North Pacific region, often-times fulfilling the role that local governments have neglected. However, a huge amount of financial, technical and institutional support is still needed to improve the resilient capacities of the community and secure their livelihoods for future generations.

Endnotes [1] According to the National Household Survey of 2012 the region ranked as the second poorest in the country with an incidence of poverty in households of 34.5% and an unemployement rate of 11.4% (i.e. double than the national average) (INEC 2012).

[2] 24.6% of the total extension of the region is agricultural land (INEC 2014), and agricultural activities give jobs to 22.9% of the population (SEPSA 2015, p.13) [3] The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines the ENSO cycle as ‘the coherent and sometimes very strong year-to-year variations in sea- surface temperatures, convective rainfall, surface air pressure, and atmospheric circulation that occur across the equatorial Pacific Ocean’ (NOAA 2012). Though a single climatic phenomenon, it has three phases in which it can be in: a warm phase called ‘El Niño’, a cold phase called ‘La Niña’, and a ‘Neutral’ phase in the middle of the continuum (NOAA 2014).

References BMZ (2015). The Vulnerability Sourcebook: Concept and guidelines for standardized vulnerability assessments. Available at: http://www.adelphi.de/de/publikation/vulnerability-sourcebook-concept-and-guidelines-standardised-vulnerabilityassessments [Accessed 06 July 2018] EFE (2017). Costa Rica califica a Nate como el peor desastre natural en décadas, 9 October [Online]. Available at: https://www.efe.com/efe/america/sociedad/costa-rica-califica-a-nate-como-el-peor-desastre-natural-en-decadas/200000133403559# [Accessed 13 July 2018] FAO (2016). Dry Corridor Central America: Situation Report. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-br092e.pdf [Accessed 7 June 2018] IMN/MINAET (2012). Escenarios de Cambio climático regionalizados para Costa Rica (Regionalized Climate Change Scenarios for Costa Rica). Available at: http://cambioclimaticocr.com/multimedio/recursos/mod1/Documentos/escenarios_de_cambio_climatico_digital_0.pdf [Accessed 12 July 2018] INEC (2012). Encuesta Nacional de Hogares Julio 2012: Resultados Generales (National Household Survey July 2012: General Results). Vol. 1. San José, Costa Rica. Available at: http://www.inec.go.cr/sites/default/files/documentos/empleo/publicaciones/reenaho2012-01.pdf [Accessed 12 June 2018].

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2014). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/ [Accessed 22 January 2018] Shaw, R., Sharma, A. (2009). Transferable Indigenous Knowledge (TIK): Progress and Challenges. Kyoto University. Available at http://drh.edm.bosai.go.jp/Project/Phase2/2Events/20_WS3/2-3_DRH_WS3_Facilitator_TIK_(Shaw).pdf [Accessed 10 November 2017]

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UN (2015). United Nations General Assembly, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 21 October 2015, A/RES/70/1.Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57b6e3e44.html [Accessed 3 August 2018] UNIQUE (2013). Rural development and adaptation to climate change: What do we know? On behalf of: The German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). Available at: https://www.giz.de/fachexpertise/downloads/giz2013-enadaptation-on-climate-change.pdf [Accessed 8 of July 2018].

UNU-IAS (United Nations University) (2013). Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes (SEPLs).

Policy Report. [Bergamini , N., Blasiak, R., Eyzaguirre, P., Ichikawa , K., Mijatovic, D., Nakao, Subramanian, S.M.]. Available at: http://archive.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Indicators-of-resilience-in-sepls_ev.pdf [Accessed 25 January 2018]

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Figure 1: The urban metabolism of Brussels, Belgium in the early 1970s Source: Duvigneaud and Denaeyer-De Smet, 1977 in Kennedy et al. (2007: p. 47); (2010: p. 3).

Seasonal Cities: Temporal Changes in the

Urban

Metabolism of Alexandria, Egypt Author: Andrés Mauricio Estrada Bolivar Supervisor 1: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley, Professor of International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart Supervisor 3: Prof. Dr. Ayat Ismail, Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Ain Shams University

Seasonal Cities refers to periods where a city is subjected to additional or external pressures which modifies its dynamics temporarily and returns it to its previous state after a frame of time. Temporality of cities and the socio-economic influence on urban metabolism were researched for this thesis. Two reference cases of temporal urban changes provided insights into the topic in order to be applied in/to the case study, which is related to Alexandria, Egypt. Reported outcomes on shortages of utilities during summer allow to understand to which extent the city changes temporally. However, the results of the research showed that those outcomes are linked to the permanent low capacity of the infrastructure of the city to deal with the demand of services. Summer makes these conditions more visible.

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Urban metabolism is understood as a linear process when such a sequence is analyzed as a quantification exercise. However, when cultural patterns are added to such a cycle, the city becomes a reactor from social activities. Metabolic urbanization is a result of the social patterns of consumption and understanding of resources.

Keywords: Urban metabolism; urban change; life-cycle analysis; patterns of consumption; growth and shrinkage; socioeconomic dynamics; infrastructure

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Introduction Urban areas subjected to temporary and cyclical changes in their dynamics are investigated under the approach of Seasonal Cities. The research was approached by means of the metabolic urbanization of cities, which even though is defined as a socio-economic and technical process, the attention has been put on the technical part, leaving social components as tangential elements, with no influence reported on UM analysis. Due to the complexity of the topic, in which infrastructural conditions as well as social patterns were required, quantitative and qualitative data was collected and compared in the exploration of the case study, related to Alexandria, Egypt in the summer season, when the population of the city increases temporally and drops to the original number after some time.

Insights into temporal issues in two cities, Medellin and Ulan Bator, were gained, as a basis for the analysis of the case study of the Alexandrian summer. Seasonal issues on infrastructure in such a city are reported, yet the research led to conclude that those issues are related to the permanent conditions of the infrastructure, which demographic changes during the sunny days make more evident. Cities and their flows of resources are understood as permanent and lineal elements. Two things will be discussed in this paper. On the one hand, the role of the interplay between anthropogenic and geogenic urban components and how it can take the city to temporal strong fluctuations will be the first aspect to tackle.

On the other hand, how the city is understood as a processor of elements will also be tackled. Resources are transformed in the city based on its infrastructure. UM is unlikely to be understood just as a process of taking materials from A to B.

Problem Statement In urban planning, the matter of space is the main discussion, while the way how such a space changes by time is mostly understood through permanent patterns, either growth or shrinkage, as if there were no dynamics in between. This is reflected in theoretical and design approaches towards cities in which/where they are seen as static and one-dimensional areas. There are places with cyclical patterns of change. For example,/For instance, they face repetitive dynamics of increase and decrease under the same time frame/the same period and conditions. They were defined for this research as seasonal cities.

No theoretical background on the topic of seasonal patterns of cities was found. For this reason, fields of man-made influence on urban changes as well as urban ecological systems were explored in order to define components and driving forces involved in the alteration of urban areas. Strong fluctuations during short chaotic periods, unlike small-scale disturbances during long periods (Timmeren, 2014: p.13), were recognized as a main characteristic of seasonal cities, in addition to the time component.

Grimm et al. (2000), in their study of urban ecological systems, differentiated networks within the city from the city as a network. This last component includes a metabolic analysis of the city, which means that alterations in one of its parts will be reflected in the whole urban area. For this reason, urban metabolism (UM) was chosen as a methodology for monitoring specific interplays on geogenic and anthropogenic urban components, leading to reveal causes of seasonal alterations in urban conditions, which will return to their previous state afterwards./state after a frame of time.

Even though UM is seen as a result of technical and socio-economic processes in cities (Kennedy et al., 2007: p.44), the socio-economic components are not covered and sometimes not even mentioned in studies of metabolic urbanization. The papers of Wolman (1965), Brunner (2007) and Kennedy et al.

(2007); (2010) are based on the quantification of flows of water, solid waste, energy and materials in the city, while Timmeren (2014) linked the quality of infrastructure to the quality of UM. No specific influence from social dynamics are mentioned and no fluctuations over time are/have been recognized either. Figure 1, for instance, presents an illustration of the metabolic process in Brussels, Belgium, in which several elements and flows are measured, but the time when such a consumption takes place and the cultural aspects of the demand of services are not considered. Warren-Rhodes and Koenig (2001), 20

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additionally, reported the increase of 3 million people of Hong Kong’s population between 1971 and 1997 in terms of UM, quantifying consumption and waste of different services. However, socio-economic characteristics were left as tangential facts instead of driving forces of expenditure and waste generation.

This study focused on permanent urban growth, but if such an increase was seasonal and the population number returned to the previous amount after some time, would it be more environmentally friendly?

Would cities and their hinterlands face less impacts than those generated by permanent patterns?

The man-made influence and the temporality of cities in the UM were studied. How has UM changed by seasonal urban dynamics resulting from socio-economic patterns? To what extent did urban changes affect the sustainability of cities? These questions are the guidelines of the research.

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1.

Methodology

The phenomenon of seasonal cities was not a result of theoretical studies but detected through the analysis of cyclical changes of different cities, with similar patterns of repetitive alterations on time but with different characteristics of outcomes. As such a topic was not found in urban planning literature, concrete cases were crucial for the development of the research in which seasonal changes in their UM were explored. In such an endeavor, two reference cases were studied: Medellin, Colombia and Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Insights for the development of the topic were taken from them where it was found that the diversity of situations in every context (as shown below) shows that the topic of seasonal cities is not related to specific issues or outcomes. Its main framework is the time factor summed to specific urban conditions and cycles.

The case study of the research is Alexandria, Egypt; by means of a strong fluctuation of people faced by the city in summer. The topics and the methods implied in the research are shown in Table 1 where additional concepts were developed from the reference cases. Monitoring the cases, interplays of geogenic and anthropogenic elements throughout the year were developed in order to reveal to what extent urban changes affected the sustainability of those cities and what the perception, reaction and acknowledgement of inhabitants and local authorities towards this phenomenon/these phenomena is.

Table 1: Research methods applied.

Source: Author Mapping Documents

Participative Method

Questionnaires Observations Interviews

The analysis of metabolic urbanization allows to understand the city as a network in which temporal urban changes are results and reactions of temporal socio-economic alterations in the dynamics of the city.

Cultural patterns and social behavior in terms of consumption of resources is determined by the shape of infrastructure, which affects the quality of UM (Timmeren, 2014: p.8). Social dynamics on time and their role on UM was included in the analysis developed in the research.

There were limitations/The author faced limitations in terms of previous studies on the topic since no studies on seasonal alterations in cities were found. Additionally, during the field research in Alexandria, a reluctant attitude of cooperation was faced from different organizations related to data provision due to institutional regulations.

2. Reference

Cases

The aim was the exploration of every situation instead of comparing between them so that a comprehensive understanding of sources and consequences of their seasonal urban change would be developed. Insights into both cases were gained, previous to the analysis of the case study.

2.1. Medellin,

Colombia

Every year, between February and April, this city reaches an extreme state of air pollution (Hinge et al., 2017: p.10); (Alsema, 2018: para.9). During these days, the Medellin City Hall declares red alert in the air quality, which lasts until the indicators of contamination show improvement in this issue. Figure 2 shows specific elements whose interactions take the city to the high level of contamination previously mentioned.

Insights into the case study were detected as relevant elements to understand the situation that the city faces every year: Geogenic

Jan.

A n t h r o p o g e n i c

Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun

e

July

.

Sep.

Aug Oct. Nov. Dec.

Figure 2: Allocation of driving forces of seasonal change in the air quality of Medellin. Significant meteorological changes (above) lead the constant pollution of the city (below) to accumulate and deteriorate the air quality of the city.

Source: Author

Table 2: Insights into the reference case of Medellin. Acknowledgement, reactions, outcomes and attempts of solution are described here.

Source: Author

Table 3: Insights into the reference case of Ulan Bator. Acknowledgement, reactions, outcomes and attempts to find a solution are described here.

Source: Author

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2.2. Ulan

Bator, Mongolia

This city is recognized as the coldest capital city in winter (Gamble, 2015: para. 4), which leads it to be one of the most polluted cities in the world in terms of air quality during this season (Geoghegan, 2014: para. 15); (Jacob, 2013). Cold days are not a problem in itself; those are more related to the reactions and means that the inhabitants use to overcome the extreme weather as explained below. This is seen in Figure 3 where the situation is identified only in the coldest period of the year. Below the anthropogenic driver, changes are also illustrated.

Figure 3: Allocation of driving forces of seasonal change in the air quality of Ulan Bator. Winter is not the issue itself. Such is more related to cultural reactions to the season without infrastructure.

Source: Author

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Alexandria, Egypt Despite its historical highlights and location along the Mediterranean Sea, tourism in the city is described as a seasonal activity, taking place mainly during summer (Brizzi, 2005: p.2); (FooP, 2014: p.52); (Eldaidamony, 2011: p. 57); (Rady, 2002: p.11). The population of Alexandria seems to increase dramatically during summer. Consequently, it sharply modifies the public utilities and infrastructure performance, yet/though no special plans or actions adopted in the city during the sunny days were detected. Illustration of specific geogenic and anthropogenic elements related to the urban changes in the city are shown in Figure 4.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

June

July

Aug.

Sep.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Geogenic

Anthropogenic

Figure 4: Allocation of driving forces of seasonal change in Alexandria. In summer, residents and newcomers must share the city.

Source: Author

- Cultural Background: A specific profile of summer visitors was strongly recognized by means of the questionnaires.

“Most newcomers come from the countryside near Alexandria,” states a comment from the questionnaires that was also written by others.

Their rural background linked to changes in the city in terms of garbage production, cleanliness and the way they behave and dress were also pointed out. They are not recognized as tourists by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT); they are seen just as Egyptians in the city/in their country. International visitors is the cluster in which MoT is interested in due to the value of foreign currencies in/to the Egyptian economy.

“It is not about nationality,’ says a MoT interviewee, “it is about economics.”

Rural newcomers were mentioned due to their impact in open areas. Visitors from Cairo (i.e. urban newcomers) were barely mentioned in the questionnaires. Their impact in the city has different characteristics, explained below by means of housing dynamics.

- Urban Banning: Negative perceptions toward summer newcomers have led some Alexandrians to 25

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create (virtual) spaces such as groups in social media in which hate, invasion of the city, and banning visitors are openly discussed in the name of those groups.

“Summer is not something exciting to the original inhabitants,” states a comment from the questionnaires.

No reports on actions taken by those groups were found. However, this shows the perception of residents toward the sunny days when the city changes dramatically.

- Seasonal Migration and Housing Dynamics: Circular migration takes place every summer.

Visitors come from urban and rural areas mainly during the sunny days as, in Egypt, it is the only time during the year where people have holidays (Rady, 2002: p. 11). After the visit, they go back to their places of origin. Even though the population decreases after the season, the dramatic increase has urban and environmental consequences described below.

The scale of increase is significant, yet numerically unknown. When reports on Alexandria were checked, the amount of visitors ranged from hundreds of thousands (Yahia, 2017: p. 2), to more than one million (Integral

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Consult, 2005: p. 11); (El-Rayis et al., 2008: p. 1); (Wetskills, 2012: para. 1), to no less than two millions (Ela, 2014 in FooP, 2014: p. 27), to two millions or more (Cities Alliance, 2007: p. 21); (AbuZeid, K., et al, CEDARE, 2016: p. 15); (Nasra Nour, Head of Technical Support Sector, Alexandria Water Company, personal communication, 03 March 2018); (Elgazzar et al.,2017: p.2), and finally to double Alexandria’s population (Sims, 2014: p. 191).

The existing information on accommodation in the city belongs to official lodging such as hotels and hostels. However, Egyptian visitors mostly depend on second homes and villas as accommodation (Rady, 2002: p. 11), though the available statistics do not report them (Brizzi, 2005: p.7). This creates a dynamic of housing which impacts the infrastructure of the city as explained below. This situation only applies for those who can afford renting a space, which means presumably urban newcomers. A different situation was recognized for those who come from rural areas.

“Some of them sleep in the streets,’ states a comment from the questionnaires, “some use mosques, and some rent apartments as accommodation.”

Permanence variation was also detected. Not all visitors need accommodation as some of them tend to do a one-day trip to the city. In this case, their means of transportation plays an important role. The microbuses that take them to the city are used also as a multi-functional space, while they spend their time in the city. The different dynamics in terms of transportation, accommodation and permanence make it difficult to monitor the social dynamics more accurately.

- Infrastructure below Requirements: Specific outcomes on utilities in summer were detected by means of several articles and confirmed by interviewees and respondents. They are shortages of water (Yahia, 2017); (OOSKANews, 2012: para. 11), shortages of electricity (Al-Youm, 2015); (El-Gundy et al., 2014); (EgyptianStreets, 2016: para.7), and drastic accumulation of garbage in the streets (Gaber, 2016); (Albawabhnews, 2017). “[In summer,] parts of the infrastructure cannot function at their best,” states a comment from the questionnaires.

The elements of the outcomes here detected correspondence to those mentioned and quantified by the UM papers introduced above, which means that the UM of Alexandria is changed in summer in terms of water, energy and material flows, leading the city to the outcomes previously described.

Water: The differences in population and occupation in the city in summer put more pressure on the water demand (AbuZeid, K., et al, CEDARE, 2016: p. 7), which increases from 2.5 to 3.2 million cubic meters per day when compared to the rest of the year (Nasra Saleh, Head of Technical Support Sector, Alexandria Water Company, personal communication, 03 March 2018). Specific activities in public and private spaces toward the liquid were pointed out by the interviewees. The way people consume it affects its availability as well as the infrastructure’s performance.

Further causes of water shortages are related to the water cycle of Alexandria. The Mahmoudia Canal, which comes from one of the branches of the Nile River, is the main source of the city. Pollution was detected in the canal, which consequently affects the distribution of the liquid in the city, as the water treatment plants (WTP) must have an established minimum amount of potable water in order to pump it. In conclusion, the additional population of summer modifies the water demand and consumption, 27

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yet the availability of the service depends also on the quality of the hinterlands, which was mentioned previously by means of papers on UM. In this case, pollution affects the water service in the city and such a characteristic is not exclusive to the summer season.

Electricity: The influence of the increasing population in the higher power consumption as well as in the electricity shortages in summer (Figueras, 2016: para. 1) was recognized by interviewees and respondents.

“In summer, electricity always goes off,” states a comment from the questionnaires.

Patterns of consumption in summer and infrastructure characteristics were detected as causes of these issues. The expenditure of electricity could be explained directly by means of how people use the service, for example by keeping the air conditioning running day and night (Fick, 2014: para.8) or indirectly in services that

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require power for working such as potable water and wastewater which need electricity for their pumping process1. In fact, the energy consumed in the transportation of the liquid seems to be the main environmental impact of such process (Mahgoub et al., 2010: p.1103-1104).

On a national level, the main source of power is gas, which accounts for around 75% of the total fuel consumed by the power plants (Figueras, 2016: para.6), yet gas production in Egypt is lower than its consumption, so such a resource is being currently imported. This shows how the summer season indeed puts an additional load on the electricity demand. Furthermore, the import of the main source of power puts an additional environmental cost to energy production. Such a situation is not just related to summer, but the season makes it more evident.

Solid Waste: Several commercial activities are also seasonal as they depend on those who spend the sunny days in the city to be make profit. Lack of products during summer in places like supermarkets or pharmacies was pointed out by Hassan Esmail (resident of Alexandria, personal communication, 08 May 2018), which shows the difference in consumption patterns in the city during the sunny days.

The information on rubbish generation in the national reports of Egypt is presented as single figures and does not recognize the fluctuations in summer. The increase of garbage between summer and the rest of the year is about 22%2 based on non-official reports. The most up-to-date official environmental report with figures on solid waste corresponds to 2016 and, as mentioned, no increase has been reported.

Beyond the quantification of solid waste, Montasser and El- Nakeeb (2017: p.169) mention the condition of garbage facilities in Alexandria, which are able to collect less than half of the material produced3, in contradiction with NILE et al.(2013: p.20) where the collection of more than half of the waste is mentioned. In conclusion, the growth of garbage production is not the only issue to be tackled; the capacity of collection of the company in charge also plays an important role in the summer outcome. By studying the solid waste cycle of Alexandria, some specific situations were detected.

1. El-Salam and Abu Zuid (2015: p. 580) reported the official or institutional cycle.

2. Elgazzar et al. (2017: p. 3); Montasser and El-Nakeeb (2017: p. 169) and El Gazzar and Gomaa (2014: p. 1206) described the unofficial part of the cycle, which involves the intervention of the so-called Zabbaleen4 in the collection process, who separate what they consider valuable waste in order to sell it.

3. When Yahia (2016: para. 4) described the pollution in the Mahmoudia Canal, refuse trucks using the canal as a spot for dumping trash were pointed out to as a reason for the pollution of the canal.

The garbage chain is, therefore, a linear process with several interferences. El Gazzar and Gomaa (2014: p. 1206), by means of a study done in Al Mamourah5, described the rise of population in summer and, consequently, its necessity for more collection, even reporting winter and summer times for waste compilation. The veracity of such a schedule is not reliable during massive traffic jams as consequences of the temporal overpopulation are considered (Rady, 2002: p. 44); (Brizzi, 2005: p. 3,9 and 15).

- Cooperation of Institutions: As explained, despite the mutual dependence of utility providers, no common plans were found. MoT pointed out to the Governorate of Alexandria as the entity in charge of summer newcomers.

However, no interest from their side was expressed when the topic of Alexandrian summer was enquired 1

The Alexandria Water Company guarantees the provision of the liquid until the 4th floor of buildings. Every tower has its own pumping machine so that upper floors can have access to the service. The mutual dependence between companies is clear, yet no common plans were found nor mentioned in interviews.

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about/suggested/put forward.

- Changes in Consumption Patterns: It is a consequence of the increase of population during summer and the influence of their cultural perception of resources. It has a direct impact on the UM of the city as more resources are demanded from the hinterlands and consequently more waste is generated after it has been used. The quality of the infrastructure is crucial in this process, as mentioned previously by Timmeren (2014). In the case of Alexandria, it must be said that the rise in population affects the performance of the infrastructure, yet the current condition of such a network is apparently not optimal either during the sunny days or in the rest of the seasons.

1 The Alexandria Water Company guarantees the provision of the liquid until the 4th floor of buildings. Every tower has its own pumping machine so that upper floors can have access to the service. The mutual dependence between companies is clear, yet no common plans were found nor mentioned in interviews.

2 3 4 5

Such a percentage is an average of figures on summer reported, which ranges from 17% (Integral Consult, 2005: p.11), to 24% (Veolia, 2006: p.3) and to 26% (El-Salam and Abu Zuid, 2015: p.580).

The city produces daily between 4500 – 5000 tons, but the facilities are able to compile between 2000-2500 tons (Montasser and El-Nakeeb, 2017: p.169).

Individual solid waste compiling people.

One of the zones recognized by respondents as a main area for summer newcomers.

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- Scale and Allocation of change: By means of an activity of Mental Mapping proposed to the respondents, the most affected spots of the city during the summer season were allocated. The result of the activity showed that, even though the respondents live in different areas of the city, their acknowledgment of the summer season in terms of visitors’ characteristics, affected areas, and impacts on infrastructure is similar. In addition, the most affected zones were allocated by means of inputs from respondents, which means that the city has a seasonal area whose impact is bigger that the zone itself.

- Seasonality: In the case of Alexandria, the issue to tackle is not the summer season, nor the summer visitors.

It is related to shape how the city reacts to such a population increase in terms of policy and planning, consumption demand, infrastructure requirements and socio-economic dynamics. The seasonal outcomes can be prevented as they take place during the same time and under the same condition (conditions?), yet the summer season as a social event is not aimed to be prevented as it is part of the collective memory of Egypt.

Medellin

Insights into each of the cases were linked in order to get lessons from the reference cases to apply in the conclusions for Alexandria. Recommendations were proposed in a policy and in an UM level, as shown in Figure 5.

Cooperation of institutions

- Seasonality

- Seasonal migration and Housing

- Infrastructure below Requested - Scale and Allocation of change

- No institutions recognized - Changes on Consumption Patterns

Ulan Bator

- Seasonal migration and Housing Dynamics - Lack of Infrastructure - Scale and Allocation of change

- Cultural Background - Urban Banning

Urban-Environmental Metabolism

- Urban Banning

- Seasonality

Cultural Aspects

- Seasonality

Figure 5: Synthesis of insights from the study of cases of seasonal cities on the left. Similarities, contrasts and concepts were extracted and linked based on their outcomes.

In- sights from Alexandria were related to the conceptual scheme for urban system from Merrow et al. (2015: p. 45) based on the approach of each level. Categories were associated and, with it, the approaches of recommendations were defined.

Source: Author

6. Conclusion

This thesis aimed to explore the temporality of cities under the approach of urban metabolism.

Seasonal cities was the name to define places subjected to cyclical changes which take place constantly during the same time and under the same conditions. The topic was studied by means of two reference cases and one case study. The purpose was to study the summer changes in UM of Alexandria and their outcomes. However, the results showed that the vulnerability of the city’s infrastructure is not just

Policy and Community Dynamics

- Cooperation of institutions

Alexandria

Influence of the territory

related to the sunny days, but is permanent. The demographic and consumption changes of summer make the low capacity of the city to deal with changes more evident.

UM is described by scholars as a linear process, which makes sense when the topic is approached as a quantification of materials. Nevertheless, when socio-economic elements are added to the discourse, the topic is unlikely to be understood as taking materials from A to B. The usefulness of incorporating social patterns to metabolic urbanization relies on changing the idea of cities as abstract consumers and understands them more as reactors from the consumption patterns of inhabitants which change based on cultural and environmental requirements.

Reference Abuzeid, K. Et al, CEDARE, 2016. Alexandria 2030 Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) Strategic Plan, Water Resources Management Program – CEDARE. Albawabhnews, 2017. Garbage Invades Beaches in Alexandria, viewed 20 May 2018, http://www.albawabhnews.com/2595889 (Article in Arabic Language, translated by Yara El-Maghrabi) Alsema, A., 2018. Medellin Issues Red Alert over ‘Harmful’ Air, Colombia Reports. Viewed 12 May 2018, https://colombiareports.com/medellin-issues-red-alert-over-harmful-air/ Al-Youm, A. 2015. As Power Cuts continue in Alexandria, Residents Fear Summer, viewed 16 November 2017, http://www.egyptindependent.com/power-cuts-continue-alexandriaresidents-fear-summer/ Arango, C. 2016. Día sin Carro y Metro Gratis por Emergencia Ambiental en Medellín, El Colombiano.

Viewed 15 May 2018, http://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/medidas-demedellin-contra-emergencia-ambiental-GC3848080 (in Spanish, translated by Author) Biennale, A. 2016. Reporting from the Front (First Edition ed., Vol. I). M. Editori, Ed. Venice, Italy.

Bittner, P., 2016. Clearing the Air: Why Mongolia’s ‘Ger’ Districts are Key to Solving its Air Pollution Crisis, Earth Journalism. Viewed 10 February 2017, https://earthjournalism.net// stories/clearing-the-air-why-mongolias-informal-ger-settlements-are-key-to-solving-its-air-pollution-crisis Boldsukh, C., 2017. UB Mayor Restricts Rural to Urban Migration until 2018, The UB Post. Viewed 02 February 2017, http://theubpost.mn/2017/01/12/ub-mayor-restricts-rural-to-urbanmigration-until-2018/ Brizzi, G., 2005. Governorate of Alexandria: Assessment of Tourism Sector. The World Bank. URL http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/cafiles/Projects/P089140_ Assessment_of_Tourism_Sector_12_Dec_2005.pdf (Accessed 28.12.17) Brunner, P., 2007. Reshaping Urban Metabolism. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 11-13.

Calidad del Aire en el Valle de Aburrá, 2018. Calidad del Aire, viewed 15 May 2018, http://www.calidaddelaire.co/ (in Spanish, translated by Author) Cities Alliance, 2007. Alexandria City Development Strategy: Moving from Vision to Strategy and Implementation, 22 February 2018, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEGYPT/ Resources/Documentation_Alexandria_CDS_June1_2007.pdf El Gazzar, R. & Gomaa, B., 2014. Municipal Waste Management in Egypt: an Investigation Study of Collection and Generation Process in Alexandria City, Egypt. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5(6), pp.1204-1206.

El-Gundy, Z., 2014. Hot Night, Dark Night: How Egyptians Cope with Power Cuts, viewed 27 November 2017, http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/109439.aspx El-Rayis, O.; Abbas, M. & Abdallah, M., 2008. Wastewater Treatment in Alexandria, a Developing Country Big City on North African Coast. 11th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2008, viewed 06 June 2018, https://web.sbe.hw.ac.uk/staffprofiles/bdgsa/11th_International_Conference_on_Urban_Drainage_CD /ICUD08/pdfs/53.pdf Wetskills, 2012. Coastal Protection and Beach Development in Alexandria (Egypt), viewed 20 November 2017, https://wetskills.com/portfolio_page/coastal-protection-and-beachdevelopment-in-alexandria-egypt/ El-Salam, M. & Abu-Zuid, G., 2015. Impact of Landfill Leachate on the Groundwater Quality: a Case Study in Egypt. Journal of Advanced Research, 6, pp.579-586.

Egyptian Streets, 2016. Egypt Announces Increase in Electricity Prices, viewed 16 November 2017,

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https://egyptianstreets.com/2016/08/09/egypt-announces-increase-in-electricity- prices/ Eldaidamony, M., 2011. Urban Tourism and Strategic Planning: an Integrated Study of Alexandria and Barcelona. Master Degree. UNICA Euromaster in Urban Studies 4Cities. URL http:// www.cpasegypt.com/pdf/Mohamed_Eldaidamony/MS.c/Master_thesis_Muhammad_Eldaidamony_4Citites2011.p df Elgazzar, R., El-Gazzar, R. & El-Gohary, M.,2017. Understanding the Dilemma of the Municipal Solid Waste Management System in Alexandria, Egypt: Could ICT Improve the System?, Information and Communication Technologies.

Fick, M., 2014. Billions needed to upgrade Egypt’s Power Grid as Summer Crunch Looms, viewed 27 March 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-energy-power/billions-needed- to-upgrade-egyptspower-grid-as-summer-crunch-looms-idusbrea3m0c420140423 Figueras, A., 2016. Electricity in Egypt: The whole Picture, viewed 27 March 2018, http://egyptoilgas.com/features/electricity-in-egypt-the-whole-picture/ Foop., 2014. Territorial Report: Alexandria Historical Center. Future of our Past. URL http://www.futureourpast.eu/wp-content/files/TR_-_Alexandria.pdf (Accessed 27.12.17) Gamble, J., 2015. What’s the World’s Coldest City?, The Guardian. Viewed 20 January 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/28/what-world-coldest-city-yellowknifeulaanbaatar-yakutsk Geoghegan, P., 2014. Life in Ulaanbaatar’s Tent City is Hard but Mongolians won’t Give up their Gers, The Guardian. Viewed 10 February 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/ sep/03/mongoliaulanbaatar-ger-yurt-tent-city Grimm, N., Grove, J., Pickett, S., & Redman, C. 2000. Integrated Approaches to Long-Term Studies of Urban Ecological Systems. Bioscience, Vol. 50, No. 7, pp. 571-584.

Hinge, A., Bush, S., Jordan, W., Kim, J., Le, Y., Poddar, D., Torreon, C. 2017. Policy Path to Improve Urban Air Quality in Medellín, Colombia. Columbia University, viewed 10 May 2018, https://sipa.columbia.edu/academics/capstone-projects/policy-path-improve-urban-air-qualitymedell%C3%adn-colombia Integral Consult, 2005. Environmental Impact Assessment Al Hammam Landfill Project, viewed 06 June 2018, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/447251468258320747/pdf/ E12870v10EIA0A1aft0Revised020010005.pdf Jacob, P., 2013. On Location Video, Mongolia: Cleaning up one of the World’s most Polluted Cities, PRI, online video, 08 March, viewed 10 May 2018, https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-03-08/ location-video-mongolia-cleaning-one-worlds-most-polluted-cities Kennedy, C., Cuddihy, J. & Engel-Yan, J. 2007. The Changing Metabolism of Cities. Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 43-59.

Kennedy, C., Pincetl, S. & Bunje, P. 2010. The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design. Environmental Pollution, Vol. 159, Issues 8-9, pp. 1965-1973.

Mahgoub, M.; Steen, N.; Abu-Zeid, K. & Vairavamoorthy, K., 2010. Towards Sustainability in Urban Water System of Alexandria City, Egypt. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18, pp.1100-1106.

Montasser, M. & El-Nakeeb, I., 2017. Investigating Solid Waste Supply Chain: a Proposed Framework for Achieving the Environmental Sustainability Case Study Alexandria, Egypt. International Journal of Business and Economic Affairs (IJBEA), 2(3), pp.165-172.

NILE (New Center for Integrated Studies of Land & Environment); Zaki, T.; Kafafi, A.; Mina, M. & El-Halim, A. 2013. Annual Report for Solid Waste Management in Egypt. Vol.2: The Report.

Ooskanews, 2012. Egypt Spends $50 USD for Water, Sanitation in Alexandria and Matrouh, viewed 18 May 2018, https://www.ooskanews.com/story/2012/05/egypt-spends-50-million- usd-water-sanitationalexandria-and-matrouh_150888 Rady, A., 2002. Tourism and Sustainable Development in Egypt. URL http://planbleu.org/sites/default/files/publications/livreblanc_egy.pdf (Accessed 28.12.17) Sayed, A., 2010. Ulaanbaatar’s Air Pollution Crisis: Summertime Complacency won’t solve the Wintertime Problem, The World Bank. Viewed 10 February 2017, http://blogs.worldbank. org/eastasiapacific/ulaanbaatar-s-air-pollution-crisis-summertime-complacency-won-t-solve-thewintertime-problem Seaniger, C., 2016. Ulaanbaatar’s Silent Killer, The UB Post. Viewed 10 February 2017, http://theubpost.mn/2016/12/14/ulaanbaatars-silent-killer-2/ Shibli, F., 2017. Steppes and the city: rural to urban migration in Mongolia, International Migration Institute:

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University of Oxford. Viewed 09 July 2018, https://www.imi.ox.ac.uk/blog/ steppes-and-the-city-rural-to-urban-migration-in-mongolia Sims, D., 2014. Egypt’s Desert Dreams: Development or Disaster? The American University in Cairo Press.

Cairo, New York.

Timmeren, A., van, 2014. The Concept of Urban Metabolism (UM). SUET 2014. [Taken from: Inaugural speech of A. Van Timmeren, “reciprocities. A Dynamic Equilibrium”] Warren-Rhodes, K. & Koenig, A. 2001. Escalating Trends in the Urban Metabolism of Hong Kong: 1971–1997.

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 30(7), pp. 429-438.

Wolman, A., 1965. The Metabolism of Cities. Scientific American. 213 (3), 179-190.

Worldbank, 2012. Curbing Air Pollution in Mongolia’s Capital, The World Bank. Viewed 10 February 2017, http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/04/25/curbing-air-pollutionin-mongolia-capital Yahia, M., 2016. Revolve Water. URL http://www.revolve-water.com/egypt-mahmoudiyah-canal/ (Accessed 20.11.17)

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Figure 1: Flooding in Alexandria Source: web source (http://gulfnews.com/multimedia/framed/news/heavy-rains-pound-egypt-s-alexandria-1.1607241)

Towards a Water Sensitive City: Integrated Sustainable Stormwater Management in Alexandria Saumil Patel Supervisor 1: Prof. Mohamed Salheen, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Ain Shams Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Dieterle, Professor of Landscape Planning and Ecology, University of Stuttgart Urbanization and climate change have questioned the conventional water management systems of cities. As a result quality and quantity of water have become the most pressing issues of this century. Alexandria is Egypt’s second most populated city, a significant seaport and a summer holiday destination, located on the Mediterranean coast. In winter, the city suffers from flash flooding from stormwater and, on the other hand, a water shortage is the pressing concern being the most downstream city in the Nile Basin. The research discuses the accountable elements for these phenomenon and discourses the role of stormwater in making city more sustainable. This article provides an overview of the research, starting with an introduction to the context regarding water-related challenges. The first section outlines the problem, while in the second section, water sensitive approaches are discussed. The third section shows the methodology of the research. The forth section includes major findings of the research and, finally, a conclusion summarizes the research and its limitations, and provides further research recommendations.

Keywords: water-sensitive approach; water sensitive urban design; Ecopolis model; multifunctional landscape

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Introduction Egypt has limited water resources and is expected to be under physical water scarcity by 2025 (Abdel Wahaat and El-Din Omar; Abdin and Gaafar, cited in Aziz, 2016). It is high time for Egypt to start preparing alternative natural and non-conventional strategies to overcome upcoming water shortages (Abdel-Shafy et al., 2010). Rainwater can be a possible solution to combat water shortages but not the only one. In the arid climate of Egypt, rainfall is very scarce and represents a minor resource at the current stage. Still, it can contribute to a significant amount of additional water in coastal areas due to the available amount of rainfall to be collected and can considerably contribute in providing water for humans and livestock (DIJKMAN, Barbary and Sallam cited in Abdel-Shafy et al., 2010). However, in coastal cities with an average 200mm of annual precipitation, all the stormwater is collected into a single pipe network along with all the wastewater and is wasted through disposal into the sea or other nearby water bodies. Furthermore, these conventional systems are designed to convey specific, calculated volumes of water but the increasing heavy rains under climate change effects and chaotic urban fabric transformations has lead to an unmanageable amount of runoff volume which increases the great risk of urban flooding in the cities (Hoyer et al., 2011). It is clear that, on the one hand, rigid conventional systems are not capable of adopting uncertain conditions either from climate change effects or from rapid urbanizations. In that way, cities are struggling to manage too much water (i.e. flooding) and, on the other hand, cities are under a heavy burden to provide fresh water t0 a persistently growing population, which means that cities are also struggling to supply less available fresh water resources (i.e. water scarcity).

While Egypt is leading toward an era of “water scarcity”, in the coming future, it will be extremely crucial to manage all the available water resources wisely. It will be important to reorganize stormwater management with a new paradigm shift in the overall urban water management and development will need to be toward having water sensitive cities. Under the idea of water sensitivity, new approaches for water sensitive urban designs and sustainable stormwater management should be considered for multifunctional, resilient and adaptive urban retrofits (Hoyer et al., 2011; Brown, Keath and Wong, 2008). In that line, the hydrological cycle of the cities should be retrofitted to mitigate flood risk and to generate alternative water resources via integration of water management in public and private spaces which can support ecology, infrastructure and cultural significance and ultimately create connected, vibrant and livable communities (Hoyer et al., 2011; Arifin, 2017).

6.

Problem statement

In natural areas (like forest), the hydrological cycle of water stays in balance as a result of an adequate amount of infiltration and evaporation and less surface run-off. Contradict to natural sites, and due to rapid urbanization, cities transform these pervious surfaces into sealed paved surfaces which do not allow the infiltration of precipitation into the ground and rapidly drain it into the pipe systems without even sufficient evaporation. As a result, cities’ hydrological cycle remains in imbalance with low ground water recharge from precipitation, lower evaporation rates and a high amount of surface runoff (Hoyer et al., 2011).

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Alexandria is Egypt’s second most populated city located on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a significant seaport which houses 40% of Egypt’s total industries and extended waterfront that made it a popular summer tourist destination (Abdel-Shafy et al., 2010). Alexandria experiences a wet winter with approximately 200mm of annual rainfall but all the stormwater is managed by a combined drainage system. Although the system has been upgraded over a period of time, every winter, Alexandria still turns into a city of water pools (Zevenbergen et al., 2016). On the other hand, the limited available water is a great concern for Egypt but for Alexandria, it is the most crucial challenge of the present time; because it is one of those few cities close to the Mediterranean which are the last to receive Nile water in the entire Nile Basin just before the Nile unites with the Mediterranean. This means that Alexandria’s vulnerability to water shortages is extremely high and it is almost certain that the city will be soon out of water. Instead of wasting precious rain water into the sewerage network, it should be considered as an additional source of water for domestic and irrigation purposes. Through harvesting and storing rain water, some million m3 per year can definitely be added to fill Alexandria’s water gaps and the issue of flooding can be targeted (Abdel-Shafy et al., 2010; Barbary and Sallam, 2004).

7.

Theoretical background

Urbanization and climate change are broadly acknowledged as global phenomena responsible for vulnerable urban water systems. Largely, it has been concluded by researchers that, as a result of this disturbed interaction with the natural water cycle, urban areas will face great challenges in the future that are interrelated to flooding (i.e. too much water), water pollutions and water scarcity (too little water) (Zhou, 2014; Moonee Valley City Council, 2014; Tjallingii, 2011; Loggia et al., 2012; Costa et al., 2015; Morgan et al., 2013). Therefore, a theoretical approach of a “water sensitive city” emerged to minimize the impact of urban development on the natural hydrological cycle and the surrounding environment (D Lloyd, Wong and Chesterfield, 2002).

On the lines of this water-sensitive urban design, WSUD originally emerged in Australia. The core of this approach is to integrate water cycles into urban settings with possible on-site measures to manage quality and quantity of all types of water with temporary and permanent storage facilities (Costa et al., 2015). Additionally, strategies of WSUD also aim to integrate ecological, social, economic and cultural sustainability measures. In the beginning, WSUD was developed as an approach to planning and designing urban areas to primarily conserve stormwater due to long droughts in Australian cities, but it later expanded as an interdisciplinary cooperation of water management, urban design and landscape planning for management of all urban water systems (i.e. potable water, stormwater, and waste water) (Loggia et al., 2012; Costa et al., 2015; Tjallingii, 2011). However, the current inclination of the WSUD approach is toward stormwater management with the main objective to combine the demand of sustainable stormwater management with the demands of urban design/planning and bringing the urban water cycle close to the natural water cycle (Dolman, Savage and Ogunyoye, 2013).

The Ecopolis model of Tjallingi is based on the so-called eco-device model developed by Van Wirdum and Van Leeuwen (Van Leeuwen, cited in Tjallingii, 1995). The “ecodevice” model is based on the inflow and outflow of substances of the ecosystems since it was argued that ecosystems cannot function without an input and output.

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Additionally, to manage balance between demand and supply, the system also has the capacity to resist and retain (Tjallingii, 1995), seeing that the system of cities also regulate their inflow and outflow like ecosystems. However, these systems now suffer from a higher demand against the less input (i.e. less potable water) and excess output (i.e. waste water). For that, Tjallingii proposed the approach of closing the cycle of water by keeping the water inside the ecosystem as much as possible (Tjallingii, 2011:p.110). For this approach, the next pressing question was where this should apply in the urban environment of cities. In answer to that, Tjallingii proposed to divide cities into a series of ecosystems at a different scale (i.e. starting from the building, district, city, region, etc.) and suggested the guiding principal of cascading by keeping the water longer in each level (typically, the “decentralized” phrase is used for this) (Tjallingii, 2011; Hoyer et al., 2011).

Sustainable stormwater management is one of the components of WSUD, with flood control and water conservation being its primary objectives (Tjallingii, 1996; Dolman, Savage & Ogunyoye, 2013). SSWM links urban design, landscape architecture and stormwater management infrastructure to kindle the natural hydrological cycle in cities, while reducing runoff by on-site collection, increased stormwater infiltration and increased evaporation.

Vegetation from ecology largely depends on local hydrology and with natural processes (Like evapotraspiration, infiltration), it contributes, at a great extent, to keep the balance in the natural water cycle. Therefore, SSWM, which aims to retrofit the urban water cycle close to the natural water cycle, comprises various techniques or structural measures which include hydrological features (i.e. blue infrastructure) with vegetation (i.e. green infrastructure) and, by introducing them into the built environment (i.e. red infrastructure), various multipurpose and resilient urban features are created (Dreiseitl and Wanchura, 2016; Hoyer et al., 2011).

Costa et al. argue that the integration of the blue and green infrastructures in these features is comparatively easy due to their interrelations, but the challenging part is to link them with urban design (Costa et al., 2015). Largely, SSWM measures are incorporated into public open spaces which mean that they can contribute to placemaking.

Hence, creating a “local identity” and a “sense of place” are the core objective of any place-making process, incorporating cognitive (physically/functional) and incognitive (safety/security/sense of pride/ownership) needs of urban users and spaces becomes critical for successful SSWM (Vernon and Tiwari, 2009). The identification of certain requirements of urban users and spaces can be recognized through various observational methods of empirical research. However, to ensure a successful adoption of SSWM measures, the citizens’ involvement and cooperation will be essential in the water management framework.

8. Methodology The research was approached with three main fundamental questions.

For first question – “Does the city need a water-sensitive approach?” – physical analysis in the context of flooding and water scarcity in Alexandria was carried out. With help of site visits, interviews and a literature review, various relevant spatial components were analyzed at a city scale which led to the realization of various responsible factors for water challenges.

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For the second question – “Do citizens want it?” – an online survey was conducted to understand the social acceptance of rainwater. The goal of this part was to identify people’s perception and level of awareness related to rainwater and water scarcity. An online link of questionnaires was forwarded via social media and personal contacts. In the end, 93 responses were collected from various districts of the city.

For the third question – “How can it be done?” – conceptual design proposal was developed to showcase possible ways to incorporate the guiding principles of WSUD and Ecopolis framework; a neighbourhood was selected from the identified vulnerable places in part one. Furthermore, the ISSWM scheme was derived and various measures based on literature review are being adopted. Basically, this part discusses various structural and non-structural measures to tackle identified water challenges from the first and second questions, but at a smaller scale.

9. Discussion Physical assessment What happens in the metropolitan areas of Alexandria is that the natural flow of stormwater follows the topography and basically divides between the north and south directions. This naturally makes the low-lying areas in both of these sides natural sites for stormwater collection zones. Urban expansion on these low-lying areas without considering this phenomenon makes them susceptible to flooding. Overall, the city’s poor infrastructure, increasing sealed surfaces in inner parts of the city area (catchment areas), and intense precipitation due to climate change effects disturb the hydrological cycle of urban water and largely increases the stormwater runoff volume which further casts more pressure on low-lying areas by adding extra stormwater to the natural flow. The lack of consideration related to this congregated effect while designing the combined sewerage system resulted in their flooding due to their insufficient capacity to manage stormwater. The problem does not only lie in the low-lying areas since as the city’s infrastructure is in poor condition, many streets in the catchment area of the inner parts of the city also suffer from flooding although this is more prominent on secondary streets than primary streets (AASTMT / Egis BCEOM International, 2011). This was also revealed through an online survey when people mentioned many secondary and primary streets in the inner parts of the city.

Naturally, the location of the harbor and industrial activity of District Gharb divides the city into two major divisions – east and west. In the eastern division, the northern border adjoining the Mediterranean and the area between hydrome and Abu Qir are most susceptible to flooding (AASTMT / Egis BCEOM International, 2011).

These vulnerable areas are part of Districts Wasat, Sharq, El-gomrok, El-montaza 1 and El-montaza 2; these districts include almost 65% of the total population of Alexandria City. In the western division, the area bordering the northern periphery of Lake Maryut and the areas close to the Mediterranean edge are more in the risk of being flooded. In the case of areas close to Maryut Lake, these places are also vulnerable against the overflow of the lake water upon the rise of the water level due to the overall increase in the stormwater runoff draining into the lake through sewerage networks. In the western division, vulnerable areas are part of Districts El-agamy and Borg Elarab which comprise around 13% of the total population. Remaining Districts Amria 1 and Amria 2 are situated on a flat inland area and

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`

Figure 2: Vulnerable areas to flooding Source: Own

are less urbanized areas. Due to the geographical condition and the little urbanization, at the present time, these districts are not susceptible to flooding.

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As the major population is inhabited in the eastern division of the city, immediate attention to vulnerable areas in these districts is extremely crucial to protect a large number of people. To understand the socio-economic background of people residing in vulnerable areas, Soliman argues that economic and social segregation is evident within the city area and that northern areas, due to being located on the coast, are generally occupied by a higher income group (2018). The least affluent group has occupied the southern part of the city which majorly includes peri-urban, low-income, informal areas, while the middle strip of the city is occupied by middle-income and uppermiddle-income groups (Soliman, 2018). This indicates that the affected and vulnerable areas are mainly dwelled by high- and low-income groups of people. However, due to the less basic amenities and economic resources, casualties in the low-income group are severe.

Apart from flooding, water shortage is a great challenge for Alexandria. Due to the shortage of resources in the near future, water scarcity in Alexandria is expected to be high. The constant increase in demand for the rapid population growth and their higher standards of living, the expansion of agricultural production to meet growing food demand of these population, the increase in water contaminations due to urban and agricultural waste water discharges, the decrease in the availability of fresh water resources due to water exploitation in the upstream countries on the Nile Basin, possible hydrological changes due to climate change and the uncertain geopolitical situations regarding the distribution of Nile will accumulate and ultimately lead to the water demand exceeding the supply capacity by 2025 (AASTMT / Egis BCEOM International, 2011; Abu-Zeid & et al., 2010). The climate change projections are difficult to carry out yet, assuming the growing needs of upstream countries on Nile Basin will significantly affect the water resources of the most downstream city and it is expected that, by 2025, freshwater availability for Alexandria will decline below 500m3/year which is a demarking measure for absolute water scarcity (Hamdard, 2010; AASTMT / Egis BCEOM International, 2011). Due to the social pressure of the affordability of basic goods, water is highly subsidized in Alexandria and, as the low tariffs do not reflect the real value of the resources, people show a careless attitude toward their consumption (Badran, Jamrah & Gaese, 2013).

Day by day, Alexandria’s water demand increases and, on the contrary, the availability of fresh water resources are declining. For this scenario, water scarcity in Alexandria seems inevitable in near future.

Social assessment The citizens’ perception is observed as a primary barrier in conservation (Ward, Butler and Memon, 2008) and reuse related development projects. Therefore, it will also be crucial in the case of the sustainable management of Alexandria’s water challenges. With online questionnaires, a pilot study was conducted in order to understand the citizen’s attitude and perception toward rain water. Ninety three people participated in online questionnaires from six out of ten districts, with a larger number from eastern districts. Respondents were asked if they are aware of Egypt’s predicted water scarcity and 85 people confirmed that they are aware about that, which revealed the gap between awareness and conservation practices (Tjallingii, 1995). Tjallingi argues that many investigations have revealed that an “environmentally friendly citizen is faced with dilemmas, choices between the wish to display environmentally friendly behaviors and practical possibilities and difficulties involved in converting this wish into

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deeds” (Tjallingii, 1995:p.36). In spite of the awareness about water scarcity, the absence of the water preservation attitude provides explanation for Tjallingi’s argument. Additionally, the lack of knowledge of the rainwater harvesting and its use were also discovered. Rain is the primary source of water for us and so, harvested rain should be primarily used for drinking purposes. However, toilets and gardens were majorly mentioned by participants for rainwater use. Abdel-Shafy et al. give an explanation for the way to go before rainwater can be accepted as a source of drinking water and they argue that rainwater has been highly neglected in Egypt as a source of drinking water; the lack of widespread awareness and professionally marketing and limited attention to rainwater harvesting are among the reasons behind that (Abdel-Shafy et al., 2010). However, during the site visits, extension of AC conduit outlets in tree trenches was extensively observed. Even the tenants dwelling on the 4th/5th floor extended outlets as far as the tree on the ground floor. This demonstrates the peoples’ optimistic attitude toward water conservation and reuse. The constant water supply from Alexandria Water Company with an extremely low tariff and lack of awareness has resulted into negligence toward available rain water resources.

Technical assessment For Alexandria’s 200mm annual precipitation, the construction of new separate stormwater network and large scale central storage facilities cannot be an economical solution. Therefore, it is suggested that the principals of decentralized systems be utilized. After the identifying the vulnerable areas in the city, the city should be divided into districts and these districts should be further split into a number of neighborhoods. The proposed ISSWM scheme can be applied to each of these neighborhoods and administrate all of them as decentralized systems. By handling one district only, some parts of vulnerable areas will be tackled; Alexandria comprises 10 districts and, by managing all of these districts in this way, all the vulnerable areas of the city can be addressed. Therefore, one neighborhood was selected in Wasat districts to demonstrate a conceptual design proposal.

From the site visits, interviews and literature review, it can be concluded that the general state of mind toward stormwater is to drain it as quickly as possible from surfaces. Therefore, a large amount of stormwater runoff from the roofs of buildings, pedestrian walkways and streets approach toward low-lying areas of neighborhoods and accumulate in the form of a flood. Different techniques to retain, store and reuse stormwater will not just combat flooding circumstances but for the city confronting fresh water deficiencies, it will be an advantage as a vital elective water asset. With a rational method to estimate stormwater runoff volume, from the available amount of pervious and impervious surfaces with an available precipitation per month, a total approximate of 110 million liters of water can be harvested through the entire year.

Overall, the landscape challenges of the area are using the high-quality potable water to irrigate green areas using careless irrigation techniques. The existing total green area of the neighborhood is 82677 m2, assuming the crop coefficient for the local climate theoretical water requirement of the total area is around 82 million liters. In Egypt, public green spaces are irrigated with an average water of 4.76-7.14 L/m2 .day and, assuming a higher value of 7.14 L/m2 due to the high amount of water loss through inappropriate practices observed onsite, the government consumes around 92 million liters of water in a year to irrigate only this much amount of green land, which is

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comparatively higher than the actual requirement of the existing landscape. For an arid climate, this high amount of potable water for irrigation purposes is a huge loss of expensive and precious fresh water. Additionally, the existing type of landscape itself is also water consuming for an arid climate, with almost all existing plant species of high or moderate water demand and excessive amount of lawn areas. Furthermore, the lack of mulch, xeriscape planting and inappropriate irrigation practices contribute toward a high amount of water consumption in total. A city with fresh water resource shortages should not only retain and store stormwater but should simultaneously increase the water efficiency of landscape to minimize water consumption with the native landscape species (low water demand species) and efficient irrigation techniques. Employees working in green areas should become aware of the water conservation practices through proper training and incentive programs.

Assuming an ideal scenario, if the area can harvest all 110 million liters of water, all the green areas can be irrigated with this rainwater throughout the year. If all the green parts of city only rely on stormwater for irrigation, than the saved gigantic amount of potable water can be used to supply underserved areas of the city.

Conclusion Alexandria is highly vulnerable to the potential impact of climate change effects and, additionally, due to urbanization, rising stormwater flooding and water shortages are pressing issues for the near future. Incapable infrastructure and decreasing pervious surfaces are major contributing factors for stormwater flooding. On the other hand, in spite of various threats against the city’s independent water resource, excessive potable water consumption to irrigate nonfunctional, high water-consuming landscape unnecessarily amplify the water demand of the city. The conceptual design proposal showcases how the implementation of blue-green infrastructure can lead to harvesting large amounts of stormwater which can be utilized for irrigation purposes. In return, prominent amounts of precious potable water can be saved and the issue of flooding can be tackled. Additionally, the integration of these structural measures into various typologies of built environment results in attractive, functional and adequate urban features which enhance hydrology, ecology and the urban environment of the place.

Transformation of existing green spaces for management of stormwater result into a multipurpose landscape which creates a visible hydro-ecological relationship and helps to increase awareness among citizens.

Furthermore, the proposal demonstrates possible strategic arrangement and interconnection of these features to provide resilience against extreme events and to protect vulnerable areas from flooding.

Stormwater flow and geography are closely interlinked and affect each other. The thesis shows how the unique geographical condition plays a significant role for stormwater flow in Alexandria and the conceptual design proposal demonstrates how various measures can be integrated according to the topography of the neighborhood.

However, a further extensive examination of the topography of the city can lead to a better understanding of the stormwater flow in the different districts.

References AASTMT / Egis BCEOM International (2011a) Phase 1 : Risk Assessment for the Present Situation and Horizon 2030 – Alexandria Area. [Online]. Available from: http://www.egis-bceominternational.com/pbm/ [Accessed: 30 May 2018].

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Abdel-Shafy, H. (2013) ”Rainwater issue in Egypt: quantity, climatic effect and future overlook“ J. MEDITERRANEAN MARINE SCIENCE, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 2, DECEMBER, pp. 245-257 (2010). [Online] Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259173971_Rainwater_issue_in_Egypt_quantity_climatic_effect_and_future_o verlook_J_MEDITERRANEAN_MARINE_SCIENCE_VOLUME_11_NUMBER_2_ DECEMBER_pp_245-257_2010 [Accessed: 28 July 2018] Abu-Zeid, K.M. & et al. (2010) Water demand management study of Alexandria.

Arifin, H.S. (2017) Urban Water Research Cluster. [Online]. 3 September 2017. Sustainable Development Institute. Available from: https://www.monash.edu/sustainable-development/capabilities/working-with-water/urban-water-research-cluster [Accessed: 22 June 2018].

Aziz, N.A.A.E. (2016) Water Sensitive Landscape Case Study: Public Open Green Spaces in Naser City, Egypt. Journal of Landscape Ecology. [Online] 9 (3), 66–83. Available from: doi:10.1515/jlecol-2016-0015 [Accessed: 23 July 2018].

Badran, M., Jamrah, A. & Gaese, H. (2013) Assessment_of_a_cost-covering_sanitation - Assessment of a cost-covering sanitation tariff for Alexandria/Egypt 1 2 Mohamed Badran 1,2 Ahmad Jamrah,and. [Online]. Available from: https://www.coursehero.com/file/13624023/Assessment-of-a-cost-covering-sanitation/ [Accessed: 12 June 2018].

Barbary, Z. & Sallam, G. (2004) Optimizing use of rainfall water in east desert of Egypt. In: [Online]. 2004 Alexandria, Egypt. p. Available from: http://www.iwtc.info/2004_pdf/01-5.pdf [Accessed: 23 July 2018].

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Costa, C., Norton, C., Domene, E., Hoyer, J., et al. (2015) Water as an Element of Urban Design:Drawing Lessons from Four European Case Studies. In: Sustainable Water Use and Management : Examples of New Approaches. [Online]. Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. p. 27. Available from: www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda.../9783319123936-c2.pdf?SGWID... [Accessed: 8 January 2018].

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Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology. [Online] Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260400236_Water_Sensitive_Urban_Design__A_Stormwater_Management_Perspective?enrichId=rgreq-da940bb119719c07a4156a6c6062f720XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI2MDQwMDIzNjtBUzoxMzkxMzUxMTc0MzQ4ODBAMTQxMDE4MzgwNTY3Mg% 3D%3D&el=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Dolman, N., Savage, A. & Ogunyoye, F. (2013) Water-sensitive urban design: Learning from experience. Proceedings of the ICE - Municipal Engineer. [Online] 166, 86–97. Available from: doi:10.1680/muen.12.00033.

Dreiseitl, H. & Wanchura, B. (2016) Strengthening Blue-Green Infrastructure in our cities - Enhancing Blue-Green infrastructure & social performance in high density urban environments. [Online]. Available from: https://issuu.com/ramboll/docs/blue-green_infrastructure_lcl_20160 [Accessed: 9 August 2018].

Hamdard, M. (2010) Fresh Water Swaps : Potential for Wastewater reuse A case study of Alexandria, Egypt. [Online].

UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION. Available from: http://switchurbanwater.lboro.ac.uk/outputs/pdfs/W64_CALE_PHD_MSc_Hamdard_Fresh_Water_Swaps_Wastewater_Reuse.pdf [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Hoyer, J., Dickhaut, W., Kronawitter, L. & Weber, B. (2011) Water Sensitive Urban Design Principles and Inspiration for Sustainable Stormwater Management in the City of the Future,Manual. [Online]. Available from: www.switchurbanwater.eu [Accessed: 25 January 2018].

Loggia, G.L., Fontanazza, C.., Freni, G., Notaro, V., et al. (2012) Urban Drainage and sustainable cities: how to achieve flood resilient societies? [Online] 122, 12. Available from: doi:10.2495/UW120181 [Accessed: 8 January 2018].

Moonee Valley City Council (2014) Water sensitive Urban Design- Compliance guidelines for new development March 2014.

[Online]. Available from: https://www.mvcc.vic.gov.au/-/media/Files/Statutory-Planning/planning-fact-sheets/WaterSensitive-Urban-Design--Guidelines.ashx?la=en [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Morgan, C., Bevington, C., Levin, D., Robinson, P., et al. (2013) Water sensitive urban design in the UK. [Online]. Available from: https://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/ciria_guidance/wsud_ideas_book.pdf [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Soliman, A. (2018) Urban Informality in Egyptian Cities: Coping with Diversity. [Online] Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255622187_Urban_Informality_in_Egyptian_Cities_Coping_with_Diversity [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

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Tjallingii, S. (1995) Ecopolis: Strategies for Ecologically Sound Urban Development. [Online]. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281207281_Ecopolis_Strategies_for_Ecologically_Sound_Urban_Development [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Tjallingii, S. (2011) Water Flows and Urban Planning. In: Sustainable Urban Environments: An Ecosystem Approach.

[Online]. pp. 91–111. Available from: doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1294-2_4 [Accessed: 26 July 2018].

Vernon, B. & Tiwari, R. (2009) Place-Making through Water Sensitive Urban Design. Sustainability. [Online] 1 (4), 789–814.

Available from: doi:10.3390/su1040789 [Accessed: 9 August 2018].

Ward, S., Butler, D. & Memon, F.A. (2008) A pilot study into attitudes towards and perceptions of rainwater harvesting in the UK. [Online] 7. Available from: https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/4251/A%20pilot%20study%20into%20attitudes%20towards% 20and%20perceptions%20of%20rainwater%20harvesting%20in%20the%20UK.pdf?sequence=5 [Accessed: 28 July 2018].

Zevenbergen, C., Bhattacharya, B., Wahaab, R.A., Elbarki, W.A.I., et al. (2016b) In the aftermath of the October 2015 Alexandria Flood Challenges of an Arab city to deal with extreme rainfall storms. [Online]. Available from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11069-016-2724-z.pdf [Accessed: 5 December 2017].

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Retrofitting Urbanism: Participatory Development of Industrial Brownfields Author: Kh M Abdullah Supervisor 1: Prof. Dr. Mohamed A. Salheen, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract: Acquiring a clear understanding of the redevelopment of industrial brownfields2 in developing economic context, followed by exploring the possibility of using it as a window of opportunity to increase social inclusion, is the undelaying principle of the intended research. Industrial Brownfields are derelicts, underused or deserted stretches of land in urban areas, formerly used for industrial facilities. These areas have been affected by former use, possible contamination, uninhibitedness or renounce deteriorating with abundant intrinsic potentials and can be redeveloped with intervention. These former industrial areas contain significant identified potentials to be redeveloped for new urban use. Brownfield redevelopments have been in the vortex of urban development and associated academic discussion in developed countries in contemporary times. Many redeveloping initiatives are

2

“Brownfields are sites that have been affected by the former uses of the site and surrounding land, are derelict and underused, may have real

or perceived contamination problems, are mainly developed in urban areas, and require intervention to bring them back to beneficial use” (CLARINET; 2002, pp 9)

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taking place in developing economic context. However, citizen participation in the redevelopment has largely been overlooked and underutilized. Intrigued by the overlooked potential of citizen participation in brownfield redevelopment, this research is instigated with the aim of investigating the possibility of citizen participation in brownfield redevelopment as an instrument for aggregating social inclusion in the redevelopment process. Later, this study will also explore the tools (How), nature (What), extant and selection (Who and Why) of participation in brownfield redevelopment.

Keywords: industrial brownfields, citizen participation, urban development, social inclusion

Introduction

Cities all over the world are attempting to maximize the use of geographical resources they contains. Old industrial areas are becoming a great resource in that context. Resulting from different causes, old industrial areas are becoming underused and abandoned regions of a city. Taking the opportunity, alternative uses takes over the area and turns into something more useful, adding cultural and economic values to it. On top of that, the universal appeal of old industrial aesthetics seems to work for its own good.

“The allure of the industrial aesthetics cannot be dismissed, and in many instances, is crucial for the success of their redevelopment” (Berens, 2010; p.xi)

Following the complementary initiatives, realizing the growing demand, other potential beneficiaries like investors, city authority and developers continue to initiate redevelopment of these old abandoned industrial areas. They Comprise redevelopment of many former industrial areas in different parts of the world namely Europe and United States. (Leger, Balch, and Essex 2016; Berens, 2010; p.xi). Recently, the idea has been imported to the global south.

In the face of rapid urbanization, a precipitously growing developing city is in constant scarcity of space to accommodate its growing urbanization. The possibility of redeveloping industrial brownfields becomes beneficial opportunities offering urban development with immense intrinsic potentials. Yielding the potential, many flashyluxurious urban developments are being erected replacing the brownfields. To accumulate the lucrative financial gain, offered by these developments, often developers, investors, old factory owners are the main key stakeholders of the redevelopment process offering new urban facilities to the affluent class of the society. Focusing only on the real estate values of the redevelopments, the process often fails to generate the socio-cultural benefits. This is however understandably an oversimplified statement of the complex redevelopment process.

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Intrigued by the potentials and complexity, this research is proposed to understand this phenomenon in a case study context, observe and register the potential it offers and completed with a set of proposals to offer maximum benefits to the citizens. A successful completion of this research pursues to contribute to the contemporary development discourse about participatory brownfield redevelopments, citizen participation in space making and participation to enhance spatial cohesion in a city.

Problem Statement

In the age of urbanization many cities are in dire need of urban spaces to keep up with the needs resulting from exploding urbanization. Hence, the redevelopment opportunity of old industrial areas comes as a window of opportunity to provide the growing needs of the city. Nevertheless, the opportunity comes with multitudes of complexities. Among them, the homogenous development for financial gain, ignoring the rest of the possible intrinsic values and creating social segregation as a result will be the focus of this research.

As the Figure 01 illustrates, the research is based on the observation that old underused urban areas are being recycled into new urban developments in different parts of the world. Implying the hypothesis, this retrofitting of adding emerging needs presents with the perfect opportunity to enhance social inclusion in the urban fabric. Often in the developing economic context the redevelopment process fails to employ the opportunity to include bigger mass of the people by implementing homogenous development exclusively without taking their needs into consideration.

Research Question From the documents and practical scenarios, it is manifested that the rapid redevelopment of old industrial area in Tejgaon is undergo, many commercial development, offering rentable office spaces, shopping malls, high-end restaurants are replacing the rusted underused factories very quickly.

Stirred by the situation this research started to look at the problem from a macro-to-micro scale. In the macro scale, this research aims to look at the problem of social exclusion caused by the omnidirectional financial benefitoriented development from a solution perspective, by exploring the possibility of social inclusion by implementing the participatory process in the ongoing redevelopment to achieve social inclusion. On the micro scale, this research aims to deal with the problem of how exactly a participatory process can be implemented in this context.

This is done by carving out a solution matrix consisting the exact tools required for implementing participatory process, how to use them, why and when, completed with the step-by-step process implemented on a redevelopment project.

Conclusively, to transfer the two-fold problem into the quest, this thesis aims to peruse, first, if it is possible to encounter this anticipated social exclusion through participation.

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Through a comprehensive understanding of participatory process, its uses, benefits and implications this question will be implored on. Second, this study also aims to find out how exactly the participatory process is implemented on a redevelopment project. Gathering the tools, methodologies, actors, knowhow this question will look for the appropriate tool set to implement a participatory process in the context.

Research Method

In order to critically understand the issue, besides the literature review, past projects will be studies. The real-life scenarios will demonstrate the complexities and implications of participatory process in sites. Cases of alreadyredeveloped brownfield from Germany combined with background study in Cairo, will demonstrate the process as an extended literature review, followed by a participatory development framework, to experiment with the case study in Dhaka, Bangladesh. As the industrial area in Tejgaon, Dhaka is going through a drastic transformation following the government decision. Through a careful investigation, an imminent site will be identified awaiting foreseen redevelopment. Participatory planning tools will be formulated in a solution matrix to be implemented in the participatory redevelopment of the selected site.

Literature Review

“I know no state depository of the ultimate power of society, but the people themselves; and if we think them no enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.” (Jefferson, 1820) The above-mentioned statement from the founding father of the United States sums up the reputation of citizen participation at the same time outline the definitions of participation.

Citizen participation in development has been defined in many ways. The main underlying understanding is captured by the definition provided by Shery R. Arnstein. She argued that citizen participation is citizen power.

According to her definition, participation is redistribution of power among people. Especially providing the underprivileged with their fair share. Hence, the redistribution of power is fundamental to participation. She graded different levels of participation through an eight-rung ladder, famously known as Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation. (Arnstein, 1969). On the other hand, Martin and Mathema (2011) have connected participation directly to economy and the influence of economy on the power structure of decision-making. The authors continue to define different kinds of participation, ignited by different causes. For example, an immediate threat of eviction of a community might mobilize them to take part in a negotiation with the authority to save their tenure and livelihood. Other actions igniting participation are also mentioned- negotiation as participation, activism as participation, partnership as participation and so on. Naturally, they prompt a different level of

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participation. The check and balance in leadership is important to maintain the effectiveness of the decisionmaking mechanism in a participatory process. Often time without the check, power tends to lean on to imbalance and grow dominant over the weak and powerless. The author gives the example of a psychological experiment by Philip Zimbardo, known as “the Stanford experiment 1971” to bring out the abusive psychological tendency of abuse of power without balancing with accountability. (Martin and Mathema, 2011. p.164). As Beard (2003) says citizens move from participatory planning to covert planning, insurgent or radical planning practices “when the repressive state is weakened” (p.14).

Stiefel and Wolfe (1994) vigilantly criticized different forms of participation for being misused in the name of participation. For example pluralist democracy is not an effective reflection of the peoples’ voice. Modernization is another misused form of participation. It is often seen as the means and instrument for measuring participation.

The authors stated it as a popular form of therapy to legitimize a preset planning through popular consultation.

They point out that participation was asserted as the missing ingredients of development overlooking the intrinsic meaning of it. The authors were alarmed about the legitimization of power using participation. It has also been used as the alternative to the manipulative divisive plural democracy. (Stiefel and Wolfe, 1994) Other authors have pointed out to different deviations and the threats of abuse of participation. As follows: “sectarianism is an influence to give rise to social exclusion as it promotes segregation hence elevates social division” (Reeves, 2005; p.16). This supporteded, what Saxena states: “Participation (peoples) was used as a tool to justify, what has already been designed for them. That did not work. If Participation fails to establish people’s right it is not participation” (saxena, 1998).

Since spaces around us helps to form and defines our identity, it is essential to be able to formulate the spaces according to our choice. As Reeves refer to Tutan (1990), “if our sense of who we are is based on our personal and social identity, our sense of place also reflects this”. “Some have argued that a sense of place is part of what it is to be human” (Reeves, 2005; p.29). Knox (2014) described that more objectively, stating the “four fundamental functions of cities- 1. the decision-making capacity of cities, 2. the transformative capacity of cities, 3. the mobilizing function of cities, 4. the generative function of cities (knox, 2014; p.11) In a bigger context of a city, in this connected globalized era, diversity is one of the key elements to host different needs of different users as advocated above. More importantly, by definition, exclusion will be the crucial obstacle of participation and vice versa. According to Jan Gehl, “[…] what are needed are a language, literacy, an understanding of place and space which represents difference, and diversity and promotes equality.” (Gehl, 1996; p.29). Again confirmed by Reeves, the “higher number of social contact is linked with mental health and life expectancy” (Reeves, 2005; p.22)

As this research advocates citizen participation as a tool for social inclusion, there are many new, innovative, often technology-driven ways, people are taking part in place making, communicating with each other, which helps cities

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grow towards a better future. Global connectivity and the spread of intercultural connation stands evident to support that. “Adaptation to mobile technologies and diffusion of internet connection has made information accessible to most individuals” (knox, 2014; p.228) Here, it is worthwhile to mention Sarah white’s (1996) caution that only sharing the resources or the decisionmaking through participation does not necessarily mean sharing in power, hence an incomplete participation. It is important to incorporate all the stakeholders in management and decision making to make it a total participation.

The reasons for revising the opportunity of redeveloping these abandoned areas are concealed in the underused values of this land from the development perspective. Combined with the aesthetic appeal, a broad opportunity that comes along.

“Where the industry settled and the type of land it was using plays a major role in redevelopment. Water was needed for past industries. Now, waterfronts are most attractive for residential and cultural uses” (Berens, 2010; p.x).

Recognizing the inherent qualities of these abandoned facilities, cities across the world are taking initiatives to redevelop them for the benefit of the citizens. Inherent values and people’s appreciation for the industrial aesthetics are also attracting economic benefits. Which pushes out the possibility it offers as a window of opportunity to be a platform for inclusion in the city. As Beres describes his learned opinion, “[…] conversations with developers, architects and proponents have made it clear that the development has become more complex and expensive since those first transformative projects. While the process might have been easier, the concepts were novel requiring innovative thinking.” (Berens, 2010; p.xi). This is also supported by Martin and Mathema (2011), in a developing economy, as the economy grows, the power of capital grows. A careful and well-intended capital might be good but, on the other hand it can also influence the policies and to manipulate the resources to its own benefits. Rhetoric like, standardization, equal rights, law or any other purport are often used to overlook the needs of all parts of the society. However, the authors argued the necessity of the compatibility of policies, standards and laws should follow to support all people’s need not the other way around.

Following the footsteps of previously developed projects, developing with expert opinions are among few other approaches for redevelopment projects. Yet, to encounter the aforementioned “power of capital in a developing economy” it is important to come up with a counter balance to safeguard the “window of opportunity” provided by the intended redevelopment projects. A well-crafted, local policy led by the local citizens set of development strategy is what this research advocates for.

Scenarios: Extended Literature Review

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This chapter discusses about different scenarios as ongoing or completed projects done in two different contexts, namely Cairo, Egypt and Germany. In spite of obvious socio-economic and cultural differences between the scenarios and the case study context, the scenarios are relevant to the research topic. Their economic similarities, driving motivations for the development and the anticipated conventional approaches to redevelopment with the case study context are similar and some are examples of ideal cases. For example, the context of Egypt, Cairo has significant economic, social, political importance as a capital city, which broadly resembles the influence and importance of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka within the country. Projects in Germany are being studied to accumulate knowledge of an ideal situation where a project was successfully implemented with the citizen’s participation. These scenarios are assessed as sources of pragmatic knowledge from practical contemporary projects. In other words this chapter is an extended literature review focusing on gathering practical knowledge from recent real life project scenarios.

Al-Azhar Park is the redevelopment of the 74-Acre (30 Hectare), 500-years-old rubble dumpsite into a public park through rigorous physical transformations. The site is located in El Darassa district on Salah Salem Street (Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2005).

The project was deliberate to involve more stakeholders. The pronounced realization of citizen participation as a critical need for successful completion and sustainability of the project sought the project’s awareness and willingness to involve citizens in the process. Different components of the project and steps taken during the course of the project demonstrated the enticement of participation of the different stakeholders and projects capacity to accommodate them as well. Economic, technical limitation encouraged the implementing organization to partner with other stakeholders, hence acting as a connection between citizens and other institutions.

Denouncing the “top down” process as “outdated”, the project aims to take a more comprehensive approach to implement the project (Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2005). The project was intended as an open space for all the citizens of the city; attractive citizens from all economic tires would supposedly improve the possibility of social cohesion. This project offers a sizable open space, not restricted to abilities and availabilities of any socialeconomic groups exclusively combined with a common need that elevated this project as a hub for interaction and social cohesion on a citywide scale.

‘Maspero Triangle’ neighborhood, located between 26th of July corridor, El-Galaa Street (6th of October bridge flying over it) and Nile cornice on the bank of River Nile in the heart of Egyptian capital city of Cairo, is currently going through a redevelopment process. A community of 14,000 inhabitants, 35oo families (Al-Tawi, 2018), with a vivid history of hundreds of years is unsurprisingly going through a complex process of redevelopment. Through the people-led-movements, long negotiations and support from civil society, the community finally managed to establish their rights in the redevelopment process.

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This research has registered two parallel processes in the Masepro redevelopment project. First is the rehabilitation of the evicted residents and second is the participatory project development. They are connected, but not interchangeable. A proper rehabilitation of evicted and effected population is an undeniable responsibility of the responsible party of the project irrespective of the process. Implementing the participatory process is another tool to make the project more convincing to a larger group of stakeholders and also a tool to find a point of cooperation between conflicts of interests, as is the case with the Maspero Triangle project.

Analyzing the redevelopment of the Mapspero project contributed to a pragmatic knowledge of this research. This perfectly illustrates how a redevelopment project in a developing context can help attaining peoples’ rights despite being in the vortex of conflict. The cost of delay, change in approach and investment in services like redesigning the project and appointing a dedicated authority to deal with it are all well worth. It demonstrates the usefulness of the effective mobilization of the community and helpfulness of supports from outside to organize the community for their specific goals. It shows the possibility of going hand in hand towards a vision for new development in a congested and highly populated area with the contention between victims and investors yet achieve an agreeable platform.

In other words, with all the struggles and room for improvements, introducing a participatory process to the Maspero Triangle redevelopment project stands as a pioneering example of a project of its kind.

Kreativqueirter

The Kreativquartier in Munich is an urban development project led by the municipality on 49.42 acres of old industrial lands. It is located in the districts of Neuhausen-Nymphenburg and Schwabing West, close to the old town and the Olympiapark.

Though the initial program-outline of providing facilities predominantly used for cultural activities, housing, educational facilities and public open space came from the city council’s decision, the decision was an educated and sincere response to the city’s growing needs. Thus, the predefined functions did not contradict with the further development of the program as the redevelopment process adopted a participatory process in its further phases of the development. Several participatory tools were used in the project development and design phase. They are as follows: - The Impulse Event was an opinion interchange event to communicate the city’s vision across the stakeholders, workshops (which mainly consists of presentations), two-way discussions among stakeholders and municipality, feedback events, podium discussion, conversations, networking events, expert opinion and urban design competitions.

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Many community engagement initiatives were also involved in the process. For example, the BIRDIE Event location and Tagesbar, is an alternative restaurant and bar with cultural activities and live performing arts.

Museumspädagogische Zentrum (MPZ) was offering fine arts events like, painting exhibitions, display of the history of the area. Tiertafel Munchen e.V., Import Export Kantine, Under (De) construction are also similar examples.

Noticeably, two different sets of tools were used during project development and implementation, both aiming to incorporate citizens in the process. During the project development, the participatory tools were communicationoriented to get maximum constructive input from the citizens. On the other hand, activity-oriented tools were used to engage people with the new development.

Analyzing the scenarios answers another unavoidable discourse on the level of participation. Undeniably, the participatory process is a new approach in urban development. It is tough, slow, hard to implement and requires a lot of time and resources. Often absolute participation is not achieved because of some reason or another. Hence, the question arises to define the minimum level of citizen participation required to call a process participatory process. These scenarios reflect different levels of success with different ways of participation in different extents, but the underlying learning from this is the gradual improvement. Independent from its definition, it often turns out difficult to implement than to define, but an instigation of the process is always necessary to lead to higher level of participation. It is difficult to redistribute the process among people without increasing their capacity to be able to do so. By practicing the process over time through different projects, the stakeholders become more competent to increase confidence on each other, being able to negotiate with each other and execute the project better.

Case Study Tejgaon Industrial Area (I/A) is located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. As the biggest city of the county it is also the economic, cultural, political and administrative capital of the country. Located almost in the geographic center of the country, it houses the maximum number of population and is the fastest growing city in the country. According to 2011 statistics, with 15 million people, Dhaka is a compact mega city over an area of 306.38 km2. The city is also growing very fast, with a consistent annual growth rate of over 4.5% (District statistics, Dhaka, 2011, 2013).

A huge population living in a small footprint of area inevitably imposes a lot of pressure on its available real states.

On top of that, Dhaka is also the economic, cultural and administrative capital of the country. All in all, being the most important city it attracts all urban development within it. Surrounded by densely populated spontaneously growing housings, the old industrial area is located between the old and new commercial center of the city. Spread over 500.20 acres of land, the industrial area is now being used for commercial, residential, administrative, industrial and other usage.

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The field study indicates that not only individual plots are redeveloped to new uses, but many new medium and large-scale infrastructure development projects are also being developed in and around the site area in the past couple of years. For example, Hatirjheel lake development project was a milestone project completed in January 2013, while Mogbazar-Mouchak Flyover was completed in March 2016. An elevated expressway is also planned to run over the railway line beside the site (Figure 10) (RAJUK DAP report, 2010). These infrastructure projects are equipping the area with better connectivity and prospect for further development. Another noticeable prospect is the connectivity with Gulshan. Since Gulshan is growing at an unprecedented rate with commercial facilities in the allocated areas and sprawling to the residential parts. Connecting Tejgaon area with Gulshan can indeed potentially be a new commercial center for the city. This analysis confirms to the overarching potential of Tejgaon area to transform into a high value commercial area (Figure 10). Which also predicts the widespread financial benefit oriented development in the area.

Figure 07: Urban fabric of old Dhaka

Source: (Jamil, 2013)

Figure 08: Development around Hatirjheel

Source: Author

A comparative analysis between the cityscape of the old part of the city and the new development shows that the old part of the city had a complex mixed fabric of different facilities, serving different groups of people. In the older parts of the town, developments were motivated by social and communal needs, which grew over time in a spontaneous pattern, where cultural values, social bonding and sense of community can dictate development to serve the community. Anticipated development in Tejgaon however, is much bigger than a community scale and has a different growth pattern. Being an old industrial area, it also lacks the sense of community. New development is also encouraging homogenous development only supporting the affiant of the city. As a result, the informal economy is growing around it in a competitive pace (Figure 07-08). The dilemma here is that the new development is open to all and intended grossly for the general public, but lacking the guideline, with the presence of the opportunity development is only answers to the most profitable needs. Most certainly, the dominating potential

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of financial gain encroaches to exploit the social values, hence the need for specific guidelines/rules to safeguard the social values.

Tejgaon industrial area is anticipated to serve as a hub, connecting the old business center in Motijheel with new commercial sprawl in Gulshan to grow into a new central business district. To fulfill its intended purpose, it needs to address the broader range of beneficiaries.

Step Model The implementable solution for a redevelopment project in Tejgaon I/A is based on a Step Model comprising two basic principles. They are: Action Matrix and Triangulation (Figure 09). The action matrix is consists of dividing the project into small steps and executing them with different stakeholders. On the other side, triangulation is maintained by the careful scrutiny of the step and gaining public justification, all of which, in the end, are empowering people. So, in its core, the step model is accountable to people and empower them through the elaborated steps.

In the action matrix of the step model, the divided smaller steps consist of different tasks, which are decided, executed, monitored and checked by a set of stakeholders, called actor group. Each step is independent and executed likewise. The rest of the steps will not affect the level of success of one step and vice versa. Also each step is executed with different groups of actors, led by rotating leaderships. Actor Group, leaderships are decided based on the tasks needed in that step. The whole process of selecting leadership and setting up actor groups is executed democratically with neutral mediation.

Figure 09: Proposed Step Model

Source: Author

Figure 10: Connectivity, major development axis and informal housing sprawl in and around Tejgaon I/A

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The second principle of the model is triangulation. To maintain a balance of power, accountability and to justify the actions by the actor group triangulation has to be maintained for each step. In each step, a counter-balance has to be set to justify the decisions and monitor the actions, since the power structure is constantly changing following the requirements, not an exclusive group of leader can accumulate autocracy. On top of that, moving cycle of leaderships allows to one team to take the decision by being the leader in one step and triangulate through constructive criticism in the other step. Many involved groups can complement each other as the process moves on. This motion of power structure will prevent aggravating through power abuse, concentrated benefit to a specific group, etc. ultimately giving the power back to people.

Advocating Participatory Process

From the previous chapter’s discussion it is clear that the potential and pressure of financial gain is making the development acentric. A balance between commercial development and safeguarding the social values is necessary. By involving people of the city in the redevelopment process, this research advocates participation for social inclusion. So that they will be able to actively take part in the redevelopment of the city, hence, shaping the built environment according to their needs.

Other benefits of the participatory process include offering, a harmonious presence of different user groups, increasing diversity and helping the city grow financially and culturally. Being able to take part in the system will increase peoples’ trust in it, which will give more legitimacy to the policies. At the same time they will be respondent to the competencies of policies which will allow policymakers to make more effective policies.

Presumably, this will make the policy easy to implement.

End Remarks on Understanding Participatory Process

Participatory development is not equals to rehabilitation. In fact, rehabilitation is a chief part of the participatory process, but it should not be confused with participation. Additionally, the ill intended misuse of participation also fails to establish people’s right to the urban space. In reality, ill political motivation, greed and corruption often make the process more complicated and impossible to implement without enforcing forces of some kind.

Participatory process is a dialogue between different stakeholders, achieving the most comprehensive development through discussion, negotiation, compromise and innovation. It is at its best, offers to distribute the choice of decision-making to everyone.

It is customary to mention that, the redistribution of power and wealth does not and should not be altered with the state of chaos and disorder. Order and structure in the redistribution is essential to make it effective for the

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greater good. It should not be monopolized or grubbed by a group of selected elite using policies and governance against people.

Conclusion

This research is instigated in the premise of challenging the status quo and testing the possibility of enforcing citizen participation in the redevelopment process to achieve a better socially inclusive built environment.

Through an industrious exertion this research attempted to understand the participatory process in urban brownfield development. Learning through theoretical understanding and pragmatic examples a conveyable understanding was generated.

Nonetheless, it has been perceived that participation is a complex process. There is no arithmetic definition or universal guideline to follow. Complexity increases with the lack of fairness, efficiency, disorganization of the government, socio-economic inequality among people etc. Only a very carefully crafted process, led by collective goodwill and driven by well-informed awareness offers an appropriate success.

Completed with crafting a solution model for the redevelopment project in the case study context, this systematic endeavor gained a comprehensive understanding of the process and the contexts methodically. Through proposing a context-oriented specific solution matrix this research provided the resolution to the instigated intent of the research.

References Aga Khan Trust for Culture (2005), Al-Azhar park, Cairo and the revitalization of Darb al-Ahmar . Available from:

http://www.akdn.org/publication/al-azhar-park-cairo-and-revitalisation-darb-al-ahmar

[Accessed: 4 June 2018].

Al Tawi, Ayat. (10 March 2018). Residents of Cairo's Maspero Triangle cling on as demolition looms. Al Ahram.

[Online] Available From: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/292339.aspx [Accessed 26 June 2018] Berens, C. (2010). Redeveloping industrial sites. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley.

Contaminated Land Rehabilitation Network for Environmental Technologies, CLARINET (2002) Brownfields and redevelopment of urban areas. Research report. Vienna, Umweltbundesamt District statistics, Dhaka, 2011. (2013). Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Division, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Govt. of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

Leger, C., Balch, C. and Essex, S. (2016). Understanding the Planning Challenges of Brownfield Development in Coastal Urban Areas of England, Planning Practice and Research, 31(2), pp. 119–131. doi: 10.1080/02697459.2016.1146428.

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Arnstein, S. (1969). A Ladder Of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), pp.216-224.

Beard, V. A. (2003). Learning radical planning: The power of collective action. Planning Theory, 2(1), pp. 13-35 Berens, C. (2010). Redeveloping industrial sites. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley.

Gehl, J. and Koch, J. (2011). Life between buildings. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Jamil,

S.

(01

August

2013). Eateries

of

Dacca.

[online]

The

Daily

Star.

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at:

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/eateries-of-dacca [Accessed 14 Jun. 2018] Knox, P. (2014). Atlas of cities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Martin, R. and Mathema, A. (2011). Development Poverty and Politics: Putting Communities in the Driver’s Seat.

London: Routledge.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakhkha (RAJUK) (2010). Preparation of Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for DMDP Area: Group-C. Dhaka: Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakhkha (RAJUK). Pp. 127-132.

Reeves, D. (2005). Planning for diversity. London: Routledge.

Saxena, N., (1998), ‘What is mean by peoples participation?’, in Cornwall, A. (eds), (2011) The Participation Reader. London. Zed Books Ltd. Slocum, N. and Steyaert, S. (2003). Participatory methods toolkit: a practitioner's manual. Brussels: King Baudouin Foundation.

Stiefel, M. and Wolfe, M. (1994). A Voice for the Excluded–Popular Participation in Development: Utopia or Necessity? London. Zed Books Ltd. Tomas Jefferson, 1820, Letter to William Charles Jarvis, 2o September 1820; in Hamdi, N. (1995). Housing without houses. Intermediate technology publications, Rugby, UK. P.75 Tuan, Y. (1990). Topophilia. New York: Columbia University Press.

White, S. C. (1996). Depoliticising development: The uses and abuses of participation. Development in Practice, in Cornwall, A. (eds), (2011) The Participation Reader. London. Zed Books Ltd.

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The City at Eye Level

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A view of a Street in Downtown Amman as Captured from Jabal Al-Lweibdeh. Photo Credit : Antonio Ottomanelli

Pedestrianizing Streets in Amman, Jordan: Contextualized Criteria for Optimum Street Selection Author: Sally Al-Ejeilat Supervisor 1: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. -Ing. Jan Dieterle, Professor of Landscape Planning and Ecology This research aims to influence the reintroduction of pedestrianizing streets1 in Amman, the capital of Jordan, into the line of strategies of the Greater Amman Municipality, which gave up on this model after a few controversial pedestrianization experiences implemented in the first decade of the 21st century. It forecasts that pedestrianization, if redone in combination with the city’s ongoing Bus Rapid Transit plans, can contribute to solving many of the city’s accumulating urban issues related to car-dependency and lack of recreational open public space. The research argues that, in order to achieve successful pedestrianized streets, four elements have to meet: suitable definition of pedestrianization (i.e. motif), suitable street selection, suitable scheme selection, and frequent evaluation of street performance.

In the scope of this study, the first two elements, pedestrianization motif and street selection, will be investigated in detail in order to come up with contextualized criteria for selecting the most suitable streets for pedestrianization in Amman. The contextualization of this criteria, which is at the core of this study, will be done through a systematic methodology that combines an expert approach (extracted from global pedestrianization literature, local pedestrianization literature, interviews with local municipality professionals, and a focus group discussion), together with a bottom-up, people-inspired approach (extracted from intuitive opinions of street users collected through a locally-conducted survey).

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Upon implementing this methodology, which can as well be transferred to contextualized criteria to suit any other city, three lists of street selection criteria emerged, each tackling a different pedestrianization motif relevant to the context of Amman, and implementable on the different street types within the city. The applicability of these criteria lists on the streets of the city is finally verified as follows: The first list, with the motif of Pedestrianization to Enhance Access to Public Transport, is compared against characteristics of Downtown’s King Talal Street; the second, with the motif of Pedestrianization to Enhance Recreation Options (Central City Scale), is compared against characteristics of Zahran and Al-Madina Al-Munawwara Streets; and the third, with the motif of Pedestrianization to Enhance Recreation Options (Local Neighborhood Scale), is compared against characteristics of Al-Shari’a Street. Accordingly, recommendations are given with regard to the criteria lists and resulting streets.

Keywords: pedestrianization; pedestrian streets; street selection; criteria; motifs; public space; right to the city; bottom-up approach; Jan Gehl; Jane Jacob; Tom Potsma; Rami Daher; Rainbow Street; Wakalat Street; Thaqafeh Street; Greater Amman Municipality; GAM; Amman; Jordan.

Introduction In the second half of the 20th century, Amman, the capital of Jordan, witnessed substantial growth as a result of the increase in internal migration and the consecutive influx of refugees escaping war or political turmoil that faced the surrounding countries. The city’s population rose from about 20,000 in the early 1940s (Gubser, P., 2004) to a current number of over 4 million inhabitants2, making it home to approximately 42% of the country’s total population (DOS, 2017). The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), unequipped to deal with this kind of uncertainty, had not been too quick to catch up with that growth, something that is clearly in the following: its public transport network was, and still is to this day, limited to an inefficient bus network3; the high dependency on taxis; private cars resulted in gridlocks and increased pollution; and the little governmental and municipal ownership of lands within the city’s urbanized borders which couldn’t cater for enough public parks and open spaces (AlBashir, 2018). As a result, it was left lagging behind in reaching the minimum figures of green open space per capita recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO in Aljafari, 2014)4.

However, the beginning of the 2000s was a time of a paradigm shift for Amman; GAM decided it was time to compete globally and improve the livability standards for its residents. The problems of congestion and lack of recreational space that the city faced were not too far from problems that other global cities had faced in the past, so the government sought international support to introduce the scheme of pedestrianizing streets in its new urban renewal plans, which many cities have been implementing to overcome similar issues, especially since the 1960s (Stienstra, 1982).

Over the course of 8 years, GAM employed Dutch architect Tom Postma to design the city’s first ever pedestrian street, Al-Thaqafeh Street, Danish renowned architect Jan Gehl to draw strategies for reclaiming public space for the areas of Ashrafiyeh and Sweifieh, and local architect Rami Al-Daher to design the pedestrianization of two commercial streets – Rainbow Street and the Wakalat Street – all in compliance with the proposed 2008 Amman Master Plan, with the motto of “taking back the streets” (Jo Staff, 2008), aiming to revitalize under-used spaces in neighborhoods and create spaces that are friendlier for pedestrians.

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Although this introduction portrays Amman as a winning and transformed city, its victory was not long-lived.

Soon after the continuous criticism that the municipality received about/regarding the loss of business and generated traffic around the pedestrianized streets, and without any official evaluation of the changes in financial revenue or pedestrian numbers, GAM rushed to conform to the people’s complaints, reintroducing a car lane to both Rainbow and Wakalat streets, and dropping the focus of the 2008 masterplan altogether.

Since then, no other public pedestrianization projects in Amman saw the light. GAM, based on its flawed experiences, abandoned a globally successful and vigorously-replicated scheme, labelling it unsuitable and unfit for the context of Amman. No consideration has been made that perhaps the selected streets were not the most suitable for pedestrianization, or that the top-down professional opinions for these selections, both international and local, might not have been sufficient to create successful pedestrianization schemes welcomed by the residents. Since then, Ammanis’ ownership of their public streets became limited to their creative, bottom-up, and socially-driven movements of reclaiming their right to the city5. Activities like skateboarding, street art, street music, sidewalk cafes, photography tours and walking tours6 started to emerge in public streets, serving as continuous reminders for city officials that residents want to have a share in a dynamic and cohesive public sphere.

10. General Objective In a general sense, this research aims to influence the reintroduction of pedestrianizing streets as a line of strategies in the Greater Amman Municipality as a contribution to solving the city’s accumulating urban problems relating to the low quality of life, high car dependency, traffic congestion, and lack of open public space.

The reintroduction is forseen to have a different turn of events this time for two main reasons: first, it is being proposed in parallel to a major opportunity – the ongoing construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Amman, which can both enhance and be enhanced by the presence of supporting pedestrian streets; and second, the research will try to avoid past local pedestrianization problems by giving special focus on the processes of motif definition and street selection, making sure that any chosen street for a new pedestrianization scheme is selected in the right location and for the right reason.

11. Main Aim Within this special focus on the motif definition and street selection, the main aim of this research is to put together a database of context-specific criteria for the selection of optimum streets for pedestrianization in Amman, Jordan, to be used by the city’s decision-makers as a tool for selecting streets in upcoming pedestrianization projects. This database will result from an elaborate and systematic process of contextualization, and will embed within it opinions of experts as well as local street users. The main outcome will be in the form of different lists of street selection criteria, each tackling a different pedestrianization motif identified relevant for the context of Amman, and applicable on different types of streets within the city.

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12. Methodology To come up with contextualized criteria for selecting streets for pedestrianization in Amman, Jordan, this research will combine an expert approach, based on literature and professional opinions, together with a bottom-up, people-inspired approach, based on a locally-conducted survey.

The two approaches will take place simoltaneously (Figure 2). The expert approach will be used to create different lists of street selection criteria, each tackling a different pedestrianization motif. These lists will be in the form of characteristics that can make a street a successful candidate for pedestrianization. The bottom-up approach will be used to collect a list of potential streets that are considered successful pedestrianization candidates according to the people, with or without justification, based on their daily experiences in the streets of their city, as collected from the locally-conducted survey.

The final step of the methodology, the data synthesis, brings together these two approaches and analyzes if the resulting criteria lists from the expert approach apply to the mentioned streets of the bottom-up approach and, accordingly, gives recommendations and final conclusions on how to best contextualize these criteria lists to make sure that they embed the locals’ needs and visions within them. An illustration of this general methodology is represented in Figure 2, followed by an elaborate explanation of the steps of data collection within each approach. a. Expert Approach (Literature- and Professional-Based Approach): Within this approach, the criteria collection relied on a snowballing method where the outcomes of each step of the process acted as a base for the following step in which new criteria were extracted and added to the previouslycollected ones. The approach was conducted in the following order: 1.

Gathering Global Street Selection Criteria through the analysis of global literature, global pedestrianization experiences or global governmental publications tackling pedestrianization criteria (whether directly or indirectly). This was used to produce a raw/initial street selection criteria list.

2. Analysis of local pedestrianization literature, specifically published literature on the case of Rainbow Street pedestrianization in Amman and extracting the underlying selection criteria leading to the pedestrianization of that street in particular. This was used as a first step in the criteria contextualization.

3. Conducting Local Professional Interviews: Interviews were conducted with professionals and decisionmakers from the local municipality (GAM) and other governmental institutes (e.g. The Department of statistics, The Royal Jordanian Geographic Center) to filter the previously-gathered criteria as well as offer their perspective on important criteria that need to be added to the list. Here, a referral approach was used in order to reach for the right individuals who could provide the most help on this particular topic. These interviews were used as a second step of criteria contextualization.

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Figure 2: Research methodology used to gather, contextualize, and validate criteria to select streets for pedestrianization in Amman, Jordan. Source : Author

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4. Conducting a Focus Group Discussion (FGD): Here, different professionals in the fields of architecture, urban planning, transport planning, as well as a few street activists, none of whom has a position in an official decision-making institute in the city, participated in a focus group discussion which was organized as a third step of criteria contextualization. Although the contextualized list resulting from the previous step (i.e. step 3) is more holistic and relevant to the context, it is still not directly applicable for street selection.

This is because the relevance of each criterion on the resulting list varies greatly based on the motif defined for pedestrianization (Khashman, R., 2018). For example, if the main motif of pedestrianization is to enhance access to the public transit, then a criterion like “Walking Distance to BRT Station” would be more relevant than other criteria like “Narrow Street” or “Street Rich in Architectural Value and Small-Scaled Detailing”. Therefore, this focus group discussion was arranged with the purpose of classifying the previously-collected criteria in an order of the most to least relevant for the street selection process, according to three different pedestrianization motifs defined in the FGD as most relevant to the context of Amman: -Motif 1: Pedestrianization to enhance access to public transit -Motif 2: Pedestrianization to enhance recreation options (i.e. central city scale) -Motif 3: Pedestrianization to enhance recreation options (i.e. local neighbourhood scale) Each motif could be associated with one or more secondary (i.e. complimentary) sub-motifs, and was linked to possible street types that it can be applied to, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Recap of the Focus Group Discussion Process Source: Author.

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b.Bottom-Up, People-Inspired Approach: Before advertising the three criteria lists resulting from each working group of the FGD as contextual criteria for selecting pedestrian streets in Amman and proceeding to use them to select streets that may or may not be optimum pedestrianization candidates, the validity of results that can come out of these lists first needs to be verified. To do this, the three resulting lists are compared against results of a bottom-up, purely intuitive perspective of the city’s most optimum streets for pedestrianization, as mentioned by local residents in the conducted survey, based on their daily-life experiences in the streets of their city. In an aim to be inclusive, the local survey was distributed in different locations of Amman, and 145 survey answers were collected.

The 10 most-answered streets that locals saw as best potential streets for pedestrianization are: Zahran Street (16 mentions), Al-Shari’a Street (15 mentions), Al-Madina Al-Munawwara Street (14 mentions), Rainbow Street (13 mentions), Downtown Streets: All Streets (8 mentions), Jabal Al-Lweibdeh: All Streets (5 mentions), Wasfi Al-Tal Street (5 mentions), Khalid Bin Al-Waleed Street (4 mentions), Mecca Street (4 mentions), Queen Rania Street (Al-Jama’a Street) (4 mentions).

When classifying these streets based on their street type, the characteristics of the top-mentioned street of each street type could be compared against the compatible criteria list resulting from the FGD applicable on that type.

13. Data Synthesis Based on the methodology mentioned above, the final streets that went into the data synthesis step were Downtown King Talal Street (collector street) as a pedestrian street to enhance access to public transport, Zahran Street (main street) and Al-Madina Al Munawwara Street (collector street) as pedestrian streets to enhance recreation options at a central city scale, and finally, Al-Shari’a Street (local commercial street) as a pedestrian street to enhance the recreation options at a local neighborhood scale. Each analyzed street concludes with a final modified criteria list as well as recommendations for street enhancements to be considered by GAM. 14. Conclusions The research achieved its initial aim, which was to develop an elaborate database of context-specific criteria for the selection of optimum streets for pedestrianization in Amman, Jordan. The database has three criteria lists fuctioning for three motifs of pedestrianization, and was able to give value to the opinions of experts equal to those of the street’s local users.

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Figure 4: Final Street Selection Criteria (List 1): Enhancing Access to Public Transport. Source: Author.

Figure 5: Final Street Selection Criteria (List 2): Enhancing Recreation Options (Central City Scale). Source: Author.

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Figure 6: Final Street Selection Criteria (List 3): Enhancing Recreation Options (Local Neighborhood Scale). Source: Author.

In addition to the three final criteria lists, secondary outcomes were recommendations given to GAM regarding the enhancement of Downtown’s King Talal Street, 1st-5th Circles Section of Zahran Street, Al-Madina AlMunawwara Street, and Al-Shari’a Street. When ordered in terms of their difficulty to realize, from most to least difficult, the first ranking street with the most transformative and ambitious vision for pedestrianization is Zahran Street, which can only be realized given the success of the BRT project. Next in line is Al-Madina Al-Munawwara Street, which will impede traffic largely on a critical route until the completion of its construction, followed by King Talal Street which mostly needs a detailed plan for traffic diversion. The easiest and most ready for pedestrianization is Al-Shari’a Street, which has all success factors presented on a silver platter and is only awaiting small physical and policy interventions.

Endnotes

[1] The term “pedestrianization”, in the scope of this research, is defined as measures taken to improve the environment of the street for pedestrian traffic, either by measures that fully or partially restrict vehicles from accessing the street (full-time/ parttime pedestrianization), or by traffic-calming measures that can balance the hierarchy of the street users between drivers and pedestrians, achieved through applying treatments on the street’s pavement, material selection, sidewalk width, curvature and other design details.

[2] Amman’s estimated population at the end of 2017 was 4,226,700 inhabitants (DOS, 2017).

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[3] The first phase of a project for a Bus Rapid Transport System is, at the moment, under construction. Details can be found at http://www.ammanbrt.jo/ar/underconstruction.asp [4] Recommendations for green open space per capita (World Health Organization, 2012): Recommended global minimum is 9 sqm/capita, while the recommended global average is 15 sqm/capita, Case of Amman: 6 sqm/ capita (GAM in Aljafari, M., 2014) [5] A famous concept established by French philosopher Henri Lefebvre and extended by geographer David Harvey.

[6] An example of this is Al-Shari’a Street in Jabal Al-Lweibdeh, which combines a balanced mix of art, culture, and entertainment, and offers users an extension of the coffee shops and restaurants onto the sidewalks.

References AlBashir, (2018). Green Amman… In Bold (Translated) [video] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/AmeralBashir/videos/1465194300269206/ [Accessed 21 November 2017].

Aljafari, M. (2014). Emerging Public Space in the City of Amman [pdf] available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305807941_Emerging_public_spaces_in_the_City_of_Amman_Jordan_An_an alysis_of_everyday_life_practices [Accessed 21 July 2017].

DOS, 2017. Population Estimates [PDF] Department of Statistics. Available at http://dosweb.dos.gov.jo/DataBank/Population_Estimares/2017/PopulationEstimates.pdf, p.2 [Accessed 01 June 2018] Gubser, P. (2004). Amman. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. [online] Encyclopedia.com. Available at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/amman [Accessed 27 January 2018].

Jo Staff (2008). The city in 2007. [Magazine] Jo Magazine Qatanani, N. (2018). Pedestrianizing Streets in Amman, Jordan: Contextualized Criteria for Optimum Street Selection.

Interview with Ne’ama Qatanani, Executive Director of Engineering at the Greater Amman Municipality. Interviewed by Sally Al-Ejeilat [18 March, 2018].

Stienstra, (1982). “The Winkelerf”. Improving Environment for Pedestrians in Shopping Streets Without Banning All Cars.

Available at: https://trid.trb.org/view/201980 [Accessed 27 January 2018].

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Human Behaviour in Spaces around Metro Stations in Cairo:

An approach towards improving the Metrocatchment area to fulfil users’ needs Mennat-Allah Aref Suprevisor 1: Assoc. Prof. Abeer Elshater, Associate Professor at Urban Design Dept., Ain Shams University Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. Wolf Reuter, Professor of Urban Planning, University of Stuttgart Supervisor 3: Dr. Marwa Abdellatif, Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Ain Shams University Abstarct: Transit stations and networks have big influences on the built environment and its surroundings, where these influences mostly depend on the location of transit networks and stations. In Cairo, the second highest and almost half the percentage of passengers of the public mass transit use the metro, which gives the areas around the Metro stations, known according to transport agencies as ‘Catchment Areas’, the importance to be studied and investigated. This research is conducted from a master thesis with the same title and gives an overview of the Metro catchment areas in Cairo. The research follows a theoretical and empirical approach in order to create design guidelines to promote walking, cycling and fulfil the user’s needs. The research is divided into two parts: the first part is the conceptual framework and the second part is the case study part. The first part views the conceptual framework that has been used to be applied in Part Two. The second part discusses the catchment area on three levels: catchment area on the city level, the primary catchment area and the core catchment area level. Moreover, to

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identify the catchment area and the core catchment area level, a 500-m buffer, the optimum walking distance, is identified for the three chosen case studies. Finally, the study concludes with design guidelines and recommendations for the metro’s catchment areas on three levels.

Keywords: Transit Catchment area; pedestrian friendly; Transit-Oriented Development TOD; human behaviour

Introduction The Metro transit network has big influences on the built environment and its surroundings, where these influences mostly depend on the location of the Metro transit network and stations. Metro stations also have big impacts and influences on land use, development, activities and human behavior. In Cairo, the total number of passengers using the public mass transit in 2016/2017 was 2.17 billion passengers compared to 2.16 billion passengers in 2015/2016; the number of passengers has increased by 0.4% (CAPMAS, 2017). The second-highest and almost half the percentage of passengers of the public mass transit use the metro. In addition, the numbers of passengers using the Metro increases annually and will still face more increases and will continue to rise.

Furthermore, the Egypt Vision 2030 promotes the idea of improving the quality of the different transport means and to be suitable to fulfill the needs of all citizens, especially the middle- and high-income classes (Urban Development Pillar, Egypt Vision 2030). The vision not only promotes the quality of public mass transit but also the number of passengers using public transportation by 2030. However, there are a lot of challenges related to achieving good mobility and an affordable mode of transport. Meanwhile, there is still the challenge of switching between one mode of transport and another. These challenges are for disabled people, women and children. The people’s movement, however, is not the only issue around Metro statios but also the existence of street vendors which cause chaos and disorder in the space. So, from the previous overview, the research argues that the settings of the Metro catchment areas do not fulfil the users’ needs, various purposes and capacity of passengers. This requires an investigation of the behavioural and physical dimensions of catchment areas with reference to the effectiveness of people’s movements to reach the Metro station and fulfill user’s needs. Along these lines, the current research investigates the answer of the main question – “What are the guiding principles that should be applied to the Metro stations’ catchment areas to be pedestrian-friendly and fulfill the user’s needs?”.

Research Methodology: In order to answer the research question, the research has been divided into three parts. The first part is the conceptual framework and it aims at understanding the definitions and concepts of the human behaviour and transit catchment areas, how these areas are defined as an area and their scales. Moreover, it explains the concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Part Two is the knowledge application part and research’s empirical part; it identifies the different catchment areas on three scales in Cairo, according to TOD typologies, and classifies them into categories. Finally, Part Three has to do with adapting the knowledge; it concludes all the discussions by modifying and setting design guidelines and recommendations for the metro’s catchment areas in Cairo on the three levels: core catchment area, primary catchment area and catchment area on the city level. Methods of data gathering and tools that have been used on three levels are: •

Part I: Catchment area on City level

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For the city level part, to cluster Cairo’s catchment areas, a cumulative map has been produced by GIS. The data sources are Cairo’s data base from GOPP which includes the classification of formal and informal areas in Cairo, land uses, street network and the urban character of each area in addition to the type of transit connection that exists in each station.

•

Part II: Core and Primary Catchment Area level

Three stations have been identified to analyse and interpret people’s behaviour, dominant activities, types of public transportation and people’s movement patterns in order to discover how people practice different activities in specific environments and a specific time. The case study part is carried out through qualitative data and studies in the three selected catchment areas in order to identify the core catchment area, dominant users and dominant activities. The observations in each station have been done twice: the first one was at the peak time between 13:00 and 16:00 o’clock in a working sunny warm day and the second was at the same time on a day off. The core catchment area was divided into several parts to be easily observed, counted and documented based on the study area. Five methods have been carried out to collect all the required data. The first method was a preliminary observation throughout the day in each station to identify the core catchment area and the dominant activities. The second method was strolling around the catchment area to observe the hidden stories, increase the area’s perception and have a deep understanding. The third method was the behavioural mapping in order to investigate these activities, actors, number of people, the different modes of transportation and the people’s movements. This has been done using two schedules, one for the detailed activity map schedule and the second for the mobility counts schedule. The fourth method was mapping the physical settings through mapping fixed and semi-fixed street elements such as kiosks, sidewalks, curbs, trees, fences, seats and locations of bus stops, etc. Finally, semistructured interviews were carried out to discover the people’s point of view and perceptions about their journey from or to the Metro station. The semi-structured interviews were randomly done on a sample of residents, space users and street vendors, though the type of questions for each target group was different.

Conceptual Framework: Human Behaviour Human behaviour is a term used in different disciplines such as psychology, social sciences and biology. The human behaviour has been classified into four main tasks, namely motion, action, activity and behaviour (Nguyen et al., 2016). They argue that these four classifications are happening sequentially in an increasing time frame form the human behaviour. While Jan Gehl has described human behaviour as a number of activities, he mentioned that “it is necessary to […] divide the variety of activities and people into subcategories in order to get specific and useful knowledge about the complex interaction of life and form in public space”. Also, in order to learn the people’s behavioural pattern, consecutive questions should be asked such as who does the activity, where exactly this activity takes place, how many people do this kind of activity, and how long this activity takes. Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarrealso have categorized outdoor activities as optional and necessary activities. The optional activities are activities that take place under good external conditions (Gehl and Svarre, 2013) such as walking, sitting and standing, while the necessary activities are activities which take place under all conditions (Gehl and

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Svarre, 2013). For optional activities, standing could also be optional such as standing merely to enjoy life, to enjoy the sun, while photos or while eating something. Also, standing, as an activity, could be necessary such as standing while waiting a bus or waiting for someone. This is a leading point to be reflected on and taken into consideration in the relation between transits, type of activities and the quality of the built environment.

Transit Catchment Area In human geography, catchment area is the area from which a city, service or institution attracts a population that uses its services. Different transit agencies have defined the area of influence for transit station in literature, but the most common one and the one directly related to the research “is the spatial area in which transit stops and stations typically have the greatest impact on land use and development and from there is high potential to generate transit ridership” (APTA, 2009). Also, it is the area that has proximity to the transit station area where people can have access to their service or switch to another mode of transportation. In the US, a half-mile-radius circle has become the standard for rail-transit catchment areas (Erick, G., Robert, C., 2013). However, several transit agencies, especially in the US, use the term to describe transit areas of influence, as mentioned before, to predict the people’s behaviour and their space use patterns, asses the impacts of transit investments on land use and, recently, for designing transit-oriented developments (TODs) (Erick, G., Robert, C., 2013).

APTA has divided the transit area of influence into three zones: core catchment area, primary catchment area and secondary catchment area. So, the definition of core catchment area is the area around the station where land use and urban design features have a primary influence on transit ridership and where pedestrian access will generate a significant portion of transit trips from and to stations. Primary catchment area is the area where land use and urban design features and directness of access to the station have an impact on transit passengers and pedestrian access and which will generate a significant portion of transit trips to and from the station. Secondary catchment area is the area around the transit station that has a big influence on the transit passengers and within this area, bikes, autos and other mode of transportations are the primary access modes to and from the station. Figure (1) shows the area influences on three catchment areas levels: core, primary and secondary areas, while Figure (2) shows the main mode of transportation to access the transit. So, several transport agencies define the core and primary catchment area as the 5-10 minutes or 500 meters from the mass transit where the 5oo meters is the optimum walking distance for a person. Also, Figure (2) shows that the core and primary catchment areas are the areas where pedestrians access and walk from and to transit station, while the secondary catchment area is accessed by other modes of transportation. Therefore, the secondary catchment area is not the research focus, so it will not be discussed.

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Figure 1: Diagram of Typical Areas of Influence Source: APTA, 2009

Figure 2: Diagram of Different Modes of Transportation in Typical Areas of Influence Source: Author based on APTA, 2009

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) The Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) concept depends on good urban design to coordinate transportation types, mixed land uses, and create an appealing public space, all in a limited area. In addition, it focuses on creating developments which facilitate the use of public transit, walking and cycling within a 5-10-minute walking distance from mass transit stations. The concept can be applied on different scales, so there is no a “one size fits all” approach in transit-oriented development and, instead, it can be applied on a city scale, district scale and transit area scale. Also, the TOD concept is intended to promote walking, biking, and transit, in which these types of transformation can increase the walkability and bikeability of communities along the transit corridors. The concept can be applied on areas with high density and mixed-use residential and commercial developments.

Furthermore, the TOD concept aims at making established car-dominated communities more transit-friendly through the physical design features. Therefore, in order to understand the keystone of transit orientation, it is essential to elaborate on the physical arrangement of street design, land uses and densities.

The concept can be applied to any station serving a premium transit mode such as a commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail or bus rapid transit (Florida’s TOD framework and Typology, n.d.). Different transport agencies in developing and developed countries applied these conepts. So, in order to understand the type of transitcatchment areas, the type of place is one of the important factors that should be investigated and explained. TOD typology is a framework to define the catchment area of any transit station, whether it is a light, heavy rail transit or a bus transit in a 500-meter radius. In order to understand and examine the characteristics of each catchment area, it should be applied to the national, regional or city scale, since for each catchment area, there are some similarities and differences.

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For TOD concepts to be applied, different countries and transport agencies all over the world created manuals and guidelines in order to work on these concepts to create better communities. Many countries and transport agencies have created guiding principles and manuals to apply the concept of TOD to their plans. Some countries create and apply these principles on the national level such as in strategies and policies and others apply these principles on a catchment area as mentioned in the previous section.

Typology

Empirical Part This part is the knowledge application part; it is the application of the conecptual framework that has been discussed and defined in the previous part on Cairo. The conceptual framework is applied on three levels: the catchment area on the city level and the core and primary catchment area level.

Catchment Area on City Level: Typologies of Metro Station’s Catchment Area in Cairo Some Metro stations are located in very vital and authentic areas such as downtown at the heart of the City. In addition, some other stations are located in areas that are experiencing rapid growth and change, while others are in residential districts where the Metro provides a convenient and adequate means for people to travel to and from work or other destinations. Table (1) shows the classification of the Metro catchment areas in Cairo and how it is defined, while Figure (4) shows these classifications geographically for the 61 stations in Cairo.

Figure 3: Diagram of The Working Conceptual Framework On The Three Levels Source: Author

Table 1: Classification of Catchment Areas’ Typlologies in Cairo Source: Author

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Catchment Area Level: The Case Studies According to the previous classifications, the special-use category has the highest number of catchment areas in Cairo. So, in order to investigate the human behaviour in these catchment areas, three catchment areas have been selected to know the similarities and differences between the three stations in the special-use category that have been made to discover the benefits and deficiencies of the surroundings’ built environment. The three stations are different in density, street pattern and social class, pointing out the differences in people’s behavior and perceptions about the area. This will lead to an elementary understanding of the nature of the catchment areas in the Egyptian context. The three selected catchment areas from the special-use category are Koleyet Al Banat station, Al Dokki station and Al Malek Al Saleh Station. Through the case studies, the built environment of the three selected case studies has been invistigated. The built environment has been analysed on the primary catchment area level, while on the core catchment area level, a behavioural mapping has been analysed and mapped to understand the human behaviour and pattern of activities. Each catchment area is different in street pattern, social class and density in order to understand the differences or similarities that affect people’s activities and behaviour in the metro’s catchment areas. The total studied area in the 500-meter buffer is 7854 km2. It is a fixed area in the three case studies, so it can be analysed and discovered.

Figure 4: Geographical Classifications of Metro Catchment Areas in Cairo Source: Author

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Figure 5: Core Catchment Areas in Koleyet Al Banat, Al Dokki and Al Malek Al Saleh Station Source: Author

1.1.

Key Findings

The objective of selecting three different catchment areas was not to compare the three case studies. Instead, it was to learn and understand the interaction of people in the metro’s catchment areas in Cairo. Therefore, street pattern is seen to have a very big influence on people’s movement patterns. As mentioned before, three movement patterns have been identified, so good street pattern ended with Normal Walking, though this also depends on other factors such the quality of walkways as in Koleyet Al Banat Station. This does not mean that a good street pattern can end with a Normal walk only, but can also end with a Partially Mixed Walk as in the main streets in Al Dokki station. This is because of either the poor quality of the walkways or the lack of law enforcement on street vendors that occupy the sidewalks and groundfloor activities that also transgress the pavements. The third movement type, which is the Mixed Walk, is connected to the organic street pattern that ended with the poorstreet connectivity, and poor and inadequate design quality.

For densities, Al Malek Al Saleh represents the highest residential density in the three case studies, while Al Dokki catchment area is the second highest and the lowest is Koleyet Al Banat catchment area. So, from observations and interviews, when the density was low, the volume of people’s movement was medium. However, when the residential density was medium, people’s movement was high and when residential density was high, people’s movement was low. This gives a hint that the density is not only the main factor that affects people’s movement, but that land use is also a very important factor alongside the economic factor which is a mutual effect factor. The social factor also affects the type and volume of activities in catchment areas and should also be considered since it came up strongly in the three case studies. The social factor is considered through the social power and the residents’ social class; social power has very strong influence on type of activities. Moreover, people’s needs are driving factors that affect the human behaviour such as the park and ride activity with the diversity of transits and social activities that appeared in three catchment areas.

At the end, this part combines the disscussions of the conceptual framework and key findings of the case studies.

It is also ended with design guidelines for the governmental institutions, developers, private initiatives and

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researchers in order to increase and to integrate people who walk and cycle so they can depend on public transportation, especially Metro transit, taking into considerations the user’s needs.

Figure 6: Guidelines and Recommendations for Cairo’s Metro Catchment Areas Source: Author

2. Conclusion

Therefore, as mentioned before, the Metro is the second-highest mass transit used by people in Cairo.

Accordingly, the research discussed the importance of designing the metro’s catchment areas to increase the number of people who depend on mass transit, enhance walkability and to fulfill the user’s needs.

As a result, the research was divided into three parts. The first part was the theoretical part which discussed the concepts and definitions of human behaviour, transit catchment areas and TOD concepts and typologies. The research has reviewed the catchment area on the city level and catchment area in the selected case studies in Cairo. At the end, the research concluded with design guideline for catchment areas in Cairo, taking into considerations the users’ and residents’ needs. According to the research findings, most of the metro’s catchment areas in Cairo are categorised as special-use and the

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second-highest category is residential followed by urban centers and then fringes’ gateways. In the end, every country has guidelines and design principles for each type of catchment areas. These guidelines are also integrated in their national policies. Not only developed countries or high transits system that applied TOD concepts and promote walking and cycling in their plans, but also developing and sameclimate countries applied the same concepts and they worked in their contexts. Regarding applying the concept of TOD in some areas in Cairo, some catchment areas have the potential to be transit-oriented and integrate pedestrian and cyclists with public transit, but for catchment areas located in dense and organic urban fabric, it is not fair to apply these guiding principles to those areas because of the lack of infrastructure, the organic urban fabric and the poor quality of the built environment. Therefore, these areas need to be redeveloped to improve the quality of the built environment and integrate the TOD concepts.

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Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, U.S.A. (n.d.) Station Area Planning How to Make Great Transit-Oriented Places.

Shehayeb, D., (2016). Maximizing Use Value for Upgrading Informal Areas. Recommendation Implementation Manual: Key to Working Solutions. Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP).

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Siwa Oasis Source: (Wiens, no date)

Toward Eco-houses: The potential of applying eco-architectural principles between technical and behavioral dimensions: The case of El Gari village, Siwa Author: Nojoud Ashour Supervisor 1: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Supervisor 2: Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley, Professor of International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart Supervisor 3: Dr. Marwa Abdellatif, Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Ain Shams University

This research aims to identify the potential implementation of eco-architectural solutions that are associated with both the technical and behavioral dimensions in El Gari village, Siwa Oasis. The main objectives that directed the research to reach this aim are: first, developing a deep understanding of eco-architectural principles focusing on technical and behavioral dimensions and, second, identifying the barriers that are associated with implementing eco-architectural solutions in the village. The research follows a qualitative approach that is divided into two phases which meet the main aim: the first phase focuses on a theoretical approach, depending on literature reviews that meet the first objective, while the second phase depends on an empirical study that meets the second objective. The findings of the thesis are summarized in highlighting

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the strong relation between overcoming the barriers of implementing eco-technical solutions and promoting environmental behavior tools. Adding to this is the limited integration between the different potential stakeholders and influencers inside and outside the village that can contribute to encouraging ecoarchitectural solutions in the local community. The study recommends the integration of environmental behavior tools along with eco-technical solutions to achieve efficient environmental change in the area that can be duplicated in the future. It also recommends creating channels between inhabitants, external investors, academics and governmental entities to provide a platform of knowledge sharing that will play a fundamental role in achieving comprehensive change in El Gari village and Siwa to create a healthy and integrated community.

Key words: ecosystem; eco-architecture; technical solutions; environmental behavior; ecolodges; eco houses.

Introduction Eco-architecture has been getting more attention recently for its fundamental impact on saving the earth. It is not only about technical skills but also about how to make the community responsible. As humans who are part of this system, it is essential to act in harmony within the designed system (ORR, 2001). Making the community responsible is associated with changing the behavior that can contribute to the decision making of several aspects such as using products that are more efficient and changing the “throw away” mentality (White and Habib, 2018). The situation in Siwa is considered as a show case for the focus on technical environmental work compared to the behavioral and mindset growth of the inhabitants. Ecoarchitectural solutions are implemented widely in ecolodges in Siwa and narrowly by local inhabitants where they used to build with natural building material and primitive eco-friendly solutions but now they are using conventional materials to follow the modernity stream which is threatening the ecosystem drastically.

Although ecolodges’ investors invest in teaching people some skills and engaging them in the local market, there is still a need to shake the awareness related to preserving the ecosystem in the area by using some systematic criteria to mark the change. Despite the fact that the village has limited implementations of ecofriendly solutions, it is surrounded by three ecolodges that execute different examples of eco-architectural solutions which combine old and new technics. As this research aims to identify the potential of implementing eco-architecture solutions in El Gari village, the first part covers a deep understanding of ecoarchitectural principles with the focus on technical and behavioral dimensions on a wide scale, while the second part highlights the barriers that are associated with implementing eco-architectural solutions in the village. The second part requires, first, a general overview of the past and present use of natural resources in the area in order to understand the context. Second, a good understanding of eco-architectural solutions that are implemented in the ecolodges near the village. Finally, sold identifications of the barriers that prevent local inhabitant in El Gari village to implement the examples that are used by the ecolodges near the village.

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Problem statement Buildings have been perceived as the most harmful source of pollution on earth; they consume more than half of the energy (ecobob, 2018) and produce 50% of the CO2 of all man-made emission. Furthermore, it has been recorded that the annual increase of energy cost has reached 25% between 2004 and 2008 (Roaf, 2013). This steady increase in the price is pushing people to take energy-saving measures into consideration (Bauer, Mösle and Schwarz, 2009). According to this, planners and architects are guiding urban development towards a healthy building environment by using techniques and strategies that reduce the use of non-renewable energy and other materials (Wong and Yuen, 2011). Although there is big interest in the sustainable field, yet the frequency of application is limited due to several barriers such as affordability, the time needed to source material and the lack of adequate knowledge (Hankinson and Breytenbach, 2012). As for the case of Siwa Oasis, residents used to follow eco-architectural principles in the past, but challenges and some changes in their mindset towards modernity have led to the abandonment of the traditional ways of building. As it was observed in the case study, the use of eco-architectural solutions has been exclusive to certain ecolodges but not to houses of local inhabitants. For this reason, there is a need to understand the new eco-architectural solutions that are implemented by external investors in certain ecolodges and identify the barriers that prevent local inhabitants from implementing such solutions.

Methodology The research follows a qualitative approach that is divided into two phases; each phase meets the objectives mentioned previously. The first phase focuses on a theoretical approach in order to form a deep understanding of eco-architectural solutions, taking into consideration technical and environmental behavioral dimensions. The first phase depends mainly on literature reviews of academic writing, articles, YouTube and books. The second phase depends on an empirical study by using in-depth, informal interviews, observation, sketches and photos to have a deep understanding of the solutions that the ecolodges use whilst highlighting the main challenges, benefits and the barriers that prevent local inhabitants from adopting such solutions. The outcome of the first phase is a diagram that summarizes ecoarchitectural principles, highlighting both technical and behavioral dimensions. On the other hand, the outcome of the second phase summarizes the barriers that are associated with implementing ecoarchitectural solutions by the local community in El Gari village.

Discussion As mentioned before, the main objectives that directed the research to reach its aim are developing a deep understanding of eco-architectural principles, focusing on technical and behavioral dimensions and identifying the barriers that are associated with implementing eco-architectural solutions by the local community in El Gari village. Focusing on the first objective, it has been noticed that although behavioral aspects were mentioned repetitively in eco-architecture literature, the focus was delved more into the

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technical dimension and less on the behavioral dimension. For this reason, the research conducted further study on environmental behavior to gain a deeper understanding of this aspect that can be applied practically. A study done by White and Habib (2018) highlights certain tools that guide the process of encouraging people to adopt environmental behavior in their community. As for the second objective, it focuses on the case study of El Gari village, Siwa Oasis that studies the new eco-architectural solutions which are implemented in two nearby ecolodges; Adrere Amellal and Talist colodges. This is followed by highlighting the barriers that prevented local inhabitants in the village from implementing such solutions.

1. Understanding eco-architectural principles

This section is the initial phase of the study that responds to the first objective of the research. It introduces a brief understanding of eco-architecture and a theoretical framework of eco-architectural principles, focusing on technical solutions and the environmental behavioral dimension through literature.

Understanding eco-architecture was initiated by understanding the meaning and importance of ecology and the ecosystem. It is concluded, according to a TEDx Talk done by Babbitt, that the ecosystem can inspire architecture which can be highlighted in three main aspects or metaphors: first, thinking of how buildings can function like plants by converting solar energy and breathing fresh air; second, thinking how buildings recycle the waste according to the idea of the waste of one organism becoming the food of another; and, third, how to minimize competition over scarce resources and maximize the collaboration reflected in the human attitude (2015b).

Focusing on eco-architectural principles, they are summarized through literature reviews in four main principles that are included in the following points: first, preserving the nature; second, harvesting energy passively and actively; third, reducing waste; and finally, enhancing people’s attitude and behavior toward the environment. These principles are perceived as a filter that penetrates technical solutions and human behaviors. The purpose of the filter is to eliminate eco-unfriendly solutions and behaviors that threaten the environment and encourage eco-friendly solutions and behaviors that seek to achieve healthy living for people and the ecosystem. As eco-architecture has a strong relation to the ecosystem and focuses on how to design in harmony with nature, these principles are seen in the lifecycle of certain species in the ecosystem and are reflected and mimicked in the building to be considered as an essential element within the ecosystem. As one of the repetitive aspects that was mentioned in the literature is the importance of people’s attitudes and mindset in preserving the nature, further research has been conducted to look deeper into this aspect. As mentioned previously, the behavioral tools that are adopted in this research mainly depend on a research done by White and Habib (2018) and supported by other literature reviews that conclude the importance of adopting the following key factors in order to encourage environmental behavior in a community as well as social influence, habit formation, individual self, feelings and cognition and tangibility.

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The combination of technical details and behavioral tools are summarized in the previous diagram. See Figure (1) that represents a holistic approach which can be referred to while constructing or designing an eco-friendly structure that puts emphasis on the behavioral aspect as much as the technical aspects. This creates a space that perceives both the human being and physical structure as one united body that works in harmony within the environment to create not only a healthy atmosphere but also a reliable community.

Taking the research into the next level, the following part will go through practical examples for ecoarchitectural solutions in Siwa Oasis, focusing on using eco-friendly technics from the past and the present as well as low-tech and high-tech solutions.

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2. New eco-architecture solutions and their barriers of implementation in El Gari village, Siwa Whereas several studies show a huge positive impact of implementing eco-friendly solutions and encouraging environmental behavior on saving the earth, the implementation of both dimensions are limited compared to the conventional solutions and human consumerism these days. Focusing on El Gari village, it has been realized that there is limited implementation of eco-architectural solutions by local inhabitants and various implementation in the surrounded eco-lodges by external investors.

This has directed the study to determine the barriers that are associated with implementing ecoarchitectural solutions by the local inhabitants of the village. For this purpose, the research first documents the natural resources management in Siwa and El Gari village that describes Siwa as a rich area with natural resources that enable the area to be self-sufficient, yet it is obvious that natural resources are not used in a responsible manner that guarantees the protection of the ecosystem. It was clear that past practices in Siwa respected natural resources more than current practices. On the other hand, it has been recognized that the application of eco-architectural solutions is exclusively implemented in the ecolodges near El Gari village with a very limited application of natural building material in the village. For this reason, the research highlights the technical solutions that are executed in two ecolodges located near El Gari village such as the Adrere Amellal and Talist colodges. The solutions are listed according to the following criteria: (a) energy; (b) building material; (c) water; and (d) organic and solid waste management. The solutions are (a) solar thermal, photovoltaic, biogas and passive energy, (b) Karsheef, (c) wetland and drip irrigation, (d) as for organic and solid waste management, it has been realized that the whole system in the area is poor, even in the mentioned ecolodges. This part emphasizes the benefits and challenges that are associated with the mentioned technical solutions. This gave an insight into what can be repeated successfully in different projects in Siwa and similar contexts, and what needs further development and study. For example, wetland and drip irrigation are perceived as the solutions with the least challenges. On the other hand, Karsheef and waste management are the solutions that need to be developed the most and face several technical challenges. For this reason, there is a huge need to develop certain technical details in order to encourage a wider implementation of eco-architectural solutions and promote the technics that are efficient.

This leads to a focus on the main barriers of implementing the abovementioned solutions by the community in El Gari village, which was accomplished by conducting several interviews with the locals living in El Gari that result in practical, cognitive and financial barriers. It was clear how the social influence and mindset change have a huge impact on deciding if eco-friendly solutions will be implemented by local inhabitants.

Figure (2) concludes the barriers that are associated with each eco-architectural solution in El Gari village.

The figure reveals that the dominant barrier is a cognitive barrier, as it was observed in the empirical studies that modernity illusion, which the inhabitants adopt in their minds, have a negative impact on their decisions of implementing eco-friendly solutions. This stresses on some quotations that were documented from random Siwans, according to one young man who said that “what is really needed here in Siwa is the development of the society; working on this dimension will support taking decisions for a better

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environment”. On the other hand, some people in Siwa and in El Gari village are aware of the importance of implementing eco-architectural solutions but they do not know how to implement and they do not have enough money. This stresses on the importance of encouraging environmental behavior that can be achieved by following the suggested key factors that were mentioned in the previous section. Such key factors are the social influence, habit formation, individual self, feelings and cognitions and tangibility, along with developing technical solutions which can tip on the three main barriers that were mentioned previously.

Figure 2: The barriers associated with each Eco Architecture solution in El Gari village Source: Author.

In the end, it is important to highlight that someone has to initiate these changes and turn certain decisions into actions. Although there are a lot of efforts that aim to develop the built environment, these efforts did not attempt to develop the community (ecumene-studio.org/Ecumene studio, no date). It was highlighted previously that there is a need to develop certain technics and materials in order to overcome the challenges associated with natural building material, adding to this the importance of considering environmental behavior to encourage people to implement eco-architectural solutions and adopt an environmental behavior. Accordingly, a strategic plan has to be identified and different stakeholders have to come together to share their knowledge and experiences. For this reason, it is important to shed light on the potential

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influencers and stakeholders who can be involved in the research phase and share their knowledge in order to take it to the next level of implementations. As mentioned by White and Habib (2018), if the key players in certain countries are not aware of the importance of sustainable strategies and take slow actions, then it is fundamental to consider educators to move faster in the process through future professionals who are more aware and sensitive toward sustainability (SAMAD, 2007). The following is a list of potential stakeholders in Siwa that can contribute to an integral change: Siwa local community, Siwa Community Development and Environmental Conservation Association, City council, SIWI initiative, Adrere Amellal, Taziry and Talist Ecolodges. It is also essential to include people who have a common vision of using ecoarchitecture solutions and community development such as the projects in Sinai that include the Basata Ecolodge, Al Karm Ecolodge, Handover and Habiba Farm.

Key findings and conclusion Upon compiling the analyses of the theoretical part and the empirical study, two main findings could be deduced as follows: 1- A strong relation between overcoming the barriers and environmental behavior tools: It has been realized that the main barriers that prevent local inhabitants from implementing eco-architectural solutions are concluded in the following three aspects: practical (i.e. technical challenges and/or limited accessibility in market or system), cognitive (i.e. lack of awareness and/or modernity illusion) and financial (i.e. not affordable). It has been recognized, during the interviews, that the three barriers are essential, which means that working on one aspect of these barriers is not enough to encourage a local inhabitant to implement ecoarchitectural solutions.

2- Limited integration between the different potential stakeholders that could play a fundamental role in achieving comprehensive change in El Gari village and Siwa: Fieldwork observation revealed the limited integration or collaboration between external investors and local inhabitants in terms of knowledge sharing and community development. The mutual benefit is currently limited between external investors and local community in opening job opportunities, vocational training and support. Unfortunately, it did not have an impact neither on the inhabitant’s decision to be environmentally friendly nor their behaviors, which limited the sustainability for the change.

Recommendations The following recommendations are highlighted in the following points: 1-Implementing environmental behavior tools is important as it makes the change more sustainable and authentic, especially since it adopts the changing behavior and mindset of individuals.

2-It is essential to create integration between external and local inhabitants that helps to dissolve the stereotypical image that eco-architecture solutions are inclusively related to tourism and provide a platform

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of sharing knowledge of the new technics and experiences from inside and outside Siwa that will bring researches to a practice and practice back again into research.

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