IUSD 4th Intake Journal

IUSD Journal Working Manuscripts 2016

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IUSD Journal, Vol. 4 Issue 1 2016

IUSD Journal Working Manuscripts 2016

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IUSD Journal, Vol. 4 Issue 1 2016

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IUSD Journal, Vol. 4 Issue 1 2016

Table of Contents Preface .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1. The Land and Development ................................................................................................................................ 8 The Importance of Land Conversion for Urban Development ........................................................... 9 Role of Open Spaces in Enhancing Resilience of Amman City…………………………………………….20

Rethinking Halted Investments ..................................................................................................................... 29 Sustainable Strategies for Urban Renewal ............................................................................................... 39 2. Urban Rehabilitation and Socio-economic Values ............................................................................. 47 Urban Stress Relief in Heritage Sites as a Sustaining Approach ..................................................... 48 The Impacts of the Physical Settings and Human Activities ............................................................. 57 Win-Win Situation of Listed Villas and Owners’ Economic Losses ............................................... 68 Mapping the Women’s Perception of Safety on Public Spaces ........................................................ 79 The Sociocultural Dynamics in the Preservation of Historical Centres ………………..……….. 90 3. Environmental Design and Energy Efficiency Resources ............................................................ 100 Integrating Sustainable Energy Solutions into Urban Design ....................................................... 101 Rooftops from Wasted to Scarce Resource ........................................................................................... 112

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Preface The urban context is important for all of us, not least because so many of us live in cities. The Programme of Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design recognizes the role that cities play in the lives of so many researchers and has committed itself to act in this area. Urban environments directly influence the lives of millions of citizens and, in turn, have a substantial impact on the wider environment. The Cities in the Middle East and Northern Africa need further than ever to be livable and should attempt the kind of quality of life and opportunity that make people aspire to live in them and make businesses want to advance. Therefore, this issue of IUSD Journal that is launched based on a selected topic raised in the fourth intake of Master Program of Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Urbanism (IUSD). The working manuscripts are dedicated especially to three main themes: (first), the land and development, (second urban rehabilitation and Socioeconomic Values, and (third) Environmental Design and Energy Efficiency Resources.

In the land and development, the manuscripts under this theme discuss some cases from Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordon; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They have a particular focus on the relationship with the built environment taking into consecration aspects of society and management process. ‘The Urban Rehabilitation and Socioeconomic Values’ tries to change the aspect of the built environment from being with only a culture value to be with also a valuable economic interest for the investment process.

The primary objective of the presented works is to discover the alternative approaches to raising the financial estimation of the heritage that our cities have.

The manuscript “Rethinking Halted Investments” aims to investigate these projects and explore the potential for interim use. The outcomes structures on the framework of mapping potential of interim use as a temporary solution to those buildings. This will include a comparative analysis of best practice cases from Amman. In Addis Ababa, study approaches of ‘Sustainable strategies for urban renewal’ handles the issue of assessing sustainability through two major phases: the first is to identify the core issues that need to be deliberate, while the second is to design a tool used for assessment. An indicator index classified according to the four pillars of sustainability (social, environmental, economic and institutional criteria) was designed, putting into consideration the key issues identified.

The second track gives a highlight on the urban spaces from different perspectives to solve the problem that they may face in the Middle East. The scars of our city remain in each corner of our spaces, and while some of us can grasp and feel them in a way, others perceive them as disturbing and redundant, or a waste of space. The manuscript “Urban Stress Relief in Heritage Sites as a Sustaining Approach” tell a story about Port Said, Egypt. This story opens a new platform for further outlooks of researchers.

In “The Impacts of the Physical Settings and Human Activities” the author gives a comparison between settlements in Cairo. The importance of this research emerges from the shortening of the residential urban spaces within developed housing projects provided by the government, built for people who used to live.

Passing by Alexandria’s old town centre is like crossing through an open museum incorporate different architectural styles: Italian, British, Greek and French buildings stand there where it exhibits

Alexandria’s history. A Win-Win Situation of Listed Villas and Owners’ Economic Losses” aims to change the value of the listed buildings from being with only a culture value to be with also an economic interest for the owners. The primary objective of the research is to discover the best approach to raising the financial estimation of the listed villa in Alexandria until it has the same estimation of or more than the building if decimated and replaces by a tall structure, so the owners are willing to keep it and safeguard it. Accordingly, the central question of the research raised, how to achieve a win-win situation between listed buildings in Egypt and the economic needs of the users?

In “Mapping the Women’s Perception of Safety on Public Spaces”, the research sheds light broadly on the working and middle-class districts in Cairo, raising questions concerning the class dynamics and urban behaviour in these Sha’bi communities regarding various aspects. One of the topics that this research steps in are the cultural enlightenment, which is happening in such famous medieval and historic districts. It shows how the area has been a spot for cultural revitalization and has recently developed attraction points for middle-upper class communities, which can be described as cultural enlightenment projects. The researches such as “Sociocultural Dynamics in the Preservation of Historical Centres” explore the relation between the knowledge practices of preservation professionals of the Medina, adopted by the responsible authorities and institutions, its reality as a dynamic urban setting and the role of its dynamics in the preservation of its identity.

The residential sector is the largest consumer of energy globally and locally in Egypt. The third Environmental Design and Energy Efficiency Resources handles this issue. The manuscript entitled “Integrating Sustainable Energy Solutions into Urban Design” examines the projected energy yield from PV panels in comparison to energy consumption. Meanwhile, the residential sector is also the largest contributor to greenhouse gases and fuel as well. An alternative source for energy can bring the generation of clean energy which could affect directly into the residential sector as well as the whole community. Eventually, the research reaches a set of key findings which are listed to be put into consideration when developing Cairo’s informal settlements. The Cairene urban rooftops have only recently been perceived as potential resources by two competing technologies– the Agri-rooftops and the PV-rooftops that transform the roof space from the stagnating state of wasting into a new state of exploitation. The paper “Rooftops from Wasted to Scarce Resource” summarises a thesis that aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of the potentials and constraints of the Agri and PV technologies’ adoption by the rooftops of residential buildings in Cairo.

In conclusion, the contribution of the current issue covers the topics in the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These all try to solve a particular problem that had been raised from the researcher motivation. The research structure and methodology were discussed with the supervisors’ committee. The full belief of the importance of gaining and exchanging knowledge was the primary driver to present this work to the research field. Certainly, it will be of benefit to other researchers who have the same interests.

Editor-in-chief Abeer Elshater Cairo, September 2016

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1. The Land and Development

The Importance of Land Conversion for Urban Development Learning Comprehensive Planning Principles from Practice in Germany for Brownfield Redevelopment in Athar El Nabi, Cairo Anna Buchmann Supervisors Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen Prof. Dr. Antje Stockmann

Abstract Land conversion of urban brownfields is a measure to revitalize urban areas, to enable growth, and to reduce the land consumption. Two case studies, where conversion is imminent, have been the focus of the empirical research. In Kaufbeuren, Germany, the usage of the military airbase is about to terminate and, therefore, an integrated development plan is currently in process to transform the entire site immediately. The analysis of the

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conversion process, conducted by professionals, guides the approach of the industrial inner-city brownfield, Athar El Nabi. There, the transformation of land takes place spontaneously and in one area after another.

Comprehensive planning, based on the needs of the area leading to regional economic effects, is missing.

Therefore, principles of comprehensive land conversion were elaborated, following the procedure in Kaufbeuren and Athar El Nabi which has been analysed by the author to a state from which a proposal for adaptive reuse could be developed. Potentials for policy transfer from Germany to a different context of land conversion in Cairo have been investigated. Even though the countries are very different in many aspects, guiding principles could be adopted from Germany.

Keywords: Urban Development – Land Conversion – Brownfield Redevelopment – Policy Transfer - Cairo

Introduction The challenges of urban development differ, but the need for effective land management and the reduction of resource consumption is consistent worldwide. With urbanization, the land consumption and the conversion of open land to urban areas increased rapidly, which requires a more sustainable handling of the resource land.

Brownfields exist in any city, mostly from former industrial or military use. The process of conversion redevelops brownfields into functional urban areas to sustain existing socio-economic structures, ensure livability and to revitalize the area. It is a long and individual process, influenced by many different actors, which can create challenges. Each initial situation is unique and the new utilization concept has to be developed, based on the location factors and local characteristics. In Germany, the process of conversion has been optimized over years of practice and reliable data, and literature is available. Conversion of brownfields, especially former military sites as a consequence of disarmament, is a present topic and a main component of inner-city development.

Detailed regulations, policies, practical, and financial support is available to enable an integrated reuse of the brownfield through a comprehensive conversion process, in contrast to Cairo.

Objective and Research Questions The objective is to point out the importance of rehabilitating abandoned land through conversion in order to create regional economic benefits and reduce land consumption. Therefore, the principles of comprehensive development of brownfields will be investigated.

First, qualitative data is acquired by the author during the assistance of professional institutions developing a new utilization strategy for the former military airbase in Kaufbeuren, Germany in the framework of a conversion project. The practical experience, gained during this process, guides the approach of the selected brownfield Athar El Nabi, Cairo. Part of the theoretical research deals with the city’s challenges and factors defining Cairo’s urban development. Essential for the conduction of brownfield conversion are detailed analyses of the site and its surrounding, as well as information about the socio-economic situation in order to meet the deficiencies in a comprehensive redevelopment of the site. Due to the insufficient information on Athar El Nabi, detailed data will be collected.

Furthermore, the possibilities for policy transfer from Germany to Cairo will be examined.

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The research facilitates to answer the questions: why is conversion and the reuse of derelict land in the urban environment necessary? How can urban development control the land use and the consumption of space? What can be learned from Kaufbeuren and must be respected in an integrated development concept for the industrial brownfield, Athar El Nabi? What are the location factors of Athar El Nabi that must be respected in the development of a new utilization concept?

Methodology During the studies in the German-Arab Master Program, exchange of examples of Germany and Egypt took place. This is sought to be continued. Hence, two distinct cases that share a common focus and goal have been selected, with the aim to learn from the case in Germany, to apply the knowledge in Cairo.

Responding to the research objective, the research process is structured in several steps and includes theoretical as well as practical research (Fig.1):

Figure 1: Research Process Source : Author 2016 based on Kumar 2011i

First of all, the secondary data was assessed for the sake of developing a general understanding. This was followed by the case study of Kaufbeuren in Germany, the author studied. The conversion process of the case study, Kaufbeuren, is already advanced. The existing data has been analysed, evaluated and processed by the author who actively contributed to work outputs by the Institute for Urban and Regional Management (ISR), working in cooperation with the project developer Ehret+Klein in the conversion project. The attendance of meetings and presentations during the collaboration helped to comprehend procedures of planning, methods, and compulsory aspects as well as the relation among involved actors. This guided the field work in Athar El Nabi, located in Cairo. To compensate the lack of data, primary data, through mapping and observation in various times of the day and week between the 14th of May and the 14th of June 2016, was collected. Additionally, semi-structured interviews, with randomly selected participants from the site, part of different age groups, genders, and professions, were conducted.

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Lessons were drawn from practice in Germany and applied in Egypt. The concept of policy transfer, from a “leader country” to a “follower country”, is gaining significance [1]. Urban policies are not any more local, but “constituted by global interconnections and mobility” and applied at different locations [2]. The local condition and characteristics, such as similarities among countries, have an impact on the success of policy transfer. Based on the theoretical knowledge gained through the literature review, the potential of policy transfer from Germany to Egypt was investigated.

Theoretical framework and context Conversion and land recycling is a very present topic in an interdisciplinary research field. The research of land conversion is becoming more important due to the constant use of land and the scarcity of resource soil, the exceedance of regenerative resource capacities, and the global environmental problems. Therefore, more sustainable urban planning practices are needed, led by sustainable urban development goals and agendas.

The proceeding urbanization and the rapid urban development lead to urban sprawl to accommodate the increasing numbers of residents and respond to their needs. The significant expansion of urban areas shapes the landscape and leads to a progressive land sealing, and unsustainable land use practices have an impact on the natural environment [3] [4]. Whereas, urban “sprawl inhibits greater densities, mixed use, pedestrian access to centres, and compactness of new neighbourhoods” [5], planned growth manages the type and dimension of development and can minimize negative impacts. Therefore, urban development should not try to stop growth, but to control it in an intelligent way to achieve a sustainable urban form [5]. Urban space must be managed efficiently, especially in cities with high density and an increasing population growth. Research on economic urban development and sustainability emphasizes the significance of using the existing infrastructure, services, buildings, and business opportunities efficiently [6]. Conversion of urban brownfields, through land recycling, is a successful measure to contribute to the preservation of the natural landscape and the improvement of social and economic aspects. In general, brownfields are perceived as a problem because of the valuable space, defined in the zoning plan with a well-established infrastructure which is not used, while the natural landscape areas are continuously consumed [6]. The conversion of brownfields is a complex process, including several steps, starting from the release of the land, the development of a new utilization concept, land recycling, and the implementation of the subsequent use.

In the context of urban development, land conversion is often used to describe the transformation of agricultural land or open landscape to urban settlement and traffic areas. The reuse of abandoned, often contaminated, land in the urban environment is frequently summarized as land recycling [7]. Conversion explains the transformation or change of use of an extensive site area that has lost its previous function, as well as the reintegration into the urban context through redevelopment of economic activities and natural cycles. A successful conversion can lead to high direct and indirect regional economic effects. New workplaces will attract people to settle and increase the purchase power, resulting in an increase of the local economic power, and will influence the attractiveness of the area [7].

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Lessons learned from the Case study Kaufbeuren, Germany The case study of the military airbase Kaufbeuren explains the development of a new utilization concept based on the local characteristics. This concept considers the necessary values for an integrated development and aims to meet the need of the location in question. After many years of military usage, the airbase will close in the near future and a subsequent utilization is required to prevent the land laying fallow. The objective of the municipality is to find a new utilization concept for the entire site, which minimizes the impacts resulting from the termination of the military usage. The citizens of Kaufbeuren have been informed about decisions and actions from the beginning and are actively engaged in the process. The development process of the subsequent use is transparent and the data is publicly accessible. The municipality of Kaufbeuren is interested in the utilization concept developed by the company Ehret+Klein. This concept is driven by the request of the ADAC (General German Automobile Club) for an automotive-proving ground. The concept is based on comprehensive analyses supporting an integrated and sustainable development for the common good and for the city. All local stakeholders have been integrated in the development of the conceptual design for the future use, but until the date of this research, no decision has been made regarding whether the “Technological Cluster for Intelligent Mobility” will be implemented on the former military airbase or not. The focus of the concept for the subsequent use of the plot is on using the potentials and qualities to compensate deficits and prevent conflicts at the location and its surroundings. The carrying capacity for the concept and options to improve deficits have been analyzed and discussed with the municipality. Due to its relevant theme, the concept may be sustainable. Investors and interested future users are found, but they do not dominate the process.

Aspects guiding a conversion process and important values were collected from the conducted preliminary investigations and the work of professionals. The conversion process must be conducted transparently, with the citizens’ participation and must enable cooperation between the public and private sectors [8].

Analysis of the Athar El Nabi, Cairo The area of the industrial brownfield, Athar El Nabi, is selected in the Greater Cairo Development Strategy as a ‘reviving GC central area’. The objective of this pillar is to implement urban programs focusing on revival and restoration projects to “develop unplanned areas and to change

the

landscape

of

identified

places,

while

maintaining their historical and social value,” [9]. Until the time in which this research was conducted, no official measures towards a conversion process took place.

Therefore, necessary preliminary investigations have been conducted by the author.

The selected site can be easily identified on the map, due to

Figure 2: Site Athar El Nabi Source : Author 2016

the extensive plots of land, in contrast to the surrounding

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dense residential neighbourhoods structured by numerous small streets. The study area of the industrial brownfield (visualized as an orange polygon in Fig.2) is located partly in the Sheyakhet Athar El Nabi (purple polygon) and partly in Dar El Salam (blue polygon), but for simplification, the site is named Athar El Nabi. The site is surrounded by unplanned, informal and unsafe areas [9], the neighbourhoods Izbit Khayrallah and Istabl Antar, “urbanized by practices of squatting or, in the local terminology, by wad’ al-yad (seizure),” [10]. Athar El Nabi extends over an area of 177.2 ha (421,797 feddan), having 113 residents living per feddan, while Dar El Salam covers an area of 125.7 ha (299,254 feddan) and 346 residents are living per feddan. The settlements are constructed on governmental and private agricultural land partly planned and partly informal. Programs for poverty reduction and measures to reduce vulnerability have been conducted within the settlements characterized by “poverty, danger, lawless mobs, the absence of the state, and few positive social, urban and moral norms,” [10]. According to CAPMAS (Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics) data from 2006, the total population of Athar El Nabi counts 54,691 residents and is relatively young. 19,774 residents are listed as unemployed (students (3,896), housewives (13,325) and pensioners (1,340) excluded), and 15,643 residents are working, most of them (13,892) work as wageworkers. Residents between ages 6 and 19 count 13,101, of which 10,886 are students registered and attending school, 556 dropped out of school and 1,651 are not registered at schools. The majority of the residents live in apartments, or rooms with access to electricity, kerosene or gas. Furthermore, access to water and connection to the sewage system is mostly present in the apartments or buildings. Only 17 residents live in a cemetery and 14 in tents without proper access to the mentioned services [11]. The building typologies in the neighbourhoods of Athar El Nabi and Dar El Salam vary.

The area of Istabl Antar consists mainly of small buildings with about 2-4 levels. In the residential area bordering the site in the south, more high-rise buildings with up to 30 levels, violating regulations, are added to the dense built-up area. Open areas and green land do not exist, and observed economic activities are mainly informal.

On the site, extensive plots are derelict with vacant buildings. The site can be described as an industrial brownfield. The area has a triangular shape, like an arrowhead pointing slightly north-west (Fig.2). The orientation of the site is north–south and the defined site covers an area of about 65 hectares. In the west, the site is bordered by a side arm of the Nile River, which flows along the site and Athar El Nabi island. To the East, a physical boundary is the metro line 1 running from El Marg to Helwan, and to the south by dense residential

neighbourhoods.

Good

accessibility to the site is provided by private

Figure 3: Landuse

and public means of transportation. The Nile Source : Author 2016

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Corniche, leading along the waterfront over Athar El Nabi Island, connects it to downtown and Maadi, while Dar El Salam Street and the Ring Road connect it to other districts. The Ring Road is probably the most important highway in the GCR; it surrounds the city and connects it with the new settlements. The site is located among two Metro stations of Line 1 El Zahraa and Dar El Salam. Not to be disregarded is the sidearm of the Nile providing accessibility by water. Cairo International Airport can be reached from the center of the site over the Ring Road in thirty minutes without major traffic congestions.

The land use has been mapped according to the activities taking place (Fig.3). These do not contribute to a strong economic power. Employment opportunities are insufficient, as the industrial use has mainly stopped, leaving extensive unused areas. About 214 buildings are located on the site including the sheds of the Fruits and Vegetables Market in the northern part of the site. The relation between solids and voids is more balanced than in the neighbouring residential areas and the average building height is relatively low, with 4-5 levels. The companies identified and mapped belong to the private sector, governmental and public institutions as well as the military. Few industrial activities take place in small factories for wood, furniture and technical factories such as the Metal Technical Factory and Precision Machining Centre Dar El Salam. Commercial activities are mainly the Fruit and Vegetable Market, which is the most vibrant area, and the United Company for Pharmacists (UCP). Automotive Services exist at various locations formally and informally. Further informal activities such as storage and sale of cement bags and production of bricks take place on the river bank. The General Transportation Authority and Nile National Company for River Transportation work in passenger and cargo transport. The current users of the site are mainly workers from different fields. These are sales, commerce, mechanics, engineering, carpentry, warehouse storage, education, and transportation. Highly qualified workplaces are missing. Furthermore, students and people with business relations visit the site. Some residents live directly on the site, others come to the site from the surrounding because of the sports clubs and youth club.

Figure 4 shows the relation between used and unused buildings. A step-by-step development takes place for many years and creates a mosaic with different usage types, not supporting each other. Massive constructions remaining from the industrial period have not been used for many years, but are privately owned according to signs on the property. These claim the ownership of a plot formerly owned by Nasr TV Company by Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt. Another plot is reserved for their future headquarters, a piece of land is owned by the government and a further derelict land with abandoned buildings is owned by a Saudi company. Massive concrete constructions with 3 to 5 stories, warehouses, a mosque, and residential buildings remain unused for many years. The unused effective area of the buildings has been calculated based on the floor space of the buildings multiplied by the number of floors. As the size of the floor space has been

Figure 4: Unused and Used buildings Source : the author 2016

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measured from satellite images, the data is not reliable, but gives an idea of the available space. It can be calculated that one employee requires 10m2 and 121,600m2 are available, so the buildings could offer about 12,000 workplaces. The roads leading to the entrance of the property became a space for dumping bulky waste and are used as donkey sheds.

The site is found in a state of imminent transformation. After about 10-20 years without major changes, the plots of land owned by the two banks have been sold. Three of the interviewed persons mentioned that a “construction company bought the land of Nasr TV Company from the banks,” [12]. According to the interviewees, about 7,000 people used to work in these buildings, which have been abandoned for about 10-20 years. Demolition of the existing constructions are expected in order to erect residential buildings. The information reached the interviewees by word of mouth circulating in the district. No official declaration or announcement took place.

Transparency of actions does not exist. The attitude of the residents towards the transaction is negative as it will not bring any profit. After privatization, most of the companies on the site, like Nasr TV Company, a perfume company and a battery factory, closed down. Nothing happened on the site to ensure economic activities and offer new opportunities for the people depending on them. Some residential buildings have been recently constructed on the site. Athar El Nabi Island neighboring the site is currently undergoing a conversion, and high-rise residential buildings for a higher social class are constructed (1st picture). This development is feared by some interviewees, since the land with direct access to the Nile River and central location among Misr El Qadima and Maadi is assumed to be of high value.

Table 1: Evaluation of Athar El Nabi Source: the author 2016 From this state of analysis, a proposal for Qualities and Potentials • Renovation and reuse of existing buildings

Deficits and conflicts

the future use of the entire defined

• Unclear conditions of vacant buildings. Renovation could cause high costs.

industrial brownfield could be developed.

• Existing mixed uses can be extended and improved by attracting companies and start-ups.

• Weak economic power, missing workplaces and services

not follow any major development plan

• Available Sport Facilities & Youth Club

• Longterm informal activities and land use

Strategy. The reason why the establishment

• Transformation without communication, transparency, citizen participation is missing

might be that each investor individually

•

Existing educational Institutions.

• Good accessibility of the site by public and private means of transport

• Limited capacity of road network and poor conditions of streets

• Central urban location and high land value

• Transformation might be already planned by investors who purchased the land, regardless to the GC Vision pillar 7

• Undeveloped waterfront and access • Various stakeholders are present to the Nile river from the public and private sector with different interests

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The current developments on the site do such as the Greater Cairo Development of residential buildings have been approved applies

at

the

local

governmental

institution for the implementation of the new

use

and,

therefore

obtains

the

approval for the proposed development.

The

decisions

regardless

of

are the

presently consequences,

made and

integrated planning is missing.

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Outlook Based on the conducted analyses on the site and its surrounding, assumptions about the future development could be made. In the context of the gained knowledge, from the literature review and practical experience acquired in Kaufbeuren, the situation in Athar El Nabi is criticized. The transformation of the site happens gradually at different locations, whenever plots are sold to investors by the various owners. This supports the fact that the already ongoing mosaic developments of the site continue. To counteract this unplanned transformation, a comprehensive development plan for the entire site of Athar El Nabi is needed. An overall master plan would function as a controlling and planning mechanism and prevent unplanned development. An upper hand must manage decisions and have a stake on what is going to be done. This could be the government, which then intervenes and dictates the developments. One big key developer should be responsible for the development concept of the site. Corruption is a factor that has an influence on decision making, and could be alleviated. The owners of the plots must be convinced to follow the master plan. For instance, the appropriate infrastructure for the planned concept, enabling good access and supply lines according to the requirements, will be provided. As a result, the revenues of the outcomes will be higher than selling the land to individual investors.

Revitalization of the site can be reached through a sustainable and innovative concept, generating regional economic positive effects. This could upgrade the area and lead to a mixed society and mixed use. Effective land management and clear urban development goals could help in preventing the development of insecure neighborhoods, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and informality. By tackling the local problems on the site, general problems in Egypt can be addressed. Communication, transparency, and citizen participation are of great importance and must be part of each project implementation. Currently, these principles are missing in urban planning practices in Egypt. Interdepartmental cooperation, within the governmental institutions on different levels, plays an important role. Furthermore, interactions between the public and private sectors and the civil society are required. It is questionable if the current urban planning practice in Cairo could bring all the stakeholders, present at the site, to one table to discuss the future development of the site, and if the local residents and users would participate in workshops. Nevertheless, transparency of actions for the local society and present stakeholders must be the norm.

Due to the fundamental differences between Germany and Egypt, no complete policy transfer is recommended, but the transfer of the knowhow and ideas can be effective, and hence have an impact on fundamental policy orientations.

Conclusion Land conversion is of great significance in Germany and in Egypt. Current global urban development trends characterize the city’s form and the performance regarding sustainability. In both countries, the redevelopment of brownfields has been taking place for many years, but the conversion process, and especially the planning and implementation process of the new use, differ. This can be seen in the explained case studies located in Kaufbeuren and Athar El Nabi. It is important to minimize the timeframe of an area laying fallow through land conversion of the brownfield. However, it is crucial that the conversion process foregoes investigation and the

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new concept takes into account the local characteristics. Land conversion is a complicated process with many actors and challenges that must be managed in order to respond to the needs with a new utilization concept. For this purpose, the potential effects must be calculated. This study emphasizes the importance of principles leading to a comprehensive conversion process in order to sustain existing structures and develop new opportunities. Thereby, the possible advantages must be in the focus, yet disadvantages must be taken into consideration.

While the conversion process in Germany is being continually improved by various institutions providing guidelines and support, decisions regarding conversion in Cairo are conducted quickly and are not discussed in public. The focus on the common good seems to be missing and the redevelopment of brownfields may be driven by investors through the highest bid rather than the suitability of the new use. The local residents of Athar El Nabi are used to being unable to express their needs or influence the developments. This might have led to the acceptance of the poor conditions, defined by walls and waste accumulating behind it and a passive attitude within the local community.

Endnotes [1] Dolowitz & Marsh 2000: 5 [2] Jonas et al. 2015:94 [3] Theiss 2007: 10 [4] Jering et al. 2013: 66 [5] Freilich et al. 2010:5

[6] Williams & Dair 2007: 184 [7] Deichmöller 2004:12, Job & Koch [8] Ehret+Klein [9] GOPP 2012 [10] Deboulet 2009: 204 [11] CAPMAS 2006 [12] Interviewed kiosk owner, local resident, and parking guard 2016 References Boie, H., 2005, Bürgerpartizipation und Stadtentwicklung: Lokale Initiativen in Kairo, Münster.

CAPMAS, 2006, Final results of the census 2006 part I-II. Governorate Cairo, Egypt.

Deboulet, A., 2009, The Dictatorship of the Straight Line and the Myth of Social Disorder: Revisiting Informality in Cairo. In: Singerman, D. 2009, Cairo Contested. Cairo, New York.

Deichmöller, S., 2004, Flächenrecycling als Instrument kommunaler Umwelt- und Standortpolitik, Frankfurt am Main.

Dolowitz, D. P., & Marsh, D., 2000, Learning from abroad: The role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making.

Governance, 13 (1), 5-23.

Freilich, R. H., Sitkowski, R.J. & Mennillo, S.D., 2010, From Sprawl to Sustainability. Smart Growth, New Urbanism, Green Development, and Renewable Energy, Second Edition, Chicago.

GOPP, 2012, Greater Urban Development Strategy. Part I: Future Vision and Strategic Directions. Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities (MHUC) represented by the General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP). Cairo.

Jering, A. et al., 2013, Sustainable use of global land and biomass resources. Umweltbundesamt, Dessau-Roßlau, viewed 12.3.2016, https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/419/publikationen/130617_englisch_lang_w eb.pdf Job, H. & Koch, M., 2001, Gewerbebrachflächenrecycling. Ein Beitrag zur nachhaltingen Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung. Regensburg.

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Jonas, A., McCann, E. & Thomas, M., 2015, Urban Geography: A Critical Introduction. West Sussex.

Kumar, R., 2011, Research Methodology, London.

Theiss, A., 2007, Innerstädtisches Brachflächenrecycling als Ausdruck komplexer gesellschaftlicher und ökonomischer Wandlungsprozesse. Dargestellt an “Aushandlungsprozessen” dreier Frankfurter Revitalisierungsprojekte. Vol. 126 Rhein-Mainische Forschungen, Frankfurt am Main.

Williams, K. & Dair, C., 2007, A Framework for assessing the sustainability of brownfield development, p.177-192. In: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Eds.), 2nd International Conference on Managing Urban Land.

Towards more effective sustainable brownfield revitalisation policies, Berlin.

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Figure 5 www.infita7.com

Role of Open Spaces in Enhancing Resilience of Amman City Integrating Rainwater in Open Space Design Dina Al Najjar Suporvisors: Prof. Mohmed Salheen* Ain Shams University Prof. Antje Stokman * University of Stuttgart Dr. Maram Tawil * German Jordanian University

Abstract The aim of this research is to find ways to improve open spaces in Amman in order to resolve the social tension that is happening as a result of the increase in the number of refugees and immigrants from surrounding countries fleeing to Amman because of the political situation around. A limitation, that is hindering the development of such spaces and threatening Jordan, is the water scarcity. Alternative solutions to creating green spaces in such a water-scarce country are suggested in this research in order to be able to develop ideal open spaces for all people to use and minimize the social tension.

The main objective is to find a way to improve existing open spaces by making recommendations for constructing new ones, and make them more attractive for people to visit, in order to resolve social tensions that are caused when people from different backgrounds meet

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at unplanned spaces. This will, in a way, enhance the resilience of this city that has become multinational, and is thus going through many stresses because of its regional location.

Four sites are studied here, and finally one site is chosen to apply the solution on and create recommendations as a toolbox for developing other sites.

Keywords: Resilience, social cohesion, stresses, open spaces, water management, water scarcity, rainwater. Introduction

Introduction: Research Objectives This research has two main aims that are interconnected and somehow cannot be separated. However, both work together to achieve the main concept of enhancing the resilience of the city. The first one is on a social level, where it tackles why people in Amman misunderstand open spaces in terms of how to use them and how important it is to have them in such a compact, rapid growing city. On the other hand, the other aim is to deal with an environmental challenge, where water scarcity is threatening growth of any green spaces in the city. The main objective is to find a way to improve existing open spaces, suggest recommendations for constructing new ones, and make them more attractive for people to visit, in order to resolve social tensions that are caused when people from different backgrounds meet at unplanned spaces. This will, in a way, enhance the resilience of this city that has become multinational, and is thus going through many stresses because of its regional location.

Throughout the research, a link is made between green open spaces, resilience, and social cohesion. One of the limitations that stand as an obstacle, in the face of developing open, healthy green spaces in Amman, is the water scarcity issue. In this research, one of the objectives is to redirect rainwater, of which 90% is usually lost to evaporation, into developing these open spaces.

Research Methodology In this research, triangulation method is used in order to ensure adequate results. 'Triangulation' is a process of verification that increases validity by incorporating several viewpoints and methods (Sabina Yeasmi, 2012). The first method is done through survey – firstly, questionnaires distributed online and physically targeting all groups of people, with different ages, gender, status, etc., and secondly, questionnaires done on site, targeting visitors of selected parks/places. The second is based on personal observations done by the researcher on site.

And the third is based on deep interviews with experts, architects and planners.

Open Spaces in Amman The definition and sorting of typologies of open spaces in Amman is based on an empirical process done by the researcher in spring 2016 and on theoretical work done by other researchers and cited here. Here, the researcher mentions and analyses the types of open spaces in Amman, their usability and users’ behavioural patterns. She also discusses problems with the spaces that need to be tackled. Moreover, she relates them to changes that have and are still occurring in the city on a social level. Public spaces in Amman, unfortunately, are places where considerable social tension takes place, and there do not seem to be any commonly agreed-upon codes of conduct among their users. What many may consider objectionable behaviour, others find totally acceptable (Mohammad Al-asad, 2011).

Typology of Open Spaces in Amman After conducting an empirical research, and based on theoretical findings previously mentioned by Sandalack et al., it is found that typologies differ according to the society and culture. Therefore, the researcher is able to define four main types of open spaces in Amman: a. Public Parks All public parks in Amman are owned by the Greater Amman Municipality (later as GAM).

There are no privately owned public parks of any kind in Amman. The department of Gardens in GAM is responsible for designing, maintaining and doing all services related to these parks and

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any other green areas in the city belonging to GAM. There are 134 registered parks owned by GAM in Amman. However, due to lack of funding, most parks are in bad conditions as there is no proper maintenance being done (Rand Nsoor, department of Gardens at GAM). As seen in the map below, most parks are accumulated in the center and eastern part of Amman. Newly developed areas on the peripheries of Amman still lack public parks where some areas still contain no parks at all.

b. Informal Open Spaces These spaces have emerged within the city and were created by people’s need for such spaces.

Spaces like traffic roundabouts or highway sides have been transformed into picnic spots by people as they needed such tree-canopied open spaces where they can do barbeques, families can sit, and children can play in open spaces. These spaces have become defined by people as picnic spots and they continue to define new spaces each summer emerging with their growing need of such spaces. These spaces are either at lands owned by GAM or private lands left unbuilt. c. Plazas and Squares A plaza as an open space in a city was realized as a solution, which people have pursued in order to improve their psychological safety and deterioration of the physical environment. A plaza is a place which is surrounded by buildings and roads, and these days it is widely seen as a basic place within an open space in an overpopulated city (YOUNGDUK KIM, 2015). However, this type of open spaces is not very popular in Amman. Only very few plazas or squares exist in the city. The most popular is al Hashemya Plaza in downtown Amman, owned by GAM. d. Pedestrian-Friendly Spaces Pedestrian zones have recently emerged in Amman. The pattern started when GAM decided to revive 40 hectares in 2008 in the downtown area by integrating neighborhoods through creating pedestrian zones connecting the Roman amphitheater in downtown with the citadel and enabling residents to experience their national heritage (Ababsa, 2011).

The water Issue Jordan is considered the fourth driest country in the world (http://www.jva.gov.jo). Water scarcity has increased ever since the demand raised, due to immigrants fleeing to Jordan since 1948 when the war in Palestine took place, and Palestinians were forced to leave their country. The 1990 gulf war, the 2003 Iraq war and the 2011 ongoing war in Syria, all added to the high population growth in Jordan. This has led to the depletion of underground water, along with the climatic change, putting Jordan’s water resources at risk. The very few water surfaces of the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers are both shared with Israel and Syria, leaving a little share to Jordan.

Water problems in Jordan are diverse and changing as the gap between supply and demand widens. Water issues are linked to scarcity, unequal distribution, and sharing the water surfaces (Hussein I.A., Abu Sharar T.M., Battikhi A.M., 2005). Jordan lies in the semi-arid region where the average rainfall is around 160mm/yr.

Rainfall occurs mainly in the winter season with heavy rainfall during January and February. The rain season normally starts in October and ends in mid-May (Dr. Abdel-Nabi Fardous, 2004). There is a great demand for water to be used for irrigation, a problem that limits the development of greening the city. From here, alternative solutions to irrigation should be found.

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Figure 6 Public Parks in Amman Al Najjar

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Also, as mentioned previously, 92.4% of rainwater that is lost to evaporation, capturing this water and putting it in use, is very crucial. However, the physical infrastructure of the city is not well-prepared. Rainwater drained from streets ends up in a separate canal that eventually collects water in dams. However, water guts from buildings are connected to the sewage system. This causes a huge loss of rainwater, and also puts a huge pressure on the solid waste treatment facilities, as they receive more quantity of water than they should. The government is planning to activate the law, which fines buildings that connect rainwater drainage to the sewage system instead of the rainwater collection piping. Moreover, during the intense rain events, both systems end up flooding for 2 reasons: 1. The sewage system receives more water from buildings than it regularly should in such a short time (i.e. one hour), which cannot drain quickly, and therefore floods; and because 2. The rainwater collection pits are filled with dirt and waste because of the people’s disposal of their waste on the streets and throwing trash in the pits that should collect water. Thus, when it rains, the pits cannot absorb all the water and end up flooding. Infrastructure is not the only reason to blame, but also the climatic change that has caused sudden fluctuations in rain intensity. Recently, in the past few years, Amman has witnessed heavy rain that was very intense to the extent that the city flooded, as shown in pictures below. During the last rain event in 2016, 45mm were recorded in only one hour, whereas the city is prepared to drain 20mm in 24 hours. The effect of global warming is clearly affecting the rainfall intensity, causing a huge pressure on the infrastructure of the city.

The municipality has already started a long-term plan of upgrading the rainwater drainage system for the upcoming years, as it is difficult to anticipate now if the rainfall intensity will increase in the future.

Reflections on Open Spaces and Development Limitations After selecting four sites to study, the researcher narrowed them down to two, then finally one site to study closely. Surveys were done to analyse how people in Amman deal with open spaces, in general, and study their behaviour on the two selected sites, in particular. After conducting the surveys, interviews and observational studies, it has been concluded that: • Results, from both East and West Amman, summarize in similar people’s needs: o Vendors or shops that sell snacks (food and beverages) o Barbeque areas o Toilets o Trees and grass (i.e. Greenery) o Water features o Sports facilities (i.e. running tracks, football fields, etc.) o Children play areas o Seating (benches and tables) o Safety: Guards, lighting, secured from traffic • GAM plans for creating new parks, assigns certain funds for it, but does not plan for long term maintenance, leaving the parks in a bad state after few years.

East Amman lacks open spaces, where people need them more, as they don’t have alternatives such as house gardens, recreational clubs, or access to any expensive entertaining facilities • West Amman has more open spaces. However, people don’t use them as much, as they have other alternatives.

• East Ammanis2 come to parks in the west, as they have better facilities and feel safer to them.

• Instead of dealing with the vandalism issue in the East, GAM has stopped making parks there, and turned its focus to the West.

The two main issues, that keep us from developing public parks in Amman, are vandalism and the water shortage issue (Rand Al Nsoor, 10.03.2016).

Water Management – Redirecting Rainwater to Irrigate Open Spaces

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Irrigating plants in parks is expensive as it requires trucking water into the site, at least on a weekly basis.

Finding an alternative solution could save water and reduce cost by reducing energy, labor force, and the water bill itself. Reducing cost is very important in a resource poor country like Jordan. No studies have been made to show how much water parks and open spaces is required in Amman. Planting is done haphazardly, planting lawns that require huge amounts of water in a water-scarce country. People are in need of green spaces, though not only in huge parks like King Abdullah II Park, but also on the neighborhood scale, where open spaces are crucial to beautify the scenery of Amman and satisfy people’s needs. Water-efficient solutions must be found to be able to improve existing spaces and plan new ones. Each open space or park must be studied separately in order to identify shading information, topography, rainfall intensity, sun exposure and so on. However, a common ground solution could be suggested. First, plants on site must be assisted for their water consumption.

Drought tolerant plants should be used. Figure 50 below shows the water consumption for regular plants and drought tolerant ones. While planning a park, the municipality must also set a long-term maintenance plan to avoid the issue of parks being made then neglected. Meanwhile, training should be made for those who will take care of the park. In the case where nearby residents will be looking after the park, training should be given to them at either community centers or at the park itself, where people can form groups and divide tasks. For long term planning, it is preferred to involve already existing NGO’s or community centers to manage this part.

Instruction boards and schedules for irrigation could also be installed onsite to avoid confusion.

Rainwater harvesting has been done in Jordan since ancient times, where the water is used domestically and for irrigation. Many historical examples are still out there surviving in Jordan such as the canal reservoir at the Nabatean Petra city and other underground cisterns found in desert palaces (Lara Zureikat). Rainwater harvesting is a method to provide renewable sources of water that can be used for landscape irrigation. It is an effective method to provide water solutions to meet the needs of the site (The Center for the Study of the Built Environment, 2004). The water harvesting method could be summarized as collecting rainwater, storing it in tanks, and then later releasing it during the dry seasons to irrigate plants. There are two types of water

harvesting – passive and active. Passive water harvesting collects rainwater to use it instantly, and therefore requires no storage containers. However, in Jordan, the water cannot be stored and used later in dry seasons. Unlike the active water harvesting, that collects water and stores it in containers to use it later in dry seasons, storage containers could be above- or underground.

Development and Implementation on an Existing Site – Sukayna Island The site chosen to test the method on is the Sukayyna Island. The site contains four fountains and 21 trees. The toilet facility which was constructed around five years ago onsite has only functioned for one month, and was then shut down due to security issues, while the toilets became a spot for drug dealers and other deviant activities. The municipality suffers from people leaving their waste onsite and in fountains, which requires cleaning the fountains on a daily basis by pumping out the water, cleaning the fountains and filling them again with water, which is very costly and requires a lot of people to do the cleaning job. Also, the water pumping motors often get stolen and must be replaced almost twice every summer.

Piping and Drainage: The site is not connected to the rainwater drainage system nor to the sewage system.

The toilets were once connected to the sewage system, though have been disconnected since they were shut down. Therefore, there are no tanks or water-storage containers on site. There was a water storage tank located above the toilets building but which was, however, stolen (Mr. Mu’een Oweis, Head of Abdali Area, GAM). The water fountains cannot, therefore, be drained out. However, the water is pumped out and thrown on the street.

The street contains rainwater drainage pits. This water collected from the street goes through the pipes to downtown and then to Al Zarqa water canal and ends up in dams.

Irrigation and Water Transportation: The trees on site require 1m³ of water on a daily basis. This water is transported daily by trucks, which stop at the street every morning to water the trees.

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The fountains require 16m³ of non-potable water, on a daily basis, during the summer delivered by two trucks.

The water is not recycled.

The fountains on site are activated starting March and until the end of September but are sometimes, however, kept activated as long as the weather is warm enough.

Redirecting Rainwater: Greenery can be increased and fountains could have a water recycling system.

Water caught can be divided between storage tanks and rainwater drains. However, by slowing down the process onsite, the drainage pits can absorb more. To achieve that, calculations are done to know the intensity of rainfall, storage capacity onsite, and the quantity of water needed to irrigate plants onsite.

Data needed is: area of site, catchment area, plants used on site, rainfall intensity, storage capacity, and surface material.

Seasonal means rainfall is 271mm per year, rainfall records on average 20mm in 24 hours However, in sudden events, the highest recorded is 45 mm in one hour only, where it stopped afterwards. On the site, the whole site could be turned into a catchment area. If the rainwater collected from buildings is redirected into the rainwater drains, an overflow could happen where the network cannot drain huge amounts of water.

Therefore, the site itself could be transferred into a storage tank. Catchment area is then on the site itself.

To calculate how much rainwater can be harvested: Quantity of Harvested Rainwater (Cubic Meters) = Rainfall (m) X Catchment Area (m²) X Runoff Coefficient3 The entire site is regarded as a catchment area, and dividing half of it as soil covered planted area (1178m²) with a runoff coefficient of 075 and the other half as a tiled area with a runoff coefficient of 925: During an intense rain hour (45mm/hour) Trees covered area=, 045*1178*, 075=3, 97 + Tiled area=, 045*1178*, 925=49 =53m³ of harvested water During Regular rain (20mm in 24 hours) Trees covered area=, 02*1178*, 075=1, 76 + Tiled area=, 02*1178*, 925=21,979 =23, 55m³ of harvested rainwater

During the entire season 271mm/year Trees covered area=, 271*1178*, 075=23, 9 + Tiled Area=, 271*1178*, 925=295, 29 =319, 19m³of harvested rainwater for one year One third of the site is regarded as storage area with a 1m depth tank, and a storage capacity of 798, which is more than the water caught. However, it is good to keep such storage space for future considerations, as rain intensity or rainfall mean could increase. Moreover, water catchment area could be increased to surrounding sidewalks and buildings.

Drought tolerant trees and groundcovers require 360 water Liters/6 months in dry season =, 36m³ Drought tolerant shrubs need 540 waters Liters/6 months in dry season=, 54m³ This means that the 319m³ collected during rainy season are enough to irrigate 354 drought tolerant trees and shrubs, which is much more than could be planted on the site. Extra water could be redirected into water fountains and a water recycling system could be embedded there.

Design Recommendations from a Social Perspective Looking back at the results of data collection, throughout the observations made, people preferred to gather around the fountains, on their edges and site the whole time. Children enjoyed splashing the water, and

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everyone enjoyed the coolness it brought on warm days. Others chose to site in between trees to shade from the sun during the day. However, people usually left their waste inside the fountains and since there is no water recycling system available, the water is pumped out daily, and new water is filled in the fountains.

Through the new design, excess water from irrigation could fill out new fountains around the site, where seating levels could be made to fit more people to sit around them. Also, with more trees and shrubs planted onsite, people have the chance to sit on the ground all over the site, not only on benches or fountain edges. This will provide more space for more people to join in a planned space. The community involvement and awarenessraising campaigns help in keeping the site cleaner. With the water recycling system for fountains, less water is wasted every day. As for the traffic problem, the site is a little hazardous, as cars surround the site from all sides.

A small fence that is only open at the pedestrian crossing helps people more to be directed and not jump on to the street at any time. This creates a safer environment for the children. Bushes could be planted alongside the fence. In General, people in Amman lack green spaces that are welcoming for sitting and communicating more with each other. Such spaces help people to open up more and loosen the tension created by the problems mentioned earlier.

Conclusions – Recommendations & Toolbox At the beginning, throughout the literature review, the importance of having green elements in open spaces was highlighted in order to attract people to such spaces where they can resolve social tension issues created when people from many different backgrounds meet at such spaces. Here, the researcher suggests an alternative solution to deal with water shortage in creating green spaces, and proves how they are possible to create by applying the method on one chosen small site. Moreover, what is not thoroughly discussed is how such a project needs community involvement, where people look after the spaces and maintain them. This helps in achieving two important things: people’s commitment and sense of belonging to the neighbourhood or city they live in, and also minimizing the cost on the municipality by having people, instead of their employees, look after the spaces. Also, through this, people will make sure there is less vandalism onsite as they become the care takers, reducing maintenance costs.

On an environmental level, this is a very small-scale project compared to other large parks and open spaces.

However, the idea is to show that even by planting half of the site, and embedding a storage tank in one third of it, rainwater caught on the site itself alone is enough to irrigate these plants throughout the year. Installation and start-up costs could be high but could, however, minimize a lot of damage that is being done due to the intense rain that is not absorbed by the rainwater piping system, and add more greenery to sites where people need them, to resolve social tension in a city that is in desperate need of staying resilient in the face of all current events. Through community involvement and awareness raising campaigns, these sites could be maintained and more could be done within neighbourhoods themselves once people see the outcome and how beneficial it is for them and their children. Such a project could be taken as a toolbox for creating the same idea on different sites.

Few numbers are to be changed according to location, size and special topographical issues of the sites.

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Figure 7: Catchment Area os Site Al Najjar

References Beverly A. Sandalack et. al Open Space Typology as a Framework for Design of the Public Realm [Online].

Dr. Abdel-Nabi Fardous (August - 2004) ICBA National Report Jordan: HARNESSING SALTY WATER TO ENHANCE SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS OF THE RURAL POOR IN FOUR COUNTRIES IN WEST ASIA AND NORTH AFRICA: EGYPT, JORDAN, SYRIA AND TUNISIA, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE NATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTUR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERE. Mohammad Al-asad (2011) ‘Urban Crossroads: Three Public Spaces in Amman’, vol. 122.

Mohammad Al-asad (2011) Three Public Spaces in Amman: Urban Crossroads no.122, Center for the Study of the Built Environment [Online]. Available at http://www.csbe.org/publications-and-resources/urban-crossroads/three-publicspaces-in-amman/.

Hussein I.A., Abu Sharar T.M., Battikhi A.M. (2005) ‘Water resources planning and development in Jordan: in Hamdy A. (ed.), Monti R. (ed.). Food security under water scarcity in the Middle East: Problems and solutions’, Bari: CIHEAM, vol. 65, pp. 183–197.

Lara Zureikat, D. H. Landscape Water Efficiency Guide, The Center for the Study of the Built Environment.

Rand Al Nsoor (2016) Unpublished interview conducted by Dina Al Najjar, 10 March.

Sabina Yeasmi (2012) ‘“Triangulation” Research Method as the Tool of Social Science Research’, BUP JOURNAL, vol. 1, no. 1.

The Center for the Study of the Built Environment (2004) ‘Water Conserving Gardens: A user's manual’ [Online]. Available at http://www.csbe.org/assets/manual/manual.pdf.

YOUNGDUK KIM (2015) EXPLORATION OF CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN URBAN PLAZA AND MIXED USE BUILDINGS, Master Thesis, USA, University of Massachusetts - Amherst [Online]. Available at http://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2.

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Rethinking Halted Investments Exploring the Potential of Interim Use in Amman Mohammad Aljabi Supervisors: Prof. Mohamed Salheen Prof. Wolf Reuter Dr. Ayat Ismail Abstract With the continuing effort to globalize Amman, the city adopted a neoliberal agenda as a means of economic development. The effects of these policies became prevalent after the 2007 financial crisis, most notably its physical manifestations; colossal buildings erected in key locations around the city and set abandoned in a limbo state.

The aim of this manuscript is to investigate these projects and explore the potential of interim use. The first part will examine neoliberal investment strategies adopted by the government and the shift towards attracting foreign investments through an economical and theoretical framework. The second part will analyze the socioeconomic effects of specific, neoliberal projects by opening paths for sociological methodologies specifically the ways in which space inevitably affects our daily existence. It is structured on frameworks of mapping, qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The third part will explore the potential of interim use as an ephemeral solution to those buildings. This will include a comparative analysis to best practice cases.

Introduction: The objective of this thesis is to discuss the possibility of interim use strategies in halted neoliberal mega investments in Amman. In order to reach/To reach that, this thesis will research the neoliberal economy and mega projects specifically within the Ammani context and cross reference the characteristics of such practice with the transnational-funded projects in Amman starting 1999 when king Abdullah II ascended the throne bringing with him a major shift in the National agenda towards liberalizing the mark and the effects of the international financial crisis. While those halted investments are described as eyesores, interim use strategies are set to “expedite the remediation of blighted sites” (Hawke 2009) as other options, such as large-scale demolitions or site acquisitions, seem to be out of fiscal reach for a city such as Amman that can barely manage the cost of basic services. Moreover, with the recent political turbulences, any long-term planning strategy is labeled as unnecessary and out of fiscal reach; interim use strategy is proven to be a perfect pertinent solution to tackle this issue.

Neoliberal Amman Hervey defined Neoliberalism as it is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade (Harvey 2005). The scale of the neoliberal project is almost always discussed in all related literature defining the hugeness or bigness as a major characteristic in such projects. Abu Dayyeh referred to it as “Spectacularism”. He further elaborated that those projects are correlated with two factors – scale and suddenness (ABU-DAYYEH 2007). Elsheshtawy listed the projects that reflect neoliberal playscapes, where the large scale is a common factor between all these projects as the list includes malls, leisure parks, ‘edutainment’ places, gated communities and mixed-use towers (Elsheshtawy 2008).

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Role of the state and the national agenda When king Abdullah II of Jordan ascended the throne in 1999, there was a major shift in the national economic agenda in comparison to the agenda that is of his late father King Hussain1. Dr. Daher (Daher 2013) argued that the rule of the state visibly changed through shifting the state involvement shown by the state subsidies allocated for neoliberal projects. Each of these subsidies "benefits selective urban business elites" (Daher 2013) in Jordan.

That change came under the rational of economic liberalization and privatization of state enterprises and investments gearing the world towards a neoliberal moment, according to what Daher believes (Daher 2008).

The state used the “Jordan First” campaign to pave the way to neoliberal projects. According to (Abu-Hamdi 2012), the goal was to make the projects appeal to the masses as if it’s a civic duty, promoting a sense of pride in the government and an ambition in signature development projects: The campaign promoted state-led initiatives which, when implying, would be in the best interest not only of the state, but of all Amman residents

TimeLine of neoliberal projects after the change in the national agenda One of the first neoliberal projects that appeared in Amman carrying all the characteristics of this new era of socio-economics was the Le Royal hotel in 1996. Moreover, they described, in their article, the municipality of Amman’s development regulations as relatively developer-friendly. However, the approval of Le Royal Hotel came with a price – the drastic change of the low-rise notable character of the city (Beauregard, Marpillero 2010).

Soon after the completion of Le Royal project, the central state created the state-owned but financiallyindependent National Resources Investment and Development Corporation, widely known as Mawared2. The corporation’s main objective was to redevelop a former military base in the middle of Amman (Beauregard, Marpillero 2010). According to Parker, this project highlighted a neoliberal paradox that even though international lows are implemented, the site and the context are very local (in this case, the former military site) and renders the state as commodity produced on the global level (Parker 2008). The towers show the manipulation typical to neoliberal development. The first one is the inversion of the process of eminent domain3 (Abu-Hamdi 2012).

1

Abu Dayyeh indicated that Gerald King and Max Lock, authors of the earliest plan made for Amman, 1955 (during the reign or Late Hussein of Jordan), recognized the importance of linking these urban designs and architectural proposals to the overall social and economic context of the plan (ABU-DAYYEH 2007).

2 Mawered’s website lists the members of the corporation as Secretary Generals from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Public Sector Development and a Financial Manager, Jordan Armed Forces (Mawared 2010).

3 the right of the government to take property from a private owner for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of its sovereignty over all lands within its jurisdiction (Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary 2016)

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Figure 1: Jordan Gate towers (Aljabi 2016)

Figure 2: Mega Mall project from Um Teeneh neighborhood

The project was implemented by the Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House in 2005. It is a strategic partnership between Kuwait Investment, Finance Company ‘Al Bayan Holding’ and GAM. GAM’s contributions were limited to providing the 28,500 sqm plot. However, in 2006, the municipality sold its 10% share to the Kuwait investor, withdrawing from the project and leaving the Kuwaiti company, Al Bayan, as the owner of the project, while Al Hamad Construction and development were assigned as the contractors of the project (Namrouqa 2016; Keimat 2006). The decision of the withdrawal came from Maani, the mayor of Amman, stating that there is a conflict of interest as GAM is both the regulator and investor in such a commercial real-estate development project (Beauregard, Marpillero 2010).

The looming towers overlooking the city as comic-like sapphires were set to have 44 levels for both towers and a podium that connects both of them. Furthermore, they were planned to host a 5-star hotel operated by the Hilton chain, executive offices, conference rooms and retail shops (Beauregard, Marpillero 2010) which is a textbook case of neoliberal investment projects. The project eventually came to a halt for more than one reason; it was riddled with an imponderable amount of issues.

According to (Beauregard, Marpillero 2010), the project was halted in 2009 in result to all the technical difficulties. However, the project has slowed down long before that due to constant disagreements between the owner and the contractor. One of the issues is that the budget of the project doubled from 200 million US dollars to 400 million dollars.

In 2013, the project came to a complete stop as the owners could not endure further disputes and settlements with the contractor, so the site was once again, but for the longest period, completely deserted and vacant (AbuHamdi 2016). Since then, the project stands transfixed in both time and space in a limbo state as a constant reminder of GAM’s deregulations and the complete disregard of the public welfare in the ultimate top down decision.

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Amman living wall The project was the ultimate definition of Spectacularism and flashiness, designed by renowned architecture firm – Fosters + partners4, in collaboration with the local firm Maisam owned by Maysa Batynah, and the wife of then mayor of Amman, Omar Maani. The project was strategically located in Wadi Saqra, a central main street in West Amman as this is a low elevation corridor. Therefore, the towers will be sunken within the valley in accordance to the corridor development plan.

The development project was the brainchild of Mawared (Speetjens 2012), a state-owned developer assigned by the Development and Investment Projects Fund (DIP). According to (Alhattab 2007), the DIP’s objective was to enable the army to develop its investments’ locations. The DIP was listed in the international stock market in London and was able to fund the project with USD 145 million. Furthermore, Mawared bought multiple pieces of land worth JOD 30 million5 to add to the land they already owned to build this project. The project received a lot of attention in local and foreign media outlets as it was designed by a renowned architectural firm and was also featured on multiple development news platforms in Jordan and in the Gulf region. The project was tainted by a series of corruption scandals that were difficult to recover from. It ended by detaining the former CEO Akram Abu hamdan for allegedly pocketing millions of dollars (Speetjens 2012). Currently lies as a ghostly hollow shell with enormous proportions; the Mega Mall lies as a ruin in the eastern part of Amman as a reminder of what so many calls a legal heist.

The project is constructed over an old quarry and a landfill in an industrial area in East Amman called Wadi Alrimam. The site, however, is in the valley next to it, but on a much higher level in the low-income residential area of Um-Teineh and Jabal Altaj. The area is characterized by the low-rise buildings that are built with a much more modest architectural language compared to the stone buildings found in west Amman. In an interview with the general manager of Baitona with (Alrai 2007), he states that the development projects shouldn’t be exclusive to west Amman and that the gains of these projects should include all areas of Amman, stressing again on the point that this is the first development project of its scale in east Amman.

He further explained that the project will include retail shops, restaurants, cafes, a theater, cinemas, cultural saloons, collages, medical centres, hotels and, most importantly, a large central mosque. He elaborated that the Mega Mall is part of a series of towers that will reach 40 stories and an area of 110 thousand sqm. The area of the mall is 60,000 m2 and will cost more than 1.5 billion USD6.

The project ‘Headlining and the Anti-Corruption Commission’ started getting more media attention towards 2009 when the building of the mall commenced. Baitona handed over the management of the Mega Mall to people from Baitona’s upper management and started transferring the stocks from the Mega Mall to Baitona (Saraya 2009). Furthermore, they started transferring the money into a public stock, making it a public joint stock company rather than a private company (Stocksexperts 2012). According to (Jordan Zad 2009), transferring the money to stocks was illegal since they need to get the signature of 75% of the shareholders .

4 The project is currently deleted from their site.

5 Around USD 41 million 6 Later, it was falsely appraised to JOD 75 million

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Two incidents where recorded after brick walls started collapsing off of the building. The first one happened in April 2011 and the second one collapsed 9 months later on January 2012. The walls fell off the 10th floor, endangering the people using the storage spaces below the mall. Thankfully, there were no injuries and the residents issued a letter requesting the protection of the area inhabitants as there are a lot of car repair shops that get very busy during the day (Rumonline 2012).

Interim Use Strategy ‘Interim Use’ is the temporary activation of vacant land or buildings with no foreseeable development demand (Blumner 2006).

Most of the literature reviewed that interim use is an intricate strategy used to temporarily solve blighted urban scares and vacant eyesores, describing it as a strategy to use vacant plots and buildings with “no immediate development demand” (Hawke 2009; Lehtovuori, Ruoppila 2012). As for locations, the general theme is vacant and underutilized properties, so Blumner included:

Infill sites

Formal Industrial

Former housing settlement

Empty Buildings

Vacant infrastructure

Shops/Offices

Figure 3: Locations suitable for interim use There are four researches regarding the interim use approach in Leipzig; each one got a different contribution.

(Heck, Will 2007) introduced the topic in 2007 and explained the process and actors. While (Hawke 2009) tries to compare the city of Leipzig to the model used in the United States, (Blumner 2006) goes over the case to define ‘interim use’ in general. And finally, (Heck and Will 2007) implements a triangular integrated evaluation to scientifically study the success of the interim use strategies in Leipzig.

As aforementioned, Heck and Will extensively explained the policy of interim use in Leipzig. The local government took control over the situation of vacant plots by waiving property taxes in return for an assurance of regular site maintenance.

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According to Heck and Will’s paper, the city of Leipzig developed an informal tool in 1999 called “The Authorization Agreement” that is meant to regulate the temporary use of vacant private properties without affecting the ownership or shifting the long-term function of the properties. The agreements were between the municipality and the private owners with the objective of fighting bleak emptiness of the selected sites. The selected sites go through a certain criterion to further insure the regulation of this tool. The criteria include: • •

The importance of the site’s urban development and its impact on the environment.

The “cooperative will” of the owner as in this case where/in which the owner is a main actor.

The owner would have to make their property available in an archive for such development projects.

Accordingly, the municipality contributes to the project by planning the development and funding parts of the construction fees. Furthermore, the municipality coordinates the realization of these measures, while site cleaning and clearance is paid for by grants. For the city, the advantages include: • • •

Creating and activating the green spaces and parks around the city Ensuring site maintenance as per the signed agreement Improving the living quality in the city and achieving a level of attractiveness in the neighborhoods, thus decreasing urban blight.

As for the property owner, the advantages are the following: • • •

Land clearing and cleaning is subsidized, including development as well.

Property tax exemption that would span for the entire duration of the contract7.

Reduction of some running costs that would occur, such as cleaning and removing vandalism.

Mapping Creating a data base

for

projects

the

Model

Financial

Dedicated

Legislation &

documents

support

staff

law making

Explains

Attracting

Facilitate

process

the

funds grants

and

promote

and

Simplify procedure

interim use

Figure4: Proposed tools for interim use strategyTemporary activities in Amman and Jordan

7

The Saxon Urban Development Regulation mandated a 10 years as the minimum period of the interim use contracts (Rall, Haase 2011).

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While previous temporary experiences in Amman are considered small in scale, it is worth listing an event that happens every summer in Amman and another one from the village of Shatan, near the city of Irbid that was proven to be successful. The first one is a local market called JARA. Conducted by Jabal Amman Residents Association (JARA), the market is held in a dead-end street where a public school is the only function. Since the street is usually vacant and underutilized during the summer break, this civil society organization got a special permit to hold a temporary Friday market where local merchants can sell their products (Planet 2016). The second initiative was the ‘Shatana International Artist Workshop’ in a village near the city of Irbid. Hosted in a historical deserted village 70 kilometers away from Amman, the residency program was held 3 times starting in 2007 and ending in 2009. Makan, which is a local art organization, invited artists from around the world for a 2week residency where they would have to make use of the stone buildings and exhibit their work in there (Nafas 2007). The experiment had a creative nature and, even though it was discontinued, the experiment received positive reviews and attracted local and international media attention while showcasing the forgotten historical village of Shatana (Humaid 2007). The SWOT Analysis diagram (Figure 5) is based on the research of (Rall, Haase 2011) and cross-referenced with the Jordanian.

Figure 5: Stakeholder analysis

Conclusion Lefebvre (1991) mentions in his book, the Production of Space, that ‘the physical space has no reality without the energy that is deployed within it’. Thus, the buildings investigated in this thesis are becoming hollow shells rather than functioning structures. Interim use strategies have proven to be a sufficient tool to benefit from such structures without hindering the ownership of the property or causing financial damages to the local government as opposed to land acquisitions and large-scale demolitions. The hurdles that this strategy would face, however,

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would be on a regulatory and decision-making level. Accordingly, policies should be revised to facilitate such strategies. In hindsight, such strategies would unlock new socio-economic opportunities for Amman, as they are considered developmental, thus eligible for international grants and funds. Interim use projects are also a chance for the civil society and the community to reclaim their role in a bottom-up planning process, as neoliberalism and capitalism tends to shun the public from the planning and decision-making processes (Lefebvre 1991; Rall, Haase 2011). Conclusively, interim use is activation rather than a regulating tool that creates a new approach to urban development – one that tackles urban decay, creating opportunities for more exciting, creative and diverse functions in the city.

References ABU- DAYYEH, NABIL I. (2007): Persisting vision. Plans for a modern Arab capital, Amman, 1955–2002. In Planning Perspectives 19 (1), pp. 79–110. DOI: 10.1080/0266543042000177922.

Abu-Hamdi, Eliana (2012): THE GATE TOWERS OF AMMAN: SURRENDER OF PUBLIC SPACE TO BUILD A NEOLIBERAL RUIN. In Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 26 (1), pp. 58–59.

Abu-Hamdi, Eliana (2016): The Jordan Gate Towers of Amman. Surrendering Public Space to Build a Neoliberal Ruin. In International Journal of Islamic Architecture 5 (1), pp. 73–101. DOI: 10.1386/ijia.5.1.73_1.

Alhattab, Sultan (2007): The living Wall!! Alrai. Available online at http://alrai.com/article/43234.html, checked on 7/13/2016.

Alrai (2007): Baituna project in East Amman includes towers 40 stories high and a commercial mall with a cost that exceeds 1.5 billion USD. Available online at http://www.alrai.com/article/239812.html, checked on 7/9/2016.

Beauregard, Robert; Marpillero, Andrea (2010): AMMAN 2025: From Master Plan to Strategic Initiative.

Columbia University Middle East research center. New York, New York USA. Blumner, Nicole (2006): Planning for the Unplanned. Tools and Techniques for Interim Use in Germany and the United States.

Daher, Rami (2008): Amman: Disguised Genealogy and Recent Urban Restructuring and Neoliberal Threats. In Yasser Elsheshtawy (Ed.): The evolving Arab city. Tradition, modernity and urban development / edited

by Yasser Elsheshtawy. London: Routledge (Planning, history and environment series), pp. 37–68.

Daher, Rami Farouk (2013): Neoliberal urban transformations in the arab city. In Environnement urbain 7, p. 99. DOI: 10.7202/1027729ar.

Elsheshtawy, Yasser (2008): The evolving Arab city. Tradition, modernity and urban development / edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy. London: Routledge (Planning, history and environment series).

Harvey, David (2005): A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Hawke, Whitney L. (2009): Case Study Research Exploring Interim Use Brownfield Projects and Their Feasibility in the United States. Urban & Environmental Policy Program. Occidental College. Available online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237414383_Case_Study_Research_Exploring_Interim_Use _Brownfield_Projects_and_Their_Feasibility_in_the_United_States.

Heck, Astrid; Will, Heike (2007): Interim Use. Opportunity for New Open-SpaceQuality in the Inner City - The Example of Leipzig. German Journal of Urban Studies (Vol. 46). Available online at http://www.difu.de/publikationen/german-journal-of-urban-studies-vol-46-2007-no-1/interim-useopportunity-for-new-open-spacequality-in-the.html, checked on 7/22/2016.

Humaid, Ahmad (2007): Shatana: Contemporary art meets ancient village. 360 East. Available online at http://www.360east.com/?p=799, checked on 7/26/2016.

Jordan Zad (2009): Mega Mall/ Baitona collaborators marching for their rights. Jordan Zad. Available online at http://www.jordanzad.com/print.php?id=40396, checked on 7/9/2016.

Keimat, Khalid (2006): GAM to sell stake in Jordan Gate project. Jordan Times. Amman, Jordan.

Lefebvre, Henri (1991): The production of space. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Lehtovuori, Panu; Ruoppila, Sampo (2012): TEMPORARY USES AS MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL URBAN PLANNING. Available online at Estonian Academy of Arts / University of Turku.

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Mawared (2010): About Us. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Mawared. Available online at http://www.mawared.jo/our_company1.shtm, checked on 6/11/2016.

Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary (2016): Definition of EMINENT DOMAIN. Available online at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eminent%20domain, checked on 6/12/2016.

Nafas (2007): Shatana International Artist Workshop, Jordan. Call for Applications. Available online at http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2007/tips/shatana_internat_workshop, checked on 7/26/2016.

Namrouqa, Hana (2016): Construction of Jordan Gate twin towers to resume after years of suspension. Jordan Times. Amman, Jordan. Available online at http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/constructionjordan-gate-twin-towers-resume-after-years-suspension, checked on 6/14/2016.

Parker, Christopher (2008): REORIENTING AMMAN: NEOLIBERALISM AND THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE LOCAL. In Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 20 (1), p. 20.

Planet, Lonely (2016): Souk Jara - Lonely Planet. Available online at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/jordan/amman/shopping/markets-streets-arcades/souk-jara, checked on 7/26/2016.

Rall, Emily Lorance; Haase, Dagmar (2011): Creative intervention in a dynamic city. A sustainability assessment of an interim use strategy for brownfields in Leipzig, Germany. In Landscape and Urban Planning 100 (3), pp. 189–201. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.12.004.

Rumonline (2012): Mega Mall walls collapsing. Available online at http://www.rumonline.net/index.php?page=article&id=67520, checked on 7/12/2016.

Saraya (2009): Baitona’s board acquires the rights of Mega Mall investors by holding the management of the mall as an agreement. Saraya News. Available online at http://www.sarayanews.com/index.php?page=article&id=15859, checked on 7/9/2016.

Speetjens, Peter (2

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012): Lebanese magnate and ex PM Saad Hariri set for sting as Amman’s bubble bursts. Jordan Vista. Available online at http://vista.sahafi.jo/art.php?id=7c8772fd5b91211fa7450c95ee9b09ddf8d6ba58, checked on 7/13/2016.

Stocksexperts (2012): Anti-Corruption Commission freezes the assets of Baitona’s CEO Moawia Dbayan.

Available online at http://stocksexperts.net/showthread.php?t=66676, checked on 7/11/2016.

Sustainable Strategies for Urban Renewal Assessing the case of redevelopment in Military tera8, Addis Ababa Semegnish Eshetu Gizaw Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Prof. Johann Jessen, Professor of Urban & Regional Planning, University of Stuttgart Dr. Marwa Abdellatif, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Ain Shams University

Abstract Focusing on urban renewal projects in inner city markets in Addis Ababa, especially in Military tera, this thesis carefully assesses an already implemented user-based redevelopment scheme which has been deemed successful by many. The study approaches the issue of assessing sustainability through two major phases: the first is to identify the core issues that need to be deliberated, while the second is to design a tool used for assessment. An 8

Military tera is a local name given to a built-up outlet market for wholesale and retail located at the core of the central market in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

indicator index classified according to the four pillars of sustainability (social, environmental, economic and institutional criteria) was designed, putting into consideration the key issues identified. The study also examines areas where high opinion discrepancy had been observed to provide recommendations on how these gaps could be narrowed towards developing a strategy within the framework of sustainable urban development.

Keywords: indicators, inner city markets, urban renewal, redevelopment sustainable urban development Introduction In the last four decades, there has been an unprecedented increase in urban population. With no signs of slowing down, now more than ever, people are keener to live in cities than in rural areas. Despite the many possibilities that arise from urbanization, this change in socio-spatial dynamics, economic foundations and environmental presence comes with enormous challenges in providing a healthy liveable city for all. In response to these challenges and the imminent need to address them, the nature of the 21th century planning has taken a significant turn in considering changes, uncertainties, and future events by way of sustainable urban development. The foremost deliberation of such a way of planning is the uncompromised balance that it aims to achieve among the major aspects of human life affected by past, present and future urbanization.

By grounding its analysis on a comparison of the qualitative perceptions of key stakeholders, the aim of this thesis is to identify ways in which such a balance could be achieved while using urban renewal as a strategy for sustainable urban development.

Review of theory and methodology In a nut shell, sustainable urban development, as a concept, is a reaction to the challenges such as rapid population, growth climate change and globalization faced by the rapidly urbanizing world. There are two categories of sustainability in an urban area, namely, i) urban sustainability or sustainable city and ii) sustainable urban development or sustainable urbanization (Whitehead 2003).

Urban renewal is one of the policies that are utilized in moving towards sustainable urban development (UNHabitat 2010). With sustainability as a recent addition to the whole picture of urban planning, it has been proven by time that it is important to measure all efforts in a solid means in order to identify a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice. In order to commend a good practice or learn from a bad one, understanding the objectives and impacts of the strategy is important.

Having said this, it is clear from the sheer magnitude and complexity of the concepts that are carried by sustainable urban development that achieving complete success is impossible. As the challenges keep morphing and widening, the issues that need to be solved keep changing as well, making sustainability a moving target.

Moreover, since development in many cases doesn’t take place at the same time, realizing the principle of sustainable urban development faces more challenges in some areas than others.

Among the many research methodologies, the case study method was considered appropriate for this thesis because of the absolute need to look at the issue in the local sense as discussed above. Case study research allows the researcher to look at the phenomenon in context (Farquhar 2013).

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The evaluation method, that is utilized and which has been found appropriate for data analysis, is the indicatorbased assessment method (Hemphill, Berry and McGreal 2004) for its ability to function better under circumstantial premise and effectiveness in a short time frame. In this regard, this thesis, as a major data analysis tool, formulates a set of indicators that are applicable and logical to the specific case of redevelopment project in Merkato.

Background study Addis Ababa was established in 1886, during the reign of Emperor Menilik (Terefe 2005). Despite incidentally becoming a capital city, Addis Ababa grew to be the most permanent capital in the history of modern Ethiopia.

The city’s strong population base that settled around the emperor’s court fleeing a famine which had happened from 1889 to 1892, as well as its suitable location are attributed to making it undoubtedly the most important urban centre in the country where political power and material wealth became more concentrated. The city has expanded horizontally, leaving a compact urban core or inner city.

What is referred to as the inner city today is this core that was neglected and, in a large part, the highly dense settlement. This inner-city Addis Ababa covers less than 12% of the 54,000 hhectar total area of the city but houses almost 40% of the total population (ORAAMP, 2000). Despite the exiting physical condition, the innercity also holds great potential due to the relatively available setup of infrastructure and utilities. As a result, there is an imminent pressure from both the government and private sector to redevelop and renew the innercity areas of Addis Ababa, making them prime sites for urban development.

Merkato, an indigenous market, is believed to be used, in average, by five hundred thousand people per day (Angélil and Hebel 2009). After the end of the occupation, Merkato continued to be the major national, regional and city-wide market. Having the main bus station located within its vicinity, Merkato became the main arena, not only for economic processes but also social transformations from rural to urban Ethiopia. Military tera is located in the core of the central market Merkato. The site is defined on four sides by main vehicular roads, giving it a good connectivity to other parts of the market (Figure 1).

Assessment of user-based redevelopment strategy in Military tera In summary, urban renewal intends to create better environmental, social, environmental and institutional aspects of urban areas through various actions including redevelopment, urban redesigning, and cultural conservation. In these respects, urban renewal can, significantly, contribute to sustainable urban development if it follows a sustainable path (Zheng, Shen and Wang 2013). The indicators for sustainable urban renewal must, therefore, measure the elements of the concept of renewal in accordance with the principles of the present four pillars of sustainability. As discussed, one of the advantages of the indicator-based system is that it accommodates the interrelated nature of the issues within these pillars – one indicator could serve to measure various issues and later be addressed with a comprehensive decision-making solution.

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The evaluation, as already mentioned, will be a qualitative one in which indicators will be rated by identified stakeholders (traders and policy makers) on a scale of insufficient to excellent, where 1 will be the point given to indicators that are deemed unsuccessful, parallel to the aim of the renewal strategy, and 4 represents the ‘maximum’ contribution to a sustainable urban renewal strategy (see appendix 6 for rating framework). The indicators and rationale behind the selection, along with the points allocated, will be discussed briefly before the outcome of the evaluation itself.

Figure 1: Inner city Addis Ababa Photo credit: Marcin Szczepanski

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This manuscript argues that one way to attaining progress towards sustainable urban development is regular assessment of strategies through a set of relevant parameters crucial in decision-making in sustainable urban development.

As end users of the renewal strategy, the traders are the ultimate stakeholders. Whether the user-based renewal strategy is sustainable or not, it primarily influences their way of doing business, their space of doing business and their very existence, in general. The second group of stake holders that were identified to be highly influenced by the state urban policy and strategy, the decision–making body of the strategy (i.e. in this case, the municipal policy makers) are also crucial stakeholders.

Therefore, the thesis uses qualitative rating of these groups of stakeholders in order to identify the points of success and failure of the strategy. Since military tera has already gone under the renewal process, a clear temporal comparison could be made by both stakeholders in order to evaluate the strategy followed.

Using the index produced following the methodological approach, a set of indicators, that correspond to the general criteria or pillars of sustainability, were produced. The assessments of this thesis depend on the results obtained from the qualitative rating of these indicators by the stakeholders identified as decisive. In this accord, 20 traders, that are part of the association, and 8 policy makers, were given a list of the indicators in which they were required to qualitatively rate what they had thought of the impact of the renewal strategy was, regarding that specific indicator. The assessment was carried out via one-to-one interview. In order to make the findings

value-based, a numerical value was set to each quality ranging from 1-4. This enabled to gauge the approximate maximum value that could be attained in each sub criteria. Moreover, these values, that were designated, made the identification of areas of discrepancy from the ones that were agreed upon by each stakeholder.

Table 1: Pillars of sustainability and indicators index General criteria Sub-criteria Environmental aspects Built-up fabric Institutional aspects Economic aspects Social aspects

Land tenure Organizational structure Capital gain Employment and work ‘the market’ Community involvement Heritage and conservation

No. of indicators 8 9 10 6

Source: The author

Findings The qualitative assessment of the renewal strategy in military tera was conducted to identify the perceptions of the two major stake holders in the renewal process. Identifying areas where both agree on a plausible success and areas where clear-cut contradiction exists on the level of success is vital for taking lessons in devising future strategies towards a sustainable urban renewal project? Quality assessment was picked as an assessment method for it provides a subjective opinion of the end users as well as policy makers, regardless of the intent of the

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renewal manual. However, since the number of participants from each stake holder (20 in the case of traders that were part of the renewal process and the subsequent association and 8 policy makers within the Municipal lease office) is not equal, a direct comparison of the values obtained is not conducted. Instead, the comparisons are made based on the overall highest value that can be obtained within each sub criteria, depending on each stakeholder. The evaluation of this thesis, therefore, aims at finding a middle ground between how the strategy is devised and how it is implemented while, in the end, directing it towards a sustainable urban renewal.

As expected, there were various issues that have both been rated as sufficient, if not excellent, and various other issues in which one stakeholder has been rated excellent, while the other nothing close to the aimed result.

Issues that mainly focus on the physical improvement of the market are widely agreed upon by both stake holders as sufficient, if not excellent, in many cases. On the other hand, institutional transparency, fairness in capital gain and possibilities of future improvement were widely labelled insufficient by traders, while the policy makers similarly labelled issues such as the motivation of traders and the willingness to cooperate. This work, therefore, concludes by making two sets of recommendations. The first set will be on what could be included in devising a relevant sustainable strategy for future renewal of inner-city market areas. The recommendations will mainly focus on enhancing the exciting experience of a user-based redevelopment scheme. Since their development is a major part of the research, a recommendation on the indicators themselves as future monitoring and evaluating tools for sustainable urban renewal is the second set.

While considering urban renewal as a strategy in sustainable urban development, it is very important to address the planning subsystem and social subsystem properly in order to achieve sustainable urban renewal in a city (Zheng, Shen and Wang 2013). Furthermore, as identified from an extensive, onsite interview and a thought analysis of the urban renewal manual of Addis Ababa in framing the site-specific concept being assessed, the above-mentioned issues are structured as policy related issues and socio-cultural issues. These issues then relate directly with the identified indicate index that is used in assessing the strategy in the framework of sustainable urban development. As a result, the recommendations of thesis are categorised as such and will be discussed below as: on policy, related issues and on socio cultural issues.

On policy, related issues Based on the overall qualitative assessment, it is seen from the conclusion that the renewal strategy is, more or less, successful in realizing its objectives – economic and capital gain. However, from the qualitative assessment of the user-based redevelopment scheme, it was synthesized that there are still gaps that needed to be addresses in making the strategy a ‘good’ practice in sustainability. Below are strategies that ought to be included in devising a renewal strategy that progresses in the quality of the indicators that showed conflicting values in the assessment.

On soci-cultural issues Parallel to the above inputs to the policy-related issues, these recommendations focus more on the human dimensions of the strategy. From the qualitative assessment, there are different issues regarding the social and institutional aspects of sustainability that were given low-quality values. In order to improve these indicators

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with such results, it is recommended that the strategy becomes more inclusive, participatory and engaging. This can only be achieved by motivating the traders involved in the renewal and by setting up reliable support systems that ensure progress in all aspects of their lives. The following are some recommendations that are deemed necessary to be included in a sustainability market renewal strategy.

Conclusion The multi-dimensional facet of sustainable urban renewal has, throughout this thesis, proved how intricate the assessment of an urban renewal strategy is. Drawing a conclusion of either the ‘good’ practice or the ‘bad’ practice is highly dependent on the specificity of a case. This is because the issues that are to be assessed will only make sense if found relevant to the context. Additionally, while the locality is the setting where the strategy will be implemented, the existing problems and potentials will guide the coining of a strategy. Priorities and objectives of the renewal strategy have, therefore, showed to be the decisive issues that one needs to look at while conducting an assessment.

However, looking at these successes of the strategy in claiming full success of the entire strategy will not be ideal.

Since the principles of sustainable urban development dictate a considerable balance between elements of the four pillars of sustainability, it is important to examine the effect the strategy has on all aspects of this framework set up for sustainable urban development.

Despite the improvements, primarily in the economic and environmental aspects, the perceptions, as identified by the assessment of this thesis on institutional and social aspects, are with clear discrepancies. The study process of this thesis has clearly illustrated that there will always exist a difference in perception between end users and policy makers. Varying qualitative values given by traders, on one hand, as end users and the lease officers, on the other hand, as policy makers, shows that there is a questionable gap in approach in the overall strategy of the user-based redevelopment strategy. Issues such as the transparency and the fairness of the entire system are the main points of discrepancy regarding the institutional issues, while historical and cultural values are the primary gaps in the social aspects.

In conclusion, the renewal strategy in military tera – a user-based renewal strategy that has aimed at being participatory and inclusive – has, to the most part, achieved a considerable success regarding the economic and environmental aspects towards sustainable urban renewal, while there needs to be improvements in the aspects regarding institutional organization and socio-cultural values. Achieving an optimum success in urban renewal strategy could, therefore, be linked with creating an optimum balance between the issues concerned in these important stake holders. In the process of addressing the concerns that each stakeholder has, a stagey would, therefore, be closer to attaining a sustainable urban renewal.

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Ho, Daniel Chi Wing; Yau, Yung; Poon, Sun Wah; Liusman, Ervi (2012): Achieving Sustainable Urban Renewal in Hong Kong. Strategy for Dilapidation Assessment of High Rises. In J. Urban Plann. Dev. 138 (2), pp. 153– 165. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000104.

Itard, Laure; Klunder, Gerda (2007): Comparing environmental impacts of renovated housing stock with new construction. In Building Research & Information 35 (3), pp. 252–267. DOI: 10.1080/09613210601068161.

Johnson, Martin Eric (1976): The evolution of the morphology of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Xerox Univ. Films.

Terefe, Heyaw 2005. Contested Space: Transformation of Inner-city Market Areas and Users Reaction in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Rametsteiner, Ewald; Pulzl, Helga; Johanna Alkan-Olsson; Pia Frederiksen (2011): Sustainability indicator development—Science or political negotiation?

Rasoolimanesh, S. Mostafa; Badarulzaman, Nurwati; Jaafar, Mastura (2011): Achievement to Sustainable Urban Development using City Development Strategies (CDS). A Comparison between Cities Alliance and the World Bank definitions. In JSD 4 (5). DOI: 10.5539/jsd.v4n5p151.

Salman, Amna; Qureshi, Salman (2010): Indicators of sustainable urban development: A review of urbanregeneration projects in Karachi, Pakistan. settecasi, nancy (2011): Sustainable Urbanization Post-2015 UN Development Agenda EGM. In UNHABITAT. Shen, Li-Yin; Jorge Ochoa, J.; Shah, Mona N.; Zhang, Xiaoling (2011): The application of urban sustainability indicators – A comparison between various practices. In Habitat International 35 (1), pp. 17–29. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2010.03.006.

UN-Habitat 2010. Planning Sustainable Cities: UN-Habitat practices and perspectives.

Whitehead, Mark 2003. Spaces of Sustainability. URL: https://books.google.com.et/books?id=Ir1_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT226&dq=Whitehead,+2003+sustainability& hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Whitehead%2C%202003%20sustainability&f=false [Stand 201606-09].

Zheng, Helen W., Shen, Geoffrey Q. and Wang, Hao 2013. A Review of Recent Studies On Sustainable Urban Renewal. Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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2. Urban Rehabilitation and Socio-economic Values

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Urban Stress Relief in Heritage Sites as a Sustaining Approach The Case of Port Said City Author Jasmin Shata Supervisors: Associate Professor Dr. Abeer Elshater, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Prof. Johann Jessen, Professor of Urban & Regional Planning University of Stuttgart

Abstract Spaces are being abandoned, neglected and eventually forgotten, though they, physically speaking, still exist but would rather vanish than flourish in our visual and mental environment. Decay is a progress and a pervasive parasite, absorbing and constantly consuming where things, slowly, start to disappear. Damages and ruins are the leftovers, resulting from a lack of attention and recognition. Moreover, it is the ignorance of something or the misconception of it. Urban voids, architectural jewels, structural masterpieces, impressive innovations are

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milestones in history, and the very simple existence of an element of our habitat is an essential part which we blindly overlook every day. The scars of our city remain in each corner of our spaces, and while some of us can grasp and feel them in a way, others perceive them as disturbing and redundant, or a waste of space. Each wound result in a scar and each scar has a story to tell. These places, that symbolize history, past, and future, evoke memories and feelings. They visualize strength and fragility in co-existence in a profound and daunting way.

Keywords: Urban stress; Stress Relief; Preservation; Identity; Sense of place; Port Said; Architecture Introduction Cities are expanding and the world is shifting towards a more urbanized environment with growing challenges as, in the next thirty years, the urban population is estimated to increase rapidly. Though urbanization is an inevitable process, it comes mostly with deficient infrastructure due to the lack of space, recourses and the amount of people living in dense areas. Urban living, therefore, results in stress, triggered by different factors such as overcrowding and pollution, which not only influences public spaces and nature but, more significantly, affects our built environment and heritage, causing deterioration and degradation. Urban stress is, additionally, impacting human health heavily, as city dwellers are subjected to a higher stress value than others. When not being able to cope with these challenges, people’s well-being is disturbed; they show a higher vulnerability for developing health and mood disorders such as anxiety or schizophrenia, in addition to feeling lonely, insecure or annoyed. Port Said, a Mediterranean city in Egypt, bordered by the Suez Canal, once a very delicate and cosmopolitan city nowadays, suffers from governmental neglect and the deterioration of buildings. The diversified and unique architecture is impressively influenced by the European style and creativity; artistic and structural, but threatened to fall apart or be demolished due to abandonment. By discovering the traces of the city’s historical roots and architectural finesse, this work tackles how the connection, perception and commitment of residents towards their urban fabric can preserve the valuable heritage and a how a fortiori can enhance urban living in many different ways.

The research is a further attempt to identify the potentials of urban heritage which is endangered by city development, and benefit from these advantages in order to relieve the city from stress and stabilize it. Heritage does not only play a crucial role in the identity and image of the city; it is also a key for development and stimulation of urban harmony. The proposed framework should serve as a guideline for the city’s selfassessment by measuring urban qualities through different relevant factors, which are strongly connected to physical features as well as personal and collective perceptions and, in turn, people’s behavioural reaction.

Port Said- A Historical Outline Port Said, the seaport – which lies at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, enclosed by the Mediterranean and the Manzala lake – was inaugurated in 1859 and named after Muhammad Said Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt at that time, who commissioned the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps with the construction of the great Suez Canal.

Besides Alexandria, the city, nowadays, is one of the country’s most significant commercial hubs as well as the

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second biggest harbour. Witnessing crucial periods in time – namely the construction of the canal, the colonial phase, war and demolition and the recovery stage – it is one of the less discussed topics in Egyptian history, despite its significance as a Port, not only to one country but to the world. Linking the east to the west by creating a waterway, which connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic with the lands of Suez, was the paramount goal for a foundation of “un port centre nature” – a harbour in spite of itself. After the often-doubted implementation of the project succeeded and the canal was finally established, it served as an international centre for trade, exchange, and communications throughout many years. The city, that was planned on a grid design of a triangular tract of land, soon flourished and attracted merchants as well as businessmen, mostly Europeans. Soon after the establishment, Port Said grew to be a city of global transport and trade and gained significance as being the headquarters for the Suez Canal Company, one of the biggest at its time. At its glorious times, the town fascinated many people and drew foreigners, especially from the Mediterranean region, to move and settle in the coastal city. Foreign languages, mostly French, followed by Italian, strengthened multilingualism as a main characteristic of the city, accompanied by many other languages within the population. This led to the establishment of foreign schools, cultural centres and religious institutions for each community. The idyllic scene, nevertheless, started to shake when the city witnessed times of war and deconstruction: It is the year 1952 when Port Said’s stability starts to shake as a consequence of conflicted relations between the ruling powers. The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also knows as the 23rd July Revolution, gives particularly far-reaching implications after the military coup on King Farouk, when Mohamed Naguib takes over. He is then replaced by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, who follows harsh political goals and insists on stirring up hatred among the Egyptian population against the British occupation, besides aiming at an economical improvement trough the construction of the Aswan High Dam (Milner, 2011). The following years of the Nasser era were dominated by his ideology of nationalism and socialism, mainly in the anti-colonialism movement.

Later on, Nasser’s ideology is further transferred to the phase of reconstruction, taking the destruction as an opportunity for a new start, as a revolution for modernism – architectural, and as heralding the phase of a new Egypt. The state’s propaganda is most significantly reflected in magazines, books and other publications depicting the image of the progressive modern city that offers collective housing, public parks, low-cost housing districts for workers, presentable residential housing, service and industrial zones as well as beach amenities. A substantial and rather unexpected turn of the events takes place with the outbreak of the six-day war of 1967 when Port Said again becomes the target of the bombing. Due to attacks by the Israeli forces, “Port Said was once again devastated, much of the still-new reconstruction made into ruins” (Elshahed, 2012). Unfortunately, this time, Nasser’s regime was not able to cope that easily with this sudden challenge. The city is intended to collapse again, the canal is closed down and residents are evacuated to other regions. The Yom-Kippur War follows, and so do years of uncertainty and stagnation.

Years later, people get to return to their homes, but the city is not the same anymore. It is marked by decades of various characteristics: emergence, erection, renowned, war, destruction, reconstruction, gasp of relief, and a

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new demolition, forgotten and eventually trying to get up

again.

Another

important

aspect

is

the

immigration of thousands of Egyptians from the various, mostly rural areas of the country, being attracted by the establishment of the Free Zone, which was introduced to stimulate the local economy and as a reward for the city’s sacrifices (Ahmed, 2014). The new residents heavily impact the further cultural and social development.

Research Problem Port Said's heritage is today threatened by the ongoing demolition of historical buildings. This goes along with the governmental neglect and corrupt business.

Saving heritage and landmarks is, therefore, a key issue when talking about the preservation of a culture that is in the danger of getting lost. Recently, the city is going through a rapid construction boom which is heavily encroaching the urban fabric and initiating growing threats at the same time. House Owners mostly exploit the loophole by enforcing their plans through corrupt practices.

Buildings are being neglected until they fall apart or are being torn down due to their good location, for instance, to build new, mostly high-rise housing on the plot. Resulting from this are partly (informal) encroachments today's

context,

and the

unparalleled city

is

architecture. In

suffering

from

tremendous housing shortage leading, therefore, to

a Figure 1: Research process diagram

severe real estate prices. Port Said, lying in a very strategic location, bordered in a triangular location from the northern Mediterranean Sea – the Suez Canal on the eastern side and the great Manzala lake from the west. Due to these preconditions, spatial extensions are rather limited and critical. As the demand for residential property becomes high, old housing areas in the city centre become a desirable focus point for investments and corrupt businesses. With the growing pressure rises the demolition of classical old

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buildings and the construction of new high-rise buildings instead, arisen during the past 15 years, mainly by corrupt actions, and which are a distraction to the visual connection, especially to the harbour’s front suffering from neglect and vacantness. Throughout the years, several changes and interventions took place in- and outside the buildings as well as encroachments, huts, vandalism and other relevant issues. This enormous disorder mainly results from an unclear division versus the appropriation of users, causing instant difficulties. In addition, old buildings, that are not in use anymore, are nothing else than forgotten, neglected voids turning into ruins within the city.

In this context, the pressure which the urban sprawl is creating on that district, is becoming a more crucial issue throughout trends of city planning and development. At the same time, it is important needs to be aware that development is an inevitable process that always entails positive and negative aspects. Even legally-protected buildings are endangered to have to yield to new modern houses. The term "urban stress" hereby describes the difficulties and external forces that dominate or affect the development or existence of our historical cores. The aim is to take control over the dimensions that generate urban stress and relieve the city of them by introducing strategies that can ease the strained urban situation. Relieving the city from urban stress is also an attempt to encounter, on the one hand, and on the other fight against a more urbanized, characterless, depressed, disorganized city without identity and roots of (in)tangible heritage. The described ‘heritage fabric’, the district under observation in this research, by this means, defines a broader spectrum of Port Said’s city core of Hay el Frang (the European quarter). It was home to many foreign communities like Greek, French, and Italian, who influenced the built environment enormously.

The district is, therefore, the most significant part of the city containing a very diversified architecture. Heritage is one of the most important assets of a society. It represents a set of historical layers, ways of living and structures that were passed on from generation to another, whether recognized as tangible or intangible cultural heritage, which is due to its significance of immeasurable value for humanity. This research aims at achieving guidelines/ strategies that initiate development in a sustainable way to foster prosperity and quality of life, not only for the users on site but also for neighbours, citizens and visitors of the city itself. The careful attempt of preserving heritage comes along with the reclamation – definition of urban public spaces and their potential for generating growth of economic and social structures.

Enhancing the functional assimilation of urban space can, therefore, be defined by a more comprehensive planning and research approach. The broader, general objective is to relieve the city from the enormous pressure resulting from the ongoing demolition and the consequent construction boom. The interdependency of relief and revival means to ease the conflict situation and help the historical city centre to recover again. It is not necessary to give the building back its original state but turn them again to more liveable spaces that play an active role as part of the urban fabric. The challenge lies in identifying those dead places and reanimate them by integrating them into the cityscape. Furthermore, and as a crucial foundation for this change, it is to be investigated what the impact of residents is on their heritage. What is the meaning of responsibility and integrity towards one’s environment and what role do the different factors play for achieving a well-being and harmonized living in

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dense, urban areas? Through this approach, the city’s identity can be regained and preserved and, therefore, its heritage, as well.

Conclusion The present urban setting comes along with many other crucial factors influencing the atmosphere and urban coulisse. The image is burdened with noise disturbance by cars and their constant honking, with a permanent environmental pollution that results from dirt, dust, smell and trash and the massive traffic volume, especially during peak times and the resulting lack of space. Moreover, historical buildings stand there abandoned, in the midst of the urban chaos of the 21st century.

They

are

the

victims

of

globalization, population and city growth, neglect and, more significantly, abuse and vandalism.

In

these

prevailing

circumstances, a city resident is more likely to be exposed to stress. More specifically, urban stress triggers inter alia anxiousness, feelings

of

anonymity

and

isolation,

Figure 2 Old Historical Buildings are torn down to be replaced by new high-rise buildings Source: the author

insecurity and physical tension. These do not only arouse due to environmental conditions but,

moreover,

through

insufficient

infrastructure, too high sidewalks or even harassment.

All these factors lead to unbalanced city dwellers who are not able to balance their environment in a satisfying way.

Urban

living, therefore, becomes a challenge with lots of obstacles disturbing our everyday life patterns. Identifying ourselves with our surroundings or even with a city becomes even more difficult when not feeling comfortable and the absence of feelings of ease and security. The result is that our direct and immediate vicinity moves to a far distance as we try to avoid the exposure to it, bypass the

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encounter or just ignore their sight since it would have already vanished from our field of vision. Hence, the present conflict of the urban setting can be summarized into three main components being dominant in the city: urban stress, residents, and heritage. These can, thus, be viewed in a triangular relationship influencing and affecting each other, shaping a city and its performance. Nevertheless, the people in this connection seem to be the key player.

The question that arises is how this disorder can be set aside to reproduce an urban setting which is balanced in activities, less stress-loaded and inhabited by residents who are at peace with their environment. Through the researcher’s observations and encounters during the field study in Port Said, it became clear how crucial the role of residents in this urban interplay becomes in terms of renewal processes. Cities are complex systems in an ever-changing progress, shaped by human interactions and interventions. People do not only significantly influence their environment but also form a very distinct cultural identity, be it on an individual or a collective scale. Either way, identity is mostly bound to cultural values, whether tangible or intangible. The product of identity is represented in the attachment to a certain place, strongly connected to virtues such as memories, a sense of continuity, beliefs or spiritual matters. Therefore, there should be a focus on the behaviour of people as cultural morals are decisive in the handling of heritage in precise and built environments, in general. The point is that, when humans are aware of their identity, which is shaped by historical events, places, and values, they are also able to be in harmony with the urban environment when establishing a certain affiliation and wellbeing.

Identity, in this sense, stands for the nature of one’s personality and where one belongs. Identity, also being strongly bound to memory, shows how continuity can be disturbed by certain historical events. Memory, in turn, is connected to the concept of place, which is always endowed with meaning by its people. The narratives that stand behind these places are the key points to keeping a place alive. When talking with the residents about their environment and their historical buildings, the researcher was able to: recall their memories; recall the places in their mental imagination; recall the remembrance that these places still exist, which might not be in a flawless condition anymore, but which continue to live inside people's minds; recall how these places flourished long time ago and how they impacted city living in Port Said.

The reason why these important sites seem to disappear lies in the development of our more and more urbanized world and the spatial patterns of our everyday life habits that keep us apart from recognizing the value and significance of heritage in the city, hence other factors come to the fore. Heritage buildings in strategic locations are pressured due to the competitive land use where city cores lose their cultural qualities and become only places of practical planning standards of a consumerism-based global society with influential stakeholders, on the one hand, and homeless, powerless losers of the play on the other hand. The symbolism of a local place might, therefore, lose interest to its people when other factors become predominant. At this point, it is important to recognize a place as home because ‘place making' then means to give it a certain notion and meaning. What people perceive as important depends on their memory, which is strongly connected to different previous events, evoking difficulties and disagreements when it comes to the question of how to deal with heritage. It might, thus, be a critical point whether a statue, like De Lesseps that is associated with the colonial oppression should be restored on its original plinth or not. Nevertheless, memory as essentially recognized by the researcher, is in

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need of a social setting in order to survive. This can be achieved through constant communication and people’s narratives as well as the association with certain places. While the visual component of a personal experience is the strongest, when an image becomes even more solid through a memory, it can be recalled at any time.

Memories, on the other hand, as a collective act, are more likely to be passed on and circulated in cultural contexts. It is also an essential supplement to history which can, sometimes, be misleading or lacking parts of information. Thus, history is not only told in written form nor by the physical performance of a place, but by its people, as well.

Besides, considering the sense of place is an essential catalyst for maintaining or recovering the character of an area. The former concept describes the relationship of places and people while the latter shares a culturally, emotional feeling with space. This tradition is further endowed with beliefs and represents a sense of attachment. Moreover, it stands for a human need, impacting our mental state and is, therefore, strongly related to one's well-being within our environment. However, memory cannot solely be counted on when it comes to safeguarding heritage sites as it might not be a universally shared impression. However, in order to establish a sense of place where people are in harmony with their environment, awareness should be raised in the society, firstly towards their heritage as an essential part of the city. As also being expressed in the World Heritage Convention, programs for education and awareness raising stand for the commitment towards the conventions principles of safeguarding sites. Here, not only older generations, that experienced the buildings in real life, should be considered, but all age groups and especially children who will, in turn, when growing up, endow the memory that was once educated to them. When knowing the virtue of heritage and its importance to the city, as well as the more specific the impact it can have, people will value it differently and engage in sustaining heritage.

“Society’s identification with an ownership of heritage is the primary motivating […] conservation; but it is the securing of financial support that enables implementation” (Orbasly, 2000) According to this, another development catalyst, like financial revenues, should be considered in addition to the education sector. A property’s inscription, on a national or international heritage list, can solve existing conflicts on site, change the perspective to a place and, in the best case, attract visitors. However, tourist flows also need to be managed to avoid possible threats to heritage and surroundings. This involves sustainable strategies for planning and infrastructure principles, where vehicular and pedestrian traffic need to be considered as well as the overall performance of the public space which comprises all those sites. In this way, the quality of a place will, indirectly but more crucially, be increased not only for visitors and tourists, but also for the locals themselves, who will be relieved from stress when they are truly consistent with their environment. By involving the community in decision-making processes, people will be aware of a higher sensitivity towards a certain place, which will, yet again, be also reflected on the visitor's experience. Strengthening the emotional bond and responsibility towards a city is, then again, demonstrated in a human's wellbeing.

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Finally, the importance of local initiatives, NGO’s and universities needs to be emphasized as an enriching and valuable power and recourse for further safeguarding campaigns, elucidation, and education. The currently rather poor field of research would require expansion to contribute to a more elaborated and grounded knowledge about heritage and the context it is embedded in. On a long-term perspective, this can enhance the education and especially the understanding in order to empower the community and develop skills. In this way, the value of heritage can be demonstrated, sustained and kept alive in a balanced environment where none of the components of the urban fabric bears competitive disadvantages towards each other.

References Ahmad, Y. (2006, May 3). The Scope and Definitions of Heritage: From Tangible to Intangible. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 12(3), 292-300.

Ahmed, N. I. (2014, August 13). Port Said: Egypt's Forgotten Treasure. Retrieved May 22, 2016, from Egyptian Streets: http://egyptianstreets.com/2014/08/13/port-said-egypts-forgotten-treasure/ Elshahed, M. (2012). Port Said 1957: Egyptian Modernism Unfurled. Portal 9 – Stories and critical writing about the city (1).

Elshater, A., . Abusaada, H. G. (2016) “Do the unknown cities make the anti-utopians? Towards Visionary Utopia Plans in Egypt” RSA Annual Conference held at Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz, Austria, on 3rd – 6th April 2016.

Milner, L. (2011, March 3). BBC History. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from The Suez Crisis: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/suez_01.shtml Orbasly, A. (2000). Tourists in Historic Town. Urban Conservation and Heritage Management. London: E&FN Spon.

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The Impacts of the Physical Settings and Human Activities A Comparative Analysis of Istabl Antar and Zeinhum Developed Housing Areas Ahmed Hassan Abayazeed Hassan Supervisors: Ghada Farouk, Professor of Urban Design and Planning - Ain Shams University Astrid Ley, Professor of International Urbanism - Stuttgart University Abeer Elshater, Associate Professor of Urban Design - Ain Shams University

Abstract The importance of this research emerges from the shortening of the residential urban spaces within developed housing projects provided by the government, built for people who used to live in Cairo’s informal settlements to encourage outdoor human activities compared to these in informal settlements. This raises the issue of the partial responsibility of the physical

Source: Author

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settings for that. This research aims to examine the relation between these physical settings of residential urban spaces and the related outdoor human activities in Cairo’s informal settlements. In order to reach that, an ideal theoretical framework is developed through examining the components of this relation and their mutual impacts. Afterwards, a case study methodology is developed where the concluded framework is applied, within a comparative analysis, on the Istabl Antar settlement, one of Cairo’s informal settlements, and the Zeinhum developed housing area, one of the Cairo’s planned areas built for relocating residents who used to live in a former informal settlement in the same place. Eventually, the research reaches a set of key findings which are listed to be put into consideration when developing Cairo’s informal settlements.

Keywords: Urban spaces, Residential areas, informal settlements, Outdoor activities, Cairo, Istabl Antar, Zeinhum

Introduction Around 40% of Cairo’s population lives in informal settlements as estimated by the Ministry of Housing (Tadamun, 2014a). This will continue so far in the future although adopting a range of policies and legislations by the Egyptian government to slow down and limit the growth of informal settlements (ibid). The government and the policymakers see informal settlements as a huge problem which should be treated as a temporary one that should eventually be demolished or just raised to a standard and legalized state (Mostafa 2013). The best way, from their point of view, to deal with these settlements is to demolish them and resettle the residents in new housing projects influenced by concepts related to European housing for nuclear families. These approaches rely on the built environments and their aesthetics without relating them to the human side represented in human activities and needs. On the other hand, some researchers (Hernández 2013; Roy 2009) consider informal settlements as an asset where poor people make use of their limited resources through an alternative way of space production to solve their housing problem. AlSayyad (1993) perceives these settlements as a creative and innovative way to enhance the daily life where informality became ‘a way of life’. Shehayeb (2009) sees informal settlements as a context full of a lot of advantages for the living. One of these advantages is that the physical environment in informal settlements, in contrast to planned residential areas built by the government, enhances the community building process by increasing opportunities for the residents to meet and know each other and, subsequently, creating more liveable urban spaces full of activities (ibid).

Out of that paradox, the main research question which raises itself is: How do the physical settings1 of residential urban spaces2 in Cairo’s informal settlements help in making these spaces more liveable and more encouraging for outdoor activities3 than those introduced by the government for the resettlement of residents who used to live in similar informal settlements? Subsequently, this research aims to investigate the relation between the physical settings of residential urban spaces in Cairo’s informal settlements and outdoor human activities. In order to answer the research question, the research adopts an application-led approach based on developing a theoretically ideal framework used in a comparative analysis of two case studies in Cairo. The first case study is the Istabl Antar informal settlement. The second case study is Zeinhum, one of the developed housing areas supported by the government to resettle residents who used to live in an informal settlement in the same place.

The Relation between the Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces and Human Activities in Cairo’s Informal Settlements

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Outdoor human activities, in general, are affected by a number of factors. Among these factors, only the physical settings component is the easily manageable factor that influences the activities to a varying degree and in many different ways (Gehl, 2001), (Elshater, 2015). It is important to know that the physical settings have no direct impact on the strength, quality, and content of the social contacts. This type of contacts becomes deeper and meaningful through common problems or background interests between the neighbours in residential areas. The crucial and the direct impact of the physical settings lies in creating possibilities and opportunities for other modest and functional contacts like hearing, seeing and meeting people (ibid). These modest contacts are considered as the trigger and the background for others forms of contact and, subsequently, for stronger activities performed as a result of these contacts. Life between buildings or the liveability of an urban space represents these low-intensity contacts. These contacts are valuable both as separate contact forms and as preconditions for other more complex interplays (ibid). By analysing residential urban spaces within Cairo’s informal settlements in the light of the discussed relation, it is found that this relation is mutual. This mutuality could be interpreted as a result of lack of local authority control and the absence of building codes and regulations where the resident’s activities have impacts on the physical settings. For that, it provides, to an extent, a real representation of the needs of people which are related to outdoor activities. Table 1 gives a condensed overview of this mutual relation in Cairo’s informal settlements which is considered as a basic framework for the comparative analysis between the two case studies.

The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces

• Limited private spaces inside the residential unit force the residents to make use of the near urban space and also close windows most of the day, seeking privacy. This increases opportunities for outdoor activities and reduces activities related to contacts through windows of the ground floor.

• N/A

• The density of the space users increases by the increase in the number of inhabitants.

• The social activities increase by the increase in the number of relatives coming from core villages to live in new upper constructed stories.

• Offering shade and protection against sun rays in hot summer attracts different human activities because of their thermal comfort conditions and preferable micro-climate.

• The continuous vertical growth leads to reducing the contact between residents living in upper floors higher than the fifth floor and events taking place in the residential urban space and, thus, the number of related activities declines.

• N/A

C. The Robustness of the Building Structure

• Facilitating the increase in the number of the non-residential uses, hence the increase in outdoor activities related to them.

• The need for economic activities pushes the residents to change and modify the uses at the ground floor easily and freely. Converting a room at the ground floor into a shop or a workshop is an example of these impacts.

A. The Length of the Building’s Façade

• Narrow façades and the short distance between entrances increase the possibilities for meeting and activities to take place.

• N/A

B. Shape of the Plot Pattern

• Reducing permeability, as a result of plot deformation, increases residential activities in inner streets and creates a safe environment from strangers.

• N/A

Urban Morphological Elements

A. Distribution and Area of Indoor Spaces

59

The Impacts of the Outdoor Activities on the Physical Settings • The need for economic activities forces the residents to introduce shops and simple goods displays in inner streets and bigger shops at the entrances of the settlements.

.

Plot Pattern

The Impacts of the Physical Settings on the Outdoor Activities • The presence of mixed-uses in these settlements leads to increasing the pedestrian traffic and the presence of the residents in the space. This increases the contacts between the residents and creates vibrant spaces with more opportunities for more activities.

Land Use

Building Structures

The Mutual Impacts of the Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces in Cairo’s informal Settlements and the Outdoor Activities

B. The Vertical Growth of the building structure

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The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces

Street Pattern

• Greater blocks resulted from attaching plots mean fewer choices of paths and a less permeable environment which lead to an increase in residential activities in inner streets and provide safe spaces protected from outsiders.

• N/A

B. The shape of the Street/ Urban Space

• Encouraging residential activities in inner deformed streets because of the less permeability which provides safe spaces not penetrated by strangers.

• N/A

C. Width of the Street/ Urban Space

• Narrow streets push towards intensified human contact, hence the more developed activities. Wider streets usually attract economic activities as they are more permeable for the outsiders.

• N/A

D. Vehicular Accessibility

• Outdoor activities and neighbours’ contacts flourish as a result of poor vehicles’ accessibility.

• N/A

E. Location of the Street/ Urban Space

• Streets located at the entrances of the settlements near transportation hubs and main streets usually host relatively bigger economic activities.

However, in inner streets, residential activities are the dominant besides very small economic activities.

• N/A

A. Using Levels

• The existing levels in some settlements, which are built on a desert land, create difficulties in the accessibility and contact and, subsequently, decrease the opportunities for activities to take place.

• N/A

B. The material and Paving

• Choosing suitable materials for paving increases the safety within the space and encourages activities to take place.

• Some inner streets are paved and tiled by the residents themselves to enhance their environment to be capable of hosting their various activities.

A. Concentration and Orientation of the Openings

• The dominant orientation towards the space enables residents to follow the life on the street and meet each other during the daily activities.

• N/A

B. Number of Active Exchange Zones

• Increasing the number of active exchange zones (i.e. shops, goods displayed on the wall, etc.) increases activities related to these zones.

• Residents introduce such zones under the need of economic activities.

• More activities take place in front of open windows with low sills on ground floors because of possible contacts.

• Sometimes the residents block or close windows of more private spaces on ground floors, seeking privacy.

• The existence of covers and sunshades in some areas, especially near shops, attracts residents to sit or stand for a longer time and, thus, opportunities for activities are created.

• Shop owners and residents introduce these kinds of sunshades to provide preferable thermal conditions for their outdoor activities and to protect their goods.

• Sometimes trees are used as sunshades for people to sit or stand below.

• Taking care of trees through pruning or watering is an opportunity for the presence in the space which leads to growing contacts and activities.

• Shop owners and residents introduce these kinds of sunshades to provide preferable thermal conditions for their outdoor activities.

1. Seating Elements

• Primary seating, “Mastaba”, and secondary seating, like stoops, provides the residents with a comfortable place to sit and watch activities done by the neighbours who act as a trigger for further contacts and activities.

• These elements are introduced by the residents in order to prepare the space for sitting and staying outside their dwellings.

2. Lighting Units

• Lighting units at night are a very important condition for activities to take place at night.

• Some of these units are introduced by the residents near entrances, shops and seating units where most of the activities take place at night.

3. Drinking Water Units

• Attracting thirsty passers-by to stop and drink some water, especially in summer, and also the daily follow-up for the water vessels are activities which could develop to other advanced social activities.

The ceiling of the space

A. Softscape Elements

B. Hardscape Elements

The Physical Components of the Urban Space

C. Height of the Windows’ Sills at the ground floor

Landsca pe Furnitur e

The Impacts of the Outdoor Activities on the Physical Settings

The Impacts of the Physical Settings on the Outdoor Activities

A. Block Size and the Continuity

The Base

Vertical Planes

The Mutual Impacts of the Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces in Cairo’s informal Settlements and the Outdoor Activities

•

Usually, these units are introduced by the residents near entrances, shops, and mosques for the easy follow-up.

Table 1: The mutual impacts of the physical settings of residential urban spaces in Cairo’s informal settlements and outdoor human activities, Source: Author

The Comparative Analysis of the Two Case Studies In order to answer the research question, two case studies were selected for comparison. The first one is the Istabl Antar settlement, one of Cairo’s informal settlements built on desert land (see figures 1 and 3). It is located in Zahra’a Misr Al Qadima, one of Cairo’s districts. The settlement was established in mid-1980s (El Mouelhi,

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2014). The first migrants came from villages of Upper Egypt governorates like Assiut and Sohag. Construction processes in the nearby formal areas are among the factors attracting the labour force to come and dwell in the settlement. The second case study is the Zeinhum developed housing area. Before the development project, the area was one of the largest informal settlements in Egypt. It is located in the South-Eastern part of Cairo and administratively belongs to Sayyida Zaynab district of Cairo Governorate. It occupies an area of 50 feddans. The project idea started in 1988 when the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (RCS) was delegated to develop the area. It was decided, from the beginning, that the project will depend on donations from businessmen under the followup of Cairo governorate (Khadr and Bulbul 2011; Tadamun 2014b). The whole old informal settlement was demolished and the area was rebuilt with new modern residential blocks, wide urban spaces, green areas, and services (see figures 2 and 4). In order to map and analyse the mutual impacts of the physical settings and the human activities in the residential urban spaces in both case studies, the strategy used is divided into two main stages. The first one is the data collection stage where a desktop research, site visits and observation are used as collecting data methods. By going through this – the site visits and observation method – the researcher used four different tools for observation. The first tool is mapping where the different components of the physical settings and the activities taking place in the urban spaces are put on printed, prepared maps. The second tool used is photographing where pictures of the physical components of the urban space and the activities taking place were taken to be used in the analysis phase afterwards. The third tool is ‘keeping a diary’1 which is a tool of noting activities and related observations in real time.

This tool was used in dealing with the physical

components of a certain residential urban space selected to be analysed in each case study (see figures 5 and 6).

The fourth used tool is interviews where two types of interviews were conducted within the two case studies.

Unstructured interviews were conducted with the residents to investigate how they deal with components of the physical settings and how they are maintained as well as investigate the reasons behind some observed activities.

A semi-structured interview was conducted with the designer and planner of the Zeinhum developed housing area where the asked questions aimed to investigate the rationale behind using certain approaches and reasons for the existence of some of the physical elements. At the end, an analysing data stage was reached where all the data collected for each case study using methods and tools was discussed, by referring to the theoretical framework developed, to reach the main findings and the conclusion of the research.

Figure 1 : The urban pattern of Istabl Antar Source: Google Earth 61

Figure 2: The urban pattern of Zeinhum Source: Google Earth IUSD Journal, Vol. 4 Issue 1 2016

Figure 3: A map showing the accumulated positions of all people in Al-Haggana street (the selected residential urban space in Istabl Antar) on Sunday 14 June 2015 - from 09:30 till 18:30. Source: Author

Figure 4: A map showing the accumulated positions of all people in the chosen residential urban space in Zeinhum on Wednesday 10 June 2015 - from 09:30 till 18:30. Source: Author

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Findings of the Comparative Analysis All the research findings could be seen in the light of the existence of certain qualities related to the physical settings of residential urban spaces which encourage and support outdoor human activities. The presence of most of these qualities within the Istabl Antar settlement, while the absence of most of them within the Zeinhum area, could refer to the physical settings-related reasons of why residential urban spaces in Istabl Antar are more liveable and full of activities than that in Zeinhum. These qualities are illustrated in table 2.

Table 2: Qualities related to physical settings that encourage and support outdoor human activities in relation to Istabl Antar and Zeinhum, Source: the author The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces

Qualities within these settings encouraging outdoor activities Mixed-uses

How do these qualities appear in Istabl Antar Settlement

Mixed-uses are dominant.

Mixed-uses do not exist while segregation of uses is dominant.

Applying the ‘front/ back’ concept on the residential units on the ground floor

The ‘front/back’ concept is not applied in the residential unit in most cases because of the limited indoor areas.

The ‘front/back’ concept is not applied in the design of the residential unit.

Presence of continuous vertical growth of the building structure Robustness of the building structure Narrow building’s façade

The tendency of some dwellings to add more stories exists.

This kind of growth does not exist as adding more stories is prohibited.

Robust building structures are dominant due to lack of unified image and regulations.

Narrow façades are dominant because of the small plots.

Deformed plot pattern

Most of the plot patterns are deformed because of the local topography.

Blocks are great as a result of the attached dwellings.

The building structures are not robust because of the unified external image and the existing regulations.

Façades are wide because of the big perimeter of the buildings and their maximum exposure to the surrounding.

Uniformity of the plot patterns is dominant.

Land Use

Urban Morphological Elements

Building Structures

Plot Pattern

The Physical Components of the Urban Space T

Street/ Urban Space Pattern

he Base

63

How do these qualities appear in Zeinhum Developed Housing Area

Bigger block size

Remarks

Limited illegal exceptions in introducing non-residential uses in Zeinhum.

Limited indoor areas are not considered to be of quality because of their negativity as in this case, where activities taking place as a result of that are not accompanied by satisfaction.

Limited illegal exceptions in introducing ineffective light structures on the roofs in Zeinhum.

Blocks are smaller as they are formed by attaching two or three buildings.

Deformed street/ urban space

Most of the streets are deformed because of the local topography.

Uniform shape of the urban spaces is dominant.

Street/ urban space of small width

Most of the streets are of small width because of the competition over resources.

All the urban spaces are of big width.

Poor vehicular accessibility

Poor vehicular accessibility is one of the characteristics of the settlement.

Vehicular accessibility is poor because of the low vehicular traffic within the area.

No change in levels

Slight changes in levels exist in the Al-Haggana street.

Suitable materials for paving

The rocky surface and lack of paving are mostly dominant in AlHaggana street.

In the studied urban space, the slight changes in the ground level are not effective because of the presence of a ramp in front of the entrance of each building.

The selected urban space is fully paved with tiles. All the green patches are eroded.

Limited numbers of vehicles enter the residential urban spaces in Zeinhum.

Only two spaces within the whole Al-Haggana street are paved.

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The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces Vertical Planes

The Ceiling of the Space Landscape Furniture

Qualities within these settings encouraging outdoor activities

How do these qualities appear in Istabl Antar Settlement

How do these qualities appear in Zeinhum Developed Housing Area

Concentration and orientation of the openings towards the urban spaces.

The existence of active exchange zones

The most dominant orientation of openings is towards Al-Haggana street.

Half the units belonging to the eight surrounding buildings do not overlook the studied urban space.

A big number of active exchange zones exist in Al-Haggana street.

No active exchange zones between the street and the façades exist in the studied urban space.

Low windows’ sills on the ground floor

Most of the window’s sills of the ground floors overlooking AlHaggana street are low.

All windows of the ground floor, in the selected urban space, have low sills except those of kitchens and bathrooms.

The existence of sun shades and covers The existence of softscape elements

Some covers and sunshades exist in some areas within Al-Haggana street.

Limited softscape elements exist in Al-Haggana street.

The whole studied urban space is open to the sky.

It was observed that most of these windows in both cases are either closed or blocked, seeking privacy. In order to activate this quality, the ‘front/ back’ concept should be applied.

The existence of seating elements

Primary seating represented in “Mastaba” and secondary seating, like stoops and short walls exist in Al-Haggana street.

The existence of lighting units

Lighting units are hanged over most of the entrances and shops in Al-Haggana street.

Some water drinking units exist in Al-Haggana street.

The existence of water drinking units

In the studied urban space, most of the softscape elements have no functional value but an aesthetic value. Some activities related to taking care emerged due to lack of maintenance.

Primary seating, represented in the pergola and the surrounding seating units, and secondary seating, like the differences in the ground levels, exist in the studied urban space.

Lighting units are nearly hanged over most of the entrances in the studied urban space.

No water drinking units exist in the studied urban space.

Remarks

On the other hand, the outdoor human activities have impacts on some features of the physical settings of residential urban spaces in Istabl Antar and, to an extent, in Zeinhum. This is mainly done through the conscious adaptation made by the residents themselves to fit their requirements and needed activities or just as a result of the ongoing use (see table 3).

Table 3: The impacts of outdoor activities on the physical settings of residential urban spaces in Istabl Antar and Zeinhum,Source: Author

Urban Morphological Elements

The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces Land Use Building Structures

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The Impacts of Outdoor Activities on the Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces In Istabl Antar Informal Settlement The need for economic activities and sources for income generation force the residents to adopt mixeduses freely.

Tiny shops on the ground floor of the residential structures and small kiosks are introduced in inner streets. Relatively bigger shops, workshops, and cafés are introduced at the entrance of the settlement and near the Ring Road.

In Zeinhum Developed Housing Area The need for economic activities forces the residents to introduce limited non-residential uses illegally.

A limited number of kiosks were illegally introduced in the residential urban spaces.

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The Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces

The Impacts of Outdoor Activities on the Physical Settings of Residential Urban Spaces In Istabl Antar Informal Settlement It was observed that some residents in the settlement convert rooms on the ground floor into shops where they could sell some simple goods through windows as a result of the need for economic activities.

In Zeinhum Developed Housing Area

Plot Pattern

N/A

A limited number of residents illegally convert rooms on the ground floors into shops where they could sell some simple goods through windows without affecting the unified external image of the façades as a result of the need for economic activities.

N/A

Street/ Urban Space

N/A

N/A

Only two spaces within the whole of Al-Haggana street are paved and mainly by external donations through local NGOs to create a better and safe spaces for the ongoing outdoor activities.

Active exchange zones are introduced on the façades by the residents because of the need for economic activities and income generation sources.

The outdoor activities force most of the residents on the ground floors to block or close windows of private inner spaces, seeking privacy and protection against pry as all of them are of low sills.

Shop owners and residents introduce sunshades and covers to provide preferable thermal conditions for their outdoor activities and goods protection.

Residents introduce only three trees in the whole street to offer shade and for their aesthetic value.

Some of the tiles are broken or lost because of the continued use and lack of maintenance.

Primary seating units are introduced by the residents in order to prepare the space for sitting and staying outside their dwellings.

Lighting units are mostly introduced by the residents near entrances, shops, and seating units where most of the activities take place at night.

Seating elements are in a bad condition because of the residents’ abuse and lack of maintenance.

Pattern

The Physical Components of the Urban Space

The Base

Vertical Planes

The Ceiling of the Space Landscape Furniture

Water drinking units are introduced by the residents near entrances, shops for the easy follow-up.

N/A The outdoor activities force most of the residents on the ground floors to block or close windows of private inner spaces, seeking privacy and protection against pry as all of them are of low sills.

N/A Most of the fenced green areas patches are in a good condition because of the residents’ follow-up.

The residents started to extend wires from their residential units and introduced lighting units only on the façades having entrances where most of the contacts and activities take place during the night while the other façades are kept dark.

N/A

Conclusion The government sees informal settlements as an unwanted phenomenon whose physical settings are useless, worthless and should be totally demolished. This is because of the inability and the shortening related to lack of services and infrastructure, and the bad housing conditions. Although these shortcomings are totally admitted, it is important to adopt an objective position not only to admit the settled negatives but also to find out the existing positives. However, evidences mentioned by this research point to the fact that these settlements have some positives and values and are considered as proof of the residents’ creativity to achieve their real human needs.

This research highlights one of these values which is the vital and liveable residential urban spaces. This kind of liveability is apparent when compared to the physical settings of Zeinhum, provided by the government, to resettle people who used to live in a former informal settlement. This kind of new settings is affected by the functionalist approaches criticized by many planners and architects. This is a push towards rethinking the relation between the physical settings of residential urban spaces and outdoor activities in Cairo’s informal settlements, and looking at it with local eyes depending on empirical logic based on observation of such local patterns. This may draw attention towards rethinking policies adopted by the government regarding developing

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informal settlements through demolishing these settlements and building new housing projects which adopt imported inappropriate approaches. This could be done either through adopting approaches which make use of and maximize the positives within the existing physical settings and addressing the related negatives and shortcomings, or through introducing new physical settings comprising qualities which already exist within informal settlements. This imposes on those in charge of the development of any informal settlement to examine and investigate these settlements, not only in terms of socio-economic aspects but also in terms of their physical settings and patterns of outdoor activities. In spite of what is often mentioned about Cairo’s informal settlements and their physical settings which are seen as fruitless, worthless and should totally be destroyed, these settings help in making residential urban spaces within these settlements more liveable and more encouraging for outdoor activities than those introduced by the government and designed by architects. For that reason, it is important to look at these settlements respectfully as a source for learning rather than a burden that should be got rid of.

Endnotes [1] The physical settings of residential urban spaces is understood by going through two main components. The first component is urban morphology which is, according to Carmona et al. (2003), the study of the form and shape of settlements. According to Conzen (1960), four key elements should be considered when studying this component which are: land uses, building structures, plot pattern, and street pattern. The second component is determined by the physical components of the urban space which are, according to Abdel Moniem (2006), the base, the vertical planes, the ceiling and the landscape furniture including hardscape and softscape elements.

[2] Urban space is defined, according to Krier (1979:15), by stating that “[i]f we wish to clarify the concept of urban space without imposing aesthetic criteria, we are compelled to designate all types of space between buildings in town and other localities as urban space”. By understanding the previous definition, it could be said that ‘Residential Urban Spaces’ are all types of spaces between buildings in residential areas including streets and alleys, which is the definition adopted in this research.

[3] Karpatschof (2000) defines the specific term ‘Human Activity’ as “the societally-formed life process realized through the actions of the individuals participating in it”. Gehl (2001) categorizes outdoor human activities taking place in urban spaces into three activities groups: necessary activities, optional activities, and social activities.

[4] ‘Keeping a diary’ is a tool for mapping outdoor human activities developed by Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre in their book: ‘How to Study Public Life’ published in 2013.

References ABDEL MONIEM, E.H. (2006) Aesthetics’ experience in urban spaces - with particular reference to low-income residential areas. Unpublished thesis (MSc), Cairo University.

ALSAYYAD, N. (1993) Urban Informality as a “New” Way of Life. [WWW] Global Metropolitan Studies- University of California, Berkley. Available from: http://metrostudies.berkeley.edu/pubs/reports/alsayyad_GMScinematic.pdf [Accessed 09/05/15].

CARMONA, M. et al. (2003) Public spaces-urban places: the dimensions of urban design. Oxford: Architectural Press.

CONZEN, M. (1960) Alnwick, Northumberland - a study in town-plan analysis. London: the Institute of British Geographers.

EL MOUELHI, H. (2014) Culture and informal urban development - the case of Cairo’s ‘Ashwa’eyat (informal settlements).

Berlin: German academic exchange service (DAAD).

Elshater, Abeer. (2015) The Principles of Gestalt Laws and Everyday Urbanism: A Visual Tactic of City Potentialities. The International Journal of the Constructed Environment 5 (3-4): 1-19. doi:10.18848/2154-8587/CGP/v05i3-4/37441.

GEHL, J. and SVARRE, B. (2013) How to study public life. 2nd ed. Washington: Island Press.

GEHL, J. (2001) Life between buildings: using public space. 4th ed. Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag.

KARPATSCHOF, B. (2000) Human activity: contributions to the anthropological sciences from a perspective of activity theory. Copenhagen: Danish Psychological Publishers.

KHADR, Z. and BULBUL, L (2011) Egyptian Red Crescent in Zeinhum: Impact Assessment of Comprehensive Community Development Model for Slums Upgrading. Cairo: The American University in Cairo (AUC).

KRIER, R. (1979) Urban space. London: Acdemy Editions.

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MOSTAFA, M. (2013) Closing the loop: teaching what we have learned from learning from Cairo-an academic perspective.

In:Stryker, B., Nagati, O. and Mostafa, M. (eds.) Learning from Cairo: global perspectives and future visions. Cairo: Cluster. pp.134-136.

ROY, A. (2005) Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(2), pp.147-158.

SHEHAYEB, D. (2009) Advantages of Living in Informal Areas. In: R. Kipper, R. and Fischer, M. (eds.) Cairo’s informal areas between urban challenges and hidden potentials. Cairo: GTZ Egypt. pp.34-43.

TADAMUN (2014a) Coming up short: Egyptian government approaches to informal areas [WWW] The Tadamun Initiative. Available from: http://www.tadamun.info/ [Accessed 29/04/15].

TADAMUN (2014b) Zinhum housing development… the dream of slum dwellers [WWW] The Tadamun Initiative. Available from: http://www.tadamun.info/ [Accessed 29/04/15].

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Win-Win Situation of Listed Villas and Owners’ Economic Losses An Economic Diagnosis Heba Hatem Abdelhalim Aggour Supervisors: Abeer Elshater, Associate Professor, Ain Shams University Josefine Fokdal, Associate Professor, Stuttgart University Ayat Ismail, Assistant Professor, Ain Shams University

Abstract Passing by Alexandria’s old town centre is like crossing through an open museum incorporate different architectural styles: Italian, British, Greek and French buildings stand there where it exhibits Alexandria’s history. Desoki (2007) mentioned, since the end of the 19th century Alexandria was a cosmopolitan city including a high number of foreigners lived together and influenced the city to have a collection of an

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astonishing variety of architectural styles. One of the most pressing issues today confronting communities with historic preservation laws is restricted proprietors who don’t have the will or the funds to keep up their historic properties. Since the listed buildings in Egypt are not profitable from the financial perspective, the owners are willing to destroy it and locate a substitution option for their monetary needs. The primary objective of the research is to discover the best approach to raising the financial estimation of the listed buildings in Egypt until it has the same estimation of or more than the building if decimated and replaced by a tall structure project, so the owners may become willing to keep and safeguard it.

Keywords Economic diagnosis, Demolition phenomenon, Listed buildings, Owners.

Introduction: Research Problem The main problem of the research is the rapid destruction of the listed buildings in Alexandria focusing on the period starting from 2011 till 2016. The indicators of the active existence of the problem are evident in Figure 1.a; the yellow line reflects the greatest height stature that is permitted by the building regulations in the area and nobody ought to surpass it. The tall structures developed during and after the revolution are the ones under the red arrows while the ones under the dark arrows are the structures that exceeded the extreme allowed tallness, before 2011. It also represents a pointer for the activism of Alexandria construction mafia, who had an incredible part in this quick development of illegal structures through and after the political disarray occurred in Egypt (Save Alex, 2012).

Figure 1: Visual Indicators of the existence of high number of illegal buildings constructed in the historical sites of Alexandria in 2011.

Figure 1: Visual Indicators of the existence of high number of illegal buildings constructed (Source: a. Save Alex. Facebook page, 2012. b. Borg, 2013)

in the historical sites

of Alexandria in 2011. (Source: Save Alex, 2013) Research Justification

Through Roman era, the perception of the natives to their culture heritage primarily concerned its lifetime, elegance, and authenticity (Licciardi, 2012). He said that, though in the 18th century and while the Italian Renaissance, the perception of the citizens shifted to how satisfying the structure mirror the culture, history, and uniqueness of the city (See Figure 1.6). This opinion obtained from the large number of culture preservation schemes and the issuing of the initial charters like Venice Charter, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) (Licciardi, 2012). The power of the private sector, the financial development, and the globalization competition are determinants forced the citizens to perceive the heritage from an economic point of view. The estimate of the historical building value enhanced according to how efficient is the structure, if the financial profits are not

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sufficient enough, then it doesn’t deserve to be protected anymore (Licciardi, 2012). That’s why the research adopted the discussion of the problem from the economic perspective.

Aim and Objectives

The main aim of the research is to change the value of the listed buildings from being with only a culture value to be with also an economic interest for the owners. The primary objective of the research is to discover the best approach to raising the financial estimation of the listed villa in Alexandria until it has the same estimation of or more than the building if decimated and replaces by a tall structure, so the owners are willing to keep it and safeguard it. Accordingly, the central question of the research raised, how to achieve a win-win situation between listed buildings in Egypt and the economic needs of the users?

Methodology The research used the mixed methods research to combine the quantitative and qualitative data together by a Question-driven perspective to first explain, understand realities, relationships and evaluations on the previous decisions taken towards the phenomenon occur in Alexandria, its dimensions, and situations in the form of scenarios and observations. The research then analyzed the domestic situation of Alexandria’s city center with the surrounding regions and creating scenarios of their predicted future situation. To achieve the win-win situation, change a balance between two existing scenarios will be studied in the research. Scenario one is the demolition of the listed building for a real estate construction towards higher financial profits, while scenario two is the keeping of the building and investing in it. The research then studied the economic diagnosis, comparing the two scenarios mentioned above and analysis of a similar case study on the focused level was done by interviews, surveys, and questionnaires about the actual outcomes and ways of evaluating the historical buildings economically. Then the research reflected the theoretical data and the case studies on the future scenarios for the situation, reaching a win-win situation between the preservation of the historical buildings and the economic viability of the restricted owner. This step was done by comparing future scenarios scenario planning process of the building when demolition and when preserved, Questionnaires with the focus group.

Research Structure

The research structure was attempted to set up the reader in Chapter One and Chapter Two to peruse whatever is left of chapters quickly as illustrated in Figure 5. In Chapter Four, the research experiences the financial finding of six cases in Alexandria concentrated on three connected urban zones including the downtown area. This chapter talks about the budgetary misfortunes the proprietor of the restricted building faces, through the monetary investigation. The causes behind these crevices were talked about in Chapter Five, ordered into the awareness aspects, rules controls, and the incentives programs. These perspectives will be discussed in the research through a near examination of the German and Egyptian Heritage administration framework. At last, Chapter Six will begin to outline a

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conceptual framework, redistribution of partners, an action plan that cover the financial gap and the conclusion of the research.

Conservation and economy: Heritage conservation impact:

Chapter One speaks to the primary watchwords the research is going to state consistently, the effect of legacy preservation, the standard global assessment mechanisms. It also discusses the financial incentives applied globally to see in the further chapter how it can be contextualized in the Egyptian context. In Chapter One the impact of the heritage on the city was brought into the discussion. As seen in Figure 7, the monetary advancement impact of heritage preservation was evident in a study was done in Germany, saw that incomes from the sponsorships and state subsidizing to the proprietors of the enlisted structures were higher by four to twelve times than the anticipated standard yields (Haspel, 2011).

Heritage economic evaluation The economic evaluation of the heritage, as shown in Figure 6, is practiced understanding the financial impact of the heritage conservation in the area and the city and how it can be integrated into the planning process for a sustainable improvement (Licciardi, 2012). The economic calculation of the historical value of the listed properties is classified into two types: The use and the non-use valuation which also represents the tangible and the intangible heritage. First is the use-value or the market value, related to the direct price valuation, as the value of the land according to the market price, the admission fees of the historical site and the rent value of the residential or the commercial unit in the building (Throsby, 2007). The non-use value is more toward displaying how much it is economically valuable diversifies from person to another or from a locality to another and according to its bequest value. Recently, some researchers commenced studying the mechanisms that can measure the use value and the non-use value of the culture heritage (Licciardi, 2002).

Figure 2: Heritage economic valuation types. (Source: By Author) Figure 9: Statistics of heritage linked tax reductions in Berlin. (Source: by Haspel, 2011. Edited by Author) Economic diagnosis The monetary investigation is going to determine the Cost-Benefit analysis of some existing cases in the focus area of study which express whether the real estate high-rise building projects on lands of previously existed listed villas, restoration project, reuse project. It also minds considering in the analysis other listed villas which

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have an unknown future, where the research will assess the Cost-Benefits of them in various hypothetical expected scenarios. The aim is to comprehend the measure of the financial misfortunes the proprietor is confronting because of the limitations put on the property he possesses and whether it is feasible to be solved according to the current approach of the city or not. The focus area as shown in Figure 8, in Al-Raml district, Moharem Bek, and Al-Hadara district. The city center contains a big number of villas for the economic diagnosis and the famous monuments. The research intended to analyse not only one concentrated urban space but also include

Moharem

Bek

and

Al-Hadara

district

to

pick

the

comparative

cases

from

it.

Figure 3: The diagram shows the method the economic diagnoses will be calculated to reflect on the value of each scenario. Figure 10: The objective of case one, two and three.

Case one is two real estate projects replaced the previously existed listed villas. In this case, the economic analysis assessed the possible housing price of the project and how much earns the investor will own at the end of contracting all the units. The object of this case is to recognize how the benefit calculations are arranged to be similarly executed over the comparison of the two scenarios. A telephone interview with an employee of the real estate companies were produced to recognize the value of the meter in the two projects. Another semi-structured interview with an experienced contractor. Case two is regarding the reuse of the historical building like L passage, executed a restaurant food court design on the ground floor of a historical multi-story building. The research prepared a semi-structured interview with the investor of L Passage. Another semi-structured interview with the architect and with the operation administration of the company owns the historical building hosting L Passage project “SIGMA”. Case three is about the restoration of the villa, represented in Sarsaa Pasha Palace on Fouad street that is restored by the authority to lease it later to a private foreigner company. The objective of analysing this case is to appreciate how much costs restoration project may require and to practice this on the subsequent comparative cost-benefit analysis.

From case four to case six, the comparative cost-benefit analysis of the two scenarios will be implemented, and then measuring the economic profit gap. In Case four, the destroyed Villa, which either in the future was assumed to have another real estate project on its land (scenario one). Scenario two in case the government may reconstruct it again, as an international way of heritage conservation trend, and reuse it as a museum or a restaurant. In case five, the neglected villa calculated the Cost-Benefit price on scenario one and two and concluded the economic interest gap occurred among them. The sixth case is a neutral occupied and wellmaintained villa, which the corresponding estimations are done on it also to test the economic differences that can occur in different locations in Alexandria (see Figure 13 and 14).

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The economic diagnosis explained the gap between the two scenarios which varied according to the change in variables. In case four, the implementation of the regulation or not, turned the profit from the villa by reconstructing and reusing it to be higher than the benefits comes from a real estate project on the same land.

According to an interview done with Nassar, a member of the Technical Securities Heritage Committee of Alexandria and a professor in Alexandria university, the committee tends to put guidelines in the regulations concerning the heights of the newly constructed constructions in a site containing many historical buildings.

The execution of these instructions can spare the villa from demolition and be preserved to be more valuable than the real estate project, or any other project requests the destruction of the building (See Figure 7)

Figure 10: a. case one, example one, b. case one, example 2, c. case two, d. case three. (Source: by Author)

Figure 5: The calculations of case four, five and six. Figure 14: a. case four, b. case five, c. case six. (Source: by Author)

In case five, it was ensured that the implementation of the regulation already stated in the heritage list of Alexandria and the law could change the situation of the villa from being very lower than the other investment project to be near the same amount of revenues or even higher. In case six, the implementation of the regulation can get no difference. The reason is the high value of the land is in the real estate market, due to the prominent location in the city center of Alexandria and the Sultan Hussien old street. In this case, the compensation of the owners is a necessity frequently performed by incentive programs asserted in the regulations on the country, state and city levels. According to the results came from case six, the gap between the two venture is clearly extraordinary. Likewise, scenario one can accomplish a high benefit in brief time, while scenario two, is a long

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haul nonstop interest investment (See Figure 15). The gap essentially is not the gap of the capital as critical as the time difference between the benefits achievement. In the nowadays extraordinary pace of economic evolution, the demand on quick, high profits is the most aspired intention to survive and attain the life needs for him and his family. So, the main causes behind the economic gap are the not applied regulation of the heritage list, the wrong type of reuse and the not existed incentive programs to cover the difference in the real estate value in the market (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: The calculations of all the cases in the economic diagnosis. (Source: by Author) Management system comparative analysis The research then focused on comparing the heritage management system in Germany and Egypt trying to understand the missing points in the Egyptian system that can be tackled to solve the problem of the demolished listed buildings. The result of this comparison led to conclude the need of Egypt to review the importance of involving the city’s culture in schools as a subject. The Egyptian regulations of the listed buildings protection have been developed since 2008 to be more efficient as a written state, however, in the practical execution, these regulations are not efficiently applied whether due to the unclear stakeholders or the conflict occur among them or the high load on the governmental institutions. The not applied rules are prompting the owner to demolish his

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property because of the unfair state he endures. There are some written criteria in the folder of Heritage list on the city level which are not practiced on the ground. Some of these not applied regulations are, there should be a set of full documentation file for each historically recorded structure, appropriate guidelines and requirement would be applied to any wanted modifications, improvement or renewal for these historic buildings. The heritage list also declared that there should be setting for regulations and recommendations for the treatment of the disfiguration and the visual pollution generated in the listed buildings which are not applied on the ground. The subjects announced in the law 144/2006 on the national level of Egypt and which controls the heritage management in all the cities, the government should be responsible for preserving and renovating the prohibited constructions. The main reason of these not executed rules is the big load on the governmental bodies to manage the listed buildings and the centralization of the decision makings. The recommendation part in the thesis focused on tackling these causes to drive these laws to be implemented on the ground.

Figure 4.37: The Reasons of the gaps between scenario one and Two from all the cases of the economic diagnosis. (Source: by Author)

Figure 7: Graph illustrates the Break-even point, Break-even time and Profits on the long-term for a case like case six. Figure 11: The Reasons of the gaps between scenario one and Two from all the cases of the economic diagnosis. (Source: by Author) Discussion: At the end of the research a conceptual framework, a roles redistribution map, and an action plan were designed.

The conceptual framework tends to put the initial steps needed to be done to tackle the three aspects mentioned in the previous paragraph and the primary stakeholders introduced. The redistribution maps attempt to divide the new stakeholders involved in new relations and decide on their new duties in managing the heritage of Egypt and Alexandria. Then comes the action plan where the initial framework and the new tasks of the introduced stakeholders are combined in a more comprehensive timeline.

Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework worked on reducing the existing economic gap illustrated in the economic diagnosis part in Chapter Four by dividing the points of actions into three sections. The first part concerns the activities that should be done to overcome the gap occurred from the loopholes in the regulations. The second part is focusing on reducing the gap arose from the enormous difference in the economic market value of the land.

While the last part intends to state the actions that can be taken to minimize the economic gap occurred from the

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lack of awareness about the existence of the heritage, the right reuse type for each and the rights they own towards the city. The Framework also mentioned the existing and the new stakeholders that should be responsible for these actions.

Roles redistribution map Towards a workable conceptual framework, a redistribution of the stakeholders’ responsibilities, tasks and relationships of the proposed bodies is to be explained. The research revealed that the three institutes of GOPP, NOUH concerned with the heritage management on the national level and the Heritage Committee of Alexandria on the city level should handle their duties to a newly introduced committee. The three mentioned institutes have to control the regulations and procedures of the heritage management system, the roles of the new private bodies on the national level and utilize comprehensive ordinances on the city level. The three institutes are also qualified for offering indirect incentives with the aid of the launched funding organizations.

The newly introduced body is an NGO, which consists of two committees; first, the economic expert's board includes business people and real estate experts, and second the professional board includes urban planning and architecture professionals and a private real estate company. The purpose of the NGO is to perform excellent documentation of the listed buildings, design of described guidelines of its reuse, prepare researches and surveys in the city, determine the use and non-use economic evaluation for all the listed buildings and manage the funds required for the listed buildings.

Short-term Action plan The action plan is arranged into sixteen steps; some activities combine two sub-steps to be fulfilled. The action plan is presented throughout the stakeholders responsible for practicing each action and which is realized in the various coloured core lines, as shown in Figure 17. The research decided to show a short-term action plan, due to the critical state of the listed buildings, notably the villas, that requires a quick procedure to be performed in parallel with the long-term strategy that should be arranged in the further studies. However, the awareness is the only aspect of the action plan that demands an extended period to influence the heritage process; it is necessary to tackle it as a cornerstone for the seize of the action plan. The action plan is on the national and city level represented in Alexandria, and also relevant for cities have the same context. The aim of the action plan is to apply a way to grant incentives for the owners to be keen on saving their properties and to the investors to seek the funding and the investments in the heritage. It also aims to boost the awareness and to create a new system of managing the legacy in a comprehensive way. The not practiced rules are one of the central factors of the heritage decay in Egypt, which the action plan determines to adjust by decentralizing the process of heritage administration and support the city to have its declarations. Hence, it lessened the load on the government to be only concerned with the setting of the regulations and the indirect heritage incentives. The action plan attempts to involve the private sector to run the legacy on the city levels and to be accountable for monitoring the implementation of the regulations and the laws on the legacy. The action plan was produced in steps and not in particular dates since the short time of the research get it hard to comprehend how long precisely every action should take.

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Figure 8: The action plan of the research. (Source: by Author) References Dessouki, Yasmin (2007): The Bibliotheca Alexandria and the preservation of Egypt’s visual cultural heritage, checked on January 20, 2015 Save Alex. (2013). Workshop. Alexandria, Egypt Licciardi, Guido; Amirtahmasebi, Rana: The economics of uniqueness. Investing in historic city cores and cultural heritage assets for sustainable development / Guido Licciardi, Rana Amirtahmasebi, editors (Urban development series) Throsby, D. (2006). The value of cultural heritage: What can economics tell us? In Clark, K. (ed.) Capturing the Public Value of Heritage: The Proceedings of the London Conerence 25-26 January, 2016. London: English Heritage.

Aboelkhier, M. (2015, September 20). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Telephone interview]. Save Alex member Borg, Y. (2016, January 10). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Telephone interview]. Save Alex member El-Awady, M. (2016, Spring). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Three Telephone interviews]. Accounting professor, Faculty of commercial, Al-Azhar university El-Henawy, I. (2016, May 03). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. The operation administration of the SIGMA company El-Sharabasy, F. (2016, March 15). Costs and Benefits of the construction of a real estate project [Personal interview]. High experienced Contractor Ghoniem, W. (2016, Spring). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Four Telephone interviews]. The owner of AlOla company for real estate marketing Hosny, H. (2016, June 11). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Telephone interview]. Member in the National Organization for Urban Harmony (NOUH) Loatfy (2016, March 13). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. Professor in Alexandria

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university, Faculty of Medicine Magdy, M. (2016, May 03). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. architect in SIGMA company in Alexandria Mayer, W. (2016, May 23). The heritage protection system in Germany and Baden-Württemberg [Personal interviews]. Used to be a member in the “Landesämter für Denkmalpflege” Government Entity in Germany Mekawy, E. (2016, April 20). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. Owner of L Passage project and a professional architect Nassar, D. (2016, May 15). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. Professor in Alexandria university, Faculty of Engineering and a member in the technical security Heritage Committee of Alexandria Owner of villa 327 (2016, February 23). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Telephone interview]. The owner of villa number 327 in the Heritage list of Alexandria Ramadan (2016, April 12). Heritage destruction phenomenon in Alexandria [Personal interview]. Restoration expert working on Sarsaa project in Alexandria Sales Taxes organization (2016, May 12). The taxes laws in Egypt [Personal interview]. Employee in the Sales Taxes organization of Alexandria Sief Company (2016, February 20). The Price of the residential and commercial [Telephone interview]. Employee in Sief Company for real estate, the project replaced the villa number 1772 in the heritage list of Alexandria Zamzam Company (2016, February 20). The Price of the residential and commercial meter square [Telephone interview].

Employee in Zamzam real estate Company, the project replaced the villa number 3011 in the heritage list of Alexandria

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Mapping the Women’s Perception of Safety on Public Spaces The Case of Sha’bi Districts in Cairo Reeham Mourad Supervisors: Yehya Serag, Associate Professor of Regional Planning at Ain Shams University Josefine Fokdal, Interim Professor of International Urbanism at Stuttgart University Martina Rieker, Assistant Professor & Director of the Institute of Gender and Women’s studies and the American University in Cairo

Abstract The research sheds the light broadly on the working and middle-class districts in Cairo, raising questions concerning the class dynamics and urban behaviour in these Sha’bi communities regarding various aspects. One of the topics that this research generally steps in is the culture enlightenment, which is happening in such important medieval and historical districts. It shows how the area has been a spot for cultural revitalization and has recently developed attraction points for middle-upper class communities, which can be described as cultural enlightenment projects. The cultural enlightenment has both positive and negative sides of reserving the historic areas, but the most importantly question is: “Who is the cultural enlightenment for? This brings the discussion to the class struggle over space. Following this notion, the research tackles the impact of these cultural enlightenment projects on the social relations in Sha’bi areas with a focus on sexual harassment as a

behavioural pattern in urban spaces that threatens women’s safety. The research investigates particular dimensions and struggles behind sexual harassment in sha’bi areas in Cairo tackling the issue in two historical sha’bi districts, each area has hosted a cultural enlightenment centre. The first district is El-Khalifa and the second is KumGhurab. The research argues that these cultural centres have a distinctive positive or negative impact on the social relations, dynamics and on changing the perception about gender interaction in Sha’bi areas. Particularly, attention is given to the spatiality of sexual harassment and gender interaction with respect to social relations, social structure and gendered spaces in sha’bi areas in Cairo. This aims at understanding the meaning of Sha’bi in providing a sense of social security and production of safety. The two different case studies are compared to each other, focusing on the cultural centre in each district, and how each centre was initiated and merged within its district, explaining how these centres have an impact on women’s safety, social relations and gender interaction. Finally, the research comprises a comprehensive discussion of: the importance of street sociability and vitality; the issue of respecting and strengthening the cultural meanings and traditions; production of safety; and introducing a gender-sensitive approach to be within this research’s agenda for further enlightenment and development in sha’bi districts.

Keywords: social relations, cultural centres, Sha’bi, Qahwa, gentrification, cultural displacement, struggle

Introduction In recent years, women’s safety issues in public spaces and their relation to gender-based violence have become on top of debates in the Egyptian society and their importance for the community and research have been escalating within the past decade. Sexual harassment is one of the aspects that threatens women’s safety in public spaces. It has become a widespread phenomenon in the Egyptian streets that women from all social classes and backgrounds experience on a daily basis. According to the report by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in 2013, studies show that 99.3% of Egyptian women have been exposed to sexual harassment, either physical or verbal (UN-Women, 2013).

Sexual harassment has also been a discussed subject by many associations. Harassmap is one of the most renowned active associations to bring sexual harassment into the public discourse in Egypt in the last five years.

Harassmap has started working on sexual harassment issues in Egyptian streets. It has also started to work on academic researches parallel to their societal work. In addition, Harassmap works on different definitions of sexual harassment that are now considered as references for those working on and/or studying sexual harassment. According to Harassmap’s work on reporting sexual harassment across Cairo, females, from several districts in Cairo, are witnessing and reporting sexual harassment.

An important question poses itself since the research tackles the phenomenon in two historic areas.

What’s happening in Cairo reflects the dynamics of the city’s districts in two senses. The first one is how the government deals with these middle and working-class areas. The second one is about social relations, class politics, gender interaction and the effect of the way that the government deals with these districts.

The government’s approach to informal areas has two major ideologies. The government’s approach to informal areas has two major ideologies. The first is viewing informal settlements as a problem and a threat that must be

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removed (Tadamun, 2014). The second ideology is about how the urban growth should be extended into desert land (Mitchell 1991, Sims 2012). The government follows intervention strategies and preventative approaches in informal areas. The first approach is a forced eviction demolition, resettlement and upgrading based ("Coming up Short: Egyptian Government Approaches to Informal Areas - Tadamun", 2014). The second approach is to lemmatise the growth of informality in a way to improve or remove it (ibid).

The government sees that informal settlements have many circumstances in regard to unfortunate housing settings as well as environmental hazards (Shehayeb, D. K. 2009). However, informal settlements are uniquely distinguished for various aspects, including their self-sufficiency, walkability, working near home and collective work, among other characteristics (ibid). Moreover, a great segment of Egypt’s urban inhabitants is living within three residential options: deteriorated districts (Sha’bi), mass housing in new cities and informal settlements (ibid). Since the second approach of improving goes beyond the deteriorated districts and has been adopted in middle class districts like downtown, there is a wave of development called cultural enlightenment projects happening now in old and historic districts of Cairo. This wave of development has been exposed to the critique of urban activists that see the sense of development is a multi-party strategy for gentrifying the downtown (Magid, 2014). On the other hand, it is exposed to the support from other stakeholders who dream with the nostalgia of the heritage and the image of Cairo as a cosmopolitan city. They see that there is a kind of activities that does not suit the medieval sense of the city like metalworking in downtown (Berger, 2014). The other part of the equation sees that the relocation of these activities is the solution. Given that, the cultural enlightenment projects have become the key for developers that will give Cairo the promising and cosmopolitan image.

Downtown Cairo is considered as one of the first historic areas that witnessed the wave of cultural enlightenment. The researcher argues that cultural enlightenment projects have an effect on changing the social interactions in the city as well as changing the original space users with new ones. In that sense, the researcher focuses on two sha’bi and working-middle class districts showing what sha’bi and middle-class districts witness regarding the cultural enlightenment and community development projects, social relations and interaction, gender aspects, and public spaces.

Figure 1: Urban Phenomenon and sexual harassment (Source: The Author, 2016)

This research draws on urban planners and feminist discourses around space and gender that explore the relationships between the space as a gendered arena, women’s perceptions of safety, social relations, new

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cultural centres and class dynamics within sha’bi district from a spatial perspective. The researcher’s interest in the issue is reflected in the research through the attempt of putting the phenomenon in an urban context with limited variables that help to investigate the struggles behind the phenomenon. The selected contexts are distinctive with class differentiations, spaces under and out of residents’ control and different institutions and gendered spaces. The research’s main aim is to investigate the relationship between gender, class, entities and social relations in sha’bi neighborhoods in Cairo, and understanding how cultural centers have an impact on changing the social relations and interactions in these conservatives and sha’bi communities. The research examines and investigates how sexual harassment is an intersection of these four struggles over spaces as well as being one of the aspects of women’s safety in public spaces.

Figure 2: Research main aim (Source: The Author, 2016)

The research also assumes that social relations play a role in providing a sense of safety to women whether who visit those two neighbourhoods or residents from the areas. Moreover, the research attempts to identify variables that contribute to women’s safety aspects in different categories in public spaces within sha’bi district s while it open doors for future research in this regard as well as look at the spatial dimension beside the social aspects of the space.

Theoretical Framework In an attempt to identify the relation between safety and women in poor neighbourhoods, it can be said that safety seems to be a predominant cause of anxiety for these women living in poor neighbourhoods, where they are used to having daily trips by walking in neighbourhood streets and public spaces. Perceptual safety in this research is distinctive, since it measures a different variable, which is how women perceive their own safety in

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many regards, like negotiating the space, occupying the space, gender interaction and spaces out or under social control.

“This is something everyone already knows: A well-used city street is about to be a safe street. A deserted city street is about to be unsafe” (Jane Jacob, 1961) Moreover, this research is highly motivated by the work of Jane Jacob and her developed theory, “eyes upon the streets”. In her theory, she discusses the sidewalks, explaining that their uses and users are the participants of the civilised and barbaric attitude that shapes the city. Jacob also explains the idea of “Eyes upon the street” with the traffic throughout the day that provides observant eyes that increase the sense of security and social safety in streets. The theory also discusses how the “social capital” can be defined in this context, which is basically the everyday activities that take place in the neighbourhood that construct the relationships between neighbours. In addition, she argues that a street’s peace does not come from keeping the streets observed and controlled by the police, but rather through voluntary control between people themselves. In order to maintain this state of safety and the neighbourhood’s street peace, streets must have three main qualities. The first quality is the ability to differentiate between a public space and a private space. The second quality is eyes upon streets, which refers to the street owners as social actors, and finally the existence of continuous activities on sidewalks that provide both numbers of “effective eyes” –as described by Jacob-, and muster people to observe the sidewalks of city streets. The departure point of the research is based on what Jacob argued in how city streets should be prepared to handle strangers. It was also argued by Phadke

that the production of safety is so much associated with

women’s negotiation and confrontations of threats and danger in public spaces and transportation means.

The work of this research relies on Doreen Massey’s work on her concept of space, social structure and identity.

Massey stated that social relations have a spatial form presented in the social space, which is produced by spatial practices and communications. This is also an intersection between her work and Lefebvre’s sense of space.

Massey also clarifies that some of the social relations are restricted within the space (Levebvre, 1991). On Social relations and interaction in space, Massey also draws on the characteristics of urban areas and how they are not only a product of internalised history than are the recent fortunes of their manufacturing industry (Massey, 1994). In addition, Massey figures out how the space is not only a product of social relations, but rather that these relations comprise the social phenomenon in the space. From this notion, it can be stated that the construction of gender-power relations, as a part of the social relations, restricts women’s mobility in the space.

In addition, Massey has identified the difference between the public space and private space, as well as the definition of each of them. The abovementioned literature will be the base to draw upon on the analysis section regarding the production of social relations, meanings, private and public spaces.

For the social space, Henri Lefebvre defines it as a social product or social installation that relies on values and social production of significations. Lefebvre investigates struggles over these significations and examines how social relations in districts are associated with social and cultural meanings. In addition, in a study conducted by Nadia Ilahi on street harassment in Cairo, the author clarifies how the social space in Egypt “felt” different according to gender. (Ilahi, 2009) She illustrates that the different experience of men and women demonstrate

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different senses of social space. She also discloses that women in Egypt reclaim public spaces as well as the act that men and women are challenging the conventional cultural meaning of public space (Ibid). In this research, the meaning of social space is investigated in the light of gendered institutions and gendered spaces.

Additionally, the research focuses on the sense of social space, the perceived space with spatial practices examining, how women reclaim and appropriate public spaces according to the culture meaning and also the restrictions of Sha’bi societies in Cairo.

One of the inspirational literatures in community and social relations in the city is Franc Tonkiss’s book, “Space, the City and Social Theory: Social Relations and Urban Forms”. In her book, Tonkiss highlights how social interaction has been produced in modernised cities. She demonstrates that the community still endows a commonoly shared expression for bringing notions of cultural ties, social networks and local spaces simultaneously (Tonkiss, 2005). Tonkiss also describes the idea that group identities come together to be a common tongue that presents the whole community, particularly in the way that urban minorities have been established. In this sense, community languages are embodied in these shared politics of identities (ibid). Within Tonkiss’s analysis of Robert E. Park’s mode of thinking and concepts of community, community is defined within different frameworks. It is particularly relevant to this research how Tonkiss discusses the second concept, which is the social model, where communities are distinctive with social networks and institutions (ibid). The social relations that come out of this community are not only based on the cultural ties between the community, but also on the institutions like the community associations, religious organisations, meeting spots, restaurants and social spaces (ibid). Tonkiss declares that, in order to analyse a community within an urban context, the spatial and social aspects should overlap in an inseparable manner.

The critical aspect about gentrification is that it combines changes on several levels: economic, social and physical (Smith, 1987). Middle-Upper class users go to fixed-up and newly built areas, in which social restructuring and capital investments are taking place (ibid). Gentrification is argued to be a social transformation, physical conversion and economic change in the land and housing markets (Smith, 1987). Bondi has also argued that gentrification is a phenomenon that has multi faces.

The notion of gentrification and gender is also discussed within the context of differentiation between the experience of women and men in space and its association with gender inequality and class identities. Many scholars tend to study the causes behind gentrification and the little attention to the effects of it (smith, 1979). The theoretical framework of this research explores the impact of gentrification inside the newly built environment of the pottery village on the Kum Ghurab residents’ perception of gender, class, and new activities of the middle-upper class community. It also investigates how people perceive the impact of gentrification, which is the cultural displacement, and how they react to it

Methodology This research is a data-driven exploratory research that relies on preliminary fieldwork data. It presents findings and maps from qualitative and comparative analysis between two case studies. The research employs the ethnographic study of foreign and Egyptian women who have experienced sexual harassment and teasing in public spaces in El-Khalifa and in Darb 1718, Kum Ghurab neighbourhoods. The sample of women included in this study ranged in age, social class and education level. They are mostly; university and school students; stay-

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at-home ladies; street vendors in the market; Baladi wome; foreigners who used to visit the area; members from El-Khalifa community centre-Megawra; and members from Darb 1718 Art

Contemporary

and

Culture

centre and the pottery village. The research relies on a comparative analysis between two different problematic situations. The comparability is strong in the terms of the good or bad social relations which supports the research argument based on these relations. The distinction between these two case studies helps in clarifying the research issues as well as enriching the research discussion, declaring how the good relations between the people and a cultural centre might affect social interaction, gender interaction, and perception of safety either in a positive or in an equally negative way. The differentiation also shows the class and gender struggle over public space.

Women Negotiating Al-Khalifa Public Spaces and the Everyday life Al-Khalifa encompasses a zone of residential pre-modern urban fabric of privileged heritage value. This historical attribute of El-Khalifa district provides more dynamics to the area and attracts many different people.

In 2011, Al-Athar Lana9 initiative took place in Al-khalifa by Megawra Built environmental collective. El-khalifa community centre, a new community centre, has been founded in Al-khalifa district. The field work also figures out the meaning of a sha’bi district in the sense of social relations, social interaction, and social protection. The area has two different main institutions - Al-Khalifa market, and local café “Qahwa Baladi”. The study is meant to map women’s negotiations in public spaces, appropriations of the public space “Al-Khalifa market” and perception of safety which relate to social relations, gender interaction and gendered spaces within the sha’bi meaning.

Being “Muhafez(conservative)” in Al-Khalifa has another notion when it comes to women. Women are not allowed to dress freely outside their houses. Sayed, from the area, says that “most of our women wear the black tall outfit “Abaya” as well as veils”. The percentage of women, who don’t cover their heads and hair, is few. Girls are not allowed to sit on “Qahwa Baladi” and to talk to men who sit there. Moreover, girls should not talk loudly on the phone while on the street.

In the sense of Massey’s work of how gender and space are produced through everyday practices in terms of social relations (Massey 1994), the researcher’s work focuses on capturing how gender interaction happens in sha’bi districts and how it is sometimes restricted due to the sense of security and the socio-demographic characteristics in Al-Khalifa. The researcher also focuses on understanding the everyday life and incidents that women and girls face in Al-khalifa streets on daily basis and examines the relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics, sense of security and different classification of girls and women that either come to or live in El-Khalifa. Young women in Al-Khalifa don’t merely escape from sexual harassment by men. The researcher interviewed “Mostafa” the owner of “Qahwa” in El-Ashraaf Street, who said

Al-Athar Lana initiative means the monument for us, it is initiated by megawra; the collective built environment and the forst event with El-khalifa community.

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Referring to the social relation between Al-Ashraf residents themselves, men have a role in protecting a woman in some incidents. However, in el-Ashraf Street, it is still safe for women to walk until 21:00 pm. This protective attitude either comes from the social relations between the residents or from the gender construction and domination over women. The strong social structure plays a role in women’s safety in the district. This protection ends at the edges of the district for many reasons. El-Khalifa’s residents cannot control larger spaces or spaces on the edge of their district like El-Sayeda Nafisa square.

This affects the possibility of gender interaction. For instance, if the girl is an outsider, the situation is better. She can walk together with her boyfriend on any street without the fear of being watched. One of the technical school girls says “Then, there are no worries. She can ride his motorbike behind him and this couple knows which streets that other girls avoid in order to go through.”

On the other hand, the sense of security, that a sha’bi district provides, stops at the edges of the area. The experience of gender interaction in public spaces inside the district differs from spaces outside of social control.

The experience of females, while negotiating Al-Khalifa streets differs from one female to another. To sum up, gender interaction and sexual harassment are so much related to the social relations and the observing eyes on streets. Gendered institutions also play a role in this regard. The female’s behaviour of navigating Al-Khalifa is affected by gendered institutions and street politics which include sexual harassment or protection.

Intersection of Gentrification and Gender in the Pottery Village in Kum Ghurab This part demonstrates the analysis of social change in the pottery villages as a result of internal gentrification inside the pottery village snd argues that sexual harassment is a result of urban phenomena like gentrification and cultual displacement.

Pottery-industry in Islamic Cairo is as old as the origin of Al-Fustat by the Arabs and happens to be the main economy of Al-Fustat (Nassar, H., & Hewitt, R. 2012). Al-Fustat city is the first Islamic capital city of Egypt, built in AD 641 and located on the eastern side of the handing church in Old Egypt’s Coptic district and Amr Ibn al-As Mosque (ibid). Many small pottery workshops are extended to Kum Ghurab area within the al-Fustat and close to the centre of Cairo (ibid).

“Pottery Village has existed since the fifties and it was developed 10 years ago with a grant from the European Union in agreement with the Cairo governorate; and since more than 10 years, I have been responsible for the follow up work in the workshop owned by the sons of Haj Mahmoud Abdeen who is known by the greybeard of the potters” (personal communication, Am Ragab said, A potter, 2016) The construction of the pottery village took seven years to be completed. The relocation had started two years earlier. Craftsmen started to return to the pottery village in 2007. There were thirty craftsmen and artists in the area before the development process. Due to the economic situation, most of them cannot afford to work again in the pottery industry.

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The pottery village now has six pottery craftsmen and workshops out of the thirty original ones. The economic situation leads to an unintended and internal gentrification process. The increasing cost of pottery manufacturing pushed people to rent their units to outsiders, mainly artists, professors and architects.

In 2008, Darb 1718 has been founded to host many activities which vary from concerts, galleries, yoga workshops, and interior design, to other crafts and art activities for beginners and professionals by constructing well-built relations with local potters, young Egyptian artists, and intellectuals (Darb1718.com, 2016). However, some of the activities that Darb 1718 hosts don’t respect the community’s culture or beliefs. Darb1718’s visitors and members also point out this issue. In some concerts, alcoholic drinks are allowed which is considered disgusting and annoying to the residents.

Ahmad Yehia, from the Darb 1718 team, values the existence of this centre inside Kum Ghurab. He believes that it has a good impact on the long term since children will be exposed to art and culture. He wonders why people in Kum Ghurab get annoyed with the events in Darb 1718 that serve alcoholic drinks since people in Kum Ghurab drink alcohol in their weddings. He points out that when Darb 1718 started to approach the community, it was already too late. The gap between the community and Darb 1718 has been increasing since the art centre opened and also as long as Darb1718 continues to host events which are disgusting according to the community’s perception. The problem now is summarised in the wide gap between Kum Ghurab’s residents and Darb1718.

This gap comes from the internal gentrification process that happens inside the pottery village. Cultural displacement is considered as a result of gentrification. What is mentioned increases the isolation between the Darb1718 and Kum Ghurab communities and presents a conflict over the space of the pottery village. The conflict over the space has spread beyond the space of the pottery village itself. Another type of practices appears as a way of confrontation to Darb1718 activities. This practice is sexual harassment. The researcher argues that sexual harassment is an intersection of gentrification, craft and gender.

Figure 3: Social Netwrok in kum Ghurab (Source: the author, 2016)

According to the classification in Kum Ghurab’s social network, a direct domination comes from Kum Ghurab’s male to his wife. Men in Kum Ghurab do not allow their wives to go to the pottery village spaces even if Darb1718

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hosts events for Kum Ghurab women. Men restrict their wives’ movements to Kum Ghurab alleys. Women, in Kum Ghurab, extend their activities from their houses into those public spaces, i.e. the alleys; transform the alleys into social spaces for women.

“Some women come to a concert in Darb 1718; these types of people are well known within Kum Ghurab community. People who come to get drunk” (personal communication, Khalid Aly, 2016) The presence of females in the Kum Ghurab area is contested whether they are residents or outsiders. Females from the area are not allowed to go to certain places like Darb 1718. The presence of outsider females is not welcome in Qasr El-Sham’ street and even in the pottery village which brings the discussion back to the community perception of the art centre. In all cases, it is all about who controls the street and the common things that bring people together and which they agree on. This is what Tonkiss argues in regard to cultural ties, social networks and local spaces. She clarifies how mutual ideas can form a community’s perception and one language.

Conclusion This part concludes the important findings from the empirical work of the research to put everything together and link the findings to the research’s assumption and aim. The research establishes a common ground between the two case studies regarding gender interaction as a privilege for different groups. It points out the spaces of power for female, the relation between gender and street politics and how these aspects affect women’s safety.

Moreover, it constructs another departure point for future research and projects to undertake gender aspects as one of the main issues in public space. The research suggests including the gender sensitive approach to be in the development agendas in such distinctive historic areas. The significance of the gender sensitive approach is that it takes into account the needs of the male and female users of the space, allowing space appropriation by residents themselves and fulfilling a culture that is informed by the social backgrounds and everyday experiences by females and males.

References Berger, M. (2014). Cultural enlightenment for Cairo’s downtown futures. Mada Masr. Retrieved 17 July 2016, from http://www.madamasr.com/sections/culture/cultural-enlightenment-cairo%E2%80%99sdowntown-futures Bondi, L. (1999). Gender, class, and gentrification: enriching the debate. Environment And Planning D: Society And Space, 17(3), 261-282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/d170261 Coming Up Short: Egyptian Government Approaches to Informal Areas - Tadamun. (2014).Tadamun.

Retrieved 12 July 2016, from http://www.tadamun.info/2014/09/16/coming-short-governmentapproaches-informal-areas/?lang=en#.V4U517h97IU Darb1718.com. (2016). Vision / Mission «Darb 1718. [online] Available at: http://www.darb1718.com/darb1718/vision-mission/ Ilahi, N. (2009). Gendered contestations: An analysis of street harassment in Cairo and its implications for women’s access to public spaces. Surfacing: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Gender in the Global South, 2, 56-69.

I Wish…” UN Women captures one street campaign against sexual harassment in Egypt. (2012).

Headquarters. Retrieved 15 June 2016, from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2012/5/iwish-un-women-captures-one-street-campaign-against-sexual-harassment-in-egypt

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Jacobs, J. (1992). The death and life of great American cities. New York: Vintage Books Massey, D. (1994). Space, place, and gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Mitchell, Timothy. (1991). “America’s Egypt.” Middle East Report 21.

Nassar, H., & Hewitt, R. (2012). The Relocation of al-Fustat Pottery Village: Evaluating the Results of Urban Redevelopment. International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 1(2), 367-381.

Shehayeb, D. K. (2009). Advantages of living in informal areas. Cairo’s informal areas between urban challenges and hidden potentials. Cairo: GTZ Egypt and Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP).

Smith, N. (1979). Toward a theory of gentrification, a back to the city movement by capital, not people. Journal of the American Planning Association, 45(4), 538-548.

Smith, N. and Williams, P. (1986). Gentrification of the city. Boston: Allen & Unwin.

Tonkiss, F. (2005). Space, the city and social theory. Cambridge: Polity

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The Sociocultural Dynamics in the Preservation of Historical Centres The Case of Tunis’ Medina Nader Khelifi Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Mohamad A.Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design, Ain Shams University Prof. Dr. Josephine Fokdal, Interim professor of International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart

Abstract The theoretical framework of preservation shows a lack in conciliating the potentials of the Medina, not only as a material heritage but also as a cultural one, including its specific dynamics. There exist discontinuities between policies and the practices which constitute a brake for a possible redevelopment of the Medina based on its evolving identity which is/which happens to be based on its popularity, its diversity and the transformative role that culture plays in the preservation of its fabric. The focus

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of this research is to understand the relation between the knowledge practices of preservation professionals of the Medina, adopted by the responsible authorities and institutions, its reality as a dynamic urban setting and the role of its dynamics in the preservation of its identity.

Keywords: Heritage, identity, sociocultural dynamics, urban preservation Introduction The Medina of Tunis has mainly developed as a national identity symbol. Unlike other Medinas in North Africa, such as Marrakech, the Medina of Tunis has escaped the over-gentrification phenomenon for the sake of seasonal tourism.

The number of hotels and foreign-owned real estate properties is insignificant. This proves that the legal framework has worked in favor of maintaining the vitality of this neighborhood as a living heritage and thus avoided the sell-out of the Medina and other radical changes in the social structures. This contributed to the formation of specific dynamics inside the Medina, moderating the threats concerning the deterioration of the built environment.”.

Together with the work of some institutions like the National Institute for heritage and the ASM (Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina), the sociocultural dynamics helped the medina of Tunis avoid both gentrification and excessive decay. The 2011 revolution and the end of the single party era associated with it has allowed the emergence of an organized civil society. This blooming associative life has been active in the fields of Heritage and urban well-being in Medinas. Therefore, there is a need to understand the development of the Medina on these two main levels: the institutional level and the established (mainstream) level.

Methodology The case study of this research is restricted to the central Medina (La Médina centrale). The focus will be on the mixed identity of this part of the historical district and its current dynamics. This is based on empirical data analysis. The collection of data started with interviews with key actors. These actors are mainly locals (both residents and business owners), people working in institutions dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the Medina and other actors who are involved in cultural initiatives and projects in the fields of craftsmanship and culture. The second stage of the research consisted of site visits. Analyzing the site was based on observations and mapping. The focus of the analysis was on the actors, their involvement in the sociocultural dynamics and the way they adapt to the context of the historical city. The observation of these different types of groups points out to differences in their approach and perception of the material and immaterial heritage. In order to juxtapose these different layers of perceptions that also show the different attitudes of preservation in today’s Medina, an investigation was carried out. A questionnaire was distributed on the field and another one was developed online to reach other categories of people who are occasional users and/as well as academics who are familiar with the context of the Medina. In order to get an in-depth social outlook and understand relations, an immersion in the different networks of actors, by the researcher, took place by getting involved in different initiatives. The analysis of the different responses to the preservation issue pointed out to influences of the current sociocultural dynamics on the material heritage. The outcome of these influences is then contextualized. By contextualizing these perceptions, pulling out characteristics from each context (professional vs daily/ mainstream) and finding common factors

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between them, it was possible then to measure the effects of these factors on the preservation process of the Medina of Tunis. The measuring is rather qualitative, relying on a comparison between reality and theory. Based on that, the research follows by identifying the indicators showcasing the role of the sociocultural dynamics in the Medina through mapping new paradigms and interpreting their impacts. The focus of the last stage of the analysis is then shifted to the transformative role of culture in the Medina of Tunis. The analysis is based on two cases: the festival of the Medina and the work of an association named L’Art Rue based in the Medina of Tunis. It assesses the new paradigms and the impacts of such projects and happenings compared to strategies found in literature and theoretical approaches initiated by official organisms and state bodies. The last part of the research concludes with a set of recommendations based on the parameters pulled from the analysis and the comparison between the theoretical frameworks and the reality that is manifested through different dynamics.

Theoretical background The theoretical background aims at presenting definitions and explaining concepts that the research revolves around. It starts with the definitions of terms used in the title in order to set the general framework of the thesis.

Then, it takes upon notions that are derived from these definitions and represent a theoretical base for the research.

The notions of “place identity” and “place attachment” are derived from the definition of the sociocultural dynamics relating it to the spatial issue. Similarly, after defining heritage and preservation, the discourses on them are defined in a way that aims to position the research in a set of contemporary ideologies that the research relates to. The last part of this chapter tackles the notion of “cultural sustainability”, a topic which was recently elaborated for the coming UN HABITAT III conference and is relevant to the research.

The official discourses on heritage could be classified into two important sets of heritage practices. The first one focuses on management and conservation of heritage sites, places and objects. The second one is tied to the visitation of sites and institutions within activities involving tourism and leisure (Smith, 2006). Both discourses present a flaw according to new conventions such as the Faro convention on the value of cultural heritage for society. The convention advocates the replacement of the traditional views on heritage that are limited to old buildings and historical sites by a much broader concept materialized by heritage and cultural strategies implemented on the national, regional and local levels. This implies that, in today’s world, the study of heritage should become transdisciplinary. In other words, the concern about archaeology and conservation should be shifted to educational and economic aspects as well as to the possibilities in order to enrich cultural life within societies.

The question of identity is also a central one in this research work. It will be discussed in terms of its relationship with the spatial dimension and distinguished from the place attachment issue. By introducing the concept of "place identity", Proshansky (1978) identifies a complex set of relations, environmental behaviors, preferences and attitudes towards the environment. The concept of identity would be inconceivable without a system actively linking an individual to his physical and social environment (Costalat-Founeau, 1997). Therefore, the relationship between people and their environment is expressed by the link they maintain with their living spaces. These interactions become, then, important elements in the construction of identity (Altman & Taylor, 1971). While supporting the role

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of individual interactions in the construction of the identity of the place, other authors see identity as a collective construction produced and edited by the human dialogue and the meanings attributed to the living (Dixon and Durheim, 2000). Besides, heritage is an aspect of the past which could be considered the foundation of individual and collective identity (Hewison, 1987). This is important to understand how relationships to places emerge and how to organize the relation to the places in contemporary societies where identities are confronted with globalization trends, especially when it comes to urban planning and management. The third section in this part of the research focuses on the issue of cultural sustainability. The Habitat III policy paper mentions the importance to considerate both tangible and intangible cultural assets and creative practices in urban development processes from inception to implementation. It also suggests that examples of well-planned cities would have integrated cultural heritage and activities in their strategic plans so that the disruptive impact of development on heritage would have been mitigated and the positive impacts enhanced.

Contextual background: Historical evolution of the identity of the Medina This part will be based on literature reviews that highlight the diversity that the Medina represented in terms of social and cultural composition throughout the last century. The Medina of Tunis plays an integral role in the shaping and understanding of life-world reality for the people of Tunisia; as a symbol, the medina of Tunis lends identity (Schwemmer, 2006). Sebag (2000), a sociologist and historian whose work contributed to the documentation of the history of Tunis, explains that the significance of the city of Tunis began to proliferate when Tunis was/became the capital of Ifriquia in the mid-12th century. The identity of the city and country is established after the mid-16th century, when the rulers of the city dominated the country. At that time, the name of the city Tunis was attributed to the entire country (Sebag, 2000). During the French colonisation, the protectorate government identified the French way of life and European urban development policies as superior social organisational structures that legitimised a French hegemony over Tunisia (Escher et Schepers 2008). The medina was referred to as the “Muslim ghetto” and became an accessory of the “main city”: the “ville nouvelle” (Abdelkafi, 1989). The political resistance movement in Tunisia, however, was based in the Medina, making it a symbol of the Tunisian identity and the basis for action. Therefore, its image was ideologically charged as a symbol for resistance against the colons (Abdelkafi, 1989). After the independence, the rational and progressive vision of Bourguiba’s government adopted the same arguments as the protectorate. The medina was referred to as archaic and as a symbol of historical decadence (Abdelkafi, 1989). It becomes a symbol for opposing western rationality and thus progress and advancement (Escher et Schepers 2008). Moreover, it is associated with the decadent and wasteful life of Tunisia’s bourgeoisie and the Bey government that preceded the protectorate which resulted in the development of the colonial rule over Tunis (Abdelkafi, 1989). At the same time, the negative attributes result in a cultural deficit (Escher et Schepers 2008). This generated an identity crisis between 1969 and 1974. During this period, the centre of Tunis was left by its dwellers. The Jews left the Hara (known today as Hafsia) to France and Israel since they felt threatened by the new mainly Islamic independent republic. The European community left the capital to return to their countries of origin. The Medina dwellers started to leave their courtyard houses to settle in the new urbanized “modern” areas, away from the centre. This exodus was accompanied by a wave of migration of villagers to the

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capital. These villagers took refuge in the abandoned buildings including old palaces, schools (Madrassas), and caravansaries. This exodus was accompanied by a wave of migration of villagers to the capital. These villagers took refuge in the abandoned buildings including old palaces, schools (Madrassas), and caravansaries. Most of the abandoned buildings were squatted or rented for a cheap price which led to a degradation of the fabric. The transformation started to take place gradually by mid-70s when Arab traditions once again became more important for cultural life and national identity (Abdelkafi, 1989). The significance of the medina was on the rise again. A new movement at that time viewed the medina as a symbol of national identity and cultural authenticity. Cultural identity and social principles become merged (Béji, 1982). Hakim (1986) focuses on this topic by taking the old town of Tunis as a model to illustrate the normative principles of social organization for Muslim urban planning. Politically speaking, the Medina acts as a social mirror during the period of the identity crisis and was finally able to be considered a symbol of national identity.

The findings Today, one of the main brakes for the development of this historical area is the total absence of a detailed socioeconomic study that identifies the real issues and potentials. Projects are carried out through individual visions and generally target the most accessible areas, and neglect the reality of the other areas that are considered a backstage

Figure 12: synthesis of investigations diagram Source: The researcher,

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for the showcasing of heritage as understood by the government. The section constitutes a reading of the social layer in today’s Medina. This reading is made through the understanding of groups, space solicitation, intercommunal issues and the role of the civil society. Numerical data is important to have a preview of the weight of the actors that are targeted in this research. Nevertheless, acquiring detailed data relevant to each specific group has been problematic to certain limitations such as time constrains, data availability and the absence of cooperation of some groups. As an alternative, a survey has been made as well as a series of interviews with different people representing samples of each group. Such findings were helpful for the research, especially that the intended methodology focuses on a qualitative approach rather than a quantitative one. The work carried out in this research is based on archives and observations in order to illustrate the reality and complexity of the field in terms of stakeholders, interactions and dynamics. As a first step, during field visits, the objective was to identify the different groups. In fact, apart from the communities living in the Medina, there are actors who are actively participating in different fields such as preservation, culture, development and the promotion of the Medina. What today constitutes the dynamics shaping the social reality of Tunis’ Medina is the set of interactions between these stakeholders and the translation of their visions and different means of identification to the heritage. In this section, actors will be categorized into different groups and sub-groups that will be referred to for the coming sections of this work. According to this classification, a total of 38 interviews was carried out with different actors on field representing a sample of each group. Since the direct contact with other large groups of actors such as visitors and inhabitants was not representative and conclusive enough, a survey was distributed on field as well as online in order to reach a bigger sample. The number of answers to these surveys, which focused on qualitative aspects, reached a total of 110. Four major themes were addressed to different actors: aspects of their identity, their interaction, their contribution and their perception of the sociocultural dynamics. This section in organized as follows: •

A categorization of the actors, their background and their identification means

•

An investigation on space solicitation, identities and traditions, the emergence of the civil society after the revolution as an influential actor and the shifts resulting from the revolution

•

Synthesis of the investigation

The results of this first part of the investigations show that dynamics are the outcome of a different set of parameters shaping the perception of heritage in the context of the Medina. These could be classified into material parameters, immaterial parameters and parameters of change. Each of these are represented by different aspects such as actors and their environments, traditions, identities and different perceptions as well as political and economic aspects. The interlinkage between these different aspects produces the components of the dynamics and thus the reality of the heritage in the Medina of Tunis. This reality will be confronted in the coming section to the theory of preservation as observed through policies and spatial patterns on the field. This would highlight the role of special dynamics in the preservation process.

Comparing theory to the findings

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In order to compare theoretical approaches and discourses about the heritage with the reality in situation, importance was given to examples that illustrate dualities. These examples were observed on site. The observations could be summarised in three categories: •

Observations on policies and the extent of their applicability in reality

•

Observations on spatial patterns such as the reallocation of the functions of monuments, spatial dispersal of artisans inside the central Medina and the new patterns of public space

•

Observations on phenomena that are developing, mainly gentrification

In order to understand the reality of policies and their applicability in the Medina of Tunis, it is important to refer to the groups of actors mentioned in the last chapter, who are targeted with these policies. The inhabitants (group 1) are on the top of the list, followed by artisans and business owners (group 2). The institutions (group 6) represent those policies as they are in charge of managing the heritage (INP) and preserving it (ASM).

The roles of these actors on the field is complex to assess due to the absence of coordination and communication.

There are actually many loopholes as far as the management of the medina is concerned. An interview with a former employee at the ASM sheds light on reasons behind such unconformity between reality and theory. According to her words, "[h]eritage is a double-edged sword since it generates many ‘problems’ with the actors (...)”. There are good wills and some very extensive studies but which/they do not go very far. On the administrative structure, one can find the INP, ASM, etc., and/but the main problem is: there is no coordination between them and between the research structures and architecture experts. The ASM was created to help people, but again, it is a double-edged sword; it only helps some people and others not. Due to these problems, many changes in the morphology and patterns in the Medina are being witnessed. The lack of policies has turned the area into an experimental laboratory where all actors are acting for their own sake. This experimentation will be highlighted through other observations/another observation about the role of certain actors in the emergence of new practices involving different aspects of the heritage and not only its materiality. Some of the changes that occurred in the Medina concern some patterns that are the fruit of interventions of the official politics managing the heritage in the Medina such as the reallocation of the function of monuments in order to protect them from decay. Others revolve around spatial shifts such as the changes in the location of artisan workshops, and spatial phenomena such as gentrification.

This section presents these patterns as diagnosed in the present.

The role of official planning and preservation bodies in the Medina has to be questioned in terms of how sustainable their measures are and whether they meet or not the need of the evolving communities. In fact, these measures are neither compatible with the basic recommendations of the UNESCO nor can be categorised as iconoclastic measures due to the absence of an effective policy-making structure and follow-up strategies. The Medina has witnessed important changes induced by factors that were not taken into consideration. The political effervescence of the years following the 2011 revolution has impacts on the dynamics of the historical district where some actors ascended to new degrees of legitimacy.

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While developing this research, many contrasts have appeared and influenced the research objectives. The preservation of historic centres is strongly dependent on the degrees of identification to the place and the commitment of the communities. This would explain the failure to impose non-inclusive policies and the tense relations between actors that identify differently to the Medina of Tunis. The socio-cultural dynamics is the reality that policymakers should not only address but also integrate in the process of policymaking and any action plans intended to influence the conservation state of the fabric. In the Medina of Tunis, these dynamics have succeeded where policies have failed. One important aspect, besides the number of initiatives and events taking place regularly, is the diversity of the themes these tackle, giving as much importance to the built heritage as to the immaterial heritage of the Medina. This immaterial heritage consisting of traditions, food, music, behavior, clothes, street games, arts, etc.

Assessment of the role of cultural initiatives in the preservation of the Medina Through observations, culture has turned out to be an important asset in the Medina. The cultural dynamics prove that the reality of preservation in such historic districts does not only rely on policies but also on integrated practices and initiatives that become part of the identity of the place as they target deeper phenomena. In order to assess the impact of cultural dynamics in the Medina, this part of the research focuses on two cases of initiatives: The festival of the Medina case illustrating the capacity of cultural events to revive the district by bringing all categories of people together during times when they usually don’t feel safe to go to the Medina. The other example illustrates the capacity of an NGO called l’Art Rue to foster exchange between different actors, especially artists and people from the neighborhood. The impacts of such initiatives in the Medina are as visible through experience. The Medina has a variety of aspects that are profitable for experimentation as long as it (it – the Medina? Or they – the aspects?) is considerate towards the characteristics of the context. These aspects include the social mixture and the urban setting. In order to assess these impacts, questions related to these festivals were included in the survey made during the research phase. As many as 60% of people admitted that they visited the Medina for the first time during a cultural event. Most of these people are between the ages of 18 and 25 years. As far as inhabitants are concerned, interviews showed a satisfaction with the vitality of the Medina during events like Dream City.

These particular case studies are presented as an example of alternatives that show two main ideas within the scope of the research. The first idea is about the perception of identity and the instability of its construct. In fact, as shown by these examples, some of the activities that are introduced to the Medina could be considered inappropriate if put in a theoretical frame where the Medina of Tunis is seen as a fixed space. The outcome of investigations within institutions such as ASM or the INP confirms this idea. In fact, these parties are currently reframing their approach to heritage through cooperation with other actors, especially NGOs and cultural actors as demonstrated previously.

New identity factors such as “collectiveness” and “openness” to others are cumulated by means of cultural and social initiatives in the Medina. The reality of these evolving identities influences also the attachment of people to their physical environment and immaterial heritage. The second idea is about the alternatives to institutional preservation tools. These alternatives mainly rely on a participatory approach to heritage preservation. The

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examples demonstrate that there are possibilities to sidestep the lack of political will and the lack of resources by utilizing the existing potential of actors.

Conclusion By analyzing the medina in its current structure, the complexity of the problems that have accumulated through more than a century on the political, economic and social has been discovered? (sentence is incomplete). Tunis medina has a potential for cultural tourism and cultural engagement. The development of cultural tourism is expected to bring a new life and participate in the safeguarding of the Medina. This requires the deployment of huge resources in human capital, technical and financial involvement with the authorities and stakeholders in tourism and culture. The preservation of this heritage is a shared responsibility. And for that, there should be "work towards a good scientific understanding, improve urban planning practices and architecture and open political debates to ensure civic responsibility”. This would allow a better appropriation of space by the different actors socially present and, in this perspective, the spatial discontinuities could probably fade. It is necessary to guide any investment closer to a practice that is based on commitment, discovery and exchange. The development of the craft structures is a need to adapt new trade patterns that meet the quality to compete with important goods that are invading the old souks and markets. The craft sector shall prevail and regain its position. It is a way to promote the cultural knowledge. Promotion should be based on product quality and authenticity by a certain control from a responsible body (example: The Office of Artisanat in Tunis).

There is a set of parallel movements from the local politics that allow safeguarding and enhancement of the Medina, addressing a much wider audience and not just tourists. These backup movements are many and have an important part of the heritage rehabilitation of the medina of Tunis. The medina and its assets are in the process of regaining interest by a great effort undertaken by different actors. However, this effort seems to be hampered by lack of coordination among stakeholders and agencies in the medina. All this requires a greater coordination, a wider vision and a more regular “mise-au-point”. A dialogue must be set up between representatives of the various interests and identities. It must be a base for common projects of rehabilitation of the medina, its monuments and handicrafts.

Today, there is a need to go beyond the idea of implementation of individual projects disconnected from other disciplines. A concerted effort must be made between these institutions and the population living and working in the medina. In a complex context such as the case for the Medina of Tunis, policies play a secondary role compared to established habits and practices. The policies should be flexible enough to help the population preserve the heritage and live it. Preserving and living are equally important since the existing policies could be easily applied for an archaeological site with no dynamics inside.

References Abdelkafi, J. (1989), La medina de Tunis (Paris: CNRS).

Akrout-Yaïche, S. (2006), Tunis 1800 - 1950: Portrait architectural et urbain (Tunis: Elyzad [u.a.]).

Ammar, L., and Panerai, P. (2010), Tunis, d'une ville à l'autre: Cartographie et histoire urbaine, 1860-1935 ([Tunis]: Nirvana).

Costalat-Founeau, A.-M. (1997), Identité sociale et dynamique représentationnelle (Didact. Psychologie sociale, Rennes (France): Presses universitaires de Rennes).

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Deborah Barnard, ‘Being Ghetto: The Hara as Heterotopia in Judeo-Tunisian Literature’ <http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/thecoastalreview/vol1/iss1/6>.

Dixon, J., and Durrheim, K. (2000), ‘Displacing place-identity. A discursive approach to locating self and other’, British Journal of Social Psychology, 39/1: 27–44.

Escher, A., and Schepers, M. (2008), ‘Revitalizing the medina of Tunis as a national symbol’, erdkunde, 62/2: 129–141.

Graham, s. e. (2006), ‘The (Real) politics of Culture. U.S. Cultural Diplomacy in UNESCO, 1946-1954*’, Diplomatic History, 30/2: 231–251.

Hewison, R. (1987), The heritage industry: Britain in a climate of decline / Robert Hewison (London: Methuen).

John, C. I., and Howard, B. J. (2013), Change and Development in the Middle East (Routledge Revivals): Essays in Honour of W.B. Fisher (Taylor & Francis) <https://books.google.tn/books?id=jftTAQAAQBAJ>.

Kaminski, J., Benson, A. M., and Arnold, D. (2013), Contemporary Issues in Cultural Heritage Tourism (Taylor and Francis) <https://books.google.tn/books?id=J5pWAgAAQBAJ>.

Proshansky, H. M. (1978), ‘The City and Self-Identity’, Environment and Behavior, 10/2: 147–169.

Santelli, S. (1995), Tunis: Le Creuset méditerranéen (Collection La Ville, Paris: Editions du Demi-Cercle).

Scannell, L., and Gifford, R. (2010), ‘Defining place attachment. A tripartite organizing framework’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30/1: 1–10.

Sebag, P. (1998), Tunis: Histoire d'une ville / Paul Sebag (Collection histoire et perspectives méditerranéennes, Paris: Harmattan).

Smith, L. (2006), Uses of heritage (London, New York: Routledge).

Soeffner, H.-G. (2004), ‘Überlegungen zur Soziologie des Symbols und des Rituals’ in Die Kultur des Rituals: Inszenierungen, Praktiken, Symbole (München: Fink), 149–76.

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3. Environmental Design and Energy Efficiency Resources

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Integrating Sustainable Energy Solutions into Urban Design Photovoltaic Panels - Case Study: Al-Rehab City, Cairo Tamer Aly Kamel Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Yehya M. Serag, Ain Shams University Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Antje Stokman, University of Stuttgart Prof. Dipl.-Ing. (hons) Carsten Vellguth, Ain Shams University

Abstract The residential sector is the largest consumer of energy globally and locally in Egypt. Thus, it is also the largest contributor to greenhouse gases. However, if the residential sector manages to reach sustainable energy autonomy, its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions has the potential to be neutralized. Photovoltaic (PV) panels bring clean energy directly into the built environment and, since the housing market in Egypt is dominated by the private sector, there is potential for real estate developers to not only draw out long-term and

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large-scale sustainable development plans, but make financial profit from selling energy. This thesis argues for a sustainable development model which caters for private real estate developers. Taking Al-Rehab City as a case study, it examines the projected energy yield from PV panels in comparison to energy consumption. In addition, various spatial solutions are proposed to improve the overall efficiency, pushing the proposed model closer to energy autonomy. Moreover, this thesis also examines the financial aspect of such development, calculating investment costs and financial profit, while studying different investment and management scenarios.

Furthermore, environmental impact is studied showing the total reduction in carbon emissions in comparison with conventional energy generation sources. Finally, this paper reflects on findings, calling for a national policy to adopt the proposed approach, further offsetting the residential sector from energy demands and carbon emissions.

Keywords: Energy Autonomy, Photovoltaic Panels, Sustainable Development, Al-Rehab City, Cairo

Introduction As humanity ventures deeper into the Anthropocene, it is now clear that climate change is real, and humanbased activities are responsible for it. The production of electricity is the largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions while the residential sector consumes 40% of the global energy produced, making it responsible for 25% of total carbon emissions. Yet, as the problem is defined, a solution presents itself, and that is the potential to offset 25% of carbon emissions if the residential sector was supplied with clean energy. PV technology is a clean, effective, reliable and a proven alternative source of energy. PV panels are small and modular, which makes them suitable for the built environment, especially as roof mount installations. This brings the generation of clean energy into the residential sector – the root of the problem. At this point, a few questions present themselves: By capitalizing on this coupling, can the residential sector reach energy autonomy using photovoltaic panels? Which subsection of the residential sector is most tuned to rollout such scenario in a reliable manner? Can this present a financially sound investment opportunity? What is the annual reduction in carbon emissions achievable using such an approach?

The residential sector can achieve energy autonomy using roof-mounted PV panels as long as buildings are under three floors high. However, if roofs were designed for this usage, PV output can increase by 20%, pushing the autonomy limit closer to four floors. However, one cannot rely on individual decisions by tenants to invest in PV panels. Therefore, it is more reliable to target a housing project for this approach. A developer can apply this development scheme across an entire housing project which would present higher coverage figures. To test this scheme, Al-Rehab City was taken as a case study as it is considered the most successful example of private development in Cairo. After calculating energy yield from PV panels and average consumption, apartment buildings and houses can cover 60% and 130% of their demands respectively. However, when combined, and after adding more panels in public buildings, parking lots and parks, the entire project can cover 91.20% of its total demand. Yet, if the project was designed with the usage of PV panels in mind, slanting roofs and keeping buildings under four floors can optimize coverage figures to reach 134.20%. Energy generated from installed PV

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panels would save 24.30 tones of Co2 from being released every year, which constitutes 77.70% of emissions from current sources. Moreover, a new dynamic energy tariff is proposed so that residents could benefit from the installed panels and provide them with an incentive to reduce their individual consumption, further reducing carbon emissions. Financing PV panels for a project like Al-Rehab City would increase total construction costs by less than 5%, while energy harvested can be sold for a potential annual profit of EGP 413 million, forming an investment scheme that pays back for itself in 5.6 years and 19.4 years of profit. Thus, the scheme offers developers a very profitable investment which presents a win-win scenario for all.

According to figures used, the residential sector can achieve energy autonomy with relative ease using PV panels, particularly if projects were planned for PV usage. If the public sector keeps this in mind, a planning policy can be initiated requiring energy autonomy for new developments. This would offset the carbon emissions share of new developments, eventually neutralizing a massive portion of emissions.

Problem Background The emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) from human activities constitute the primary driving force behind climate change. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels constitute the largest portion of those emissions, contributing with 65% of total global GHG emissions. Moreover, looking at GHG emissions by the economic sector, the production of electricity and heating is responsible for the largest share of emissions contributing with 25% of total emissions (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). Furthermore, the residential sector consumes 40% of global energy and is responsible for one-third of GHG emissions (United Nations Environment Programme, 2016). Therefore, it is obvious that the residential sector presents a critical element in both the consumption of energy, and the production of GHG. In parallel, buildings also offer a massive potential to offset an enormous amount of GHG emissions if proper sustainable management was applied. However, before venturing into exploring solutions, the local energy background must be studied. The local condition in Egypt is very similar to the global one as the residential sector consumes 43% of the total energy produced (Egyptian Electric Utility for Consumer Protection and Regulatory Agency, 2015). Additionally, it is also responsible for 45% of peak demands in Egypt (El-Khatam, 2013). On the other hand, renewable energy forms only 2% of the current installed capacity with steam and combined cycle forming the vast majority of generation sources. By 2025, the share of renewables is set to reach 20% and, thus, the public sector has launched a feed-in tariff (FiT) program to attract contributions from individuals and enterprises (Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, 2016).

That being said, a defined problem naturally presents a solution. In this case, the residential sector’s share of carbon emissions can be radically mitigated if it was supplied with clean energy. PV panels already bring energy generation inside the building envelope, where it is consumed. Capitalizing on this coupling shows a potential to reach sustainable energy autonomy. In this case, there is a potential for buildings to generate an amount of energy equivalent to their demand, which can be done individually or collectively. The results in both cases would be the almost complete removal of the residential sector from both energy generation and carbon emission concerns. Solar energy has established itself as a reliable clean energy alternative. Although there are various methods of harvesting solar energy, this thesis is strictly concerned with PV panels. PV panels convert

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light from the sun into electricity by utilizing the photoelectric effect. Materials with a photoelectric property can absorb light energy and release electrons, which can be used to generate an electric current. The true potential of PV panels, however, lies in two characteristics. Firstly, the relative small size and high output of the panels, coupled with their modular structure which introduces the generation of clean energy into the built environment. Initially, an architect was mostly targeting sustainable solutions which would reduce a building’s energy consumption. However PV panels add another dimension to the architect’s toolbox as they can now integrate energy generation in the design process and thereby introduce the concept of energy autonomy.

Secondly, PV panels have received a major recognition after several governments applied FiT programs. These programs created a solid financial investment, and governments have capitalized on this financial aspect to encourage contributions from both individuals and the private sector. This has served to rapidly increase the total share of renewable energy and the success of these programs is witnessed as surges in the global PV markets which occurred after governments utilized FiT policies. Such policies are also responsible for the developments of PV panels and their affordability (Cory, Couture and Kreycik, 2009).

Finding a Trajectory Initially speaking, the problem presented can be targeted using two opposite approaches, reducing electricity consumption or substituting conventional fossil fuel generation sources with clean alternatives. Reducing electricity consumption would decrease demand, and eventually, less energy has to be provided which would reduce carbon emissions. This reduction is viable by utilizing sustainable design and efficient fixtures. Although this would promise significant results, in reality, it is very challenging as there is no collective conscious for sustainable design or efficient fixtures, and in addition, they offer limited incentives. Thus, any progress would rely on individual actions rendering this approach unreliable and unpredictable. On the other hand, substituting fossil fuel energy generation with renewable ones would prove to be more practical and realistic. Strictly regarding PV panels, there are two different approaches for this: centralized and distributed generation. Both have particular strengths and weaknesses.

Centralized generation means large power plants. These are usually built by governments which makes them easier and cheaper to construct. However, they offer limited room for contributions from other sectors and are less reliable in terms of plant failure. Moreover, power plants require transmission lines which add extra costs, power loss and health risks. Distributed generation works in the opposite way, relying on small scattered plants in the form of roof mount PV systems. Although more expensive, distributed generation is more reliable in the case of plant failure and energy losses (SMA Solar Technology AG, n.d). Additionally, distributed generation can utilize FiT programs and presents the potential to introduce the concept of energy autonomy as the energy is produced and consumed in the same location.

Under distributed generation, there are two installation methods: off-grid and grid-tied installations. An off-grid installation is completely independent from the grid and, thus, requires batteries to power it during the night.

Batteries are expensive and troublesome, which renders the system more expensive and less reliable. A grid-tied system, on the other hand, would use energy harvested during morning hours, and draw energy from the grid at

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night, making the system cheaper and more reliable. In addition, this system can also utilize FiT policies (Mæhlum, 2013). Therefore, a grid-tied system is the more appropriate installation method as it is more feasible, reliable and can offer financial incentives.

Typically, in this scenario, tenants pay less for electricity as they draw less energy from the grid. Although this would be attractive for tenants, it does not offer any incentives for developers, and as mentioned before, tenants are unable to deploy a large scale sustainable development scheme. An alternative usage scenario is to feed energy harvested directly into the grid capitalizing on FiT policies, or sell energy to residents for a financial return. This scenario favours developers and investors as it offers a sound investment scheme.

After studying different installation and usage scenarios, it is clear that decentralized grid-tied system while selling harvested energy is the most practical approach as it favours and targets developers and does not rely on individual altruistic actions. A developer can apply the proposed scenario with relative ease as they are the main decision-maker and, in return, can reap the financial benefits from the installed system.

Case Study Housing projects built by the private sector offer a promising entry point for sustainable development. Al-Rehab City is one of the first housing projects built, and is arguably the most successful example of private developments in Cairo (M. Yousry, n.d.). Al-Rehab City is an integrated housing project located in New Cairo City. It spreads over a total area of ten million square meters and is expected to host 200,000 inhabitants (M. Yousry, n.d.). The project offers a mixture of middle and upper-class housing units in apartment buildings and single-family houses in addition to public buildings and other services. The construction of Al-Rehab City started in 1997 by building the first two phases from the original six. However, after the success demonstrated by unit sales and settling rates, the developer acquired an additional land to build phases seven to ten (M. Yousry, n.d.).

Phases one and two roughly make 20% of the project, and are two of the most completed and inclusive phases.

Thus, they are taken as the initial study zone. These two phases incorporate apartment buildings, houses, two mosques and three schools, in addition to parking lots and public parks.

For a sustainable development scheme using PV panels in a project like Al-Rehab City, the main assets for development are the roofs of residential buildings. Although covering these roofs in PV panels has the potential to cater for the majority of electricity demand, the development scheme should not stop at this point. In this context, there are an abundance of other surfaces where the scheme can be expanded upon increasing energy yield and coverage. These surfaces are public buildings, parking lots and public parks. Public buildings are represented in mosques and schools. Both of these building types offer huge volumes and footprints, and minimal energy demands, which makes them ideal for additional PV installations. Mosques are used for a few minutes, five times a day, while schools are only used during daylight hours and are closed during summer, and lighting forms the majority of electricity demand for both building types. Therefore, simple environmentally conscious architecture design can optimize daylight and ventilation, and by using LED lighting, the electricity demand of schools and mosques can be reduced to negligible figures. Thus, the calculations in the next chapters assume that schools and mosques have no electricity demand.

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In addition, the project also offers vast asphalt covered streets dedicated to car parking. Covering these lots with PV panels would not only contribute to the total energy yield, but will also protect cars from the blazing summer heat and reduce the overall urban heat island effect in the neighbourhood. Moreover, public parks form 60% of the total footprint of apartment buildings, and are mostly green lawns with very few trees, shading or seats.

Covering portions of these parks in PV panels on high mounting structures would further increase the total energy yield, and additionally, provide shade with the possibility of introducing seating elements in the structure itself, improving the overall usage of parks and the quality of life within the neighbourhood. Mounting structures can be scattered around parks to cover a proposed 15% of the total area in PV panels. These additional surfaces would finally constitute around one-third of the total installation surfaces, and will contribute with a similar share in total energy yield.

Applications and Calculations Before detailing the applications of PV panels in Al-Rehab City and calculating energy yield and coverage, it is important to list the standards upon which the calculations are done. According to Mr. Hossam Al-Zayat10, the installation of a one megawatt (MW) grid-tied PV system would require ten square meters and cost EGP 13,000.

Additionally, this system would produce an average of 1,750 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually.

Moreover, the most optimum orientation for PV panels in Cairo is between 20° and 30° south. An average angle of 25° is used in the calculations to follow. Concerning electricity consumption, according to Mr. Abdelazeez Zahran11 (2016), the monthly average residential electricity consumption in Al-Rehab City is 6.15 kWh/v and 4.3 kWh/m2 for apartment buildings and houses respectively. However, to maintain a safety margin, the higher figure is used for both calculations. That being said, when supplying electricity to a pool of units, the total provided electricity does not mirror the total sum of consumption, but only covers a specific percentage of the projected total demand, and this is referred to as a demand factor. Demand factor for the residential sector can go as low as 60% (Electrical Notes & Articles, 2011). However according to Mr. Zahran the demand factor used to supply electricity in Al-Rehab City is 80%, and accordingly, this figure will be used to calculate electricity demands.

According to these figures, a typical apartment building in Al Rehab City – Building Type A – which is five stories high with a footprint of 355 m2, would roughly offer a monthly output of 5,180 kWh in electricity from PV panels, and a demand of 8,635 kWh. Therefore, the building would cover around 60% of its demand by retrofitting the roof with PV panels. Moving into houses, a typical single-family house – Villa Type A – which is two stories high with a footprint of 100 m2, would roughly offer an average monthly energy yield of 1,450 kWh, and a demand of 1,000 kWh, hence, an average coverage figure of 130%. These coverage rates, however, can be improved by adjusting the installation surface itself. As mentioned previously, the ideal inclination angle of PV panels in Cairo is 25° south which, when installed on a horizontal surface, casts a shadow covering around 10% of the total surface, reducing space efficiently. However, if the installation surface itself (roof) was inclined to comply with the same installation angle, then the output would increase by 20%. This is due to eliminating 10 CEO of SUNERGY, Cairo based renewable energy solutions provider 11 Head of electrical engineering sector of Al-Rehab City

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shadows (+10%) and the fact than an inclined surface is longer than its horizontal projections (+10%).

Construction wise, it is impractical to slant the roofs of existing buildings, which makes this solution more ideal for new constructions. The proposed inclination also offers a few environmental benefits as it increases the volume of the last floor and offers the possibility to create a wind-catcher-like effect by placing a high window on the northern wall, improving ventilation and the microclimate. Although this inclination angle is rather high and might prove to be impractical, various architectural solutions can be applied for the spatial distribution of apartments and units to make it more realistic.

Adding this 20% potential increase in output from PV panels after slanting roofs and by comparing output with demand per square meter, it is recommended to keep apartment buildings under four floors for better coverage.

In this case, Building Type A would have an optimized output of 6.215 kWh and its demand would decrease to form 6,900 kWh, forming an optimized coverage figure of 90%, and 72% if kept at five floors high. In parallel, slanting the roof of Villa Type A would increase output to form 1,740 kWh, while demand would not change, forming a final optimized coverage figure of 158%.

Results After allocating installation surfaces and calculating initial coverage figures, the next step is to project the overall image for phases one and two. Starting with residential buildings, phases one and two can have a potential installation capacity of 17.2 MW for apartment buildings and 13.8 MW for houses, with an additional 4.9 MW from parking lots. Moreover, public buildings and public parks would add another 2.8 MW combined. This will form a total capacity of 39.8 MW and a potential annual energy yield of 69.7 GWh. On the other hand, the annual demand from apartment buildings and villas would form 69.3 GWh, which translates into an energy coverage rate of 100.50%. This means that covering the proposed surfaces in these phases would already achieve energy autonomy. However, if these phases were designed from scratch, applying the optimization solutions mentioned previously has the potential to increase this coverage figure to reach 139.70%. That being said, these coverage rates are dependent on the urban mixture of those specific phases. Thus, the next step is to look at the entire project.

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By running the same calculation across all ten phases of Al-Rehab City, different results arise in each phase. Throughout the phases, coverage figures range from 79.9% to 140% as expected with the variation in urban mixtures. Phases with the lowest coverage rates do not include single family houses, while phase six which exhibits the highest rate is composed only of houses. The remaining inclusive phases have coverage figures ranging from 83.6% to 106.3%.

In total, the ten phases of the project combined have an initial coverage figure of 91.2%.

However, with optimization, this can reach 134.2%. The total installed capacity in Al-Rehab City would form 186 MW, which already forms 8% of the PV target set by the Ministry of Electricity in 2014 (Solar in Egypt: New feedin-tariff

scheme

to

develop

PV,

2015).

Additionally, the project is expected to offer an annual clean energy yield of 326 GWh, which would release 31.1 tonnes in Co2 emissions annually. These emissions are equivalent to 22.3% of emissions if the same amount of energy is generated from the currently installed local system (United States Environmental Protection

Agency,

2016).

Therefore,

the

presented approach would mitigate carbon emissions by 24.3 tonnes annually, forming 607.5 tones by the end of the system’s lifetime.

Finance: Economy is a critical component to this study, particularly given that it targets developers with a sustainable development scheme in the form of a financial investment.

Using the figures mentioned in the previous chapter, the total capital needed to install PV panels across Al-Rehab City would require roughly EGP 2.3 billion, with an average of 230

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million per phase. According to the current feed-in tariff rates, the expected annual return from selling harvested energy would form EGP 413 million (Solar in Egypt: New feed-in-tariff scheme to develop PV, 2015). This means that the investment would pay back for itself in 5.6 years, leaving 19.4 years of financial profit, assuming the lifespan of the system is 25 years and taking into account negligible maintenance costs. Additionally, after comparing the capital needed with the total construction value of Al-Rehab City, the proposed scheme would only add 4.25% to the original construction costs for the developer. That being said, there are several investment scenarios for both the finance and management of harvested energy which can be applied presenting the developer with a set of options to choose from. The initial investment can be carried by the developer or by an independent power provider (IPP) who would rent installation surfaces from the developer. The harvested energy, on the other hand, can either be sold to the public sector using FiT, or sold to the residents directly. After studying the possible combination of these two scenarios, it is found that the most optimum solution is for an IPP to rent installation surfaces from the developer and sell energy to residents. This will relieve both the developer from financing and managing energy, and the public sector from the financial burden of FiT, while the IPP can adjust electricity tariff to optimize profit.

Recommendations As seen in Chapter 6, coverage rates vary according to the urban mixture in each phase with three phases passing the 100% mark. Therefore, energy autonomy is achievable through controlling urban mixture and/or utilizing the discussed optimization solutions. Subsequently, a planning policy can be drawn out of this, controlling urban mixtures, heights and roofs, and promoting the installation of PV panels on buildings’ roofs. Phases one and two, and phase ten, have coverage figures of 100.5% and 106% respectively. Both figures barely cover the autonomy mark, which makes them ideal to analyse the specific urban mixture for each of these phases. It is important to note, however, that phases one and two have five-story-high apartment buildings, while phase ten has six story high apartment buildings. Although this mixture would change after applying the optimization solutions mentioned previously, both mixtures can act as initial guidelines to achieve energy autonomy. That being said, it is important to note that the share of apartment buildings in the mixture should ideally not pass the 20-30% range as apartment buildings are the largest consumer in this context. Using this mixture as a guideline, and with contribution from the public sector, particularly the Ministry of Housing, a new nationwide policy can be drawn out to completely neutralize the electricity demand of any new development in the residential sector. This will further reduce carbon emissions, and also help mitigate the national energy crisis. Moreover, a few urban planning guidelines can be established. Firstly, slanting roofs to optimize space efficiency would ideally favor buildings which are orientated along the cardinal directions to avoid a diagonally-slanted surface. This inclination also favors more rectangular buildings with the longer side stretching east-west. In addition, inclining roofs also favors free standing buildings, or buildings attached from the eastern and western sides to avoid stretching the inclined surface over multiple buildings unless this is solved architecturally.

To further optimize the overall performance of the presented scheme, and to introduce residents into the equation, an advanced coverage dependent electricity tariff is proposed, under the label: Coverage Cap Policy.

The policy proposes to set a consumption cap that is specific to the building’s energy yield from PV panels. In

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this case, the total yield would be divided by the number of tenants, and as long as the tenant consumes under their specific cap, they are charged a reduced tariff, and naturally, an expensive tariff if they consume over the cap. By adopting this policy, residents receive benefits from the installed PV system and are presented with a financial incentive to reduce their individual consumption. This policy can be applied to an individual building, a cluster or an entire housing project, eventually providing tenants with a higher collective cap.

For further findings and potential improvements, as this thesis illustrates, the potential of the private sector to apply sustainable development scenarios, by capitalizing on the same principle, the presented scheme can be stretched to introduce other sustainable solutions like waste management, recycling and urban farming. These additions would offer limitless environmental benefits while they still present the developer with financial profits.

Conclusion It is more practical and feasible to target the private sector for the reliable large-scale application of sustainable energy solutions rather than depend on individual actions from random individuals. In this case, the private sector is represented by developers, who can easily finance and install photovoltaic panels across entire housing projects. Installing these panels would increase total construction costs by less than 5%, while, in turn, presenting developers with an investment that pays back for itself in 5.6 years, leaving almost 20 years of financial profit from selling harvested energy. Installing photovoltaic panels across a project like Al-Rehab City would initially cover 91% of electricity demand, while if this application is taken into account during the design and construction phase, simple tweaks can be done to increase this coverage figure to reach 134%. Energy harvested from the panels has the potential to mitigate carbon emissions by 77%, while the proposed Coverage Cap Policy can provide residents with attractive incentives to reduce their individual consumption, eventually improving carbon reduction figures. Photovoltaic panels bring the generation of clean energy directly into the residential sector. By capitalizing on this possible autonomy in urban planning, and as a national policy, the residential sector, which is responsible for 40% of global energy consumption and 25% of carbon emissions, can be rendered completely energy autonomous, with very minimal carbon emissions.

References Cory, K., Couture, T. and Kreycik, C. (2009). Feed-in Tariff Policy: Design, Implementation, and RPS Policy Interactions. [online] Colorado: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Available at: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/45549.pdf [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Egyptian Electric Utility for Consumer Protection and Regulatory Agency, (2015). Indicator of Electrical Energy Consumption in Economic Activities: Annual Report 2013-2014. [online] Cairo: Egyptian Electric Utility for Consumer Protection and Regulatory Agency, p.21. Available at: http://egyptera.org/Downloads/reports/ [Accessed 21 May 2016].

Electrical Notes & Articles. (2011). Demand Factor-Diversity Factor-Utilization Factor-Load Factor. [online] Available at: https://electricalnotes.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/demand-factor-diversity-factorutilization-factor-load-factor/ [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016].

Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, (2016). Annual Report 2013-2014. [online] Cairo: Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, pp.16, 28. Available at: http://www.moee.gov.eg/english_new/EEHC_Rep/REPEN2013-2014.pdf [Accessed 21 May 2016].

El-Khatam, W. (2013). Current Status and Future Prospects for the Power Market in Egypt

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International Energy Agency. (2016). Renewables. [online] Available at: http://www.iea.org/topics/renewables/ [Accessed 22 Jul. 2016].

M. Yousry, A. (n.d.). The Privatization of Urban Development in Cairo: Lessons Learned from the Development Experience of Al Rehab Gated Community.

Mæhlum, M. (2013). Grid-Tied, Off-Grid and Hybrid Solar Systems - Energy Informative. [online] Energy Informative. Available at: http://energyinformative.org/grid-tied-off-grid-and-hybrid-solar-systems/ [Accessed 24 May 2016].

SMA Solar Technology AG, (n.d.). Centralized or Decentralized? A (Not So) Simple Decision. [online] Niestetal: SMA Solar Technology A. Available at: https://www.sma.de/fileadmin/content/global/Solutions/Documents/Power-PlantSolutions/WP_CENTRALIZED-DECENTRALIZED_AEN130710W.PDF [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Solar in Egypt: New feed-in-tariff scheme to develop PV. (2015). [online] PV Insider. Available at: http://www.solargcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SolarinEgypt.pdf [Accessed 24 May 2016].

United Nations Environment Programme. (2016). United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - SBCI. [online] Available at: http://www.unep.org/sbci/AboutSBCI/Background.asp [Accessed 21 May 2016].

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Greenhouse Gases | Climate Change | US EPA. [online] Available at: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/ghg/ [Accessed 21 May 2016].

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Global Emissions | Climate Change | US EPA. [online] Available at: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html [Accessed 21 May 2016].

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Rooftops from Wasted to Scarce Resource The Competition between Harvesting Crops and Solar Energy in Nasr City, Cairo Mai Adel Fathy Marzouk Supervisors: Mohamed A. Salheen, Professor of Integrated Planning and Design – Ain Shams University, Egypt Supervisor 2: Prof. Antje Antia Stokman, Professor of Landscape Planning and Ecology – University of Stuttgart, Germany Supervisor 3: Prof. Dr. Ahmed Atef Faggal, Professor of Architecture – Ain Shams University, Egypt External Advisor: Dr. Zakaria Yahia El Sayed, Researcher at Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate – MALR, Egypt

Abstract The Cairene urban rooftops have only recently been perceived as potential resources by two competing technologies– the Agri-rooftops 1 and the PV-rooftops 2 that transform the rooftop space from the stagnating state of wasting into a new state of exploitation. This paper summarizes a thesis that aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of the potentials and constraints of the Agri and PV technologies’ adoption by the rooftops of residential buildings in Cairo. It is divided into three parts. Part I evaluates the current adoption

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practices and identifies the determinant aspects for each technology’s adoption. Part II compares the two technologies’ adoption potential on the rooftops of multi-unit residential buildings of the middle-income context. Part III proposes implementation strategies for boosting the technologies’ adoption. The paper concludes by determining which technology has a higher adoption potential in the different contexts in Cairo.

Keywords: Rooftop Resource; Agri-rooftop; PV-rooftop; Applicability; Acceptability; Implementation Strategies

Introduction It has long been inherent that the rooftop is a left-over space conquered only by clutter and satellite dishes.

However, in 2011 a number of companies started to implement Agri-rooftops in low-income and high-income residential communities in Cairo, motivated by the revolutionary spirit and the willingness to improve the built environment. In 2014, the PV-rooftops started to appear, more in the higher-income communities than in the lower, coinciding with three decisions taken by the government. The first is the removal of the subsidy on electricity (Egypt the Future, 2015).

The second is setting the target of generating 2% of electricity from solar resources (NREA Authority, 2013). The third is the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) scheme 3 devised to help achieve this target (PV-insider, 2015). Accordingly, the research had a wider scope in part I, focusing on the current efforts and implemented cases in the higher and lower income contexts and a deeper scope in part II, analysing, in detail, the technologies’ adoption level and potential competition in the middle-income context that is overlooked in these efforts. For the Agri- or PV-

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rooftop to win the competition over this context’s rooftops, it has to have a higher adoption level. According to Roger’s “Diffusion of Innovation Theory” (2003), the adoption is defined as the technology’s acceptance by the adopter. However, for such space-related technologies, not only does the owner have to accept, but also the rooftop space has to accept the technology, meaning it has to be eligible for its accommodation. Therefore, the adoption level in this research is defined by two factors: the applicability of the technology on the rooftop space and its acceptability by the rooftop owner as will be further explained in the detailed case study analysis.

Building Knowledge about Agri- and PV- Rooftop Technologies This part acts as a knowledge base for the research combining empirical knowledge collected from primary data sources as well as theoretical knowledge from primary and secondary data sources.

The Technologies’ Background and Technicalities: In the background section, the benefits acquired from the two technologies’ implementation in the context were outlined, as well as the challenges expected to be faced. Also, the different systems’ types and technicalities were covered. Based on this study, the misconceptions about the Agri-rooftop’s negative impact on the rooftop structure through water leakage or added load were refuted. Also, its expected high water and electricity consumption was proved to be wrong using calculations based on data retrieved from El Sayed (2016). The profitability calculations showed that this technology is even more economically feasible than marketed. As for the PV-rooftop, its perception as a high-cost technology is confirmed to a certain extent, where its initial costs are relatively high and highly vary based on the fluctuating USD-EGP exchange rates. However, its profitability cannot be decided upon since it is strongly dependent on the electricity consumption and so has a wide-scale of variation. Furthermore, the two technologies’ status-quo in Cairo, development timeline and the involved actors in their support were defined. A compilation of these results is shown in Fig. (2) in the form of a comparison between the two technologies.

Figure 2: Comparaison of Agri and PV Background and Technicalities Source: Author based on multiple data sources 114

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On-ground Cases’ Analysis and Evaluation: Two cases for each technology were purposively selected to represent the attempts in the two targeted contexts of the low-income and the high-income residential communities. The four cases are: The Agri-rooftops implemented by Schaduf company in Ezbet El Nasr low-income informal area; the Agri-rooftops implemented

by Al Bustani company in single family houses in high-income new urban communities; the PV-rooftop project funded and executed by LOCUS foundation in El Zabaleen area in Manshiet Naser informal area, and the PVrooftops implemented by two private companies - Cairo Solar and SolarizEgypt - in single family houses in high income residential compounds in New Cairo and in Sheikh Zayed. The analysed cases, aimed at revealing the level of success of the current adoption models of both technologies in the context to be used as lessons learnt in the case study analysis. They also aim at reaching a conclusion about the extent of these contexts’ suitability to be the entry points for the technologies’ adoption in Cairo. The most critical evaluation aspects, the sustainability, and transferability of the implementation models, are shown in Fig. (3). For the low-income cases, the self-induced adoption of the Agri and PV technologies by the communities is found to be difficult, mainly because the financial capacity of this group is much lower than their motivation. Moreover, the sustainability of the implemented projects in these cases proved to be low due to the high dependence on the funds and the lack of real empowerment of the communities to self-sustain the projects. Hence, the up-scaling in this context is low, but the transfer of its models to the focus context ranges from low to average. As for the high-income cases, the self-induced adoption is identified to be average, not as high as might be expected. This is because, even though their financial capacity is high, their level of motivation and need to adopt the technologies is not as high.

However, they have a higher ability to sustain these projects and the transferability of their models and systems to the middle-income context is high.

Figure 3: Evaluation of the Agri and PV On-grounds Cases in Low and High Income Contexts Source: Author 115

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The Determinant Aspects of the Technologies’ Adoption: Having understood the success level of the adoption models in Cairo in the previous section, some other key questions appeared such as “How is it known if these technologies are applicable on a particular rooftop? ” and “ What would make this rooftop’s owners accept the technology or reject it despite its benefits?”. Due to the lack of enough literature about these relatively new technologies in Egypt, the research mainly depends in answering these questions and identifying the determinant aspects on the international literature of the two technologies.

Such aspects were contextualized to the local context of Cairo through rechecking with experts and through considering aspects deduced from the cases’ analysis done in the previous section. Doing this, the research completes the conceptual framework of the determinant aspects that is applied in studying the technologies’ adoption potential. It includes the aspects related to the first factor of adoption, the applicability-related aspects (mainly space-related) and, to the second factor, the acceptability-related aspects (individual-related, grouprelated and technology-related). A more detailed outline of these aspects is shown in Fig. (4) which will be used in part II of the research.

Figure 4: Conceptual Framework of the Adoption Determinant Aspects. Source: Author

Applying Knowledge in the Case Study context This part represents the beginning of applying the gained knowledge to the focus context of multi-unit residenial buildings in the middle-income community of Nasr City to measure the applicability and acceptability of the two technologies, reaching a conclusion about their adoption level. It mainly depends on the empirical knowledge collected through the case study fieldwork from primary data sources. It also touches upon theoretical knowledge when introducing the context of the case study area and when using the theories and frameworks developed in the previous part to undergo the analysis.

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Nasr City Background and Case Study Selection: Nasr city is Cairo’s largest district, planned in 1958 in Nasser’s era as a part of the government’s socialist model of providing public housing units for its growing urban population (Al Sayyad, 2011). At that time, it was intended to attract the existing middle-income groups with more cooperative housing blocks than the privately-owned plots (Shaheen, 2013). Afterwards, with the seventies’ Open Door policy, it witnessed a number of transformations in its urban and social fabric (Eid et al., 2010). As a result, it became a mixture of high-rise residential buildings, privately owned plots as well as cooperative housing blocks (Frochaux

Figure 5: The Selected Blocks’ Characteristics Source: Author based on multiple data sources

&Martin, 2010). The case study analysis is undergone on two residential blocks as shown in Fig. (5). They were selected in a way so that they represent the different spatial and socio-economic typologies of the residential areas in Nasr City district.

The case study focused scope lies at the intersection of four categories: (1) the building technology, (2) building use/type, (3) income group and (4) building tenure type. The case study allocation within these categories is shown in Fig. (6). The figure also shows which aspects of the case study characteristics are related to the applicability factor and which are related to the acceptability factor. Such contextual characteristics have led to two hypotheses related to the barriers that are expected to face the applicability and acceptability of the two rooftop technologies as shown in Fig. (6) as

Figure 6: Case Study Scope and Rationale Source: Author

well.

Agri and PV Rooftops Applicability Analysis: The applicability analysis aimed at identifying which technology would be applicable on which rooftop in each block of different spatial typologies, thus concluding with the percentage of the suitable rooftops for crops and solar harvesting in each block. It also represented the first step in testing hypothesis (1) of the dispropor- tonality of the rooftop area to the number of units. The environmental and spatial profiling of the two blocks was done and they were compared to a number of thresholds identified for each aspect in part I. The discarded buildings in any aspect were considered inapplicable. An average of the scores of the rest of the applicable buildings was made and the results are as shown in Fig. (7). The Agri-rooftop is applicable on 75% of the rooftops of block (A) and on only one building representing 10% of the block (B) buildings. The main barriers for both blocks were the

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lack of rooftop accessibility and lack of utilities provision aspects.

Contrarily, the PV-rooftop is more favoured by both blocks, achieving 85% applicability percentage in block (A) and 100% in block (B). The main barrier for the PVrooftop in block (A) was the impact of casted shadows due to the varying buildings’ heights. However, for block (B), the typology in terms of the equal buildings’ heights with minimal shadow level as well as minimal obstruction level has advantaged the PV-systems in many ways.

Source: Author

Buildings’ Profitability Analysis: The previous results raised a critical question of “Are these applicable rooftops profitable or feasible for the rooftop owner to take the adoption decision?”. Answering this required undergoing a detailed profitability analysis of each technology’s implementation using the Return on Investment (ROI)

4

as an indicator. To do so, the

available rooftop area on the applicable buildings was identified, followed by the system sizing. The latter depends on the aim of the rooftop farm, which could either have a self-consumption project or a commercial, profitable project. The most profitable options for both the Agri and PV utilization are shown in Fig. (8). The profitability analysis has favoured the Agri-rooftops where it achieved the highest ROI when its produce is sold as a pesticide-free product. Using this profit in covering the shared building’s expenses renders higher ROI than splitting it among the units. It could also cover the self-consumption of up to 10 units/buildings with sufficient savings/units. Above that number, the economic profit will be minimal, yet the other social and environmental benefits are gained. Contrarily, the PV-rooftops provide sufficient coverage for more units/buildings, yet the amount of savings is less than the Agri-rooftop. Using the generated electricity in covering the building’s shared electricity consumption also achieves higher savings. As for the FIT option, covering the low shared expenses of block (B) is the only profitable option. The rest of the FIT options are all unprofitable with negative ROI indicating that the current FIT values are not feasible for high consumption patterns or for large numbers of beneficiaries.

Figure 8: The Most Profitable Agri and PV Rooftop Utilization Options Source:118 Author

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Based on these results, hypothesis (1) was neither completely proved nor completely refuted where it highly depends on the type of technology and its aim, so the outcome of the rooftop areas in these blocks’ typologies could be disproportionate to the number of benefiting units or it could sufficiently cover them.

Agri- and PV- Rooftops Acceptability Analysis: This analysis aimed at comparing the level of acceptability of the two technologies among block (A) and block (B) residents under the different rooftop ownership modes whether it is shared or private, as well as identifying the barriers and motivators facing the acceptance. A structured questionnaire was used to achieve this aim. For the respondents living in buildings with shared rooftops, to verify that their adoption decision is impacted by the shared ownership state and not by an absolute reluctance or acceptance of the technology, they were further asked about their opinion in the case of a hypothetical scenario of owning their own private roof. The results of the respondents’ acceptability of both technologies as well as the main motivators and barriers for the shared rooftop case are shown in Fig. (9). The lower acceptance level in the case of shared ownership of both technologies was expected.

Figure 9: Left/ The Motivators and Barriers Categories for Shared Roof- top Case. Right/ The Acceptability Results’ Comparison Source: Author

Based on this, hypothesis (2) is strongly proved especially that the main barriers identified by both blocks for both technologies were the legal and organisational aspects arising from the shared ownership obstacle. Contrarily, the relatively high level of acceptance in the case of the private ownership scenario was surprising, and indicates a promising start for the acceptance of such technologies in the focus context if the lack of shared responsibility and the collective action problem were solved.

Agri- and PV- rooftops Adoption Level:

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A compilation of the final results of the applicability and

acceptability

factors

of

the

Agri

and

PV

technologies in the two blocks was done using the conceptual framework to reach the adoption level conclusion shown in Fig. (10).

To reach this conclusion, the percentages of the overlap and the gap between the two factors were calculated, identifying by this the “gap: overlap” ratio; the indicator of the technologies’ adoption level. When (ratio<1), Figure 10: The Adoption Level Conclusion.

Source: Author

then the overlap is more than the gap, so the adoption potential is high and when (ration>1), the potential is low. Therefore, it became clear that case (1) of Agrirooftops on block (A) typology has the highest adoption potential, while case (4) of the PV-rooftops on block (B) typology is considered the lowest and most wasted potential.

Part III: Adding to the Wider Field of Knowledge This part is where all the lines of discussion are interweaved, reaching solid implementation strategies that can boost the technologies’ adoption. The proposed strategies are based on empirical knowledge gained during the research as well as theoretical knowledge from earlier research and international projects after contextualizing them.

Context-Specific Implementation Strategies: The implementation strategies push the four outlined cases in Fig. (10) to their maximum adoption potential (maximum overlap between the two factors). Nevertheless, the aim is not these specific cases per se but rather using them as prototypes whose proposals could be replicated in similar blocks’ typologies in Nasr city or in other middle-income areas. Fig. (11) shows the categorization of the proposed strategies that went through a verification phase with the community using online surveys targeting the larger population of Nasr City in general and with the local experts using semi-structured interviews to check the proposals’ validity and actual implementability.

Figure 11: Categorization of Proposed Implementation Strategies. Source: Author

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General Additional Proposals: Other general proposals that are not case study-specific were formulated or retrieved from the literature and checked through the survey. The most promising proposal for the respondents was the implementation of pilot projects to increase the technologies’ communicability and observability, followed by the increased governmental support. Another checked idea was the individuals’ acceptance of renting another building’s roof to implement the system, which was not highly accepted unless there are regulating laws for such agreements.

Conclusion Despite the bad conditions of many Cairene rooftops, both the Agri- and PV- rooftop technologies have proved to have no negative impact on the buildings. It also became evident that the key support for the Agri-rooftop in Cairo is to raise awareness more than financial incentives, while for the PV-rooftop, it is the financial incentives whether by the government or the private sector. Both need new innovative regulations to support a more flexible utilization of the rooftop space through multiple models. For the low-income context, the Agri-rooftops are considered to have a better chance than the PV for their lower costs and potential assembly manually out of low-cost materials. On the other hand, when it comes to the high-income contexts, the PV-rooftops have a better chance, not for profitability but for expenses’ reduction. Also, the Agri-rooftops have a good chance, especially with the organic food trend. As for the middle-income case study context, the two technologies proved to have a very close potential regarding which technology wins over the other. The PV is just slightly advanced over the Agri in the overall results of both blocks, but the difference could be easily compensated. The generalization potential of block (A) results is higher due to the wide-spread of this block typology in Nasr city, while for the cooperative housing, there are other forms of block typologies that do not suffer from the same problems. After all, these blocks are not the target, but knowing the implementation strategies that can deal with the unfavourable block conditions is the added value of the analysis. In the end, the outcomes of this research could be of benefit for multiple actors involved in the field where it can be developed into a guideline informing the new companies of the determinant aspects that need to be studied when promoting the technologies. It could also be developed into a manual that targets the communities and rooftop owners, revealing to them the potentials of their rooftop valuable resource and which technology would suit them. By this, the research would have achieved its main aim of undergoing a realistic practical study that enlightens people as well as the research field about the potentials and constraints of the two technologies’ adoption in the Cairo context.

Endnotes [1] Agri-rooftop: Stands for Rooftop agriculture where edible crops are harvested on rooftops [2] PV-rooftop: Stands for using Photovoltaic (PV) panels on rooftops for electricity generation from solar resources.

[3] FIT: It is a policy where the electricity company buys the generated electricity from the PV-system.

[4] ROI: Return on Investment; A “profitability ratio” to evaluate the benefit from investments.

References Al Sayyad, N. (2011). Cairo, Histories of a City. Harvard University Press.

Egypt the Future, (2015). Egypt’s Energy Market: Challenges Creating Opportunities. [online] Egypt the Future.

Available at: http://www.egyptthefuture.com/fr/blog/egypts-energy-market-challenges-creatingopportunities/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Eid, Y., El Khorazaty, M., Rashed, R. and Sadek, W. (2010). Nasr City: Land Use Transformations. Al Azhar University, [online] Available at: http://www.cpas-egypt.com/pdf/Walied_Sadek/.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2016].

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El Sayed, Z. (2016), ‘Interview with the Researcher at the Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate (CLAC) and Advisor of the research. Interviewed by Mai Adel.

Frochaux, M. and Martin, A. (2010). Nasr city. ETH Studio Basel Contemporary City Institute, Draft Ed. [online] Available at: http:// www.studio-basel.com/assets/files/files/09_NasrCity_web.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2016].

NREA Authority, (2013). Annual Report 2012/2013. [online] Cairo, Egypt: New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA). Available at: http://www.nrea.gov.eg [Accessed 7 Jun. 2016].

Pv-insider, (2015). Solar in Egypt: New feed-in-tariff scheme to develop PV. [online] Available at: http://www.pv-insider.com/ menasol/egypt [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Rogers, E. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations. 5th ed. New York: Free Press.

Shaheen, S. (2013). Nasr city project, the middle income city. Walycenter journal. [online] Available at: https://walycenterjournal. wordpress.com/2013/10/22/[Accessed 30 Apr. 2016].

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