9th Community Forum El Gouna

Sustainable Mobility & Traffic Planning

Perspectives of El Gouna and Innovations by
Egyptian Startups

Summary of Winter School & Barrier Free El Gouna Paper

 International Winter School
VITALIZE IT: Renovation of Downtown El Gouna
January 2014

BACKGROUND

El Gouna is a small resort town on the western coast of the Red Sea in Egypt. It is located
450km south of Cairo and 25km north of Hurghada. It hosts a very diverse range of some
20,000 inhabitants, including permanent residents from Egypt and abroad, employees of
tourist establishments and other staff, and foreign tourists. Despite its focus on tourism, El
Gouna boosts many amenities of a regular town, such as schools and kindergartens, a
hospital and a technical nursery school, a university campus, a library, a cinema, and many
others.

The objective of the Winter School was to develop a concept to renovate the oldest and
most central area of El Gouna, so called Downtown. With the undisputed center of social
and cultural activities, this quarter had experienced a slow downturn over recent years. The
task at hand was to generate ideas that will turn Downtown into a vibrant center once
again, which attracts local inhabitants and tourists alike. Subjects to be taken into
consideration include accessibility, urban design, the functions of public spaces, city
upgrading, and the role of town centers. In addition, a special focus was laid on the
energetic components of urban renovation with the intention to improve energy efficiency
and thereby contribute El Gouna's efforts to become an environmentally friendly town.

Participants have worked in small teams of German and Egyptian students from various
disciplines. The students were divided into small interdisciplinary groups of students from
Egyptian and German universities, as well as students from the Master‟s programs of Urban
Development and Energy Engineering in TU Berlin Campus El Gouna. The Winter School was
culminated in an open presentation of the results, reemphasizing the importance of public
participation and inclusiveness.

GROUPS AND THEIR MOBILITY RELATED PROPOSALS

The Winter School constituted an integral part of a holistic and integrated approach for the
transformation of El Gouna towards and inclusive and sustainable town. For that reason, the
envisioned improvements of the urban layout was tailor made to suit the diverse needs and
demands of a wide range of interest groups simultaneously, including local residents,
domestic holiday makers, permanent and temporary staff, and foreign tourists. But for this
paper, the proposals which were related with sustainable mobility and traffic planning were
grasped and plat formed for further analysis.
Group 01: Downtown for the Future

Based on the analysis, Group 1 classified their findings into five arenas- Institutional, social,
physical, Functional and economical. At the Institutional level, the institutional framework of
El Gouna and Downtown in specific lacks a clear bottom up mechanism on how the local
residents are participating in developing their own property or their mutual spaces, only
OHD (Orascom Housing Development) is taking care of managing and maintaining public
spaces, the urban environment demonstrates the sense and the atmosphere of an artificial
environment due to the lack of residents input into the urban context.

On the other hand the residents and shop owners in downtown El Gouna are of different
nationalities and cultures. If a mechanism of vertical and horizontal participation is
elaborated between them and OHD ,the specific demands of the residents and shop owners
is therefore obvious, priorities of development is clear to OHD and downtown El Gouna
would have its new powerful mentality of growth.

Regarding the social level, the occupancy rates in terms of permanent residents are low
(mostly Egyptians). El Gouna is characterized by being an elastic town that shrinks and
expands based on touristic seasons.

Regarding the physical level, all physical assets including buildings, public spaces and
streets are not in a very good shape yet they don‟t look deteriorated, however, it
seems that there is a lack of regular maintenance to the non-touristic Buildings. Analyzing
how much people tend to walk in downtown had guided the group to monitor the
pedestrian, cycling and vehicular traffic pattern in downtown, the result of the
analysis obtained that there is a need to a dominant readable pedestrian
environment in downtown.

Focal Points: A More Defined Space with Better Circulation

Creating focal points within zones will

provide structure and variety to the study
area, especially if they reflect position of the
feature in the urban hierarchy.

A better circulation path will guide towards

these focal points which will create a new
identity for the space.

According to the proposal the elements of these

focal points will be social activities, commercial
grounds, floor, generating renewable energy etc.
Walkability and Pedestrian Environment

Most of the functions in downtown

are distributed around a circular
pedestrian path that is sometimes
shared by vehicular traffic as
shown in figure. Despite the
interesting functions and activities
distributed around the path, the
eligibility of space is reduced
substantially due several reasons,
Mainly due to the different
pedestrian language that
doesn‟t provide the required
basic guidance for visitors that
mostly come to El Gouna for an
average of 1 or 2 weeks and
are in urgent need to for a
better well defined urban
space.

Other reason is the used

finishing materials, the
pedestrian areas around the
circular spine fail to encourage
walkability and cycling because
of its high roughness and
irregularity, especially on the connections that separates between zone 3 “El Kafr”
and zone 2 “Tamr Henna” which are sometimes shared by speeding cars and
toktoks, as a result, shops and recreational facilities has become isolated and
suffering from the lack of pedestrian flow.

Some Other Ideas

The team also came up with different other

ideas (e.g. bicycle garage, extend the cycling
lane, signage etc.) related to access
management and street furniture under the
theme improve the quality of life. They also
envision for energy efficiency quarter under
which Solar Toktoks, Street LEDs, Bus station
with a PV shading system etc. were
important.
Group 02: A New Identity to Downtown

The main findings from the analysis part given below:

 It is really tough to identify the downtown and according to future plan of El Gouna it
will be more tougher

 The building orientation and alignment with the road are anonymous which
create lots of semi-private courtyards

 Some of building conditions are very poor though the numbers under this category
are very few

 Due to different block shape, it is often so difficult to explore the Right of

way which is problematic mainly for the drivers

 There are few landmarks and focal points but those need to be restructured

 Varieties of street furniture are available in downtown El Gouna but due to

improper management, it often lose its functional inherit.

 The condition of vegetation is much better than the other areas of Egypt but
still it can be improved aligned with the road it can be also helpful to detect
the road width.

 There are different classes of people from different backgrounds and occupations. It
is needed some sorts of public places in downtown El Gouna for blending all.

 There are different cultural events in special occasions of El Gouna but still more
cultural occasions needs to be arranged for revitalization.

 Most of the people are not aware about the energy issues which can be another
arena for performing

 Some buildings are really in critical condition which needs to be refurbished for
better efficiency.

 Different building insulation and shading arrangements need to deliver in proper way
for better energy efficiency and for representing as model to the mass people.

 Water efficiency needs to be improved as a compile phenomenon.

 Parking & connection issues needed to be reconsidered for downtown area.

 Some road conditions need to improve to make bicycle & pedestrian friendly

 Street lightening system needs to improve to ensure free flow at night

Marking the Activity Nodes and Design the Network with Promenades

The study team attempts to find out main activity zones and connects them with
strong network. After connecting between different activities, the study team
attempts to spatially locate some small interventions (e.g. landmarks, focal
points) with the passage.

Promenade is designed as a networking passage from hospital entrance to club house arena
with special attentions to bus stops, Tamra Hena area and so on. It will be designed with
different sitting arrangements, focal points etc. Small building refurbishments, vegetation
on both sides of the roads, paintings etc. will be common supplement with the main design.
An example has been given below in terms of school area.
 School Plaza

Redesigning the Bus Stop Area

Re-designing the Entrance from Hospital to Downtown

Group 03: Bridging the Gap

Downtown EL Gouna has more than one big empty space either its abundant like that one in
el Kafr, or not used well, like this one at the north of Tamr henna, at its secondary
entrance, and it its used as shuttle bus and tok tok station, or in the middle of the
residential area, a huge space with a palm in the middle, no usage just a palm. There is a
huge free space beside the AUC campus and in front of the school, a huge empty desert
area, also not used, just in seasons and in the Christmasit‟s used as a parking. The art
valley, a big space behind tamr henna, designated to be an area with a significant Egyptian
atmosphere, but it suffers from being at the back, with a very poor access and visibility. All
of these spaces can be used as places for new activities.

For the tourists visiting the downtown just for one time, as they said it has no life, it‟s
barely a dead place, downtowns need to be busy and crowded, full of life place. Downtown
el Gouna misses this thing, being for all to get all, as the strategy of the place was just
targeting El Kafr residents or el Gouna‟s class A residents forgetting the rest, but after the
revolution tourism decreased and only the employees and the students stayed in el Gouna.

One of the main issues in Downtown el Gouna is its networking as it isn‟t that easy
to find yourself inside it, you will definitely get lost at your first time there, which
always happens due to using the organic style of urban designing without using
landmarks to identify the places and the poor exposing spots in the place.
The One Path Linking Approach

Concept of development is to develop a path, linking the down town externally with the rest
of city by using the water front “lagoons” as a way of transportation at one end of the path,
at the other end will be the shuttle bus new station. The target was to form one big entity
through internally linking its zones with each other by creating new activities or allocating
some of the already existing ones. Unfriendly

Figure: The One Path Linking Approach in Map

 Desert Park and Bus Stop beside AUC

El Kafr Water Stop

Group 04: Pulse of the Community

The ideas is basically to bring together the whole Local

community members in order to vitalize the area residents
by acting as real community that interact and
live together harmoniously so in order to do that
the idea is to go in two directions, first:
renovating the existing activities that are
appealing to the users but lacing good ELGOUNA
marketing or the required physical setting, and
second: creating new activities that meets the
lacked needs of the residents.

The idea of this group was to fulfill the

expectations of user groups which bring a trade of Foreigner
sustainable mobility designs. residents
Figure: Master Plan of Different Space Vitalization
Parking Area

Team designated some parking areas to solve the existing parking problems. They also
indicate a typical design of those areas.

Figure: Designated Parking Area and Typical Design

Group 05: Downtown for All

The main findings of this group were:

 Building conditions, specially piping and insulations need renovation.

 Regular Maintenance and follow-up strategies are missing.
 Downtown is not serving everyone in El Gouna.
 The inner courts have no clear social function.
 Traffic is not regulated and is dangerous around some curves.
 Out of „Tamr Henna‟, it is not a pedestrian friendly zone.
 Parking zones are randomly distributed.
 Many open spaces has no function at all
 Many basic daily services are not available at downtown.
 This whole Downtown identity is dissolving.
 Many shops and restaurants are facing visibility problems.
White Elephant Square

By changing the open space character in front of the White Elephant Thai restaurant from a
street to an open sharing library with suitable soft and hardscape, pedestrians will be
attracted from the outside to the inside where they will find defined spaces with different
materials that can be occupied by shop owners or other activities.

The whole area in fact will be transformed into a pedestrian only zone as will be shown later
in this report, close enough for an available vehicle drop off location, where car parking will
be located elsewhere. Then, shops will be able to take their products outdoors for more
presentation and better trade opportunities, transforming the whole area into a nice
compact bazar.

The current compacted sand material of the streets is suitable to transform this area
without the need to install any new floorings and tiles system. Installing an eco-friendly
flooring material in the future will increase the attractiveness of the area and market El
Gouna in general, following the strategic „Zero Carbon‟ target.

Layalee Square

From a nonliving undefined inner court to a fully integrated services zone and gathering
point, especially to staff and employees. It is aimed to transform this area from a ghost
(dark) like zone into a livable bright area, which acts more like commercial area of
Downtown but more on a local scale.

Being close to the staff residential buildings and right next to the main bus station of El
Gouna, makes it a vital and strategic gathering point for employees, staff and even visitors
to meet, wait and/or get things done. They get a keys store, a repair shop and a local café
„Ahwa‟, which shall be named after the name of the square “Layalee”.
Walkability

By making this clear separation

between pedestrian and semi-
pedestrian zones, traffic will be
mitigated, urban quality will be
improved, thus, increasing the
walkability in Downtown. The
concentration of the pedestrian only
zones will be high during high
commercial activity like at „Tamr
Henna‟, „The White Elephant Square‟
and the „Friday Free Market‟.

Yet, everywhere is accessible by

vehicles, through drop/pick spots for
elder or special-case people like pregnant
Figure: Pedestrian and semi-pedestrian plan
women who cannot walk far distances.

The semi-pedestrian zones are where vehicles have access but through speed
calming measures. This will mitigate traffic hazards for a safer urban environment.

Reconfiguring access and roads network

Controlling the traffic flow inside Downtown ensures the goal of walkability and
provide a safe urban environment, away from irresponsible driving behaviors.
Main roots will be relocated outside the central roads of Downtown, crossing only
through the road separating „Tamr Henna‟ and „Layalee, passing through El Gouna
main bus station. To force access management within secondary road network, the
roads will be paved with bricks like used in „Kafr‟, but with a less dense brick
agglomerations to allow water to go through the soil, preventing soil sealing
which is more sustainable.

F.F. Market +
Tamr
Layalee
Henna

Figure: Roads hierarchy network plan

Identifying parking zones

Through redistributing the parking areas in

Downtown, the goal of improving the
walkable environment and mitigating
traffic hazards will be closer to
realization, through different steps.

Cars are pushed outside the inner courts

to provide a nice healthy inner oasis.
Different parking zones for each type of
transportation facility (Tuk-Tuks, buses Car parking areas
and private cares) for optimum usage. And Buses parking areas
finally, the cars parking in front of best way Tok Tok parking areas
will be extended to the east around the Figure: New parking areas plan
„Oriental Bazar‟ to fit the capacity of vehicles load
during the seasonal vications.

Group 6: Acupuncture Development

The main findings of this group is:

Accessibility problems could be found in El Kafr Island as it is an isolated zone with only two
bridge ways for vehicles. Also the presence of the main bus station in the middle of a
residential quarter is not the best solution due to uncomfortable noise and emissions as well
as an unsafe pedestrian zone which is the priority in the residential area.

“Accessible Gouna”- Improved mobility

 More pedestrian friendly.

 Better signage.
 Restrict car access in high-seasons.
 Reduce sidewalks heights & have
proper ramps.
 Relocate the bus station to borders of
Downtown
 Change the shuttle bus route and add
a station in El Kafr.

Figure: proposed mobility interventions

Downtown El Gouna should be promoted as a barrier free pedestrian friendly zone with
better pavements, sidewalks, and ramps, where car access can be restricted in high touristic
seasons. Providing one shuttle bus and one TUCTUC which are accessible to people having
some physical disabilities is the idea to market Gouna as a truly accessible area.
More connected bicycle lanes and bike sharing
should be introduced which will help in making El
Gouna more environmental friendly and in
approaching more the Zero carbon town.

Relocating the bus station on the borders would

reduce the traffic passing through the residential
area of Downtown El Gouna as well as help create
better stops with shading devices and adequate
seating. Also adding a shuttle bus station in El kafr
will make it more inviting to El Gouna visitors and
bring more life into the island.

Figure: Bicycle Sharing Slot

Group 7: El Gouna Pilot Projects

Active spots in downtown are not obvious in several cases, while there is no obvious path
that guides a tourist coming for several days only between these spots in downtown. In
addition there is no clear difference between whether the next street has some activities or
just another residential area.

Cars accessed Streets in study area 1 are not all necessary and is affecting the pedestrians‟
routes quality. Tamr henna square wasn‟t designed first as a pedestrian friendly zone, and it
was turned afterwards to create this open space (Rami ElDahan)

Active/Directive path

The group develops different pilot

projects like community garden, zero
energy building et. The active path
acts as the connection between the
pilot projects, where the internal space
of downtown becomes pedestrians and
biking friendly. The cars could only
access from certain points to parking
lots or to provide goods for the shops.
The path scenery changes from place
to another according to the context
and the project implemented in the
area. If the user is visiting the place
for the first time an application is
developed to direct the user through
the projects. The figure shows a street
on the outer parameter of elGouna
downtown after redesigning it, where
all means of transportation are
available. The lagoon front is
redesigned as well to include more
activities and promote it as an
attractive area.

Figure: Lagoon front with active path

Master’s Thesis
Barrier Free El Gouna
December 2014

El Gouna has unrivalled potential. Its small & confined layout make adaptation feasible

Study outlined physical, managerial, functional, legal, behavioral aspects of barrier-free El

Gouna.

Research concentrated on two areas: Downtown and Abu Tig Marina

Poor Flooring Unfriendly Ramping

 Poor Curb Parked car in sidewalk

Areas of Improvement

Some shops are inaccessible due to the angle of ramps or to inadequate space for a wheel
chair to maneuver.

Cobblestone roadways are good for slowing traffic, but they are not so easy for wheelchairs
and prams to cross.

Broken/uneven paving & parked cars blocking footpaths and ramps

Inadequate lighting can conceal hazards at night

Access to beach areas can be difficult

Public restrooms are mainly inside restaurants and bars and not large enough to
accommodate wheelchairs.

Cash machines are also difficult to access

The public transport system (shuttle buses, boats and Tok-toks) is not suitable for
wheelchair users.
Proposals

Overall physical accessibility is in moderate level, don‟t need radical interventions

Continuous physical and functional accessibility between centers (e.g. downtown, marina)
especially in terms of pedestrian accessibility

Apply the design standards referred to “The Egyptian Code for Building and

Open-space Design for the Disabled” especially for public transports

Small scale improvement/ length modification in the sidewalks can give better result

Install ramp at important spaces- Art Village, The Pharmacy, Orascom Office etc. in some
cases with handrails

User-friendly & sustainable flooring in arterial roads where sidewalks are unavailable (e.g.
road behind Tamr Henna Square at Bestway Supermarket)

Proper Utilization of Access Management Toolkit (e.g. Signage, Barricade, Parking etc.) with
multiple languages and street furniture (e.g. Seating facility)

Restroom, Shading & lighting arrangement, one accessible beach with footpath
Best Practice & Way Forward

Generalizing the project throughout El Gouna

Providing improved accessibility for wider users other than people with limited mobility.

Applying similar barrier free approach for indoor and private spaces.

Applying project in other areas in Egypt

Ramp in Public Space Ramp, signage & barricade

Wooden ramp at club house Curb cuts at downtown