Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SSRN Id3164279
SSRN Id3164279
SSRN Id3164279
net/publication/325188028
CITATIONS READS
0 2,031
4 authors:
All content following this page was uploaded by Marwa Khalifa on 21 August 2018.
1 Introduction
The rapid growth of Egypt’s population and the insufficient urban governance in the last few
decades caused parallel rapid growth of informal urbanization, damage of environment and an
increase of social gaps in central urban areas such as Cairo central area. In addition, city
governments go for expansion of newly built urban settlements rather than upgrading the
fundamental existing ones. As a result, highly rates of social segregation and physical
deterioration occur and that creates more problems in both old and new urban settlements. In
the example of Cairo, the old city and adjacent areas of it face poverty, environmental
weaknesses and deterioration of the quality of life. That leads to the loss of real spirit of
Cairo’s urban heritage as one of the oldest cities in the world. In addition to this, the zones
outside the historical outline of Cairo, emerged during the 20th century and the new cities
such as New Cairo, emerged in the 21th century, are losing their urban structure
characteristics and central functions [1-2]. A rapid transformation process has started due to
the fast increase of population in Egypt that reached in August 2016 nearly 91 million
inhabitants according to the official data of Central Agency for Public Mobilization and
Moreover, the charter of public space defined the public space as all the places publicly
owned or of public use, accessible and enjoyable by all for free and without a profit motive.
For the Project for Public spaces organization (PPS), public spaces are the places that are for
public and help people give relief from daily hectic life. They are sidewalks, streets, parks,
city halls, squares, plazas and other types of gathering points in the city. Public spaces are
stages and mirrors for people’s daily lives. PPS pointed that the significance of the public
space lies in providing the communities an automobile-free or non-vehicle oriented place that
by time increases the people’s awareness and appreciation for the environment through
exchanging information, communicating and providing a suitable context for political
debates. When public spaces and public life is missing from a community, residents became
isolated from each other and less likely to offer support and help to each other [7]. The
American Planning Association (APA) defined the public space as a space may be a gathering
space or a part of a neighborhood, downtown, special district, waterfront or other area within
the city fabric or the public realm that helps promote sense of community and social
interaction among inhabitants. It categorized the public space as may be plazas, town squares,
parks, marketplaces, public commons and malls, public greens, piers, special areas within
convention centers or grounds, sites within public buildings, lobbies, concourses, or public
spaces within private buildings [8].
Figure 3 The Place Diagram, PPS four main qualities of what makes a great place, Source:
http://i1.wp.com/www.pps.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/diagrams-03232015-08.png
As shown in Figure 3 and as mentioned in PPS standards, Access and Linkage quality is the
main factor of success of public spaces. Access and linkage considerations are (As shown in
Figure 4):
- The space legibility from a distance, it’s interior is visible from a distance
- The good connection between the space and the adjacent buildings, the
occupants of surrounding building use the space
4
- The easy walk to the space, no intersection with vehicles to get to the space
- The vitality of sidewalks to lead to the space from adjacent areas
- The easy access of space for the special needs
- The effectiveness of paths and roads network to deliver people to where they
actually want to go
- The variety of transportation methods to be used to access the space
- The allocation of transit stops adjacent to important uses such as trains
stations, libraries, governmental buildings, etc [7]
The previous figure shows Trafalgar square with surrounding vehicles streets with points of
pedestrian crossing for safety. The space is open, contained by mixed-use buildings and
accessible by means of transportation on the edges of the square.
5
- Avoiding the intersections between vehicles and pedestrian paths
- Creating connected pedestrian network
- Providing pedestrian sidewalks with fixed width
- Determining obvious and safe crossing points
- Providing shaded paths or arcades for pedestrian city [10]
Figure 5 The location of Figure 6 showing the location of Figure 7 shows the centrality of
Ramses ii statue in the Ramses square in Cairo and the Ramses square and connectivity
square before and after its important zones around it, Source: with surrounding public squares in
removal, Source: The The authors based on Google Cairo, Source: The authors based
authors based on Google Earth 2016 on Google Earth 2016
Earth 2017
Ramses square contains the main regional railway station in Cairo which called Ramses
Station (Mahatet Masr). Different types of public transportation such as underground metro,
stops for busses, mini buses and micro buses are located in Ramses square as well. Above the
ground, 6th of October bridge flies over Ramses square and it has three ramps in the square
coming from and going to several destinations. Under the flyover bridge there is a two ways
street which called Ramses Street. The pedestrian zones in the square are represented just in
the sidewalks pavements surrounding the asphalt roads of Ramses square and no identified
spaces for pedestrians are provided. Ramses square involves major governmental buildings
surrounding the space from north, east and west sides which considered landmarks and focal
points of Ramses. Those buildings are (As shown in Figure 8):
6
Figure 8 the location of Ramses square and the important buildings and zones
surrounding it, Source: The authors based on Google Earth, 2016
7
Figure 9 Accessibility and street network in the study area surrounding Ramses square, Source: The
authors based on Google Earth, 2017
Figure 10 Panoramic view of Ramses square, Source: The author captured on Jan,2017
As shown in (Figure 10), 6th October flyover with high traffic flow and the streets of Ramses
square cutting the space with left over non-used green lots. On the left shows the railway
station building overlooking its private approach space with single pedestrian entrance that
generates congestion. In the middle shows the random unsafe pedestrian crossing and walking
in the streets.
A structured questionnaire was made to a random sample of 138 different users of Ramses
square about various factors affecting the square, their needs from Ramses and the problems
they face each time they interact with the square. tackling some results that explain the
problem of mobility congestions and the needs of users (As shown in Figure 11)
- 74% of users through pass Ramses square without any interactions (through
pass-don’t use the space-generates congestion)
- 49.6% of users go to Ramses for work and 42.7% go for travel
- 72% of users pass by their private cars and 42.7% by public transportation
- 43.5% of users agree on the shortage of public transportation network to access
the square and its relation to pedestrian network and 28.2% state the complete failure of
this network (congestion)
8
- Among the resident and workers in Ramses area, 36.6% evaluated the
accessibility of Ramses as bad and 29.6% evaluated as moderate.
- 69.1% of pedestrians walk randomly on asphalt streets and cross from
anywhere (unsafety- congestion)
- 44.1% of users see there is no vital sidewalks that creates a whole pedestrian
network without crossing with vehicle network (unsafety)
- 86.6% state the impossibility of special needs users to access the space
themselves safely and no parking lots for them in the square
- 75% of users state that 6th October flyover causes high traffic congestion and
no visual continuity for Ramses square
Figure 11 Different readings from the users’ questionnaire regarding the mobility factor in Ramses,
Source: The authors
As a result of the dominating congested mobility of Ramses square, it affects negatively on
the other functions of Ramses square that supposed to perform to fulfill the different needs of
users. The results of the questionnaire stated that (As shown in Figure 12)
- 89.3% of users find no entertaining or recreational activities in Ramses
- 41.2% evaluated the factor of safety for all different ages as very inconvenient
- 87.8% of users take a bad impression from their first entry to Ramses square
- Regarding the vehicle-pedestrian domination comparison, 20.6% state that the
square is pedestrian dominated
- 69.5% see that no green spaces and relaxing views in Ramses square
- 94% state that street vendors disable the movement and cause noise
- 99.2% of users have no passion to go to Ramses square to have nice time or
outing and 93% notice no diversity in activities in Ramses square
- 67.9% state the impossibility of bicycle usage in Ramses square
- 93.9% state that not all the sub spaces of Ramses square are used properly
- 74.8% of users see the spaces are insufficient for speeches and performances
Figure 12 Different readings from the users’ questionnaire regarding the impact of mobility factor on
different significant functions in Ramses square, Source: The authors
The previous results reflect a conclusion that Ramses square suffers from high congested
mobility network and accessibility problems that increase the load of being vehicle
9
dominated. In contrast, pedestrian activities are not existed although the size, location and
significance of Ramses square. Next figures shows different images of Ramses square (Figure
13, Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16, Figure 17, Figure 18).
Figure 13 Unsafe street crossing, Figure 14 Congested sidewalk attached to commercial activities,
Source: The authors, 2017 Source: The authors, 2017
Figure 18 Sunny zones are uncomfortable for people to sleep or relax and the commercial activity by
vehicles in the back causes noise and congestion, Source: The authors, 2017
10
5 Conclusion and Recommendations
In a nut shell, users of Ramses square perceive the space as a machine doing a specific job
with no probability of being multi-functional. The transportation hub of Ramses station-as
multi-nodal spot, the high flow of traffic generated daily with noise and pollution, and the
separated morphology of Ramses square with 6th October flyover cause the result of
disconnecting the mutual relation of users needs’ satisfaction with Ramses square and
minimizes it to the extent of being just a traffic node used for accessibility-sometimes unsafe-
regardless other dimensions of environmental aspects, image, comfort, public utilization and
sociability. To enhance the current situation of Ramses square, several significant
modifications should be put into consideration as recommendations for further research. The
vehicles-Pedestrian usage balance of Ramses should be reclaimed in order to have a vital
space for pedestrian usage with different functions and activities to perform. The proposal of
BECT/AREP [13] to remove 6th October flyover and transfer it to a vehicles tunnel -starts
before Ramses square and ends after it- creates an open space without physical or visual
barriers and decreases the percentage of vehicles presence in the square. The decenteralization
of Ramses railway station to near suburban stations minimizes the demand on Ramses station
by creating other hub points of transportation which leads to less congested mobility in the
square. Developing the underground metro network and the public transportation network
including buses, mini-buses and micro-buses to perform effectively as one zone with specific
stations increases the factor of pedestrian safety and decreases the random drop off-pick up
process of passengers. Finally, designing one open space for pedestrian which is not cut
physically or visually by vehicle routes and has obvious borders, activities to be done and
clear image can revive the old beauty of Ramses square as a central spot in Cairo urban fabric.
As a result, the integrated avtivities of environment and facilities, public utilization and
sociabilty can have the opportunity to appear in Ramses square to be a complete multi-
funtional mega public space for all users. The upcoming diagram summerizes the inputs and
outputs of the research in a holistic simplified language (As shown in Figure 20).
Figure 20 Research summary and recommendation diagram, Source: The authors based on [11-13]
11
6 REFERENCES
Papers:
[11] M. A. Khalifa and M. A. El Fayoumi (2012), "Role of Hubs in Resolving the Conflict
between Transportation and Urban Dynamics in GCR: The case of Ramses square," Procedia
- Social and Behavioral Sciences 68, pp. 879-893.
Books:
[3] H. Woolley (2003), “Urban Open Spaces”, London: Spon Press.
[4] S. Gold (1980), “Recreation Planning and Development”, New York: McGraw-Hill.
[5] G. Cranz (1982), “The Politics of Park Design: A history of urban parks in America”,
London: MIT Press.
[6] R. Krier (1979), “Urban Space”, London: Academy Editions.
[14] H. Shaftoe (2008), “Convivial Urban Spaces Creating Effective Public Places”, London:
Cromwell Press, Townbridge.
[16]C. Moughtin (2003), “Urban Design Street and Square”, Third Edition, Oxford:
Architectural Press, Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP.
[17]Stephan Carr, Mark Francis et al. (1992), “Public Space”, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Proceedings:
[10] NOUH. (2010), "Standards and Criteria of Urban Harmony in City Centers," National
Organization for Urban Harmony, Cairo.
[12] NOUH (2008), "The International Competition for Urban Design and Harmony of
Ramses Square," The National Organization for Urban Harmony, Cairo.
[13] BECT/AREP (2009), "International competition for urban design and harmony, Ramses
square, first prize," National Organization of Urban Harmony, Cairo.
[15] CABE (2006), "It's our space, A guide ofr community groups working to improve public
space," Commission for Architecture and Built Environment, London.
Web:
[1] U. Nations, "United Nations in Egypt," United Nations Development Program,
http://eg.one.un.org/content/unct/egypt/en/home/agencies-/un-habitat.html, accessed, Aug. 14,
2017.
[2] P. D. P. i. U. Areas, "Urbanisation in Egypt," eSEED, 1 January 2017, http://egypt-
urban.net/why-informal-areas/urbanisation-in-egypt, (2017), accessed, Aug. 14, 2017.
[7] P. P. S. "What Makes a Successful Place?," 11 December 2016,
http://www.pps.org/reference/grplacefeat, (2016) ,accessed, Dec. 11, 2016.
[8] APA, "Characteristics and Guidelines of Great Public Spaces," 7 November 2016,
https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/spaces/characteristics.html, (2016), accessed Nov. 7,
2016.
[9] H. K. P. S. I. "The Ideal Public Space," 10 December 2015,
http://www.hkpsi.org/eng/publicspace/ideal, (2015), accessed Dec. 10, 2016.
12