Urban quality and designing of spaces

Case study for Nasr City, Cairo

Dr: M. Khairy Amin

The problem
It is widely believed that good urban design involves the design of spaces within the built
environment. Consequently, urban designers are always interested in what should be
considered for a good design. They are consciously thinking about space components and
their mutual relationship. In general, there is a rich professional vocabulary for
appropriateness of a space, or in other word the quality of space.
The criteria which define the quality of these spaces have been changed different times along
last century. This could be easily figured through city urban structure and its space patterns.
Meanwhile, problems for contemporary urban built environment could be seen through many
aspects as following:
Loss of orientation: vast residential areas, which are created by massive transportation, make
people feel irrelevant to their places. People therefore, have less sense of orientation.
Loss of public life: the public life in streets and squares has declined, leaving public life
dependent on planned formal places, mostly in protected internal locations (shopping malls,
bowling centers,…(.
Poor living environment: While housing condition and interior quality have a great attention
in terms of fundamentals as lights and air, spaces which surrounding homes are still
fragmented, noisy and visually polluted.

The research objective

In attempting to achieve quality within these notions, urban designers have two main
approaches. The first one deals with the design of space itself (improving facades, introducing
benches,…(. The supporters of the second approach argue that while all these are important
in context as a local level of design, the key factor in understanding urban form and its use is
how a space relates to other spaces in a system- as a global pattern. Due to the limitation of
the research, three main approaches will be studied and investigated. The first concern swith
the imagability of the city- the visual intelligibility which is shared by all inhabitants through
their mental perception. The second refers this quality to the urbanity of spaces, the unforced
liveness that creates sense of safety and belonging. The third relates to the effect of the
geometric characteristics of physical elements of the urban fabric building facades and street
furniture(. Although the research is dealing with a universal phenomenon, referring to the
Egyptian context will be indicated. Nasr City will be used as a tool to achieve this goal.

A. Imagability of the city and intellagable spaces

The question of how a citizen can successfully function within his own environment and
also interact with other citizens is answered by Lynch, who believes in the necessity of a
city’s public image. This public image is an overlap of other separate images. In K.Lynch’s(1)
book “The image of the city”, he defines a legible city as characterized by a visual quality of
clear space, which allows its parts to be recognized and organized into coherence patterns, i.e.
an overall pattern whose roads, landmarks and districts can be grouped and easily identified.
To achieve an easy and quick movement for the individual inside the city, a clear image is a
must. What we call environment mental image represents the strategic link, i.e. a general
mental picture of the outside physical world conceived by the individual.

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 This image is formed through two factors: Immediate sensation and memory of previous
experiences. Both enable a person to interpret information and also to guide action. The
processor of a strong environment image enjoys a sense of emotional security enabling him to
play a social role as well, and is reflected on a harmonious link between the individual and the
world around him. He becomes free from the fear of disorientation leading to a strong sense
of home that is not only familiar but also distinctive. Lynch classified the contents of the city
images into five elements: Paths, edges, districts, modes and landmarks.(1)
The elements mentioned above form the building blocks of the operation of
differentiating structures on the urban level. This helps to provoke the imagability of this
surrounding and to make its visual identification easier.

1. Paths: Paths are the channels along which the observer occasionally or potentially
moves. They include roads, streets and walk ways which represent the main elements in
the city visual components. People observe the city while moving through it, and along
these paths the other environmental elements are arranged and related. The values of such
different paths vary according to its degree of familiarity with the city. The observer form
an image in his mind sometimes due to a certain activity concentrated on such street, this
applies not only to activities but also to certain features and spatial quality. Streets that
suggest extremes, either width or narrowness, could attract attention. The confusion of
street identity reflects a difficulty of destination recognition, since people need to know
where streets come from and lead to.

The road’s net work in Nasr City consists of a group of main roads, stretching from
North to South, and another group of roads perpendicular on the first group going from East
to West. These main roads represent one of the important factors forming the mental image of
the city, i.e. each road characterized by special feature. One road is characterized by its huge
commercial activity, another includes a great memorial monuments such as the unknown
solider, while other street has a special public mean of transportation, i.e. the Metro.
Generally, the visual characteristic has been strongly affected by the size of the road ( width
and length) and by the elements of landscape ( Figures 1-5 ).

Figures (1-5) Various visual identity in the main streets.

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 On the other hand, the internal streets lack this distinguished visual characteristic, since it
is an outcome of a grid pattern road network. This created a group of repeated and similar
spaces, which had a negative impact on the clarity of the directing operation while the
individual’s moving inside that space (Figures 6-8). I agree with Hellier(2) that traditional old
towns which appeared to be lacking order and to be fairly random possessed subtle properties.
These plans suggest an irregular continuity or deformed spatial grid. This contrast with a
patterned regularity, which looks intelligible from above but may not be the case for the user
from the ground level.

Figures (6-8) Visual similarity in the internal streets.

2. Nodes
Nodes can be defined as foci of strategic nature through which a person can penetrate. As
a concept, it may look like rather small points in a city image, but in realty it could be large
squares or somewhat extended linear shapes or even entire central districts when the city is
being considered at a large enough level. Consequently, special attention should be given for
squares as they formulate with paths the main components for any urban fabric. Rob Krier
relates the beauty of our old town to the variation of geometric characteristic of the square
shapes, and the mutual relationship with intersected streets. He defined, by sketches, these
basic shapes (Figure 9) and claimed that planners and designers can learn from these
examples and that they must incorporate spatial consideration more exactly into their overall
view of architecture and town planning. He added that anyone engaged on the subject of
“urban space” would soon find that an almost in-exhaustible range of possible forms exists,
most in evidence in our historic towns.(3)

Figure (9) Different Types of square geometric variation and street intersection

Krier indicated that there is a common naive view among general public that this type of
irregular or organic architecture is more beautiful than other buildings planned
synchronically. He referred this to two main reasons. Firstly: any defective architectural
detailing is not so obvious in case of organic form. In contrast, any architectural error is so
clear to the extent that could damage the overall impression in case of clear geometric form.
Secondly: beauty of squares is affected by fine architecture in surrounding blocks which no
contemporary work could compete with.

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 Through the junctions of local roads in Nasr City, two types of nodes could be figured.
Firstly, district gardens that are distinguished by their scale and activities. One can figure two
parks that represent a recreational place for residents. Besides, they represent also by their
scale, one of the remarkable landmarks in the city (Figure 10). On the other hand, different
neighborhood gardens exist between the residential blocks. Unfortunately those gardens have
two cases. Firstly, gardens which are left in bad physical condition without no means of
regular maintenance. Secondly, gardens which are not used for social gatherings or human
activities but are used only for aesthetic functions. In many of these gardens, the public are
not allowed in as they are surrounded by fences, which have a negative impact on the unity
between inhabitants and their surrounding urban environments (Figures 11,12).

Figure (10) District garden. Figures (11,12) Neighborhood gardens

3. Edges: Edges are the linear elements not considered as paths: they are usually, but not quite
always, the boundaries between two kinds of areas. They act as lateral references.

Nasr City lacks distinctive clear edges, since desert areas spread all over most of its
eastern, western and southern areas. The western boundaries include a small mountain (the
red mountain) which forms a clear border of the city on that side, while the northern borders
are next to other residential areas.

4. Districts: Districts form the relatively large areas of the city; places of a common character
inside which a person can go; enabling him to recognize it internally and refer to it externally,
and finally its features can be imaged and identified in a unit, i.e. in a characteristic cluster.
Governmental zone
The planning of Nasr City was based on
Puplic facilities zone
the existence of a group of residential
districts. These zones shared similar
geographic characteristics and residential
District garden High ride
styles which have been controlled by residential zone
building codes. The master plan of the
city has allocated certain areas for
different land use such as residential,
School
governmental and industrial zones. Low rise
Moreover, types of housing ) public residential zone
housing, private housing, villas…etc)were
also determined )Figure 14(.
Figure )14( Clarity of landuse.

Consecuantly, each district was visualy readable, which increased the intelligibility of the
urban spaces of the city . Yet as a result of weakness of the authority of construction laws, the
different types intermingled and formed an unclear visual image. The intelligibility has been
lost and visual chaos became the main feature for the city visual identity

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5. Landmarks
Landmarks, are simply external references to the individual. They are physical elements,
which are different in scale. Most of the time when a person is not very familiar with a city,
he depends on landmarks as a guide. This dependence on landmarks tend to single out an
element from other possibilities i.e. a choice of a particular aspect which is memorable and
unique. What makes a landmark memoriable is its uniquness, clarity, significance clarity,
distinctive location and its contrast to the background.

Squares in Nasr City have not been used in a way which creates distinctive visual
landmarks. Some of these landmarks were constructed by commercial companies for
advertising purposes, but in the end it did serve neither an aesthetic nor a functional purpose.
Such memorial works failed to consider the correct proportion of the construction size in
comparison to the size of streets and the speed of traffic. In addition, these ordinary and cheap
examples have led to poor architectural quality (Figure 14).
On the other hand, different buildings act as landmarks through the urban fabric of Nasr
City: Mosques by their minarets and huge buildings as some office buildings and shopping
malls. It should be indicated that unknown solider represent one of the most remarkable
landmarks in the city (Figures 15-17).

Fig. (14) Commercial landmark Figures ( 15-17 )Landmarks with different functions and scales

B. Urbanity of space
What makes an urban design successful for many authors is not only its usage, but also
the probability of encountering others. Street life begins and more people join in, when people
are already on the streets as Gehl(4) puts it “One plus one is more than two” one of the
achievements of architecture’s donation to social well-being is making human contact easy
through the organization of spatial structure. Street life can be improved by design
intervention at a local level (the pedestrianisation of areas). The study of the impact of urban
development and resulting human activities, deal with three levels:
First Level: The planning dimension.
Second level: Urban design dimension or site planning.
Third level: Space physical elements and details level.

1- The planning dimension:

The practiced planning principal affects the size of activities in the space within urban
areas. The planning principal is divided into two main lines i.e. single use and mixed use.
The weakness of the first principal is evident, through its negative impact on the urban
development environment. It has also failed to meet the individual’s needs; which is observed
easily in most of the European and American urban cities, where down-town and
administration districts are characterized by the direct link between the activities and existing
daily working hours and week ends. The spaces in such districts present an insecure place for
those who wish to walk around by day or by night during the week ends. The second principal

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“mixed use” based on the integration of its use in urban environment through residential,
commercial and entertaining activities. This ensures street life all through the day and during
week-ends. Street life provides the main source of security inside those areas, and
subsequently increases the individual’s sense of each space. This principal was affected by the
fast spread of what become to be known as “shopping malls” all over the world. These malls
offer the individual all kinds of attractive facilities, which could satisfy his daily and weekly
needs in addition to different sorts of entertainment (cinema, cafes, bowling, skating, fun fairs
etc ). The location of such malls, i.e. far from populated districts made their visitors use their
cars to reach it and created the need for vast parking areas. The shopping malls established a
group of urban islands separated from the urban fabric of the city in general.

The mix use approach is the main planning concept, which could be easily figured in
Nasr City. Each district consists of residential zones with a group of gardens connected to
schools or shopping centers. In recent years supermarkets were widely spread on the main
roads. Shopping malls, as attractive centers, have become a source of traffic problems and
over crowdness, with a negative impact to the quality of urban spaces (Figures 18-20).

Figures (18-20) Shopping malls as commercial and recreational centers

.2- the urban design dimension or site planning :

Both, the order of the buildings’ distribution and the order of the traffic network have an
impact on the performance of human activities through city urban spaces. It is intuitive that
the opportunities of pedestrians practicing any activity decreases with longer distance between
buildings while it increases with shorter distances between buildings. It is also intuitive that
when we design residential districts under the condition of achieving certain population
density, we realize that the use of high buildings increases the interval distances between
them, while the use of low buildings decreases such distances and creates more interaction
between spaces. Here we should point out three basic kinds of traffic patterns according to the
following:
(I) Full integration: Where traffic lines are close to houses, points of human activities and
street life in general. This is the case of the low speed of both pedestrians and animals
(compact order in old traditional cities).
(II) Semi integration: Where traffic lines are away from houses and points of human
activities as a result of trying to ensure safety and security for the individual from cars.
Distances between buildings and traffic lines are determined with relation to the level
of the allowed speed on those roads.
(III) Full disintegration: where traffic is completely separated from the pedestrian
movement as the city of Radburn. What should be mentioned here is this concept of
traffic pattern has lost its validity due to failure of such experiment. It offered
expensive and complicated solutions, which include both bridges and tunnels. Besides,
it led to unsafe pedestrian spaces.

The question of either to segregate traffic from pedestrians or to integrate it has been a

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debate for sometime, yet it has been accepted by many that the preference of integration of
traffic with pedestrians resulted in more positive outcomes. Gehl ensures that meaning when
he cited that, when traffic consists of pedestrians or of cars moving at slow speeds, the
arguments for separation activity areas from the areas for traffic lose their validity. The fact
that traffic to and from houses in nearly all instances is the most comprehensive of all outdoor
activities in residential areas a good reason for seeking of integrate as many other activities as
possible with the traffic. For those in transit, for children at play, and for those involved with
activities around the houses, a policy of traffic integration will enable different activities to
support and stimulate one another (4).

Nasr City consists of a group of

residential districts separated by main
streets. It is noticed that the design concept
of these districts is based on a full
integration system. This network aims
directly at serving all residential areas,
where cars can reach the front door of each
building. Besides, the master plan did not
take into consideration the provision of any
possibilities for partially separating the
traffic from residential districts, which
could ensure safer areas for pedestrians
(Figures 21-23). Crowdness became one of
the main features in various areas in the city
as a direct impact of both high residential
density and high intensity of commercial
activities. Figure (21-23) Road network with
relation to building blocks
3. Space physical elements and details level
In designing outdoor spaces, it is necessary to work carefully with physical elements and
details to support generating activities between buildings. According to Gehl : A number of
quality demands on the outdoor environment in more detail has to be considered, some are
general demands and other are more specific demands that concern simple, basic activities
such as walking, standing and sitting as well as seeing, hearing and talking. These basic
activities are used as a starting point because they are part of nearly all other activities. If
spaces make it attractive to walk, stand, sit, see, hear and talk, this is in itself an important
quality, but it also means that a board spectrum of other activities- play, sports, communities
activities and so on- will have good basis for development. This is the case partly because
many qualities are common to all activities and partly because larger, more complex
community activities can develop naturally from many small daily activities. The big events
evolve from the many small ones (4) .

In Nasr City, the low quality of physical out door elements could be easily figured,
especially for what is related to the hard landscape components. This quality is not only
discouraging pedestrians but also represents a direct obstacles for their human needs (walking,
jogging, .. ). This includes the basic requirements such as leveling of pavements or existence
of seats on sidewalks.

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C. Space Geometrical characteristics
The quality of city urban fabrics is related to their space geometrical characteristics.
Krier(3), as one of the most important supporters of this approach , argues that we have lost
sight of the traditional understanding of urban space. What has to be clearly defined is what
should be understood by the term “urban space” and its meaning which is held within the
urban structure. Space for Krier is geometrically bounded by a variety of elevations. It is only
the clear legibility of its geometrical characteristics and aesthetics that allows us consciously
to perceive external space as urban space. In his attempt to define space physical component,
he stated that: “The street space can only function when it is part of a system in which
pedestrians access lends of the street. This system can be unsettled by the following planning
errors:
I) If the aesthetic quality of adjacent houses is neglected, if the facing frontages are
out of harmony, if different sections of the street are inadequately demarcated or
if the scale is unbalanced.
II) If no money can be invested in public open space on such items as avenues or
trees, paving and other such street furniture, given that the first priority is the
visual appeal of space”.

Based on the previous statement, special attention should be given for designing of
buildings and elements of landscape as they represent the main component for urban spaces.
Firstly, the visual quality of building and their elevations is very important individually
or within the wider urban content. So many architects assume the responsibility of providing
society with new forms and environment experiences. Their justification is the psychological
principal that the human mind needs surprise and variety in order to stay active.
The way in which buildings
are arranged is an essential factor
for urban quality. It could encourage
or discourage creating distinctive
visual perspectives through defined
space enclosures, which are easily
controlled, managed and landscaped
by their residents (Figures 24-26). Figures (24) Different alternatives
for building arrangement
The sketches, produced by
Krier, (Figure25) can only give
some idea of the various design
possibilities. Each of these building
types can be given a façade
appropriate to its function. In
addition, these structure influence
urban space in different way.
Figure )25)Different design elevation possibilities (3).
The main question, which should be discussed, is what value must be observed? In very
simple terms our main appreciation of these values is through seeing. These visual qualities
must not only be shared by architects and few of their confidants, but also by everyone
responding to his or her surroundings. Architects and designers also believe that it is their job
to extend the aesthetic potential of the populace. In this respect they are like any other artist
except that their art is unavoidable. It could be argued that the architect who follows fashion

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without basic design principals would be in danger of serious error. It is a huge task to speak
shortly about principals of visual quality of buildings and their elevations. Referring to K. W.
Smithies(5), three basic principles could be figured: (1) the visual composition, that is the
syntactical relationship of part to part and each part to the whole in visual term; (2) the
semantics, that is the effect of a design on the mind of the observer, or expressiveness; and (3)
the wider relationship between design and setting in place and time, also its direct relationship
to human size – magnitude. Each principle, alone, is reasonably simple to understand. The
difficulty, for the architect, is that he must try to satisfy all objectives without diminution of
any. Thus, no solution is perfect, compromise is inevitable and one of the architect’s most
important tasks is to establish the right priorities at an early stage of the design process and be
able to maintain them throughout the design process.

Secondly, a concept of landscape has

different goals such as functional, symbolic and
aesthetically ones. To enhance the quality of
urban spaces, designers should orient their
attention towards two main ways: Hard landscape
elements which, should be chosen in harmony
and congruence to each other; that what is figured
as an integrated approach (Figure26). (Figure26) An integrated approach(7)
On the other hand, great deal of planting could improve the visual quality very
effectively. Designers can increase these benefits by achieving the perfect use for different
functions in various places, i.e. to orient people moving, to define the space enclosure or to
provide people with the environment suitable for human activities (behaviour setting).

The aesthetic standard of building facade in Nasr City is linked to the building code; this
is recognized through two main phases:
First Phase (1960-1970): the building code limited all heights by 2 to 5 floors for the
majority of residential areas, except for high rise apartment in main roads as well as
governmental buildings,). The building code also limited the retreat areas and accordingly the
building ratio for each piece of land. The result was visual unity in its simplest sense (Figures
27,28). Second phase: the application of the building code started to weaken with the increase
of the population problem in Egypt.
This changed the shape of the sky
line, which created ad hoc and
disorganized horizons. The building
ratio increased tremendously laying a
huge load on the traffic network,
especially in the intersection of the Figure )27,28) Visual unity in residential zones
main roads and over crowdness of
parked cars in the internal streets.
Besides, different unrelated housing
forms and styles were appeared as an
expression of only economic factor.
This dramatically lowered the
aesthetic quality of city urban spaces
(Figures29-33).
Figures (29-33) Different
building heights and shapes

Elements of unity (texture, colour, tone , direction, proportion, solid and void, form shape )
Aspects of unity ( dominance, harmony, vitality, balance )
Expression (style and fashiobn,quality, view and sunlight0 -9-
Magnitude ( scale, setting, time)
 To discuss landscape elements in Nasr City, two main components, soft and hard
landscape elements should be mentioned respectively. In the first phase of establishing the
city, green spaces were spread within the buildings' retreat areas as an individual effort, while
the main streets were the governmental responsibility (figures34,35). The second phase
witnessed a decrease in retreated areas and accordingly in green areas. This left the
responsibility of development and cultivation of green areas, relying completely on the
governmental authority. The space quality has been negatively affected by limited financing
budget, and the limited design capability of its employees. On the other hand, nothing to be
mentioned relating to the hard landscape elements as they were totally neglected which
include pavement and street furniture (Figures36-38).

Figures (34,35) Soft landscape Figures (36-38) Increasing of building bulk,

elements within the retreated areas and poor hard landscape elements

Conclusion

The research has led to a number of goals that are essential and represent the main core for
good urban environment; way finding and image identity, community and public life and
physical fabric and their details.

People should be able to understand their cities, their basic layouts, land uses and orientation.
A city should represent itself as a readable story, in an engaging and without provocation
style,i.e.people who are viewing the world in different point of views, they should read their
environment, which encourages them to express themselves, and decide what they actually
want, and take actions for achieving it. Different factors should be respected:
- Road hierarchy with special attention for internal streets to avoid similarity in visual
perspectives
- Land use which is distributed in a clear pattern.
- Space hierarchy (private, semi public, public) which creates various space enclosures.
- Skyline which creates clear visual relationship between buildings and landmarks.

Within different views in the field of urban design, spaces are seen as a social context.
Consequently, space quality is figured through achieving urbanity. Structure of the city should
invite and welcome public life, not only through its institutions, but directly and symbolically
through it’s public areas. The built environment should be for all members of the community;
it is where people of different kinds meet. Urban spaces could enhance the social relations
between residents when they are parts of peoples’ daily routes. Different factors should be
respected:
- The designer must produce a vital solution for the dilemma of the effect on traffic,
noise and exhaust fumes on the pedestrians, without completely distancing one zone
from the other. This means an overlapping of these functions, to be achieved with
considerable investments in the technological sphere, a price that the motorized society
must be prepared to pay.

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 - Residential densities should be carefully determined to have secure places in its
minimum ratio, and not to have congestion or traffic problem in its highest ratio.
Intensity of activities should be clearly considered by selecting the right location for
activity centers especially shopping malls.
- Great attention should be directed towards creating public urban spaces which should
not be exceluded by the existing of shopping malls.
- Public open spaces could be successfully used for different functional activities as
mosques, schools, nurseries and shops for daily needs .
- The building arrangement concept could help in creating semi private / public areas,
which in turn helps in achieving cooperation and exchanging between individuals of the
limited urban community.

The visual identity of urban fabric could be clearly figured when it reflects the components of
the culture core of the society. The common values are clearly known to all the society
without previous agreement. Meanwhile, in the developing countries, including Egypt,
individual values are strongly affected by globalization. This explains variety and even
disharmony in people building’s designs. So it is necessary to control the architectural
gemetric physical elements by building codes and regulations. For the success of such codes
all designing elements of the building should be considered. Meanwhile it should not to
prevent the creative architectural solutions. Three main factors should be determined:
-Building bulk which includes floor area ratio, building heights, etc.
-Building internal elements which formulate building horizontal plans.
-Building external elements which formulate building facades.
However, the validation of these regulations doesn’t only depend on its items from the
designing point of view, but should depend on other two main concepts. Firstly, the
practicing, in which the phase of designing is monitored and supervised by executive
authority. Secondly, the existence of the legal force which, protects the building executive
procedures.

The low quality of landscape elements in urban spaces of the city, is mainly based on the fact
that it is always done through governmental authorities which is missing for people with
design capabilities, and for suitable budget as well. Various solutions for self-finance through
cooperation with private sectors could lead to suitable landscape elements; an integrated
approach is recommended. On the other hand, master plan and concepts of building
arrangement should create territorial spaces to encourage people for landscaping these spaces
individually.

References
- 1- Lynch, Kevin, The Image of the City, M. I. T. Press.
-2- Hellier, Bill and others, Space Syntax, a different urban perspective, The Architects’ Journal, November 1983.

- 3-Krier, Rob, Urban Space , Academy Edition. London, 1979.

-4- Gehl, Jan, Life between Buildings, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1980.
-5- Smith P. F. , Architecture and the Human Dimension, George Godwin Limited, 1979.
-6- Open House International Association, Quality in the Built Environment, The Urban International Press, 1989.
-7- Gibbons,Johanna & Oberholzer, Bernard, urban Streetscape: a Workbook for Designers, G. b. University Press.,1991.
-8- Tibbalds,Francis,Making People - Friendly Towns, Longman,1992.

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