Monitoring the transformation in New Cairo’s urban vitality and the accompanying social and economic phenomena

Abstract

Many cities in Egypt have been built recently with spatial characteristics that differ structurally from the spatial configuration of the ancient Arab city. There is a growing interest in understanding how social and economic phenomena related to the community are transformed in new cities, particularly those that extend from the old city, as is the case with the city of New Cairo. We have developed an analytical framework to study the effects of spatial configuration on the pace of growth of the new city and identify its characteristics in terms of phenomena related to movement and the distribution of economic activities, as well as urban vitality. A framework for combining quantitative and qualitative analysis helps in understanding phenomena related to the morphology of the development of the new city. Using syntactic analysis, place syntax and field observation, the spatial characteristics of the city of New Cairo were investigated, then compared with Old Cairo to determine which features were enriched in terms of the city’s vitality or what has been lost during the expansion phases, based on the planning concepts that were applied. The study concluded that changes in the characteristics of the spatial configurations of the new Egyptian cities by increasing the flow of vehicular traffic via wide arterial roads do not reflect the requirements of the local community, but instead impede local movement within the city and reduce the integration of its neighbourhoods, turning them into isolated islands. The greatest impact of this is the way in which the characteristics of society in these cities have been limited, resulting in isolation and a lack of connection with the identity of the place and the customs and traditions of the community. This paper presents an analytical framework for evaluating similar cities in terms of the characteristics of this planning configuration, identifying the extent to which the old has been preserved or changed and emphasising the validity of the methodology by evaluating the characteristics of other new cities.

Key words： Space syntax; Natural movement; Spatial configuration; Urban vitality