Salheen, Mohamed Abdel-Karim

2019-02-15T14:19:52Z

2019-02-15T14:19:52Z

2001

The discourse of urban design suggests that the pedestrian environment is an important factor for the vitality of urban areas specifically in city centres. However, much literature argues that the pedestrian environment is one of the less studied topics, reflecting its complexity and the dominance of vehicular movement on city planning. The pedestrian environment in Cairo City Centre shows much evidence of this lack of understanding. Guided by observations of the pedestrian environment in Cairo City Centre the research develops a `comprehensive' model, derived from Giddens' Structuration theory (1984), to investigate spatial, perceptual, cognitive, theoretical and managerial aspects. Cairo City Centre becomes a case study for this model. Four research methods (questionnaire, cognitive mapping, space syntax, document analysis) cover the four main components of the proposed model. After reviewing the relevant literature on the pedestrian environment and Cairo City Centre, literature on the selected research methods is critically reviewed. The empirical work in this research is composed of four chapters, each investigating a component of the environment defined in the proposed model. The Social -grouping is investigated using a questionnaire distributed to a sample of the users. The built environment is examined by applying space syntax analysis (Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hillier, 1996). The relationship between the Social -grouping and the built environments is examined by the cognitive mapping technique as devised by Lynch (1960). Finally the rules governing the reproduction of the (pedestrian) environment in are examined using a combination of document analysis and a professionals' questionnaire. The findings from together with the literature review are combined to reflect on the proposed model for the environmental system and structure. They reflect on the research at three levels: on the methodology, on the methods used and on the case study of Cairo City Centre. The methodology demonstrates how comprehensiveness in urban analysis reveals aspects that remain hidden if only one research approach is adopted. The methods used to examine the case study are shown to complement and not contradict each other. The research also highlights the underlying causes of problems encountered in the case study. The author argues that tackling these will alleviate many of the more apparent problems.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/33808

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2019 Block 22

Pedestrian environments: the case of Cairo city centre

A comprehensive analysis of pedestrian environments: the case of Cairo city centre

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy