Case study space syntax
- 1. HISTORIC CITY CENTERS UNDER THREAT: THE CASE OF SHARJAH, UAE SPACE SYNTAX
- 2. UNESCO selected the Emirate of Sharjah as the cultural capital of the Arab World. Sharjah’s historic center PROBLEMS traffic congestion environmental degradation unattractive for visitors and inhabitants. TO reverse any further degradation of the historic city center achieve economic and social gains conserve the environment preserve the cultural heritage. THE CHALLENGE revitalizing historic Sharjah by Identifying ….understanding ….providing solutions to problems that have emerged through its recent rapid growth. The main goal is Put future development strategy urban design guidelines for revitalizing the historic core.
- 3. Space Syntax is used AS a diagnostic tool TO understand how the history and evolution of the city’s structure after modernization had led to patterns of density land use socio-economic settlement.
- 4. ARIAL VIEW OF SHARJAH HISTORICAL CORE
- 5. historic urban development thus has shared three main characteristics with other port cities of the Gulf. 1. it naturally fit in and was open to a body of water. 2. it was protected from the desert edge by a wall and a fort. 3. it maintained a diverse and multi-functional life connected to the Waterfront. 1976 air view air view 1994
- 8. METHODOLOGY The methodology included analyses at two different scales 1- city scale spatial analysis segment map for the entire city by space syntax. integration and choice values to see how the study area of the historic center of the town is related to the city in general 2- local scale. consisting of the spatial examination of historic core of the city pedestrian and vehicular movement. We will study it on 2 levels City scale segment analysis of Sharjah: Global integration, rN…… and local integration r500 Global choice, rN ………..and local choice r500
- 9. CITY SCALE SEGMENT ANALYSIS OF SHARJAH: GLOBAL INTEGRATION, RN…… AND LOCAL INTEGRATION R500 GLOBAL CHOICE, RN ………..AND LOCAL CHOICE R500
- 10. ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE Spatial analysis of the city of Sharjah Global integration rN local integration, r500 Global choice rN local choice r500
- 11. ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE INTEGRATION the roads running parallel to the waterfront and connecting Sharjah with Dubai. the most integrated streets forming a grid pattern Global integration rN edge effect High integrated near the borders of the map and the edges of the city. Because segregated nature of the center streets in the gridal pattern where the residential neighborhoods Created integrated edges
- 12. interesting inside of each integrated gridal road system, the center where the residential neighborhoods are located, is segregated residential neighborhood HIGH privacy low integration High integration low integration ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE INTEGRATION
- 13. Industrial zone more integrated High integration Medium integration ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE INTEGRATION
- 14. THE HISTORICAL ZONE ON LOCAL SCALE IS HIGHLY INTEGRATED
- 15. THE HISTORICAL ZONE ON GLOBAL SCALE IS LESS INTEGRATED MORE SEGREGATED
- 16. ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE CHOICE Global choice rN local choice r500
- 17. ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE CHOICE Global choice rN
- 18. ANALYSIS AT THE CITY SCALE CHOICE Global choice rN less sensitive to edge effect The streets that create the gridal system is much more clearly differentiated then the ones within the grid The analysis local choice is similar to the local integration analysis in that the local centers are also highlighted in this map. One more major difference is the higher integration value of the historical core and its surroundings suggesting the potential of this area. The modern developments towards the inlands almost totally lack any local centers, which demonstrates how the modern developments do not follow a similar pattern
- 19. ANALYSIS AT THE HISTORICAL CENTER SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY AREA A ‘spatial modeling’ study has been used to assess the accessibility of linkages through the study area. Space syntax method has been used to analyze the spatial configuration of Sharjah Historic area. A segment map has been constructed showing all the accessible space in the study area. The segment map has been processed using the DepthmapX v.28 software and integration and choice values for each line on the map
- 20. When segment maps are analyzed for choice value at the global level, the streets surrounding the heritage area as well as the Hisn Avenue show similar characteristics as the heritage area is less integrated. At the local level (r100), the choice value for Sharjah heritage area located within the reconstructed historic wall is higher then the rest of the historic area. ANALYSIS AT THE HISTORICAL CENTER SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY AREA
- 21. LOCAL INTEGRATION WITH DIFFERENT R 100M 250M
- 22. LOCAL INTEGRATION WITH DIFFERENT R=500M GLOBAL INTEGRATION
- 23. LOCAL CHOICE WITH DIFFERENT R 100M 250M
- 24. LOCAL CHOICE WITH DIFFERENT R=500M GLOBAL CHOICE
- 25. ANALYSIS AT THE LOCAL SCALE PEDESTRIAN AND VEHICULAR MOVEMENT ANALYSIS observed pedestrian and vehicular movement Pedestrian followings and pedestrian density on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and all days together. pedestrians’ route choice behavior and the most commonly used routes
- 27. ANALYSIS OF THE RELATION BETWEEN MOVEMENT PATTERNS AND SPATIAL CONFIGURATION The relation is clear between the space syntax analysis and the vehicle The relation is very low between the space syntax analysis and the pedestrian movement fact that there is quite a lot of pedestrian movement in the area Its related to the activities that the area houses such as the old mosques the major banks Old market Moreover, the dominance of male movement indicate that land use characteristics religion related uses
- 28. ANALYSIS The port is a centre of international commerce in the region. Historically developed along the waterfront up until 1970s modern planning that pulled the urban growth toward the inland. The University town and the residential neighborhoods around the ancient site are the first modern developments. These developments inevitably changed the social and spatial structure of historic
- 29. there is a vehicular road between the sea and these shopping units. The materials were unloaded from the ships directly to the depot area of the shops. Solution restore the link between the souk and waterfront, recreate and strengthen a continuance of waterfront to the heritage area turn lead to an increase in the vitality of the center create an economically productive historic core.
- 30. since they are one big continuous piece they cut the breeze coming from the sea to cool of the streets and make the space attractive for pedestrians.
- 31. future design proposal the area should have land uses that promote active uses such as services accommodation Entertainment that would also help protect the vitality of the heritage area the wall separates the space defined by the wall from the rest of the heritage area and in turn adds to the segregation of the historic core from the rest of the city
- 32. very similar to the cases of other Islamic cities such as Jeddah…. the city developed based on modern urban planning principles focusing on the primacy of vehicular traffic the scale of the context increased. The historic fabric of these cities has changed as a result of major program of road building physical reshaping which shifted the structure of the integration core weakened the connection of the historic centers. So the historic core has a structure itself but as the city gets developed this structure gets disconnected from the city and the complex of local centers and sub-centers fade away. Thus we can conclude that, as stated in earlier studies, the problems faced in historic city centers are not local but global and the task is NOT TO REDESIGN BUT TO RECONNECT