MEASURING PUBLIC SPACES IDENTITY IN JEDDAH CORNICHE
W. S. YOSEPH
ABSTRACT
Jeddah; as an Arabian city; has a unique inherited social image in its public spaces. Over long generations, Arabs used to head to the deserted areas, away from inhabited zones or along the coastal lines to spend a social time with their families and friends, practicing some outdoor recreational activities, as hunting, barbecuing, or picnicking. This inherited social image moved into open public spaces inside Arabian cities. Architecturally, it is required a delicate design that reflects this unique character and responds to its requirements. Since the 1970s, Jeddah Corniche development is according to universal style, regardless this special character of public recreational activities. It depended on beautification more than achieving functional areas that absorb the inherited Arabian behavior, which affects negatively the identity in design. The research attempted to measure the identity of the public space in Jeddah Corniche according to its traditional image of recreational activities. The methodology depended on avoiding subjective evaluation by measuring the identity of the urban elements according to the urban qualities that help in fulfilling the community unique
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1. INTRODUCTION
Public spaces; such as; parks, trails, squares, and plazas are the art of creating an urban life, they are considered as a reflection of community's usage, identity, and character (Violich, 1985). Jeddah, as an Arabian City, has a unique social image for its reactional activities, it is required being considered in public's spaces' design (Pinilla, 2010). Creating identity in public space is a very critical issue; especially; in a deep-rooted community, whereas designing characters and traits requires applying certain inherited spirit in light of the contemporary image.
1.1 Objective and
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Welcome to Genezon, a city of 650-thousand people located in northwest Italy. We have created a city that not only maximizes safety and provides almost endless amounts of resources, but also a city that keeps in mind the happiness of the everyday citizen. Public space provides a plethora of benefits if used correctly, however, in the increasingly digital society, precise utilization will be key to success. Now in 2138, we have not only developed Genezon to be an independent, safe, and technologically advanced metropolis but also a culture-, society- and person-orientated public space experience.
The city is a nexus of social interaction. Humans originating from various locations all tangle together in the city. Louis Mumford characterizes the city as “a theater of social action,” where “man's more purposive activities are focused and work out…into more significant culminations.” The social actions occurring in a city connect and gradually culminate into a something that contributes to the fabric of the city. The interactions between people are no longer discrete events in isolation. Instead they come together to contribute something to the city, whether in the form of politics, architecture, or entertainment. The city provides a theater or playground for social action, and subsequently becomes a stage where the results of the social actions can be clearly viewed.
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Cities are generators of economic life and source of changes in the world. Thereby, Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities puts into relief the role of cities on the social and economic levels, while denouncing the disastrous consequences of urban renewal programs. To that extent, in chapters 2 and 3, she discusses "The Uses of Sidewalks”, arguing that over all people need safety and trust in their city. Therefore, first she claims the necessity of keeping streets and sidewalks safe because they are the “vital organs” of cities (29). Secondly, she argues that the functioning of cities should be organized in order to foster human interaction in which “casual public
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They perceived social attributes of the architectural features as important. The appropriate alterations for building front (e.g., entrance and porch), height and scale were to solidify community’s demographic character and strengthen their social bond and diversity. However, this study illustrated that a controversy can arise in the pursuit of social bond and diversity. For instance, the desire for protection of the existing residents from gentrification conflicted with the desire for social diversity (i.e. building height and scale) in this study. Furthermore, participants evaluated an acceptable change depending on how the original features were, on how they had been modified and how they have been currently serving a social function. (i.e., building entrances and porches). The affordability and practicality of the features were also important issues. Wealthy Heights was historically a working class neighborhood. Many low income families still live in this district to this day. Such a recognition seems associated with the issues and influential to the importance and/or acceptable treatments for the materials. Interestingly, these concerns resulted in participants’ interest in construction materials and technology for a green
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Space that is documented and utilized by humans, whether directly or indirectly, takes on a basic level of social utility and cultural construction. As Elias Canetti would suggest, the prospect of touch carries with it the risk of being taken and subsequently assimilated or digested (1). The predecessors to the first great urban parks in the United States, namely country estates, cemeteries, and town squares or plazas, all contribute some aesthetic and related ideological basis for a newly emerging discourse of urban parks. Parks were seen as the “poor-man’s countryside,” in reference to the country estates of the wealthy. Also, cemeteries were the first naturalistic open spaces consistently built within urban boundaries. The idea of the commons and town square is perhaps the most telling predecessor of the city park.
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