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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