Journal of Architecture, Art & Humanistic Science (Nov 2023)
Re-thinking spaces as places: Anew vision of social housing in Egypt
Abstract
PPeople are linked to places they relate to through their memories, responsive places represent a sequel to human life outside buildings, and are considered a key focus to urban development.Social housing patterns are a translation of the interaction of people and their preferable places.Egypt has recently been trying to implement a sustainable development strategy in Egypt`s Vision 2030; However, regarding the social housing pillar the gap continues to widen between the interpretation yet integration of the social character with in the urban patterns of social housing projects in Egypt.Therefore, this research seeks to reform the concept of social housing in Egypt based on the diversity in the application of practical practices of placemaking in a way that meets the people`s needs; through discussing both quantitative and qualitative methods in defining social housing in the Egyptian context, analysing global models of housing based on social housing factors, in order to integrate all life leading factors of urbanism in the future definition and application of social housing projects to form a comprehensive vision of social housing in Egypt. Based on this, the research concludes that there is a deficiency in both definition and application of the practice of sustainable social housing that responses to the needs, requirements and aspirations of the population; despite being a vital and critical component that acts as a sequence and thus completes urbanism in the city; which indeed acts as a social interaction bond to the people towards their streets and places and makes them realize the difference between the space and the place.So, Social Housing as both a definition and an application should be more comprehensive in order to include the different sequenced layers of both the buildings and the open spaces; and to deal with both layers based on the human needs and the relation between people and places to produce a livable yet enjoyable and healthy communities. In order to re-right the relation between people and places in social housing places in Egypt according to sustainable standards; all social, economic, environmental, cultural and functional factors should be reconsidered, and a human-based criteria of 3 levels includes 1) Basic dimensions, 2) Secondary requirements and 3) Standard indicators should be activated.
Keywords
