Landscape Infrastructure and Liveable Communities a C a S E S T U D Y O F N Ew- C a I R O , E G Y P T
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Landscape Infrastructure and Liveable Communities A C a s e S t u d y o f N ew- C a i r o , E g y p t A Thesis Submitted to Newcastle University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Tamer Mohamed Abd El-Fattah Ahmed Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Newcastle University March 2011 To Sama and Adam with love... Dad Abstract Landscape Infrastructure and Liveable Communities A Case Study of New-Cairo, Egypt Abstract To control urbanisation and to improve urban quality, Egypt has adopted the concept of master-planned estates (MPEs). This form of urbanisation is the latest manifestation of utopian place-making derived from the Garden City movement. With the emphasis on ‘landscape’ rather than ‘architecture’ and on building ‘communities’ rather than ‘neighbourhoods’, the development of these MPEs is underpinned by expectations that landscape characteristics have the potential to produce liveable communities. Located in the desert, the MPEs have often been criticised because of their weak connections with history, geography and culture. This study challenges this criticism and argues that some of these landscape practices when analytically related to residential mobility and satisfaction, are crucial to the enhancement of liveability. However, these relationship need to be carefully examined and subsequently reconstructed in a holistic conception rooted in the challenging physical and cultural settings. To achieve this, the study draws on an extensive literature from several disciplines to develop a conceptual framework which provides a platform for meaningful analysis of practices, attitudes and aspirations. Drawing on an empirical study of six MPEs in New-Cairo, the massive master planned extension to the east of Cairo, the research examines the strategies employed to attract residents and the factors required to satisfy residential needs. Using a variety of qualitative data collection techniques, the core of the analysis is centred on the fundamental role played by different stakeholders in making these MPEs into liveable places. These stakeholders include the officials involved in applying urban policy, the planners and developers who are the providers and the residents who live there. The thesis offers a range of insights into what constitutes a liveable community and the contextual influences on landscape practices in MPEs. It also demonstrates that the consideration of MPEs with respect to liveability and infrastructures opens up innovative alternatives to understanding how these MPEs are shaped and function. The thesis concludes that landscape is an essential factor in enhancing liveability in the desert MPEs. There is a potential therefore in pursuing the consideration of landscape as infrastructure, worthy of further investigation both in Egypt and elsewhere. i Acknowledgments Acknowledgments I wish to offer my deep gratitude to my home country Egypt for the generous scholarship which made this journey feasible. The successful accomplishment of this study was based on the support and encouragement of many people. Foremost, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my first supervisor Dr. Peter Kellett for his keen and continuous guidance which made this work possible. I am most grateful to him for his moral support during the extreme personal and health difficulties I faced throughout my study. Special thanks are also due to my second supervisor Ms. Maggie Roe for the generous discussions that led to the development of the study in its early stages. Her support is very much appreciated. I also want to thank my dearest friends and PhD journey companions; Antika Sawadsri, Brenda Galvan Lopez, Mona Abd El-Wahab and Rittirong Chutapruttikorn who besides the generous moral support, have helped me at every stage of this research. I especially thank them for the time we shared together and for the long discussions that helped me clarify my thoughts and verbalise my ideas in a coherent manner. Last, but not least, I wish to thank my parents; Nagwa Khattab and Mohamed Abd El-Fattah for their endless love and support. Both, perhaps more than anyone else, were desperately waiting to see the end of this journey. I am confident now that they are pleased with its happy ending. Tamer Newcastle, UK March 2011 iii Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents v List of Figures xi List of Tables xv Chapter 1: Living in a Transformed Desert: an Introduction 3 1.1 Introduction 5 1.1.1 Landscape and Community: the Keywords for Liveability 6 1.1.2 Research Question: Aims and Objectives 9 1.1.3 Significance of the Study 10 1.2 Research Strategy 11 1.2.1 The Research Settings 12 1.2.2 Methodological Approach 13 1.2.3 Structure of the Thesis 14 Chapter 2: Community and Landscape: Themes and Theories 19 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Master Planned Estates: the Community Idea 23 2.2.1 Physical Determinism and Community 25 2.2.2 Creating Community by Physical Planning 27 2.2.3 Sense of Community 29 2.2.4 Community: Limitations and Criticisms 31 2.3 Liveability: Neo-Utopian Thinking 33 2.3.1 Liveability: The Political Dimension 38 2.3.2 Liveable communities vs. Sustainable Cities 44 2.3.3 Assessing Liveability: Satisfaction and Behaviour 47 2.4 Urbanisation: Services and Residential Mobility 53 v 2.4.1 Infrastructures: The Functioning Urban Environment 54 2.4.2 Dispersion or Densification 57 2.4.3 Residential Mobility: Preferences and Aspirations 61 2.5 Landscape: The Human-Environment Framework 63 2.5.1 Landscape: Contextualising the Term 64 2.5.2 Influence of the Context: Landscape Character 68 2.5.3 Landscape Change and Sustainability 71 2.5.4 Landscape and Human Needs 76 2.5.5 Reading Landscape 79 2.5.6 Landscape Theoretical Assumptions 83 2.5.7 Landscape as Infrastructure 87 2.6 From Theories to Conceptual Framework 91 2.7 Conclusions 93 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology 97 3.1 Introduction 100 3.2 Research Design 101 3.2.1 Qualitative Approach 102 3.2.2 Selection of Case Study 105 3.2.3 The Key Aspects of the Research 106 3.2.4 Getting into the Field: Positionality 108 3.3 Data Collection: Methods and Analysis 109 3.3.1 In Field: the Shift 110 3.3.2 Sources of the Required Data 112 3.3.3 Interviews 114 3.3.4 Visual survey and Observation 118 3.3.5 Documents 119 3.3.6 Data Analysis 120 3.3.7 The Quality of the Research 123 3.4 Conclusion 124 vi Table of Contents Chapter 4: Urbanisation in Egypt: Constraints and Problems 127 4.1 Introduction 131 4.2 Egypt: the World’s Largest Oasis 131 4.2.1 The Contrasts: Hyper Arid Desert and Lush Green Valley 133 4.2.2 Egypt’s Landscape: A Cultural Production 135 4.3 Compact to Disperse: Restoring Urban Quality of Cairo 140 4.3.1 Fourteen Century of Urban Development 142 4.3.2 Development and Urban Quality: the question of Liveability 146 4.3.3 Master Planning the City: Pushing Growth towards the Desert 148 4.3.4 Who Lives Where and How in Cairo 152 4.4 Conclusions 157 Chapter 5: The Challenge of Peopling the Desert 161 5.1 Introduction 165 5.2 Transforming a Desert to a Liveable Place 166 5.2.1 The Rise of Different forms of Master-Planned Estates 167 5.2.2 Infrastructures and Services 172 5.2.3 Landscape and Community 180 5.3 Processes of the Master-Planned Estates Development 184 5.3.1 Securing the Right for Housing: Learning from the Past 187 5.3.2 Retaining Liberty of Self-built in Housing: Delaying Consolidation 192 5.3.3 Promise of an all-Inclusive Development: Defining the Territory 196 5.3.4 Ensuring Exclusivity: Protecting Lifestyles 201 5.4 Conclusions 208 Chapter 6: The Peopled Desert: Fulfilling Residential Needs 211 6.1 Introduction 215 6.2 Living in the Master-Planned Estate 216 6.2.1 Who Lives where and how in New-Cairo? 217 6.2.2 Factors of Residents’ Perceived Liveability 219 vii 6.3 The Environmental Dimension of Liveability 221 6.3.1 Environmental Quality 223 6.3.2 Open Spaces 227 6.3.3 Built-environment Quality 230 6.3.4 Cleanliness 232 6.3.5 Walkability 234 6.3.6 Streetscape 236 6.4 The Socio-cultural Dimension of Liveability 238 6.4.1 Density 240 6.4.2 Modern Living Styles 241 6.4.3 Complete development 243 6.4.4 Sense of exclusiveness 244 6.4.5 Sense of Community 246 6.4.6 Family Obligations 247 6.4.7 Social Mobility 248 6.5 The Economic Dimension of Liveability 249 6.5.1 Affordability 250 6.5.2 Accessibility 253 6.5.3 Work Opportunities 255 6.6 The Liveable Master-Planned Estate 256 6.6.1 The Role of the Master-Planned Estate Physical Characteristics 258 6.6.2 Variations in Motives and Aspirations: Residential Satisfaction 260 6.7 Conclusions 261 Chapter 7: Liveability: Between Community and Landscape 265 7.1 Introduction 269 7.2 Community Formation 270 7.2.1 Community Attachment 271 7.2.2 Community Identity: Physical and Social Characteristics 273 7.2.3 Sense of Community through Pedestrianism 274 7.2.4 Formal and Informal Social Interaction 276 viii Table of Contents 7.2.5 Contemporary Nature of Community 278 7.3 Landscape Practices 281 7.3.1 Physical Intervention: Realising Values 282 7.3.2 Context Influence: a Product of Struggle 285 7.3.3 Expression of Power: a Governance Tool 287 7.4 Conclusions 290 Chapter 8: Landscape as Infrastructure: a Concluding Discussion 293 8.1 Introduction 297 8.2 Back to the Research Question 298 8.2.1 Strategies to Enhance Liveability in Master-Planned Estates 300 8.2.2 Factors of Perceived Liveability in the Master-Planned Estates 301 8.2.3 Community and Landscape: Meanings and Agendas 303 8.3 Relevance of Considering Landscape as Infrastructure