Khartoum Urban Housing Profile

1. URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN KHARTOUM

1.1 Introduction It was during the British rule of Sudan (1898 - 1956) that the country experienced the first great changes in its socio-economic and political structures, with urban systems gradually replacing traditionalsettlements. In addition, the existing and new urban centres of Sudan have gone through a process of transformation as a result of urbanisation. The British colonial planning and design interventions, due to an extreme urbanisation, have made the greatest impact on this process.

Khartoum, the primate city of Sudan and one of the famous colonial cities in Africa, has evolved from a traditional system of settlements into a pre-planned administrative and economic urban complex. In this process, its spatial and socio-cultural patterns have exhibited a wide range of evolutionary and revolutionary changes resulting fromincreasing powers of attraction and accommodation that Khartoum as a dominant urban centre offered. The present complex of Greater Khartoum comprises diversified cultural groups manifesting various socio-cultural and spatial patterns.

1.2 Geographical and Historical Background

Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is actually composed of three towns

Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman, thus it is called the triple capital. The city is located at longitude 32' 32 E and latitude 15' 36

N, and at an elevation of 1352 feet above sea level. The three towns are situated on the nearly flat alluvial plain of the Niles, with Khartoum on the left bank of the Blue Nile and Khartoum North on its right bank, while Omdurman is situated at the junction of the White and the Blue Nile rivers. Tuti Island lies in the middle of the Blue Nile just as it joins the White Nile to form the River Nile (Figs. 1.1 and 1.2).

Khartoum lies in the transitional zone between the Sahara and the Savannah belts. It has a tropical continental climate, characterised by very hot dry summers with occasional rainfall during July to September. Dust storms or 'haboubs' are frequent prior to the rainy season.

Archaeological research shows a history of settlement on the site of present day Khartoum going back to 4000 BC. There is also evidence of settlements during the Napatan (750- 300 BC.), Meriotic (300 BC. • AD. 350) and Christian (AD. 450- 1504) periods. Early archaeological findings, in 1929, both south and west of Khartoum North show human settlement in the area from the seventhcentury AD. Other archaeological

Fig. 1.2 Stages in the Growth the Three Towns. Source: .:..n Atlas of Khartoum onurbation

Pre 1 92 1925-1955 1955-1970

findings were found at AI Shagara area (southwest of Khartoum, along the White Nile) during the excavations for the Egyptian irrigation post, and the ruins of a church were found on Tuti Island in 1931.

During the Alawa Kingdom (Christian Nubian Kingdom AD. 450 - 1504) the town of Khartoum was unknown and the centres of Halfaya (North of Khartoum North) and Gerri were more prominent. At the beginning of the Fungi Kingdom, with the destruction of Saba in 1504 and the shifting of the capital to Sinnar, many of the Mahas people of the northern Sudan migrated to Khogalab and Halfaya along the Nile north of present day Khartoum North, and to Tuti Island.

During the Fung Sultanate (AD. 1504-1821), Halfaya and Gerri (the capital of AI Abdallab tribe) flourished and Halfaya became the capital of the region. This influenced the development of Khartoum until the beginning of the Turkish era.

The Khartoum area was generally uninhabited, covered with forests and often flooded with water until the year 1691 when Sheikh Arbab AI Agayed, a leading religious figure in the region, left Tuti Island to establish the first settlement in Khartoum on the southern bank of the Blue Nil. Sheikh Khogali and Sheik Hamad also left Tuti Island to settle at Khartoum North, and Sheikh Abdel Mahmoud Alnofalabi settled in Omdurman during the same period. Aziz quotes that: "There was in 1821 no town of Khartoum. A Frenchman, Brun Rollet, who lived many years in the Sudan however tells us that, "Gartun" was already a considerable town in former times; the Chelouk (an equatorial African tribe living in the south of present day Sudan) entered it one night 83 years ago, massacred the inhabitants and reduced it to nothing. When the Turks came there 34 years ago they found only three-huts and 1 large cemetery. Today it possess a population of 40 or 50 thousands."

Sudan came under Turkish rule in 1821. Kurshid Basha was the first Turkish governor and he induced the people of Khartoum to abandon their huts of skins and reeds and build houses of bricks. The birth of Khartoum as a town only started during the Osman Beck period (AD.1821 - 1825) , yet in 1830 the town became the capital of Sudan.

The early history of Khartoum can be divided into three stages. During the first stage the area remained unsettled with bushes and forest on the upper lands while the lower arable lands were cultivated by the people of Tuti Island. In the second stage, after Sheikh Arbab AI Agayed had chosen it as the centre for his religious activities, the first habitation started. In the last stage Osman Beck built a military camp on the site and that camp was developed into the administrative capital of the country in 1830. The first formal plan of Khartoum was designed by the military engineer Abbas Rasmi in 1883.

1.3 Urban Planning Policies of the City Prior to the condominium joint British and Egyptian rule after 1898) settlements in Sudan, in the form of transient settlers, existed which represented focal points of tribal centres, religious leadership or commercial activities. The buildings were mostly indigenous and vernacular shelters constructed out of local materials with traditional and local skills using mud, animal skins, thatch and wood. During the Turkish era, modern imported building materials and foreign technology w e r e used in Khartoum a n d Suakin. Egyptian and foreign engineers and skilled labourers were brought in to build and to train local people in new technologies and methods of construction.

The Mahdiya period (an independence movement based on Islamic rule, 1885 - 1898) was too short for an urban building tradition to crystalise. This resulted, for example in the case of Omdurman, the capital of the Mahdiya, in the use of local building materials and traditional design and construction methods. The layout of the town was based on a control and supervision strategy, whereby neighbourhoods were separated by wide streets, but individual plots were more spontaneously planned. The neighbourhoods themselves were identified with the religious; military or ethnic ranks of the residents.

During the British-Egyptian condominium administration, policies were set primarily to establish strong regional centres to serve the objectives of the new rulers. The concept of land classification was first introduced in 1906 (the legislation of division of housing land). This affected the housing opportunities of the entire population. Preference was given to government officials and wealthy people to live in Khartoum town. In 1924 the concept of the 'Native Lodging Areas' was introduced to accommodate temporary urban workers living in towns.

CLASS TENURE MINIMUM AREA BUILDING m2 MATERIAL Primary 151 2nd Total Period Renewal Renewal

FIRST 50 30 80 800 Red bricks, stones & cemen

SECOND 30 20 20 70 400 Red bricks,

Fig. 1.3 Housing Classification stones & cement System, 1947. Source: An Atlas of Khartoum Conurbation THIRD 20 10 10 40 300 Mud Gishra

As a result of the expansion of Khartoum, the Towns and Lands Schemes Act was introduced in 1947 to enforce the division of housing into three classes: first, second and third class (Fig. 1.3). The system envisaged three classes of residential zones differentiated by plot size, building material and lease duration. This system continued until the 1960s, when changes were introduced as a result of the need for more urban land and a desire to build in concrete, brick and cement. Therefore the plot sizes were reduced by an average of 25% for all classes.

The present classification system is a further development comprising five classes, two more classes than the previous system, and introducing again the elements of building in mud (Class 4) and in non- permanent materials (Class 5). (see fig. 3.1 in Chapter 3)

During the condominium era the site and services housing financing policy, which aimed at financing the initial stages of house provision as well as local community services (schools, markets, electricity, roads, water lines, etc.) of new housing schemes, was introduced.

The morphology of greater Khartoum has been shaped by the planning policies set during the condominium era. The Town Planning Conference held in London on 10 - 15 October, 1910 shows clear cut strategies and policies for the future of the three towns at that time. The Mclean paper, "The planning of Khartoum and Omdurman", presented at the conference, laid out the official policy of the condominium government towards planning and housing in Sudan. Khartoum was chosen to serve primarily the ruling class while Omdurman and Khartoum North were left partially to serve the local inhabitants. The land in Khartoum was divided into parcels for government and first class, second class and third class residential land. Land in Omdurman and Khartoum North was divided into government and third class residential land. Building materials and codes for each class were stipulated. The classification system has therefore created the specific urban fabric of Khartoum by determining plot size, coverage and road widths in different parts of the capital. The condominium policy towards housing also clearly states social divisions of housing and compulsory usage of specific building materials for construction.

Fig. 1.2 Stages in the Growth the Three Towns.

Source:

.:..n Atlas of Khartoum onurbation findings were found at AI Shagara area (southwest of Khartoum, along the White Nile) during the excavations for the Egyptian irrigation post, and the ruins of a church were found on Tuti Island in 1931.

During the Alawa Kingdom (Christian Nubian Kingdom AD. 450 -

1504) the town of Khartoum was unknown and the centres of Halfaya (North of Khartoum North) and Gerri were more prominent. At the beginning of the Fung Kingdom, with the destruction of Saba in 1504 and the shifting of the capital to Sinnar, many of the Mahas people of the northern Sudan migrated to Khogalab and Halfaya along the Nile north of present day Khartoum North, and to Tuti Island.

"There was in 1821 no town of Khartoum. A Frenchman, Brun Rollet, who lived many years in the Sudan however tells us that, "Gartun" was already a considerable town in former times; the Chelouk (an equatorial African tribe living in the south of present day Sudan) entered it one night 83 years ago, massacred the inhabitants and reduced it to nothing. When the Turks came there 34 years ago they found only three-huts and

1 large cemetery. Today it possess a population of 40 or 50 thousands."

1.3 Urban Planning Policies of the City

Prior to the condominium Uoint British and Egyptian rule after 1898) settlements in Sudan, in the form of transient settlers, existed which represented focal points of tribal centres, religious leadership or commercial activities. The buildings were mostly indigenous and vernacular shelters constructed out of local materials with traditional and local skills using mud, animal skins, thatch and wood. During the Turkish era, modern imported building materials and foreign technology were used in Khartoum and Suakin. Egyptian and foreign engineers and skilled labourers were brought in to build and to train local people in new technologies and methods of construction.

CLASS TENURE MINIMUM AREA BUILDING m2 MATERIAL Primary 151 2nd Total Period Renewal Renewal

FIRST 50 30 80 800 Red bricks, stones & cemen

SECOND 30 20 20 70 400 Red bricks,

Fig. 1.3 Housing Classification stones & cement System, 1947. Source: An Atlas of Khartoum Conurbation THIRD 20 10 10 40 300 Mud Gishra

division of housing into three classes: first, second and third class (Fig. 1.3). The system envisaged three classes of residential zones differentiated by plot size, building material and lease duration. This system continued until the 1960s, when changes were introduced as a result of the need for more urban land and a desire to build in concrete, brick and cement. Therefore the plot sizes were reduced by an average of 25% for all classes.

Because Khartoum was chosen to house the British, the Egyptians and the Sudanese elites, planning and housing policies were applied more strictly in this town than in Omdurman or Khartoum North. As a result, Omdurman town has generally maintained its indigenous type of buildings, streets and market place. Khartoum North grew steadily with little conflict or differentiation in its housing provisions and shows, therefore, a uniform building fabric.

After independence in 1956, the Town Planning Law was introduced and, later on, the Town Planning Regulation was enacted in order to guide the development of urban areas. Both laws enforced legislation of the division of housing land of 1906 and went further to add a fourth group to the classifications of the 1947 Towns and Lands Schemes Act. Doxiadis Associates, the Greek town planning group, accepted the idea of classification in their report of 1958 for a Master Plan of Khartoum which was based on the cost of each house to be proportional to the income of its inhabitant. The Master Plan was generally based on generous space standards for different land uses and housing plots, hierarchical, functional and infrastructural provisions and continuity in the growth of the main centre of Khartoum. The urban development of Khartoum continued with consistent waves of horizontal expansion for new residential areas, commercial centres and light industrial areas.

In 1974-76 a new development plan, 'Khartoum Regional Plan and the Master Plans for the three towns, Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North' was formulated by MEFIT Consulting Engineers of Rome. The plan envisaged the wider contexts of Khartoum urban development at the regional scale as well as the specific metropolitan spatial, functional infrastructure, service and institutional requirements up to the year 1998.

In 1990 a new 'Structure Plan' for Khartoum was designed by Doxiadis Associates and A. Mustafa and Partners which focused on sectoral projects and urban action programs of the metropolitan areas with a view to reinforce and develop urban infrastructures, services and institutions, and tackle the burgeoning problems of squatter settlements.

2. SPATIAL PATIERNS IN GREATER KHARTOUM

2.0 Introduction

Each of the settlements which make up Greater Khartoum manifest unique spatial and cultural patterns resulting from historical, physical and cultural processes. An introduction to their respective histories can help to demonstrate the differences, the similarities, and show how the parts work together to form the whole, in this rather unique urban settlement system.

2.1 Khartoum

The Turkish administration (1821 - 1885) divided the town of Khartoum into wards, and the Hikimdaria ward (Government Sector) was chosen for government departments, senior staff residences and army barracks. This ward was situated along the Blue Nile bank. The Masgid ward (Mosque ward) was a residential area west and south of the Hikimdaria ward composed of the mosque, the church, the Sug (market) and residences of the chiefs. The rest of the wards were residential wards for natives and lower class people. These wards were situated on the periphery of the town to the south, east and west of the Masgid ward (Fig 2.1).

Fig. 2.1 Khartoum in 1885.

Source: An Atlas of Khartoum Conurbation

The population of the town was a mixture of three groups. The oriental group comprised Egyptians and Syrians, the occidental group comprised Greeks, Germans, French, Austrians, Russians and Italians, and the native group comprised Sudanese from nearby regions. The growth of native population coming from different regions was accommodated for in further residential wards. By 1840 the population of Khartoum was 40 - 50 thousand, of which 80% were expatriates.

After the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdists in January 1885 and the death of Gordon Basha, the Mahdi shifted the capital to Omdurman. During the rule of Khalifa Abdullahi AI Taaishi (successor of AI Mahdi), Khartoum was left to disintegrate while Omdurman grew fast at its expense (Fig 2.2).

During the Anglo-Egyptian period (1898-1956), Lord Kitchener, in spite of his first priority of enforcing security over the country, was very much concerned with the rebuilding of the town of Khartoum. With the help of engineers, he prepared a plan for the town to become his capital. This was the first instance of prior planning of towns in Sudanese history.

Lord Kitchener's aim was to create a new town conceived in a European pattern. He divided the town into different wards. The governmental departments and British residential ward lay in a strip between the Blue Nile and the Khedewi Avenue (now AI Gamaa Avenue). The commercial ward was south of the Khedewi Avenue and the residential ward was south of the commercial ward, with relocated residential areas such as Burri in the east side of the town. To the far west side, there was a place called Hillat AI Mungara. To the south of the railway station the Deim area was an unplanned area of mud houses which was inhabited by the poor of the town. Military barracks were situated at the periphery of the town.

SPATIAL PATIERNS IN GREATER KHARTOUM

It was said that the town was laid out to resemble the British flag (the Union Jack). Lord Kitchener's plan aimed for easy defense of the town and easy movement of people from place to place, through wide and well connected streets, using orthogonal and diagonal street geometry. All main and secondary roads radiate from the focal point of the colonial city which was the General Governor's Palace. The town was surrounded by military barracks for defense purposes. With the arrival of the railway, the town was encircled by train tracks (Fig. 2.3).

The streets of the town were wide and regularly flanked by buildings, arcades and trees. The government houses were open to the environment with no boundary walls, only hedges. After independence these hedges were to be replaced with two meter high solid walls by the new native residents who held different values on privacy.

The town of Khartoum's spatial and cultural patterns in the condominium period were unique. The British were the first to introduce heterogeneity on a larger scale to the Sudanese cities. With the British colonial culture came foreigners from Europe, Asia and Africa to help in administering the country and thus adding new cultural groups to the urban milieu. However, all of the cultural groups, including the British, other foreigners and the natives with their sub-groups, were spatially segregated.

After independence the town expanded continuously along the Nile and away from it. Most of this expansion was illegal. The original spatial pattern of the colonial town was seriously interrupted by this informal expansion. However, the original grid iron system was carried on in almost all planned areas south of the railway line. The housing division system, which was introduced by the British, was maintained by the subsequent governments.

As a newly forming urban centre, Khartoum attracted local as well as foreign migrants who played different roles in the development of the city. Many benefited from continued investment in this establishment. Khartoum became the seat of government, the business and industrial centre, the service centre and therefore the logical base for all administrative and economic activity.

2.2 Omdurman

Until the coming of the Mahdists, Omdurman was a small village. During the Mahdist period (1885- 1898), the town expanded rapidly with no definite plan and its buildings were of traditional and vernacular nature. In the architectural patterns used at that time, the existence of the Hosh (courtyard), is visible in all types of buildings, whether the building is a house, a government building or a mosque. Even the Khalifa's house was composed of sets of Hoshes.

Omdurman has been described as a town of Arabian appearance. However, insight into its character might be gained from an exploration of the influence from western and central African settlement patterns. A significant number of Omdurman's founders belong to that cultural region. Most of its buildings were constructed of mud and roofed with thatch. The wealthy used mud fences for their houses, while the poor used thorn branches as fences. The streets and alleys of the city were organically formed and cumulatively developed creating, in most cases, triangular blocks.

In the early phases of the condominium period (1898-1956) the town was neglected and its population dropped from 150,000 to 60,000 inhabitants due to the reverse migration of the Khalifa's supporters back to their homelands. As a result, large residential quarters were deserted and the town experienced a complete urban blight. Later, due to the construction of both the Blue Nile Bridge in 1909 and the White Nile Bridge in 1928 together with the introduction of the tramway system, Omdurman expanded and its commercial centre flourished. Its Sug became the largest traditional market in Africa. The minimal influence of the British administration on the spatial and the socio-cultural patterns of the town resulted in an indigenous environment that comprises a relatively homogenous population.

After independence the town also expanded and its main expansion was away from the Nile. Although the town has experienced changes in its spatial patterns recently, its character as a traditional town is retained. The traditional spatial pattern is well manifested in the older neighbourhoods which are composed of different residential quarters with one storey mud buildings on narrow labyrinth roads and alleys. The new expansions, which are mostly laid out in a grid iron system, remain in sharp contrast to the traditional system of the older town. On the other hand the cultural character, as a traditional homogenous town, can still be felt although many different ethnic and cultural groups have been added after the recent 1980s population movements towards the capital.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Omdurman had a massive squatter population mostly originating from the drought stricken western regions of Sudan as well as large numbers of ethnic southerners displaced by civil strife in Southern Sudan. The treatment of such population groups was one of the main objectives of the Structure Plan of Khartoum of 1990. The authorities undertook the planning and development of three new townships - in Omdurman, Khartoum and Khartoum North - in which squatters and displaced households were allocated residential plots. Where squatters were not removed, their areas were replanned by opening access roads and providing water supply.

2.3 Khartoum North

Khartoum North was originally a small village composed of two Hilias (villages), Hillat Hamad and Hillat Khogali. Khartoum North has strong ties to Tuti Island and AI Halfaya village by tribal bonds. During the early stages of the condominium period (1898 -1956) part of the military barracks were situated near the Blue Nile bank. With the arrival of the railway line, the town became the main railway station of the country until the completion of the Blue Nile bridge when the main station was moved to the town of Khartoum (Fig 2.1).

New areas for housing during this period were laid out on the colonial grid iron pattern with no diagonal streets. Some government departments and army barracks were situated directly north of the Blue Nile facing the town of Khartoum. Because of this, access to the river from this area was almost denied to the inhabitants of Khartoum North. A light service industry was started at that time, on the eastern side of the town.

After independence the town of Khartoum North comprised the largest light industrial area of the country resulting in a high demand for new low cost housing areas, a factor which has since influenced the spatial patterns of the town. New areas such as AI Shaabbia and AI Mazad were designated for third class housing, while some rural areas were also incorporated into third class areas (for example AI Sababi and Shambat extension). All these new areas were also laid out in grid iron patterns. The extension of the town to the north, the south and the east was away from the river Nile except for the villages along the river Nile which were later incorporated into the city boundaries. The population make up of Khartoum North has changed substantially since after independence and with the departure of the foreign population. The town has a long history of squatter settlements of which the first in Greater Khartoum appeared in Khartoum North in 1920s. The industrial activities in the town attracted migrants from different parts of the country. The town is now inhabited by different ethnic and cultural groups from the west and the south, but groups from the northern region are predominant. For a long time migrants from northern Sudan have settled in Khartoum North, in preference to the other two towns. Because of this predominance the perceived level of homogeneity of the town is still high despite the mixture of the population.

2.4 Tuti Island Tuti Island is the smallest and the oldest settlement of the four areas that form Greater Khartoum. It was, perhaps as early as the 15th century, inhabited by people from northern tribes of Sudan (the Mahas people of Nubia) and was known as a religious centre of Sheikh Arbab AI Agayed. The island has an indigenous type of settlement which has retained this pattern through time up to the present (Fig 2.1, 2.2). The main reason for this is the isolation of the island. Although it occupies the geographic centre of Greater Khartoum, it is not part of it. The three towns are linked together by bridges, but Tuti Island has remained isolated with its only connection to the capital by ferry.

This indigenous settlement has a very homogenous population. The temporary and seasonal labourers who are associated with farming cannot live in the village and reside in huts among the farms.

It can be seen that the settlement systems of Khartoum which evolved from the nucleus of Tuti Island have shown individual spatial and cultural characteristics determined by their initial development. The urbanisation process, which was most effective during the condominium, set forth the socio- economic interdependencies of the settlement system. By the end of the condominium, Greater Khartoum was operating as one urban system. Its further growth and expansion have introduced wider cultural, economic and spatial variety prompting more autonomous entities of the components within the overall urban realm of Greater Khartoum. Within that, the urban structure shows a uniquely unifying spatial character. 2.5 Evolution of the Urban Structure

The urban structure of Khartoum and its component towns of Omdurman and Khartoum North has been shaped by successive waves of migration within a relatively short period of time. The fundamental urban structure was determined by the natural setting of the Khartoum settlement system at the junction of the Blue Nile and the White Nile where they form the River Nile. At this junction lies Tuti and it is here that the settlement process began. The spatial structure has its basic explanation in the natural process of the rivers' formation and their strong attraction for settlement and its evolution. In this respect, two patterns can be identified: -The radial spatial movement from the Tuti Island settlement crossing the Blue Nile to Khartoum town and Khartoum North town, and the Nile to Omdurman town continued to create the characteristic concentric settlement patterns in the metropolitan area in the 19th century up to the middle of the 20th century. - The linear movement along the Niles in the post 1950 urban growth process where villages and newly established settlement areas (Burri, Kober) coalesced in linear growth along the river banks. The settlement process has, consequently, characteristic properties corresponding to the configuration of the Nile: - The traditional urban structure in Omdurman represents the continuity of the Tuti traditional village structure and the overlays of the Mahdist instant planning of a state capital on an Arab-African layout pattern -the contemporary planning concepts for Khartoum as the capital for a foreign power, with defence, administration and separate residential zones for different cultural groups in simple geometry of rectangular blocks which are easy to administer, allocate and develop, gave Khartoum its modern outlook as a colonial settlement. -the coalescence of traditional patterns and a colonial grid iron pattern in Khartoum North preserved the riverine core of Hamad and Khogali villages and assured a harmonic transition to the newly laid out rectangular geometry of AI Waborat and AI Amlak districts.

Fig. 2.4 Evolution of Urban Pattern of Khartoum

The subsequent developments of the urban structure throughout Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North were characterized by relatively large scale allocations of residential districts on largely publicly owned, urban land. Within the framework of official housing policies which determine plot sizes, road sizes and hierarchies, open communal space provisions and other social and commercial infrastructures within the areas, it was hard to deviate from the geometric rectangular patterns of block and group layouts of residential areas. The pattern proved to be practical and simple to administer by technical staff with a limited training standard. The pattern also proved effective and efficient when it came to the provision of engineering infrastructure such as water pipe lines and electrical cables. Only a few attempts have been made to deviate from rectangular geometry in Khartoum. To the east of Khartoum in what was known as the British Quarter, and in the first class area of the first southern extension, an attempt was made to plan a curvilinear layout with large gardens and boundary hedges reflecting images of the residential areas of the English Garden City concepts. The rectangular geometry permeated various levels of the urban structure of Khartoum. The shelter form is characteristically a composite of cubes consistent throughout the class divisions of the city residential districts. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the urban fabric of the Khartoum complex is the balance between the composite cubes of building mass and the climatically and socially significant open space within the rectangular plot boundary. The total effect of such a pattern of urban grain is order, regularity, lightness and almost fragility. In the sense of eminence of private open space, the single storey urban profile of the Khartoum metropolitan complex is characteristically a horizontal urban expanse with only a few isolated vertical protrusions of multi- storey building towers.

The massive influx of population towards the capital is expected to continue, and with it the decades old residential land distribution policy of large scale allocations which seem to favour the simple, practical and now familiar rectangular geometry.

3. KHARTOUM SHELTER PROFILE: EVOLUTION

The development of Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North has shown great differentiations in their respective residential and infrastructure policies. While Khartoum received consistent attention in modernisation, Omdurman remained largely untouched for a considerable length of time. The development of Khartoum North benefited enormously from the substantial investments as the main industrial area of the metropolitan region. A shelter profile for the capital of Sudan immediately reveals the initial qualitative and quantitative variations of the housing sector.

The variations were less conspicuous in the 1950s when the building sector was clearly performed by two professionals the 'engineers' and the traditional builders. Architecture as a profession had not yet emerged and the building field was dominated entirely by the civil engineer as building designer. Imported skilled labour and technicians, and the local semi-skilled labourers, later became the leaders of the construction sector as builders as well as trainers.

House form in Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North has evolved through three distinct phases over the past 50 years:

- the post-war decade, 1945 - 1955

- the post-Doxiadis decade, 1958 - 1968

- the modernisation movement

The first phase, which can be identified with the first 10-12 years after the war, saw the emergence of a distinct official housing policy where the government leased residential plots to the citizens in accordance with the land classification system. First and second class areas, of relatively large plot sizes, wider streets, open spaces and well serviced, were largely reserved for government officials. The leasee was granted a 'building loan' by the government. This policy had far reaching effects on the urban development of the capital and the institution of an economically definable housing sector. Within a period of 5-7 years the city of Khartoum almost doubled its housing stock. Designs were simple, construction used local skilled labour and the influence of Mediterranean culture both in design and construction was evident. The use of the veranda and porch and the single- storey house was characteristic of house designs of this phase. The courtyards and the boundary wall continued to define the house morphology and the front garden emerged as a further treatment of the front courtyard. A distinctive spatial separation of the service units (kitchen, bathroom, toilet) continued out of necessity as cooking with coal stoves was still a messy task and the upkeep and waste disposal favoured a more isolated location of the bath and toilet units.

The second phase which largely coincided with the advent of the first decade of independence and national government, instituted the land-leasing housing policy and attempted to focus on house building in new popular housing schemes for the working class and low income groups. The housing expansion trend and the creation of new housing areas was boosted by the new Master Plan for Khartoum which was prepared by Doxiadis Associates, a town planning consultant based in Athens and with extensive professional activity in Africa and the Middle East. The Khartoum Master Plan envisaged concomitant roles for the housing and infrastructure sectors in shaping Khartoum for the coming two decades (the base date of the plan was 1958).

Inevitably the housing sector took the lead as great numbers of plots in the new housing areas were leased, house building loans offered and a healthy construction industry was firmly established. Housing construction showed commendable building and finishing skills but there was a lot of mediocrity and even grotesqueness in the house design. The design role was still handled by engineers and, due to the large demand, by junior building technicians. The use of newly introduced concrete as primary construction material was extensive and consistently redundant.

This phase saw the emergence of the two-storey and the three-story villa with large gardens and terraces. The kitchen, the bathroom and the toilet came to be integrated into the house as a result of the new systems of waste disposal (septic-tanks, public sewers) and cooking gas. Third class areas, however, continued with little change in house form or construction system. This phase also witnessed the second wave of substantial squatter settlements (Um Badda, west of Omdurman) which was to become, in the subsequent two decades, the most complex urban problem of the capital. The first squatter settlements had appeared in Khartoum North as early as 1920.

Perhaps the most distinctive development for housing type in Khartoum occurred during this phase. The apartment house accommodation had been hitherto unknown in Khartoum. Both indigenous and expatriate populations favoured the courtyard villa type of house. The government, in its efforts to diversify housing opportunities, commissioned a number of apartment blocks to be built in the eastern sector of old town Khartoum. These were four storey blocks with each block comprising about eight apartments. Designed and funded by foreign resources under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Works, the project proved to be a cultural shock with its construction and detailing distinctions. For a few years the buildings were inhabited by expatriates and some Sudanese, but in the late 60s most of the blocks were converted into government offices and one of them was adapted and expanded to become the seat of the Council of Ministers. The experience, however, was not totally negative since the further developments of housing types 20 years later have shown greater interest by the Sudanese to live in apartments due to the stringent building and rental costs in an ever narrowing housing market. The third phase in housing development, which can be said to begin at the turn of the 70s or perhaps even as early as the end of the 60s, is characterised by a search for a new shelter 'architecture'. The architectural profession attempted to make itself felt in the building spheres and in particular in the housing market. An increasing number of architects entered the field mostly with a 'western' and 'international style' background. The inherited traditional examples were rejected outright much to the detriment of valuable Ottoman, Colonial and indigenous examples. The 'reinforced concrete' building culture, which was precipitated over the previous decade, continued to dominate and dictate architectural form with a clear constructional determinism that allowed only a few architects room to express themselves. The rectangular geometry and cubic masses seem to characterise a new vocabulary but their architectural handling failed to bring about their architectonic qualities. Needless to say the search for a new residential architecture at this phase has never had as its objective a traditional revival or local continuity. The current impact of the international style and its tropical adaptation by European architects in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been so pervasive that for all intents and purposes it has set both the vocabulary and the structure of residential architecture of Khartoum for this phase. The most obvious manifestations of the international style in the residential architecture of Khartoum can be summarised in five points: a. Disappearance of the veranda and the porch as distinctive and characteristic semi-enclosures in the house space composition; b. The emergence of the enclosed central living hall as the main family living area. In most designs it was flanked by other spaces (bedrooms, guest reception salon, bathrooms and kitchen). The central hall, of an open type is, in fact of Mediterranean origin initially used in Khartoum by Greek and Italian residents; c. The tendency towards a more compact building form with an abrupt juxtaposition of the outside space and the inside space i.e. unroofed space and roofed space. d. The inclusion of the kitchen and the bathroom as integral elements in the building block to achieve a compact form and an integrated space composition. e. The excessive use of concrete, glass, and, hence, air cooling and air conditioning.

In order _to provide a base for new considerations and new developments, specifically in the area of the human habitat, shelter in Khartoum is presented in a number of examples through neighbourhood case studies in the following chapters. These case studies give an overview of the morphological characteristics of shelter design in its spatial, technical, economic and social context in Khartoum over the past three to four decades. The case studies overlap with the official classification system which currently recognises five categories (table 3.1) with substantial differences in first, second and third class plot sizes when compared with their respective sizes four decades ago.

Case Study 1 is a sample from a second class area, but representative of first and second class housing typologies. Case Studies 2, 3 and 4 represent the third class which is the largest residential class of urban housing in Khartoum. Case Study 5 is a sample from the third class area of old Omdurman. Case Study 6 represents fourth class housing under the current classification system.

The location of each shelter category in the town is shown, as well as the location of the individual house samples. Thus, the presentation covers locational and zonal aspects at the metropolitan level as well as area and block layouts at the neighbourhood level.

4. SHELTER CASE STUDY 1: AL AMARAT, KHARTOUM

AI Amarat residential area is one of the more popular residential areas of the town of Khartoum. It represents a middle income group housing area. AI Amarat residential area is the direct result of housing policies of the Khartoum Master Plan of 1958. It is planned as a second class residential area with plot sizes around 500 - 700 m2 . The planning concept is a simple grid iron layout with housing blocks consisting of 10-18 plots each running east-west on the longer axis. A number of open spaces are provided within the general grid iron geometry of the area. Social facilities have been planned in the form of schools and a commercial centre. The streets are wide, paved, lit and many of them are lined with trees. The area is provided with electrical and water supply, and a public sewage system.

The houses are generally built with permanent building materials, most of them using load-bearing brick construction and concrete roof and floor systems. Finishing is relatively good quality using cement plasters for ceiling and walls internally and externally, whereas floors are generally finished with cement or terrazzo tiles.

FIGURE 4.1 location of AI Amarat neighbourhood in Khartoum.

The general characteristics of the house plans can be defined as follows:

a. The built-up area of the block is a compacted arrangement of rooms and verandas.

b. The building mass is generally situated within the block to allow for a garden area of relatively large proportion, a courtyard and elongated side areas.

c. The garden is always at the front of the house and the courtyard is normally at the back of it.

d. The kitchen is normally in the back courtyard attached to the main house building but, in many cases, away from it.

e. The house is surrounded by a boundary wall with at least two entry gates.

f. The bathroom is generally integrated within the main building.

FIGURE 4.2 Location of house• unit samples in AI Amarat neighborhood. 1 - Plot 7 Block 9 2- Plot 4 Block 10 3 - Plot 23 Block 10

The houses are normally single storey but in many of them another floor has been added. The spaces comprise bedrooms, a salon (male guest reception) and at least two verandas. The verandas have served an important climatic, social and living functions in the house. Over the past 15 years a tendency to close the verandas, and integrate the resulting enclosed space as a room or a family hall, runs contrary, however , to these traditional considerations.

The open areas of the plot are used for the garden and as living and sleeping courtyards. The courtyard and the side spaces are mostly paved in order to serve social and outdoor sleeping functions.

EXAMPLE 1: (Plot 7, Block 9) Plot Size: 546m2

Built Area: 198m2

Unbuilt Area:348m2

A single storey house in compact form with a load-bearing structure . A front lawn and courtyards surround the building enclosed by a brick boundary wall. The house has two verandas, facing north• east and southeast respectively, and an isolated servant's room at the southeast comer of the plot.

...., I •v • n • n rv I

NORTH/SOUTH SECTION

2 EXAMPLE 2: (Plot 4, Block 10) Plot Size: 500m 2 Built Area: 151m 2 Unbuilt Area:349m A two storey house in compact form with a load-bearing structure. Front lawn and courtyards surround the building enclosed by a brick boundary wall; there is an isolatedkitchenandservant's room at the southwest and southeast comers of the site respectively. There is a first floor terrace.

5. SHELTER CASE STUDY 2: AL ZUHUR, KHARTOUM

The residential area of AI Zuhur is a neighbouring area to AI Amarat in Khartoum. It is, however, a third class area accommodating low income and lower middle income residents. The plot sizes are smaller than those in the neighbouring Amarat, ranging between 300 m2 and 350 m2 • The planning concept follows the standard grid iron geometry of all the post-

1960 residential areas of Khartoum, but the block layout has a more distinctive pattern. This is the result of a conscious integration of the open spaces and the plot combinations in the housing block forms. As a consequence, a more intimate communal open space is created and a greater variety of such space is introduced. Social facilities include schools and local markets. Infrastructure services include public electricity, water supply and water-based sewerage disposal systems.

FIGURE 5.1 Location of AI Zuhur neighbourhood in Khartoum.

The buildings show an intensive use of the plot area and a strong subdivision of the open areas into courtyards. Therefore the building pattern creates a cellular juxtaposition of rooms, verandas and intimate courtyards. Like the general trend in Khartoum, most of the verandas have been enclosed to create more rooms and halls. The kitchen and the bathroom, however, are still detached from the main house except where the intervening area has been roofed as a shed or enclosed room. The relatively small plot area and the preference of smaller, more traditional, courtyards within the house does not allow for the house garden common in the second and first class residential areas. Courtyard paving and one or two trees (fruit trees in most instances) constitute the basic elements of the housing landscape in AI Zuhur as well as in most third class residential areas of Khartoum.

The boundary wall with normally two entry gates define and separate the houses in this residential area. The house is not necessarily surrounded by open space. In fact the boundary wall itself, on the neighbours side or on the street side, may be defined by walls of a room, or part thereof.

The construction and materials are simple both in techniques and types. Brickwork in mud mortar is the most common medium and light roofs of corrugated metal sheet (mostly galvanised iron) is used extensively. In some cases a simple ceiling of an insulating masonite is fixed to the roof purlins.

6. SHELTER CASE STUDY 3: AL MOGRAN, KHARTOUM

The third case study is unique in its residential planning as well as its building design and construction. Historically the area represents the counterbalance of the British residential area at the eastern end of Kitchener's original planning concept for Khartoum. It was the residential area of the native Sudanese and has as such maintained a particular blend of traditional and colonial character.

The housing units in the AI Mogran area have undergone a variety of transformations ranging from densification to change of use. In the more traditional parts of the area, the house unit evolved into further sub-units of individual households comprised of a room and courtyard laid out to give maximum privacy to the sub-households.

The plot layout discerns a specific morphology in which the open space (courtyards) are within the built-up complex. Thus most of the building takes place at the edges of the plot in compact units which are themselves isolated. The units may be considered as outward looking in relationship to their courtyards, but the building compound as a whole is clearly inward- looking.

The construction materials and techniques are traditional. In fact this area is perhaps one of the oldest areas of Khartoum in which mud construction in the form of mud brick-and lump mud has survived. The roof construction is of the type known as 'Baladi' , a vernacular roof which is a composite of raw timber joists and bamboo purlins on a central carrier raw timber beam. Various types of materials are plied on including mats, bituminous felt , polythene sheets and/or a thick layer of zibala as the outermost layer (zibala is a ermented mixture of clay and animal dung which has thermal and water resisting properties and constitutes a good bonding which is also easy to handle) .

7. SHELTER CASE STUDY 4: AL SHAABIYA, KHARTOUM NORTH

This case study is rather special in its inception as well as in its evolution. The neighbourhood known as AI Shaabiya {the popular) was conceived and executed as a full- fledged housing project sponsored and executed by the government in the late 50s and early 60s. The objective was to allocate complete housing units to lower income groups. This was a clear departure from the previous housing policies which concentrated only on site and service schemes.

The basic residential unit comprised two rooms, a veranda, kitchen, bath and toilet. The rooms and the veranda were situated more or less centrally within the plot (plot area was around 300m2 ), with the kitchen along the back wall and the bath and toilet along the front wall. The unit was built with hollow cement blocks and roofed with corrugated iron sheets on light timber trusses. The project envisaged a financing component whereby the eligible owner would repay the cost over a period ot 20 years.

At the time, the project was hailed as a breakthrough in combating an increasing shortage in the housing sector, and a good deal of families benefited from the scheme. Financially the beneficiaries met their commitment only partially . Furthermo re, the evolution of the social and economic conditions of some owners pushed them to sell the property to more prosperous buyers who then developed the plot into residences totally incompatible with the original objectives of the scheme. However , the scheme had many healthy components. Owners have continued to invest in the property, adding a room or two over the years and generally intensifying the utilisation of the plot as the household size evolved and resources expanded.

8. SHELTER CASE STUDY 5: AL MORADA, OMDURMAN

This case study is presented to demonstrate design intervention in an organic planning context in the AI Morada neighbourhood of Omdurman. The evolution of the AI Morada planning pattern is typical of traditional and village settlements in Sudan. The irregular plot and block patterns and the triangular geometry of the road network give this area a unique characteristic. However, the streets themselves are straight and free from plot and building protrusions and projections. This apparently is the outcome of persistent regulatory municipal control which, in effect, gives a particular block neat, clean edges (roads) but, in contrast, highly articulated plot shapes within the block. Clearly the plot shapes have a lot to do with their initial inception, but also with subsequent definitions of property limits and successively changing ownership patterns (subdivisions and reallocations due to inheritance).

9. SHELTER CASE STUDY 6: AL GAMAYER, OMDURMAN

AI Gamayer neighbourhood is a squatter settlement i n Omdurman. It evolved in economic symbiosis with the city but maintained a brave autonomy of cultural setting in its physical environment. The inhabitants planned and built using their own traditional knowledge and skills. Most houses were built in mud or mud brick and roofed with the 'baladi' roof system of construction and materials. The house plan reflects various stages of development. The basic unit of a room and shed is located within a large courtyard and surrounded by the usual boundary wall. The more developed older house units show a much higher density of building and the covered surface exceeds the open courtyards in a large number of examples. A house unit consists of more than one courtyard which normally defines the number of households living in the house.

Over the past few years the neighbourhood has been the subject of a range of interventions within the squatter treatment program launched by the authorities in 1991. This program envisaged relocation and replanning as its main instruments also for the AI Gamayer area. The area's growing popular and spontaneous shelter building by the individual households reflected all the characteristics of a village plan and shelter typology. On applying the replanning instrument, a lot of houses were affected to various degrees with some households losing their property in order to make the opening up of the settlement with through-roads possible. This has allowed for the regulation of plot frontages to effect clean edge roads in the settlement.

AI Gamayer neighbourhood, being within the urban infrastructure network, has benefited from its location by having access to water and electricity which other squatter settlements in Omdurman do not have.