Motivation and Attachment in the Use of Public Open Spaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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Motivation and Attachment in the Use of Public Open Spaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Motivation and Attachment in the Use of Public Open Spaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Abdullah N. Addas A thesis submitted to the University of Sheffield in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February - 2015 Landscape Department – The University Of Sheffield DEDICATION I dedicate my thesis to my family. A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents, Nidal and Fayzah whose words of encouragement led me to this success. My sisters Sara and Rawabi have never left my side and are very special and supported me in to the last. This thesis is dedicated to my son Yousef. I am sorry for being away from you for a long time but you will be proud of your father forever. I Love You All. Finally this work is dedicated to Jeddah especially and to Saudi Arabia. Page | i ACKNOWLEDGMENT A deep feeling of gratitude and a special appreciation to my first supervisor Clare Rishbeth for every single comment you gave me to improve my research and build up my personality as a researcher and for every moment you gave me of your time to help me to grow as a social scientist researcher. Clare you have been a tremendous mentor for me. Your advice on both research as well as on my life have been priceless and you helped me to go beyond many difficulties during the time I spent in Sheffield. Honestly, I feel lucky and proud to be one of your students because of the knowledge you have in the field of the study, your teaching methods and techniques and your innovation and creativity. I would also like to deeply thank my second supervisor Dr.Anna Jorgensen for her time to guide me and for the valuable comments and suggestions to improve my research skills. It is true we haven’t met on an on going basis but without your support I would not have been able to accomplish important parts of my thesis. Thank you for believing in me and for your instruction. A special thanks goes to the University of Sheffield and especially to the Landscape Department to provide students with a fantastic studying environment and for all the facilities that supported our studies. A great appreciation to Ms Helen Morris the Landscape Department postgraduate administrator. I annoyed and bothered Helen during my master study in 2008 – 2009 and again for four years in the PhD study with my questions and requests. You accepted everything I asked for with a smile, thank you so much Helen. Thanks should also be given to all the authors of books, journals and researches who helped me in one way or another. A special thanks to the Landscape Architecture Department at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah that gave me the opportunity to study abroad and to accomplish this success. A great appreciation to assistant professor Dr. Ali Baubaid for his encouragement and support. You have been a tremendous mentor for me since 2002 and I will never stop consulting you and asking for your advice and support. A special thanks to my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my mother Dr. Fayzah Jan and my father Mr. Nidal Addas for all of the sacrifices that you have made on my behalf. Your prayers for me have sustained me. I would also like to thank my sisters Sarah and Rawabi for all their support and encouragement. Your motivation Page | ii and support gave me the power to remain constant and to gain this success. I would like to express appreciation to my beloved son Yousef, who I have not seen for about a year, but definitely I will make it up to you soon, my son. I believe that every person has a secret friend who helps us to achieve our goals, who push us to reach our dreams and who guide and listen to us. I must say that I do have that secret friend and I feel that I must offer to my secret friend a deep feeling of gratitude and a special appreciation. Thanks for you when you spent days and nights listening to me talking about my PhD and the difficulties that I faced during my study. Also, I must thank all my friends for their support and encouragement. You all were been more than friends during the four years of my study. Page | iii ABSTRACT This research investigates how the residents of the city of Jeddah perceive, use and experience open spaces within an urban context, including unplanned and peri-urban natural areas. It highlights the patterns of use of open spaces and compares these with research findings from North America and European countries. The specific cultural and historical context of Arabic countries means that key factors in use of public space are the segregation of gender and importance of religious practice. However, Jeddah is also a multicultural city, with a high proportion of migrant residents, so also provides a research context for critiquing transnational practices and attachments. The research strategy was developed from two key methodological principles. The first develops investigation of place as an integration of form, fabric and cultural practice, allowing the research to link social patterns with the physical design of the public realm. The second foregrounds storytelling methods to elicit complexity of place attachment, enabling investigation of intangible influences, such as social norms, gender norms, religion and ethnicity. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate users’ cultural practices and experiences of public spaces. The methods used in this research were a review of maps and documents, car surveys, observations and on-site interviews. It was important to develop an open space typology to meet the diversity of use in a case study selection specific to a Gulf region context. One key finding of this research indicates that Saudi and non-Saudi users visit designed open spaces and incidental spaces that meet their perceived needs, and positive experiences by women using public open spaces implies a broad desire to undertake more outdoor physical activity. The factor of gender is also shown to significantly influence how places are used in terms of temporal and spatial dimensions, as women and men made adaptions to their use of public open spaces to conform to cultural norms. Another key finding of this research suggests people seek out meaningful places that are primarily defined by social connections or by restorative experience. The final key finding of this research shows that public open spaces often fail to meet the identified needs of a diverse range of users, the findings indicate concerns about poor maintenance of public open spaces, and there are insufficient opportunities for users to share their needs with decision makers. Therefore, this research enhances knowledge of patterns of usage and place attachment for public open spaces in an Arab country that follows Islamic law, but also found similarities of patterns of place attachment when comparing Western studies, which suggests that this theory has cross-cultural relevance. Page | iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................xiii CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................... xv AIMS & RESEARCH SCOPE .................................................................................... xv 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The research aims and objectives................................................................................ 1 1.3 The Context ................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Research methodology ................................................................................................ 5 1.5 The Structure of the Thesis ......................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 9 CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH LOCATION ......................................................... 9 2.1 Saudi Arabia .............................................................................................................. 10 2.2 Jeddah ....................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 Growth and development .......................................................................................... 12 2.4 Demographics: structure ........................................................................................... 12 2.5 Demographics: growth .............................................................................................. 13 2.6 Immigration ............................................................................................................... 14 2.7 Immigration challenges ............................................................................................. 17 2.8 Family and social life ..............................................................................................
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