URBAN DESIGN

HOW TO DESIGN THE SPACE

Dr. Ahmed Salah

Lecturer in the Architecture
Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Sphinx University
 Introduction

Building confidence

AGENDA Engaging the audience

Visual aids

Final tips & takeaways

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 LECTURE 1

COURSE OBJECTIVES & CONTENTS

CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN DESIGN

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 COURSE OBJECTIVES & CONTENTS
• Urban Design - Definitions and Concepts
• Levels of Urban Design
• Perception and Impressions
• Visual Analysis
• Stages of Urban Design
• Necessary Steps and Types of Studies for Sites to
be Designed
• Case Study Models
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 URBAN DESIGN - DEFINITIONS
AND CONCEPTS

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 URBAN DESIGN - DEFINITIONS AND
CONCEPTS
Urban planning is concerned with the formation of the city
in its physical dimensions so that it can be expressed in
the form of simplified maps without much attention to the
aesthetic and sensory aspects (material and functional)
Architectural design focuses on a single building and its
physical components without attention to the meaning and
relationship of the components and behaviors of the group
of buildings. (material and aesthetic)
There is a need for a medium field of interest concerned
with the meaning and relationship of the physical
components of urbanism and users’ behaviors in addition
to giving meaning to urbanism, forming its character, and
influencing the relationship of users with their city.
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 URBAN DESIGN - DEFINITIONS AND
CONCEPTS
There Are Many Definitions Of Urban Design. Returning Fifty Years To The
Term's Origin Serves Us Well Here. In 1955, Clarence Stein Said That
Urban Design Is “The Art Of Relating Buildings To Each Other And Their
Natural Surroundings In The Service Of Contemporary Life” (Stein, 1955).
Urban Design Brings Together The Many Threads Of Place-making,
Environmental Responsibility, Social Justice, And Economic Viability; For
Example, In The Process Of Creating Beautiful Places With An Identity.
Urban Design Draws From, And Even Transcends, Related Matters Such As
Planning, Transportation Policy, Architectural Design, Development
Economics, Landscape, And Engineering. Urban Design Brings These
Threads And Others Together. In Short, Urban Design Is About Creating A
Vision For A Space Of Land And Marshalling The Skills And Resources To
Realize That Vision (Davis-Llewellyn, 2000: 12).
Urban Design Is About The Relationship Between Different Buildings; And
The Relationship Between Buildings And Streets, Squares, Parks,
Waterways, And Other Spaces That Make Up The Field. The Year...And
The Patterns Of Movement And Activity Established There; In Short, The
Complex Relationships Between The Elements Of Built And Unbuilt Spaces
(Doe, 1997: Para. 14)
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 URBAN DESIGN - DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS
• The building
• Its functions
Architecture • Proportions
Design • Colors
• Facades

• Groups of buildings and their surrounding environment

• Components of the urban environment
Urban Design • The relationship of the elements of this environment with the users
• Feeling, shape, color, texture

• The City
Urban Planning • Physical Components of the City
• Functional Relationships between City Elements

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 HISTORY OF URBAN DESIGN

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 HISTORY OF URBAN DESIGN
• The beginnings of this field of knowledge date back to the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries as a reaction to the deteriorating urban
conditions of the city after the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
• Kings and princes commissioned architects to improve the physical
environment of the city.
• Because of the architects' experience in dealing with the physical
aspects of buildings, their interest was only focused on dealing with
the formative aspects of the built environment.
• That first beginning expressed a global movement to beautify the city
(Movement Beautiful) whose interest was limited to the aesthetics of
the users' vision of the urbanity of their city.
• The tools used were wide, tree-lined streets, squares with statues
and reliefs, visual endings Vista and other physical elements

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 This Interest Appeared In The Horizontal Projection In The Form Of A Road Network That
Does Not Aim To Facilitate Movement As Much As It Aims To Enjoy Movement Within
The City. This Is Clearly Shown In “Regency Street” In London, For Which The Architect
Chose A Curved Horizontal Projection To Achieve Visual Excitement.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 The Same Effect Is Seen In The Streets Of Paris, With Visual Ends That Are More Likely
To Provide Visual Enjoyment To Users Than To Achieve Functional Movement Between
Parts Of The City.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

Dr. Ahmed Salah
 In The Nineteenth Century, Interest Shifted To The Relationship
Between The Built Environment And The Natural Environment And The
Connection Between The Built Environment And The Natural
Environment In A Way That Focused On Functional Aspects, As In The
City Garden, Which Ebenezer Howard Called For In 1889 AD.
Ebenezer Howard
1850-1920

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 Then the interest shifted to the physical formation of the city in its
three dimensions and less focus on the planning aspects in the
direction of the contemporary city (City Contemporary) which was
developed by the French architect Le Corbusier in 1926.
Le Corbusier was interested in determining the heights of buildings
and placing the buildings in a point image that does not occupy the Le Corbusier
entire city land but rather supports it with open and recreational uses. 1887-1965

He expressed his ideas in three-dimensional crochets that focus on

visual enjoyment and the comfort of users.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 The 1920s witnessed the separation of urban planning trends from trends of interest in the
physical formation of urbanism, in what can be considered the beginning of the crystallization
of the field of urban design and its separation from the field of city planning.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 Since the 1920s, urban design has been concerned with covering these
topics:
• The three physical dimensions of the urban mass and its visual axes
(Design of Cities- Edmund Bacon)
• The fourth dimension (time) in the sequential vision (Cullen Gordon -Vision
Serial)
• The mental impressions of the urban for users (Image of The City- Kevin
Lynch)
• Urban patterns (Pattern Language- Christopher Alexander)
• Behavioral units (Behavior Units- John Lang, Kier Kaplan)

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 Since the 1920s, urban design has been concerned with covering these
topics:
• The three physical dimensions of the urban mass and its visual axes
(Design of Cities- Edmund Bacon)
• The fourth dimension (time) in the sequential vision (Cullen Gordon -Vision
Serial)
• The mental impressions of the urban for users (Image of The City- Kevin
Lynch)
• Urban patterns (Pattern Language- Christopher Alexander)
• Behavioral units (Behavior Units- John Lang, Kier Kaplan)

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 LECTURE 2

CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN DESIGN

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 General Classification Of Urban Elements
Types Of Urban Elements In Terms Of Location: The First Type Is The External
Urban Elements, The Second Type Is The Transitional Urban Elements, And
The Third Type Is The Internal Urban Elements (Dixon 1999).

The External Urban Elements

Types Of Urban Elements In Terms

The Transitional Urban Elements
Of Location

The Internal Urban Elements

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE EXTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS
These Spaces Are Designed For People And Vehicles To Move Around Cities. This Movement
Can Be Done By Machines, Partially By Machines, Or By Walking. We'll Talk More About These
Spaces When We Classify Urban Elements Based On How They Help With Movement

THE EXTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Pedestrian Movement Elements
- Automatic Movement Elements
- Special elements of semi-automatic
movement

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE TRANSITIONAL URBAN ELEMENTS
They Are Urban Elements That Exist Between The External Urban Elements And The Internal
Urban Elements And Play A Transitional Role. They Are Of Many Types, Including Distribution
Elements, Preparatory Elements, Intermediate Spaces, Gates Or Entrances, And Alleys.
THE TRANSITIONAL URBAN ELEMENTS
- Distribution elements
- Preliminary elements
- Intermediate elements
- Entrances
- Alleys

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE TRANSITIONAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Distribution elements
These elements are located between different types of
external spaces and are transmitted through them and may
be in a sequential and integrated network, all of which
work to perform the distribution service.

- Preliminary elements
These introductory elements are located in front of the
entrances to buildings of special importance as an
indication and preparation for this importance, and this
preparation is required to enter these buildings.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE TRANSITIONAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Intermediate elements
Inter-urban elements exist either in front of the building, on its
sides, or behind it, and maybe in front and behind it at the same
time, as in villas or palaces. They are used in private or public
buildings, and these elements may be internal urban elements.

- Entrances / Alleys
It is one of the elements of the urban fabric of the city. Its
most important feature is that it is characterized by a
length that is distinct from its width and perhaps height as
well. It is open on one side and the urban designer designs
it in various shapes and dimensions according to the need.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE INTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS
The internal urban elements are not internal in the literal sense, but rather a metaphorical
concept so that we can differentiate between the spatial designation of the internal, external
and transitional urban elements. They include internal gardens and courtyards, gardens and
intermediate elements, public gardens and parks.
THE INTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Interior gardens and courtyards

- Gardens and interstitial elements
- Public gardens and parks

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 THE INTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Interior gardens and courtyards

They are located around private buildings such as villas and
palaces. They may be in the front or back of them or in the
internal courtyards in the form of "Patio" courtyards. They are
private and characterized by privacy. They serve the owners of
the villa or palace and are restricted to their use only, noting that
they have a general aesthetic function.

- Gardens and interstitial elements

They are urban elements or gardens located within the city within its urban
fabric and between groups of residential neighborhoods. They are relatively
limited in area when compared to public parks. They are also public property
for all residents overlooking them and for their service. These gardens may be
characterized by the presence of other activities within them, such as cultural
and recreational activities and children’s playgrounds. These gardens may
have a specialized public character, such as fish, plant, or natural history
gardens. Intermediate gardens may be in square locations and are called
square gardens.
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 THE INTERNAL URBAN ELEMENTS

- Public gardens and parks

It is located within the city, and its area varies according to its importance and purposes and
according to its standard criteria. The number of residents using it plays an important role in
determining the area, as Spreirgen (1965) recommends “one acre for every 1000 people within the
neighborhood and from 50 to 100 acres for every 140 thousand people at the city level.” This area
is planned in cities, neighborhoods, and neighborhoods, and the planner seeks to achieve it or be
close to it when he begins to re-plan an area or neighborhood that is of public use.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 General Classification Of Urban Elements
Types of urban elements in terms of function :
There are three main types of functions through which we can identify the urban
element, and where functions play an important role in defining urban elements, the
function has a meaning for humans and this meaning naturally provides an
interpretation and clarification that is absent in the absence of functional definition of
the urban element, as they may be urban elements with a special function, or urban
elements with a semi-general function, or urban elements with a general function
Francis & Marcus (1998).
Private

Types Of Urban Elements In Terms Of

Semi-Public
function

Public
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 TYPES OF URBAN ELEMENTS IN TERMS OF FUNCTION

Private Urban Element

The urban elements with special functions are closed spaces
and at the same time, they are primarily internal spaces. This
also does not prevent them from being external or dual
spaces. These elements include the space of a house or villa
and the space of a group of houses or villas.
Special urban elements are related to natural population
activities. The importance of these special urban spaces
appears in residential areas with high population density, as
these spaces perform aesthetic and visual functions that are
compatible and proportional to natural residential activities
such as enjoying the sun, sitting, relaxing, playing, reading,
children's play areas, and family activities.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 TYPES OF URBAN ELEMENTS IN TERMS OF FUNCTION

Semi-public urban elements

The urban element with a semi-public function is a space in
which the functions are multiple between the public function
and the private function, meaning that there is a mixture and
multiplicity of uses between the public and private uses and
functions, such as the urban elements found in the residential
neighborhood. These spaces may be open spaces or closed
spaces, as they may be external spaces or internal spaces or
may be dual at the same time. In general, the urban elements
with semi-public functions are spaces that enjoy duality in
everything, starting with duality in public functions and
private functions, passing through being open or closed and
ending with being external, internal or dual.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 TYPES OF URBAN ELEMENTS IN TERMS OF FUNCTION

Public urban elements

The public function is the function used by all residents, and
in light of this function, urban elements used for
transportation, traffic, and communication such as roads,
squares, and fields are considered urban elements with a
public function, and also commercial market squares and the
like are included in the urban elements with a public function.
From this, it is clear that both the function and the use have
basic determinants in whether the function is public or
otherwise. The urban element with a public function is mostly
open space. The public function has also determined the
properties of the urban element with a public function, as it is
an external space in the first place.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 General Classification Of Urban Elements
Types of urban elements in terms of the type of MOVEMENT:
Movement is the most important characteristic of humans and living beings in general,
and mechanisms, cars, etc. are a tool for movement and movement varies according to
its density, which differs from one area to another. The density of movement in the
middle of the city differs from that in an area outside it, and differs from it on the
outskirts of the city and suburbs.
There is no doubt that movement and its various elements have an impact on shaping
the city, especially transportation in it, which is considered the most important function
and therefore it also affects the formation of the city. If some people look at cars and
mechanisms as being responsible for the flow of urban movement, cars need clear and
good roads to move in a flowing movement, and the products and exhausts of cars
spoil the atmosphere of the city and pollute it, which requires planning and
architectural solutions for buildings to avoid the effects of this pollution (1979 Cluskey)
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 General Classification Of Urban Elements
Types of urban elements in terms of the type of MOVEMENT:
The city center or downtown area also attracts a large percentage of traffic, especially
traffic, compared to the rest of the city as a whole. For example, a city with a million
people attracts 30% of its traffic in its heart. This traffic is based on transporting
workers to their places of work and various activities, and this task is carried out by
public transportation, as the city center handles about 75% of public transportation
during peak hours. Different types of traffic mix in the city center, from local traffic to
non-stop traffic, i.e. fast traffic.
Traffic can be classified according to its direction. Most traffic trips start from home,
and half of this traffic is directed to work, and the other half is either for entertainment,
shopping and business transactions, schools, treatment, medical appointments, etc.,
and traffic from home to work occurs throughout the week, while traffic for other
purposes usually occurs during weekends.
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 General Classification Of Urban Elements
Types of urban elements in terms of the type of MOVEMENT:
Therefore, urban elements can be divided according to movement and communication
into three main types. The first type is urban elements specific to mechanical
movement, the second type is urban elements specific to semi-mechanical movement,
and the third type is urban elements specific to pedestrian movement. This division in
itself is a detailed division of urban elements with a general function or part of them,
and it is also a detailed division of external urban elements or part of them (Moughtin
1992).
mechanical movement

Types of urban elements in terms of

Semi-mechanical movement
the type of MOVEMENT:

pedestrian movement
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 URBAN ELEMENTS SPECIFIC TO MECHANICAL MOVEMENT
The urban elements specific to vehicle movement are considered one of the most
important features of the contemporary city, as they are characterized by allowing
relatively high movement, and they are an integrated network with each other to complete
the movement process, and they are of three types, the first type is roads and streets, the
second type is squares, and the third type is parking areas
THE MECHANICAL MOVEMENT
- ROADS AND STREETS
- SQUARES
- PARKING AREAS

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 ROADS AND STREETS
Roads and streets are graded in width and length
according to their importance, location, and role. Some are
outside the city limits, some are at the city level, some are
penetrating, some are circular and some are at the
neighborhood and residential neighborhood level. They are
of several types, including the main artery, the combined
streets, the side streets, the streets with closed ends, the
ring streets, the dual system streets, the compound
streets, the service streets, and the emergency streets
(Hutchinson 1974).

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 Dead End Sub-streets Collected Main Road
Roads Roads

Service and Compound Dual System

Emergency roads Roads Roads
Ring Roads

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 PEDESTRIAN URBAN ELEMENTS

- PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS
- PUBLIC GATHERING SPACES

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 LECTURE 3

KEVIN LYNCH'S MENTAL IMPRESSION

OF URBANISM

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM
The process of forming a mental impression is an organized
mental process that requires three basic characteristics:
1. Attention: The mind cannot include one of the components of
urbanism within the mental impression unless it is aware of the
existence of this urban element and feels its importance. Also, the
difference in degrees of attention between different age groups or
social groups fundamentally affects the impression formed.
2. Simplicity: The simpler and easier the elements of urbanism are to
comprehend in the mind, the greater their chance of representing
part of the viewer's mental impression. The simpler the information,
the faster we reach it.
3. Structure: The element nominated to enter the mental impression
must have a clear and strong spatial relationship with the rest of
the urban elements and the possibility of forming good spatial
relationships between them

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

‫تصور‬ ‫ادراك‬

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

Lynch defined a simplified language to express the components of the

city using the basic drawing language to produce a two-dimensional
drawing that expresses mental impressions- Point- Line- Space
• Applying this language at the city level as a whole made it lose the
third dimension (height) and the fourth dimension (time) and the
sense of details and small components at the street level Sense
Urban
• From here we see that Kevin Lynch was interested in expressing
the mental impressions of the city in a general way with few details,
focusing on expressing its visual material components in a two-
dimensional image

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM
KEVIN LYNCH'S MIND MAP ELEMENTS

Kevin Lynch's mind map consists of five basic elements:

1. Land Marks
2. Nodes
3. Paths
4. Edges
5. Districts

Lynch expressed these physical elements in graphic

language as follows:
Marks and nodes -------- Point
Path and Edges ------- Line
Districts ------- Area

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

Landmarks
Landmarks are physical elements that identify a specific location and the direction in which that location can be
reached. They are physical elements that have visual characteristics that define their point of presence and can be
distinguished from a distance as a reference to the place.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

Nodes
Nodes: Strategic points in the city that the user sees as essential in understanding the urban structure. They are gathering
points, traffic intersections, or concentrations of movement or activities that the user can “enter”. They are a point element in
the mental impression formed about the urban structure.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

Paths:
These are paths of movement that the viewer sees as important and can match what the urban planner sees as important
paths in the city or just a road that the viewer finds visually distinctive or meaningful or gives a sense of comfort or ease of
movement. It is a ribbon element in the mental impression of the urban area.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

Edges:
The lines that users see as separating the continuity of impression from one point to another or preventing movement and
transition within the urban area. They can be very separate, such as a waterway or a railway line, or only psychological, such
as the difference in social or economic level between two residential neighborhoods.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 MENTAL IMPRESSION OF URBANISM

An urban area (district)

is a visually homogeneous urban area that has positive or negative characteristics that make it clear in the minds of users,
whether through architectural characteristics, social meaning, cultural value, or urban coordination elements.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE
REGULARITIES

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES
Studies have shown that there is a system of values Scale
Value is linked to the five senses, it is similar within every human group
starting from receiving information Perception, and forming a mental
impression.
This system can generate similar meanings in viewers just by seeing.
We can claim that there is a system of values that unites all people who
agree on preferring height over depth, or right over left.
Height is linked to positive values, loftiness of status, and everything is
beautiful.
Depression is linked to negative values and “degradation” of status The Scale
Value system affects the reception of external influences and gives them a
temporary meaning even before understanding them.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES
By analogy, if we want to place an important element in a building, we place
it on the first floor... not in the basement...
But if we want to give majesty to this element, we place it in a higher place
and separate it from what is around it, unlike the unimportant element,
which we place at a level below the ground or in the back of the ground
floor.
Therefore, the designer influences the impressions formed about the
importance of the elements in the building or the importance of the building
in the urban area even before we know its function or true value, through its
location, the formation of its components, and its relationship with what is
around it.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES

There is a natural tendency within our minds to simplify the

things and shapes we see...and bring them closer to elements
we already know.

The set of elements stored in the mind helps in abstracting the

forms and bringing them closer to the closest image known to
the mind, and thus we perceive things at first glance without
details.
Dr. Ahmed Salah
 IMAGE REGULARITIES

The Plan Visual can be defined as:

An attempt to find awareness organizations at the urban plan level.... It is a two-
dimensional plan...
It is the first level to deal with urbanism at the Macro level and is concerned
with ensuring that city users see its areas clearly and correctly.

There are four important factors to strengthen Exposure

people's mental image. Form
Meaning
Structure

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Exposure

The more exposed and clear the element is to the viewers, in

their mental map, the clearer it is.
Affects exposure
• Vision focalization
• Ability to see details
• Repeated vision from different places and angles
• Existence on more than one axis of movement
• Its association with a strong meaning.
• The location of the urban element, as it is considered the most
important determinant of obtaining good exposure

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Exposure

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Physical Form

The simple shape of the element is significant in creating a mental

image for users. The shape must be strong...clear...simple.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Physical Form

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Meaning

The more the viewed element has an understandable meaning,

the more it sticks in the mind and the viewer can clearly place it
on the mental map.

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Structure
It means that there is a mental connection between
the location of each element (mental impression) so
that the rest of the elements can be reached from it.
• The important question is “Can we identify through
the impression the way to reach from this element to
the rest of the components of the mental
impression???

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Structure
• Since the human mind naturally tends to simplify
perceptions, the most successful elements in terms of
composition are the easiest to connect so that
mentally:
To be on the same axis
Or to be on a vertical axis
Or spatially opposite

Dr. Ahmed Salah

 IMAGE REGULARITIES Structure

Dr. Ahmed Salah