The effect of centrality values in urban gentrification development: A case study of erbil city

Abstract

Despite Erbil's citadel significant role in the urban space configuration, it suffers from many functional and accessibility problems, there is rapture in the connectivity, accessibility and visual consistency between the city precinct and the development in the peripheral area, the connectivity of the city could be increased through enhancing centrality of the urban fabric through touristic gentrification. The paper aims to find a way to increase the connectivity between the citadel and its precinct through the touristic gentrification approach. The research adopted the Urban Network Analysis (UNA) technique as a primary methodology for the analysis with its centrality principles. The methodology worked on the urban gentrification process as a way to fill the weak link to increase urban connectivity. The paper found that some areas with high connectivity values in terms of place centrality do not have an equal transformation in terms of land use and importance which accordingly, proposed to be gentrified locations.