Unlocking the Potentials of Urban Architecture in Enhancing the Quality of Urban Life in Urban Poverty Areas through Community Projects

Abstract

Currently more than half of world population are living in cities, while world is witnessing a rapid urbanization process particularly in cities of the developing and emerging countries, where urban poverty areas (UPA) with low quality of urban life (QUL) and lack of the usual urban spaces are the most significant urban phenomena that characterized those cities. In such an urban context there is a need for an efficient tool that contributes positively to the enhancement of the QUL, meanwhile to provide the best use of the rare vacant lands.This study argues that urban architecture as a design field offers a distinctive approach to a special type of buildings made for an urban setting, thus it can enhance the QUL in UPA through community projects.The study is based on an analytical study of selected cases of community projects in UPA that represents examples of how urban architecture through its potentials has a positive impact on its urban context, notably through community projects that strongly linked to real community needs. The results showed that urban architecture as a design approach for community projects have multiple roles that boost thedaily life, as well it supports various environmental issues towards better QUL.