The Community Participation in the Design Process of Livable Streets

Abstract

Urban streets in some countries of global south have been struggling for decades and have several problems. Much money is spent on roads construction and maintenance yearly with no significant interest to create places for public life that is different from a city/place to another. This paper addresses the pressing need to review the principles raised by the Western literature of streets design to help to reach livability in Cairo, Egypt through the community participation rather than building a road for movement and daily commutes. The community participation provides action plans that suit the local context. The current work extends to analysis cases from different cities. The research aims to provide a design toolkit for streets to have public places attached. These places can foster the social interaction, active living and community identity. The present paper offers a descriptive and analytical contribution. Inviting the community in the open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview provides a level of details in public realm that highlights the need not only to put the road environment on the level of strategic thinking and policy development as an essential element in towns and cities but also community participation at the design level. The concluded remarks provide room for creating streets in Cairo as more than inter-joined connections that serve car mobility and access. The contribution can make better streets as public spaces to live rather than to commute from point to another.