Ebook Urban Acupuncture in Large Cities Filtering Framework To Select Sensitive Urban Spots in Riyadh For Effective Urban Renewal 1St Edition DR Usama A Nassar Online PDF All Chapter
Ebook Urban Acupuncture in Large Cities Filtering Framework To Select Sensitive Urban Spots in Riyadh For Effective Urban Renewal 1St Edition DR Usama A Nassar Online PDF All Chapter
Ebook Urban Acupuncture in Large Cities Filtering Framework To Select Sensitive Urban Spots in Riyadh For Effective Urban Renewal 1St Edition DR Usama A Nassar Online PDF All Chapter
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Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs
2021, Volume 5, Number 1, pages 1– 18
Original scientific paper
Urban Acupuncture in Large Cities: Filtering
Framework to Select Sensitive Urban Spots in
Riyadh for Effective Urban Renewal
* Dr. Usama A. Nassar
Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
College of Engineering, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
Email: usama.a.nassar@gmail.com
Development Mostly to demolish and Achieve goal in stages The accumulative effect,
Method reconstruct all at one time progressively step by step
3.2 How to achieve a successful UA Strategy frequently linked with other spots is the most
To choose the best successful strategy in UA, suitable spot for the needle of UA. With this
two important criteria must be achieved. The ability, like stem cells in a human body, UA
first one is the quality and effectiveness of the would improve the whole structure of the city
urban catalyst and mixed-use areas; the (Apostolou, 2015).
second is to choose the best sensitive spot. UA theory has a more effective impact when
3.2.1 Urban catalyst effectiveness and mixed- applied to human-centred open spaces,
use where the spaces are more walkable, safe,
The most effective catalyst for UA must be accessible, and sociable. Thus, it is better to
related to ecological, economic, and social choose this approach for small, leftover,
factors (Jackson, 2018). From an architectural neglected spaces in the urban fabric, not for
point of view, any successful building must well-designed, large open spaces or parks. As
stimulate economic and social activities and shown in Table 2, the concept of human-
be within walking distance of other activities oriented spaces can be categorised as follows:
(Rosa-Jiménez et al., 2017). Hence, it is more • Spatial aspects that relate to spatial
effective to select areas with more mixed uses forms of space.
and different types of recreational facilities. • Socio-spatial aspects, which involve
3.2.2 Selection of the best sensitive spot the relation between users and open
Like the human body, each place in a city has space.
certain linkages to other places. Space most
Table 2. Different aspects of human-centred public open spaces.
Aspects Explanation
Enhances pedestrian-friendly activity and ease of
Walkable navigation for people walking through (Ewing and Handy,
2009).
Offers protection from traffic movement and crime,
Safe
increasing the feeling of safety (Gehl and Lars, 2008).
Spatial
Easy to access and move around during all the times of the
aspects Accessible
day (Varna, 2014; Mehta, 2014).
Offers different kinds of activities to practice, either when
Comfortable
standing or sitting (Casagrande, 2020).
Has special elements of aesthetic value in a human-scale
Delightful
environment (Kamel et al., 2017).
3.3 Urban Acupuncture Strategies (UA-S) open space; it is a step to redefine the space
From the literature review on UA, the research as a living hybrid.
will draw a conclusion in reference to the UA-S07 Confirm the sentimental value of
strategies that have been used mostly to vegetation
develop small urban spaces (Messeter, 2015; Improve the relationship between the local
Apostolou, 2015; Houghton et al., 2015; Lastra citizen and the natural environment; promote
& Pojani, 2018; Casagrande, 2020). The diversity in vegetation according to each site’s
different UA strategies can be listed as follows: identity.
UA-S01 Use existing resources UA-S08 Connectivity and graduate design
It is important to recognise each Each intervention in this strategy should
neighbourhood’s resources and use them in connect with the open space and work
the best way by utilising direct local citizen gradually from the highest interest to the edge.
participation to achieve this. UA-S09 Adaptive and open design
UA-S02 Redefinition of aesthetic urban The design should be flexible and aim to
elements promote an adaptive and open style; the level
Urban features show the identity of the street, of interaction with local citizens will certainly be
and open-space furniture should connect with affected gradually.
the personality of each space individually in an UA-S10 Shared management and responsibility
aesthetic way. Empower local users and the neighbourhood
UA-S03 Achieve diversity and inclusivity to the extent that management systems of
Promote the presence of diversity and establish public space must ensure their inputs over time.
the connection between residents yet allow 3.4 Urban Acupuncture Principles (UA-P)
each one to express his taste. Most studies on UA indicate that no model or
UA-S04 Increase visibility of public buildings rule has applied the approach to the existing
Stress visually on important public buildings’ open city spaces. Instead, what exists is a
entrances through different colours and unique group of principles set as a trial for possible use
vegetation (Rosa-Jiménez et al., 2017). in future studies. Based on the literature review,
UA-S05 Open space redefinition this research will, therefore, conclude with a set
Understand the vital role that open space plays of important principles that can be used to
and increase its potential to form positive achieve the development of open city spaces
events in daily lives. through small-scale urban interventions. Figure
UA-S06 Reuse and recycling of resources 2 shows the principles of UA.
The word “recycling” has become especially
important in every contemporary design of
3.4.1 Sensitive spot selection (UP-P01) development project would take three years
Like in Chinese acupuncture therapy, locating to achieve, and to make it happen we would
the sensitive points in the human body is the first need to have a certain scenario with a design
and most important step for treatment. This proposal and ideas (Lerner, 2016).
principle was first stated by De Solà-Morales in 3.4.5 Educate people (UP-P05)
his book, A matter of things (De Solà-Morales, Like in placemaking, it is essential in the UA
2008). On the other hand, Lerner defines the approach to understanding how the built
sensitive point in the urban tissue as the place environment has been received by its society.
that lacks energy flow in a sick city (Lerner, The people's knowledge and understanding of
2016). urban intervention accelerate the possibility of
3.4.2 Small scale (UP-P02) success (Nurdiansyah, 2018).
Every UA intervention must be applied to small- 3.4.6 Citizen participation (UP-P06)
scale spaces, as this approach aims for a big The decision-makers are not the only sources of
impact with small pilot projects. De Solà- design proposal—the people themselves take
Morales mentioned that the scale is relative, the lead in the UA approach. Citizen
and it does not only mean scale in size; it can participation will lead the planner to a whole
also be applied to financial input or investment new vision of development, as the planner
(De Solà-Morales, 2008). does not have the right answers for every
3.4.3 Quick action plan (UP-P03) problem (Stupar & Savcic, 2009).
While normal planning might take a while to 3.5 Principles (UA-P) vs Strategies (UA-S)
design and implement, UA needs a quick Though the UA principles mentioned above
action plan; Lerner refers to this as having a are a must for every project, each principle
spark in our spaces and confirms that we don't can be achieved through many strategies.
have unlimited time to keep on planning and Hence, principles are mandatory to be
implementing (Lerner, 2016). accomplished, while strategies are different
3.4.4 Having a scenario (UP-P04) according to each location’s potential. Figure
Lerner was the first to claim the necessity of 3 describes how each principle can be
having a scenario in any urban acupuncture accomplished through two or more strategies.
development. He stated that every city
4.1 Upgrading of a slum area in Kampung, in dire need of affordable housing (Harjoko,
Indonesia 2009b). The government had, therefore, to
Jakarta has had massive expansion that has respond to this demand by offering affordable
led to urban slum problems, especially in urban housing and urban spaces (Harjoko, 2009a).
Kampung (Nurdiansyah, 2018). Kampung is Table 4 shows the project information and
largely inhabited by poor people who are location.
mainly migrants, lacking work skills and who are
Table 4. Kampung Neighbourhood Upgrading project.
Project Information
Type of
Affordable housing project
project
Project
Buildings and Space
scale
4.2 Pedestrian Passage in Downtown Cairo, cultural events by day and social gatherings by
Egypt night (Nassar, 2014a). Later, after the 2011
Downtown Cairo has been the city’s centre of revolution, it was notable, not only in
attention since 1992. There had been many Downtown Cairo, but across all the city that
trials for preserving its historic buildings and people had started to gather and socialise in
developing the open space network (Nassar, many physical forms in the streets and spaces,
2015b; Kamel et al., 2017). Most of the previous engaging in many types of activities, like street
efforts, both academic and governmental, performance, festivals, art fairs, and graffiti
were related to documenting historical (Tang et al., 2015). The selected Passage in
heritage (Elsorady, 2018). Recently, the private Downtown Cairo is one of the important
company, Al Ismailia for Real Estate destinations for small-scale gatherings
Investment, attempted to develop the area by because of its central location and variety of
preserving its heritage buildings and creating adjacent services. In this context, the Kodak
dynamic urban fabric through small Pedestrian passage between buildings was
interventions in certain spots (Tang et al., 2015). carried out by CLUSTER as a pilot project to
According to Nassar, most people were using engage the local community after it had been
spaces in Downtown Cairo for social and isolated for many years (CLUSTER, 2015).
Table 5. Pedestrian streetscape passage in Downtown Cairo.
Project Information
Type of
Streetscape development
project
Project
Street
Scale
Project Description
The development project of the downtown
passage mission aimed to achieve four main
aspects:
• Establish a suitable platform for culture,
integrating outdoor art and green areas.
• Create a network hub that would attract
different stakeholders to participate with the
local community.
• Make open space more accessible and create
a more suitable environment for diverse
activities.
• Use a variety of approaches to power the
informal practices to create a more intimate
space with the participation and management Street Design (Tang et al., 2015)
of inhabitants.
Upgrading of a slum
Cairo,
area in Kampung,
Pedestrian Passage in
Downtown
Indonesia
Egypt
Indonesia Egypt
√
Urban Acupuncture Strategies
5.1 Historical background and land use two significant urban patterns developed in
transformation the city, which can be explained as follows:
The city of Riyadh is a centre of vibrant urban • The old walled city, which is a
activity in the KSA, working as a link between traditional old community with narrow
the eastern and western metropolitan areas to streets and high dependency on
form a crossing axis in the country (Al-Hemaidi, pedestrian movement (Almahmood et
2001). During the oil boom stage of al., 2018).
development, the city was expanding at 8% • The grid street pattern, which has a new
per annum. The population surpassed one land use transformation of both housing
million by the 1980s, and the city covered types (Separated Villas) and larger
almost 1600 km2 in 1986 (Mubarak, 2004). road width and open space network
Today, the population has reached 6 million accessed only by cars (Menoret, 2014).
(Almahmood et al., 2018). Table 7 illustrates the
The urban pattern of the traditional walled town of Riyadh (Mubarak, 2004).
New street pattern
Pattern Type
5.3 Future Plans for Transportation the concept of UA can be applied in the urban
As mentioned before, the city has developed fabric is identified. This process will be staged in
rapidly and has highly become car-oriented three steps as follows:
(Al-Hathloul, 2017). It, however, lacks the public • The first step—Selecting the best
transportation system needed to connect its development centre
areas, which certainly affects pedestrian • Second step—Urban catalyst and
connectivity and consequently creates mixed-use areas
isolated spaces or green areas, either big or • The third step—Selecting the sensitive
small (Aldalbahi & Walker, 2016). Riyadh spot
Development Authority developed a strategic 5.4.1 First step—Selecting the best
development plan, Medstar (ADA, 2015), development centre
which identified some transport strategies in The Riyadh Public Transport Network (RPTN)
the city to include the following (Alotaibi & consists of the metro lines network and the bus
Potoglou, 2018): lines, which are meant to connect all the urban
• Developing an effective public areas. These lines are already under
transport network in the city. implementation and were expected to be
• Coordinating between high-density delivered in late 2019 (Al-Hathloul, 2017). This
residential areas and major public network adapted the concept of Transit-
transport spines. Oriented Development in the city, and for the
• Developing the management research limitation, the historic centre will be
measures of roads, including road selected to choose from it a suitable open and
charging and congestion pricing. green space where the concept of UA can be
Figure 6 shows the designed metro lines in the applied. Figure 7 shows the planned five transit-
city that connects all the urban areas. oriented development centres in Riyadh and
the selected centre in the middle.
Figure 6. The planned public transport system in Riyadh - 5.4.2 Second step—Urban Catalyst and mixed-
Metro Line (ADA, 2015).
use areas
In this stage, the research navigates the land
5.4 Steps to select the right open space in
use in the selected historical centre, where four
Riyadh
districts were selected randomly from highly
To this point in the current research, an
mixed-use areas and evaluated to choose the
overview of the Riyadh city master plan is
most suitable one to study on an urban level.
undertaken. This progressively narrows to a
The best location to apply the UA approach will
smaller focus until the best sensitive spot where
thereafter be picked. While Figure 8 illustrates
the detailed land use of these districts with their evaluates the four districts from the
population densities and development rates development centre to provide the basis for
(ADA, 2017), Table 8, on the other hand, picking the best site.
Figure 8. Detailed land use of some areas in the historical centre (ADA, 2017)
Table 8. Evaluating the four districts to select the best one Selected Zones.
√ High
Moderate
Low
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4
Higher population density √
Lowest development rate √
Lowest open green spaces √
Evaluation Criteria
As shown in the table above, the district that according to the aspects presented in Table 2
needs much development appears to be highlighting the filters that should be used to
District 3, according to the criteria points which choose the best human-centered open space.
were derived from the literature review. Figure 9 consequently shows the urban
development pattern for District 3 which
5.4.3 Third step—Selecting the sensitive spot highlights the most sensitive spots that may be
This stage focus on the selected district from chosen to apply the concept of UA.
where the appropriate space to develop will
be chosen. The process will be performed
Figure 9. The urban street pattern for District 3 with the potential suitable sensitive spots to apply the UA concept.
Figure 10. Sensitive spot selection and filtering framework for applying the UA approach.
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Jean.
IV. Au même
Août 1903.
Jean.
De Z… le 15 avril 1901.
Et voilà aussi mon paquet ! Cette fois, il est manifeste qu’on n’en
veut pas seulement à la Congrégation, mais au Catholicisme. Tout
cela est brutal comme le coup de pied de l’âne. Ces gens-là ont
l’intempérance d’un pouvoir qu’ils sentent mal acquis et fragile : ils
veulent faire vite et détruire le plus possible, avant de disparaître.
Mais le vieux lion catholique n’en mourra pas : il en a vu d’autres !
En attendant, la situation des pères de famille chrétiens devient
de plus en plus critique. Avec la Chambre d’un côté, le Sénat de
l’autre, nous sommes pris entre deux feux. Encore quelques mois et,
si le salut ne nous tombe pas du ciel, nous devrons être solidement
organisés pour sauvegarder, à la rentrée d’octobre, l’âme de nos
enfants et le peu de liberté qui nous reste. Il n’est pas trop tôt pour y
songer dès maintenant.
C’est ce que j’ai exposé au Comité de défense religieuse que je
préside. On a été de mon avis et l’on est décidé à faire l’impossible
pour amortir le coup, que nous ne pouvons plus détourner. En
pratique, cela revient à maintenir, aussi longtemps que la loi le
permettra, nos collèges chrétiens : un vœu dans ce sens a été
adopté à l’unanimité. Une commission d’études doit présenter, à bref
délai, un plan détaillé des voies et moyens : Louis en est le
président, moi le rapporteur. Vous ne me refuserez pas d’en être le
conseil ? Les combattants de la plaine lèvent tout naturellement les
yeux vers la montagne sainte, d’où ils savent que Moïse fera
descendre sur eux la lumière et le courage. Je compte sur vous.
Mais j’ai au cœur un autre souci que je veux épancher dans le
vôtre. Personnellement, je suis résolu à lutter de toute mon énergie,
tant que la liberté gardera un pouce de terrain. J’ose espérer qu’elle
aura d’autres défenseurs : mais
Hélas ! je n’ai pas voulu dire à mon Comité tout ce que je pense,
par crainte de le décourager avant qu’il ait rien fait. Dans mon for
intérieur, je ne crois pas beaucoup à la viabilité de l’enseignement
chrétien, mutilé et muselé comme il l’est par la nouvelle loi. Nos
dogues ont léché du sang : il leur faudra toute la bête. Quand il ne
nous restera que le monopole et le lycée, comment faire ?
Envoyer nos enfants à l’étranger ? Moi, je le ferai ; d’autres, qui
en ont les moyens, le feront. Mais ce ne sera jamais qu’un petit
nombre. Beaucoup, hélas ! (il y en a déjà des exemples) vous
lâcheront, par indifférence religieuse, par peur ou par calcul, surtout
si, comme il faut le prévoir, on vote des lois contre les collèges
d’exilés volontaires. Alors, quel remède ?
Mon frère, j’attends aussi sur ce second point, pour moi et pour
les pères de famille catholiques, les bons avis de votre zèle et de
votre expérience.
Paul.
J’ai raisonné, jusqu’ici, dans l’hypothèse que la loi (je voulais dire
la persécution : mais c’est tout un) respecterait le droit du clergé
séculier à l’enseignement. Hélas ! il serait téméraire de l’espérer
pour toujours ou même pour longtemps.
Après avoir déclaré que la suppression de l’enseignement
congréganiste ne s’étend pas au clergé séculier, le rapport Buisson
ajoute ceci : « Et pourtant, ont dit plusieurs membres de la
commission, les raisons qui valent contre le religieux valent contre le
prêtre… M. Devèze avait même déposé en ce sens un
amendement, qu’il a retiré pour se conformer à la méthode de
division du travail, proposée par le gouvernement et adoptée par la
commission. Il a d’ailleurs été entendu que l’abandon de la
disposition relative au clergé séculier n’impliquait nullement, de la
part de la commission, un vote de rejet. » On nous donne donc avis
que l’exclusion du clergé séculier est simplement partie remise et
qu’en temps opportun on reprendra contre lui le travail. Quel joli
mot ! Je vois d’ici le boucher qui, fortifié par un bon déjeuner,
retrousse sa chemise sur ses bras nus, encore tachés de la besogne
du matin, et s’apprête avec satisfaction à abattre ce qui est resté
vivant !
Ce sera la deuxième étape. Il faut la prévoir, sans inquiétudes
exagérées, et déterminer à l’avance les principes qui devront
présider à la nouvelle organisation.
Le premier sera le maintien de nos collèges avec un personnel
laïque. Beaucoup d’entre eux comptent déjà bon nombre de
professeurs laïques intelligents et dévoués : élèves et parents les
acceptent et les respectent. Il serait sage de penser, dès maintenant,
à s’en assurer d’autres semblables, pour ne pas être pris au
dépourvu par un de ces coups de Jarnac dont nos gouvernants ont
la spécialité. Je n’hésite pas à te recommander dans ce but, à toi et
à tes amis, le Syndicat des membres de l’enseignement libre [11] ,
fondé à Paris, sous la présidence de M. de Lapparent, pour servir
d’intermédiaire entre les établissements catholiques et les
professeurs disponibles.
[11] Siège social : 18, rue du Regard, Paris (6e).