Neighborhood Notions
Urban Settlement Study of Two Distinctive Districts, Tantibazar and Shakharibazar, in Old Dhaka: Vernacular Pattern
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ahmed Sayed
The craft districts are products of many generations, created and carried through shared experiences of practicing communities. It is a symbolization of their values, ensuring continuity of their traditional way of life and socio-cultural practices rooted in this place from the remote past. The two selected districts are indigenous and informal developments in the history of the Dhaka region. Being an organic city's part with anthropological cognition, here lays two exceptionally "beautiful" linear orders over the old city fabric with long established cultural traditions and historical layering of socialization based upon craft. It's better to introduce human activity at the center and the inhabitants' sense of place, territorial definition in their "parallel city" mind would be prioritized by signs. Foremost discussion concentrates and investigates the dynamics of two distinct craft based districts' cultural collective growth. The spatial structure of vernacular settlement coincides with the functional and cultural performances and corresponds to the underlying force behind the city's spontaneous organic formation. As distinctive communities, the sites indicate together more humane involvement within their art-religion interplay over a lost landscape context. Physicality could be mislaid but also identity cannot be created overnight. Collective identity becomes eternal through practices but only traceable through semiotic signs in a society.
Building Healthy Corridors: A Case Study on the Streets of Karachi, Pakistan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sumaila Palla, Hafsa Asad, Hammad Jamil
Hurricane Sandy devastated key areas of New York City in 2013. Over 23,000 businesses were impacted by the storm, totaling approximately 8.6 billion in damages. With so many restrictions and technicalities on government funding, the Hurricane Sandy Storefront Program provided 1.1 million dollars for storefront redevelopment. The program had a one-year timeline, with quick construction turnaround and simple and clean storefront design. The program provided quality and economical designs for storefronts, one-on-one assistance to low income and minorities, and an overall participatory approach to trigger corridor revitalization and development. With recognizable impact and benefits, it is interesting to research and study if a similar approach could trigger the same effect in a developing city like Karachi. Karachi comprises of several small businesses, which are at risk due to gentrification and the growing trend of department and chain stores. The case study will hone in on two streets, employing a participatory planning approach. Through community integration, small business engagement and local artists, and sensitive design, I identify issues particular to our context, proposing simple, creative, and economical solutions. This study proves how streets in developing countries can act as an instrument of urban transformation.
Influential Urban Pockets in Times of Social Injustice: The Case of Townhouse Complex in Downtown Cairo
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bedour Braker
In times of oppression, people seek an outlet to practise their right to the city. They strive for spaces where they can freely gather and discuss issues related to substantial ideas. For a long time, Egypt was missing similar spaces where people could pursue their freedom of expression. A Canadian expat found it an opportunity to establish Townhouse-complex, a bohemian thoroughfare frequented by activists and young artists in Downtown Cairo. This vigorous atmosphere helped this urban-pocket to serve as a refuge for protestors during the upheaval in 2011 until it was banned in 2016. The unique nature of this complex influenced the research to undertake intensive key-interviews and field observations reinforced by theoretical reviews. The goal was to unravel the measures that would transform a space to perform as a sociopolitical catalyst. Along the process of research, three parameters were proposed to examine the quality of such spaces; the rational parameter motive, the physical parameter geography and the sensory parameter senses. This paper questions at the end, in a mega-city like Cairo, to what extent a public space that is geographically accessible with the right motives and fulfillment of senses, can simultaneously adhere forced political censorship while practising the right to reclaim the city.
Just Around the Corner : Mobility Surrounding Convenience Stores in American Ghettos
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cosima Werner
Convenience stores in gas station and liquor stores are currently the form of food providers with the highest growth rates in the US. Within urban geography, liquor stores are discussed in connection with health diseases, urban decay, and crime. In urban areas where the density of liquor stores is exceptionally high, diseases such as diabetes, alcohol abuse, and obesity are particularly common. In addition, these mostly urban areas provide homes for ethnic groups (especially African American) with very low incomes. In American inner-city-neighborhoods, not only are the socio-economic characteristics mainly negative, but also the access to food is very limited in comparison to predominate white neighborhoods. While the number of supermarkets has decreased for decades in the US, the number of convenience stores within such neighborhoods increased up to 18,000 stores. This study presents insights from an on-going dissertation project that asks for the social meaning of convenience stores in American ghettos in Chicago and Detroit. In the foreground are spatial constructions by customers, neighbors, and employees – people from these neighborhoods, for whom liquor stores have an everyday importance. In the paper, I explore mobility in relation to a convenience store of study in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. The focus is set in the urban environment of the convenience store and inquires about the food environment around the store of study. Furthermore, issues concerning which aspects influence accessibility to the store itself, and, therefore, affect the assessment of convenience stores for the surrounding population are reviewed.
