Good urban design can bring a sense of belonging and togetherness, writes Mahmoud Yousry* Our urban environment has been degrading rapidly. The signs of this degradation are evident in visual and environmental pollution, ugliness, congestion, and lowered quality of life. Human behaviour in our cities has become characterised by carelessness, aggression and anonymity: a lost feeling of belonging to or appreciation of the urban environment. If the quality of the urban environment is a measure of human development, we are in urgent need of an upgrade -- man and place alike. The visual form of the city Urban experts have been concerned with various aspects of the city. Planners are concerned with land use and development, engineers with traffic and utility systems, architects with buildings, social scientists with people and communities, and historians with the history of urban formations. It is high time to examine the visual aspects of the city: how it looks and how its residents, visitors and observers appreciate it. It is also important to familiarise the layman with the meaning and components of urban visual forms -- components he sees daily but perhaps does not feel or appreciate. From a visual point of view, the city is composed of several districts, some of which have a vivid character that is differentiated from neighbouring areas. Examples of such districts in Cairo include the historic area of Fatimid Cairo, the downtown area, Zamalek, Maadi, or even lower-end districts like Meit Okba. Another important feature is what can be labelled as landmarks. These are point elements (buildings or structures) that give us the sense of place and orientation, such as the pyramids, the Cairo Tower, the Citadel, the Egyptian Museum, religious buildings, and the like. A third element of the visual form is paths. These are major streets and pathways from which we experience the city. They are the main sources of information and, therefore, are the skeleton on which we build our image of the city. Related to paths are nodes : points of conversion where people or traffic are concentrated. These are the city squares, plazas, or even smaller meeting places. Other components include edges and gateways. Edges are visual boundaries that hinder development (like a river or seashore) or cut across the city (like a railroad or an elevated highway). Gateways are entrances or places where one feels he has reached the city. These are the elements that the urban designer can manipulate, design, or control to achieve urban harmony, seeking clarity, beauty, visuality, flexibility and sensual satisfaction from the urban environment. The National Organisation of Urban Harmony The National Organisation of Urban Harmony (NOUH), established in 2001 by presidential decree, and that has a special section in the new Building and Planning Law that is presently being discussed in the People's Assembly, is concerned with both the urban and rural domains, and its responsibilities include the following: * Formulating a statement of objectives and policies of urban harmony, and translating these objectives and policies into plans and programmes for development and the upgrading of urban areas and spaces * Establishing principles, standards and urban design manuals for various components of the city to help guide and control private and public urban development * Undertaking research and conducting studies in relevant fields * Carrying out pilot projects to demonstrate and apply urban harmony principles and standards The concerns of NOUH, however, surpass those established by legislation. Our ambition covers not only upgrading the urban environment, but also human development and upgrading human behaviour through mass media, education, refining public taste, and similar measures. Urban design manuals One of the important action areas of NOUH was to formulate the principles and standards of urban design, and issue them in the form of manuals to guide and control urban development. Once issued and circulated to concerned organisations and local government bodies, they are considered as binding regulations. About two years ago, the Supreme Scientific Committee for Preparing Urban Design Manuals was formed within the NOUH. The committee includes around 17 urban design experts and university professors. Each member of the committee leads a team of researchers to carry out studies in a given field. Serious deliberations and painstaking efforts that involved about 70 experts and professionals working for about two years have led to the production and issuing of 13 urban design manuals covering various aspects of the urban environment, namely: * Urban streets and pedestrian pathways * Heritage districts * The city centre * City entrances * Coastal zones * Open and green spaces * Informal areas * Environmental protection * Protection areas * Rural areas * Signs and billboards * City lighting * Quality engineering and control The principles and standards proposed in these manuals were not only derived from international standards, but were also guided by local characteristics and constraints. The manuals were designed for immediate application, allowing for continuous revisions and improvements over time. In addition to the manuals, there have been other accomplishments made by NOUH in its relatively short period of existence. Most important of these was the organisation's persistence to include and revise the "Urban Design" section in the new Planning and Building Law. Another concern has been confronting several urban development issues that have been considered harmful to the urban environment. Last, but not least, are NOUH's efforts to spread a "culture of urban harmony" through mass media channels, conferences and symposiums, in addition to offering technical advice to several governmental institutions. * The writer is former Dean of the Faculty of Urban Planning, Cairo University.
