Gamal & Noha

Review Article The edge environment in Cairo: An approach to reading the social pattern language of the Middle Eastern built environment Gamal T. Mohammed a , Noha Mahmoud b,⇑ a The University of Sheffield, Landscape Department, Sheffield, UK b Effat University, Achitecture Department, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Received 25 January 2013; accepted 13 April 2013 Abstract This paper introduces a new concept that might help in reading both social life and urban process, showing how they are interlocked in a way that clarifies ideologies and their implications for the physical form of the city. This reading is capable of envisioning and ana- lysing the relationship between the cohesive social pattern language of traditional built environment and its physical expression, relying on a new reflective and exploratory concept, the edge environment . This illuminates the relationship between the values hidden beneath the physical edges of spatial morphology in Middle Eastern urban contexts like Cairo, and allows those values to be understood in terms of modern ideologies relating to the human community. The concept of edge environment might help in the design education particularly in conservation and up-grading processes, as an analytical tool and as a design method by careful interventions at edges by fine tuning of the edge environment. 2013 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Social pattern language; Social sustaina bility; Urban spatial morphology ; Public participa tion; Edge environ ments Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 2. The cohesive soci al pa tt er n lan guage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 2.1. Two comp onen ts of human agenc y that maint ain the lin guist ic metap hor of the socia l patter n as an urban la nguage 229 2. 1.1. Th e conventions , unwritten laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 2. 1.2. Shar ed r es ponsibil it y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 2212-6090/$ - see front matter 2013 The Gulf Organis ation for Research and Development. Product ion and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2013.04.001 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Mahmoud). Peer review under responsibility of The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2012) 1, 227–246 Gulf Organisation for Research and Development International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment SciVerse ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com

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Gamal & Noha