Dina Shehayeb | Housing & Building National Research Center (original) (raw)

Papers by Dina Shehayeb

Egypte Monde Arabe, Sep 1, 2011

The concept and methodology of participatory development came to Egypt and other developing count... more The concept and methodology of participatory development came to Egypt and other developing countries primarily through the work of international organizations. Along with it came high expectations and big promises, framing participation as a new and direct means of solving complex, endemic problems such as poverty, inequity and slum housing. Initially, participatory processes were limited to specific donor-driven development projects, but recently, attempts at institutionalizing participation in Cairo have gained traction. Interest and practice are replacing rhetoric as ideas of participation begin to permeate through the culture and structure of urban governance, with direct involvement of NGOs and the private sector.

Considering the Cairene context and its urban extensions, this paper hypothesizes that planned ur... more Considering the Cairene context and its urban extensions, this paper hypothesizes that planned urban districts are becoming less suitable for children to walk to school. A questionnaire was sent to parents of children in grades 4, 5 and 6 of 3 schools; one in each of Dokki/Mohandeseen (n=406), Madinet Nasr (n=124) and 6th of October City (n=98) to explore the mode by which students travel to school and the different variables affecting the parental perception and decision. Results showed that active school travel is much less practiced in new cities than in the inner city districts with percentages 35.3% in Dokki, 40.9% in Madinet Nasr and 12.5% in October.

Acknowledgements: We extend our gratitude to all the contributors for their voluntary time and va... more Acknowledgements: We extend our gratitude to all the contributors for their voluntary time and valuable input in this project. In particular, we would like to thank the staff of GTZ-PDP Unit in Egypt who generously supplied us with data sources for the urban maps, former Greater Cairo Planning Director at the GOPP, and architects Hoda Edward and Mohamed Azzazy for providing background information on some of the case studies; and finally we would like to thank the young architect researchers at Shehayeb CONSULT for assisting in the research, photography and compilation of some of the material.

This research is part of a project that aims to complete a thoroughgoing study of a section of th... more This research is part of a project that aims to complete a thoroughgoing study of a section of the Cairene cemetery that produces a visual record of change and that functions as a scholarly model for studying areas of conflicting interests.

Specific to Cairo, of course, our research project has regional applications throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Made possible by a Getty Collaborative Research Grant and administered by the University of California, LA, this is a collaborative research project whereby scholars from different disciplines research the history of the cemetery and monument zone of Sayyidi Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti from a number of perspectives.

A first outcome is a thorough documentation of this monument zone, both of the architecture of its monuments and the surrounding urban fabric and a historical study of its development through time. A second outcome is a methodology for the study of contested multi-functional historical zones in Egypt and the region. Results are disseminated via the website, and via an academic monograph to be authored by the three core team members of the project.
http://www.suyuti.net/index.php

Living and Working in Historic Cairo: Sustainability of productive and commercial activities, 2012

ورقة عمل موجهة للمنظمات غير الحكومية للضغط على صانعي السياسات الإسكانية الموجهة للفئات المهمشة, 2014

The right to adequate housing is often addressed by NGOs, housing professionals, and local govern... more The right to adequate housing is often addressed by NGOs, housing professionals, and local government officials to mean the provision of subsidised housing units without much regard to the meaning of home or the conditions that realise a state of adequate housing. This unpacks the concept of adequate housing presenting both shortcomings as well as recommendations to overcome them with special attention to women and marginalised groups. It draws upon two empirical studies that assessed the housing policies and practices in Egypt and Tunis and their impact on women and marginalised groups.

خطاب إخباري لصانعي السياسات الإسكانية الموجهة للفئات المهمشة, 2014

The right to adequate housing is often addressed by housing policy to mean the provision of subsi... more The right to adequate housing is often addressed by housing policy to mean the provision of subsidised housing units without much regard to the meaning of home or the conditions that realise a state of adequate housing. This policy brief addresses the main challenges that face housing policy makers followed by recommendations to overcome them with special attention to women and marginalised groups. It draws upon two empirical studies that assessed the housing policies and practices in Egypt and Tunis from a rights and gender approach.

F. Daftary, E. Fernea & A. Nanji (2010) Living in Historic Cairo: Past, present in an Islamic city. Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK: Azimuth Editions (ISBN 978-1-898592-28-0) http://www.iis.ac.uk/view\_article.asp?ContentID=111248, 2010

The meaning or “character” of a place is defined not only by its built form, but also by the livi... more The meaning or “character” of a place is defined not only by its built form, but also by the living context within and around it. This paper presents a model through which we explain how the weakening of local character, the blurring of our heritage, is occurring in historic parts of Cairo, Egypt, Damascus and Aleppo in Syria. We assume that the meaning of a place corresponds to the latent function of that place; and can be measured by assessing the perceived value of the place to various users. The weakening of meaning is occurring through vandalism by the users and vandalism by the professionals. This is because each party is interested in a different set of perceived values. Everyday users of the place are interested in maximizing those values that are significant to their daily life, namely, social, economic, psychological, and cultural values. Using inappropriate means at hand, they often minimize the aesthetic and historic value of the place; two values where they lack in awareness. Planners and designers on the other hand, focus exclusively on the aesthetic and historic values of the place. In the effort to maximize those two values they ban the other sets of values regarding them as encroachments and acts of vandalism, and thus diminishing the meaning of the place, the heritage. By realizing that any intervention, use, or perception, can either contribute to, or detract from, the “heritage” of a place, and that the meaning of a place encompasses more than just the aesthetic and historic values, we should rethink our attempts at preserving or rather sustaining this “living heritage”.

HBRC Journal Special Issue, Dec 2010

The traditional hammams are facing challenges that jeopardize their sustainability as a tradition... more The traditional hammams are facing challenges that jeopardize their sustainability as a traditional socio-physical pattern in Islamic societies. Four case study hammams in four Mediterranean cities were multi-disciplinarily studied in order to find out the factors affecting the hammams' sustainability and in order to set explanatory inquiries and scenarios to save the living heritage of such countries. The challenge is to integrate the findings related to the different aspects of the hammam; technical, historic, health, social, psychological, environmental, architectural…etc. One approach to exploring this multitude of factors is to adopt an experiential perspective focusing recipient-end; clients and potential clients. This paper is divided into two sections; the first presents the most pronounced values of the hammam as perceived by its users; the main reasons why clients who go to hammam actually do so. The second section explores those who do NOT go to the traditional hammam and what, if changed, would make them go, thus reflecting the challenges that face the hammam as well as indicating conditions for possible growth of demand in the future. This is presented mainly through the Egyptian case study. Through this investigation of demand on the hammam, the paper explores a set of integrative topics such as the perceived values of the hammam between leisure and necessity; the risk on health and its relation to behavioural patterns, cleanliness levels and staff credibility; the vulnerabilities to societal factors and management rules. The significance of this exercise lies in its attempt at integrating the lessons learnt from disparate disciplinary studies of the hammam in various Mediterranean contexts. This integration is a necessary stop to unblock potentials and overcome barriers to improve the conditions of influencing factors that together would work to help sustain the hammam.

Le Caire: Reinvinter la ville by Pierre-Arnaud Barthel & Safaa Monqid ISBN : 978-2-7467-1488-5, Apr 2011

GCST Global Consortium on Security Transformation. Policy Brief Series No. 16, Nov 2010

Published in Open House International, Vol. 26 No. (2): 43–54 Based on a paper presented at the ENHR 2000 Conference in Gavle 26-30 June 0222 ., 2001

Humans have been concerned with acquiring adequate shelter; that is, having a safe, healthy and c... more Humans have been concerned with acquiring adequate shelter; that is, having a safe, healthy and comfortable environment in which to live. Unfortunately, a large portion of the world's population does not live in housing that meets basic health and safety requirements. Indeed, available shelter not only fails to protect against, but also exposes them to health risks that are for the most part preventable.

Shehayeb, D., Turgut Yildiz, H. & Kellett, P. (Eds.) (2007). The Appropriate Home: Can We Design “Appropriate” Residential Environments? HBRC: Cairo, Egypt. Proceedings of the First HBRC & IAPS-CSBE Network Joint Symposium (ISBN 977-17-4798-3)., Jun 2007

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the design of home environment, to be 'appropr... more The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the design of home environment, to be 'appropriate' must involve a multi-disciplinary approach able to integrate social, cultural and health related aspects of users, whereas conventional design methods no longer can fulfill those requirements. The paper is divided into two main parts, the first part presents the theoretical basis laying out the arguments against the conventional approach to design that relies on the conventional inquiry paradigm, proposing an alternative integrated ‘naturalistic’ perspective and argues for its adoption. The second part, presents an application of the multi-dimensional framework demonstrating its methodological implications through an investigation of those complementary aspects in three typical residential environments in Cairo.

Whilst most designers think of home as a physical private space; this definition of home leaves a... more Whilst most designers think of home as a physical private space; this definition of home leaves a large portion of ‘home environments’ unaccounted for, and therefore overlooked by the design professions. The results are misuse, alterations and increasing stress. To understand the socio-psychological processes that relate to the function of dwelling, and how they are influenced by design, one has to draw on knowledge from different fields, and in order to provide compatible concepts useful in the design process, a multidisciplinary approach is required.
The objective of this paper is to present a theoretical framework integrating findings from disparate studies that address: perceptions of the designed environment, the relation between the perceived environment and behavior, and those that relate socio-psychological processes to physical characteristics and users in the home environment, including the particularities of the Egyptian case to capture the fundamentals of the appropriate home.
A literature review led to the identifying the key issues related to the design of home environment and complementing them with the Egyptian empirical studies. Based on this analysis, a comprehensive model was developed addressing the problem of designing the appropriate home as a function of its users' characteristics, their needs, and behavior.

The Appropriate Home: Can We Design “Appropriate” Residential Environments? by Shehayeb, D., Turgut Yildiz, H. & Kellett, P. (Eds.) (2007). HBRC: Cairo, Egypt. (ISBN 977-17-4798-3). Proceedings of the First HBRC & IAPS-CSBE Network Joint Symposium., Jun 2007

The aim of this paper is to discern lessons that would guide the design and planning process of r... more The aim of this paper is to discern lessons that would guide the design and planning process of residential environments. As a continuation of previous work discussing the social dimension of dwelling/home design, including near-home spaces, and the significance of sharing the same physical boundaries as a basis for community formation, this paper draws from the findings of an empirical research project funded by the National Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt, and conducted at the Housing and Building research Centre. The issue in question is which design and planning features of the outdoor spaces and streets of a neighbourhood affect certain aspects of social interaction and how. We present a model of social interaction that sets forth two critical objectives in neighbourhood design. The empirical data analysis sheds the light on the role of the built environment in influencing social interaction among residents directly and indirectly through providing reasons for being in the neighbourhood’s streets and open spaces, and fulfilling the requirements that make different resident groups spend more time in such spaces. The findings reinforce the model presented confirms that this role is inherent in the built environment’s potential along two dimensions; its’ potential to allow opportunities to “meet”, and opportunities to “control” social interaction with other occupants. The significance of this model is therefore to better guide the design and planning of urban neighbourhoods by putting forth these two, usually hidden factors, as clear objectives for future neighbourhood design.

Community-Oriented Activity Patterns in Historic Cairo, 2011

The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this re... more The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this report, and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organisation. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Egypte Monde Arabe, Sep 1, 2011

Living and Working in Historic Cairo: Sustainability of productive and commercial activities, 2012

ورقة عمل موجهة للمنظمات غير الحكومية للضغط على صانعي السياسات الإسكانية الموجهة للفئات المهمشة, 2014

خطاب إخباري لصانعي السياسات الإسكانية الموجهة للفئات المهمشة, 2014

HBRC Journal Special Issue, Dec 2010

Le Caire: Reinvinter la ville by Pierre-Arnaud Barthel & Safaa Monqid ISBN : 978-2-7467-1488-5, Apr 2011

GCST Global Consortium on Security Transformation. Policy Brief Series No. 16, Nov 2010

Published in Open House International, Vol. 26 No. (2): 43–54 Based on a paper presented at the ENHR 2000 Conference in Gavle 26-30 June 0222 ., 2001

Community-Oriented Activity Patterns in Historic Cairo, 2011

Published as part of the DIWAN publications on the occasion of International Architecture Biennia... more Published as part of the DIWAN publications on the occasion of International Architecture Biennial of Rotterdam 2009.

Potential Functional Opportunities in Urban Streets: An integrational approach to the evaluation and design of urban streets, 1995

There is a positive social consequence to knowing about the relationship between the designed env... more There is a positive social consequence to knowing about the relationship between the designed environment of the street boundary and use of the street. Design theories describe successful design characteristics but lack an adequate explanation as to why and how these physical forms enhance use. Theories in the Environment and Behavior field explain the effect on human behavior of generalized notions of the environment but lack comprehensive analysis of the designed physical environment. An integrative theoretical approach is needed in order to explore the relationship between the designed characteristics of the street and use of the street. After reviewing the literature in both urban design and EBS, I noticed that attributes and features identified in design theories and empirical EBS studies as having positive implications for use, do so by increasing people's options or opportunities. The notion of defining the physical environment in terms of the potential opportunities for use it offers, lent itself as a useful integrative concept. My research objectives were therefore to: develop an integrative conceptual model of the relationship between design characteristics of the street and its use based on this notion of functional opportunities; examine the extent to which this concept can integrate knowledge about the relationship between street design and street use, and describe the design characteristics of the street in terms of their implications for use; and explore the extent to which the concept of functional opportunities represents how people perceive and use urban streets. These objectives were addressed following a naturalistic inquiry consisting of two parts; part I, the secondary analysis of existing studies, and part II, the case study. Part I includes: (a) the conceptual model which outlines the processes of production, perception and use of those potential opportunities, by now termed Potential Functional Opportunities (Potential FO), and (b) a secondary analysis of data from selective empirical studies relating street use to designed characteristics of the street boundary. This qualitative analysis of observational, interview and archival data about street design and street use integrated studies from different disciplines, and yielded a description of the urban street in terms of its Potential FO for use. Part II, the case study, used qualitative research methods to explore people's perception of the experiential dimension of the street. At this stage my research questions evolved into: Do people perceive the street in terms of Potential FO for use? and if not, what are the attributes people use to describe the characteristics of the street? How do those attributes identified by the people relate to the attributes I elicited from the literature in Part I? The significance of the proposed research project can be summarized in the following four points. 1) The research will present a way to describe the physical environment which is behaviorally meaningful while maintaining a physical rigor, thus providing a common language for researchers and designers to communicate. 2) The research would enhance the understanding of the consequences of design decisions at the different scales as they relate to use. 3) The integration of current knowledge in terms of Potential FO safeguards against the neglect of street functions, street characteristics, and user groups overlooked in the literature and therefore serves to better direct future design. 4) The use of graphic and verbal analysis of a variety of data avoids the risk of losing the connection between abstract attributes and their physical interpretations; it demonstrates a new application of qualitative research. Finally, this work contributes, as a first step, to theory and methodology of studying the physical environment.