Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 13(3), pp. 2134 - 2152
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130347
Reprint (PDF) (1847Kb)

Using Urban Spaces to Enhance City Resilience: A Framework for Planning and Design

Sally el-Derawy ^*, Abbas el-Zafarany , Noha Abd el-Aziz
Department of Urban Design, Faculty of Urban & Regional Planning, Cairo University, Egypt

ABSTRACT

Cities face various types of risks; some are natural such as floods, extreme heat, and earthquakes, others are urban risks such as fires, crime, and riots. Urban spaces can be creatively utilized to protect the city and increase its resilience. In some cases, urban spaces can be a "safe refuge" for the city residents. Such a concept is an untapped opportunity which has not been applied in the local context and there is not much literature about it. This research aims to help the designers and urban planners to make the right decisions about urban spaces enabling them to improve the Egyptian city's resilience. A framework for planning and designing urban spaces is created based on the concepts of resilient cities, disaster risk reduction approach, and some international case studies. The framework is verified using Delphi technique for testing and prioritizing the framework principles. The main result (the framework) includes the planning and design principles and the procedures applied to find them. For example, an open space can be a refuge from earthquakes, where people can escape dilapidated buildings. The safe dimensions of space are related to the height of the surrounding buildings. Additionally, a set of principles has been developed for each type of natural disaster. This framework highlights some of the conflicts that can occur in a recommendation that solves one problem and increases the risk of another, such as encouraging wind movement to withstand heat waves which conflicts with using windbreaks to reduce exposure to sandstorms. The framework integrates diverse principles of planning and design in urban spaces in order to mitigate several risks. The principles of the framework are classified into a group of sub-categories, and then arranged based on the relative importance index and the number of responses of design principles to disasters.

KEYWORDS
Resilient City, Disaster Risk Reduction, Urban Spaces, Safe Refuge Sites

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Sally el-Derawy , Abbas el-Zafarany , Noha Abd el-Aziz , "Using Urban Spaces to Enhance City Resilience: A Framework for Planning and Design," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 2134 - 2152, 2025. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130347.

(b). APA Format:
Sally el-Derawy , Abbas el-Zafarany , Noha Abd el-Aziz (2025). Using Urban Spaces to Enhance City Resilience: A Framework for Planning and Design. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 13(3), 2134 - 2152. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2025.130347.