During the design phase of the Hay El Salam project, the architects of Culpin and Partners took care to plan different types of outdoor spaces. They are divided into 4 categories: public spaces (streets, squares, etc.), semi-public spaces (schools and other specialized institutions), semi-private spaces (small neighborhood squares, small alleys, etc.), and private spaces (houses).
Semi-Private Spaces: Protected Spaces in a Growing City
Already during the study phase of the site, Culpin and Partners had noticed that small children played in the east–west streets, which were devoid of cars. These streets were also used by the inhabitants for sitting outside. Older children and men played soccer on most of the other streets.1 Knowing that the new project would result in a significant expansion of the population, the architects wanted to restrict these semi-private recreation spaces to dedicated areas, away from traffic and crowds.2 Looking at the city as it is today, these spaces make more sense than ever. The streets of Hay El Salam are now filled with cars and people, yet it has become a big living city.
Plan of a semi-private square in Hay El Salam. Source: Own work, based on Google Maps observations.
A crucial point in the design of these semi-private protected spaces is their dimensions. The architects do not seem to have given any precise indication regarding this. One wonders today if they had foreseen that the inhabitants would build houses of up to 6 floors. The drawings they made showing how the inhabitants would appropriate the space suggest that they did not, since they drew dwellings of just 2 to 3 floors high. The semi-private spaces, now squeezed between buildings exceeding 10m in height, will gradually lose their pleasant qualities if the excessively high buildings prevent proper sunlight and create narrow, higher than wide spaces. These possible spaces risk becoming unhealthy and unpleasant, and it would be a great loss for the city to be deprived of such important and meaningful spaces for the inhabitants.
View on a semi-private square. Source: Forbes Davidson Planning. "Ismailia: Hai el Salam post 2007." https://forbesdavidsonplanning.com/ ?page_id=1805. Photograph by Forbes Davidson Planning.
Use by residents of a semi-private space. Source: Forbes Davidson Planning. "Ismailia: Hai el Salam post 2007." https://forbesdavidsonplanning.com/ ?page_id=1805. Photograph by Forbes Davidson Planning.
Sources
1. Culpin Planning. Ismailia Development Project. 1986.
2. Madbouly, Mostafa and Ghada Hassan. Participatory Slum Upgrading Documented Experience from Ismailia, Egypt. UNDP. 2011.
3. Ibid.; “Ismailia.” Wikipedia. (Last consulted on 04.12.2022) Link.
4. Ibid.
5. Davidson, Forbes and Geoffrey Payne (eds.). Urban Projects Manual. Second Edition. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2000.
6. Madbouly and Hassan. Participatory Slum Upgrading. Op. cit.; Matteucci, Claudio. Long-term Evaluation of an Urban Development Project: The Case of Hai El Salam. 7th N-Aerus Conference. 2006.
7. Madbouly and Hassan. Participatory Slum Upgrading. Op. cit.
Cover Image
Study of the quality of space and sunlight in semi-private areas. Source: Own work, based on Google Maps observations.