Sustainable Urban Street Design: Evaluation of El-Moaz Street in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Streets deserve respect, they shape the form of the city and how we move through it. They accommodate buildings, people, vehicles, utilities, vegetation, signage, street furniture and lighting. Streets make up the majority of the public realm in our towns and cities. There is a strong relationship between urban design and sustainability, which led to the development in the compact city and street. Sustainable streets can defined as multimodal rights of way designed and operated to create benefits relating to movement, ecology and community that together support a broad sustainability agenda embracing the three E's: environment, equity and economy, and implementing sustainable urban streets can create more livable communities.

The aim of this paper is to identify an approach for applying sustainable design criteria for urban streets. By defining sustainability in a broader context a case will be made for enhancing the sustainability of urban streets. Considering and assessing sustainable principles will enable urban streets to function in a manner that is more beneficial to people, communities, the economy and the environment. Through these sustainable street design criteria, analyzing the development of El-Moaz Ldin Allah Elfatimy street in Cairo, Egypt. Hence, a comprehensive improvement of the streets is certainly needed to ensure a successful sustainable street design. The paper concludes some recommendations to develop the main components of sustainable streets that are derived from the theoretical study in order to well design a sustainable street for a liveable communities