The Contribution Of Built Forms And Landscapes In Creating Vibrant Street Life. Cases From Cbd Of Addis Ababa

Urban planning and design have proven to be an important disciplines in shaping urban lifernstyles, solving problems and giving new ways of living in the urban arena. There are a number ofrnelements that manage the shape and the quality of urban environments. Quality of life in cities isrnaffected by the negative and positive aspects of street activities and functions. The built form isrnone of the many variables thought to affect physical activity levels. It influences people’srnlifestyles.rnHence, believing the idea of creating good relationships between streets and their adjacent builtrnforms is the main reason in creating better street life. The main objective of the research is to findrnout the impact of built forms and landscapes in creating vibrant street life. Therefore; the researchrnanalyses the Contribution of Built Forms and landscapes in creating vibrant Street Life byrnassessing different segment of streets found in the core of the city of Addis Ababa which believedrnto have a uniquely useful character aiming to learn from existing attributes, identify the gaps, andrncome up with a contextual urban design recommendations that help to create and maintain arnvibrant pedestrian street life in order to make people feel friendly with streets and have somernsense about the street they use more than having a concept of considering them as a corridor.rnAs streets are the main public space of the city, the research focus groups are all people who livernin the city with special focus on pedestrians. The research uses the case study method by selectingrnfour case study areas by using criteria that are: areas located in the core part (CBD) of AddisrnAbaba, street with width of twenty meter and above, selecting streets with low rise and high risernbuildings, and also picking on streets that entertain different functions and activities, and finallyrnpicking on areas which are most frequently used. The case areas are found in Merkato, Beherawyrnand Piazza areas.rnThe research employs primary and secondary data. Data is collected by using randomlyrndistributed survey questioners within the site. In addition to this, data has been collected fromrndifferent experts and taken as input for the research. The approach or methodology for thisrnresearch is the case study method based on qualitative and descriptive methods.rnIn this research, the value of vibrant street life is discussed And the current situation of thernexisting streets with their landscapes and built forms are analysed by using different criteria. Itrnhas made sure that built forms and activities within them have their own contribution in creatingrnvibrant street life. In terms of scale, enclosure and proportion the research has identified thatrnalmost all of the case areas have a good sense of enclosure because of the scale and proportion ofrnthe adjacent buildings. Considering street frontage in terms of activity and comfort some areas arernxiirnfound out to be not convenient for their users because of their over crowdedness but some areasrnare safe and comfortable to their users because they are diverse in activities and existence ofrnarcade buildings and on the other hand in all areas the number of peoples use the street differ inrndifferent times of a day. But also the research found out there are dormant buildings whichrnresulted inactive streets on some areas. In analysing the areas in terms of having clearrndemarcations for pedestrians all of them have demarcation but in a two different ways; one in arnlevel difference the other by building arcades. In addition by seeing their visual attractivenessrnand cleanness the research has found a balanced result some have good qualities but some are notrngood in quality people go there just for necessary activity. In Landscape and street furniture werncan say that there is Absence of adequate street furniture’s and facilities in all areas basically theyrndo not consider people with disabilities. In terms of being memorable it is been identified thatrndiverse optional activities and unique features has a potential of making places memorable andrneasy to identify.rnTherefore, the research has recommended maintaining the existing good qualities of the streetsrnand to create sense of belongingness, liveable and more attractive; the street and adjacentrnbuildings must hold diverse optional activities instead of necessity activities, should havernattractive facades and mixed details, Visual connectivity, staggered built edges, proper Setbacksrnand proportional scale. Similarly streets must have Street furniture with a clear demarcationrnbetween pedestrian and vehicles and Provide easy access for people with disabilities. In generalrnin order to see these design considerations it is recommended to create awareness and structuralrnintegration with in stakeholders about the benefit of creating vibrant street life

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