Livelihood Reports Al Amrikeya Area - Final Assessment | Page 115

2.3.5 PUBLIC OPEN SPACE ELE-
MENTS
2.3.5.1 Street Furniture
Whereas the public space activity measured
the frequency and distribution of commer-
cial activity in the public realm, the current
study focuses on tactics of space appropriation
through physical elements in the forms of seat-
ing, tables and fences. Most outdoor seating
is an extension of public space or shop activ-
ity as there is very little public seating (Figure
33). Visitors or people waiting use sometimes
steps in front of malls as seating. The majority
of furniture found belonged to specific shops or
street vendors. This information is a valuable
aid for perceiving the physical space occupied
by public space activities as well as the meth-
ods utilized for the appropriation of space. The
process of appropriation, although unclear,
requires negotiation, agreement and consent
between the individual appropriating the space
and the surrounding users in order to delineate
specific boundaries for each party. As an ex-
ample, restaurants and cafes generally require
a greater area to place their chairs and tables,
whereas commercial shops will only require a
small display area for their goods. According-
ly, an agreement can be reached to allow the
café owner to place their chairs in front of the
neighboring commercial shop. The case differs
for street vendors. Although all street vendors
denied during interviews that they are required
to pay a fee to certain individuals who allow
them to display their goods on the street in
exchange for protection, shop owners insisted
that that was indeed the case.
Types of furniture observed consisted of fixed
seating, movable seating, tables, display tables,
vitrines, clothing racks, production units, shad-
ing devices and fences (Figure 34). The public
space activities are categorized by temporal-
ity into permanent and temporary elements.
67 | Understanding the development context
During the day, only 19% of the activities are
permanent while the remainder is temporary.
In the evening, the number of temporary acti v-
ities increases by 25% at the advent of street
vendors. The furniture elements are catego-
rized into fixed and non-fixed elements. Fixed
elements are a minority and remain the same
number during day and night. Non-fixed ele-
ments are at 92% during the day, and increase
in the evening also by 25%, which corresponds
to the increase in temporary activity.
Figure 33: Outdoor seating as an extension from indoor
food and beverage activities © Takween icd
Figure 34: Different types of seating and shading devices
help mark cafe boundaries © Takween icd