Livelihood Reports Al Amrikeya Area - Final Assessment | Page 181

on a representative to speak for them in order
to reach solutions and be heard at the CA. Se-
rious brawls and violence erupt frequently
among them and between them and the shops,
which disturbs the peace and affects the image
of AAA. They have admitted that there are nat-
ural leaders who are, actually, thugs controlling
the area.
In order to light their stalls and carts, they ille-
gally pull electricity from public poles or take
extensions from shops. Some shops do it as an
act of kindness, but others do it in response to
covert threats from vendors of damaging their
shops if they don’t.
6th of October CA
The CA is in constant conflict with the shopkeep-
ers and street vendors associated with public
space activities. As for the Syrian passage, it
is a private property of Aly al-Deen II mall, yet
coffee shops are covering the ventilation open-
ings of the garage underground and the whole
area has no fire extinguishing system and no ac-
cessibility for fire fighting vehicles. In addition,
the CA claims that the “Syrian Passage” hinders
pedestrian circulation. That is why they remove
the tables and items that coffee shops place in
it. The only way out is for this area to present
a fire extinguishing plan and system to be ap-
proved then executed.
3.2.3 INSTITUTIONAL/LEGAL AS-
PECTS
3.2.3.1 Built Environment Aspects
Many of the problems related to the built en-
vironment are due to the deficiencies of the
existing urban management structure. One of
the major issues is that many of the occupants
unions are not activated. There are several oc-
cupants’ unions in AAA, who should supposed-
ly provide services, mainly small maintenance,
and garbage collection, but most of them are
123 | THE AREA’S NEEDS ASSESSMENT
not acknowledged by the CA & the contracts
they have with Tenants (Shop owners) is not
monitored. In addition, the ambiguous own-
ership of the internal streets negatively affects
the paving conditions. Moreover, the informal
use of public pace results in the destruction of
both street furniture and sidewalk pavements.
Another aspect of the deficiency of the existing
urban management structure is the provided
municipal services; such as waste management
services, maintenance of public amenities, and
the security services in the area.
Accordingly, the institutional needs associated
with the built environment aspects could be
categorized as follows:
• Capacity building is required to improve
solid waste management. This could be
applied through training of the legal de-
partment of the city on the enforcement
of environmental laws, especially with the
service providing private company (service
monitoring).
• The ownership of the internal streets in the
area should be defined to maintain their
condition.
• A legal form of public space use is required
for both shop extensions and street vend-
ing activities.
• A maintenance strategy is required to main-
tain the quality of the area.
3.2.3.2 Socio-Economic Aspects
Similarly, many of the socio-economic prob-
lems and needs are also associated with insti-
tutional and legal deficiencies. The most persis-
tent problem emphasized by both shop owners
and street vendors is their unstable legal sta-
tus, whether related to operating licenses or
the right of use of public space. In addition,
the regulations associated with commercial ar-
eas need to be clearly defined to the users of
the AAA. These regulations are related to, civ-