Livelihood Reports Al Amrikeya Area - Final Assessment | Page 69

2.3.2.2 Public Space Activities
Public space activities are strongly interlinked
with land use activities inside the malls. As the
area is populated with street vendors and many
of the sidewalks are as such occupied, especial-
ly during the evening, an array of activities ap-
pears as extensions from shops. The majority of
ground floor public space activities are in fact
extensions of existing shops or cafes (Figure
17). During the day, only 22% of public space
activities are independent. This number grows
to 45% in the evening (Figure 18). This implies
that café and shop owners occupy the majority
of sidewalks and streets, and the minority by
autonomous street vendors. This percentage
measures the frequency of activity instead of
the area of space occupied. (Figure 19, Figure
20) It is important to mention that restaurant
and café extensions usually occupy a larger sur-
face area on the sidewalk that street vendors as
they put out chairs and tables. Street vendors,
on the other hand, are usually farther away
from the building, placing their goods on the
actual street and not the sidewalk.
Through observation, public space activities in-
crease during the evening when the CA is less
likely to raid the area. For example, the func-
tion of the vacant land between Melody Café
and Zamzam Mall changes drastically between
morning and evening, going from a strictly car
parking area in the morning to a large café
(shared between three café owners) during the
night hours (Figure 21). This change between
parking and café activities takes place as a clear
spat ial negotiation of removing cars and adding
seats throughout the day, giving this zone its
uniquely dynamic character.
During the day, more than 45% of activities fall
under the clothing and commercial categories,
which are concentrated in the vicinities of Aly
al-Deen II, al-Amrikiiyya V and Diamond malls.
The vast majority of food and beverage activi-
37 | Understanding the development context
ties are found around Aly al-Deen II mall, and
many are also found around Aly al-Deen I (Fig-
ure 22.) Cafés are less frequently present but
are similarly concentrated around Aly al-Deen
II and I, respectively. Interestingly, Aly al-Deen
II had the lowest number of commercial shops
inside the mall, but the highest number of com-
mercial public space activity. This reveals an-
other layer of interdependency between street
vendor activity and the mall itself.
During the evening, there is a 28% increase in
public space activity, meaning that 100 more
units are opened or extended. While shop ex-
tensions witnessed a 9% increase, independent
units more than doubled. Clothing and com-
mercial activities combined increased by 38%
by far the largest amongst all categories. These
are found mostly around Aly al-Deen mall,
Zamzam Mall and al-Amrikiyya V Mall. Most of
this activity is found along the “ Divided from
al-Tahrir” road, the most significant pedestrian
artery in the area.
Changes between day and night are strongly
tied to the type of user visiting the area. Dur-
ing the day most of the users are students and
therefore malls around the university become
more populated, whereas in the evening a va-
riety of visits hail to the area, moving the fo-
cus towards main roads. It is important to note
that there is a small percentage of mobile street
vendors who carry their products and sell them
while moving.