Sustainable Mobility & Traffic Planning Perspectives of El Gouna and Innovations by Egyptian Startups

Transcription

1 9 th Community Forum El Gouna Sustainable Mobility & Traffic Planning Perspectives of El Gouna and Innovations by Egyptian Startups Summary of Winter School & Barrier Free El Gouna Paper

2 International Winter School VITALIZE IT: Renovation of Downtown El Gouna January 2014 BACKGROUND El Gouna is a small resort town on the western coast of the Red Sea in Egypt. It is located 450km south of Cairo and 25km north of Hurghada. It hosts a very diverse range of some 20,000 inhabitants, including permanent residents from Egypt and abroad, employees of tourist establishments and other staff, and foreign tourists. Despite its focus on tourism, El Gouna boosts many amenities of a regular town, such as schools and kindergartens, a hospital and a technical nursery school, a university campus, a library, a cinema, and many others. The objective of the Winter School was to develop a concept to renovate the oldest and most central area of El Gouna, so called Downtown. With the undisputed center of social and cultural activities, this quarter had experienced a slow downturn over recent years. The task at hand was to generate ideas that will turn Downtown into a vibrant center once again, which attracts local inhabitants and tourists alike. Subjects to be taken into consideration include accessibility, urban design, the functions of public spaces, city upgrading, and the role of town centers. In addition, a special focus was laid on the energetic components of urban renovation with the intention to improve energy efficiency and thereby contribute El Gouna's efforts to become an environmentally friendly town. Participants have worked in small teams of German and Egyptian students from various disciplines. The students were divided into small interdisciplinary groups of students from Egyptian and German universities, as well as students from the Master s programs of Urban Development and Energy Engineering in TU Berlin Campus El Gouna. The Winter School was culminated in an open presentation of the results, reemphasizing the importance of public participation and inclusiveness. GROUPS AND THEIR MOBILITY RELATED PROPOSALS The Winter School constituted an integral part of a holistic and integrated approach for the transformation of El Gouna towards and inclusive and sustainable town. For that reason, the envisioned improvements of the urban layout was tailor made to suit the diverse needs and demands of a wide range of interest groups simultaneously, including local residents, domestic holiday makers, permanent and temporary staff, and foreign tourists. But for this paper, the proposals which were related with sustainable mobility and traffic planning were grasped and plat formed for further analysis.

3 Group 01: Downtown for the Future Based on the analysis, Group 1 classified their findings into five arenas- Institutional, social, physical, Functional and economical. At the Institutional level, the institutional framework of El Gouna and Downtown in specific lacks a clear bottom up mechanism on how the local residents are participating in developing their own property or their mutual spaces, only OHD (Orascom Housing Development) is taking care of managing and maintaining public spaces, the urban environment demonstrates the sense and the atmosphere of an artificial environment due to the lack of residents input into the urban context. On the other hand the residents and shop owners in downtown El Gouna are of different nationalities and cultures. If a mechanism of vertical and horizontal participation is elaborated between them and OHD,the specific demands of the residents and shop owners is therefore obvious, priorities of development is clear to OHD and downtown El Gouna would have its new powerful mentality of growth. Regarding the social level, the occupancy rates in terms of permanent residents are low (mostly Egyptians). El Gouna is characterized by being an elastic town that shrinks and expands based on touristic seasons. Regarding the physical level, all physical assets including buildings, public spaces and streets are not in a very good shape yet they don t look deteriorated, however, it seems that there is a lack of regular maintenance to the non-touristic Buildings. Analyzing how much people tend to walk in downtown had guided the group to monitor the pedestrian, cycling and vehicular traffic pattern in downtown, the result of the analysis obtained that there is a need to a dominant readable pedestrian environment in downtown. Focal Points: A More Defined Space with Better Circulation Creating focal points within zones will provide structure and variety to the study area, especially if they reflect position of the feature in the urban hierarchy. A better circulation path will guide towards these focal points which will create a new identity for the space. According to the proposal the elements of these focal points will be social activities, commercial grounds, floor, generating renewable energy etc.

4 Walkability and Pedestrian Environment Most of the functions in downtown are distributed around a circular pedestrian path that is sometimes shared by vehicular traffic as shown in figure. Despite the interesting functions and activities distributed around the path, the eligibility of space is reduced substantially due several reasons, Mainly due to the different pedestrian language that doesn t provide the required basic guidance for visitors that mostly come to El Gouna for an average of 1 or 2 weeks and are in urgent need to for a better well defined urban space. Other reason is the used finishing materials, the pedestrian areas around the circular spine fail to encourage walkability and cycling because of its high roughness and irregularity, especially on the connections that separates between zone 3 El Kafr and zone 2 Tamr Henna which are sometimes shared by speeding cars and toktoks, as a result, shops and recreational facilities has become isolated and suffering from the lack of pedestrian flow. Some Other Ideas The team also came up with different other ideas (e.g. bicycle garage, extend the cycling lane, signage etc.) related to access management and street furniture under the theme improve the quality of life. They also envision for energy efficiency quarter under which Solar Toktoks, Street LEDs, Bus station with a PV shading system etc. were important.

5 Group 02: A New Identity to Downtown The main findings from the analysis part given below: It is really tough to identify the downtown and according to future plan of El Gouna it will be more tougher The building orientation and alignment with the road are anonymous which create lots of semi-private courtyards Some of building conditions are very poor though the numbers under this category are very few Due to different block shape, it is often so difficult to explore the Right of way which is problematic mainly for the drivers There are few landmarks and focal points but those need to be restructured Varieties of street furniture are available in downtown El Gouna but due to improper management, it often lose its functional inherit. The condition of vegetation is much better than the other areas of Egypt but still it can be improved aligned with the road it can be also helpful to detect the road width. There are different classes of people from different backgrounds and occupations. It is needed some sorts of public places in downtown El Gouna for blending all. There are different cultural events in special occasions of El Gouna but still more cultural occasions needs to be arranged for revitalization. Most of the people are not aware about the energy issues which can be another arena for performing Some buildings are really in critical condition which needs to be refurbished for better efficiency. Different building insulation and shading arrangements need to deliver in proper way for better energy efficiency and for representing as model to the mass people. Water efficiency needs to be improved as a compile phenomenon. Parking & connection issues needed to be reconsidered for downtown area. Some road conditions need to improve to make bicycle & pedestrian friendly Street lightening system needs to improve to ensure free flow at night

6 Marking the Activity Nodes and Design the Network with Promenades The study team attempts to find out main activity zones and connects them with strong network. After connecting between different activities, the study team attempts to spatially locate some small interventions (e.g. landmarks, focal points) with the passage. Promenade is designed as a networking passage from hospital entrance to club house arena with special attentions to bus stops, Tamra Hena area and so on. It will be designed with different sitting arrangements, focal points etc. Small building refurbishments, vegetation on both sides of the roads, paintings etc. will be common supplement with the main design. An example has been given below in terms of school area.

7 School Plaza Redesigning the Bus Stop Area Re-designing the Entrance from Hospital to Downtown Group 03: Bridging the Gap Downtown EL Gouna has more than one big empty space either its abundant like that one in el Kafr, or not used well, like this one at the north of Tamr henna, at its secondary entrance, and it its used as shuttle bus and tok tok station, or in the middle of the

8 residential area, a huge space with a palm in the middle, no usage just a palm. There is a huge free space beside the AUC campus and in front of the school, a huge empty desert area, also not used, just in seasons and in the Christmasit s used as a parking. The art valley, a big space behind tamr henna, designated to be an area with a significant Egyptian atmosphere, but it suffers from being at the back, with a very poor access and visibility. All of these spaces can be used as places for new activities. For the tourists visiting the downtown just for one time, as they said it has no life, it s barely a dead place, downtowns need to be busy and crowded, full of life place. Downtown el Gouna misses this thing, being for all to get all, as the strategy of the place was just targeting El Kafr residents or el Gouna s class A residents forgetting the rest, but after the revolution tourism decreased and only the employees and the students stayed in el Gouna. One of the main issues in Downtown el Gouna is its networking as it isn t that easy to find yourself inside it, you will definitely get lost at your first time there, which always happens due to using the organic style of urban designing without using landmarks to identify the places and the poor exposing spots in the place.

9 The One Path Linking Approach Concept of development is to develop a path, linking the down town externally with the rest of city by using the water front lagoons as a way of transportation at one end of the path, at the other end will be the shuttle bus new station. The target was to form one big entity through internally linking its zones with each other by creating new activities or allocating some of the already existing ones. Unfriendly Figure: The One Path Linking Approach in Map

10 Desert Park and Bus Stop beside AUC Group 04: Pulse of the Community El Kafr Water Stop The ideas is basically to bring together the whole community members in order to vitalize the area by acting as real community that interact and live together harmoniously so in order to do that the idea is to go in two directions, first: renovating the existing activities that are appealing to the users but lacing good marketing or the required physical setting, and second: creating new activities that meets the lacked needs of the residents. The idea of this group was to fulfill the expectations of user groups which bring a trade of sustainable mobility designs. Local ELGOUNA Foreigner

11 Figure: Master Plan of Different Space Vitalization

12 Parking Area Team designated some parking areas to solve the existing parking problems. They also indicate a typical design of those areas. Figure: Designated Parking Area and Typical Design Group 05: Downtown for All The main findings of this group were: Building conditions, specially piping and insulations need renovation. Regular Maintenance and follow-up strategies are missing. Downtown is not serving everyone in El Gouna. The inner courts have no clear social function. Traffic is not regulated and is dangerous around some curves. Out of Tamr Henna, it is not a pedestrian friendly zone. Parking zones are randomly distributed. Many open spaces has no function at all Many basic daily services are not available at downtown. This whole Downtown identity is dissolving. Many shops and restaurants are facing visibility problems.

13 White Elephant Square By changing the open space character in front of the White Elephant Thai restaurant from a street to an open sharing library with suitable soft and hardscape, pedestrians will be attracted from the outside to the inside where they will find defined spaces with different materials that can be occupied by shop owners or other activities. The whole area in fact will be transformed into a pedestrian only zone as will be shown later in this report, close enough for an available vehicle drop off location, where car parking will be located elsewhere. Then, shops will be able to take their products outdoors for more presentation and better trade opportunities, transforming the whole area into a nice compact bazar. The current compacted sand material of the streets is suitable to transform this area without the need to install any new floorings and tiles system. Installing an eco-friendly flooring material in the future will increase the attractiveness of the area and market El Gouna in general, following the strategic Zero Carbon target. Layalee Square From a nonliving undefined inner court to a fully integrated services zone and gathering point, especially to staff and employees. It is aimed to transform this area from a ghost (dark) like zone into a livable bright area, which acts more like commercial area of Downtown but more on a local scale. Being close to the staff residential buildings and right next to the main bus station of El Gouna, makes it a vital and strategic gathering point for employees, staff and even visitors to meet, wait and/or get things done. They get a keys store, a repair shop and a local café Ahwa, which shall be named after the name of the square Layalee.

14 Walkability By making this clear separation between pedestrian and semipedestrian zones, traffic will be mitigated, urban quality will be improved, thus, increasing the walkability in Downtown. The concentration of the pedestrian only zones will be high during high commercial activity like at Tamr Henna, The White Elephant Square and the Friday Free Market. Yet, everywhere is accessible by vehicles, through drop/pick spots for elder or special-case people like pregnant women who cannot walk far distances. Figure: Pedestrian and semi-pedestrian plan The semi-pedestrian zones are where vehicles have access but through speed calming measures. This will mitigate traffic hazards for a safer urban environment. Reconfiguring access and roads network Controlling the traffic flow inside Downtown ensures the goal of walkability and provide a safe urban environment, away from irresponsible driving behaviors. Main roots will be relocated outside the central roads of Downtown, crossing only through the road separating Tamr Henna and Layalee, passing through El Gouna main bus station. To force access management within secondary road network, the roads will be paved with bricks like used in Kafr, but with a less dense brick agglomerations to allow water to go through the soil, preventing soil sealing which is more sustainable. F.F. Market + Layalee Tamr Henna Figure: Roads hierarchy network plan

15 Identifying parking zones Through redistributing the parking areas in Downtown, the goal of improving the walkable environment and mitigating traffic hazards will be closer to realization, through different steps. Cars are pushed outside the inner courts to provide a nice healthy inner oasis. Different parking zones for each type of transportation facility (Tuk-Tuks, buses Car parking areas and private cares) for optimum usage. And Buses parking areas finally, the cars parking in front of best way Tok Tok parking areas will be extended to the east around the Figure: New parking areas plan Oriental Bazar to fit the capacity of vehicles load during the seasonal vications. Group 6: Acupuncture Development The main findings of this group is: Accessibility problems could be found in El Kafr Island as it is an isolated zone with only two bridge ways for vehicles. Also the presence of the main bus station in the middle of a residential quarter is not the best solution due to uncomfortable noise and emissions as well as an unsafe pedestrian zone which is the priority in the residential area. Accessible Gouna - Improved mobility More pedestrian friendly. Better signage. Restrict car access in high-seasons. Reduce sidewalks heights & have proper ramps. Relocate the bus station to borders of Downtown Change the shuttle bus route and add a station in El Kafr. Figure: proposed mobility interventions Downtown El Gouna should be promoted as a barrier free pedestrian friendly zone with better pavements, sidewalks, and ramps, where car access can be restricted in high touristic seasons. Providing one shuttle bus and one TUCTUC which are accessible to people having some physical disabilities is the idea to market Gouna as a truly accessible area.

16 More connected bicycle lanes and bike sharing should be introduced which will help in making El Gouna more environmental friendly and in approaching more the Zero carbon town. Relocating the bus station on the borders would reduce the traffic passing through the residential area of Downtown El Gouna as well as help create better stops with shading devices and adequate seating. Also adding a shuttle bus station in El kafr will make it more inviting to El Gouna visitors and bring more life into the island. Figure: Bicycle Sharing Slot Group 7: El Gouna Pilot Projects Active spots in downtown are not obvious in several cases, while there is no obvious path that guides a tourist coming for several days only between these spots in downtown. In addition there is no clear difference between whether the next street has some activities or just another residential area. Cars accessed Streets in study area 1 are not all necessary and is affecting the pedestrians routes quality. Tamr henna square wasn t designed first as a pedestrian friendly zone, and it was turned afterwards to create this open space (Rami ElDahan) Active/Directive path The group develops different pilot projects like community garden, zero energy building et. The active path acts as the connection between the pilot projects, where the internal space of downtown becomes pedestrians and biking friendly. The cars could only access from certain points to parking lots or to provide goods for the shops. The path scenery changes from place to another according to the context and the project implemented in the area. If the user is visiting the place for the first time an application is developed to direct the user through the projects. The figure shows a street on the outer parameter of elgouna downtown after redesigning it, where all means of transportation are

17 available. The lagoon front is redesigned as well to include more activities and promote it as an attractive area. Figure: Lagoon front with active path Master s Thesis Barrier Free El Gouna December 2014 El Gouna has unrivalled potential. Its small & confined layout make adaptation feasible Study outlined physical, managerial, functional, legal, behavioral aspects of barrier-free El Gouna. Research concentrated on two areas: Downtown and Abu Tig Marina Poor Flooring Unfriendly Ramping

18 Poor Curb Parked car in sidewalk Areas of Improvement Some shops are inaccessible due to the angle of ramps or to inadequate space for a wheel chair to maneuver. Cobblestone roadways are good for slowing traffic, but they are not so easy for wheelchairs and prams to cross. Broken/uneven paving & parked cars blocking footpaths and ramps Inadequate lighting can conceal hazards at night Access to beach areas can be difficult Public restrooms are mainly inside restaurants and bars and not large enough to accommodate wheelchairs. Cash machines are also difficult to access The public transport system (shuttle buses, boats and Tok-toks) is not suitable for wheelchair users.

19 Proposals Overall physical accessibility is in moderate level, don t need radical interventions Continuous physical and functional accessibility between centers (e.g. downtown, marina) especially in terms of pedestrian accessibility Apply the design standards referred to The Egyptian Code for Building and Open-space Design for the Disabled especially for public transports Small scale improvement/ length modification in the sidewalks can give better result Install ramp at important spaces- Art Village, The Pharmacy, Orascom Office etc. in some cases with handrails User-friendly & sustainable flooring in arterial roads where sidewalks are unavailable (e.g. road behind Tamr Henna Square at Bestway Supermarket) Proper Utilization of Access Management Toolkit (e.g. Signage, Barricade, Parking etc.) with multiple languages and street furniture (e.g. Seating facility) Restroom, Shading & lighting arrangement, one accessible beach with footpath

20 Best Practice & Way Forward Generalizing the project throughout El Gouna Providing improved accessibility for wider users other than people with limited mobility. Applying similar barrier free approach for indoor and private spaces. Applying project in other areas in Egypt Ramp in Public Space Ramp, signage & barricade Wooden ramp at club house Curb cuts at downtown