Dealing with the incompatible!

Abstract

The thesis attempts to study the urban structure of a traditional quarter in Cairo through a sociological point of view. In order to pursue this study it is necessary to understand the relationship between the built form and its users. From this understanding stems the approach of how to discern the social study in a way that could be useful and apprehendable to the architect. Before undertaking the case study, examples of other sociological studies are extracted to demonstrate the connection between behavioral patterns of the users and t heir built environment. These preliminary examples show how the built form, together with the disposion of its elements, could be understood through social studies. The problem facing the architect that will be revealed through the research is that the social scientist mainly deals with different layers of interactions between the members of the community, without showing how this interaction resonates with the built form. Consequently the architect may find a great difficulty in trying to incorporate social studies into design criteria. And from there, the sense of incompatibility emerges. In this regard, the research attempts to bridge the gap created by the lack of communication between the two disciplines: social science and urban design.