Responsive design elements in traditional streets: a case study of Abbottabad, Pakistan

Iftikhar Ali; Shakir Ullah Khan; Syed Ismail Shah

doi:10.47264/idea.nasij/4.2.2

Authors

Iftikhar Ali Department of Architecture, Hazara University, Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6318-0462
Shakir Ullah Khan School of Architecture, Southeast University, Sipailou Campus, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6153-7889
Syed Ismail Shah School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8171-0685

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.nasij/4.2.2

Keywords:

Abbottabad city, traditional streets, street designs, contextual responsiveness, physical elements, urban character, street categories, urban streets

Abstract

The streets play an important role due to urbanisation in Pakistan by providing the open spaces to the communities to interact with each other. This research examines how streets in Pakistani cities serve as public gathering places that encourage social interaction. Traditional street designs include social parameters such as interaction, congregating, and celebrating various occasions. This is one of their most fundamental characteristics of traditional streets. It seeks to comprehend the multiple scales of urban experience that can be used to observe, analyze, and categorize streets. A qualitative research methodology is used based on in-depth observations of the spatial and social factors that mould the streets and give them their dynamic urban qualities. The paper concludes that Pakistani cities have distinctive characteristics that reflect their cultural and traditional diversity and that the streets ought to transform to accommodate these characteristics and the local climate. According to the paper, which uses Abbottabad as a case study, streets should be designed at the micro-level, considering the sociocultural and experiential opportunities for users, including local community and visitors, as well as the practical requirements of connectivity and communication.

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