1. Introduction

  2. Assessment

  3. Vision

  4. Activities

Urban Form / Assessment

Strengths

  • Spatial Structure: clear city boundary, diverse city structure, rich and solid building types
  • Density: short walkable distances, modest land consumption
  • Demography: cultural diversity, young city
  • Regulations & Policy Making: strong leadership
  • Informal Settlements: strong local identity, selforganised housing provision
  • Green Space: fertile ground with productive landscape around Aleppo, available water (river Kweik)
  • Urban Mobility: proximity, high density increases feasibility and profitability of public transport
  • Heritage: strong local identity, touristic attractor

Weaknesses

  • Spatial Structure: east-west disparity, highways separating neighbourhoods
  • Density: lack of public space, social tensions, construction quality
  • Demography: poverty
  • Regulations & Policy Making: rigidity, deep hierarchies
  • Informal Settlements: weak infrastructure, lack of communal public space, weak building quality, unclear legal status
  • Green Space: overall lack of green space, discontinuos distribution
  • Urban Mobility: lack of public transport, individual car use
  • Heritage: lack of services and infrastructure, no integrated touristic concept applied

Opportunities

  • Spatial Structure: continue the tradition of density and diversity, upgrade existing areas
  • Density: new typologies with private-public support, sustainable transport
  • Demography: new market opportunities due to cultural mix and growth
  • Regulations & Policy Making: using test cases for more flexibility, using existing local informal structures
  • Informal Settlements: establishment and upgrade by legalisation and provision of public space, education and community facilities
  • Green Space: create continuos green spaces or bands, create green ‘fingers’ to linkt to landscape, maintain productive landscape as multifunctional area
  • Urban Mobility: implementation of high capacity public transport (BRT), modernisation of mini-buses, creation of multifunctional transport hubs
  • Heritage: asset in city marketing, maintaining the authenticity, cultural tourism

Threats

  • Spatial Structure: private interests undermining the clear land-city distinction, ‘sprawlification’
  • Density: low densities proposed in masterplan, massive designation of buildable due to land speculation
  • Demography: growth despite limited resources, cultural conflicts
  • Regulations & Policy Making: monotonous developments, ignorance of local conditions and opportunites, policy cannot keep up with rapid growth and change
  • Informal Settlements: social unrest through increased poverty, lacking health and education, collapsing buildings, unreglemented growth due to population increase
  • Green Space: landscape is converted to building land, pollution, overuse, fragmentation
  • Urban Mobility: simple-minded upgrading of road infrastructure, highways separating neighbourhoods
  • Heritage: modernisation degrading authenticity and cultural heritage