Transformation of urban morphology, vulnerability and resilience: Haifa Street Area, as a case study

Abstract

Many historical cities around the world have undergone morphological changes throughout time. Some of these changes have been beneficial for the modern nature of these cities and some have been of a negative impact, some have created challenges due to rapid urbanization leading to demoted urban communities. This paper presents an understanding of the transformed and disconnected urban morphology, caused by these alterations, through space syntax evaluation and analysis regarding two main indicators: vulnerability and resilience, on the morphological and structural levels of the traditional organic city in the specific studied area located in Al-Karkh, Baghdad (Haifa street and the surrounding historical layout). The study adopted an analysis using DepthMapX software, a software especially developed in space syntax theory. Quality of urban life can be evaluated by measuring the different values of various indicators, according to resilience and vulnerability, of the studied area over two different time periods, a historical phase and the current phase, showing the amount of transformation due to the development of Haifa street which currently runs through the historical area. The results showed that the transformation affected the bonds that connect the urban structure of the traditional layout, which in turn, affected the system’s resilience represented by the traditional alleys, streets, and squares which were once lively and filled with people and energy with high internal bonding values. The modern alterations led to increasing the vulnerability of the urban performance regarding the activity of people and the quality of urban life, which was indicated by registering low analytical values. However, the area showed rapid adaptation to the forced transformation on many levels due to the flexibility of the traditional form. In conclusion, the study indicated a balance between the elements of the vulnerability and resilience indicators in the historical area and the modern development it suffered which in a way reflects the city’s identity today and therefore achieving development on a holistic level.