Urban Nature and Public Spaces: Livable, Healthy and Resilient Environments. The Case of Baghdad Historical Center

Abstract

Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, has been at the center of the regional geopolitical struggle. Prolonged decades of civil unrest and economic adversity left their mark on the city’s social fabric as well as the built environment, profoundly on the Baghdad Historical Center (BHC). In the 1950s and 1960s, the BHC served as the primary destination for Baghdadis and visitors alike, offering various retail services, leisure activities and traditional Souks, banking, and government offices. Today, BHC has been transformed by traffic congestion and unregulated developments; its built heritage and traditional urban fabric are fragmented and in a state of disrepair. Environment degradation has meant high levels of air pollution and the absence of green and open spaces that adversely impact the quality of urban life. Nor does the historic center benefit from its three-kilometer edge along the Tigris River. The thesis questions whether urban design strategies can transform BHC, reclaim its significance as a city center, regulate soft movement, and improve its environmental conditions. The research aims to investigate urban strategies that alter the image of the city to enhance its livability for a resilient future through researching the historical development of the city and urban transformation in the last thirty years. Open public spaces of BHC will be assessed according to several liveability indices to address the potential and limitations of their contribution to liveability. The case study investigates the potential of the BHC as a vibrant heritage and livable environment through urban design interventions that revive the city center, reappropriate its public spaces, and integrate it with the social and economic fabric of Baghdad. The focus is on the river corridor and the water edge, the riverfront, landmark heritage architecture, and historic urban paths serve as components of a green-blue network to address environmental, ecological, and social improvement of the BHC.