INTEGRATION OF BUILT FORMS AND UNBUILT SPACES IN URBAN CORE NEIGHBORHOODS OF BAHIRDAR CITY, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The neighborhood's unbuilt spaces with the built form are crucial for the holistic development and overall livability of residents. Therefore, a good neighborhood in all its forms must give meaning to everyday life and be accessible to all with an expression of the relationship between built forms and unbuilt spaces. But the built forms and unbuilt space in Bahir Dar city Urban Core neighborhood don�۪t have integration, continuity and connectivity to create a coherent and comfortable living environment in the neighborhood. The objective of the study is to analyze the existing condition of the built form and unbuilt spaces, and factors affecting their integration in the urban core neighborhood. Therefore Hidase 04 kebele was used for the case study and both descriptive and explanatory research methods were applied. As data collection techniques structured open-end and close-end questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion, measuring and drawing GIS mapping from orthophoto 2016, and photo registration was employed. 276 respondents were selected using a systematic random sampling method and 13 professionals were nominated purposively from different concerned government offices. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics while the quantitative data were analyzed through content and context analysis and the spatial data were through space configuration analyses. And the relation between built and unbuilt spaces had been analyzed and inferences had been made. The result shows that the built and unbuilt space in Hidase 04 kebele is characterized by dominated residential land use, densely populated, irregular and large blocks, small plot areas, narrow streets, unproportioned building height, absence of greenspaces, all and solid fence, and disconnected sequence of private, semiprivate and public open space and the factors affecting the integration of built and unbuilt space are the relation of the building to the street orientation, street corner and corner building orientations, greenery and landscaping, fa̤ade modulation and articulation, fa̤ade modulation and articulation, extension houses, lack of awareness, insufficient professional knowledge and lack of planning orders and design standards. Therefore, capacity building, developing detail building standards and NDP, and stakeholder involvement are needed to promote a livable neighborhood environment. Finally, this study formulates detailed design strategies and gave a case design solution.