Toward Livable City Centers. Hebron as a Case Study

Abstract

City centers of Palestinian cities face many urban planning problems; the downtown city is mostly crowded especially in the last few years, because of the increasing population of the cities and the daily migration of the residents from the nearby villages. Everyone can touch the traffic jam problem, the bad quality of urban spaces, the lack of gardens and open spaces in the city center. All this affects negatively the citizens of the city, feeling uncomfortable in the city center. Thus, this study comes to light to draw guidelines to create a comfortable and livable urban environment for people in the city center and to develop the city center to a more environmental, functional, beautiful, attractive, healthier, walk-able and livable place. This will improve the quality of life for Palestinian citizens through the city center reflecting a legible image of the city, reducing environmental and visual pollution, solve traffic jam problems, solve mixed use problems, and enhance the social relations between the people themselves and between the urban spaces. To achieve the goal of this study, theories related to the subject are discussed, then Hebron city, the largest city of the West-Bank, is selected as a case study. An analysis of existing situation of Hebron city center is conducted in terms of land use, and transportation which will pave the way for suggesting a new structure of the city center forming basic guide lines for other city centers of Palestinian cities. This study is so important, to draw down new policies for municipalities related to city centers.