- Wild Urban Design: Sustainable Landscape for Street Children    1610 kb by    El Gohary, Germin Farouk | germin_elgohary@yahoo.co.uk    Short Outline It is a project that was held in Egypt in 2009 to design a sustainable field for street children testing their reaction to urban sustainable ideas of landscape. It ends with recommendations for urban design of street children. Abstract ''The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity. (The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw) Street kids are now considered a global problem all over the world, we have to think about them and face the problem from all points of view, as their number is rising daily according to the United Nations' estimations, its' population is 150 million and rising daily. The name ''street children'' is to describe market child and homeless ones. These two categories in Africa and the Middle East are popular and always seen. Recently foundations around the world are raising this problem to the top of the problem's jar. People perceive street children as being dangerous and criminals, but this perception needs to be changed. In the planning field they've started scoping and managing this gigantic problem. The strange interaction between children and the street environment has evoked their own language for dealing with life. But a chance is given to the researcher in Egypt by a foundation which works in a project in the desert for re-habitation of street children. It was to design a place of 3 Fadden that will be made especially to attract them from streets and keep them safe. The foundations' request was to design a garden for teaching kids productive ideas through interactions with the socio-spatial environment. This was the first step to think in a sustainable future. Art also was one of the basics to think of using creativity to get out their violence power in a creative way. Sport was a target for getting out their negative challenge. The design started in a normal playground way, but it has been flexible, as each day a new problem comes out to the surface and the design has been changing till now. Some problems that occurred in the site had to be solved in a very strict way for dealing sometimes with a junior criminal not a normal child. The research consists of (4) main parts; first is a quick review for sustainable landscape. The second is data collection about the users street children), their behavior and demands. This part needs a look through past researches and some interviews with the children themselves. The third part of the research is the case study design and its different stages and changes due to sudden effects and circumstances. The fourth part should be the observations as it will be tested through the next few months with a stable sample of ten children. The project breaks down the barriers and professionalism in planning and urban design. Each day a new way of thinking comes out to cope with the children's different way of life. It was one of the most unique experiences that come once a life. That is why it has to be taken in consideration and to be used for the sake of others. The research aims to end by some recommendations for the most appropriate sustainable conditions and elements for the expression of ''new wild landscape for street children''. Keywords street children-socio-spatial environment- wild urban design- Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2012: Fast Forward: Planning in a (hyper) dynamic urban context   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper