Dr Bouzid Boudiaf

Senior Consultant, MRC McLean Hazel Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Urban Design, Ajman University of Science and Technology

Title of presentation : ALGIERS: Place, Space-Form and Identity: Martyrs' Plaza as a case study

Many studies have been made of how people experience places- what constitutes a place and how identity is formed. Most of them, however, are strictly concerned with the form of the environment- fewer have paid attention to activities- or urban uses- and their contribution to place and identity. This is therefore an attempt to reflect on the relation between form and use in the constitution of the identity of a place.   This presentation deals with the relationship between identity and physical aspects of the urban and public places. The importance of the urban and public spaces in the communication of identity might be seen as one aspect of the broad area of research into the meaning of the urban space and its relationship to the physical form of housing in Algiers.  It examines how people perceive and use their immediate environment and how different people modify their spaces differently. It is assumed that the physical form of the urban space mediates and structures gender relations. This will be illuminated by elements of the urban development and particularly of the urban activities, and an explanation of its relationship to changing ideologies and architectural norms.  Typically, the urban and public spaces symbolize accepted notions of the appropriate function of the plaza and preferred public relations, such notions are in themselves profoundly important in structuring gender relations.  The city of today differs from its past in several respects: size and scale, street layout, land use patterns, architectural style and type of housing. Traditional urban form and building which would have provided information about regional and national identity have been largely replaced by forms characterizing the international and universal

buildings  and s paces . These changes  have  altered  the  c ity's  form  and have given rise to questions about the impact of these changes on the image of the city in terms of size and cultural values. So the concept of urban space becomes a determinant of the ability of planners, architects, engineers and administrators to provide an environment which is adequately structured to avoid chaos and to maintain an acceptable quality of life.