The Changes in the urban roles of the public spaces and its impact on the future plans of Great cities centers

Abstract

The Great cities center all over the world have common features in its structure, Such as The Historic district that represent the oldest part of the city, the Central Business district "CBD", the Main of public transportation networks, and many other urban components. Those mentioned urban components including Public spaces, such as the Central Parks, Main squares and pedestrians Plazas which represent the Social Activities of a great city center do not exist as the same as in the rest of the city. at the same time they have urban roles within the urban structure of the great cities center. Not only the traditional Urban role but also the new roles that appaiers according to the global changes (political, social, economical, environmental issues) in the 21 century . This paper aims to determine the new urban roles of the public spaces in the great cities center and its impact on future plans, to be applied in the developing plans. Not only on Cairo city center but also on the other world's Great cities.Our Methedology based on analyzing the structure of the Greater Cairo city center, focusing on the distributing, classification of the Public spaces and its urban characteristics. And Using the SWOT analysis to evaluate the existing Public spaces in the Greater Cairo center and its urban performance related to the new social activities.The study found that there are many urban problems about the Public spaces in Cairo city center affect its performance.Cairo center suffers from shortage of the Public spaces, considering that most of its squares designed as automobiles squares, such as the famous square of "El-Tahrir". KEY WORDS: Urban roles, Public spaces, Great Cities, Future plans.