Studying the Impact of the Urban Design Dimensions of Urban Plazas in Enhancing Spatial Belonging

Urban Plazas are considered the city's beating heart, where the individual is bound to the core of the urban culture, history and memory. When one is set in an urban plaza, he is connected to the umbilical cord of the city and its deepest identity and history. The urban characteristics of urban plazas are related to the users and their activities and functions in those spaces. The features of the urban space of the urban plaza also play a major role in the success of these activities and functions, because they affect feelings, behavior and reactions of the individual within them, which are indicators of spatial belonging. The research problem rises from the lack of interest among urban designers in integrating all the aspects of urban design of urban plazas that include human criteria and needs, of which spatial belonging is one of the most important. The lack of attention to criteria and dimensions of human needs in the designing process negatively affects the plaza's users. Such as feeling anxious, depressed, lacking pride and satisfaction with society, and rejecting its customs and traditions, which results in dissatisfaction with the urban environment and the emergence of aggressive tendencies towards it such as encroachment and abandonment. Hence, the research paper aims to study the relationship between urban plazas and spatial belonging and identify a set of indicators that must be considered in the form of a model in which the design process enhances spatial belonging in urban plazas increases its efficiency as public spaces. The research hypothesis is that urban design dimensions can enhance spatial belonging in urban plazas. The research methodology is based on two approaches. The theoretical approach explains the relationship between spatial belonging and urban design's dimensions of urban plazas and comes up with an assessment model of spatial belonging in plazas. The analytical approach is used to analyze Al-Azhar Park in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, Cairo as a domestic example. The research concludes that the six dimensions of urban design of plazas (functional, morphological, visual, perceptual, temporal, and social) enhance the spatial belonging of plazas users