Land use change and its effect on urban structure: Althawra street as a case Study

Abstract

Change of use occurs in many cities, especially in developing countries. This change clearly appears in city centers due to poor urban planning and ineffective organization, as well as poor administrative and governmental planning. This situation pushes real estate owners and investors to randomly change the uses of their properties, which It causes distortion of the urban fabric of many residential areas and neighborhoods and causes visual pollution as a result of the loss of uniformity in street facades. As well as environmental, social and economic impacts. From this, the problem of the research was clarified in “the lack of a comprehensive cognitive perception that explains the role of changing land uses and its impact on the urban structure,” and from it the research hypothesis was determined as follows: - Changing the use of land in residential areas from residential to commercial affects the urban structure and leads to weak structure formation. The urban structure of the city, so the research aimed to build a knowledge base about the impact of changing land use on the urban structure within its various levels, which the research defined as (the functional, formal, structural, social, environmental, and economic levels). The research adopted its methodology by defining land uses and the changes that occur on them, and then studying the reasons that help to change land use patterns, as well as presenting the manifestations and results of changing land uses on the urban structure. One of the residential areas in the city of Baghdad was chosen, which was characterized by rapid response to this change, which is the Al-Thawra Street area, specifically the area confined between Palestine Street to the west and Canal Street to the east. The research adopted a field study to determine the reality of land use in the study area and a questionnaire for three samples (residents, shop owners, and frequenters) in the area, and then analyzed the results and reached conclusions and recommendations.

Keywords – “ land use change ,” “ urban structure ,” “ levels of urban structure”.