URBAN DESIGN AND ITS ROLE IN CONSTRUCTION OF PLACE IDENTITY: TOWARDS A METHODOLOGY FOR THE PROCESS OF URBAN DESIGN SUPPORTS MAKING AND THE FUTURE OF PLACE IDENTITY

Recently, the Issue of absent Identity in our contemporary Urbanization has occupied great
importance particularly in the fields of architecture and urban design, since urbanization outcome of
the contemporary cities lacks characteristics that provide it with its unique urban identity or place
identity, that emerges from the natural, built and cultural characteristics of the local community.
Urbanization being a reflection for the local community characteristics is the correlation and
belonging function between the community and the city and thus be the place, elsewhere, separation
and alienation occur between the community and the city and thus be Placelessness, which
necessitates the work in this research to reach an integrative design approach in the field of urban
design that supports giving the urbanization outcome unique place identity, since urban design
carries the first and last responsibility of place making process.
The research aims at determining the concept of place identity and its basic elements, in addition to
the concept of urban design, the dimensions of urban design process and its role in construction of
place identity, to reach an integrated approach in urban design that ensures the emerge of an urban
product characterized by belonging to the environment where it is constructed and also respects the
community spatial characteristics and its cultural attitudes supporting the future of place identity.
This study reached the effectiveness of the urban design in forming the urban identity for the city
and giving it distinguishing , uniqueness and civilized continuity or giving it nonidentity ,
disappearance and death , frequently the study managed to formation an overall approach for the
urban design process which confirms the duality of the inputs of the concrete ( the built features and
natural features of the environment) abstract ( social cultural features of the environment) to reflex
dual outputs concrete ( urban environment belonging to its built natural context) abstract ( urban
environment belonging to its social cultural context – meets the needs and hopes its society sooner
or later ) it is what supports structure of the place identity and its civilized continuity at light of its
ability to keep up the technological scientific development sooner or later.