The Impact of The Characteristics of Spatial Organization of Historic ‎Castles on The Urban Development ‎Strategies for The Surrounding ‎Areas‎ ‎“Salah Al-Din Citadel in Cairo as a case study”‎

This paper deals with the historical overview of the castles and forts and what are the rules and foundations on which they arose. Castles constitute tourist attractions at the global and local levels as well as studying the variables and elements of spatial organization, in addition to the concepts of urban development strategies for historical regions. Salah al-Din Citadel was elected in Cairo because of the historical and urban depth it carries today. By studying how it originated and what changes occurred on it after the explorations and excavations that are taking place (design and development strategies) and then the practical study and analysis of the results of the practical study (General conclusions). The aim of the study is to analyze the urban fabric of Salah al-Din Citadel and define indicators for the characteristics of spatial organization using the Geographic Information Systems Program (GIS) and (Space Syntax) analysis, as they have an impact on the development of city centers and their importance in shaping the urban body of the city in an attempt to reach the strategies for urban development and possible urbanization of historic city centers (especially the cities of the castles). From the review of studies that dealt with the study of the organizational characteristics of urban spaces, the research problem crystallized (The lack of a clear perception of studying the characteristics of the spatial organization of castles and their impact on the development of urban development strategies) and the research hypothesis was formulated with (The study of the characteristics of the spatial organization of castles affects the integration of the castle with its urban surroundings and its historical characteristics ). The research was based on the development of the elements of a theoretical framework on the characteristics of spatial organization and then applied in practice to the castle of Salah al-Din as a model.