Community Participation as an Entry Point for Sustainable Urban Development in Heritage Commercial Areas A case study “Arab District, Port-Said-Egypt”

The concept of sustainability aims at integrating the urban design process and preserving the natural environment from resources while reducing the consumption of resources and energy and optimum use of environmental resources in order to facilitate life conditions. Architectural studies have shown that The Danish " Jan Gehl " and his attempts in urban monitoring and the exploitation of the results of monitoring and questionnaires in improving the quality of life and applying the concept of urban sustainability, it shows the extent to which the development of ancient heritage districts has fallen short, and putting sustainable and executable development plans.
From here the research aims to: work to implement a new mechanism in proportion to the data of time and place for monitoring and questionnaire in which community participation works from the people of the district play the main role, enhancing the heritage value of the place and preserving its identity in line with the requirements of the times. Based on surveys And urban studies on Arab heritage district, and in partnership with the people of the district in monitoring and questionnaires, several results were reached that work on Improving the quality of life in a sustainable way: enhancing the possibility of walking and facilitating the accessibility Enhancing the value of safety in the streets, implementing the “Sustainability System-Eco” and creating easy streets User-Friendly Street, Reviving the architecture and social heritage, Infrastructure and Service. The research discusses how to use community participation in the application of sustainable development to heritage commercial districts and the preservation of the historical, heritage and urban identity of the place through the application of the principles of sustainable urban development.