URBAN CHARACTERISTICS: THE CLASSIFICATION OF COMMERCIAL STREETS IN BAGHDAD CITY

Commercial streets can not only be viewed as the centre of social activities and recreation; they can also embody symbolic and aesthetic appeal. In order to promote the local urban identity and distinctive urban character of these commercial streets, the framework of this investigation aims to achieve two points: the classification of commercial streets into types and the exploration of the active parameters of this classification within Baghdad city. To this end, 230 commercial streets in Baghdad provided the research setting. Five alternative stages of classification were determined: the spatial dimension of the distribution of commercial streets in the municipalities, similar municipalities, transportation zones, both sides of the Tigris River, and finally a comprehensive analysis was prepared. The parameters for classification are: street orientation, hierarchy, length, width between masses, geometry, degree of modernity, continuity, enclosure, spatial proportion, width of plots, and number of floors or stories. The results revealed the activities of municipality street types in comparison with other types of street, as well as the flexible potential of the classification process. The conclusion demonstrated that the distinctive urban character of different types of commercial streets is influenced mainly by: the rules of small scale classification at municipality level; the spatial dimension of municipalities or similar municipalities, and compound parameters.