Recognition of the relation between urban spaces and social movements with emphasis on Cairo, Sana a and Manama

The recent upsurge of different social movements in Middle east illustrates the central role of cities for social movements. The late months of 2010 were the starting points of the liberation movements among Arab countries in the Middle East. The fall of Tunisian government and democracy leading attempts in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria based of the news broadcast caused urban spaced such as Tahrir sq. in Cairo, Pearl sq. in Manama and university sq. in Sana’a to be known as the sign of liberalism and social protest against dictatorship, whereas they were completely unknown beforehand.
Putting political parties away, continuity in protest movements happening in public spaces in the Middle East have attracted many urban planners’ specialists about the properties of the mentioned spaces. The present study tries to answer the following questions based on the relations among place, power, and social-political movements.
• Is there any meaningful relation between host public spaces and social movements?
• Which type of public spaces has got more potential to attract social movements?
• What are the similarities and differences among the spaces hosting the social movements in the Middle East?
Thus, three main aspects of Location, Typology of talented spaces, and social classes arrangements are used to explain in the three mentioned spaces in Cairo, Manama, and Sana’a.
Present study, is a practical research using blended quantitative-qualitative approach. quantitative is investigated through space syntax method as a means of monitoring.
The aim of the use of this technique is expression of various aspects of the relationship between morphological structure of built environment and the social and spatial structure of events in the city.
The theory of space syntax was proposed by Bill Hillier et al. in the 70s at the Bartlett School. The theory is a technique for exploring the relationship between space and society. The most important discussion in this theory is an emphasis on the fact that the pattern of a settlement is rooted in the collective life of its users. It is in a way that some social norms of communities can be achieved by analyzing patterns of settlements.
The analysis is done based on converting maps to linear graphs and quantifying the spatial qualities of the nodes through the use of mathematical formulae. This method provides a simple operational process to explain, compare and translate settlement patterns.
In this Study, some indexes of space syntax such as Global integration (Rn), local integration (R3), synergy and intelligibility were investigated in the axial map and the "choice" value was investigated in the segment map using depthmapX software.
Content analysis of hosted urban spaces in the three cities shows that they have fundamental objects in common about the following issues: Social movements shape up in squares (public identity type) has high priority than streets (informal behavior type). The protests are mostly transferred to the street due to the suppression. The best examples are Manama and Sana’a which protests are transferred to the street.
 Studied social movements tend to development in all regions with equal or higher integration than the average integration of entire city. Social movements and social forces in the Middle East has been with the participation of the majority community (superior and inferior groups), we witness the formation of the movement in areas with high integration like Central Spaces in Cairo and Sana’a.
 Intelligibility index analysis in the case studies shows that the majority of hosted spaces have got higher intelligibility than other parts of the city. While in Sana’a and Cairo there were protests in other parts as well, tahrir and university squares in both cities include high participation of the protesters.
 Social movements which have the least support of the majority group or sometimes even oppose them are divided into superior and inferior groups. Inferior groups are forced away and continue their protests in the spaces with low levels of integration and intelligibility. In these cases, urban areas adjacent to the origin of these forces have been selected. Like Bahraini Shiite protests in Manama’s pearl sq. or Ekhvans Supporters in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Sq.
 Social movements spaces have shape up considering the priority of mounted. Selected spaces in social movements are supported by the majority of the selection criteria are appropriate pedestrian movement. Tahrir square and university square in Sana’a are like this.
 In all cases, the governments tried to change the existing relations in space, and control the spaces. The Egyptian governments failed in its efforts to occupy space with security forces and paramilitary forces fans. But the Yemeni government occupied the space by force expelling protesters, and the government of Bahrain took stronger action to capture the space.
Wave of Islamic awakening movement against authoritarian regimes in Persian Gulf Arab states has provided an opportunity to look at the relationship between space and power, and to study the characteristics of the host spaces in these countries. This paper attempts to examine spatial configuration samples using quantitative indicators, the relationship between space and social arrangements productive forces of social movements to be examined from a different angle.
Examining the hosted spaces in the cities of Cairo, Sana’a and Manama shows that there is a meaningful relationship between the formation of social movements in square-like spaces (accumulation) and squares of urban spaces (gathering space) are more preferable compared to urban spaces, streets and cafes.
Public protest experiences in the cities studied as case studies show that, when the social movement considers the support of the majority of social forces, it must be assumed that a space including the properties of space syntax should be considered as the first priority of being chosen as the protest space.