Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt , along the Nile and in northern Sudan. Many Egyptian Nubians were forcibly resettled to make room for Lake Nasser after the construction of the dams at Aswan . Nubian villages can now be found north of Aswan , on the west bank of the Nile and on Elephantine Island , and in large cities such as Cairo . In the following topics an overview of the spatial characteristics of the Nubian settlements, before the construction of the dam, the emigration project and the urban pattern proposal for new Nubian settlements is given.

Characteristics of Nubian settlements:

• Urban patterns were organized in an hierarchy order:
  - Settlement level: represents an ethnic group level
  - Najas: representing a segment of a settlement.
  - Group of houses
• Types of urban patterns: grid order in the south Nubia , and free order in the north Nubia .
• Roads were in general narrow to allow the maximum shade and shallow, and crooked.
• Important public elements: guesthouses, mosques, public toilets, Maziara (water points) and shops.
• Basic unit: Nubian house. They were built adjacent to each other, and have courtyards at their heart.

Emigration project

The relocation process of Nubian settlements was very problematic. The houses and urban structures planned in the "new" Nubian settlements suffered from design effects what cause: their modifications the build of traditional houses in the boundaries and the return to the old location around Aswan Dam Lake .
The main problems of the new settlements urban forms were:

• Block distributed in parallel rows;
• The application of a "correct" housing organization and orientation resulted in a monotony and un-functional settlement plan;
• The streets are too wide, the open spaces have an inhuman scale and there is no relation to the culture of Nubian people;
• The houses were small in area and without privacy;
• In many cases the public buildings were located on one side of the residential zone, far away from the residential units on the other side.

In a general way, the culture of Nubian people were not appropriately considered, what caused the disruption of the sense of community, with the presence of many "strangers" and the separation of Nubian extended kin and friends.

Urban Pattern Proposal for Nubian Settlements

In the thesis Development concepts and implementations strategies for new settlements with spatial reference to Aswan Dam Lake Region, Amr Merdan proposes an entire pattern for Nubian industry-based agricultural settlements. The presented pattern shows many similarities to the Central Place pattern and is characterized by a Hierarchy order of “centres:

• Settlement centre: located at the heart of each settlement with a buffer space separating it from the najas,
• 8 surrounding najas: small separated communities each surrounded with its agricultural lands. The najas consists of:
  - A naja centre
  - Four parts of group of houses (small industrial cell)

The idea is to have settlements economically self-sufficient, but integrated with the surrounding settlements. The size of the naja is determined by the population needed to support one elementary school (population of one settlement: between 10.000 and 20.000). To cope with the climate conditions, streets are narrow and run in a north south direction, so that they remain in shade most of the day.

Nubian Village
(c) Rob Withney 2006

Nubia: Before the flood
(c) AUC 2006

The functional hierarchies and their thresholds.
(c) MERDAN, Amr. 1999