Contemporary Urban Centres as a Mean Towards Sustainability

Urban centres were affected by contemporary trends and stakes of the various forces that drive the city to change in sequence and lead to growth and development. Especially, after the emerge of many movements that were related to improve the built environment such as: The New Urbanism, Smart growth and the Compact city. Those movements involved the mixed usages as their primary principle in the construction, planning and real estate development sector. In return, the urban construction of Egypt inevitably was affected by the impact of new trends especially in new urban areas. Many of those movements and trends that advocate mixed-use, believed that such as this contemporary concept will lead to more sustainable lifestyles and they emphasize that urban centres will become more attractive, viable and safer places to live and work. Thus, it is important to look at the relationship between this contemporary trend and the concept of sustainability and its dimensions, to reach more awareness and understanding. The main objective of this paper is to provide an analytical narrative for the concept of mixed-use development, the movements and advocacies as well as the benefits associated with it and the discussion of the relationship between this contemporary trend and sustainability. This study is expected to contribute to the literature enrichment with respect to the lessons learned which assumes a strong relationship between the trend of contemporary urban centres and sustainability.