Buildings and their Impact on the Environmental, Social, and Urban Fabric within the Cities of Iraq

On December 27, 2022, Mr. Zaid Petros Khammo, from CUE’S Architecture Department conducted a seminar titled “Highrise Residential Buildings and their Impact on the Environmental, Social, and Urban Fabric aspects in the cities of Iraq”.

During the seminar, Mr. Zaid explained that this phenomenon and rise of building residential complexes and towers in such majestic scale and number of units has a massive impact on the city. Mr. Khammo explained the issue of populating such huge numbers of people in compacted residential compounds. Having such an enormous number of people in one place is generating social and psychological effects on the people. Mr. Khammo described that the culture and mentality of a Kurdish and Iraqi people is based on a living style that would be having the family living in low rise houses, two story houses with a garden and an ease of accessibility from the street rather than living on the 40th floor where you have no direct access to public spaces, gardens… etc.

Nonetheless, the mentality of having the kids playing in the garage or garden right in front of the eyes of the parents is a comfort and source of safety for the parents and kids, which is impossible to do through living in tower compounds. 

Mr. Khammo concluded the seminar by raising the awareness of safety and fire hazards that could happen through these majestic buildings. He explained how the probability of error is multiplied for such big, populated buildings. Throughout the seminar, the subjects discussed were presented with local examples and projects in the cities of Erbil, Baghdad, and Duhok.