An investigation into the typology of the Medina public open spaces in Fes and Meknes

Urban public open spaces play an important role in linking the constituent elements of the city and are considered to be a critical factor in the city. The oldest context of the cities of Morocco, known as Medina, due to preserving its original structure, consists of good patterns for the recognition and analysis of vital open spaces. The public open spaces of the two cities of Fes and Meknes in Morocco are the case studies in this paper. During the visit to Medina of the two cities of Fes and Meknes, a dramatic difference was seen in public open space of these two cities. Public open space in Medina of Meknes is relatively geometric and shaped by larger scales, while this type of open space is not seen in Medina of Fes. Most public spaces in Medina of Fes have organic geometry. These differences led the author to find out more about the open spaces in these two cities (Medinas) by examining and analyzing field observations of the typology of these types of spaces and how to search them. Meknes and Fes are chosen for this research because of some similarities as both of them were the capital of Morocco in periods of Moroccan history, the recording of both the textures in the UNESCO historical monuments and the location of both in a geographic area on the one hand and the structural differences in their public open spaces on the other hand has taken place. Fes, with its ancient history and urbanization attributed to the descendants of Imam Hassan Mojtaba (peace be upon him) as an ancient Islamic pattern, is important. Meknes As well is significant because of the inclusion of more complete examples of public open space in Medina. This paper seeks to discover the typology of the public open spaces in Fas and Meknes, based on field observation which is the basis for future research on why these differences are emerging. This descriptive-analytic study was conducted by collecting and analyzing information based on field observations and collecting information from library studies. The review and analysis of various public open spaces in Fes and Meknes shows that the public open spaces in Medina of these two cities can be classified in the following categories: the squares in the Medina texture, the open spaces in front of the outstanding monuments, the open spaces at the intersection of several pathways and the open (semi-open) spaces in neighboring units. The open spaces in front of the outstanding monuments and open spaces at the intersection of their pathways include sub-species. This paper examines and analyzes how these open spaces are arranged and what are the existing elements in them.