| dc.description.abstract | Mosques are a vital part of every Islamic society and are primarily places where spiritual and social connections among Muslims are expressed and established. In a historical context, a mosque in a sizeable community has a significant influence beyond religious focus into most, if not all aspects of the life of the community. Although these are typical places of worship, the population pressure and the need to sustain their operations have led them to adopt business models to generate money. It's noticeable that mosques have influenced and changed the spaces around them in terms of land usage including commercial, residential, mixed-use, parking, tourism, education institutes, and offices/ administrative(civic), among others. The evolution of these uses has led to traffic congestion, crowding, noise and air pollution, change in use, pressure on the provision of services such as water, and sewerage, informal developments, incompatibility of uses, poor solid waste management, and many more.
The influence of activities done in the spaces around mosques on the organization of urban space has not been the subject of comprehensive planning studies so far in Uganda. The research attempted to fill this gap by outlining the impact of these activities around the mosques on the organization of urban space. In this study, qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to give more insight into the reasons for the change in use around the mosque, and the impact on planning and design. Literature from various scholars was used to also provide a correlation between the activities around the mosques and their impact on planning and design.
The findings of the study indicated that the majority of the activities around the mosque are businesses (commercial) such as boutiques, hardware, schools, and offices. The major reasons for the existence and change of use in the spaces around the mosques were well-connected roads that ease accessibility, changes in technology, and more. The current activities around the mosque have impacted the planning and design both positively and negatively. The major impacts were traffic congestion, the development of informal businesses, and the provision of social amenities.
In conclusion, for orderly and coordinated planning and design to be achieved around mosques and in host neighborhoods, there is a need for integrated planning, mass sensitization about physical planning, use of strict laws on development and building so that the negative impacts of activities around the mosque are limited. | en_US |
