This paper shows the research results from a research project investigating the relationship between spatial configuration and the distribution of commercial activities in throughout planned and informal urban environments. The research methodology uses space syntax analysis as well as statistical calculations. The spatial accessibility model is combined with commercial activity data from three different types of settlements in Cairo: The throughout planned Al-Sharekat, and the informal areas Ezbet Al-Nasr and Abu Qatada. As a contrast to Cairo's informal areas, the throughout planned Al-Sharekat area is a typical example of modern urban areas with a planned modern urban shopping centre. The results demonstrate that micro scale businesses, run and owned by low income people, are sensitive to having high degree of spatial accessibility to potential customers. This spatial feature is missing in the throughout planned Al-Sharekat. Accordingly, unplanned areas are not chaotic in terms of commercial activity patterns. Finally, superficial insights that distribute activities on the principle of abstract geometric distance, such as putting the service centre of the neighbourhood in its geographical centre should be revisited.

Incidents of sexual harassment are unequally distributed in the Greater Cairo Region because cities, generally speaking, have uneven patterns of movement and activity with higher rates of pedestrian and vehicular movement and activities in some quarters than others. Central areas usually have concentrations of people and activity, hence higher crime opportunities. However, simplistic explanations of urban crime patterns will be misleading and will imply that people are a source of danger. Furthermore, previous research attempted to interpret the phenomenon of sexual harassment based on social effects, but failed to address the problem from a wider approach.Instead, the purpose of this research is to identify built environment features related to sexual harassment occurrence in the context of Cairo, to suggest different ways to create safer urban environments, based on a design-based approach. Consequently, Space syntax is used to provide evidence-based explanations and conclusions. Analysis is done at two different, yet interrelated scales: city scale and urban block scale. That is, to provide a holistic understanding of the influence of built forms on sexual harassmentThe results show that touching incidents take place along globally accessible street segments, where local territoriality and social control are missing.