Citation: Moussa, R.A. A Responsive Approach for Designing Shared Urban Spaces in Tourist Villages. Sustainability 2023, 15, 7549. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su15097549 Academic Editors: HyungKyoo Kim and Changyeon Lee Received: 25 February 2023 Revised: 28 April 2023 Accepted: 28 April 2023 Published: 4 May 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article A Responsive Approach for Designing Shared Urban Spaces in Tourist Villages Rasha A. Moussa Architecture Department, College of Architecture and Design, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia; rmoussa@psu.edu.sa or rasha.amoussa@gmail.com Abstract: Tourist villages are constructed as a means for reducing the stress caused by the rapid changes in modern life by providing a comfortable environment for users to integrate with. Never- theless, many villages cannot achieve a satisfactory performance level due to the ignorance of urban designers of the relationship between humans and their environment and its impact on developing successful urban spaces. This paper aims to analyze and measure the impact of humanitarian needs on the spatial formation of shared urban spaces in three tourist villages on the Northern Coast in Egypt, as it is one of the significant areas that the government and the private sector focus on devel- oping and considering as a domestic and international touristic area. Furthermore, the study uses different quantitative techniques to achieve its goals, such as spatial analysis and data analysis of user questionnaires using SPSS to measure the factors that affect each need. The study’s findings place special emphasis on the connection between spatial formation’s capacity for meeting and satisfying user needs. Moreover, the results highlight design criteria that contribute to creating responsive urban spaces and should be considered by urban designers to achieve the highest performance quality in these shared spaces and generate social sustainability. Keywords: humanitarian needs; shared urban spaces; behavioral processes; design criteria; social sustainability 1. Introduction Urban spaces play a crucial role in achieving social sustainability, as they act as centers for social interaction and mediums for practicing various activities [1]. In addition, their spatial formation and the distribution of landscape elements constitute clear indicators of the cultural, economic, and social level of their users. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the rapid development and complex manifestation of modern life caused additional psychological pressures on humans. Ac- cordingly, the private and governmental real estate sectors in several cities started to invest in specific types of projects with a distinctive nature that meet the special needs of peo- ple. Among the most prominent of these projects are the tourist villages, which spread significantly along the coastal cities and rely mostly on creating a comfortable environment for people to relieve the pressures of daily routine [2]. One of the main pillars that attract people to these villages is that they are associated with a high percentage of green open spaces, which vary from private property to semi-private or public (shared) spaces. The shared spaces are public open spaces that are distributed across the village and surrounded by residential units. In addition, some contain more than one activity to fulfill various needs of users, such as kids’ playgrounds, swimming pools, and seating areas [3]. The main problem, as outlined in this study, is the failure of many tourist villages, despite the importance of shared open spaces, to achieve their goals due to the lack of certain components that encourage people to stay. Furthermore, some urban designers organize physical and landscape components without considering the psychological, sensory, and social needs of the users, which negatively affects the efficiency of these spaces and may Sustainability 2023, 15, 7549. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097549 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability