Heritage Preservation as Strategy for Recomposing Conflict Territories

Heritage admits diverse readings depending on different territorial spaces, contexts, and knowledge fields. The relation between Heritage and the social contexts is one of these knowledge areas. But Heritage accepts a dual perception as a cultural reflection. It may be considered either as the origins of the conflicts or the engine for recomposing disrupted territories. The paper proposes a reflection on the topics related to conflict territories and the roles currently played by Cultural Heritage. The recomposition of conflict territories is based on a continuous intercultural approach with important contributions from human rights, genders equality, intercultural dialogue perspectives and the fact of taking heritage as a territorial stabilization factor. The paper presents specific practical cases in the Eastern Mediterranean region where actions on Heritage religious elements collide with the national sovereign of the respective current countries. A comparative study among these different actions proves that the initial clashes can be progressively transformed into strategies able to become the future guideline for the resolution of heritage regional conflicts. These conflicts reflect two discourses: political (with strong links between national identity and religion) and scientific (with a clash between static concept and dynamic vision) where objects interact with the visitors.

The Impact of Transit-Oriented Development on Fast-Urbanizing Cities: Applied analytical study on Greater Cairo Region

Transportation has always been the backbone of development. Transit-oriented development (TOD) has been theorized, piloted and expanded increasingly in the past few decades. In this regard, this paper investigates the relationship between urban development, the transportation process, and the required implementation guidelines within fast-urbanizing cities, such as Cairo. After reviewing different related sustainable development theories, the study investigates pioneering case studies that have applied TOD and provided adequate implementation frameworks. The authors then extract and compare a set of required policies. The current Egyptian development paradigm is then discussed in relation to these enabling policies, focusing on Greater Cairo Region, Egypt. The authors debate previous development plans, progress, and newly proposed ones, focusing on the transportation process as the means for development. The study concludes with a set of required guidelines to ensure the integration of transportation with land-use planning, thus ensuring a more prosperous and inclusive urban development.

Developing Design Criteria for Sustainable Urban Parks

This study investigates how urban parks can contribute to helping cities become more sustainable through developing a set of criteria for the sustainable design of urban parks. Today, there is no example around the world where all the proposed sustainable design criteria are applied together in a specific urban park. In this context, this study aims to make a novel contribution by systematically reviewing the literature on the sustainable design of urban parks. In the light of research findings, this study contributes to the implementation of a comprehensive sustainable park design practice in our cities in the future. These design criteria may further serve as performance indicators to offer information and know-how to local authorities, practitioners, communities, and other actors in this field to help them assess their success levels and progress over time.

Investigating Built Environment Indicators to Develop a Local Walkability Index

Many studies have been conducted over the last 20 years to determine and measure factors that affect the walkability of city streets. Walkability is an essential factor in deciding whether a city is green or sustainable. This paper creates a comprehensive walkability index by analysing built environmental indicators that affect walkability. This research was conducted on mixed land use streets in Cairo, Egypt, combining the results from an online survey and a walkability assessment model developed by multi-criteria decision analysis techniques. The results were based on a three-pillar approach starting with the theoretical background to frame the walkability indicator, numerical assessment over the Egyptian cases using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique and a qualitative user perception survey. Our results confirm that determining to what extent Cairo’s streets are walkable is crucial to enhancing pedestrians’ perceptions of the walking environment. Furthermore, the results illustrated the essential factors within the built environment indicators that influence pedestrian walking behaviour.

Sustainable construction for affordable housing program in Kabul

Afghanistan suffers from four decades of war, caused a massive migration of the rural population to the cities. Kabul was originally designed for 1,5 million people, where now 5 million people live. The importation of modern western styles housing for rapid reconstruction reveals apparent cultural conflict and significant environmental footprint. The new constructive cultures for sustainable reconstruction should necessary consider the use of local materials combined with modern technologies. Earthen architecture underlies the embodiment of Afghanistan architecture. The aim of this research is to revisit traditional afghan earthen construction with the tools of industrial modernity. Three soils of the Kabul region were first characterized. Then, sun-dried mud brick and compressive earth block, with and without stabilization have been prepared and tested in the laboratory to develop the most suitable earth construction element which is cost effective and easily available compared to the imported modern products.

Mathematical Model Applied to Green Building Concept for Sustainable Cities Under Climate Change

Recently the effect of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is worldwide terrified anxiety to the public and scholars. Even this global problem is one of the great issues that continuously makes worrying the governments and environmentalists, but its solution findings are not out of the image at all. In this study, we have proposed and analysed a mathematical model for the solvable management of GHGs by sowing the seeds of green building dynamic systems. Moreover, in the model, the human community is used to enhance the production power of individuals of green buildings by absorbing the GHGs. The model is analysed by stability analysis at the equilibrium points: trivial and global equilibrium, and also by convincing the stability and instability of the system of equations. The behaviour of the propound model has been developed by numerical simulations which shows the rate of the fruitfulness of GHG components.

The Role of “Scale” on the Acceleration of Social Interaction in Urban Spaces

Rehabilitation projects are interventions that can lead to the transformation of the socio-spatial structure of obsolescent neighborhoods. The main intention of such projects is the creation and/or improvement of social interactions after physical and functional interventions. Urban Renewal Organization of Tehran (UROT) is tasked with identification of target obsolescent neighborhoods, preparation of neighborhood development plans and implementation of rehabilitation projects to improve the quality of space and stimulate social interactions. In this paper, three urban spaces in different scales (“micro” for neighborhoods, “meso” for local and “macro” for trans-local scales), designed and implemented by UROT, were selected as a case study. By designing and filling a questionnaire and after analyzing research findings, the effect of the scale of the urban project on different activities was evaluated based on the Gehl model. Overall, in the expanded model based on the scale of space, an inverse ratio between the scale of space and both optional selective and social activities has been revealed.

Liveability Dimensions in New Town Developments: An Overview of Senri New Town and Purbachal New Town

Since the 1960s, new town developments within large metropolises have been widely adopted to decongest the city centres, especially in Asian cities. This paper provides a brief account of the liveability dimensions of two new townships developed in large metropolitan areas: Senri New Town in Osaka and Purbachal New Town in Dhaka. The study primarily draws on master plans of the two developments to identify how the components of the plans reflect the physical, social, functional and safety dimensions of a proposed liveability framework. The methodology combines a review of masters plans with scholarly and grey literature on the two new town developments. The findings show while the social and functional dimensions are integrated with Senri New Town; Purbachal New Town, though more recent, appears to have missed opportunities for diversifying density, social mix and mass transit. The paper concludes that the comparative case, Senri-New Town provides insights on how public-private people participation can leverage citizen-centred design for more liveable residential living environments in developing cities.

Sustainability of Tourism Development in the city of Ain-Sukhna, Egypt

Tourism is a major economic source for Egypt, due to its significant natural and cultural attractions. Yet, rapid development and construction of touristic facilities have a negative impact on the fragile natural and cultural heritage. This paper studies the recent touristic developments of the coastal stretch of Ain-Sukhna on the Red Sea coastal region of Galala Mountain, and their impact on the surrounding natural and cultural attractions. Coral reefs and rich marine life have made this stretch among the prime fishing and scuba diving destinations in the world. The area is also famous for its year-round sunny beaches and the spectacular coastal scenic drive where Galala Mountain reaches the Red Sea. Recently, development has started on the mountains following the construction of Galala Mountain Road. Galala City started with Galala University and several residential, touristic, and commercial facilities. This paper studies the pattern of development in the area during the past 40 years and assesses its impact on natural and cultural resources.

Living Space Needs of Small Housing in the Post-Pandemic Era: Malaga as a case study

The COVID-19 lockdown period has highlighted the ability of housing to accommodate a comprehensive programme typical of the city and its public space. Housing units of under 60 m2 and in blocks of flats are the more vulnerable, as they have a higher percentage of non-community open spaces. That problem was analysed using a methodology based on psychological, urban planning and architectural indicators applied to two coastal cities in the Mediterranean area of southern Spain. The results highlight three aspects in this type of dwelling: the need to consider the orientation of the housing to improve the quality of indoor and outdoor space; the need in public housing policies for a greater number of rooms to facilitate remote working; and finally, the importance of functional terraces overlooking green areas.