Car Free Zone as Planning Vision to Enhancements Transportation in City Centers (Holy Najaf City Center-Iraq)

The idea of a car-free city represents a solution to the problem of fuel consumption and air pollution caused by the use of cars and replaces the idea of owning and using private cars with an efficient transportation system, and it doesn’t mean living without cars, because cars have become an integral part of a modern city. On the contrary, people can still drive in city but will not park their cars at home. Instead, they park elsewhere on their way home. Research problem: Weak regulation of the movement of vehicles in the center of the holy city of Najaf, which leads to the danger of pedestrian movement in the city center. The aim of the research: to provide a safe and effective movement for pedestrians in the center of the holy city of Najaf. Research hypothesis: The use of the car-free zone strategy in the city center transportation system achieves security for the population in the old city. The research examines reasons behind suggesting free-of-vehicle areas It gives a number of policies to achieve the strategy in the center of the holy city of Najaf, including the provision of public transportation, furniture and comfort for pedestrians in the streets, as well as easy access for the residents of the area. Thus, it is possible to draw the conclusion that there is a possibility to achieve this strategy in religious centers according to a number of policies that suit the specificity of the area.

THE EVALUATION OF PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES ON HAJJ CROWD BETWEEN ARAFAT AND MUZDALIFAH PEDESTRIAN STREET

Makkah is the holy city of Muslims which is located in the southwest of Saudi Arabia. It is the being visited by pilgrims from all nationalities every year for the annual Islamic Pilgrimage (Hajj). Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam which is the largest annual religious pilgrimage event in the world. The Hajj management authority specifies that the current pilgrimage’s performance is challenging due to the increase of pilgrims every year. Pedestrian conflicts and uncomfortable walking environment are the crucial issues that have been identified, which are due to insufficient pedestrian facilities. Hence, this paper presents the pedestrian facilities assessment between Arafat to Muzdalifah road. The objectives of the study are to determine the available pedestrian facilities for pilgrimage from Arafat to Muzdalifah, and to suggest the suitable solution for pedestrian facilities in every 5 minutes walks. Meanwhile, qualitative methods of site inventory and observation were applied to gather the related data on the selected study area. Possible pedestrian facilities design is suggested for the purpose of future Hajj improvement.

Mariun

Upon the Mamluk takeover of Sis in 1375 CE, the former Queen Mariun of the Armenian state of Cilicia was taken into captivity and held first in Aleppo and then in Cairo. From there she traveled to Jerusalem, where she lived until her death. Her tomb at the Sts. James Monastery in Jerusalem is often mentioned in medieval and postmedieval texts, but the information in later historiography concerning Mariun and some of her contemporaries who survived the fall of the Armenian kingdom and lived through the fourteenth century has been subject to inaccuracies. This article considers some of these accretions and misrepresentations using textual and archaeological documentation, and reconstructs several key episodes in the life and afterlife of Mariun. The story of this remarkable noblewoman crosses the political realms of at least three Mediterranean communities—Armenian, Mamluk, and Latin—and reflects the scope of the ever-changing geopolitical complexities that continued to mark the eastern Mediterranean under Mamluk domination. Spending the finalstages of her life in exile and on pilgrimage, the former queen of Armenia appeared in the Holy City at a time when female spirituality was flourishing within self-organized monastic institutions.

Kashi Labh

Kashi Labh is a sensory audiovisual ethnography of the distinctive politics-of-care staged by families while they anticipate and create the possibility of Moksha for their dying relative in Kashi (Varanasi). This research examines audiovisual ethnography as it facilitates a performative space that allowed me and my interlocutor Shiv to navigate the holy city and improvise different possibilities for his mother’s Moksha during his ten-day stay in Kashi.

A comprehensive approach of hydrological issues related to ground water using GIS in the Hindu holy city of Gaya, India

Purpose Gaya, the holy city of Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, is facing an acute shortage of potable water. Although the city is blessed with some static and dynamic water bodies all around the region, they do not fulfill the requirement of millions of public either inhabitants of the area or tourists or pilgrims flocking every day. Countless crowds, congested roads, swarming pedestrians, innumerable vehicles moving throughout the day and night have made the city into a non-livable one. The present status of surface water is a mere nightmare to the requirements of the people. Due to which, massive ground water pumping mostly illegally has added a grid in addition to the other socio-economic issues. Design/methodology/approach To focus on such problem, the ground water of the region was studied thoroughly by calculating the depth of water level, discharge, pre-and post-monsoon water table and specifically the storativity in ten different locations. Some data were acquired, others were assessed, and few are calculated to provide an overall view of the ground water scenario. Findings After a long and tedious field study, it was finally established from that static water level ranges from 2.45 to 26.59 m, below ground level (bgl), discharge varies from 3.21 m3/day to 109.32 m3/day. Post pumping drawdown falls between 0.93 m and 16.59 m, whereas the specific capacity lies in between 0.96 and 7.78 m3/hr/m. Transmissivity, which is a key objective to assess ground water potential ranges from 109.8 to 168.86 m2/day. Originality/value This research work is original.