pg. 1 foreword the concept of sustainable development has been a snowballing concern that spread to people all over the world. in these circumstances, engineering is considered a major tool that fuels that conscious need to make a difference in the world. by utilizing its branches of instance, construction, marine, mechanical, chemical, electrical, … etc. it enables researchers to get in touch with reality and spread awareness worldwide. engineering provides a scientifically monitored process that enables missions related to manufacturing, mining, design, operating, transporting and all other purposes to get in touch with sectors that could be rescued and later design a sustainable model that benefits both nature and urbanism. it aims to change people’s way of thinking by reckoning solutions for constrains and barriers that detach people from nature and socio-economic situation. education is a topic that is brought to the table as a fundamental principle to involve as a contentiously parallel concept to sustainable engineering in all aspects of life. green infrastructure for conservation planning is presented as a topic of discussion in this issue that operates as the offspring of engineering that functions upon the supply of energy sources that avoids compromising the environment in any shape or form. the role of practitioners is also profound in the sense that it needs to be fuelled by the power of literature and facts that illustrate the consequences of reckless behaviour. urban improvement is a case that will always be adopted by spokesmen. therefore, by activating the role of engineering as the achievable dream, many countries will attain sustainable development, while executing their futuristic plans. morad amer architect, bsc, dsc, msc, phd founder and the ceo at ierek http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.150 architectural practicing in the era of globalization (saudi market as a case study) ahmed mohamed shehata1, ibraheem n. a. al-bukhari2 1professor of urban & environmental design, islamic architecture department, college of engineering & islamic architecture, umm al-qura university 2islamic architecture department, college of engineering & islamic architecture, umm al-qura university abstract in the era of free trade and open markets, international consultant firms started to take over the local markets. local graduates are required to acquire certain skills and knowledge to compete in their local markets with the international graduates. local architectural teaching institutes are required to equip their graduates with the needed skills and knowledge. gulf construction and design market is one of the biggest markets in the world. saudi arabia, with its 646.44 billion dollar gdb, is considered the biggest market in the gulf area. the saudi vision of 2030 concentrates on economical sustainability and developing citizens. in this regard, this research investigates the competitiveness of the saudi educational outputs in the era of globalization and open markets. to achieve its objectives, the research analyzes the different scopes of practicing architecture especially in the design consultation field. international design firms working in the gcc counties and their required skills for positions were presented and analyzed. moreover, educational architectural curricula were investigated and tested against the required skills by international firms. the paper concluded with suggestions regarding architectural programs and their curricula that will enable saudi graduates to fulfill the international consultation market required qualifications and skills. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords saudi 2030 vision; educational outputs; architectural practice; competitiveness 1. introduction human capital is a vital factor in the success of any substantial development. one of the most significant assets of any society is its lively and vibrant youth. while many developed societies are concerned with aging populations, more than half of the developing societies’ population is below the age of 25 years. it is important for developing countries to take advantage of this demographic dividend by harnessing youth’s energy and providing them with the required skills. in a world without borders, achieving the desired rate of economic growth require an environment that attracts the necessary skills and capabilities both from within the local society and beyond national borders. this means building, attracting and retaining the finest local minds and provide them with all they need. one of the gulf state vision aspects is make use of the local as well as the foreign working force to contribute to economic development pg. 73 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and attract additional foreign investment. the 2030 saudi vision handled this issue and put objectives and strategies to ensure sustainable economy that works for saudi citizens. 1.1. saudi construction market profile the construction industry is showing strong growth rates through the last few years. charts in figures 1 to 4 show some of the most important indicators about the industry potential and market size of construction. it should be noted that the easily accessible building materials, such as cement, doors, and windows in the domestic market, are positive indicators for the construction industry. the growth in the construction industry has led to a wide array of job opportunities for both domestic and foreign job seekers. despite the anticipated budget deficit of usd 87 billion in 2016, construction projects are expected to be completed without any hindrances. the residential sector is also expected to grow significantly, as the rapid population growth (population is expected to reach ~37 million over the next 10 years) in the kingdom has stemmed a need for ~3 million housing units by 2025 (source global research, 2017; turner & townsend, 2017). figure 1. construction sector contribution to gdp (2011–2015) (”saudi arabian monetary agency”, 2015). figure 2. construction sector value in ksa (2011–2019f) pg. 74 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. building construction contracts awarded 2013–2015 (usd million) (”jeddah chamber”, 2016). figure 4. sector-wise construction budget distribution (2015) (”jeddah chamber”, 2016). 2. architecture practicing in gcc architecture record annual statistics of the top twenty firms in the world showed that 65% of the twenty top firms get more than 45% of their revenue out of practicing architecture design while 45% of them come from architectural engineering consultations. three of these firms get more than 40% of their revenue from international practicing. results of the top twenty firms’ revenues distribution are presented in figures 5, 6 and 7 (2016 top 300 architecture firms, 2016). figure 5. percent of international revenue of architectural firms required skills and knowledge: surveying job postings of the top firms that gets their revenue from practicing architecture shows that the required skills can vary based on the job but, in general, key skills can be classified into the following categories: (architect gulf consult, 2017). pg. 75 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. percent of design revenue from architecture figure 7. top twenty firms in 2016 survey revenue distribution codes knowledge: knowledge of codes and ability to interpret them and ensure designs meet codes is an essential aspect of any architecture job (quirck, 2014). · architectural codes · leadership in energy & environmental design (leed) · building codes · zoning codes technical design skills: using computer programs and processes are the key skills for architectural design: · technical vision · autocad · revit · drafting · model making · design concepts · design to delivery · plans · industrial design · sustainable design · specifications · rendering · computer aided · computer processing design (cad) building and construction skills awareness of the requirement and process of different kinds of buildings and construction, their settings and its pg. 76 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd surroundings require the following skills: · building construction · building systems · construction · construction administration documents · industrial design · installation · new construction · preservation · retail · rehabilitation · renovation · residential project management skills: the following skills need to be pursued and developed through studying and practicing on real projects: · analysis · conceptualization · budgeting · coordination · client relations · collaboration · communication · legal · design to delivery · zoning codes · finance · management · problem solving · project management · scheduling · estimating · specifications · building codes · architectural codes · solving complex · seeing big picture · leadership in energy & environmental problems results design (leed) moreover, job sites like linkedin statics show that job postings for architects are almost more than half of the engineering job postings (shown in figure 8). it also shows that knowledge of computer software like autocad, sketch up, revit and photoshop are essential skills specially for fresh graduates. figure 9 shows the distribution of the key skills where architectural design comes first then computer software (”architect gulf consultant”, 2017). figure 8. insights about architect top gulf consultant members on linkedin (”architect — gulf consultant”, 2017). required experience and skills vary based on the job responsibilities and description. alison doyle in her article about most wanted architectural skills argued that accreditation is more important to architects than being licensed. moreover, she claimed that leed accreditation is the most wanted skill for different firms. figures 10 and 11 illustrates the most wanted skills as per statistics of job seeking site (doyle, 2017). pg. 77 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. top skills –required by architecture consultant members on linkedin figure 10. architecture licensure verses accreditation. figure 11. key skillsrated according to job postings. 3. the saudi vision of 2030 the second axe of the 2030 saudi vision considers achieving a thriving economy. the objectives that formulate this axe is consolidated in the learning for working. it stated that this would be achieved through investing in education and training the young men and women to be equipped for the jobs of the future. it is the aim that saudi youth, wherever they live, enjoy higher quality, multi-faceted education. efforts will be doubled to ensure that the outcomes of the saudi education system are in line with market needs. launching the national labor gateway (taqat) is part of these efforts. proposed sector councils will precisely determine the skills and knowledge required by each socioeconomic sector. expanding in vocational training will drive forward economic development. pg. 78 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd scholarship opportunities will be steered towards prestigious international universities and will be awarded in the fields that serve the national priorities. innovation in advanced technologies and entrepreneurship will be in the focus of education (vision 2030, 2017). saudi architectural educational programs: the architecture schools within the kingdom were surveyed. table (1) summarizes the results of curriculum of the surveyed architectural educational institutes in saudi arabia. the survey shows that there are eighteen universities that teach architecture in the kingdom of saudi arabia. while 28% out of these eighteen are private universities, 22% of them are graduating only female architects. basic results showed that the study plan of these universities varies widely in their curriculum areas, position statements, program objectives and contents. table 1 also shows big differences in the number of elective courses and their topics. while hail and umm al-qura universities do not have any elective courses, taibah university has eight elective courses and the average of the rest is three courses. the most critical remark was the big difference in number of design courses and this, of course, affects the complexity of their projects. king faisal, prince sultan and taibah offer only three courses in addition to the graduation project. while king fahd university students attend 10 design studios. results also show that only half of the surveyed schools give a deep and detailed building science courses (joseph, 2010). pg. 79 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd pg. 80 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd pg. 81 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd curriculum models: king saud, king fahd and king abul-aziz universities are the oldest and have the most developed curriculum and constitutes the reference for the rest of the architecture universities. their curriculum is based on a hybrid model that started with the bauhaus generated american model then transformed after a series of developments into unique programs. students are enrolled for three different phases: general studies: it aims to develop their basic design skills and drawing abilities while assimilating theoretical knowledge related to the built environment disciplines. -intermediate phase (junior): in this phase, core applied and theoretical knowledge is developed and advanced architectural engineering skills are being developed. -professional phase (senior): this phase aims to build environmental and global awareness and developing management skills. there are university requirements, college requirements, and departmental requirements. most of the university requirements are required in the first year. pg. 82 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd all the other universities curricula are different modified versions of this curriculum (joseph, 2010). position statements: some of the surveyed curricula were oriented to environmental studies where sociology and human culture have an impact on the social and physical environment and their design related courses are in the core of the courses, while in other cases engineering and building science where courses of mechanical and electrical in addition to structure and design courses are in the core courses, while the rest are elective courses. in the third orientation, architecture design pedagogy is supplemented with history and theory courses. all the surveyed curricula were split somehow into three different phases: introductory stage: one or two years dedicated to offering students basic science, basic design, and the development of their imagination and conceptual skills intermediate stage: after the introductory phase, for two to three-years stage, students are specialized in one of the core disciplines mentioned earlier in this section: architecture, environmental design, or construction engineering. professional stage: one year of professional studies that include courses in professional practice, building economics, and the graduation project. programs’ objectives: some of the surveyed programs target graduate architects with extra engineering backgrounds, others target graduate architects with humanities and environmental backgrounds. they all have a dose of building science background. the overall objectives vary according to the position statement of each program. in general, the objectives can be rounded in the following points: provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for the practice of architecture. prepare graduates who can contribute to the development and improvement of the saudi local natural and built environment. develop the students’ intellectual awareness of the physical and spiritual factors constraints and their impact on the designed environment. preparing future generations of architects who can propose design and planning solutions for local problems, assimilate environmental and technological factors that influence the building industry, and manage the design and execution of buildings. 4. conclusion and recommendations the research proved that key skills defined by the professional market are almost aligned with the educational trends within the educational architecture schools in the kingdom despite that the research did not investigate the details of the courses’ contents. it also showed that there is a big variation in the given dose of many knowledge fields like design, computer and building science. building construction and computer applications, in addition to construction management axes, need to be enhanced in terms of content and the number of contact hours. this can be achieved through obligatory courses or elective ones to match the required key skills of the job postings. the research recommends that the curriculum of architecture schools within the kingdom needs to be standardized through efforts to be led by the ministry of education. this will ensure maintaining the minimum standard of skills and knowledge of the graduated architects. moreover, the curriculum in architecture schools within the kingdom must be updated periodically and aligned with the professional market required key skills. it is recommended that specialized diplomas that give professional architects deeper and more specialized knowledge in key fields like sustainability accreditation and building codes and projects management should be facilitated by architecture educational institutes within the kingdom in cooperation with the saudi professional societies. pg. 83 shehata / environmental science and sustainable development, essd references 1. 2016 top 300 architecture firms. (2016). retrieved july 15, 2017, from https://www.architecturalrecord.c om/top300/2016-top-300-architecture-firms-1 2. architect gulf consult. (2017). retrieved 2017, from https://www.linkedin.com/userp/title/architect-at-gu lf-consult 3. doyle, a. (2018). architect skills list and examples. retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/ architect-skills-list-2063730 4. jeddah chamber. (2016). the report: saudi arabia 2016 (rep.). oxford business group. 5. joseph, a. (2017). college and universities in saudi arabia. retrieved june 30, 2017, from http://get2know saudiarabia.blogspot.com/2010/08/top-colleges-and-universities-in-saudi.html 6. quirck, v. (2014, july). want to land a job at one of the top 50 architecture firms? here are the skills you need to have. . . retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/527556/want-to-land-a-job-at-one-of-the-to p-50-architecture-firms-here-are-the-skills-you-need-to-have# = 7. saudi arabian monetary agency. (2015). fifty first annual report (rep. no. 1436h). saudi arabian monetary agency. 8. source global research. (2017). the gcc consulting market in 2017. retrieved from http://www.sourceg lobalresearch.com/report/3021/the-gcc-consulting-market-in-2017 9. turner & townsend. (2017). international construction market survey 2017. retrieved from http://www.tur nerandtownsend.com/en/insights/international-construction-market-survey-2017/ 10. vision 2030. (2017). national transformation program. retrieved from http://vision2030.gov.sa/en/ntp pg. 84 introduction saudi construction market profile architecture practicing in gcc the saudi vision of 2030 conclusion and recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.276 the influence of a building’s orientation on the overall thermal performance aiman albatayneh1, sulaiman mohaidat2, atif alkhazali3, zakariya dalalah4, mathhar bdour5 1energy engineering department, school of natural resources engineering and management, german jordanian university, amman, jordan 2engineering department, jordan university of science and technology, irbid, jordan 3industrial engineering, faculty of engineering, the hashemite university, zarqa, jordan 4energy engineering department, school of natural resources engineering and management, german jordanian university, amman, jordan. 5energy engineering department, school of natural resources engineering and management, german jordanian university, amman, jordan. abstract containing and then reducing greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions require designing energy efficient buildings which save energy and emit less ghg. orientation has an impact on the building’s overall thermal performance and designing heating and cooling to reach occupants’ thermal comfort. correct orientation is a low cost option to improve occupant’s thermal comfort and decrease cooling and heating energy. an appropriate building orientation will allow the desirable winter sun to enter the building and allow ventilation in the summer by facing the summer wind stream. in this paper, a building module in jordan will be assessed using designbuilder simulation packages to find the effect of the building orientation on the overall thermal performance. it was found that the larger windows should be in the southern walls in the northern hemisphere to provide the most heat to the building through the window which allows the sun in winter to enter the building and heat it up. this will reduce the amount required for heating by approximately 35% per annum. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords thermal performance; building orientation; sustainable design 1. introduction energy consumption of buildings covers about 40% of the total energy (laustsen, 2008), mainly used for operating and constructing buildings, which emit one third of global greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions (unep, 2009). to save buildings operating energy and reduce ghg emissions, sustainable building design should be used to correctly pg. 63 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd predict the amount of energy that will be consumed. energy consumption is partly dependent on the weather, for example, in a cold year, more energy is consumed to maintain comfortable internal temperature than in a warmer year (holmes & hacker, 2007). however, it is not only dependent on climate characteristics but also building designs influence energy use. the building envelope is the focal interface between indoors and outdoors and has an important role in controlling differences in the outdoor climate conditions, providing thermal comfort for residents and therefore determining the heating/cooling loads of the building (florides, tassou, kalogirou, & wrobel, 2002). a building with a poor design envelope does not perform as well as a building with an energy efficient envelope regarding energy use. energy consumption is the amount of fossil fuels, renewable fuels and electricity consumed by end use sectors: industrial, residential, transport and service. one of the largest sectors that consume a significant amount of total energy in the world is the residential sector. in jordan, energy consumption has increased dramatically during the past years, whereas in the year 2000, the electricity usage was about 6.1 billion kwh, which has increased gradually to 13.54 billion kwh (kilowatt-hour) in 2014. residential buildings in jordan account for approximately 22% of the energy consumption of the country, with the residential sector responsible for around 43% of total electricity consumption, industrial and commercial follow with 25% and 15% of total demand respectively (jmemr, 2013). the contribution of buildings to environmental problems is increasing significantly. a considerable amount of energy is being used for the heating and cooling of a building to maintain its resident’s thermal comfort (albatayneh, alterman, page & moghtaderi, 2017). due to this known fact, measures to reduce space heating and cooling energy use through proper design of the building envelope supplies should be supported if the country is to play a part in diminishing the global problem of climate change. at the same time, a reduction in energy consumption of buildings by using precise design strategies, which perform to keep inhabitants’ thermal comfort within acceptable limits should take place (mohammad & shea, 2013; albatayneh, alterman, page & moghtaderi, 2016). simulation software provides significant contributions in dealing with climate adaptations regarding responsible and efficient energy planning (albatayneh, alterman, page & moghtaderi, 2015). these simulation tools are widely used by engineers to permit investigation and evaluation of various design alternatives (albatayneh, alterman, page & moghtaderi, 2016; albatayneh, alterman, page & moghtaderi, 2017). such tools provide an understanding of the performance of the whole building and enables architects to estimate and optimize the thermal performance of the building envelope, occupant thermal comfort and, ultimately, the energy performance of the finished building. in this paper, the software designbuilder is used, designbuilder is a state-of-the-art software tool for examining building energy, carbon, lighting and comfort performance. developed to simplify the process of building simulation, designbuilder allows you to rapidly compare the function and performance of building designs and deliver results on time and on budget. designbuilder’s simulation operating engine is energyplus. energyplus is a whole building energy simulation program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption—for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and plug and process loads—and water use in buildings (gerber, 2014). accurate orientation, correct location on a site, and landscaping changes may decrease the energy consumption of a typical building by 20% (spanos, simons, & holmes, 2005) and provide the building designers with the economical tools to reduce energy consumption. there are two ways to ensure optimal orientation: analyse various parameters and certify optimal design and orientation for each building but this approach consumes more designing time and cost. the second way is to develop ‘adaptable’ designs which perform well across a range of orientations, which are used in the volume build industry (morrissey, moore, & horne, 2011), but this approach does not give the optimum building orientation. pg. 64 albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. methodology simulating a typical residential building that would characteristically match 60% of the buildings found in jordan using the designbuilder software also preliminary data gathering that also included obtaining the thermal transmittance (u-values) of the structures used in simulating the apartment from the jordanian building code. consequently, after complete familiarity; organize, plan and propose a schedule to finalize the building design as shown in figure 1. the building was rectangle shape with around 10m length and 15m width were the long axis facing east and west. figure 1. layout of the building used in this simulation. designbuilder was used as shown in figure 2 to model the dynamic thermal performance of a typical building located in amman and simulated using hourly weather data over a complete year. amman’s climate is considered sub-mediterranean climate with a warm summer and cold winter with almost all the rain and sometimes snowfall in the winter. figure 2. overview of the building in designbuilder mode. the building has no wind obstacles and, due to not experiencing any shading, the building receives a substantial amount of solar radiation. the values and parameters that were entered in designbuilder include heating, cooling, lighting, external and internal walls data. the number of hours that each system would be functioning was also needed to be entered. after the data entry, the simulation could be run over any specified period whether hourly, daily, monthly or yearly. pg. 65 albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd this structure is reinforced concrete that is composed of reinforced columns, beams and lightweight hollow bricks, representing most of the residential building technology in jordan. using this “base case” and with the alteration of some of the simulation parameters, mainly the type of wall structure chosen, we were able to simulate and obtain the results that lead us to the best, worst, and most energy efficient orientation. the energy consumption rates were studied to find the usage trends and patterns, and to identify and control any irregular behaviour. rotating the base case building in a clock wise direction each time the building will rotate by 45◦ from the previous location as shown in figure 3. figure 3. basecase. b)rotating the building from the base case by 45◦ clock wise. 3. results and discussion the overall thermal performance of the building was largely influenced by the weather conditions (i.e. solar radiation, wind and external air temperature). fluctuations in the solar radiation during the day had a direct impact on the thermal behaviour of the building. in summer environments, high solar radiation produced high external surface temperatures on the roof, eastern and western walls and was limited on the south facing wall. the northern wall just received diffused solar radiation. in the winter, the incident solar radiation on the exterior surfaces of the building’s western and eastern walls was decreased compared to summer. however, the major difference was the significant increase in the solar radiation on the south side due to the lower sun altitude in the sky which results in warmer winter temperature when the largest glassing side faces the south as shown in figure 4. the diffused solar radiation on the northern wall remained as low as it was in summer. the high solar radiation fallen on the southern wall throughout the whole day acts as a crucial heat source for the building. there is around 2 degrees of temperature difference between the base case design and when rotating the building by 90◦ (when most of the glassing area is facing south). pg. 66 albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. temperature variations for different building orientations. to sustain thermal comfort in the summer, the cooling temperature is set to 25◦c for the summer and 22◦c in the winter. in the winter, there is a significant increase in the solar radiation on the south side due to the lower sun altitude in the sky which results in warmer winter temperature due to the largest glassing side facing the south where the incident solar radiation on the western and eastern walls was decreased compared to the summer. the high solar radiation fallen on the southern wall throughout the whole day acts as a crucial heat source for the building. for the heating loads in the winter, the highest load required was in the base case around 975kwh/year and when rotating the building by 90◦ or 270◦ the heating load drops by almost 35% to around 655 kwh/year as shown in figure 5 which is a significant drop using a budget-friendly option by just orienting the building to the right direction. figure 5. energy consumption (cooling loads) to sustain thermal comfort for different orientations. for summer months the cooling loads were peaked for the base case and when the buildings were rotated by 180◦ pg. 67 albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd as shown in figure 6 and this is due to the largest glassing areas on the east and west walls. in the summer, solar radiation produced high external surface temperatures on the roof, eastern and western walls and was limited on the south facing wall. the northern wall just received diffused solar radiation. figure 6. energy consumption (heating loads) to sustain thermal comfort for different orientations. shading has a great influence on the building overall thermal performance, the requirements for shading vary according to the house’s orientation and the climate (to eliminate the summer sun and allow the full winter sun to enter the building). shading in the summer in a hot climate improves comfort and decreases energy bills. changing the building orientation from base case to any other direction showed a significant enhancement to the thermal performance especially when the long axis is facing north and south. 4. conclusions to tackle climate change and global warming, measures need to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as designing low energy buildings. in this paper, the influence of the orientation of a typical jordanian building on the overall thermal performance was analysed. the final results confirmed that an appropriate orientation is a low cost option to improve comfort and decrease energy bills. changing the building’s orientation where the long axis to either the east or west will heat the building during unwanted time (summer) because the east and west windows lose more heat than they gain in winter and gain more heat in summer and this will reduce the cooling load by almost 10%. on the other hand, the best orientation is when the long axis faces north/south to allow the winter sun’s radiation to enter the module and to avoid the main wind stream. appropriate orientation helped to minimise heat loss in the winter months and reduce heating energy by almost 35% compared to the base case building which impressively improves the overall thermal performance. the effect of orientation on the overall thermal performance of buildings should not be neglected and can be used as a simple measure and budget friendly option to improve the thermal performance of the building and reducing the mechanical heating and cooling required to sustain the occupants thermal comfort. the site limitation may limit the capability of applying the appropriate orientation but these techniques can be applied wherever possible to reduce the amount of heating and cooling required. pg. 68 albatayneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. acknowledgements the authors acknowledge the financial support of the deanship of scientific research at the german jordanian university for the presented work in this paper. references 1. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a. w., & moghtaderi, b. (2016). warming issues associated with the long term simulation of housing using cfd analysis. journal of green building, 11(2), 57-74. 2. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a., & moghtaderi, b. (2015). the significance of time step size in simulating the thermal performance of buildings. advances in research, 5(6), 2348-0394. 3. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a., & moghtaderi, b. (2016). assessment of the thermal performance of complete buildings using adaptive thermal comfort. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 216, 655661. 4. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a., & moghtaderi, b. (2017). the significance of temperature based approach over the energy based approaches in the buildings thermal assessment. environmental and climate technologies, 19(1), 39-50. 5. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a., & moghtaderi, b. (2017). thermal assessment of buildings based on occupants behavior and the adaptive thermal comfort approach. energy procedia, 115, 265-271. 6. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a., & moghtaderi, b. (2017). discrepancies in peak temperature times using prolonged cfd simulations of housing thermal performance. energy procedia, 115, 253-264. 7. florides, g. a., tassou, s. a., kalogirou, s. a., & wrobel, l. c. (2002). measures used to lower building energy consumption and their cost effectiveness. applied energy, 73(3-4), 299-328. 8. gerber, m. (2014). energyplus energy simulation software. 9. holmes, m. j., & hacker, j. n. (2007). climate change, thermal comfort and energy: meeting the design challenges of the 21st century. energy and buildings, 39(7), 802-814. 10. jordan ministry of energy and mineral resources, (jmemr). (2013). petroleum and oil shale projects. retrieved from http://www.memr.gov.jo/pages/viewpage.aspx?pageid=202 11. laustsen, j. (2008). energy efficiency requirements in building codes, energy efficiency policies for new buildings. international energy agency (iea), 2(8), 477-488. 12. mohammad, s., & shea, a. (2013). performance evaluation of modern building thermal envelope designs in the semi-arid continental climate of tehran. buildings, 3(4), 674-688. 13. morrissey, j., moore, t., & horne, r. e. (2011). affordable passive solar design in a temperate climate: an experiment in residential building orientation. renewable energy, 36(2), 568-577. 14. pearlmutter, d., & meir, i. a. (1995). assessing the climatic implications of lightweight housing in a peripheral arid region. building and environment, 30(3), 441-451. 15. spanos, i., simons, m., & holmes, k. l. (2005). cost savings by application of passive solar heating. structural survey, 23(2), 111-130. 16. united nations environment programme (unep). (2009). buildings us, construction initiative. common carbon metric for measuring energy use & reporting greenhouse gas emissions from building operations. pg. 69 introduction methodology results and discussion conclusions acknowledgements http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.278 nanotechnology: towards sustainable solar cells haitham e. morsy1, magdy m. qasem2, wael s. moustafa3 1architecture department, lecturer assistant in faculty of engineering, october 6 university 2associate professor in architecture department, faculty of engineering, mansoura university 3istituto di ricerca e promozione delle aree interne della sicilia, caltanissetta, italy abstract in recent years, the technology of constructions witnessed such a development in building materials that assures the sustainability of buildings. due to the negative effects on the environmental zone, the sustainability of buildings may not be achieved. nanotechnology is not a technology with certain specifications but it is the unification of different fields of ultrafine units which is measured by a nanometer. the applications of this technology will appear in the near future in different fields such as: bio-medicine, computers, and energy and building materials. this research focuses here on the ways, materials and techniques through which nanotechnology is used to have perfect buildings and to save energy, these cells produce 108.261 m.w.h compared to normal cells, which produce 96.174 m.w.h. nanotechnology will also make these solar cells more efficient, longer and environmentally preferable. they will maintain their production of electrical energy over the long term compared to normal cells that produce less than 10% annually. moreover, the research paper aims to encourage the utilization of solar cells through which the solar energy can produce clean electrical energy. this electrical energy is produced from the materials made by nanotechnology, which make the cells live longer and more sufficient. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainable design; nanotechnology; solar cells 1. introduction architecture is a reflection of the civilization of people and the spirit of the times and is now witnessing an era of ideological shifts in the field of architecture influenced by the revolution of technology and information that imposed itself on the scientific and architectural arenas. even though the continuation of this technological development is strong, it began to negatively impact society in the following ways: 1. the increasing of the phenomenon of sick buildings and polluting the environment 2. there are multiple variations of new architectural models that utilize modern technology, but they negatively impact the environment pg. 31 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. a lot of renewable resources, which contribute to the environmental efficiency of buildings, such as solar energy in egypt are not utilized because people do not understand how to use them optimally so they, therefore, employ weak usage techniques. architectural creativity has not stopped from the traditional methods of design in terms of aesthetics of proportions and function. however, contemporary creativity has joined the integration of modern technology and technology in architecture whether at the level of design, construction or execution or in building materials, which aim to achieve the best products that seek the benefit and well-being of the building using environmentally friendly methods that ensure the sustainability of its resources. solar energy in egypt is one of the most important sources of alternative and renewable energy. solar cells have witnessed wide applications in all aspects of our daily lives. this is because we have a huge amount of solar energy in our arab countries. despite the steady expansion in the areas of its use, it still faces some obstacles and difficulties, the most important being its inefficiency and high price. in the long term, many researchers are now using the latest nanotechnology to try to develop solar cells that are more sustainable, efficient and less expensive. here are questions that come to mind: • can solar cells be developed through nanotechnology making them more sustainable? • can nanomaterials be compatible with the architecture of the future, which takes into account the highest environmental conservation standards? 2. sustainable design the concept of sustainable design can be summed up as a design that seeks to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, ensure health and comfort for the occupants of the building, and thereby improving the building’s performance and achieving the basic objectives of sustainability such as reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources (figure 1) (eid, 2010). there are several factors needed to reach sustainable design: • integration of planning and design: the design is self-running compared to traditional design • the design depends on sun light and natural cooling as energy resources • sustainable design depends on a structural philosophy rather than particular, familiar forms. • sustainable buildings are assumed to be expensive during implementation but are economic in operation. • consider rationalization and consumption of energy and improve the health of the user of the elements of the design, followed by other elements, the trends of modern design must be directed to the forms of energy conservation and the integration of technology and the preservation of humans and the environment (ashby & schodek, 2009). figure 1. global plans for demand for renewable energy resources as an alternative to fossil energy sources that face the risk of depletion over the next 100 years (beckman, 2017) pg. 32 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. the operational formula for achieving sustainability in architecture many of the pioneers of sustainability in architecture and many professional and academic organizations have worked hard to develop sustainability tools (figure 2). to make these tools available, concrete, building design should be long and play its role throughout time to be resistant to natural disasters. this means that the building achieves the maximum utilization rates of energy, water and materials regarding the following issues: 3.1. capacity based on self-sufficiency of energy 1. acceptance of the building for amendments and expansion in the future 2. the design of the building should avoid damage to health. 3.2. building materials through the optimization of materials, the use of renewable building materials, the use of durable materials and products, the selection of energy-saving materials and the promotion of the use of recyclable materials. 3.3. site selection natural validation of the site is beneficial in terms of preventing the environmental issues that can affect the supply of natural resources. the view of the world’s leading architects about the environment has changed considerably, or rather, towards sustainable architecture, and has changed many architectural concepts. but the challenge for architects today is to make this architectural approach as a design principle for the architecture of the 21st century (eid, 2010). figure 2. the most important strategiesto be upgraded to achieve sustainable design principles (rashwan, 2014) this research will focus on how solar energy can best be exploited by solar cells. 4. what are solar cells? solar cells are devices that convert solar energy into electricity (fig. 3), either directly through the photovoltaic effect or indirectly by the initial conversion of solar energy to heat or chemical energy. the most common form of cells for solar energy is the photovoltaic effect so that a light emitting diode, on a two-semiconductor device, has pg. 33 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd a difference in voltage between the layers. this voltage is capable of running a current through an external circuit of this power supply (goetzberger & hoffmann, 2005). figure 3. solarcell components (”australian business council for sustainability energy”, 2004) 5. nanotechnology many definitions of nanotechnology are presented by experts and researchers. most of these definitions are similar in terms of content, concept, and/or their private and public status. they can be summarized in the following concept: ”it is the search, control or control of the internal matter environment at the atomic or molecular scale by restructuring and arranging atoms their component molecules, deal with structures of sizes between 1 and 100 nm in the design, production, characterization and application of unique materials, structures and systems” (ashby & schodek, 2009). nanomaterials have many terms for many international organizations: table 1. multiple terms from different nanomaterials (world health organization (”world health organization”, n.d.) iso standard materials with an external dimension of nanometers or with internal or surface nanometers. european union scientific committee on emerging and detected health risks materials with one or more external dimensions or internal structures may exhibit new properties compared to the same materials without nanometric properties or a form of material consisting of separate parts of a function, many of which have one or more scales of 100 nm or less. eu re-enactment of the new food law any material manufactured with one or more external dimensions of 100 nm or less or consisting of separate internal or surface functional parts having one or more dimensions of 100 nm or less including the environment, blocks and compounds of a size exceeding 100 nm but retaining the characteristics of the nanometer. american council of chemistry (acc) engineered nanomaterial is any material made of a single, binary or three-dimensional size between 100 nm in the normal way. it is noted that a nanometer or 100 nm is not a line error and the data available for materials outside this range may be the value. spherical fullerenes are involved in this range although their size is less than 1 nm. continued on next page pg. 34 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued through these previous terms, we find that they all agree that nanomaterials are materials with one external dimension on the nanometer scale 1-100 nm) 6. case study figure 4. a map showing the study area and the case studyraya plaza building (beckman, 2017) the 6th of october city will be highlighted as follows: 6.1. climate profile of the city the 6th of october is located in the average solar radiation area in egypt. therefore, the general climate characterization of the city is categorized by the large daily thermal range and the increase in solar radiation (fig. 5). the amount of horizontal solar radiation is about 6 kwh/m2/day, the average number of solar daylight hours per day is estimated to be10.825 hours, which is also high for cities in the world. of course, this average increases in the summer and is less in the winter (fig. 6) (el-shimy, 2009). figure 5. climate profile of the 6th of october city using the climate (consultant5.5) (10) pg. 35 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. the thermal survey ofthe study area using the climate 5.5 program (beckman, 2017) figure 7. a mapshowing the study area and the study status of raya plaza building (”engineering department of raya plaza building”, 2017) 6.2. case study: raya plaza building (6th october city, giza) the banner plaza building was chosen for the following reasons: 1. based on the certificate of leed and, therefore, its objectives to improve the efficiency of energy use 2. it is classified as intelligent through its use of the elements of smart architecture. 3. a modern building used in technology nanotechnology as a user in the glass facades, thus, the research objectives can be achieved through the application of the photovoltaic cell system for use in the building, which is processed by nanotechnology in an attempt to increase and improve the efficiency of the building and reduce its energy consumption and this will be the objective of the research as shown in (fig. 7) (engineering department of raya plaza building, 2017). 7. ret screen expert program ret is the program used in our research, which was developed by the natural resources academy of canada, and the first version of the program was published in 1996 (ret screen v.1), which was developed by the academy pg. 36 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd until 2007 to reach the fourth issue (ret screen v.4). it was also developed in 2014 to its latest release, ret screen expert (fig. 8), the latest version can be downloaded from the academy website (renewable energy technologies screen). figure 8. program’s main interface (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.) 7.1. solar cells used in the case study (normal cells and cells manufactured by nanotechnology) two types of solar cells (fig. 9) were used, one of which was normal cells and the other a nanotechnology plant as shown in (table 2). normal cells and cells designed using nanotechnology table 2. applying the vocabulary of the appropriate photo voltaic system of the study model (shaded vocabulary is the vocabulary to be weighted) (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.) company the name of the board capacity (w) efficiency (%) the area of the board (m2) capacity per square meter (w/m2) solaxess perc 310 26.2 1.2 280 normal cells sanyo mono si hip 205ba3 205 17.5 1.2 173.7 nano cells mono si hip 200ba3 200 17 1.18 169.4 mono si hip j50bi3 180 15.2 1.18 125.5 the characteristics of the selected photo voltaic system were determined and the system was distributed as shown in fig (10). 7.2. distribution of the components of the system (normal and nano-photovoltaic cells) on the building the required components can be distributed in a separate private electricity room or at least distributed by the technical engineer in the main electrical panel at the entrance of the model. the arrays can be distributed to the ceiling. the space can be increased by no more than 1 m2 as needed in order to reach the maximum amount of electrical energy that can be generated by comparing cases. the requirements for the distribution of matrices on the surface, such as the distances to avoid self-shadowing, are taken into account. pg. 37 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. the panel data window which will be used (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.) figure 10. distribution of photovoltaic matrices in astatic routing method and an open assembly in this case, matrices should be distributed on the surface with an open assembly method and a fixed orientation with ideal inclination. the dimensions of the proposed board are 1.50 m x 0.80 m, with an ideal slope of 27º. this should be carried out in an open distribution mode after leaving the required inter-ports, which are calculated according to the distance between the matrices and the length of the matrix, which is estimated in the city of 6th october to be about 1.8 as shown in (fig.11), (fig.12). accordingly, interval between matrices = ratio (1.8) x matrix length (1.5) = 2.70 m using ret screen expert, the following results are summarized in table (3): pg. 38 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 11. data on the proposed renewable energy system photovoltaic systems (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.) figure 12. relation between the fixed arrays and the citylatitude (”top 50 solar”, n.d.) table 3. calculating the amount of electrical power generated by the pv system in different design cases of the system using the ret screen expert program and comparing it with mathematical equations (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.). normal photovoltaic system the photovoltaic system is manufactured using nanotechnology inputs (system data) outputs (the amount of electrical energy produced (mws)) climate data 6th october city data routing method fixed fixed inclination 27 27 number of panels 264 264 january 6.509 7.903 february 7.825 8.526 march 9.115 8.622 april 8.345 9.5277.903 may 8.012 9.132 june 7.913 11.118 july 8.780 10.102 august 8.801 9.910 september 8.452 9.455 october 8.256 8.396 nov. 7.641 8.358 dec 7.357 6.212 annually (total) 108.261 96.174 pg. 39 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 8. production of electrical energy for regular and nanoparticle photovoltaic systems figure 13. economic value of solar cell sustainability inthe near term (time efficiency) (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.). figure 14. economic value of long-term sustainability of solarcells (time efficiency) (”renewable energy technologies screen”, n.d.) 9. results the research ends with the results of the case study of the raya plaza building in 6th of october city. the photovoltaic systems manufactured by the nanotechnology industry are higher than their current counterparts which produce 108.261 m.w.h compared to normal cells, which produce 96.174 m.w.h. photovoltaic systems can achieve high performance in the generation of rate electric cells when compared to ordinary cell. this is because the cells manufactured using nanotechnology are characterized by the effectiveness of time, in the long and short run, where they are to maintain the production of electrical energy in comparison. moreover, these photovoltaic systems may achieve proper thermal insulation for the roof by using nanoparticles during the manufacturing process of solar cells. as a result, thermal insulation is improved. finally, a coefficient-based study found that these systems can be technically applied to the model chosen. 10. recommendations the paper showed the need to use nanotechnology in solar cells because of its efficiency, but at the same time, the urgent need to continue scientific research in this field to reach the best product at the lowest cost. references 1. ashby, m., & schodek, d. l. (2009). nanomaterials, nanotechnlogies and design: an introduction for engineers and architects. amsterdam: butterworth-heinemann. 2. australian business council for sustainability energy. (2004). the australian photovoltaic industry roadmap pg. 40 morsy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd / australian business council for sustainable energy. the council carlto. 3. beckman, k. (2017, september). dnv gl’s energy transition outlook: for the first time in history, energy demand will peak. retrieved from energy post: http://energypost.eu/dnv-gls-energy-transition-outlook-forthe-first-time-in-history-energy-demand-will-peak/ 4. eid, e. m. (2010). sustainability architecture towards a safer future. technology and sustainability conference in urbanization. saudi arabia: college of architecture and planning, king saud university, saudi arabia. 5. el-shimy, m. (2009). viability analysis of pv power plants in egypt. renewable energy, science direct, 2187-2196. 6. engineering department of raya plaza building. (2017). architectural designs of raya plaza building. 7. goetzberger, a., & hoffmann, v. u. (2005). photovoltaic solar energy generation. springer-verlag berlin heidelberg. 8. rashwan, a. (2014). the role of nanotechnology towards designing sustainable future architecture. master’s thesis, department of architecture, faculty of engineering, mansoura university. mansoura, egypt: mansoura university. 9. renewable energy technologies screen. (n.d.). ret screen. 10. top 50 solar. (n.d.). b5 solar photovoltaic and solar systems partner. retrieved from top 50 solar: https: //www.top50-solar.de/de/teilnehmer/id/1636/b5-solar.de.html 11. world health organization (who). (n.d.). intergovernmental forum on chemical safety. retrieved from intergovernmental forum on chemical safety: http://www.who.int/ifcs/forums/six/en/index.html pg. 41 introduction sustainable design the operational formula for achieving sustainability in architecture capacity based on self-sufficiency of energy building materials site selection what are solar cells? nanotechnology case study climate profile of the city case study: raya plaza building (6th october city, giza) ret screen expert program solar cells used in the case study (normal cells and cells manufactured by nanotechnology) distribution of the components of the system (normal and nano-photovoltaic cells) on the building production of electrical energy for regular and nanoparticle photovoltaic systems results recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.373 evaluating the emission of co2 at traffic intersections with the purpose of reducing emission rate, case study: the university of nigeria, nsukka nathan david1, chinedu duru1 1department of electronic engineering, university of nigeria abstract traffic congestion is a major problem around the world that results in slower speeds, increased trip time and a longer queuing of vehicles. the production and use of fuels for vehicles results in emissions of greenhouse gases (ghss), besides carbon dioxide, which include methane and nitrous oxide. traffic lights that wirelessly keep track of vehicles could reduce journey time and fuel consumption thereby reducing carbon emissions. in view of the importance of vehicles as an emitter of ghgs, namely co2, with the growing concern about climate change, this paper aims to explore the emission of co2 from vehicles at a traffic intersection for the purpose of reducing emission rate. realising this reduction, points to the implementation of an advanced traffic management system (atms) with wireless sensor networks (wsns) on the road network of a region will be discussed. with such a technology, a region can experience lower queue lengths at an intersection and therefore lower co2 emission surrounding the area. the university of nigeria, nsukka (unn) is used as a case study in exploring this phenomenon which over the years has seen a drastic increase on the amount of cars on the campus area. with the assumption that an atm system with wsns is deployed on the unn campus area, the paper looks into the traffic dynamics that makes it possible to evaluate co2 emission at traffic light intersections to ensure a cleaner environment. throughout the paper, it will be made clear that with the relevant equation of co2 emission and the arrival time per vehicle, co2 emission rate can be evaluated at a traffic intersection depending on the volume of cars at the intersection. with such evaluation, further analysis can be made on ways to actually reduce co2 emission and techniques for implementation with an atm system. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords co2 emission; traffic dynamics; intersection; arrival times; wait times 1. introduction over the years, the university of nigeria, nsukka (unn) has seen an ever-increasing traffic demand which, as a result, has brought in problems of congestion and air pollution. the pollution issue results from exhaust gases emitted from the combustion of fuel released into the atmosphere through the pipes of motor vehicles. consequently, the emissions from these cars are the primary causes to the greenhouse effect and a main contribution to air pollution (ucs, n.d.). additionally, due to the increase in the number of vehicles, the university has seen pg. 14 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd an increase of congestion particularly at the intersection of road networks where cars mainly experience “stop and go” traffic of usually long queue lengths. this further augments air pollution where vehicles are emitting more at stagnant positions on the campus area for a considerable amount of time. the solution in reducing these greenhouse gases from vehicles and therefore decrease the congestion at intersections is an effort towards the implementation of an advanced traffic management system (atms) through the deployment of smart traffic lights with wireless sensor networks (wsns). with such a system, traffic conflict will be minimised and queue lengths will be shortened through optimum and more efficient traffic signalling switch control. this, by all means, will cut down vehicle journey times, reduce waiting times, and consequently reduce the amount of gases emitted at a closed area on the campus. this paper aims to explore the emission of co2 from vehicles at a traffic intersection for reducing emission rate. in order to realise the reduction level of the greenhouse gas at the crossroads, it is assumed that the university of nigeria has implemented an atm system with wsns to manage traffic flow in the region. a study by chinedu & nathan (2014) provides such implementation where it focuses on the deployment approach on a region where no existing infrastructure is in place such as the unn campus area. 1.1. existing works works on the use of wsns for the monitoring and control of traffic flows have been pursued at different levels. goel, ray & chandra (2012) provided work on an adaptive traffic signal system with wsn technology. the proposed system was designed to give a clear way for emergency vehicles on the road to reach their destination. the system involved a traffic intersection that was smart enough to manage traffic flow anytime an emergency vehicle needed to pass through. although actual implementation was not pursued, the work provided a great insight into the use of wsns for a smart traffic light system. yousef, al-karaki & shatnawi (2010) also presented an adaptive traffic control system using wsns but this time actual new techniques were provided for the controlling of traffic flow sequences. these techniques were dynamically adaptive to traffic conditions on both single and multiple intersections. the proposed system involved the usage of a wsn to instrument and control traffic signals roadways, and an intelligent traffic controller developed to control the operation of the traffic infrastructure supported by the wsn. this work gave a real deep insight and understanding on the design and traffic control algorithm for the proposed smart control lighting system. in contrast to the previous sources where conventional wsns were used with known sensing methods, professor al bovik, (2017) presented a wireless visual sensor network scheme for the management of urban traffic flow. the approach was an innovative method into the way traffic flow can be controlled with the use of a complex visual sensor network that can automatically or semi-automatically deliver information on traffic flow more resourcefully. the proposal also represented an incredible opportunity into fast-forward technological innovations in many areas that include video acquisition and processing over wide geographic areas by smart cameras; and the integration of the information learned between cameras to reach aggregate understanding of the complex (traffic) scenes. although complex, the technological proposals will have incalculable impact on society, the economy, and the fragile environment, when implemented. unlike previous literature and the subsequent sources of toepfer, chervakova, goetze, hutschenreuther, nikolić & dimitrijević (2015), collotta, salerno & scata (2012) and zhou, cao, zeng & wu (2010) where deep insights were given on a traffic control system with wsns, this paper attempts to exploit the realization of the atm system for the conceptual evaluation of co2 emission at traffic intersections. it will be presented that through the relevant equations of co2 emission and arrival time per vehicle, co2 emission can be evaluated at a traffic intersection depending on the volume of cars at the intersection. with such assessment, further scrutiny can be made to reduce co2 emission with the implementation of an atm system. pg. 15 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.2. overview of the study consider the scenario of fig. 1 where there is a traffic intersection with four external approaches. figure 1. trafficintersection with approaches directions 1 and 3 are opposite each other and so share the same green times, whereas directions 2 and 4 share the same signaling times. for simplicity, each direction consists of a single lane and turning lanes are not considered (david 2009), (shih 2013). a network of sensors and traffic lights are deployed to make up the atm system as shown in fig. 2. figure 2. atm system with wsns. as observed from fig. 2, traffic lights are deployed for each external approach and sensor nodes, connected through the overlap of their coverage, are placed on each approach path where the node closest to the traffic light (sink node) is connected in the same way. from fig. 2, it can be seen that the system is made up of clusters of wsns where the traffic lights are the cluster heads and sensor nodes are candidates of the cluster network. the candidates essentially detect vehicle activity and send relevant information such as the arriving, waiting, and departing times of motor vehicles to the corresponding cluster head. the traffic lights can then determine queue lengths for each approach and react accordingly. the primary goal of the network will be to determine the traffic signaling switch times that will minimize the average delay of vehicles at the intersection. a base station, deployed externally from the system can be used to manage all traffic lights. pg. 16 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. traffic dynamics with co2 effect as mentioned in section 2, the atm system with wsns measures the queue length of each path approach, detects, and estimates the volume of traffic. the goal of the system, as previously stated, is to determine the traffic signaling switch times that minimizes the average delay of vehicles at the intersection. it is understood that the longer cars wait at an intersection, which therefore increases the queue length because more cars are arriving in time, the more co2 is being emitted in that closed area surrounding the intersection. since vehicles are static during the red phase of a signaling light, the focus of analyzing the amount of co2 emitted per vehicle is on that red stage of the traffic light where cars are delayed and more are arriving at the intersection. 2.1. analysis on emission of co2 at traffic intersections at any given time and during motion, vehicles are emitting co2 which is proportional to their travel time (seconds), travel distance (m), and acceleration energy (m2/s2) as modeled by the following equation by guan, sengupta, krishnan & bai (2008) and li & shimamoto (2011). eco2 = 0.3kc t + 0.028kc d + 0.056kc aee (1) aee = ∑ k k=1 σk(v 2 k − v2k−1) (2) where: eco2= co2 emissions (g); kc = coefficient between gasoline consumption and co2 emissions (g/cc); d = travel distance (m); t = travel time for the distance d (seconds); aee= acceleration energy equivalent (m2/s2); vk = the speed at time k (m/s); σκ = when accelerating, this equals 1; otherwise, it equals 0. applying equation 1 to the condition of vehicle motion at an intersection implies that aee=d=0. therefore, equation 1 is simplified to: eco2 = 0.3kc t (3) equation 3 is the relationship that is used in describing emission at the red phase of the signaling light where cars are on standby waiting to continue with their journey. it is understood that the waiting time for all vehicles at the queue of the red phase are different. this is because cars are arriving at subsequent times to the queue which as a result defines the amount of emission per vehicle. to get an idea of the individual amount of co2 emitted by each vehicle at the red stage is to imply that the red phase has a length of (t2-t1) where t1 is the start of the red signal and t2 is the end of the signal getting ready to turn to green. therefore, let qwait =qwait (t1,t2). if j≤qwait or qwait (t1) ≤ j≤qwait (t2) which represents the position in the queue of a vehicle waiting, then at the beginning of the red phase, the wait time of the jth vehicle in the queue is: t2 − at j (4) where is the arrival time of the jth vehicle (david, 2009), (shih, 2013). to be precise, determining the arrival times for each vehicle is the key in defining the total amount of co2 emitted at the intersection area. pg. 17 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2.2. arrival time for a more realistic approach, it is assumed that cars are arriving to an intersection randomly and unrelated. this makes the poisson distribution process a more suitable model for arrivals in which in the process, inter-arrival times follow the exponential distribution with the probability density function (pdf) of yates & goodman (2005): f (x) = λ e−λ xu(x) (5) where λ is the arrival rate in vehicles per minute per approach, and u(x) is the unit step function. the step function is required because negative inter-arrival times are impractical (david, 2009). equation 5 allows for a response that is instant and because realistically the traffic dynamics of a traffic scenario requires a minimum space between vehicles, the exponential distribution is shifted for a more practical inter-arrival time. therefore, equation 5 is modified in luttinen (1996): f (x) = λ 1 − λ (space) e − λ 1 − λ (space) (x − space) u(x − space) (6) where space is the minimum space between vehicles in seconds. consequently, vehicle arrival times can be generated by the following equation david (2009) & pang-shi (2013): at2 = at1 + space −( 1 λ − space)log(γ) (7) where at2 is the next arrival time; at1 is the previous arrival time; and γ is the uniformly distributed random number between 0 and 1 ramanathan (1993). 3. evaluation of co2 emission at intersection in evaluating the amount of co2 emitted, an intersection of the unn campus area was chosen as determined by chinedu & nathan (2016) to carry out the analysis. this is marked with a circle as shown in fig. 3. figure 3. chosen intersection using figure 1 as a template, it was observed that the average number of cars arriving per minute at the marked intersection per approach was recorded as shown in table 1. pg. 18 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. volume of cars per minute for each approach approach volume of cars 1 20 2 10 3 15 4 25 the following are the obtained sample results for approach 1 using the parameters presented in table 2. table 2. parameters for evaluation kc 2.31g/cc t2 60 seconds figure 4. arrival time for each vehicle figure 5. wait times for each vehicle for t2=60 seconds based on the arrival times of figure 4 and the wait times of fig. 5, it was observed that the co2 emission per vehicle was directly proportional to the wait times and inversely proportional to the arrival times as expected and as shown in fig. 6. this meant vehicles arriving subsequently after the first arrival, emitted less co2 due because of their lesser wait time. the total amount of co2 emitted was recorded as 423.9354 grams for t2=60 seconds. pg. 19 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. co2 emission for each vehicle for t2=60 seconds observing figs. 5 and 6, it can be seen that reducing co2 emission would essentially mean decreasing length t2 of the red phase. the following figures provide proof of this conjecture of which t2 was reduced to 30 seconds. figure 7. wait times for each vehicle for t2=30 seconds figure 8. co2 emission for each vehicle for t2=30 seconds observing both figures 7 and 8, it can be seen that shortening the red phase length to 30 seconds produces better results than t2=60 seconds. first of all, the wait times for all vehicles is reduced and because the red stage length is pg. 20 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd shortened, this produces smaller queue lengths due to the lesser amount of cars waiting at the intersection. because wait time is directly proportional to co2 emission, the amount of emission of the greenhouse gas has also reduced in comparison to that of t2=60 seconds. the total amount of co2 emitted was recorded to be 72.33712 grams for t2=30 seconds which is considerable less than the co2 emitted for the red phase length of 60 seconds. in applying this analysis for the entire four lane approach of figure 1, it is safe to say that reducing the red phase length of a traffic signaling switch system is the most optimum way to minimize the average delay of vehicles at the intersection. through the reduction, queue lengths will be shortened and consequently co2 emission and other greenhouse gases will be less at that closed area of the intersection. 4. conclusion this paper provides an exploration on the emission of co2 from vehicles at a traffic intersection for the purpose of reducing emission rate. the university of nigeria, nsukka was used as the case study where it was assumed that an advanced traffic management system with wireless sensor networks was deployed in the campus area. the focus of this exploration was at the red phase of a traffic light where the greenhouse gas of co2 is being emitted from vehicles at static positions. it was found out that arrival times and wait times of uncorrelated vehicles was crucial in evaluating the total co2 emission at an intersection. through the evaluation and in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emission, the atm system with wsns can be fitted with co2 detection mechanisms to monitor levels of the greenhouse gas on road networks which can then ensure a cleaner campus environment. 5. references 1. bovik, a., waller, s. t., heath, r., & vishwanath, s. (2010). wireless visual sensor networks for urban traffic management. university of texas, austin. 2. collotta, m., pau, g., salerno, v. m., & scata, g. (2012). a novel road monitoring approach using wireless sensor networks. 2012 sixth international conference on complex, intelligent, and software intensive systems. doi:10.1109/cisis.2012.37 3. duru, 1., & david, n. (2016). a realisation on the deployment of smart traffic lights with wireless sensor networks in an effort to ensure safety on the roads of the university of nigeria, nsukka campus area. international journal of scientific & engineering research (ijser),7(4). 4. duru, c., & david, n. (2014). evaluating the deployment problem of a wireless sensor network on the university of nigeria, nsukka campus for the detection and tracking of vehicles. international journal of scientific & engineering research (ijser),5(10). 5. goel, a., ray, s., & chandra, n. (2012). intelligent traffic light system to prioritized emergency purpose vehicles based on wireless sensor network. international journal of computer applications, 40(12), 3639. doi:10.5120/5019-7352. 6. guan, x., sengupta, r., krishnan, h., & bai, f. (2007). a feedback-based power control algorithm design for vanet. 2007 mobile networking for vehicular environments. doi:10.1109/move.2007.4300806 7. li, c., & shimamoto, s. (2011). dynamic traffic light control scheme for reducing co2 emissions employing etc technology. international journal of managing information technology,2(1). doi:10.5121/ijmit.2012.4201 8. luttinen, t. (1996). statistical analysis of vehicle time headways. otaniemi: teknillinen korkeakoulu. 9. ramanathan, b. v. (1993). actuated signal network simulation program. institute of transportation studies university of california irvine. pg. 21 david / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. renfrew, d., & yu, h. (2009). traffic signal control with ant colony optimization: a thesis(unpublished master’s thesis). 11. shih, p. (2013). traffic signal control with swam intelligence ant colony optimization(master’s thesis, faculty of california polytechnic state university). san louis obispo 12. toepfer, h., chervakova, e., goetze, m., hutschenreuther, t., nikolić, b., & dimitrijević, b. (2015). application of wireless sensors within a traffic monitoring system. 2015 23rd telecommunications forum telfor (telfor),236-241 13. union of concerned scientists. (n.d.). car emissions and global warming. retrieved august, 2017, from h ttps://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/car-emissions-and-global-warming#.xcik 1wzzpz 14. yates, r., & goodman, d. (2004, july 26). probability and stochastic processes, second edition[pdf]. wiley. 15. yousef, k. m., al-karaki, j. n., & shatnawi, a. m. (2010). intelligent traffic light flow control system using wireless sensor networks. journal of information science and engineering,753-768. 16. zhou, b., cao, j., zeng, x., & wu, h. (2010). adaptive traffic light control in wireless sensor networkbased intelligent transportation system. 2010 ieee 72nd vehicular technology conference — fall. doi:10.1109/vetecf.2010.5594435 pg. 22 introduction existing works overview of the study traffic dynamics with co2 effect analysis on emission of co2 at traffic intersections arrival time evaluation of co2 emission at intersection conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.280 using system dynamics modelling and communication strategies for a resilient and smart city in vietnam tuan m. ha1, viet h. duong2 1thai nguyen university of agriculture and forestry, thai nguyen city, vietnam 2systems design and complexity management alliance, sa, australia. abstract this study reports on a case study using a systems thinking approach, system dynamics modeling tools and communication strategies in dealing with a complex disaster management issue in haiphong, a vulnerable coastal city in northern vietnam. desktop studies together with a number of interactive workshops were organized that provided inputs for developing a big picture of the current situation using vensim software. bayesian network modeling was then used to identify systemic interventions aiming at achieving the final goal of a disaster ready, resilient and smart city. a number of communication strategies have been formulated and implemented. initial evident successes of the interventions are discussed in this article. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords system dynamics modeling; systems thinking; communication strategies and tools; disaster risk reduction; resilient city 1. introduction we are living in an interconnected world. there is a high need to seek sustainable solutions to environmental challenges (ho, law, & lim, 2017). vietnam is ranked among the top five countries worst affected by climate change (”world bank”, 2011). the long coastline, low lying area and complex river systems of the red river delta (rrd) (northern vietnam) expose it to various consequences of climate change, including erosion, typhoon, sea level rise, flooding, and extreme weather events, etc. (le, nguyen, & shibayama, 2014; nguyen & shaw 2010; takagi, thao, esteban, mikami, & ca, 2015; ”world bank”, 2011). as a coastal city in the rrd, haiphong is highly vulnerable to these risks (”disaster preparedness and resilience: vietnam”, 2016). a previous study by le and ha (2016) revealed that dealing with disaster risks towards a resilient city is a highly complex issue. this complexity is also reflected in the national strategy for natural disaster prevention, response, and mitigation to 2020 (vietnamese government, 2007). besides building capacity for local organizations, businesses, and communities in response to the uncertain risks, a holistic approach is required to utilize and strengthen public-private partnerships (ppp) for synergic efforts in disaster risk reduction (drr). in addition, communication strategies through an awareness campaign were also defined as critical to raising awareness of both public and private sectors and thus stronger collaboration in the disaster preparedness and responses (le & ha, 2016). pg. 10 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd traditional problem-solving approaches with a top-down and linear vision have been proven inappropriate, leading to various failures and unsustainable outcomes (bosch, nguyen, & ha, 2014; ha, bosch, & nguyen, 2015a, 2016; vester, 2007). in terms of project management, the traditional approach using the logframe matrix has recently been criticized due to its rigidity and supply-driven approach where no learning occurs (fujita, 2010). acceptance of a soft systems approach in project management and evaluation has been growing. pollack (2007) criticizes the conventional hard paradigm regarding its over-emphasis on control using reductionist techniques in which the project manager is considered as an expert, with no requirement for participation. in contrast, the soft systems approach emphasizes learning and social processes, requiring participation from local beneficiaries and stakeholders. systems thinking and system dynamics have recently been proven their effectiveness and validity in addressing complex problems in a variety of contexts around the world (bosch et al., 2014; bosch, nguyen, ha, & banson, 2015; maani & canava, 2007), including vietnam (ha et al., 2015b, 2016; nguyen, graham, ross, maani, & bosch, 2012; trinh, ha, bosch, & nguyen, 2015). however, little research has been carried out using the systems thinking approach and system dynamics modeling tools in the field of disaster preparedness. therefore, this study was conducted using system dynamics modeling together with a comprehensive communication strategy via a media campaign and partnerships to aim at a resilient and smart city through improved knowledge, awareness, capacity and shared vision among local government organizations, businesses, and community members. in which, local businesses are the primary target group due to a large number of enterprises in the bustling city (le & ha, 2016). the paper describes process steps in configuring the ‘big picture’ of the current situation in the research area using a systems approach, followed by the identification of strategic actions and/or systemic interventions to achieve the goal, including communication strategies. the conclusion section highlights key findings of this research and recommendations for future research and application. 2. methodology the study was carried out in haiphong, a coastal and vulnerable city located in the red river delta of northern vietnam during 2015-2017. a desktop study for understanding the current situation was conducted based on existing information from a previous baseline survey in 2014 (”pwa”, 2014) and secondary data from relevant departments and organizations. those include the vietnam chamber of commerce and industry (vcci) – haiphong chapter, haiphong alliance for cooperatives and enterprises, and departments of planning and investment, statistics, agriculture and rural development, and natural resources and environment, and some active projects of non-profit organizations in the area. a number of dialogues, focus group discussions, and workshops were organized to obtain inputs from representatives of the local organizations and relevant stakeholders with the support of user-friendly system dynamics modeling tools. results of these activities together with the desktop studies were used to develop a causal loop diagram and/or a systems model of the project using vensim® software (”vensim 6.1.”, 2011). the model depicted the current situation, highlighting causal relations and patterns of relationships among different factors (key issues identified by the stakeholders) that influence the achievement level of the end goal (disaster ready) haiphong city. it also revealed leverage points for systemic interventions and which stakeholders could be involved in each intervention. neticatm software (norsys, 2013) was used to identify systemic interventions and/or strategic actions and test future scenarios and measure impact through sensitivity analysis and modeling. the sensitivity analysis involved discussions of the participants regarding (1) the current state of each factor (system node and/or variable) within the systems model that were indicated in probability of occurrence; and (2) influence levels of the influencing factors on their dependent nodes, and eventually the target node. pg. 11 ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. results and discussions 3.1. configuring the ‘big picture’ of the current situation this section provides an overall picture of the current situation by outlining a number of interrelated areas and factors in relation to disaster risk management based on all available information from the desktop study and results of interactive activities with the key local partners and stakeholders. inputs from the above activities helped to identify key variables for developing a systems model using vensim® software (”vensim 6.1.”, 2011) that represents the ‘big picture’ of the context, patterns of causal relationships and interplays amongst the factors. the rich picture also helps to see potential stakeholders involved and what interventions should be taken to achieve the end goal of “disaster ready” (figure 1). figure 1. casual loop diagram (cld) modeling for understanding thecurrent situation of disaster risk management in haiphong. notes: s – samedirection; o – opposite direction; r – reinforcing feedback loop; red variablesrepresent potential levers for systemic interventions; drr – disaster riskreduction; p&p – public & private; bcp – business continuity plan. the systems model reveals that the three expected outcomes (improved public and private awareness, enhanced capacity, and strengthened public and private collaboration) are influenced by various factors that are interlinked. interventions to achieve a certain output do influence other factors within the system and eventually affect the achievement of the goal. for example, “engagement of hppc/local government leaders” in establishing a coordinating committee is critical to improve public-private relationships and coordination mechanisms for achieving outcome 3 (increased public and private collaboration) (figure 1). the involvement of local government leaders is also important to influence the disaster risk reduction (drr) policies. it, therefore, influences the local “government’s awareness effort” via “media campaigns”, leading to improved public awareness, understanding and thereby adequate actions (outcome 1). as a result, the improved awareness would motivate members of both public and private sectors to participate in drr capacity building that contributes to achieving outcome 2 of the project (figure 1). the content of training on business continuity planning (bcp) were agreed by the stakeholders to use for both public and private organizations and businesses due to its generic nature. there are three important “leverage points for systemic interventions” (red variables, figure 1) in achieving the expected outcomes and the end goal. interventions taken to change the current status of these variables (i.e. effective campaigns, capacity building and drr policies) would enable to achieve the goal through joint efforts of public, private and non-profit sectors. pg. 12 ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the “capacity building” used in the above model implies both business risk reduction (brr) or business continuity planning (bcp) training for enterprises and enhancing the capacity of government officials in relation to drr preparedness and management. to improve the effectiveness of the bcp training, eight domestic trainers together with key partners, via focus group discussions, defined four key factors that together determine training quality. those include (1) trainers’ capacity; (2) training content and organization of training; (3) awareness and motivation of local businesses; and (4) compensation/motivation of trainers. according to the participants, their “handson experience” through a pilot development of some complete bcp strategies at businesses in haiphong and “reflective and shared learning” are critical to improve their “bcp” training ability, and to develop and adjust appropriate content relevant to the context of haiphong (figure 1). the developed systems model could be regarded as an effective “communication tool” to facilitate the stakeholders in identifying areas of potential interventions and discussing their roles and responsibilities for coordinated actions. the model provided a strong basis for defining systemic interventions to achieve the defined goal. 3.2. defining systemic interventions towards achieving the goal based on the developed systems model of the project (figure 1), bayesian belief network (bbn) modeling using neticatm software (norsys, 2013) was conducted to support defining systemic interventions for achieving the overall goal of a disaster resilient city. figure 2.1 reveals the current situation of disaster risk management in haiphong without interventions (initial state). the interrelationships amongst the factors and their impact levels were identified via group discussions and workshops with representatives of key stakeholders. three levers for systemic interventions include “media campaigns”, “capacity building” and “drr policies” that represent key places of interventions for achieving the three expected outcomes. figure 2. bayesian belief network (bbn) model for the current situation of disaster risk management in haiphong. notes: yellow variable represents the final goal; green variables represent sub-goals (expected outcomes); red variables represent leverage points for systemic interventions; dark variables represent systemic interventions. currently, the probability for haiphong to be prepared for disasters is relatively low at 28.7% (figure 2). sensitivity analysis and testing of future scenarios were conducted to define systemic interventions (dark boxes, figure 3). the combined actions focusing on the systemic interventions bring the probability of haiphong’s readiness level to 81.1% (figure 3). a recent stakeholder consultation workshop was organized for representatives of public, private and non-profit partners in the city to reflect on the implemented activities and provide feedback on the progress and performance. pg. 13 ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. bayesianbelief network (bbn) modeling for defining systemic interventions to achievethe end goal of disaster resilience. notes: yellow variable represents thegoal; green variables represent sub-goals (expected outcomes); red variablesrepresent leverage points for systemic interventions; dark variables representsystemic interventions.temi figure 4. ameeting among the working group of public, private and non-profit sectors fordiscussions on establishing a ppp coordinating committee for drr positive outcomes have been gained through the exciting workshop. however, it turned out that it took longer time than expected to establish a formal and operational ppp coordinating committee. stronger commitment among the committee members is needed. in addition, influence and support from the local government, as well as a shared vision among participating members, are required. this would take a certain period of time when the awareness campaign takes full effect on the local community. results of this study are consistent with findings of ha (2014) who established that transformative learning (that is the change in perception and thus actions) may require several cycles of actions and reflections. in this present study, immediate actions such as organizing ppp events and mainstreaming new drr initiatives into the existing action plans of the local government should be maintained to make sure the initiatives are aligned with the local priorities and needs. 4. conclusion this study has presented the effectiveness of the systems approach, system dynamics modeling tools and communication strategies in coping with complexity in disaster risk management of haiphong, vietnam. the approach and tools enabled the research team and participating members to have a better understanding of the current situation. it also showed the interplays among various factors, and areas that require coordinated efforts among the stakeholders for joint planning and execution of the identified systemic interventions to achieve the end goal. compared to the traditional project management approach, the new approach was proven more time and costeffective. pg. 14 ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd in addition, the higher impact would be expected through implementing the nine identified systemic interventions (dark boxes, figure 2). furthermore, diverse forms of communication strategies have been identified and implemented with initial success. the approaches and strategies employed in this study are expected to be adopted in other contexts in dealing with complexity in the changing world of intertwined human and natural factors. 5. acknowledgment we would like to express our sincere thanks to the local government of haiphong for their continuous support. our special thanks go to the vietnam chamber of commerce and industry (vcci) – haiphong chapter, departments of agriculture and rural development, planning and investment, statistics, and natural resources and environment, haiphong alliance for cooperatives and enterprises, haiphong centre for environmental monitoring, and other local business associations and ngos for their partnerships. we gratefully acknowledge the active participation and contributions of 8 domestic trainers in haiphong. references 1. bosch, o., nguyen, n., & ha, t.m. (2014). can advancements in economic and managerial practice be achieved without systems thinking education as the foundation? business systems review, special issue on systems thinking for a sustainable economy – selected papers of the 2nd b.s. laboratory international symposium 3(02): 33-53. 2. bosch, o.j.h., nguyen, n.c., ha, t.m., & banson, k.e. (2015). using a systemic approach to improve the quality of life for women in small-scale agriculture: empirical evidence from southeast asia and subsaharan africa. in the 3rd international symposium on advances in business management toward systemic approach. perugia, italy. 3. fujita n. (2010). beyond logframe: using systems concepts in evaluation. the foundation for advanced studies on international development (fasid): tokyo. 4. disaster preparedness and resilience: vietnam. (2016). retrieved january 15, 2016, from http://www.give 2asia.org/disaster-preparedness-and-resilience-myanmar-1-1/ 5. ha, t.m. (2014). establishing a transformative learning framework for promoting organic farming in northern vietnam: a case study on organic tea production in thai nguyen province. asian journal of business and management,2(03): 202-211. 6. ha, t.m., bosch o.j.h., & nguyen n.c. (2015a). defining the real needs of women smallholders in vietnam: the importance of grassroots participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. international journal of business and management review 3(2): 35-58. 7. ha t.m., bosch o.j.h., & nguyen, n.c. (2015b). systemic interventions addressing the market access challenges of smallholder vegetable farmers in northern vietnam. international journal of markets and business systems 1(2): 136-158. 8. ha t.m., bosch o.j.h. & nguyen n.c. (2016). establishing and evolutionary learning laboratory for improving the quality of life of vietnamese women in small-scale agriculture: part ii systemic interventions. systems research and behavioral science 33(3): 341-359. 9. ho, l.l., law, p.l., & lim, s.f. (2017). implementing environmental management systems (ems) in sarawak: adoption factors. pg. 15 ha / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. le, n.t. & ha, t.m. (2016). building ‘capacity for change’: a case study on disaster preparedness in haiphong, vietnam. inpaper presented at the eight international conference on climate change: impacts and responses, (21-22). april, hanoi, vietnam. 11. le, v.c., nguyen, v.c., & shibayama, t. (2014). assessment of vietnam coastal erosion and relevant laws and policies. in coastal disasters and climate change invietnam: engineering and planning perspectives. thao nd, takagi, h. and esteban, m. eds., (ed.), elsevier: amsterdam; 81-106. 12. maani, k.e. & canava, r.y. (2007). systems thinking, system dynamics: managing change and complexity (2nd ed.). prentice hall, auckland, nz. 13. nguyen, h. & shaw, r. (2010). climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in vietnam. in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: an asian perspective. shaw r, pulhin, j.m. and pereira, j.j. (ed.), emerald group publishing limited. : bingley, united kingdom; 373-391 14. nguyen, n.c., graham, d., ross, h., maani, k., & bosch, o. (2012). educating systems thinking for sustainability: experience with a developing country. systems research and behavioral science, 29(1): 14-29. 15. norsys. (2013). neticatm application. retrieved from: http://www.norsys.com/netica.html 16. pollack j. (2007). the changing paradigms of project management. international journal of project management 25: 266-274 17. pwa. (2014). baseline survey report on the current situation of disaster risks among local businesses in haiphong. peace winds america: haiphong. 18. takagi, h., thao, n.d., esteban, m., mikami, t., & ca, v.t. (2015). coastal disasters in vietnam. in handbook of coastal disaster mitigation for engineers and planners. esteban m, takagi, h. and shibayama, t. (ed.), elsevier: amsterdam; 235-255. 19. trinh, c.t., ha, t.m., bosch, o.j.h., & nguyen, n.c. (2015). using a systems approach to improve the lives of women smallholder farmers in the northern mountainous region of vietnam. in paper presented at the 8th vietnam economists annual meeting (veam). thai nguyen, vietnam. 20. vensim 6.1. (2011). retrieved august 10, 2013, from http://www.ventanasystems.co.uk/vensim-6-1-releas ed-may-2013/ 21. vester f. (2007). the art of interconnected thinking: tools and concepts for a new approach to tackling complexity. mcb publishing house: munich, germany. 22. vietnamese government. (2007). national strategy for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation to 2020, decision number 172/2007/qd-ttg by the prime minister dated on 16 november 2007: hanoi. 23. world bank. (2011). vietnam climate change country profile, world bank: washington dc. pg. 16 introduction methodology results and discussions configuring the `big picture' of the current situation defining systemic interventions towards achieving the goal conclusion acknowledgment http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.382 adaptive strategies for mud shell robotic fabrication chaltiel stephanie1, bravo maite1, ibrahim abdullah1 1institute of advanced architecture of catalunya abstract the digital fabrication of monolithic shell structures is presenting some challenges related to the interface between computational design, materiality and fabrication techniques. this research proposes a singular method for the sequential robotic spray deposition in layers of diverse clay mixes over a temporary fabric formwork pulled in between peripheral and cross section arches. this process relies mainly on the continuity of the construction phases for stability and durability but has encountered some challenges in physical tests related to sagging, displacement and deformations during the robotic deposition of the material. adaptive strategies during the digital fabrication stages are proposed for a sequential exploration of the geometry, structural analysis, and construction techniques. iterative adjustments of protocols for the robotic material deposition include both predictable and unsuspected behaviors, preventing the structure to reach non-viable geometric thresholds. two case studies of physical tests describe, analyze and simulate some of these strategies and identify specific parameters, inquiring the sequential adjustments of the robotic material deposition. these strategies will drive future full-scale tests within a sustainable use of materials, adaptive construction methods, seeking an optimized structural performance, that could open a new chapter for the digital fabrication of earthen shells. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords digital fabrication; monolithic shells; robotic construction; clay additive manufacture 1. references background of the technique 1.1. theoretical references some traditional mud shells can be found in vernacular practices, such as the musgum domes, where curved geometries based on catenaries arches are used at suitable ranges to provide structural stability while allowing a proper construction technique provided by textures on the outer side of the shell to serve as scaffolding, while preventing negative climatic aspects such as rain and humidity. the construction of shells during the last century has been profoundly linked to geometry, structural performance and construction practices, and this intrinsic correspondence was explored extensively by some master builders such as torroja, candela, otto, nervi, dieste, among others (bravo, 2013). the appearance of computation in several realms, from design processes to performance simulations to digital fabrication, are opening new avenues of exploration of this topic. pg. 64 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.2. construction advanced practices construction practices exploring spraying concrete materialized in a technique called shotcrete, featured in a significant number of large domes built in the 1960´s using large inflatable domes such as in the bini domes (fig.1a), but this technique was not pushed further for different reasons including aesthetics (huijben, van herwijnen, nijsse & u-bletzinger, 2011). bini´s methods and techniques are considered suitable for future improvement if still fibres, prefabricated nets, or robotic mechanical spraying were explored to reach their full potential (van hennick & houtman, 2008). current shotcrete industry (sprayed concrete on preformed rebars) allows a degree of automation with the possibility for the builders to move the spraying pump at the end of a crane. however, the matter flow per second control remains incipient in most cases (veenendall, 2017). figure 1. (a) bini shells withinflatables covered by a metal mesh as lost reinforcement to be sprayedmanually with shotcrete. 1(b) spray ice on fabric formwork and active bendingmetallic elements. “zero bending moment” lancelot coar winnipeg, canada2016. recent experiments involve spraying over light formwork including digital fabrication techniques can be found with spray ice on active bending shells and fabric formwork (fig.1b) in the project zero bending moment (lancelot coar, winnipeg university, canada, 2016). other examples include large textile tensed over cnc cut wooden arches after optimization of the shell, then sprayed with concrete by workers standing on cherry pickers to reach different parts of the membrane (block group, eth zurich, switzerland, 2017). these examples testify the relevance of this emergent agenda, and a growing interest in the protocols for the associated materials and methods. 1.3. recent references several tests for monolithic earthen shells using robotic fabrication were conducted over the last four years by the authors, such as the aa visiting schools lyon: “synchronized movements” [2013]; “mud, body and scripts” [2014]; “chocolate and other powders” [2015], “smart geometry workshop in gothenburg” [2016]; and 2 seminars at iaac barcelona: “phriends for shells” [2016] and “earthen shells” [2017]. these experiments represent a robust body of examples where techniques are increasingly reformulated, adapted and improved. 2. adaptive strategies for monolithic earthen shells the experience accumulated during the monolithic shell workshops led to the formulation of a set protocol of adaptive strategies for mud shells, a process that includes the following steps: geometrical shell formulation includes two approaches. the first is a given 5 peripheral arches vault geometry, and the second is based on a form finding strategy based on 3 peripheral arches and at least one cross arch to be met and the scanning afterwards produced a 3d model that was needed to map the robot trajectories. in this form finding the maximum height difference between the different arches was not specified. however, resulting structures have highlighted that certain thresholds must be respected to obtain a sturdy shell. structural analysis using karamba (fea finite element analysis tool plug-in for rhino) was digitally modelled and defined by support points, load points (gravity and mesh load including self-weight), material (clay was not available in the plugin; therefore concrete was used as the only alternative paste like material), surface, providing pg. 65 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd results for the analysis of displacement, utilization and stress lines. construction technique is defined by the iterative recalibration of the spray technique to include the trajectory, angle, and speed of deposition according to the form evolution and matter consistency trajectory, speed, angle, distance to surface, pressure, and material consistency according the evolution monitoring of the structure during construction. two case studies show the implementation of different workflows and protocols for the application of the steps described above. 2.1. case studies 2.1.1. case study 1 synchronized movements lyon aa visiting school june 2013: teaching team: s. chaltiel, mp placais, suryansh chandra, zubin khabazi, chiara pozzi. earth architecture experts: w. carazas, p. doat. participants: 40 duration: 10 days location: the grands ateliers de l´isle d´abeau france. description: construction of one monolithic earthen shell composed of 5 peripheral and 2 middle cross arches. size: 2m x 1m x 2m high. the workshop started with the rhino digital modelling of the shell starting with the geometric model of a shell with pentagonal base featuring five perimeter arches, together with cross arches so that each support point goes to the middle of the facing edge through the central point of the shell. each of the peripheral and cross section arch varies in height within a 50 cm limit. the doubly curved resulting surface is defined by a peripheral arch and a cross section designed so that the span is never more than 70 cm to avoid sagging related to the weight of the wet clay mix being deposited. the digital fabrication of the temporary formwork is formed by 5 peripheric arches and 2 cross vault arches were cnc cut in plywood panels (fig. 2a), secured and assembled in place to a wood base panel. to create a dry removable surface, elastic lycra was pulled and secured over different ribs using strong staples to tense the fabric over the arches (fig. 2b & c). figure 2. (a) nesting of cutting filefor the plywood arches to be cut by cnc machine. (b) use of cnc to cut theplywood arches forming the temporary formwork (left). (c)placement of the elastic fabric over the wooden arches fixed by staples (right). pg. 66 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the deposition of clay mixes was performed by hand with a team of more than 5 persons at a time, following a precise phasing where each clay mix was carefully formulated. the structure was coated 7 times with different types of clay mixes in the following sequence: 1st layer or ¨barbotine (2 water units (u) for 1u clay); 2nd layer (2u water for 1u clay + 1u hard sand); and from 3rd. to 7th. layer (2u water + 2u clay + 2u hard sand + 2u fibers of 3cm long straws). each layer respected a crucial drying time, using devices such as large lights and hair dryers to speed up the process. once the 7th. layer was applied, dried and reached a 3cm thickness, the temporary support of plywood arches and fabric was removed, a laborious step that required enough strength to remove the plywood arches without creating a crack in the shells, but the lycra fabric was easily peeled off. the following problems and possible improvements were highlighted for further structures. to make the structure more stable and performative in terms of thermal comfort can be achieved by reaching greater thicknesses of at least 5 cm for a 3 m high shell that requires more time for more clay mixes to be applied. different parts of the shell where difficult to reach and at least 5 people were required to work simultaneously to avoid a non-homogeneous deposition. after the completion of this first physical test, robotic spraying was identified as a possible solution to ease additive manufacturing performance and to increase thickness control. figure 3. (a) first layers of claymix applied by hand by more than 3 people working simultaneously. (b) removal of the wooden arches and fabric formwork. the necessity to work with a 3d model as an interface became evident during the construction stage, so after finishing this workshop, a fully parameterized model was constructed in rhino 3d with grasshopper plugin, based on the main inputs and parameters extracted from the construction experience. 1. geometrical shell formulation was defined by: 1.a curves defining the supporting arches were limited from 1.5m to 2m span, and between 2m to 3m height. 1.b the surface defined by the stretched fabric over different arches is generated as a mesh. three options were explored in terms of geometry generation. one mesh with default subdivisions in rhino 3d and the second one with evenly distributed subdivisions by grasshopper that yield a better resolution than the first one and lastly and the most accurate is using kangaroo in grasshopper a physics engine to generate the mesh and enhance the shell subdivisions as quads for the outcome which allows increased precision in extracting compression and tension values from karamba. 1.c the support areas where the shell meets the ground were established based on the values obtained from physical tests to ensure the shells ‘stability (fig. 4), to have a minimum 10cm for the support area at each arch base, legs meeting the ground at an angle rod/ground at a minimum of 45 degrees and maximum 90 degrees. 2. the structural shell analysis was defined in a karamba script based in the following parameters (fig. 5a): 2.a geometry: shell surface constructed by shell ribs (curves) in rhino environment or a kangaroo generated shell to obtain a quad mesh result which gives more precision in further karamba finite elements analysis results. pg. 67 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. diagram of considerations to determine viable geometry ranges: maximum sagging, maximum distance between lower and higher arch (convex and concave resulting surfaces) and maximum overhang. by the authors. 2.b anchor points; 2.c gravity load; 2.d material selected is concrete (as the only alternative in the software with 1cm. thickness), therefore further tests must include the young modulus from the clay mix used to replace it in the software and get a result closer to the real material behavior. the next step is to assemble these inputs and run the analysis to get the following outputs: 2.e geometry displacement values are helpful to enhance the structure in terms of material thickness and adding membranes. 2.f geometry utilization to identify areas of compression and tension by percentage of the material usage. as a result of how the geometry is constructed with different mesh subdivisions in rhino 3d generated shell, structure analysis were run with completely different results (fig. 5b) for two versions applied on both. tension (blue with max. value of 16.8%), compression (red with -2.9% max. compression), maximum tension (green) and maximum compression (yellow). the first geometry is more unified and coherent showing a better structural performance because of the tension and compression distribution among the shell due primarily to an evenly subdivided mesh grid, meanwhile the second version is more random and unsystematic. the results of the geometry utilization shows that the load has been transferred from the centre point to the five cross arches and main support points, allowing stability, strength and stiffness. to achieve the desired performance, the material capacity must be able to resist the force or pressure and it provides enough stiffness to resist any deformation caused by an applied force. 2.g geometry stress lines: computationally, stress lines are a result of distributed shell points from the compression and tension values. the final stress lines analysis proved useful to verify tension areas, and will be explored in future experiments to direct the application of added reinforcement in the shells. pg. 68 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. (a) and (b). analysis of two different mesh subdivisions. figure 6. karamba structural analysisshowing areas of compression (red), tension (blue), maximum tension (green),maximum compression (yellow), and neutral areas (white). figure 7. karamba structure analysis of case study one from the aa showing the stress lines of the shell structure. ofthe shell structure. future digital experimentations involving the generation of a quad mesh from kangoroo for rhino optimized in karamba explored further configurations of this 5 peripheral arches non regular vault. figure 8. fea analysis generating stress lies and compression/tension areas of the shell was performed on an optimized shell from kangoroo. in conclusion, this workshop allowed the experimentation of the physical construction of earthen shells in an analogue manner, providing some key parameters, geometric criteria, and construction recommendations. 3. earthen shells iaac 2017 faculty: s. chaltiel, a. y ibrahim, n. el-gewely technical experts: a chronis, k singh chadha external advisors: maite bravo (iaac), amadeo monreal (upc), verena vogler (mcneel europe) pg. 69 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd vincent chavy (universal robots). number of students: 11 duration: 5 days total. location: iaac, barcelona. description: construction of three monolithic earthen shells composed of 3 peripheral and middle cross arches. size: 1m x 1m x 1m high. the construction stage started by inserting in a pierced wooden board some clusters of small branches in clusters of 2 or 3 0.3 mm diameter reeds. three peripheral and one middle arches were materialized and a tensed lycra surface was pulled over the arches (fig. 8 a, b, c). figure 9. (a) placement of the 3peripheral and one middle arch materialized by a cluster of 2 or 3 0.3 mm diameter reeds. (b) placement of lycra fabric stretched over the different arches. (c) first liquid clay mix robotically applied on the fabric and reeds formwork. two 3d scans were performed after the fabric formwork is completed and after the first layer of clay application, by taking over 60 pictures around the structures and exporting them to agisoft software to convert them into a mesh. different layers of clay mix were applied following the same protocol as in the synchronized movements workshop (chaltiel & bravo, 2017), and the initial 2 first layers were robotically sprayed. figure 10. (a) kuka prc simulation of robotic trajectories after the first scan of the temporary formwork. (b) middle layers of clay mix containing fibers applied by robotic spraying. (c) close-up of the freshly projected fibrous clay mix robotically applied on the shell. the robotic trajectory was adjusted respecting a distance of 30cm to the surface and a constant angle of 45 degrees spraying device. in addition, the speed of the robot was set at 2cm/sec taking advantage of findings from previous seminars (phriends* for shells, iaac, 2016). pg. 70 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd geometrical experimentations with rhino vault and karamba were performed as a shell study determining the type (sinclastic or anticlastic), the curvature (single or double), arches span, height (floor to mid-point arch), the degree (angle of curve from the support point to the arch midpoint). figure 11. karamba structure analysisof case study two from iaac showing the compression and tension areas. blue istension, red is compression. / karamba structure analysis of case study two from the iaac showing the stress lines of the shell structure. the results of this case study show areas of compression and tension. the size of the shell is around 0.5m in height from the central point with three different arches with a maximum height of 0.35m and minimum 0.3m height. this shell has a better stability because of the scale factor because it is almost half the size of the first case study. the forces are evenly distributed throughout the shell because of the number of support points and the small scale. nine support points for a small scale give more strength and less displacement. some improvements for further structures are highlighted. although the initial reeds and fabric formwork was easily mounted, some of the geometries resulting from this case study proved to be non-viable due to the extreme sagging of the fabric under the weight of the wet clay. furthermore, the geometry control of the shells proved difficult to monitor, especially in between and in the main arches themselves, because surfaces deformed too much under the weight of the material as illustrated in the failed examples (fig. 12). those have proven that the difference in height of the different arches cannot go over a certain threshold (height a + 1/5 height b on average for maximum height gap) especially during spraying of wet matter where excessive sagging can prevent the structure from resulting in a valid structure. figure 12. failed experiment of ashell collapsed when applying different layers of clay mix, because the initial geometry was not matching the viable thresholds. pg. 71 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. conclusions this paper seeks the implementation of adaptive strategies for the construction of earthen shells over easily mounted light formwork, allowing the structure in progress to be mapped and robotically sprayed. the two case studies presented different sequences. the first features a process starting with a clear geometric definition in rhino 3d, followed by a manual construction process, finishing with the digital reconstruction of structural analysis afterwards. the second case study started with a form finding experiment where arches and cross arches were arranged by hand, the fabric surface stretched, scanned, the deposition of material by a robotic arm meanwhile the structural analysis was performed during the fabrication process. a clear geometric definition proved critical for the shell stability and viability, as seen in cs1. two different kinds of easily mounted formwork where showcased: cs2 with light branches were easier than cs1 with cnc wooden panels to mount but displayed less geometry control and too much sagging. from the results of the featured case studies, one of the challenges to improve the technique is to explore other types of light formwork options, that are able to be easily mounted and removed once the shell is solid, but that do not deform significantly under the weight of the clay mix being applied. some alternative solutions include exploring inflatable formwork that could help keeping its shape and provide most successful geometries that those developed in previous structures. in terms of structural performance, simulations for tension and compression, displacement and stress line analysis prove to be critical to evaluate the fabrication process during construction. because only small shells were constructed, the parameters extracted were limited in their application, and a full-scale prototype would allow to establish minimum and maximum thickness, protocols for reinforcement placement along the stress lines, acceptable loads, among many other considerations. the material deposition technique could be improved with greater thickness control of the robotically deposited material and allow some variation in different parts of the membrane to follow the results obtained from the karamba simulations. iterative geometry analysis of the structure proves to be necessary, as the process embeds a degree of deformation that must be controlled and corrected. karamba results before the fabrication process starts proves more efficient as the data can be fully integrated in the robotic control code. recent experiments have proven that drone spraying as an alternative to the robotic arm provide a significant freedom of reach at different heights and in challenging positions of the membranes such as cliff conditions. furthermore, drones monitoring paired with drones spraying provide an opportunity to improve significantly a non-regular amount of material by varying the matter flow per second and controlling the number of iterations of each spraying round. existing shotcrete equipment with a pipe connected to a matter mixer with water on the ground connected to the drone is to be tested in large scale earthen shells in the near future. the constant feed of material to the drone could help coat efficiently very large surface with a controlled thickness proportional to the pressure used. real time monitoring is recently being explored for the calibration of iterative digital tools according to the form in progress, including scanning and augmented reality, providing a constantly updated geometry to inform the optimization software, and consequently providing correct material deposition information during the fabrication process. an improved robotic spraying with uav to reach different parts of the shell would allow less stress on the light formwork and an increased homogeneity in the material deposition. some initial tests using hololens (fig. 13) and some upcoming tests study full scale shell visualizations showing stress lines to serve as guidelines for the builder to inject reinforcement material, or to monitor in real time the shell’s thickness (blue areas with 3cm. while red areas at 5cm.) because accurate thickness control would greatly improve this method. the potential is that builders could follow simulations such as stress lines to apply additional material, or real time monitoring of the shell being built from the distance, a rather difficult task to be performed with conventional methods. pg. 72 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 13. drone connected to a continuous spraying industrial pump from euromair resulting in a homogeneous coating of clay mix on some wooden testing boards. figure 14. mixed reality specialist cameron newnham (rmit australia) performing a full-scale visualization test ofan earthen shell using holo lens. 5. acknowledgments this project has received funding from the the “marie skłodowska-curie actions” innochain grant: 642877 horizon2020. the authors would especially like to thank all students who participated in the construction of many pg. 73 stephanie / environmental science and sustainable development, essd monolithic earthen shell structures. 6. references 1. bravo, m. (2013). parametric logics in the architecture of the xx century. cutting edge in architectural science: proceedings of the 47th. international conference of the architectural science association.(pp. 147-156). 2. burry, j., & burry, m. (2012). the new mathematics of architecture. london: thames & hudson. 3. chaltiel, s., & bravo, m. (2017). monolithic earthen shells robotic fabrication. in the proceedings of the acadia conference. boston. 4. coar, l., cox, m., adriaenssens, s., & de laet, l. (2017). the design and construction of fabric formed ice shells with bending active frames utilizing principle stress patterns. in interfaces: architecture, engineering, science, annual meeting of the international association of shell & spatial structures (iass) in hamburg. retrieved from https://structurae.net/literature/conference-paper/design-and-construction-of-fabric-formedice-shells-with-bending-active-frames-utilizing-principle-stress-patterns 5. costanza, d. (2017). acadia 2017: disciplines disruption: proceedings of the 37th annual conference of the association for computer aided design in architecture: massachusetts institute of technology, school of architecture planning, department of architecture(p. 100). united states: association for computer aided desifgn in architecture (acadia). 6. galbiati, p.a., el bahar, b., slabbinck e., solly, j., knippers, j. (2017). irregular cable nets: exploring irregularity as a driver for form and structure. in interfaces: architecture, engineering, science, annual meeting of the international association of shell & spatial structures (iass) in hamburg. 7. huijben, f., van herwijnen, f., nijsse, r., & u-bletzinger, k. (n.d.). concrete shell structures revisited: introducing a new lo-tech construction method using vacumatics formwork. (e. oñate & b. kröplin, eds.). pp. 409-420. 8. tam, k. m. m., mueller, c. t., coleman, j. r., & fine, n. w. (2016). stress line additive manufacturing (slam) for 2.5-d shells. journal of the international association for shell and spatial structures, 57(4), 249-259. 9. van hennik, p. c., & houtman, r. (2008). pneumatic formwork for irregular curved thin shells. in textile composites and inflatable structures ii (pp. 99-116). springer, dordrecht. 10. van mele, t., & block, p. (2011). a novel form finding method for fabric formwork for concrete shells. journal of the international association for shell and spatial structures, 52(4), 217-224. 11. veenendaal, d., & block, p. (2015, august). design process of prestressed membrane formworks for thinshell structures. in proceedings of iass annual symposia (vol. 2015, no. 1, pp. 1-12). international association for shell and spatial structures (iass). pg. 74 references background of the technique theoretical references construction advanced practices recent references adaptive strategies for monolithic earthen shells case studies case study 1 synchronized movements lyon aa visiting school june 2013: earthen shells iaac 2017 conclusions acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.379 parametric thinking in form-based code evaluation yingyi zhang1, marc aurel schnabel1 1school of architecture, victoria university of wellington abstract the concept of form-based code is of central importance in american new urbanism. there is an increasing concern on form-based code’s components and adoptions in cities and counties in the usa. this paper aims to extend form-based code’s study to high-density cities of asia. it explores the methodology of embedding parametric thinking into the multi-scenario evaluation of form-based code. the methodology framework is developed by taking advantage of parametric modelling instruments which visualising the coding procedure on software interfaces. using tsim sha tsui, hong kong as the experimental site, the paper concludes with a parametric evaluation system towards a walkable and accessible environment in the volumetric urban morphology of high-density cities. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords parametric; form-based code; zoning; multi-scenario; evaluation 1. introduction new urbanism movement has arisen since the 1980s. it promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types (boeing et al., 2014). the principles of new urbanism, such as walkability and pedestrian-friendly community, diverse neighborhoods and smart transportation, encourage the re-establishment of mixed-use and sustainable urban development. as a representative approach of new urbanism, form-based code is increasingly concerned due to its creativity in zoning academia and practice. form-based code is a land development regulation that fosters predictable built results and a high-quality public space by using the physical form as the organizing principle for the code (form-based code institute, 2014). in the literature dealing with definition of form-based code, plenty of studies focused on comparing this novel approach with conventional zoning (parolek, 2008). conventional zoning describes zoning and urban regualtion by the authority which designates legal areas in a municipality to permit and prohibit land use (lamar, 2015). in the procedure of zoning development, land use is the primary consideration and foundation. it stems from the emergence of conventional zoning during the early twentieth century. at that time, the goal of public health, safety, and welfare drove zoning to segregate residential districts from industry districts (kan, 2012). however, with the built municipality increased rapidly, the limitation of conventional zoning emerged. there were problems of over zoning which left the cities those spotty areas which aren’t quite residential or commercial (frost, 1958). in the 1980s, form-based code started to work in urban projects as a critical response to conventional zoning. just as its name implies, form-based code regards form as the essential consideration rather than land use. form-based pg. 89 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd code is different from conventional zoning in terms of the process by which they are prepared, the substance of the standards they contain, the mechanisms by which they are implemented, and the built form they produce (parolek, 2008). it is argued that contemporary urban developing flow is a continuous mixture. form-based code that promoted mix-used and continuous growth seems more appropriate to cities today. one representative form-based code project is the seaside code of florida which developed by duany platerzyberk & company. the seaside master plan of form-based code regulated the buildings to ensure the creation of an urban environment similar to that of a small southern town of the period before 1940 (duany plater-zyberk co., 1980). this project reflects a core value of form-based code – revival rather than newly-created. inniss called form-based code as back to the future (inniss, 2007) due to its idea of protecting urban morphology and space texture. according to borys’ code study, there are more than six hundred form-based code projects adopted or in the processing as of february 2017. as an american zoning approach, most of the form-based codes are clustered in the usa. if form-based code has the capability to positively influent on the development of cities and peripheries, we hypothesis that it can bring similar benefits to other areas out of the usa. the research attempts to evaluate form-based code in tsim sha tsui area of hong kong in response to the hypothesis. it is necessary to understand form-based code’s zoning method before experimenting with the evaluations. conventional zoning subdivides land into a series of zones such as commercial or residential and then describe the regulations of each zone through tables and images. differently, form-based code subdivides “transect” into various zones as tn (n=1, 2, 3 . . . ). it generates regulations and codes through two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualized languages for each zone. in form-based code, transect matrix provides zone types with specific forms. the concept of transect matrix is originally used by naturalists to describe the characteristics of ecosystems and the transition from one ecosystem to another. duany has applied this concept to human settlements, and since about 2000 this idea has permeated the thinking of new urbanists (zhang & schnabel, 2017; congress for the new urbanism, 2016). the transect is described as: “. . . it arranges in useful order the elements of urbanism by classifying them from rural to urban. every urban element finds a place within its continuum. for example, a street is more urban than a road, a curb more urban than a swale, a brick wall more urban than a wooden one, and an alley of trees more urban than a cluster. even the character of streetlights can be assigned in the transect according to the fabrication from cast iron (most urban), extruded pipe, or wood post (most rural)” (steuteville, 2009). figure 1 presents a standard transect matrix of form-based code from natural zone to the special district, which defines the hierarchical development scales (kim et al., 2011). t1 represents natural zone without any artificial constructions. t2 to t6 describes a continuous improvement of the artificial degree from rural to urban core zone. based on the determining of zone types, models can be generated to describe form-based code at the conceptual stage of zoning. figure 1. standardtransect matrix of form-based code pg. 90 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. form-based code modelling in context form-based code utilizes illustrations and models to describe the zoning intentions, logic and codes. directly visualized models contribute to the prediction of zoning results. this section provides an attempt on experimenting form-based code in a high-density environment by using tsim sha tsui, hong kong as the experimental site. the attempt is supported by an extended transect matrix, a parametric modelling system and a series of form-based code models. 2.1. transect matrix standard transect matrix introduced in the last section describes a general transformation from natural to urban core. a transect is a way of locating and understanding a variety of different types of human settlement within a comprehensive web of natural and human habitats (bohl & plater-zyberk, 2006). transect matrix provides a zoning pattern language, not the zoning pattern language. very different transects could be conceived for cultures and geographic regions where human settlement patterns, and local examples of what constitutes natural, rural, suburban and urban character, have evolved differently (bohl & plater-zyberk, 2006). thus, this paper argues an extended transect matrix to suit the experimental site. in a compact urban environment, the original transect matrix cannot fully express urban forms and space characteristics by only using six zone types. in tsim sha tsui, the communities and neighborhoods are filled with high-density buildings and road networks. due to limited land resource and a large number of population, all of the communities in tsim sha tsui belong to urban core zone (t6). the indistinctive zone subdivision is meaningless for detailed zoning (figure 2). thus, the transect matrix of form-based code needs to be extended to fulfill the zoning requirement of the high-density environment (figure 3). figure 2. indistinctive zone type of urban core zone figure 3. extensions of the original transect matrix of form-based code pg. 91 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the extension of transect matrix contains a detailed subdivision of urban core zone (t6). the subdivision aims to describe the zone types of communities in tsim sha tsui with a consideration of form-related variables. determining the variable categories relies on two principles. first, the variables should be accessible for form-based code team to measure or record. second, the variables need to have the capability to describe forms of buildings or public space. accordingly, the paper selects seven variables, including floor area ratio, average pavement width, road hierarchy, infrastructure, depth-width ratio of streets, and max building height, to describe the subtypes of t6. the variable values are collected during the field study in tsim sha tsui. floor area ratio is a common index to reflect building density in a certain urban area. for form-based code, higher floor area ratio means closer to the artificial point of transect matrix. average pavement width refects pedestrian flow. normally, wider pavement width attracts more usage of pedestrian space. road hierarchy and infrastructure present the artificial level of an urban area. depth-width ratio of streets works to describe canyon of tsim sha tsui’s streets. due to the compact morphology, a plenty of streetscapes performed in large depth-width ratio. max building height is an index that controlled by existing urban regulation documents of hong kong. comprehensively considering these form-related variables, transect matrix is extended and customised for tsim sha tsui as shown in figure 4. urban core zone is redefined by six subtypes, including t6-1, t6-2, t6-3, t6-4, t6-5, and t6-6. figure 4. transect matrix of tsim sha tsui area of hong kong 2.2. parametric modelling introducing parametric modelling into form-based code generation procedure makes the zoning results visualized and predictable at the conceptual stage. parametric concepts are based on algorithmic thinking that enables the expression of parameters and rules that, together, define, encode and clarify the relationship between design intent and design response (jabi, 2013; woodbury, 2010). form-based code team can receive a series of roughly simulated models for code visioning and predict possible regulation outcomes through the interface of parametric software. the subdivision of zone types provides fundamental elements for parametric modelling. these redefined zone types are imported into parametric software grasshopper 3d towards an integrated system of parameters, zone types, modelling logic, and performance feedback. grasshopper 3d is a plug-in for rhinoceros 3d that presents coding in a visualised manner. it offers a programming interface to control geometries. changing parameters pg. 92 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd causes changes to propagate throughout all functions, and the geometry to be redrawn (davis, 2013). the parametric modelling system for form-based code can be simplified as a mode shown in figure 5. the mode consists of three components, namely in-put, running and ex-put. in-put contains two data resources, zone links and parameters. each zone type of the extended transect matrix is edited as one link for the modelling system. embedding the zone links and parameters that need to be controlled in the script, a series of performance feedbacks are reflected on the interface of rhinoceros 3d. the synthesis scripts combine components and nodes together to establish the modelling logic. form-based code team can manipulate the zone links or parameters to receive real-time models. figure 6 presents an example of form-based code models from t6-1 to t6-6. the highlight groups in each model describe the location and morphology of different zone types. model grouping targets to convenient the program modification. it intends to avoid affecting other zone types due to the adjustment. in a real implementation, the performance feedbacks can be diversified according to different parameter settings. figure 5. mode ofparametric modelling system of form-based code figure 6. parametricmodels of zone types as a high-density urban core zone, tsim sha tsui of hong kong has complex urban space developed in a multilevel three-dimensional pattern. shelton defines the urban space as volumetric. volumetric means multiple modes pg. 93 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of movement and varied programs stacked up across many levels, which are above ground and below ground, and where a connection between the level is extremely effective (shelton et al., 2011). volumetric pattern happens in compact cities and metropolitans with limited land and excessive population. in hong kong, tower and podium consisting of a town centre and single strand connections to isolated “tower neighborhoods” above, in which floors are isolated from each other (shelton et al., 2011). volumetric pattern promotes the development of underground space. on one hand, the large amount of transportation requires efficient rail transit. compared with the public transportation on the ground, underground development occupies relatively less land resource meanwhile alleviates congestion. on the other hand, the underground space duplicates the above-ground space to create more places for activities. in addition to transportation functions, the underground space can be used as places for commercial, entertainment and leisure. underground zoning is a significant part of hong kong’s zoning components. it is necessary to embed underground consideration into the parametric modelling system of form-based code. figure 7 provides an example of parametric modelling for the volumetric morphology of tsim sha tsui. the above-ground and underground models belong to two separate modelling scripts. form-based code team can obtain the overall model by combining the two systems together. in this study, the structural layer’s thickness is not included in the limitation of underground modelling process. form-based code modelling only consider the form-related parameters in this research. the massing model reflects form-based code intentions through the real-time performances in grasshopper 3d. in a real implementation, the construction of underground space must follow established urban controls and provisions. merging underground models into form-based code contributes to the improvement of spatial connections between above-ground and underground to make the two parts as an organic whole in zoning. figure 7. parametric modelling for the volumetric morphology of tsim sha tsui pg. 94 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. scenario evaluation using the parametric model that developed in grasshopper 3d, this section evaluates the connectivity of the formbased code modelling results. connectivity optimizing works for examining the public space usage and predicting movement routes under form-based code intention in the volumetric morphology. scenarios evaluations are conducted in the perspectives of street-scale pedestrian movement, underground open space usage and volumetric walkable routes. in the aspect of street-scale movement, the possible pedestrian flow is simulated by controlling the building coverage rates, setbacks and walkable areas. the elements influencing street-scale regulation are manifold, but walkability is increasingly valued at street canyon and neighbourhood (zhang & schnabel, 2017) especially in high-density cities. as southworth has presented, not only does pedestrian transportation reduce congestion and have a low environmental impact, it has social and recreational value (zhang & schnabel, 2017). he argues that six criteria for the design of a successful pedestrian network: connectivity; linage with other modes; finely grained land use pattern; safety; quality of path; and path context (southworth, 2005). in form-based code models, the connectivity is evaluated through parametric thinkings. the research transfers the perceive pedestrian space into the parametric model and analyse the pedestrian movement in algorithm platform. the component galapagos of grasshopper 3d works as the instruments to evaluate connectivity. it uses an evolutionary-based solver to calculate solutions. using one street-scale site of tsim sha tsui as an example. the site contains part of zone t6-1 and t6-4. a script is written in grasshopper 3d with the main component galapagos. galapagos has two connecting points, genome and fitness. they are both for importing information. the genome is to connect with independent variables. coordinates of each block or plot are the independent variables, and the length of the connections between the nodes is the part that should be measured through galapagos (figure 8). figure 8. using galapagosto control geometry coordinates the parametric script for optimizing connectivity is described in figure 9. if assuming the buildings in contexts are regular symmetrical rectangles, they can be simplified as parametric nodes in the modelling process. through running the galapagos component, the pedestrians’ activity path can be roughly simulated and measured. in the high-density areas of tsim sha tsui, shorter walkable connections between buildings contribute to a convenient and effective pedestrian system. while longer walking paths offer more opportunities for stores being noticed by customers especially in a place with mixed functions of commercial and residential. galapagos in grasshopper 3d helps to calculate an appropriate walking distance for pedestrians. when processing the components, galapagos offers a pop-up screen for changing the options (figure 10). form-based code team can choose the fitness type, maximize or minimize, to control the processing results. pg. 95 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. script of connectivity optimizing figure 10. options provided by galapagos according to the setting of the fitness type, the pop-up screen of galapagos solvers provides four data-analysing parts (figure 11). the yellow line chart on the top of the screen reflects the tolerance degree. when the data-line of right side becomes stable, the value is nearly the optimum solution. for example, if the fitness is set as maximize, the model presents a relatively maximize routes when the data-line is stable at one value. in the underneath part, the point and line figures represent the measures of variability; the numbers represent the tolerance values (zhang and schnabel, 2017). for underground level, the space usage is simulated according to the transect zone type subdivision and existing underground exploitation. based on the local government’s guidance, the underground pedestrian corridors of tsim sha tsui will be extended from the current tsim sha tsui metro – tsim sha tsui metro east system to the tsim sha tsui metro – tsim sha tsui east – guangdong road system. the underground area under kowloon park has the priority on the project lists. according to the zoning concept of form-based code, the underground kowloon park belongs to the zone in approximate rectangle shape. the paper uses the undergroudn zone of kowloon park as a modelling example to test the possible space usage. pg. 96 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 11. solvers provided by galapagos assuming there are random nodes in the underground site, each node represents a specific function component, such as underground shops, gathering points, public art show, or toilets. since no subway transfer requirement in this zone, the use of underground space is mainly for extending open space, creating a social place and duplicating walkable streets. programming the nodes by parametric script, the relatively appropriate locations of the functions can be decided taking advantage of solvers (figure 12). through programming in grasshopper, the connectivity between nodes can be measured by maximum or minimum fitness. the results help form-based code to decide the plan of space usage. figure 12. solvers provided by galapagos (underground) vertical movement convenience works to measure the volumetric space usage. the parametric platform allows form-based code team to simulate people’s activities in the vertical direction and calculate relatively short conversion paths. the programming in grasshopper 3d provides possible vertical routes both inside and outside buildings (figure 13). the red lines represent walking paths. red boards are simulated connections inside or between buildings. through galapagos, it can be calculated which routes are shortest between different function nodes. for releasing large pedestrian flow in the vertical direction, shorter path means more convenient transportation. main approaches to practice the vertical transportation are elevators, stairs and slopes. manipulating galapagos works to simulate node connectivities in the parametric modelling at the conceptual stage of form-based code. possible zoning results are simulated by flexible manipulation of parameters and components. further details of constructing vertical connections and underground space need deeper analyse in downstream architecture and urban design. pg. 97 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 13. solversprovided by galapagos (above ground) 4. discussion and conclusion this paper provides a demonstration that parametric methodology has the technical capability to support formbased code evaluation in a high-density environment. using tsim sha tsui, hong kong as the experimental site, the parametric form-based code provides an alternative approach to zoning. form-based code usually uses graphic language to describe urban regulations and provisions. it converts texts and tables to images. although the generation methodology is different from conventional zoning, the original form-based code mainly relies on manually drawn. generation and modification are cumbersome especially in large-scale urban projects. for real implementations, it is common that different variables are related to each other to define a place. modifying one variable causes changes to other variables. manually modification increases workload. introducing parametric thinking makes the generation and modification process more automated. formbased code team can receive a series of performance feedbacks by changing the target parameters. in addition, parametric modelling instruments, such as grasshopper 3d, provides evaluation-related components to automatically calculate extremum value. programming these components, the software simulates activity routes between geometries. parametric thinking facilitates form-based code by integrating generation, modification and evaluation in one modelling process. form-based code makes it possible to generate mix-used urban space through weakening land-use division and strengthening form partition. when attempting form-based code in tsim sha tsui, it appears to be an effective and viable option to predict zoning results before implementing in real projects. form-based code is related to floor area ratio, average pavement width, road hierarchy, infrastructure, the depth-width ratio of streets, and max height. defining the requirements of these variables, a series of zone types are generated to describe the unique space characteristics of the experimental site. with an expected physical outcome, form-based code provides models about what the future urban space looks like. connectivity is a basic requirement for volumetric cities like hong kong in terms of high-density transportation flow, block permeability, and diverse functional areas. hong kong already has a highly-developed connective urban system. this paper employs parametric simulation to evaluate the connectivity of form-based code models. the evaluation results provide possible spatial streamlines in the volumetric morphology. the connectivity evaluation supports the enhancement of the pedestrian connection to improve the walking environment performance. this research creatively conducts an experiment that examining form-based code in a volumetric morphology of high-density cities in asia. there is clearly more explorations and deliberations to be done in the area of form-based code analysis, such as the cooperation between form-based code and established zoning system. we can conclude that form-based code has potential to implement effectively in high-density cities, supporting local urban planning and design departments, developers, and householders’ efforts to address the challenges of high-density development and build an amenity living place. pg. 98 zhang / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. references 1. boeing, g., daniel, c., haley, h., julie, m., & lili, r. (2014). leed-nd and liveability revisited. berkeley planning journal,27, 31-55. retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/49f234rd#author. 2. bohl, c. c., & plater-zyberk, e. (2006). building community across the rural-to-urban transect. places, 18(1), 4-17. 3. bum kim, j., clayton, m. j., & yan, w. (2011). parametric form-based codes: incorporation of land-use regulations into building information models. canada: the university of calgary. 4. congress for the new urbanism. (2016). what is new urbanism? retrieved from https://www.cnu.org/res ources/what-new-urbanism 5. davis, d. (2013). a history of parametric. retrieved from http://www.danieldavis.com/a-history-of-parame tric 6. duany plater-zyberk & company. (1980). seaside florida project. dpz projects. retrieved from https://w ww.dpz.com/projects/all 7. duany plater-zyberk & company. (2007). smartcode version 9.2. retrived from http://curis.msstate.edu/p ublish/3000-bookletsc.pdf[n.q1] 8. form-based code institute. (2014). form-based code definition. retrieved from http://formbasedcodes.or g/definition. 9. frost, r. t. (1958). the trouble with zoning. national municipal review, 47(6), 275-278. 10. inniss, l. b. (2007). back to the future: is form-based code an efficacious tool for shaping modern civic life. u. pa. jl & soc. change, 11, 75. 11. jabi, w. (2013). parametric design for architecture. london: laurence king. 12. kan, c. h. (2012). form-based urban planning code and its implications in hong kong. hku theses online (hkuto). 13. lemar, a. s. (2015). zoning as taxidermy: neighborhood conservation districts and the regulation of aesthetics. ind. lj, 90, 1525. 14. parolek, d. g., parolek, k., & crawford, p. c. (2008). form based codes: a guide for planners, urban designers, municipalities, and developers. john wiley & sons. 15. schnabel, m. a., zhang, y., & aydin, s. (2017). using parametric modelling in form-based code design for high-dense cities. annual symposium on simulation for architecture and urban design, 180, 265-272. toronto: the university of toronto 16. shelton, b., karakiewicz, j., kvan, t. (2011). the making of hong kong: from vertical to volumetric. new york: routledge. 17. southworth, m. (2005). designing the walkable city. journal of urban planning and development,131, 246-257. 18. steuteville, r. (2009). the transect. retrieved from https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/transect 19. woodbury, r. (2010). elements of parametric design. new york: routledge. 20. zhang, y., & schnabel, a. m. (2017). (a. m. schnabel, ed.). 51st international conference of the architectural science association, 139-148. wellington: victoria university of wellington. pg. 99 introduction form-based code modelling in context transect matrix parametric modelling scenario evaluation discussion and conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.374 a study on risk assessment and analysis method of buildings for the development of korean integrated disaster evaluation simulator (k-ides) in high-rise buildings tae-young kim1, kyung-hoon lee2* 1phd candidate, researcher, department of architecture, korea university, south korea 2professor, department of architecture, korea university, email: kh92lee@korea.ac.kr abstract the purpose of this study is to develop a platform tentatively named the korean integrated disaster evaluation simulator(k-ides) to assess building risk during disasters. in this study, the first step is an analysis of fema’s risk management series in the usa for precedent research. among them, fema irvs is selected as the case study for the development of the k-ides framework and through the comparative analysis of domestic building design guides, codes and special acts related to disasters. the next step is to develop a risk assessment methodology to yield quantitative results. this methodology consists of a classification system, calculation methods and grade rating. based on it, k-ides will establish a management system that can systematically integrate the collected information by using assessment techniques for elements except legal standards for measuring risk in response to various disasters and present a classification system of evaluation factors/ criteria for evaluation items and risk assessment methods. in the next study, and through the simulation of the selected buildings by using this risk assessment, a check-list will be verified. the final goal of this study is to build a platform to be used as an integrated risk management method against a complex disaster through expansion to other types of buildings through continuous data scaling and management systematization. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords risk assessment method for high-rise buildings; fema irvs; fema risk management 1. introduction 1.1. purpose and background currently, the density of high-rise buildings in korea ranks 11th in the world based on buildings that, amount to 400 in total and are more than 150m in height (under construction or completed based on the council on tall buildings and urban habitat (ctbuh) statistics in 2018). in seoul, it is expected that high-rise buildings will be continuously constructed due to the high-density and strengthening of the urban redevelopment plan in old districts. during disasters, the risk of property damage is amplified due to this increase in density in a larger *corresponding author: kyung-hoon lee: kh92lee@korea.ac.kr pg. 23 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd scale and complexity, especially in concentrated urban areas. however, the concern of spreading the damage to the surrounding environment remains. for instance, and in the case of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in new york city, the collapse of the world trade center, surrounding buildings and explosion itself have caused damages to the surrounding environment. loss, destruction by fire and damage of the facade and structure were caused by the collapse. in order to reduce risk and damage to high-rise buildings in urban areas, domestic studies are underway to improve the building performance against individual disasters by strengthening standards of materials and structure, equipment and evacuation procedures against fire due to recent earthquakes. however, most of these studies have focused on research and suggestions of partial improvement of evacuation-oriented buildings for individual disaster scenarios. therefore, studies on evaluation criteria, evaluation methods, and design guidelines to reinforce buildings against various catastrophic disaster risks are insufficient. the purpose of this study is to construct a disaster risk assessment model (tentative k-ides) for korean high-rise buildings to reflect the domestic reality and analysis studies of the advanced cases that were conducted on federal emergency management agency (fema) risk assessment series in the us to manage risks and analyse it quantitatively by developing a risk assessment system against various disasters. this study aims to establish basic instructions related to risk evaluation criteria and risk assessment methods related to disasters based on comparative analysis of the domestic applicable parts of the fema integrated rapid visual screening (fema, 2011). this analysis is derived from evaluation methods from case studies of the usa fema risk assessment series and domestic building guidelines and codes. among various disasters, terrorism, fire, and wind, which are likely to occur in korea, several study scenarios were selected. this study proposes a weight setting method and an integrated risk assessment method to improve the accuracy of the risk evaluation model and analyze the results through simulations of urban high-rise buildings by applying this risk evaluation method in the next step. 1.2. scope and method of research 1.2.1. analysis of precedent research in this research, through an analysis of building design guidelines related to disasters, risk assessment methods, and system construction manuals for the risk evaluation process in a building against disasters, developed by fema under the department of homeland security since september 11 attacks, risk assessment concepts will be established. based on fema irvs, an integrated model of fema’s six disasters published as an extension of the use of disaster risk assessment, the evaluation criteria, evaluation method and design criteria for the building’s protection by disaster and utilized programs are analyzed. the contents of the analysis will be used to extract the applicable elements and methods in korea. 1.2.2. analysis of domestic building guidelines, codes and evaluation criteria related to disasters in order to develop the evaluation criteria for domestic buildings, design guidelines for high-rise buildings of seoul metropolitan government, anti-terrorism building design guidelines in multi-purpose facilities of ministry of land, infrastructure and transportation, special act on management of disasters in super high-rise buildings and complex buildings with underground connections, and preliminary disaster impact assessment consultation guidelines of ministry of public safety and security are analyzed through a classification of items and comparison of the contents of provision. the reviewed results are reflected in the detailed evaluation criteria for risk assessment. 1.2.3. development of a risk assessment checklist the checklist for the risk assessment of buildings is similar and based on the classification scheme for the first level category of risk assessment. however, the fema irvs and the evaluation items for the second level category are classified according to the elements within a plan of a building. the evaluation by items is composed of the pg. 24 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd reviewed results to reflect the domestic building guidelines and building regulations related to disasters. finally, the criteria selected for each item are the same as the fema irvs’ and can be carried out in five steps. however, the number of choice could range between two or five according to the purpose of the criteria. 1.2.4. establishing a method to quantify the weight and risk by items that reflect the evaluation criteria the risk quantification in this research is applied to the isometric scale and uses the uniform scale for each item, but is based on the method of applying weight to important items by differentiation. the weighted items are applied on the marked items as important factors to affect the building’s damage against disasters in fema irvs and are reflected in the prioritization of items through interviews with the advisory group in each field. the items in fire and evacuation, which are highly subject to legal standards and are difficult to check building design to reduce the risk, are suggested as an opposing way to diminish risk. subsequently, the validation of check list for risk assessment and the simulation plan will be suggested by selecting objects for analysis in upcoming research. 2. precedent research 2.1. fema guidelines to protect buildings of various disasters fema has published multidisciplinary guidelines related to risk management to ensure safety in the event of a disaster so that it can be applied to building design and operation by disasters. in addition, special purpose buildings such as schools, hospitals, and important facilities are subdivided according to user importance. however, this study is restricted to fema guides related to general commercial high-rise buildings. these are divided into risk assessment, building design guides and rehabilitation of community for the purpose of the use. table 1. classifications related to high-rise buildings by the fema guides pg. 25 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd in the case of fire, fema classifies fire into natural disasters and social disasters. however, a fire in the building categorizes a scenario of fire due to explosive terror and arson and presents design guides and risk assessment methods that use nfpa fire standards. in case of natural disasters, fema subdivides risk management guidelines for earthquakes that are likely to occur by phase. in particular, it provides step by step instructions to restore crucial facilities that affect the community after the occurrence of earthquakes. 2.2. fema irvs risk assessment analysis against disasters the irvs risk assessment is calculated based on an analysis of three factors: consequence (c), threat (t) and vulnerability (v). the first consequence assesses the degree of damage to a building (property) and the loss of the building’s operating system due to the disaster. second is threat (t), which is the assessment of the degree of hazards to natural disaster, social disaster, potential events, signs, and behavioral threat factors that lead to the injury of an asset, individual or organizations. finally, the vulnerability (v) factor consists of assessments of the vulnerable elements of the building that can increase damage to the asset in the event of a disaster. fema irvs caculates the risk level by multiplying the evaluated c, t, and v values and provides a sum. weighting items are specified, but distinct values for the weight are not indicated in contrast to fema ‘rapid visual screening’ (rvs, 2009). from a risk evaluation aspect, except for core infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and critical facilities, it is difficult to derive differentiated results when buildings with similar uses are evaluated. since in the case of vulnerability, fire, security, and cyber security, evaluation items consist of qualitative analysis contents of buildings with a high error rate depending on the evaluator’s subjective choices. most evaluation items are limited to two, unlike others that must have all five or more as these evaluations reduce the sensitivity and accuracy of the risk assessment. in addition, the evaluation items with high weights of regional characteristics and environmental indicators of c and t are different from domestic high-density characteristics in urban areas, frequency and intensity of earthquakes and typhoon in korea, and direct application of fema irvs evaluation items to domestic cases’ analysis are limited. based on this research, the domestic risk assessment model is formulated for the differential comparison by deciding the criteria for evaluation target, deleting the items that are difficult to apply in irvs and analyzing the domestic standards related to the evaluation target. 2.3. comparison of domestic disaster evaluation standards in order to establish standards, codes and design guidelines related to risk assessment for high-rise buildings against various disasters in korea, nationals have not coordinated with private experts under the leadership of the government, yet design guidelines to ensure safety against disasters are continuously promoted through studies in diverse fields. the results of research is reflected in the improvement of building performance. the criteria is analyzed to construct items of the risk assessment of this study through the content analysis of the preliminary disaster impact assessment (2011), the high-rise building guidelines of seoul metropolitan government (2009), and anti-terrorism building design guidelines in multi-purpose facilities of ministry of land, infrastructure and transportation. the grouping of similar items for the first classification was made by referring to items related to the architectural planning elements of buildings and the articles of irvs. the anti-terrorism building design guidelines in multi-purpose facilities contains articles similar to those of fema rvs standards and detailed design guide contents that are not mentioned in the table below. since the mandatory installation of the evacuation safe zone in domestic standards differs from the evacuation space design standard of the high rise buildings in the united states according to analysed results, the developed concepts for the check list contains the criteria for the evacuation safe zone and design plan for effective evaluation but differs from the irvs. the assessment items derived from reviewing articles are applied to the 1st sub-category and reflected on the subdivision and standardization of the assessment items for developing the k-ides. pg. 26 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2. comparison of major related standards by the field of disaster assessment in korea 3. check list development for risk assessment 3.1. kides risk assessment development direction the risk assessment method of ides is calculated by using the concept of fema irvs. in addition to it, fema’s risk assessment method is used for other disasters based on the same formulas and concepts. in this study, the formula of fema risk assessment calculation, and the conceptual definition of consequences, threats, and vulnerability necessary for the quantitative evaluation of risk are applied. the evaluation criteria, evaluation items and evaluation contents are limited to the types of buildings in the high-rise buildings of more than 150m for nonresidential buildings in the center of seoul or busan in korea. among the evaluation items of fema irvs, the reviewing items that do not meet domestic standards, or have no relation to building characteristics, are deleted. additionally, the evaluation items reflecting domestic standards and design guidelines such as the preliminary disaster impact assessment, the anti-terrorism design guidelines, domestic firefighting standards, and the korea building code are revised or newly proposed to establish evaluation methods for the development of the korean disaster evaluation model. pg. 27 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.2. comparison of evaluation methods between k-ides and irvs since k-ides and fema irvs are different from evaluation target types, this research attempts to limit the usable range of the evaluation method through comparing the fema with the irvs. among the evaluation areas of kides, the vertical evacuation function is important for fire and evacuation, but irvs cannot be applied to the evacuation analysis method of domestic high-rise buildings because it grasps the application of fire standards of nfpa code for general buildings. thus, the contents of the evacuation section are divided into separate fields. in terms of recovery, it is difficult to specify the recovery concept and the quantitative evaluation system of the building after the disaster in korea. since the evaluation system of fema and irvs is a qualitative assessment of a general building target, it is expected that there will be no distinguishable in its application to high-rise buildings. in this study, the evaluation items for recovery were excluded. table 3. pg. 28 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.3. k-ides risk measurement methods the k-ides disaster risk assessment is based on irvs’s individual risk assessment and integrated risk assessment formula. k-ides calculates the values of consequence, threats, and vulnerability to sum up each item by disaster scenario, and the individual risk is calculated by using the following formula. the risk values of individual disasters exclude the interrelationships between disasters. it sums the integrated risks with the disaster risk by scenario. the risk value calculation formula derives the average risk value based on the concept of p-norm in linear algebra. table 4. individual and integration risk scenarios calculation formula 3.4. k-ides disaster risk assessment items the evaluation items of k-ides comply with the evaluation classification system of fema irvs, but the evaluation items are newly established in consideration of the importance of the evacuation safety zone plan derived from the high-rise building design and evaluation standards related to disasters in korea. the purpose of evaluation between sub items was grouped considering the correlation of similar items. k-ides extracts the second detailed subdivision items from irvs and the proposed items through domestic structural standards, domestic disaster related evaluation standards and guides. and then by expert’s consultation on the related fields such as structure, fire, and architectural design, it specifies the detailed selection criteria of the items and contents. it carries out the evaluation process by pre-evaluation and on-site evaluation. pre-evaluation is the process of basic information collection on the building and surrounding environment. the field evaluation consists of 113 items grouped into 9 categories in an order of consequences, threat and vulnerability and 29 weighted items that are selected through irvs and expert’s consultation based on empirical knowledge. the evaluation items for the evacuation area are classified as the abatement items as they are important for securing the safety of high rise buildings. since evaluation items are constructed while considering the impact on the buildings according to the disaster characteristics, the distribution and the number of items is different according to the disaster. in the case of a typhoon disaster, except for site, building, elevation, and evacuation plan, the correlation between it and other evaluation fields in the high-rise buildings is weak, and so it is expected to have little influence on the disaster evaluation and the final integrated disaster risk assessment. pg. 29 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 5. kides assessment frame pg. 30 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. k-ides risk quantification methods 4.1. k-ides risk assessment calculation method since the scoring for the quantification section of the risk assessment model developed in this study differs in the number of items among c, t, and v, the maximum value of the detail item is specified according to the ratio adjustment. the ratio is determined through the simulation together with the weighted item. k-ides sets the minimum value at 0.1 level of the maximum value and the selection value of the detail item is determined by the isometric ratio between the intervals. according to the architectural elements affected by the disaster’s specific characteristics, item distribution is interlinked and the number of questions is 2.5 times the maximum for each disaster. it is necessary to review the distribution ratio when calculating the final risk. in this study, the risk assessment by items is a process of selecting the baseline value for the final integrated risk assessment and will be used as a criterion to refine the evaluation model by analyzing the effects of individual disasters and c, t, v items through a simulation of high-rise buildings and application of the k-ides risk assessment. pg. 31 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 6. k-ides assessment frame 4.2. k-ides rating method k-ides’ maximum and minimum values are used to proportionally divide intervals to rate the risk as a percentage (%) which are then divided into four stages of irvs to classify the risks. irvs graded risk intervals are at equal intervals while the k-ides is classified as safe for values less than 40% for risk and divided the risk into 3 intervals for values greater than 40%. calculated scores are divided into 25%, 20% and 15% according to the risk level. this study establishes a criteria for grading based on the quantitative analysis of the degree of damage to an environmental threat and disasters level and vulnerability to the physical protection function of buildings. in the next study, the risk values derived from building simulations using k-ides will be analyzed to verify the accuracy of the model and to examine the applicability of the settled criteria. table 7. k-ides risk rating 4.3. k-ides simulation plan for risk evaluation model review it is necessary to apply the risk evaluation model to high-rise buildings to examine the weighted items and the weight distribution of it. k-ides sets the selection criterion for the simulation based on the items that can analyze pg. 32 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the influence by items in the vulnerability part of the building with minimizing the group deviation on the environmental factors. in order to verify the distribution of building vulnerability with similar conditions as the regional characteristic related indicators of the risk assessment model, the selection of a domestic high-rise building is selected a non-residential high-rise building with a heighted of 150m or more in a commercial district with a floor area of 500% or more in seoul and busan as a standard. k-ides classifies the selected targets so that they could be used as a control group by an evaluation factor for the comparison to identify moving plan of vehicles and pedestrians, applicable buildings and non-applicable buildings subject to evacuation safe zone regulations and facade composition and materials to endure the external attack. it is possible to analyze the precision of the checklist by first evaluating the characteristics of items related to the architectural planning elements such as site plan, space plan, elevation plan, and structural plan and applying them to the weight and evaluation values. for other evaluation items, due to the similarity of use of non-resident high-rise buildings, the results of the review of security plans, facilities, fire prevention plans and security plan are expected to be similar. the following table describes the characteristics of the main items selected for the simulation. table 8. overviewof buildings to be evaluated by k-ides 5. conclusion in usa, through collaborating with public experts, the government designs various disaster scenarios for private buildings in addition to public buildings and manage risk on them by continuously developing risk assessment system and systemizing accumulated data for the rapid recovery and reinforcement against vulnerability based on the data. in korea, it is not sufficient to operate the integrated risk management system for responding disaster due to lack of criteria for collecting data by disaster, official acceptance to the adequacy of risk assessment and interoperability system of results. moreover, the government has tried to reduce the high-rise building’s risk against the disaster through strengthening legal standards and building performance based on the review of predisaster impact assessment on high-rise buildings. however, pre-disaster impact assessment and inspection of disaster facilities to reflect strengthened standards by professional workforce is also has limitation since individual subjective opinion is reflected in evaluation and cannot be quantified. in order to establish risk assessment model for high rise buildings against four disasters: explosive terrorism, fire, seismic and wind at risk of domestic accidents. pg. 33 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd fema irvs in usa and domestic risk evaluation criteria of buildings in case of disasters were analyzed. based on this research, the risk assessment concept aims to establish a management system that can systematically integrate the collected information by using assessment techniques for elements in response to various disasters. it presents a classification system of evaluation factors, criteria for evaluation items and risk assessment methods. the results of the study create a basis for establishing the criterion of risk assessment methods to establish the korean risk assessment model. in the next study, the developed model will be verified. subsequent studies will increase the evaluation model’s precision by refining the criterion for disaster-related evaluation items and incorporating it into the risk assessment quantification. the final goal of this study is to develop a platform for building an integrated risk assessment system for disasters that can be utilized in systems developed from the beginning of the design considering domestic reality. this platform is expected to be used as integrated risk management against a complex disaster by expanding to infrastructures and other types of buildings through continuous data scaling and management systematization. 6. acknowledgments this article was funded by the korea research foundation of the government (ministry of science, technology, and information and communication). project number: nrf-2017r1a2b4004653 7. reference 1. lee, k. (2009). basic research for preventing terrorism in multipurpose building. national intelligence service counter terrorism research summary; 6. 2. kang, k. y., lim, d. h., kim, j. s., & lee, k. h. (2012). a study on the architectural design guidelines of super high rise buildings for terrorism focused on the 1st and 2nd layers defense. korea crisis management nonjip [crisisonomy],6(4), 191-216. retrieved december, from https://www.earticle.net/arti cle/a154512. 3. kang, k.y., park, b.j. and lee, k.h. (2011) a study on the vulnerability assessment of high-rise buildings in korea. journal of the architectural institute of korea (planning & design), 27 (11), pp.125-133 4. choi j. w., kang k. y., jang j. b., lee k. h., choi i. c. (2012) a study on a risk assessment model of bomb attack for high-rise buildings based on the analytic hierarchy process. korean review of crisis & emergency management, 8 (1), pp.127-139. 5. kang, k., & lee, k. (2014). vulnerability assessment model for cost efficient anti-terrorism design of super high-rise buildings. journal of asian architecture and building engineering,13(2), 413-420. doi:10.3130/jaabe.13.413 6. yu, y. s., yoon, s. w., & ju, y. k. (2012). risk assessment of tall buildings in korea by comparative study of modified rvs and irvs system. journal of the korean association for spatial structures, 12(4), 91-98. 7. ministry of government legislation. (2015). special act on management of disasters in super high rise buildings and complex buildings with underground connections.[pdf]. korea. 8. ministry of public safety and security. (2014). preliminary disaster impact assessment consultation guidelines. 9. seoul metropolitan government (2009) design guidelines of high rise buildings. seoul: seoul metropolitan government. 10. ministry of land, infrastructure and transportation. (2010). anti-terrorism building design guidelines in multi-purpose facilities. pg. 34 kim / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 11. ministry of land, infrastructure and transportation. (2017). regulations on standards for the structure of evacuation and fire prevention in buildings. 12. fema (2005) fema 452. risk assessment: a how-to guide to mitigate potential terrorist attacks against buildings. washington, d.c.: dhs 13. fema (2009) fema 455. handbook for rapid visual screening of buildings to evaluate terrorism risks. washington, d.c.: dhs 14. department of homeland security. federal emergency management agency (fema). (2011). fema bips 04: integrated rapid visual screening of buildings.(rep.). 15. fema (2011) fema 426/bips 06. reference manual to mitigate potential terrorist attacks against buildings 2nd . 16. the council on tall buildings and urban habitat (ctbuh). (n.d.). retrieved from http://regions.ctbuh.org /south-korea/seoul pg. 35 introduction purpose and background scope and method of research analysis of precedent research analysis of domestic building guidelines, codes and evaluation criteria related to disasters development of a risk assessment checklist establishing a method to quantify the weight and risk by items that reflect the evaluation criteria precedent research fema guidelines to protect buildings of various disasters fema irvs risk assessment analysis against disasters comparison of domestic disaster evaluation standards check list development for risk assessment kides risk assessment development direction comparison of evaluation methods between k-ides and irvs k-ides risk measurement methods k-ides disaster risk assessment items k-ides risk quantification methods k-ides risk assessment calculation method k-ides rating method k-ides simulation plan for risk evaluation model review conclusion acknowledgments reference http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.173 date palm rachis as a local and renewable structural material for rural communities in egypt eman a. darwish1, yasser m. mansour1, hamed elmously2 1department of architecture, faculty of engineering, ain shams university 2department of production and design, faculty of architecture, ain shams university abstract date palm rachis has been widely used in sheathing of houses in the rural communities in egypt and the middle east, as a local and cheap material that naturally resists direct solar radiation and humidity. lately, researchers around the world began to build complete structures using date palm rachis to take advantage of its abundance and natural resistance. however, due to the lack of the required mechanical properties for structural analytical modeling, mock ups are used to assess the structural properties of date palm rachis. this tool of assessment is insufficient in the consideration of wind or temporary and unforeseen loads. this paper introduces the closest estimations of the complicated mechanical properties required for structural analytical modeling, according to the available equipment and the variable nature of date palm rachis. the results showed that date palm rachis is a promising structural material with structural properties that are competitive to that of imported timbers in egypt. this paper invites researches and builders to exploit the potentials of palm rachis as a structural material for rural communities. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords date palm rachis; mechanical properties; natural structural material 1. introduction the increasing costs of the conventional building materials, such as concrete and steel, led to the dependence on junk and scrap to build houses in poor communities in egypt. the governmental efforts to solve the problem of this informal construction trend require long-term financial support that is not guaranteed under the circumstances of the high inflation rate and the global economic crisis. exploring natural building materials and local building materials in a society provides a new chance in the local development that is driven from the inside. mudbrick is one of the common building materials used to build houses in the rural communities, and famous architects have tried to revive this history (fathy, 1993). lately, more attention has been paid to agricultural residues to be the new building material that solves the problem of the decrease of the soil fertility that is required to make the mudbricks (kennedy, 2004). one of the most abundant residues in egypt and the middle east is date palm rachis (elmously, 2005). the dried date palm parts and the date palm main components are illustrated in figure 1 and 2. pg. 115 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd date palm rachis has been used as a building material in rural areas in egypt and the middle east. this technical heritage has accumulated over centuries due to the abundance of the highly renewable date palm rachis, as date palm rachis is the most available pruning residues of date palm trees that cover the vast area of the deserts, oases and the nile valley, as shown in table 1 (elmously, 2005). table 1. statistics of date palm pruning residuesin egypt (elmously, 2005) quantity available annually (air dry palm palm stem coir petiole total weight-10% moisture content rachis leaflet (ton/year) per palm, kg (mature female) 9.75 8.00 7.00 1.25 4.4 30.4 total in egypt, thousand tons 105.3 86.4 75.6 13.5 86.4 328.3 traditionally, rural houses, eco-lodges and public places combined date palm rachis and date palm trunks to build roofs. in sinai, date palm rachis is accumulated in layers to make exterior sheathing for the roofs with thicknesses that exceeds 20 cm to shield the houses from the direct sunlight, as illustrated in figure 3 (ibrahim, 2010). in siwa and the western oases, date palm trunks are halved and used as ceiling beams, where date palm rachis is used as a sheathing material that will enhance the interior design of the ceiling, as illustrated in figure 4 (alamuddine, 2001). in temporary structures in the nile valley such as shades, date palm rachis is threaded to make walls and roofs that are fastened to small tree stems which work as columns and beams in the corners (elmously, 2001). figure 1. dried date palm main parts (mahdavi, 2010) figure 2. date palm main components figure 3. palm trunk beams used for traditional roofing in sinai (ibrahim, 2010) pg. 116 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. roofing by palm rachis adrere amellal eco-lodge (alamuddin, 2001) figure 5. date palm rachis walls in arish house (piesik, 2012) figure 6. date palm rachis walls and roofs in arish house (piesik, 2012) pg. 117 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd this increasing dependence on date palm rachis as a structural material led to previous research that push the limits of date palm rachis as an independent structural material to build cheap and fast shades. these experiments depended solely on building full scale mock-ups of the proposed shades due to the lack of mechanical properties of palm rachis that are required for the structural analysis, although this could help to expect static loads, wind, seismic loads and the limits of the spans of the proposed structures. the first pioneering experiment was based on a proposal of gathering date palm rachis as bundles that are formed as arches. those arches were planted in the wet soil at spacing of 5m, while covering a span of 13m. as revolutionary as it sounds, the structure succeeded in covering the span, but only after using palm trunks as intermediate columns along every arch on intervals of 3.25 m. hence, the onsite decision led to construct a shade with a span that is actually only 3.25 m (piesik, 2012). figure 7 pictures the vault during construction, while figure 8 illustrates the interior columns that were closely spaced. the connection used was rope-based connection (figure 9). figure 7. the vault during construction (piesik, 2012) figure 8. interior columns (piesik, 2012) figure 9. rope based connections (piesik, 2012) another experiment using date palm rachis to build shades was based on the structural concept of ring beams. pg. 118 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd date palm rachis were gathered to make curved bundles that are planted along the parameter of the proposed circle to cover. then, a plywood ring was made to attach the edges of the curved bundles. however, the height of the structure decreased due to the deflection that happened under the weight of the final sheathing, as illustrated in figures 10 to 12 (”turn over a new leaf”, 2013). figure 10. ring beam in structure (boisbushet, 2013) figure 11. structure after completion (”turn over a new leaf”, 2013) figure 12. deformation after sheathing (”turn over a new leaf”, 2013) therefore, it can be concluded from the previous literature review, that building shades using date palm rachis while depending solely on building real mock-ups is not sufficient to predict onsite behavior and unexpected loads such as sheathing weight, wind and seismic loads. therefore, this paper aims to introduce the closest estimation of the mechanical properties of date palm rachis, according to the natural variations of date palm rachis and the available equipment in the laboratories of faculty of engineering, ain shams university. pg. 119 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. material and methodology previous research showed that the properties of date palm rachis are competitive to imported wood species, specifically those of spruce wood (elmously, 2001). however, due to the complexity of the variable nature of date palm rachis, those previous studies only measured some of the longitudinal properties for the whole date palm rachis regardless of the other two dimensions, as date palm rachis is considered an anisotropic material (figure 13). figure 13. comparison between the mechanical properties of palm rachis and imported wood and their standard values in astm d2555-88 (elmously, 2001) in nature, materials are classified into isotropic, orthotropic, and anisotropic materials. isotropic materials are the materials where the mechanical properties are identical in all directions, such as glass and metals. on the other hand, the properties of fibrous materials such as timber vary according to the fiberds’ direction, which makes them anisotropic materials (mascia, & lahr, 2006). however, in engineering elastic models timber is considered an orthotropic material. the linear orthotropic model suggests three planes of symmetry in the following three directions: longitudinal, radial and tangential, which are coincident with the three cartesian directions: x, y and z. where longitudinal direction of timber is parallel to the fibers, the radial direction is perpendicular to the fibers and the growth rings and the tangential direction is perpendicular to the fibers and tangential to the growth rings (green, winandy, & kretschmann, 2010). accordingly, if date palm rachis is to be defined as an orthotropic material, the properties in the tangential and radial directions are identical due to the lack of growth rings in date palm rachis, as illustrated in figure 14 (mansour, elmously, & darwish, 2017). figure 14. axes of material in timber and date palm rachis (yasser et al., 2017) the considered properties to be measured are: tension stress, longitudinal modulus of elasticity, radial/tangential modulus of elasticity, longitudinal-radial/tangential shear modulus. these properties were considered according to the required properties for structural analysis for orthotropic materials in sap2000; the most widely used software for structural analysis. the rest of the properties are to be measured in the upcoming papers. pg. 120 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 15. material property interface in sap2000 (author’s own, n.d.) 3. discussion the following properties were measured for ”baladi” species of date palm trees in minya governorate along the nile valley in the metalloids laboratory and polymers laboratory in the faculty of engineering, ain shams university. the properties are carried out on the middle portion of the rachis using din en 408-2004 standards with 12% moisture content. 3.1. tensile stress the tensile stress was measured through the stress-strain curve of tension. the yield stress is the stress at the end of the elastic zone, while the ultimate stress is the highest stress before the failure. the ultimate tensile stress has been measured for the whole date palm rachis from three species in egypt and showed a mean value of 80 mpa. new measurement took place in the polymers labs in the faculty of engineering using precast epoxy grips. the experiment was evaluated on three specimens to validate the results according to previous studies. the nominal dimensions of the specimens are illustrated in figure 16. each specimen was inserted in the ends in hollow pvc tubes and with a length of 10 cm and epoxy sikadur was poured inside, then the tubes were sewn off using lathe. the testing was made on 3 samples of baladi species (figure 17), by lloyd 300k capacity testing machine, with a rate of 2 mm/min. according to din en 408-2004 (figure 18). figure 16. specimen dimension (author’s own, n.d.) the failure of each specimen was marked when the first crack in the epoxy appeared, as the crack happens due to the unique behavior of the palm rachis under tension, where the fibers tend to loosen, leading to the cracking of the brittle epoxy around (figure 19). this can be noticed after the epoxy could be easily removed, revealing longitudinal cracks between the loose fibers in the specimen underneath, which indicates the failure of the specimen (figure 20). the stress-strain curves of the three specimens showed considerable variations, which was expected as the specimen were not taken from the same rachis (figure 21). the stress-strain curves showed the following: pg. 121 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – it was found to be relatively close to that of white spruce in terms of the acute inclination of the curve in the elastic zone. – the minimum yield stress was found to be 40 n/mm2. – the mean of minimum tensile stress was found to be 65 n/mm2. – the mean of yield stress was found to be 55n/mm2. – the mean of the tensile stress was found to be 75 n/mm2. these values were considerably close to those of previous research (elmously, 2001). figure 17. the tension specimens before testing (author’s own, n.d.) figure 18. the tension procedures in the testing machine (author’s own, n.d.) figure 19. longitudinal cracks in epoxy and specimen (author’s own, n.d.) figure 20. zoom in on the longitudinal cracks under the epoxy (author’s own, n.d.) pg. 122 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 21. tensile stress-strain curves of the 3 specimens 3.2. longitudinal modulus of elasticity the longitudinal modulus of elasticity is often obtained by bending for rough and natural materials like bamboo and palm rachis, as the preparation procedures for tension were found to be complicated as shown in the previous section. the longitudinal modulus of elasticity included an effect of shear deflection. therefore, the shear-free elasticity modulus is calculated by increasing the apparent modulus of elasticity by 10% (green et al., 2010). the measurements were made for 5 specimens that were dried for 12% moisture content or less. the bending measurement was over a span of 360 mm in relative to the specimen dimension, as illustrated in figure 22, according to din en 408-2004 by lloyd 300k capacity testing machine, with a rate of 2 mm/min (figure 23). figure 22. dimensions of the bending specimen (author’s own, n.d.) the failure of each specimen was automatically identified by the machine when no more resistance was received. the failure of the specimen had a sharp breaking point, with longitudinal cracking as the fibers loosen from the load once it exceeded the ultimate limits of the material (figures 24 and 25). according to din en 408-2004, the apparent modulus of elasticity is calculated using load, displacement and the pg. 123 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd moment of inertia, by the following equation: eapp = l3i (f2 −f1) 48i (w2 −w1) (1) where – f2-f1 is an increment of load on the straight line portion of the load-deformation curve in newtons. – w2-w1 is the increment of deformation corresponding to f2-f1 in millimeters. – li is the span between supporters in millimeters. – i is the second moment of area, in millimeters to the fourth power. therefore, the testing results needed are load-machine extension curves (figure 26). thus, according to equation 1, the mean eapp of the 5 specimen was found to be 9532.5 n/mm2, and by excluding the shear effect, the actual el is 10287 n/mm2. this result was considerably close to those of previous research (elmously, 2001). figure 23. the bending procedures in the testing machineb (author’s own, n.d.) figure 24. the failure pattern in the specimens (author’s own, n.d.) figure 25. the longitudinal cracking in a specimen (author’s own, n.d.) pg. 124 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 26. load-extension curves of the 5 specimen in theapparent modulus of elasticity (authors) 3.3. radial/tangentialmodulus of elasticity e r/t due to the natural long shape of palm rachis that is unable to be formed into specimen that can be tested for tension or bending perpendicular to fibers, a compression test was used to calculate the radial/tangential modulus of elasticity that is perpendicular to fibers. the palm rachis were dried to 12% moisture content, shaped into 5 specimens and tested by lloyd 50k capacity machine, with a rate of 1.5 mm/min (figures 27 to 29). figure 27. dimensions of the specimen of compression (author’s own, n.d.) figure 28. the compression procedures in the testing machine (author’s own, n.d.) the failure of each specimen was automatically identified by the machine when no more resistance was received. the specimens suffered buckling under compression, in addition, cracks were originated between the fibers that tend to loosen from the load once it exceeded the ultimate limits of the material. according to din-en 408-2004, the compression modulus of elasticity is calculated using load, displacement and the dimensions, by the following equation: ec = ho(f2 −f1) bl(w2 −w1) (2) pg. 125 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 29. the failure patterns of the compression specimens (author’s own, n.d.) where – f2-f1is an increment of load on the straight line portion of the load-deformation curve in newtons. – w2-w 1 is the increment of deformation corresponding to f2-f1 in millimeters. – h0 is the height of the sample. – b is the width of the cross section of the sample. – l is the thickness of the cross section sample. therefore, the testing results needed are load-machine extension curves, which are illustrated in figure 30. figure 30. load-machine extension curves of the 5 specimenin the compressive modulus of elasticity (author’s own, n.d.) 3.4. longitudinal-radial/tangentialshear modulus glr/t no previous researches assigned shear modulus of date palm rachis. the shear modulus induced from bending measures the ratio of the stress and strain resulting from the shear deflection. the resultant shear modulus is based on shear strain parallel to fibers and shear stress perpendicular to fibers. din en 408-2004 contains a sector that is specified to measure the shear modulus through the variable span method; where the apparent modulus of pg. 126 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd elasticity is measured using bending testing over 3 variable spans that are chosen based on the rules of din en 408-2004, then the sum of the reciprocal of the values of the 3 spans is used in the following equation: g = kg k1 , k1 = 4 1 eapp 4 ( h l )2 (3) where kg is 1.2 for rectangular or square cross sections, and k1 is the slope of the graph of the reciprocal of the 3 spans eapp and the squared ratio of sample height to span between supports. the testing procedure is illustrated in figures 31 through 35. figure 31. dimensions of the bending specimen (author’s own, n.d.) figure 32. the bending procedures in the testing machine for span 220 mm (author’s own, n.d.) figure 33. the bending procedures in the testing machine for span 280 mm (author’s own, n.d.) the failure patterns were found to be more acute as the span increased. the failure pattern in the specimens of the 220 mm span testing was a mild deflection, while deep longitudinal cracks and stronger deflection occurred to the specimens of the 280 mm span testing. however, the specimens of the 400 mm span testing suffered sharp breakage points at the middle of each specimen. the results of the tests are illustrated in figures 36-39. the final results of the testing showed that glr/t was 109.2 mpa according to equation 3, which lies within the 50-150 mpa limits of shear modulus of softwoods under the same moisture content (green et al., 2010). pg. 127 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 34. the bending procedures in the testing machine for span 400 mm (author’s own, n.d.) figure 35. the failure patterns of the variable span method specimens (author’s own, n.d.) figure 36. graphs of the apparent modulus of elasticity of span 220 mm (author’s own, n.d.) figure 37. graphs of the apparent modulus of elasticity of span 280 mm (author’s own, n.d.) pg. 128 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 38. graphs of the apparent modulus of elasticity of span 280 mm (author’s own, n.d.) figure 39. the slope of k1 (author’s own, n.d.) 3.5. calculation of radial-tangential shear modulus grt as noticed from the previous testing, shear modulus was entirely based on the measurement of longitudinal apparent modulus of elasticity. however, most of the previous research have not indicated how to measure the radial-tangential shear modulus that is entirely perpendicular to fibers as it can be negligible relative to the much higher values of the properties in the direction of fibers, specially for naturally long-shaped elements like date palm rachis. the same applies for poisson ratio measurements. therefore, by assuming poisson ratios with reference to the properties to spruce wood as 0.30, grt can be calculated by the following equation (racero, nieto, & ávila, 2015): ∴ grt = 0.5 ( et 1 + µrt ) = 0.5 ( 105.45 1 + 0.30 ) = 40.55 n/mm2 (4) 4. conclusion date palm rachis has been used for traditional construction using the pure instinct and experience of the rural builders in the rural areas in egypt and the middle east. however, the pre-construction structural analysis could help to make the date palm rachis-based structures more resistant to unpredictable forces like winds, seismic loads and onsite behaviors. this paper introduced the closest estimations of the mechanical properties of whole date palm rachis using the available equipment in the laboratories of the faculty of engineering, ain shams university. although date palm rachis is considered an anisotropic material, the linear orthotropic model was used to identify the axes of the material where the properties are to be measured. it was found that the properties of date palm rachis in the linear orthotropic model are supposed to be identical in the radial and tangential directions. the proposed date palm rachis properties are summarized in table 2. these properties cover most of the required properties to define date palm rachis into structural analysis software like sap2000. these findings prove that date palm rachis is competitive to imported wood species in egypt. this opens the door for further researches to structurally evaluate the potentials of date palm rachis as a versatile building material that can be used as a substitute to expensive imported wood in egypt. pg. 129 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2. the mechanical properties of date palm rachis baladi species mechanical property property symbol in sap2000 value (n/mmm) minimum yield stress fy 40 minimum tensile stress fu 65 effective yield stress fye 55 effective tensile stress fue 75 longitudinal modulus of elasticity el e1 10287 radial & tangential modulus of elasticity er, et e2, e3 105.45 longitudinal-tangential shear modulus glt , g12, g13 109.2 longitudinal-radial shear modulus glr radial-tangential shear modulus grt g23 40.55 5. acknowledgments special thanks for prof. nahed abdel salam, the professor of the metalloids laboratory in the faculty of engineering, ain shams university, for facilitating the procedures of the measurements. the authors would like to acknowledge ”sika egypt” for donating the epoxy used in the experiments. references 1. elmously, h. (2001). ’the industrial use of the date palm residues n eloquent example of sustainable development. in international conference on date palms (2nd ed., pp. 866-886). cairo, egypt: united arab emirates university. 2. elmously, h. (2005). the palm fibers for the reinforcement of polymer composites: prospects and challenges. in the first ain shams international conference on environmental engineering (pp. 866-886). cairo, egypt: ain shams university. 3. fathy, h. (1993). architecture for the poor: an experiment in rural egypt. illinois, usa: university of chicago press. 4. green, d., winandy, j., & kretschmann, d. (2010). mechanical properties of wood. in wood handbook: wood as an engineering material (100th ed., pp. 100-145). wisconsin: united states department of agriculture. 5. ibrahim, n. (2010). appropriate building patterns for saint catherine, egypt. cairo, egypt: centre of building crafts, st. catherine. egyptian earth construction association. 6. kennedy, j. f. (2004). building without borders: sustainable construction for the global village. gabriola, b.c., canada: new society publishers. 7. mansour, y., elmously, h., & darwish, e. a. (2017). utilizing palm rachis for eco-friendly and flexible construction in egypt. in world sustainable built environment conference 2017 hong kong (pp. 28242833). hong kong: construction industry council and hong kong green building council limited. 8. mascia, n. t., & lahr, f. a. (2006). remarks on orthotropic elastic models applied to wood. materials research, 9 (3), 301-310. pg. 130 darwish / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 9. turn over a new leaf. (2013, september 13). retrieved from http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/wanm obile/mobile/article/23324 10. piesik, s. (2012). arish: palm-leaf architecture (2nd ed.). london, uk: thames & hudson. 11. racero, c. s., nieto, b. i., & ávila, j. r. (2015). physical and mechanical properties of the wood used in indigenous housing of the tuchı́n township, department of cordoba, colombia. inge cuc, 11(1), 99-108. pg. 131 introduction material and methodology discussion tensile stress longitudinal modulus of elasticity radial/tangentialmodulus of elasticity e r/t longitudinal-radial/tangentialshear modulus glr/t calculation of radial-tangential shear modulus grt conclusion acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.19 the economic evaluations and the real estate appraisals for the effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of urban regeneration measures francesco calabrò1, lucia della spina1 1mediterranea university of reggio calabria, italy abstract the urban policies and territories live a period of profound transformation characterized by a shift to new approaches and governance tools. the programmed public action generates an application for assessment: facing the loss of representation in politics and the increasing complexity of the variables that influence public choices, decision-makers have the absolute need for auxiliary tools to help optimize the use of resources and, at the same time, to make the decisional path shareable and transparent. when resources are scarce, the time spent during the transformation process becomes increasingly important as the rational legitimacy of choices are some of the difficult issues to solve that lead to the need to experiment with new tools to support decision makers from the early stage of planning or in the pre-design phase saaty (1990, 2008). in this valuation context of compatible functional solutions, the multiple-criteria decision making (mcdm) methodologies (roy & bouyssou, 1993), and the analytic hierarchy process (ahp) in particular play a significant role as they enable all the intrinsic values of the assets in question to be taken into account, both economic and extra-economic. the use of these methods can provide choices that are not always based on the best cost-benefit ratio (nesticò & pipolo, 2015). in addition to guaranteeing the presence and the clarification of different values, the formalisation of an evaluation process carried out in these terms and the expression of the community needs also allow for the control and the correspondence between general and specific choices to take place. since the asset is of a particular value, it is, however, necessary that the various criteria and weights taken on the basis of the evaluation be shared by the community or rather by direct users and by potential or future users. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords economic evaluation; multi-criteria decision making; strategic planning 1. introduction the project of kiwis 2016 correctly highlighted that “the economic crisis and, consequently, the social crisis that hit most european cities is having effects on transformation and urban regeneration processes. more and more often we see cases of ”large” projects abandoned, deferred or lapsed, either by difficulties encountered by operators pg. 46 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd for the exponential delay in approval times or realization or, as in most of the recent cases, for the coming up of unsustainability costs of realization. on the basis of recent experience, it appears that today this approach to urban planning, characterized by great works, long lead times and high costs, it is questioned and it appears, also, in crisis. urban regeneration is an emergency but requires more measured, rapid and widespread interventions and with low investment: recoveries, demolition and reconstruction, creation of public spaces. no more time for large projects projected over the long term and in need of substantial capital, it’s necessary to improve the quality of urban life with small actions, fast and flexible, low cost and low or no impact, in the places of everyday life; in the spaces of real life.” if all this is true, and we think it is, then there is a clear need for aid in promoting a holistic approach to urban regeneration in which the culture of evaluation, in particular economic, and estimates plays the usual role of auxiliary tools for decisions: learning to decide by building a path of continuous references between rationality and invention. 2. the economic evaluations and the real estate appraisals for the effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of urban regeneration measures in other words, really changing the reality around us to make it more fitting to our needs implies a decision-making process as a synthesis of formal solutions and their possible implications in terms of: capacity to satisfy the needs for which they were designed, resource requirements for their realization, and diachronic implications in terms of management and maintenance. the decision-making process does not have a rectilinear course in which each successive pass is a necessary and an unambiguous consequence of the previous steps. it is, rather, a directed branched system representable by a directed graph, where each node is connected to another downstream of an evaluation process implicitly or explicitly. decisions pertaining to the rethinking of urban spaces cannot be taken only through a process aimed at identifying the formal solutions most consistent with the world view of the designer, but also while taking into account the technological implications necessary for its technical feasibility. the absence of control of estimative implications, under construction and management phases, is one of the main causes of the proliferation of unfinished or unused works. another aspect that appears to be significant is the legitimacy of decisions: why was a project chosen over another? why was a given solution adopted? the total de-legitimization of the political class, as well as the loss of sure cultural references produced by the collapse of ideologies, makes it difficult to build a consensus around the decisions of local public officials. to make the objectives that a decision-making process intends to pursue and the criteria adopted explicit to choose among the conceivable alternatives, at least make clear the way in which it has reached a certain choice and, at the same way, make it possible to modify and to improve the choice through a rational path. if all this is true for the individual public project, it is even truer in the context of a more intensive program of activities, as an urban renewal program of significant parts of the city. in this case, on the considerations set out above, which retain their validity, additional levels of complexity add themselves to the decision-making process dictated by the need to take into account the presence of several actors, public and private, with the municipal administration that takes for direction, coordination and control. how does it contribute to meeting the needs of the community to entities that differ from the local authority? how does it create conditions for private convenience? how does it make the collective conveniences contemporary with private ones possible? pg. 47 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd again, the culture of evaluation can support decision-making through estimating the impacts that can be generated from alternative hypotheses, verifying the persistence of convenience conditions for all parties, and ensuring the sustainability of the interventions. the decision-making process at the time when the system of identity resources is involved becomes even more complex, where the expression of a judgment of convenience is entirely outside the logic of the market. however, there remains a need to ensure, through appropriate management models, the sustainability of the interventions in a historical period in which it is no longer possible to think about the use of public resources for the management. 3. economic evaluation of projects and public spending contraction historically, the cost-benefit analysis from the earliest experiences of the 30s of the last century was made in the united states and then gradually in all subsequent areas. this intended to demonstrate that the benefits to a community, deriving from a particular work, outweighed the costs it had incurred. this test was sufficient by itself to finance the work in a political-economic context, which considered the public debt as a useful tool to increase the collective welfare; it was still far from being the problem that severely affects the contemporary public policies in the western world. in fact, it was operating as if there was an ideal position with unlimited resources. the gradual decline in public spending has changed the paradigm of reference for the economic evaluation of projects: the decision-makers have to give answers to needs that are always unlimited but with fewer resources always available. it is in this context, and also for other reasons omitted for brevity here, that for the use of public resources for urban and territorial transformations, new tools as complex urban programs and strategic plans are designed. the results of these new tools are not yet satisfactory but they make sense of their potential, thus stimulating the research for the necessary correction for their effective application. in particular, the culture of evaluation can and should make a significant contribution to the improvement of these tools: it is clear, however, that paradigm shifts mentioned above also determine the need for a radical change in the assessment tools used. 4. the evaluation of strategic plans and operational programs 4.1. the phases of the transformation process and the evaluation questions in those circumstances, the question that the evaluator must answer often is: when placing an almost unlimited picture of and one limited stock of resources, what is the optimal use of these resources? in fact, the question itself is not unique but it changes depending on several factors: – the nature of the subject that raises the question namely whether it is a public or private entity; – in the case of a public entity, the phases of the transformation process are as follows: phase 1: strategic planning / operational programming phase 2: design phase 3: execution phase 4: management phase 5: disposal / regeneration in general, the evaluation, on any level of detail, can reduce the risk of error but not eliminate it; it is evident that the system of the information on which the feedback is based is more reliable and lowers the risk of error, which pg. 48 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd is an inverse function of the quantity and quality of the information available. these considerations show that the risk of error decreases by implementing the decision-making process towards more advanced stages in which the information available is more and with more reliability. in the first phase of the transformation process, as part of the strategic/operational planning, evaluation plays a decision-supporting role for the selection of actions to be included in the plans/programs. this phase is characterized by the scarcity of the information available, given the level of depth of the actions, therefore by the need to decide in highly uncertain conditions. the evaluative question may concern: – selection of prioritary interventions/actions to be included in the plan/program: in this case, some interventions/actions among many hypothesized must be selected; – the feasibility of a single work: in this case, it is necessary to select a solution from two or more alternatives. 4.2. the selection of priority interventions / actions to be included in the plans/programs these data are constant, which characterize all situations of planning: it is the shortage of resources compared to the needs to be met. the process of planning/programming, in turn, can be considered in three phases: – cognitive phase, in which the analysis of the context affected by the plan/program is carried out, of the critical issues to be addressed, of the resources to be enhanced; – decision making phase, in which the strategy is defined, the priorities are set, and the actions that will be part of the plan/program are selected; – descriptive phase, which is explains the strategic plan/operational programme in detail and includes, in relation to the time schedule according to which it will be implemented, its related modalities, the actors involved, the sources of financing , and so on. the actions are the means by which to achieve the results. they must be, therefore, clearly connected to the results to be achieved (expected results): certainly, more actions (i.e. different actions) could be provided for a single expected result. in the program theory, the expected results representing the program’s objectives and actions are the tools and what you think you can do to achieve (or to help to achieve) those results. actions can be simple or complex. thinking carefully and in detail of the actions in the planning phase helps to have an abundance of time in the later phases. the actions to be put in place must therefore be defined in as much detail as possible: the predominant way, which is often used to program, has certainly helped to make the programming choices totally and not understandable nor verifiable. the selection of actions that constitute a plan/programme happen on the basis of an evaluation process that is divided into steps that take into account the following: step 1: the consistency of actions against objectives; step 2: the capability of actions to satisfy the needs, i.e. their effectiveness; step 3: their feasibility and sustainability; step 4: distributive equity, compared to the territories and / or to the bodies involved; step 5: the priority given to the aims pursued by the actions, i.e. the relevance of the actions; pg. 49 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd step 6: the availability of resources (budgeting). step 1: the consistency of actions against objectives in this phase, an extensive list of possible actions is drawn up: it is based on the information coming from the analysis of the context and of the objectives identified to implement the strategy. step 2: the capability of actions to satisfy the needs, i.e. their effectiveness in this phase, the results obtained from the individual actions are estimated and due to the scarcity of available information, the estimate is based on the opinions of experts and/or in comparison with similar experiences in similar contexts. step 3: the feasibility and the sustainability of actions in such an evaluation process, testing the feasibility of the actions that are above all technical, legal-administrative, and economical in addition to the estimate of the initial investment, are verified, especially in terms of sustainability in the management phase. step 4: distributive equity apart from a few authors (mollica, 1966,) for example, this aspect of the decision-making process is too often omitted, almost as if it involves illegal activities. it appears instead entirely lawful that an entity, especially if it’s public or bearer of popular and not individual interests, is partners of a program as it proves to be a useful tool to meet the needs of the territory or of the category it represents. it is clear that beyond automatic mechanisms (resources allocated in proportion to the population, for example) on the decision-making process, other factors also have an impact, even of objective nature or easily sharable by decision makers, such as the relevance of the resources or the problems of a certain portion of territory, rather than the relationship with other previous or parallel plans / programs. other aspects that are less “technical” such as the authoritativeness and prestige of the political representatives also influence the decision-making process in real life. the aim of assessment is certainly to take into account equitable distribution requirements based on objective mechanisms: corrections, which to some extent also take account of the political and adhere to the sphere of decision-makers. step 5: the priority of the aims the initial analysis of the context, of its resources and of the critical issues to deal with, provides the information that lead to defining the strategy of the program and its hierarchized objectives. once the effectiveness of actions is measured, their feasibility and sustainability are verified, the distribution criteria is set, the selection of the actions is based on the priorities assigned to the objectives being pursued through the actions. this activity allows us to draw up a sort of final list of actions to be taken, possibly structured by the intervention sector. step 6 the availability of resources (budgeting) one of the primary differences between a plan and a program is that a plan, especially if strategic in nature, does not usually have a pre-set budget. in this case, there is no budgeting phase; the actions will be funded in successive phases as they present opportunities arising from calls or by the partners’ own resources. in the case of programs, however, in relation to the budget hypothesized, the actions are included in the program according to the ranking made in the previous phase. 5. mcdm and the analytic hierarchy process generally, a number of decision makers, each with his or her own objectives and priorities, govern the problems and the impacts of these targets are necessarily expressed in different units. it is, therefore, one of the decision-making problems: multi-decision makers, multi-objective and multidimensional, in which the available information is represented by a matrix of mixed data with quantitative and qualitative values. all evaluation problems are analysed by identifying and entering the information in the decision-making model pg. 50 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd (fig. 1), the following elements: – a goal which is the general objective to be achieved; – a decision maker or a group of decision makers who express their preferences; – evaluation criteria the basis of which is that the alternatives are evaluated; – the alternative representing the object of the assessment that must be ordered; – scores expressing the value of the alternative compared to a criterion. figure 1. elements of a decision-making model any problem to be solved makes use of decision support, i.e. evaluation techniques. more recently have we developed decision support techniques such as multi-criteria analysis and multiobiettivio where it is not required to use a single unit of measurement but it is rather possible to compare quantitative and qualitative data. one of the main implications of the multi-criteria approach was the renunciation of optimality paradigm in the new analysis techniques. with the presence of heterogeneous objectives often in conflict with each other, it is usually not possible to find solutions that simultaneously pursue all objectives and the decision problem is solved looking for the most satisfactory solution, or better ”more coherent” with the logic of the decision makers. the choice must therefore be affected within the set of non-dominated solutions; those solutions that realize a certain level of achievement of the various objectives such that it is not possible to improve the level of one of them without causing a worsening of the level of at least one other objective. a multiobiettivi decision problem is thus solved by transforming it into a series of mono-objective optimization problems in which one of the objectives is chosen as a function to be optimized with respect to the target on the level of achievement of the other objectives. in this valuation context, the multiple-criteria decision making (mcdm) methodologies, and the analytic hierarchy process (ahp) in particular, play a significant role as they allow all the intrinsic values of the assets in pg. 51 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd question to be taken into account, both economic and extra-economic (roy & bouyssou, 1993). the use of these methods can provide choices that are not always based on the best cost-benefit ratio but, for example, which optimizes the quality of conservation or that safeguards the intrinsic value of the asset (nesticò & pipolo, 2015). as well as guaranteeing the presence and the clarification of different values, the formalisation of an evaluation process carried out in these terms, expression of the community needs, also allows the control and the correspondence between general and specific choices. since the asset is of a particular value, it is, however, necessary that the various criteria and weights taken on the basis of the evaluation be shared by the community or rather, by direct users and by potential or future users. the analytic hierarchy process (ahp) among various mcdm provides a hierarchical analytical method that has found many applications in evaluation of priority and pre-feasibility of different projects. as techniques that help decision-making, the ahp has been, up until now, applied to an extensive variety of decision problems such as the selection of projects, planning public resources such as energy and medical resources and, more generally, conflict analysis and strategic planning calabrò and spina (2014a). specifically, the ahp, developed by saaty, is used to achieve preference scales on the basis of the comparison pairwise technique between the elements that make up the decision problem in relation to a defined objective (saaty, 1980). users of the ahp first break down the decision problem into elementary parts and subsequently compare each pair of data in order to develop a priorities scale among the alternatives at each level of the decomposition. effective help to the study and support to the decision of those issues are offered through the multi-criteria analysis group (figueira, greco, & ehrgott, 2005). among them is the ahp methodology used as a tool that can provide an integrated approach to the issue of sustainability assessments. the hierarchical scheme illustrated in figure 2 is organized on two levels of criteria: the first is through the use of artistic, economic, social and cultural indicators trying to define the priority matrix in three different scenarios whilst the second level of criteria, through characteristic elements of the problem, addresses the construction of ”appreciation matrices” of the criterion in relation to the four alternatives. the assumptions and criteria used in the evaluation process represent the synthesis of a comparison to make with delphi-type procedures through the interaction of a panel of selected and independent individuals (experts, privileged witnesses, etc.). they anonymously interacted and actively debated the complex problem, thus creating an independent communication process (okoli & pawlowski, 2004). the communication among participants in the panel allows each expert to express their knowledge, perspective and opinion on the evaluation issue and reconsider, after feedback, the opinion expressed by others. the aspects of the overall value of the property are thus identified: the fundamental coordinates against which to assess the possible works of transformation and reusing of the asset. figure 2. hierarchical decisional scheme: objective – criteria – sub-criteria – alternatives the economic value (e.v.) is expressed by the monetary benefits resulting from the asset or rather the benefits it should return (in terms of opportunity cost) (calabrò & spina, 2014b). pg. 52 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the cultural value (c.v.) represents the ”intrinsic value” of the asset, namely the incommensurable or qualitative values. it is expressed with the use of multi-criteria analysis. the social value (s.v.) is expressed in order to gather all the benefits originated, in time and space, by the conservation using the division among the different types of users. the social value as an expression of the needs of the present, potential, and future community, which also reflects those ”post-materialistic” needs that manifest the need to conserve and protect its cultural and historical heritage. these three aspects (criteria) represent the fundamental coordinates with respect to that which must be placed on the issue of evaluation of a resource and, above all, the evaluation of possible projects for transforming it. in addition, they define the ”complex social value” of the resource, as a whole of all the benefits (economic, cultural and social) that can be achieved over time from the asset by all users (direct, indirect, potential and future). 6. conclusions the multi-criteria methodologies have proven particularly useful in the process of urban regeneration and local development. it is an instrument of mediation among the multiple and often divergent interests and is able to create a shared platform among all decision-makers, stakeholders and people directly affected by the final solutions. the use of different techniques of mcdm in the preliminary stages will support public administration in complex decisionmaking problems ensuring that they are integrated, multidisciplinary and transparent in the whole evaluation process. it has emerged that these tools are extremely strategic, especially if adopted early in the planning stage or the pre-feasibility, playing a role of control and management (cassalia, 2014). it can support the public body in the choice among different policy options through negotiation among the various stakeholders for a more transparent and efficient identification of shared and sustainable choices (calabrò and spina, 2014b); spina, scrivo, ventura, & viglianisi, 2015). thinking in terms of sustainability, the mcdm plays an important role in the path towards sustainability. to consider the development for sustainability means considering the multiple dimensions involved in the development and planning of the urban transformation (d’alpaos, 2012), considering the development as the result on the short and long terms, interconnected social, economic, and environmental objectives (calabrò & spina, 2013). for this purpose, the mcdm and in particular the ahp lends itself as a tool capable of dealing with this multidimensionality in an integrated way and reflects the complex interdependencies among the different dimensions of the transformation and reuse of the asset. the high transparency of the ahp steps and simple hierarchical representation of the various evaluation stages are the widespread application of this multi-criteria technique and its intrinsic effectiveness in identifying shared choices. the use of the hierarchical diagram, the matrix of the criteria, and the matrices of the alternatives being input and the vectors of preferences for the different scenarios in the output stage characterise the multi-criteria technique of operational simplicity and clarity of the mathematical process, making it logical for everyone involved. references 1. calabrò, f., & spina, l. d. (2013). the cultural and environmental resources for sustainable development. advanced materials research, 869, 43-48. 2. calabrò, f., & spina, l. d. (2014a). innovative tools for the effectiveness and efficiency of administrative action of the metropolitan cities: the strategic operational programme. in: 1th international symposium new metropolitan perspectives the integrated approach of urban sustainable development (isth2020). advanced engineering forum, 11, 3-10. 3. calabrò, f., & spina, l. d. (2014b). the public-private partnerships in buildings regeneration: a model appraisal of the benefits and for. advanced materials research, 931-932, 555-559. 4. cassalia, g. (2014). assessing heritage significance: decision support tools for managing landscape’s pg. 53 calabrò / environmental science and sustainable development, essd cultural value in southern italy. advanced engineering forum, 11, 647-652. 5. figueira, j., greco, s., & ehrgott, m. (2005). multiple criteria decision analysis: state of the art surveys. in (vol. 78). new york: springer science & business media. 6. nesticò, a., & pipolo, o. (2015). a protocol for sustainable building interventions: financial analysis and environmental effects. international journal of business intelligence and data mining, 10(3), 199-212. 7. okoli, c., & pawlowski, s. d. (2004). the delphi method as a research tool: an example, design considerations and applications. information & management, 42(1), 15-29. 8. roy, b., & bouyssou, d. (1993). aide multicritére à la décision: méthodes et cas. paris: economica. 9. saaty, t. l. (1980). the analytic hierarchy process. new york: mcgraw hill. 10. saaty, t. l. (1990). decision making for leaders: the analytic hierarchy process for decisions in a complex world. pittsburgh: rws. 11. saaty, t. l. (2008). decision making with the analytic hierarchy process. internal journal of services sciences, 1, 83-98. 12. spina, l. d., scrivo, r., ventura, c., & viglianisi, a. (2015). urban renewal: negotiation procedures and evaluation models. lecture notes in computer science, 9157. pg. 54 introduction the economic evaluations and the real estate appraisals for the effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of urban regeneration measures economic evaluation of projects and public spending contraction the evaluation of strategic plans and operational programs the phases of the transformation process and the evaluation questions the selection of priority interventions / actions to be included in the plans/programs mcdm and the analytic hierarchy process conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.18 sustainability and energy performance in the real estate market andrea ciaramella1 1department of architecture, built environment and construction engineering, politecnico of milan abstract one of the main economic benefits associated with the sustainable character of buildings is certainly the reduced use and energy consumption. the savings can be very significant, especially when considering that a nonresidential building, from an energy-efficient point of view, can achieve a power savings of 30% (kats, 2003). this, combined with the rising energy prices and growing awareness of environmental issues, has gradually shifted the demand towards buildings with good sustainable features; as a result, the concept of ”sustainability” has become a real ”driver” for designers ” (turner & frankel, 2008). however, it is appropriate and interesting to understand whether and to what extent a general trend, widely shared, is recognized by the market in terms of value. to simplify, it is appropriate to distinguish between the evidence of statistical data and considerations that have significant but only qualitative characteristics, then highlight statistics that demonstrate the relationship between the building performance in terms of sustainability and the corresponding market value and, at the same time, raise the motivation and guidance of end users and investors to see if the market can push towards sustainability because of its issues, such as economic benefit and convenience, and not only opportunities and responsibilities. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords building performance; energy performance; market value; sustainability 1. buildings sustainability and real estate market: a literature point of view green building certifications continue to rise year after year. in 2013, a wharton initiative for global environmental leadership (igel) study estimated that the market for green buildings in the united states, including both new and retrofits, is likely to rise from $85 billion in 2012 to $200 billion by 2016. this scenario is certainly a result of the growing awareness that a sustainable approach is an added value for any industry, at different levels. however, it seems necessary to understand whether and to what extent a general trend, so widely shared, is recognized by the market in terms of value; or if investors, promoters and market operators recognize a “market premium” to buildings characterized by a specific sustainable performance. in the international literature, there are different points of view: some authors as newsham, mancini & birt (2009), barrientos (2007) and scofield (2009) argue that, regardless of the leed certification, the energy use varies considerably between different buildings, so it is invalid that a certified building ever reaches appreciable levels, particularly in terms of energy saving. pivo & fisher (2010), however, argue that the savings in terms of energy consumption (per square meter per year) in the energy star certified buildings is 12.9% higher compared pg. 39 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to a ”normal building.” this study, which analyzes the net income of 7,627 properties within 10 years, identifies a market premium of 2.7% for energy star buildings 1. in summary, despite the limited availability of data and information in a position to give statistical evidence to the qualitative considerations, we can say that the analyzed studies show that the character buildings ”green” or with proven energy performance have these features (miller, spivey & florance, 2008): 1. they can get the highest rents: the energy star certified properties have got a market premium, in terms of rental costs, of 4.8%, corresponding to about $ 1.26 / sqf; energy star certified office buildings got a 3% market premium in the period 2004-2007; energy star or leed certified office buildings got a 2% market premium in 2007-2009; energy star and leed certified office buildings got a market premium about 6%. in general, the market premium for energy star-certified buildings varies between 7% and 9%, while for leed certified buildings varies between 15% and 17%. 2. they van have greater market opportunities (divestment): energy star certified buildings are able to obtain a higher market value of 13.5% in comparison to similar-free 15 certification. with reference to the transactions concluded during the period 2003-2007, it is showed that leed certification increases the sale price of buildings by 10%, while energy star entails an increase of 5.8%. office buildings energy star certified got a premium market, in terms of sales price of 19% in the period from 2004 to 2007. office buildings, energy star to leed certified, got a market premium of 13%. in general, the market premium referring to the energy star certified buildings sale is 31% while for leed certified buildings is 35%. 3. they can help maintain higher employment rates: in 2008, the energy star certified buildings reached a higher occupancy rate of 2-4% compared to similar buildings; the average yield (compared with appropriate adjustment factors with values related to vacancy rates) over the period 2004-2007, of leed and energy star certified office buildings was 9%; in 2007-2009; it was 5%; in 2010; leed certified buildings reached higher occupancy rates of 16-18% and those energy star certified of 10-11%. 4. have lower operating costs: energy star buildings involve 30% lower operating costs than comparable noncertified ones. energy star is a program of the agency for environmental protection (epa) and the us department of energy; it is a voluntary scheme, established in 1992 with the aim of measuring the energy efficiency of products / systems. the first products energy star branded were pcs and monitors. since 1995, the method was extended to the heating and cooling systems in buildings. to date in the united states 1.2 million homes have been certified. although difficult to quantify and often overlooked, there are, for some authors, other benefits: greater visibility and best picture for the housing stock and an increased employee productivity (resulting in lower turnover and reduced absenteeism) (miller, pogue, gough & davis, 2009). just for the latter, some studies believe that it can lead to increased employee productivity when moving to a sustainable building (lucuick, trusty, larsson & charette, 2005), and that this increase will translate into an equivalent energy saving for companies (romm & browning, 1998). however, it should be noted that the characteristics, such as reducing the rate of absenteeism or staff productivity, can not always be directly related to the sustainability characteristics of buildings and do not provide direct economic benefits. some studies claim that sustainable products are too expensive (both as regards to the production, both for what concerns the corresponding sale price on the market), especially when it is not possible to clearly ascertain the environmental quality in terms of cost/opportunities (mahenc, 2007). 1energy star is a program of the agency for environmental protection (epa) and the us department of energy; it is a voluntary scheme, established in 1992 with the aim of measuring the energy efficiency of products / systems. the first products energy star branded were pcs and monitors. since 1995, the method was extended to the heating and cooling systems in buildings. to date in the united states 1.2 million homes have been certified. pg. 40 ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the conclusion of the authors, based on the analyzed statistical data, is that the reduction of energy consumption is crucial to a market premium, more than a leed certification. in this regard, it is appropriate to consider that the energy star tradition in the united states nearly 20 years and that, as is apparent in many other contributions and studies, the perception that an energy efficient building involves lower operating costs during its useful life seems particularly popular in the market. in general, with respect to these data, it can be concluded that: – all authors agree that the link between the market value and buildings sustainable requirements is still at the beginning and that studies and analyses are needed in the coming years. – more than a willingness to face higher costs for ”green” buildings, there is a demand for a reduction of the fees for buildings without any green performance. – the studies are all based on the us market and most of the data are related to buildings in california. – the evidence of the data does not distinguish the different rating levels. – some authors (miller et al., 2008) consider that certain requirements by the government and some corporate standards over time could lead to a decline in interest on non-certified buildings. – a probing test is related to building performance over time and how the ”green” performance and the adaptability and flexibility of buildings meet the tenants’requirements and influence them in renewing the leases; as long as nothing has been proven that the end users are more likely to renew their contracts, this figure is not shown. the existing data are mainly linked to the value of the lease payments; the number of transactions is considered small to support scientifically-proven conclusions. the recent recession has caused a reassessment of what real estate asset managers consider the most important factors in choosing a new building; in addition to the necessary financial considerations, we are seeing a growing attention to the issues that refer to a cultural horizon of technical and functional performances. despite the experts’ share that enhance the performance of a building requiring more investment, the impact that sustainability issues have on a typical real estate investment decision-making process or of active management has not declined at all. recent surveys show that property owners see sustainability as an increasingly determining factor in the decision process but, at the same time, believe that there is no corresponding market premium (morri & soffietti, 2013). a survey of two cohorts of real estate stakeholders, either members of the green building council italia or commercial real estate investors, was carried out by means of an online questionnaire. based on 270 responses, it can be inferred that, while the importance of green building is widely acknowledged, caution is still prevalent regarding expected gains. in fact, the majority of respondents perceive the increase in rent and price premiums as being equivalent to additional costs. several studies have been conducted into the relationship between sustainability and market value in real estate, by critically analyzing the research and the applicability of sustainability and value research in valuation practice. according to warren-meyers (2012), as regards to the relationship between sustainability and market value, the valuation profession is not provided by research that would allow the incorporation of normative theories on the value of sustainability in valuation practice. this review highlights the lack of evidence and the applicability of current research into sustainability and value to the valuation profession in providing guidance and information in valuing real estate incorporating sustainability. some other authors (lorenz & lützkendorf, 2011) think that changes are required in the processes of gathering, processing and presenting property-related information, as well as in the methods for determining individual valuation-input parameters and for explicitly stating formerly implicit assumptions and qualitative judgment. the pg. 41 ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd required changes should be supported by actions that could be undertaken by the professional and valuationstandard-setting bodies and organisations within the valuation world. these actions include: embracing and improving marketing of the qualitative nature of the valuation service, the development of educational materials and formal guidelines, the provision of dedicated market research to assist valuation practitioners operating in different market segments, geographic regions and local sub-markets, and adjusting and further developing existing valuation standards to enable and support individual practitioners in offering a two-tierd valuation service to clients. 2. investors, end users and sustainable buildings: a market point of view the contributions in this direction are made by consulting firms, such as gva grimley, cushman & wakefield, atisreal, jonel lang lasalle, dtz, and deloitte. cushman & wakefield, in 2010, carried out a field survey, interviewing senior executives of 500 european companies invited to give their views on sustainability and more specifically on green buildings. the results of this survey were then compared with those of a similar study conducted in 2009. nearly 70% of respondents across europe consider sustainability ”important” sustainability, and over 40% said it is ”very important” or ”essential” for their business, regardless of the performance of the housing market. however, when it comes to buy or lease of new space across europe, there is a distinct virtual division: 50% of respondents believe that the green credentials play a significant and/or key role while the remainder believe they are not significant by giving them a limited or no role. the number of companies owning or occupying a green building has increased from 15% to 21% during the period of 2008-2010. sweden, with more than 50%, is the nation that has the highest number of surveyed companies that occupy buildings certified in term of sustainable performance. in addition, almost half of the organizations that still do not occupy a green building would be interested to change. positively, the number of respondents who do not occupy a green building and who are not at all interested in doing so has fallen from 32% to 28%. the widespread feeling is that larger companies (those with more than 5,000 employees) are taking the first steps in optical green, indicating the direction to follow. of these, 80% occupy or would like to occupy a green building; while with decreasing the company size, the intention also decreases towards sustainable real estate, showing a low propensity of small and medium companies to occupy a green building. we have to consider that the real estate market has suffered a lot in recent years and that has affected the strategic decisions within the companies. managers, in fact, prefer to focus primarily on the cost reduction through the optimization of spaces and the reduction in operating costs. for the 30% of surveyed companies, the most important factor for choosing a green building would be the ”reduction of energy consumption and water use.” this is true not only for large but also for small (i.e. those with less than 1,000 employees) and medium-sized enterprises (1001 to 5000 employees). however, there are obstacles in the dissemination of green practices, which are perceived as real barriers; about 20% of those surveyed said to be bound to the existing lease, especially the british and german companies (where over 30% of respondents indicated that this is the most important factor). in addition, most of the executives surveyed complains of a shortage of green real estate and higher rents, compared to standard buildings. however, the main obstacle for many respondents is the lack of buildings deemed suitable to the needs of companies. this is a negative trend that will likely continue for the next few years until there will be a greater supply. in order to attract tenants, new buildings must be built to the highest environmental standards; consequently, this should favor the expansion of the green buildings across europe. the importance of environmental requirements was also emphasized by a recent study published in the american journal of public health, stating that green buildings positively affect public health. in fact, it is stated that workers who have moved from conventional to green building offices reported a lower absenteeism rate and were more productive. therefore, in europe, there is a widespread feeling that the perception of the green building character qualities will greatly increase in the coming years along with the importance of sustainability in the long-term decisions, i.e. on development strategies and future commercial operations. pg. 42 ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd one of the first market research studies (grimley, 2007) has highlighted a rather limited proportion of investors interested in trying buildings in some way identified as ”sustainable.” the research, however, indicates that they all identify as ”important for the future” a sustainable performance. another research (bowman & will, 2008) referred to the australian market, found the absence of a clear direct relationship between market value and buildings. ”green star” certified, but highlighted that, in the view of investors, green star buildings are considered more able to respond to market changes in the future (literally in research are defined “future proofed”) and to better ensure the prospects of long-term return on investment. atisreal (2008) interviewed 135 companies, headquartered in the uk, about their orientation. also, in this case, there is no evidence but only a general propensity of operators, all agree, especially in perspective, that sustainable buildings will be characterized by: lower risk; greater market (in particular, less time and more ease of sale); market premium. however, it should be noted that this survey shows that operators are considering the cost of achieving sustainable buildings is still very high. a similar research study (miller et al., 2008) refers to the market in new zealand noted the propensity of investors to replace poorly performing buildings in their portfolio with sustainable buildings, but only in the face of proven ability to enhance the outcome in terms of efficiency. that means that investors are willing to spend more, but only if the investment’s objective proves to be on cash flow. some specific cases show interesting trends: in australia the development of sustainability investors is growing: vicsuper has invested 10% of the portfolio in large australian and international companies that have been shown to have the best sustainable business strategies in their specific sector. another example is provided by australia’s investa property group, a real estate investment company that currently manages $6.2 billion in assets and employs more than 56 buildings; 30 of these buildings have sustainable features and have got a green star evaluation. the company is very active in the objective of reducing energy consumption, water, waste and harmful emissions. because of this ”sustainable” approach, investa has been included in the dow jones corporate sustainability index. following this recognition, the company has grown in value on the stock market (”investa property group”, 2006). dtz has carried out an investigation referring to the market in paris. 50% of respondents would consider acceptable a 5-10% fee increase for ’sustainable’ headquarters; but only 21% said they were interested in renting a green building. many of the respondents think that the fee increase should be justified by an equivalent reduction in management/maintenance costs (reduced consumption and overall energy bills). among the most recent research studies is one developed by jones lang lasalle together with corenet global; it has a global nature and is not related to a single market. the survey involved 400 ceos; 60% of respondents were willing to pay a higher fee (up to 10% more), for leed, breeam or equivalent labelled buildings. the research also points to a limited supply of buildings with these characteristics on the market and, for this reason, probably a propensity/willingness to pay more for a product considered rare and not for reasons related to the performance of buildings. one of the most interesting emerging trends is the increased propensity to invest in buildings owned by companies. the majority of respondents (57%) confirmed that it is regarded as a period of one to three years as the payback period for investments aimed at improving the energy performance of buildings; 9% of respondents would be willing to consider a longer payback period. in the work done by ipf (dixon et al, 2008), 50 companies that have leased office space in the uk were surveyed. the research (uk occupiers demand for sustainable offices 2006-2009), dating back to a few years ago, showed how the issue of sustainability had a minor importance compared to the criteria traditionally used in choosing their spaces. the same consideration emerges from a similar survey by knight frank in 2008, referring to the city of london. however, it is worth considering that most of the respondents deal with buildings of recent construction, and therefore the performance of buildings (especially in terms of energy consumption) are already, in fact, excellent. the research mcgraw-hill construction-cbre survey conducted with the university of san diego in 2010, in which 79% of respondents (owners) expect green buildings to attract more tenants. both tenants and property pg. 43 ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd owners have started including elements of sustainability in leases. commonly referred to as green leases, they include an upfront establishment of sustainability goals and allocation of implementation responsibilities between the owner and the tenant. the challenge here is inclusion of clauses to deal with non-compliance on either side, which is yet to become a common practice. also, it is relatively easier for landlords and tenants to include green features in new leases than it is to retrofit them into existing leases or renewals. sustainability is becoming an important influencer on the design of overall business strategy of tenants. according to a 2013 united nations global compact’s global corporate sustainability report, 19 approximately 63 percent of the respondents are aligning their core business strategy to advance their sustainability goals. in fact, according to a 2012 deloitte cfo survey, 93 percent of cfos believe that there is a direct link between sustainability programs and business performance. the increased focus on cre is validated by its substantive contributions to the total natural capital costs of businesses. real estate-related natural impact makes up a significant portion of the total for the financial services (38 percent in 2012) and retail (32 percent in 2012) industries. 3. conclusions in conclusion, in relation to literature, case studies, evidence of the market, the investigation by the operators, it is possible to identify the emerging following elements: the relationship between the market recognized value and characteristics in terms of sustainability of buildings still seems to be low in statistics: most of the analysis is conducted in the united states, where the energy star protocol has a history of at least 25 years. it is true that the data analyzed results indicate, albeit in a limited measure, a ”risk premium” for sustainable buildings. however, it is difficult to recognize with certainty a formal evidence of the relationship ”sustainability” ”market value”. many of the studies and analyzed reports reaffirm as prevalent the theme of energy efficiency and consumption control and this can significantly affect the sales prices and rents. in essence, be able to demonstrate the timing of payback or rate of return on investments in interventions to reduce consumption or, even better, to illustrate the cost of the life cycle of the interventions, could lead to easily recognize a market premium. it is, however, no doubt that, as many observers and experts point out, over time it will most significantly grow the demand of ”sustainable places/buildings” or, more precisely, energy performance. consequently, this will be reflected on the value of the leases, but above all on the level of investment risk and depreciation. it is probably fair to say that this qualitative trend will lead to a depreciation of under-performing buildings rather than to an increase in the value of sustainable buildings and low energy demand. in the future, the funding possibilities will probably be also affected by ”sustainable” requirements for buildings. however, it is appropriate to recognize that the banking system, although some few large specialized lenders in real estate and infrastructure sectors, rarely plays considerations and/or due diligence about the riskiness of loans, but rather considerations of creditworthiness of the promoters. above all, ethical and social motivations will influence the choices and orientation of the market and then of the supply. this element will probably be destined to play a decisive role, not dictated by laws or regulations, but by increased awareness and attention by all the stakeholders. references 1. allen, j. g., macnaughton, p., laurent, j. g., flanigan, s. s., eitland, e. s., & spengler, j. d. (2015). green buildings and health. global environment health and sustainability,2(3), 250-258. 2. barrientos, j., bhattacharjee, u., martinez, t., & duffy, j. (2007). green buildings in massachusetts: comparison between actual and predicted energy performance. proceedings annual meeting american solar energy society. pg. 44 ciaramella / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. eicholtz, p., kok, n. & quigley, j. (2010). sustainability and dynamic of green building. new evidence of the financial performance of green office building in the usa. rics, european center for corporate engagement, university of california energy institute. 4. grimley, g. v. a. (2007). from green to gold. an unique insight into sustainable investment attitudes. london: gva grimley. 5. kats, g. (2003). the costs and financial benefits of green building. report to california’s sustainable building task force. (rep.). 6. lorenz, d., & lützkendorf, t. (2011). sustainability and property valuation: systematisation of existing approaches and recommendations for future action. journal of property investment & finance,29(6), 644676. 7. lucuick, m., trusty, w., larsson, n., & charette, r. (2005). a business case for green buildings in canada(rep. no. 2052223). ontario: morrison hershfield. 8. mahenc, p. (2007). are green products over-priced? environmental and resource economics,38(4), 461473. 9. miller, n., pogue, d., gough, q., & davis, s. (2009). green buildings and productivity. journal of sustainable real estate,1(1), 65-89. 10. miller, n., spivey, j., & florance, a. (2008). does green pay off? journal of real estate portfolio management,14(4), 385-400. 11. morri, g., & soffietti, f. (2013). greenbuilding sustainability and market premiums in italy. journal of european real estate research,6(3), 303-332. 12. newsham, g. r., mancini, s., & birt, b. j. (2009). do leed-certified buildings save energy? yes, but. . . . energy and buildings,41(8), 897-905. 13. pivo, g., & fisher, j. d. (2010). income, value and returns in socially responsible office properties. journal of real estate research,32(3), 243-270. 14. romm, j., & browning, w. d. (1998). greening the building and the bottom line: increasing productivity through energy-efficient design. retrieved from http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/1994/data/papers/ss94 p anel9 paper30.pdf 15. scofield, j. h. (2009). do leed-certified buildings save energy? not really. . . . energy and buildings,41(12), 1386-1390. 16. the rapid rise of green building(rep.). (2013). wharton university of pennsylvania. retrieved from http: //knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/special-report/the-rapid-rise-of-green-building 17. turner, c., & frankel, m. (2008). energy performance of leed for new construction buildings(rep.). washington dc. 18. warren-myers, g. (2012). the value of sustainability in real estate: a review from a valuation perspective. journal of property investment & finance,30(2), 115-144. pg. 45 buildings sustainability and real estate market: a literature point of view investors, end users and sustainable buildings: a market point of view conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.172 architectural environmental compatibility as an approach to conserve the identity of heritage cities in egypt case study: rosetta city mai wahba mohamed madkour1,2 1lecturer architectural engineering department, tanta university, egypt 2general manager – environmental architectural engineering program, faculty of engineering, tanta university, egypt abstract heritage is considered to be cultural wealth representing people’s values, ideas, beliefs, customs, and traditions, and since heritage represents the nation’s identity, it has its originality and maintains it. egypt is one of the riches countries with the cities of cultural value. this abundance has created the problem of conservation that wealth and highlighting the artistic and historical aspects of the cities that face a lot of neglecting and abusing. at the same time reforming and conservation, this wealth requires very high significant potential. the egyptian heritage suffers from many problems such as economic, political, cultural and social reality, including the associated concepts of conservation operations. this research aims to study the effect of environmental compatibility on conservation of the identity and the sustainability of the heritage cities through: monitoring the value and importance of heritage cities in egypt. reviewing the environmental directions and various approaches to dealing with architectural heritage and emphasizing the importance of improving the environmental effect in order to conserve the identity and sustainability of heritage cities. this research focuses on studying the identity of rosetta city and its urban and architectural development through history, and studying the strategies in the process of rehabilitation and reuse of its buildings, taking in mind the environmental influence of the buildings of heritage value. studying the environmental compliance of the rehabilitated buildings of heritage value in terms of the efficiency of internal environment and the efficiency of environmental suitability. the conclusion drawn from this research suggests an important relationship between heritage cities identity and sustainability behavior that is suggested for future research. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords environmental compatibility; heritage cities; city identity; sustainability pg. 16 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1. introduction natural and cultural heritage are main sources that identify community’s identity all over the world. heritage is the true mirror of any civilization it is considered as the cultural wealth, which represents people’s ideas, beliefs, values, and traditions. it reflects man’s identity through his religious, social, cultural and political aspects. it is the richness and diversity of the past. heritage buildings are the spaces that our ancestors lived and worked in. they tell the story of their lifestyle patterns and events. adaptive reuse of buildings is the way to save the historic and aesthetic values (”heritage department”, 2012). the built heritage consists of craftsmen hard artistic works. nowadays, these artistic achievements may be recognized only when threatened and lost. sympathetic maintenance, adaptation, and re-use can allow the architectural heritage to yield aesthetic, environmental and economic benefits. the conservation of any built environment contributes to the attractiveness of its country that others always enjoy visiting it. egypt as the main old civilization of the world, it has a unique historical treasure of heritage buildings and sites that need to be conserved. egypt is also one of the countries rich with cities of cultural value and has problems of building conservation that faces a lot of neglecting and abusing. egyptian heritage suffers from many problems associated with economic, political, cultural and social reality, including the associated concepts of conservation operations. some people treat valuable buildings as ordinary and restore their architectural and decorative aspects, and some people reuse buildings to meet the requirements of their new function without paying any attention to its historical and heritage significance. 2. research objective this research aims to study the effect of environmental compatibility on conservation of the identity and the sustainability of the heritage cities through: – monitoring the value and importance of heritage cities in egypt. – reviewing the environmental directions and various approaches to dealing with architectural heritage and emphasizing the importance of improving the environmental effect to conserve heritage cities. – this research focuses on studying rosetta city identity and its urban and architectural development through history and studying the strategies in the process of rehabilitation and reuse of its buildings, taking in mind the environmental influence of the buildings of heritage value. – studying the environmental compliance of the rehabilitated buildings of heritage value in terms of the efficiency of internal environment and the efficiency of environmental suitability. 3. research hypothesis one of the most important methods of conservation buildings of heritage value is their rehabilitation and using them to perform a new function appropriate to their facilities and age, as well as being compatible with environmental sustainability in order to keep their historical, cultural and artistic value. 4. historical conservation historical conservation preserves conserve and protect buildings, monuments, landscapes, and other artifacts that have any historical significance. pg. 17 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. architectural conservation according to australia icomos incorporated (2000), conservation is all the processes of looking after a place to retain its cultural and natural significance. it describes mankind’s built heritage through the material historically and deals with architectural character and integrity. 6. preservation and rehabilitation of historic districts preservation is defined as place’s fabric maintaining in its existing state. preservation is set to be one of heritage conservation. thus, the term ‘conservation’ holds a wider notion than ‘preservation’, as it just not means to maintain and freeze the existing state of a place, but also to take the necessary measures to sustain its value and the cultural messages it beholds. it has great architectural, planning, economic, and social effects. the building can be registered as a historical monument when its rehabilitation preserves its architectural and functional use in its site regarding contemporary technologies and renewable social uses the importance of rehabilitation problem is stated by its majority to governments that are trying to save the historical heritage of its country and to preserve and rehabilitate it’s architectural. 7. sustainability in historical context heritage manifests human ingenuity and history. heritage buildings cannot be reconstituted once they have been destroyed. unfortunately, sustainable heritage conservation is widely ignored all over the world. heritage conservation has a great importance to improve the quality of communities’ life, improve and understand our past and its contribution to our culture (coleman, 2004). the concept of sustainability is always associated with new buildings. conservation and sustainability share the same generative basics. the first and basic concept of sustainability is to use what already exists. similarly, the basic concept of conservation is to protect what we already have. from the conceptual point of view, there is neither conflict nor contradiction between conservation and sustainability (rodwell, 2007). conservation, as a tool for heritage management, is a key to sustainability. the principles of sustainable heritage development are very important to deal with heritage conservation and management (coleman, 2004). sustainability of heritage sites is maintaining them to meet the current and future needs. that means the maximum economic and social utilization of the cultural heritage resources, without the deterioration and destruction of these resources or their environmental system. the city is as an active and changeable organism, that its buildings need maintenance to respond to the increased needs and the changeable requirements. it also reflects the present features, that respect cities heritage fabric that had been formed through history. the sustainable development strategy for heritage sites includes its (buildings, spaces, squares, pathways, etc.) (williamson, radford, & bennetts, 2003). conservation core concept is to maintain, preserve and protect both the tangible and intangible heritage. this resource is non-renewable and irreplaceable. a demolished building cannot be retrieved or recreated. this means that a part of history is permanently lost. a folkloric tradition or ritual is indispensable to the local culture. therefore, heritage is perceived as a cultural resource that must be perceived in the same way as other nonrenewable resources. from this basic notion, the core of conservation is to keep heritage protected and to hand it to future generations. therefore, keeping historic buildings intact requires some sort of a sustainability process (rodwell, 2007). conservation avoids the unnecessary use of finite resources such as materials and fossil fuels, as well as the generpg. 18 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ation of waste and pollution. heritage conservation can be considered an integral part of sustainable development in terms of (aref, 2009). – there are environmental, social, and economic benefits, for using heritage buildings are the main three dimensions of sustainability. – heritage buildings rehabilitation conserves energy, and reduces waste. – process, manufacture and transport building materials need an initial energy also to construct buildings. – the energy needed in maintaining and repairing buildings. – the energy needed for heating, cooling, ventilating, and lighting buildings. – the energy needed for demolishing and disposing of buildings. – the social & cultural values for heritage buildings are non-renewable resources. heritage conservation is playing an important role in sustainable urban development for cities. it also uses renewable resources of energy. cultural heritage is also important for community’s quality of life. it helps in preventing cultural globalization and has positively affected economic development (keiner, 2006). 8. importance of sustainability there is no doubt that heritage context must be sustainable. the importance of sustainability as a concept needed for heritage legislation, policies and guidance are most likely due to the fact that ‘heritage assets’. nowadays economic climate, heritage supports itself not sustainability, and there is an emphasizing on finding alternative sources of funding (”heritage lottery fund”, n.d.). in the last decades, a paradigm shift is presented, as people felt more engaged with the past (smith & waterton, 2009). as a result, the voluntary sector has expanded over the last decade due to the support from organizations such as the national trust and english heritage. with recent cuts to government spending on heritage, the last five years has seen the rise of projects that build up the capacity and commitment of local communities to champion the conservation and enhancement of their own local heritage (”english heritage”, 2009). heritage cultural and social value has been set as a powerful tool in sustainable development. 9. architectural heritage of egypt many egyptian cities have a modern center contrasting sharply with the old medieval ages it has a unique architecture that have combination between european styles and local influences. heritage public awareness isn’t yet fully formed. that is why there is a must for documenting, protecting, and restoring sites for future generations (”cultnat”, n.d.). many egyptian cities historical centers managed to survive as living cities in spite of physical decline and economic depression. their fabric carries out the spiritual and cultural messages that communicate with their present citizens. historical city centers’ heritage is more than a material character as they must meet the needs of citizens with sustainability transformations. the challenge is not how to preserve, but how to create dynamic living spaces and places that produce richness in cultural traditions that lead organically from the past to the future. the research will analyze the historic center of rosetta ”rashid”. pg. 19 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. case study rosetta city 11. rosetta location rosetta city lies in the north of egypt. it is an old port. it is found 12 km away from the mouth of the rosetta branch of river nile, along with its western side that flows into in the mediterranean sea. its area is approximately 8 400 000 m2 with “estimated population” in 2010 about 400,000. rosetta’s master plan sets guidelines until 2022 that focuses on tourism. it shows different places for activities in the city (”un habitat”, 2006). figure 1. rosetta location source: google earth. rosetta lies 65 km east of alexandria and 55 km away from damanhour. its location has been of great strategic importance since the most ancient paranoiac periods. in 1517 ad, when the ottoman empire conquered egypt, rosetta became its most important harbor, reaching the acme of its architectural prosperity thanks to the mosques, houses, bathhouses, mills, citadels, and gates built there. pg. 20 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. rosetta 1779 12. historical background many details about rosetta’s earliest history are uncertain due to a lack of reliable sources. remains of ancient settlements have been found all over the region and on tall abu mandur 1 . in addition, ancient texts talk about a temple called bulbitinum, possibly dedicated to cleopatra, which existed in the area in the ptolemaic period, but its exact location is still unknown. similarly, some sources suggest that around 270 a.d., the roman emperor aurelian built a fortress, apparently to defend the area against attacks by queen zinubiya’s army. remains of an early fortress have been discovered on tall abu mandur, but it cannot be established with certainty that it is that of emperor aurelian. excavations on the tall have also uncovered the remains of a 5th 6th-century wall, which was constructed around the town, presumably to protect it from persian and nubian attacks, apparently frequent during the byzantine period. other remains from this era include a basilica and several vessels stamped with the image of the coptic saint abu mina (”egyptian antiquities information system”, 2008). the town was relatively prosperous in the 12th century when it was possible to pass through rosetta on the way to alexandria via the khabur canal, which was later neglected and was completely sanded by the end of the 14th century. although rosetta may have lost some of its commercial aspects upon the obstruction of this route, it remained an important military outpost. during the mameluke rule of egypt, turkish merchants settled in rosetta in large numbers and built houses, wikalahs, and mosques. after thriving as a point of transition for merchandise from the northern mediterranean destined for the silk road or the red sea, commercial activities in rosetta and the mediterranean were hampered by the discovery of cape of good hope by the portuguese in 1488 (al-sadeq, ismail, & al-kady, 1999). sultan qayitbay after building his citadel in alexandria in 1479, he turned to rashid where he built a fort which now stands at the border of ’izbat ai-burg village, on the northern edge of rosetta. as the ottomans invasion continued to threaten egypt, around 1515 sultan “al-churi” expanded and repaired the castle of qayitbay also built walls around rosetta. but this did not spare the city from the ottoman invasion in 1517. at an early stage, the ottoman conquest of egypt brought no major changes to the country as the mamelukes stayed in power and the trading pattern of the city was not affected. moreover, rosetta became egypt’s closest port to istanbul and all ships with merchandise from turkey landed here, egypt being the empire’s main supplier of rice, grain and other vital products (al-sadeq, ismail, & al-kady, 1999). in 1798, napoleon and his army invaded egypt, launching the expedition d’egypte. a year later, as napoleon’s soldiers took up residence in qayitbay’s fort, the most important egyptological find of all times was made in one of its walls: the rosetta stone which became the key to the deciphering of the hieroglyphic script. the french presence in egypt was short-lived but led to a boost in trade for rosetta as french merchants had free passage to the port. however, napoleon’s adventure ended with the british intervention. their navy launched attacks on egypt and together with their ottoman ally, defeated napoleon in 1801. mohammed ali took the throne of egypt in 1805 and two years later, he defeated the british general fraser’s forces in battles within and around rosetta. shortly after, muhammad’ ali initiated extensive projects in an attempt to modernize egypt. consequently, railroads were constructed, industries were built up and the road network was improved. as a result, overland transport pg. 21 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd became both more efficient and much cheaper than transport on the river. muhammad ali also seemed to favor the development of alexandria over rosetta, which was not connected with cairo on a direct railroad. the city was further bypassed by the construction of the al-mahmdiyyah canal in 1819-20. the new canal connected alexandria directly with the nile, ensuring that boats no longer had to stop in rosetta on their way to the mediterranean. with this development, rosetta’s days as the principal harbor of egypt were over and a century later, it had fallen almost completely into oblivion to the outside world (”egyptian antiquities information system”, 2008). rosetta is considered as a large open-air museum of islamic architecture for its religious and civil buildings (houses and mosques). the site has undergone an unfortunate process of transformation and is felt to be losing its characteristic traditional architecture and the style and spirit of tradition. 13. rosetta identity through heritage areas rosetta is set to be the second city after cairo regarding the quantity of its islamic buildings and houses, it has a unique group of islamic buildings (there were 54 monuments in 1963 “gates, mosques, wakala, mill, bath, and 39 houses”). figure 3. some ancient postcards of rosetta houses (”cultnat”, n.d.). the number of heritage buildings in rosetta had decreased from 52 in 1963 to 37 in 2006 (”organization for urban harmony”, 1985). rosetta’s famous piece of heritage is “rosetta stone” that led to understaning hieroglyphs. the fortress of qaitbay on the west side of river nile, its place is directly connected to the rosetta stone, which was discovered in 1799. mill abo-shahen: this mill dates back to the second half of the 18th century; it was built by uthman agha attubgi (al-amasyali) who also built the two adjacent houses in the early 19th century. azzuz bath: this public bath was built by abd ar-rahman ibn al-hagg higazi in the 19th century, it is the only bath remaining in rosetta (”organization for urban harmony”, 1985). 14. rosetta’s heritage development the historical area in rosetta has basic urban services except for sanitation network, which made the groundwater level increase, and therefore had a direct effect on historical buildings. for example, the zaghloul mosque “which is considered to be the second largest mosque in egypt”, is undergoing a major preservation project to raise the mosque foundation level to one meter above ground after its floor was submerged in rising groundwater. pg. 22 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – rosetta suffers from severe air pollution; it also suffers from the vibrations that affect structural elements of historical buildings. – there is no authority from local government on rosetta’s center’s operations that is supervised by ministries and central institutions. – rosetta suffers from the shortage of conservation trained and expert workers. – its public community has shortage in knowledge of the awareness of cultural heritage resources and their significance. – signs for public streets has been provided by tourism development agencies. figure 4. al-amasyali figure 5. ismail ramadan pg. 23 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. al-qanadili figure 7. mosque zaghlul (1577) figure 8. mosque saleh agha dumaqsis (1704-1721) 15. swot analysis for heritage historic areas in rosetta 15.1. strengths – rosetta heritage is considered to be the second city in egypt after cairo rich in historical islamic heritage buildings. – rosetta stone which was discovered is very important. – rosetta is uniquely located on the nile near the mediterranean. pg. 24 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – previous projects have restored most of the historic houses in rosetta. – national policies support the upgrading of heritage cities. 15.2. weaknesses – the lack of coordination among different authorities responsible for historic buildings. – insufficient public transportation and railway tracks. – inadequate resources for historic building conservation. – deficiency of data related to historic buildings. – its public community has shortage knowledge awareness of cultural heritage resources. – restoration of monuments without upgrading the whole city historic area. – the absence of tourism agencies and touristic services in the whole city. – small number of agencies help in funding rosetta heritage conservation. figure 9. mosque al-mahalli figure 10. zaghloul mosque figure 11. rosetta buildings pg. 25 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – there is no clear plan for developing historic buildings and historic city center. – sanitation problems which harms the heritage buildings. 15.3. opportunities – adding rosetta to the list of historical heritage cities in egypt. – adding rosetta to the unesco world heritage sites list. 15.4. threats – the national drainage project will be delayed due to the negative impact of the city’s historical heritage buildings. – loosing its unique identity due to continuous transgression. from the above swot analysis, it is necessary to establish an office that is responsible for tourism development as a main priority to help in adding rosetta to the unesco world heritage site list. 16. problems facing the identity of heritage areas of rosetta 16.1. the conflict between local authorities in rosetta there is a conflict between the authorities responsible for rosetta and its heritage: – al-beheira governorate: its major responsibility is to state license issues before building any new building in rosetta and how to deal with exited heritage buildings. – the ministry of endowments: its responsibility is to offer full services to all the historical mosques. – the supreme council for antiquities: its responsibility is to offer full maintenance and restoration for heritage buildings. the lack of coordination led to the decline of the identity of heritage areas in rosetta. 16.1.1. underground water level and sewage the preservation of rosetta’s historic buildings is faced by a persistent problem, largely due to its location on the nile so close to where it flows into the mediterranean. in addition, rosetta has no effective system to dispose of sewage water and wastes that cause serious damage to the historic building in its historic areas. 16.1.2. monuments restoration without any sustainable development program most of the monument buildings and other historic merchant houses have been the subject of many restoration projects over the past 20 years, but many of them have been regularly re-damaged by water and humidity and are now being re-restored. unfortunately, few of them have even collapsed or had to be demolished. proper conservation, coupled with regulated reuse of buildings is paramount to their preservation. for example, there are some plans to reuse the ottoman houses in activities that assure their constant and proper maintenance. also, ”arab khulli house” has already been turned into the national museum of rosetta and ”ai-baqirawalli house” is used as an office for the local inspectors. ideally, two or three houses could remain ”show houses” while the rest could be allocated to customized activities or ”adaptive reuse” but there is not any holistic program to conserve and manage the historical areas in the city as a whole. pg. 26 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 12. arab khulli house figure 13. current sutiation of the historical residential building in rosetta. 17. conclusions this research concludes that sustainable development programs for improving the identification of heritage cities in historic areas of small and medium-sized cities may help its opportunities to survive against modern urbanization, and monuments restoration projects alone without upgrading the whole context may be useless. restoration is the first step but it should be accompanied by a long-term developing program to create a sustainable system and increase the knowledge of the surrounded community and local authorities mentioning the importance of heritage cities identity and how to benefit from it. the conflict between local authorities in egypt is the worst problem that faces cultural heritage conservation and historical areas development, after initiating the organization for urban harmony (1985). rosetta, like most of the egyptian medium and small cities suffers from neglecting and need to be inserted in the touristic map of egypt, by developing the traditional activities and upgrading the city infrastructure. this is to help in giving an economic impact on the city from its heritage identity and that will preserve monument and all the historic areas as a living sustainable place. sustainable conservation in small historic city areas should start from the wide base that is the inhabitant and their houses this should be parallel to upgrading the infrastructure, as well as main services and training programs for user’s local authorities finally any restoration project starts when there is enough fund. pg. 27 madkour / environmental science and sustainable development, essd governmental and non-governmental organization and private agencies are all involved in the conservation of urban heritage in the egyptian context. rehabilitation of the city inner areas must give priority to the social aspects. the concentration of historic heritage buildings in rosetta needs certain important actions to sustaining and improving the urban heritage. by achieving the above steps, this will lead to achieving environmental compatibility as an approach to conserve the identity of rosetta city. references 1. al-sadeq, d. t., ismail, h., & al-kady, g. (1999). rachid, beginning development and decline. dar alafaq al-arabia, cairo. 2. aref, y. g. (2009). the conservation of heritage as a means for sustainability. in technology & sustainability in the built environment(p. 221). riyadh, ksa: king saud university. 3. australia icomos incorporated[the australia icomos charter for places of cultural significance with associated guidelines and code on the ethics of co-existence]. (2000). australia. 4. coleman, v. (2004, january). heritage & sustainability. retrieved from nsw heritage office and heritage council of nsw. 5. egyptian antiquities information system. (2008). retrieved from http://www.eais.org.eg/ 6. cultnat center for documentation of cultural and natural heritage. (n.d.). retrieved from http://www .cultnat.org/ 7. english heritage, capacity building for the voluntary sector. (2009). retrieved from: http://www.englishh eritage.org.uk/professional/funding/grants/grants-available/capacity-building-for-the-voluntary-sector. 8. heritage department. (2012). practice guidebook on compliance with building safety and health requirements under the buildings ordinance for adaptive re-use of and alteration and addition works to heritage buildings. hong kong: buildings department of hong kong. 9. heritage lottery fund. (n.d.). retrieved from: http://www.hlf.org.uk/aboutus/pages/aboutus. 10. keiner, m. (ed.). (2006). the future of sustainability(1st ed.). netherlands: springer netherlands. 11. organization for urban harmony egyptian ministry of culture. (1985). retrieved from www.urbanharm ony.org 12. rodwell, d. (2007). conservation and sustainability in historic cities. oxford: blackwell publishing. 13. smith, l., & waterton, e. (2009). heritage, communities and archaeology. london: gerald duckworth & co. ltd. 14. un habitat. (2006). rapid urban sector profiling for sustainability(rep.). nairobi, kenya: un habitat. 15. williamson, t. j., radford, a., & bennetts, h. (2003). understanding sustainable architecture. london: spon press. taylor & francis. pg. 28 introduction research objective research hypothesis historical conservation architectural conservation preservation and rehabilitation of historic districts sustainability in historical context importance of sustainability architectural heritage of egypt case study rosetta city rosetta location historical background rosetta identity through heritage areas rosetta's heritage development swot analysis for heritage historic areas in rosetta strengths weaknesses opportunities threats problems facing the identity of heritage areas of rosetta the conflict between local authorities in rosetta underground water level and sewage monuments restoration without any sustainable development program conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.168 the dry port as a holistic approach for the relocation of city gateways mourad s. amer1 1phd candidate, faculty of fine arts, alexandria university, egypt abstract alexandria city has several types of gateways that are not fully supported with connections and corridors that maximize their efficiency, thus, creating additional pressure on metropolitan areas. in addition, the marine gates of alexandria and dekheila face a lack of efficiency in their capacity as a port. the aim of this study is to relocate the city gates and to find a mechanism of change, which is necessary for promoting the globalization of alexandria through strengthening inter-city freight transport. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords freight transport; gateways; dry ports 1. introduction with an increase in product specialization and globalization, cities need well-connected transportation networks, however, cities tend to neglect freight transport. although freight transportation benefits the urban economy through offering a number of jobs and services, it has been overlooked and hardly ever included in transport surveys, transport strategies, and regional planning (lasalle, 2015). the capability of transporting goods to nearby cities has, therefore, put a critical situation. the transport system in general and the intermodal transport terminals, in particular, have now been relocated or redesigned in many cities. however, such expansion may face some constraints; for example, a city gate must be relocated in the middle of the city rather than at the edge for any possibility of the city’s expansion. the demand for land in central areas, stresses on the need to relocate large-scale internal dry gates or ports to less central city locations. the study should adopt a strategy of directing cities to benefit from their gateways as a method of improving their freight transportation system which can lead to the reduction of traffic congestion in urban regions and making them more livable. this category of urban transport should be regulated by road transport policies on an economical basis in an attempt to decrease the difficulty that excessive congestion places upon both travelers and urban dwellers along the urban road network. the goal of this study is to find the most suitable location of the dry port that will assist the sea-ports in alexandria as well as control the congestion in the inland transport network. the criteria of choosing the dry port location shall be applied using geographic transport system gis. a new action to activate the role of inland port in finding strategies of creating an effective freight network at national and local levels, especially when infrastructure and pg. 42 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd services are sufficient. 1.1. purpose of study the purpose of the study is to enhance the freight transportation at the city gates, which is necessary to solve the traffic problems and congestion. in that light, the city could reach a level of globalization which will boost the economic situation as well. the study will analyze the potentials of alexandria sea ports, their capacities and their effects on the daily traffic flow. it aims to activate the dry port concept and therefore, the study will present the most suitable location to construct the dry port. 1.2. aim and objectives the aim of this study is to employ the concept of dry ports in order to assign a new role and function to the city gateways; as the mechanism for change, which is necessary to promote the globalization of alexandria city through strengthening the infrastructure of both the network of freight transportation corridors and an intercity transportation system. the study aims to find the most suitable location of the dry port in order to solve the city inland transport system, thus, the movement could be directly transferred from the sea port to the dry port and then to the demanded location without the need to enter the city center or the high-density areas. this movement transfer will minimize the pressure on the inner network, which suffers from high-density congestion. the study also fulfills a number of objectives, such as: 1. solving the traffic jams and congestions, 2. enhancing the intercity movement with increasing the possibility of economic investment and encouraging a lot of small medium enterprises (smes) in alexandria as well as in neighboring cities. 3. rebalancing the existing development patterns. 4. empowering alexandria to be a nodal global city with a an international connection and movement corridors for people and commodities, which can connect the city to the global economy system. the study hypothesizes that relocating the city gates to inland dry port, as a result, there will be an increase in connectivity, proximity, and accessibility between the dry port and all destinations without any additional pressure at the inland transport. moreover, the dry port should re-balance the existing travel patterns, orient the freight movement into a direct and sufficient transport system, find new economic potential and form the spatial policy of freight transport in alexandria. alexandria will then be declared a nodal and global city to the global economy system. the reform and development of this issue can lead to discovering a lot of small medium enterprises (smes) in alexandria as well as in mediterranean crossborders and thus create a balance to the social class and recent inequalities. 2. alexandria’s gateways types alexandria is considered as the second capital of egypt, one of the most important vital transport centers as it is considered as the northern egyptian gateway, and it connects the western region and egypt’s core. with the steady rise in the urban growth and traffic density of the city of alexandria, it was necessary to make a detailed study describing the status and offering future proposals on the level of the internal and external movement of the city. pg. 43 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the study is focused on the relationship between the city of alexandria and the province alexandria, which consists of (the city of alexandriabehera governoratemarsa matrouh governorate). the province of alexandria is divided into three levels, depending on the density, which is inversely proportionate to the area. the delta region (behera governorate): despite its small area compared to the desert region (marsa matrouh), it has the higher density, figure 1a. the city of alexandria has a linear urban form expanding to the southwest and bordered by the mediterranean sea to the north, which is currently considered as one of the main traffic arteries of the city. it is also parallel to one of the main perpendicular roads which penetrates the vertical urban fabric of the city, determining the current gateways of the city, figure 1. figure 1. alexandria region between egyptian regions at fig 1a, alexandria districts at fig 1b, and main nodes and intersections at 1c. alexandria city contains different types of gates; as they are: a. air gateways: the air gateways in alexandria are nozha airport and borj el arab airport; nozha airport, with time, has merged with the inner city fabric, which has negative effects on the movement and has negatively affected traffic, causing congestions. borj el arab airport is located outside the city in a moderate location, and it serves alexandria and marsa matrouh governorate, but its location is far to serve behera governorate, which needs direct access to this gate, figure 2. b. land gateways of the city contain official gateways. they are the main entry points laying in the administrative division places such as the desert road gateway, maadia area in the eastern direction and elhamam at the western direction. the desert road gateway is located in kilometer 39, and it functions as the official gate of the city, connecting it to the desert road linking to the capital. there are also unofficial gateways, such as the access nodes at the entrance of smouha district, the intersection between 45 road and costal road and sidi krir node, figure 2. figure 2. alexandria high ways and important nodes. c. marine gateway: alexandria contains three harbors, the most important of which is the alexandria harbor. the second important port is dekheila harbor; however, both harbors are located near to the city center, which causes negative effects on the movement in the city. the third harbor is located at abou kir, this area has very limited access that isolated it from the main transportation arteries, figure 2. pg. 44 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. problem statement: alexandria’s gateways problems although alexandria has several gates, these gates has negative impacts on the city, rather than enhancing it to be a global one that lays a successful transportation network. due to the lack of connectivity between alexandria’s city gates, all the movements either in the eastern or western directions have to pass through the city, which has added an extra burden to the city center. moreover, this led to the fragmentation of the urban fabric such as: a. abou kir district, which contains an important marine port; this area has become a closed and isolated district, and it suffers from the lack of sufficient movement axis and accessibility issues, figure 3. figure 3. the transportation and connectivity problems in alexandria b. down town: a compound and a complicated area, contains the airport entrance, the agricultural road entrance, and the desert road entrance. in addition, adjacent to the city center and alexandria port entrance. accounts for high traffic from all the directions leading to inadequate means of movement. it has also led to the degeneration of the urban fabric and the lack of clarity of access to the city center. the aforementioned issue goes in hand with the fragile link between the port and the means of rapid movement. c. dekheila port: in addition to its function as a port, it contains many factories that receive heavy-duty transport vehicles, which causes a difficulty in cargo transportation, and, consequently, bigger problems in traffic accompanied with the need for direct connection to highways. d. western zone: it contains borg el arab airport and the costal entrance from the west direction located at hamam city. this area faces a lack of public transportation and is difficult to reach alexandria city needs to redistribute the movement capacity by reconnecting the isolated gateways and employing their role as the valve of internal and external movement. the study will present the hypothesis framework of the transportation network depending on the available feature in the city.the city of alexandria contains two main harbors, the alexandria and eldekheila port, both of which suffer from an inefficiency in their capacities leading to the stagnation of the economic situation. this reflects on the social status of the city. according to the report of the egyptian port capacity the maritime transport sector, eldekheila harbor will reach its maximum capacity and will not be able to receive any more commodities, using the assumed rate of the annual growth domestic product gdp of 6.9%, the import and the export should increase as seen in table 1 (”egyptian maritime data bank”, 2005). pg. 45 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 above depicts the expected achieved volume of cargo and teus during the years of 2017, 2022, and 2032. the chart in figure4 states that in 2012, the dekheila port will have exceeded already its full capacity in receiving cargo and tbus and the alexandrian port will have exceeded its limit of receiving teus and then cargo soon in 2024 (“the egyptian port’s capacity”, 2012). figure 4. the expected capacity to be achieved at 2017,2022, 2032 for alexandria and dekheila ports. this problem confirms the fact that alexandrian gateways face an incapability of efficiently implementing economic development and playing its role of leading the city to better future properly. therefore, alexandria’s city gates are in need of a complete development plan that addresses the existing problem and provides its future needs. pg. 46 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. the dry-ports dry ports, has been employed to organize the transmodal services of containers and dry cargo between the terminal to be distributed through using advanced logistical services. a “dry port” is defined as a terminal that is located inside the land connecting the main seaport with multi modes of transport. it plays the same role of the seaport in receiving, handling, forwarding, and distributing cargo and teus (roso & lumsden, 2010). the benefits of the “dry ports” extend to the ability to configure the intercity freight transport network, and thus improving the process of distributing the supply chain, (bergqvist, wilmsmeier, & cullinane, 2013). the most important feature of a “dry port” appears when it can exploit its connectivity with different inland modes of freight transport as well as a logistics hub, (veenstra, zuidwijk, & asperen, 2012; monios & bergqvist, 2016). as for the characteristics of dry ports, the illustration made, reflects different development levels, the definitions and the procedures taking place in the terminals mentioned above. moreover, a composite diagram that illustrates the services that could be offered by a dry port and the capabilities of all facilities could be seen in the figure, 5 below. figure 5. the procedures and services in terminals and dry ports. the optimum functions of a dry port when compared to the other sites is characterized with many functions such as; loading, interchange, forwarding, and administrative buildings that contain customs logistics services, and the ports authority. the connectivity with the seaports should be through a well-conditioned and safe rail line, trucks corridors. however, most endeavors for developing dry ports were futile and thus were falling, because most of them were under the supervision of local authorities. as in most dry port developments, there is a kind of governmental intervention that lets the government always be a partner with the private section (nguyen & notteboom, 2016). hence, seaports engage the distant dry ports to encourage the shippers using it. therefore, the pressure happens to the accessibility of the intercity as well as the congestion which stems from various and interrelated directions such as increasing the containerized transport. 4.1. the fully combined dry port in regards to the dry port, a model of the three forms of the dry ports could be implemented in a full combined dry port as shown in figure 6. this combination offers flexibility to all kinds of shippers and will be convenient to the intermodal terminal to which the most suitable dry port according to the distribution plan and then to the regional distribution or to the intercity modes. furthermore, transferring activities, that are causing congestion to the main seaport, to the dry ports. the dry port can manage the customs clearance, handling, and some other activities. however, the most important condition that meets the need of freight flows is that the dry port should be large enough to facilitate all operations and to satisfy the speed and frequency from and to the dry port. finally, the close, mid-range and distant dry ports are the component of the fully combined dry port, which represents the full service with the maximum ability to add value through the provided services. the whole process is possible through multi operational processes which are available in the dry port environpg. 47 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. fully combined dry port ment, such as applying connections to all market sectors and acting collaboratively as the intermodal hub in the freight transport networks; handling different types of cargo; the diversity of services in intermodal operations and covering all different type of interests and distributing locations. 4.2. the criteria of choosing a dry port location a “dry port” works as an inland intermodal terminal that has a direct connection to the sea-port with multi transport means, considering that the full services exist, such as customs clearance; warehousing; consolidation; cargo handling and different transport modes should be available. the environmental aspect is the main criterion that should be taken into consideration when planning for a dry port’s location. in addition to the available facilities and components that are necessary for the management process, like the information technology and labors. choosing the location of a dry port in the planning process requires a specific criterion that should follow multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. the location has to increase the integration between the seaport and its hinterlands to endow the regionalization by extending the sea gate. the dry port facilities should meet the interests of all stakeholders such as dry port users, and the community to find a considerable value for them; and for investors, gains considerable revenue to enrich the economic condition. the direct dry port stakeholders are shippers, logisticians, transport companies and freight forwarders as they are usually interested in the efficiency of transport system from different freight flows to the gateway port. the location is the most important factor for investors when it includes all the services needed to operate the process of trading with minimizing the operating cost which is, in fact, the main factor for allocating all services to the project location. many other criterions affect the cost factors considered, such as the land cost, energy cost, labor cost and the cost of relocating the rail lines to the rail network. future demands and expected future expansion of the dry port must be considered along with an estimation of the needed area foreseen. additionally, many other factors related to climate, the environmental context in general, and the support of certain municipalities are in need of reconsideration. as a prerequisite, the site selection of a dry port shall depend on the efficiency of the transport network and accessibility of the site to the network. the community and public awareness, both, play significant roles in supporting the idea and are quite essential in that sense. shipping companies, similarly, must provide their support to the project as it is a suitable chance to expedite their work and businesses. governmental authorities and planners must also consider this idea in land uses and future proposals. this is necessary for considering the demographic statement needed to assign the employments and laborers to work on the project. as a result, it then becomes possible to avoid the pollution and noise generated from the port or from the industrial area nearby. the following presents some criteria abstracted in points that could be used as a checklist when comparing between selected sites: 1. reduction of transportation cost and time. 2. accessibility to road, railway and waterways infrastructure. pg. 48 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. range of services and other logistics platforms. 4. proximity to the factories and production bases and employment generation. 5. demand for dry port services and opportunities for expansion. 6. minimizing visual intrusion, noise and pollution. 7. contribution to land use reorganization and proximity to the industrial areas. 8. maximized value added services and return to the government. the criteria above will be applied to compare which is the most suitable option between selected sites in order to get an ideal concept of a dry port to hopefully enhance freight transport between the city gates. 4.3. alexandria dry port project in alexandria, the dry port concept is still not effectively used since some frail attempts failed in alexandria. table 4 contains the list of all plans of dry port projects as well as the existing ones. the ones responsible were not taken seriously or planned in a proper manner such as amria free zone (ragab) and el-nobaria port, figure 7a. all of these previous initiatives are not considered as a smart approach, or properly used to increase the dry port functions, both seem to be only as warehouses for traders. the capacity of these ports is very low (452 containers) as shown in figure 7b. moreover, they depend on truck access that means maintaining the same congestion problem. another future initiative is to develop a real dry port in max area which will be supported by railways. for a successful dry port, it should depend on its distance from the seaport, the role of the dry port may vary and has to be directly connected to one or more seaports, and must be capable of handling intermodal operations and must carry out the main functions of a port such as storage, consolidation and distribution of the goods. pg. 49 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. fig. 7a depicts the capacity of dry ports in egypt from 20032006, (”japan international cooperation agency”, 2008a), fig. 7b depicts the location of the previous initiative dry port in alexandria. a dry port will be needed to assist the two main harbors of the city of alexandria, as the origin of several corridors exists at the same point. great benefits can be attained from the usage of each dry port such as increasing the cost efficiency of the new freight transport systems, decreasing the time of transport and the possibility of higher frequencies of transport. this will also increase the labors and employment including the drivers and assistants who will be working in the port itself, as well as the delivery drivers who will travel from the dry port itself to the destination in the city. this is calculated by estimating the distance from the dry port to a random location in the city, estimating curvature factors for circuitous roads in the city, speeds, and loading or unloading time for the vehicles. the first step for choosing the dry port site is using gis in applying the previous criteria mentioned above. the location has to be close to the existing access (max = 0.5 km), figure 8a, close to rail lines (max = 0.5), figure 8b, proximate to inland waterways (max = 5 km), figure 8c, proximate to factories and production base (max = 5 km), figure 8d and range to service and logistic platform in the original port (10 km – 50 km), figure 8e. the output of applying the criteria of site selection in figure 8fsuggests many different locations that lie along on red indicators at the map to filter which location is most suitable for the dry port project; however, the remaining criteria should be applied. the site has to be outside the urban areas to minimize visual intrusion, noise, and pollution. it also has to own real opportunities for future and possible expansions, and if the project will be sponsored by a governmental entity, the site should avoid the private land ownerships. through the final selection, the study suggests location p1(31◦6’12”n, 29◦50’27”e), p2 (31◦ 0’9”n, 29◦51’2”e), or p3 (30◦53’45”n, 29◦58’31”e) for figure 8. the suggested location for the dry port according to spatial analysis. pg. 50 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the dry port, where there is a great chance to offer an excellent opportunity for this site to be suitable supporter to both ports of alexandria and dekheila. the aforementioned location provides a railway line for the transport of goods linking the network to the railway network as well as the passage of the canal nubaria closely to the location. in addition, the availability of the main highways linking the location to the neighboring cities does exist, such as the international coastal road and the desert road. finally, the location is adjacent to existing industrial areas such as al amria, om zegew, herfeen, and the industrial city at borj alarab, figure 8f. all three sites could be chosen periodically as close, medium and distant dry port. the study refers to the quite suitable locations to propose the dry port, which should also meet the preference of stakeholders when this location is presented to them in a participatory process. great influences could be mentioned because of the proposed dry port on the transport network especially in the metropolitan areas of the city, where the transfer of goods from seaports, which are surrounded by densely populated areas, will be carried out to the new dry port outside the central region. accordingly, the dry port will contribute to the reorientation and organization of the movement of goods from and to the ports of alexandria and dekheila. when the dry port works efficiently, the overloaded capacity at sea ports of alexandria and dekheila of peus, dry bulk and general cargo could be transferred by rail to the dry port yard for both import and export. this is so important to activate the role of the dry port as well as back to the maximum capacity of the sea ports. table 3 depicts the influences of the dry port project and its role in decreasing the overload capacity occurred to alexandria and dekhiela ports as mentioned above, the table depicts the volume of teus and general cargo that be proceeded to the dry port in the three stages of applying the fully combined dry port. therefore, the minimum capacity of the dry port would be the transferred cargo (row f) from the two seaports to pg. 51 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd reset the capacity limit of each seaport as shown in table 3 row a and b. 4.4. challenges of dry port implementation implementing a dry port project in alexandria will definitely bring many advantages, but at the same time, it may face several major challenges for the following reasons: firstly, because dry ports are an extra transshipment point between two different transports modes that adds additional costs in the total transport chain expenses. additional costs include plus risk costs will be added to the transportation costs. secondly, it would occur for the implementation of the egyptian process, where the difficulty of planning and implementation due to the bureaucracy which halts the developmental projects. the importance of this project is highly recommended because it can solve the bottleneck problem of the congestion in the port, port city pollution or road congestion in the port city and access to the port area. when the government owns the project, additional challenge may be added due to the complexity of land ownership that requires more time and fund. 5. conclusion the strength and density of a port’s neighbor activities depend on the port capacity, the available transport modes, and the use of logistical technologies. large ports always include all modes of rail lines, roads, and when available water vessels, the transit hubs of these modes are always located into the hinterland. thus, large ports are more flexibles in assigning the suitable mode of transport. the most important area is the gate of the terminal because it contains all important units of administration and all procedures of import and export which could be achieved there. it is the coordination point between the port and shippers and all other services’ companies. therefore, controlling congestion as well as enhancing the trade starts from the port’s gates, where different modes of transport and the opportunities of relocating the terminal gates by establishing a dry port to assist the main terminal. the importance of the dry port is to decrease the pressure on the terminal gate. 6. recommendations being a popular and essential topic for discussion, many entities of the same interest are concerned with this development such as shipping companies, port authorities, ministries, such as the ministry of planning and commerce, and even the citizens themselves. the study encourages decision makers to adopt this project for sustainable economic development and the operation of a large number of labors. it encourages both port authorities to closely and meticulously follow and monitor phases of the project until desired results are reached. as for investors, the study highly encourages them to invest in similar and promising projects that can lead to a better future and enhance the economic conditions in egypt. it similarly encourages exporters and importers to fulfill their duties as to increasing exports especially since it is a project that should provide the appropriate environment. production companies should also work towards increasing their exports as the study discovers that the volume of export makes up a quarter of import volumes which is quite a small amount that should be increased. retailers are required to use the shortest paths to transship their commodities at low costs and less time. the study, finally, encourages citizens to take the responsibility of reducing their own trips and using public transportation for a more sustainable life. references 1. bergqvist, r., wilmsmeier, g., & cullinane, k. (2013). introduction – a global perspective on dryports. farnham, united kingdom: ashgate publishing limited. pg. 52 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. japan international cooperation agency. (2008a). the study on multimodal transport and logistics system of the eastern mediterranean region and master plan in the arab republic of egypt (vol. 1, rep.). cairo, egypt: transport planning authority ministry of transport the arab republic of egypt. 3. japan international cooperation agency. (2008b). the study on multimodal transport and logistics system of the eastern mediterranean region and master plan in the arab republic of egypt (executive summary). cairo, egypt: transport planning authority ministry of transport the arab republic of egypt. 4. lasalle, j. l. (2015). the business of cities (rep.). uk: jll cities research center. 5. egyptian maritime data bank. (2005). retrieved from http://www.maritime-database.com/company.php?c id=246097 6. monios, j., & bergqvist, r. (2016). intermodal freight terminals: a life cycle governance framework. london: routledge, taylor & francis group. 7. nguyen, l. c., & notteboom, t. (2016). a multi-criteria approach to dry port location in developing economies with application to vietnam. the asian journal of shipping and logistics,32(1), 23-32. 8. roso, v., & lumsden, k. (2010). a review of dry ports. maritime economics & logistics,12(2), 196-213. 9. the egyptian port’s capacity. (2012). retrieved from http://www.mts.gov.eg/en/content/275/1-83-the-eg yptian-ports-capacity 10. veenstra, a., zuidwijk, r., & asperen, e. v. (2012). the extended gate concept for container terminals: expanding the notion of dry ports. maritime economics & logistics,14(1), 14-32. pg. 53 introduction purpose of study aim and objectives alexandria's gateways types problem statement: alexandria's gateways problems the dry-ports the fully combined dry port the criteria of choosing a dry port location alexandria dry port project challenges of dry port implementation conclusion recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.17 the courtyard house: can a sustainable future learn from a context relevant past hocine bougdah1 1the canterbury school of architecture, university for the creative arts, uk abstract this paper looks at the courtyard house as a traditional urban dwelling of yesteryears with a view to explore its potential in informing the housing developments of the future. in order to address the question, the paper starts with a historical overview of this built form as an urban dwellings that fulfilled its functional and spatial requirements in times gone by. it then goes on to highlight the inadequacy of post-colonial housing solutions in algeria and to look into two important aspects of this traditional housing typology; its socio-cultural relevance and environmental performance. the analysis is carried out using both secondary research in the form of three examples from the literature and the primary research carried out as field work in the form of temperature measurements inside a house, during the hot season, in boussaada (algeria). the discussion and concluding remarks attempt to make arguments for re-considering what could be learned from such traditional housing typology to inform future urban development that would subscribe to the values of sustainable development. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords courtyard house; urban development; typology; cultural relevance; environmental performance; traditional architecture; sustainable development. 1. introduction dwellings form the biggest share of building stocks in developing countries are likely to have lasting impact on the economy and environment, both, locally and globally. in the middle east and north africa (mena), which is the focus of this paper, there is an added significance to such debate given the cultural identity “crisis” that arab/islamic countries are undergoing, and the far-reaching consequences of such a crisis on both the built environment and the quality of life of people living in it. given this situation, any discussion relating to the provision, policies, design and theories of dwellings in this region are to be set within the context of an examination of the cultural heritage and development of this part of the world whose importance ‘cannot be over-emphasized at this juncture in the history of the region and the political and economic currents that are sweeping the world from china to brazil’ (avrami, 2013). through a discussion of the courtyard house as a building typology, this paper attempts to make an argument for the role of this form of traditional buildings in informing the debate on how to address the issue of dwelling provision in a way that is conducive to the socio-cultural context and compatible with the principles of sustainable pg. 83 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd development. the discussion of the role of the courtyard house will focus on two aspects; its socio-cultural significance and its environmental performance (in terms of thermal mitigation against excessive heat gains) with a view to build an argument for its potential within a sustainable development framework. the discussion takes place through a combination of secondary and primary research. the former involves the use of a selection of examples from the literature while the latter is by means of analysis and discussion of data obtained by direct temperature measurements in the field. 2. the urban courtyard house: between a forgotten world heritage and an expensive liability courtyard houses are one of the oldest forms of dwellings that are still around nowadays. although they can be found in different regions of the world (latin america, china, europe) it is traditionally associated with the middle east. the ancient civilisation at kahun in egypt and the chaldean city of ur bear witness to that (oliver, 2003). while courtyard houses exist in most parts of the arab/islamic world, they evolved in different ways “as influenced by existing local traditions, construction materials and environmental factors” (sibley, 2006). whereas the courtyard houses of the casbah in algiers have some unique characteristics (golvin, 1988), their past role and potential future is similar to that in the mena region. those characteristics include: the square courtyard (wast ed dar) surrounded by two or three arched galleries on the four sides and long shallow rooms (fig. 1). in larger houses, as the size of the courtyard increases the covered circulation galleries can become four, five or even six arched ones as the case of dar aziza (fig. 2). to complete the list of features; the courtyard is accessed through a chicane (sqifa) that acts as a buffer zone between the alleyway and the courtyard, providing privacy. in its heyday, the urban courtyard house seems to offer a balance between the perfect geometry of the courtyard and the irregular periphery that adapts to the plot in a way that” the symmetrical and totally balanced order of the courtyard can be interpreted as the timeless centre of gravity of the house, while the periphery responds to the given circumstances and pressures of the earthly environment” (bianca, 2000). in doing so it offered a solution that balanced the environmental constraints, the socio-cultural needs and the economic conditions addressing both material and immaterial needs of its occupants. the french colonial period, which for algeria lasted 132 years (1830-1962) has introduced many changes that have left their imprints on the built environment, the cultural identity of the indigenous population and their social make-up. on the one hand, urban developments during this period were primarily for the benefit of the european settlers and consisted of apartment blocks and villa neighbourhoods following european architectural styles and conforming to their standards. at times, the historic city fabric was demolished to clear the way for such interventions. on the other hand, rural migration to the cities, whether be it forced by the colonial administration, encouraged or simply for economic reasons, has led to the proliferation of large squatter settlements (or bidonvilles) around the colonial cities (sibley, 2006). the situation reached a critical level in terms of housing shortage after the second world war due to the indigenous population growth, which jumped from 23 % in 1906 to reach 51.4 % by 1954 (hadjri and osmani, 2009). to face this problem, the french administration launched a program for the construction of new neighbourhoods, in algiers, to house the indigenous population. this initiative resulted in projects such as ‘climat de france’ and ‘djenan el hassan’ by french architects pouillon for the former and simounet for the latter, which were completed in 1957 and 1958 respectively (figs 3-4). in an attempt to be seen to deal more efficiently with the housing crisis by the colonial administration, this initiative was replaced by the ‘plan de constantine’ launched in 1958, as an urgent operation for the construction of big scale projects especially social housing (50,000 units per year) named as ‘les grands ensembles’. the plan was highly criticised for being more concerned with quantity than quality; the lack of reference to the site and the local character, however the circumstances at the time didn’t allow any place for debate. pg. 84 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. : a basic courtyard house in thecasbah in algiers (golvin, 1988) figure 2. four arched gallery pg. 85 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. climatde france housing development figure 4. djenan el hassan housing scheme pg. 86 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it resulted in urban developments lacking spatial quality and with little or no reference to the traditional built heritage. unfortunately this continued to exist in post independence algeria (eag-certuc, 2003). after more than half a century of independence, the built environment in algeria is lacking both the architectural qualities and the cultural relevance. this situation is often identified as a contributor to what became of the traditional courtyard urban dwelling, such that of the casbah in algiers, as a forgotten heritage that is very expensive to keep and maintain. it reached a point where it needs to be “rehabilitated both physically and socially. the mere renovation of its physical condition will not improve its reputation and attract national and international visitors and investors unless the social and cultural problems are tackled and resolved in full” (elsheshtawy, 2009). the courtyard house, regardless of its origin, has evolved into a domestic built form that is responsive to its multideterminant context. chief among these are climate and culture (rapoport, 1969). in the forthcoming sections, both these determinant will be discussed by means of a number of examples from the literature and some analysis and discussion of data obtained by direct measurements in the field. 3. the socio-cultural significance of the courtyard house this section will focus on the role that courtyard houses can play as a setting for social interactions and cultural expression as well as a tool to strengthen those bonds. three examples from palestine, the south of algeria and spain will be made use of. 3.1. the courtyard in the jerico-nablus study in a study that looked at sustainable strategies for future house buildings in palestine (haj hussein, 2010), the author compared the features of outdoor spaces in both traditional courtyard houses and contemporary apartment blocks with a view to analyse the socio-cultural, economical, functional and environmental dimensions of these spaces. with regard to the socio-cultural factors, the study made use of a questionnaire with 300 interviewees living in contemporary blocks and comparing their responses to an assumed hypothesis, which stipulates that both privacy and social interaction (or community) exist in the traditional setting. with regard to the issue of privacy, 50.6% of total respondents and 60% of female respondents were dissatisfied with the levels of privacy in contemporary blocks. with regard to socializing and communal activities, 45.5% of the respondents feel that the current provisions are inadequate and that they would rather have a bigger external space at the expense of the indoor living space. furthermore, some 75% of the respondents believe that there is a need for outdoor spaces where the children can play safely under the eyes of the parents and neighbours. despite the lack of systematic rigour in terms of data comparison (as the inhabitants of traditional houses were not interviewed), there is evidence that points towards the socio-cultural relevance of the courtyard house as a building typology. 3.2. tafilelt courtyard style community housing in the m’zab valley (algeria) in a research paper on a community driven initiative to provide housing in tafilelt, one of the settlements in the m’zab valley in southern algeria (bouali-messahel, 2011), the author reports on an interesting experiment of community housing based on the local traditional courtyard house typology. in this part of the country, traditional values are still prevalent in areas such as culture, social relations and the way of life. in such a traditional context, community driven initiatives are not a novelty. what is new in this case is the collaboration between the state (financial assistance) and the local community (participatory design, construction and project management). the project was conceived as a community housing project intended for low and average income households, emanating from within the local population. with an initial plan to deliver 870 dwellings, work started in 1997. by 2011, 1007 units were delivered. both the individual units and the settlement as a whole are based on traditional designs with somehow a contemporary interpretation (figs 5-7 and 8). this development is a success on many levels, pg. 87 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd but most relevant to this discussion is its success in transforming a community self-build project into a tool to create social bonds and strengthen them. according to the author, the success of the project can be seen “through the participation of the population in its design, its management and sometimes even in the financing scheme of certain dwellings, by contributing to the collections intended for the neediest; which exploits the ancestral mutual aid (twiza) and tightens up the social connections” (bouali-messahel, 2011). like other experiments that adopted certain aspects of traditional styles in a contemporary context, such as those by el minyawi brothers in algeria during the 1970’s (bellal, 2012), this project has shown that certain elements of the courtyard house typology can be adapted as part of a contemporary housing development that seems to be in tune with the socio-cultural needs of the dwellers. figure 5. traditional mozabite house (ravereau, fathy & roche, 1981) figure 6. theplans adopted for the tafilelt village in the m’zab valley (bouali-messahel,2011). figure 7. courtyard as a children play area pg. 88 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. adevelopment in harmony with the site 3.3. the courtyard house of cordoba (spain) a study into the social role of the courtyards in the historic quarter of cordoba was carried out to test the idea of whether these spaces can promote social interactions between citizens, in the same way as public spaces do (priego, rodrigues-morcillo & breuste, 2012). the authors’ introduction to the study highlights the importance of courtyards in this part of cordoba when they state: ’the historical quarter of the city of cordoba (spain) has numerous houses with courtyard gardens (fig. 9). rather than being simply architectural structures, these courtyard gardens provide a space for social interaction and cultural expression, accommodating a lifestyle that is specific to this particular urban environment and in which the boundaries between the private and the public sphere are blurred’ (priego, rodriguez-morcillo & breuste, 2012). using discussion groups as a methodology, the research team sought to gain a greater insight into the citizens’ perceptions and attitudes towards the traditional courtyard gardens and shed some light on the way they are used on a daily basis and for social purposes. the study concluded that the dwellers of the cordoba courtyard houses attach a special importance to their courtyards. not only are these courtyards seen as a setting for social interaction, but they also provide a sense of community. the courtyard gardens encourage social relations and the conservation of cultural heritage, while they promote a sense of identity beyond that attached to the city’s historic monuments. according to the authors, this research ‘has shown that courtyard houses are not simply dwellings inhabited by people, but reflect a lifestyle full of close and varied social relations based on community values’ (priego, rodriguez-morcillo & breuste, 2012). figure 9. a typical courtyard in the cordoba historicquarter (mousli, semprini, 2015) pg. 89 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. a typical courtyard in the cordoba historic quarter having discussed the socio-cultural relevance of the courtyard house in the previous section, the second aspect of its multi-determinant context, which is the climate, is discussed through a study into the environmental performance (internal temperatures) of a typical example of traditional courtyard house in boussaada, algeria (35◦20’n, 4◦12’e, 459 m above sea level). the temperature readings are then compared to external air temperature as given by the regional office for meteorological data. in such a hot arid climate, the magnitude of heat exchange between the sun, earth and the atmosphere is greater than elsewhere. this is due to the lack of cloud cover which in turn leads to maximum levels of heat reaching the surface of earth from the sun during the day and released into the atmosphere at night. the resulting effect is a large range of daily air temperature fluctuations. this can vary from 100c to 250c during the summer months. in these conditions, the courtyard house owes its survival to its suitability to the climate where the principles of passive cooling using thermal mass and shading are used with much success. 4.1. the courtyard house this type of domestic architecture is a feature of traditional architecture around the mediterranean region and beyond to the middle east and india. in these arid and semi-arid climates, this form of building owes its survival to its suitability to the climate. the traditional moorish house of north africa is a typical example of the courtyard house where the principles of passive cooling using thermal mass, shading and reduction of external solar heat gains are used with much success. the house being the subject of this study is a two-storey courtyard family dwelling located in the heart of the old quarter of the city (fig. 10). the layout consists of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms arranged over two levels. the lower floor makes up the living area where all the day activities take place. it consists of a shop with its separate entrance directly accessible from the narrow alleyway, two family rooms and a kitchen. four bedrooms and two small storage/utility rooms occupy the upper floor. the rooms are tall and narrow, which facilitates air movement inside. external windows are kept to a minimum, both in size and number. on the upper floor all the openings are onto the central courtyard. the lower floor openings (doors) are in the shade all day round. the structural fabric of the house consists of load bearing walls supporting the floors and providing thermal mass for the building. the walls are 600 mm thick of unfired clay blocks, covered with a mixture of cement and gypsum based render. 4.2. temperature recordings the indoor dry bulb temperatures were recorded during the month of september, in one of the bedrooms at a height of 1.2 m above the floor near a window overlooking the courtyard (figure 11). the temperatures recorded over a six-day period, are shown in the diagram in figure 12. the diagram shows the air temperatures recorded inside the house. for comparison purposes, the mean maximum and minimum external temperatures for september are also shown. the period consisted of five full daily cycles with two half daily cycles at the beginning and the end of the recording period. the general pattern of the data shows no major fluctuations over six-day period except for start of the recording period when the internal temperature reached a maximum of 270c. the three daily cycles that followed had similar patterns of internal temperatures with maximum and minimum values of 250c and 22.50c occurring around 18:00 hours and 06:00 hours respectively. the next 24 hours cycle saw a slightly different pattern in terms of timing of the minimum temperature which occurred later than previous days, at around 12:00 hours and reaching 240c. the maximum temperature recorded still remained at 250c and occurring around 18:00 hours. the last full 24 hours cycle saw a pattern of temperatures similar to the first two cycles. during the recording period, the temperatures inside the house were kept within a narrow range as figure 11 clearly shows despite the large fluctuations in external daily temperatures. in such inhospitable climate, the traditional courtyard house managed to keep the internal temperatures within what can be seen as confortable limits for a hot pg. 90 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd dry climate without the use of any mechanical ventilation or cooling. these results compare favourably with those reported by mousli & semprini (2015) for their study of comfort in traditional house in damascus. figure 10. the historic quarter of boussaada (algeria) figure 11. air temperatures recorded inside a traditional courtyard house 5. discussion and conclusions the courtyard house has evolved from its early primitive form to become ‘the basis of the urban pattern of the medinas of the islamic world’ (ozkan, 2010). fez, algiers, tunis and other cities still have some finely restored examples of courtyard urban houses. not only did this plan typology offer functional efficiencies for such a densely occupied urban fabric, it also offered an environmental response to the hot climate and most importantly a cultural relevance (figs 2, 13 &14). those examples show that despite the upheavals of colonisation and wars of independence, at least the material side of the courtyard house has survived to varying degrees of physical damage. however the context in which those medinas exit today is far from the one that existed when they were first built. arab islamic architecture has undergone a series of changes and shifts during the last two centuries that coincided with the western colonial dominance over the region and its aftermath. those changes were not limited to the built environment only, but extended to the socio-cultural scene and the way of life itself. pg. 91 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 12. plansand section of the boussaada house. source: the author (2016) pg. 92 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd as a way for the national independence movements to stamp their ‘raison d’être’ on the newly independent states they introduced large development programmes which were meant to stand for modernity, nationalism, and socialism. these were largely based on western models that were imported into what is essentially an alien context, both environmentally and culturally. european style housing blocks became the norm for urban development, and even the rural world was not spared. what made the situation worse was a lack of understanding of the “new” technology by the locals. badly constructed ugly looking concrete blocks became the norm. even the new ‘development revolution’ that started in in the gulf region over 2 decades ago, did not do much to bring with it something that is culturally and environmentally relevant, despite the much improved build quality introduced by the steel and glass skyscrapers builders. few experiments are worthy of mention, where attempts were made to design and build in a way that combined tradition and modernity. such experiments include the work of hassan fathy, particularly the new gourna village (steele, 1997) and the works of el minyawi brothers in el oued in the south of algeria (bellal, 2012). fathy’s work has shown him to be a pioneer in ‘sustainable design’, back in the 1940’s, even before the term was invented. his use of local materials and traditional elements of architectural composition, while putting emphasis on energy efficient low cost design made him a household name among environmentally conscious designers. from and administrative and economic perspective, his project for the new gourna village failed to resettle the local community from the old gourna, as the locals were determined to go back to tomb robbing there, as that was their means of making a living. this failure is nothing to do with his design but rather with the way the decision makers dealt with the issue. despite this, architecturally his design for a community settlement is a success. the examples presented in this paper have shown that each one of them offers something that addresses either the sociocultural values or the environmental constraints of the context in which a version of the courtyard house exists. with regard to the major determinants of its context (culture and climate), the various examples presented here have shown that the courtyard house is more than just a place of dwelling or a space organiser, but it is also a setting for strengthening social bonds and encouraging cultural interactions. furthermore, in the tafilelt example, it became a tool for social and economic development. the internal temperature measurements data from boussaada have confirmed what’s already known about the environmental responsiveness of this type of traditional building to its context. the question that remains is whether or not the courtyard house, as a traditional form of dwelling, has the potential to be part of a contemporary sustainable urban housing. the answer is neither as easy as it may seem, nor is it straightforward. of course in its heydays, this built form has performed well on all levels, socially, culturally, environmentally and economically. however, times have moved on and so have the ways people live. the questions should not be approached from a polarised position between tradition and modernity. instead, a more suited approach would be for designers to acknowledge what traditional building forms, such as the courtyard house, have to offer and how to deploy it in a contemporary context. we already know that trying to duplicate traditional architecture, as part of a contemporary development, will not work. nevertheless, the various components of the courtyard house as a typology (form, space planning, openings, materiality etc.) need to be considered with a view to establish if any of those components can be used as part of a contemporary urban housing development. what the examples examined in this paper show is that the courtyard house as a form does actually offer advantages over imported models. at a time when the search for sustainable solutions to global development is primary driven by the use of western high tech systems, it is worth considering going back to basics and looking at what one can learn from traditional design and development knowledge that can be implemented in a way that is compatible with the preoccupations of present societies without compromising the needs of future generations. the need to learn from the past is as important as the triple point of sustainable development. in fact for arab/islamic countries one could argue that true sustainable development would not take place without considering it alongside the question of cultural identity, or the crisis this is going through. there is a perception among the younger generation in the arab/islamic world–and most developing countriesthat building in a traditional way is backward. one cannot deny that lifestyles change and with them architecture can and must change and the reproduction of tradition will not solve the problem. for these reasons, the need to understand heritage, learn the lessons from it with a pg. 93 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd view to adopt certain principles and adapt them within a contemporary context is most critical. relying on literal translation of global concepts developed in the rich west will not lead to sustainable development in these parts of the world. the definition of sustainable development as meeting the needs of today without sacrificing the needs of future generations is a case in point. the resources required by a first world family are about 20 times those for a third world family. figure 13. dar benabdallah, tunis (riadmisbah, n.d.) figure 14. riad misbah, fez (steele &fathy, 1997) references 1. avrami, e. (2013). fekri hassan, aloisia de trafford, and mohsen youssef, editors. cultural heritage and development in the arab world. alexandria, egypt: bibliotheca alexandrina, 2008. international journal of cultural property, 20(03), 349-352. doi:10.1017/s0940739113000167 2. bellal, t. (2012). housing as an expression of self-identity in contemporary algeria: the work of el-miniawy brothers. journal of islamic architecture, 1(2). doi:10.18860/jia.v1i2.1719 3. berry, b. j. (1976). urbanization and counterurbanization. beverly hills, ca: sage publications. 4. bianca, s. (2000). urban form in the arab world: past and present. zürich: vdf hochschulverlag ag an der eth zürich. pg. 94 bougdah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. bouali-messahel, m. (2011). a community project to preserve the m’zab valley. in proceedings of the 23rd enhr conference. toulouse. 6. ecole d’architecture de grenoble and centre d’études sur les réseaux, les transports, l’urbanisme et les constructions publiques (2003) (eds.). algérie, traces d’histoire: architecture, urbanisme & art, de la préhistoire à l’algérie contemporaine. lyon, france: ecoles d’architecture lyon. 7. elsheshtawy, y. (2009). planning middle eastern cities: an urban kaleidoscope. new york: routledge. 8. golvin, l. (1988). palais et demeures d’alger à la période ottomane. aix en provence: edisud. 9. haj hussein, m. (2010). courtyard concept: a sustainable strategy for future housing buildings in palestine. in proceedings of sustainable architecture & urban development conference. amman. 10. mousli, k., & semprini, g. (2015). thermal performances of traditional houses in dry hot arid climate and the effect of natural ventilation on thermal comfort: a case study in damascus. energy procedia, 78, 2893-2898. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.661 11. oliver, p. (2003). dwelling: the house across the world. oxford: phaidon press. 12. priego, c. rodriguez-morcillo, b. l. & breuste, j. h. (2012) the courtyards of cordoba in spain: social functions of private spaces in historical neighbourhoods. laufener: bayerische akademie für naturschutz und landschaftspflege. 13. qantara. (n.d.). retrieved september 16, 2016, from https://www.qantara-med.org/ 14. rapoport, a. (1969). house form and culture. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice-hall. 15. ravereau, a., fathy, h., & roche, m. (1981). le m’zab, une leçon d’architecture. sindbad. 16. sibley, m. (2006). the courtyard houses of north african medinas, past, present and future. (b. edwards, m. sibley, m. hakmi, & p. land, eds. abingdon, oxfordshire: taylor and francis. 17. steele, j. (1997). an architecture for people: the complete works of hassan fathy. london: thames and hudson. pg. 95 introduction the urban courtyard house: between a forgotten world heritage and an expensive liability the socio-cultural significance of the courtyard house the courtyard in the jerico-nablus study tafilelt courtyard style community housing in the m'zab valley (algeria) the courtyard house of cordoba (spain) a typical courtyard in the cordoba historic quarter the courtyard house temperature recordings discussion and conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.253 drinking water quality from water vending machines in selected public schools in cebu city, philippines marchee tabotabo-picardal1, emily may g. rapirap2, ofelia n. barrientos3, mary jane b. tura4, arnulfo c. sarnillo5, adelaida l. porol6, rey a. kimilat7 1don vicente rama memorial national high school department of education, cebu city division, region 7, philippines 2don vicente rama memorial national high school department of education, cebu city division, region 7, philippines 3pardo national high school department of education, cebu city division, region 7, philippines 4ramon duterte memorial national high school department of education, cebu city division, region 7, philippines 5madridejos national high school’s department of education, cebu province division, region 7, philippines 6sage prep schoolhouse, cebu city philippines 7abellana national school department of education, cebu city division, region 7, philippines abstract drinking water from water vending machines (wvm) may pose health risks to consumers especially to students who are primary end-users in the public school setting. a one-shot survey of wvm water samples from 8 public schools in cebu city philippines was analyzed for microbial test and 3 schools were further investigated for physicochemical analysis. results revealed that 8 water samples registered a total coliform count of 2.6 cfu/ml while specific e.coli testing posted (<1.1 to 2.6 cfu/ml). these data are higher than the national standard for permissible value for clean water (<1.1/100 ml) and international standard of 0.00 cfu/100ml except in 2 schools that fall within the normal level (<1.1 cfu/ml). the water samples passed the physicochemical evaluation but failed in the microbiological test due to the presence of high levels of e.coli. hence, water dispensed from the wvm is not safe for students’ consumption. schools and other institutions that utilized wvm must require private companies as well as the management also of the institutions to routinely check, clean, and maintain the machine to avoid accumulation of coliforms and e.coli contamination. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords water vending machine; public schools health; coliform; water assessment; philippines pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1. introduction the need to ensure safe drinking water especially for a vulnerable subpopulation such as school children and the students is anchored on the millennium development goal on environmental sustainability. water vending is usually associated to private vending of drinking water which world health organization (2011) highly recommends that there is a need to constantly monitor the chemical and microbial parameters as part of the requirement for the suitability of water for human consumptions. furthermore, it will also serve as a basis for the control measure such as water treatment requirements. water that is supplied to the schools for consumption should meet the guidelines set by the regulatory agencies standards because the quality and adequacy of water supplies vary. in the philippines, commercially sold vended water usually is supplied from private and registered water companies in which water is treated prior to delivery and mode of access is through conventionally supplied tankers, others in coin-operated standpipes and/or water kiosks. hence, good hygiene in handling vended water and its machine is required in order to avoid water-borne diseases caused by disease-causing bacteria and other microorganisms. ideally, drinking water should not contain pathogenic organism such as e.coli which is considered to be a fecal indicator for water quality test. the presence of this thermotolerant coliform has been conventionally employed to monitor drinking-water quality up to the present time. as reported by hutin, luby & paquet (2003) that vended water has been associated with gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea. such diseases can adversely affect the performance of the students especially on their attendance (jasper, le, & bartram, 2012). the issue of clean and potable water is a pressing global concern. issues on water security, water sanitation, and adequacy of water supply are considered a barometer of economic development of a nation in general and local districts in particular. in the local scenario, the metropolitan cebu water district [mcwd] facilitates the equitable distribution of clean water for all domestic purposes. mcwd operates under a strict compliance to standard water sanitation practices, thereby rendering its water safe for human consumption. however, the course to which clean and potable mcwd’s water reaches the household is affected by the following factors, namely: (a) stability and well-maintained pipes; (b) presence of septic tanks to which these pipes flow; (c) “pipe-tapping devices”, an illegal form of drawing water from the main water lines; and (d) hygiene and sanitation practices in the end-user’s household. ideally, mcwds water is clean, purified, underwent standard chlorination, filtration and ozonation processes and are essentially ready for consumption. these protocols increase consumers’ trust and confidence that such an affordable water supply is free from pathogenic organisms and has tolerable limits of dissolved metals. despite mcwd’s provided assurance to their consumers as to the safety of the water for drinking, a majority of local people prefer to buy purified water from water refilling stations. local anecdotal reports from consumers argue on the increased safety once community water provided by mcwd passed through the second filtration process performed by refilling stations. all over the philippines, modes of delivery are observed either through the use of water dispensers in households and offices or water vending machines (wvm) in public places. the latter is commonly accessed in public elementary and secondary schools (i.e. where there is an absence of sterile water fountains as in the case of private schools), and these wvms are operated by private franchisees which do not usually undergo strict sanitary monitoring due to the inherent trust of the schools to these wvms operators. drinking water from bottle-less coolers such that of the water vending machines may pose some public health risks to consumers due to either chemical or microbiological contamination (hussein, hassan & bakr, 2009). the lack of sanitary monitoring paved the way for increased complacency on ensuring regular cleaning of wvms, replacement of old gallons, removal of accumulated residues from biological and non-biological matter. this alarming condition is a perennial concern especially in public schools where the population is large and children whose ages are vulnerable to gastrointestinal diseases. who statistics shows that there are approximately 94,000 deaths occurred in ncr due to diarrhea in 2014 caused by lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (wash) services (wpro, 2017). as to the report of the department of health that in 2018, within a month, 1,051 acute bloody diarrhea cases were reported and this is caused by exposure to various pathogens in food and water. pg. 2 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd such precedence is the standpoint of this initial assessment in order to investigate the quality of drinking water distributed through water vending machines located in different public schools in cebu city. 2. review of related literature it is an inherent right for every citizen to have access to safe drinking water (who, 2011). due to the increase in demand for potable water by the growing population, water service providers respond to the need through the placement of water vending machines in populated areas such as in schools. the philippine government must strengthen the regulation of these water supplies by ensuring them to be compliant to the national standard (i.e., pnsdw) for drinking water and that of the international institutions (i.e., who and us-epa) (del rosario, migo, clemente, cerbolles, & tecson-mendoza, 2012). water dispensed by the wvm comes in the form of bottled water hence; the agency responsible for the regulating and monitoring of water is the department of health (doh) food and drug administration. this agency utilizes the philippine national standards for drinking water (pnsdw) 2007 in determining the water quality (del rosario et al., 2012). to ensure implementation of the task at the local level, the local water utilities administration (lwua) was created through presidential decree 198 (1973) to monitor the local water standards and assess its compliance with the national standard. administrative order 0012 s. 2017 stipulates the guidelines for monitoring water vending machines such that the minimum frequency of sampling should be conducted once a month for a microbiological test and twice a year for physico-chemical analysis. despite the tasked force and legal mandate, access to safe drinking water still remains an issue which prompted researchers to conduct an independent and third-party assessment of the water quality in their locality. in the published reports conducted in the philippines, tonog and poblete (2015) looked into the quality of drinking water obtained from various sources such as deep well, pump well and communal faucets in some barangays in northern samar and found out that all water samples were positive for fecal coliforms. meanwhile, alambatin, germano, pagaspas, peñas, pun-an, & galarpe (2017) evaluated the physicochemical parameters of drinking water samples in cagayan de oro and found out that water is fit for human consumption, however; findings lack analysis on the presence of heavy metals, pathogens, and organic components. meanwhile, austero, bernardes, dael, dela cruz, honkulada, jawadil, stacy, & uy (2013) evaluated the water samples collected from water vending machines within the radius of the hospital, and found out that all of the samples were positive for total coliform, total bacterial and fecal coliform count which rendered the water unfit for drinking. in the global scenario, this water quality monitoring has been practiced. decades ago, chaidez, rusin, naranjo, & gerba (1999) have already initially assessed the water vending machine in terms of microbiological and physicochemical parameters. they concluded that there is a high bacterial concentration of total coliforms and escherichia coli detected in the drain samples. no significant correlations were found between the physicochemical and bacteriological parameters. similarly, al moosa, ali khan, alalami, & hussain (2015) investigated the water dispenser machines installed in schools and universities in uae in terms of a microbial parameter. they concluded that the water samples were found unsatisfactory as total coliform and e.coli were detected. they attributed it to the low maintenance and improper hygiene and unsanitary conditions of the water dispenser machines. the aforementioned condition of water implies the need for ensuring water quality locally. from the prevailing scenarios both at the local and global scene, similar conclusions have been presented on the water samples collected — that it is not fit for human consumption due to the presence of pathogenic organisms. us-epa (2018) strongly emphasized that there should be zero tolerance for the presence of fecal coliform in drinking water. hence, this present study would like to verify if the water vending machines located in schools in cebu are compliant with that national and global standard. pg. 3 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. materials and methods 3.1. study site this descriptive survey was conducted in eight (8) randomly selected public schools (composed of 4 elementary schools and 4 high schools) located in different regions within the city (refer to figure 1). the number of schools selected as a sampling site is ten percent of the overall number of public schools in the whole division of cebu city. in addition, the schools belong to the criteria of very large population size and the presence of wvm in the school premises. the city is divided into two congressional districts, north and south. there were four schools purposively selected for each of the district (comprised of 2 elementary schools and 2 secondary schools). from each school, water sample [total 2.5l] was collected from 10:00-11: 00 am for the summer month of april 2017 on the same day and these were analyzed for microbial contaminants (i.e. total coliform). meanwhile, three schools were randomly chosen from the six schools that registered higher than the normal level of e. coli test results (<1.1 cfu/ml) using a fishbowl technique (composed of one elementary and two high schools) for further physicochemical testing of the water from wvm found in the school for the ph, hardness and presence of heavy metals (hg, pb and as). figure 1. map of cebu city proper where sampling stations were located. 3.2. sampling water samples were collected from the water vending machines installed in randomly selected schools (names withheld for privacy and anonymity and ethical considerations). specifically, grab sampling technique was employed in this study in which a sample was collected from those chosen schools simultaneously during the month of april 2017 and is assumed to represent the composition of the water only at that time and place. in each school, the researchers collected 1.5 liters (l) water sample for chemical analysis and 1l water sample for the microbiological test. to avoid affecting the quality of data, the first and second running of water were disregarded. the third time was then used as the sample and was then taken into sterile containers without superficial disinfection of the outlet nozzles. specimens were then submitted to the laboratory of mcwd in a cool box within 6 hours. analyses of the physical property (i.e. ph and hardness) of the water samples were done at the chemistry laboratory of a university. heavy metal concentrations were analyzed at the metro cebu water district. pg. 4 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.3. physicochemical and microbiological analysis the drinking water samples were taken directly from the nozzle of the water dispenser machine. the samples were stored in a pre-sterilized 500 ml bottle. right after the collection, drinking water samples were immediately submitted to the microbiological laboratory for the analysis. the colilert reagent was used to identify the presence of total coliform and e.coli. 3.4. data analysis data from diagnostic laboratories were collated, tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics (i.e. mean+s.d.) for parameters with 1 sample/trial. all data were presented and were correspondingly compared versus permissible limits (i.e. standard values published by united states environmental protection agency [us epa] 2018, world health organization [who], 2011 and philippine national standards for drinking water [pnsdw], 2007 for each heavy metal (see table 3) and microbiological component (see table 1). 4. results and discussion water quality is assessed in terms of the following parameters: biological, chemical and physical properties and these parameters are presented in separate tables below. briefly, chemical properties include dissolved heavy metals alone while physical properties include ph and water hardness in terms of concentration of cacl. for microbiological attributes, the presence of fecal coliform and total coliform counts were determined. 4.1. biological property of water from wvm the biological component of drinking water was assessed using multiple tube fermentation technique (mtft) in two parameters, namely: appearance (in terms of colonies) and total coliform as well as fecal coliform (table 1). the result shows that all eight samples did not show any remarkable appearance of colonies in the growth media, indicating the insignificant bacterial growth in the water samples. meanwhile, total coliform registered 2.6 cfu/ml while specific e.coli testing posted <1.1 to 2.6 cfu/ml. total coliform test for all samples (2.6 cfu/ml) were all higher than the philippines standard value for clean water (i.e. <1.1/100 ml) and international standard set by who and us epa which is 0.00. e. coli test, on the other hand, resulted to normal levels (<1.1 cfu/ml) in 2 (school b and h) of the 8 schools sampled if based on pnsdw standard but still violates the strict international standard. although such colony counts were within the standard values for e.coli testing, its total coliform counts were beyond standard values (see table 1) and this finding is in consonance to prasai, lekhak, joshi, & baral (2007) that registered 82.6% and 92.4% of drinking water samples found to cross the who guideline value for drinking water. furthermore, the same finding also agrees with the studies of tonog and poblete (2015) and al moosa et al. (2015) on the unsatisfactory condition of drinking water due to the observed and identified total coliform and e.coli. these indicate that still, samples from school b and h, like the rest of the samples, and are also not safe for human consumption in the long run as purported by prasai et al. (2007) that bacteriological pollution is increasing alarmingly in drinking water supplies when he analyzed drinking water in kathmandu valley. there are factors to be considered in this result such as the [1] temperature (al moosa, ali khan, alalami & hussain, 2015) as most of the wvm are placed where direct sunlight can reach it, [2] handling and delivery of the water during refilling process and replacement of gallons from the station to the vending machine, and [3] exposure of nozzle and carbon filter itself to dust or soil particles that may contaminate the water sample (al moosa et al., 2015; chaidez, rusin, naranjo & gerba, 1999). appearance refers to the presence or absence of visible colonies of bacteria when grown in growth media during testing. total coliform refers to the gram-negative non-spore forming and motile or non-motile bacteria which pg. 5 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. themicrobiological test result of water from wvms among selected public schools in cebu city sampling site (school) analysis remarks appearance total coliform cfu/ml e. coli cfu/ml a clear 2.6 2.6 failed clear 2.6 <1.1 failed c clear 2.6 2.6 failed d clear 2.6 2.6 failed e clear 2.6 2.6 failed f clear 2.6 2.6 failed g clear 2.6 2.6 failed h clear 2.6 <1.1 failed standard value of pnsdw (2007) <1.1/100 ml <1.1/100 ml standard value of us epa (2018) 0.00 0.00 standard value of who (2011) 0.00 0.00 under the suitable environmental condition of 35–37◦c can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas (edberg, rice, karlin, & allen, 2000). as purported by omer, algamidi, algamidi, fadlelmula, and aklsubaie (2014) that contaminated water is a suitable medium to transmit diseases which is why e.coli is commonly used indicator of sanitary quality of water. their presence is used to indicate that other pathogenic organisms of fecal origin may be present (onichandran, 2014). the coliform index is also a rating of the purity of water based on the fecal bacterial count (prasai, lekhak, joshi & baral, 2007; edberg et al., 2000 & tan, arifullah, & soon, 2016). these bacteria originate from the intestine of warm-blooded animals (like humans and most mammals). evaluation of total coliform is an important measure of whether the water came in contact with human feces (fecal-oral route) along the way to the pipes (processing to filtration) and eventually to human (chaidez et al., 1999). hence, in this study, the majority of the water samples is not fit for human consumption due to the presence of fecal coliform as it did not qualify for the permissible standard value set by the pnsdw, us epa, and who. this finding also implies that it may cause an adverse effect on the gastrointestinal health of the consumers. it is not an assurance that although the water appears clears it is free from contamination (lechevallier, 2003). chemical property of water from wvm majority of the reported and recorded water-related health problems is due to the microbial contamination and also brought about by chemical contamination of drinking water (who, 2011) table 2. heavymetal test on water samples from wvms from selected public schools in cebu city school heavy metals test value* (mg/l) reading / interpretation a mercury 0.001 negligible lead 0.000 normal arsenic 0.000 normal mercury 0.000 normal lead 0.002 with dissolved units – check the tubing arsenic 0.000 normal c mercury 0.000 normal lead 0.004 with dissolved units – check the tubing arsenic 0.000 normal *results are for extracted heavy metals using ph 4.8 ammonium acetate using atomic absorption spectroscopy. for drinking water, 000/-000 is the most ideal concentration (i.e. absence of heavy metals) note: who standard for hardness test (mcgowan, 2000): pg. 6 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3. permissible limits of drinking water quality forinorganic chemical constituents (mg/l) recommended by various agenciesconcerned on food and water quality and sanitation heavy metals philippine national standards for drinking water [pnsdw, 2007] the united states environmental protection agency [us-epa, 2018] world health organization [who, 2011] mercury (hg) 0.001 0.002 0.001 lead (pb) 0.01 0.00 0.05 arsenic (as) 0.05 0.05 0.05 table 4. hardnesstest result (concentration of cacl) of water samples from wvms school calcium chloride (mg/l) classification a 18.5 soft 7.9 soft c 9.0 soft <60 mg/l = soft; 60–120 mg/l = moderately hard; 120–180 mg/l = hard; >180 mg/l, very hard the typical contribution of calcium in the diet is 5–20% of the drinking water and the rest of it are obtained from food sources for the recommended 80% dietary intake. mineral-rich drinking water can be a good source of these recommended nutrients and may supplement the needed calcium requirement by the body, in addition to main food sources of calcium such as milk, cheese, and other dairy products (who, 2011). table 5. phof water samples from wvms from public schools in cebu city. school ph mean + sd *standard value interpretation trial 1 trial 2 trial 3 a 7 7.5 6.5 7.00 + 0.500 6.5 – 8.5 normal 5.5 5 6 5.50 + 0.500 6.5 – 8.5 slightly acidic c 6.5 7 7 6.83 + 0.288 6.5 – 8.5 normal *us-epa 2018 standard drinking water regulation (ph = 6.5 – 8.5) the ph of water from different wvms ranges from 5.50 (slightly acidic) to 7.00 (neutral). normally, ph range for drinking water is between 6.50 to 8.50 (tan et al., 2016), thus except for one sample (school b), the two other schools have wvms providing a water with acceptable ph level. this may suggest a slightly higher concentration of hydrogen ion in the water medium due to rapid loss of electrolytes like sodium, calcium, and magnesium. water samples from wvms came from water refilling stations that employ purification process hence the water is slightly acidic as it becomes an active absorber of carbon dioxide as it comes in contact with air (flanagan & mccauley, 2010). the acidity can be linked to poor maintenance of either the container, nozzle tube or the entire machine in general. in general, water with a ph < 6.5 could be classified as acidic, soft, and corrosive. the acidity of the water may indicate a significant amount of metal ions such as fe, mn, co, pb, and zn. hence, acidic water contains a high amount of toxic metals which may be associated with health risks and pose a detrimental effect on the human body. thus, neutralizing solutions are used (i.e. containing sodium carbonate or commonly known as soda ash) which may eventually increase ph level. on the other hand, the hardness of water is indicated by a ph level of >8.5 which is considered alkaline which does not pose a health risk. however, hard water may cause aesthetic problems such as alkali taste, the formation of scale deposits on the surface that comes in contact with the water, slippery and difficult to lather for soaps and sometimes forms insoluble precipitates on clothing. while the ideal ph level pg. 7 picardal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of drinking water should be between 6.50 8.50 (us-epa, 2018), the human body has the ability to maintain ph equilibrium regularly regardless of the water intake. for instance, our stomach maintains a naturally low ph level of 2 which is needed and aids in the digestion of food. 5. conclusion based on the results of the study, chemical and physical test were within the acceptable levels as heavy metals (which are known to be toxic in large amounts) were at the negligible to a normal level, ph was relatively acceptable, and hardness level is acceptable. however, the water samples obtained from the wvm were relatively unclear of coliform bacteria such as e.coli and total coliform count as evidenced by a relatively higher cfu/ml compared to the acceptable values in drinking water. hence, the study concluded that the water sample is unfit for human consumption. as the results may suggest, these water vending machines need routine cleaning and maintenance to avoid accumulation of coliforms and contamination of e.coli. 6. recommendations in order to ensure the quality of drinking water accessed by the public through vending machines installed in schools, it should be regularly cleaned, monitored and tested by the company owner to comply with the guidelines and also by the designated government agency for public safety and welfare. furthermore, hygienic conditions in handling, delivery, and storage of water should be given utmost priority. a school administrator also must create and implement guidelines and protocols in regulating the bottles of water supplied, machines installed in schools, as well as the usage and maintenance of the overall facility to ensure utmost compliance to the standard for safe drinking water. local government units must conduct regular monitoring as mandated in the administrative order 0012 s. 2007 that all the water vending machines installed in public places be analyzed for microbiological constituent monthly and physicochemical analysis twice a week not just in schools but also in eateries and convenient stores where most of the water vending machines are placed. references 1. al moosa, m., ali khan, m., alalami, u. & hussain, a. 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(2007). microbiological analysis of drinking water in kathmandu valley. scientific world, 5 (5) 19. sarkar, b., bhaumik, k., mukherjee, a & sarkar, k.(2016). school children exposed to arsenic contaminated drinking water in the backdrop of widespread under-nutrition in west bengal, eastern-india. epidemiology (sunnyvale) 2016, 6:4 20. tan, e., arifullah, m., & soon, j. (2016). identification of escherichia coli strains from water vending machines of kelantan, malaysia using 16s rrna gene sequence analysis. water quality exposure and health 8(2). doi:10.1007/s12403-016-0194-x 21. tonog, m. & poblete, m. (2015). drinking water quality assessment in selected barangays in laoang, northern samar, philippines. international journal of environmental science and development, 6(1) 22. united states environmental protection agency (2018). drinking water standards and health advisories. washington, dc. march 2018. document no. 822-f-18-001 23. world health organization (2011). guidelines for drinking-water quality — 4th ed. isbn: 9789241548151. pg. 9 introduction review of related literature materials and methods study site sampling physicochemical and microbiological analysis data analysis results and discussion biological property of water from wvm conclusion recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.170 urban agriculture: a regenerative urban development practice to decrease the ecological footprints of cities rowaida rashed1 1assistant professor, department of urban planning, faculty of engineering, ain shams university abstract modern cities are characterized by intense human interactions and economic activities thatin many caseshave little or no consideration of the surrounding environment. every day, the process of urbanisation is becoming more resource-intensive, and the results are grave, including, climate change, the loss of natural fertility of farmland and the loss of biodiversity all over the world. high-consumption modern lifestyles are mainly fossil-fuel powered, relying on resources from the world’s ecosystems: a practice that increases the ecological footprints of cities. this paper aims at exploring means of decreasing the ecological footprints of cities: regenerative urban development practices being some of them. by concentrating on one of these practices, namely urban agriculture, the paper demonstrates how it would be possible to decrease the ecological footprints of cities through its integration on the city level. it starts out by briefly defining the environmental problems our cities are facing today, then it moves on to explaining the concept of the ecological footprint. it shows how cities could decrease their ecological footprints through simple practices: such as those of regenerative urban development. this is done through demonstrating regenerative practices in different parts of the world, with a concentration on urban agriculture, as one of the most effective regenerative practices. it then moves on to explaining how it could be integrated within a comprehensive system in cities, so as to improve the environmental condition, to work on decreasing the ecological footprint and to start setting the stage for a regenerative city. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords ecological footprint; regenerative urban development; urban agriculture; urban metabolism; circular urban metabolism 1. introduction cities are characterised by intense human interactions and economic activities; they are the lively hubs of human reproduction and creativity. with their buildings and infrastructure systems, they are the largest and most complex structures ever made by humanity; and with their communication and transport systems, they have achieved extraordinary global reach. as centres of economic innovation, they develop according to capital investment priorities, technology options and competitiveness (girardet, 2015). thus, in a rapidly urbanising world, large, modern cities are becoming more and more reliant on finite sources pg. 85 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of fossil fuel, through the adoption of consumer lifestyles. taking a quick look at the numbers, it is noticed that from 1900 to 2013, the global human population increased more than 4.5 times: from 1.5 to 7 billion inhabitants. during the same time, the global urban population expanded 16-fold: from 225 million to 3.6 billion inhabitants, which is around 52 percent of the world population. in 2011, the more developed countries were about 78 percent urbanised, while developing countries were still at 47 percent. by 2030, 60% of the world population is expected to live in urban areas. it is also worth pointing out that nearly all the world’s population growth is occurring in cities, and mostly in developing countries (girardet, 2015). urban growth is apparently unstoppable, powered by neo-liberal globalisation principles and policies that are transforming the lives and behaviour patterns of billions of people around the world (girardet, 2015), to the extent that, at the beginning of the 21st century, nobel laureate and atmospheric chemist, paul crutzen suggested that we are living in the “anthropocene,” a new geological epoch, in which humans had altered the planet (woo, wortmann, schurig, & leidreiter, 2014). the fact that high-consumption modern lifestyles are mainly powered by fossil-fuel, coming from finite sources in nature, has caused imbalances in the earth’s ecosystems. also, for a very long time, cities have been developing without showing any consideration for nature, and human activities have become main contributors to pollution and environmental damage, in addition to the loss of biodiversity and climate change. humans are depleting the natural capital stocks of the planet earth and are eroding its resilience, when they should be benefiting from its natural regenerative capacity (woo et al, 2014). their actions are continuously turning inherently renewable systemssoils, forest ecosystems, coral reefsinto non-renewable ones, as they use the bulk of the world’s resources and are not concerned where the vast quantities of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes end up, not knowing what is contained in the discharged waste and what damage this does to the environment (girardet, 2015). cities, as complex interconnected systems, are designed to turn energy into “work”, flowing along roads, rails, pipes and wires. throughout the process, the quality of the used fossil energy and raw materials deteriorates; thus, order, which is manifested in the form of cities, causes disorder elsewhere in nature. consequently, the way cities function presently, and that is by focusing only on the organisation of exceedingly energy-dependent human activities and urban lifestyles, while disregarding nature, has increased the level of disorder, waste and pollution for the planet as a whole. thus, cities are “entropy accelerators”: they deplete and downgrade the resources they depend on, in the process of using them (girardet, 2015). currently, and with such behaviours, the urbanising humanity’s impacts on the environment are of great concern. in 2012, people used more natural resources in eight months than the earth can produce in one year; under current trends, by 2030, even two planets will not be enough (woo et al, 2014). human impacts on the world’s ecosystems are demonstrated by the ecological footprints of cities: simply explained, an ecological footprint is the amount of land required to support people’s lives and lifestyles. it is a measure of people’s impacts on the environment and is commonly used as a guide toward a footprint that—if adopted by all people—would not exceed the productive land on earth. it is worth pointing out that the larger and the richer the city, the more it tends to draw on nature’s bounty from across the world rather than its own local hinterland; ecological footprints could be hundreds of times larger than the cities themselves. in an urbanising world and as our populations grow and global consumption increases, it is essential that we measure nature’s capacity to meet the demands on our planet. thus, cities need to work on minimising their ecological footprints. this could be done through regenerative urban development practices, which are restorative, renewing and revitalizing. they look into circular systems from the surrounding natural environment and draw inspiration from them, representing a paradigm shift and introducing a new way of thinking. humans are considered as being inseparable from nature and its ecosystems. such practices see humans as part of a larger community of life. most importantly, they are not seen as only consumers, but also as producers of resources for other species. accepting this idea, humans actually start acting as being part of nature, following its laws and designs (hes & plessis, 2015). biophilic design looks closely into natural processes on the one hand, and thoroughly studies patterns and ways of place-making on the other, with the aim of facilitating this re-integration with nature. this paper sees urban agriculture as one of the most significant regenerative practices, which falls under biophilic design, showing how pg. 86 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it is integrated within cities and how it contributes to minimising ecological footprints. 2. research approach the research adopts a comprehensive approach that is organised on different levels. in order to understand how urban agriculture could contribute to minimising the ecological footprint of a city, the research is supported by a literature review that covers the definition of “regenerative urban development”, “circular urban metabolism”, and “ecological footprint”. an analytical approach is implemented through the close examination of urban agriculture examples from different parts of the world, pointing out their regenerative characteristics within cities and how they contribute to minimising ecological footprints, while embracing circular urban metabolisms. finally, conclusions are drawn as to how urban agriculture could be integrated in cities. the research hypothesis is supported through data analysis and graphics. 3. literature review the research topic requires the understanding of several terms, namely: “regenerative urban development”, “circular urban metabolism”, “ecological footprint”, and “biophilic design”. 3.1. regenerative urban development the term “regenerative design” was first introduced by john tillman tyle, a landscape architect, in his book regenerative design for sustainable development in 1994 (hes & plessis, 2015). he pointed out that the linear models, on which the development of cities is based, will ultimately lead to the degeneration of the systems that supply energy and materials, as well as other services to our cities. alternatively, he suggested that the supply systems for energy and materials must be continuously self-renewing, or regenerativesee figure 1. lyle proposed that the working landscape in future cities should be the unifying, integrating network of urban form, instead of being a decorative addition. figure 1. lyle’s comparison between flows in degenerativeand regenerative systems (hes & plessis, 2015). regenerative design or development does not only refer to reviving a system, or restoring it to a better state, but to pg. 87 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd changing the system into something different and more effective, as well as to bringing about a new way of being and a thorough change in the mindsets of people and communities (hes & plessis, 2015). figure 2. the framework of regenerative design (”the ecologist”, 2017). to get a better understanding of regenerative systems, figure 2 shows the transition from conventional practices, all the way to regenerative ones. it is noticed that conventional practices have little or no consideration of the impact a design has on the environment. they generally comply with requirements in order to avoid legal actions. green design does not question production or consumption patterns that have negative environmental impacts. they merely minimise energy use, waste and pollution. green design is actually called “less-bad design”. as for sustainable practices, they are neutral, with the aim of avoiding environmental damage and reaching maximum efficiency. in the case of restorative practices, humans start doing good things to nature, which leads to reconciliation, where humans are integrated with ecosystems, until they reach regenerative practices, which see, not only humans, but also human development, social structures and cultural values as inherent parts of ecosystems. not only do they seek to restore the capacities of ecosystems, but they also regenerate them, while understanding the diversity and individuality of each place and seeing the design process as an ongoing, participatory process (girardet, 2010). as one moves towards degenerative practices, more energy is needed and more waste is produced; while moving in the direction of regenerative practices, less energy is needed and less or “zero” waste is produced. regenerative practices are thus, life-supporting, resilient, adaptive, optimising, systems-based and values-led. taking on regenerative development means applying comprehensive strategies that enhance and restore the environment, as well as the relationship between cities and their ecosystems, from which they actually draw resources for their nourishment, moving from linear systems of resource use to circular ones. regenerative urban development is an integrated approach that sees humans, human developments, political frameworks, and socio-cultural structures as innate parts of ecosystems. there are many examples of good regenerative urban development practices, including regenerating soils, watercourses and urban agriculture on the city level. consequently, such practices allow cities to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and encourage the use of renewable energies; they improve waste management systems and urge the reliance on local hinterlands, which ultimately reduces the ecological footprints of cities. pg. 88 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.2. circular urban metabolism the term ”metabolism” was first used by the ecologist arthur tansley in order to describe living organisms. later in 1935, tansley expanded this term to include energetic and material streams from inorganic development of settlements and introduced the expression of ”urban metabolism”, which was later defined as a framework to simulate a city’s complex flow systems as if it is an ecosystem, including people, water, energy and so on. simply put, urban metabolism studies how efficiently interconnected city systems function, while using existing resources and infrastructures on the one hand, and managing waste on the other. recently, it has been defined as “the sum total of the technical and socio-economical processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste”. the concept of circular urban metabolism is tangential to regenerative urban development. drawing its inspiration from nature’s ecosystem, whose outputs by different organisms are recycled back in the system once again (girardet, 2010), this process is the key to all regenerative practices. in order to better comprehend circular metabolisms, they are compared with linear metabolisms in figure 3. in linear systems, inputs and outputs are unrelated, causing environmental problems; while in circular systems, almost all the outputs are inputs in the ecosystem, achieving minimum pollution and producing minimum wastes. in this sense, nature is the greatest, most efficient teacher on how to create circulat metabolic urban systems. figure 3. linear versus circular urban metabolism (girardet, 2008). 3.3. ecological footprint according to the living planet report 2016, “the ecological footprint equates humanity’s demand on nature to the amount of biologically productive area required to provide resouces and absorb waste” (”wwf”, 2016); the measurement unit is global hectare (gha), which quantifies both the ecological footprint of people or activities, as well as the biocapacity of the earth or its regions. one global hectare represents the average productivity of all biologically productive areas (measured in hectares) on earth in a given year ecological footprint takes the following six categories into consideration, based on wwf (2016), see figure 4. – cropland footprint, covers the demand for land on which to produce food for human consumption, feed for livestock, rubber and oil crops. – grazing land footprint, refers to the amout of land needed to raise livestock, for meat, dairy, leather and wool products. – fishing grounds footprint, covers the demand for inland water ecosystems necessary to support seafood catch and aquaculture. – forest product footprint, refers to the demand for forests to provide fuel wood and timber products. pg. 89 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – built-up land footprint, refers to the demand for biologically productive areas needed for housing, industrial structures, infrastructure and transportation. – carbon footprint, covers the demand for forests as the main ecosystems available to sequester carbon that is not otherwise absorbed by the oceans. it captures different rates of carbon sequestration, depending on the degree of human management of forests and includes the emissions related to wildfires, soil and harvested wood. figure 4. an illustration of the ecological footprint (”global footprint network”, n.d.). the above map (figure 5) has been extracted from wwf living planet report 2016. it shows that the average ecological footprint per person per country differs because of varying levels of consumption and also based on the demand for individual footprint components. it is worth pointing out that high ecological footprints (5.25 gha and more) are found in rich countries with demanding lifestyles that depend on fossil fuel consumption. in some of these countries, the per person ecological footprint is six times larger than the available per capita share of global biocapacity (1.7 gha). there are also countries, with the world’s lowest income, whose ecological footprint per person is less than half the per capita share of global biocapacity, indicating that many people in such countries struggle to meet basic needs (wwf, 2016). many cities have recognised the problem and have started to integrate regenerative urban development practices in their systems in order to decrease their ecological footprints. this paper concentrates on one of these significant practices, namely urban agriculture. pg. 90 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. mapping theecological footprint of consumption. average ecological footprint in globalhectares per person per country, in 2012. (”global footprint network”, n.d.; ”wwf”, 2016). 3.4. urban agriculture as an regenerative urban development practice the idea of urban agriculture was inspired from the concept of the agropolis (see figure 6), whichas described by the 19th century economist johann heinrich von thünenwas the human settlement linked to its surrounding landscape, in the absence of advanced transport systems, and having a symbiotic relationship with it, assuring continuous productivity and fertility (girardet, 2015). figure 6. a diagram representing the agropolis (girardet, 2015). pg. 91 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd land was cultivated very close to the city, which decreased the cost of transporting produce to markets and also guaranteed the freshness of the food, which did not have to travel long ways. moving away from the centre of the city, timber, grains, and livestock farming were arranged logically, depending on how well they keep and how easily they could be transported to the city. in many parts of the world, and as farming became increasingly mechanised, rural-urban migration started taking place over the years, with people wanting to move to cities, which they thought offered better living opportunities. when this happened, food had started being supplied to cities through more and more energy-intensive production systems (girardet, 2010). not only, but also the globalisation of the economic system and new lifestyles has greatly contributed to the fact that food started being supplied from different parts of the world, largely increasing the ecological footprints of cities and putting pressure on the world’s productive land. in order to alleviate this pressure, and to find more efficient ways of supplying food to cities, as well as ensuring food security and improved nutrition, local food production has been encouraged. city people started reviving urban and peri-urban agriculture, which is a practice that greatly contributes to poverty alleviation and local economic development, in addition to the previously mentioned benefits (girardet, 2015). urban agriculture is currently being practised in many parts of the world: in china, there’s a national policy of surrounding cities with belts of cultivated land (girardet, 2010). megacities, such as shanghai still maintain their urban farming, although due to the rapid growth of the city, much of it has moved to peri-urban areas (girardet, 2015). closed-loop systems are used in urban agriculture in many parts of the world, utilising wastewater from residential and industrial areas for irrigation, as well as efficiently using nutrients, contained in urban sewage, which would otherwise end as pollutants in rivers and coastal water. havana, cuba is one of the world’s best examples of urban agriculture. it is a movement that started from the people, in response to serious food shortages after 1989. they encouraged each other to cultivate any available surfaces within cuban cities, and ultimately, the government had to support the movement, which shows the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches, which involve the people and instigate a deep sense of belonging and participation. from the 1990s onwards, urban gardens started popping up everywhere: on wasteland, within housing blocks, in schools, in community centres, in hospitals and also in factories. the government provides producers with free land and tools, and it subsidises farm inputs, helping hundreds of thousands of people to improve their living conditions. now, these productive gardens are prominently located in and around public parks, relating them to recreational activities. urban agriculture comes in three main forms: cooperative gardens, private gardens and popular gardens. currently, cuba has become pioneering in biotechnology, offering advice on organic cultivation methods in other countries (girardet, 2015). another significant worldwide movement involves the permaculture concept (originating from permanent agriculture), representing a system of permanent, self-sustaining agriculture and human culture. it is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around mimicking or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems, recognising cross-scale relationships and creating productive edible landscapes on a variety of scales from simple kitchen gardens to urban food forests (hes & plessis, 2015). this part concentrates on presenting permaculture design principles, which greatly support regenerative practices, such as (hes & plessis, 2015): – observe and interact – catch and store solar energy and other resources – obtain and yield – apply self-regulation and accept feedback – use and value renewable resources and services pg. 92 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – produce no waste – design from patterns to details – integrate rather than segregate – use small and slow solutions – use and value diversity – use edges and value the marginal – creatively use and respond to change another innovative example of urban food production programme is “the plant” in chicago, usa, which has been established in a former meat packaging factory. the project comprises non-profit and for-profit companies that interact with each other for mutual benefit, demonstrating what resilient urban food production and economic development could look like. it is clearly an advanced regenerative system that turns the outputs of one business into the inputs of another (see figure 7). using renewable energy sources, the plant incubates small craft food businesses by growing salad crops, brewing beer and making bread. one third of the plant is used for an aquaponic crop growing system and the other two-thirds incubate a variety of sustainable food systems (girardet, 2015). figure 7. the plant in chicago: diagram representing a new kind of highly integrated organization; aninnovative urban food production program (girardet, 2015). below are some images (figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13) showing what urban agriculture could look like within cities. 4. conclusions urban agriculture encourages re-integration with the natural environment within cities to restore and maintain ecosystems, while allowing communities to work together, thus, also reviving social fabrics. all the discussed examples of urban agriculture projects have been specific to the local natural and cultural contexts, where they have been implemented, therefore, supporting the key principle of efficient resource use and creating synergies between people and their surrounding natural environment. pg. 93 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. detroit’s new agrihood (”paste magazine”, n.d.). figure 9. shanghai is planning a massive 100-hectare vertical farm to feed 24 million people (”inhabitat”, 2017). it is clear that producing food where people live won’t resolve all food production and distribution problems, but it could definitely alleviate some pressure off rural areas and, at the same time, improve human and environmental health. urban agriculture allows for the creation of ecological spaces within urban areas, improving the surrounding exterior micro-climate and absorbing carbon emissions, besides creating interesting, active public open spaces and greenery within the city. it could also be concluded that urban agriculture is evidently a regenerative practice, covering the same characteristics: – it is life-supporting through working with nature, not against it, while considering biodiversity. it helps provide essentials for the community, while including social interaction, involvement and public participation, therefore, accommodating socio-cultural values and encouraging the sense of belonging to a place; all while improving human well-being. pg. 94 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 10. rooftop urban farming (”urbanizehub”, n.d.). figure 11. the essence of agrihood (”shareable”, n.d.). figure 12. the lumen building at the wageningen institute, an agricultural institute in the netherlands, takes the indoor – outdoor idea of modernism to the next level, a world leader in the development of greenhouses (”larigakis architecture”, 2015). pg. 95 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 13. urban agriculture within dense city blocks. – it is inclusive, taking into consideration all social levels and ensuring food security, while generating income at different scales (small, medium and large enterprises), through the different job opportunities it provides: core farming jobs or supportive ones, like transportation, compost-making, food-related trades (processing and packaging), marketing and so on. thus, it isas mentioned abovea strongly life-supporting practice. – it ensures the establishment of resilient, food-secure cities, ensuring food availability during times of disaster, when transportation and communication links might be disrupted (zeeuw, veenhuizen & dubbeling, 2011). – it plays an important role in improving urban resilience to climate change by maintaining vegetation within the city, which improves the urban micro-climate by capturing co2 and producing o2, which also has a positive effect on air-filteration; and by reducing the urban “heat island” effect (temperatures in the built-up city are several degrees higher than in the surrounding areas) through creating more shade (zeeuw, veenhuizen, & dubbeling, 2011). – it is also optimising and flexible through its application on different scales within the city. urban agriculture could be carried out by an individual or it could be family-based. communities could share small pieces of land within their districts, going all the way up to medium and large-scale enterprises. it could take place in balconies, on the rooftops of buildings, in backyards, and in community gardens, up to different sizes of urban farms. – it is adaptive to change and highly responsive, with people being part of the system. urban agriculture also has restorative qualities, which help with adapting to different environmental circumstances. – it adopts circular systems between urban domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors, such as encompassing the use of wastewater from domestic or industrial sectors in agriculture, as well as the use of organic wastes as fertilizers, to mention only a few examples. thus, urban agriculture is a regenerative practice that works with rather than for the community. it encourages community partnerships, which might not have existed before. it creates opportunities to benefit the unprivileged inhabitants, and it embraces and restores biological communities and functionality (hes & plessis, 2015). moreover, urban agriculture is an effective practice that minimises the ecological footprints of cities, since it exists in “intra-urban” areas or very close, in “peri-urban” areas, which are immediate surroundings. this, in turn, significantly reduces the distances travelled to transport food from one point to another, thus reducing carbon emissions. in addition, urban vegetation enhances carbon sequestration, by absorbing co2 and producing o2, thus, filtering the surrounding atmosphere and decreasing air pollution, in addition to acting as breathing lungs within the built urban environment. consequently, urban agriculture has significant effects on reducing the carbon footprints of cities. moreover, by encouraging local food production, food exports, which rely heavily on variousmeans of transportation, are minimised and cities start to rely more on their hinterlands: a key practice that minimises their pg. 96 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd impact on the natural environment and the amount of land needed to support people’s lives and lifestyles, which ultimately minimises the ecological footprints of cities. therefore, it is essential to integrate urban agriculture within the fabrics of existing cities, as well as within new cities. it is worth pointing out that, no matter how dense cities may appear, there are always open spaces and vacant lots that may be used for productive agricultural use. as for new cities, urban agriculture should be integrated within the early planning phases. however, in order to incorporate and activate such a practice, several measures need to be taken: (the following is based on the resource centres on urban agriculture & food security) (zeeuw, veenhuizen, & dubbeling, 2011) – governments should recognise that urban and peri-urban agriculture is an integral part of the socioeconomic and ecological systems of cities: either existing, under development, or in the planning process. – governmental policies at the national level need to create and recommend adequate frameworks, conditions, laws and regulations that organise the practice of urban agriculture within cities. – the creation of an institutional home for urban agriculture is an important initial step, so as to receive proper attention and support from existing official institutions, including, but not limited to agricultural institutions and urban authorities. the urban agriculture institution would play an active role in the design and implementation of urban agriculture programs. – the urban agriculture institution could also provide training and technical assistance to urban farmers and producers. it could also help facilitate marketing activities. – funds should be made available, preferably involving local authorities, as well as the civil society. – topics related to urban and peri-urban agriculture should be included in education system. – urban agriculture should be linked to recreational activities. – the efficient use of irrigation water should be encouraged, as well as the application of safe and regenerative technological practices of urban agriculture. references 1. footprint network. (n.d.). ecological footprint. retrieved from http://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work /ecological-footprint/ 2. girardet, h. (2010) regenerative cities. world future council, commission on cities and climate change. hamburg: hafencity universtiy (hcu). 3. girardet, h. (2015). creating regenerative cities (1st ed.). oxon: routledge. 4. global footprint network. (n.d.). retrieved from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-fo otprint/ 5. hes, d., & plessis, c. d. (2015). designing for hope: pathways to regenerative sustainability (1st ed.). london: routledge. 6. inhabitat. (2017, december 04). inhabitat green design, innovation, architecture, green building. retrieved from https://inhabitat.com/tag/urban-agriculture/ 7. larigakis architecture. (2015, february 02). building as greenhouse. retrieved from http://larigakis.ca/lu men-building-at-wageningen-institute/ pg. 97 rashed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 8. paste magazine. (n.d.). detroit’s newagrihood. retrieved from https://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/article s/detroit agrihood main.jpg 9. shareable (n.d.). the essence of agrihood. retrieved from https://www.shareable.net/blog/12-agrihoods-% 20taking-farm-to-table-living-mainstream%20%7c 10. the ecologist. (2017, november 17). creating sustainability? join the re-generation! retrieved from http s://theecologist.org/2016/apr/25/creating-sustainability-join-re-generation 11. urbanizehub. (n.d.). rooftop urban farming. retrieved from http://urbanizehub.com/urban-farming-%20so cial-innovation/ 12. woo f., wortmann j., schurig s., leidreiter a., (2014). regenerative urban development: a roadmap to the city we need. future of cities forum. hamburg: world future council, climate and energy commission. 13. wwf. (2016). living planet report 2016. risk and resilience in a new era. gland, switzerland: www international 14. zeeuw, h. d., veenhuizen, r. v., & dubbeling, m. (2011). the role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries. the journal of agricultural science,149(s1), 153-163. pg. 98 introduction research approach literature review regenerative urban development circular urban metabolism ecological footprint urban agriculture as an regenerative urban development practice conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.377 assessment of green infrastructure for conservation planning using cadastral data in seoul, south korea gon park1 1manager in the korea land and geospatial informatix corportation, jeonju city, 54870, south korea abstract green infrastructure has been used for environmental conservation and management with many similar concepts such as greenspace network, greenlink network, and greenways network based on objectives of the cities for greening. seoul established the 2030 seoul city master plan that contains greenlink network projects to connect critical green areas within the city. however, the plan does not have detailed analyses for green infrastructure to incorporate land-cover information to many structural classes. this study maps green infrastructure networks of seoul for complementing their green plans with identifying and ranking green areas. hubs and links that are the main elements of green infrastructure have been identified through incorporating cadastral data of 967,502 parcels to 135 of land use maps using geographic information system. the study extracted 1,365 of green areas that represent an area of 24,530 ha within the city and buffered these areas to identify districts as critical green areas that have hubs and links. at a city scale, the study used 103,553 of parcel data for ranking extracted 20 districts, and 17,860 of parcel data for ranking extracted 42 links connecting the districts. at a district scale, this study used 87,826 of parcel data for analyzing the status of potential links within the districts and ranking these districts for green infrastructure. this assessment analyzes the main elements of green infrastructure and suggests site prioritization for green infrastructure under variable scenarios of green and developed areas in a metropolitan city. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords cadastral data; conservation planning; green infrastructure; land uses 1. introduction seoul is experiencing a rapid urbanization contributed to a number of environmental issues including a decrease in green areas. an increase in impervious areas causes stormwater runoff, the urban heat island, and lower air quality (seoul, 2014a). the central authority established the 2030 seoul city master plan and the 2030 seoul city park and green master plan that contain greenlink network projects to connect critical green areas within the city. however, the plans do not have detailed analyses for green infrastructure networks for conservation planning. thus, this study maps green infrastructure networks of seoul for complementing their green plans with identifying and ranking green areas. main data of this study are land cover maps for identifications of hubs and links and cadastral data for ranks of these with incorporating land-cover information to structural classes. pg. 53 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd cadastre is comprised of parcels with land information such as parcel numbers, land categories, and areas (nam, 1999). the act of geospatial management of south korea describes that a parcel should have one number and be categorized based on its main land uses (moleg, 2018). cadastral data consist of the public cadastral register books and maps administered by the government (lee, yang, & baeg, 2012; goh, park, & choi, 2013; kim, 2010). the government transferred paper based data of cadastre into computerized data since 1978. approximately 75 million cadastral maps were transferred paper into computerized data between 1999 and 2003 (kim, 2012). the computerized data have been used to administer private and public land by the government and used in real estate market (choi, 2000). the computerized cadastral data are constantly increased and used for analyses of economy and environment. parcel information in the data is analyzed to assess developments such as regional unbalanced development and locally specialized industries, and environment issues such as soil pollution and stormwater runoff (nam & lee, 2009; lee & hwangbo, 2007; kim, 2001; lee, sim, & min, 2009). green infrastructure is an interconnected network of natural life support system consisted of hubs and links (benedict & mcmahon, 2012). hubs are large areas of natural vegetation for wildlife with ecological processes such as reserves, managed native landscapes, working lands, regional parks, preserves, community parks, and natural areas, interconnected by links such as landscape linkages, conservation corridors, greenways, greenbelts, and ecobelts (benedict & mcmahon, 2012; wickham, riitters, wade, & vogt, 2009; weber, sloan, & wolf, 2005). an increase in population and urbanized land causes a decrease in green areas (benedict & mcmahon, 2012; gill, handley, ennos, & pauleit, 2007; schilling & logan, 2008). green infrastructure is a framework for conservation planning and provides ecological, social, and economic benefits (benedict & mcmahon, 2012; wickham, riitters, wade, & vogt, 2009; sarte, 2010; tzoulas et al., 2007). green infrastructure provides ecosystem services with provisions including water quality, food quality, and medicine (coutts & hahn, 2015). green infrastructure can be an urban system for human benefits and connects networks for neighbourhood, culture, and communities (wolf, 2003; wright, 2011). green infrastructure also provides economic benefits with energy savings from reducing indoor temperature and an increase in air quality (wang, bakker, de groot & wörtche, 2014). geographic information system (gis) techniques are used to map green infrastructure (wickham, riitters, wade, & vogt, 2009). gis techniques were used to analyze the effects of green infrastructure on environment issues such as ecosystem services, climate changes, and stormwater management (wickham, riitters, wade, & vogt, 2009; kopperoinen, 2014; jayasooriya & ng, 2014). green infrastructure maps can be developed with gis using orthophotos, cartographies, and field surveys (la greca, la rosa, martinico& privitera, 2011). the integrated method using remote sensing and gis technique provides a significant tool to map green areas networks (abbas, & arigbede, 2012). green infrastructure maps developed by gis provides many information such as land covers, land uses, biodiversity, and other environmental variables (zulian, polce & maes, 2014). the city of surrey in british columbia, canada, incorporated land cover data extracted from gis data on impedance values for their ecosystem management (city of surrey, 2011). impedance values are weighted with vegetation coverage, types, age of green space, and degree of anthropogenic disturbance (kong, yin, nakagoshi, & zong, 2010). the affection values of land covers are also used to analyze ecological connectivities in a city (chang, li, huang, & wu, 2011). the aim of this study is to assess green infrastructure for conservation planning using land cover maps and cadastral data. land cover maps were used to identify elements of green infrastructure using gis techniques, and cadastral data were used to analyze levels of green infrastructure using impedance values of land categories of the data. the site prioritization for green infrastructure was also done with analysis of ranks of hubs, potential links, and links. 2. land cover maps and cadastral data for elements of green infrastructure 2.1. study area seoul, selected as the study area, is the capital of south korea and the metropolitan city with the population of 10.57 million within the area of 605,960,000 m2. population was rapidly increased from 0.65 million to 10.97 pg. 54 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd million between 1951 and 1992 (seoul, 2014a). the impervious area rate was 47.28% in 2005 and 47.64% in 2010 and the forest area rate was 25.29% in 2005 and 24.96% in 2010. the urbanized area rate was 60.98% and the green and open area rate was 39.03% in 2010. the total park area was 170,100,000 m2 that is 28.09% of seoul and the park area per person was 16.37 m2 in 2014 (seoul, 2014b). an increase in impervious and urbanized areas disrupts green infrastructure networks and causes the urban heat island. 2.2. objectives of land cover maps and cadastral data land cover maps based on satellite imagery and cadastral data were the main data to analyze green infrastructure in seoul. land cover maps and cadastral maps provide many land information, but they provide different types of data of land uses, districts, and areas based on their objectives. land cover maps do not have legal boundaries and are used as references and open data for studies and researches. cadastral maps are used to tax and manage properties administered by korean laws (table 1). table 1. differences between land cover maps and cadastral data resources land cover maps cadastral data legal limitation no yes analysis spatial analysis data analysis objective identification of elements of green infrastructure ranks elements of green infrastructure 2.3. elements of green infrastructure the main elements of green infrastructure are mainly classified into hubs and links, whilst this study classified elements of green infrastructure into three elements that are hubs, potential links within hubs, and links for a detailed analysis of district priorities. the definitions of these elements within this study are different with classical definitions of elements of green infrastructure. hubs in a classical definition are large areas of natural vegetation, whilst hubs in this study were extracted after buffer analysis based on forest areas of land cover maps to identify significant green areas. potential links within a hub in this study indicate areas within a hub except forest areas of land cover maps to identify interaction between green areas within a hub. links in this study indicate straight lines of the shortest distance between hubs to identify corridors connecting hubs (table 2). table 2. elements of green infrastructure elements spatial feature objective hubs connected large areas of buffered forest areas of land cover maps identification of important areas that contain large green areas. potential links areas within a hub except forest areas of land cover maps identification of interaction between forest areas within a hub links the shortest connection between hubs identification of corridors that connect hubs 3. the process to assess green infrastructure 3.1. identification and rank processes land cover maps were used to identify hubs, potential links, and links with gis techniques. cadastral maps were used to analyze important levels of hubs, potential links, and links with statistical methods. identification of hubs was a fundamental element to identify potential links within hubs and links that connect hubs. this study assumed forest areas of land cover maps as significant green areas for hubs, because forest areas have the lowest impedance pg. 55 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd value for green infrastructure (fig. 1a). the extracted hubs, potential links, and links were used as districts of elements of green infrastructure and incorporated with cadastral data to analyze values of green infrastructure. hubs, potential links, and links have land categories and areas from cadastral data within their boundaries. these parcel data were incorporated on impedance values of land uses, and used to analyze priorities of hubs, potential links, and links with applying calculated impedance values of hubs, potential links, and links (fig. 1b). figure 1. identification and rank processes of elements of green infrastructure 3.2. impedance values impedance values are weighted based on vegetation coverage and type, the age of the green space, and degree of anthropogenic disturbance (kong, 2010). impedance values of land uses for green infrastructure from prior two studies were applied to 26 categories of land uses of cadastral data (city of surrey, 2011; kong, 2010). the application of impedance values to cadastral data indicates that forest areas of cadastral data are the most significant green area for green infrastructure because forest areas have a lowest impedance value among 26 categories of land uses, whilst constructed areas, industry areas, gas station, and warehouse have negative effects on green infrastructure with high impedance values (table 3) (park, kim, & hong, 2018). table 3. impedance values of land categories of cadastral data land categories impedance values land categories impedance values land categories impedance values forest 63 water supply site 500 religion 1,500 reservoir 100 parking lot 1,000 historical site 1,500 park 100 road 1,000 graveyard/cemetery 1,500 river/stream 150 railroad 1,000 miscellaneous land 1,500 fish farm 150 river bank 1,000 gas station 2,500 continued on next page pg. 56 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued land categories impedance values land categories impedance values land categories impedance values vegetation 190 ditch/sewer 1,000 warehouse 2,500 agriculture 190 school area 1,500 residential area 2,750 orchard 244 sports facilities 1,500 industry area 2,750 livestock farm 244 amusement park 1,500 3.3. equations for importance and connectivity values of hubs, potential links, and links to analyze green infrastructure values and connectivity values of hubs, potential links, and links, this study created and used followed three equations. the green infrastructure value (giv) represents the significance of hubs and the condition of green infrastructure of hubs. the higher givs indicate more significant green areas for green infrastructure. givs are calculated as: givhubi = [t ahubi/∑(ahubiihubi)]1000 (1) where givhubi is the green infrastructure value of hubi, tahubi is the total area of parcels of cadastral data within hubi, ahubi is the area of each parcel within hubi, and ihubi is an impedance value of each parcel within hubi. interaction between forest areas indicates the efficiency of potential links within hubs. the interaction value (iv) within a hub shows levels to connect forest areas for green infrastructure networks within a hub. the higher ivs indicate more significant potential links within hubs for green infrastructure. ivs are calculated as: ivhubi = [t ahubi/∑(apl j ipl j)]1000 (2) where ivhubi is the interaction value of potential links within hubi, tahubi is the total area of parcels of cadastral data within hubi, apl j is the area of each parcel that is extracted areas excepting forest areas within hubi, and ipl j is an impedance value of each parcel. the connectivity value (cv) indicates the efficiency of links between hubs. the higher cvs indicate more significant links to connect hubs for green infrastructure within seoul. cvs are calculated as: cvlinkt = [t alinkt/∑(alinkt ilinkt)]1000 (3) where cvlinkt is the connectivity value of linkt, talinkt is the total area of parcels of linkt, alinkt is the area of each parcel within linkt, ilinkt is an impedance value of each parcel. 4. identifying and ranking elements of green infrastructure 4.1. data preprocessing the ministry of environment provides land cover maps having different resolutions. within seoul, the land cover map is separated to 135 tile maps. this study combined the separated 135 land cover maps to a raster land cover map that has 1:5,000 scale, 1 m resolution, and seven categories of land uses. within the map, seoul has 660,657,635 m2 that is a different area in comparison of the total area of cadastral maps. the map shows that impervious areas have 7,164 parcels and 352,254,286 m2 that are 53% of the total area of seoul. forest areas have 1,365 land cover parcels and 143,144,713 m2. cadastral maps provide important information of parcels such as objective ids, districts, parcel numbers, and land categories. cadastral data of seoul indicate 605,711,407 m2 of city areas, 25 boroughs and 967,502 cadastral pg. 57 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd parcels. with analyzing land use categories of cadastral data, constructed areas have 718,070 parcels that are 217,974,644 m2 and road areas have 149,051 parcels that are 78,569,109 m2. forest areas have 20,959 parcels that are 140,548,998 m2. vegetation areas have 18,188 parcels that are 11,387,207 m2 and agriculture areas have 13,386 parcels that are 12,150,105 m2. cadastral data shows that 49% of seoul is constructed and road areas that can be impervious areas, whilst 23% of seoul is forest areas. 4.2. identifying hubs, potential links, and links figure 2. the extracted hubs, potential links, and links forest areas of land cover maps were buffered with 100 m, 300 m, and 500 m to find an appropriate buffered distance for classification of hubs. with 100 m buffer of forest areas, 172 hubs were extracted with 245,300,404 m2. with 300 m buffer of forest areas, 43 hubs were extracted with 352,217,049 m2. with 500 m buffer of forest areas, 16 hubs were extracted with 430,667,859 m2. this study selected 300 m buffer of forest areas to identify hubs based on landscape management areas of seoul city. with minus 300 buffer, this study extracted 124 forest areas and selected the top 20 buffered areas in terms of surface areas as the main hubs for green infrastructure in seoul. within top 20 hubs, 2,570 potential links were extracted with deleting forest areas of land cover maps within 20 hubs (fig. 2). figure 3. the process to extract links to identify links, this study delineated 190 straight lines of the shortest distance between hubs (fig. 3a). in 190 lines, 104 lines that cross hubs (fig. 3b) and 44 lines that cross han-river were deleted (fig. 3c). finally, 42 lines were extracted and buffered with 20 m wide that is a same wide of three green ways of the 2030 seoul city park and green master. with these processes, this study extracted and used 20 hubs and 42 links as the elements of green infrastructure in seoul (fig. 4). pg. 58 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. the extracted 20 hubs and 42 links within seoul. 4.3. ranking hubs, potential links, and links the extracted 20 hubs have a total area of 186,156,839 m2 from 103,553 cadastral parcels (fig. 2a). hub1 has the most parcels (45,652) totalling the largest area of 62,672,277 m2. hub18 has the least parcels (272) with an area of 1,001,803 m2. hub20 has the smallest area of 806,311 for 312 parcels. within 20 hubs, parcels that have forest areas of land categories of cadastral data were comprised of 123,755,018 m2 that is 66% of the total area of hubs. residential areas have the second largest area of 24,072,382 m2 that is 13% of the total area of hubs. givs of hubs indicate conditions of land categories of hubs for green infrastructure. the 20 hubs have an average of an importance value of 1.803. hub18 that has the third smallest area has the highest giv of 4.650. hub8 that has the eighth highest area has the lowest giv of 0.402. the results show that hub18, hub13, hub3, hub2, and hub4 is the top five districts that have higher conditions for green infrastructure than other 15 hubs. hub8, hub11, hub17, hub16, and hub19 are the districts that have lower conditions for green infrastructure (table 4). table 4. importance and connectivity values and ranks of hubs hubi giv iv hubi giv iv values ranks values ranks values ranks values ranks hub1 1.841 9 2.465 9 hub11 0.933 19 1.199 20 hub2 2.187 4 2.691 7 hub12 1.593 11 1.911 14 hub3 2.764 3 3.840 2 hub13 3.587 2 1.762 17 hub4 2.174 5 3.509 3 hub14 1.994 8 2.506 8 hub5 1.221 14 1.329 19 hub15 2.092 6 2.420 10 hub6 1.276 13 1.574 18 hub16 0.984 17 2.261 12 hub7 1.641 10 2.177 13 hub17 0.960 18 2.397 11 hub8 0.402 20 3.191 5 hub18 4.650 1 3.479 4 hub9 1.418 12 2.796 6 hub19 1.156 16 1.802 16 hub10 2.011 7 1.868 15 hub20 1.168 15 5.894 1 within the 20 hubs, 32% of the total area is extracted as potential links that have 59,729,682 m2from 88,424 cadastral parcels (fig. 2b). hub5 and hub6 have the highest rates of potential links of 50% within their areas. hub1 has the largest area of potential links with 19,419,578 m2 that is 31% of the total area of hub1. within 2,570 potential links from 20 hubs, residential areas of cadastral data have the largest area of 18,627,780 m2 that is 31% of the total area of potential links within hubs. forest areas have the second largest area of 17,144,331 m2 that is 29% of areas of potential links.the ivs of hubs indicate connections between forest areas for green infrastructure within a hub. the average iv of the is 2.554. although, hub20 has the smallest area, it has the highest iv of 5.894. hub3 has the third highest area and the second highest iv of 3.840. hub11 has the lowest iv of 1.199. hub20, hub3, hub4, hub18, and hub8 have higher connections between forest areas for green infrastructure than other hubs. pg. 59 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd hub5, hub6, hub13, hub11, and hub19 have lower connections for green infrastructure than other hubs (table 4) the extracted 42 links have 17,860 cadastral parcels with 4,868,134 m2. although a link between hub5 and hub9 has 3 parcels, a link between hub2 and hub17 has 1,432 parcels. a link between hub6 and hub16 has the largest area of 442,937 m2 from 687 parcels. a link between hub2 and hub16 has the smallest area of 1,358 m2 from 5 parcels. within 42 links, residential areas of land categories have the largest area of 2,523,686 m2 that is 52% of the total area of 42 links. road areas have the second largest area of 938,667 m2 that is 19% of the total area of potential links. the eight links have higher connectivity values than 1 and 34 links have lower connectivity values than 1. a link between hub2 and hub3 has the highest connectivity value of 37.614 and a link between hub2 and hub16 has the second highest connectivity value of 27.909. a link between hub2 and hub9 has the lowest connectivity value of 0.005. the average connectivity value except the 10 highest and 10 lowest values was 0.577 (table 5). table 5. connectivity values (cv) and ranks of links links connectivity links connectivity links connectivity hub(i, j) values ranks hub(i, j) values ranks hub(i, j) values ranks hub(1, 4) 1.017 8 hub(3, 14) 3.780 4 hub(7,20) 0.527 21 hub(1, 7) 0.250 35 hub(4, 7) 0.154 38 hub(10, 11) 0.474 26 hub(1, 8) 0.309 34 hub(4, 10) 0.985 9 hub(10,12) 1.147 7 hub(1, 10) 0.876 11 hub(4, 11) 0.072 40 hub(10, 18) 0.638 16 hub(1, 12) 0.077 39 hub(4, 18) 2.618 5 hub(11, 12) 0.632 17 hub(1, 19) 2.197 6 hub(4, 20) 0.012 41 hub(11, 18) 0.563 19 hub(2, 3) 37.614 1 hub(5, 9) 8.694 3 hub(11, 19) 0.741 15 hub(2, 5) 0.480 25 hub(5, 15) 0.453 31 hub(11, 20) 0.469 29 hub(2, 6) 0.421 33 hub(5, 17) 0.973 10 hub(12, 18) 0.597 18 hub(2, 9) 0.005 42 hub(6, 14) 0.872 12 hub(12, 19) 0.462 30 hub(2, 15) 0.747 14 hub(6, 16) 0.497 22 hub(13, 15) 0.788 13 hub(2, 16) 27.909 2 hub(7, 8) 0.483 24 hub(13, 17) 0.473 27 hub(2, 17) 0.212 36 hub(7, 11) 0.488 23 hub(15, 17) 0.436 32 hub(3, 6) 0.207 37 hub(7, 19) 0.469 28 hub(18, 20) 0.532 20 5. discussion and conclusion this study quantifies values of elements of green infrastructure in seoul. the method also provides critical areas to the city for conservation planning based on different objectives. at a city-scale, hubs and links are used as the elements of green infrastructure. when the city focuses on the three green districts, hub18, hub13, and hub3 are the significant hubs for green infrastructure. when the city focuses on the three green ways, links between hub2 and hub3, hub2 and hub16, and hub5 and hub9 are the significant links for green infrastructure. if the city needs to select green areas among hub2, hub3, hub14, and hub16 for conservation planning, hub2 and hub3 are the significant area based on the framework of green infrastructure. at a hub-scale, the hubs and potential links are used as the elements of green infrastructure. when the city needs to select green districts among hub1, hub14, and hub19, hub14 is the significant district for green infrastructure. this study identified and ranked elements of green infrastructure within seoul. green infrastructure is mainly mapped using land cover maps with gis techniques (davies, edmondson, heinemeyer, leake & gaston, 2011; gill, handley, ennos, & pauleit, 2007; wickham, riitters, wade, & vogt, 2009; xiao, shen, ge, tateishi, tang, liang & huang, 2006). this study also used land cover maps to map green infrastructure and incorporated land covers on cadastral data to apply the results on the policy of seoul, because cadastral data have legal limitation in contrast with land cover maps. forest areas are considered as significant green areas, because forest areas have the lowest impedance value for green infrastructure. the main objective of using land use maps is to identify hubs, pg. 60 park / environmental science and sustainable development, essd potential links, and links with delineating districts of these elements. the main objective of using cadastral data is to rank hubs, potential links, and links analyzing land categories of parcels within their districts. incorporating land cover maps on cadastral data to extract elements of green infrastructure, this study identified 20 hubs (103,553 cadastral parcels), 2,570 potential links (88,424 cadastral parcels), and 42 links (17,860 cadastral parcels). this study analyzes the weight of hubs, potential links, and links for green infrastructure using impedance values on categories of cadastral parcels. the three equations were created to calculate importance values of hubs, potential links, and links. finally, this study ranked hubs, potential links, and links for green infrastructure and suggests site prioritization for green infrastructure planning in seoul. the 2030 seoul city master plan has the plan to construct the 47 green ways (117,320 m) to 2030, but their plan does not consider connection of hubs and links (seoul, 2014a). thus, this study suggests the significant green areas and their corridors. site prioritization provides green areas for the urban green space strategy depending on many scenarios. incorporating data of land cover maps on cadastral data is a important process to support the city green strategy. the cadastral data resolve lack of land cover maps that do not have legal limitations. incorporation allows the results to apply to the green strategy of the city. the three equations are also useful to rank elements of green infrastructure for site prioritization. the significant data are impedance values to analyze levels of green areas for green infrastructure. impedance values used in the two prior studies have different environmental process because the values are extracted from different countries, different methods, and different times. to achieve precise data for the city, further studies are needed to research impedance values of land uses that have characters of the city based on the wider environmental factors. the links in this study are extracted with delineating straight lines between hubs. to extract links that are appropriate to the city, further studies are needed to delineate links that have a variety of shapes depending on many strategies of the city for their conservation programs. suggesting significant green areas for green infrastructure in this study is a part of many complex processes for green infrastructure planning (kambites & owen, 2006). the ideal green infrastructure planning will be proposed with the interdisciplinary further research considering variable principles for green infrastructure. 6. references 1. abbas, i. i., & arigbede, y. a. 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(2014). estimap: a gis-based model to map ecosystem services in the european union. annali di botanica, 4, 1-7. pg. 63 introduction land cover maps and cadastral data for elements of green infrastructure study area objectives of land cover maps and cadastral data elements of green infrastructure the process to assess green infrastructure identification and rank processes impedance values equations for importance and connectivity values of hubs, potential links, and links identifying and ranking elements of green infrastructure data preprocessing identifying hubs, potential links, and links ranking hubs, potential links, and links discussion and conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.277 nature as a healer for autistic children hadeer abd el razek barakat1, ali foaad bakr2, zeyad el-sayad3 1architect at united construction company, alexandria, egypt 2professor of architecture in the faculty of engineering, alexandria university, egypt 3professor of architecture in the faculty of engineering, alexandria university, egypt abstract according to estimates from the centre for disease control (cdc’s) in 2008 and the autism and developmental disabilities monitoring (addm) network in 2010, about 1 in 88 children had autism spectrum disorder (asd) in 2008 and about 1 in 68 children had autism spectrum disorder (asd) in (2010). the eighth scientific conference for autism held by the college of education in conjunction with the egyptian society for hydration capacities of children with special needs revealed that 1 out of every 80 children in egypt are suffering from autism and this number in egypt was expected to rise from 2.3 million in 2001 to 2.9 million in 2017. the reason for many of autistic children’s symptoms is sensory integration, it is the power to understand, organize and feel sensory data from the environment and body. the issues surrounding sensory integration are presented in hyposensitive and hypersensitive reactions by children with autism to the vestibular, proprioception, tactile, audio, visual, and olfactory senses. a great deal of research has been conducted on gardens and their effect on health outcomes and how a garden may provide benefit: 1. relief from physical symptoms or awareness of those symptoms. 2. stress reduction. 3. improvement in the overall sense of well-being. the aim of this paper is to establish a group of guidelines for designing a therapeutic garden for children with autism spectrum disorder to treat the sensory integration problems of children with asd by designing a sensory garden which should focus on therapeutic interference. by using the elements and principles of design, the guidelines for this garden are focused on producing calming effects for hyper reactive children with asd and stimulating effects for hypo reactions. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords autistic children; healing gardens; sensory integration; hyper-reactive children with autism spectrum disorder; hypo-reactive children with autism spectrum disorder pg. 42 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1. introduction a lot of studies show the effect of environments and buildings on human health and how factors as circulation, temperature, noise and cost serve the environmental perception and human health. all these factors must apply to the design of outdoor space. there is about 1 in 88 children that have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. sensory integration problems may be the reason why many children have autism spectrum disorder symptoms. sensory integration is the power to feel and understand sensory data from the environment and body (addm). this study calls for finding links between sensory needs of children with asd and principles of design. design modulation will be used to create guidelines for landscape architects to use in creating spaces declaiming the sensory problems of children with autism spectrum disorder. fig.1 shows that the study intends to empirically study a sensory garden for autistic children by creating multilevel spaces and using a wide variety of landscape features. designing the sensory garden has helped to test the guidelines that have been established in this study. the literature review is divided into three sections. the first section discusses the behavior and profoundness of asd on afflicted children and the problem that may accompany asd and types of treatment methodologies. the second section discusses how nature is important in stress reduction and the health benefits resulting from contact with the outdoor and nature. the third section discusses a set of guidelines for designing a sensory garden for autistic children. 2. nature of autism autism spectrum disorder is known as a behavioral and neurological disorder that affects the performance of the brain in areas of communication skills and social interaction (gillberg & coleman, 2000). there are current facts about autism as it affects 1:150 children throughout a whole nation (american psychiatric association, 1994). it also does not discriminate based on race, education of parents, socioeconomic status, or other demographic variables (wong, lee, howlin, & asgharian, 1999). it is three to four times higher in boys than in girls and for the time being, experts still have not been able to determine the reason for its occurrence (autism resource foundation, n.d.). children with asd exhibit specific behaviors such as: – interaction impairment in social activities: failure to use eye contact, facial expressions and weakness in social interaction – weakness in communication: deficit in sustaining or initiating a conversation – repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests: intense absorption with one activity or subject and persistence on rituals or routines without a goal (autism resource foundation, n.d.). 2.1. problems that may accompany asd many problems may accompany autism spectrum disorder including seizures, mental retardation, and sensory problems. 3. nature of autism autism spectrum disorder is known as a behavioral and neurological disorder that affects the performance of the brain in areas of communication skills and social interaction (gillberg & coleman, 2000). there are current facts about autism as it affects 1:150 children throughout a whole nation (american psychiatric association, 1994). it also does not discriminate based on race, education of parents, socioeconomic pg. 43 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd status, or other demographic variables (wong, et al., 1999). it is three to four times higher in boys than in girls and for the time being, experts still have not been able to determine the reason for its occurrence (autism resource foundation, n.d.). children with asd exhibit specific behaviors such as: – interaction impairment in social activities: failure to use eye contact, facial expression and weakness in social interaction – weakness in communication: deficit in sustaining or initiating a conversation – repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests: intense absorption with one activity or subject and persistence on rituals or routines without a goal (autism resource foundation, n.d.). 3.1. problems that may accompany asd many problems may accompany autism spectrum disorder including seizures, mental retardation, and sensory problems. figure 1. paper structure diagram pg. 44 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.1.1. sensory problems “sensory integration theory was developed to explain an observed relationship between deficits in interpreting sensory information from the body and the environment, and deficits in academic or neuro-motor learning in some individuals who demonstrate learning disabilities” (wilson, 2006). the sensory systems can be divided into two main areas hyper and hypo sensitivity including taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch, vestibular and proprioception as shown in figure 2. for instance, some children may be hypersensitive to the texture. on the other side, children may be hypo-sensitive to pain and unable to protect themselves from hurting themselves (fisher, murray, & bundy, 1991). figure 2. shows what are the senses (falk & gross, 2011) 3.1.2. problems in playful experiences because children with asd have many problems emotionally and socially, there is a problem in playful experiences. wolfberg and schuler note that “qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interaction and symbolic play are hallmarks of autism spectrum disorder”. these children have difficulty in starting and supporting their playful activities and displaying delayed patterns of social interaction. inability to relate to others is one of the clearest signs of asd (wilkes, 2005).susanna miller states “play is the child’s method of exploring and coming to terms with the world and of learning physical coordination; the use of symbols and fantasy” (mastrangelo, 2009). 4. nature as a healer moore found that the sound of running water, wildflower meadows and the feel of the entire neighbored have great effects on social and psychological behaviors of the students. there is a sense of positive effect on children where birds and butterflies filled the air with their beautiful sound and colors (miller, 1968). it is very important to children with asd to be in constant contact with nature to maintain their cognitive, mental, and physical health and benefit socially and emotionally from nature. 4.1. cognitive benefits after interacting with nature – time in nature helps in observation and to be more creative: timely interactions with the outdoor environment help children to develop the great powers of creativity and observation (moore, 1996). – playing in natural environments reinforces collaborative skills and language development: playing in nature helps children to be more imaginative and creates components that reinforce collaborative skills pg. 45 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd language (crain, 2001). – outdoor skills education helps children’s health, lifestyle and learning: cottrell, s., & raadik-cottrell discuss the benefits of outdoor skills education as improving intrapersonal skills and the ability to learn and concentrate (fjortoft & sageie, 2000). – connecting to nature increases children’s skills: nature develops imagination and the sense of wonder which are very important in life-long learning (cottrell & raadik-cottrell, 2010). 4.2. mental benefits after connecting with nature – nature helps in reducing stress: nature decreases the stress of life on children and helps them become stronger. there are great benefits after being exposed to nature (louv, 1991; wilson, 1997). – nature reinforces positive feelings: when children play with each other in nature they have positive feelings about each other (wells & evans, 2003). – children with insufficient vitamin d are more likely to become fatty over time: after exposure to sunlight vitamin d is primarily produced. vitamin d deficiency is the main factor for childhood fatness (moore, 1996). – children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) after walking in outdoor space: frances kuo and andrea faber taylor explore the influence of three different outdoor environments on the attention of seventeen children diagnosed with adhd from 7to 12-year-old after 20 minutes of walking in different outdoor spaces (a downtown area, a residential area and an urban park). the children also answered several questions about their walking experience and completed a concentration test. after walking in the park, the children were able to concentrate more and this narrowed the gap between children with adhd and those without (huh & gordon, 2008). 4.3. physical health benefits after interacting with nature – social development: henniger found that playing outdoors encourages children to exercise parallel play but playing indoors only encourages individual activity. similar levels of collaborative play occurred in both environments (henniger, 1993). – emotional development: outdoor experiences lead to fewer bonds of children’s behaviors and enables them to find solitude away from adults and other children, engage in solitary activity or be in small, intimate groups. such private experiences are necessary for young children (greenman, 1988). 5. the design guideline for a therapeutic garden for autistic children in creating therapeutic gardens for children with asd the elements of design, visual principles, landscape features, and other considerations as therapeutic animals, play structures, safety and security were integrated into the guidelines. these guidelines were used in the design of a sensory garden which helps in calming hyper reactive children and stimulating hypo reactive children with asd. 5.1. visual principle as a therapeutic tool in landscape design, visual principles are used to design meaningful and functional outdoor spaces. visual principles include unity, balance/order, scale/proportion, rhythm/sequence and emphasis. the following tables show how visual principles can be used to create specific influence (johnson, 2006). pg. 46 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. how to use unity and harmony in creating a specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? -repetition of elements.proximity of elements.using predicable continuity of line (path-plant beds). variety in height, volume, etc.using unity of three (odd number).using unity by emphasis depends on contrast with adjacent objects. table 2. how to use balance and order in creating specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? create a ‘savannah’ type landscape by using gap plans and plants with clumps.-use of perspective balance. use of mass collection by organizing plant material according to masses around an open circular lawn space. use radial and symmetrical balance. table 3. how to use scale or proportion in creating specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? similar plant size and proportion of open space and planted space.create small space for the child as patio and terraces. different plant size.create large open space for the child. table 4. how to use rhythm and sequence in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? -use colour sequences which give natural flow.use walkways with fluid lines use patterns in the planting beds. use colour contrast.provide changes in topography.change colours in grounds.-use unpredictable and spontaneous planting beds. table 5. how to use emphasis in creating a specific influence how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of natural objects for focal points.use dominant tree and shrub grouping. provide features to promote action for focal points like a bounce house.use focal point with different texture and shape 5.2. design elements as a therapeutic tool the elements of design include color, texture, line, form/volume and planes. the design elements are the visual qualities which affect the feelings and emotions of people, their responses after viewing a space and how people enjoy and use a space. the following tables show how design elements can be used to create a specific influence. table 6. how to use colour in creating a specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? -use pastels -green, blue, white and purple. -use monochromatic scheme and analogous scheme. use vivid – yellow, pink red and orange. -use complementary scheme (high contrast between colours). table 7. how to use texture in creating a specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use fine-textured plants (smooth leaves, bark and flowers) and hardscape (smooth finished walls and walkways) plants with monochrome colours use coarse-textured plants (rough leaves, bark and flowers) and hardscape (rough finished walls and walkways) plants with varied colours. pg. 47 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 8. how to use lines in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of meandering lines as organic and fragmented edges. use of (horizontal -spreadingvase shaped) plant and shrub forms.no variation in ground cover forms.use confining spaces. use of geometric forms (circularsquareirregular).use of (pyramid-weepingrounded) plant and shrub forms.use of multiple ground cover forms.create large open space for the child. table 9. how to use form and volume in creating a specific influence (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of straight, curved and horizontal lines with symmetrical design, which give natural relaxed character. use of low line, which create a feeling of calmness. use of vertical and diagonal lines, which encourage activities and exerting effort (skiing and running) and make spaces look larger. table 10. how to use planes in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? -use of flat ground plan. use of one head plane. use of different topography on ground plan with different textures. use of vertical planes. 5.3. physical landscape feature as a therapeutic tool landscape features include microclimate, landform/slope, plant materials, views and circulation. to design a therapeutic garden for children with asd, these physical features and resources might apply. the following tables show how physical landscape features can be used to create specific influence. table11. how to use microclimate in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) table 11. how to use microclimate in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? -use of plants and buildings to provide a dense, shady area. use of design elements to relieve radiation provide tall walls to prevent wind effects for tactile sensations. use of tree leaf out to provide sunny areas for tactile stimulation. create open spaces to allow wind movement for tactile stimulation. table 12. how to use circulation in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? create open spaces at the end of pathways. -create opportunities for repose in the circulatory pattern create heights and topography. transfer from shady area to sunny area. table 13. how to use views in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of pastel colours in plants and flowerbeds. use of small sized dense shady views. use of vivid colours in plants and flowerbeds. use of large bright sunny views. pg. 48 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 14. how to use landform in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of small slope which provides a challenge to help them. create grassy hills to roll down and gradually sloping areas. table 15. how to use plant material in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use fragrant plants downwind of some seating areas. -provide soft textured plant materials. -use of pastel coloured palette flowerbeds. -provide aromatic plants. -use plants with different textures for tactile stimulation. -use of vivid coloured palette flowerbeds. 5.4. landscape resources and materials as a therapeutic tool other important considerations are water features, ground covers, therapeutic animals and site furniture. to design a therapeutic garden for children with asd, these features and resources might apply. the following tables show how landscape resources and materials can be used to create specific influence. table 16. how to use water features in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? create a trickling stream in water features which relaxes by the simple act of viewing create water fountain. provide swimming pools create waterfalls that slope down to a pool filled with small river rocks create embedded nozzles in a running zone table 17. how to use therapeutic animals in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? provide white dove cote -provide plant material which attracts butterflies, birds and domestic animals. provide trained dogs. provide a fish tank to stimulate daily activity. provide trained dogs. dogs to play fetch and cats to brush and pet. create colourful bird feeders table 18. how to use site furniture in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of hide light system. -use of bean bag chairs or ball pens tents for restorative time outs. -use of observed and clearly defined light system. -use of tactile signs at height 120 cm. -use of rocking chairs or hammocks. table 19. how to use site furniture in creating specific influences (wilson, 2006) how to calm over-sensitive children with asd? how to stimulate under-sensitive children with asd? use of fine-textured ground cover material. provide non-glare surfaces. use symmetry in colour and texture. -pastel coloured ground covers. use of coarse-textured ground cover material. create small turf areas. -variety of textures. -vivid coloured ground covers. -design of space using materials which retain cold and heat. pg. 49 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.5. design guideline to achieve the ideal healing garden design, there are some considerations to think about. – select a tranquil and quiet location: select a location with the least amount of distractions possible. highpitched, humming noise, adjacent traffic and noise from air conditioning compressors can be overwhelming. children should be able to hear calming sounds such as flowing water, birdsong and wind chimes (sachs & vinceta, 2011). – design for security and safety: children with asd may become confused or curious and wander through a nearby doorway. the design of the outdoor environment should enable administrators to ensure that strangers are not allowed inside (hebert, 2003; sachs & vinceta, 2011; yücel, 2013). – design for choice & control and create a variety of specialized spaces: choice and control helps the child make the decision of when to leave this space, where he or she can sit alone or when he or she wants to sit within a group. this can facilitate a sense of control (wilson, 2006) (cooper marcus, 2005). – design with special lighting conditions in mind: as people with asd are often photosensitive because of the nature of their sensory, they should be cautious to achieve visual comfort from the glare of the sun. besides, methods could be used to create spaces with dappled shade and filtered sun to decrease the effect of the shining rays of the sun (hebert, 2003; sachs & vinceta, 2011). – accommodate needs for both challenges and resting: provide a range of social/physical settings so that each individual can discover and explore his or her own level of challenge. an autistic child may be challenged by the idea of going outside. another will need to overcome shame in playing with other children (cosco, moore, & robin, 2005). – provide calming areas: use of calming activities to feel relaxed to share such as a fence panel with viewing holes, bamboo tunnel or a low growing tree to hide under (sachs & vinceta, 2011). – child-nature interaction: the child with asd benefits a lot from auditory descriptions of nature, seasons and earth processes which gives the child a chance to live in nature to provide habitats for wildlife, provide places to experience natural resources as the wind, sun, rain and shade and provide chances for planting and harvesting. one of the most significant activities for a child in a stressful situation is to be able to intermediate in the cycle of life (hebert, 2003; cosco et al., 2005). – provide opportunities for increasing coordination, motor skills, exercise and balance: provide a special area with different physical activities with various playing equipment along with spaces with quiet zones (hebert, 2003; sachs & vinceta, 2011). – design for ease of maintenance: design the therapeutic garden so that it is a low maintenance, easy care environment so that the caregiver, therapists and special educators aren’t expected to maintain the therapeutic garden. choose plants that don’t require attention. install sprinkler systems during the building phase. choose materials, structures, paving patterns, and furnishings for ease of care and strength (hebert, 2003). – design for future spatial flexibility: because the needs of the therapist change as new therapies and ideas are discovered, and because the needs of the children change as they learn and grow, the therapeutic garden should allow for flexibility. the space should allow for some change without time-consuming or costly renovations by providing non-fixed elements (hebert, 2003; sachs & vinceta, 2011). – provide visual cues for orientation: to aid the communication of children with asd with their teachers and family, the children use a picture exchange system (pict) in designing outdoor space. we should use incorporating signage with clear pictures to communicate ideas or intentional use of certain play and using elements is an important as sign language skill building to help in communication between nonverbal and verbal children (sachs & vinceta, 2011). pg. 50 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 6. case study (sensory garden) after studying the nature of autism and problems accompanying autism spectrum disorder & cognitive, it’s evident that there are physical and mental benefits to connecting with nature, and we can use design principles as therapeutic tools to calm hyper reactive children with autism and stimulate hypo reactive children with autism. this sensory garden is designed to show how the guidelines concluded studies might be applied through specific site arrangement. figure 3 shows the used therapies and how each design of space therapy provides a specific method of therapy. figure 3. diagram shows the design spaces 6.1. location king mariout zone is in the west of alexandria governorate beside amiriyah and the city of borg el arab. figure 4 shows the chosen site plan. properties of the chosen location: -tranquil, quiet and far from crowds -the weather is dry and humid -there are natural water sources like king mariout lake and there are fish farms in the lake. figure 4. site plan for the chosen site pg. 51 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 6.2. the site plan the garden is a sequence of 7 outdoor spaces designed to help the children with autism spectrum disorder and their families as shown in figure 5. figure 5. the site plan of sensory garden 6.2.1. entrance zone entry with three shaded symmetric circular patios included in the orientation maps. creating fluid lines for walkways, rounded edges, large open space, vivid colors and providing sunlight as shown in figure 7. 6.2.2. “become the animal” zone a unique kind of pet therapy by providing visiting animals (fish tank, therapy, cat, and trained dog), plants to collect butterflies, birds and domestic animals and by introducing animals step by step to overcome sensory integration issues as emotional awareness and regulation, behavioral improvements and management skills and engagement, reinforce task acquisition and completion, stimulate social interaction and conversation and provide opportunities for sensory integration as shown in figure 9. 6.2.3. sensory zone the sensory zone is divided into 3 zones: sensory play zone, vestibular and proprioception skills zone and fine and gross motor skills as shown in figure 11. 6.2.3.1. sensory play zone the sensory play zone is divided into 4 areas: aroma and acoustic zone, tactile zone, relaxation zone, and light and colour zone. the sensory play zone is an exciting area full of vibrant colours, scents and sounds are often requested to increase an area’s educational benefits and to further stimulate their senses by using sensory features as shown in figure 13. pg. 52 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. the location of entrance zone figure 7. shows the design consideration for the entrance zone figure 8. the location of “become the animal” zone pg. 53 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. shows the design consideration for the “become the animal” zone figure 10. the location of the sensory zone figure 11. zoning diagram for the sensory zone pg. 54 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 12. zoning diagram for the sensory play zone figure 13. shows the design consideration for the sensoryplay zone 6.2.3.2. fine and gross motor skills zone introducing a motor skills area with climbing and balancing elements and integrating creative movement activities, including hammock swings as shown in figure 15. 6.2.3.3. vestibular and proprioception zone by using specific equipment to foster sensory development as swinging, spinning, sliding, climbing, rocking, crawling and balancing equipment as shown in figure 17. pg. 55 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 14. the location of fine and gross motor skills zone figure 15. shows the design consideration for the fine and gross motor skills zone figure 16. the location of vestibular (balance) and proprioception (muscle and joint) zone pg. 56 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 17. shows the design consideration for the vestibular (balance) and proprioception (muscle and joint) zone figure 18. the location of “water world” zone 6.2.4. “water world” zone another form of physical therapy exercise used in treating autism is aquatic therapy by using different water features including waterfalls, water fountains, swimming pools and embedded nozzles running zone as shown in figure 19. 6.2.5. “bird area” zone another form of therapeutic and restorative therapy is carried out by providing a dove cote surrounded by flower beds, white dove cote and colorful birds’ feeder houses as shown in figure 21. 6.2.6. “natural trail” zone provide integrated spaces that encompass all elements in nature which help in balancing, climbing, elevating using rocks, red gum logs, dolomite boulders, stump, loose parts play and providing the opportunity to make a cubby, collect rocks and sticks, and research and discover as shown in figure 23. pg. 57 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 19. shows the design consideration for the “water world” zone figure 20. the location of “bird area” zone figure 21. shows the design consideration for the “bird area” zone pg. 58 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 22. the location of “natural trail” zone figure 23. show thedesign consideration for the “natural trail” zone c 6.2.7. gardening zone horticultural therapy provides gardening activities which increases opportunities for children to connect with each other and their world as shown in figure 25. figure 24. the location of “natural trail” zone pg. 59 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 25. shows the design consideration for the gardening zone 7. conclusion it would be very important to design a sensory garden for children with asd to test the guidelines that have been confirmed in this study. moreover, it is important that a post-occupancy study be completed on the project to determine its success in meeting the needs of parents, students, teachers, staff and therapists. from this post occupancy evaluation, further recommendations could be made related to the design of future sensory gardens for children with asd. the concepts of the sensory garden should be appropriate to any place in any environment and weather. the creation of the wide variety of landscape features and multi-level spaces help the design to be more manipulative. the design is based on information from a variety of multi-disciplinary sources and is intended to provide a basis for forming theory regarding how the outdoor environment can be used in therapeutic ways and the effects of the outdoor spaces on children with asd. therefore, the sensory garden was created as a solution to supplement and utilize the outdoor space of any center, hospital or just a therapeutic garden. finally, the large number of diagnoses in our world today relate to how to deal with children’s’ needs. future studies should classify the effect of nature on children with asd and how exercises help in changing the attitude of children with asd. it is wise to recognize that tomorrow, these children will be adults. the needs of adults with asd will move far beyond the outdoor space of hospitals, care centers or schools. references 1. almon, j. (2009). the fear of play. exchange: the early childhood leaders’ magazine since 1978, 186, 42-44. 2. american psychiatric association. (1994). diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders fourth edition (dsm-iv). washington d.c: american psychiatric publishing. 3. autism resource foundation. (n.d.). physical therapy exercises for autistic children. retrieved from http://www.theautismresourcefoundation.org/ pg. 60 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. cosco, n. g., moore, & robin c. (2005). well-being by nature: therapeutic gardens for children. latis forum on therapeutic garden design, 35-50. 5. cottrell, s., & raadik-cottrell, j. (2010). benefits of outdoor skills to health, learning and lifestyle. a literature review. association of fish & wildlife agencies’ north american conservation education strategy. 6. crain, w. (2001). how nature helps children develop. montessori life. 7. davies, m. (1996). outdoors: an important context for young children’s development. early child development and care, 115-3749. 8. falk, s., & gross, c. d. (2011). sensory integration: understanding and meeting your child’s needs. le bonheur early intervention and development. 9. fisher, a., murray, e., & bundy, a. (1991). sensory integration: theory and practice. f.a. davis co. 10. fjortoft, & ingunn. (2001). the natural environment as a playground for children: the impact of outdoor play activities in pre-primary school children. early childhood education journal, 111-117. 11. fjortoft, i., & sageie, j. (2000). the natural environment as a playground for children: landscape description and analysis of a natural landscape. landscape and urban planning, 83-97. 12. gillberg, c., & coleman, m. (2000). the biology of the autistic syndromes. cambridge university press. 13. greenman, j. (1988). caring spaces, learning places: children’s environments that work. eric. 14. hebert, b. b. (2003). design guidelines of a therapeutic garden for autistic children(master’s thesis, louisiana state university and agricultural and mechanical college). lsu. retrieved from https://digitalc ommons.lsu.edu/gradschool theses/3288. 15. henniger, m. (1993). enriching the outdoor play experience. childhood education. 16. huh, s. y., & gordon, c. m. (2008). vitamin d deficiency in children and adolescents: epidemiology, impact and treatment. reviews in endocrine and metabolic disorders, 9(2), 161-170. 17. johnson, l. m. (2006). wildlife habitat design and creation in the schoolyard: with an emphasis on southwestern gardens. austin: university of texas. press. 18. louv, r. (1991). childhood’s future. new york: doubleday. 19. marcus, c. c. (2005). healing gardens in hospitals. interdisciplinary design and research e-journal, 1(1), 2-23. 20. mastrangelo, s. (2009). harnessing the power of play: opportunities for children with autism spectrum disorders. in teaching exceptional children (pp. 34–41). 21. miller, s. (1968). the psychology of play. london: cox and wyman, ltd. 22. moore, r. (1996). compact nature: the role of playing and learning gardens on children’s lives. journal of therapeutic horticulture, 72–82. 23. sachs, n., & vincenta, t. (2011). outdoor environments for children with autism and special needs. implications, 9(10), 1-7. 24. wells, n. m., & evans, g. w. (2003). nearby nature: a buffer of life stress among rural children. environment and behavior, 311-330. 25. wilkes, k. (2005). the sensory world of the autistic spectrum: a greater understanding. national autistic society under a memorandum of understanding with autism south africa. pg. 61 barakat / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 26. wilson, b. (2006). sensory gardens for children with autism spectrum disorders. university of arizona. 27. wilson, r. a. (1997). the wonders of nature: honoring children’s ways of knowing. early childhood news. 28. wong, h., lee, howlin, & asgharian. (1999). evidence-based practice and autism in the schools. national autism center. 29. yücel, g. f. (2013). hospital outdoor landscape design. in advances in landscape architecture. intech. pg. 62 introduction nature of autism problems that may accompany asd nature of autism problems that may accompany asd sensory problems problems in playful experiences nature as a healer cognitive benefits after interacting with nature mental benefits after connecting with nature physical health benefits after interacting with nature the design guideline for a therapeutic garden for autistic children visual principle as a therapeutic tool design elements as a therapeutic tool physical landscape feature as a therapeutic tool landscape resources and materials as a therapeutic tool design guideline case study (sensory garden) location the site plan entrance zone ``become the animal'' zone sensory zone ``water world'' zone ``bird area'' zone ``natural trail'' zone gardening zone conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.25 cool clay tiles in italian residential districts: investigation of the coupled thermal-energy and environmental effects anna laura pisello1, veronica lucia castaldo1, federico rossi1, franco cotana1 1department of engineering – university of perugia, italy. via g. duranti 93– 06125 – perugia (italy); ciriaf interuniversity research center on pollution and environment «mauro felli», university of perugia, italy. via g. duranti 67– 06125 – perugia (italy). abstract passive strategies for environmental sustainability and energy reduction in the construction industry are becoming increasingly important in, both, the scientific community and the industrial world. particularly, cool roofs demonstrate acknowledged contribution in cooling energy saving and reducing urban overheating such as urban heat island. additionally, high albedo strategy has shown promising benefits from a global perspective by counteracting global warming measured by means of co2eq emission offset. in this view, the present research work combines experimental, numerical, and analytical analysis approaches to measure the impact on energy and the environment from the application of cool clay tiles over the roof of a residential buildings located in central italy, consistently monitored since 2010. the purposeful investigation demonstrated a consistent co2 emission compensation of more than 700 tons, 15% of which is produced by the passive cooling contribution of buildings and climate mitigation techniques. the work, therefore, incidicated that local energy saving strategies must be combined with larger scale models for performing an exhaustive environmental analysis. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords global warming; cool roof; dynamic simulation; building energy efficiency; albedo; urban heat island; cool clay tile 1. introduction the overall energy needed and used up in buildings amounts to up to 40% of the total energy needed world-wide (”annual energy outlook”, 2011). a major increase of this percentage was also registered for office and residential buildings in particular given the developing technology used and requirements of indoor comfort for developing countries occupants (oecd, 2003). the data given become even more alarming in developing countries especially where the energy needed for construction was noted to have amounted to half of the global energy needed. in this view, key research improvements are currently a work in progress in both the construction design and scientific community aimed at reducing the energy need for lighting, cooling, and heating, by keeping constant, or even improving, the indoor environmental quality (salata, vollaro, lietovollaro, & mancieri, 2015). similarly, the whole life cycle assessment of buildings is now under deep investigation with the aim of reducing the effect pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of the whole construction chain in terms of co2eq as a way of mitigating climate change and global warming trends (pisello & asdrubali, 2014; synnefa, santamouris, & akbari, 2007). in particular, several passive strategies with great benefits were developed and optimized by highlighting their effects at building scale, in terms of energy saving potential and at larger scale such as green building envelopes, e.g. green roofs and walls (malys, musy, & inard, 2016; razzaghmanesh, beecham, & salemi, 2016). in the same field, several important studies were undertaken to optimize the solar reflectance capability of building surface materials, with the purpose of minimizing the building summer overheating and the consequent cooling energy need. such highly reflective coatings are named “cool” materials due to their considerable cooling potential within different climate boundary conditions, building features and occupancy levels as proved by research studies worldwide even in continental climate areas (kolokotroni, gowreesunker, & giridharan, 2013; pisello, piselli, & cotana, 2015) . over the years, several case study buildings were monitored with the aim of quantifying the realistic energy reduction potential and thermal comfort improvement due to the application of cool envelopes. to this aim, experimental monitoring campaigns were performed in colder climate conditions (hosseini & akbari, 2014; paolini, zinzi, poli, carnielo, & mainini, 2014). these studies demonstrated an annual benefit from highly reflective roofs with non-significant winter penalties. consequently, additional studies were done to investigate the impact of aging and weathering phenomena on the passive cooling potential. cool materials, such as coatings, membrances and painting, were recoginzed as the most commonly (sleiman, ban-weiss, gilbert, françois, berdahl, kirchstetter, levinson, 2011). given the capability of outdoor environmental conditions to influence the durability and passive cooling potential of such cool materials, large research efforts are currently focused on the development of experimental test procedures to reproduce microclimate boundary phenomena during different weather and environmental stresses, i.e. pollution concentration. by shifting the perspective from a single building scale to a larger settlement scale, high albedo technologies were therefore demostrated to be able to considerably contribute to the mitigation of global warming (g (akbari, menon, & rosenfeld, 2008; cotana, rossi, filipponi, coccia, pisello, bonamente, & cavalaglio, 2014) as well as local overheating phenomena, i.e. heatwaves and urban heat island island (santamouris, 2015; wang & akbari, 2015). in this scenario, several numerical models were implemented with the purpose of quantifying the impact of highly reflective surfaces as an offset of co2eq emissions (cotana et al, 2014). it was proven that high albedo materials can decrease the quantity of energy absorbed by the earth’s top surface layer by consequently reducing the overall warming path attributed to anthropogenic heat sources (oreskes, 2004). such a contribution can compensate for the negative effects of the greenhouse gas emissions. therefore, the benefits attained by applying highly reflective surface materials, such as cool pavings and roofs, can be determied in terms of offset of co2eq. for this reason, a new tailored methodology to quantitavely determine the potential of high albedo surfaces in abating the co2eq emissions depending on the site location (i.e. latitude), the climate zone and the weather conditions, the surface orientation and slope, i.e. building roofs and pavements, was proposed in (cotana et al., 2014). such an innovative method could be used in order to quantify additional environmental benefits of highly reflective surfaces, at an urban scale, in terms of potential of co2eq emission offset. moreover, it helps to determine the mitigation capability of different buildings or whole areas by specifying the surfaces’geometry and location. beginning with the aforementioned research background, the present work is an attempt at bridging the gap between the analysis at single-building level and a global approach. therefore, building upon existing research efforts on (i) innovative cool roof technologies, and (ii) the potential of highly reflective surfaces in mitigating the global warming phenomenon, this work is an assessment of environmental and energy effects of a cool clay tile tailored for application in historical architecture for its low visual impact. therefore, a residential neighborhood situated in italy was chosen as a case study and three main building typologies were identified to assess the energy performance in numerical simulation environments by focusing in particular on the electricity consumption for cooling. in this paper, the impact of the highly reflective clay tiles is assessed at first by quantifying the summer cooling enpg. 2 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ergy saving potential. therefore, the energy reduction is converted into the co2eq emissions avoided by reducing the summer electricity demand. such a benefit in terms of environmental impact is finally coupled with the benefit computed by using an energy balance model developed by the authors (cotana et al., 2014). the same method is therefore used for a prototype residential district with an energy behaviour that is improved by applying cool clay tiles. this results in a reduction in their impact and combining the energy saving potential and the mitigation of the global warming in terms of co2eq emissions offset. nomenclature c-i building category (i.e. constructed before 1980) c-ii building category (i.e. constructed between 1977 and 2000) c-iii building category (i.e. constructed after 2001) co2eq equivalent carbon dioxide sri solar reflection index hc convection coefficient 2. materials and methods 2.1. research framework the present paper consists of a multifunctional and a multipurpose procedure that groups numerical analysis, analytical methods, and final environmental assessment. with the aim of assessing the performance of a case study settlement and the possible energy and environmental saving attributed to the application of cool tiles, perspective is shifted from a single-building level to the urban scale. the numerical analysis is an attempt to implement dynamic simulation models adjusted by means of continuously monitored data of the case study. the analytical tool (cotana et al., 2014) was implemented to investigate the contribution of a high albedo solution in terms of co2eq offsets of the settlement roofs in the considered prototype village. the final environmental assessment was performed to groups the benefits of cooling and energy saving together with the ones related to the high albedo technology as climate change mitigation techniques as acknowledged in previous works (akbari et al. 2013). the innovative contribution of the work consists, therefore, of (i) the implementation and integration of such proposed tools and procedures, (ii) their application from settlement level to a residential district characterized by sloped roofs covered by clay tiles (iii) the replication of the study for multiple building categories that are characterized by different architectural characteristics and construction period typically affecting the italian building environmental and energy performance. 3. the cool clay tile prototype the development of the innovative cool tiles is an attempt to improve their passive cooling capability and simultaneously minimize the exterior impact of the cool coating appearance. this is inspired by the fact that the case study village consists of a suburban district characterized by traditional architectures located on a hill. such a tile was selected according to previous works of the authors (pisello, 2014), where a first in-lab depiction was carried out to evaluate the solar reflectance and thermal emittance of multiple clay tile samples. such properties are considered to have a significant impact on the cooling capability of the tile which is expressed in terms of solar reflection index-sri (akbari, 2001). the cool clay tile optimization was performed starting from a commercialized composite material consisting of the clay tile covered by an engobe layer. the engobe represents a sort of coating that is applied over the tile before the cooking process into the industrial ovens and that is able to preserve its optic-energy characteristics also after such oven-produced thermal stress. therefore, already commercialized tiles usually present several engobes designed for several aesthetic purposes such as face antique appearance, coloring, finishing, etc. this engobe has pg. 3 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd been characterized with ir-reflective pigments. therefore, the application of optic-energy performance of tiles on residential buildings’ roofs of the selected district is the same as that of lightly-colored clay tile typically applied over traditional sloped roofs. however, the latter presents a relatively higher solar reflectance capability as reported in table 1. table 1. optic characteristics of the cool clay tile. tiles characteristics value uv reflectance: 8.1% vis reflectance: 59.1% nir reflectance: 81.8% total solar reflectance: 67.0% sri=80 [16], hc= 5 w m−2k−1 80 4. dynamic thermal-energy analysis at building scale the residential district selected for this work was firstly mapped by means of gis techniques and the main technical and architectural features were identified. the preliminary gis assessment helped the authors to consider and evaluate several building typologies as well as cluster them with respect to the period of construction as the selected main driver for the energy behaviour in italy. in fact, the first energy efficiency regulation applied to construction in italy was published in 1976. therefore, all the predecessor buildings (i.e. designed after 1976 and constructed before 1980) that were not retrofitted had to be considered as non-insulated buildings, as the continuously monitored one. therefore, a first main building category was identified, i.e. 1st category, of non-insulated buildings constructed before 1976. afterwards, two additional categories were identified by using the same approach, i.e. a category including buildings built between 1980 and 2000, and a third category of houses built after 2000, characterized by very high european energy standards, as indicated in recent directives and statistics (”energy performance of buildings directive”, 2005). therefore, the three identified building categories are as follows: • c-i: buildings antecedent 1976; • c-ii: buildings dated back to 1980-2000; • c-iii: recent buildings built after 2000. the continuously monitored data reported and analysed in previous works (pisello & cotana, 2014) helped calibrate the models designed in this paper and finally extend the results up to district level. moreover, an outdoor weather station positioned in the case study district was dedicated to this work to continuously monitor the main outdoor microclimate parameters: outdoor dry bulb temperature [◦c], wind velocity [m/s] and main direction [◦], global solar radiation over a horizontal plane [w/m2], direct solar radiation [w/m2], superficial temperature over the roof slopes [◦c], and air relative humidity [%]. at the same time, an indoor attic floor microclimate monitoring station was also installed in the prototype building, being able to monitor: indoor air temperature [◦c], relative humidity [%], internal surface temperatures [◦c], air velocity [m/s], and globe-thermometer temperature [◦c]. more details about the experimental equipment are given in previous works for the same authors (pisello, castaldo, piselli, fabiani, & cotana, 2016; pisello, castaldo, fabiani, & cotana, 2016). the collected experimental data were used in the dynamic thermal-energy analysis to calibrate the numerical model reference (i.e. house in c-i) according to (mustafaraj, marini, costa, & keane, 2014) and to extend the results to all the other identified building categories after properly refining the models to describe all the buildings typologies, i.e. c-ii and c-iii. indoor occupancy of buildings was modelled by accounting for simplified schedules according to (feng, yan, & hong, 2015). eer of 1.5 and continuous operational setup scheme were assumed for the cooling system. the summer indoor air temperature setup was assumed to be 26◦c by referring to the european reference standard en 15251 (”indoor environmental input parameters for design”, 2012; ”revision of en 15251”, 2012). electric and thermal energy consumption of 10 houses per category was collected and the average category building pg. 4 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd was defined. therefore, the annual calibration procedure was performed by considering a dedicated weather file elaborated during the course of 2013 to which the energy consumption were referred. 5. environmental modeling at global scale the assessment of the environmental impact of the cool tiles in terms of co2eq offset included different steps. firstly, the relation between the change in the earth albedo and the average atmospheric temperature was quantified by means of the analytical model provided in (cotana et al., 2014), which was applied to the case study settlement sloped surfaces (cotana et al., 2014). such a model consists of four main phases: (i)comparison of the modification of the mean albedo of the earth to that of mean atmospheric temperature through a tailored analytical procedure; (ii)assessment of the mitigation of global warming in terms of co2eq offset by assuming that the measured temperature rise is generated exclusively from the observed increase of co2 level; (iii)evaluation of the effect on the climate generated by the peculiar roof treatment. measured by considering the experimental characteristics of solar reflectance of the considered tiles; (iv)quantification of the potential mitigation of global warming in terms of offset of co2eq. this effect is therefore coupled to one generated by energy reduction achieved by cool tile implementation. additionally, to evaluate the proposed solution in mitigating global warming at district scale, the combined effect is also assessed. for this reason, the surface of the roof in every house was evaluated and the area and the inclinationorientation characteristic taken into account in the mathematical model of cotana and others (2014). this is the first currently available model capable of considering geometrical characteristics of surfaces with varying albedo. therefore, experimental spectrophoto meter albedo values provided by previous studies were considered. moreover, data about the latitude and longitude, specifically referring to the real italian residential buildings selected as case study village, were used as input for the model. 6. description of the case study the selected case study neighborhood is constituted by 106 villas situated in the green belt of perugia, a city located in central italy within the moderate climate zone (figure 1). such settlement corresponds to a wide architectural variety characterized by a hill where the houses are located since they were built starting from the 60s. therefore, three main building categories, according to the time of construction, were identified and modeled for this work. figure 1. aerial view of the case study village. the building cluster was carried out firstly using gis techniques and then by in-situ inspection and multiple surveys to building facilities. possible energy retrofits were considered in the building clustering. finally, realistic pg. 5 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd electric and thermal energy consumption data of 30 houses, 10 per category, were collected to adjust the dynamic simulation models up to an acceptable approximation rate according to (”ashrae guideline”, 2002). for reasons previously mentioned, category 1 (c-i), included those buildings made, designed, and constructed before 1980 without any following retrofit. this category included 52 buildings out of 106. category 2 (i.e. c-ii) included buildings constructed from 1980-2000 and was represented by 39 buildings out of 106. the final category, category 3 (c-iii), included the most recent constructions built after 2000 as well as the few remaining 15 houses. in table 2, some general information of the building architecture and categories are reported. moreover, the main buildings’ thermal and technical characteristics were differentiated within the dynamic simulation engine for energy assessment purposes. in particular, the thermal insulation capability of both the transparent and the opaque envelope components was differentiated according to statistical data of the italian construction stock and in situ inspections. table 4 finally reports the main boundary conditions used for the simulation on an annual base. table 2. technical information about the evaluated buildings architecture and category. building categories building architecture general details <1976 (c-i) [1977;2000] (c-ii) >2001 (c-iii) 120 m2 (ground floor area) 100 m2 (first floor area) 60 m2 (second floor area) masonry resistant structure table 3. mainthermal properties of the building envelope for each category. building category envelope properties c-i opaque external partition (no insulation panels) walls: thermal transmittance: 1.87 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 150 kj/m2k roof: thermal transmittance: 2.01 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 207 kj/m2k ground floor: thermal transmittance: 1.67 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 163 kj/m2k windows (single clear glass 6 mm) thermal transmittance: 5.78 w/m2 k solar factor: 0.82 direct solar transmittance: 0.78 lighting transmittance: 0.88 continued on next page pg. 6 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd building category envelope properties c-ii opaque external partition walls: thermal transmittance: 0.72 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 150 kj/m2k roof: thermal transmittance: 1.35 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 126 kj/m2k ground floor: thermal transmittance: 0.98 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 80 kj/m2k windows (double clear camera 3-14-3 air) thermal transmittance: 2.72 w/m2 k solar factor: 0.76 direct solar transmittance: 0.71 lighting transmittance: 0.81 c-iii opaque external partition walls: thermal transmittance: 0.33 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 150 kj/m2k roof: thermal transmittance: 0.29 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 16 kj/m2k ground floor: thermal transmittance: 0.34 w/m2 k internal heat capacity: 27 kj/m2k windows (double lowe camera 6+13+6 mm arg) thermal transmittance: 1.49 w/m2k solar factor: 0.57 direct solar transmittance: 0.47 lighting transmittance: 0.75 table 4. main case study settlement boundary conditions used for the dynamic simulation. climate boundary conditions location daily average dry bulb temperature (maximum/minimum peak):winter: 7.8◦c 1.8◦c spring: 15.9◦c 7.4◦c summer: 27◦c 16.5◦c fall: 17.7◦c 10.4◦c eliophany: 5.8 h/day rainfall rate: 850 mm perugia (italy) elevation above sea level: 522 m latitude: 43◦06’59.09” longitude: 12◦18’38.79” degree days: 2204 pg. 7 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. discussion of the results 7.1. cooling energy reduction assessment the electricity energy requirement during the summer was selected as the key parameter to be analyzed. figure 2 shows the profile of the requirement for cooling of the multiple building categories in the “cool-roof” and “noncool roof” scenario. in particular, the estimated reduction of the electric energy for cooling due to the application of cool clay tiles was converted in co2eq avoided emissions (cotana et al., 2014). the main results for each building category, i.e. c-i, c-ii, and c-iii are reported in table 4. in particular, the annual energy reduction due to the application of the cool tile is equal to 11.8% for category i, 12.7% for category ii, and 13.0% for category iii. therefore, c-iii buildings require more electricity than c-i buildings (7.5% more). therefore, significant drawbacks are created by the insulated envelope in the hot season in the evaluated buildings. in figure 3, the energy balance of the building envelope is depicted for c-i (a), c-ii (b), and c-iii (c), by taking into account the energy required for heating, cooling, lighting, and all the appliances and internal gains due to the occupancy level, solar gains, and envelope infiltrations. the graphs show that buildings belonging to c-iii, built after 2001, are characterized by the best performance of the building envelope from an energy balance perspective since they generally present lower energy requirements. thermal losses and gains are therefore less affected by the outdoor boundary conditions’ variability. table 5. energy reduction due to cool tiles and related emissions of co2eq. electric energy saving due to cool tiles [kwh/year] c-i c-ii c-iii non-cool tiles: 27157.2 cool tiles: 23960.4 non-cool tiles: 28657.0 cool tiles: 25021.2 non-cool tiles: 29784.1 cool tiles: 25912.5 co2eq avoided emissions 11.8% 12.7% 13% figure 2. electricity requirement forcooling in different building categories and envelope configuration. pg. 8 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. energy balance through the buildingenvelope for c-i (a), c-ii (b), and c-iii (c). 7.2. assessment of the environmental impact the analytical model developed in (cotana et al., 2014) was applied to the selected case study area in order to determine the total environmental impact of the proposed cool tiles and increase of the albedo of the evaluated district. for this reason, each roof surface included in the geometrical building model used for the dynamic energy simulation was considered in the analytical methodology. despite the fact that roof configurations were defined in the developed energy balance tool, the realistic features of each roof, such as geometry, orientation, slope, and surface extension, were taken into consideration. the analysis results show how applying highly reflective clay tiles on village roofs leads to a co2eq emission offset of up to 631 tons per year, which is generated by the additional reflected radiation. therefore, the total emissions evaded were computed by taking into account the whole neighborhood with the different building categories as well as the emissions avoided annually given the cooling energy saving. more specifically, the database eco-invent 3 was taken into account to evaluate the equivalent co2 emissions evaded (corresponding to 0.386 kgco2eq/kwhel) (gmbh, 2013). moreover, all the residential buildings characterized by low-reflective clay tiles require about 2,976,558.4 kwhel/year for cooling. the same buildings, yet those with the highly reflective clay tiles, require around 12.3% less. the optimized settlement configuration therefore requires 2,610,456 kwhel/year, with a consequent calculated energy saving equivalent to 366,102.7 kwhel/year at district level. therefore, the benefit generated by the reduction of the energy requirement for cooling from an environmental perspective is equal to 141.3 tons of co2eq/year. such a value is then coupled with the offset of co2eq emissions computed by using the model for contributing to the increase of the earth albedo. the application of the cool clay tiles can counterbalance 772.3 tons of co2eq/year by taking into account the overall settlement contribution of 106 houses. pg. 9 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4 shows the comparison between the primary energy requirements for cooling for the different evaluated building categories within the “cool” and “non-cool” configuration of the building roof. additionally, in figure 5 (a, b) the comparison between the total co2eq emissions due to the building hvac operation and the total co2eq emissions offset guaranteed by the different type of roof cover is illustrated in terms of tons of co2eq. in particular, co2eq emissions reduction of 354.00, 265.50, and 102.12 tons are calculated for c-i, c-ii, and c-iii, respectively, thanks to the application of high albedo tiles at the settlement scale. finally, figure 5c shows the net balance between the co2eq emissions produced by the building hvac and the co2eq emissions offset for the evaluated settlement. it is evident how the net balance for the “cool” configuration of the buildings of the selected case study village is negative compared to the “non-cool” scenario since the co2eq offset is greater compared to the co2eq emissions due to the hvac operation for the benefic passive cooling action produced by the application of the cool tiles, which leads to reduce cooling energy requirements. figure 4. global cooling primay energyneed for building categories and roof configuration. figure 5. net co2eq emission balance (c) between the co2eq emissions produced (a) and the co2eq emissions offset (b) generated for the case study settlement. 8. conclusion the present work consists of the coupled assessment of the (i) energy and (ii) environmental impact generated by the application of a higlhy-reflective and low-visual impact clay tiles in a neighborhood in central italy. in particular, a historic traditional settlement was selected as representative of typical italian residential buildings, pg. 10 pisello / environmental science and sustainable development, essd where cool roofs usually cannot be utilized due to the several aesthetic and visual constraints imposed by national regulations preserving the quality of local landscape and environment. therefore, the selected case study area included 106 detouched houses characterized by sloped roofs covered by traditional red coloured tiles. such tiles were therefore optimized with the aim of reducing the summer cooling electricity requirement and calculating the related offset of co2eq emissions by using coupled (i) preliminary experimental campaign and an (ii) analytical model. such an analytical tool, which was implemented in a previous work, was used to determine the relation between the highly reflective surface and the correspondent potentiality in terms of tons of co2eq offset. the coupled experimental and numerical methodology applied allowed to detect that the high albedo tile, in spite of its low impact in terms of exterior appereance, can guarantee around 13% of electric cooling energy saving for the case study settlement with different building categories. such an energy reduction was calculated to be about 141.2 tons of co2eq/year, by taking into account the average rate of emissions of italian national cooling electrical systems and grid effectiveness. such a benefit from an environmental point of view, when combined to the one produced by the implementation of the cool solution, was found to be around 772 tons of co2eq/year for the case study settlement. the achieved results indicate how cool roof solutions can be taken into consideration for application even in traditional residential areas due to their key cooling energy saving potential and coupled considerable effect from an environmental perspective. 9. future developments the present research presents a “prototypical study” aimed at assessing the combined environmental and energy impact of cool roofs and presents many limitations. firstly, the assessment of the residential building categories in the case study neighborhood was undertaken by evaluating all the building features and performing indoor surveys around only 40% of the houses. however, the whole neighborhood was considered into the analysis and realistic assumptions were made by directly observing the houses outdoor features. therefore, the classification of the selected houses in building categories helped simplify the problem geometry without significant effect on the reliability of the method. future developments for the study could consider a more realistic and a more complex configuration of the buildings. moreover, an in-field evaluation of the building envelope technologies can permit a more precise modeling for the purpose of the dynamic simulation. further efforts could also focus on the costbenefit analysis of the cool clay tiles implementation and on the assessment of the potential financial benefits attributable to such a proposed solution by taking into account the mechanism of eu ets for the emission credits trading. 10. acknowledgments the first author acknowledgments are due to the “ciriaf program for unesco” in the framework of the unesco chair “water resources management and culture” for supporting her research. references 1. akbari, h., menon, s., & rosenfeld, a. 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(2015). development and application of ‘thermal radiative power’ for urban environmental evaluation. sustainable cities and society, 14, 316-322. doi:10.1016/j.scs.2014.07.003 pg. 13 introduction materials and methods research framework the cool clay tile prototype dynamic thermal-energy analysis at building scale environmental modeling at global scale description of the case study discussion of the results cooling energy reduction assessment assessment of the environmental impact conclusion future developments acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.279 rebuilding cultural identity nubian rehabilitation along the shore of lake nasser mourad s. amer1 1phd, architect & ceo of ierek for research enrichment and knowledge exchange abstract ever since the completion of the high dam in 1964, nubians have lost their culture and heritage as a result of sacrificing their land to flooding. eventually, they became dispersed all over sudan and egypt with some ending up in different parts of the world and struggling to return to the shores of lake nasser. with short-lived success, nubians managed to make a resurrection of wade half and re-locate in sudanese towns. this paper aims to conserve the nubian identity, which has been abandoned throughout the people’s emigration process. this paper presents a proposal of rehabilitation to the nubians and their homeland along the shore of lake nasser. this paper provides recommendations for methods to repairing the damage caused to the nubian population following their relocation and construction of the aswan dam. the main idea behind this proposal is to relink the nubians to a life they loved and violated in terms of their association with the nile river. it is an attempt to restore their favorite urban spaces and architectural elements. without a doubt, the proposal encompasses recommendations to producing new designs to the nubian house conforming to their identity, cultural heritage and modern-day civilization as a way of rehabilitation. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords rehabilitation; cultural heritage; resilience 1. introduction nubians are native people who live along the shore of the nile river, from aswan in southern egypt extending to the south of khartoum, sudan. before the construction of the high dam, nubians had a unique heritage, spoke two languages and had a distinct social practices, a unique and private culture. historically, the importance of nubia stems from its location and role of being egypt’s gate or road to africa. in spite of a troublesome past, war times and slavery occurrences, nubians have preserved one of the richest traditions and cultures. such maintenance of their heritage and conservation of identity could be attributed as well to nubian women. the role of women could be summarized providing consistency and stability; a permanent and durable force in society passing on tradition to the young. pg. 17 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.1. history and cultural heritage as for the history of nubian architecture and urban development in this area, large cities and monumental architecture has been discovered. temples, museums and antiquities narrated the nubian civilization. these narrations told of the history of nubian farmers as administrators at the court of pharaoh, priests and priestesses in egyptian temples (el-hakim, 1993). over time, it became apparent that egypt and nubia were inversely correlated in the sense that when one prospered, the other experienced its weakest periods and vice versa (bruce, 1976). one of the mentioned weakest periods had led general amr ibn el-as to send a force of 20,000 men to nubia, after which dongola, the capital of the state of northern in sudan, was penetrated and a truce negotiated between both parties. this truce has helped facilitate trade between nubia and lower egypt, led to the settlement of individual arab traders in northern nubia and the vicinity of aswan in egypt, as well as their intermarriage through the years. as a result, a new formation of nomads named ababda, relating to genealogy of abe abida ben el-graah, was generated. moreover, nubia had ignored the religion of islam for as long as 600 years until it was introduced due to intermarriage, muslim invaders and arab traders who took nubian women for wives. this narrative mentioned helped islam to present itself in nubia as well as helped nubians in maintaining their own culture, language and traditions by virtue of nubian women and their passing on of tradition to the following generations (anne, 1995). narrations told of the history of nubian farmers as administrators at the court of pharaoh, priests and priestesses in egyptian temples (el-hakim, 1993). over time, it became apparent that egypt and nubia were inversely correlated in the sense that when one prospered, the other experienced its weakest periods and vice versa (bruce, 1976). one of the mentioned weakest periods had led general amr ibn el-as to send a force of 20,000 men to nubia, after which dongola, the capital of the state of northern in sudan, was penetrated and a truce negotiated between both parties. this truce has helped facilitate trade between nubia and lower egypt, led to the settlement of individual arab traders in northern nubia and the vicinity of aswan in egypt, as well as their intermarriage through the years. as a result, a new formation of nomads named ababda, relating to genealogy of abe abida ben el-graah, was generated. moreover, nubia had ignored the religion of islam for as long as 600 years until it was introduced due to intermarriage, muslim invaders and arab traders who took nubian women for wives. this narrative mentioned helped islam to present itself in nubia as well as helped nubians in maintaining their own culture, language and traditions by virtue of nubian women and their passing on of tradition to the following generations (anne, 1995). 1.2. the nubian exodus when the high dam had been constructed and as soon as it began operating in 1970, lake nasser was formed and known to be the largest man-made lake in the world. as a result, egypt gained many benefits from the high dam such as providing electric power to all governorates, systemizing and maintaining the water and providing the process of nile navigation with more safety. however, the high dam’s construction still had downfalls such as preventing millions of silt, which could have enriched the surrounding agricultural lands shown in figure 1. one of the major influences, or rather dramatic effects, enforced by the construction of the high dam and creation of lake nasser was a flood over lower nubia. villages were completely submerged by the floods and heritage sites relocated. the damage was not only inflicted upon egyptian-nubian populations but also flooded approximately 30% of sudanese-nubian villages (see figure 2). consequently, the exodus of all egyptian and sudanese nubians became a reality and not a choice. in egypt, almost all of the nubian population departed to the north at kom ombo and edna and some of them to the countryside, in different cities or around the world. and thus, the paradise was lost (zohry & harrell-bond, 2003). nubians are an ethnic group that make up a total of nearly 120,000 people. a number that represented, at the pg. 18 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd time of exodus in 1963, almost 0.29% of the egyptian population. most of the people at this time were kenuzi; a attribution given to those who settled near the wadi kenuz. women began escaping with their children and old men to cities and the countryside. by 1950, approximately 70,000 persons, females and males, had left nubia to settle in cities (zohry & harrell-bond, 2003). lost nubian villages were growing along the nile in quest of the water because of an economy that hugely depended on farming, animal agriculture and production of dates. the importance of the nile shore for the nubian people, regardless of the moral aspect, is summarized in its use as a method to trading goods and exporting products such as dates (el-hakim, 1993). 1.3. the emigration to kom ombo: nubians were left with no choice except one that leads to leaving their homeland and emigrating to search for another. the ministry of social affairs, a governmental department, provides an illustration of the plan set out for their emigration. the nubians were regulated to: – rapidly starting to register the injured nubian population in this disaster. – creating proposals of new villages and administrative organizations to make the emigratio integral to the community. – studying and putting principles for rehabilitation to educate the nubian people before emigration. – subventions and contributions directive for emigration allowing them to move towards new communities (see figure 3, 4). figure 1. a. depicts the limitation of nubia. figure 1b. depictsthe location of the high dam and lake nasser (google maps, 2018) figure 2. the figure depicts some picture of flooding of the old nubian’ s villages. pg. 19 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – preparation and reclamation of land to be as compensational and replace flooded agricultural land (anne, 1995). all studies corroborated that nubians had been razed socially, geographically, culturally and architecturally. subventions lead up to changing centralization of relations of the society due to some nubian precedence to indemnity with land and others money. moreover, and due to agricultural land in kom ombo, it was not sufficient to nubians who favored land hence the government’s coercion to distribute land in sites such as edna, tommas and afia. the emigration to kom ombo took place, firstly, by river transport to shellal, a port in aswan, and then by land to their emigration site. naturally, both methods resulted in excessive nubian movement. moreover, nubians who emigrated from nubia before this plan became deficient of any subventions or land regardless of previously having owned and lost in old nubia. unfortunately, implementation did not match the planning stages; many notes could be abstracted in the following (zohry & harrell-bond, 2003): – the old nubian villages, before the construction of the high dam, were spread out accurately along the shore of the nile with wide site. on the other hand, new villages in kom ombo were closed, clustered and crowded with house units, thus, contradicted the demands of the nubian liaison with the nile and their idiosyncratic nature. – the house design was economical in terms of area and content as they were connected and cleaved together. a design nubians rejected and considered a psychogenetic side to their nature. – the location of water closets in new emigration houses had been badly located. located near the main entrance and guest room, they were not viable for use by inhabitants since they were exposed. figure 3. depicts the planning nubian villages and the nubianhouse designed by the ministry of social affairs figure 4. depicts the emigration of nubians and the nubianhousing in the new nasser village pg. 20 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – as for materials used, the walls were of stone and rubble stone and the roofs were of reinforced concrete. direct thermal transfer into the houses were then made possible through the roof. – the emigration project of the nubians was incorporated into a governmental plan of egyptian rejuvenation. consequently, the nubians found themselves within a huge society. it became essential that they lived and embraced new and different traditions and cultures, which led to the loss of own culture, heritage and identity. – nubian unique architecture was then lost to a new concrete world and to this standardized dwelling; abandoned was their innovation. 2. vocabularies of nubian vernacular architecture description of the village: a village in old nubia consists of nugu, a village that is located in parallel to the nile’s shore. there existed three kinds of nubians in old nubia: the kenuzi from the north, the arab and the mahas from the south of the kenuzi villages. all villages contain in their center (1) a main mosque, (2) a social center, (3) a post office and (4) a few shops. see figure 5. the nubian houses took a linear form and were ordered in rows that faced the nile. the linearity always occurred due to the natural contours and geographical aspects involved. facing the nile river generated the interaction and intermixing between nubian dwellings and nature, which generated a unique and natural fabric for villages in old nubia (el-hakim, 1993). in larger communities, other communal amenities were included such as a village guesthouse, a fountain, or a mosque, as in the arab district, which had a public water tap and adjoining toilet facilities. the mosque has been subject to the main adaptation. its original courtyard was covered with a vault to increase space and at the same time two new courtyards were added. the first form of the entrance to the mosque, alongside another at the back, is very large and has at one end a guestroom, a loggia and the washing area. before and after modification, the mosque remained a complete entity and retained its sacred atmosphere. the whole village resembled a living organism, constantly growing and changing (el-hakim, 1993). house locations: all houses in nubia, and their main entrances, were located as to face the nile river without obligations to geographic directions. house doorways: doorways were heavily decorated and demonstrated nubian heritage. they were the main feature of adornment, which would be carried out starting with the entrance and continued to the rest of the house. nubian families believed that their highly decorated and colorful doorway was an example of reverence towards the nile as shown in figure 5. additionally, there was a side or rear entrance to the house, often used by women for daily chores. this type of additional entrance was used in linear extended houses depending on a need for direct access from the courtyard to the whole of the house. arrangement of the house: the open courtyard is the main focus of the house in which it could be accessed easily from the entrance as well as rooms adjacent. in the kenuzi and mahas districts, “houses were structured along the lines of the extended family and were generally built in semi-detached terraces” (safwat, 2004). similarly, single residences existed, especially in the arab and mahas districts, where the houses were built with a square or rectangular shaped courtyard surrounded by a perimeter wall. extra space in the courtyard was used to later allow for house expansions. the extended family simply expanded within the complex, adding rooms and storage as the family needed to grow. the arrangement of a nubian house was especially apparent in the courtyard. the courtyard was the central part of the house and despite its proximity to the main entrance, it remained private, sheltered and detached for members of the family as well as visitors. it was equipped with ‘mastabat’, raised seats of stone or brick, along the walls, which made it flexible for most activities such as cooking, washing, sitting and even for sleeping during the hot pg. 21 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd summer nights. nubians houses were sometimes divided into two-storey structures connected via staircases located by a corner of the courtyard, which would be found in north nubia. in some village specially kenuzi and mahas, houses had another courtyard, the rear courtyard was separated from the main entrance, it served the farmer who owned animals, it was directly connected with rear entrance which was easily for women to move through the house and from out to into the house. the living room and khayma: living rooms were either open to the courtyards while some rooms had high wallto-wall openings above the door. there existed flat roofed spaces, facing living rooms such as tents, known as a “khayma”, that were covered with palm branches and stems (el-hakim, 1999). more like a loggia, it was a covered sitting area along the open courtyard, which had higher end walls, and consequently a higher roofline, raised by brick columns that are as high as one meter. this resulted in an improved air circulation and maintenance of the space to cool during summers. guest room and the mandara: nubians were friendly people and displayed their affability by caring for the guest rooms as they considered it to be an important part of the house. the guest rooms usually had separate entrances to allow the guests some freedom in movement as well as maintain the privacy of the inner family quarters. roofs: the nubians of the mahas and arab districts used split palm trunks to construct their roofs and wood beams made of acacias. palm reed thatch and woven palm fronds covered the beams. in the kenuzi district, however, roofs were constructed as centenary vaults and domes (figure 5). figure 5. the vocabularies of old nubian architecture doors and windows: the nubians supported for the windows were placed in the walls during construction, and the doors and windows were shaped reaching of the walls. in order to provide privacy and reduce the area exposed to the heat and glare of the sun, the windows were built as narrow slits located just below the roof. external plastering: especially in the kenuzi and arab districts, houses were generally whitewashed. the exteriors of the houses were plastered with a mixture of mud, clay and rock salt from the adjoining rises. the shapes of kenuzi houses were special. the women and children of the family plastered and decorated the interiors and the exteriors of their homes with bright, bold and colorful designs using paints made of calicoes, ferrous and bauxite compounds available in the area. the designs often symbolized the arts of nubians they draw many objects such as plants, trees, cars, and airplanes or sometimes described the nubians people when the hajj returning from the holy city of makkah. ventilation: the courtyard allows fresh air and sunlight to circulate through and move into was the internal part of the dwelling via internal openings such as doorways and sometimes medium sized windows covered with wood shuttering. this acted as a ventilating device and a ”private piece of sky” for the benefit of the family. glass was pg. 22 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd very rarely used since it had to be brought from aswan. the very small windows lying just below the rafters or vaulted roofing allowed hot air, rising from within a room, to escape and fresh air to enter from the courtyard (el-hakim, 1993). catenaries vaulting: the vaults were made of roofing that is used today in many parts of the mediterranean, the african continent and latin america. the earliest recorded evidence of mud brick construction using a catenaries roof was found in egyptian nubia at the fortress of kuban, a little south of el-dakka on the east bank of the nile as shown in figure 6. figure 6. depicts the roofing methods using the vaults the bricks used for vaults had special dimensions of 25*15*5 cm and contained more straw than usual to allow for improved lightness and strength. without scaffolding or centering, the mason roughly outlined the parabolic form of the vault in mud on the end wall of the room, which was raised higher than the rest (el-hakim, 1993). 3. nubians economics the economics in nubia is dependent on the export of dates as it were the basic source of income for all of nubia before the building of the aswan high dam. since then, trade had prospered in parallel with the consecutive enhancement of the dam and nubian flooded date palm orchards. see figure 7. between the closing and opening of the dam; the floods of the lake, increase and decrease of the nile, cultivation became legalized along a narrow strip of land for only four months of the year. major year-round agriculture was incomplete to the southern district of the mahas, where the dam reservoir did not greatly affect the agricultural land. figure 7. depicts some images of nubian industries although the nubian was completely close to the nile’s shore, fishing never became an important source of income or nutrition in nubia. livestock, however, existed in large quantities during the summer when the nomadic tribes of the eastern desert would graze their camels, sheep and goats along the banks of the river before traveling north at the end of the summer to souks in aswan. similarly, textiles in nubia was an irregular industry but was particularly taken for a practice in houses or in small shops to sell in small and close villages (robert a. et al, 1973). nubia has a great potential in maintain a sustainable economy by being a main center for the exchange of commodities with different cities in africa. its location make sit eligible to contain a dry port that can promote nubia as a global hub for trade (amer, 2018). pg. 23 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.1. nubian traditions believed to be the first human race to roam the earth, nubians are known to have passed down their customs and traditions to ancient egyptians. they are people known for their artistic nature, sheer honesty and simplicity. known to the greek as ethiopians and their land ‘the land of punts’, they find comfort in living by the bank of the nile. as for family, a nubian prefers to marry from the family such as a cousin and celebrate with a ceremony that could last for up to 40 days allowing a proper practice of rituals. for instance, one of the understood rituals include the purchase of garments and several gifts by the groom for the bride, her mother and sisters as shown in a series of images in figure 8. figure 8. depicts some picture of nubian traditions. according to thomas , “these presents are boarded on a camel and adorned with decorations such as colorful silk fabrics and jewelry. during the wedding ceremony the groom is well-dressed, holding a sword and a whip” (2015). known for their peacefulness, nubians have displayed evidence of their brilliance and serene existence that has added to the tribe. as a result, indicated was a fact that they were not pretenders or slaves. moreover, jewelry was a nubian women’s favorite form of decoration as they normally covered their bodies by accessorizing. women often wear necklaces around the neck topped by two lines of jewelry bearing the divine name of allah (thomas, 2015). 4. return to the homeland the difference between the architecture of new nubia planned by the egyptian government as and that of old nubia has had a dramatic effect on the identity and consciousness of nubians. nubians who relocated at kom ombo and edna had begun to voice dissatisfaction with their treatment and began to form cooperatives to rebuild their homes on the shores of lake nasser. the nubians of kom-ombo lined themselves to create a cooperative and decided to return immediately after a government decree was issued allowing them to return to old nubia. other cooperatives were formed at abu simbel, sadat, wadi alaqui, qustul and adindan, these townships were the first to return to old nubia in 1977. it is the migration of this last community, consisting of qustul and adindan township (obluski, 2006). some nubians started to, single-handedly, build houses in different locations in the western artery of the nile in aswan. building them how and where they needed, now one of these areas is named western aswan village, one of the largest filled with nubian inhabitants. during the process of their emigration, nubians established groups and designed websites to promote their cause, in all governorates, to challenge the government to help them in returning to their homeland. successfully, the united nations provided its support in 1987 and recommended, after the lake of the high dam was closely located, to rehabilitate the nubians along the shore of lake nasser. pg. 24 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.1. geographical limits of old nubian villages old nubia was located between the first and sixth cataracts of the nile river. the first bounded the land of nubia from the north and the latter bounded it from the far south, which was located north of modern khartoum. tribes living in the area, at different periods, consisted of diverse ethnic groups at times and politically complex kingdoms at others. furthermore, egypt bordered nubian from the south and its close proximity resulted in its frequent domination of the area. however, nubia still flourished and prospered during the times it was free of the egyptian state. their peak, economic independence, and formulation of kingdoms of great dynamism took place during those times (3050 bc) and onward. (obluski, 2006). 4.2. lake nasser as established, the construction of the high dam of aswan took place in the 1960s. known as the largest manmade lake in the world, it plays a huge role in supporting industries of egypt. one of its most affected is fishing as it yields from 15,000 to 25,000 tons per annum. on another hand, hopes that the lake would then provide agricultural support remain. moreover, the dam is 298 miles long, 10 miles wide and could hold a water capacity of up to 130 million acre-feet. 24 million of the 130 are “dead storage for sediment and 73 million acre-feet as live storage” according to the (britannica encyclopaedia, 2017). according to the source, about one-quarter of the nile flowing into the lake is then lost to evaporation and leakage. 4.3. climate the nubian area enjoys a dry, mild desert climate. without too much humidity, comfort is mostly sensed. during winter months, the area does not suffer heavy rain but experiences it in light and rare episodes. nubia experiences wind during winter months, usually from december and until the end of february, and rarely ever during summer time. the area’s temperature varies during each month: from october to april, the weather reach a slow as 8 degrees celsius while from june to september it would be hot and dry. however, the hottest months are known to be august and september as it could reach 40°c. during the day, the average temperature ranges from 30 to 35 degrees celsius and often reaches lower numbers by the nasser lake due to the water’s cooling effect (climate: aswan, 2015). 5. proposal: rehabilitation of nubian settlement along the shore of lake nasser the idea to rehabilitate the nubian area stems from a notion of relocating lost nubian villages and moving flooded sites along the shore of lake nasser and parallel to the old site using the same old names. the location of the nubian village must be near the nile shore that will identify with hypostasis of the nubian people and provide them with the chance to reclaim their wealth. see figure 9a. the village of new kalabsha in the west bank of nile awaits in-depth studies, plans and design proposals. accordingly, other villages will undergo rehabilitation alongside proposals for new kalabsha. see figure 9b, table 1. pg. 25 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. a (right): depicts the relocation of all nubian villages along the shore of lake nasser. b (left): depicts the new location of the kalabsha village. 5.1. site potential and available resources this area provides a high potential for foreshore agriculture. however, environmental, ecological and economical aspects must be considered within this development. there is also a high potential for upland agriculture. the main criteria for potential areas are the soil quality, the distance to the lake and the altitude. other important resource in table 1. depicts the context of the chosen site and itsaccessibility as well as the requirements that maybe added to the site fordevelopment. site roadways waterways railways airways main roads links there is only one abu simbel. this well paved road in the region; it connects aswan and road is also of great importance in view of the tushka development. linking roads road. connect the main road to the aswan airport there is no to other cities proper transportation of products by ships except to aswan. na an airport near aswan and one in abu simbel requirements the main connection should be extended to cairo and the nile valley the costal track should be constructed as to link kalabsha and east tushka. the boat lines should be improved but more for tourist purpose than for other transportation. parallel to the main road, a new railway line between aswan and abu simbel should be erected the market access through airways is an important feature and both airports should be improved pg. 26 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd all nubian areas that is cultural tourism, kalabsha city will be as a model for all nubia; this will be a good resource to fund development of nubia 5.2. contemporary nubian architecture regarding the previous study about nubian architecture, the new vision for nubian residences should incorporate a shared and main concept that highlights the nubian culture and heritage. additionally, and alongside the rapid and over-development in the life of the nubian, the house should combine the generic concept of house designing and the new needs for current and civilized generations. – all of the houses and its entrances should face the shore of the nile to enhance the relation between the people the nile. – the houses must be divided according to nubian ethics and traditions while considering climatic treatments as shown in figure 10 below. – the streets should be narrow and winding to increase shadows along streets and to increase the specialty. – the site topography should be maintained according to use and distribution as to formalize the urban fabric of the village. the village should contain a variation of resources of sustenance such as commercial, industrial, agricultural, fishery, managerial or educational. see figure 11. figure 10. a (left): depicts the street spaces and design that give more shade to pedestrians. b (right): depicts the fabric of the village and provides nubians with an experience similar to those of their original homes. figure 11. depicts the diagram of the new nubian house and twoalternative samples – alongside the contents of nubian houses, the supplementation of new content will be fulfilled in a way as to meet needs of civilized nubians. added elements include: one more toilet, bath room or guest room. other additions may encompass separate entrances for guests or replacing other bedrooms with guest rooms. pg. 27 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – the courtyard should be developed and may be divided into two parts; one for family and another that is semi-closed to contain the mandara. the division of the courtyard may increase the shadows and increase the specialty. – modern needs such as television or internet access and modern fashion of decoration or furniture will be considered without neglecting culture or identity. – the local materials for walls and roofs should be used in new villages. – the same style of building or finishing should be adopted, with minor developments yet identical characteristics, in service of construction techniques. for example, the vault may now be built easily as opposed to earlier times. with acknowledgment to modern techniques and experienced workers, the vault may be built in two directions to create a better flow of air. – in summary, the needs of the nubian people should be considered in this process of rehabilitation to help them in rebuilding and maintaining their identity and heritage. 5.2.1. developing the vault the vaults in new kalabsha will develop to increase air flow inside the house; the idea will take original construction methods for ease, however reposition the vaults in opposing or crossing directions to catch the air if the wind direction is changed as shown in figure 12. figure 12. a, b (left and middle): depicts the new type of crossed vaults. c (right): depicts the new two-level vaults. the vaults also take other shapes as they may be in two levels to increase the area of small openings in vaults towards the wind. in this case, high levels of vaults will create a wind-catcher effect known as a malqaf as shown in figure 13. figure 13. depicts the natural ventilation using the vaults pg. 28 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.2.2. settlement distribution proposal of kalabsha city will divide to mother village, and two cluster villages, the cluster villages will locate near the shore because of three main reasons. the first reason is foreshore agriculture, best suitable up to a lake shore altitude, while the second is potential highland agriculture. the third and final reason is to maintain nubian culture, identity and quality. figure 14 below, accordingly, presents the proposal of kalabsha village visually on a map. figure 14. the proposal of kalabsha village. to reach sustainability, settlements should not rely on a single economic factor such as upland and foreshore agriculture. the mother village in the center concentrates on upland agriculture and the services it provides. the distribution must include direct links connecting to the clusters. providing connection between the clusters is important for the exchange, trade and transportation of goods, products, specialized services, employment opportunities, communication, and establishment of rapid access. the clusters connected with a direct link to the mother village and to the main existing road help clusters in further developments. 5.3. sustainability and future growth of the new kalabsha although the ecological resources assist in the sustenance and development of kalabsha, the design of the city should consider sustainability and the city’s future growth. the alternatives to funds and resources such as agriculture, fishing, trade, and tourism must be found as they are necessary for city growth. the artery of the nile and the connections between clusters, the mother village and the main roads will define the city’s future growth. the growth will continue as to reach the main border through the growth of clusters and their attachment to the mother village. pg. 29 amer / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 6. recommendations the rehabilitation of nubia is needed since the stability is possible by lake nasser. nubian rights to return back to their homeland will help in the development of southern egypt instead of their scattering in many different cities. participation of the public is also necessary to develop further rehabilitation plans and benefit from different ideas and opinions. this process has been ongoing in egypt for many purposes; it assists decision makers receiving the feedback of citizens in projects before acted as to ensure a successful future (amer & aly, 2011). this specific gap was noticeably present in the emigration project; therefore, this paper recommends that decision makers consider this process in order to achieve just results. the paper also encourages nubians to uphold their traditions and pass on their culture to following generations. references 1. aly, s. s. a., & amer, m. s. e. (2011). public involvement in sustainable development: a public participation process in the sidi gaber railway station development project, alexandria, egypt. wit transactions on ecology and the environment, 150, 537-552. 2. amer, m. (2018). the dry port as a holistic approach for the relocation of city gateways. the international journal of environmental science & sustainable development, 2(1), 1-11. doi:10.21625/essd.v2i1.168.g70 3. climate: aswan. (2015, august 09). retrieved april, 2018, from https://en.climate-data.org/location/6 344/ 4. el-hakim, o. m. (1993). nubian architecture: the egyptian vernacular experience. zamalek, cairo: palm press. 5. el-hakim, o. m. (1999). nubian architecture: the egyptian vernacular experience. cairo, egypt: palm press. 6. encyclopædia britannica. (2017). lake nasser. in encyclopædia britannica. 7. fernea, r. a. (1973). nubians in egypt: peaceful people (1st ed.). austin: university of texas press. 8. jennings, a. m. (1995). the nubians of west aswan: village women in the midst of change. boulder: l. rienner. 9. obłuski, a. (2006). the formation of the nobadian state. social changes in lower nubia in late antiquity. retrieved april, 2018, from http://www.academia.edu/462097/the formation of the nobadian state. soci al changes in lower nubia in late antiquity 10. safwat, a. (2004). solar architecture & computer: the effect of nature on the shaping of residential buildings at nasser lake zone. (unpublished master’s thesis). ain shams university in cairo. retrieved april, 2018, from http://www.cpas-egypt.com/pdf/ahmed safwat/m.sc/001 introducation.pdf 11. thomas, i. (2015, december 3). nubia and the noba people. retrieved april, 2018, from http://www.black historymonth.org.uk/article/section/pre-colonial-history/nubia-and-the-noba-people/ 12. trigger, b. g. (1976). nubia under the pharaohs. london: thames and hudson. 13. zohry, a., & harrell-bond, b. (2003). contemporary egyptian migration: an overview of voluntary and forced migration. manuscript in preparation, american university in cairo. retrieved april, 2018, from http://www.migrationdrc.org/publications/working papers/wp-c3.pdf pg. 30 introduction history and cultural heritage the nubian exodus the emigration to kom ombo: vocabularies of nubian vernacular architecture nubians economics nubian traditions return to the homeland geographical limits of old nubian villages lake nasser climate proposal: rehabilitation of nubian settlement along the shore of lake nasser site potential and available resources contemporary nubian architecture developing the vault settlement distribution sustainability and future growth of the new kalabsha recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.33 challenges to the multi-functional uses and multifarious benefits of urban green spaces: basis of urban biodiversity planning and management in the city of manila, philippines leonora gonzales1, dina magnaye2 1technical adviser and consultant, department of environment and natural resources,visayas avenue, quezon city, philippines 2assistant professor, school of urban and regional planning, university of the philippines, diliman, quezon city, philippines and affiliate assistant professor, university of the philippines open university, los banos, laguna, philippines abstract urbanization is a global phenomenon which is projected by the united nations to grow annually at 65 million between 2000 and 2030 in developing countries. as an archipelagic nation, the philippines is considered to be a highly urbanized nation where over three-fourths of its population is estimated to reside in urban areas, posting a proportion of one person residing in rural areas for every three in urban areas. the national capital region (ncr), the core region of the country, registers a 100% urbanization level, and it is where the most densely populated areas converge. it generally exhibits an urban population growth rate that exceeds the national growth rate. manila, the capital city of the philippines, is the second largest and the world’s most densely populated city given its small land area and huge human population. the concentration of people in this city and the urbanization processes are foreseen to create environmental stress leading to potential biodiversity losses coupled with other urban environmental occurrences such as flooding, air pollution, sea level rise, earthquakes, subsidence, traffic congestion, water pollution, among others. these natural and man-made hazards pose a challenge to the multifunctional uses and various benefits of urban green spaces (ugs). ugs play a significant role in enhancing the quality and resiliency of the environment as well as in improving the health and general well-being of city dwellers. it is in this context that the challenges and opportunities of ugs are examined. this paper attempts to identify and determine the factors that influence ugs as a basis for urban biodiversity planning and management. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban biodiversity; urban green space; green space; urban biodiversity planning and management; urbanization; urban ecosystem pg. 69 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1. introduction urbanization becomes a worldwide phenomenon and cannot be easily disentangled with industrialization. the 2015 revision of the world population prospects of the united nations (un) projects that the annual expansion of urban population in developing countries will reach more than 65 million between 2000 and 2030. it is worth noting that developing countries started to urbanize at calamitous rate with urban population growth of 188 percent between 1950 and 1975 (annez & buckley, n.d.). the rapid increase in population will create pressure to the utilization of human and natural resources, given hard competition among highly productive economic activities. as a consequence, urbanization catalyzes the growth of cities and at the same time diminishes biodiversity as evidenced by degradation or loss of the natural habitats of plants and animals and scarcity or endangerment of species. the article 2 of the convention on biological diversity (cbd) refers to biodiversity as the “variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and ecosystems” (un, 1992). likewise, the philippine biodiversity strategy and action plan (pbsap) defines biodiversity as the “variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which said organisms occur” (”department of environment and natural resources”, 2016) and is usually considered at three levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. biodiversity also refers to all species of plants, animals and microorganisms existing and interacting within an ecosystem (altieri, 1999). the united nations environmental program (unep) also characterizes biodiversity as the variety of life on earth. it includes all organisms, species, and populations; the genetic variation among these; and their complex assemblages of communities and ecosystems (benn, 2010). fundamentally, there is a positive interconnection between increasing urbanization and a decline in biodiversity (hardman, 2011). the former is considered to be one of the most important predictors of biodiversity loss (czech, krausman, & devers, 2000; davis, 2013). other main causes of biodiversity loss include changes in ecosystem composition, presence of invasive alien species, over exploitation of species, pollution, and contamination as well as global climate change. biodiversity is not so simply defined in urban contexts, particularly in the philippines (”department of environment and natural resources”, 2014). the fifth national report of the philippine to the convention on biological diversity (cbd) underscored that during the national consultation for the pbsap in november 2013, the scope of biodiversity in the city is not as clearly defined as biodiversity in non-urban areas. there is hardly any literature about biodiversity that tackles urban localities. according to the report to the secretariat of the convention on biological diversity (2012), “the inattention to urban biodiversity may partly be shaped by the visible lack of habitable spaces in the city for plant and animal species to thrive. furthermore, the report cited that “biologically dead rivers, impermeable open spaces and polluted storm water canals are but a few reasons why cities are inhospitable to biodiversity.” the highly urbanized character of the philippines given an urban population, which is steeply growing from 48.6 percent in 1990 to 48.9 percent in 2010 (”asian development bank”, 2014), and with almost two-thirds of the population projected to live in urban areas by 2030 (”department of environment and natural resources”, 2014) merit the formulation of the pbsap that incorporates urban biodiversity. it is anticipated that biodiversity loss will be greatly felt in urban areas and its fringes where people are abound. urban biodiversity planning and management becomes essential in the light of the many potential negative consequences of biodiversity loss brought about by a multitude of human activities. 2. attributes and importance of urban biodiversity urban biodiversity is the variety and richness of living organisms (including genetic variation) and habitat diversity found in and on the edge of human settlement, and ranges from the rural fringe to the urban core (”secretariat of the convention on biological diversity”, 2012). furthermore, the cbd secretariat characterizes urban biodiversity to pg. 70 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd consist of the remnants of natural landscapes (e.g. leftovers of primeval forests); traditional agricultural landscapes (e.g. meadows, areas of arable land); and urban–industrial landscapes (e.g. city centers, residential areas, industrial parks, railway areas, formal parks and gardens, and brownfields). there are three main attributes of biodiversity, namely composition, structure and functions which are described by vold and buffet (2000) as follows: “a) composition wherein the identity and variety of an ecological system, which is measured in terms of species, richness, and diversity; b) structure, which refers to the physical organization or pattern of a system extending from habitat complexity to the pattern of habitats or patches and other elements from the perspective of a landscape; and c) functions, which describe the results of one or more ecological and evolutionary processes in addition to a biotic processes, such as soil development and hydro logical cycles.” these primary attributes of biodiversity are evident in an urban ecosystem and define the importance of protecting and preserving urban biodiversity. animal and plant species provide humans with food and all their basic needs (vold and buffett, 2000). in particular, forests and the terrestrial ecosystems provide environmental goods (i.e. food, fresh water, fuel, fiber); regulating services (i.e. climate regulation, flood regulation, disease regulation, water purification); supporting services (i.e. nutrient cycling, soil formation); and cultural services (i.e. aesthetic, spiritual, educational, recreational) (”united nations environmental program”, 2008). 2.1. relating biodiversity with the urban ecosystem urban ecosystems have usually been examined in terms of their impact on biodiversity, and they significantly affect adjacent ecosystems (savard, clergeau, & mennechez, 2000). this offers valuable lessons by applying biodiversity concepts and principles to the urban ecosystem. the 2012 cities and biodiversity outlook (cbo) points to three major classifications of biodiversity concerns related to urban ecosystem. these include: a) those related to the impact of the city itself on adjacent ecosystems; b) those dealing with how to maximize biodiversity within the urban ecosystem, and c) those related to the management of undesirable species within the ecosystem (savard, clergeau, & mennechez, 2000). while species’ diversity and abundance are often related to the quality of urban life, the overabundance of some species can be at times undesirable (adams, 1994), (middleton, 1994). urban ecosystems tend to be characterized by unnatural or artificial ecosystems (savard, clergeau, & mennechez, 2000) but the application of biodiversity concepts may lead to important management of natural ecosystems. urban development creates opportunities for the introduction of non-native or exotic species, which lead to the extinction and elimination of a large majority of native species (vale & vale, 1976; luniak, 1994; kowarik, 1995). in addition, urbanization continues to be regarded as more lasting than any other types of habitat loss (mckinney, 2002). this constitutes a replacement that “threatens to reduce the biological uniqueness of local ecosystems” (blair, 2001). this forms another conservation challenge to urban growth. according to czech et al., (2000) urbanization endangers more species and is more geographically ubiquitous in the mainland united states that any other human activity. species threatened by urbanization also tend to be threatened by agriculture, recreation, roads, and many other human impacts, emphasizing the uniquely far-reaching transformations that accompany urban sprawl (mckinney, 2002). savard, clergeau, and mennechez (2000) added that habitat fragmentation can be extreme within urban ecosystems. in a park, shrubs abundance and distribution will influence the presence and abundance of bird species nesting in shrubs whereas park distribution, size, and abundance in a city will affect bird diversity (savard, clergeau, & mennechez, 2000). 2.2. examining the role of urban green space in urban biodiversity ugs include domestic gardens, parks and, woodlands and provide a multitude of benefits to human urban population, as well as a vital habitat for wildlife (”a brief guide to the benefits of urban green spaces”, 2015). green pg. 71 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd space also refers to turf-related surfaces as residential lawns, commercial or institutional turf surfaces, and public facilities, such as parks and playing fields (heinze, 2011). in his research, heinze identifies the environmental and human health benefits of green space as presented in the matrix below: environmental and human health benefits of green spaces. table 1. source of basic data: heinze (2011) type of benefit contribution to environmental and human health environmental benefits erosion control and run-off prevention stabilizes and protects the soil against water and wind erosion. water purification absorbs rainfall and also traps as well as removes pollutants, which are broken down by the root system and soil microbes. air purification purifies and traps more than 12 million tons of dust, soil and other particulate matter. important in urban areas due to the high incidence of asthma and other breathing disorders. temperature modification/energy and cost saving reduces air conditioning costs, potentially saving $6.3 billion (u.s., 2005). . . despite the projected effects of climate change, addition of 10% green space in high density urban areas will allow cities to maintain current summer temperature levels (and thus current summer utility costs) for the next 70 years (up to 2080). oxygen generation a 50 by 50 foot green space releases enough oxygen for a family of four on a daily basis, an average 18hole golf course release enough oxygen for 4,000 to 7,000 people and green space along the u.s. interstate highway system releases enough oxygen for 22 million people. carbon sequestration sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. health benefits recreation provides ideal surfaces for a variety of recreational and sports activity and high use activities including parks and playgrounds. increased physical activity/reducing obesity allows more active physical activity and reduces risk of obesity. healthcare/stress reduction karuppannan et al. (2014) emphasized that ugs plays an important role in enhancing the quality of the environment, especially for urban biodiversity. they also cited that “there is a strong relationship between green open space, peoples’ mental and physical well-being and presence of biodiversity and wildlife habitats within established built environments.” he added that “ugs and biodiversity are crucial to sustainable cities because it involves social, economic and environmental issues and if managed properly, they result in ecological benefits for its inhabitants.” pg. 72 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. urban biodiversity in the local context: manila city as a representative case study manila city is a highly-urbanized city of the philippines. the concentration of people in this city and the urbanization processes obtaining therein affect not only the terrestrial but also other ecosystems primarily due to the pressing demands for resources and the wastes generated. the unplanned growth of the city alongside the looming threats of climate change have resulted in perennial flooding in the city of manila. in terms of ugs, manila city boasts of a network of parks and green spaces embodied in the 2005-2020 manila comprehensive land use plan and zoning ordinance (mclupzo). the “city beautiful movement” was one of the five plan hi-lights of the said document during the previous local dispensation. it consisted of sub plans on “city imageability”, open space network plan, among others. however, these plans are held in abeyance pending the revision of the 2006 comprehensive land use plan (clup). the city of manila was on the drawing board of daniel burnham when he introduced city planning in the country together with baguio city. however, the concept revolved around aesthetics and landscape more than urban biodiversity consideration. urban human settlements design and development looks at open spaces as a soft, non-structural engineering intervention to address resiliency. the existing network of more than 50 parks, plazas, and monuments around the city affords an opportunity for promoting urban biodiversity with proper planning, development and management of ugs towards conservation management. 3.1. urban green space inventory as a supply determinant of urban biodiversity the supply of ugs can be analyzed through urban green space inventory (ugsi). this approach involves the gathering of ugs baseline data to include, but not limited to, general information, biophysical characteristics, ecological terrain, institutional landscape and financial arrangements with the use of spatial and mapping tools, such as the global positioning system (gps) and ground validation. figure 1. urban green space inventory as a supply determinant of urban biodiversity pg. 73 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the study involved the conduct of ugsi to provide a clear and accurate understanding of the current “biodiversity stock” in a given area. a quick survey and collection of information of the kind of plant species found in an existing and potential biodiversity station generated the needed information and identified the level of biodiversity in terms of species richness and diversity. such data was utilized in assessing the area’s potential as a part of the hierarchy and network of biodiversity stations in promoting connectivity as input to biodiversity, planning, and management. the ugsi performed in the study covered the determination of the extent of vegetative cover, impervious areas, land use compatibility, and other biophysical and ecological, as well as institutional and financial mechanisms that would make urban biodiversity stations sustainable. a survey instrument was designed in consultation with subject matter experts in key informant interviews (i.e., key resource persons from the scientific community, academe, national government agencies, non-government organizations (ngos), and the local government units). the instrument was presented to two focus group discussions and pretested prior to the conduct of the inventory. actual ground verification of the data generated was also undertaken. this constituted the flora assessment of the vegetative cover of the parks more accurately indicating the species (whether endemic, native or indigenous, introduced and “naturalized” or exotic) present in the area. this was a step forward in analyzing the potential of a given area as an urban biodiversity station, which is characterized by substantial vegetative cover, high level or presence of native and indigenous species, with relatively bigger space made of impervious materials and enough to sustain connectivity of species. 3.2. prevailing conditions of the urban green spaces in manila city 3.2.1. scope of urban green space inventory two districts in manila city were selected namely: district 1 and district 5 (fig. 1). district 1 became the focus of a slum upgrading project in the 1970s under the world bank, while district 5 is considered to be the biggest district. around 21 ugs were inventoried: five in district 1 and 16 in district 5. the table below shows the parks, plazas, and monuments that were covered by the ugsi: table 2. urban green spaces inventoried in district 1 and district 5 of manila city, philippines 8be6d6 district park/plaza/monument district 1 (tondo) (5) tahanang masa center island plaza moriones plaza morga plaza la liga filipina plaza leon/hernandez district 5 (ermita, intramuros, malate, paco, port area and san andres) (16) fort santiago liwasang bonifacio arroceros park alexander puskin monument kartilya ng katipunan monument olivia salamanca paco park plaza dilao plaza roma gomburza shrine luneta park plaza guerrero ferguson plaza rajah sulayman plaza salvador rueda remedios circle malate park 3.2.2. urban green space situationer in district 1 and district 5 of manila city the ugs situationer covers the characterization and analysis of the presence of historical markings, condition of inventoried ugs, size of ugs, number of trees in inventoried ugs, species recorded, height of trees, total basal area, crown canopy, and vegetated area. ground truthing and validation were adopted to describe the ugs in the relevant districts of manila city. number of trees in inventoried areas. a total of 6,564 trees were inventoried, 6,476 mature trees in district 5 and 88 trees in district 1. in district 1, most (48) of the trees are found in moriones park followed by plaza morga (24 pg. 74 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. location map for district 1 and district 5 of manilacity, philippinessource: mclupzo 2005-2020 ec385abf1236 trees). under district 5, a large number of mature trees were recorded in luneta park reaching a total of 3,424. most of the mature trees in this district were also found in arroceros park (1,088 trees) and fort santiago (557 trees). the number of trees inventoried in district 1 and district 5 is presented in figures 2 and 3, respectively. figure 3. numberof inventoried trees in district 1, manila city, philippines pg. 75 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd presence of historical markings. there are 20 out of 21 inventoried ugs that highlight the presence of historical monuments. only arroceros park does not have a historical marking. the national cultural heritage act of 2009 (republic act 10066) stipulates the significance of honoring illustrious persons or commemorative events of historical value based on the declaration of the national historical institute. aside from historical monuments, these parks are well-lit by lamp posts, which are powered by non-renewable sources. furthermore, the inventoried parks function as a venue for passive and active recreation, social gatherings, and public events, among others. condition of inventoried ugs. among the inventoried ugs, six of them are heavily planted to include liwasang bonifacio, alexander puskin park, plaza moriones, luneta park, paco park and fort santiago. most of these parks are situated in district 5 of the city of manila. the ugsi also revealed that the improvement of trees is necessary since a number of them have been exposed to extreme cases of vandalism and less attention (fig. 4). wounded trees were used as trash/disposal bins of cigarette butts. the tree cavities were also inserted with discarded clothes and other types of solid waste materials. generally, the mature trees suffer decay and require immediate attention. dead standing trees were observed in plaza bonifacio, kartilya katipunan and alexander pushkin park and may pose danger to public. figure 4. photos showing condition of inventoried urban green spaces size of urban green spaces. the largest green space is located in district 5. luneta park or rizal park has a total area of 580,000 sq m (fig. 5) fort santiago ranks next with an area of 49,198 sq m and arroceros park with 23,881 sq m. these parks are also found in district 5. the smallest green space was plaza la liga filipina in district 1 with an area of 258 sq m. as cited in lee et al., (2015), there is some suggestion that size matters, with greater benefits associated with larger green spaces. furthermore, they cited that “the size of the ugs may also dictate how it is used, in that larger spaces may be more likely to be used for physical activity, while smaller spaces are primarily used for “socializing” and “rest and restitution.” this denotes the health-promoting value of green space for relaxation and stress reduction as well as its social value as a platform for social cohesiveness. thus, luneta park, arroceros park and fort santiago in district 1 demonstrate the principle of health promotion capability of a green space. figure 5. selected photos of ugs pg. 76 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd species recorded. indigenous and exotic species were both found in districts 1 and 5 of the city of manila. indigenous tree species are those that have evolved in the same area, region, or bio type where the forest stand is growing and are adapted to the specific ecological conditions predominant at the time of the establishment of the stand (dayan, reaviles & bandian, 2016). exotic or introduced trees or invasive species are those that are bought to the country. of the total trees recorded, an equal proportion of indigenous and exotic species was recorded. the indigenous species are dominated by narra (pterocarpus indicus) (874 or 41%), manila palm (adonidia merrillii) (488 or 23%), and fire tree (delonix regia) (385 or 14%) (fig. 6a). comparatively, almost half of the inventoried trees (3,312 or 50.4%) are considered as exotic species, mostly mahogany (swietenia sp) (784 or 26%), molave (vitex parviflora) (385 or 13%) and mango (mangifera sp) (304 or 10%) (fig. 7b). exotic species are said to compete with indigenous species in terms of nutrient absorption and may have negative effects on the environment, local economy and human health. figure 6. (a) indigenous species inventoried, districts 1 and 5, manila city, philippines space run: y figure 7. (b) exotic species inventoried, districts 1 and 5, manila city, philippines height of trees: the average height of trees in the surveyed ugs ranged from 3 meters to 12 meters (fig. 8). in district 1, the average height of trees is from 3 meters to 12 meters and 5 meters to 11 meters in district 5. the smallest average height of 3 meters was observed in plaza leon hernandez in district 1. the management of urban green spaces contributed to the short height of trees. crown canopy: in district 1, the crown canopy ranges from 2 percent to 23 percent with the trees in tahanang masa central island recording the highest (fig. 9a). the trees in district 5 have generally wider crown canopy pg. 77 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. average height of trees in surveyed urban green spaces from 2 percent to 47 percent. the trees in plaza roma have the highest crown cover of 47% and the lowest in remedios circle park (2%). vegetated area: the vegetated area of a given green space is estimated through the crown canopy. generally, the trees in district 1 have a lower vegetated area, ranging from 7 sq m to 317 sq m compared with the trees in district 5 with a vegetated area of 54 sq m to 81,694 sq m (fig. 9a and fig. 10b). the trees in luneta park have the highest vegetated area (81,694 sq m), followed by the trees in arroceros park (6,438 sq m). tuli and islam (2014) enumerated the beneficial effects of vegetation to include its potential to reduce air temperature of a micro climate between 3oc-4oc; ensure sustainable breathing space; provide shade which reduces air temperature of an exposed area by 1oc-2oc; screen solar radiation that leads to reduced air temperature, among others. these beneficial effects can be generally realized in district 5. total basal area. the highest basal area per hectare was recorded for rajah sulayman park (410 sq m/ha) followed by the luneta park (291 sq m/ha) and plaza ferguzon (159 sq m/ha) (fig. 11). these trees are all found in district 5 of manila city. the trees in district 1 have the lowest basal area, ranging from 1 sq m/ha to 6 sq m/ha. this could be explained by the small diameter of the trees during assessment. the mississippi wildlife, fisheries and parks (”mississippi wildlife, fisheries, & parks”, n.d.), indicates that the percentage of canopy cover is correlated with basal area whereas both increa se, less sunlight reaches the ground, obstructing the growth of shrubs and other grasses. furthermore, this organization reported that high basal area can lead to a reduction in the growth of trees and may not be able to compete with other trees for crown space, nutrients, and moisture. pg. 78 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. (a) crown cover of inventoried trees, district 1 and district 5, manila city, philippines figure 10. (b) vegetated area of inventoried trees, districts 1 and 5, manila city, philippines 3.3. correlating urban green space condition with urban biodiversity planning and management the maximization of the multi-functional uses and multifarious benefits of ugs rely on how they are planned and managed to ensure biodiversity preservation and protection, particularly on the local level. urban biodiversity planning and management should be anchored on sustaining the various functions and values of ugs to include ecological, economic, and social planning, as well as other multi-dimensional values. the non-priced environmental benefits of ugs are necessary components of an urban biodiversity plan, such as attractive and pleasant urban landscapes, safety, peaceful and hazard-free environment, health promoting recreational, and social networking opportunities, among others. the frequency of community residents’ visiting the ugs and the regular clearing of bushes interfere with the growth of trees and induce the establishment of other plant species that may create environmental harm. this necessitates the engagement of the community in tree planting, conservation, protection as well as initiation of guided nature walk for visitors. the local government can initiate the conduct of training and identify environmentpg. 79 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 11. basalarea of inventoried trees, districts 1 and 5, manila city, philippineson management. friendly alternative livelihood. these form part of the continuous management of ugs to ensure protection and enhancement of species composition and distribution to sustain habitats for biodiversity. the continuous growth of invasive species or exotic species, especially those damaging species, should also be managed through biological control by means of natural enemy introduction; chemical control or the use of pesticides (herbicide or insecticide) mechanical control, such as hand pulling and other manual removal of destructive plants; and ecosystem management, which involves the exposure of an entire ecosystem to regular treatment that favors the growth of native species over exotic plants (simberloff, 2000). an urban biodiversity management plan should cover activities that will hasten the growth of invasively introduced species and effectively manage them once they are already existing in a green space. the success of a ugs also relies on its ability to enable a greater number of people utilize them for a wide array of outdoor and cultural activities. an urban biodiversity plan needs to introduce designs that highlight comfortable ugs for a number of users. the ugs should be designed to allow a large area of vegetation that creates a comfortable environment that reduces air temperature, create shaded cool area, and ensure provision of health benefits. 3.4. conclusion and recommendations the integration of urban biodiversity in the development of urban human settlements is becoming an essential component of local development planning and management. cities are the primary consumers of natural resources and home to an ever-increasing human population. thus, the urban ecosystem needs to promote a better relationship between man and the environment. given the observed general conditions of the ugs in districts 1 and 5 of the city of manila, which are a) 5 out of 21 parks are heavily planted; b) 20 out of 21 inventoried ugs were observed to highlight historical monuments; c) the largest green space is located in district 5; d) indigenous and exotic species were both found in almost equal proportion in districts 1 and 5; e) management of ugs contributed to the short height of trees; f) crown canopy ranges from 2 percent to 47 percent in the two districts; g) generally, the trees in district 1 have a lower vegetated area compared with the trees in district 5; and h) the highest basal area per hectare was recorded in district 5 and pg. 80 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the lowest in district 1, the following are recommended in the formulation of an urban biodiversity development and management plan for the city of manila: design ugs with large area for vegetation. the local government can engage in the planting of the right species of trees at the right places in order to improve the micro climatic conditions of urban human settlements. the community should also be encouraged to adopt vertical or roof gardening to enhance biodiversity and promote connectivity. aside from these, native or indigenous species can be replanted and restocked. waste segregation. ecological waste management through waste segregation should be demonstrated in public ugs. composting facilities have to be provided to produce organic fertilizers and other soil conditioning agents, which can be utilized as growth inducer of plants. careful and responsible urban planning. urban land use plans should be developed to discourage conversion of natural ecosystems that will eventually destroy critical habitats and lead to biodiversity loss. land uses should also promote the identification of activities that will restore damaged ecosystems and mitigate high human impact. community participation in urban biodiversity planning and management. the local government needs to enhance the participation, capacities, and involvement of local communities in the protection and conservation of existing natural habitats as well as restore the multi-functional uses of degraded natural habitats through awareness raising, research and development, capacity building and law enforcement. references 1. a brief guide to the benefits of urban green spaces. (2015). retrieved from http://leaf.leeds.ac.uk/a-brief -guide-to-the-benefits-of-urban-green-spaces/ 2. adams, l. w. (1994). urban wildlife habitats: a landscape perspective(vol. 3). minneapolis: univ. of minnesota press. 3. altieri, m. a. (1999). the ecological role of biodiversity in agroecosystems. in m. paoletti (author), invertebrate biodiversity as bioindicators of sustainable landscapes(1st ed., pp. 19-31). 4. annez, p. c., & buckley, r. m. (2009). urbanization and growth: setting the context. urbanization and growth,1,1-45. 5. asian development bank. (2014). republic of the philippines national urban assessment,97,5-7. 6. benn, j. (2010). what is biodiversity? united nations environmental program. p. 2. 7. blair, r. b. (2001). birds and butterflies along urban gradients in two ecoregions of the united states: is urbanization creating a homogeneous fauna?. in biotic homogenization (pp. 33-56). springer, boston, ma. 8. czech, b., krausman, p. r., & devers, p. k. (2000). economic associations among causes of species endangerment in the united states: associations among causes of species endangerment in the united states reflect the integration of economic sectors, supporting the theory and evidence that economic growth proceeds at the competitive exclusion of nonhuman species in the aggregate. aibs bulletin, 50(7), 593-601. 9. davis, d. e. (2013). exploring the effects of urbanization on biodiversity in remnant forests of the charlotte metropolitan region. department of geography and earth sciences, university of north carolina, 2. 10. department of environment and natural resources – biodiversity management bureau. (2014). the fifth national report to the convention on biological diversity(rep.). foundation for the philippine environment and philippine tropical forest conservation foundation. 11. department of environment and natural resources. (2016). philippine biodiversity strategy and action plan (pbsap) 2015-2028. pg. 81 gonzales / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 12. hardman, s. (2011). how does urbanization affect biodiversity? retrieved from https://ecologicablog.word press.com/2011/11/06/how-does-urbanization-affect-biodiversity-part-one/ 13. heinze j. (2011). benefits of green space. chantilly va: environmental health research foundation. 14. karuppannan, s., baharuddin, z. m., sivam, a., & daniels, c. b. (2014). urban green space and urban biodiversity: kuala lumpur, malaysia. journal of sustainable development,7(1), 1-16. 15. kowarik, i. (1995). on the role of alien species in urban flora and vegetation. in p. pysek, k. prach, & m. wade (eds.), plant invasions — general aspects and special problems(pp. 85-103). amsterdam: the hague spb academic publishing. 16. lee, a. c. k., jordan, h. c., & horsley, j. (2015). value of urban green spaces in promoting healthy living and well being: prospects for planning. risk management and healthcare policy, 8, 131. 17. local government of manila. (2006). manila city comprehensive land use plan and zoning ordinance. 2005-2020. 18. luniak, m. (1994). the development of bird communities in new housing estates in warsaw. memorabilia zoologica, 49, 257-267. 19. mckinney, m. l. (2002). urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation. bioscience,52(10). 20. middleton, j. (1994). effects of urbanization on biodiversity in canada. biodiversity in canada: a science assessment for environment canada. environment canada, ottawa, 15-20. 21. mississippi wildlife, fisheries, & parks. (n.d.) basal area: a guide for understanding the relationships between pine forests and wildlife habitat. private lands habitat program. 22. reaviles, r. s., & bandian, d. b. (2006). indigenous forest tree species in laguna province (philippines). denr recommends (philippines). 23. savard, j. p. l., clergeau, p., & mennechez, g. (2000). biodiversity concepts and urban ecosystems. landscape and urban planning, 48(3-4), 131-142. 24. secretariat of the convention on biological diversity. (2012). cities and biodiversity outlook.(p. 8).montreal. 25. simberloff, d. (2000). introduced species: the threat to biodiversity and what can be done. actionbioscience. org original article. 26. tuli, s. m., & islam, n. (2014, december). impact of vegetation in urban open spaces in dhaka city; in terms of air temperature. in 30th international plea conference. 27. united nations department of economic and social affairs, population division. (2015). world population prospects population division. retrieved from https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/ 28. united nations environmental program. (2008). payment for ecosystem services: getting started: a primer. s.l.: katoomba group. 29. united nations. (1992). the 22nd meeting of the sbstta and the 2nd meeting of the subsidiary body on implementation meet in montreal, canada from 2 to 13 july 2018read more. retrieved from https://www. cbd.int/. 30. vale, t. r., & vale, g. r. (1976). suburban bird populations in west-central california. journal of biogeography, 157-165. 31. vold, t., & buffett, d. a. (2000). ecological concepts, principles and applications to conservation. biodiversity bc. pg. 82 introduction attributes and importance of urban biodiversity relating biodiversity with the urban ecosystem examining the role of urban green space in urban biodiversity urban biodiversity in the local context: manila city as a representative case study urban green space inventory as a supply determinant of urban biodiversity prevailing conditions of the urban green spaces in manila city scope of urban green space inventory urban green space situationer in district 1 and district 5 of manila city correlating urban green space condition with urban biodiversity planning and management conclusion and recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.372 resiliency and regeneration in the pannonian region of hungary: towards a circular economy hillary brown1 1spitzer school of architecture, city university of new york abstract using systems thinking and ecologically-reflexive planning, this study examines conceptual opportunities for resilience and regeneration of the historic northwestern hungarian municipality of kőszeg and its surrounding bioregion. it will explain how the town and bioregion’s socio-cultural and socio-technical systems —its historic heritage coupled with existing and new industrial, commercial, and infrastructural services (energy, water, sanitation, waste)—can be placed into a regional development scheme that optimizes the vitality and resiliency of these collective systems, following the principles of a circular economy. this study assessed opportunities for kőszeg, as one example in the region, to revitalize its economy and its local environment based upon attaining a high level of integration among its multidimensional resources. conceptual strategies for practical solutions to town and bioregional revitalization and resiliency are discussed. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords circular economy; infrastructure integration; resiliency; bioregionalism; closed-loop economy; relocalization 1. introduction this research project assesses options for optimizing long-term sustainable growth within the rapidly changing pannonian region located in western hungary and formulates practical solutions to revitalization and resiliency of its rural and small city settlements. 1.1. rural townships in transition the twin phenomena of globalization and urbanization—an increasingly integrated planetary economy, and the absorption by metropolitan areas of most all our planet’s population growth over the coming decades— are current subjects of scholarly focus. in contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to the associated demographic and economic decline of small towns and their hinterlands. in europe, as in many other parts of the world, emigration to cities has generally weakened these rural service centers, causing many to stagnate, contributing to a loss of cultural heritage and associated social and economic values (knox and mayer 2013). this is particularly true in central and eastern europe, where, since 1989, de-collectivization and privatization processes have created new patterns of economic organization. these have contributed to rising unemployment pg. 2 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and population loss in rural areas, loss of eco-system services, and diminished provision of public and private rural services (ecovast 2013). in hungary, where rates of urbanization are projected at 82% by 2050 (un desa 2014), the revitalization and empowerment of rural communities through “relocalization”—place-based initiatives that include local environmental conservation and enhancement, job creation, food and water security, and transitioning to a post-fossil fuel economy (longhurst 2015)—as speculated here, could begin to reverse this cycle of decline and abandonment. 1.2. study background this notion of small towns as potential catalysts for sustainable and resilient rural development is the premise of a study undertaken as a pilot in the town of kőszeg, hungary (2017 population 11,747), which sits at the austrian border in vas county in the northwestern pannonian region of the country. kőszeg has been losing population, in part associated with the stagnation of the previous socialist economy as well as the ongoing out-migration of youth to the cities, and local labor to austria. fortunately, many of the town’s underutilized historic buildings have undergone adaptive reuse, some housing the institute of advanced studies, kőszeg (iask). affiliated with pannonia university, iask’s mission is to study the current complexities and uncertainties in the central and eastern european region. here, key research has been dedicated to fostering “creative and sustainable cities,”—in hungarian the “kraft” initiative (miszlivetz et al, 2012). the subject study grew from shared interests between iask and the city university of new york (cuny) regarding how the implementation of circular economy practices in such towns and even regional cities might reverse these trends. a research team comprised of faculty and students from cuny and affiliated hungarian universities spent a month assessing opportunities for revitalizing kőszeg and its forested and agricultural bioregion, investigating its assets and extrapolating potential outcomes from the application of such sustainability principles and practices to this township. 1.3. methodology for this interdisciplinary project, researchers worked in four teams (three or four students each), focused on hydrology, forestry, agriculture, energy, and economic development to determine a base case and propose actionable alternatives. sustained interaction and information-sharing across the teams led to collective solutions based on integration and exchanges across these natural and socio-technical systems. for the former, various modeling tools were employed, including the soil and water assessment model (swat) to examine short and long term hydrologic impacts and landsat to determine forest cover changes. given that closed-loop systems prioritize a more sustainable use of inputs and waste-recycling potential from the biosphere, it is critical to understand the limits of ecosystems and their historical climate in supplying the human systems with what are ultimately unpaid-for services. swat was therefore also used to classify agricultural crops towards quantifying potential waste outputs for recovery and use. evaluation of the town’s economy considered its commercial sector, tourism, recreational assets, and underutilized historic building stock. by diagramming and quantifying potential flows from each of the four sectors, strategies were developed to recover and utilize many existing waste streams (water, energy and nutrients) in a proposed new “eco-innovation center (ei center),” a modest and practical incubator of circular economy philosophies. 1.4. circularizing kőszeg’s natural and economic resources at the outset, it was determined that the optimal study boundary would be defined by the hungarian-side of the watershed of the gyöngyös river sub-basin, a year-round body of water flowing out of austria and into hungary from the northeast, through kőszeg and extending south towards the neighboring city of szombathely (pop. 78,000), see fig. 1a. within this boundary, existing conditions for each of the four sectors were assessed, and cross-cutting pg. 3 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd interventions proposed as follows: figure 1. (a).location and study boundary (b)seasonality in gyöngyös river streamflow excess 2. water sector the study attempted to evaluate existing hydrologic patterns and examine issues related to kőszeg’s dependency on nearby perenye’s water filtration and szombathely’s water treatment plants. first, an understanding of the regional water baseline was created using swat modeling (fig. 1b). second, the team evaluated kőszeg’s exposure to flash flooding due to strong seasonality of precipitation and streamflow as well as a projected increase in intensive rainfall in a changing climate. floodwater emanates both from the gyöngyös’ overtopping its banks, as well as from creeks and gullies in the adjacent kőszeg hills channeling debris and sediment flows into the town itself during major events. mitigation of the gyöngyös overflow is a key objective and led to a conceptual design for a new holding pond and constructed wetland (8,000 cm capacity) upstream from the river’s entry to the town (see fig. 2). this would be engineered to regulate, retain and treat excess surface water and return it downstream. biofiltration conducted in the wetland cells would mitigate pollutants, rendering the water cleaner for various uses, including downstream swimming, thereby reviving the town’s “beach”—a valued community recreational asset now closed. improved forestry practices and increased vegetation cover could remediate the debris and sediment downwash caused by forest cutting, and check-dams could reduce sediment flow from the creeks and gullies into the town (veress et al, 2012). figure 2. gyöngyös proposed wetland: aerial view (google earth) and conceptual plan finally, it was recognized that the legacy systems operated by municipal utility providers in perenye and szombathely that currently provides kőszeg’s water services—potable water, sewerage and stormwater treatment, would not be feasibly modfied at this time. the eco-innovation center, however, would be one specific location where water recovery and reuse would take place (see section 6.). greywater, recovered and treated, from food-production, coupled with harvestedand cisterstored rainwater, could be utilized for non-potable uses on site. water wastes from the proposed new brewery would be valorized, along with local organic waste, in an on-site anaerobic biodigester. anaerobic digestion is a pg. 4 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd promising technology that can transform these wastes into a highly energetic biogas. nutrient rich water in the form of a slurry, a biodigestion byproduct, provides fertilizer for local crops. 3. forestry and agricultural sectors an assessment was conducted of agricultural and forestry resources to better understand their relevance to a circular economy for kőszeg. besides circularity, the issue of a more environmentally-friendly, and sustainable forestry practice—one that takes biodiversity and microclimate changes into account—has been considered throughout the research. the studies utilized google earth engine to process the global forest change 2000-2014 data set derived from landsat imagery and european space agency (esa) sentinel-1 data to assess land cover change (hansen et al, 2013). the study area comprised approximately 1,260 sq. km, of which roughly 60 percent is currently land under crop and viticulture cultivation. the other 25 percent is forest cover predominantly in the sub-alpine hills bordering austria. the forests are comprised of a mixture of secondary growth spruce, pine, oak, and beech. a portion of the wood harvest is exported to szombathely for industrial processing, from which kőszeg obtains revenue, while the remainder is collected as fuel for both primary and auxiliary domestic heating in kőszeg. the kőszeg mountains public forest area (5,250 ha. on the western side of gyöngyös watershed, fig. 3a) is considered to be sustainably managed according to existing local regulations. however, the area has experienced a net 2.8 percent loss between 2000 and 2014 (hansen et al., science 2013). the area reveals some broad clear-cut areas, one as large as 5 hectares, which have likely contributed to the erosion, streamflow and debris downwash mentioned under section 5.1 above. these open areas may also effect the regional climate by producing unusual wind waves. replanted regions usually include high value stands, though non-native species, such as pine are regrown as well. increasingly, more resilient species such as oak are planted. on the east side of gyöngyös watershed (fig. 3b.), the dispersed, privately-managed forest areas also indicate a checkerboard pattern of clearcutting. these forest areas and are known to be relatively less well managed, perhaps attributable to the fact that these tracts are largely under shared ownership. nonetheless, this area has sustained meaningful regrowth with only a .86 percent net loss during the same 2000-2014 period. figure 3. (a) net forest change, western watershed (b) net forest change, eastern watershed to improve forestry methods and increase biodiversity in both the eastern and western watershed, it is recommended that kőszeg initiate discussion with szombathely and private land holders regarding the adoption of the european pro silva method of management based on natural processes, mixed age trees, and constant afforestation and reforestation (duncker et al, 2012). in the long run, selective cutting (pro silva method) is more profitable, because the clear-felled forest requires longer years of care and work to grow back. pro silva utilizes forests in such a way that takes the local soil and biodiversity into consideration. pro silva can serve as the one method that is sustainable and provides for the industrial needs of kőszeg region. reforestation practices should include consideration of the species most resilient to regional climate change. given the increasing summer aridity, there may pg. 5 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd be an opportunity to plant higher value, higher quality trees, such as red pine and oak, that have greater resilience against climate change-related conditions and associated insect infestation (gyurácz et al, 2008). agriculture practices in hungary in general changed after 1990. the nation transitioned from collective farms to industrial-scale, privately-held farms coupled with medium-sized and small local producers who supply domestic/international and local markets respectively. the agricultural economy is dominated and largely controlled by national integration companies that manage domestic and international sales and provide necessary inputs (seed, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.) to the farmers. farming in general is state-subsidized (see fig. 4a). in line with the sharing and circular economy, however, an alternative model for small and medium farmers, considered here, would be more efficient at the same time it could enable growers to earn higher profits. the proposed cooperative model (fig. 4b) is based upon one that has been effectively utilized by local kőszeg wineries, which share relevant information, tools, and labor. in lieu of the for-profit intermediaries, a district-based notfor-profit organization would provision and inform small and medium producers, and pass products to a regional not-for-profit integrator supplying local, domestic and international markets. these integrators would forego, or take a radically-reduced profit, enabling an increase to farmers’ revenues. the state would be linked to all the economic operators in the form of both taxes and subsidies. in addition, there would be a more direct supply line from the small and medium producers directly to local markets. figure 4. (a) diagram, current agricultural economy model (b) proposed cooperative model a comprehensive agriculture assessment of the area, with statistical cropand economic data was unavailable for the study area. instead, high resolution sentinel-1 monthly-averaged radar images for the period of june 2017-may 2018 were utilized to classify and quantify lands in production in order to understand potential outputs from cropland and viticulture (fig.5.). subsequently, targeted site visits provided training data for the maximum-likelihoodclassification. the most important arable crops are wheat, corn, autumn barley, spring barley, sunflower, autumn cabbage, rape, and soybean. the extent of arable land in kőszeg is not considered significant due to terrain conditions and the unusual level of forest coverage compared to the national level. according to the national land registry information system takarnet database (http://www.takarnet.hu/), 60% of the administrative area is forest, 15% arable, 5% orchards, and 1% grapes. the arable lands, mostly in private hands, are considered of medium fertility. therefore, kőszeg and its micro region should not be considered a significant supplier of grain and fruit to hungarian food wholesale trade. the portion of the agricultural waste (agro-waste) produced in this area that is not tilled under (a relatively low percentage) provides a viable opportunity for valorization. this would include bio-energy and bio-fertilizers from anaerobic biodigestion. local agro-waste recovery strategies are also being considered for the eco-innovation center, which will be dedicated to eco-efficient products. in addition, agro-waste from cereal crops may be upcycled into building products (madurwar et al, 2013), for example, sustainable building insulation, and particle board (see section 5.1). kőszeg belongs to the wine region of sopron, with its excellent vineyards and wine cellars. the two most important wine making companies are tóth winery, and the kampits family cellar. on average, the vineyards are relatively small in size, between 5 and 10 hectares. the practice of applying grape waste directly for vineyard fertilization should be considered a circular practice. therefore, for the kőszeg economy, local land-use policies should preserve and possibly enhance the wine traditions and wine culture, thereby promoting local and cross-border trade and wine tourism can be a factor for development. pg. 6 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. categorization of agricultural areas and their outputs by modeling 4. energy sector in conducting an assessment of the energy sector and the role it could play in a circular economy, the objectives included addressing current sectoral challenges, examining untapped local resources, and considering opportunities for recovering local wastes for energy production. as a land-locked nation, hungary lacks sufficient domestic power sources of fuel. the bulk of the country’s energy mix (58 percent of the total primary energy supply) relies on crude oil and natural gas exports from russia. hungary’s single paks nuclear power plant provides 16 percent and 11 percent is derived from biofuels (aracuba editor, 2017). the european investor-owned electric utility service, e.on hungária zrt., supplies electricity and gas to customers in the transdanubian region. household energy consumption per household is estimated to be 17mwh annually; electrical consumption was estimated to be 2.65mwh per household annually; and heating demand was estimated at 13mwh per household annually (eurostat 2018; heat this are still below other eu national targets. despite the fact that the country is endowed with good solar irradiance, plentiful biomass and geothermal energy potential, the proportion of renewable sources has declined recently (szo, 2018). as of 2016, new regulations hinder the penetration of new wind energy (iea 2017). given the reliance on limited sources of primary energy, long-term grid resiliency is an issue for hungary’s energy infrastructure. another challenge is that of problematic practices in home heating (see fig. 6a). in addition to use of natural gas, many hungarians rely upon burning of wet, low quality fuel wood and domestic waste in home stoves as an inexpensive supplement or alternative to gas purchases (lenkei, 2016). in winter, poor air quality resulting from particulate emissions has created national health impacts. the oecd cited 937.6 deaths per million inhabitants in hungary in 2010 due to ambient particulate matter and ozone pollution, just shy of the rate of china (mccarthy, 2016). for the purposes of this project, improvements were proposed for heating and electricity in the residential sector with specific innovations to be showcased at the eco-innovation center. a general transition to locally-based, renewable energy sources is envisioned in both cases. accordingly, an assessment of energy potentials was undertaken for improved wood-burning practices, solar, hydro-power, and anaerobic biodigestion potential of the region. the effective curing and storage of wood fuel is well aligned with sustainable forestry practices. the provision of drying zones/storage areas in dedicated, in-town vacant structures, as part of an energy cooperative, coupled with incentives for upgrading to high efficiency stoves, and governmental monitoring of trash-burning, could reduce wintertime emissions of water vapor, soot, dioxins and other noxious substances. given the plentiful solar irradiance in kőszeg (1200 to 1240 kwh/m2), solar energy utilization, in the form of both photovoltaic arrays and solar thermal heating, is a first priority. rooftop arrays could be retrofitted onto an estimated 30-40 percent of building roof areas (excluding historic buildings and adversely-sloping roofs). adpg. 7 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ditionally, the application of solar thermal panels could supplement domestic water heating. at the proposed eco-innovation center, roof-mounted solar panels (with battery storage) and solar thermal arrays were calculated to cover the center’s basic electrical loads (excluding process loads). micro-hydro is another option. in recent past, the gyöngyös river, was partly diverted through an auxiliary canal paralleling the river through town that once powered several mills. during the socialist era, hydro-electricity was also produced at a dam located at the entrance to the town adjacent to underutilized factory buildings, now the proposed location of the eco-innovation center. the gyöngyös has a discharge rate of 1 cubic meter per second, and a 2-meter head, resulting in an average power capacity of about 20 kilowatts. it could accommodate a series of micro-hydro turbines adjacent to the factory to provide supplementary renewable power. an estimated annual energy production is ~ 130 mwh per turbine, based on a seasonally varying discharge rate. lastly, local valorization of another renewable fuel, biomethane, is under consideration as a supplementary means to achieve a measure of electrical resiliency. a large-scale pig farm operating in the vicinity of kőszeg provides one such source. the farm’s annual manure output of 24,000 liquid m,3 would, if recovered, yield 35,895m3 of biomethane. valorization of this fuel, together with recovery of the currently flared 26,280 m3 of methane sourced from the municipal waste-handling facility, could technically generate 77 and 56mwh of electricity respectively. biogas would be additionally produced at the eco-innovation center. biodigested waste from a proposed micro-brewery, (2,000 beer barrel annual production capacity) annually would yield 217,000 gallons of wastewater and 2,5000 tons of spent grain that would produce an estimated 194,000 m3 of biogas annually, equivalent to 414.5mwh of electricity. the residual slurry would be dedicated to local crop fertilization. at the ei center, the biogas would be utilized for cooking at proposed gastronomic facilities (e.g. bakery and restaurant). finally, the visible application of a selection of these renewable energies at the eco-innovation center is an opportunity to demonstrate and de-mystify renewable energies and encourage public support to further projects (see fig. 6b). figure 6. (a) diagram of existing energy flows (b) diagram of proposed alternatives 5. economic development optimized by partial re-design, an integrated and linked system of natural resources, goods and services can begin to replace a “once-through” economy with a circular one. 5.1. connecting the assets kőszeg has a multitude of cultural, historical, natural, and physical resources at its disposal as a result of its geography and history. much of its central building stock date back as far as the 16th and 17th centuries, while its castle and (remaining portions of) its encircling town wall date from medieval times. the town boasts of multiple museums, plazas and historic monuments, not only centrally, but also has places of interest in the kőszeg hills and nearby villages which feature geothermal spas. the town sponsors multiple festivals annually, around the pg. 8 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd city’s history, culture or local products, for example its unique viticulture. since the 19th ct., it was also know as a “city of schools,” with multiple acadmies, iask, a campus of the university of pannonia, as well as vocational training centers. lastly, the surrounding forests (territory conserved by the hungarian nature park systems) host a multitude of recreational resources: hiking, biking and nature trails, and three artificial lakes in the vicinty. tourism therefore (90% from hungary, 10% from austria) constitutes a critical part of kőszeg’s economy, effecting day-today town life (kukely, 201). research suggests that growth in this industry would be best accommodated through ongoing adaptive reuse of under-utilized historic buildings in the town center. local infrastructure paints a less impressive picture, however, with infrequent train links to nearby szombathely. there is fair inter-municipal bus service, but road conditions, as well as bike and pedestrian infrastructure, are subpar: narrow and not well-maintained. despite these weaknesses, there is great potential for improving kőszeg’s economic and environmental outlook, and many resources exist which can be leveraged. figure 7. (a) circularity diagram -kőszeg center for eco-innovation (b) proposed educational programming 5.2. the “kőszeg center for eco-innovation” located at the northeast edge of town in an underutilized early 20th ct. factory complex, part of which houses a roofing felt and felt craft enterprise, the ei center will help launch and support creative businesses by providing labs and work space, business skill training, and access to financing and professional networks. it will serve as well as collaborative community workspace. using kőszeg’s sustainably harvested forestry and agricultural resources, the ei center’s new entrepreneurs can test new technologies and develop new ideas. it would also offer workshops, galleries, tours and open lab space to visitors. three main components are included in the ei center (see fig. 7a). the first in the eco-enterprise center & lab, which is dedicated to fostering the local market for sustainable building products, many fabricated from local biological and technical waste streams (e.g. “wheatboard” and particle board, reclaimed wood products, etc.). it would include salvaged local waste materials, including decorative building elements recovered from historic buildings undergoing retrofits. in addition, sustainable handicrafts, using similarly local inputs, would complement the mission of the craft work of the existing “multifelt” felt factory. this lab would offer hands-on learning through internships and workshops with local schools, (see center box, fig. 7b). a second enterprise, a “gastro-tourism” venue, would incubate businesses dealing in local and sustainable food products using sustainably grown crops from kőszeg’s farms, orchards and vineyards. it would include a microbrewery, a bakery that uses locally sourced grains to produce beer and baked goods for sale to both tourists and the kőszeg community. the gastro-tourism enterprise would also include on-site aquaponics and soil-based greenhouses, which could contribute additional ingredients or products to be cooked or sold on site: fresh fish, tomatoes and leafy greens. finally, the enterprise would coordinate an on-site farmers market, where locally and on-site produced agricultural and culinary products could be sold directly to the kőszeg community and local tourists, creating visibility and economic opportunity for farmers and the gastro enterprise while supporting a mission of pg. 9 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd local food production (see center box, fig. 8). lastly, the ei center would feature a showcase of, and potential showroom for, sustainable energy and infrastructural products, for example, solar thermal panels, small scale micro-hydro turbines. it would feature the operations of the facility-specific anaerobic biodigester, as well as models that might be utilized by organic farmers. in addition, small scale biodiesel processors could be incorporated to capture used cooking oil for conversion into a clean substitute for diesel fuel, which could power food trucks or other vehicles used to transport goods on site or to local distributors. finally, the site will utilize and demonstrate regenerative strategies for water management. in addition to on-site rainwater harvesting, it will feature “bioswales” that clean and infiltrate stormwater, and promote local use of cisterns and products such as grass pavers or porous pavers, and other landscape elements that promote water retention or infiltration (see fig 8.). in summary, the ei center would serve as a venue where local products could be showcased and a place for the public to learn about the workings of a circular economy. it would demonstrate the ideas of “loop closing” and regenerative/ restorative design at many scales, from the food-waste-to-energy loop on site to the idea of upcycling textile waste from the kőszeg region into sustainable building products. it would be a destination for visitors and locals alike, and a beacon to draw attention to the possibilities inherent in circular economy thinking, increasing tourism and driving economic growth for kőszeg. in addition to creating educational and economic opportunity, the site would demonstrate the principles and technologies of green energy and infrastructure that are espoused by the project enterprise. calculations performed show that there is ample potential for the site to be powered by rooftop solar and micro-hydro power as shown. in addition, anaerobic digesters located behind the culinary center would power the cooking facilities while treating the waste. finally, the site would incorporate rain barrels for harvesting rainwater, permeable paving, and a series of decorative yet functional infiltration basins that would collect and clean rainwater during storm heavy rainfall events. figure 8. diagram of the eco-innovation center’s internaland external resource flows. figure 9. rendering of kőszeg eco-innovation center pg. 10 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.3. the kőszeg center for eco-innovation in context: a master plan a contextual master plan for the ei center (see fig. 9) expands upon kőszeg’s existing natural and physical assets: the town’s historic fabric (considered the “jewel box of hungary”), the channeled but still romantic gyöngyös river, the kőszeg forest with its trail system, its natural bogs, and historic monuments and the town’s array of educational facilities and under-occupied building stock, all loosely connected along the gyöngyös river’s spine. executed across multiple phases, the plan would integrate these resources with upgraded, sustainably oriented infrastructure (green color) to better serve an expanding local and tourist population. it links key features educational features (blue color) with the proposed ecoinnovation campuses—one planned downstream in future,(orange color)—to stimulate further economic growth across all sectors of the economy. the gyöngyös river constitutes the organizing element of the proposed master plan (see fig 9.). originating in austria as the güns river, the gyöngyös crosses the border and continues downstream for almost 50 kilometers until it joins the raba river. the narrow river basin connects several key recreational resources in kőszeg, including the boating lake and lake abért, and accommodates the (discontinuous) biking and walking paths that connect to kőszeg’s historic district and regional trail system. the gyöngyös is not currently a primary tourist destination in kőszeg, but offers great potential as an integrating spine for all its attractions, connecting several disused mills, parks and miscellaneous structures that have redevelopment potential and scenic value. while many well-used paths and green spaces exist in kőszeg, they are fragmented and in need of upgrade. over time, the connection of existing and new pedestrian and bike pathways along the river and through the town would create better access to existing physical, cultural and natural amenities, linking citizens to the proposed educational programs at the ei center. improvements to the bike lanes, current riverside park areas, and pedestrian pathways would promote beneficial access between the new intermodal transit station planned for the southern end of town, the town center, and north to the ei center campus, also linking to the important regional trail networks that have important tourist value, including the iron curtain bike trail that runs along the austro-hungarian border, the european long distance walking route e4 and the alpannonia trail network. figure 10. conceptual master plan showing education, innovation and infrastructural improvements 6. conclusion this interdisciplinary inventory of natural, historic, industrial, and commercial resources identified the critical features of the town’s and bioregion’s asset pool that could be integrated, internalized, and thereby “circularized”— within a boundaried setting. potential benefits include: a reduced need for imports of more costly energy, materials and services; job creation and training of a next generation workforce around sustainability principles; wealthbuilding by attracting regional and even foreign investment in these future-proofing enterprises; and a network for business development in state-of-the-art renewable materials and energy technologies. the resultant master pg. 11 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd plan supports a resilient and future-thinking kőszeg that may entice young people and families to stay. as a demonstration project, the kőszeg center for eco innovation intentionally models the possibilities of a circular economy and has the potential to launch a movement towards these practices that extends to the surrounding region and beyond. 7. acknowledgments the author is grateful to the institute of advanced studies, kőszeg for its generous sponsorship of her work in kőszeg as a 2018 iask grant holder. additionally, iask supported the participation of key faculty and the iask staff that enabled the project to take place. funding was provided by both iask and the city university of new york (cuny) to underwrite the participation in kőszeg of fourteen graduate students, seven each from cuny and from various hungarian universities. this paper was authored with the support of the bogliasco foundation. 8. references 1. aracuba editor. (2017). energy policies of iea countries hungary 2017 review (external content). retrieved from https://www.aracuba.info/aexp/en/content/energy-policies-iea-countries-hungary-2017-revi ew-external-content 2. duncker, p. s., barreiro, s. m., hengeveld, g. m., lind, t., mason, w. l., ambrozy, s., & spiecker, h. (2012). classification of forest management approaches: a new conceptual framework and its applicability to european forestry. ecology and society, 17(4). 3. gyurácz, j. (2008). the 13th issue” i. chernel ornithological and nature conservation society. ornithological newsletter of vas county. retrieved from http://chernelmte.extra.hu/cinege2008 13 teljes.pdf 4. hansen, m. c., potapov, p. v., moore, r., hancher, m., turubanova, s. a. a., tyukavina, a., ... & kommareddy, a. (2013). high-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change. science, 342(6160), 850-853. retrieved from http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest. 5. iea publishing. (2017). iea the global energy authority. retrieved from https://www.iea.org/ 6. knox, p., & mayer, h. (2013). small town sustainability: economic, social, and environmental innovation. basel: birkhauser. 7. kukely, g., rosivall, a., rosivall, t., szabó, m., décsi, l., auer, j., . . . rácz, a. (2015). kőszeg integrált településfejlesztési stratégia: i. kötet: megalapozó vizsgálat. [pdf]. retrieved from http://www.koszeg.hu /pictures/downloadmanager/58/617/koszeg its megalapozo vizsgalat 956.pdf 8. lenkei, p. (2016). illegális lakossági szemétégetés hazánkban. manuscript, levegő munkacsoport. 9. longhurst, n. (2015). transformative social innovation narrative of the transition movement 10. madurwar, m. v., ralegaonkar, r. v., & mandavgane, s. a. (2013). application of agro-waste for sustainable construction materials: a review. construction and building materials, 38, 872-878. 11. mccarthy, n., & richter, f. (2016, may 09). infographic: europe matches asian giants in air pollution deaths. retrieved from https://www.statista.com/chart/4801/europe-matches-asian-giants-in-air-pollutiondeaths 12. miszlivetz, f. (2012). kreatı́v városok és fenntarthatóság [creative cities and sustainability]. szombathely: savaria university press. pg. 12 brown / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 13. szo, d. (2018). energy policy goals and challenges for hungary in the 21st century [pdf]. budapest: institute for foreign affairs and trade. 14. united nations population division — department of economic and social affairs. (2014). population division database. retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/databa se/index.shtml (accessed may 2, 2018). 15. veress, m., németh, i., & schläffer, r. (2012). the effects of intensive rainfalls (flash floods) on the development on the landforms in the kőszeg mountains (hungary). central european journal of geosciences, 4(1), 47-66. pg. 13 introduction rural townships in transition study background methodology circularizing koszeg's natural and economic resources water sector forestry and agricultural sectors energy sector economic development connecting the assets the ``koszeg center for eco-innovation'' the koszeg center for eco-innovation in context: a master plan conclusion acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.26 evaluation of basement’s thermal performance against thermal comfort model at hot-arid climates, case study (egypt) heba hassan kamel1,2, daisuke sumiyoshi2 1department of civil and architecture technology, beni suef university, egypt 2department of urban planning, graduate school of human environment studies, kyushu university, japan abstract reaching thermal comfort levels in hot-arid climates is becoming more difficult nowadays without the use of high energy consuming mechanical systems. therefore, the need to use effective passive energy design techniques, such as earth-sheltered buildings, is becoming greater. this paper describes research, that uses monitoring and simulations, to evaluate basements’ thermal performance, which reached thermal comfort levels without active air-conditioning systems, despite the harsh climate conditions. the case study was conducted in al minya city, egypt, which is known for its high diurnal range. the study calibrated a non-conditioned basement simulation model versus the monitored data to simulate its thermal performance. the greatest challenge was to calculate the ground temperature. to do this successfully, we used an iterative approach between packages of the basement preprocessor and energyplus/designbuilder until reaching a convergence. the iterative method results showed significant agreement, between the measured and modeled data, with a correlation of 98 percent, and errors with mean bias error and normalized root mean square error of -1.0 and 7.6 percent, respectively. on the other hand, the energyplus method, integrating the xing approach, showed significantly divergent results between the simulated models versus the measured data. the calibrated model analysis evaluation, using the fanger’s thermal comfort model, showed satisfactory results within the thermal comfort sensation range. the research results significance indicates that the precise customized detailed iterative method is essential to create the needed inputs which subsequently lead to near-to-actual outputs compared with other ground-contact simulation methods. in fact, the precise customized detailed iterative method approach may be used as a benchmark for simulators for easy and precise ground temperatures’ calculations and earth-sheltered buildings’ simulations. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords thermal comfort; basements’ evaluation; ground temperature calculation; hot-arid climates 1. introduction earth shelters can be defined as: “structures built with the use of earth mass against building walls as external thermal mass, which reduces heat loss and maintains a steady indoor air temperature throughout the seasons” (anselm pg. 24 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2012). with regards to that principle, we might consider the basements as one kind of the earth sheltering technique (hassan and sumiyoshi, 2017; heba, 2012; ismail, heba, arima, ahmed & akashi, 2013). carmody and sterling analyzed the effect of earth integration on heating and cooling in a conceptual way, for winter and summer performance. moreover, providing regional design approaches based on different climate conditions (carmody and sterling 1985). regarding the ground temperature profile variation with depth, many researchers developed their own numerical expression models to predict the heat flow inside the ground (al-temeemi and harris, 2003; derradji and aiche, 2014; el-din 1999; janssen, carmeliet, and hens 2004; lazzarin, castellotti, and busato 2005; serageldin et al. 2015; maja staniec and nowak, 2016). in terms of thermal comfort in underground spaces, some researchers developed a mathematical model for calculating the heat transfer, then calculated the thermal comfort improvements using predicted mean vote (pmv). however, it was only a hypothetical model without actual measurements (szabó and kajtár, 2016). anselm used fluid dynamics simulation program (phonics-vr) to predict the energy savings in the earth-sheltered model as a whole building simulation (anselm 2008). later on, 2009 ip and miller monitored the thermal performance of an earth ship, as a kind of earth-sheltered buildings (ip and miller 2009). however, simulations only or monitoring only is not enough for a complete vision of the issue, one should integrate both into a valuable research. the most innovative pieces of research performed a comparison between the measured and simulated data, using simulation programs with and/or without mathematical models to predict the boundary condition temperature, and simulate the whole building performance (andolsun et al. 2011; freney, soebarto, and williamson 2012; kharrufa 2008; kumar, sachdeva, and kaushik 2007; m. staniec and nowak 2011). the state of the art of this technique is retrieved from kruis and krarti’s research, they developed a numerical framework to improve foundation heat transfer calculations although it only simulates quadrilateral walls (kivatm) (kruis and krarti 2016). this study proves that the iterative approach between the energyplus and the basement preprocessor packages, is more accurate and gives diverse options for simulating the building shape and volume, especially in the hot-arid climates like egypt, although it still consumes a large amount of time in the simulation process. regarding the chosen hot-arid climate, it is recommended to use the earth-contact effect with buildings above ground. besides, it could be integrated with the stack effect architectural means to improve the natural ventilation and air quality as a potential development of this technique. regarding the direct solar gain effect, the under-roof rooms are the most to obtain radiant heat gain from the concrete roof directed to the sun. therefore, we considered it as the worst case to compare it with the effect of the earth-contact. after the basement calibration, the researcher conducted comparisons between two hypothetical living zones using the same calibrated inputs; one on the roof level and the other one on the underground level, exactly the same as the previously calibrated basement (hassan et al., 2014). nomenclature cp specific heat capacity of each layer, j/(kgºk) tav average monthly temperature, ◦c. k thermal conductivity of each layer per unit area, w/(m-ºk). tn neutrality temperature (tneutrality), ◦c. l thickness of each layer, m. v volume of each layer per unit area, m3. m mass of each layer, kg. greek letters r resistivity of each layer, ºk/w. ρ density of each layer per unit area, kg./m3. pg. 25 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. climate analysis of the selected city in egypt the research is focusing on the scope of egypt’s climate zone as one of the hot arid climates. the dilemma was to choose the suitable city for the best earth-sheltered buildings’ application. after numerous weather data analysis using the (climate consultant 5.4) software, as shown in (figs. 1, 2), the researcher found that al minya city has the highest temperature differences between day and night, and is one of the cities that has the highest temperature differences between winter and summer. as known, the most significant value of this technique is the energy preservation potential for the earth. that is due to the natural principles of annual heat storage, large temperature differences between the internal ground temperatures and the corresponding outdoor air temperatures, and the good insulation form direct solar radiation. under extreme conditions, the temperature difference between the outside air and the required comfort conditions for the interior environment, could reach 32◦c (anselm 2012). making the best use from the daily and seasonal fluctuations underground, therefore, the deeper the building is located, the less severe will be the variation. because of the thermal storage potential of the soil which moderates the extreme daily and seasonal temperature variations, wherein energy from a day is transferred to night, and energy from one season is transferred to the next, as in the natural principle of annual heat storage (pahs). for the previously mentioned explanation, choosing an extreme climate as a case study would show the great significance of this technique to save energy and to reach the thermal comfort limits easily without the use of any air-conditioning systems. therefore, we chose al minya city with the most extreme climate in egypt as a case study. analyzing the thermal comfort with the psychrometric chart using the ecotect weather tool, the research finds that it is recommended for the design to have an exposed mass plus night purge ventilation, as shown in (fig. 3) this will expand the comfort area to cover most of the measured temperatures (h hassan et al. 2014). therefore, it is expected that using the earth sheltering technique, will cover more comfort range at the chart. going a step further with testing the ground temperatures at different depths (0.5, 2.0, 4.0 m.); if the earth-sheltered concept is used; we can gain much higher thermal comfort and stable conditions, as shown in (fig. 4). figure 1. comparison between al minya and cairo cities of the dry bulb temp. avg. monthly. al-minya has the highest differences between summer and winter. figure 2. daily dry bulb temp showing the hottest and coldest day. pg. 26 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. psychometric analysis for al minya city, showing hourly weather data and the small comfort area, and extreme high and low temperatures. the exposed mass + night purge ventilation will expand the comfort area to a wider range. other actions have lower effects on covering the discomfort range. figure 4. predicting temperatures under the ground surface, at depths of 0.5, 2.0, 4.0 m. the stable thermal comfort conditions are high with more depths under a ground cover. 3. method in this section, we described the measurements’ details with sensors, and the weather file compared with the outdoor measurements, then how we calculated the ground temperature and the basement’s calibration process, followed by the inputs at both basement preprocessor and the designbuilder/energyplus. 3.1. measurements the research conducted measurements of temperatures and humidity outside and inside the building during three winter and three summer months from 1st. january to 27th. march, and from 1st. august to 25th. october, using (rh) sensors by the increment of (30 minutes) resolution (kn 2010). measurements were adapted to the resolution of (1 hour) for the comparison purpose with the simulated models’ zone temperatures outputs. measurements were taken at unconditioned basement gym, and at the last floor of the same building at a residential apartment, at an unconditioned living zone, and at a conditioned bedroom zone. sensors were located at the height of (1.1 m.) from the slab level of both the basement and the last floor. the basement’s slab was located at (-2.7 m.) under zero level of the street. 3.2. weather file we compared between the measured outdoor temperatures for the year of 2014; the year when the research was done; and the typical year weather file egyptian typical meteorological year (etmy), which was developed for pg. 27 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd standards development and energy simulation by joe huang from data provided by u.s. national climatic data center for periods of record from 12 to 21 years, all ending in 2003. joe huang and associates, moraga, california, usa. the location of the study is (al minya 623870). we found very slight differences between them at the study period. therefore, we used the typical weather file for the simulation input and we used the measured temperatures of the six winter and summer months at the year of 2014 for comparison purpose only. figure 5 shows a comparison at the measured periods (fig. 5). figure 5. a comparison between the typical year weather file, and the actual measurements’ temperatures for the year of 2014. the previous approach supports what wasilowski and reinhart had concluded from their research as they discovered that differences were very slight between the typical weather file and the measured data, and their sensitivity analysis about the inputs proved that it was not worth the big effort that was exerted to create a custom year weather file (wasilowski and reinhart 2009). 3.2.1. ground temperature calculation and basement calibration process starting to calibrate the basement, the most important problem was to find the best curve of the ground temperature, which is located at the boundary between the ground and the soil. and it is coming more complicated because the basement was not a conditioned space. we could describe the center of the problem as follows: the building affects the ground temperatures beneath it, and the ground temperatures affect temperatures inside the building. the less insulated the basement is, the greater reciprocal affectation we get. in terms of simulations (if we are using designbuilder/energyplus and basement preprocessor), it means a paradox; to calculate ground temperatures (basement preprocessor), we need to know building internal temperatures, to calculate building internal temperatures (designbuilder/energyplus) we should know ground temperatures. if we have a permanently conditioned building the problem is solved, as we already know reasonably building internal temperatures. however, the problem begins when we have a building that is conditioned just for certain periods and becomes significant when the building is not conditioned. we used an iterative approach that implies a series of iterations between packages: (andolsun et al. 2011), (m. staniec and nowak 2011). 1. run a first basement simulation using comfort conditioning temperatures as internal building temperatures. we used theoretical comfort temperatures for each month calculated with the neutrality temperature tn (eq. 1), which provides the center point for a comfort zone (takkanon, 2006). tn = 17.6 +(0.31xtav) (1) where tav is the mean outdoor temperature of the month. 2. run a first designbuilder simulation using obtained ground temperatures. 3. run a second basement preprocessor simulation using monthly internal temperatures obtained within designbuilder. 4. run a second designbuilder simulation using previously obtained ground temperatures. 5. run a third basement preprocessor simulation using previously internal temperatures obtained within designbuilder. after point 5, differences were very slight, but we continued until 5 iterations for each of the designbuilder and pg. 28 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the basement preprocessor. as shown in the chart, (fig. 6). the most sensitive parameter for the basement’s calibration was the ground temperature. after reaching a reliable ground temperature as an input, we continued to simulate the basement model changing some other uncertain different parameters until reaching a visually near-to-actual zone temperature. accordingly, we chose the best curve after measuring the normalized mean bias error (nmbe), and the correlation coefficient compared with the real actual measurements by the sensors. 3.2.2. inputs for the basement preprocessor using ground temperatures with basements, the basement routine is used to calculate the face (surface) temperatures on the outside of the basement wall or the floor slab. the output of basement preprocessor was the ground temperature, which was applied to the outer surface of every surface has a ground adjacency. (fig. 7) shows the zone of the basement and its adjacencies conditions. the construction of the basement’s wall: cement/plaster 3cm. limestone 20cm. moisture insulation (bitumen) 2cm. and the soil, from inside to outside respectively, with a total thickness of 25cm. the construction of the basement’s slab: ceramic tiles 2cm., cement/mortar 2cm., sand 4 cm., moisture insulation (bitumen) 2cm., aerated concrete 15cm., and the soil, from inside to outside respectively, with a total thickness of 25cm. as shown in (fig. 8). we tried to localize the inputs of the basement preprocessor as much as possible as shown in table 1, in order to reach (close to the real) ground temperature, as an output (energyplus 2015). for the ground thermal effect on buildings, a key element are the thermal bridges, which will depend on the ratio of building area and building perimeter, we considered it under the (equivslab) object in the table 1 below. this object provides the information needed to do the simulation as an equivalent square geometry by utilizing the area to perimeter ratio. this procedure was shown to be accurate by cogil (cogil, a. 1998; energyplus 2015). however, we did not change all the inputs, some of them were kept as the defaults. table 1. localized inputs for the basement preprocessor, for the egyptian local building material properties basement ght.idd object category input source matlprops density (kg/m3) density for foundation wall 1575 calculated* density for floor slab 2108 calculated* density for soil 1960 designbuilder, alluvial clay 40% sand density for gravel 1840 designbuilder, gravel specific heat capacity (j/kg-k) specific heat for foundation wall 979 calculated** specific heat for floor slab 951 calculated** specific heat for soil 840 designbuilder, alluvial clay 40% sand specific heat for gravel 840 designbuilder, gravel continued on next page pg. 29 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued basement ght.idd thermal conductivity (w/m-k) thermal conductivity for foundation wall 0.63 calculated*** thermal conductivity for floor slab 0.7 calculated*** thermal conductivity for soil 1.21 designbuilder, alluvial clay 40% sand thermal conductivity for gravel 0.36 designbuilder, gravel insulation r-value (m2-k/w) r-value of any exterior insulation 0.01 flag: is the wall fully insulated? (false) surfaceprops albedo surface albedo for no snow conditions 0.3 for “asphalt” (t.r. 2015) epsln surface emissivity no snow 0.95 for “asphalt” (t.r. 2015) veght (cm.) surface roughness no snow conditions 0.032 for “asphalt” bldgdata dwall (m.) basement wall thickness 0.25 the model dslab (m.) the thickness of the floor slab 0.25 the model combldg every month’s average air temperature specifies the 12 monthly average basement temperatures (air temperature) (c) first, calculated by the formula (eq.1) using tav. for each month. then, the zone temp. output from energyplus. equivslab apratio (m.) the area to perimeter (a/p) ratio for the slab (63.9533/36.1396) =1.023 m. the model. equivsizing flag (false) the dimensions will be input directly autogrid slabx (m.) x dimension of the building slab 7 the model slaby (m.) y dimension of the building slab 13.5 the model concagheight height of the fndn wall above grade 0.0 slabdepth (m) thickness of the floor slab 0.25 the model basedepth (m) depth of the basement wall below grade 2.4 the model * density: calculate the mass of each layer. then, sum. of masses and sum. of volumes, to calculate the density of the assembly (eq. 2). ** specific heat capacity: a mass-weighted addition of the parts (eq. 3). *** thermal conductivity: to obtain the r-value of each layer, according to its thickness, per unit area. then, pg. 30 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. a flow chart describing the ground temperature and basement’s calibration process. pg. 31 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. the basement zone’s adjacencies conditions. figure 8. cross-section of the calibrated basement floor and slab layers sum. of r. finally, calculate the total thermal conductivity according to the total thickness and sum. of r-values, (eq. 4). to calculate the wall’s and slab’s thermal properties, we used the cross-section at (fig. 8) and equations (eq. 2 4). ρtotal = ∑(m) ∑(v) (2) ∑cp = m1 ∑ m xcp1 + m2 ∑ m × cp2 + m3 ∑ m × cp3 +···... etc. (3) ktotal = ∑(l) ∑(r) (4) pg. 32 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the inputs for the site:grounddomain:basement, xing approach was for the al minya city table 2, (xing 2014). table 2. constant values for the site:grounddomain:basement, xing approach inputs (xing 2014), p158. region country station latitude longitude ts, avg. ts, amplitude,1 ts, amplitude,2 pl1 pl2 1 egy al minya 28.08 30.73 24.1 9.0 0.8 21 2 3.3. inputs for the simulated model in table 3., we mentioned only the customized inputs for the local buildings’ construction details of the calibrated model in egypt. other than these inputs, was kept as the default of the designbuilder program. table 3. customized inputs for the building model calibration in designbuilder category sub-category item input activity occupancy density (people/m2) 0.15 latent fraction 0.5 metabolic rate exercise metabolic factor 1.0 occupancy schedule from 15:00 to 22:00 other gains computers, load (w/m2) 300 workday profile from 15:00 to 22:00 miscellaneous (two ceiling fans), load (w/m2) 2*88= 176 general lighting, workday profile from 15:00 to 22:00 environmental control natural ventilation natural ventilation set point (◦c) 24º lighting, target illuminance (lux) 300 default display lighting density (w/m2) 20 construction walls name thickness (m.) no. of layers u-value external/air. 0.25 4 2.08 external/ground.0.25 3, fig. 8 1.771 internal/partitions.0.15 3 3.369 roof/floor/ slab/ceiling flat roof. 0.2 5 2.695 floor slab (basement). 0.25 5, fig. 8 1.767 thermal mass same as (internal part.) 0.15 3 3.369 doors external door. metal door airtightness infiltration rate (ac/h). 0.5, very poor openings glazing single clear (6 mm.), 1 layer, painted wooden window frame, u-value (w/m2.k) 5.778 total solar transmission (shgc) 0.819 continued on next page pg. 33 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued category sub-category item input shading window blinds type: blind with medium reflectivity slats. position: inside. control type: night outside low air temp. + day cooling. lighting fluorescent, compact (cfl), normalized power density (w/m2-100lux). 5.00 luminaire type. suspended hvac natural ventilation – no heating/cooling 3.4. the model hypotheses and limitations – the model is a basement in a conventional reinforced concrete conventional building, which is the clear majority of this kind of buildings at egypt. – the basement usage is a gym. the metabolism rate was taken into consideration during simulation. however, for the proposed hypothetical residential usage, this would be different. – the calibrated model basement’s roof is a semi-exterior non-conditioned room. that was considered during the calibration process within setting the boundaries conditions. however, the proposed earth-sheltered building for application, should have a ground thick layer at the roof. – the research compared afterwards, a hypothetical earth-sheltered zone with the same corresponding conventional roof zone. in order to confirm the effect of ground-contact and show the effect of roof ground cover. this might not be a very accurate process because we did not calibrate the zone with ground cover on the roof before this comparison. 4. results 4.1. ground temperature and basement calibration comparisons the iteration results between the (basement preprocessor) and the (designbuilder/energyplus) software shown in (figs. 9, 10), are the output of the process described in the chart (fig. 6). we changed some of the uncertainty inputs resulting in 15 different curves to reach the most near-to-actual curve, compared with the measured period. the most sensitive input was the ground temperature, which differed greatly when we changed to the site:grounddomain:basement, xing approach (energyplus development 2015). we chose the best-fit curves to go through the statistical analysis test as shown in (fig. 11) for about three weeks in october. calibration 11 inputs were the best to give very precise outputs as it showed high agreement, between the measured and modeled data, with correlation of 98%, and errors with mean bias error (mbe), root mean square error (rmse) and normalized root mean square error (nrmse) of -1, 1.65 and 7.6%, respectively. 4.2. thermal comfort analysis and comparisons after the basement calibration, we conducted comparisons between two hypothetical living zones, after modifying the occupancy schedule of the basement from gym to the same living occupancy schedule of the roof, using the same calibrated roof inputs. this resulted in two very similar living zones, one on the roof level and the other one pg. 34 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. the basement zone’s adjacencies conditions. figure 10. cross-section of the calibrated basement floor and slab layers. figure 11. the most visually typical sequence that is near-to-actual trials during the basement calibration process, using the ground temperature from the iterative approach, compared with the site: grounddomain: basement, xing approach on the underground level. we analyzed the thermal comfort using the fanger model which is divided into the range of (+3: -3) of the predicted mean vote (pmv). the ideal comfort sensation based on fanger is (zero). we chose the fanger analysis because this building was highly sealed, and the infiltration rate was very low, and the building was at the steady state condition (attia and carlucci 2015). the thermal comfort sensation in egypt has a wider range and could be reached with a simple ceiling fan (attia, evrard, and gratia 2012). the roof floor unconditioned living zone thermal comfort reached 5035 hrs. 57% of the year. however, the proposed perspective underground zone reached 8655 hrs. 99% of the year. with an increase by 58% of comfort hours. 5. discussion based on this research, we conclude that earth-sheltered buildings are the great passive solution for saving energy. the big dilemma related to this structural option is the difficulty inherent in simulating it precisely. in fact, the most sensitive input variables are the ground boundary temperature and the 3-d thermal bridging effect. pg. 35 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 12. thermal comfort comparison between roof floor and underground floor of the same living zone, showing the stable thermal conditions with basements, compared with the conventional ones during 365 days. there are two methods for simulating 3-d thermal bridging effect and ground coupling using the energyplus method; the first is basement preprocessor through the groundheattransfer:basement object and the iterative approach which we introduced in detail in this paper, and the second is integrated site:grounddomain:basement object. to distinguish which method is the most accurate, we compared both methods’ outputs with the actual zone measurements, given that we used the xing inputs for the second approach. after the calibration process, we compared the thermal comfort of roof floor and underground floor living zones. thermal comfort sensation depends on each country’s climate and people’s acceptance of extreme climate change differences. in egypt, people tend to use ceiling or floor-length fans as their first choice to increase the thermal comfort zone. their second choice is to use the ac, and only during a narrow range of the extremely hot weather months, to save energy. consequently, we increased the pmv sensation range from zero to ± 2 levels, a range which may be reached easily by using a ceiling fan rather than an ac unit. finally, this research did not examine basements for living purposes but examined basements to simulate them as a structural approach for an early design stage of earth-sheltered buildings in hot-arid climates, as a passive method for achieving thermal comfort. we did, however, conduct a different parallel research to measure people’s acceptance to live in earth-sheltered buildings (heba hassan et al. 2016; ismail et al. 2013). 6. conclusion in this research, we compared the results between two ground temperature calculation methods, in comparison with the actual measurement. moreover, we provided a detailed simplified way to localize the inputs of the building materials’ thermal properties. the research demonstrated that the classic iterative way between energyplus and the basement preprocessor “groundheattransfer:basement” methods, to gain the ground boundary temperature, is more effective than the integrated “site:grounddomain:basement” object, xing approach. more specifically, the iterative approach and the precise local customized inputs displayed significantly high correlation curves compared with the actual measurements, with correlation results of 98%, and errors with mean bias error (mbe), root mean square error (rmse) and normalized root mean square error (nrmse) of -1, 1.65 and 7.6%, respectively. in addition, the fanger model, using pmv, was used in this research to evaluate the underground level versus the roof level’s thermal comfort of the same living zone. more precisely, the earth-contact effect in the underground level increased the thermal comfort by 58% of comfort hours, compared with the roof floor of the perspective zone. finally, this research does not suggest that people should live underground, but rather that architects and structural engineers should introduce the innovative earth-contact effect for use in buildings as an implementation approach for the modern type of earth-sheltered building structures. pg. 36 kamel / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. acknowledgments the researcher would like to acknowledge the building owners for their gracious and kind help in the calibration process, by allowing us to place many sensors inside their apartments. a deep gratitude is for inas 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(2014). estimations of undisturbed ground temperatures using numerical and analytical modeling, phd. oklahoma state university. pg. 38 introduction climate analysis of the selected city in egypt method measurements weather file ground temperature calculation and basement calibration process inputs for the basement preprocessor inputs for the simulated model the model hypotheses and limitations results ground temperature and basement calibration comparisons thermal comfort analysis and comparisons discussion conclusion acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.169 vision and methodology to support sustainable architecture through building technology in the digital era merhan mohammed m. shahda1 1lecturer in the architecture and urban design, department faculty of engineering, port said university abstract the last decades have witnessed countless, progressive, and rapid advances in the field of building technology, which has a strong impact on the construction industry. consequently, employing these techniques to support sustainable architecture has become a pivotal issue. since architecture is a product of the available technology era, building technology could be a contributing factor to reinforce sustainable architecture, where it could promote raising the efficiency of the environmental performance of the architectural product. this paper introduces a methodological framework to support sustainable architecture through building technology in the digital era through an analytical study of the interactions between building technology and sustainable architecture. in addition, this paper analyzes the influence of the technological revolution in the digital era on the axes of building technology (implementation methods, construction systems, construction materials) from the sustainability perspective so as to conserve natural resources for future generations. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords building technology; sustainable architecture; digital era 1. introduction sustainability is not only an optimal option for our future, but it is also perceived as an essential alternative, therefore, architects need to adopt eco-friendly practices and materials that reduce the impact of the building industry on the environment. alternative ways to construct buildings are required using green, renewable energy resources as well as technology that entails recycling and reuse. the architectural product is a product of the available technology. building technology plays a significant role in supporting sustainable architecture, wherein it can contribute to enhancing the efficiency of the environmental performance of the architectural product. supporting building technology for sustainable architecture has become imperative to preserve the rights of future generations and to conserve natural resources for them as well. attempts are being made to use building technology to achieve sustainability, but the problem remains in the lack of understanding of how to approach modern techniques in the field of building technology and the solutions that can be offered to achieve sustainable technological architecture. hence, sustainability and building technology must be used as the basic and important alternatives in architectural design, not as architectural fashion. thus, the research problem relates to the use of modern building technology in the digital era and the evolution and development in a wide vision in proportion to the environmental conditions pg. 54 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to achieve sustainability in its comprehensive concept. in this context, this paper presents the following questions and tries to answer them: how can building technology support sustainable architecture? which axis of building technology can support sustainability to a greater extent? accordingly, this paper assumes that the success of sustainable architecture lies in achieving the integration between the sustainability objectives and the available technologies in this era. in addition, it aims to understand the interrelationships between building technology and sustainable architecture. moreover, it also aims to create a methodological vision to use modern building technology in the era of the digital revolution within the framework of sustainability considerations. thus, reaching the foundations of a sustainable architectural product that depends on modern building technology techniques and innovating an architectural product that is compatible with the environment to achieve sustainable architecture. 2. research methodology this paper deals with an analytical study of the interactions of building technology and sustainable architecture and analyzes the impact of building technology on supporting sustainable architecture. furthermore, the research presents an analysis of three contemporary projects of the digital revolution era for each axis within building technology and evaluates the success of each axis in achieving sustainability assessment elements. finally, the evaluation results are used as a guide in selecting appropriate technologies for each standard of the criteria for supporting sustainability which is proposed by the research. accordingly, these reviews are used to propose a methodological framework that supports environmental sustainability through building technology in the digital era. 3. basic concepts: sustainable architecture, building technology in the digital era technology: ”science of craft” is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives. technology is a way to solve problems and a way of thinking; it is a mean not a result. technology is the best procedure to employ resources which are used to achieve human well-being (welfare). building technology: building or construction technology are the tools and techniques, using precise and advanced sciences in the field of building and construction, for the creation of buildings or places for people to escape the natural elements. moreover, it refers to how to convert buildings into an industrial process including mechanization, administration, employment, production rates and building materials. the field of building technology is divided into three axes which are construction materials, construction systems and implementation methods. architectural technology: is architecture that applies available modern technologies in the preparation of designs and models or in the ways and methods of implementation and construction. another definition is “the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate building design factors in order to produce efficient and effective technical design solutions which satisfy performance, production and procurement criteria” (architectural technology bsc (hons), 2012). an example for architectural technology in the digital era is the walt disney concert hall by architect frank gerry who used modern techniques of digital design and operations executively in designing the building and the external coatings, which were designed and implemented using a software that was specially prepared and developed by frank gerry’s technology institution, figure 1. sustainable architecture seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by improving efficiency and being moderate in the use of materials, energy, and development space. sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment (sustainable pg. 55 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. the walt disney concert hall in l.a. architecture and simulation modelling). the idea of sustainability, or ecological design, is to ensure that our actions and decisions today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations (doerr architecture, definition of sustainability and the impacts of buildings). consequently, sustainable architecture includes the following principles: – reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources. – beautify the natural environment. – remove or reduce the use of toxic materials. sustainable buildings can be defined as those buildings that have minimal adverse impacts on the built and natural environment in terms of the buildings themselves, their immediate surroundings and the broader regional and global settings (liliana beltrán, ph. d lecture 1., environmental systems). subsequently, the five objectives for sustainable buildings can be defined as: resource efficiency. – energy efficiency (including greenhouse gas emissions reduction). – pollution prevention (including indoor air quality and noise abatement). – harmonization with the environment (including environmental assessment). – integrated and systematic approaches (including environmental management system). there are other issues which should be considered in order to address sustainable construction. this includes energy efficiency during the construction and post-construction period of a facility. in addition, minimization of greenhouse gas emissions. also, design and construction of the facility are done in such a way that encourages green transport and water conservation. moreover, waste minimization and management during the construction and at the time of demolition in addition to the consideration given to the wildlife and local nuisance during the design and construction phases. hence, these are six basic issues that affect sustainable architecture and sustainable building, figure 2. many global institutions that are specialized in the field of environmental sustainability have established standards and ways for assessing and classifying the buildings around the world. subsequently, the research deals with the leed “leadership in energy and environmental design “standard, since it is the most crucial and prominent pg. 56 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. outlinessix issues for the sustainable architecture andsustainable building. figure 3. leedcategories as % of total points (69). of these standards. thus, the certificate of (leed) is presented to the outstanding projects, (leed) includes 69 points divided as follows, see figure 3. as shown in figure 4, in the search for criteria to evaluate the support of building technology for sustainable architecture, the most important elements can be a guide to creating a research checklist. through all of the above, the checklist is divided into eight elements for evaluation, see table 1. use of renewable energies. use of available resources. comfortable indoor environment. reduce energy and resource consumption. harmony with the environment. reduce costs. pg. 57 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. guide elements for the search about checklist. innovative design. beautiful design. table 1. proposal checklist to evaluation checklist to evaluate the support of building technology for sustainable architecture project: sustainability found efficiently found 2 point 1 point use of renewable energies use of available resources comfortable indoor environment reduce energy and resource consumption harmony with environment reduce costs innovative design beautiful design final score: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. building technology for supporting ssustainability in the digital era the digital revolution has produced many new terms each of which reflects a new aspect of change that has become abundantly clear in our contemporary lives. these terms include artificial intelligence (ai), digital forms, virtual reality (vr), and cyberspace. figure 5 illustrates the impact of the digital revolution on architecture. eco-tech is a term that summarizes the relationship between building technology and sustainability. eco-tech: is the term given to architecture in the fields of environment and new technologies in architecture. it is nowadays one of the leading fields of architecture in the modern era. the concerns of this field pour into the area of sustainable architecture and high technology. the pioneers of the field are renzo piano, richard rogers, and norman foster. this term symbolizes a shortcut to the two words: pg. 58 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. theimpact of digital revolution on architecture. eco=ecology: means the science dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other. tech=technology: means technology, the best use of the knowledge, resources and adapted to achieve human well-being. the impact of the technological revolution in the digital era (structural side): the influence of the digital revolution has extended to the structural component of architecture in the field of building technology. the fact is that it is noticeably represented in the accelerated development for each of the methods and equipment of implementation or through building materials where computer and technical revolution techniques have been capable of shortening the time required for the implementation of any building in addition to the assistance in the manufacturing process and the implementation of any project. regardless of how difficult in their composition or their spatial dimension, the following is a presentation of the effects of the technological revolution in the digital era on building technology axes from the sustainability perspective. 4.1. building materials in supporting sustainability in the digital era the digital revolution has generated a boom in building materials. it has produced many modern and developed building materials, whether basic building materials or complementary building materials. in the digital revolution, the computer plays a major role whether it is a direct role through different softwares or indirectly through manufacturing and testing processes. as shown in figure 6, the methodology of the digital revolution impacts building materials. figure 6. the impact of digitalrevolution on architecture. consequently, the development of building materials is regarded as one of the most important axes that should be taken into consideration when considering supporting sustainability. this is because the material used in the construction plays a significant role in determining the type of the required technology for manufacturing and subsequently, the quality and the amount of energy expendable whether in the stage of construction, operation or occupancy. the following are examples of building material of the technical revolution era in the twenty-first century and the extent of its support for the sustainability principles. pg. 59 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.1.1. example 1 for (building materials): guggenheim museum, prefabricated facade systems basic information: the guggenheim museum bilbao designed by architect frank gehry is located in bilbao, spain. guggenheim museum is considered as one of the most impressive works of contemporary architecture because it represents ”one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something.” (tyrnauer, 2010). in the 2010 world architecture survey that was conducted among architecture experts estimated that the museum was nominated as the most important piece of architecture in the period from 1980 until 2010. project description: frank gehry used three different elements to form the building façade of the museum. the interconnecting shapes of stone, glass, and titanium unfold on a 32,500-square-meter site along the nervión river (muschamp1997), the greatest number of difficulties arose when intersections formed by two or three different materials meeting in peculiar points, see figure 7. therefore, the exterior cladding of the building that assigns its signature shape was very difficult to design and construct. frank gehry said in an interview in harvard design magazine that the building was constructed on time and budget, which is rare for the architecture of this type. subsequently, he elaborated on how he executed it. he added that he used computer visualizations produced by his own digital project software (ragheb, 2001), (guggenheim museum bilbao). supporting sustainability principles through building materials in the digital era the exterior of the building has a very unusual shape, from plates and irregular forms, which was designed and constructed by prefabricated techniques by the digital revolution. the fact that provided a chance to cut the huge number of pieces of small metal, that are characterized by different forms and dimensions. the computer was programmed to cut all of these needed forms into parts very quickly and free from the constraints of the principle of standardization. both catia and bocad (a steel detailing program) were used in the creation of the building. catia significantly upgraded the level of complex forms that could be realized by frank gehry. this allowed more freedom in his designs and “simplified construction by providing digital data that could be employed in the manufacturing process, thus controlling costs” (“frank gehry, architect, 2001; ragheb, 2001; “digital gehry material resistance digital construction, 2001). 4.1.2. example 2 (building materials): cellophane house, smart wrap, facade pane basic information: smart wrap appeared at the cooper hewitt fair in 2003. smart wrap is a thin plastic film designed to cover a building as a multi-tasking and intelligent wall. the basic concept for smart wrap was refined and advanced through the design of cellophane house, in 2008, see figure 8 the outer walls of cellophane house are formed out of seventy-four smart wrap panels, each containing photovoltaic film adhered to pet and layers of ultraviolet blocking film (kieran, 2011). project description: the smart wrap wall assembly consists of four functioning layers fixed on an aluminum frame. each wall panel included an outer transparent pet weather barrier, an inner pet layer with thin-film photovoltaic cells, an inner layer of solar heat and uv blocking film, and an interior layer of pet. the sensors on the west facade of the house collected thermal data. a vented cavity between the pet layers was used to hold heat in the winter and vent it in the summer, reducing the amount of energy required to heat and cool the house. supporting sustainability principles through building materials in the digital era casing material intelligent (smartwrap) is a very thin material in fish-based polymer. this film has the ability to change color and appearance. in addition to energy conservation, it also improves the indoor climate, lighting, and electricity. based formulations of this smart cover do not require traditional windows to allow light to enter. this is due to the ability to form windows and places that could be easily modified by controlling the degree of transparency of the atmosphere (robert, 2007). pg. 60 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. guggenheim museum source (bilbao, guggenheim museum bilbao) smartwrap has revolutionized the building industry because this material includes all the regular wall functionality such as insulation, protection, electricity, and windows. however, it is compressed into a material that is only a few millimetres thick. moreover, the features of intelligent cover smartwrap include: the ability to change the color and appearance. lightweight. internal climate control and lighting. execution speed and high quality. can be transported and installed very quickly. provides insulation, passive ventilation, uv protection, and renewable energy. easily disassembled and fed into a recycling stream. 4.1.3. example 3(building materials): jubilee church, nanotechnology basic information: the jubilee church was designed by architect richard meier, figure 9. jubilee church is a landmark when it comes to the use of nanotechnology in building materials. jubilee church was constructed in 2003 and its white concrete shows no signs of darkening even years later. its white color is still as bright as the day it was constructed (halford, 2011). project description: jubilee church walls contain titanium dioxide particles to keep the appearance of the church white. under the influence of (uv)-light and water (humidity), nanoscale titanium dioxide quickens chemical reactions, this is process that breaks down and decomposes organic material. this process, known as photocatalysis, is applied to the construction industry and architecture to create “self-cleaning” building materials and to break down air pollutants (nanotechnology in construction, 2012). supporting sustainability principles through building materials in the digital era nanotechnology increases the building performance, energy efficiency, environmental sensing, and sustainability, pg. 61 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. cellophane house, smart wrap, facade pane source (kieran, 2011). uv protection, corrosion resistance and waterproofing. nanotechnology removes and renders benign pollutants from a building’s surrounding atmosphere (intersecting of nanotechnology materials for green buildings). it is predicted that nanotechnology offers many environmental performance benefits including improvements in solar insulation and coatings, advances in water, air infiltration and solar technology. 4.2. construction systems in supporting sustainability the technological revolution has brought a boom in construction methods. the fact that facilitates the possibility of creating any blocks, no matter how seemingly impossible the implementation and design of the façades with their vertical and horizontal sections may be. it was impossible to imagine the complex designs through a simulation software and three-dimensional modelling. additionally, it now calculates the expected loads, external influences such as wind, earthquakes, and hurricanes according to the nature of the environment in which the building would be built. accordingly, all the above support sustainability principles in terms of saving time and energy. the following figure shows the impact of the technological revolution system on construction systems from the sustainability perspective, figure 10. pg. 62 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. thejubilee church built with photo-catalytically active, “self-cleaning” figure 10. direct impact ofdigital revolution on structural systems 4.2.1. example 1 (construction systems): water cube national swimming centre basic information: the beijing national aquatics center, also officially known as the national aquatics center and colloquially known as the water cube, is an aquatic center that was built alongside beijing national stadium in the olympic green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 summer olympics, see figure11. despite its nickname, the building is not an actual cube, but a cuboid (beijing cubism, etfe revolutionized the bubble). project description: the idea of the project is based on soap bubbles. the architects emulated the random appearance of clinging soap bubbles with each other by making organized models taking the form of cells with 12 through 14 facets. the project consists of 100,000 m of etfe bubbles. the fluoropolymer is a plastic material which has several advantages: it weighs one-tenth of glass. it is more flexible and transparent. it allows passing a larger amount of light. it is an excellent insulator, so it saves more than 50% of lighting costs. supporting sustainability principles: simulating the form and clinging bubbles with each other enriched the architectural form of the building which bestowed aesthetic values. the up-to-date technology and computer technology, which was used in manufacturing and cutting etfe did not waste time, manufacture costs, or materials. they could cut 3500 pads to fit their place well, and they had to make just one pad. simulation bubbles’ transparent appearance with the use of the transparent etfe with its advantages saved the pg. 63 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd costs of lightning and helped with the rationalization of energy. figure 11. watercube national swimming centre structure system, interior. 4.2.2. example 2 (construction systems): bird’s nest stadium in china basic information: the swiss office ”her zog et de mevron” developed the bird’s nest stadium together with the chinese government in 2008 in beijing china. project description: the stadium was given this name because the iron bars are similar to a bird’s nest. it was designed by simulating birds’ shelters which consist of organic material such as branches and grass. the structure of the bird’s nest is innovated on the grounds of structural systems and the way of how to distribute loads. designers of the bird’s nest used dp. digital project (dp) is a 3d building information modelling (bim) system which uses catia as a core engine and also used the simulation technique (cfd) so as to simulate temperatures, wind power, and humidity inside the structure of birds’ nests in addition to giving the audience the opportunity to enjoy light, see figure 12. supporting sustainability principles: the use of simulation in designing the bird’s nest is to develop a strong structural system. unique architectural formation has aesthetic values. moreover, the simulating natural ventilation and the lighting systems help to rationalize energy. this, in turn, helps in reducing operating costs. it also reduces pollution emitted from the building as a result of the rationalization of energy consumption. 4.2.3. example 3 (construction systems): swiss re headquarters basic information: swiss re headquarters, designed by foster and partners, is remarkably similar in its structure to the skeleton of a sea creature known as a ”glass sponge.” london, 1997 2004. project description: using a series of geometric shapes on the exterior similar to those of a glass sponge makes the structure stiff enough to resist structural loads without extra reinforcements. in the same way that the glass sponge takes in nutrients from the water by sucking water from its base and expelling it through the holes its top, the building ventilates air in a similar fashion, see figure 13. supporting sustainability principles: pg. 64 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 12. bird’snest stadium n china, exterior. figure 13. (swiss re headquarters) under construction pg. 65 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the tower’s window opens for natural ventilation and is backed by spiraling light wells; these features were designed to cut energy consumption by half thus, reducing the impact of industrial air conditioners on the environment. the new structure, which is inspired by the glass sponge, gave the durability and flexibility of the structure and the beauty of the design (a gherkin to suit all tastes, magazine features). 4.3. implementation methods for supporting sustainability building technology has conceded at a myriad phase throughout the ages. consequently, building production technology can be divided into three phases. firstly, the period of dependence on the muscle strength of man. secondly, the period of using machines as helping tools. and finally, the period of full replacement of machines instead of human forces. accordingly, with the advent of the digital revolution, the techniques used in the implementation process have evolved. for instance, manufacturing processes, supervision, follow-up implementation and the use of automated construction equipment that are remotely controlled. this equipment are remote-controlled both in the drilling equipment, lifting, or even to transfer and install where the equipment is supplied by softwares including site data, speed, weights and wind each implementation. moreover, remote-control of location variables and ensuring that no obstacles or collision occurs and avoiding all risks. as a result, all the above support sustainability principles from being cost-effective to educing time-consumption as well as increasing the quality of the architectural product. on the other hand, fourth dimension 4d applications also appeared and are considered as a creative, strong surge in implementation. it means adding the fourth dimension (time element), which helps to analyze the implementation timeline that leads to avoiding difficulties or problems that may arise during the implementation process, figure 14. figure 14. implementationmethods in supporting sustainability. sourcebythe researcher. 4d technology: 4d simulation software is capable of generating visualizations which illustrate construction processes along the timeline. in order to create a 4d simulation, a three-dimensional bim model is required, followed by the time-consuming task to link 3d objects of a building to the tasks in a time schedule, which helps to reduce errors. 4d simulation can improve communication among project members and help to avoid planning failures. the 4d simulation system consists of four distinct parts: (1) 3d model of a building, (2) time schedule, (3) 4d simulation, (4) productivity modification. (building information modeling bim, 2016; interactive 4d-cad; kathleen, 2012; enhancement of availability of 4d simulation based on building information model technology). automation of construction equipment is characterized by artificial intelligence where it can implement very complex buildings, interact, and carry out instructions from a distance and install building components precisely and quickly. furthermore, the automation of production blocks, standards, and the prefabrication of various building components may lead to converting the design of buildings into a process of selecting parts. these techniques have also led to reducing the cost, the time of execution of major projects, and energy efficiency. figure 15 shows the multi-functional building unit used to raise and enter the components of prefabricated houses into a supporting structure. however, these standard components have a multi-variable distribution to allow for maximum individual expression in interior design and decoration. pg. 66 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.3.1. example 1(implementation methods): phoenix international media center basic information: phoenix international media center is in beijing and designed by the beijing institute for architecture design (biad) with shao weiping. phoenix international media center is a steel torus of a structure enclosed with 3,800 glass panels, each differently sized and detailed see, figure 16. this project puts 3d digital design into practice (giovannini, 2014). figure 15. multi-function unit. source (fresco, 2007) figure 16. phoenix internationalmedia center. source (”phoenix international media center”, 2011) project description: the phoenix international media center is the first locally design-built parametric project by chinese architects and engineers. the building area is 65,000 square meters and the building has a height of 55 meters. the techniques that are used in the project are an integration of bim and parametric design processes in the workflow. moreover, the techniques used for fixing the axes and a series of loops, in the plan, from which they generated the geometry for the surface of the torus. the complexity of the building’s latticed façade with its differently stretched web of steel implies the complexities of parametric modeling, wherefore, the project represents an pg. 67 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd up-to-date approach to design and building. shao says that the latest 3d modeling software enables the architects to conceive and execute the project, which requires a high degree of precision (weiping, 2012; zewo, 2012). other features of the design are the steel ribs which channel water into a collection tank that will then be filtered and distributed into the surrounding water features and landscapes. additionally, the double skin facade will reduce energy consumption and maintain comfortable temperatures within the building in the winter and summer. supporting sustainability principles: – in spite of the complexity of the building’s latticed façade and the complexities of parametric modeling, – the project was implemented without wasting time or costs due to the integration of bim and parametric design processes. 4.3.2. example 2 (implementation methods): the yas viceroy abu dhabi hotel basic information: the yas viceroy abu dhabi hotel is known as one of the icons of abu dhabi, uae. it was designed by hani rashid and lise anne couture. the project was initiated as one of the most rapid projects in performance and incompatibility with the schedule as much as possible -440 days from concept design to the opening day of the grand prix. no schedule delays were possible (the big picture: the yas hotel, 2009; the yas hotel / asymptote, 2009). project description: the hotel consists of two twelve store hotel towers, one placed in the marina and another set within the race circuit. they are linked together by a monocoque steel and glass bridge and grid shell structure that both crosses above and over the yas marina circuit f1 race track. many of the automation and optimization processes were developed by gehry technologies (gt) for detailed design of the gridshell, allowing for a constantly updateable process where changes in design were rapidly populated to full construction details. gt staff was able to rapidly populate the digital model with all of the temporary structures that would be required throughout the construction phase. moreover, spatial issues and safety concerns for workers in the areas were analyzed in the model which were most congested with temporary structures, figure 17. otherwise, by working closely with the contractors and workers, steel fabricators and installers, each of the 172 “ladders” that executed the grid shell, were incorporated into the building information model and embedded with the necessary data to allow the instantaneous extraction of important information including construction sequences, welding sequences, coordinates of attachment points, and lighting installation data and glass panel (gehry technologies yas viceroy abu dhabi hotel). supporting sustainability principles: – the designers and implementers succeeded in achieving their goal of opening the building by the specified time of the race within 440 days from idea to implementation by using bim techniques. – avoid any difficulties during implementation such as increased equipment and temporary installations by incorporating the digital model into the implementation schedule. 4.3.3. example 3 (implementation methods): galaxy soho basic information: galaxy soho, beijing is a 330 000m2 office, retail, and entertainment complex, designed by zaha hadid. the 330,000 sqm mixed-use develop covers 18 floors, three of which are underground and the offices occupying levels four to fifteen. project description: the project is composed of five independent concrete volumes wrapped in insulated aluminum panels and linked by a series of stretched bridges. these volumes are adapted to each other in all directions, generating a panoramic architecture without corners or abrupt transitions (galaxy-soho). non-traditional facades and the use of glass, steel, and composites in new structural ways requires unique techniques and special pg. 68 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd methodologies, see figure 18. this has been achieved using many techniques that were used in the galaxy soho project including (dp, bim). digital project is a 3d building information modelling (bim) system developed by gehry technologies, which uses catia as the primary engine. zaha hadid said about using bim system “we explore a range of solutions from the primary gesture through the use of digital tools within the overall creative process. on projects of this scale and complexity, accuracy is as crucial as flexibility and speed, as the 3d data is a critical component of project execution.” (zaha hadid architects develops visionary buildings with software from dassault systèmes partner gehry technologies, 2009). figure 17. the yas viceroy abu dhabi hotel. figure 18. galaxy soho. zaha hadid: soho galaxy in process, design boom supportin g sustainability principles: – accuracy, speed of implementation and no matter how complex configuration is being realized through the availability of the high fidelity digital 3d information that dp provides. 5. evaluate the support of building technology for sustainable architecture it has been analyzed how the success of building technology axes in the digital era in supporting sustainable architecture through some of the architectural projects that were designed based on the building technology in pg. 69 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the digital era. the first axis is building materials, the second axis is the construction systems, the third axis is the methods of implementation. the following is a compilation of data that have been extracted from the analysis of each project. in order to reach the best technologies that support sustainability, the best techniques that achieve rationalization in the consumption of energies and resources, and help to achieve aesthetic values. the best technologies that support innovation in design in addition to reducing costs, either construction or maintenance cost. as well as many important results as a guide to the efficient utilization of building technology axes, see table 2, figure 19. 6. conclusion the above analysis demonstrates the superiority of the building materials. in addition, it elaborates that most of the projects which have used these techniques were able to reap the highest points to support sustainability. most of the projects in this evaluation have shown significance in these two elements ”innovative design and beautiful design”. hence, projects that have employed the techniques of building technology in the digital era have an innovative design and high aesthetic values. the use of digital techniques in implementation methods has helped to a great extent to achieve the site safety precautions. the use of digital techniques in building materials has assisted in reducing energy and resource consumption. the use of digital technologies in building technology axes (building materials, construction systems) has facilitated achieving a comfortable internal environment, and the implementation methods have not affected attaining a pg. 70 shahda / environmental science and sustainable development, essd comfortable environment for users. the use of digital techniques in implementation methods has helped to decrease the implementation costs and the use of building materials influenced by the digital revolution which has led to reducing the operating costs. the results show that the first axis of building technology gets the highest points in support of sustainability with a simple difference with the other axes. the fact which confirms that the conscious use of modern techniques can aid to support sustainability figure 19. the result of the evaluation.source:researcher references 1. ragheb, j. f., gehry, f. o., cohen, j., & friedman, m. s. 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(2014, july 14). phoenix international media center, designed by biad. retrieved from htt ps://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/phoenix-international-media-center-designed-by-biad o pg. 72 introduction research methodology basic concepts: sustainable architecture, building technology in the digital era building technology for supporting ssustainability in the digital era building materials in supporting sustainability in the digital era example 1 for (building materials): guggenheim museum, prefabricated facade systems example 2 (building materials): cellophane house, smart wrap, facade pane example 3(building materials): jubilee church, nanotechnology construction systems in supporting sustainability example 1 (construction systems): water cube national swimming centre example 2 (construction systems): bird's nest stadium in china example 3 (construction systems): swiss re headquarters implementation methods for supporting sustainability example 1(implementation methods): phoenix international media center example 2 (implementation methods): the yas viceroy abu dhabi hotel example 3 (implementation methods): galaxy soho evaluate the support of building technology for sustainable architecture conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.16 comparative study of solar radiation availability in dry climate urban environment forested areas in mendoza, argentina arboit, m.1, betman, e.2 1instituto de ciencias humanas, sociales y ambientales. (incihusa – conicet) 2instituto de ambiente, hábitat y energı́a. (inahe – conicet) av. adrián ruiz leal s/n parque general san martı́n. (5500) mendoza, argentina abstract the study proposes determining the potential of solar collection in urban environments, considering urban building different morphological variables corresponding to representative urban settings in the mendoza metropolitan area (amm), argentina. the methodology involves monitoring the global solar irradiance on the vertical plane in north facades, completely and partly sunny, affected by solid masking and masking woodland. results obtained so far indicate that solar masking is critical for vertical surfaces, with a reduction of the available solar energy between 2% and 66% in the winter season, depending on the type of trees and the building morphology. in the summer season, the measured solar masking values range from a maximum of 83% and a minimum of 10% influence of surface shaded by the neighboring buildings and trees. the results demonstrate the impact of the main variables that determine access to the sun in an urban environment (urban tree canopy, building morphology, building height, urban street width). the study will allow for future reform and progressive updating of urban and building codes to implement higher levels of energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact by urban buildings, considering the principal urban building variables. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainable urban development; urban morphology; solar potential; forested urban environments 1. introduction the study of morphological variables of urban buildings and urban tree canopy cover is essential for sustainable urban development in arid areas. access or masking of solar radiation in highly forested urban environments with dry climates and their interrelationships influence energy consumption and environmental conditions. the problems of the environment and energy have been debated intensely by scientific sectors, and much has been discussed about the relationship between energy consumption and urban morphology (givoni, 1998; breheny, 1996; oke, 1987; garcia, 1993). pg. 14 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd on the level of urban configurations, urban green spaces provide great social and environmental benefits that benefit the quality of life in cities. the contribution of urban trees in improving the microclimate, air quality, and living in cities is well-documented (bernatzky, 1982; rowntree, 1986; mcpherson, simpson, & livingston 1989; mcpherson, 1992; mcpherson, simpson, xiao, & wu, 2011; simpson & mcpherson, 1998; scudo & ochoa de la torre, 2003; santamouris, synnefa, & karlessi, 2011; santamouris, papanikolaou, livada, koronakis, georgakis, argiriou, & assimakopoulos, 2001; mascaró, 1996). urban trees improve air temperature and humidity, evapotranspiration, absorption of pollutants, and wind speed (akbari & konopacki, 2005; block, livesley, & williams, 2012; simpson, 2002; tooke, coops, christen, gurtuna, & prévot, 2012; tooke, coops, goodwin, & voogt, 2009; tooke, coops, & meitner, 2011; armson, stringer, & ennos, 2012; hamada & ohta, 2010; loughner, 2012; morakinyo, balogun, & adegun, 2013; shashua-bar & hoffman, 2000; shashua-bar, pearlmutter, & erell, 2009). some authors have evaluated the reduction of solar radiation on horizontal surfaces (gómez-muñoz, porta-gándara & fernández, 2010; heisler, 1986) and on the surrounding surfaces that radiate heat (parker, 1983; papadakis, tsamis & kyritsis, 2001). to date, some studies have focused on the ceiling masking woodland, (tooke et al., 2009, 2011, 2012; wang, chang, merrick, & amati, 2016) but the shading trees’ effect on the walls and windows has been unevaluated. the present work-studies available regarding solar radiation on the north facades of highly forested urban environments typical of the mendoza metropolitan area (amm), argentina. this is part of the environmental and energysustainable development issues regarding the construction industry in cities of the arid sub-andean mesothermal region of the west-central argentina. its population is about one million inhabitants, and its geographical coordinates are latitude -32.85, longitude 63.85 and altitude 746 m. the main climatic characteristics are the following: in comfort for 21.5% of yearly hours, heating needed for 70% of yearly hours, and cooling needed for 8.5% of yearly hours. heating dd (base 18◦c) is 1384 and cooling dd (base 23◦c) is 163. yearly mean horizontal global solar radiation is 18.06 mj/m2 day. the amm is no stranger to the intense population growth of cities in developing countries and the unsustainability of current development has inexorably deteriorated through time due to a lack of knowledge, management and planning actions. given this scenario, the following question arises: what are the impacts of both urban-building morphologies and the different tree species that predominate in the urban environment in the availability of the solar energy resource? in the amm, several specific studies have been developed, considering the representative groups of the urbanbuilding morphology, which were determined by the solar potential in low and high density environments, highlyforested areas and its foreseeable evolution (de rosa et al., 1988 ; córica & de rosa, 2004 ; fernández, basso, córica, & de rosa, 2003; mesa, de rosa, 2010 ; basso, fernández, mesa, córica & de rosa, 2003 ; arboit, 2013 ; mesa, arboit, & rosa, 2010). studies have been developed with the objectives of: i. preserving the physiognomy of the forested city, maintaining the scale and homogeneity of the constructions and the aesthetic contribution and environmental services of urban forest; ii. enabling the maximum use of solar resource for space and sanitary water heating, through the control of urban morphology and of the forest; iii. improving habitability conditions of the building area; iv. contributing to the sustainability of local development, by enabling the recycling of existing constructions that were well maintained and of good quality. in this way, extractive processes and solid waste emission (rubble) in the ecosystem are reduced. in order to complete these studies, a solar irradiance measurement was performed on the north facades of seven selected cases, according to previous results. the intention of the study was to offer a contribution, both conceptual and operative, so that, through the transfer channel in the future, the official sector will become aware of the seriousness of the situation and soon begin to implement new urban and building norms. these could also reduce the consumption of natural gas and other non-renewable energy in urban buildings. pg. 15 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. methodology in previous work (arboit, diblasi, fernández, & de rosa, 2008), the mean insolation factor (mif) indicator has been defined. the mean insolation factor (mif) provides a measure of the potentially collecting north facing walls, not masked by neighboring buildings and trees, calculated as: the ratio of the sum of insolated collecting areas of north facing walls, times the sum of the energy received at each considered hour, during a heating season, to the sum of the total areas of the same surfaces, free of all masking, times the sum of the hourly impinging radiation during the considered heating season, as a percentage. it is defined in fig. 1. tpca: total potential collecting area of the north facade (m2) sma: solid masking area (constructions): potential collecting facade affected by shade projected by constructions of close buildings (m2). (fig. 1) tma: transmissible masking area (trees): potential collecting facade affected by shade projected by urban trees (w/m2). p: monthly transmissibility factor. solar transmissibility percentages of each vegetable species and for each month of the heating season (%).42 r(m-d-h): energy by surface unit available in the north facades for each hour, day and month of the heating season (wh/m2). hourly impinging radiation on north facing walls for each month (wh/m2). sub-indicators: m: month of heating. it varies between april and september. number of months to which the heating season is extended (n). d. day of the month. it varies between 1and 30. h: hour. it varies between 9:00am and 6:00pm. figure 1. descriptive diagrams of tpca, sma, tma and nia mif = 08 ∑ m:4 30 ∑ d:1 14:30 ∑ h:9:30 [t pca −(smam−d−h +(t mam−d−h ·(1 − t )))· rm−d−h] nfa · 08 ∑ m:4 30 ∑ d:1 14:30 ∑ h:9:30 rm−d−h · 100 = (1) pg. 16 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd mif = [ex p(4.1969 − 0.148 st. wi − 0.0127f.tress + 0.8547 b. mor p − 0.4721 t of)] [1 + ex p(4.1969 − 0.1486 st. wi − 0.0127f.tress + 0.8547 b. mor p − 0.4721 t of)] (2) considering the mean insolation factor (mif) on north facades and using a multiple linear regression model, the main variables that influence the access of the sun were determined (arboit et al., 2008). these variables are: building morphology (b. morp.), street width between construction lines (st. wi), fullness of trees (f. trees) relationship of the existing (healthy) trees around a city block to the total number of trees that could fit around the city block, considering the dominant species and their corresponding distance between individuals, as percentagesand total occupation factor (tof)-total built-up area to total buildable area of corresponding parcels, as percentages-. (eq.2). the easiest way to note the influence of the urban-building variables with access to the sun is by measuring global solar irradiance over the vertical plane of the completely sunny north facade and measuring the same variable of the facade that is partially sunny. the latter is affected by the urban-building morphology (building morphology, street width, fullness of trees, and building height). the measurements were carried out with portable irradiance data-measuring systems, equipped with eppley 8-48 pyranometers. the measurement period was established according to the latitude and longitude of the place of study, for a given day. considering the local time, the solar noon was defined (» 1:30pm), and four and a half hours before and after the solar noon were taken into consideration. this approach left nine definite solar hours to measure from 9am-6pm. data was registered every minute during the autumn-winter and spring-summer seasons. based on what has been presented, the corresponding measurements were selected during a clear day for each urban environment. clear sky conditions allow the evaluation, in its complete magnitude, of the influence of the trees and the urban morphology. selection of case studies for the monitoring of global solar irradiance on north facades affected by solid and tree masking, seven cases were selected, in which different measuring conditions were present. for the selection of case studies, the urbanbuilding and forest morphology of the mma urban environments were considered based on the mean insolation factor (mif). in table 1, the case studies and the characteristics of urban and building variables can be observed. table 1. list of urban and building variable values of the sample. cases urban variables building variables n◦ blocks street width urban forest morphology front setbacks (m) building height density orientation (◦) (m) tree magnitude tree species fullness of trees 1 high 13 30.00 2a morus alba several pairings regular 0 3rd 2 low 4 13.40 2a & 1a morus alba y fxaxinius excelsior 2 individuals irregular 5 1st 3 high 13 30.00 2a morus alba several pairings regular 0 2nd continued on next page pg. 17 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd cases urban variables building variables 4 low 5 16.40 2a & 2a melia azedarach y morus alba 2 pairings/ young regular 0 1st 5 mid 5 16.40 2a morus alba individual irregular 3 2nd 6 high 8 30.00 2a cupressus sempervirens individual irregular 2 1st 7 mid 7 14.20 2a & 1a morus alba y platanus acerifolia several pairings irregular 0 2nd 3. results figures 2 and 3 show the diversity of energy situations according to the analyzed urban environment, and they show a preponderance of each of the variables in equation 1. measurements of shaded surfaces registered a reduction in the autumn-winter season from 2% to 66% of the total energy received on the plain sunlight sections, and in the spring-summer season from 10% to 83%. figure 2. total energy %. figure 3. total energy %. pg. 18 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd this said percentage is dependent on the urban building environment. cases 3, 4 and 5 are those with the most favorable ratio between maximum insolation in winter and maximum masking in summer. the irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented towards the north of case 3, in partial sunlight condition, presents a relationship for the summer months of a masking effect of 68%, and for the winter months of an available net energy of 78%. while in case 1 the percentage of net energy available on north facades in winter is 98% (favorable from the point of view of the solar energy use), in summer, the energy masked is 10% (the lowest value of solar masking of the cases analyzed). the environment involved has a street width of 30 meters and homogeneous building morphologies at a height of 10mts (with scarce influence of forest at the crown canopy level and little influence on surfaces shaded by neighboring buildings). in the autumn-winter season, the maximum reduction percentage, 66%, corresponds to case 7, which is characterized by a wide street channel of 14.20 m, and the measurement surface is partially shaded by trees at a second magnitude morus alba and first magnitude platanus acerifolia, with the consequential reduction of the available energy. in the spring-summer season, the maximum reduction percentage, 83%, corresponds to case 2, which is characterized by the influence of two different species, morus alba and fxaxinius excelsior. in winter, masking for the same case study is 55% resulting from the urban forest, a variable first order masking solar resource in highly forested urban environments. cases 1 and 3 for detailed study are compared in the first instance, as they represent the extreme conditions, through the ratio between maximum sunlight in winter and maximum masking in summer. in this way, the variables of street width, tree canopy cover, and building height and morphology will be analyzed. how both will influence the quantity of the received solar energy on north facades will be observed. 3.1. influence of building height in order to analyze the impact of urban building morphology in relation to building height, measurements have been made by vertically displacing the sensor that measures the partially shaded zone of the façade. see figs.4–6. in case 1, the results indicate that the maximum incident radiation was on the north side captured in autumn-winter season (98%), in contrast to the minimum masking incident solar radiation in spring-summer (10%). this case is representative of the situation in an urban environment without the presence of urban trees, and without considering design strategies above the treetops or wood species that do not accompany the building height. case 3 presents an optimal relation between the scenarios analyzed, considering both seasons. with the sensor that measures the partially sunny area located on the second floor, values indicate that 78% of the total irradiance were available in winter. while, for the spring-summer season, the measured values indicate masking of 68% from the resource. the difference between the values of masking solar radiation, 2% and 22% in the autumn-winter season and 10% and 68% in spring-summer season, in cases 1 and 3 (figs.7–10), can be explained by the maximum development of the crown canopy of the existing trees of the north facade that reached a mean altitude of 10 m (figs.5 and 6). the data, measured by moving the sensor in a vertical direction on the same facade, gives us information to elaborate strategies that consider the conditions above and below the crown canopy of trees, in order to maximize the use of the available solar resource in urban environments. the building height and the different levels of construction allow defining desirable situations in the conservation and full access to solar resource. pg. 19 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. hemispherical photographs of the environment, taken from the sensor location. facade zone with full insolation. terrace. pg. 20 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. hemispherical photographs of the environment, taken from the sensor location.case 1. facade zone with partial insolation. third floor. pg. 21 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. hemispherical photographs of the environment, taken from the sensor location case 3. facade zone with partial insolation. second floor. pg. 22 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. irradiance measurement in the autumn-winter season of the n facade, case n◦1 (third floor, approximately 7m of height). figure 8. irradiance measurement in the autumn-winter season of the n facade, case n◦3 (second floor, approximately 4.5m of height). figure 9. irradiance measurement in the spring-summer season of the n facade, case n◦1 (third floor, approximately 7m of height). figure 10. irradiance measurement in the spring-summer season of the n facade, case n◦3 (second floor, approximately 4.5m of height). pg. 23 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 11. photographs of case study 3 3.2. influence of heterogeneous building morphology the solar potential in selected urban environments is determined by the aspects of the urban and building morphology, with different possibilities of interaction between volume and access to solar radiation, and this can be analyzed in case 6. in this scenario, 64% of incident radiation on the north facade is captured in the autumn-winter season, with masking of the incident radiation in summer 37%. this is principally to the surrounding building morphology that gives shade to potential collecting areas, and to the transmissible masking that the trees provide. with the goal of evaluating solid masking separately, fig. 13 depicts a graph. in the early hours of the morning and the afternoon, there is fairly small access to the available solar energy, 22%, and the contribution is exclusively due to the diffused and reflected solar radiation components. figure 12. irradiance measurement of the n facade, case n◦6. figure 13. irradiance measurement of the n facade, case n◦6 (solid masking evaluation) when separately comparing the morning (16%) and afternoon (34%) availability, one observes that, in the afternoon hours, the reflected radiation has a greater impact due to the deviation of the urban outline’s orientation with respect to the north (8◦ towards the east). it should be kept in mind that the important reduction of solar resource that this case presents would be much greater if the building morphology affects the access of solar radiation in the middle hours of the day. pg. 24 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 14. irradiance measurement, in the summer season, on the vertical plane and facing north tofull sunlight and condition of partial sunlight. figure 15. hemispherical photograph of the environment, taken from the sensor location. pg. 25 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd for the summer season, the incident radiation is 63% with a zero masking woodland (due to the morphology of the species, its planting distance relative to the façade, and the solar angle on the day of the analyzed season). masking occurs through the surrounding building morphology, principally in the morning until 12:30pm, and from 3: 30pm, due to the orientation of the facade in the north. full access to solar resource in the middle of the day impacts on maximum availability of net energy values received in the summer season and is an example of city design that considers only the heterogeneous building morphology, with planting strategies of species of urban trees not suitable for a model city oasis. 3.3. influence of the street width case 7 shows that, in winter, the percentage of maximum reduction of 66% solar resource reached in this work, and 76% of masking solar radiation in the spring-summer. both the street width and its orientation determine the solar potential of urban buildings. in this case, although the direction e-w is the best orientation of the facade, and consequently, its best sunlight and maximum energy efficiency. the width of the 14.20 m street channel seriously affected the mentioned advantages. a narrow urban canyon, when combined with the urban forest of first magnitude, has a first order incidence in solar potential. case 7 results indicate a maximum reduction of the available solar energy in autumn-winter season, even with the leafless branches of the urban forest. masking produced by the leafless branches can be considerable in autumnwinter, especially with species of considerable size (1st and 2nd magnitude and narrow street channels from13m to 16m). in the spring-summer season, the net energy available is 24%, which is a significant masking of the solar energy for the presence of urban trees and urban building morphology. in this case, it is observed (figs.19 and 20) that the transmissibility of the solar radiation offered by the trees in the narrow urban channels present great variations according to the position of the sun. figure 16. views of the facade in autumn-winter season. figure 17. views of the facade in autumn-winter season. 3.4. influence of trees case 2 results express the percentage of maximum reduction of solar radiation in spring-summer to be 83%. in the autumn-winter season, in masking walls facing north and for days studied, it is 55% (figs. 28 and 29). pg. 26 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 18. treesseen from the sensor. figure 19. measured irradiance of n facade, autumn-winter season, case n◦7. figure 20. measured irradiance, in the summer season, of the vertical plane and oriented north tofull sunlight and insolation condition. figure 21. views of the studied facade. summer. case 7. pg. 27 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 22. views of the studied facade. summer. case 7. figure 23. frontal photograph of the facade. in the autumn-winter season, in order to study how trees condition the access of the sun, we have selected a case that presents the influence of the leaves of two different deciduous species. when analyzing fig. 28, it is seen that, in this case, the reduction of available energy is 55%, and that the influence of each species is very noticeable. in morning and mid-day hours, the reduction of the availability of the solar resource is 39% (fig. 30). this value corresponds to the morus alba (species 1) bare foliage obstruction. comparatively, in the afternoon hours, the resource reduction is 85% due to the high density of leafless branches that fxaxinius excelsior (species 2) presents (fig. 31). if only species no. 1 (morus alba) is used, combined with an urban morphology characterized by: frontal building shelters, good orientation of the urban layout, height and building morphology, it would be possible to obtain maximum solar obstruction in summer of 89% and considerable access to the sun in winter of 61%, and it would be possible to achieve an optimal ratio considering both seasons of the year, between the maximum incident radiation on the north facade captured in winter and the maximum masking of the incident solar radiation in summer. pg. 28 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 24. hemispherical photograph of the environment taken from the sensor location. figure 25. wide angle photograph, taken from the sensor location. pg. 29 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 26. frontal photographs of the facade. figure 27. wide angle photograph, taken from the sensor location. pg. 30 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 28. irradiance measurement on the north facade, autumn-winter season, case n◦2. figure 29. irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented north to full sunlight andcondition of partial insolation. figure 30. irradiance measurement on the n facade, case n◦2 (influence of morus alba, species) figure 31. irradiance measurement on the n facade, case n◦2 (influence of fxaxinius excelsior, species 2). pg. 31 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.5. influence of urban canyon width and trees cases 4 and 5 show the second and third best ratio between the maximum insolation in winter and the maximum obstruction in summer. the energy available in winter is 68% for case 4 and 61% for case 5. the masking of the radiation incident on the north facade captured in summer is 72% and 75%, respectively. in both cases, the variables that result in the most influence are the narrowness of the urban canyon width (16.40mts) and the tree species of 2nd magnitude with its planting characteristics: white cedar (melia azedarach, also known as chinaberry); mulberry (morus alba) in case 4; and mulberry (morus alba) in case 5. figure 32. case 4, winter, (in the photograph, the shadow cast by bare branches on the north facade can be observed) and an appropriate value of svf (tree top shadow partially occupies the surface of the street). figure 33. irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented north to full sunlight and condition of partial insolation, winter. figure 34. irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented north to full sunlight and condition of partial insolation, summer. furthermore, in both cases, homogeneous urban-building morphology (without entry or exit) allows full access to solar radiation in winter. tree location, its planting distance in relation to the facade, and the magnitude in relation to building height all enable a good ratio between the maximum sunlight in winter and the maximum obstruction in summer. a suitable value of svf (sky view factor), from the axis of the street (case 4), allows good convective cooling at night in summer. pg. 32 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 35. irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented north to full sunlight and condition of partial insolation, winter. figure 36. irradiance measured on the vertical plane and oriented north to full sunlight and condition of partial insolation, summer figure 37. case 5 pg. 33 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 38. hemispherical photograph of the environment taken from the sensor location, winter. figure 39. hemispherical photograph of the environment taken from the sensor location, summer. pg. 34 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. conclusion the obtained results provide evidence of the impact of the principal variables that condition the access of the sun in a highly forested urban environment. the seven urban configurations that were studied in the mendoza metropolitan area (amm) present differential characteristics with respect to the urban and building variables. in forested urban public spaces, it is necessary to consider the benefits provided by trees in summer. when planning urban environments, proper choice of species seems essential to balance the positive and negative contributions of trees. the following should be considered: 1. tree species of magnitudes consistent with the building height (1st high-magnitude density, 2nd medium-density magnitude, and 3rd low-magnitude density); 2. deciduous species (with maximum transmissivity values in winter, and minimum in summer); and 3. planting distance between chosen species (study of the position of and distance between the trees of each species). the important influence that bare foliage presents in the autumn-winter season has been demonstrated. these characteristics can be accentuated in certain forested conditions and under determined solar positions, as is demonstrated by the measured values in case study 2, where afternoon hours recorded a resource availability of only 15%. however, case 2 presents the most favorable solar masking (83%) in the summer season. these results show that urban trees result in a first-order variable when capturing a solar resource in highly forested urban environments, and the choice of the optimal tree species at the moment of urban planning should be structurally considered when contemplating future design strategies. in addition, the choice of tree species is also important in the consideration of combining high transmissivity values in winter and low values in summer. moreover, it is necessary to reinforce the conclusion that the environmental and energy benefits of urban trees in a city with a desert climate and warm-dry summers, such as the amm, should be considered as a first priority at the time of planning, designing and building any type of construction project, of any building density in a city. the analysis of building height variable demonstrates the importance of establishing design strategies and legislation in accordance with a highly forested city that generates unique conditions above and below the trees. furthermore, the influence of the surrounding buildings decreases when we consider greater building heights, as this combination of effects allows a measurement in winter uptake of solar energy of 98% of full sunlight condition in case 1, and 90% in the summer. heterogeneous building morphology strongly conditions the possibilities of access to the sun, which has been demonstrated in case study 6, where during the heating season, a building with entrances and exits produces a solid masking up to 84% in the morning hours on its applicable north-facing facade. in the summer season, solar masking values of 44% were recorded. as for the vegetative presence of cyprus (cupressus sempervirens), its morphology and planting distance nullify the influence of the urban tree variable, when the results of case 6 in both seasons are considered. building morphology has been considered in this analysis in terms of heterogeneity that is generated by front and rear overhangs, which produces solid masking and compromises access to the sun. these types of heterogeneous morphologies are difficult to recover when implementing building recycling. in the same way, when planning and designing new complexes, homogeneity is a basic condition for assuring full sunlight in the winter season. in the summer season, measures for building-technology recycling, protection design, and green design could improve the present situation. the analyzed urban determinants for solar energy collection on north facades (trees, building morphology and building height), have greater intensity when they are combined with a narrow street channel. this situation corresponds to case 7, where the minimum received solar radiation values are produced when considering all the hours of measurement. this demonstrates that the strategies recommended for narrow urban canyons should be demanding, concerning the type of permitted tree species, to the maximum height and the shape of buildings, and to the setback from the street. in the spring-summer season, masking produced by green mass of trees generates multiple benefits: controlling pg. 35 arboit / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the intensity of the urban heat island, the urban micro climate, the absorption of pollutants, the cooling and humidifying of the air through evapotranspiration and the reducing of thermal loads of buildings. benefits also include improving the occupancy of public open spaces and making an invaluable contribution to the urban aesthetic. the achieved results go towards contributing to the progressive reforming and updating of urban and building codes, in order to implement the highest levels of energy efficiency and to minimize any negative environmental impact from urban buildings. references 1. akbari, h., & konopacki, s. 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(2016). assessment of solar radiation reduction from urban forests on buildings along highway corridors in sydney. urban forestry & urban greening,15, 225235. pg. 38 introduction methodology results influence of building height influence of heterogeneous building morphology influence of the street width influence of trees influence of urban canyon width and trees conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v1i1.32 coupling of solar reflective cool roofing solutions with sub-surface phase change materials (pcm) to avoid condensation and biological growth alberto muscio1 1department of engineering “enzo ferrari”, university of modena and reggio emilia abstract cool roofs are effective solutions to counter the overheating of building roofs, inhabited spaces below and urban areas in which buildings are located thanks to their capability of reflecting solar radiation. nonetheless, the relatively low surface temperatures that they induce can cause condensation of humidity and leave the surface moistened for a long time during the day, thus, promoting the growth of bacteria, algae and other biological fouling. this can cause a quick decay of the solar reflective performance. biological growth is countered by surface treatments, which may be toxic, forbidden in many countries and may vanish quickly. it can also be countered by lowering the thermal emittance and thus decreasing heat transfer by infrared radiation and consequently leading to night undercooling. however, this can decrease the performance of cool roofs. an alternative approach, which is analyzed in this work, is to embed in the first layer below the cool roof surface a phase change material (pcm) that absorbs heat during the daytime and then releases it during nighttime. this can increase the minimum surface temperatures, reduce the occurrence of humidity condensation and biological growth. in this work, preliminary results on the coupling of a cool roof surface with a pcm sublayer are presented. results are obtained by carrying out a theoretical investigation on commercial materials and taking into account the time and patterns of evolution of the environmental conditions. © 2018 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords cool roof; phase change material; pcm; condensation; biofouling 1. introduction 1.1. cool roofs and their lifespan cool roofs are roofing solutions reflective of solar radiation thanks to their high solar reflectance, or albedo. they can prevent overheating of both individual buildings and entire urban areas. their potential has been quantitatively investigated in the usa since the 1980s in response to both the urban heat island (uhi) effect and the need of reducing electric energy and peak power absorption for air conditioning (taha, akbari, rosenfeld, & huang, 1988). many studies have followed evidencing the effectiveness of gradually increasing the albedo of a city by choosing high-albedo surfaces to replace darker materials during routine maintenance of roofs. proven as well pg. 55 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd was the usefulness of establishing sponsored incentive programs, product labeling, and standards to promote the use of high-albedo materials for buildings (rosenfeld, akbari, romm, & pomerantz, 1998). surveys on cool roofing materials were completed (berdahl & bretz, 1997) and strong savings of cooling energy and peak power were shown (akbari, bretz, kurn, & hanford, 1997). additionally, the researcher paid attention to the long-term performance of high-albedo roof coatings (akbari et al., 1997). steps were then taken by cities in the warm half of usa towards the incorporation of cool roofs in the revised ashrae building standards and the inclusion of cool surfaces as tradeable smog-offset credits in los angeles (rosenfeld et al., 1998). eventually, this resulted in the culmination of prescriptive requirements such as the inclusion of cool roofs in energy codes like title 24 of the california code of regulation (levinson, akbari, konopacki, & bretz, 2002). cool roof technologies, in the usa, have spread worldwide. among many others, studies demonstrating their potentialities were undertaken in europe (synnefa, santamouris, & livada, 2006; zinzi, 2010). the cool roofs project as well was co-funded by the european union to promote high-albedo surface as a uhi mitigation strategy and a measure for reducing cooling loads (synnefa & santamouris, 2012). moreover, a hot theme in both europe and the usa is the contribution to offset co2 production that can be achieved by increasing the albedo of urban surfaces (akbari, menon, & rosenfeld, 2008). the usefulness of cool roofs was also investigated with regard to cold climates, such as in montreal (touchaei & akbari, 2013). while cool roofs have shown to significantly reduce the contribution to the uhi in the hot season, the penalization introduced in regions with cold winter often seems negligible in terms of either energy needs for heating or lower heat released, thus, warming the outer urban environment (magli, lodi, contini, muscio, & tartarini, 2016). nomenclature c specific heat (j/(kg◦c)) cl specific heat of the liquid/high temperature phase (j/(kg◦c)) cs specific heat of the solid/low temperature phase (j/(kg◦c)) dl mass density of the liquid/high temperature phase (kg/m3) ds mass density of the solid/low temperature phase (kg/m3) hce external convective heat transfer coefficient (w/(m2◦c)) hci internal convective heat transfer coefficient (w/(m2◦c)) hre external radiative heat transfer coefficient (w/(m2◦c)) hri internal radiative heat transfer coefficient (w/(m2◦c)) isol solar irradiance (w/m2) k thermal conductivity (w/(m◦c)) kl thermal conductivity of the liquid/high temperature phase (w/(m◦c)) ks thermal conductivity of the solid/low temperature phase (w/(m◦c)) l total thickness (m) qsl latent heat (j/kg) t temperature (◦c) tair ambient air temperature (◦c) tair ambient air temperature (◦c) td p dewpoint temperature (◦c) te external effective temperature (◦c) ti internal temperature (◦c) tme mean absolute external temperature (k) pg. 56 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd tse external surface temperature (◦c) tsky sky temperature (◦c) tsl phase change temperature tsol/air sol-air temperature ( ◦c) t time (s or day) vwind wind velocity (m/s) x coordinate across thickness (m) dqi change of the entering heat flow rate per unit surface (w/m2) dtsl half amplitude of the phase change interval (◦c) eter (external) thermal emittance (0<eter<1) rsol (external) solar reflectance (0<rsol<1) 0 stefan-boltzmann constant (5.67×10−8 w/(m2k4)) moreover, cool roofs can in fact be seen as a technological rediscovery of ancient concepts. in mediterranean areas, roofs and walls of buildings have been white since thousands of years. on the other hand, today we know that a white or very light color is not an objective term of evaluation but just a qualitative indicator. thus, current cool roof technologies are based on measurement of materials performance and calculation of resulting benefits. more specifically, we know that a cool roof must have high solar reflectance, i.e. the ratio of reflected and incoming solar radiation. it should also have high thermal (or infrared) emittance such as the ratio of radiation emission in thermal (or far) infrared and maximum theoretical emission at the same surface temperature. both solar reflectance and thermal emittance are measured as a percentage or a fraction of the unit. the higher the solar reflectance, the lower the fraction of solar radiation that is absorbed by a surface is. such an absorbed radiation can then be returned to the atmosphere by convection with the air and by thermal radiation. in the absence of wind, heat removal mainly occurs through thermal radiation provided that the thermal emittance is high. in contrast, low solar reflectance may cause the surface to overheat and, consequently, lead to head transmission to the roof structure and living spaces below. this contributes to building overheating and to the correlated uhi effect either directly, in terms of heat transfer to the external air by convection, or indirectly, due to the removal of the transmitted heat from the living spaces by means of the air conditioning systems. the latter contribution is augmented by the compressor power absorption which increases with the external air temperature. two different families of cool roofing solutions can be identified: cool white technologies for flat roof coverings, such as the example in figure 1. these, by far, are the ones more commonly used. cool color technologies for sloped roofs, as well, are designed to show a reflection spectrum in the visible range (0.4-0.7 µm) as needed to obtain a desired color. at the same time, a reflection capacity in the near infrared (nir, 0.7-2.5 µm) where solar radiation falls by more than 50% remains invisible to the human eye. cool white roofing solutions have many types: field applied coatings (paints, fluid applied membranes, etc.), reinforced bitumen sheets made of modified bitumen (elastomeric or plastomeric), single-ply sheets and membranes (thermoset or thermoplastic), tiles (ceramic, concrete, etc.), asphalt or bituminous shingles, pre-painted metal roofs, and built-up roofing. they can show initial solar reflectance as high as 80-85% and thermal emittance range of 80% to 95% for non-metallic materials (crrc, 2015; us epa, 2015; ecrc, 2015). on the other hand, it is very difficult to retain the initial reflectance value due to chemical and physical deterioration of materials and, above all, soiling caused by pollutant deposition and biological growth (berdahl, akbari, levinson, & miller, 2008; berdahl, akbari, & rose, 2002; bretz & akbari, 1997; sleiman et al., 2014). that being mentioned, the reflectance and emittance of opaque building elements are of the most superficial matters. these elements consist of a surface layer or a coating with thickness as low as a few tenths of millimeters with properties generally unaffected by the underlying substrate. therefore, a superposed layer of atmospheric suspensions and/or grown up organic matter may strongly affect the reflective performance. both initial and aged values of solar reflectance are thus provided in pg. 57 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. flatroof with cool white waterproofing membrane (tecnopolo building of the university of modena and reggio emilia, modena, italy). the framework of the crrc rating program which is obtained by natural exposure in three locations with different climate for at least three years (sleiman et al., 2011). the development of matrices and white pigments chemically and physically stable permits avoiding degradation of the reflectance, such as that associated to yellowing of the surface. however, several approaches are exploited to reduce soiling, such as controlling the surface porosity and roughness, and possibly applying super-hydrophilic, super-hydrophobic surface treatments or self-cleaning coatings based on photo-catalysis (diamanti et al., 2013). a few approaches, mentioned in the following section are also available to limit biological growth. 1.2. biological growth and deterioration of building surfaces as anticipated above, the deterioration of cool roofs and external building surfaces is due to several causes: aging and weathering, soiling and deposition of atmospheric black carbon, dust, organic and inorganic particulate matter as well as microbiological growths (mastrapostoli et al., 2016; sleiman et al., 2014). it is often difficult to distinguish between non biological and biologically-mediated weathering of materials: the two processes can occur concurrently, each one contributing to the overall deleterious effects (gaylarde & morton, 2003). the development of microbial communities on wetted surfaces is called biofilm, and it becomes gradually a more complex system (characklis & marshall, 1990). biofilms on building surfaces can contain cyanobacteria, heterotrophic bacteria, algae, fungi, lichens, protozoa, and a variety of small animals (arthropods) and plants (briophyte) (gaylarde & gaylarde, 2005). biological growth is influenced by both external conditions and intrinsic characteristics of the building material (tomaselli, lamenti, bosco, & tiano, 2000). external conditions are represented by rainfall, wind, sunlight, temperature and humidity as these determinate the water availability, an essential element to the microbial metabolism: wet surfaces promote autotrophic organism growth, therefore a higher susceptibility to bio fouling occurs in rainy regions as well as during heavy rain seasons (tran et al., 2014). the issue arises also in humid climates due to the low surface temperatures of cool roofs and persistent condensation of atmospheric moisture. on the other hand, high temperatures induce water evaporation by heating the materials, making wind essential for the drying phenomenon. altogether the climatic conditions determine, depending on the geography position, the moisture and light conditions that define the micro-climate on building surfaces, which is the major environmental factor influencing biological growth (ariño, gomez-bolea, & saiz-jimenez, 1997). if moisture is pg. 58 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd high enough, and lighting and temperature conditions are suitable, colonization of the surface of new buildings can occur very quickly (wee, 1992). also, the building design and the orientation of the building surface influence external factors of bio growth: the north-facing facades, which are wetter and less sunny, get colonized faster (ariño et al, 1997). more details on biological growth are given by ferrari (2015). in order to limit biological growth, surface treatments based on biocides can be used, but their effects may however vanish quickly and may be toxic and forbidden in many countries. biological growth can also be countered by lowering the thermal emittance and thus decreasing heat transfer by infrared radiation to the sky and the consequent night undercooling. nonetheless, this can also decrease the performance of cool roofs. the alternative approach to counter biological growth on cool roofs and similar building surfaces that is analyzed here is to embed in the first layer below the cool roof surface a phase changing material that absorbs heat during the daytime and then releases it in the nighttime. this can increase the minimum surface temperatures, thus reducing humidity condensation and biological growth. in this work, preliminary results on the coupling of cool roofs and pcms are presented after being obtained by theoretical investigation on commercial materials and taking into account the time of evolution of environmental conditions in a sub-mediterranean climate with low wind and relatively high humidity. 2. phase change materials and their coupling with cool roof surfaces latent heat storage technologies that use phase change materials (pcm) embedded in lightweight building elements are considered an interesting alternative to sensible storage by heavyweight constructions (zalba, marın, cabeza, & mehling, 2003; khudhair & farid, 2004; mavrigiannaki & ampatzi, 2016). these materials can undergo a phase change, typically melting or solidification, and therefore exchange more heat with the environment in terms of latent heat rather than sensible heat storage capacity. in recent times the attention has also been drawn by the coupling of pcms with cool roofs, studied by either numerical simulation or experiments. experimental results, by karlessi and others (2011), demonstrated that pcm incorporated in building coatings yields lower surface temperatures than either common coatings or cool infrared-reflective coatings. the numerical investigation by aguilar and others ar (2013) extended previous work by considering the impact of pcm embedded in roofing module on cooling energy and showed that solar reflectance is the parameter with the biggest impact. nonetheless, pcms may be worthwhile in locations where the reflectance undergo a sharp decrease due to soiling. moreover, they verified that simulation is a powerful tool for the involved multi-parameter analyses. roman and others (2016) showed through simulation that a pcm allows a sharp decrease of through-roof heat gain at a wide range of albedo. in (chou, chen, & nguyen, 2013) the coupling of a metal sheet cool roofing structure with a pcm was studied in order to absorb the downward heat flow induced by incident solar radiation and then release it back to the environment by convection during the nocturnal cycle. experimental and numerical analyses showed that the downward thermal flow through the roof into the house can be significantly reduced. another study was aimed at the development and prototyping of a cool polyurethane-based membrane with pcm inclusion for roofing applications (pisello et al., 2016). in another, pcm cool roof system was created using pcm doped tiles (chung & park, 2016). experimental results showed that such tiles, during the summer, allow a decrease of surface temperature while maintaining low room temperatures. generally speaking, most of the studies have shown that pcm can even both positive and negative peaks of surface temperature and thus improve thermal comfort and reduce cooling energy demand. none, however, seem to have yet paid attention to the specific issue of using pcm to limit condensation and biological growth on cool roof surfaces. this is therefore the topic of investigation in this work. 3. model and case study in order to parametrically investigate the thermal behavior of a cool roof coating coupled with a pcm, a onedimensional mathematical model of the roof system was implemented in the matlab programming environment. the model, based on a finite-volume approach with implicit discretization of the time derivatives, takes into account pg. 59 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the cyclical variability of the boundary conditions (temperature, solar irradiance, heat transfer coefficients) and the temperature dependence on the thermophysical properties of materials. it has been used to identify the time periods during which the external surface temperature falls below the dew-point and the risk of humidity condensation occurs. in this way, a comparison of the situation with and without a pcm layer below the cool roof surface has been carried out considering surfaces with relatively low thermal emittance. a flat roof was considered in this study. hourly weather data on air temperature, sky temperature, wind velocity, solar irradiance and dew-point temperature were obtained over the whole year from the trnsys programming environment (tmy data). representative time evolution patterns are shown in figure 2. figure 2. ambient conditions over the year for bologna, italy (data from trnsys, the black lines represent the daily average). figure 3. roof structure and surface heat transfer processes. pg. 60 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the heat transfer process is depicted in figure 3. more specifically, the boundary condition at the external surface of the solid matter (x=0), delimiting the external environment from the waterproofing layer, is expressed as (hce + hre) [ tsol/air (t) − t (t)x=0 ] = −k dt (t) dx |x=0 (1) where the so-called sol-air temperature tsol/air (◦c) is calculated as follows: from the effective external temperature te (◦c) and the absorbed fraction of the solar irradiance isol (w/m2) that results from the surface solar reflectanceρsol (0 < ρsol < 1): tsol/air (t) = te (t) + (1 − ρsol)isol (t) hce + hre (2) the effective external temperature te (◦c) is in turn the average of air and sky temperatures, tair and tsky (◦c), weighted by the external convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients, hce and hre (w/(m2◦c)): te(t) = hcetair(t)+ hretsky (t) hce + hre (3) air temperature and sky temperature, as well as the solar irradiance and, consequently, te and tsol/air , are function of the time t (s). the convective heat transfer coefficient hce is evaluated from the wind velocity vwind (m/s) according to iso 6946 (iso, 2007a): hce = (t) = 4 + 4vwing(t) (4) the radiative heat transfer coefficient hre is again evaluated according to iso 6946 at the mean absolute external temperature tme (k), also considering the thermal emittance eter (0<eter<1), as hre = εter 4σ0t 3me(t) (5) where 0 is the stefan-boltzmann constant ( 0=5.67×10−8 w/(m2k4)), and tme(t) = 1 2 [ tsky(t) + t (t)|x=0 ] (6) an explicit approach is generally followed to evaluate the radiative heat transfer coefficient from the calculated surface temperature. concerning thermal interaction between the roof structure and the inhabited space below, the indoor temperature ti (◦c) was assumed to be controlled by an appropriate air conditioning system and kept constant at a level adequate to thermal comfort, e.g. ti=27◦c for the summer period in the analyses presented here. the boundary condition at the internal surface (x=l), delimiting the roof structure from the indoor space, is expressed as (hci + hri)[t(t)|x=l −ti] = k dt (t) dx |x=l (7) constant values obtained from iso 6946 were used for both the internal convective coefficient hci, taken equal to 0.7 w/(m2◦c), and the internal radiative coefficient hri, evaluated equal to 5.5 w/(m2◦c) by a formula analogous to eq. (5) for the typical value of the thermal emittance of inner building surfaces, equal to 0.9, and an internal absolute mean temperature of 27◦c = 300 k. the same model used in a previous work was exploited for the heat transfer in the solid matter comprised between the external surface (x=0) and the internal one (x=l), including the pcm layer (barozzi, corticelli, libbra, muscio, & tartarini, 2009). in fact, the thermal behaviour of a pcm can be mathematically modeled through different approaches. the one adopted here is based on the definition of a fictitious equivalent material whose specific heat c (j/(kg×◦c)) is a function of temperature. heat absorbed or released by such a fictitious material must be equal to that absorbed or released by the actual material for the same increase or decrease of temperature. this seems consistent with the literature which shows that currently available pcm do not change phase at a precise temperature level, but rather over a more or less narrow temperature interval (carbonari, grassi, perna, & principi, pg. 61 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2006; farid, khudhair, razack, & al-hallaj, 2004; schossig, henning, gschwander, & haussmann, 2005; tyagi & buddhi, 2007; zalba et al., 2003). moreover, the slope of heat absorption or release in the phase change interval is often similar to a gaussian distribution about the central temperature. in the industrial practice, either the central value or the amplitude of the phase change interval are modulated through an appropriate formulation of the pcm (ex: the phase change temperature of paraffin depends on the length of the molecular chains, which can be modulated in terms of statistical distribution about an assigned average value in order to obtain the desired properties). going into detail, the equivalent specific heat c of a pcm with latent heat qsl (j/kg), specific heat cs (j/(kg×◦c)) of the solid phase (or the low temperature phase in solid-solid transitions) and specific heat cl (j/(kg×◦c)) of the liquid phase (or the high temperature phase) is represented in this study by a gaussian distribution in a range with amplitude 2×dtsl about the nominal phase change temperature tsl (◦c) (see fig. 3). this is described by the following relationship: c(t ) = cs +(c1 −cs)· ( t −ts1 24ts1 + 1 2 ) + qsl 4ts1 · 2 √ π ·ex p [ − ( t −ts1 4ts1/2 )2] (8) figure 4. effective specific heat of the pcm. the thermal conductivity k (w/(m◦c)) and other thermophysical properties which may vary significantly during the phase transition can also be modelled by assuming, over the phase change temperature interval, a linear variation between the values for the solid and the liquid phases, e,g. ks and kl (w/(m·◦c)): k(t ) = ks +(k1 −ks)· ( t −ts1 2·4ts1 + 1 2 ) (9) nonetheless, for the time being, certainly reliable data on the pcm are missing, so the properties of the solid and liquid phases are assumed to be equal for sake of simplicity, in view of their relatively low differences. the properties of common building materials as reported in iso 13786 (iso, 2007b) for a thick concrete structure with thermal insulation were used for the different layers (see tab. 1), whereas a commercial pcm board, dupont energain (energain, 2016), was considered for the pcm to be introduced between the waterproof coating and the thermal insulation layer below with a thickness up to 10 mm. more specifically, a product developed by dupont and called energain® was considered, that is a composite pcm wallboard constituted of 60% of microencapsulated paraffin included in a polymeric structure; such a mixture is laminated by aluminium. since the literature raises doubts on the material specifications (energain, 2016), these were integrated with experimental data from a third party (du et al., 2012) (see tab. 2). pg. 62 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. properties of the reference roofstructure – raw data from (iso, 2007b). layer th. conductivity k (w/(m◦c)) mass density d (kg/m3) specific heat c (j/(kg◦c)) thickness s (m) waterproofing 1.00 1200 1500 0.005 pcm see tab. 2 1400 0 – 0.010 thermal insulation 0.04 30 0.100 concrete 1.80 2400 1000 0.200 table 2. properties of the pcm panel – raw data from du et al. (2012); energain (2016) latent heat qsl 70 kj/kg phase change temperature tsl 24.5◦c half-amplitude of the phase change interval 4tsl 9.5◦c specific heat cs ∼= cl 2.3 kj/(kg◦c) thermal conductivity ks ∼= kl 0.16 w/(m◦c) mass density ds ∼= dl 1001 kg/m3 4. results the model has been used to identify the time periods during which the external surface temperature tse (◦c) falls below the dewpoint td p (◦c), thus explaining the risk of humidity condensation. the process is depicted in figure 4, where the surface temperature is plotted for a short mid-summer period in case of absence of pcm and presence of a pcm layer with 10 mm thickness. figure 5. time evolution patterns of dew point surface (with and without pcm) temperatures: the risk of condensation exists where the surface temperature falls below the dew point temperature. the frequency of the risk of condensation is represented in figure 5-a) for a cool roof with thermal insulation but without pcm below the surface. it is then shown in figure 5-b) and figure 5-c), respectively, that the risk becomes lower with a 5 mm pcm layer, and much lower with a 10 mm pcm layer. in figure 5-d) the risk of condensation is represented for a cool roof with thermal insulation and without pcm, but with thermal emittance 0.6 instead of 0.9; in this case one can observe that the reduced thermal emittance limits heat loss toward the sky during the night-time and, consequently, yields a risk of condensation similar to that provided by a 10 mm thick layer of pcm. nevertheless, it was also found that an always positive change dqi (w/m2) of the heat flow entering the inhabited space is obtained with respect to a cool roof surface with typical emittance of 0.9, that is an increased entering heat flow (see fig. 6), whereas a cool roof surface with emittance 0.9 coupled with pcm causes an oscillating change dqi of the entering heat flow but with null average. pg. 63 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. risk of condensation for a) a typical cool roof, b) a cool roof coupled with 5 mm pcm, c) a cool roof coupled with 10 mm pcm, d) a cool roof with thermal emittance lower than usual. figure 7. change of the heat flowentering the inhabited space with respect to a typical cool roof with rsol =0.7, eter =0.9. pg. 64 muscio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. concluding remarks in this work, it was shown that a pcm can actually increase the nighttime surface temperature of a thermallyinsulated cool roof without affecting the overall performance of the cool roofing product. heat is accumulated in the daytime by the pcm and then released in the night-time, increasing the minumum temperature and thus reducing the risk of falling below the dewpoint temperature, with the start of humidity condensation. limiting humidity condensation my help preserve the cool roof surface from biological growth, especially for insulated roofs. a similar result can also be provided by a decrease of the thermal emittance at the external surface, but with a penalization of the cool roof performance in terms of heat transmitted to the inhabited space below and also maximum surface temperatures. a relatively high mass fraction of pcm must be installed in the outer layer, either integrated in a waterproofing membrane or, as a board, placed just below the membrane, or below an outer metal sheet in insulated sandwich components. effective results were in fact found only for a pcm board with thickness 10 mm and percent content of pcm around 60%. a lower amount of dispersed pcm may lead to an ineffective contribution. in upcoming work, ambient data for different climatic conditions will be taken into account, considering either arid or very humid climates. moreover, the analysis will focus on the choice of the phase change temperature, which must be slightly higher than the expected dew point temperature and should probably be optimized depending on the location. a more detailed model of the pcm is also under development, to be supported by experiments. eventually, integration of the proposed solution in comprehensive dynamic models is a long-term objective. 6. acknowledgments the author wishes to acknowledge giulia santunione, chiara ferrari, susanna magli, antonio libbra and all the other researchers of the dept. of engineering “enzo ferrari” who provided support and data for this work. references 1. aguilar, j. c., smith, g. b., gentle, a. r., & chen, d. 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(2010). cool materials and cool roofs: potentialities in mediterranean buildings. advances in building energy research, 4(1), 201-266. doi:10.3763/aber.2009.0407 pg. 68 introduction cool roofs and their lifespan biological growth and deterioration of building surfaces phase change materials and their coupling with cool roof surfaces model and case study results concluding remarks acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.157 the impact of built environment on human behaviors amira mersal mahmoud1 1higher institute of engineering and technology, king mariout abstract this study discusses the relationship between the physical environment and the behavior of its inhabitants in traditional cities (the old city of al-quds). it analyses the effects of a particular physical environment on the different aspects of the lives of its people as well as their interactive influence and changes of the features of the environment within which they are living. the built environment should adapt to their different needs in this rapidly changing era of technological revolution in order to understand how does that old urban fabric, which was originally formed as a reflection and translation to a past culture, emphasize the importance of utilizing the knowledge of human behavior while designing built environments. it also discusses the role of architects in the psychological space design and formation of appropriate and inappropriate behavioral patterns. this study mainly aims to shed light on housing in the old city of al-quds in particular, a city that has witnessed continuous decline in its standards and requirements of living in terms of the functional, social, educational psychological and health aspects of the population in order to examine the relationship between the population and the physical environment. this is done by analyzing the specific architectural style of the housing environment with its particular formation, elements, and characteristics, and their influence on the people’s traditions, values, social relations. the study concludes that the existing situation of the residential environment in the old city has lost much of its cultural values that forms the link between the cultural and social identity of the inhabitants and the architectural style of the physical fabric of housing. it also shows that the reality of its existing situation has a negative impact on residents’ characteristics and on their different life issues. while sometimes keeping part of the original features, the study recommends that upgrading housing use within the old city in al-quds, is one of the most important factors not only to save the old city, but also to revive the cultural values associated with our cultural heritage and national identity. this could be achieved by applying various programs among people to support them, promote their living conditions, raise awareness, and strengthen their national affiliation. this will also lead to reversing the decline in historic monuments that are closely linked not only to the peoples’ own civilization, but also to their historic rights in this land. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords human behavioral; environmental psychology 1. introduction because the needs of humans are vast and ever changing, it is vital that designers be informed about the relationship of the people with their built environment (lang, 1987). the understanding of this mutual relationship between pg. 29 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd people and their surroundings is the major concern of behavioral sciences (dent, 1998). human behaviors, attitudes and values become significant in order to create enabling environments for the diverse needs of people in the contemporary society (dent, 1998; churchman, 2002). in this respect, the main aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of utilizing the knowledge of human behavior while designing built environments and to approach this issue from the perspective of an interdisciplinary discourse: environmental psychology. nowadays, it is quite a necessity to use the behavioral sciences and environmental psychology findings in the field of architecture. theoretical knowledge in the field of architecture has always been in need of some frameworks in order to facilitate theory development, criteria preparation and review of architectural products and process. behavioral science is one of the disciplines that can provide the framework and theoretical background for architecture. generally, using behavioral sciences in the process of architectural design increases the quality of the final product. the interaction between the physical environment and health has been of interest to epidemiologists. however, until recently, psychologists have tended to define the role of the environment in the determination of behavior and the psychological and physiological effects of these concepts on the behavior of an individual (tala, 2008). naturally, knowledge and understanding of these concepts will be of vital importance to the environmental designers. 2. environmental psychology environmental psychology is the study of the relationships between behaviors and experiences of a person and his/her built environment. looking at the historical background “the topic under that label includes perception n theory, cognition, social and anthropological psychology, the study of social relationships and the study of culture” (lang, 1987). therefore, the next parts of this paper expand the issue of environment-behavior relationship by analyzing the factors changing this framework, like the globalization process. an important aspect concerning the definitions of environmental psychology is made by emphasizing the reciprocal action between an individual and his/her surrounding . in his book, environmental psychology: principles and practice, grifford defines environmental psychology as “the study of transactions between individuals and their physical settings” (gifford, 2002). while inquiring about the definitions of the field of environmental psychology, it is important to highlight that environmental psychology is included within the person-environment theory and goes under the topic of behavioral sciences (land, 1987; gifford, 2002; bonnes & secchiaroli, 1995). one of the definitions of environmental psychology is assessing the built space i.e. whether or not the space satisfies the designer’s goals. in environmental psychology the human reaction to the environment is studied ( bonnes & secchiaroli, 1995). environmental psychology helps the architect to design a built environment that caters to the needs of the people. during the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, architects considered the needs of the people (jahanian & motalebi, 2013). all the aforementioned definitions of environmental psychology highlight the significance of understanding this reciprocal relationship and of using this knowledge in order to be able to mitigate a variety of problems (dent, 1998; gifford, 2002). within the framework, it is also important to describe this mutual relationship in more detail and expand the meaning of place attachment and sense of place. thus, the study brings clarity to the issue of how people perceive, feel, sense and interact with their surrounding environments. 3. human perception of the urban environment the interaction of individuals with the spatial environment depends on the extent of the individual’s perception of the vacuum and the way he or she absorbs the environment around him or her. the individual perceives the environment around him or her through the following levels (ittelson, proshansky, rivlin & winkel, 1974): the geographical environment: the global content of the general perception of the individual and the interactive environment of individuals pg. 30 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the interactive environment: it is a component of the parts that collide with the human in his or her dealings, and the parts of perception is the environment known to man the aware environment: which depends on current indicators and past experiences behavioral environment: represents the part closest to the individual, which is part of the perceptible environment of the individual and determines his or her behavior towards the environment. we conclude from this that dealing with the environment does not only include the effect of the environment on man, but also includes the reflection of man’s behavior on the environment around him or her, i.e., the effect of reciprocity. the environment affecting human beings must include several variables taken into account such as culture, social status, ethnic groups, family relations and lifestyle. these factors represent the environment around man (fig 1) and this environment consists of all human and material elements, social and cultural structures, and psychological influences that surround the elements of the environment in the vacuum of the individual (sharif, 1992). figure 1. the relationship between mental and behavioralactivities and their impact on understanding and dealing with the environment 4. the relationship between human behavior and the environment in this context, knowing and understanding of every day lives plays an important role while designing the physical environments. gifford (2002) explained this importance with the keywords of perception and cognition. environmental perception is related to the reinterpretation of the gathered data by users in the way that they store, transform, organize, forget, and recall knowledge (gifford, 2002). the individual concerns about the built environments, which gifford called environmental attitude, also became significant in terms of environmental psychology. understanding the concepts of preference, cognition and place attachment are important factors changing the framework of environmental psychology as well as of architecture and planning while designing built environments and relating everyday environment to the human behaviors. it should also be noted that besides preference, cognition and place attachment, there is also impact of information and communication technology (ict) on human behaviors and their relationship to their everyday life because “ict is transforming all aspects of society”] (selwyn, 2004). by referring to the term ict and its relationship to our surrounding environment, it is possible to state that the physical environment is changing more rapidly and using and distribution of all technologically based products and environments can affect all of the human behaviors and attitudes (fozard, rietsema, bouma & graafmans, 2000). the control of space can be achieved through habitual occupation, some form of defense, personalization and mere marking. psychological well-being, feelings of security and safety act on people’s attitudes and the indicators of environmental psychology depend on the user’s perception of space as territory (newman, 1972; grifford, 1997). in countries with high urban crime rates, the feelings of security are often expressed through territoriality attitudes. the control of space is considered vital for physical safety and prevention of crime. fences, walls, and security bars are all signs of defense attitudes. pg. 31 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd with regards to human behaviors, individuals can be forced to show certain behavior but surely such ways for making behavioral changes will not be useful. instead, they will result in mental reactions such as separation from the environment or external reactions such as changes in the environment. this is due to the fact that individuals always try to use their own methods until they are justified not to and if they are forced to do an action, they will become aggressive (selwyn, 2004). “the behavioral sciences can help us to understand the present and what the trends in society are, they can help us to predict the outcomes of our design proposals for the future better than we do now” (lang, 1987). with the help of the study of environmental psychology, it is possible to reduce the uncertainty of architects, interior designers and urban planners while making decisions on users’ needs during the design process. moreover, it is also possible to improve their designs by taking account the environmental research results and incorporating the findings to the design proposals. finally, “useful information must be located, and it must be translated from the terminology of human sciences to the language of design” (motalebi, 2003; deasy, 1974). personal space, as defined in environmental psychology, is the distance and orientation component of interpersonal relations. cultural differences exist. also when physical settings are less spacious, interpersonal distances increase. crowding, therefore, affects this concept. if individuals lose their perception of the environment and the criterion for judging it, architecture will not have any achievements. the reason is that architecture is a direct response to expectations that have altered due to the loss of space perception and declined to a low level. symbolic data: during the process of socialization, the human learns specific behavioral patterns in addition to other acquisitions on how to use some spaces and respond to symbolic meanings of environmental stimuli. thus, humans give meaning to some spaces, stimuli, and events in relation to cultural values of his or her environment and behaves based on them (motalebi, 2005). behaviors, as the process of doing any activity, have the following common features: 1. perceptibility of behavior 2. behavior evaluation 3. individual or collective behavior 4. predictability of behavior 5. changeability of behavior 6. dependence of behavior to the psychological space. with increasing urban densities, more attention must be given to the provision of personal spaces. high densities are part of brazilian urban models, however economic pressures act on the provision of appropriate personal spaces. crowding occurs and these conditions can be linked to social problems. behavioral consequences, such as aggression and crime rates may be linked to unfavorable spatial conditions. the architects and planners have the responsibility of creating buildings and urban fabrics that can communicate with its users and can be communicated by users. in this sense, they are also responsible for taking into account the mutual relationship between people and the built environment because as human beings, we regularly get contact with the physical environment which affects us and has influences on our behaviors. 5. the impact of the physical environment on human behavior 5.1. the impact of architecture on human behavior the shape and architecture of the building have an effect on the personality of the inhabitants. there is interaction between the urban framework and the human and many people exchange influence with the physical environment in which they live. therefore, most of the treatments to solve the problems of the city were urban treatments. the careful observation of urban life gives an impression of the rudeness of social relations, the prevalence of individuality, the lack of precise knowledge and the lack of deep emotional involvement, despite the abundance of means of communication between individuals and groups and the importance of this communication in expanding the circles of interest, participation and outreach out of the narrow confines of the small community to the wider boundaries of society and humanity. the design process is capable of changing the habits, traditions and behavior of its inhabitants or users by using them for this origin (fig 2) (altayash, n.d.). pg. 32 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. interrelationship of human behavior and urbanization and their impact on each other it was, therefore, necessary to ensure that there is an appropriate amount of interaction within the small unit in the city (the neighborhood or neighboring neighborhood so that the communication becomes a fruitful and socially harmonious and supports the great impact of spatial proximity and the small number of connections in the region). the residential community is small, as it says that links to the residential area act as communication channels in which information and opinions are conducted. this process makes the life of the community more coherent. there is also a general assumption in city planning and construction that the first social contacts and the nucleus of social life consists of adjacent to residential, and the neighboring significant impact in determining the characteristics of the links (kanani, n.d.). the various studies have influenced architecture and have led to the emergence of trends interested in the study of human behavior as a tool to design urban elements to meet social needs. when we want people to establish social relations, they must provide them with the age-old environment and its residential units so that these relations can take their place in the social environment (abdul hakim, 2009). there are many influences that determine the nature of the interaction and the type of relations within the group. three main factors are mentioned: the length of time spent by individuals within a group, in a small group, relationships slowly form and become more permanent. spatial proximity, where being in a specific small place facilitates contact and interaction with others face to face. small numbers; small groups with limited numbers have a greater opportunity to document personal knowledge (kanani, n.d.). as any living creature, the most important thing is to meet the vital physiological and psychological requirements, which vary according to age, environment, culture and customs. here, we find that architecture meets these requirements and promote urban development. the function of the urban environment is linked to two objectives: first, to achieve the physical aspect of creating spaces that act as content for activities. second, the definition of the built environment as an environment surrounding the human and highlight that in the definition of the moral function of the built environment, man is the center of that environment and he or she affects and is affected by the built environment. this relationship is achieved through integration with the patterns of human behavior in which the design of these characteristics makes the connection to many psychological processes in humans. it can be said that the function of the environment with its material and moral dimensions is only the outcome of the design process of that environment’s outputs and psychological processes by emphasizing the design goals of the built environment that are shaped by the intersection of psychological processes (cognition, knowledge and behavior) and elements and components that affect human behavior (lang, 1974). individual abilities, characteristics, social, pg. 33 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd cultural and material framework (fathy, 2001). 5.2. the impact of the urban environment on human behavior the physical environment can affect humans and can change according to the needs and behavior, hence the importance of the functional considerations of the activities and behavioral patterns within the place and the importance of the behavior of individuals and users within the vacuum (fathy, 2001). this includes studying and analyzing the urban spaces and the surrounding physical environment and examining the possibility of change in accordance with the requirements of the users in light of the diversity of behavioral patterns of users as the full awareness of the nature of the activity comes from the determination of the surface that contains this activity functionally. lynch 1960 also states that designers make the environment so that the user can do what he really wants or give him or her other opportunities for actions and reactions and these actions must be determined by vacuum and equipment. it can be said that the function should be appropriate to the available space in the sense that the analysis and design of spaces should be in a manner that achieves compatibility and harmony and balance and flexibility with the function that is required within the vacuum. there should also be a good understanding of behavioral patterns either through direct observations or indirect questioning. building spaces and buildings cannot be viewed as mere contents of human activities but are integrated within human behavioral patterns so the built environment affects the behaviors of individuals and is affected by their presence in terms of choice of materials and moral dimensions (lang, 1974). 6. characteristics of the physical environment and its relationship with the characteristics of the population in the old town of jerusalem this is done by describing the characteristics of the architectural dwelling and the characteristics of the population in different aspects of life and analyzing the correlation between these characteristics and the nature of the interaction between man and his or her living environment. 6.1. physical environment of the dwelling there is no doubt that the nature of the connection of the resident to his or her home affects the way he or she deals with the environment of the physical dwelling since it is the habit of the human being to take possession and ownership and to take care of what he or she owns. it turns out that the largest proportion of the population rent homes because they cannot afford to own a house. as a home-owner, this largely explains the deterioration of the situation of homes where the occupants are temporary and do not care to preserve them. in terms of length of stay, the largest proportion of tenants who live in their homes is longer than 20 years of age. the lower expenditure on housing also explains the comfort of the housing provided by the larger segment. the decline helps to meet and provide the rest of the requirements of life but the concept of comfort here mostly means adaptation to living conditions because most of the population expressed that they only stay in these conditions due to their physical needs. as for the physical characteristics of houses, it was found that the largest proportion of houses are currently stone. there are houses that consist of concrete material 7.2, which are modern buildings extraneous to the architectural heritage made of stone (table 1). pg. 34 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. building material in housing in the study area material percentage stone 53 concrete 7,2 stone of other material 39.8 total 100 figure 3. shows the quality of construction and stones used in the old town of jerusalem since it is general knowledge that the buildings of the old town are built using stone, (fig. 3), these buildings are cold in the summer and warm in the winter, so they can isolate the external weather and maintain a pleasant interior atmosphere. 64.1% of households use heat daily, 43.1% use heating appliances most of the time and 45.1% use them for at least 2 hours to 5 hours. these families report that their houses are very cold in winter while 58.5% of them use air conditioning, which is a fan in this case. the largest percentage of them, 59.5 %, of them also use air conditioners most of the time because of the fact that housing is too hot in the summer. as for the entrances of the house, it was found that the largest proportion of the houses is the entrance of the family dwelling in a manor or a building. it also shows that the palace still contributes to the consolidation of relations between the neighbors. as for the number of floors that make up the house, most homes only have one floor (table 2). table 2. the number of floors that make up the house number of floors of the house percentage one 65% two 24,2% three floors 10.8 total 100 the presence of the courtyard in more than 40% of the houses helps to alleviate the narrowness of the area and the house overlaps above the mansion on several floors where it is exploited by the residents to meet their various domestic needs where the dwelling with the inner courtyard of the family is one-story or two floors (stallions, 2007). we find that a large proportion of houses in the old town of jerusalem are condensed in an area estimated to be half the appropriate space needed. the sizes of houses are usually less than 50 square meters and this contributes to the narrowness of housing, loss of privacy for all members of this family, spread of diseases, and negatively affects the psychological state of children. the congestion within the house creates a sense of distress. instead of being places were families can meet and reunite, houses are a source of discomfort that provide a sense of familiarity, affection and compassion among members of the same family (halibi, 2008). it should be mentioned here that studies indicate that the living of a family of six people in two or three small rooms with a small area of the kitchen and bathroom leads to high mortality. pg. 35 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the research found that the houses in the old town of jerusalem are overcrowded in terms of the number of individuals relative to the area of the house. there is no doubt that this has negative impacts because the family members participate in the allocations of the house and interfere in each other’s privacy which causes tension. the overcrowded housing leads to the restriction of the individual’s freedom leading to family disintegration and the isolation of people and the crowding in the house leads to the choice of children to stay in the street outside the home and thus leading to the problem of tumble school. almost one-third of the families live in the temporary housing in the old town. about 35% believe that low-income housing in the old city helps to plan life for the physical savings of purchasing an apartment outside the old city. figure 4. the bad situation of some houses in the old town of jerusalem. a high proportion of housing suffers from moisture; humidity is the most prominent issue in the old town of jerusalem where it was found that 94.8% of houses suffer from several forms of moisture. the walls, droppings, and smell of moisture in the house have been proven by studies that moisture and mold are associated with an individual’s depression regardless of individual characteristics or other housing characteristics and thus affect physical health. however, the houses are also blessed with natural lighting as the sun shines strong in most of the rooms. this improves the internal environment within the house in terms of ventilation, natural lighting, availability of green and water elements, and protection against aerial, audio and visual pollution. most of the families in the region have relatives living in the same area as this was a large proportion of the residents of the area. since the old town consists of many areas in the city, this means that there is a concentration of some families and their relatives in this area. there is also a lack of safety and the sense of danger and this indicates the weakness of family ties and social relations between relatives and knowledge. we note that the physical nature of the old town has a strong impact on the needs of individuals and that the lack of acquisition of the population of private vehicles to this day is the result of the structural nature of the complex that makes all services close. the study area of the city center is located nearby and accessibility on foot reduces the need to obtain a means of transport, which contributes to lower living costs in the region. the schools of the majority of the population are located within the old town i.e. in the same area of residence or on its borders that is close to the students and a very small proportion of students are studying in private schools outside the old town that does not have this type of schools. the extent to which the physical environment of transportation can be adapted, as we know this environment was not prepared for it during the period of its establishment, shows that more than half of the houses cannot be easily reached by means of transportation. in the same direction, we find that the ambulance cannot reach the house in emergencies forcing them to carry the patient in need to reach the nearest accessible area for the ambulance. most of the time, the courtyard in the dwelling no longer retains its functional and aesthetic features and is unfit to attract knowledge and neighbors. in this context, the physical environment of the built-up environment and the special urban nature of the old-age habitats in the pg. 36 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd old city strengthens the bonds between the population. 6.2. physical environment and psychological characteristics of the population the distortion of the old town is usually attributed to the lack of awareness among its inhabitants, including the lack of appreciation for the architectural value of the architectural elements in their dwellings and therefore the inadvertent destruction and destruction of the city’s municipal windows. first of all, the residents of the first class, as a higher priority than the preservation of the architectural heritage itself, were responsible for the replacement of the damaged glass only by the supervisors of the municipality’s work, but the vast majority of the population supported the removal of the intention y traditional, this indicates a high rate of lack of awareness of the value of human architectural impact of the population, despite the conditions in which they live in a conflict of existence and identity with the occupier and despite the fact that most of them are aware of the occupier and settlers stealing this heritage and buy it. 6.3. the future of the old city according to the behavior of the population the proportion of families that will remain in their home and will not leave during the next five years at least is 82%. the main determinant of whether or not to stay in the house was the economic situation. it was found that the large proportion of those who would remain in their homes remained the physical necessity since the old town became a refuge for the poor both inside and outside the city. the greater proportion of the population will remain in their homes because of the physical necessity. at the same time, the larger percentage sees that they are comfortable in their homes. this indicates the ability of the residents of the region to adapt to the environment they do not belong to and also indicates the flexibility of the traditional dwelling that can meet the needs of the residents. as for the way people look at their residential environment, it has been shown that 30.2% of the population believes that the problem of the house is in the occurrence within the area of the old town, while the largest proportion of them do not see that there is a problem in the housing area. 72% believe that the problem is physical in the same dwelling, while 28% see no physical problem at home and this brings us back to two-thirds of the population who are satisfied with their home, explaining the physical state. in addition, 62% of the population does not see any problem in the neighborhood. on the contrary, half of this population, or more than a third of the population, refuse to have problems with the nature of the neighboring population. the proportion of the population who believe that there is a problem in the negative social outlook towards the area of the old city and its residents was a high percentage, which indicates that there is the so-called social isolation in the old city of jerusalem by the city’s community. however, what alleviates this feeling on the population, according to their testimonies, is that most of their acquaintances are from the same region and, therefore, the situation is one, which creates the familiarity and belonging and the strength of social ties between them, but this leads to the reluctance to participate in social relations, especially outside the old city. 6.3.1. the population’s awareness of their housing as architectural heritage and cultural identity the study is concerned with the extent to which the residents of the region are interested because it reflects their awareness of dealing with them as they are the most important actors influencing their physical environment and thus their architectural heritage value. this also indicates the degree to which they will lose the old town as an integrated heritage entity its traditional architectural elements and thus its heritage spirit. the study showed that the largest percentage (87%) of the population would like to remain in their homes within the old city in case of restoration and maintenance work to solve their physical problems. the largest consensus of the population (88.6%) desired to stay in their traditional homes if they were restored, pg. 37 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd maintained and solved their physical problems. third parties must bear the costs of rehabilitation. the reason for all the members of this group is the tightness that prevents them from maintaining them. at the same time, it is difficult for them to provide sufficient funds for housing in a more appropriate dwelling than the current one. after this consensus comes second, they do not agree to take easy loans without interest. the main reason for this is the lack of stable or stable income for the family and therefore fear that it will not be able to pay the loan payments. the opinion consensus, which comes third, was surprising, with 47% of the population agreeing to completely demolish the traditional area and replacing them with modern residential buildings but only 8.51% of the population rejects the idea of demolishing traditional buildings because they are aware of their value not only for architecture and heritage but also for their importance. as a result, 46% of the population agreed to convert it into a purely tourist area and replaced it with modern-style dwellings outside the old city. however, we find that as many as 6.50% of the population do not agree with this view. of the population who answered that the issue of the region as a heritage does not really matter were (43%). on the other hand, 56.9% of the population is interested in the old city area, and they object to the view that they do not care, and 30% strongly object. the results of these statistics show that by taking a percentage of those who cannot determine their position on the concept of heritage and identity of the old town, we find that the percentage of those who have a cultural awareness of the value of the region is almost equal to the proportion of those who do not care about the subject area at all. the residents themselves have also pointed to the way they keep their homes and thus keep the old city vibrant. they are improving the physical environment of their dwellings with external financing. they have mostly gathered that they want to stay in their homes if their physical environment is rehabilitated. the study was conducted on the basis of research on the vulnerability of the physical environment of housing in the old city of jerusalem, the behavior of the population, the social, psychological, health and economic characteristics of the population and the region, and, conversely, does their personal qualities influence the surrounding physical environment and give it a special color. as a result of their behavioral and personal qualities and the analysis of mutual relations, the author concluded that: the physical environment of the dwelling clearly affects the health characteristics of the population in terms of faster transmission of the disease among family members, as well as the obvious effect of the internal environment of the house from the mold and the fall of building materials. it’s also affected by the lack of sunlight in the homes and, therefore, the cold inside the house with the inability of residents to have a source of heat. there is a clear impact on the physical environment on the psychological characteristics of the population and this confirms the scientific theories documented in the study, which assume that there is a negative impact of the home that suffers from the manifestations of moisture on the psyche of the population as the vast majority of housing in the old city suffers from humidity. there is a clear relationship between the physical environment of the home and the educational attainment of children because of the overcrowding of the house from the lack of privacy and noise and the need for children to leave their schools. this is a reflection of the conditions of their poor families. -there is a strong relationship between the physical environment of the majority of houses located within israeli territory and between the consolidation of social ties between the neighbors. there is a clear relationship between the physical environment of adjacent homes and the low level of privacy in the population with more than one third of the windows of the houses overlooking the neighbors and israeli territory. there is a direct and clear relationship between the poor economic conditions of the majority of the population in the old town and the continued depreciation of buildings and the worsening physical condition of homes. the study showed that the vast majority of the population wish to do maintenance work but the economic situation prevents that. unfortunately, they are forced to use the easiest and most appropriate methods to suit the degree of their knowlpg. 38 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd edge, their awareness and their urgent need to rehabilitate the bad conditions of the house, which leads to the damage of the architectural character of the building and its cultural structure. there is a direct relationship between the administrative decisions of the municipality of medina and the poor environmental conditions in the old city. housing within the old city constitutes a temporary stage for more than one-third of the families and it further enhances that one-third of the families who believe that the low cost of living can save them from planning to own a modern apartment and get out of the house. 7. conclusions and recommendations this paper has shown how a conceptual framework on environmental psychology can be drawn up and can be applied to the study of the importance of using human behavior while designing built environments. in the broader sense, this study suggests the use of behavioral sciences and their integration into theory and design practice. the lack of knowledge about human behaviors, attitudes and values is an important problem faced by architects and planners today in the design of built environments. in this regard, leveraging the knowledge of human behavior and the possibilities of behavior science provides designers with the possibility of integrating the social and individual aspects of people living in design processes (churchman, 2002). the architectural perception of the issues affecting the relationships between people and the environment is important in a creative and sensitive creative process. investigation of the type presented here should be encouraged, particularly in the field of architectural education. icon design from magazines and architectural prints provides access to diverse ammunition in diverse contexts. in light of the study and analysis, the following results can be obtained: the physical environment of the homes in the old city of jerusalem affects the health aspects of the population. the architectural characteristics of the house affect the psychological characteristics of the population, especially the narrow space in most housing, which leads to the integration of private jobs resulting in violation of privacy and people refraining from participating in social relations, especially with residents from outside the region. the physical properties of the house threaten the scientific and professional future of the children of the families living in the old town. the prevailing structural system of houses located within the israeli system in the old city is still a social vacuum that affects the neighbors and encourages them to meet and socially interact, thus strengthening the bonds of relations between them despite the different ties of kinship and the current cultural backgrounds among them. the behavior of the population in turning the yards into a closed space has led to a decrease in the level of privacy of the population where the windows overlooking the neighborhood are adopted inside their homes. the majority of the population in the region has a poor economic level, which is the main reason for the lack of interest in the maintenance of their homes and thus the continued deterioration of the physical condition of the buildings and the threat of traditional tissue compact to the old town. housing conditions in the old city are worsening as they constitute a transitional temporary residence not a target for stability. the poor physical condition of housing is devoted to the use of the poor class so that it has become attractive to the poor and uneducated groups from within and outside the city because of the low value of rent. the current situation in the old city continues to promote social separation and discrimination towards its population by residents of many other neighborhoods of the city. the housing in the current poor physical conditions in the old city has worked to weaken the link between the human and the physical environment as it has become an environmental repellent for the financially able people. pg. 39 mersal / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 8. recommendations directing financial support to private housing rehabilitation projects by convincing the financer of the closed link between the sustainability of the urban heritage area and the importance of the housing function in it as inhabited housing is the heart of life for the area whose environment is subject to abandonment and destruction. financial support to preserve the architectural value of the houses as they constitute the majority of the integrated historical urban fabric that gives the region its importance and self-help projects through projects that are based on granting the population financial aid to carry out the necessary maintenance and repair work for the houses. references 1. abdul hakim, h. 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(2008). building as care, trans-allegheny lunatic asylum. pg. 41 introduction environmental psychology human perception of the urban environment the relationship between human behavior and the environment the impact of the physical environment on human behavior the impact of architecture on human behavior the impact of the urban environment on human behavior characteristics of the physical environment and its relationship with the characteristics of the population in the old town of jerusalem physical environment of the dwelling physical environment and psychological characteristics of the population the future of the old city according to the behavior of the population the population's awareness of their housing as architectural heritage and cultural identity conclusions and recommendations recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.39 numerical simulation of the influence of platform pitch motion on power generation steadiness in floating offshore wind turbines yehezkiel tumewu1, crescenzo petrone2, mettupalayam v. sivaselvan3 1environmental engineering, engineering, university, 212 ketter hall, buffalo, ny 14260, usa, email: yehezkie@buffalo.edu 2department of civil, environmental & geomatic engineering, university college london, 120 chadwick building ucl, london, wc1e 6bt, uk., email: c.petrone@ucl.ac.uk 3department of civil, structural & environmental engineering, university at buffalo, 212 ketter hall, buffalo, ny 14260, usa, email: mvs@buffalo.edu abstract offshore wind energy is a valuable renewable resource that is inexhaustible, strong, and consistent. to reduce cost and improve energy production efficiency, future trends are moving towards wind turbines in deep water, which use floating platforms such as tension leg platforms, barges, and semi-submersible designs. compared to fixed based substructures, these floating platforms are in a state of constant motion which affects the power generation steadiness. the resulting complex dynamic behavior might compromise their efficiency and reduce their nominal life. the complex analysis of floating wind turbines requires computer tools that couple all the different components to represent the complete dynamic response. one such tool, developed by the national renewable energy laboratory, is the aero-hydro-servo-elastic tool fast. in this work, simplified models are used for three platform types, and the results are compared with fast as a way of understanding the essential dynamics. secondly, using fast, the influence of platform pitch motion on the steadiness of power generation is examined. this analysis is done for all three platforms for a constant above rated wind speed and above average wave load. results demonstrate that the power output fluctuation depends on the platform type and blade pitch motion. the effect of platform pitch on the steadiness of power output is only apparent under large oscillating pitch motion, where recurring power drops are observed. the semi-submersible design performs well with relatively steady power output, while the barge design has the most unsteady output, as a result of its susceptibility to typical wave loads. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords fast; floating platform; platform pitch; wind turbine; power output 1. introduction renewable resources such as wind energy have shown great potential to address increasing energy demands. it reduces dependency on fossil fuel, produces no harmful emission and is also inexhaustible. wind turbines have pg. 92 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd been predominantly land-based. however, development has been impeded by several difficulties such as limited unused land area, relatively low wind velocities, and significant environmental and noise impact. to solve these problems, wind turbines might be installed offshore. the key component of an offshore wind turbine (owt) is the support structure or substructure, which are classified by water depth: shallow (< 30m), transitional (30 – 60 m), and deep water (> 60m), see figure 1. figure 1. figure 1 owt water depth classification (jonkman, & buhl, 2005) for shallow and transitional depth, the turbine tower is fixed rigidly to the seafloor using fixed-bottom foundations. for deep water case, this type of substructure is economically impractical, due to the large amount of material, added complexity of design, fabrication and installation costs. floating platforms are then used as an alternative wind turbine substructure, drawing from related experience from the offshore oil and gas industry, in the associated tank, ballast, and mooring systems. based on the method to achieve stability, floating platforms are categorized into three types: spar-buoy that utilizes a ballast weight to provide a restoring moment for motion resistance, tension leg platform (tlp) that relies on the tension in its taut mooring lines, and barge that stabilizes the motion through a distributed buoyancy platform with large water-plane area (figure 2). figure 2. floating platform concepts for owt (jonkman, & buhl, 2005). spar-buoy and semi-submersible platforms have reached full-scale operational stage in europe. in september 2009, the first floating offshore wind turbine (fowt), statoil’s hywind, was deployed in the north sea of norway. hywind has a rated power of 2.3mw and utilizes a single spar-buoy platform moored with three catenary lines (hywind the world’s first full-scale floating wind, 2014). in october 2011, the second full scale fowt, principle power’s windfloat with 2mw rated power, was installed in portugal. windfloat utilizes a semisubmersible floating platform that is moored with four catenary lines (roddier, cermelli, aubault, & weinstein, 2010). in united states, umaine developed a prototype semi-submersible floating wind turbine called volturnus 1:8, based on the oc4 deepcwind (robertson, jonkman, musial, vorpahl, & popko, 2013). pg. 93 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. nrel 5 mw wind turbine on (left to right) themit/nrel tlp, iti energy barge (matlab and statistics toolbox release, 2014), and oc4 deepcwind semi-submersible (tumewu, 2016). another fowt prototype is the 80kw tlp developed by blue-h technology with an ongoing scaled testing (arapogianni, genachte, manzanas, vergara, castell, tsouroukdissian, korbijn, bolleman, huera-huarte, schuon, ugart, sandberg, laleu, maciel, tunbjer, roth, gueriviere, coulombeau, jedrec, philippe, voutsinas, vita, byklum, hurley, & grubel, 2013). hybrid platforms that combine these stabilization methods also exist, for example, the semi-submersible platform. however, compared to fixed based substructures, the floating platforms are in a state of constant motion which affects the power generation steadiness. dynamic analysis must be performed to determine the extent of the platform motion effect on the fowt performance. the complex nature of fowt, i.e. combined environmental excitations, system coupling, and dynamic response, requires the system to be designed and analyzed with a computer-aided engineering (cae) tool. the tool used in this research is fast (fatigue, aerodynamic, structures, and turbulence), developed by nrel (national renewable energy laboratory), (jonkman, & buhl, 2005). the latest version, fastv8, is built as a modular framework to analyze the wind turbine system with aero-hydro-servo-elastic coupling. the goals of this work are, firstly, to understand the essential fowt dynamics by comparing results from a simplified (limited degree-of-freedom) model with fast simulations, and secondly, to examine the influence of platform motion on the steadiness of wind turbine power output. specifically, the tlp, barge, and semi-submersible platforms are analyzed under wind and wave excitation. 2. floating offshore wind turbine system characteristics in order to obtain useful information and realistic results, standardized fowt designs and load characteristics provided by nrel are used. the input data includes the nrel 5mw baseline wind turbine mounted on three different platforms: mit/nrel tlp, iti energy barge, and oc4 deepcwind semi-submersible platform. the three platforms (figure 3) are compared herein as being alternative solutions to accommodate the same wind turbine. gross properties of the nrel 5mw wind turbine and the floating platforms are provided in table 1 and 2 respectively. table 1. nrel 5mw baseline wind turbine gross properties wind turbine properties rating 5 mw configuration upwind, 3 blades control variable speed, collective blade pitch rotor, hub diameter 126 m, 3 m hub height 90 m cut-in, rated, cut-out wind speed 3 m/s, 11.4 m/s, 25 m/s rotor mass rotor mass continued on next page pg. 94 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued nacelle mass 240,000 kg tower mass 374,500 kg tower diameter bottom, top 6.5 m, 3.87 m tower cog coordinate (-0.2 m, 0.0 m , 64.0 m) table 2. nrel tlp, barge (jonkman, butterfield, musial, & scott, 2009), and semi-submersible platform properties (matlab and statistics toolbox release, 2014). floating platform properties floating platform properties iti energy barge oc4 deepcwind semi-submersible platform dimension 18 m 40 m x 40 m x 10 m 6.5 m, 3x12 m, 3x24 m platform draft -47.89 m -4 m -20 m water displacement 12,180 m3 6,000 m3 13,917 m3 platform mass, including ballast 8,600,041 kg 5,452,000 kg 13,473,000 kg platform cm -40.61 m -0.2818 m -13.46 m pitch inertia about cm 571,600,000 kg m2 726,900,000 kg m2 6,827,000,000 kg m2 number of mooring lines 8 (4 pairs) 8 3 depth to fairleads, anchors -47.89 m, -200 m -4 m, -150 m -14 m, -200 m radius to fairleads, anchors 27 m, 27 m 28.28 m, 423.4 m 40.868 m, 837.6 m un-stretched line length 151.7 m 473.3 m 835.5 m line diameter 0.127 m 0.0809 m 0.0766 m line mass density 116 kg m−1 130.4 kg m−1 108.63 kg m−1 line extensional stiffness 1,500,000,000 n 589,000,000 n 753,600,000 n 3. limited degree-of-freedom model and comparison with fast to understand the main features of fowt dynamics, a representative simplified limited degree-of-freedom model of the floating wind turbine is developed. the simplifications include: representing the combined wind turbine and floating platform as a rigid body, neglecting structural deflection, and considering only the three planar degrees of freedom (dof): horizontal displacement or surge (u1), vertical displacement or heave (u2), and rotation or pitch (u3). the simplified model follows the same coordinate representation as fast. the global coordinate system is located at the intersection of the structure centerline and seawater level (swl). positive x-axis is defined as a horizontal line from origin point in the direction of wave propagation, while positive z-axis is defined as a vertical line from origin point in upwards direction. positive u1 is along positive x-axis, positive u2 is along positive z-axis, and positive u3 is a clockwise rotation. a clear description of the dof and sign convention can be seen in figure 4. from the gross properties of each fowt, both the stiffness and mass components are calculated. the stiffness matrix comprises two parts: linear mooring lines stiffness and floater hydrostatic stiffness. the linear mooring lines stiffness is obtained from the tension force for taut mooring lines, and utilizing a matlab code based on previous work in (petrone, oliveto, & sivaselvan, 2016) for catenary mooring lines. the floater hydrostatic stiffness on the other hand is obtained from the volume of displaced water due to the submerged platform. the mass matrix also has two contributions: structural mass and hydrodynamic added mass. the former is calculated utilizing a lumped mass model and parallel axis theorem to obtain the structural mass and moment of inertia, while the latter is obtained from wave analysis of mit (wamit) that takes into account the oscillating motion pg. 95 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of the submerged platform. from the stiffness and mass matrices, eigenvalue analyses are performed using matlab and statistics toolbox release (2014) code for all three floating platforms to acquire the natural frequency for surge, heave, and pitch dofs. results from the simplified model are compared with fast as presented in table 3. details of the computation may be found in tumewu (2016). table 3. eigenvalue result comparison of three platforms wind turbine platforms surge frequency (hz) heave frequency (hz) pitch frequency (hz) ldof fast ldof fast ldof fast mit/nrel tlp 0.017 0.016 0.438 0.439 0.273 0.239 iti energy barge 0.008 0.008 0.128 0.132 0.09 0.08 oc4 deepcwind semisubmersible 0.009 0.010 0.053 0.054 0.047 0.039 from table 3, it is observed that the results from fast and matlab limited dof model exhibit a good agreement, with differences in the order of 3% – 15%. the discrepancies are tolerable since the simplified model assumes the wind turbine tower and platform are a rigid body. it is concluded that the simplified model captures the main features of fowt dynamics. from this verification process, it can also be concluded that low frequency range will govern the dynamics of fowt, which is a typical wave loads characteristic with natural frequencies between 0.06 – 0.21 hz (robertson, jonkman, masciola, song, goupee, coulling, & luan, 2014). figure 4. limited dof model of nrel 5mw wind turbine on (from left to right) the mit/nrel tlp, iti energy barge, and oc4 deepcwind semi-submersible. pg. 96 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. influence of platform motion on fowt performance wind and wave loads out in the water excite the floating wind turbine, resulting in a constantly oscillating platform motion, in particular pitch rotation (u3 in figure 4). such pitching motion clearly distinguishes a fowt from a wind turbine with fixed base. in this section of the paper, the influence of platform pitch motion on wind turbine performance is examined. based on previous work in (grogg, 2005), the wind turbine generated power can be expressed as: p = 1 2 ρ au 3cp (1) where: u = wind speed (m/s); cp = performance power coefficient p= power output (w); p= air density (kg/m3); a= π r2 = rotor swept area (m2); for a lift-based wind turbine such as the nrel 5mw baseline wind turbine, the rotor blades have airfoil shapes. the airfoil experiences lift and drag force from the incoming wind. the two airfoil forces are highly dependent on the angle of attack (α ). increasing the angle of attack will consequently result in increased lift but also drag. therefore, an optimized angle of attack that would result in large lift with small drag is desirable. figure 5. lift and dragforce of wind turbine airfoil for a given airfoil, the lift and drag coefficient may be derived from theoretical or empirical test results where the coefficients formula are given as: cl = l 1 2 ρ au 21 (2) and cd = d 1 2 ρ au 21 (3) hercl and cd correspond to lift and drag coefficients respectively, while l and d denote lift and drag forces. from these coefficients, the performance power coefficients may be computed: cp = cl √ 1 + λ2 (λ− γ2) (4) wλ = wu andγ = cd cl denotes the blade tip speed which is the product of the blade radius and rotational speed. in addition to these equations, the nrel 5mw baseline wind turbine has the ability to change the angle of attack of the airfoils over a range of limited positive pitch values (pitch-to-feather). this pitch control is especially useful for fowt, as the blade pitch counteracts the platform pitch, thus retaining the overall angle of attack. combining pg. 97 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the aforementioned facts, a series of parameter relationships can be drawn: platform pitch — blade pitch (angle of attack) — lift and drag coefficients power coefficient — power output. to examine and isolate the platform pitch effect alone on the power output, the wind and wave loading parameters are set as: wind load is set to be constant with wind speed of 12 m/s, above the rated speed of 11.4 m/s (see table 1). this ensures the turbine has reached the maximum generated power capacity of 5mw. since low frequency range governs the dynamics of fowt, wave loads are divided into 3 different cases: (a) still water or no wave, (b) periodic wave, and (c) stochastic wave. the latter two conditions follow a “very rough” sea state condition, based on world meteorogical organization (wmo) sea states code 6 (tumewu, 2016). both wave profiles are chosen as a representative for above average wave condition with t = 11.3 sec and h = 5.49 m. mit/nrel tlp, iti energy barge and oc4 deepcwind semi-submersible (ss) are first analyzed in fast for still water condition with the following parameters: undeformed initial conditions in elastodyn, which computes structural dynamics of tower and platform. wind load is set to a constant wind speed of 12 m/s in aerodyn and inflow, for aerodynamic loads and inflow. a default bladed-style dll is chosen for the pitch control, and the blade pitch rate is set to 2 deg/s for all platforms in servodyn. future studies will investigate more refined pitch control systems. wave load model is set to still water condition and current is neglected in hydrodyn, which calculates hydrodynamic loads. the mooring analysis program map++ module, built-in the fast software, is selected for all platforms in compmooring for mooring system computation. total run time is set to 300 sec, with default time step 0.025 sec. platform pitch and blade pitch computed using fast for all three platforms, along with the corresponding generated power for still water case are provided in figure 6. as expected, the generated power from all three platforms is relatively steady since there are no wave loads that excite the platform. small power drops are observed for the barge platform case. comparing blade and platform pitch, an overall larger blade pitch rotation can be seen for all three cases, in particular for barge platform. figure 6. platform vs blade pitch responses (left) and thepower output (right) for still water case for the periodic wave case, the three configurations are analyzed with the same parameters as the still water case, except for hydrodyn module input parameters: airy wave is selected as wave load with period t = 11.3 sec and amplitude h = 5.49 m. significant and recurring power drops are observed for the tlp and barge platform (figure 7), where the power outputs fluctuate and reduce to approximately half of the full 5mw capacity. these trends coincide with the larger pg. 98 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd blade and platform pitch rotation of both the floating platforms. the semi-submersible platform performs the best with relatively steady power output and a smaller blade pitch oscillation. for the stochastic wave case, the hydrodyn wave load follows an irregular wave model based on the jonswap/pierson–moskowitz spectrum, with period t = 11.3 sec and amplitude h = 5.49 m. the generated power exhibits trends similar to the periodic wave case (figure 8), as well as the platform and blade pitches. the following conclusions can be drawn comparing the response of the different platforms under different wave loadings: – small oscillation, i.e. below 1 deg, in platform pitch does not necessarily guarantee a steady power output. this conclusion is valid, for both regular and irregular wave cases. – the power output is heavily dependent on the blade pitch control. the effect is most apparent for periodic and stochastic wave loads in tlp and barge platforms, where the power output exhibits a trend similar to blade pitch. – although the semi-submersible is not the most stable in terms of platform pitch, the generated power is relatively the steadiest for both periodic and stochastic wave loads. this is due to the small oscillation in blade pitch caused by the platform rotation. figure 7. platform vs blade pitch responses (left) and the power output (right) for periodic wave case figure 8. platform vs blade pitchresponses (left) and the power output (right) for stochastic wave case pg. 99 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – comparing the results of the three platforms, it can be concluded that the barge is the most susceptible to typical wave loads. this susceptibility translates to significant power fluctuation, where the power output repeatedly drops from full to almost half the capacity. thus, further studies to control platform pitch by using semi-active and passive devices are recommended in order to utilize barge in full-scale floating platform. 5. conclusion the main goal of this research is to gain an understanding of the dynamic behavior and its relationship with the power performance of three different floating offshore wind turbines. for this purpose, a wind turbine simulation tool, fast, is utilized. before performing dynamic analyses of floating offshore wind turbines with fast, the essential dynamics are identified by performing eigenvalue analysis using a limited dof model for three floating platforms (tlp, barge and semi-submersible), and comparing with results from fast simulations. in addition, it is established that low frequency oscillation, whose frequencies align with typical wave loads characteristics, will govern the dynamics of fowt. using fast, the influence of platform pitch motion on the wind turbine power output steadiness is examined. to isolate and examine the platform pitch effect on the power output, analyses are performed for the three platforms under defined loads of above rated wind speed of 12m/s and an above average wave load with t = 11.3 sec and h = 5.49. from the results, it is concluded that the power output fluctuation depends on the platform type and blade pitch. the effect of platform pitch on the steadiness of power output is only apparent in a large oscillating pitch motion, where recurring power drops are found. the semi-submersible platform type performs the best with relatively steady power output. the downside of this platform is the large amount of material and high construction cost. tlp is a viable choice as well, with the lowest platform pitch motion. the main reason for this is the pre-tensioned mooring lines that increase the stiffness. these pre-tensioned lines are more prone to failure, especially during critical events. since the tlp heavily relies on its mooring lines for stability, environmental effects such as corrosion and anchor design, become an important factor. the barge platform is found to be the most susceptible to wave loads, which ultimately result in least steady power output. another problem that arises from the large blade pitch oscillation is the reduced fatigue life of the blades and the wind turbine tower. these detrimental effects are amplified in turbulent wind that affects the generated power fluctuation even more than constant wind. the barge platform design has an advantage in its lower construction and installation cost compared to the other floating platforms. therefore, solutions that address the problems would increase the reliability of barge platform for full-scale offshore wind turbines. 6. acknowledgments this research was supported by the fulbright ms f.i.r.s.t. scholarship at the university at buffalo (ub). we thank our colleagues at ub who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research. we would also like to show our gratitude to the nrel–nwtc forum and dr. jonkman for comments and inputs regarding fast tool. references 1. arapogianni, a., genachte, a., manzanas, r., vergara, j., castell, c., tsouroukdissian, a.r., korbijn, j., bolleman, huera-huarte, f.j., schuon, f., ugart, a., sandberg, j., de laleu, v., maciel, j., tunbjer, a., roth, r., de la gueriviere, p., coulombeau, p., jedrec, s., philippe, c., voutsinas, s. g., vita, l., byklum, e., hurley, w.l. & grubel, h. (2013). deep water; the next step for offshore wind energy. in ewea offshore 2013. frankfurt, germany. 2. grogg, k. (2005). harvesting the wind: the physics of wind turbines. physics and astronomy comps pg. 100 tumewu / environmental science and sustainable development, essd papers,7. 3. hywind the world’s first full-scale floating wind. (2014). retrieved from: http://www.statoil.com/en /technology innovation/newenergy/renewablepowerproduction/offshore/hywind/pages/ hywindputtingwindpowertothetest.aspx. 4. jonkman, j. m. (2007). dynamics modeling and loads analysis of an offshore floating wind turbine(rep. no. nrel/tp-500-41958). colorado: national renewable energy laboratory. 5. jonkman, j. m., & buhl, m. l. (2005). fast user’s guide. 6. jonkman, j. m., & matha, d. (2011). dynamics of offshore floating wind turbines-analysis of three concepts. wind energy,14(4), 557-569. 7. jonkman, j., butterfield, s., musial, w., & scott, g. (2009). definition of a 5-mw reference wind turbine for offshore system development(rep. no. nrel/tp-500-38060). colorado: national renewable energy laboratory. 8. matlab and statistics toolbox release (2014), the mathworks, inc., natick, massachusetts, united states. 9. petrone, c., oliveto, n. d., & sivaselvan, m. v. (2016). dynamic analysis of mooring cables with application to floating offshore wind turbines. journal of engineering mechanics,142(3), 04015101. 10. robertson, a., jonkman, j., masciola, m., song, h., goupee, a., coulling, a., & luan, c. (2014). definition of the semisubmersible floating system for phase ii of oc4. offshore code comparison collaboration continuation (oc4) for iea task,30. 11. robertson, a., jonkman, j., musial, w., vorpahl, f., & popko, w. (2013). offshore code comparison collaboration, continuation: phase ii results of a floating semisubmersible wind system. in ewea offshore 2013. frankfurt, germany. 12. roddier, d., cermelli, c., aubault, a., & weinstein, a. (2010). windfloat: a floating foundation for offshore wind turbines. journal of renewable and sustainable energy, 2(3), 033104. 13. tumewu, y. (2016). dynamic analysis of floating offshore wind turbine using the fast simulation tool(master’s thesis, university at buffalo). buffalo. pg. 101 introduction floating offshore wind turbine system characteristics limited degree-of-freedom model and comparison with fast influence of platform motion on fowt performance conclusion acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.378 synergistic urban improvement: case study of hikifune neighbourhood in tokyo kalina vankova1, hitoshi nakamura2, gesa witthöft3 1msc, faculty for architecture and planning, vienna university of technology, vienna, austria 2prof. dr., department of planning, architecture and environmental systems, college of systems engineering and science, shibaura institute of technology, saitama-shi, saitama 337-8570, japan 3di. dr.-ing., sen. sc., department of spatial planning, centre of sociology, vienna university of technology, vienna, austria abstract this paper proposes the synergistic method as an alternative approach that embraces urban complexity and reverses it to a set of mutually reinforcing improvement strategies. after illustrating the general idea of synergistic improvement by examining the correlation among a number of urban issues, this paper uses the case study to explore this interconnectivity in closer detail. hikifune in tokyo was selected as a case study because of its distinct atmosphere and historical background, on the one hand, and fragility in terms of demographics, natural hazards and economics, on the other hand. relevant literature, along with empirical and statistical data, is the primary method used in this research. relying on the discovered findings, the conclusion returns the discussion to the necessity for a synergistic improvement. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords synergistic improvement; disaster risk reduction; demographics; ineffectively used space; untapped potential 1. introduction given the socio-economic, demographic and environmental dynamics of the current era, communities in cities are progressively confronted with numerous challenges. commonly, urban planning and architecture refer to such issues as isolated problems and provide only sectoral changes. however, all these matters are deeply interconnected and recurrently influence each other, while being habitually exacerbated by anthropological activities. as a result, they forge disaster chains with direct and/or indirect impacts on the urban environment and quality of life. this paper examines whether a synergistic approach could contribute to a paradigm shift towards a crosscutting urban development by relying on existing research. because hikifune neighbourhood in tokyo is an area exposed to a unique combination of interdependent challenges, it was selected as the case study. the methodology and data collection draw on empirical evidence, research work and official statistics. after illustrating the general idea of synergistic improvement through correlation among a number of issues, the paper uses the case study to explore urban interconnectivity in closer detail. a concluding section returns the discussion to the necessity for synergistic pg. 75 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd improvement by relying on the discovered findings. 2. synergistic improvement 2.1. interconnected urban issues historically, cities have been places of intricate and dense relations between urban forms and social networks with natural forces and innovative practices constantly influencing each other. it is precisely this magnetic complexity of compact urban space with its endless possibilities that still attracts the rural population and gives rise to the megalopolis. since industrialisation, the speed of urbanisation, population growth and technological progress has accelerated to unprecedented rates, resulting in exacerbation of many existing urban issues and emergence of new challenges. a vast amount of literature favours the thesis that the tools that urban planners, governments and public sectors have been using or have developed over the last two centuries are not only insufficient but also harmful to city sustainability. sassen (2005) views uncovering urban interconnections as a way ‘towards understanding what our large cities are about today and in the near future, and what constitutes their complexity’. in this respect, the research proposes to explore whether synergistic outcomes could arise from observing the complexity of acute disadvantages, such as natural disasters, demographics and local potential, such as ineffectively used urban space, as opportunities to bring about urban improvement. 2.2. natural disasters commonly, in seismically active regions, earthquakes have major socio-economic and environmental impacts on densely urbanised areas. strong ground motion often triggers further devastating disasters such as tsunamis or fire spread. exposed to a collective risk, informal, densely built-up neighbourhoods of wooden buildings represent the most vulnerable areas. when poorly maintained or abandoned, they pose clear danger due to deteriorating construction and proximity to other houses of poor seismic and fireproof performance. hirokawa and osaragi (2015) state that ‘[c]ollapsed buildings typically have a higher probability of catching fire compared with buildings that have not collapsed’. another example for collective damage is street blockage. obstructed, narrow alleys block the way for emergency vehicles, complicate the evacuation process and become extremely dangerous zones due to concentrations of gas emissions, heat and falling objects. finally, a highly urgent issue concerning areas exposed to cumulative damage risk is problematic evacuation. in many cases, existing evacuation zones are insufficient and inadequately located, whereas fire-prone sections along firebreak axes could easily provide a fire bridge to the adjoining neighbourhood. global climate change alters precipitation patterns in an unprecedented way, resulting in extreme weather conditions. together with geological hazards, such as earthquakes and landslides, they form disaster chains that have increasingly negative impacts on people’s daily lives as well as urban development (baodeng, 2016; okazumi, 2013; shaw, 2014; wdowinski, 2011). human activities such as urban sprawl (suriya & mudgal, 2011), reduction of infiltration capacity of catchments (adebayo & rabee, 2011) and flood resistance infrastructure (liao, 2012) frequently reinforce impacts of weather events involving heavy precipitation in cities and erode their resilience to floods. similar to areas prone to earthquake and fire spread, a critical issue in case of a flood emergency is safe evacuation that requires advance planning and technical expertise. inadequate or delayed evacuation can expose inhabitants to secondary hazards such as power outages and damage to electrical, communications and transportation infrastructure, inability to access food and fresh water, particularly in high-rise apartments, and sewage-contaminated floodwater (lane, charles-guzman, wheeler, abid, graber & matte 2013). pg. 76 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2.3. demographics ageing population and shrinking households are listed as critical issues for a number of developed countries due to low fertility rates, increasing longevity and changing modes of social relations (cohen, 2003; baker, baldwin, donahue, flynn, herbert, la jeunesse. . . will, 2014; feng, liu, guan & mor, 2012). this phenomenon poses major policy challenges to countries with increasing proportions of elderly population in social, economic and political effects (bloom, canning & fink, 2010; muramatsu & akiyama, 2011). however, demographic diversity and strong family and neighbourly relationships are traditional sources of support for liveable, prosperous and resilient communities (muramatsu & akiyama, 2011), whereas monotony and homogeneity bear grave consequences for the environment. surveys such as those conducted by uhlenberg (2000) emphasise beneficial outcomes of age integration in our societies. besides the issue’s social aspects, presence of varied demographic groups is highly correlated with disaster preparedness. dense areas with population of mostly elderly people are much more vulnerable to natural hazards due to their impaired physical mobility, diminished sensory awareness, chronic health conditions or social and economic limitations (aldrich, n; muramatsu & akiyama, 2011; taira, 2008; lane, charles-guzman, wheeler, abid, graber & matter, 2013). on the contrary, young adults possess stronger selfpreservation instinct and tend to react more adequately in case of emergencies. low household ratio is also linked to per capita expenditures and environmental impact. informal settlements populated mostly by elderly couples have very low energy saving performance, high living expenses and ecological footprints. aoshima (2016) claims that power usage increases with the decline of household members. ‘[e]lectricity consumption’, the author goes on, ‘of the 70 or older group totals [. . . ] 1.6 times as high as for the 29 or younger group’. 2.4. ineffectively used buildings and open space decades of functionalism, zoning policies and large-scale car-oriented development at the global scale have resulted in an unattractive public realm and an impaired ability to experience the city. ‘the city at eye level’ (2016) emphasises the significant role the ground floor plays in economic and social success of urbanities since ‘it determines 90% of the building’s contribution to the experience of the environment’. in this regard, numerous studies have concentrated on the possibilities for a paradigm shift towards human-oriented urban planning. the general conclusion they draw is that mixed-use urban landscapes and social inclusion are prerequisites for the prosperity of each neighbourhood. mikelbank (2008) maintains that a ‘city of strong neighbourhoods breeds a confidence among households, businesses, developers, and community leaders that spills over into the city’s economy in general’. jacobs (1992) famously advocates the necessity of diversity of uses and people as drivers of innovation and urban success and the failure faced by a community if that diversity is missing. similarly, florida’s theory (2003) for the ‘creative class’ highlights the power of open and diverse places ‘to attract greater numbers of talented and creative people—the sort of people who power innovation and growth’. the lack of such diversity, substantially enhanced by the presence of a passive ground floor and disproportionately large enterprises (jacobs, 1992), is a two-sided problem. on the one hand, deteriorating and homogeneous living environments adversely affect quality of life and, as such, make the vicinity even less attractive for people of diverse age groups and social status. on the other hand, they majorly impact the physical and mental health of local residents (krause, 1998), which sets a vicious cycle of social and economic stagnation. in the context of today’s urban density and scales, vacancies in metropolitan areas can be considered the equivalent of wastefulness and weak planning systems. yet, abandoned properties of various functions are a commonplace phenomenon in socially and economically distressed neighbourhoods. they have a destructive effect on their surroundings, draining social and economic capital (mikelbank, 2008). their negative impact concentrates largely on the ground floor, which, as a result, becomes passive, unattractive and non-lucrative. when abandoned, buildings also become easy prey for burglars. because of their poor maintenance, insufficient infrastructure and low hygienic conditions, they are hard to rent or sell. moreover, in close proximity to other non-reinforced structures, they constitute areas that are most vulnerable to natural disasters. junkyards, vacant lots and underused and neglected open spaces represent another destructive category of land use pg. 77 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd that grows in grey and/or marginal areas. analogous to vacant buildings, their presence signals that the environment is too poor, with too little surrounding magnetism and too low land values to sustain other uses. outdoor parking lots and depots, on the contrary, have the potential to be profitable enough to economically justify their place in diverse neighbourhoods (jacobs, 1992). however, their dominant presence comes at the price of a number of quality of life and environmental issues. existing large outdoor lots thin the city and harm the relationship between spatial forms and social interaction. jacobs stated that ‘[t]he more downtown is broken up and interspersed with parking lots and garages, the duller and deader it becomes’. the glorification of the automobile, livesey (2004) claims, has ‘severely altered the traditional street that had been carefully scaled to the pedestrian and preindustrial forms of transportation’. it is widely known that cars, together with their required infrastructure, are also conducive to reduced disaster resilience, to worsening air and noise pollution, to overloaded traffic systems and rising commuting times, to reduced physical movement and to growing expenses and environmental costs, irrespective of the cultural and social context. 2.5. untapped potential and synergistic improvement cities are complex adaptive systems that constantly evolve and recreate. to that effect, every urban area, regardless of its political, economic and social state of affairs, wields potential for successful development. depending on the context of the place, its potential can vary greatly but the potential often lies in the combination of the interconnectivity of local issues and resources. clearly, factors such as location, heritage, nature, urban milieu, technology, fiscal capacity, private–public partnerships, civic engagement initiatives, education and health care can be invaluable assets for facilitating urban progress. yet, addressing problems directly, thus finding possibilities for action in a positive direction, can flip the vicious circle into a virtuous one. for example, acknowledging informal urbanism as an innovative resource and taking a fresh glance at human-oriented planning (brillembourg et al., 2005), seismic and fireproof reinforcement of houses as glue for restoring community relations, abandoned buildings as an opportunity to introduce new uses and enhance the economic viability of a neighbourhood, underused vacant lots and infrastructure as a chance to reclaim the public realm for its inhabitants (stahle, 2016) and build flood resilience, even a natural disaster as an occasion to rethink and improve the built environment (sorensen & daalsgard, 2012). faehnlea and tyrväinen (2013) underline the importance of collaboration, which serves not only planning and decision-making but also worthy of the stakeholders’ effort. the resulting synergistic improvement among such mutually reinforcing practices possesses aptness for generating momentum with lasting urban improvement outcomes. 3. case study 3.1. location and historical background the name hikifune is not an official postal address. locals refer to the area of 2 chome higashimukōjima, 2 chome oshiage and 4 chome mukōjima, between the rivers arakawa and sumidagawa in sumida ward, tokyo, as the hikifune toko-niyon district (in short, hikifune). even though the neighbourhood lies in three postal address units and consists of two neighbourhood associations, at a local cultural and social level, it functions as a whole. moreover, cohesion of residents plays a crucial role in case of emergencies and the need for rapid evacuation. for these reasons this work refers to hikifune as an entity. the key location of hikifune station provides not only easy access to popular commuting and commercial destinations for residents in the surrounding area but also regional transit services connecting northern prefectures with southern parts of tokyo city. after being largely destroyed on three occasions during the twentieth century, most parts of central tokyo were rebuilt according to new safety regulations (nakamura, 2012). sheltered from these destructive events, hikifune, as part of the more conservative district east of sumida river, has preserved its urban form without any effective subdivision control, following a plot-by-plot urban pattern until today. according to a report on the community-based pg. 78 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. location of sumida ward in tokyo prefecture and of hikifune neighbourhood within sumidaward district plan (2012), since 2003, a large-scale redevelopment project is underway and many high-rise residential buildings and commercial facilities have been completed southeast of hikifune station. tokyo skytree, the largest enterprise within sumida ward, has a massive economic impact on the district. apart from that, the currently running tobuline railway renovation project anticipates renewal and seismic reconstruction of the tobu line, including hikifune station, while the sumida ward 2010 master plan suggests developing hikifune neighbourhood as a local commercial high-rise centre connected to the already progressing tokyo skytree area and, further, with the asakusa district. 3.2. urban morphology figure 2. buildings elevation plan and ground floor functions plan the neighbourhood shows characteristics of a superblock (shelton, 2012), comprising high-rise buildings along wide streets and an interior of two-to-three-storey houses of an average 40-year lifespan lining the narrow alleys roji. evacuation streets along the periphery combine cross-city traffic movement with commercial and disaster prevention functions, while the meandering network of roji between low-rise buildings maintains locals’ circulation. the superblock is dissected by a passing through hikifune station railway in two parts. cars are rarely used within pg. 79 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the neighbourhood, and the majority of the local people prefer to walk or use bicycles, motorbikes or the train to reach their destinations. their preferred routes are small and mid-width alleys. the superblock predisposes correlation among the buildings’ functions, locations and height. observed data suggests that most low-rise buildings within the interior serve an exclusively residential function, whereas mixed-use buildings with a shop or a service on the ground floor can be found in areas with frequent pedestrian circulation. according to sumida demographic institute (2006), almost 70% of working residents are employed or self-employed in fine-grained establishments along these axes. shelton (2012) describes the japanese urban space as an opposition of ‘layers of [positive] insides and [conceptually empty] outsides’. hikifune’s densely built-up fabric consists of multi-layered private positive spaces (uchi) and a negative leftover (soto). commonly, the narrowest alleys are, actually, overlapping semi-private spaces that provide needed access to uchi. juxtaposition of ‘separate but co-existing systems’ is another phenomenon of the japanese urban landscape (shelton, 2012). infrastructure, shrines, abundant vegetation, electric poles, along with people’s presence, personal belongings, roller shutters, ground floor workshops, new and old, modern and traditional, ‘participate equally [. . . ] in the imagery of urban japan’ and ‘result in an amorphous and more collage-like surface’. most low-rise dwellings constituting hikifune’s interior are heirs of traditional japanese townhouses. during the post-war period, these areas of urban vernacular began to rapidly disappear and are currently subject to intense large-scale redevelopment pressures. they are deep and narrow two-to-, occasionally, three-storey buildings with a shop space at the front, which makes the ground floor along the roji very versatile, thus establishing constant exchange between outside and inside, (semi-) public and private and contributing to the street’s diversity. due to limited space, the usual connection with nature takes place at a street level, as part of the (semi-) public realm. figure 3. (a) narrow alley. photo by author. (b) juxtaposition. photo by author. pg. 80 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.3. issues 3.3.1. natural disasters nowadays, the possibility of fire spread in central tokyo is very limited due to introduction of new fireproof materials and widening of streets. however, in densely built-up areas with wooden houses, it still tends to occur. tokyo metropolitan government-based data (2010) indicates that being exposed to a collective risk of building collapse and fire spread, hikifune is a priority development zone for tokyo. empirical evidence proves that the majority of wooden houses do not comply with current seismic standards and, consequently, would not survive a serious earthquake or fire spread. the most vulnerable areas are densely packed clusters including old, nonreinforced and vacant houses along the roji. although in 2014, local governments were empowered through new ordinances to demolish the most dangerous buildings, takamura (2015) claims that this measure is ‘for extreme cases’. figure 4. (a) road width plan. (b) vacant house. photo by author. furthermore, studies indicate that hikifune is located in an area of highest blockage probability for tokyo, 20% (hirokawa & osaragi, 2016). many alleys in the neighbourhood do not follow the building standard law obligation for minimal road width of 4 m (hasegawa, 2013). one of these alleys establishes an important connection between the public bath and the train station and is characterised by high levels of pedestrian and cyclist activity. however, roji, just like townhouses, present a significant part of tokyo’s vernacular and should be regarded with considerable mindfulness to avoid gentrification’s negative impact. moreover, locals fear that possible street widening ‘would increase automobile traffic passing through the district [. . . ] induce illegal parking’ and reduce landowners’ plots (nakamura, 2012). in addition, the government’s official disaster prevention map illustrates only two temporary evacuation zones in case of earthquake or fire spread emergency. these spaces provide only a temporary solution, do not have the capacity to accommodate all residents and leave the southern part beyond hikifunegawa street completely isolated. the primary evacuation zone of shirahigehigashi is located at a distance of more than 1.5 km along the pg. 81 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd main evacuation roads; this is an unthinkable walking length for elderly residents. until 1975, economical ground water in sumida ward was pumped for industrial uses, resulting in subsidence of lowlands’ ground level by the maximum recorded depth of 4.5 m, as reported by the arakawa-karyu river office. moreover, extreme weather events are expected as a response to climate change. as a consequence, according to arakawa-karyu river office estimations, areas around the arakawa river face large-scale flooding due to breaches of levees. examination of topographic maps illustrates that hikifune’s territory is relatively flat, located at approximately 0 m sea level and at a substantial distance from the riverbank. hence, there is minor danger for potentially strong debris flow or immediate construction damage. the main hazard is long-term isolation. an official flood hazard map predicts that, in case of a levee breach, the water level of hikifune neighbourhood would reach 3 m above ground level, equivalent to houses’ first floors. as a consequence, as largely two-storey structures, wooden houses in hikifune are potentially hazardous. currently, local people would evacuate to surrounding high-rise buildings, which provide only temporary shelter in common areas around elevators and staircases and cannot serve long-term evacuation purposes. figure 5. (a) high-risk buildings plan. (b) evacuation zones plan. 3.3.2. demographics data from the sumida demographic institute suggests that hikifune is an area of increased concentration of twoperson households of elderly couples comprising 34.4% of its population in 2010. far behind that are three-member and single households at 20% and 17.6%, respectively. a predominantly ageing population, disaster vulnerability and lack of opportunities for employment and social interactions are major reasons young people prefer more popular districts with higher concentrations of economic and commercial activity. in addition, employees’ gender distribution statistics indicate that less than 40% of the workforce in hikifune is comprised of women. the neighbourhood’s density reaches its highest numbers in peripheral areas with more than 300 p/ha, whereas the core lies between 100 and 200 p/ha (hikifune toko-niyon district machizukuri council, 2012). the reason for this contrast is not only condominiums’ higher capacity but also that the interior consists largely of houses with twoperson households. this proves that there is socio-spatial interdependence among age, density and real estate type, resulting in demographic segregation. the periphery of high-rise buildings preferred by young families surrounds the interior of two-storey wooden houses of low household ratio and high average age. moreover, conflicts of interest between newcomers and original inhabitants are common in homogeneous neighbourhoods with rules and community connections established decades ago (taira, 2008). local elderly residents are also less interested in pg. 82 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd retrofitting their homes and participating in hazard mitigation activities than their younger neighbours. 3.3.3. ineffectively used buildings and open space empirical evidence reveals that high-rise buildings along the periphery accommodate parking lots or, rarely, shops on the ground floor. indeed, these towering structures have disaster prevention roles such as functioning as firewalls and isolating the core from loud, wide streets; nonetheless, they spread over large areas creating a monotonous environment and have a negative effect on social interactions at street level. the introvert ground floor spreads over the interior as well. in many cases, the traditional shop has been replaced by more passive functions: garage, storage, residence or vacancy. currently, parking lots cover around 36,000m2 of the neighbourhood’s area, with approximately 200 houses with garages. as a result, exchange at street level between inside and outside, and private and public, has been replaced by a more passive environment. observations show that even in the most vibrant areas, facades of many workshops, services or restaurants are largely closed or poorly maintained, having a rather unwelcoming character. a principal condition for a successful restaurant or service is the attractiveness of its surroundings. for this reason, even places with a good concept, active ground floor and creative design in hikifune are not achieving their intended success. the residents’ high average age is a further reason for non-prosperous ground floors. on the one hand, owners have no physical or economic ability to run, promote and invest in their businesses. on the other hand, potential customers are elderly people leading modest lives. hikifune’s overall passive and often poorly maintained environment at street level proves one of the main factors for the neighbourhood’s economic and demographic stagnation. figure 6. (a) ineffectivelyused buildings and open spaces plan. (b) house with apassive ground floor. photo by author. (c) chopstick shop next to the car-partsfactory. photo by author. unquestionably, the presence of vacant buildings has an additional negative impact on hikifune’s demographic and economic decline. according to empirical data, when ageing residents pass away or move to nursing homes, their houses remain unoccupied because younger generations prefer to live in new districts instead of staying in their inherited homes. with their increasing number, the neighbourhood is becoming even less popular. ‘[g]iven the traditional concept of property’, ‘the closed nature of the japanese community’ (takamura, 2015) and land fragmentation into many small individual plots with complicated ownership relations, direct interventions are extremely problematic. in this regard, sorensen (2007) maintains that ‘property ownership rights create a vast constituency with strong reasons to try to prevent changes that counter their perceived self-interest’. examination of the area indicates that the largest ineffectively used areas are situated around the railroad. an important part of the railway network, the open space surrounding the train station is unattractive and serves solely as a transit zone for locals between their homes and the station. at its very end, occupying the corner of pg. 83 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd hikifunegawa street and the railway, lies a large, usually empty parking lot. other ineffectively used areas are predominantly open-air parking lots and a few vacant lots spread throughout the neighbourhood. through their lack of sufficient greenery and good tree canopy, these spaces are raising the environmental impact of the area along with its unattractiveness. a survey (hikifune toko-niyon district machizukuri council, 2012) revealed that 54% of the residents are not satisfied with the greenery of public areas, whose maintenance is the responsibility of the municipality, or the tobu railway corporation in the area in front of the train station. 3.4. untapped potential 3.4.1. walkability, location, public space hikifune’s greatest resource is its human-scale environment. schulz (2012) highlights the value of roji ‘enclosed spaces [. . . ] separated from tokyo’s modernity in both geographical and cultural terms and contributing ‘to the formation of an inverse urban tissue of the global city’, while sorensen (2009) sees these spaces as ‘a powerful constraint to large-scale redevelopment in japanese cities’. in today’s rapidly growing metropolitan regions, increasingly gentrified and strapped for space, walkability has become a luxury and an urgent issue for big cities. stahle (2016) recognises the rising significance of walking in the social, economic and ecological performance of the public realm, affecting the demand for housing and offices. moreover, the vibrant small-scale urban tissue is crucial for integrated, inclusive communities. hikifune’s maze of narrow alleys provides great space for children to play and neighbours to talk and could be considered ‘the main living-room of the neighbourhood’ (hein, 2001). according to statistical data from the japan real estate institute (2016), living in a condominium is neither cheaper nor more convenient than living in a detached house. the total floor area of a two-storey house is commonly 100m2 in comparison to the normal condominium apartment of around 50–80m2. hikifune’s central location ensures regional accessibility, along with proximity to quality parks and water bodies as well as to commercial and cultural hubs. if recognised as a shared community recourse, hikifune train station is likely to affirm collective memory by transforming the infrastructure node into a place of social, economic and historical importance and by providing a safe evacuation zone with capacity to temporarily accommodate local residents. an opportunity to realise this concept is collaboration with tobu railway corporation on the tobuline railway renovation project. in addition, if pocket parks replace present vacant lots and parking lots, they could meet locals’ needs for greenery and open space activities. all these considerations are vital for the choice of home, especially for the young generation. 3.4.2. machizukuri council the machizukuri (meaning town-making, community improvement) council is a popular community association in japan, performing overall coordination between residents and the local government (lg) and drawing up the community improvement plan. after a powerful legislative enactment wave in the 1990s and subsequent decentralisation of city planning in japan, ‘[m]achizukuri groups today enjoy much greater legitimacy and ability to influence local governance processes’ (sorensen & funck, 2007). takamura (2015) argues that community-based organisations ‘can break the social-psychological barriers that prevent transactions in vacant housing’. being an established mediator among civil society, lg and external organisations, empowered to leverage key resources and supported by technology, the machizukuri council wields potential to manage meaningful, effective collaboration towards execution of synergistic improvement policies. in hikifune, the hikifune toko-niyon district machizukuri council was established in 2009 in collaboration with two neighbourhood associations, the sumida ward lg and some experts. although the council drafted a community-based district plan in 2012 through active two-year discussions, its activities after 2012 have been stagnant, mainly because of lack of motivation among local staff members and lack of funding to obtain expert support. due to the complex interdependence of all issues and multi-layered ownership relations, successful implepg. 84 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd mentation of new strategies for urban improvement in hikifune requires a participatory planning process to make the best use of the existing machizukuri council. 3.4.3. architectural legacy, resilient design and community-based activities vernacular architecture manifests local identity and must be considered when putting new strategies into practice. instead of a setback, hikifune’s unique landscape could serve as a powerful resource. if renovated and repurposed, vacant properties could increase the area’s effectiveness, safety and livelihood as well as provide a whole new range of activities. the process could reinforce locals’ awareness of local hazards and thus endorse recognition of buildings and infrastructure safety and maintenance. this in turn could accelerate the synergy effect, and people would start upgrading their homes by noticing improvements in their community. promoting the image of a safe area of rich historical and architectural legacy would likely attract young people and investors and contribute to asserting identity through renovating the built environment. renovation, therefore, is the necessary step towards disaster risk reduction and community integration. moreover, houses of longer life and resilient design would reduce construction site disadvantages, demolition, rebuilding, maintenance and energy consumption costs, and, eventually, become a smart investment. the most significant renovation project in hikifune is transformation of a former vacant house into fujinoki community space. through collaboration among the local machizukuri council, a non-government organisation and various experts, it was completed in 2013. the two main purposes of the new space are ‘enlightenment and dissemination of earthquake resistant and fireproof renovation and reconstruction’ and ‘promotion of exchange between people’. daily, a wide range of community-based activities takes place in the fujinoki community space, including residents of all ages. the project provides evidence that renovation and ground floor activation are powerful tools for reinforcing urban synergy. if hikifune’s currently ineffectively used space at ground level is activated (rented out or used privately), the neighbourhood would provide a variety of new employment, entertainment and commercial opportunities for local and external users, thus becoming effective economic pools of use and contributing to the public realm’s diversity. and reciprocally, such metamorphosis will attract young entrepreneurs on the one hand and new customers on the other. furthermore, introduction of a new regulation for emergency evacuation of the newly activated spaces could support efforts for building flood resilience. 3.4.4. synergistic improvement this chapter introduced the set of intertwined issues and untapped opportunities within the case study of hikifune neighbourhood. a proposal based on this interconnectivity suggests a synergistic improvement incorporating the following interventions: – establish coordination and funding mechanisms for holistic and comprehensive collaboration; develop criteria for evaluating changes; affirm long-term commitment for ensuring the plan’s feasibility; shape wider awareness of the issues confronted and local potential – enhance earthquake and fire spread resilience of buildings and open space through retrofitting/rebuilding, widening the narrowest roji and ensuring safe evacuation – enhance flood resilience through introduction of a new land use regulation and effective evacuation measures – demographic diversification; female and elderly labour force participation; strengthen family and neighbourly bonds – provide flexible employment opportunities through ground floor activation and repurposing vacant and/or hazardous buildings pg. 85 vankova / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – affirm local identity through participation and place-making strategies; highlight values and celebrate them as a historic legacy; design high quality public spaces – expand the synergistic improvement concept to the surroundings. 4. conclusion the objective of this paper was to express the necessity of a holistic approach when developing strategies for improvement in urban areas confronted by multiple challenges. after analysing synergistic improvement, first as a general concept and then, relying on the case study of hikifune, clearly its successful implementation lies in understanding that urban space is a complex system of ceaselessly, mutually reinforcing positive and negative elements that should be observed as an entity requiring comprehensive and resilient planning. this research drew the conclusion that recognising the interconnection between local issues and assets lays the foundation for converting them into successful synergy. this paper provides only an overall framework for implementation of the synergistic improvement method due to its limitations. reasonable directions for future studies include identifying the skill set needed for ensuring policies’ success and clarifying the execution process within a diverse team. much research also remains 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(2015). vacant properties: a new challenge for commons studies. international association for the study of the commons. retrieved from https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/9864 /vacantproperties.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y. 41. tokyo metropolitan government. (2010). disaster prevention city promotion plan. nonflammable. unbreakable. seismic resilient.tokyo: tokyo urban development. 42. tomohiro, h. (2013, july). hasegawa t. introduction to the building standard law. the building center of japan (bcj)[ppt]. tokyo: hasegawa t. introduction to the building standard law. the building center of japan (bcj). http://www.bcj.or.jp/ accessed 12/08/2016. 43. uhlenberg, p. (2000). integration of old and young. the gerontologist,40(3), 276-279. doi:10.1093/geront/40.3.276 44. wdowinski sh, tsukanov i. (2011). disaster triggers disaster: earthquake triggering by tropical cyclones. pg. 88 introduction synergistic improvement interconnected urban issues natural disasters demographics ineffectively used buildings and open space untapped potential and synergistic improvement case study location and historical background urban morphology issues natural disasters demographics ineffectively used buildings and open space untapped potential walkability, location, public space machizukuri council architectural legacy, resilient design and community-based activities synergistic improvement conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.171 towards strategic planning implementation for egyptian cities marwa ahmed soliman1 1phd, urban planning, informal settlements development fund, egypt abstract strategic urban planning plays a real and significant role in developing the urban areas worldwide as it helps in mitigating the loss of lands, especially in diverting urban growth away from the “agricultural lands”. it provides better urban services and utilities in terms of quality and enhances the local economy, liveability, and sustainability. this paper explores the importance of strategic plans and their role in sustainable development in addition to the importance of the implementation process. a questionnaire with the local authorities for a group of 19 cities was implemented. the case studies for the planning of such cities started over 4 years ago. it has been found that there are many implementation problems that prevent the conversion process and making the plan a reality. the aim of this paper is represented in two points. first, to illustrate the concept of the strategic planning process and how egypt deals therewith. second, to suggest a new implementation system which can solve the main implementation problems in egypt. in conclusion, the paper identifies, using statistics, the perspectives of the local government’s staff in egypt towards the preparation and implementation of the strategic plans, including proposed solutions for problem treatment, and the opportunity of community participation. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords strategic planning; strategic planning process; implementation tools; implementation problems; implementation system 1. introduction the concept of strategic planning was applied as a way of administrative and economic planning since the twenties of the last century; then it was used in the urban planning fields, in order to apply an integrated future vision through projections for the rates and trends of the current growth in the future; the analysis of the relation between external environment and the exploitation of the available resources contributes to the composition of this future vision of the city (goodstein, nolan, & pfeiffer, 1993). strategic planning did not have adequate attention at the beginning as an administrative method until the beginning of the fifties and sixties from the last century; through chandler who defined the strategic planning as ”the definition of the long-term organizational goals and the adoption of the work and the allocation of resources to achieve them” which emphasized the strategic objective work and basic the fundamental process. andrius described the strategy as ”patterns of goals, objectives and policies needed to achieve the main goals and plans,” chandler focused on the pg. 99 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd economic environment, while andrius had other dimensions, such as administrative values and social responsibility and organizational ambition. use of strategic planning approach has begun in the seventies and eighties of the last century when urban planning had been necessary to interact with community. for this reason the decision of planning is no longer taken only by the specialized state authorities, as in the traditional planning approach, but it has become an integration between both community and state, which requires mutual active participation between all stakeholders; this is considered the first step in the strategic planning. the implementation of the strategic approach in egypt has started in 2004, and over the past years the strategic planning of the egyptian villages was approved. the year 2007 witnessed the start of the strategic planning for 231 cities (general organization for physical planning, 2015) of different population census and administrative and economic roles. about 100 strategic plans for cities have been approved since the second half of the year 2009 to date; however, what is implemented out of such plans doesn’t exceed the approval on the urban boundaries, which is supposed to represent the first step of the implementation process. such urban boundaries define the lands available for development, and help in issuing the licenses required for construction, implementing priority projects, and preparing detailed plans. however, this doesn’t actually give the ability to implement the plan. there are technical problems related to the process and the methods of preparing some of the strategic plan outputs; such as city vision formulation and its relation to the proposed projects. moreover, there are institutional and administrative problems related to the multiple parties and stakeholders and the delay in the adoption of planned operations and its implementation, in addition to funding problems, such as non-inclusion of the planned projects within the state budget, making the provision of the necessary funding for the implementation difficult; especially with the current economic difficulties that egypt has been facing since the revolutions of january 25, 2011 and june 30, 2013. we can summarize the problem of failing to implement the plans in the relations among the elements of the effective implementation, namely the stakeholders participating in the planning process, funding, legislation, and governance. 2. strategic planning the strategic thinking represents an essential input in the successful management processes for individuals, various organizations and institutions. the origin of this idea was used in military operations by the ancient greek, the word was derived from ”astratejos” which means the ”art of leadership” (khatab, 2012). since the twenties of the last century, the concept of strategic planning has emerged as an approach for administrative and economic planning. by the beginning of the fifties, the interest in this approach has increased. the first application of strategic planning was applied between 1961and 1965 in the united states of america and this system showed a great success in companies and institutions. before the mid-sixties of this century, the strategic planning has been used in various economic, social and urban areas in many countries worldwide. jloueck (baross, 1991) defined the strategy as a unified and comprehensive scheme linking all the threads together, covering all acts and functions of the society. the dnhardt (denhardt & denhardt, 2009) defined the strategy as the current design of tasks and actions that make the society capable of coping with what will happen in the future by its concepts and not the concepts of other external forces. for shapiro (shapiro, j. 2003) the strategy is identifying the relationship between the community and the outside surroundings, forming a logical guide and directed to achieve the sustainable development functions and duties. accordingly, the strategic planning can be defined as a comprehensive and integrated interactive frame, where all the external environment analysis levels are involved in the formulation. they are involved as well in self-capacity evaluation and formulation of the objectives and strategies, in addition to choosing of general and subsidiary stratepg. 100 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd gies of operations, and setting of policies, plans, and budgets within the frame of specific planning assumptions. (media production center, 2007). whereas the strategic thinking takes the future vision into consideration, it shall have a sense of creativity, innovation and imagination to discover this future, and shall include the following characteristics: – inclusiveness and integration – interaction among different levels – flexibility – interaction between the planning and implementation this basis, the strategic planning of cities is defined as: a process aimed at achieving a better future for the residents of cities in all urban, social, economic, and environmental areas based on inclusiveness and integration with the surrounding environmental variables, with the importance of interaction with different planning levels in order to achieve flexibility to meet future changes, in addition to the continuous interaction between planning and implementation. 3. strategic planning and city development the united nations memorandum (2002) refers that, in most cases, the poor living in urban and slum areas are completely ignored, and the laws governing land use and development standards are incompatible with their living standards and income, such as the nature of works that are managed from homes. over years; there was a gradual shift from physical and spatial planning carried out by the local government or powerful sectoral ministries to decentralized management approach in cities. then, a management approach appeared, which is based on the principles of democracy and civic participation, seeks to reconcile competing interests and reach the maximal benefit of scarce resources. thus, the strategic approach for development operations and urban management is based on achieving the results of a continuous participation process of the national community and the private sector to develop proposals that contribute in enhancing the city role in local economic development. this new approach succeeded especially for the urban poor areas in making these plans more responsive to reality. slums are recognized and included in those plans, the building standards, land-use and zoning regulations became more flexible, and the poor have a voice in urban planning, even if their participation takes place at specific times during the project term, and are often limited to the preparation and design phase only, and in many experiments this participation is no more than filling the strategic planning documents. regarding the final production and implementation of the plans, the decision is only taken by the government authorities and powerful parties. the sustainable urban development is defined as a good management of the development process for the best exploitation of the available natural resources to meet the present generation needs without compromising the opportunities of the upcoming generations, which makes the strategic plan, including the objectives, policies and plans for economic and social development and urban environment, an important tool to achieve the sustainable development. accordingly, the urban strategic planning process of an inhabited city provides at least unlimited aspirations for better jobs, increasing income, desirable opportunities in the field of education, culture, entertainment and social life, so that they can ensure a better life as required for an urban city life, providing housing that everyone can afford without any financial strains (kumar & vinod, 2002). based on such strategic approach, finding a city qualified for living in a civilized urban manner shall require development and implementation of strategic planning in order to ensure the achievement of the following development items (harlem, bg (1987): pg. 101 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – reviving economic development for the city to reduce poverty. – controlling population growth in the city. – meeting the main needs of the city to provide adequate housing and services available to all. – finding sustainable growth patterns that preserve energy consumption – preserving and strengthening the basic resources of production and consumption in the city. – searching for new technologies. – merging the environmental and economic considerations in decision-making processes. – activating mechanisms and institutions for strategic intervention in the city management. – delegation of authority to the people of the city to develop the city according to domestic needs. – providing communications and transportation means that are affordable to everyone. here steinberg sees (steinberg, 2002) the urban strategic planning as ”a process that allows the activation of stakeholders’ initiatives from private and public sectors, who are looking for solidarity to reconstruct and develop the city.” in doing so, the revival and development of cities as planned requires a change in the city management strategy by attracting the creative skills of citizens; businessmen and members of the government bodies by participating not only in the urban planning in a traditional manner, but also in the preparation of urban strategic planning for the city in order to restore and improve their city, which will bring its competitiveness and open up a new funding for urban projects. spatially, this is more selective and flexible than the general plan as well as more comprehensive in the development plan. 4. main process the strategic urban planning of the city goes through the same basic stages that are required for the preparation of a strategic plan of the development and direction of large organizations or institutions. the city can be likened to a large organization or institution that includes many administrative and multi-level administrative units; serving many employees and clients. it is a planning that is based on the cooperation and participation of many local government agencies, private sector and local community. the strategic plan aims at answering four main questions that represent the basic theoretical outputs of the planning process: – where are we now? this includes the commencement of the plan, participation of development partners, analysis of the current situation and assessment of needs. – where would we like to go? it includes vision, issues, objectives and projects. – how can we get there? through the development strategy, planning for action, and then organization and implementation. – have we arrived? through monitoring & evaluation, and then by making the required adjustments. pg. 102 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. implementation: tools & issues strategic implementation is the process that translates the strategy into action procedures within the framework of building planning systems and of allocation of material and human resources, systems of incentives and rewards, organizational structure, regulatory policies in force, information systems, communications, leadership, and the system of evaluating strategic performance. therefore, it is a series of activities correlated together, which include the strategic requirements that have been selected (salem, 2007). the success in the formulation of the strategy does not necessarily guarantee success in the implementation, and most probably implementation is more difficult because it includes actual operations and activities contained, and because of the multiplicity of the involved stakeholders and responsible parties. developmental institutions exert a lot of efforts in the process of preparing strategic plans, formulation of programs and projects as well as develop policies, mechanisms and methodologies in order to achieve actual and successful implementation. unfortunately, the institutions eventually are occupied and drifted away from putting the real plans that ensure the implementation thereof into force. many researchers have pointed out that the majority of the strategic planning processes did not go beyond the drafting stage because there was a significant failure in implementation. most of the studies that are concerned with implementation have dealt with the method of strategic planning implementation (atkinson, 2006). states and governments thereof seek cooperation with local institutions and international organizations to prepare a strategy for the development of plans, but they mainly aim at implementing programs and development projects in hand. while the implementation process of developmental plan contains many active parties because of overlapping complicated issues, it is required to coordinate the mutual activities and relations properly among various governmental authorities, community and private agencies; such as the planning department employees, the committees concerned with local, regional and national planning, governmental ministries and service authorities, urban developers, investors, environment preservers, housing associations etc. sometimes the planner resort to preparing what is called: ”implementation manual or guideline” which display a simplified way to coordinate the activities that are part of urban planning and implementation process in general. in other cases an implementation guideline is prepared for each city or the state separately. the guideline includes the implementing regulations or development regulations to create and control different activities in order to achieve and enhance justice as a program for urban intervention, expropriation and compensation procedures, infrastructure, licenses, historical sites, panel discussions and dialogue ... etc. such regulations include implementation stages, powers and duties of local authorities, administrative procedures, institutional arrangement, funding, partnership, transparency and community participation, monitoring and evaluation, and amendment preparation steps. the guideline is necessary for several factors, including but not limited to the following: – non-conformance between the formulation of the strategic urban plan and the public investment plans. – lack of standards for the level of services to be provided in the hierarchy of urban centers. – lack of clear assigned responsibilities and roles among the various institutions and the relevant authorities. – no legal framework and clear procedures for the preparation and implemention of the plan. different implementation tools can be classified into three main groups controlled by two sets of mechanisms as follows: spatial tools the spatial tools depend on geographical scope and venue of the implementation process. the new building standards led to a multiplicity of central areas in major cities through the development of urban operations. the domestic policy has been committed with basic principles in the organization of areas to lessen the operations pg. 103 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of housing changing, and to balance among the reconstruction of areas projects; allowing exploitation of local properties in the downtown in the economic development operations (jones, 2002). the annexation of new lands to cities is an essential aspect in the urban expansion process, despite the fact that it requires legal and statutory mechanisms to allow land possession and the re-division to provide the required housing and services. human tools it means all of the man powers and resources involved in the implementation process, which include the following: – technical capabilities and governmental competencies. – leaders and decision makers. – executive sector personnel from different administrative levels. – local community members who are targeted by this development. – businessmen and private sector. – consultants and experts the choice of leaderships, who are supervising the process of planning preparation or execution, is considered the most important step. they shall have good communication and negotiation skills, putting into consideration the moral values and ethics of all parties. every one is targeting the same objective that is to implement the scheme development. it is worth mentioning that any negligence from any of the mentioned persons, such as a deficiency of senior management or ignorance of the key persons who are assigned to implement the strategic plan or failure of the operators to link between the strategic plan and the actual tasks, this will negatively affect the implementation process and the efficiency thereof, directly or indirectly. (delisi, 2001). funding tools in general the development depends on the availability of funding; domestic funding is considered as a necessary and essential aspect to establish the local development; which require the mobilization of the maximum amount of local funding resources. domestic funding is deemed to mean all the available funding resources which can be provided from different sources for funding the local development in the best way that can achieve the greatest levels of such development over time, and enhance the independence of the local councils from the central government to achieve the required local development. in addition, for the development of funding resources, the authority of local administration to obtain self-revenue shall be expanded, and each administration shall have their own independent budget, prepared at the local level, in order to rationalize public spending, develop technical and administrative capabilities of the staff, prepare technical and economic studies, create a proper atmosphere for investment, and organize the self-efforts of individuals and private sector as well as the financial support of decentralization by expanding the powers of local units in the imposition of taxes and fees in the framework of centralized regulations. the local funding management resources are divided to two main types; first: local self-resources resulting from local taxes, fees for services, and operation and investment of local facilities. second: external financial resources resulting from financial supports (presented by the state to its local bodies to support their budgets), low interest loans, and donations from citizens and civic organizations or international grants. the above mentioned local funding sources are only traditional sources. governments are looking forward to finding new financial tools at the local and national levels as non-traditional alternatives to finance development projects. this has urged the united nations to form a leading group for presenting creative tools for development funding, (sundaram, 2013) and to propose new ideas and mechanisms to support development in different countries, including but not limited to: – charging fees on gases causing global warming pg. 104 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – imposing tax on fuel use. – solidarity tax on airline tickets. – taxes on jet fuel and ships. – fees for extraction of natural resources in the global commons areas. united nations program of human settlements was interested in funding based on the exploitation of land for the sake of urban development (un-habitat, 2013) to enhance the availability of resources for local development and to move cities towards long term self-sustainability, in addition to mitigate the negative effects on local budgets and private investments. it has benefited cities in sustainable urban development such as beijing, hong kong, mumbai and sao paulo and others. lbf is a flexible set of tools that can be adapted to a variety of institutional and cultural contexts. lbf ensures the achievement of secure access to land and sustainable urban development objectives, it includes the following tools (walters, 2015): – recurring taxes on land & building – betterment charges & special assessments – developer exaction – land value increment taxes – sale of development rights – land leases & sale of public lands – transfer taxes & stamp duties legal and legislative mechanisms states and governments rely on legal mechanisms as ones of the recognized authorities in the implementation operations through laws of urban planning, urban development and renewal, construction, and division of territory, and identifying the involved implementing parties or participants, which can also determine the allowed aspects and sources of finance. therefore, it is law that gives the state and different bodies thereof a permanent or temporary authority for funding, coordination and implementation as well as monitoring. this determines the state obligation to secure the necessary lands required for public services by purchasing, leasing or participating with the private sector, and guarantees to maintain the sustainability of the development and the rights of future generations. administration and institutional mechanisms governments seek to use identified and specific administrative and institutional mechanisms in the stages of the development of the strategic plan, starting from the strategic development plan, till the stages of implementation and follow up. this includes: ministries, city councils, local bodies and civil society. in order to coordinate the work among all the parties of implementation, it is required to establish a clear framework for the management of the respective parties through agreements, protocols, and basic and subsidiary committees. the framework shall define the responsibilities of such parties. some states also try to establish independent executive institutions for the implementation of development plans and play a role in monitoring and follow-up and evaluation to ensure the transparency of the implementation progress. it is worth mentioning that centralization of government performance was the cause of failure of many of development, therefore autonomy and independence, commitment of government agencies to participate in the process pg. 105 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd having the same objectives with committed leadership are considered as common factors in the success of the implementation processes (united cities and local governments, 2010) the urban development planning and management in developing countries face the following problems in the implementation process: table 1. matrix of problems& issues of implementation problems of urban plan’s implementationissues participation finance legislation governance ineffective policies that guide the urban development implementation inappropriate urban planning methodology delay of approval on urban development plans weak of the institutional structure of the government urban development authorities urban planning systems focus on control instead of directing development political instability and interference in the implementation of urban development plans weak of the legal mechanism to implement development plans insufficient awareness and poor community participation in urban planning activities weak of funding available for implementation according to the previous matrix all implementation problems can be summarized in four major issues as the following: participation; as one of the pillars of the strategic planning process, it does not take place at one stage and ends thereafter, but it is a continuing contribution in the stages of preparation, adoption and approval, and finally at the stages of implementation, evaluation and follow-up. this includes the active participation of all parties of individuals, institutions and governmental and non-governmental organizations, and the higher the level of participation is, the higher the planned output is expected to be more realistic and appropriate to the reality of society. funding; provision of funding represents one of the significant direct impacts on the implementation and efficiency issues. the development of the local economy is basically the most important objective of the strategic plans for the development of cities. creating jobs of better quality to increase local wealth, and enabling communities to identify investment priorities, in addition to creating opportunities for collaboration and partnership, and empowering of communities to determine investment priorities and to change the future for a better one, all of that will help in the pg. 106 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd provision of local sustainable funding for business development and implementation of plans, with the permanent searching for other non-traditional funding sources to face the funding deficiency. legislation; is the main link between all the implementation tools and the main factor of the relation between regulatory implementation issues of all types. legislation defines the general framework of participation, whether of members of the community or of the official authorities, and specifies the sources of funding for development projects located in all disciplines. legislation can also control urban growth trends and policies of economic and social development, and the provision of land and services, legislation and law are the guarantee for true justice in social services and development. governance; is driving the development processes in developing communities and is the main base for decisionmaking. through following strategic participation approaches in urban planning and development processes; such governments shall provide appropriate organizational structure to cope with the strategy that has been selected and shall be supportive and responsive to the strategy requirements. this is what urged governments achieve what called ”good governance,”. the good governance systems of countries achieve greater success in generating investment, growth and job opportunities having transparency as one of the basic demands of governance and in mitigating the corruption by governments. governance as well supports the credibility between the private and public sectors, which contributes to the achievement of co-partnerships for the implementation of development projects and programs. 6. evolution the urban planning in egypt in egypt; it should be noted that the evolution of urban planning thinking and methods was linked to the political and economic conditions of the state, in the 1952 revolution; egypt used the planning approach of the central levels, and the government institutions that were concerned with construction had control over the planning process, and adopted a comprehensive planning scheme based on the preparation of master plans. egypt had continued sticking to following this approach until the new millennium starts, despite the emergence of many new planning methods since the mid-sixties, which were based on the importance of community involvement in the planning process and focused on the social, economic and environmental issues, as well as many of the political changes in egypt calling for freedom from central control since the mid-seventies. however, the urban planning law no. 3 of 1983, was shocking and disappointing to many planning specialists and professionals; stating the necessity to develop general planning of cities and villages in order to achieve their needs over long term without any community involvement. since the beginning of the nineties of the last century, claims to go along with the global trend towards the growth of democracy and community participation had increased, and with the entry of many international donors, some experiments and research processes and attempts that were made in collaboration with those sectors have emerged, which forced egypt to move towards the existing strategic planning approach to engage communities with government institutions to develop a vision for the future of urbanism and made decisions that meet the actual demands of community. the year 2005 witnessed the first strategic plan set up in the village of cherbas damietta governorate as a pilot model. during the fiscal year 2006-2007; the project of the preparation of the general strategic plans for cities nationwide has started through the general organization for physical planning in its capacity as the concerned party responsible for the preparation of the plans according to the law. in the year 2007-2008 the un-habitat subscribed in this project, targeting small towns less than 60 thousand people, and this planning approach is still adopted in egypt till present. the project attempted to find solutions to many problems such as the urban sprawl on agricultural land as a result of population growth and weak capacity of controlling urban growth, in addition to the weakness of the local economy, and the lack of services and infrastructure, with spread of poverty and the inability to get the necessary services. pg. 107 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. strategic planning implementation in egyptian cities the plans were prepared by gopp and united nations human settlements program (un-habitat) in 2008 to urge a number of cities to prepare their plans according to the terms of reference of each party. in 2010, the (gopp) issued a revised working manual to avoid some problems that emerged after the first phase of the project, while the united nations guideline avoided these problems since the beginning of the project. in the year 2014 a new manual was issued by each party and in 2016, the united nations human settlements program (un-habitat) issued the updated terms of reference. the two guidelines comply with the theoretical stages, and versions thereof have been repeatedly issued to avoid and address the problems that emerge during the preparation of plans. as an example of the mentioned versions, a logical framework was added and the urban boundary is almost finished and presented to the urban committee (gopp) for approval before being submitted to the stakeholders. by reviewing the relation between the law and terms of reference as a mechanism to convert the law into executive procedures, it is clear that the law and manuals do not support the actual implementation of the strategic plans. it is clear that the law and business manuals do not support the actual implementation of the schemes. the law did not specify who is responsible for the implementation of the strategic plan, but only referred to some issues related to implementation issues without setting specific and clear texts; for example the process of participation, despite its importance in the preparation and implementation, did not specify who is responsible from the enabling partners to implement their roles and responsibilities on the local level in the strategic plans, while the law pointed out to the need for the supreme council for planning at the national level. also, the projects in the strategic plan are not included in the general budget of the state, in addition to the overlap of law no. 119 with a number of other laws and legislation, in addition to the lack of time limit for the preparation of the detailed plans after the approval of the strategy, with the change in the status quo, with no penalties in the event of non-implementation, so there is no obligation to action. the guidelines were better than the legal texts. they identified many items related to implementation issues through explicit provisions to be followed in the preparation of the plans, but in the end they did not bring the implementation into force, as the duration of the project was set by 6 months to 9 months and then to 15 months, in addition, reviewing the strategic plan for the city of sohag— as an example shows that the preparation and approval of the plan took two years and nine months. for studying the actual implementation process for a number of cities nationwide, recognized through a statistical survey, using a questionnaire with engineering departments, boards of cities; as local authorities responsible for implementation and follow-up, as it was among the participants in the preparation of those plans, this survey was analyzed using the spss program1.1 the questionnaire form includes questions and information about the following: – starting of the project — the date of the adoption of the urban boundary the date of adoption of the strategic plan. – participation in the preparation of the outline. – implementation and follow-up of urban boundary. – implementation of the priority project scheme. – preparation of detailed plans. – the achievement of planned targets. – the planned outputs and the order of priorities. 1this survey conducted between january 2014 and june 2015, some updated on 2016 pg. 108 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – implementation problems and ranking of their importance. the total number of cities whose plans have been approved since the commencement of the project and until the year 2015 were 75 cities (”general organization for physical planning”, 2015) and according to research selection criteria, cities have been selected as per the following: first: the date of approval (accreditation) is intended to allow sufficient time for the implementation of any of the outputs of the strategic plan, it has been identified in three or more years from the date of approval. second: the region the cities consist of different regions; what possibilities do they have and what kind of risks they may face. third: population the cities include different number of population. gopp set up plans for medium and big cities, and while the un-habitat prepared plans for small towns of 60 thousand people, and because of their different guideline manuals, each of the chosen cities depicts the scope of its own. fourth: the role of the city the role of a city is embodied in the aspirations and dreams of its inhabitants, this is reflected in the size of the participation and the resulted vision, and the demands of development. the chosen cities differ among capitals and medium and small cities. according to previous criteria, 39 cities conform with the criteria, but due to difficulty to conduct direct interviews with all city councils, only 19 cities were selected, representing approximately 49% of the core sample. 8. statistical results the results of the questionnaire showed that the priority projects agreed with the approved plans were not implemented. in addition to the impact of the political situation experienced by egypt during the previous years. the participants attributed the lack of implementation to a set of major operational problems: – availability and empowerment of lands. – delayed detailed plans – number of entities involved in implementation – relevant laws and regulations – the lack of realistic vision and weak link to goals – agreement on goals that may not be in the public interest. as well as a host of other problems related to the provision of funding and change of the status quo, with the lack of competence in local administration, and the lack of control and follow-up implementation. some statistical results are as follows: figure1 indicates that the implementation of priority projects was weak, and is clearly evident in terms of services and investment, while housing is 57%, but it includes private and governmental housing. as shown in figure 2, the land allocation for governmental housing is about 56% and for services 16%. figure 3 shows the result of one of the main goals of the strategic plan; reducing the random urban sprawl on three levels, general (19th cities), regional level, and function of the city. the highest percentage is not achieved as shown in upper egypt with 57%. pg. 109 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. implementation ofpriority projects figure 2. land allocation forhousing and services regarding the planned target, the results were very depressing. the questionnaire has shown that there were no aspects for attracting investment at the city, and consequently there was a lack of local economic development. figure 4 compares between the provision of lands for governmental and private housing, it shows that this goal is not achieved (100%) completely in medium cities for government housing, while it is quite better when it comes to private housing (42.9%). figure 3. reductionof random urban sprawl the results of the survey show the ranking of implementation problems as chosen by the local authorities, the unavailability or empowerment of lands take the first rank, and as expected the lack of qualifications in the local authority administration came at the last rank as the participants do not acknowledge this as a fatal cause of failure. pg. 110 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. provision of landsfor housing table 2. elements % ranking of importance unavailability and empowerment of lands for public projects (housing / services) 12.6 1 the existing situation has changed because of delayed approval on the plans 12.5 2 the planning and construction requirements are not enforceable 10.5 3 delay in preparing detailed plans 10.3 4 lack of availability of government funding 9.6 5 lack of realism, clarity of vision and future goals of the city 8.3 6 multiple parties involved in the implementation process 7.6 7 the inappropriateness of the priority projects proposed in the plan 7.5 8 laws and relevant legislation 7.5 9 lack of effective control and monitoring of implementation processes 6.6 10 centralization of the urban boundary committee 4.2 11 lack of qualifications in the local authority administration 2.8 12 9. proposed implementation system the law does not assign the responsibility of implementation to a particular party. it is mainly the responsibility of the local authorities and governorates, with the participation of various service departments, in addition to the contribution of individuals, civil organizations and the private sector. the system deals with the four implementation issues referred hereto: participation, funding, legislation, and governance. through the rearrangement of some tasks and activities in parallel rather than sequential, with the addition of new parties and tasks that contribute to modifying the operational process and identifying key actors based on the performance of the task and participants from different parties. the proposed system is based on: – a set of guidelines for participants from government and society and defining their roles. – achieving higher levels of community participation to reach grade 8 (control). pg. 111 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – providing funding for land availability and sustainable and non-traditional project implementation. – achieving the principles of governance. – a framework of legislative and legal amendments to ensure effective management of the system. figure 5. implementation system as figure 5 shows the implementation system includes different levels of participation, starting from level 3 & 4 (informing, consultation) and it is also achieved in levels 6, 7 & 8 (partnership, delegated power, & citizen control). this system takes into consideration the governance principles as an important target needed to achieve accountability and transparency abiding by law, by being responsive, equitable and inclusive to reach effectiveness and efficiency through participation. 10. conclusions – in egypt, there may be a need to create an implementation guideline for strategic planning for a city, as a result of the discrepancy between strategic urban planning and public investment plans, as the output projects are not included in the state budget, as there is no legal framework or clear procedures for implementation, and because of the multiplicity of the executive partners without the clarity of the tasks and responsibilities of each party. – the characteristics of the strategic plans in egypt: – inability to achieve the interaction between planning and execution as a result of many obstacles, which include the lack of funding availability, the inability to provide lands for public services or government housing programs, in addition to the change in the existing situation over the period of plan preparation. – lack of flexibility due to the inability of such plans to cope with the rapid changes that occur in the surrounding environment, the rapid urban growth, and the sudden economic changes, whether in the internal or external environment. – many cities didn’t achieve the interaction required between the different levels of planning, as many cities, in their future vision, have not considered the importance of regional or national relations, so the vision is to a great extent similar for small towns or big cities or even capitals. pg. 112 soliman / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – activation of the proposed system through the following recommendations: – formulation of the implementation guideline for strategic plans, specifically all parties and institutions involved in implementation, with the assignment of tasks and roles for each party, and by determining the means of communication and coordination. – use of a comprehensive monitoring system to identify responsible parties, and achieve observation of performance and progress towards the aspired targets, using urban indicator lists formulated according to technical standards, linked to national urban observatory indicators with active community involvement. – develop a framework to raise the community awareness about the importance of strategic plans and their role in participation. – formulating capacity building training programs for local authorities at all levels of executive, administrative and technical, and achieving communication and coordination with various government institutions. – reviewing laws and legislative context and benefiting from the arab and international experiences. – providing the necessary funding by establishing a local fund for the implementation of development plans and involving civil society in financing, administration and monitoring. 11. acknowledgments i would like to thank all those who contributed to the completion of this paper from the consultants, experts and employees of the local administration and the general organization for physical planning, who have influenced the research with their views and contributions of the questionnaire and 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(2010). policy paper on urban strategic planning: local leaders preparing for the future of our cities. mexico: united cities and local governments pg. 114 introduction strategic planning strategic planning and city development main process implementation: tools & issues evolution the urban planning in egypt strategic planning implementation in egyptian cities statistical results proposed implementation system conclusions acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss2.376 smart grids for the city of praia: benefits and challenges claudino f. pereira mendes1, josé l. bernal-agustı́n2, álvaro elgueta-ruiz1, rodolfo dufo-lópez2 1faculty of sciencie & technology. university of cape verde campus palmarejo, cp 279 praia, cape verde. e-mail: claudino.mendes@docente.unicv.edu.cv, alvaro.ruiz@docente.unicv.edu.cv 2electrical engineering department. university of zaragoza. c/ marı́a de luna, 3. 50018 zaragoza, spain. e-mail: jlbernal@unizar.es, rdufo@unizar.es abstract the current state of the electrical sector in praia (cape verde capital city), characterized by high levels of technical and commercial losses and high cost of electricity that is caused by the lack of resources of fossil origin and aggravated by an inadequate investment policy, is forcing a deep restructuring of the entire sector. in order to have a more efficient, robust and fair electric system and to take advantage of existing local natural resources, it seems inevitable to bet on innovative, intelligent and secure technology that allows tight integration of renewable energy –mainly wind and photovoltaic energy. in this regard, the present article discusses the economic, social and environmental impacts of a smart grid for praia city. based on a proposed sg architecture that integrates the existing endogenous resources and technologies, it was possible to identify the main advantages and challenges that the implementation of sg technologies would have for the city. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords smart grid; electric system; integration of renewable energy 1. introduction a smart grid (sg) comprises a set of controllers, computers, equipment, automation and new technologies that work in an interconnected manner, similar to the internet but applied to electricity grid management, to enhance the response to the growing challenges facing the electricity sector (“what is a smart grid?”, 2015; “smart grid communications r&d roadmap”, 2015). the sg is an evolution of the conventional electricity grid that offers communication, monitoring, analysis and control capabilities to maximize efficiency in all stages of the electrical system’s (es’s) operation (“centro de gestão e estudos estratégicos ciência”, 2012). the sg concept has undergone several updates over time and in accordance with the actual needs of each region. the european union, through the european platform for electric networks of the future (etp), defines a sg as an electrical network that integrates innovative services and products through intelligent monitoring technology, control and communication, and whose aim is to facilitate the connection and operation of generators of all sizes as well as technologies. a sg helps consumers optimize the system’s operation and provides consumers with more pg. 36 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd information and options for choosing an energy supplier. it can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the electricity supply system and maintain or improve the safety, quality and reliability of the supply system. a sg also can maintain or improve the efficiency of existing services and foster the development of an integrated european market (“european technology platform smartgrids”, 2006). the sg can also help to improve the integration of renewable energy sources by combining energy demand information with weather forecasts, which can help the system operators to better plan their integration to keep the system balanced. when there is low irradiation or a wind shortage, the sg also enables consumers to produce their own energy and provides the possibility of selling the surplus energy generated to the ac grid (european commission, 2018). a sg could contribute to global, efficient and sustainable access to electricity. this last point is a major challenge in developing countries, such as cape verde (welsch, bazilian, howells, divan, elzinga, strbac, yumkella, 2013). cape verde (fig. 1) is an archipelago country located in the atlantic ocean, about 450 km from the west african coast, consisting of 10 islands and about 500,000 inhabitants; it is devoid of natural resources and has a coastline length of about 2,000 km, a surface of 4,033 sq. km and an exclusive economic zone (eez) totaling 734,256 sq. km. more than half (57%) of the approximately half a million inhabitants live on the island of santiago, which is the largest one and where the capital city of praia is located (“câmara de comércio indústria e turismo”, n.d.). thanks to the country’s investment in education, the improvement of its human development index and the growing tourism industry have increased rapidly, and the country is working hard to turn the islands into a trading and transport platform. it needs a well-structured es that guarantees continuity and quality of service to boost other sectors of the economy and thus ensure its sustainable growth. however, it needs to find solutions to help to address the major weaknesses of the current traditional es, mainly with respect to the intermittent power availability, high technical and commercial losses and poor management of resources. figure 1. cape verde map the aim of this paper is to explain, by characterizing the city of praia, the prospects and challenges of transforming its traditional es into a sg. this includes understanding the potential impact of the sg on the various stakeholders of the national electricity sector and how the sg might solve or mitigate their difficulties, especially with respect to the level of regulation made possible by this new technology. the present analysis is based on understanding the impact of implementing sg technology in several levels of national life, including the economic, social and environmental levels, especially with regard to the integration of renewable energy sources and the reduction of electrical losses. the analysis is based on a proposed smart grid architecture for the city, supported by existing features and technologies. pg. 37 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. smart grid structure although there is no single model of sg, and despite the various possible settings, almost all sgs have similar requirements: the integration of scattered energy sources and storage; the entire energy supply system being based on smart systems and on information and communication technologies (icts); efficient and sustainable es; improving and changing the existing structures for an entirely new system; having decentralized network operating technology; integrating producers and consumers; the clever use of equipment; and using the best features of icts in management and power distribution systems (uslar, rohjans, bleiker, gonzalez, specht, suding & weidelt, 2010). the operation of a sg is coupled with a wide range of applications, software, hardware and other technologies to help utilities identify and quickly correct imbalances caused by demand. through the process of “self-healing,” utilities are capable of detecting and correcting imbalances to improve the quality of services, increase reliability and reduce costs (zareen, mustafa, al gizi, & alsaedi, 2012). there are several ways to represent the layout and operation of a sg. the national institute for standards and technology (nist) together with the smart grid interoperability panel (sgip) created a model (fig. 2) that includes the seven primary areas comprising a sg: generation, transmission, distribution, customer, market, operators and service providers. the model clearly shows that there are several options from which to choose regarding the characteristics, uses, behavior, interfaces, requirements and concepts of a sg (international business machines corporation, 2011). figure 2. smart grid reference architecture by nist, adapted from (ibm, 2011). 2.1. smart grid technologies and applications the various areas of sg technologies range from energy generation to the consumers. for each sector within the system, a suitable technology is applied, according to its area of expertise. the main applications of sg technologies are linked to the network monitoring and control system (ems); advanced measurement system (ami), distributed renewable energy integration (der); demand response (dr) through smart meters and residential management systems (hems). many of these technologies are already considered mature, both in their development stage and in terms of their applicability, while others still require further development and demonstration. as shown in fig. 3, a fully optimized es would present technologies in all areas to allow monitoring and control, enable integration of ict, facilitate integration of distributed generation, simplify the management of transmission and distribution networks, enable the integration of smart meters, provide the integration of intelligent vehicles and make it possible for industrial and residential customers to have an energy data management system (international energy agency, 2011). pg. 38 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. smart grid technology areas, adapted from (international energy agency, 2011). 2.2. smart grid communication technologies another aspect to take into account are communication technologies, which play a key role in the operation of the sg, is to manage enormous amounts of data from different technologies and applications, monitor them and analyze them in detail to send a real-time response (gungor, sahin, kocak, ergut, buccella, cecati & hancke, 2013). in this sense, it is necessary to define a communication structure that guarantees confidence, sophistication and speed and that allows interconnection and exchange of information between the various components of the network, such as generators, substations, transformation stations, systems storage and consumers, both in real time and benefiting all system actors. communications for intelligent networks are standardized protocols and allow interconnection with the main control unit through a secure communication network structure composed of these three hierarchical layers: local area network (lan), home area network (han) and wide-area network (wan). each layer is defined according to the coverage range and the transmission rate, so at a lower level are the customer’s private networks, home area network (han) / building area network (ban) / industrial area network ), at an intermediate level are the neighborhood area networks (nan) or field area network (fan) and in a larger area are the wide area networks (wan), according to table 1 (kuzlu, pipattanasomporn & rahman, 2014). for each of these networks there are several technologies that support them according to the intended application, scope or transmission capacity. technologies can be wired or wireless, and wireless technologies such as 3g, wimax, zigbee or wi-fi have the advantage of operating with cheaper infrastructure and allowing connections in hard-to-reach areas, but are more vulnerable to external interference in transmission. on the other hand, wired technologies like fiber optics, plc, digital subscriber line (dsl) and coaxial cable, have no interference problems and do not need external power sources such as battery to operate, but the cost of their implementation is higher (international energy agency, 2011; kuzlu, 2013).this time, the great challenge is to define the communication requirements and the best communication infrastructure that best fits the reality in which it is framed, in order to guarantee a safe, accessible and reliable service. table 1. smart grid communication technologies (gungor et al. 2013) technology spectrum data rate coverage range applications limitations gsm 900–1880 mhz up to 14.4 kbps 1–10 km ami, demand response, han low data rates continued on next page pg. 39 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued gprs 900–1880 mhz up to 170 kbss 1–10 km ami, demand response, han low data rates 3g 1.92–1.98 ghz 2.11–2.17ghz 384 kbps2mbps 1–10 km ami, demand response, han costly spectrum fees wimax 2.5 ghz, 3.5ghz, 5.8 ghz up to 75 mbps 10–50 km (los) 1–5 km (nlos) ami, demand response not widespread plc 1–30 mhz 2–3 mbps 1–3 km ami, fraud detection harsh, noisy channel environment zigbee 2.4 ghz, 915 mhz 250 kbps 30–50 m ami, han low data rates, short range 3. review of smart grid implementations the purposes of sg technology investments worldwide are varied, but countries generally invest as a way to reduce co2 emissions to improve the network’s effectiveness, as a signal of commitment, to improve services and to search for an emerging technology market (“centro de gestão e estudos estratégicos ciência”, 2012). the differences lay mainly in the chosen approach and technological means, which may vary by country or region. first, several cases of implementation are discussed below, with a separate subsection dedicated to the case of african countries. thus, the necessary information is made available to address the cape verde case, which is shown and discussed in section 4. 3.1. cases of implementation in europe, the smart meter and other sg initiatives have largely been driven by policies to meet environmental and climate goals. on the other hand, in the united states, the main drivers for the development of sg come from economic issues related to job creation, the quality of public services and adding value and increasing the system’s overall efficiency. regarding communication technologies associated with the sg, the united states prefers technologies based on communication wireless mesh, mainly because of the flexibility of regulations on the use of wireless communications, while europe opts for power line carrier (plc) technology, which is a system of communication that uses existing power lines to send and receive information (us energy information administration, 2011). the focus on smart grid technologies in the asian countries is already quite significant, driven by the main economic powers of the region, such as china, india, japan and south korea. china is promoting the development of sgs because of the high increase in demand for energy and the need to integrate renewable energy sources. in india, the high costs associated with technical and commercial losses due to the inefficient es have led to investments in smart meters and flexibility in electricity generation (smb smart grid strategic group 2017; zpryme smart grid insights, 2012). however, in the countries of southeast asia the energy market is growing very fast. it has been rated as the world’s fastest growing market for smart grid technologies. to this end, countries such as singapore, malaysia and vietnam have contributed, mainly due to the holistic approach that makes the sector able to identify potential new sources of income that give them sustainability for the next decades (“what is a smart grid?”, 2015). the pg. 40 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd countries of latin america and the caribbean have come up with the solution to help them reduce widespread electricity theft, increase the reliability of their electrical system, and improve operational efficiencies across the industry (“smart grid communications r&d roadmap”, 2015). in this sense countries like mexico, colombia, ecuador, chile and argentina are investing seriously in the planning and modernization of their electrical networks. brazil stands out as the largest investor in latin america in smart grid technologies. brazil, whose electrical production comes mainly (about 84%) from hydroelectric power plants, has no dependence on fossil resources and has one of the cleanest power matrixes in the world. instead, sg arise from the inefficiency of the es. the first measure in order to reduce losses and high power thefts in the country was the implementation of smart meters (ferreira, 2010). australia understands that its bet on sg technology is a guarantee for the sector’s future, since the sg has the potential to improve the quality of life, economy and environment of australians. they intend to create an es based on technical and operational principles but also on respect for environmental principles, as an opportunity to become part of a new market that will revolutionize how electricity is produced, distributed and consumed (smart grid australia, n.d). 3.2. the case of african countries electricity consumption has increased and will continue to increase, as shown in a study conducted by the international energy agency (iea) (international energy agency, 2011) which estimates an increase in electricity consumption of over 150% by 2050, starting in 2010 (fig. 4). the recommendation for emerging economies is to use sgs to respond more efficiently to rapid growth in global electricity demand. figure 4. projected electricity consumption growth, 2007–2050 (international energy agency, 2011). africa has only recently begun to take the first steps toward sg technologies, compared to the various initiatives and investments made in the united states, europe and china. africa is rich in opportunities to not just explore renewable energy generation technologies but also to operate new strategies and technologies adapted to the region’s specific characteristics and needs. the continent has shown its innovative capacity in terms of computing and communications, as well as with mobile money. africa has the potential to become one of the most fertile regions in terms of sg-related innovation. africa has huge potential in terms of solar photovoltaic, geothermal, wind and hydropower resources. sub-saharan africa alone contributed almost 30% of oil and global gas discoveries made over the last five years (international energy agency, 2014), a fact that has aroused the attention of large companies such as siemens, schneider, ge and alstom. nevertheless, the greatest energy challenge in the continent is the availability of electricity, especially in rural areas. some african countries see in sg technology, associated with their resources, a way to resolve or alleviate energy problems. countries like ghana, rwanda, angola, tunisia, nigeria, egypt and south africa have identified and are implementing specific projects to move toward a fairer and more intelligent electrical network (anderson, 2012). ghana has faced several problems related to the aging and overloading of its electrical networks, since the pace of pg. 41 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd investment has not matched the 3.2% growth of annual demand. consequently, this has caused losses in excess of 30%, a lack of reliability and power quality, bottleneck issues in transmission and distribution and environmental concerns requiring the integration of renewable energy sources and distributed generation. thus, ghana has naturally started thinking about sg as the solution to these issues. zaglago, craig, & shah (2013) analyzed the main barriers that ghana could face in case it adopts sg technology. despite nigeria being rich in fossil resources such as oil and gas as well as rich in renewable natural resources, just over half the population has access to electricity, a fact that is due to the existence of few and inefficient power stations, a lack of production from renewable sources, the physical deterioration of transmission lines, energy theft and outdated energy meters (vincent & yusuf, 2014). by adopting sg technology, nigeria could take advantage of renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, biomass and hydroelectricity, first to meet its immediate energy needs and then to look for sustainable, prosperous development and clean energy sources (aroge & meisen, 2014). the south african national energy development institute (sanedi) had an initiative to create the south african smart grid initiative (sasgi), with the goal of promoting a specialized market and developing a strategic vision for sg as well as creating a platform for knowledge sharing (parallelus, n.d.). the aims of implementing a sg in south africa include a sustainable reduction of peak electricity demand by 20%, with 2012 as base year; having 100% network availability to serve all critical loads at the national level; reducing technical and non-technical losses by 40% for the entire national system; reaching 8 gw of installed network capacity from renewable sources; and increasing customer satisfaction by up to 80% by improving the quality of service and consumer confidence (bipath, 2014). egypt has excellent wind and sun conditions for electricity production, but due to the rapid increase in demand and the aging of its electrical networks—as the result of delays in infrastructure investment—the egyptian es is inefficient. here, the bet on sgs will help in managing the integration of photovoltaic, wind and hydro power plants, while reducing the environmental impact of the es and supporting the network’s management, particularly its expansion and the integration of smart meters (abou-ghazala & el-shennawy, 2012). regarding the financing of the sg’s implementation, some large multinational companies are already investing in the egyptian electric sector. ibm and siemens have referred to the egyptian choice of sg technology as the foundation of a more stable and reliable es, which will contribute to reducing the switching frequency and allowing continuous monitoring of the national grid. the first steps are already being taken. the egyptian government has put into practice a program that aims to acquire about 20 million smart meters in the coming years. this program has the intention of improving the management and operation of the electric network, but mainly, reduce the theft of electricity and reduce the operational costs of the concessionaires (“what is a smart grid”, 2015). 4. implement sg in the city of praia 4.1. description of the es of santiago island due to its geographical location, cape verde is grouped with the sahel countries and therefore has an arid/semiarid, warm and dry climate, with rainfall shortages and an average temperature of 25 ◦c, which gives it high potential for harnessing wind and solar power. a study in 2007 showing that the archipelago has exceptional features in some locations, with average winds over 8 m / s. regarding solar exposure, much of the territory has a global radiation of 1800 kwh / m2 / year and 2000 kwh / m2 / year on slopes and ground with natural exposure. over half of the land has the potential for over 3750 hours of sunshine per year. other resources also identified in this study include pure pumping plants, municipal solid waste, geothermal resources and marine resources, but they have little expression in the national energy matrix due to their scarcity and/or the complexity of their operation (boletim oficial, 2012). however, electricity production mainly comes from imports of petroleum products, which results in costly financial resources invested into their acquisition, which is a heavy weight on the wider economy that consumes a high percentage of the country’s scarce resources (fonseca, 2010). santiago’s es is mainly managed by the public/private company electra sarl, whose majority shareholder is pg. 42 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the state of cape verde, and which operates in nine of the 10 islands. in 2016, the 88 mw of installed power generation capacity in the island came from thermal power plants based on diesel and fuel, which accounted for about 86% of production. the remaining 14% came from renewable energy sources: 10% from wind power and 4% from solar photovoltaic arrays. the total energy consumed in 2016 was 225,658 mwh, more than double of what was consumed in 2006. this progression helps us realize the scale of the island’s economic growth, reflected in the increasing demand for electricity (direcção geral de energia, 2013). until now, the great challenge met by the country has been the high price of electricity. the current production cost of more than c0.3 per kwh is considered to be one of the most expensive in the world—up to three times higher than the price of electricity in the european union (costa, n.d.). the exorbitant price of electricity is the result of several factors: (1) the lack of natural resources like oil, gas or coal or precious metals that can serve as bargaining chips, which forces the country to import these products; (2) the insular character of the country, which forces it to have autonomous production systems, with the inherent burden of fuel transport and the difficulty of integrating them into a single energy production and distribution project; and (3) the major technical and commercial losses that affect the networks—particularly energy theft— which accounts for more than 30% of the produced electricity (fig. 5) (direcção geral de energia, 2015). figure 5. evolution of santiago island electrical losses. 4.2. new approach proposed for the city’s es the es of praia city has gone through several transformations, and many investments have been made, but they have not had the desired impact, mainly because the base of the energy matrix remains dependent on fossil fuel and because of the difficulties inherent to its insular condition. these factors, coupled with the poor management of the existing es, have caused many of the problems to remain and worsen over the years. in this sense, a new structure is proposed for the se of the city based on the sg technologies, taking maximum advantage of the already existing infrastructures and technologies. this new smart grid structure consists of three layers (fig. 6): the first layer and the electrical structure and all its components; the second layer is the communication system, which includes the infrastructure / hardware part and the software part; the third layer is the layer of applications and solutions that the new structure provides. this is intended to ensure bidirectional communication to and from all levels of the electrical system based on a range of sensors, actuators, accelerometers and remote terminal units (rtu), which should be integrated into the network, allowing it to be made available to the operations and monitoring center all information concerning the operation of the electricity network. the proposed wan network covers a wide geographic area encompassing the lans of the exchanges and the substation networks, also known as the backhaul network. this network would enhance the existing scada / pg. 43 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ems / dms dispatch system, mainly in the management of er production integration in the power grid. the proposed communication technology to support the network would be a hybrid system using fiber optics and 3g technology from the telecommunication operators for the transmission of data between the production centers and the substations (qualcomm, 2012). on the other hand, to ensure communication in the distribution network, from substation distributors to consumers, the creation of several nan or fan networks based on gsm and gprs communication technologies or 3g technology is proposed. each nan network would result from the aggregation of several smart meters around an aggregator / data collector so as to form a neighborhood network. in turn, each data collector would connect to the wan backhaul network, allowing full communication from sm and other control devices, from consumers to the automatic counting system in pt, to the central server located in the center control in the power plants (qualcomm, 2012; bouhafs, mackay & merabti, 2014). this communication structure would provide all the electrical system with intelligence, helping to monitor, manage, measure and intervene in real time in all sectors, from production to consumer consumers through ems and ami technologies. as communication technologies that serve as a serious support to adsl and 3g, given its capacity of transmission and coverage. at the consumer level, several han, ban and ian networks are proposed for residential, commercial and industrial consumers respectively. these networks would allow the interconnection of the sm with the intelligent devices of residences or buildings, residential automation systems, energy storage systems, microproductions and electric vehicles, separately or together (mohassel, fung, mohammadi & raahemifar, 2014). the han network would ensure the communication between the counting systems of each individual consumer, mainly the residential ones, and the concessionaire, being able to be used several technologies like zigbee, wifi, zwave, gsm, or ethernet (kuzlu et al. 2013). figure 6. layout of smart grid system proposed for praia city. 4.3. benefits of smart grid an es restructuring based on sg technologies could make the city’s electricity grid most modern and sustainable, with benefits for all concerned actors in the sector, from producers to consumers, through the government and regulators. the intended social benefits arising from sg technology not only include modern and energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings but even extend to agriculture and animal husbandry, public transport, healthcare, communications, the provision of information and knowledge and the exchange of goods and services (crabtree, kocs & aláan, 2014). this transition seems inevitable for these and other reasons; therefore, the concerns about the benefits of the intended sg for cape verde should focus on the core requirements for building es sustainability. 4.3.1. network operation at the level of the operation of the network, which has to do with, reliability, efficiency, warranty and safety concerning economic aspects and environmental impact, and without forgetting regulation issues. these benefits, in general, must reflect on all the actors that interact with the system (oliveira, 2015). the main advantage of sg pg. 44 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd for the sustainable operation of the city’s electricity network is the ability to ”self-heal”. this means that the system would have the ability to detect and isolate problematic elements in the network and do its restoration or treatment without human intervention. as a consequence it would reduce the negative impacts of network operation, shorten the dealer’s restoration time, as well as optimize the quality of service. sg would make it possible to solve the main issues related to trust, efficiency and safety in the functioning of the city’s se. the implementation of sg technologies will help to solve the sector’s reliability problem by reducing the frequency and duration of power failures as well as the number of disorders that occur due to the poor power quality. minimizing blackout occurrences through intelligent management of resources would make possible a wider and better availability of energy, bringing confidence for both utility and consumers, including industry and tourism (hamilton, miller & renz, 2010; bossart & bean, 2011). these technologies are an important role for the stabilization of the network, mainly with the integration of intermittent renewal energies and the interlinking of the electric carriage system. as a way to improve se efficiency, the new sg would monitor and control the entire production, transmission and distribution process, making the most of the available der, especially renewables, in addition to automating the dispatch system and network stability. these functionalities would have a direct impact on reducing dependence on fossil fuels, as well as making it possible to meet the growing demands of demand without adding new infrastructures. the evolution toward a sg has also reduced costs of electricity production, distribution and consumption, through its ability to anticipate and correct system disorders, reducing technical losses and peak demand and acting preventively to prevent occurrences of interruptions and damaged equipment (crabtree et al. 2014; sessa & ricci, 2014; el-hawary, 2016). ami technology and smart metering would enable a substantial reduction of non-technical losses and would help optimize consumer energy consumption. another very important benefit in the operation of the network is the question of guarantee and security. for the electricity sector, confidence means having the power that consumer need, in the required quantity and quality, without damaging the provider. people have already died from electrocution when trying to steal power, there are constant power cuts due to short-circuits in distribution networks that could be avoided with tracking and monitoring services, and uptime guarantees are often challenged by the negligence of the concessionaires. a sg ensures better security of the network by using online sensors with intelligent information and communication technologies, connected to an advanced network control center. one of the main features of such a center is continuous monitoring of the whole es, allowing the operator to detect any out-of-order or unsafe situations that could jeopardize the reliability of its operations. this increases the network’s robustness, while reducing the likelihood and consequences of possible attacks, cyber-attacks or natural disasters (hamilton, miller & renz, 2010). 4.3.2. economy the implementation of a sg would create new opportunities and markets where and when required, thus interconnecting the system whenever possible, opening the road for alternative electricity production sources, bringing new opportunities for micro-generation and enabling customers to produce electricity for their own consumption and sell their surpluses to the system, while significantly reducing the price paid by consumers and creating new jobs (crabtree et al. 2014; sessa & ricci, 2014; el-hawary, 2016). with the introduction of smart grid technologies and measures to reduce losses, a reduction of up to 65% of the current value of losses could be achieved, from 37% to 13%, both for technical losses and mainly for non-technical lossesin monetary terms this reduction of electric losses would correspond to an annual saving of 2.5 million euros. at the level of operations and maintenance the new se would provide a substantial reduction in relation to the transport costs of transport and technicians. automatic metering and billing systems would allow you to increase your utility billing rate together with your customers. taking into account the need to create new services, to implement new technologies and to expand existing infrastructures, would lead to the emergence of a new market in the electricity sector. all the improvements and efficiencies provided by sg technologies have a direct impact on the final price of electricity. the maximum pg. 45 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd final use rate (mtu) is determined for each year of the regulation period based on the cnrc: non-fuel costs related to the production and purchase, transportation, distribution and sale of electricity, and in crc: costs related to using the following formula (1): t mu = cnrc +crc (1) where cnrc = ∑nt=1 cnrci,t−1(1 + in − xi,t)qit (1 + r)t (2) crc = ∑(αi × pci,tb)× σ ×(1 − %er) (1 − %ci − %p) (3) cnrci,t−1 refers to the regulated tariff for activity i in period t-1; in corresponds to inflation adjustment; xi,t refers to the efficiency factor; qi,t is the quantity sold in period t; r refers to the weighted average cost of capital; α i percentage share of fuel type (i) in electricity production; pci,tb refers to the reference price excluding vat of the fuel type (i) used to determine the base rate, (ecv / kg); σ specific fossil fuel consumption of thermal production (kg / kwh); %er corresponds to the percentage value of participation of renewable energies in relation to total energy; %ci refers to the percentage value of internal consumption in relation to total energy; %p refers to the percentage value of losses in relation to the total energy. 4.3.3. environment sg technology would allow a slowing of climate change and provide a new way to reduce the environmental impact of the es, since the co2 emissions generated by the production, transport and distribution of electricity mainly depend on the amount of fossil fuel resources consumed as well as the technology used (el-hawary, 2016). the reduction of energy waste by end consumers is often the source of faster, cheaper and cleaner energy, but distributed generation of renewable energy can provide substantial environmental gains, because in addition to generating an electricity market for off-grid consumers, it allows self-consumption for those who are already connected to the network. both options of power resources could be encouraged through adequate policies and sg technologies, allowing a two-way flow of information and electricity between utilities and consumers, thus realizing the full potential of energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy generation (brown, 2014). the automated monitoring provided by the sg would help to mitigate the negative effects of the es, as it can intervene by switching resources and production sources whenever necessary. taking into account cape verde’s policies and its need to have as much renewable energy as possible in its energy matrix, sg technology would add significant value to this effort. it is estimated that with the expenses avoided with the thermal diesel production the se of the city could avoid more than 20% of the emission of co2. 4.3.4. stakeholders all of the industry stakeholders would benefit from the implementation of a sg. consumer sg technology enables real-time communication with energy providers, allowing these utilities to choose according to their individual preferences, based on prices or environmental concerns (el-hawary, 2016). they would be able to manage their consumption through smart metering and control equipment as well as have the opportunity to participate in small-scale production of electricity on their own through micro-production. the possibility of reducing cuts and pg. 46 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd blackouts would bring confidence to consumers, which will be reflected in honesty to the dealership. improved management of resources and security provided by the sg would help electrical power to be provided in a way that is wide and with less cost (dada, 2014). the consumers could even benefit from the reduction of losses among business, more reliable service and reduced transportation costs through electric vehicles and, as a consequence, have significantly decreased in electricity bills (bossart & bean, 2011). the concessionaires would have recognized gains from a sg, especially in reducing both technical and commercial losses, improving the measurement and billing system to make it more precise and automated, improving the management of interruptions, helping with the maintaining and planning process, and helping to manage the integration of renewable energy; hence, the sg would allow improvements among all of the concessionaires’ operations (bossart & bean, 2011). society in general will benefit from the sg through reduced imports of crude oil for both transportation and electrification, improved safety and efficiency of the electricity supply and reduced environmental impact of the sector. also, the city of praia would make better use of the available renewable resources; improve security; allow for better use of existing assets; provide a new, more open and competitive market; create new jobs; and generate wealth. the implementation of a sg would dramatically reduce costs and power outages, help to keep the prices of goods and services lower than they would otherwise be and improve the quality of energy (hamilton et al. 2010; bossart & bean, 2011). 5. challenges to implementing sg in the previous section, we addressed the benefits of implementing a sg, but sg technology is not easy to implement, especially for a country with the economic reality of cape verde. therefore, it is crucial to determine the main challenges facing the implementation of a sg in the city of praia, to find their respective solutions. these solutions should be contextualized by taking social, regulatory, technical and financial perspectives into account (european commission, 2018; bossart & bean, 2011). in this sense, it is crucial to analyze some aspects, such as the actual performance of the sg phase compared to the conventional system, collect data from locations at the appropriate frequency, determine the social and financial challenges, recognize regional differences among the consumers and service providers and use appropriate methods of calculation (bossart & bean, 2011). 5.1. security and privacy the main concerns that are internally connected to the electrical sector have to do with electricity theft, which is often beyond the costs for utilities and cause human victims through electrocution. one of the main challenges to overcome in implementing a sg is the level of security. one of the aspects that can influence safety is the state of aging of equipment that is often not compatible with the requirements of the sg. in such cases it may be necessary to replace the equipment even if it has not reached its useful life cycle, as a consequence, it would increase the costs of the system. privacy is the first concern that arises when it comes to transmitting digital data. this concern focuses on cyber-insecurity and potential misuse of private data. the city has successfully implemented an electronic system of governance through its ict cluster policy and has built a technology park that houses a high-standard data center with processing equipment and state data storage capabilities, companies, banks and others, both national and international, because of the country’s ambition to constitute an international services platform in terms of new icts. this increase in the use of ict could be directed to operating the es through consumer data collection and optimization of the system, but it could also have a perverse impact on the system. therefore, to integrate the sg, it is essential to ensure the confidentiality of commitment and the security of the providers of these services regarding customer data (“energy technology perspectives”, 2012). pg. 47 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.2. stakeholder participation the increase in operating capacity provided by a sg would require changes in the operational processes of dealerships, especially in their relations with customers (“energy technology perspectives”, 2012).. in a sg, implementations often overlook a critical component—consumer awareness, especially on issues such as conservation of electricity, micro-generation, hybrid vehicles, smart meters, appliances and intelligent buildings (agência de regulação económica, 1998) energy is a basic human need like food, shelter and mobility, and it is part of every aspect of our personal, professional and civic lives, which means that consumers do not see the means to achieve their goals (crabtree, 2014). this creates concerns, the need for a detailed analysis and clear communication of expected opportunities and risks. in the city of praia, despite its considerable literacy rate and use of new technologies, which have become part of the day-to-day lives of cape verdeans, the country would have to invest in re-education of consumers regarding the sg system. not only should consumers receive clarification—all stakeholders should be fully informed about the benefits of these technologies. customers, regulators and investors need to understand and be convinced of the benefits of the sg. also, dealerships should be ready for the significant and perhaps radical changes that would follow, and the government needs to do a lot of work through awareness campaigns to show the importance and opportunities of sg technologies. society in general and politicians need to be made aware of the capabilities of sgs. academic institutions could help through conferences, workshops and seminars to promote and encourage the implementation of sg technologies (dada, 2014). 5.3. policies and regulations energy regulation in the city has been troubled, because in most cases, while laws regulating the sector’s functioning exist, their implementation does not occur. the regulatory agency of economic activities (aer) acts only in setting the price of fuel and electricity, while consumer laws are the responsibility of local authorities and the government (agência de regulação económica, 1998) so a good relationship between these entities is required. the costs and benefits of sg technology cannot easily be accommodated by the existing legal and regulatory frameworks. these issues must be addressed before project deployments can proceed (“energy technology perspectives”, 2012). the level of the legislation would require new laws to facilitate investment into a sg related to the price of land, customs fees, taxes and licenses, which should be kept to a minimum. yet, these challenges could be surmountable because the city of praia could adopt the best practices and laws of countries that have already implemented the system and adapt them to the national reality. the time of government action in terms of legislation is crucial to maximize the benefits of co2 emissions and the respective carbon market. the approval of projects and new investments requires an exhaustive and intensive analysis, in which the benefits of the new technologies have to be well promoted, so that the government or public companies can invest. 5.4. financial costs for the city of praia, the main challenge in implementing the sg would be the financial issues. the project would take a voluminous initial investment, even if implemented in a phased manner as it should be, which would include the cost of education and training of technicians, those associated with the building of communications infrastructure, the costs of operation and maintenance, and the costs involved in procuring technology items, especially smart meters and other technical solutions, among many other costs involved in the implementation of sg technology. private companies would not have enough financial capacity to make this investment without the government creating programs to encourage research and development. several ways to circumvent these difficulties have been proposed. for example, the proposal to bangladesh in (ali, mansur, shams, ferdous & hoque, 2011) is that the sg project could first be held jointly by the country and foreign investors interested in a general expansion of the network, if the project is successful. these investors would have to meet some requirements and pass a rigorous evaluation process. in the same vein, (dada, 2014) argues that for nigeria, involving private investors and facilitating access to finance could help solve the financial problems, but banks and other financial institutions could pg. 48 mendes / environmental science and sustainable development, essd also contribute through long loans with low rates for investments, and the government and industries could provide funding for the research and development of prototypes before implementing a sg across the country. private company-oriented policies, such as the promotion of third-party financing and long-term strategies, seem to be a good way to circumvent the financial issue in ghana, given the financial inability of public companies (zaglago et al. 2013). from these proposals, it can be understood that the issue of public funding and the involvement of the private sector are strategic, as is openness to foreign investors with capital and know-how, which together could solve the issue of sg funding. 6. conclusion one can ascertain from this study that the es problems of the city of praia are due to a disintegrated energy policy that has lagged behind the evolution of demand as well as the lack of a modern, automated es with monitoring and control capabilities. the sustainable electricity sector advocated here should base itself on operating principles such as the integration of renewable energy at large and small scales, the need to generate employment and have quality power in good quantities, respect for the environment, profit generation for utilities and ultimately providing electricity to users at a fair price. the need for a transition to a more modern and appropriate grid naturally implies a bet on sg technology. however, several factors have to be considered for its implementation. in addition to the technical and financial issues, a smooth flow of communication between all stakeholders should be guaranteed, and the functions of each should be well defined. also, all stakeholders must play their roles judiciously, based on rules and regulations that are enforced strictly by the competent supervisory bodies, thus ensuring the sector’s integrability and integrity. due to its economic condition and the current technical condition of its es, the city has much to gain by upgrading to a new system that integrates a sg. however, considering the current economic reality and technological level of the country, this development would have to be made in a gradual and phased manner to have time to educate and train its technicians, engineers and specialists. in this way, the system will gain sustainability, especially with regard to standardization, regulation, supervision, planning, operation and maintenance. the financial investment should be the result of commitments from the government as well as from the private sector, while involving foreign investors and creating incentives to attract them. 7. references 1. abou-ghazala, a., & 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(2013, july). barriers to nationwide adoption of the smart grid technology in ghana. in proceedings of the world congress on engineering, london, uk (pp. 7-11). 47. zareen, n., mustafa, m. w., al gizi, a. j., & alsaedi, m. a. (2012). worldwide technological revolutions and its challenges under smart grid paradigm: a comprehensive study. international journal of scientific & engineering research,3(11). retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34992 501/researchpaper worldwide-technological-revolutions-and-its-challenges-under-smart-grid-paradigma-comprehensive-study.pdf?awsaccesskeyid=akiaiwowyygz2y53ul3a&expires=1544963451& signature=askbtp3uccz g8vo6jdazeflujo=&response-content-disposition=inline; filename=worldwide technological revolutions and.pdf. 48. zpryme smart grid insights. (2012). smart grid appliance market(rep.). retrieved from https://en.calam eo.com/read/000414633b7114eb71985. pg. 52 introduction smart grid structure smart grid technologies and applications smart grid communication technologies review of smart grid implementations cases of implementation the case of african countries implement sg in the city of praia description of the es of santiago island new approach proposed for the city's es benefits of smart grid network operation economy environment stakeholders challenges to implementing sg security and privacy stakeholder participation policies and regulations financial costs conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 101 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.680 load shifting assessment of residential heat pump system in japan xueyuan zhao1, weijun gao1,3*, yanxue li1,3, yoshiaki ushifusa2 1faculty of environmental engineering, the university of kitakyushu, kitakyushu, 808-0135, japan 2faculty of economics and business administration, the university of kitakyushu, 802-8577, japan 3college of architecture and urban planning,qingdao university of technology, 266033,china *corresponding author: gaoweijun@me.com abstract with the economic growth and increasing requirement of indoor thermal comfort, the load of building sector presents a greater variability.this paper aims at analyzing the energy consumption characteristics and influencing factors of the residential heat pump system. firstly, we selected residential households as investigated objective in kitakyushu, japan, and compared the energy saving performances of heat supply systems between heat pump and natural gas boiler. the results were based on real measured residential load during winter period, and calculated the cost saving performance of residential heat pump system compared with traditional natural gas boiler. we also did a survey of residential occupation behavior for the 12 selected residential customers. the result indicated that there was low relationship between power consumption and occupation hours, and the number of family members had a significant impact on the power consumption. the results indicate that residential heat pump system presented promising energy saving and cost reduction potential. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords heat pump system; eco-cute；economy analysis 1. introduction the heat pump is one of the most promising heating technologies for energy-efficient building. in recent years, heat pump was also proven to be an economical efficient option for the residential heating supply system via power to heating transform. residential heat pump system has gradually become a hot topic in research in various researches. brian drysdale pointed that residential daily load had a significant seasonal and daily variations. there was a significant energy saving or economic benefit potential to manage the flexible load through optimal demand side management, such as power to heat transforms application (drysdale, wu, & jenkins, 2015). s. n. petrović proposed optimized model to improve the performance of residential heat pump system, and his simulation results indicated that coefficient of performance(cop) presented a higher value during summer period. however, it shown a lower value in winters when heating demand was higher (petrović & karlsson, 2016). jenny love compared the heat pump and gas boiler operation, and discussed daily mean and peak power under different external temperatures. the aggregate profile shown two peak heating period at the same time as those found in homes heated by boilers, but with lower peaks and more night time operation (love et al., 2017). primož poredoš did a thermo-economic analysis based on the field-test results for a residential air-to-water heat pump. the results revealed that the considered air-to-water http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 102 heat pump represents the most thermo-economically efficient system in terms of the aver final costs for heat production (poredoš, kitanovski & poredoš, 2017). viorel popa implemented an air to water heat pump in galati city to calculated medium value of the coefficient of performance of the heat pump system. comparing with other heating system, heat pump system has low operating and maintenance costs and shows promosing environmental performance (popa, ion & popa, 2016). research on residential heat pump systems is analyzed based on the energy market in japan. this research is composed as follow. section 1 based on the measured data, we analyze the economic benefits of residential heat pump systems, according to the factors such as temperature, coefficient of performance and the distribution of residential electricity consumption. section 2 introduces the objective and data resource. section 3 presents the method. section 4 does a detail analysis that consider the energy saving and economic performance, and the occupation impact. in the last section, the conclusion is provided. 2. objective and data resource according to the data book from kyuden electrical company (kyuden electrical company, n.d.), it can be seen that the kyushu area is presenting a full electrification trend. all electrified housing number in kyushu area has increased twice from 2008 to 2017. according to (zhang, qin, & wang, 2015), numerous heat pump water heaters have been developed for the residential sector, alongside the promotion of all-electrification households over recent years. energy for hot water accounts for about 30% of total residential energy consumption in japan. as evidenced in many empirical studies, the energy consumption of each household was statistically investigated for different outdoor temperatures, family composition, house time and economic conditions. in addition, load flexibility is closely related to the load consumption patterns of different customers. as shown in figure. 1, this research selected 12 households located in higashida district, northern part of kyushu island, japan. analyzing their residential electricity usage during weekly period in winter in 2017. this section analyzed the time series power consumption by each appliance at 1-hour interval, compares the residential energy consumption after the application of heat pump system, figure. 2 presents the detail structure of residential heat pump system. customers can use electricity from power grid, evaporator absorbs the heat form air, and transfer it to the thermal storage system. and the stored energy in the tank will be used later in the residential house. we also did a survey of family members' basic information for the 12 selected customers, the survey can be seen in table 1. figure 1. location of higashida region in japan. zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 103 power grid demand side thermal storage e v a p o ra to r compressor expansion valve c o n d e n se r heat from air heating supply tank boiler city gas figure 2. structure of residential household with heat pump water heater system. table 1. basic information of customers room number family member occupation hours(weekday)(h) occupation hours(saturday)(h) occupation hours(sunday)(h) i101 3 42 60 72 i111 4 65 82 88 i205 5 70 93 70 i210 4 68 79 67 i409 4 56 60 68 i410 3 48 48 42 i411 5 81 94 97 i1001 4 60 79 79 i1101 4 62 75 89 ii308 2 36 43 44 ii411 3 33 38 48 ii804 4 63 92 80 3. methodology the performance of cop is strongly dependent on changes of outdoor temperature. the daily heat consumption of the house also changes. there is an uncertainty in the cost savings, and the application of heat pump system provides a cost saving chance. we compare the performance between heat pump systems and traditional methods of extracting heat from natural gas. the power consumption of heat pump ehp (kwh) can be calculated as follow: re hp hp q e cop = (1) zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 104 the equivalent consumption of natural gas vgas (m³) can be calculated as follow: re gas lhv q v = (2) the fuel cost of natural gas cgas (yen) can be calculated as follow: gas gas gasc v price=  (3) the power cost of heat pump cre (yen) can be calculated as follow: re electricre qc price=  (4) the cost saving puser (yen) can be calculated as follow: user gas rec cp = − (5) where, qre refers to the heating consumption of residential house (kj), cophp refers the cop of heat pump, lhv is the heating value of city gas (kj/m³), pricegas is the price of natural gas, and priceelectric refers to the electricity price. 4. result and discussion 4.1. energy saving performance selecting one household to analyze the power consumption of eco-cute. as we all know the power consumption of eco-cute has a close relationship with outdoor temperature.as we can see in figure. 3, when the outdoor temperature increase the power consumption of eco-cute is shown a decreasing trend. taking one household as an example, when the outdoor temperature dropped from 6 degrees celsius to minus 2 degrees celsius, the hourly power consumption increased by 14%. in the following, we will calculate thermal load in different value of cop. figure 3. power consumption of eco-cute under different out temperature. base on he measured data, we analyze the power consumption of eco-cute between the different customers. as we can see in figure. 4, the power consumption of eco-cute of each building shows a peak of usage is presented before 0 to 8 o'clock, and the peak is reached during 3 and 4 o'clock. zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 105 figure 4. comparison of power consumption of eco-cute between the different customers. 4.2. economic performance we do an economic performance by comparing performance between eco-cute and natural gas boiler. the cost of the eco-cute and natural gas boiler for the same amount thermal load is calculated. as shown in the figure. 5, ranging the value of cop from 2.5 to 3.5, it shows that the cost saving is obvious at higher cop value. zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 106 figure 5. cost saving by using eco-cute under the different value of cop. we also calculate the cost savings performance among customers. as shown in the figure. 6, we fix the performance of cop at 3.5, the cost savings can reach up to 5000yenand the lowest is around 2500yen. it indicates that eco-cute is shown an economic advantage. figure 6. cost savings performance among customers. 4.3. occupation impact as we all know, occupation has an impact on the load consumption. the survey result shows that the number of family members of the selected households ranges from 2, 3, 4, and 5 people, we calculated the power consumption of ecocute for these customers, respectively. the relationship between the number of family members and power consumption of eco-cute is shown in figure. 7. the result present that the power consumption is in linear relationship with the number of family members. the impact of occupation hours on the total power and eco-cute consumption are shown in figure. 8. based on figure. 8, it indicates that the number of family members has significant impact on the power consumption of eco-cute. zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 107 figure 7. relationship between power consumption of eco-cute and number of family members. figure 8. the impact of indoor hour on the eco-cute consumption. 5. conclusion this study utilized the monitored history data to analyze the energy consumption characteristics and influencing factors of the residential customers, which equiped with heat pump heat supply system in kitakyushu, japan. considering that load flexibility is closely related to the load consumption patterns of different customers. we selected 12 households located in higashida district to analyzed their residential electricity usage, the daily demand curves and load consumption pattern of heat pump system were investigated in detail. the characteristics of energy saving performance indicate that power consumption of eco-cute shown a decreasing trend with increasing outdoor temperature. according to the economic performance comparison between eco-cute and natural gas boiler, the result shown that eco-cute exhibited an economic advantage, and the cost saving by using eco-cute was obvious at higher cop value. as for the impact of occupation on the load consumption, we did a survey of family members' indoor hour for the 12 selected customers, the result show that there was a low correlation between power consumption and indoor hour, and the number of family members had a significant impact on the power consumption. zhao / environmental science and suctainable development pg. 108 references drysdale, b., wu, j., & jenkins, n. (2015). flexible demand in the gb domestic electricity sector in 2030. applied energy, 139, 281-290. petrović, s. n., & karlsson, k. b. (2016). residential heat pumps in the future danish energy system. energy, 114, 787-797. love, j., smith, a. z., watson, s., oikonomou, e., summerfield, a., gleeson, c., ... & stone, a. (2017). the addition of heat pump electricity load profiles to gb electricity demand: evidence from a heat pump field trial. applied energy, 204, 332-342. poredoš, p., čož, t., kitanovski, a., & poredoš, a. (2017). thermo-economic and primary-energy-factor assessment based on the field test of an air-to-water heat pump. international journal of refrigeration, 76, 19-28. popa, v., ion, i., & popa, c. l. (2016). thermo-economic analysis of an air-to-water heat pump. energy procedia, 85, 408-415. kyuden electrical company. (n.d.). data book in kyushu. retrieved august 2018 from http://www.kyuden.co.jp/var/rev0/0149/5535/data_book_2018_all.pdf. zhang, j. f., qin, y., & wang, c. c. (2015). review on co2 heat pump water heater for residential use in japan. renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 50, 1383-1391. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i2.447 smallholder organic farming: an entrepreneurial strategy in harmony with nature dina cartagena magnaye1 1assistant professor, university of the philippines school of urban and regional planning (up surp), e. jacinto st, diliman, quezon city, 1101, philippines; affiliate assistant professor and program chair, diploma in and master of land valuation and management, university of the philippines open university (upou), los baños, laguna, philippines abstract the paper examines the relationship between smallholder organic farming and entrepreneurship taking into account the environmental conservation approach of organic farming and the economic enhancement features of entrepreneurship. furthermore, it intends to determine, through qualitative analysis using case studies, how smallholder organic farming can be planned, and the competencies needed by an organic farmer when venturing into an organic farm enterprise. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords organic farming; entrepreneurship; environmental conservation; smallholder organic farming; farmer entrepreneur; organic agriculture 1. introduction organic agriculture and entrepreneurship are two concepts with distinctive characteristics but are interrelated (larsson, 2012; lynggaard, 2006; wolf, smit, & lauwere, 2004; rahmawati & triyono, 2016). organic farming is centered toward sustainable production and management of the farm while contributing to food security and biodiversity conservation. entrepreneurship, on the other hand, is a more complex and risk-prone undertaking that requires not only the capacity and capability of an individual, but most of all the entrepreneurial spirit needed to face the challenges of the enterprise development process. literature identified marketing as one of the challenges faced by organic farmers. the conventional products are usually cheaper than the organically produced commodities. convenience is another factor since most of nonorganic produce abounds in supermarkets. in local circumstances, the identified challenges are seen as motivators for some capable organic producers to group themselves, together with some supporters and advocates to embark into a marketing scheme that they termed as “subscription scheme” to ensure a captured market for their produce. some of them who possess entrepreneurial capabilities even set up food establishments not just as an alternative market but also as a source of additional income. other organic farmers group themselves together to attract support from their local government units or from concerned government agencies for technical and marketing pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd assistance. 1.1. organic farming and nature the hrda— the organic organization (1998) indicated that “organic farming works in harmony with nature rather than against it. . . [utilizing] techniques to achieve good crop yields without harming the natural environment or the people who live and work in it.” organic farming is “rooted from the traditional agriculture systems wherein the cultural and biological evolution was anchored on the interaction of traditional and indigenous farmers with the environment, without utilizing inputs, capital or modern scientific knowledge, but only intensive experiential knowledge of how natural resources are made productive to ensure productivity through the management of agrobiodiversity in the form of diversified agricultural systems” (maghirang, de la cruz, & villareal, 2011). the emerging efforts in organic farming now combines the traditional methods and modern scientific knowledge of farming to create balance between nature and farming. for more than three decades, the farmers in the philippines have been practicing a chemical-based agricultural production strategy (mendoza, 2008). according to mendoza (2008), the “crop production strategies adopted by farmers involved the extensive use of fertilizers, pesticides and growth regulators since there are only few practical and feasible alternatives to boost crop yield. he added that even the university-based research identified the agricultural chemicals to include synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides as effective means to generate the highest crop yields.” farming becomes a family enterprise or business, especially in the rural areas where agriculture serves as the driver of the local economy. the farm is a means to realize profits with farmers as the entrepreneurs. 1.2. smallholder organic farming organic farming becomes essential to rural communities and smallholder farmers that do not have financial resources to access expensive synthetic pesticides and inorganic fertilizers. the smallholder farmers recognized organic farming as a cost-efficient means of crop and animal production that would address food insecurity and alleviate poverty given the continuous and rapid growth in the demand for organic produce. smallholder organic farming becomes highly relevant to income generation if farmers become market-oriented and transform themselves into innovative and forward-looking entrepreneurs. kahan, (2013) stated that many small-scale farmers possess the qualities of an entrepreneur who “look for better ways to organize their farms; try new crops and cultivars, better animals, and alternative technologies to increase productivity; diversify production; reduce risk – and to increase profits; . . . [as well as] take calculated risks to open or create new markets for their products.” 1.3. legal basis of organic farming in the philippines the passage of the organic agriculture act of 2010 (republic act 10068 or ra 10068) has greatly influenced the development of organic agriculture in the philippines. as defined by the law, organic agriculture includes all agricultural systems that promote the ecologically sound, socially acceptable, economically viable and technically feasible production of food and fibers. it covers soil fertility management, varietal breeding and selection under chemical-free conditions, and the use of biotechnology and other cultural practices. it also excludes the use of genetically modified organisms (gmos). ra 10068 aims to promote, propagate, develop further and implement the practice of organic agriculture in the philippines to cumulatively condition and enrich the fertility of the soil, increase farm productivity, reduce pollution and destruction of the environment, prevent the depletion of natural resources, further protect the health of farmers, consumers, and the public, and save on imported farm inputs. the law establishes a comprehensive program for the promotion of community-based organic agriculture systems which include, among others, farmer-produced purely pg. 2 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd organic fertilizers such as compost, pesticides and other farm inputs, together with a nationwide educational and promotional campaign for their use and processing as well as adoption of an organic agriculture system as a viable alternative. the law also encompasses the establishment of the national organic agricultural program (noap), protection of the environment, accreditation, registration, labeling and certification of organic products, and provisions of incentives to adopters of organic agriculture. the noap covers the preparation of strategic plans to promote, commercialize and cultivate through organic farming methods in the philippines, conduct research and technology upgrading, as well as capacity building for farmers and consumer education. environmental protection includes the generation of raw materials from industrial waste and community garbage to produce organic fertilizers and other farm inputs. an entity will be designated to handle accreditation, registration, labeling and certification of organic products. farmers are also entitled to receive incentives and cash reward when identified as one of the best organic farm in the country. the pure organic agriculture farmer/producer are also accorded with income tax holiday. 2. methods 2.1. data gathering two types of data were gathered for the case studies to include the primary and secondary data. the gathering of primary data focused on key informant interview (kii) method which covers an in-depth interview with persons knowledgeable about organic farming and entrepreneurship and familiar with the local situation. the kii covered the interview of three (3) individuals engaged in organic farming and entrepreneurship. the respondents were selected based on the following criteria: a) number of years engaged in organic farming; b) technical knowledge in organic farming principles, approaches and methods; and c) know how in organic farming enterprise planning, development operation and business management. an open-ended interview guide was developed for the kii. the interview with an organic farm owner cum worker in the landlocked province of ifugao in the cordillera administrative region of the philippines identified the motivating factors in organic farming, the challenges and experiences encountered in the organic production process, perceptions on organic farming and its contribution to food security as well as the conservation of the environment, and the necessary formal training in organic farming and management. an organic farmer cum entrepreneur from the province of laguna in the calabarzon (calamba, laguna, batangas, rizal, & quezon) region was also interviewed to determine how the idea of engaging in smallholder organic farming (vegetables, fruit trees and indigenous crops production, among others) started, the history of the enterprise from start-up to where it is today, and the technical background in organic farming and its management. a farm worker cum farm supervisor from the same province and region was also interviewed to determine the economic aspect of smallholder organic farming, the personal motivation as well as the benefits of working in an organic farm. actual visits to the smallholder organic farms were also conducted to observe farm operations and validate the results of the interviews with the chosen respondents. a participant observation approach enabled the researcher to observe things that occurred in the farm/enterprise over a given period of time. the secondary data gathering consisted of the review of related literature to include print and online review of journal articles, books, and reports on organic farming and its relationship with entrepreneurship. 2.2. data analysis the information gathered from the primary data gathering were analyzed qualitatively. qualitative data analysis involved the examination, tabulation, and interpretation of evidences that were investigated in the kii. pg. 3 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. results and discussions the section below discusses the results of the interviews made with the respondents. furthermore, the analysis of the findings establishes the relationship between smallholder organic agriculture and entrepreneurship based on the perception of the respondents and extensive review of local and foreign related studies. 3.1. the relationship of smallholder organic farming with entrepreneurship traditionally, the needed skills of organic farmers are centered into production, operational management, sustainable cultivation and rural development. they focused more on the quality of the produce to command a favorable market value and the importance of environmental protection. but today, the changes in the marketing environment requires smallholder organic farmers to enhance their skills in marketing, business management, networking and most recently, in identifying new business opportunities through social media. thus, aside from production skills, the farmers nowadays need entrepreneurial skills coupled with a little know-how in social media advertising, selling and networking. these are supported by the testimonies of the respondents from the three (3) case studies taking into consideration their perceptions on smallholder organic farming as elaborated in the succeeding sections. the testimonies are focused on sustainable agriculture, specifically sustainable farming. 3.1.1. perceptions of an organic farmer cum farm owner mr. villafuerte camat jr. of lamut integrated organic farm in ifugao province worked before as a welder in the republic of china, taiwan. he chose to engage in organic farming even if he would earn less from this endeavor than as a welder or conventional farmer. mr. camat cited passion, love of nature, awareness of the negative impacts of conventional farming on the environment, formal training undertaken on organic farming with the philippines department of agriculture (da), and the contribution of his education being a second-year college in an agriculture course in ifugao state university (ifsu), as his motivating factors. farming has been a tradition and culture for the camat family. when his father tasked him to manage their farm, he realized the responsibility that it was an opportune time for him to carry on the tradition. mr. camat is a member of the lamut organic practitioners association. the association receives support from the philippine da in the form of training, machineries and seeds for organic farm production. the members of the association have secured a space at the public market, which is provided by the lgu during designated market days. the university is considered as a captured market for mr. camat’s organic swine. the following presents the sustainable production approaches and processes being practiced in the farm of the key informant: 3.1.1.1. adopt crop rotation in the farm according to mohler and johnson (2009), “crop rotation is a critical feature of all organic cropping systems. . . ” crop rotation is defined by reza (2016) as a “system of designing how to cycle a parcel of land through various crops, and reducing the reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. it is how successful farmers nurtured their land over generations, and remains vitally important for farmers today wanting to nourish their local environment whilst growing good, healthy food.” this is a cultural practice in agriculture where different crops are cultivated in a given parcel of land for a period of time. according to reza (2016), a carefully designed crop rotation scheme sustains soil nutrients, improves soil fertility and structure, enhances presence of soil organic matter, controls pest populations and diseases, deters growth of weeds, maintains healthy soil, controls soil erosion, improves biodiversity, and reduces commercial risk, among others. pg. 4 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.1.1.2. practice resource use within the capacity and resilience of the farm this cultural practice allows the field to rest for a season by planting a crop (in this case mung bean) and cultivates the soil again without harvesting the crop. the crop rots in the field to revitalize the soils and accumulate the nutrients in the form of nitrogen fixing bacteria. 3.1.1.3. prepare organic feeds formulation using the leaves of indigenous plants and recycled peelings of fruits as well as vegetables from the kitchen as feeds for the livestock the leaves of many trees contain twice as many minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, nitrogen and ash) as animal manure that the plants need as their food. the peelings of fruits such as banana are also a good source of nutrients for the soil and make a good fertilizer. for instance, banana peels contain high levels of potassium, magnesium and other good minerals. the peeling of citrus has d-limonene, which serves as a natural insecticide. 3.1.1.4. formulate organic sprays and organic fertilizers using livestock manure as fertilizer for rice and vegetables using indigenous microorganisms (imo) formula to speed up decomposition the use of imo in natural framing is an old practice adopted by a number of countries to include japan, the philippines, mongolia, china, among others. studies revealed many benefits from the use of imo as follows: a) act as a reserve source for all nutrients; b) add organic matter to the soil; and c) increase soil fertility (sumathi, janardhan, srilakhmi, gopal, & narasimha, 2012). the use of imo in natural framing is an old practice adopted by a number of countries to include japan, the philippines, mongolia, china, among others. studies revealed many benefits from the use of imo as follows: a) act as a reserve source for all nutrients; b) add organic matter to the soil; and c) increase soil fertility (sumathi et. al., 2012). 3.1.1.5. carry out vermicomposting vermicompost refers to the process of composting using earthworms and microorganism. [it is] an oxidative process (with air) which ends in the stabilization of organic matter. like the mature compost, the “final product is organic matter, but the earthworms perform the process with the help of microorganisms” (lazcano, 2008; roman et al., 2015). vermicomposting is also a “low-cost technology, environment-friendly process used to treat organic waste” and has the following influences on plants: a) stimulates plant growth to include aromatic and medicinal plants; b) hastens seed germination; c) stimulates shoot and root development; and d) stimulates flowering of the plants; among others (lazcano & dominguez, 2011). as an organic farmer and farm owner, mr. camat is earning enough for his family although he emphasized that patience, passion, awareness and know-how are needed to succeed in organic farming as an enterprise. he emphasized that without these traits, the rate of success in organic farming as a business is very low. mr. camat urged the smallholder organic farmers in his locality to never give up when experiencing failures in organic farming. according to him, the option to engage in organic farming should not always be equated with the realization of a quick return or profit. what is necessary is the positive impact of organic farming to the farm, to people’s health and to the environment in general. the organic products from mr. camat’s farm are not certified since certification is an expensive and long process. in the philippines, organic certification is vital to ascertaining the integrity of an organic product. however, the organic farming industry is faced with the issue of the high cost of organic certification. ra 6008 clearly stipulates that only third-party certification is allowed for agriculture produce. the cost of certification ranges from php42,000 to php150,000. to address this issue, mr. camat sought the help of the da on this aspect. in terms of support from government agencies, mr. camat received training while the associations are getting other support in the form of machineries, seeds and other organic farm inputs. from the different training in organic farming, mr. pg. 5 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd camat disseminates information on organic farming by providing training and lecture in his farm at a certain fee. 3.1.2. perceptions of an organic farmer cum entrepreneur mr. jabez flores is an entrepreneur cum organic farmer. he finished his bachelor of arts in psychology at the university of the philippines in los banos (uplb), laguna, philippines. at the time of the interview, he is pursuing his masters in environment and natural resources management at the university of the philippines open university (upou). he is an active member of a group called nu wave farmers (nwf). this group represents the farmers born in the 1980s (hence the “nu wave” label referring to the popular music genre of that decade), but also includes new organic farmers who emerged from the early 2000s to present. . . [with the] slogan “making farming cool again,” [which] aims to change the mentality of the youth towards farming, from where it is usually viewed as a poor man’s and/or retiree’s profession to something that benefits their local community by providing good food in an ecologically friendly and “hip” way.” (sandoval, n.d.). originally, mr. flores wanted to employ the “seed-to-cup” philosophy in his coffee shop, cafe antonio. as a barista (generally prepares coffee drinks), he wanted to work with coffee farmers. however, he did not know how to talk with farmers and realized the need to learn how to relate to them. luckily, upou was offering a course on organic agriculture in 2012. this strengthened his desire to engage and expand knowledge in organic farming. aside from coffee, mr. flores also wanted to provide organic vegetables to his family because his mother had cancer in 2000. for mr. flores, he firmly believed that oa contributes to food security, helps in ecological conservation and mitigates climate change. as an organic farmer cum entrepreneur, mr. flores employs sustainable agriculture practices in organic farming. as characterized by (menalled et al., 2008), sustainable agriculture (farming)has the following benefits: “a) sustains the economic viability of farm operations; b) satisfies human food, fiber and energy needs; c) maintains or enhances the resource base upon which it depends by emphasizing soil conservation, nutrient recycling, biologically based-pest management and biodiversity; d) takes advantage of the knowledge and skills of farmers; e) is durable and resilient to disturbance, pest outbreaks and market variability; f) makes the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources; and g) integrates, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and pest control tools with production practices.” the following are among the sustainable production approaches highlighted by the respondent: 3.1.2.1. act as an advocate of organic agriculture (oa) being an advocate of oa is a way of “making a difference” which includes its promotion to a younger, stronger and more capable generation. a voluntary campaign for the youth, the nwf also introduces and implements community shared agriculture (csa) in the community. the yummy magazine (n.d.) referred to csa as “a sustainable alternative distribution system that supports smallholder organic farming by subscribing to prepaid, local and seasonal vegetables delivered weekly to a community.” 3.1.2.2. adopt forward linkage activities of organic farming with the food enterprise café antonio serves a combination of organic and non-organic food products. the former are sourced from the farms managed by mr. flores. according to mr. flores, he used to have a vegetable stand at cafe antonio called the beige table. however, he closed it down to focus on his online store instead. 3.1.2.3. operate the farm enterprise on a trust basis mr. jabez shared that his farm products are not certified as organic. he cited the long and tedious process as well as the high amount needed to obtain a certification. he operates on a “trust basis” where most of his customers are friends and supporters of organic farming. he also mentioned that he has not received support or seeking assistance pg. 6 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd from the government. 3.1.2.4. expose individuals on organic agriculture practices through field observation and networking as advocate of organic farming, his group nu wave farmers is conducting free training, farm tours, volunteer work in farms, networking and advocacy in organic agriculture. he is also hoping that organic farming, being the core of his group’s advocacy, would somehow change the perception of people on organic farming. 3.1.3. perceptions of an organic farmer-worker-farm supervisor mr. claro naral is an organic farm worker at kainos farm in barangay camaluigan, calamba city, laguna. he revealed that his salary as a driver is the same as his salary today as an organic farm worker. mr. naral highlighted three (3) important views on organic farming. 3.1.3.1. build up passion in organic farming it was stressed that the preference to work in the farm was due to intense passion and perseverance in organic farming. his deep-seeded commitment to learn and practice organic farming developed his passion. 3.1.3.2. earn from being a farm worker-farm enterprise partner mr. naral earns a share in the sale of vegetables from kainos farm. he co-cultivates and co-manages the organic farm with the owner. 3.1.3.3. participate in formal training regarding organic farming mr. naral attended formal training in organic farming conducted by the da. he adopts his learning from formal training in organic farming and modern methods in combination with traditional knowledge. according to mr. naral, at least five years is needed for a previously non-organic farm to heal or be converted into an organic one. he mentioned that the success of an organic farm is gradual and the profit is minimal. but what is important is that he is eating and selling healthy food that contributes to the conservation of the environment. 3.2. issues and challenges in smallholder organic farming as an enterprise marketing is the primary challenge in smallholder organic farming. it is hard for organic products to compete with inorganic or conventional farm products in terms of price, quality, volume and certification requirement. the organic farmers are also confronted with problems when offering their products to big supermarkets. accreditation is another problem since it is too expensive for small-scale organic farmers to obtain certification for organic products. the next concern is on training and awareness building where only those with proper training in oa and those who have deep awareness about the positive impacts of the organic produce trading survived. furthermore, only those consumers who are aware of the benefits of organic farming prefer and buy organic produce. 3.3. addressing concerns on organic farming as an enterprise: the need for development planning and competency building to address the accreditation issue, concerned government agency may lessen the requirements, especially for smallholder organic farmers or may subsidize the fees. the agricultural training institute of the da should expand the conduct of a massive free training on a regular basis so that even those non-practitioners on organic farming will be educated to increase their awareness on organic farming as an enterprise. smallholder organic pg. 7 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd farmers should also be linked by concerned agencies like the da or the local government units with the potential markets for organic products. 3.3.1. development planning facet of smallholder organic farming development planning is essential as a basis for interested entrepreneurs to venture into organic farming. (magnaye, 2016) defined three (3) important interrelated principles in planning community supported agriculture (csa). the principles behind csa such as climate smart agriculture, socio-entrepreneurial behavior and thinking as well as participatory development planning can be adopted in planning a smallholder organic farming as an enterprise. in addition, development planning for organic farming as a community-based enterprise or smallholder scale adheres to a participatory approach which requires consideration of the interests not only of the entrepreneur per se but also the other organic farmer-entrepreneurs in the community including the local government agencies, academic community, private sector representatives, and non-government organizations, among others. the four phases of csa formation as developed by (magnaye, 2017) can be adopted in planning for a smallholder organic farming enterprise to include the following phases: phase 1 — capital asset inventory and assessment; b) phase 2 — vision development and stakeholder motivation; c) phase 3 — local development strategy identification for sustained csa; and d) phase 4 — monitoring and evaluation for sustained partnership. the matrix below summarizes the scope of the mentioned phases. table 1. phasesof development planning for csa as a smallholder organic farming enterprise development strategy. development phase tasks involved actions and strategies phase 1: capital asset inventory and assessment analyze local assets • characterize human, social, natural, physical and financial capitals: human capital existing and potential organic farmers in the community in terms of skills, knowledge, health and wellbeing. social capital informal networks, membership of formalized groups and relationships of trust that facilitate cooperation (eg. with other farmers or community groups). natural capital quality and quantity of natural resources including land, water and soil physical capitalland availability, existence of organic (biodynamic farming) community, basic infrastructure such as irrigation and on-farm sanitation, offices and buildings, computers and communications technology, tools, vehicles and other equipment. financial capital availability of financial resources including savings, credit, and income from farm sales of goods and services to include provision of training to members. continued on next page pg. 8 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued development phase tasks involved actions and strategies examine capacity of farming community • evaluate the following aspects: ability of existing and potential organic farmer-entrepreneurs in the use of resources (land, labor, capital); strategies adopted vis-à-vis asset utilization; existing initiatives, duration of business, income generated, locations and members/employees; policies, institutions and processes that shape access to assets and opportunities; and factors affecting vulnerability to shocks and stresses. phase 2: vision development and stakeholder motivation define the direction of the development of the enterprise or the desired enterprise development outcomes • establish the vision of the organization based on the anticipated outcomes of the livelihood or social enterprise. • determine the social mission in consideration of social and environmental problems. establish goals, objectives and targets • formulate goals, objectives and targets based on the vision of the enterprise. goals are specific to the building up of partnership between the farmers and the market (buyers of farm produce) objectives and targets cover the establishment of fair pricing system; provision of support to small farms and fresh food for the consumers; protection of biodiversity due to efficient development phase tasks involved actions and strategies organic farming; increasing access to organic and local food by low income households; sustaining culture, community and a sense of belonging; reviving culinary traditions; among others. phase 3: local development strategy identification for sustained csa organize the organic farmer-entrepreneurs • define arrangements and functions of the organization to include identification of interested organic farmer entrepreneurs in the meetings of farmers or association of farmers. • identify and organize the members of the core group. continued on next page pg. 9 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued development phase tasks involved actions and strategies prepare business plan and measure viability • determine capital expenditures (land, equipment, tools, capital, among others), labor expenses, operating expenses, among others. • estimate the potential income from the entreprise to determine financial viability. phase 4: monitoring and evaluation (m&e) for sustained partnership identify and measure m&e indicators • assess financial and operational performance of the enterprise review, evaluate and improve plans • review and evaluate enterprise development plan and management schemes taking into account issues, concerns, and challenges. 3.3.2. building and enhancing competencies of a smallholder ffarmer-entrepreneur three (3) types of competencies need to be developed by a farmer entrepreneur to succeed in smallholder organic farming as an enterprise. these include entrepreneurial, technical and managerial competencies. entrepreneurial competencies. kahan (2013) defines nine (9) key entrepreneurial competencies, which must be developed and strengthened for farmers to survive in a continuously changing environment and realize income based on existing and emerging market opportunities. these competencies include initiative, ambition, focused problem-solving, creative thinking, taking risks, flexibility and adaptability, interpersonal abilities, networking and readiness to learn. he emphasized that these competencies enable farmers to “compete in the changing environment and better able to make profits by taking advantage of new market opportunities”. technical competencies. aside from entrepreneurial competencies, farmer-entrepreneurs should also enhance their technical competencies in terms of proper management of farm inputs; production management and marketing management. similarly, kahan (2013) established the necessary knowledge, skills and behavior to strengthen technical competencies of farmer-entrepreneurs. managerial competencies. a farmer-entrepreneur also needs to possess managerial skills aside from entrepreneurial and technical skills. an enterprise involves a number of processes from establishment, growth and maturity that usually exist with social, economic and financial barriers. thus, managerial functions will define the success of a farm enterprise. according to kahan (2013), entrepreneurial and technical competencies need to be complemented by managerial competencies. . . to include diagnosis, planning, organizing, leading, controlling and evaluating.” the table below summarizes the requirements to enhance the entrepreneurial, technical and managerial competencies of a farmer-entrepreneur in three (3) focal areas to include knowledge, skills and behavior table 2. entrepreneurial,technical and managerial competencies for a farmer-entrepreneur competency requirement knowledge skills behavior entrepreneurial competency continued on next page pg. 10 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2 continued competency requirement initiative (acts before others do) • determine and understand success factors • define vision and goals • initiate the first move and get things done ambition (determined to achieve goals) • know the challenges to be encountered • define actions to address challenges • patient and tolerant to stress focused on problem solving vfocused on problem solving and decision-making (trouble-shooter and opportunity-seeker) • understand decisionmaking process, farm business problems and new opportunities • gather data/information in solving problems, define alternative solutions and implement chosen option • vigorous in solving problems creative thinking (thinks out of the box) • understand the farm business as a system that is vulnerable to constraints given opportunities • gather new ideas and opportunities information to address problems and maximize opportunities • analyze farm business, define opportunities and implement actions taking risks (acts as risk taker) • understand and evaluate risks in decisionmaking • assess costs and benefits of risks for strategy management • calculate and mitigate risks and adopt new strategies flexibility and adaptability (sensitive to new and changing situations) • aware of the sources of changesaffecting the farm business • develop coping strategies based on changing situations • patient and tolerant to stress from changing situations interpersonal abilities (sociable and fond of maximizing network) • understand people and strengthen relationships with them • keen on sharing ideas with others • work well with people of all kinds • honest and trustworthy networking (value relationships) • understand key stakeholders • value negotiation and sustaining partnerships • trustworthy and honest in all dealings readiness to learn (keen on generating new knowledge and skills) • open to new learning opportunities • timely response to knowledge and skills utilization • curious technical competency managing inputs (cost conscious and strive for efficiency from sourcing and acquiring inputs) • know the required inputs and the source • proper input application and recording of utilization • prefer quality and affordable inputs and explore use of new inputs continued on next page pg. 11 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2 continued competency requirement managing production (desire sustainability from identifying, organizing and implementing production • know the most profitable and sustainable way to produce • know the critical farm activities and record all production activities • time conscious, adapter of more efficient production systems and explore new systems managing market (profitable marketing of farm products) • know the location of the most profitable market for the enterprise • negotiate contracts and keep records of transactions • search more profitable markets and adaptive to changing market condition and opportunities managerial competency diagnosis (analyze business setting to determine problems and opportunities affecting profitability) • understand the input, production and marketing requirements of the enterprise • assess the enterprise to determine issues and challenges • determine problem causes and effects and proposed solutions planning (analyze potential actions to support the goal) • know goals and objectives as well as alternatives to achieve them competency requirement knowledge skills behavior taking risks (acts as risk taker) • understand and evaluate risks in decision-making. • assess costs and benefits of risks for strategy management • calculate and mitigate risks and adopt new strategies flexibility and adaptability (sensitive to new and changing situations) • aware of the sources of changesaffecting the farm business • develop coping strategies based on changing situations • patient and tolerant to stress from changing situations interpersonal abilities (sociable and fond of maximizing network) • understand people and strengthen relationships with them • keen on sharing ideas with others • work well with people of all kinds • honest and trustworthy networking (value relationships) • understand key stakeholders • vaue negotiation and sustaining partnerships • trustworthy and honest in all dealings readiness to learn (keen on generating new knowledge and skills) • open to new learning opportunities • timely response to knowledge and skills utilization • curious technical competency continued on next page pg. 12 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued managing inputs (cost conscious and strive for efficiency from sourcing and acquiring inputs) • know the required inputs and the source • proper input application and recording of utilization • prefer quality and affordable inputs and explore use of new inputs managing production (desire sustainability from identifying, organizing and implementing production) • know the most profitable and sustainable way to produce • know the critical farm activities and record all production activities • time conscious, adapter of more efficient production systems and explore new systems managing market (profitable marketing of farm products) • know the location of the most profitable market for the enterprise • negotiate contracts and keep records of transactions • search more profitable markets and adaptive to changing market condition and opportunities managerial competency diagnosis (analyze business setting to determine problems and opportunities affecting profitability) • understand the input, production and marketing requirements of the enterprise • assess the enterprise to determine issues and challenges • determine problem causes and effects and proposed solutions planning (analyze potential actions to support the goal) • know goals and objectives as well as alternatives to achieve them • establish alternative evaluation process and mechanism to implement alternatives • anticipates results and system or process-oriented organizing (initiating plan implementation) • determine resource requirement and sourcing modes • adopt process in resource sourcing • committed • process oriented leading (managing staff/workers/personnel) • know how to entice people to work • share ideas through communication and evaluate workers’ performance • trustworthy, encouraging and builds trust controlling (monitoring and evaluation of performance and activities • relate control mechanism with proffit generation • monitoring (checking benchmarks) and proper recording of data and information • looks at detail and processoriented evaluating (outcome and impact assassment) • determine impact of the enterprise on profit generation • relate actions with outcomes • objective and methodical 4. conclusion and recommendations based on the organic farm and enterprise management practices shared, the key informants of the case studies represent different groups that promote multi-stakeholder participation and collaboration in smallholder organic farming. the organic farmer cum worker values the importance of the cyclic use of natural resources, resource use within the carrying capacity of the organic farm, value of the tradition and culture of the family by continuing the operation of the organic farm after his father and earning a living from the farm that enhances socioeconomic capacity. the organic farmer-entrepreneur recognizes the importance of working with the community and the pg. 13 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd youth as advocates of organic farming. the organic farmer-worker-farm supervisor views that the success of a farmer depends greatly on his training and awareness about organic farming. the three (3) cases proved that organic farming activities are managed in harmony with nature in consideration of the contribution to food security, conservation of the ecosystems, and most importantly in climate mitigation. after realizing the issues of the case study, it is deemed necessary to enhance an existing program to educate and train communities in organic farming and entrepreneurship at the grassroots level. the department of education (deped) and the da-agricultural training institute are key agencies to operationalize these objectives. the department of health (doh) can engage in massive information drive on the health issues associated with chemical uses in the farms. the mass media or social media are very useful modes to disseminate this information. development planning for smallholder organic farming and entrepreneurship becomes essential which can be effected utilizing existing community supported agriculture models. however, it is of prime importance that a farmer-entrepreneur should possess the entrepreneurial, technical and managerial competencies in terms of knowledge, skills and behavior to fully realize the success of organic farming at the community level. these will serve as requisites for a competitive organic agriculture industry backed up with the government’s commitment to support smallholder organic farming especially in organic certification as well as research, development and extension. the effective implementation of the organic agriculture act will address the development needs of the majority of the poor populace which relies on subsistence agriculture. organic farming should be able to ensure food security in the context of food availability, affordability and quality in conjunction with environmental concerns and climate mitigation. references 1. de wolf, p. l., schoorlemmer, h. b., smit, a. b., &amp; de lauwere, c. c. (2004, august). analysis and development of entrepreneurship in agriculture. in xv international symposium on horticultural economics and management 655 (pp. 199-208). 2. hdra the organic . (1998). what is organic farming? [pdf]. hdra the organic. 3. kahan, d. (2012). entrepreneurship in farming [pdf]. rome: food and agriculture organization of the united nations. 4. larsson, m. (2012). environmental entrepreneurship in organic agriculture in järna, sweden. journal of sustainable agriculture, 36(2), 153-179. 5. lazcano, c., & domı́nguez, j. (2011). the use of vermicompost in sustainable agriculture: impact on plant growth and soil fertility. soil nutrients, 10, 1-23. 6. lynggaard, k. (2006). the common agricultural policy and organic farming. cabi. 7. maghirang, r. g., de la cruz, r., & villareal, r. l. (2011). how sustainable is organic agriculture in the philippines. trans nat acad sci & tec (philippines), 33(2), 289-321. 8. magnaye, d. c. (2017). a planning perspective on the socio-entrepreneurial venutre of rural farming communities through the community-supported agriculture. conference proceedings of the international conference on developing sustainable and resilient rural communities in the midst of climate change: a challenge to disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies. 9. menalled, f., bass, t., buschena, d., cash, d., malone, m., maxwell, b., ... & weaver10, d. (2008). an introduction to the principles and practices of sustainable farming. montana state university. 10. mendoza, t. c. (2008). nature farming in the philippines. university of the philippines los banos. philippines. retrieved on october, 20, 2009. pg. 14 magnaye / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 11. mohler, c. l., & johnson, s. e. (2009). crop rotation on organic farms: a planning manual. ithaca, ny: natural resource, agriculture, and engineering service (nraes) cooperative extension. 12. rahmawati, n., & triyono. (2016). correlation between entrepreneur characteristic with farmer management capacity: case on rice organic farming in bantul. iosr journal of business and management (iosr-jbm),18(10), 36-40. doi:10.9790/487x-1810033640 13. reza, s. (2016). crop rotation a vital component of organic farming. retrieved from https://permacult urenews.org/2016/06/15/crop-rotation-a-vital-component-of-organic-farming/ 14. roman, p., martinez, m. m., & pantoja, a. (2015). farmers’ compost handbook: experiences in latin america. food and agriculture organization. 15. sandoval pm. (n.d.). nu wave farmers: making farming cool again. social marketing and mobilization plan. devcom208. 16. sumathi, t., janardhan, a., srilakhmi, a., gopal, d. s., & narasimha, g. (2012). impact of indigenous microorganisms on soil microbial and enzyme activities. arch. appl. sci. res, 4(2), 1065-1073. 17. williams, g. (2015). community shared agriculture in the philippines. retrieved from https://www.indieg ogo.com/projects/community-shared-agriculture-in-the-philippines#/ 18. fftc agricultural policy articles. (2013, october 11). organic agriculture act towards a greener philippines. retrieved from http://ap.fftc.agnet.org/ap db.php?id=93 pg. 15 introduction organic farming and nature smallholder organic farming legal basis of organic farming in the philippines methods data gathering data analysis results and discussions the relationship of smallholder organic farming with entrepreneurship perceptions of an organic farmer cum farm owner perceptions of an organic farmer cum entrepreneur perceptions of an organic farmer-worker-farm supervisor issues and challenges in smallholder organic farming as an enterprise addressing concerns on organic farming as an enterprise: the need for development planning and competency building development planning facet of smallholder organic farming building and enhancing competencies of a smallholder ffarmer-entrepreneur conclusion and recommendations http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v3iss1.188 a territorial approach to the production of urban and rural landscape f. trapani1, r. savarese2, f. safonte3 1dipartimento di architettura, università degli studi di palermo, italy 2circolo istrice, palermo, italy 3istituto di ricerca e promozione delle aree interne della sicilia, caltanissetta, italy abstract the authors, starting from the examination of the historic data of palermo landscapes on the south-east side, draw up an analysis of the landscape by illustrating the environmental characteristics and the intervention of man in its transformations. therefore, determined by a certain point to refer to, the author, based on archival, literary, and existing graphic documentation, has therefore sought to illustrate the evolution of the landscape in the geographical area of mare dolce while still present relations with the territory of palermo. examining the diaries and the end of the eighteenth century with the help of the water colored planks of the sites considering the great patrimony left by landscape painters of the period brought a great deal of information. in this sense, it is possible to evaluate the transformation of maredolce from swampy and abandoned land of the last seventeenth century (end of sugary activity) to that of new irrigation agriculture. transformation is common to the entire territory of palermo with which numerous comparisons are also carried out based on archival documentation. the introduction of the industrial economy of the citrus which has wiped out any past historical stratification before being swept by the cementation of the ‘conca d’oro’ that still lasts and of which maredolce (historic palace and its garden) is the last environmental and cultural heritage as a holistic ecosystem that should absolutely be saved by using integrated urban planning with responsible architectonic restoration approaches. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban planning; cultural landscape; integrated urban regeneration; architectural restoration; territo-rialist approach; rural studies; rural economy; landscape geography 1. introduction 1.1. methodology in this contribution, through a multidisciplinary approach, we intend to investigate the hypothesis that there is an analogy between: a) regeneration as a subject on the background of the humanistic approach to sustainable development in the analytical, interpretative and evaluative key of territorialists (sdt, 2011; safonte, 2014; 2015) and b) the urban regeneration (haddock & moulaert, 2009; maccallum, moulaert, hillier & vicari, 2009; trapani, 2016) could be summarized as the culture of the project. both approaches are applied to the theme of sustainpg. 70 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd able development, particularly the enhancement of the resources of agricultural production and cultural heritage. agriculture and heritage are usually considered as the primary tools of intervention policies in weak areas such as inland areas in italy. in this contribution, regeneration in the economic-social application of urban and territorial planning and planning related to the arguments (a) and (b) is different from retraining and recovery in terms of simple reuse and even more from recycling. this is because a given regeneration policy tends to include them or better integrate them all because it must necessarily provide both analytical, interpretative, evaluative and operative approaches directly to the physical and environmental contexts as well as the social and economic policies and programs. regeneration, in its constituent nature of toolkits of differentiated instrumentation of analysis and intervention, qualifies more and more as a mode of approach used. in (a) and (b), the issues of strong ambiguity and difficulty in the definition of regeneration have been highlighted. additionally, evaluation of regenerative experiences has highlighted the limits of effectiveness and real possibilities of action against the structural causes of social and economic criticality in the correction/qualification of local development policies and urban-scale intervention practices that determine strong impacts on the human settlements system both in terms of identity (cultural impact) and the environment (impacts on natural ecosystem components). even though the literature in the field revolves around the term “regeneration”, it is merely a defensive wall used to repel haphazard building and design strategies employed by indifferent operators. it doesn’t seem like it’s the time to completely abandon the use of regeneration as some case studies are currently interconnected and even inspiring. in this regard, we see the possibility of supporting the concept of regeneration and realizing its importance on the condition that some principles, criteria and indicators must be solid and scientifically recognized and duly dialectised as the theories of territorialists (sdt, 2013) and those in the field of planning and urban and architectural design, especially in cases of comparison with the existing cultural, economic, social and environmental heritage to be protected and valorized. territorial regeneration now has features that can be considered as an opportunity to redeliver the social and economic peripheries of the weak territories for raising the quality of life. trying to link functional different approaches such as regeneration into the concept of urban planning/urban planning and territorial approaches can serve to provide a meaningful basis not only for defining but, above all, for the implementation of sustainable local development policies and interventions. territorial approaches seeking to find a balance in the engagement between critical thinking based on the knowledge of real resources at stake and tactics and design intervention strategies need a clever combination of analysis and attribution of royal rooting values in humans. this is to define both urban and extra-urban landscapes so as to re-elaborate and contextualize the new uses and the flexibility that often depart from the ways in which traditions of reuse, recovery, and retraining have traditionally been entrusted to historical, architectural and landscape heritage. in the territorialist key, regeneration can be identified in the third principle of territoriality, for ”knowledge and values expressed by the local population are the basis for the development of a vital territory capable of selfgenerating. to this end, it is the primary task of research and territorial action to investigate the many local cognitive and value frameworks present locally and translate them to construct a connective infra-language that can express common local projects ” (sdt, 2011). in the spatial design sphere, another aspect is the indispensable bond that, according to the european charter for architectural heritage (council of europe, 1975), must be present between conservation and planning: this link today is essential to portray the implicit link between the project culture and the planning culture. this approach to the culture of the project can best be distinguished by the reference to three ways of thinking and acting which together could form the basis of a theory based on that culture: 1. best preservation is transformation (samonà, 1980; collovà, 2012); 2. there is no urban transformation without urban conservation (pracchi, 2017; prescia, 2016); 3. there is no innovative urban planning without social innovation (tyrwhitt, 1947; mumford, 1961; concilio et al., 2012; marsh, molinari & trapani, 2013). pg. 71 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the hypothesis of this paper is that the study for the understanding of urban and extra-urban historical dynamics aims to intervene in the production of urban landscapes on individual artifacts, continuously receiving stimuli from these three different approaches to conservation and the urban/territorial regeneration: the first affirms the culture of the project as the basis of the possibility and sustainability of transformation, the second argument affirms the need for integration between planning and conservation while the third recaptures the notion of centrality of the human dimension in every type of transformation of the space of cities and of territories. 1.2. on the landscape concept the themes pertaining to the landscape-environmental sphere must be faced in a multidisciplinary manner, being endowed with such complexity that the approaches that concern them often diverge so much that they have very little in common. if a bias towards considering natural landscapes as worthy of protection is evident in historical, cultural, and judicial literature, that is because of certain cultural reason. in that regard, we can refer to the material dimension (objective) formed by the set of material elements that make up both the intangible dimension (subjective) as an intangible image that is a result of the encounter between those elements themselves and the subject that perceives and interprets them according to their own cognitive and emotional patterns. it is a point of view according to which the set of elements that generate a landscape become an object of interest not because they refer to natural and anthropic processes whose operating rules are to be explained, but as a tangible representation of the universe of symbolic values and cultural activities that animate the actions of society. the polysemy of the landscape (socco, 2000) also refers to the different way in which it is understood, on the one hand, by common sense and, on the other, by the disciplines that deal with it, which have always understood it according to the conception. it is also embraced by the european landscape convention (cep, 2000), for which it is the tangible expression of the interactions between the population and its environment, the result of precise territorial evolutionary dynamics, locally endowed with cultural depth. in the cep it is defined as ”a certain part of the territory, as it is perceived by the populations, whose character derives from the action of natural and/or human factors and their interrelations”; in this way, the landscape is distinguished from other geographical concepts, first of all, that of the territory, precisely highlighting the nature of ”perceived object”. if the territory is, in fact, the ”space organized by man”, the landscape is the ”subjective projection of the territory or the corresponding mental and sentimental projection of the territory acted [...]” (turri, 2003). alternatively, according to common sense, the landscape is far from assuming this connotation of ”empirical manifestation of territoriality” (turco, 2002), it is rather associated with the panorama, or with something worth stopping to watch for the beauty or for the natural or cultural value that is for the relative characters of exceptionality. in this context, it is interesting to underline how the population-landscape relationship can be observed according to two different perspectives: the former focuses on individual perceptions and focuses its attention on the preferences accorded by individuals to certain types or to certain landscape transformations. the latter investigates the social representations understood as collective constructions whose value (cultural and symbolic) is shared as a whole, thus strongly contributing to the strengthening of the identity ties between individuals and their territory (dematteis & ferlaino, 2003; dematteis & governa, 2005; dematteis, 1985, 1989, 1995; castiglioni & de marchi, 2009). particularly, these links originate from a dialectical process of continuous negotiation built on otherness, which makes identity itself a mutable and evolutionary construct which, by its social nature, causes it to be decomposed into many different facets, as is the subject, configuring it as an entity that is anything but monolithic. through the same, the individual tries to give coherence and continuity to his own existence, finding and reconstructing his own equilibrium over time and through the changes he is called to face. in this sense, personal identity acquires, on the one hand, the locative function which places the subject in a system of relationships by tracing boundaries pg. 72 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and, on the other, the integrative function, which allows not only a discontinuity with other individuals, but also a continuity with oneself, thus giving coherence to one’s existential path (sciolla, 2002). these functions are valid not only for individual identity but also for that of social groups that give their own collective identity. in this case, the locative function is given by territorial or symbolic boundaries (magnaghi, 2003). alternatively, identity refers to a process that is, in part, consciousness of self-recognition through which the individual or the community, in general, take possession of elements of a given culture, sometimes modifying and re-elaborating them consistently (la cecla, 1998, 2004; strauss, 1986). on the other hand, cultural identity refers to processes that are often unconscious and linked to the set of activities, habits, customs, ways of life and values that a certain human group characterized by strong social relations within it and established in a territory for which it has a strong sense of rooting uses as a key to understanding reality, passing it down from generation to generation (vallega, 2003, 2008; turco, 2002, 2003; turri, 1974, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2003). 1.3. maredolce: a case study of urban-rural landscape regeneration the landscape of the old conca d’oro (mandalà, 2017; barbera, 2012), wherein palermo is enclosed, evolved throughout the centuries from a swampy ensemble where dwarf elephants and, perhaps, humans lived to the modern, tragic cementation which still takes place today at a sustained pace. periodically, the design of the landscape underwent changes that resulted in the apotheosis of the citrus-fruit gardens and the fragrance of their flowers. this phase marked a time of great wealth for the city, or rather for its ruling class in a context of international trade development. in truth, the palermo of “lemons and mandarins” was a rather brief period in the history of the land. however, due to human “short memory,” the ancient ‘conca d’oro’ ended up characterizing the city and its inhabitants. nevertheless, it’s still possible to learn of one’s past if one wishes to do so. as it’s known, there are a few fundamental elements that make up a landscape: its orography and geology, the climate and human intervention. 2. maredolce and the city of palermo 2.1. the urban-rural landscape context of the ancient garden of maredolce palermo is defined by a ring of mountains (dolomite limestones), over 1,000 meters tall, and by a corrugated plain that extends towards the sea. the ladder is engraved by various waterways that have heavily marked the landscape, such as the oreto or abbas rivers, as well as the two rivulets of the old town: papireto and cannizzaro (scinà, 1818; todaro, 2014). the plain presents a fertile mantle, usually a thin one, underneath which calcarenite benches of varying degrees of power can be found. within these benches are innumerous sources and streams of water. there are also underground basins that are more or less extensive (fabiani, 1931; floridia, 1951), where the population has always drawn water from as demonstrated by both archeological excavations and literary documents. it’s a fact that the city has always been rich in water, which was carried all the way to the residencies of the wealthy using forced conduits. scholars have alwathe themes pertaining to the landscape-environmental sphere must be faced in a multidisciplinary manner, being endowed with such complexity that the approaches that concern them often diverge so much that they have very little in common. if a bias towards considering natural landscapes as worthy of protection is evident in historical, cultural, and judicial literature, that is because of certain cultural reason. in that regard, we can refer to the material dimension (objective) formed by the set of material elements that make up both the intangible dimension (subjective) as an intangible image that is a result of the encounter between those elements themselves and the subject that perceives and interprets them according to their own cognitive and emotional patterns. it is a point of view according to which the set of elements that generate a landscape become an object of interest not because they refer to natural pg. 73 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and anthropic processes whose operating rules are to be explained, but as a tangible representation of the universe of symbolic values and cultural activities that animate the actions of society. the polysemy of the landscape (socco, 2000) also refers to the different way in which it is understood, on the one hand, by common sense and, on the other, by the disciplines that deal with it, which have always understood it according to the conception. it is also embraced by the european landscape convention (cep, 2000), for which it is the tangible expression of the interactions between the population and its environment, the result of precise territorial evolutionary dynamics, locally endowed with cultural depth. in the cep it is defined as ”a certain part of the territory, as it is perceived by the populations, whose character derives from the action of natural and/or human factors and their interrelations”; in this way, the landscape is distinguished from other geographical concepts, first of all, that of the territory, precisely highlighting the nature of ”perceived object”. if the territory is, in fact, the ”space organized by man”, the landscape is the ”subjective projection of the territory or the corresponding mental and sentimental projection of the territory acted (...)” (turri, 2003: 23). alternatively, according to common sense, the landscape is far from assuming this connotation of ”empirical manifestation of territoriality” (turco, 2002: 39), it is rather associated with the panorama, or with something worth stopping to watch for the beauty or for the natural or cultural value that is for the relative characters of exceptionality. in this context, it is interesting to underline how the population-landscape relationship can be observed according to two different perspectives: the former focuses on individual perceptions and focuses its attention on the preferences accorded by individuals to certain types or to certain landscape transformations. the latter investigates the social representations understood as collective constructions whose value (cultural and symbolic) is shared as a whole, thus strongly contributing to the strengthening of the identity ties between individuals and their territory (dematteis& ferlaino, 2003; dematteis & governa, 2005; dematteis, 1985, 1989a, 1989b, 1995; castiglioni & de marchi, 2009). particularly, these links originate from a dialectical process of continuous negotiation built on otherness, which makes identity itself a mutable and evolutionary construct which, by its social nature, causes it to be decomposed into many different facets, as is the subject, configuring it as an entity that is anything but monolithic. through the same, the individual tries to give coherence and continuity to his own existence, finding and reconstructing his own equilibrium over time and through the changes he is called to face. in this sense, personal identity acquires, on the one hand, the locative function which places the subject in a system of relationships by tracing boundaries and, on the other, the integrative function, which allows not only a discontinuity with other individuals, but also a continuity with oneself, thus giving coherence to one’s existential path (sciolla, 2002: 144-145). these functions are valid not only for individual identity but also for that of social groups that give their own collective identity. in this case, the locative function is given by territorial or symbolic boundaries (magnaghi, 2003). alternatively, identity refers to a process that is, in part, consciousness of self-recognition through which the individual or the community, in general, take possession of elements of a given culture, sometimes modifying and re-elaborating them consistently (la cecla, 1998, 2004; levi strauss, 1986). on the other hand, cultural identity refers to processes that are often unconscious and linked to the set of activities, habits, customs, ways of life and values that a certain human group characterized by strong social relations within it and established in a territory for which it has a strong sense of rooting uses as a key to understanding reality, passing it down from generation to generation (vallega, 2003, 2008; turco, 2002, 2003; turri, 1974, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2003). ys been captivated by the image that we get from the cartographers of the 1500s of the plain being largely, but not completely, cultivated and surrounded by bare mountains (fig.1 & fig.3). the countryside, on the other hand, given its many houses and huts, seemed considerably anthropized. pg. 74 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. map of palermo and of conca d’oro by m.f. cartari – rome 1581. right: the maredolce’s site, thebridge ‘of the admiral’ (ponte dell’ammiraglio) and ‘conca d’oro’ limits. this image coincides, if only in part, with the descriptions given by arab and medieval geographers. it also coincides with the activity of norman, suebi and aragon kings who paid great attention to the use and maintenance of woods and forests. even in the first cartographic representation (pietro da eboli, n.d., rep. 1994) the royal gardens — iconographically represented in a single quadrant — are illustrated with flowers, rare plants and predatory animals (lynx). figure 2. funerals of william ii. neighborhoods of the ancient palermo during normans. liberad honorem augusti di pietro da eboli, berna biblioteca civica. at this time, our main interest is the territory known as maredolce, meaning the territory of the ancient royal palace of the fawarah. today, it’s reduced merely to the basin of an artificial lake with oriental and meridional banks given to monte grifone and the last remains of citrus-fruit plantation-fruit gardens belonging to count federico and count ciaculli. monte grifone itself, with its “nose”, pizzo sferrovecchio, has protruding marks that highlight the first identification of the conca d’oro and is the fundamental element of the context, “the nose of the great mountain” from which, “desert wind blows”. the nose itself is characterized by a system of caves, (named in italian as “ingrottati”), that will be named ‘grotta dei giganti’ (lit. giants’ cave), and it is from the nose that the springs of the grande fawarah come out, “di li pirtusi.” the normans supposedly used those springs to create the lake and, probably, to provide water to the hospital of san giovanni de’ leprosi. at that time, the pg. 75 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd woods, forests and the macchia (mediterranean shrubland) probably occupied most of the territory. in fact, it’s important to specify that we don’t know the exact borders of the “old park” even though we do know that beyond the eleuterio river laid the rebuttone feud. more to the west, on the moarda coast, was the palace of altofonte. it had two streams, which still exist today, and was surrounded by forests and/or shrublands that reached all the way to, and comprised, the territory adjacent to partinico. it is now necessary to establish a point of reference to deepen our excursion and this could be represented by the map drawn by orazio maiocco of which we know the edition published by marco duchetto in 1580/1602 (fig.3). figure 3. the arcs of saint ciro. the authors refer to the date printed in the map and mention that the most known among the geographers, mario cartari (fig.1), was the testamentary curator of duchetto’s company and that duchetto’s uncle, lafrery, came to sicily a few years before its termination in the late 1570s. this suffices to assume that the planimetry by maiocco was made before 1580 and that cartari somehow came in possession of the copper. this is basically the only map with the geographic and topographic identification of maredolce (beyond cartari) because later, cartographers identified the oreto river as the territorial limit of palermo. instead, they expanded northward where the aristocrats and great bureaucrats built their country houses, predominantly (barbera-azzarello, 2008). the map (flight of prospective bird) drawn by maiocco shows down to the left the start of the territory of maredolce with sferrovecchio (today borgo paradiso) or the “mountain’s nose” which detaches from monte grifone and the following mountain chain west that includes the “park”: that is altofonte. we can now form a first image of the landscape in our minds with the peaks and the sides of the mountains (grifone, sferrovecchio, etc.) with shades typical of the dolostones that were immortalized years later by francesco lojacono and by german, french and english landscape painters from a few years earlier and later (barbera-azzarello, 2008). the biggest difference can be found on the mountain slopes where citrus-fruit plantation are not yet present but which are instead still domain of the “ddisa” (ampelodesmos vitis), of the “piraini” (pyrus pyraster), of selvatic olive trees and, probably, remains of ‘lecci’ (quercus ilex) from the ancient shrubland or woods. this means that shades of yellow are prevalent only in the late summer (given the exposure to the northern wind), and the greens, more or less vivid, are prevalent only in winter and spring. dominants are the grey and pink shades of the mountain crests and sides. the only exception are the occasional patches of ‘lecci’ which are evergreen. pg. 76 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. reconstruction of the monumental system undergrifone mountain: the church of saint ciro, the arcs and the caverns with restsfrom neolithic era (turnbull, 1831) the road that crossed the original riverbed of the oreto river on the ponte dell’ammiraglio (lit. admiral’s bridge), is evidently restricted along its oriental perimeter by the territories of san giovanni dei lebbrosi of which one can still see the portico from the 1400s. the bridge is strong evidence of a landscape design which suggests a need to manage power rather than make an economical use of the country. maredolce (fawarah) was in fact the winter and spring residency of the royal family. the summer residence was in altofonte instead (de simone, 2014). even in the context of the geographical schematizations of the map, it is possible to sense the presence of crops and uncultivated areas that correspond to the alluvial areas and the oreto river’s mouth of which the different branches and crossings were marked. there we find the ponte dell’ammiraglio, “lo ponti del miraglia”, along with a small nameless bridge on the second river branch caused by inundations. these inundations will characterize the city in many ways from the second half of the 1500s to today. it wasn’t possible to cross the river by the seashore. it would only be possible after the construction of ponte di mare (xviii century) that will change the transportation system both from and to the city and will also change the perception of the landscape (ajmard, 1993). another important element that marked the difference between the medieval landscape and that of the 1500s, was described by marina scarlata (1988: 28) as follows: “the countryside, especially its crops and trading spots, are safe from the unknown thanks the system of watchtowers, which purpose is to watch out for the enemy and to transmit help requests [. . . ] ruins, new edifications and fortified cities; the coast is as far as ever from its sea due to this defensive line that reminds the urban city walls”. this picture, between the medieval palermo and the early 1500s one allows us to ask ourselves what the landscape and environment were like in previous years. 2.2. maredolce in the prehistory way before the romans, in prehistory, the landscape was strongly defined by a series of peninsulas and headlands constituted by the crests of the current mountains: monte grifone and the other mountains of the conca d’oro. with regards to monte grifone, the level of the water can be estimated not only through the different lines on the side where waves crashed, but also in the perforations of the lithodomes that can be recognized also in the ‘grotta dei giganti’ (burgio et al., 2002; turnbull, 1831), thus indicating that they were only partially filled with water. thus, the best hypothesis to explain the piling of bones was the movement of the backwash. however, nino mannino found some incisions at the entrance of one of the smaller caves on the northern mountain side of pizzo sferrovecchio, which can be dated to the neolithic. mannino complains about the destruction of some incisions on the southern side of the mountain due to some impending quarry, luckily closed today. the smaller caves are at a higher altitude than the grotta dei giganti, but almost at the same altitude as the site where waves crash into the mountain (fig.4). to us, today, the extraordinary impact of these caves and mountains on the landscape is fundamental to the pg. 77 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd aqueduct of scillato, which façade was carved in the mountainside since the 1800’s. below, there’s the interception system and the church of san ciro which elevates alongside the highway which today links together the mountain and the lake. it’s a send back to the observations and drawings by: scinà (1831) and by turnbull (1831). studies of today: burgio et al. (2002); mannino (1964, 2008), tusa (2002), vassallo (2012, 2015), canzoneri & vassallo (2014) and battaglia (2014). 2.3. maredolce during normans hunting was an “aristocratic” activity because it requires being able to ride on a horse and required the courage and skill to kill. one didn’t hunt the calm and quiet rabbit. the pray had to be bigger, more suited to wildlife, capable of attacking and defending itself. so, animals like deer, bucks, boars and some predators such as wolves, lynxes, wild cats and foxes were employed. the first ones need woods other than forests. the second ones look for ravines to rest and for peaks to scan the landscape. we can hypothesize an extension till bagheria since the barony of solanto sprouted like a mushroom from the legal and territorial void in the 14th century firstly with the grant of the tonnara (silvestri, 1985) and to manfredi ‘la sciabica’ in the 1365 and afterwards with the progressive occupancy of the feud in the 1392 (barberi, 1888). it’s a fact that bagheria had a huge royal forest (falkenhausen, 1980) with security guards. the forest is now lost due to turmoil in the 1300s. it’s plausible that its eastern limit was the actual ‘corso dei mille’ and that san giovanni, along with the neighboring feuds (scillata, allegranza, etc.) was already independent as a religious establishment (lo piccolo, 1995). 2.4. the rural transformation we now move on from the normans’ hunting grounds to the agricultural landscape, which was originally designed for zoo technical activities mainly focused on pigs (notary’s document dark side) which fattening process is helped by eating the brushwood and acorns. the woods’ progressive thinning will lead firstly to the abandonment of these pig farms and the subsequent growth of bovines farming; and then, bovines’ farming will decline to the level of growth of ovine farming. these are phenomena that we can see both in the change of income and on the export balance. as an intermediate stage, we can think of the scrubland (as a visual reference) that exists above cinisi, as a spotted landscape in which little cultivated properties started to arise. from emperor federico’s epistolary (frederick ii of hohenstaufen, s. d.) we can pull data regarding some jobs done in the norman park, like the installment of dates plantations (phoenix dactylifera) and the re-initialization of the sugar cane. however, the tipping point was represented by both the angioino-aragonese wars (which destroyed the dates plantation) and that led to the destruction of palermo’s landscape. it was also represented by “l’avventura dello zucchero” (trasselli, 1982) that lasted until the 1600s in palermo and until the 1700s in the rest of sicily. a midterm stage exists then (xiv cen.) in which the landscape is characterized by the effects of wildfires and the cropping of the vineyards. a fine example of that is maredolce, although we must remember that its cultivation, as it’s described in the archival documents, were mainly focused in the northern area towards the oreto where once we could find the dates plantations that were cut down and given to the chiaramonte family who will build upon it “torre dei diavoli”. due to its easy irrigation, falso miele’s plain saw great opportunity in the cultivation of sugarcane (trasselli, 1967, 1982). the sugarcane, which lifespan is at least two years, covers almost every unused plain and irrigable spot and it must be preserved with fences (drywalls). consequently, few changes took place to coercively install irrigation channels as in ordinance of 14, july 1418, that will last till the cementation of the conca d’oro. the biggest issue is derived from the vineyards’ existence because the channels had to be built along the perimeter. the landscape drastically changed after the experience of urban gardens (bresc, 1972) with properties that can be pg. 78 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd recognized through their walls and sugarcane will now cover its field for at least 2-3 years and flatter its asperity. where the terrain is no longer irrigable, cereals and vineyards will show up in place of the scrubland (fazello, 1573). it’s noteworthy that wine’s consumption was a sanitary necessity due to the easily polluted drinking water in the urban area. thus, the vineyards were highly developed and found a suitable and specialized environment in the countryside of bagheria. this is the time when fawarah changed its name to maredolce (auria, 1625). due to lack of royal control, people started to enter the park and discovered its lake and “the giants”. the concession of the royal complex to the magione will lead to its private exploitation. maybe it’s not a coincidence that a few years after the concession of the norman park, chiaramonte, who had ordered the concession of the royal complex to the magione in the name of the king, obtained the big olive-tree plantation and the guadagna. false truths of history: it’s told that the concession to magione took place due to the damages done to a garden found in palermo, while it’s correct to say that it was found in messina. the concession of the fawarah will lead to the full-time sale of water, while the building complex will be changed into a “hospital” that placed a heavy focus on thermal baths. water sales led to the irrigation of feuds both under the current via conte federico and the original hospital properties of san giovanni and to the distribution for mills (pergole) and “trappeti”. the only remains found are those of pollastra on the way to brancaccio. so, the wide landscape that can be found north-west of the “strada del buon riposo” (the good rest road) is now irrigated. in the mid-1500s (fazello, 1573) the basin is basically split into two parts of which one will remain swampy until the 1700s and the other is constricted in the area in front of the dam as tell us fazello (mortillaro, 1858): “further ahead, about a mile from here, we can find an abundant spring known as «favara di san filippo», where king ruggero built a palace that will be an amusing place for the king and it will take the spring’s name as we are told by a privilege king federico ii gave to messino in 28 june 1307. less than 400 footsteps from stratum of another mountain there’s another spring called maredolce where we can see the remains of a royal pool. above this spring there’s a grotto where it was found a very tall corpse”. we know that favara is now used to name the second spring that can be found in villabate. also, we know that in an uncertain period we could find another spring in the north-western side of the island. at last we know that on sferrovecchio’s edges it exists a fortification of which could see the tower along the 1600s. we also know that the fences within the second favara was characterized by iron doors that named the area and left base to gain a title of nobility. the matches between san domenico’s picture in the archive of state in palermo (asp) and the drawings made by auria (1625) give us some ideas of that landscape, if not some certainties. we must make clarify that the authors’ cognition of space and viability which is far different from ours. the great works of collection that can be seen in arches of san ciro are described by maja (1680) and sketched by auria. it was also illustrated in a later work found in the convent of san domenico, who took possession of the southern side of the lake almost until ciaculli. on the north-western side of the mountain we can see some fortifications that were probably dismissed later to build the church, which will be incorporated in the modern san ciro. other jobs of water containment can be found in the valley. 2.5. the comeback of agriculture in the 1700s the evolution of the marketplace, where an internal factor exists in the increase of the population, another one is the progressive debt of the aristocrats who will be substituted by another emerging class, bourgeois and bureaucrats, will lead to a new urbanization of the countryside which leads to a renewed interest in its fields and its exploitation. at the international level there may be a greater interest in the trade of gains due to an increase in the population. culturally, there’s an increased interest for agricultural experimentation and for a rational agriculture (nicosia, 1735). however, the evolutionary processes of maredolce are slow due to both the raging malaria and the economic interests that are born during the abandonment period. during the final quarter of the century the economic formula introduced by agraz and pastore contemplates the complete exploitation of the fund, including the renovation of the palace. pg. 79 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the renovation of the royal palace, intended to use the land for agricultural purposes, foresees the enlargement of the main gate and the toughening of anything that hadn’t collapsed. the pre-renovation status of the palace is illustrated in the maps by the royal architect chenchi (barbera, boschiero, latini, & ricerche, 2015), which can be confronted with the map done a few years before by pigonati (1767, see barbera et al. 2015: 78, fig.11). next to maredolce’s basin there’s an agricultural complex. once property of san domenico, the complex was taken over by federico earls who expanded it and turned it into a country residence. today, the complex is divided up among countless owners and the expansion of the church has caused grave damages to the beam where, originally, the key element was a tower. formerly, the fund, property of the magione, was registered to the convent of san domenico and later to the counts of san giorgio (federico) who had also obtained the exploitation of the waterways of maredolce or the “scomunica”. from the study of archival data, we can observe the presence of many agricultural entrepreneurs who focused solely on those crops that brought water from count federico. in a map which was once available, now stolen, one can notice mulberries on the northern side of the plain. this suggests that silk was being produced. farming and productions should have had a certain impact even on palermo’s economy, even if as niche market for the economy in the ancient sicily. mulberries surrounded the vineyards. however, vineyards are usually mixed with olive-tree plantations. from the boards attached by lo piccolo (1995), starting from oreto river till gibilrossa, we can find almost 50 churches and chapels. from this fact we can hypothesize not only the urbanization of the land, but also its peopling. it’s a new sensibility of the space that coexist with the old culture of which can be an example ‘baglio’ counts federico, that never became a villa. the making of villas and houses revolves around genteel architectures, more or less large areas repurposed into vegetable gardens and fruit orchards of family dimension. properties that are strictly irrigable are so compatible with the lands of ciaciulli, maredolce, santa maria di gesù, falsomiele while horticultural plantations increase in lands under maredolce conte federico (plantations of beans and legumes). obviously, vineyards increase as well. mainly in the northern lands of the city (generally not easy to irrigate) private hunting properties become popular (malaspina, resuttano, etc.), generally acknowledged as ‘conigliere’. at the end of the century the one belonging to malaspina, the richest prince of palagonia, will have a buck population as it’s recorded in the hunting reports of the borbonic king (de simone, 1968, 1974). 2.6. crops and the changing landscape the ancient landscape characterized by centuries old olive trees at the borders of the estates and vineyards that are more or less developed changed all of a sudden. this was due firstly to the introduction of the ‘bindoli’ or norie alla gateau (belidor, 1835; alfonso-spagna, 1875), which allowed each owner or leaser of a fund to change it from a managed fund to an irrigated one. secondly, the change that took place since the trade of lemons and other citrus-fruit plantations, even on an international level, was first aided and then surpassed by the industrial use of citrus-fruit plantation for the extraction of citric acid. wherever possible, progressively, citrusfruit plantations were grown with a predominance of lemons and mandarins (barbera, 2012). all of palermo’s countryside except for the urban orchards, which had economic viability with a stock of three crops as scillata or allegranzia (villabianca, 1777-1789; cancila, 1984) was shaping, fighting over every square decimeter of land for other usage (villa campofiorito, castelnuovo institute). there are some historic photos (morello, 1999) shows the countryside crawling with mandarins. we can also see the orchards mainly located on the sea facade. here, another feature of the making of the landscape is highlighted: the barriers of ‘canne vive’ (reeds) (alfonso-spagna, 1875). these barriers used to protect the gardens from the sea winds. the old street ‘via messina’, through the marine from torre dei corsari, in palermo, was one long line of reeds interrupted only by the villages. citrus-fruit plantations, instead, especially in the piana dei colli, are progressively shielded by rows of cypresses which delimited the fields, helped by some walls. the “firriati” became unbeatable barriers reaching and surpassing two meters in height. ultimately, by natural means (cypresses and reeds) or artificial means (firriati) the landscape became more and more defined by a grid of fields. the grid was included in that of rural, neighboring pg. 80 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and municipal roads. the first victims of this new development will be, obviously, “wild trees”, since the ‘noria alla gateau’ (belidor, 1835; alfonso-spagna, 1875) will be put in place mainly with steam engines powered by wood. even when a new way will be found, the community will proceed to eliminate the remaining forests that the aristocrats privatized, taking it away from the local farmers (giuffrida et al., 1996). in maredolce, the very tall chimneys that characterize bagheria’s, carini’s and dei colli’s countryside were only a small number due to the great presence of springs (de simone, 1974). what changes is the perception: the man is now smaller and is dominated by “firriati” that closes the panorama. only by going up the foothills can you dominate the landscape (grifone, santa maria di gesù, monte pellegrino, caputo, ecc.). the fence wall now blocks every sight (extreme defense of private property) and it preludes, or foretells, the period of great death in which people are killed with the “lupara”. before changing this subject, it’s worth to remember a fact that has always intrigued historians from the garibaldin’s epopee. the question is: why did garibaldi change route instead of going down gibilrossa through maredolce, take a terrible road and proceed through corso dei mille before reaching maredolce? the reason is simple. san ciro’s church, with monte grifone provides an unattainable limit on the western side; water receptacles (swamp and anchovies farming) provide an unattainable limit on the eastern side. therefore, a little detachment of soldiers could have blocked anybody in a tremendous massacre. this gives us a new element to evaluate this area. many painters have abundantly drawn these elements. only one thing is left to mention. the citrus-fruit plantation swarm into every field except orchards and olive-tree plantations which are maintained by the intercropping. it will last about 50 years and it will end with the loss of the intercultural olive tree because local olive trees cannot stand irrigation. citrus-fruit plantations will never be taller than 2.5 meters height. 2.7. the making of the landscape a law of 1939 prepared at the end of the fascist regime and declared obsolete establishes some rules to protect the landscape: 1. the landscape that one can enjoy from the monument, 2. the landscape that one can enjoy looking at the monument, figure 5. francesco lojacono (palermo, 16 maggio 1838 –palermo, 28 febbraio 1915), ph.: muesse galleria d’arte moderna(palermo-italy). youcan see the centenarian olive tree on the right. the poplars on the left. inthe background the dark green of the first citrus groves. pg. 81 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. the landscape as an element that one can enjoy through time and space. these are the fundamental, 100 percent modern needs we would say even contemporary, even if by now they are brutalized and reduced to a mediatic virtualism from the cultural changes of our society. here we must underline the importance of the norman interventions. the making of the lake, through the construction of the dam and the cut of the great southern channel with the water-collection system, is a key element implemented by the normans, or the previous muslim regime, under the “nose of the mountain”. we can get a pretty good picture from auria’s sketch (1625), today damaged and almost illegible due to the renovation. another element that can’t be ignored is the finish of the royal palace: white stucco. this is certain because until the progressive renovation of the palace won’t scrape away the last layer of plaster, it’ll be possible to imagine the external appearance of the building. it’s therefore possible to observe that maredolce was also covered in white stucco, as was altofonte. the city still has a wall today that, until a few years ago, shined because of the bright white finely decorated with ‘conci’ (meli, 1990). the big building complex, being the king’s private property, was not open to the public. figure 6. drawn by dufourny from original by raffaelloajola castello saraceno di maredolce in palermo. gabinetto disegni e stampe,palazzo abatellis regional gallery, palermo, n. d313.@ therefore, the palace is a strong element of the landscape which stands out in front of the lake and in relations to the woods. it is, however, less visible from the outside both because of the fences and for the system of internal courtyards. today, we have mere traces of the ladder in piazza giafar and in a drawing by leon dufourn made in naples by raffaele aloja (fig.6). in this drawing one can see the remains of a fence and of the vaulted roofs. 2.8. the period of sugar with the acquisition by the magione of the good, at the beginning of the aragonese period, the possibility of exploitation of the fund was discovered. consequently, pressures to foster alienation began. chiaramonte and the emerging bourgeoisie of palermo participated, led by the bologna which obtained rights to the management of the palace and the goods that surrounded it. since water become a huge source of income, it’s possible that the first projects downriver were done in that period and their successive abandonment will be the cause of the waterlogging with the following works taking place at the end of 1700s. both in auria’s picture as well as in the later one of san domenico we find some elements which are worth analyzing although they are posterior to the period concerned. pg. 82 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. maredolce today. resources and other urban problems 3.1. the actual components of the landscape we can define it as a triangle with san ciro as its summit and gibilrossa and maria di gesù as its extremities. the fundamental elements of the landscape will be pizzo sferrovecchio with caves and springs and the peak of monte grifone (maja, 1680). conventionally, we can say that the fundamental element that makes up the landscape is the interaction between the lake and the mountain. in fact, the mountain is the source of all the waterways and their extraordinary range (villabianca, 1777-1789). their vastness, their existence in orthogonal planes, their colors and their seasonal change are elements that alone characterized the landscape and that can’t be ignored. and their river basin is autonomous against the rivers oreto and eleuterio. the emotions that these elements provide and that allow us to abstract ourselves from the tragic and impending city, entering a fantastic dream in which can live with fantasy and history for thousands of years cannot be ignored. this includes the collections of the university museum “gemmellaro” and remembering that san ciro’s church in the fossils bank of the quaternario (mannino, 1964). from the water tower made by the “gebbia”, which was built on the western side of the island, we can easily comprehend the aforementioned fact. from this side, we can observe the mountain in all its power marked downward by san ciro’s church and by the thin line of the highway. to the right, we can see the arches and the remains of the water-collection system. we can only imagine the sparkling of the lake underneath, which waters crush on the western seashore. on the opposite side, over the citrus-fruit plantations, we can see the more or less abusive buildings standing up with violence and desperation on the edge of via conte federico, an old rural lade which today is an urban street. it’s not too hard to hide those urban disasters using rapidly grown plants and trees with a slower growth rate. the urban side (piazza giafar) of the complex presents similar if not more difficult problems, both for the existing buildings and because some of the areas of relevance became roads etc. it would be useful to approximately identify the areas of relevance to the palace, the hot springs can be used because the space in front of the palace can be salvaged and a photographic memory of the early 1900’s can be recalled. however, a citrus-fruit plantation has no impact on the monumental context. it’s not fundamental that the front be immediately visible. however, it’s preferable that the vegetation screen mediate the impact of the city, providing a surprise effect that was surely more in tune with what the old building felt like. the main opening of the complex is towards the mountain side, which is the original opening of the complex and it portrays the environment, which is fundamental in protecting the historical complex of maredolce. in its current conformation, the highway becomes an element that allows to experience the park in an internal dimension of movement, as it ties together the mountain side on one end and the beginning of the lake with the sea at the background on the other. it’s necessary to take advantage of the fact that the highway is built on pillars (already known hideout place for mafia’s weapons). in other words, it’s possible to rebuild on the sediment the viable vessel between the environmental parts. while on a visual level, we must think beyond the highway we, about the ‘grotta dei giganti’ (giants cavern) and the “archi” (arcs). the landscape towards gibilrossa -to the west of the city centerconsists of residual citrus-fruit plantation of croce verde and the following ones of ciaculli. moving away from the unattainable desire of a wider environmental preservation (rebuttone), we can take as a reference point the garibaldian obelisk made by giovanbattista basile (opening on april 4th, 1882). towards the sea we can see villa baglio federico, regia corte, vignivalles, sant’anna, saverio cavallari’s school, villa palme koenig. close by, the bathroom of queen constance, a tasteful pastiche of the 1800s realized by changing around a “camera dello scirocco”. pg. 83 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd heading north, we can note the two hamlets of brancaccio (torre pollastra) and torrelunga, with orfeo’s music. below that there’s the mill ‘mulino delle pergole’, the church of san giovanni dei lebbrosi, the three bridges: ponte dell’ammiraglio, ponte delle teste (fatta, 2015), ponte di mare. finally, we can note the landscape barriers: the highway band (see above), the railroad, the double line and the railway stations. 3.2. the most important phases of actual transformations from the country to rural-urban areas the first (fundamental) scientific contribution to the knowledge of the castle/palace maredolce was made by goldsmitd (goldsmidt, 1895; di stefano, 1955; prescia, 2012). the maredolce area was influenced by a long and slow process of abandoning the peripheral areas located on the eastern side of the city. while the countries of ciaculli and croceverde giardini will maintain until now the agricultural productive activities based on the cultivation of the citrus fruit, the actions of expansion and urban qualification anticipated from the plan of post war reconstruction and after from the masterplan of 1959-1962, will never be realized. this masterplan is known as the mafia’s plan (cannarozzo, 2011) because its effects to the city were mainly related to the buildings growth without limits, apparently. but new studies demonstrate that authors of the original masterplan of palermo, see in particular the role and the cultural effort of edoardo caracciolo, had good targets and visions (cannarozzo, 2016) but their approach was totally ignored and mystified by local leaders of the municipality governments after the planning presentations and approvals. the consequence of these lack of masterplan previsions is that the whole of this area on the east side of palermo has been left to socially and economically degrade and become marginalized. from the end of the second war until now all the municipality governments of palermo tried to realize the planning previsions and the economic initiatives to supply the agricultural activities of the east part of the ‘conca d’oro’. the palermo’s first masterplan (1959) was elaborated together a metropolitan plan oriented to the industrial development with the empowerment of the infrastructure of urban & regional transit. the first masterplan changed the first perspectives of sophisticated urban futures with new productive zones and important social services. the most important urban transformations of the ‘future’ palermo are planned for the east side zone including a new football stadium with new sports zones, a new railway station and logistic gateway, a new coastal touristic waterfront (etc.), and, above all, the planned destination for the new park of oreto river with the exception of the river inlet area (gulı̀, 1980). unfortunately, all these initiatives were not successful. one reason for these failures was probably some planning errors in implementing the public destinations, services and infrastructures. but another cause, starting at the end of 60’s until 90’s, was the strong presence of the organized criminality well known as ‘mafia’ that here have the power control of all legal work activities and of criminal drug markets at the maximum level (deliziosi, 2013; lupo, 1993; renda, 1997; marino, 1998). the development of the tied up criminal activities to the social and economic activities related to the drug processing has determined particularly a further accentuation of the phenomena of economic and the social marginalization of the zones of the brancaccio and settecannoli urban neighborhoods. these two neighborhoods derive from the historical villages of the end of the xix century and represent today part of the second town area where over seventy thousand inhabitants live (d’anneo, 2014). the urban planning vision of edoardo caracciolo was centered on the realization of the high mobility with large green insertions: monte pellegrino and the park of favorita, the ‘ring’ starting from the actual prison ‘ucciardone’ (next museum or another kind of cultural ‘farm’) crossing several historic urban gardens (giardino inglese, giardino garibaldi, villa trabia, piazza lolli, villa malfitano e villino florio, piazza principe di camporeale, villa gulı̀ alla noce, zisa, historic cemetery of ‘beati paoli’, the ‘vignicella’, historic psychiatric hospital) and finally connecting this green system with the oreto river park. but in italy and, in particular, in sicily, until the 50’s, the culture of eco-sustainability and, above all, the safeguard of the historic gardens/landscapes and of their role in forming the urban morphology was only at the beginning. the specific area of maredolce landscape in the vision of the first masterplan was safeguarded against concreting pg. 84 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd over only for a single little area (the castle with a little free space as ‘urban park’) while the rest of the old garden of maredolce was separated in destination as touristic (related to the castle of maredolce) and another part (near the mount grifone with the church of saint ciro, the arcs and the caverns of neolithic era) to the rural destination. the masterplan determines the ultimate separation of the castle and the artificial lake with the central little isle from the mountain system of historic resources. with the construction of the highway (‘circumvallation’ or ‘viale della regione siciliana’) the landscape of maredolce was corrupt because the separation of the castle/palace from the mountain and its water sources. the culture of the project in sicily during the 50’s was strongly limited at the city growth issues and consequent targets of economic and financial development. there wasn’t a sustainable approach to the urban & landscape design/planning. that was the problem that is the same until now in terms of concrete implementation in the programming policies of all the municipal institutions. then the victim of this cultural landscape ignorance was not only the city-area but the whole of the ‘conca d’oro’ (barbera, 2012). the golden basin, or in italian ‘conca d’oro’, is a term that is referred to the most important historic period of norman domination when the actual historic center of palermo was only partially built, and the rest were gardens and/or natural zones. the second district is made up of several neighborhoods including ‘brancaccio’ that is called like so because of the name of monreale’s governor: don antonio brancaccio, coming from a family with origins in naples who wanted the church of saint anna in the 1747 (now named as saint gaetano from thiene). but nobody knows this history and very few people know and frequently use the castle/palace of maredolce that is certainly the principal cultural resource of brancaccio with the bridge ‘ponte dell’ammiraglio’. people in italy know very well the brancaccio’s name as the mafia’s neighborhood because that’s where the priest ‘padre pino puglisi’ (also called ‘3p’) was killed in the september the 15th 1993: the day of his 56th birthday (deliziosi, 2013). puglisi was beatified by the roman catholic church in the 2013 and venerated. a new church will be built in a free area very close to the castle/palace of maredolce and, probably, this new building will change the landscape of this part of the city. today, in the second district (that has no name), are living citizens who belong to different social classes and each ghetto area is different compared to all the other peripheral areas (i.e. zen 2, marinella, borgo nuovo, bonagia, etc.). very poor and middle-class people are living together with several problems in terms of social security but not in the sense of social inclusion (next, 2008). social studies have not been updated after the global financial crisis of 2008. the economic situation of brancaccio’s citizens is surely augmented, but we need new social data and elaborated societal scenarios for a good representation of the social and cultural situation. now the landscape of brancaccio (mainly urban neighborhood) and ciaculli (mainly rural neighborhood) is characterized by the completion missed of the freeway overpass (roccella) and the new realization of the biggest mall in palermo in the same area (forum center info: http://multi.eu/portfolio/forum-palermo-palermo-italy/ ) occupying 49,000m2, having six cinema theatre (multisala) and attracting about 8 million of people per year. many people are aware of the forum center and only a few people know about maredolce. this poses a problem when it comes to its restoration and regeneration as the bases of its chances are promoting an equilibrate and harmonious program of new sustainable/balanced use of a very particular cultural landscape in the mediterranean basin similar to the whl unesco context in the world. 3.3. trip of social regeneration considering the societal mix of the people living in the second district, it’s not difficult to highlight the sequence of participating experiences that animated this urban-rural context despite the presence of local criminality and the low level of urban centrality. the mobilization of citizens started at the beginning of the 70’s in the restoration of the bridge ‘ponte dell’ammiraglio’ when a free association of the brancaccio neighborhood proposed to the major and the regional government that they’d like to rebuild the monument. they fought against the indifference of the decision makers and the same tendencies of the local people to damage the cultural resources that are not employed to gain social advantages. the same kind of social mobilization was for the restoration (and discovery) of maredolce supporting the safeguard activity of the cultural heritage regional authority (quartarone, 2016). pg. 85 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd this regional institution was involved in the process of recovery and restoration not only for architectonic resources (abbadessa & piazza, 2015) but also because its institutional competence, especially regarding the expropriation of the castle (savarese, 1984, 2016) and of the original lake’s entire area to the mount grifone. from the 80’s to the 2010, the regional authority, with the strong support of some schools (teacher, students and families of the neighborhood) and several local spontaneous cultural associations, together started the regeneration process for maredolce and its image for the (new positive) identity of the neighborhood. for seven years, the situation was dangerous for the destination of the castle and the park of maredolce because one of the most important criminals, totuccio contorno, did choose this monument to be his own house. the first public intervention to defend the rural landscape that survived cementation was the project “life” centered around the opening of a new rural park in the area of ciaculli croceverde giardina to promote the agriculture of a citrus farm (life, 1997). the municipality closed the new masterplan process between 1994-2004. this new masterplan inspired by the advice of pierluigi cervellati was based on the conservative approach and had two main visions: a) palermo must be a city of several cities (where maredolce will be the center of a new district with the same name) and b) the importance of the water and water sources for the design of the city in the future. with the masterplan of cervellati, the entire land of palermo can be used (not consumed) for the first time by a tool shared like a social contract oriented to the integral conservation of the environmental and cultural landscape. the public interest with the social security in brancaccio pushed the national government to finance a survey (next, 2008) to highlight the nodes to solve the social and economic development dilemma of the neighborhood; this is the starting point of every kind of cultural heritage policy. in 2010, the slow and gradual process of partial opening of the palace and park in maredolce are consolidated with the manifestation of italy’s environment fund (fondo ambiente italiano) that, in two days of extraordinary opening to the public, reported more than twenty thousand visitors. between 2010 and 2012, the university of palermo, thanks to a project of the initiative of the european commission and by establishing an international partnership led by the tuscany region, experienced innovative participatory practices using ict equipment that involved the whole of the second municipal district. the intention of the participants in the project of community initiative parterre was to start a gradual process of awareness of problems and resources of the district’s territory to build a shared agenda of practical projects and real actions to implement with the aim to ensure the desirable future by citizenship. the parterre project allowed for the organization of the first town meeting, which was an electronic town meeting (etm) that took place in february 2012. it was necessary that the etm be prepared with traditional methods of participatory planning (focus groups, neighborhood walks and planning for real) lasted four months. (marsh et al., 2013) with the approach of territorial living lab (de bonis & trapani, 2017). in 2012, the municipality of palermo participated in the ministry’s infrastructure program for urban regeneration to propone the urban renewal which covers a range of projects throughout the second district and, for the area of maredolce, calls for collaboration with the cultural heritage authority. in this important phase, the institutional agencies involved found a financial agreement with the owners of the building who insist on the square in front of the building making it impossible for its overview. with this agreement for the expropriation of the buildings in front of the castle, it could have been a monumental new plaza in the center of a degraded neighborhood. other important interventions were the construction of the tram and especially the decision on an urban destination for the new church dedicated to ‘padre pino puglisi’ (priest of brancaccio, killed by mafia on 15 september 1993 and then beatified on 25 may 2013) in a place very close to maredolce and some public schools. a new project was prepared by the municipality to upgrade the railway bridge on via giafar of great importance to find spaces for tour buses connected to future visits to the park and to the church. unfortunately, the program was not funded by the state at that time. despite the lack of funding, the cultural heritage authority may promote the integrated project again with the changes that will be required by the state or by the european commission. pg. 86 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd in 2016, the benetton foundation researched and studied treviso with its international scientific committee and decided to honor the historical park of maredolce with the international carlo scarpa award. the benetton foundation recognized the distinctive characteristics of the historical landscape by safeguarding and entrusting this task to the cultural heritage authority of palermo and then the sicilian region (barbera et al., 2015). in the meantime, a number of other measures were also in place to animate people of brancaccio, particularly significant was the involvement of pupils from different schools of the neighborhood from the center of the sicilian region (metalli, 2015) pointing to the training given to awareness of archaeological resources and cultural heritage for residents. between 2012 and 2015, the municipality of palermo started changing the planning scheme with the guidelines of the masterplan (2013) that is a city council policy document drawn up on the basis of the technical analysis of the municipal office. the general view of the preliminary masterplan assigned to maredolce is monumentally based on the presence of the countryside. the land use destination by the masterplan is related to the citrus gardens of the ‘baglio conti federico’. while the definition of urban park, that still weighs heavily on geological constraint (flood risk), will be clarified in the final version of the plan. even so, given the presence of the circumvallation (viale della regione siciliana), you may notice the lack of landscape relationship at least between the park and the foothills system of mount grifone with the church and the arches of st. ciro. today, we know that the idea of getting the public property on the entire area is a very far or very difficult accomplishment. the debate regarding the restoration of the monuments and of the cultural landscape of maredolce point to the creation of a strategy for the protection and promotion shared with the owners that would remain for much longer and that may make profits or tax benefits. certain tools and strategies may be employed to decrease land use and apply the future plan to increase the volume of buildings. we could reach financial economics solutions for the quantization of non-exploitative projects and agree on settlements that serve public interests in terms of developing an urban landscape project in the most degraded part of the city creating a sort of protected paradise for local people. once there is full accessibility to the area with minimal renovation requirements, it will be possible to propose that the park be included in the unesco world heritage list. based on the studies and research, the evidence is still missing unitary project of restoration of the palace in relationship with the entire monumental system of the park maredolce, monte grifone and the ancient thermal baths. in debates organized and promoted by the cultural heritage authority of palermo, the urban definition that protects the park of maredolce from improper to public park without there being a landscape project qualified as a guide of the private interventions was unclear. without the necessary safeguards, it may be possible for private owners to create an artificial lake as a thematic water park or amusement park and make it suitable even for bathing or for the arrangement of spaces for entertainment or entrusting experts in wedding planning. without a shared vision of sustainable landscape use for the monumental system of the park of maredolce, the risk of loss of cultural value of the area could remain very high. 4. discussion this contribution has investigated a place, its history, and the main aspects of its physical and spatial changes. we haven’t focused on other important aspects; however, we are well aware of all the studies concerning the agricultural specialties to which we refer. we cited other studies and other subsidies that have investigated many other kinds of human actions (archival history, history and criticism of urban planning, restoration, etc.) that this synthetic contribution refers to. we should resume the methodological premises relating to not what has been done but, rather, what must be done. we referred only to the first principle of the theory of regeneration inserted at the beginning of this contribution: the interventions on the cultural heritage are only possible when the actors of change have full knowledge and awareness of all the elements that compose the unitary system of the interventions. that action is needed to avoid the loss, not only of the historic memory, but also of the possible bases for reestablishing new identity processes. pg. 87 trapani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the cultural resources could become new urban community roots and replace the current consociation phenomena that make people atomized, in conflict, and increasingly isolated. in ancient times, it was a human characteristic to pass down your culture and traditions. it is noticeable that this is represented in key figures who were photographed wearing the clothes of ancient roman noblemen. so, we tend to refer to previous eras when it comes to our latest knowledge of the conca d’oro imagining that there always were lemons and tangerines and scents of orange blossoms. but, as we have seen, it didn’t happen: the history can be used, or consumed, as crutch to design the future urban cultural landscape without free contemporary solutions. the project of integrated regeneration of a given urban landscape covered or deprived of monuments will have to be contemporary because it will always be part of the inhabitants and users over time. every new cultural intervention must become ’tradition’. tradition and belonging to the living environment become, in turn, the basis of the cultural identity of the community, providing its members with cohesion and a sense of continuity with the past. these are important existential references, the intensity of which may persist over time even if changes in the social structure occur or new value systems are established through which to give meaning to reality. references 1. abbadessa, a. & piazza, e. 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(1986). la fontanagrafia oretea (le acque di palermo). edizioni giada. pg. 93 introduction methodology on the landscape concept maredolce: a case study of urban-rural landscape regeneration maredolce and the city of palermo the urban-rural landscape context of the ancient garden of maredolce maredolce in the prehistory maredolce during normans the rural transformation the comeback of agriculture in the 1700s crops and the changing landscape the making of the landscape the period of sugar maredolce today. resources and other urban problems the actual components of the landscape the most important phases of actual transformations from the country to rural-urban areas trip of social regeneration discussion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 92 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.679 development of an open-source water consumption meter for housing miguel arzate1, gerardo arzate1, javier aguirre1 1 department of the environment, division of art and science for design, metropolitan autonomous university, mexico city, mexico, mape@correo.azc.uam.mx abstract this article reports on the project "design and development of water and gas p.l. measurement devices in the housing: an approach to sustainable consumption in mexico", prepared at the metropolitan autonomous university in the department of the environment, whose objective was to develop a device to measure water consumption in the housing, which allows users to know their spending and can make decisions in favor of efficiency through the reduction of water use in household activities. the meter is made up of open source, programmable or reconfigurable software, which receives the signal from a water flow sensor and a casing designed to contain the hardware and facilitate the user's installation. both the hardware and the casing can be purchased, downloaded, manufactured and assembled at home (do it yourself). as specific results were obtained: hardware programming and housing design and as a final result: the assembly of the functional prototype with which measurements of water consumption were made in a housing in mexico. with this work we conclude that through the development of new accessible and common measurement technologies for the users of a house, it will be possible to promote efficiency in the use of natural resources in cities, increasing availability and promoting a more sustainable urban development. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords meter; water; housing; town planning; design; efficiency; sustainability. nomenclature f= flow (liters per second) f= frequency (number of pulses) cf= conversion factor (7.5) v= volume (liters) t= time (seconds) iws= inhabitants with water service (people) dcsi= daily consumption in the shower per inhabitant (liters) y= 365 days of consumption (year) 1. conceptual framework the water fundamentally sustains the environment, society and the economy. ecosystems such as wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes are indispensable for life on the planet and essential to directly guarantee a set of benefits and http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 93 services such as drinking water, water for food and industry, habitats for aquatic life and natural solutions that purify water, mitigate floods and overcome periods of drought, so they are essential for sustainable development, peace and security, and human well-being (pnuma, 2017). according to the world health organization (who) in 2017, there are 2100 million people in the world who lack access to drinking water services and 4500 million people who lack safe sanitation services. recall that 70% of the planet's surface is covered by water, but only 1% is consumable (oms, 2018). in mexico, according to estimates of the national population council (conapo by its acronym in spanish), between 2012 and 2030 the population of the country will increase by 20.4 million people. in addition, by 2030 approximately 75% of the population will be in urban locations (agua.org.mx, 2018). the increase in population will cause the decrease of renewable water per capita nationwide so it will be important to reduce demand by increasing the efficiency of water distribution systems in cities and consumption in homes, as it poses the national water plan (nwp) “…operate and manage our national waters in a sustained, sustainable and responsible way, considering climate change, population growth and the needs of industry, the countryside and urban public supply.” (gobierno de la republica, 2018, pág. 11), as well as the sustainable development goals (sdg) in goal 6.4: significantly increase the efficient use of water resources in all sectors (onu, 2018) and 11.b: increase the number of cities that adopt plans to promote the efficient use of resources (onu, 2018). according to data from the national institute of statistics and geography (inegi by its acronym in spanish), in mexico, 95% of households with potable water availability were counted in 20151, what represents that about 30 million homes or 111 million people who have this public service (inegi, 2018). however, although this number is favorable to the development indexes of the country, we must monitor and preserve this resource, since its availability over the last hundred years has been significantly reduced from 31,000 m3 to only 4230 m3 for every mexican (conuee, 2018). another significant aspect is the increase in water consumption per capita: in 1955, each mexican consumed about 40 liters a day; it is estimated that in 2012 consumption increased to 280 liters by person per day (agua.org.mx, 2018). the use of water in the domestic sector can be classified as: hydration: water that people ingest to satisfy human biological needs; food repair: water used to wash, prepare and cook food; personal hygiene: includes shower, washing face, teeth and hands; washing kitchen utensils used in the preparation of food; washing machine clothes; water closet (wc): the water used in each wc and other discharge, such as irrigation, washing, recreation (castillo ávalos & rovira pinto, 2013). in mexico there is a large number of homes that do not have drinking water measuring equipment, a fixed quota is applied to them, which causes a great disparity between the water consumed and the water that is paid; therefore if the user does not have information that indicates his daily expenditure generates disinterest in being more efficient in saving the vital liquid (sacmex, 2018). “the measurement of household water consumption may be desirable for reasons of equity and to allow volumetric charges that better reflect the costs of the water consumed by each family”. (solís, m., 2005) the growing increase in the demand for water resources increasingly requested for a greater number of uses makes it limited and highlights the fact that more efficient ways must be found to take advantage of it and take measures that allow using less water in any process or activity, for the conservation and improvement of water resources (castillo ávalos & rovira pinto, 2013), for these reasons and taking into account some nwp strategies such as improving measurement systems in urban and industrial public uses as well as promoting scientific research and technological development (gobierno de la republica, 2018, págs. 70,72) the design and development of a water consumption meter for housing in mexico is proposed, which will allow users to know their water expenditure and can make decisions that promote efficiency through the reduction of the use of water resources in their domestic activities. 1 in mexico, water uses have been classified into two main groups: consumptive use (the main ones: agriculture, urban public, industry, aquaculture and domestic), which in simple terms refers to the consumption of water by different sectors, and nonconsumptive use, which involves the use of the motor energy of water to produce electricity (hydroelectric). arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 94 2. investigation methodology in order to fulfill the main objective of the project to solve the design and development of a water consumption meter for housing in mexico, the analytical and experimental method was used, performing an applied research where knowledge was sought to integrate technologies and improve the quality of life of people. the methodology is described below: 2.1. get the set of elements that make up a system (hardware) 2.1.1. select the elements of a water consumption meter for a housing the arduino yun card (see figure 1) was selected, consisting of a microcontroller based on the amtel atmega 32u4 and the atheros ar0331. linux support based on openwrt, ethernet and wifi communication, usb-a port, micro sd memory slot, 20 digital pins configurable as inputs and outputs and 16mhz clock. figure 1. arduino yun card the ½ "water flow sensor model yf-s201 was selected, it consists of a valve with a plastic body, a water rotor, and a hall effect sensor. the sensor internally has a rotor whose vanes have a magnet, the chamber where the rotor is completely isolated avoiding water leakage, externally to the chamber has a hall effect sensor that detects the magnetic field of the magnet of the vanes and with this the movement of the rotor, the hall effect sensor sends the pulses through one of the sensor cables where they are converted into flow through the arduino yun card. 2.1.2. program software a code was programmed in wiring, based on the processing platform with c/c++ language to read water consumption in the home, where the basic syntax was used, as well as operators of control structures, variables, constants, types of data, conversions and analog functions through an integrated development environment (ide) offered by arduino. 2.1.3. download software with the ide, we download the code to the arduino yun card, execute and purify it until all the operations that will make the selected water intake, the water sensor and the arduino yun card function properly. to obtain the flow rate, the following equation was used: f = f/cf (1) to obtain the volume, the following equation was used: v= f x t (2) arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 95 2.1.4. connect elements that make up the system (hardware) the necessary physical connections between the water sensor and the arduino yun card were made for the correct functioning of the parts. 2.2. get the design of the hardware casing (see figure 2(b)) 2.2.1. design shape, function, ergonomics and usability of the casing in which the hardware will be housed a design methodology was used that includes six stages: plating the concept, analyzing form, analyzing function, analyzing ergonomics, analyzing materials and developing final volumetry (digital file in .stl format). 2.2.2. build the casing designed by means of three-dimensional printing for the manufacture of the casing, the robo3d plastic injection printer (see figure 2 (b)) was used, which has a printing surface of: 25.4 cm long x 2.86 cm wide x 20.32 cm high, the thermoplastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (abs) although the printer can adapt to various materials as it reaches a melting temperature higher than 290°c. figure 2 (a). final volumetry of the 3d casing figure 2 (b). plastic printer 2.3. obtain final prodduct: water consumption measurer 2.3.1. couple casing/hardware the final product was a water consumption meter made up of the arduino yun card (in which the developed code was downloaded), the water sensor (yf-s201) and the casing which was designed to integrate with the hardware. 2.3.2. connect water meter connect the water sensor cables to the arduino yun card. connect the water sensor to the source of origin. connect the arduino card to the electric current. identify and connect the wireless network to a computer the access point of arduino yun. open a browser and access the arduino yun configuration with the address: arduino.local/ become a client of a gateway that has an external and wireless network. search in the gateway in your local area network the ip assigned to the arduino yun. write in a browser the assigned ip more:/arduino/start/1 to start the measurement. a b arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 96 to consult the data obtained write the assigned ip more:/arduino/consecutive/1 or consult the microsd in the file "datalog.txt" 2.3.3. take measurements of water consumption many tests were made to verify the correct functioning of the meter: energize the system, verify the communication between water sensor and arduino card, verify communication between arduino card and gateway, check resistance quality and casing assembly, check connections of each one of the components, check that the flow of water flowed correctly and various measurements for the final calibration. figure 3. diagram of connection and sending of meter data then an experiment (see figure 4), which is described below was performed: to demonstrate the information provided by the meter water consumption in housing presenting spending data from a thrifty shower in the toilet of a person in one day. general characteristics of the home: located in mexico city, multi-family, apartment on the third floor, water supply to basic services per elevated tank with a capacity of 5 thousand liters, has two full bathrooms, step heater, money-saving showers brand: dica, model: 4502dp. the variables considered are the time a person takes to bathe and the liters consumed in this interval. the variables that could modify the measurement are the working pressure, the flow rate and the temperature. figure 4. measurement of water consumption arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 97 3. analysis of results with an ide supported by arduino (version 1.8.2), a digital file with the extension ".ino" was obtained, which contains the programmed code and all the parameters to measure and deliver water consumption data in a certain time, this file is free to use and can be downloaded in any digital medium with internet access. using computer assisted drawing software, a digital file with the extension ".sldprt" containing the three-dimensional model of the housing that was integrated into the aforementioned hardware, was later exported to the ".stl" extension, which defines geometries. of 3d objects to be manufactured in a plastic injection printer, this file is free to use and can be downloaded in any digital medium with internet access. with the development of the code and the design of the housing the objective of this project was obtained: a water consumption meter for the home ready to be used, which we verified with the proposed experiment, inviting the person who lives in the apartment to participate through 2 samplings; the first consisted of taking an average shower of 10 minutes (see figure 5) and the second consisted of taking an effective shower of 5 minutes (average suggested by the who) (see figure 6), with this it was possible to verify the amount of water which is consumed in the time indicated in each sample in a daily shower. figure 5. water consumption taking a 10 minute shower figure 6. water consumption taking a 5 minute shower with the obtained results we can propose two scenarios with the equation described below: iwsxdcsixy 1000 = 𝑚3/𝑌 (3) arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 98 • average scenario according to the who in mexico: take a shower in 10 minutes. 111 million inhabitants x 25 liters x 365 days 1000 = 434 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚3 (4) • efficiency scenario according to who in mexico: take a shower in 5 minutes. 111 million inhabitants x 10 liters x 365 days 1000 = 217 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚3 (5) total water that can be saved per year in mexico if we take into account the second scenario: 217 million m3. i would have a 50% saving in the use of water with only the time it took to take a shower, information that the meter gave us and that the user could consult every day. this also shows us that the longer we use water, the more data servers it does not matter if the systems are savers. the user confirmed that 5 minutes is enough time to shower. 4. discussion and reflections in mexico, there are current problems in water management such as a low revenue collection, illegality and irregularities in the water and sanitation system, informal potable water vendors, high costs for operation and maintenance, and unjustified tariffs and poorly applied subsidies. by this, in the country there are people who receive the water at no cost, others pay for it with subsidies, and even, there are people who pay exorbitant prices. in mexico city, the local government values the water for the housing sector considering the following factors: 1. the classification of the property (popular, low, medium, high), 2. the type of water intake, 3. the type of meter (which is not installed in all the houses and only can be read by the government), 4. the measure of the general consumption, 5. and a high percentage of the subsidy that is provided by the government. this methodology makes the final price very variable, difficult to calculate and unrealistic (since important environmental and economic aspects are not taken into account), causing confusion and disinterest in people about the use of water in their daily activities. the proposed meter (with an approximate cost of us$100) is a necessary tool for the housing sector in mexico since it enables people to take a clear measurement of their water consumption helping to improve the current regulation and to strengthen social participation which is important to achieve equity in water distribution, to guarantee its availability and quality, and to educate people about the importance of caring and respecting this vital source of life. the meter will also help people to save some money since it allows them to make decisions for reducing their water consumption. we can say that an action to reduce the expense of the water resource is to provide the user of a home with the immediate information of daily water consumption provided by devices (meters) that are installed in the home in an easy and simple way so that people they can carry out an adequate management obtaining as a result, a much more efficient consumption avoiding waste and excessive use of water. the search for new technologies in developing countries that are accessible in cost, manufacturing and simple installation can be found in arduino, since it is a microcontroller widely used by areas related to electronics and robotics, but currently other professions are beginning to use it to solve important needs of society, in this case, has been used by the architecture to obtain a product that helps users of a home to know their water consumption can make savings decisions and efficiency in the daily use of this vital liquid. this project has fostered multidiscipline with the participation of architecture, urbanism, industrial design and electronic engineering, this must be considered in an important way in the design and development of new products that are more friendly to the environment. the architecture contributes the proposal of the project, the urban planning and growth of the place, the industrial design brings the creativity and technique of devising useful and aesthetic objects that a society may require to satisfy its needs; one of the most important tools that currently has this profession arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 99 are 3d printers, as they are technologies that have transformed the way of producing all kinds of objects and electronic engineering that controls industrial processes through microprocessors; one of the most used tools in this profession is the arduino since it has an integrated circuit through which instructions can be written using a programming language that allows establishing programs that interact with electronic circuits. through the proposal of the development and design of a water consumption meter in which an open source platform has been selected and a housing has been designed to be coupled in the hardware, it will allow users to share, use, and even freely build the meter in your home. in addition, this project promotes access to new technologies to be used in housing in favor of efficiency and saving of natural resources. 5. conclusions the water is fundamental for the survival of the human population and for the ecosystems that make up the earth, most of the water used by anthropogenic activities is in the activities of agriculture, in the transformation of energy, in the elaboration or transformation of consumer products and in the distribution and supply for cities with the infrastructure that requires it. the constant growth of the human population has generated greater pressure on the water resources resulting in little availability of the resource, which in many cases has brought impacts on public health in many towns or cities. in addition, we can include the current problems of climate change that have altered the rainfall patterns and poles with the melting of the main glaciers where fresh water is distributed, complicating even more, the management and distribution and obtaining of the liquid. to plan measures to conserve water resources, work should be done to develop and implement adequate technology related to the supply and consumption of water; with systems of recovery and reuse of water, with the infrastructure that allows us to infiltrate and replenish aquifers and retention to capture rainwater and reuse it and with a systematized management where consumption can be controlled, leaks can be detected and educate people efficient use to meet their basic needs. because mexico faces a problem of water loss per inhabitant in the last 100 years, it must take efficiency measures in each of its existing cities since it is projected that in 2030 75% of the population will be in urban areas. the water conservation in cities should be sought through education through programs that promote the saving of this liquid, an action that would bring great benefits would be the installation of meters in each of the homes since there is currently a large number of homes does not have such measurement equipment. this growth should guarantee universal access to adequate, safe and affordable housing, as well as access to green and public spaces, this represents a great opportunity to design and build efficient infrastructures that bring us closer to more sustainable lifestyles. implementing constructions that generate low impact on the environment, that save resources and energy in the different phases of construction and habitation, arises as a demand of society indispensable in the future growth of cities, where the lifestyle must be sustainable, promoting a behavior change that encourages an efficient consumption of resources. the main benefits of the implementation of technology to measure the consumption of water in a house and be more efficient in their use are water savings; decrease in co2; the reduction of expenses; the preservation of water resources for future generations, reduction of pressure on the state or municipal water supply network, use of water savings in other important sectors that influence the quality of life of the human being. acknowledgement we thank the metropolitan autonomous university, azcapotzalco for supporting this project entitled "design and development of water and gas p.l. measurement devices in the housing: an approach towards sustainable consumption in mexico" whit the number n-462. references agua.org.mx. (2017). falta de medidores y fugas alteran el consumo de agua no facturado. retrieved on june 15, 2018, of https://agua.org.mx/falta-medidores-fugas-alteran-consumo-agua-facturado/ agua.org.mx. (2018). visión general del agua en méxico. retrieved on june 14, 2018, of https://agua.org.mx/cuanta-agua-tiene-mexico/ arzate/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 100 castillo ávalos, y., & rovira pinto, a. (2013). eficiencia hídrica en la vivienda. tecnología y ciencias del agua., 4(4), 159-171. retrieved on june 15, 2018, of http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=s2007-24222013000400011&lng=es&tlng=es. conuee. (2018). comisión nacional para el uso eficiente de la energía. retrieved on june 14, 2018, of coverage of drinking water: https://www.gob.mx/conuee/acciones-y-programas/cobertura-de-agua-potable-agua-y-energia-bombeo-de-agua-estados-ymunicipios?state=published gobierno de la republica. (26 de junio de 2018). plan nacional hídrico. retrieved in 2014, of http://www.conagua.gob.mx/conagua07/contenido/documentos/programa_nacional_hidrico_2014_2018_espa%c3%b1ol.pdf inegi. (2018). instituto nacional de estadística y geografía. retrieved on june 12, 2018, of bank of indicators: http://www.beta.inegi.org.mx/app/indicadores/?t=0120002000000000&ag=00#d0120002000200000#divfv31140050013114005001 oms. (2018). organización mundial de la salud. retrieved on june 11, 2018, of press center: http://www.who.int/es/news-room/detail/12-072017-2-1-billion-people-lack-safe-drinking-water-at-home-more-than-twice-as-many-lack-safe-sanitation onu. (2018). objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. retieved on june 12, 2018, of clean water and sanitation: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/water-and-sanitation/ onu. (2018). objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. retrieved on june 13, 2018, of sustainable cities and communities: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/cities/ pnuma. (2017). programa de las naciones unidas para el medio ambiente. (o. m. ambiente, ed.) retieved on june 03, 2018, of strategy on freshwater 2017-2021: https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/20479/freshwater_strategy_20172021_sp.pdf?sequence=4&isallowed=y sacmex. (2018). sistema de aguas de la ciudad de méxico. retieved on june 16, 2018, service by tandeo: http://www.sacmex.cdmx.gob.mx/atencion-usuarios/tarifas solís, m., l. (2005). la escasez, el costo y el precio del agua en méxico. economía unam, 2(6), 24-42. recuperado el 10 de noviembre de 2018, de http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=s1665-952x2005000300002&lng=es&tlng=es. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.73 performance evaluation of artificial neural networks in estimating global solar radiation, case study: new borg el-arab city, egypt gasser e. hassan1, mohamed a. ali1 1computer based engineering applications department, informatics research institute-city for scientific research and technological applications abstract the most sustainable source of energy with unlimited reserves is the solar energy, which is the main source of all types of energy on earth. accurate knowledge of solar radiation is considered to be the first step in solar energy availability assessment, and it is the primary input for various solar energy applications. the unavailability of the solar radiation measurements for several sites around the world leads to proposing different models for predicting the global solar radiation. artificial neural network technique is considered to be an effective tool for modelling nonlinear systems and requires fewer input parameters. this work aims to investigate the performance of artificial neural network-based models in estimating global solar radiation. to achieve this goal, measured dataset of global solar radiation for the case study location (lat. 30° 51 n and long. 29° 34 e) are utilized for modelestablishment and validation. mostly, common statistical indicators are employed for evaluating the performance of these models and recognizing the best model. the obtained results show that the artificial neural network models demonstrate promising performance in the prediction of global solar radiation. in addition, the proposed models provide superior consistency between the measured and estimated values. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords artificial neural networks (ann); solar energy; solar radiation models; statistical indicators; temperature-based models; egypt 1. introduction affordable and clean energy is the 7th goal in the sustainable development goals (sdgs), which not only satisfies the sustainability but also saves the climate and environment. the most sustainable source of energy with unlimited and infinity reserves is the solar energy, which is the main source of all types of energy on earth. accurate knowledge of solar radiation is considered to be the primary step in solar energy availability assessment and serves as the first input for various applications of solar energy (janjai, pankaew & laksanaboonsong, 2009; wong & chow, 2001; hassan, ali & youssef, 2017). the unavailability of the solar radiation measurements for several sites around the world, because of the high cost and equipment calibration and maintenance requirements (el-sebaii, al-hazmi, al-ghamdi & yaghmour, 2010; hassan, youssef, ali, mohamed & hanafy, 2017), leads to proposing pg. 16 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd different models for predicting the global solar radiation. angström (1924) introduced the primary sunshine-based model, which was modified by prescott (1940) and has become the most widely used model around the world for evaluating solar radiation (besharat, dehghan, faghih & 2013; almorox, benito & hontoria, 2005). the study of investigating the performance of 31 non-sunshine-based models for predicting the monthly average of daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface was carried out by (youssef, hassan, youssif & ali, 2016). the models that have the most accurate estimations are recognized, and the best model among all models is also identified. similarly, (hassan, youssef, mohamed, ali & hanafy, 2016) presented a new temperature-based model for estimating global solar radiation. the results showed that the new suggested models have accurate and excellent predictions for global solar radiation at different locations, especially at coastal sites. furthermore, the new presented formulas of the best temperature-based model also provide better results compared with those for the most accurate sunshine-based models from the literature. in addition, the issue of assessing the performance of different day-of-the-year-based models to estimate global solar radiation case study: egypt was carried out by (hassan et al., 2016). the obtained results illustrated that the hybrid sine and cosine wave model and the 4th order polynomial degree model have the best estimations for global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. jiang (2009) proposes study of computation of the monthly average daily global solar radiation using artificial neural networks and comparison with other empirical models in china. the developed ann model used feed-forward back propagation algorithm in the analysis. şenkal & kuleli (2009) evaluated solar radiation in turkey using artificial neural networks and satellite data. the ann model used scale conjugate gradient (scg) and resilient propagation (rp) learning algorithms and logistic sigmoid transfer function. this study aims to investigate the performance of artificial neural network models for estimating the monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface, (g), at study location as a case study. for achieving this purpose, the measured global solar radiation data at new borg el-arab, egypt (lat. 30° 51 n and long. 29° 34 e) are utilized for establishing and validating the proposed models. moreover, the most commonly statistical indicators, such as root mean square error (rmse) and coefficient of determination (r2), are calculated to evaluate the performance of these models (besharat et al. 2013; li, ma, lian & wang, 2010). 2. material and methods 2.1. data collection the measured dataset of ambient temperature and global solar radiation between 1st of july 1983 and 30th of june 2005 are used for establishing and validating the applicability of models to predict the monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. these data are retrieved from the nasa surface meteorology and solar energy website (youssef et al., 2016; hassan et al., 2016), (“nasa surface meteorology and solar energy”, n.d.). 2.2. artificial neural network (ann) ann is a type of artificial intelligence (ai) technique, which is a non-linear mapping computational algorithm based on a black-box modelling technique. it is designed to deal with training data set in order to learn, store and recall the data to perform a multidimensional transformation between the input and output spaces without understanding the dynamic relation between them. ann is efficient and less time-consuming in modelling different complex engineering problems, such as control systems, classification, speech, vision and pattern recognition compared to other mathematical models, such as regression regression (fadare, 2009; kalogirou, 2001; lin, bhattacharyya & kecman, 2003). the ann model consists of multiple connected processing elements called artificial neurons. figure (1) shows the five basic components of the artificial neuron, which are input, weight and biases, summing junction, transfer (activation) function, and output. for each artificial neuron, every input is multiplied with individual weight. in the middle part of the model, the sum function is applied to all weighted inputs and bias. at the exit of artificial pg. 17 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd neuron, the sum of previously weighted inputs is passing through the transfer function. a simple ann with multiple connected artificial neurons distributed in three multiple layers called input, hidden, and output layer is shown in fig. (1). the network weights are updated and adjusted during the training process through different algorithms until the desired output is reproduced from a set of inputs. the training process is based on either supervised or unsupervised learning depending on whether the expected targets are involved in the training process or not. the ann training topology can allow the feed-forward and back-propagation of the information flow in order to minimize the difference between the output and the desired target. considerable computational resources are required to perform a sufficient training session. a non-linear relation between input and output variables is associated with the trained ann in order to be used to predict the output for any new input data set, which is not a part of the training data. more detailed theories and applications can be found in picton (2000). 2.3. design of the artificial neural network (ann) model proposed ann models are trained under matlab neural network toolbox, and the weights’ adjustment is performed by lm algorithm. for the output layer, a linear activation function “purelin” is used. for the training of network, the algorithm “trainlm” is used. tansig transfer function is used in the hidden layer. the input layer and the output layer, with two (extra-terrestrial solar radiation and temperature) and one (global solar radiation) neurons are used in the layers, respectively. on the other side, the number of neurons in the single hidden layer varies from three neurons to five neurons in order to reach the best performance. in order to suit the consistency of the model, all source data are normalized in the range 0 to 1 and then returned to original values after the simulation (rahimikhoob, 2010). . 3. performance evaluation the performance of the models is evaluated using the most commonly statistical indicators, namely: mean percentage error (mpe), mean bias error (mbe), root mean square error (rmse) and coefficient of determination (r2) (hassan et al., 2016). the value of mpe between ±10% is considered an acceptable value, and it is clarified by (eq. 1). the values of mean bias error (mbe) (eq. 2) give information about the long-term performance of the developed model, where the positive mbe value refers to overestimation in the calculated value, and the negative mbe value refers to under-estimation in the calculated value. the smaller mbe value refers to the better model performance, and the small value is desired. the values of rmse (eq. 3) give information about the short-term performance of the model and are always positive values. a smaller value refers to a better performance of the model, and zero represents the ideal case. the values of (r2) (eq. 4) illustrate information about the goodness of fit; r2 values are between zero and one (0 ≤ r2 ≤1), and the largest value is the desired value. the accepted range of rmse, mpe, mbe is between ±10% mj/m2 day−1[22]. the values of these statistical indicators are calculated using equations: mpe = 1 n n ∑ i=1 ( gi,c − gi,m gi,m ) x100 (1) mbe = 1 n n ∑ i=1 (gi,c − gi,m) (2) rmse = [ 1 n ∑ n i=1 (gi,c − gi,m) 2 ] 1 2 (3) pg. 18 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd r2 = 1 − ∑ n i=1 (gi,m − gi,c) 2 ∑ n i=1 (gi,m − gm) 2 (4) where gi,c is the i h calculated value, and gi,m is the i the measured value is the average value of the measured and calculated values; and n is the number of observations. figure 1. simple artificial neural network (ann) with thebasic components of arificial neuron [23]. 4. results and discussion the measured data of daily global solar radiation and air temperature are divided into two data sets and averaged to acquire the monthly average daily values. the first data set from 1st july 1983 to 31st december 2002, is used to establish models. the second data set, from 1st january 2003 to 30th june 2005, is employed for evaluating and validating the developed models using statistical indicators. the predictions of three ann models are compared with the measured data of global solar radiation. the values of statistical indicators for three ann models (2-31, 2-4-1, 2-5-1) are computed using equations eqs. (1-4). the obtained values of different statistical indicators (rmse, mpe, mbe and r2) are summarized in table 1. the acceptable models are recognized, and the most accurate model is identified by comparing the statistical indicators associated with three models. the best ann model is recognized in bold, as illustrated in table 1. pg. 19 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. statistical indicators for three developed models model mpe mbe rmse r2 ann model hdn3 0.7150 -0.0963 0.6573 0.9916 ann model hdn4 0.7754 -0.0575 0.7433 0.9892 ann model hdn5 0.1765 -0.1850 0.6794 0.9910 according to the obtained results, the three ann models have excellent estimations for the monthly average of daily global solar radiation, with good statistical indicators values in the acceptable range. the predictions of the three developed ann models are compared with the measured data as illustrated in fig. 2(a). similarly, fig. 2(b) demonstrates the prediction of the best ann model (model 1; 2-3-1) compared with the measured data. the statistical indicators graphs for the estimated values of monthly average of daily global solar radiation using three ann models at new borg el-arab are clarified in fig. 3. for mpe, all the models have values within the acceptable range and less than 1 %, with the lowest value of 0.18 for model 3. all the three models give negative small values for mbe, which indicates a good long-term performance for the models with slight under-estimation in the calculated value. as shown in fig. 2(a), all the three models accurately predict the global solar radiation for the period from january to april and from september to october. for november and december, the global solar radiation is slightly predicted. during the months from may to august, both model 1 and model 3 under predict the global solar radiation while model 2 over predicts the global solar radiation during may. these results are consistent with the values of mbe, which have small negative values with the lowest value of 0.0575 for model 2, as shown in fig. 3. for rmse, all the three models give small values, which indicate good short-term performance for the models with the smallest rmse value of 0.657 and the best short-term performance for model 1. the r2 values for three models are higher than 0.989 %, which indicate good fitting. in addition, all ann models show a slight variation in their performance with excellent r2 values, higher than 0.989 %. on the other hand, model 1, which has three neurons in the hidden layer, provides the best performance with the highest r2 value (ajayi, ohijeagbon, nwadialo & olasope, 2014), followed by model 3 that has five neurons in the hidden layer. for model 1, the statistical indicators rmse and r2 are 0.66 mj/m2 and 0.9916%, respectively. figure 2. performance of the ann models compared with the measured data at new borg-el-arab, (a) all models, (b) best model (model 1; 2-3-1) pg. 20 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. statistical indicators (rmse, r2, mbe, mpe) graph forthree ann models at new borg el-arab. from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the developed models in this study can be employed for estimating global solar radiation with high accuracy. consequently, the presented models are adequate for estimating monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. in addition, the proposed models indicate that the artificial neural network models demonstrate promising predictions of monthly mean daily global solar radiation by using commonly available data of extra-terrestrial solar radiation and temperature. 5. conclusion this work aims to investigate the performance of artificial neural network models for estimating the monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. to achieve this goal, the measured data of extraterrestrial solar radiation, temperature and global solar radiation at study location are utilized for establishing and validating the proposed ann models. according to the obtained results, the presented ann models are applicable and significant for the quick and accurate prediction of the monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. 6. acknowledgements this work is supported by the egyptian science and technology development fund (stdf). the project number is “10495” and is entitled “solar-greenhouse-desalination system self productive of energy and irrigating water demand”. references 1. ajayi, o., ohijeagbon, o., nwadialo, c., & olasope, o. (2014). new model to estimate daily global solar radiation over nigeria. sustainable energy technologies and assessments,5, 28-36. 2. almorox, j., benito, m., & hontoria, c. (2005). estimation of monthly angström–prescott equation coeffipg. 21 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd cients from measured daily data in toledo, spain. renewable energy,30(6), 931-936. 3. angström, a. (1924). solar and terrestrial radiation. report to the international commission for solar research on actinometric investigations of solar and atmospheric radiation. quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society,50(210), 121-125. 4. besharat, f., dehghan, a. a., & faghih, a. r. (2013). empirical models for estimating global solar radiation: a review and case study. renewable and sustainable energy reviews,21, 798-821. 5. el-sebaii, a., al-hazmi, f., al-ghamdi, a., & yaghmour, s. (2010). global, direct and diffuse solar radiation on horizontal and tilted surfaces in jeddah, saudi arabia. applied energy,87(2), 568-576. 6. fadare, d. (2009). modelling of solar energy potential in nigeria using an artificial neural network model. applied energy,86(9), 1410-1422. 7. hassan, g. e., youssef, m. e., ali, m. a., mohamed, z. e., & shehata, a. i. (2016). performance assessment of different day-of-the-year-based models for estimating global solar radiation case study: egypt. journal of atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics,149, 69-80. 8. hassan, g. e., youssef, m. e., mohamed, z. e., ali, m. a., & hanafy, a. a. (2016). new temperature-based models for predicting global solar radiation. applied energy, 179, 437-450. 9. hassan, g., ali, m. a., & youssef, m. e. 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(2001). artificial neural networks in renewable energy systems applications: a review. renewable and sustainable energy reviews,5(4), 373-401. 14. krenker, a., bester, j., & kos, a. (2011). introduction to the artificial neural networks. artificial neural networks methodological advances and biomedical applications,1046-1054. 15. li, h., ma, w., lian, y., & wang, x. (2010). estimating daily global solar radiation by day of year in china. applied energy,87(10), 3011-3017. 16. lin, j., bhattacharyya, d., & kecman, v. (2003). multiple regression and neural networks analyses in composites machining. composites science and technology,63(3-4), 539-548. 17. nasa surface meteorology and solar energy. (n.d.). retrieved from https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/s se/daily.cgi & https://power.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/agro.cgi?email=agroclim@larc.nasa.gov 18. picton, p. (2000). neural networks. new york: palgrave. 19. prescott, j.a. (1940). evaporation from water surface in relation to solar radiation. transactions of the royal society of south australia,64, 114-118 pg. 22 hassan / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 20. rahimikhoob, a. (2010). estimating global solar radiation using artificial neural network and air temperature data in a semi-arid environment. renewable energy,35(9), 2131-2135. 21. şenkal, o., & kuleli, t. (2009). estimation of solar radiation over turkey using artificial neural network and satellite data. applied energy,86(7-8), 1222-1228. 22. wong, l. t., & chow, w. k. (2001). solar radiation model. applied energy,69, 191-224. 23. youssef, m. e., hassan, g., youssif, z., & ali, m. a. (2016). investigating the performance of different models in estimating global solar radiation. advances in natural and applied sciences,10(4), 379-389. pg. 23 introduction material and methods data collection artificial neural network (ann) design of the artificial neural network (ann) model performance evaluation results and discussion conclusion acknowledgements http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 77 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.678 lessons learned from the first passivhaus building in qatar may khalfan1 1 department of architecture and interior design, university of bahrain, p.o. box 32038, bahrain abstract energy efficient models have become the path to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment in many developed countries. according to the energy performance of buildings directive (epbd), new buildings constructed within the european union (eu) countries are expected to be nearly zero energy buildings (nzebs) by 2020, while new public buildings are expected to adhere to this target by 2018. the passivhaus approach has been identified by several researchers as a possible roadmap to achieve nzebs. the meticulous engineering and high standards of the passivhaus building fabric, in addition to the high comfort levels, are the main reasons behind the success and widespread of the standard. recently, in 2013 the passivhaus principles have been applied to an experimental residential project in the hot and arid climate of qatar. the project is composed of two identical buildings, one built according to the passivhaus standard and the other according to normal practices in the country. the thermal performance and comfort levels of both buildings were assessed through dynamic simulation and on-site measurements. results indicated that at least 50% reduction in annual operational energy, water consumption, and co2 emissions were achieved in the passivhaus model in comparison to the standard model. this paper aims to highlight the lessons learned through the passivhaus project; first by exhibiting the passivhaus criteria that have been met, second by showcasing the outcomes of the project, and third by displaying the barriers and difficulties that have been associated with building according to the standard in qatar. finally, recommendations and general guidelines are suggested towards a possible adoption of the passivhaus standard in qatar and the gulf cooperation council (gcc) countries © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords passivhaus ; hot and arid climates; energy and thermal comfort introduction buildings have been renowned as the main contributor to energy use globally, almost 40% of energy is consumed within the commercial and residential sectors alone (laustsen, 2008). the international energy agency (iea) publication, "tracking clean energy progress 2017", reported that two-thirds of the countries have not yet established or enforced energy codes. additionally, it was highlighted in the report that the means for reaching the 2° target would be through employing energy efficient measures in the built environment (iea, 2017). currently, with the depletion of energy sources and with the alarming signs of climate change, developed nations are striving to integrate mitigation and adaptation plans in their legislation. based on the epbd, buildings in the eu are required to meet nearly-zero energy performance by 2020, while public buildings are expected to meet the target by the end of 2018. furthermore, the 20-20-20 eu targets include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 78 the 1990 level, an increase by 20% in energy efficiency within the building sector and a 20% increase in investment in renewable energy sources (european commission, 2018). energy efficient models today are recognized by many researchers as the blue-print for future-proofing buildings (carlucci, zangheri and pagliano, 2013; hopfe and mcleod, 2015; mlecnik, kaan and hodgson, 2008; schnieders and hermelink, 2006). passivhaus standard passivhaus buildings are associated within a number of studies as ultra-low energy and nearly zero energy buildings (carlucci, zangheri and pagliano, 2013; hopfe and mcleod, 2015). the careful engineered german passivhaus standard accounts for very stringent building systems. it incorporates five main pillars; (a) highly insulated shell, (b) a well-ventilated building utilizing an effective heat recovery ventilation system, (c) high definition glazing and wellinsulated fenestration frames, (d)an air-tight envelope and (d) the absence of thermal bridges (phi, 2015).the notion behind developing the passivhaus standard actually incorporated a number of energy efficient measures that have been adopted throughout different times, such as traditional architectural solutions and experimental buildings that appeared after the first oil crisis in the 1970s. a passivhaus building is defined as “… a building, in which thermal comfort (iso 7730) can be provided solely by postheating or postcooling of the fresh air flow which is required for good indoor air quality (din 1946) without using recirculated air in addition.” (passepedia, 2017). the german passivhaus buildings spread beyond germany to reach most parts of europe through a number of profileraising projects such as the cost efficient passive houses as european standards project( cepheus ), the passiveon project, the pass-net project, the pep project and the e-retrofit-kit (berrutto, sutherland and cadima, 2008). the objective of the projects was to study the performance of the buildings in different climatic conditions. in the cepheus project over 200 dwelling units were constructed according to the passivhaus standard in five different countries across europe; france, germany, austria, switzerland, and sweden. the findings were based on monitored data collected from 100 units in three participating countries; germany, austria and switzerland, the results showcased the possibility of adopting passivhaus technology in various locations other than germany (schnieders and hermelink, 2006). the passive-on project similarly was carried out to study the feasibility of applying passivhaus standards in the warmer parts of europe. five countries; france, the united kingdom, spain, portugal, and italy took part in this study. virtual residential models were created for each location based on the specific climatic conditions. the results indicated that further considerations would be necessary to achieve passivhaus criteria, especially in terms of creating a cooling load and thermal comfort benchmarks and a relaxed infiltration rate (passive-on, 2007). the pass-net and the pep projects promoted the spread of the passivhaus standard through creating networks and providing necessary information for the public and specialists (berrutto, sutherland and cadima, 2008). the e-retrofit-kit was created to endorse passivhaus retrofitting and it mainly targeted the retrofit of social housing projects in europe (the e-retrofitkit, 2007). other examples of individual projects were carried out in different parts of europe where, in most cases, a comparative study was carried out to asses the performance of passivhaus buildings against other energy efficient building such as low energy buildings, or against a conventional building that followed the building standards in each country. the outcomes of the studies focused on the energy savings and thermal comfort level achieved through applying the passivhaus standard, furthermore, the risks and challenges were highlighted in some studies such as the risk of overheating and the challenge to build and operate a passivhaus building (audenaert, de cleyn and vankerckhove, 2008; badescu and rotar, 2012; brunsgaard, knudstrup and heiselberg, 2012; ridley et al., 2013). the concept was also adopted by other concerned organizations in nations such as the us and denmark but was further altered to meet the specific climatic requirements based on the geographical location (phius,2018; mlecnik, kaan and hodgson, 2008). although the standard was initiated in cold or moderate climates, a number of experimental passivhaus projects were established in hot climates. examples of passivhaus buildings in hot regions are found in mainly in the asia and usa , such energy+ building in dubai, the passivhaus project in qatar, the austrian embassy in jakarta, and the le-bois house in louisiana,usa (brumana, franchini and perdichizzi, 2017; bryant et al., 2013; oettl, 2014; saft and helton, 2012). this paper aims to highlight the qatari passivhaus experience khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 79 through presenting the outcomes and challenges associated with building according to the passivhaus standard in hot and arid climates. 2.1. qatar passivhaus experimental project qatar peninsula, according to the koppen-geiger climate classification, is located in a hot desert arid zone, where annual temperatures are greater than 18°c and the annual precipitation is lower than 250mm (peel, finlayson and mcmahon, 2007). based on qatar’s meteorology department (qmd, 2016), the annual average temperature is around 27.3°c and the annual average relative humidity levels are around 61%, and the annual average rainfall level is around 6.6 mm ( see figure 1). figure 1. qatar monthly average rainfall, mean temperature and relative humidity (qmd, 2016) qatar along with the united arab emirates (uae) are considered the two leading countries in the gulf cooperation council (gcc) countries in adopting energy efficient policies (willis, 2015). although qatar has not finalized a green building code yet, it has shown a number of efforts to enforce green practices, such as founding qatar green building council (qgbc) and initiating the global sustainability assessment system, in addition to setting sustainability and energy targets for the country (meltzer, hultman and langley, 2014). as well as erecting a number of sustainable projects which include energy efficient measures such as the passivhaus experimental project. the qatar passivhaus project was initiated in 2013 by qatar green building council ( qgbc) and a real estate developer, barwa real estate company. the high-performance levels of passivhaus buildings were the trigger towards experimenting with the feasibility of the standard in the region. a team of experts was assigned to launch the project; qgbc, the aecom group from london, kahramaa, the qatar general electricity and water corporation, barwa real estate and other partners such as almco and qatar solar technologies (bryant et al., 2013). a site in barwa development was dedicated to the project where the two identical buildings would be the specimen for the project. 2.2. project description the project was composed of two identical buildings, the passivhaus villa (phv), and the business as usual standard villa (stv), and was designed to house a family of 4 members. the villas comprised of the following; a living/dining space, 3 bedrooms, and associated service areas (see figure 2). khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 80 additionally, the buildings had a central courtyard and a patio which shaded the two main entrances of the villas. the two villas were located in a mixed-use development barwa city, which was situated 15 km away from the capital doha ( figure 3error! reference source not found.). the design of the villas respected the traditional architecture of the region through three main aspects; (a) a central courtyard, (b) a colonnaded patio and (c) the provision of motif movable panels around the courtyard that visually restricted the view towards the private section of the villas. although the two buildings were identical in their layout, the phv was upgraded to reach to passivhaus requirements and included the following sustainable features: − an intensive 300mm insulation layer around the outer fabric of the building, walls, and roof − high definition glazing panels with low u –values − energy efficient lighting system − energy efficient cooling systems − heat recovery ventilation system with high efficiency − greywater system for irrigation − photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof of the building − operable shading louvers on the courtyard skylight − an air-tight building envelope with minimum thermal bridges khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 81 figure 2. barwa city location ( google maps, 2016) figure 3. phv and stv typical layout 2.3. methodology the performance of the villas was assessed through real-time measurements and thermal simulations. two sets of virtual models were created for each villa, one representing the villa with occupancy and the other without. the villa’s outer fabric configuration assumed occupancy and assumed household appliances usage were simulated in the software integrated environmental solutions –virtual environment (ies-ve). ies-ve is an innovative 3d sustainable analysis software pack used to measure and manage sustainable, efficient and affordable built environments (ies, 2018). two weather sets were used, one representing the current climatic conditions and the other representing future climate. as wether files for qatar were not readily available, meteonorm a comprehensive meteorological reference weather generator tool was used to acquire the present day weather data (meteonorm, 2016). for future projections, an excel worksheet based software package developed by the sustainable energy research group at southampton university was used. the climate change world weather generator (ccworldweathergen) is used to generate khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 82 future weather files according to ipcc scenario a2, for the years 2020, 2050 and 2080 (serg, 2015). in this paper, the comparisons will be presented for the present time and for 30 years from now, i.e. the 2050 weather data. furthermore, to study the performance of the building fabric, ies-ve was used to evaluate the robustness of the building fabric. this was assessed by de-activating the cooling option in ies-ve and evaluating the indoor temperature in both villas while conducting a comparison with the expected outdoor temperature. initially, both villas were to undergo an extensive monitoring period of around two years. during the first six months, the villas’ performance would be assessed without occupancy. later on, occupant behavior will be further studied, first by monitoring their behavior without taking an induction on how to operate a passivhaus building effectively, and the raming period would be assessed after providing the induction to the occupants. unfoutunalilty, the monitoring process was not completed as originally planned. however, both villas went through a monitoring period of several weeks during the summer and winter of 2016/2017. internal indoor temperatures and relative humidity levels were recorded in the habitable spaces ( living room and bedrooms) using data loggers that captured the indoor environment. additionally, three meter readings were used to assess the energy use in the villas, further interpolation was necessary to envisage the annual energy use in the villas. 2.4. passivhaus criteria met by qatar passivhaus project according to the passivhaus standards, stringent criteria need to be met to ensure both a reduction in energy use and a high degree of thermal comfort. based on the simulation results, the passivhaus in qatar has met the stringent passivhaus criteria in all criteria except for primary energy use, however, it is worth mentioning that the energy generated through the pv panels is sufficient to fully meet the load of the phv. in addition, qatar phv has failed in meeting the requirement for air-tightness. based on the blower door test carried out at 50 pas n50 in the phv, the recorded infiltration rates were higher than the passivhaus standard by around 40%. other requirements such as the cooling demands, thermal comfort levels and the thermal transmittance of external surfaces were according to the standard ( see table 1 ). table 1.qatar passivhaus villa vs. passivhaus standards based on simulation results criteria passivhaus standard qatar phv specific primary energy ≤120 135/(-186)1 specific cooling demand (kwh/m2) ≤ 27 23 overheating frequency (% of time operative temperature above 25°c) 10/02 0 table 2 continued moisture level limit (% of time moisture content above 12 g/kg) 20/102 3 opaque surfaces’ u-value (w/m2k) 0.25 0.08 transparent surfaces’ u-value (w/m2k) 1.0-1.20 0.8 air tightness (@ 50 pa) ≤ 0.6 0.9 1 negative energy demand as a result of excess energy generated through pvs 2 without active cooling/with active cooling khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 83 2.5. the thermal performance of the phv and the stv the phv and stv thermal performance assessment were carried out though investigating three main performance indicators, (a) energy use, (b) indoor thermal comfort and (c) the thermal performance of the building envelope. following is a summary of each performance indicator. a. energy use: according to the obtained results, it was evident that the phv had consumed at least 50% less energy than the stv. the phv predicted energy use through ies was around 21,000 kwh annually, while the stv energy usage was estimated to be around 44,500 kwh annually. additionally, with the consideration of the energy generated through the pv panes, the whole loads of the phv could be met with a surplus load that could also be transferred to the local grid. figure 4 and figure 5 illustrate the energy use in both villas in term of small power, lights and hvac system usages. it is evident through the figures that most of the loads in both villas are exerted by the hvac system. furthermore, the measured hvac energy use is less than the predicted energy use in the phv, and vice versa in the stv, as the measured cooling demand is more than the estimated cooling demand through ies. figure 4. phv simulated and measured energy use khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 84 figure 5. stv simulated and measured energy use differences between the measured and recorded data have been found, this may have been caused due to the manipulation of the setpoint temperature, or by the mispositioning of the data loggers or a possible error in simulation and calculations. figure 6 illustrates the measured and predicted energy use in terms of hvac use. figure 6. phv and stv measured and predicted hvac energy use the present and future scenario indicate that the phv will continue to use 50% less energy compared to the stv and that its full loads could still be met by the energy generated through the pv panels ( see figure 7). khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 85 figure 7. annual energy use in the phv and stv in the present time and the future (2050) b. indoor thermal comfort: both villas showed a satisfactory level of thermal comfort, this was assessed through the data loggers installed in both villas and through simulation. figure 9 illustrates the measured and predicted indoor temperature for the living space, both with and without occupants. it should be noted that in the phv a higher level of thermal comfort is expected especially throughout the projected year 2050. as presented in figure 11, the occupants of the stv are expected to feel slightly warm during the hottest day of the year. this is expressed by the pmv figures of above (+1) during specific times of the day. figure 8a. average measured and predicted monthly indoor temperature in phv living room khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 86 figure 9b. average measured and predicted monthly indoor temperature in stv living room figure 10a. pmv during the hottest day (phv) khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 87 figure 11b. pmv during the hottest day (stv) c. thermal performance of the building envelope: the results obtained through ies-ve while de-activating the cooling system in both villas indicated that the outer fabric of the phv was much more resistant to thermal conductivity and that the indoor temperatures were maintained well below the extreme outdoor dry bulb temperature during the hot season. however, in the stv the indoor temperatures were above the outdoor dry bulb temperature during the hotter months (see figure 12 and figure 13). figure 12. phv and stv thermal envelope performance in the present time khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 88 figure 13. phv and stv thermal envelope performance in the projected time (2050) 2.6. challenges in implementing the passivhaus standard in qatar’s phv although the phv did not reach full passivhaus standards, its design, construction, and commission involved rigorous specifications that were associated with various challenges. starting from the design stage; with the lack of expertize in passivhaus design, qgbc had to acquire a team of experts to deliver this project, which included aecom, kahramaa; the qatar general electricity and water corporation, barwa real estate and other partners such as alumco and qatar solar technologies (alumco, 2014). aecom group of london were chosen to design the passivhaus villa, owing to their expertize in passivhaus design. a virtual dynamic model of both the phv and the stv were created in ies-ve to study the thermal performance of the buildings under hot climates. additionally, the passive house planning package (phpp) was also used to calculate the energy balance and annual energy demand in the villas, and to adhere to the passivhaus standard certification process. upon completion of the drawings, and once commencing the construction, several challenges arose; first, due to the physical allocation of the design firm, continuous supervision by the architect was not feasible. however, qgbc team did not spare any effort to closely monitor the construction process. second, construction workers were not customized to constructing airtight buildings, this resulted in a number of issues, which eventually affected meeting the airtightness benchmark of the passivhaus standard. as mentioned in section 1.1, an airtight envelope with minimum thermal bridges is required to achieve passivhaus standards. during the blower door test, several airgaps were found. the first was between the building envelope and piping and plumbing work, the second was found between the outer envelope and external fenestrations. finally, the third air gap was also detected along the ducting work. the phv team tried to rectify these errors through the application of sealing materials, the airtightness of the envelope was reduced to the minimum, but still not the passivhaus benchmark. the phv yet stands as an example, of probably, the most airtight villa in qatar. based on the literature review constructing to reach passivhaus standard is one of the challenges that have been recorded especially outside of germany (müller and berker, 2013). this is merely due to the fact that the standard was originally nourished in this region and that the workers have gained enough skill to construct buildings to meet the rigorous passivhaus criteria. khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 89 other challenges associated with the construction phase could also relate to the purchase of the energy efficient building systems, such as the cooling and the ventilation system. the purchase and implementation of a heat recovery ventilation system within buildings in the gcc is not common, this imposes two main issues, the first is related to the availability of such systems in the local markets and the second is associated with the level of knowledge to make a well-informed choice while selecting a high efficiency ventilation system. furthermore, with the construction of any energy efficient building, additional costs are inevitable. the inclusion of additional insulation, high-performance glazing, and energy efficient appliance in addition to the ventilation, heating/cooling systems all add up to raise the construction costs of such buildings. in on the studies that compared a passivhaus to low energy building it was found that the option of a low energy building was much more feasible and practical in terms of the payback period (audenaert, de cleyn and vankerckhove, 2008). in case the case of qatar the phv construction cost were 15-20% more in comparison to the stv. furthermore, it was reported in a number of studies that one of the major challenges in passivhaus buildings was related to effectively operating the ventilation system (brunsgaard, knudstrup and heiselberg, 2012; ridley et al., 2013). although the phv has not been occupied during the study period, it could be predicted that such a challenge would be expected. especially during the cooler months where the cooling system may not be required and the ventilation system might need to be adjusted to ensure a continuous supply of fresh air in the villas. another challenge related to post-occupancy studies in passivhaus buildings was denoted as the overheating problem (brunsgaard, knudstrup and heiselberg, 2012). in the phv and through the initial monitoring period this problem was not evident, with the use of the cooling system the indoor temperatures were maintained at the set point temperature of 23.5°c, it was also evident that during the winter times the indoor temperature dropped to around 18°c in the phv and the stv. however, as occupancy patterns are unpredictable, the overheating problem may also rise in the future in the qatar passivhaus building or in other passivhaus building in a hot climate, despite the use of the cooling system, and given the expected projection of future climate change. discussion the gcc countries in the last few decades had witnessed an economic, urban and demographic growth. this has resulted in an increase in energy demand, especially in the residential sector (krarti and ihm, 2016; lahn and preston, 2013). furthermore, in 2006 a green action has started to be noticed in the gcc, signified by the emergence of a number of green councils and the introduction of building standards (willis, 2015). despite the presence of building codes, the enforcement of the codes has been mainly limited to governmental buildings (alalouch, saleh, and alsaadi, 2016). the passivhaus standard has proven to succeed in reducing energy use to significant levels while maintaining a high level of thermal comfort. this success has been mainly recorded in europe. in qatar and the region, the application of the passivhaus standard or any other energy efficiency standard will be bound by a number of challenges. first, due to the absence of green codes, or the limited enforcement of the existing codes end users may not consider the actual implementation of energy efficient measure in their buildings. second, due to the highly subsidized energy tariffs in the region, consumers lack concerns that relate to the costs of energy bills. while thermal comfort levels are achieved through the active cooling systems, the reduced energy tariffs overshadow the sustainable aspect of introducing green measures. third, there is a general absence of awareness in the region, especially within the consumer sector. energy agencies have provided a number of campaigns to spread the awareness and to embrace the importance of energy conservation. finally, the passivhaus exemplifies a stringent buildings code and requires specific skill and systems in order to succeed as have been learned through the phv challenges that were presented. to successfully provide a smooth transition towards the adaptation of the passivhaus standard in the region a number of suggestions could be considered ( khalfan, 2017): 1. upgrading the building codes and increasing the enforcement levels. 2. the promotion of energy efficient buildings in the region by providing subsidies for such buildings. khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 90 3. reviewing the highly subsidized energy tariffs, and providing higher rates for consumers with higher energy usage. 4. collaboration with the passivhaus institute or other passivhaus qualified bodies to provide workshops and training programmes for architects, contractors, and professionals in the region. 5. the creation of a web portal which illustrates passivhaus buildings in the region and provides best practices that suit the climatic conditions in the area. 6. the inclusion of certified passivhaus materials and systems which are available in the region to aid designers and architects during the design stage of a passivhaus building. conclusion in this research, the performance of a passivhaus building in a hot and arid climatic zone was investigated. qatar, through the qgbc, commisioned the first passivhaus building in the region. this pilot project was experimental in nature, as two identical villas were under study, one built according to the passivhaus standards and the other according to the conventional practices in the country. the assessment method was carried out by comparing the performance of the houses in terms of thermal comfort, energy use, and the thermal envelope performance. physical measurements and simulation results were used during the compersion process. results indicated that the phv actually consumed 50% less energy than the stv, both during the present time and in the future, furthermore the energy generated through the pv system was sufficient to cover all loads of the villa. in terms of thermal comfort, both villas had satisfactory levels, however, results indicated that the phv indoor climate was better for both timelines. while conducting a comparison of the thermal envelope performance, the phv intensive insulation layer has proved to maintain the indoor temperature below the extreme outdoor temperatures in the present and future scenarios. on the other hand, the stv indoor temperature closely matched those of the outside temperature, which was more evident in the future scenario. furthermore, the phv has closely matched the performance of a passivhaus building but has mainly failed in meeting the airtightness benchmark. a number of challenges are associated with the application of the passivhaus standard in the region. this is mainly due to the fact that there are no strict building codes applicable in the area. the design, construction, and operation of these buildings are likely to be the main confrontations. the achievement of passivhaus buildings are possible, this has been proved by the construction of the second passivhaus project in uae (brumana, franchini and perdichizzi, 2017). both buildings stand as an example of the applicability of the standard in the area, however, with actual occupancy and the conduction of post-occupancy studies, it will possible to obtain a holistic approach towards assessing the performance of passivhaus buildings in hot and arid climates. numerous future studies could be undertaken in the passivhaus project such as, as mentioned above, post-occupancy studies. occupant behavior is known to be one of the unpredictable and subjective aspects within the built environment and can alter predicted energy use and comfort level patterns in buildings. other possible future studies were listed in qgbc research agenda (amato and skelhorn, 2017) which included various measurements; such as the embodied carbon payback, surplus energy generation through pv panels and its connection to the local grid, pv array cleaning, indoor air quality…etc. acknowledgements the author would like to express sincere gratitude to the qatar green building council (qgbc), represented by dr. alexander amato and dr. cynthia skelhorn, who provided raw data and unlimited access to the qatar passivhaus project. the author would also like to acknowledge the support and help of mr. ahmed al abdulla, the ceo of barwa real estate, and mr. simon law of aecom. khalfan / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 91 references alalouch, c., saleh, m.s. and al-saadi, s. 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(2015) 'fast forwards: 10 years of sustainable initiatives in the gulf region', architectural design, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 114-119. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.714 surveying heritage with affordable yet accurate methods. a study case from agrequipa, peru carlos zeballos-velarde1, carlos rodriguez quiroz1, daniel herrera bustinza1, edwin rios pacheco1 1universidad católica de santa maría, arequipa abstract one of the key aspects to keep adequate management and preservation of the built heritage is to maintain an adequate registry of the monuments. in many cases, state-of-the-art technologies are being used to develop accurate and rapid surveys, which utilize sophisticated high-cost equipment. however, in developing countries that possess a rich heritage, many of these technologies are beyond the reach of their possibilities, having to rely on manual, inefficient and inaccurate systems that are still used. this research shows several alternatives of relatively low-cost techniques that allow a reliable data collection of built heritage, without losing the richness of the details of the historical architecture. to do this, a comparison is made between different methods of manual, semi-automatic and automatic data collection, analyzing their costs and benefits. subsequently, a comparative survey is carried out using the most efficient and affordable methods, proposing a methodology that leads to the improvement of surveys in historical buildings without this entailing a significant increase in costs. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords heritage survey; low-cost survey; point cloud methods 1. introduction one of the most important aspects to achieve good management of the urban and architectural heritage is to accomplish an accurate survey and documentation. these measurements will allow developing subsequent restoration, conservation, maintenance, dissemination, and enhancement of the built heritage. in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of automated alternative methods that allow adding greater quality and accuracy to the survey of heritage, especially those buildings related to pre-modernist times, due to the amount of ornamentation that accompanies this type of architecture. in order to carry out better conservation practices, the use of digital documentation such as laser scanners is becoming popular (petrovic, meyer, rissolo, & kuester, 2015). however, the high cost of these types of equipment and processing, as well as their difficulty of operating, has discouraged its use in developing countries, which, although they possess a great and rich heritage, do not have the means and training to develop these complex and complete surveys. the preferred survey method in these realities is employing a tape measure and then drawn digitally in autocad at best, which implies a great possibility of error because they depend on the ability of who is doing the http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 survey to achieve a reliable record of reality. even if the measurements are correct they are very time consuming and many details are lost in the process due to the simplification of these graphics. this paper makes a comparative analysis of different measurement methods, emphasizing its cost and operability, the difficulties of the process but also the advantages and disadvantages of the final product. many of these alternative processes have the advantage of being developed as a point cloud, which allows file sharing and uses for different purposes (meschini, petrucci, rossi, & sicuranza, 2014). this research aims to be a contribution to those who are new in the field of photogrammetry and, wishing to improve their surveying methods, have a limited budget for heritage conservation 2. the site the city of arequipa, second in importance in peru, houses a diverse built heritage, both from spanish colonial and early republican times, is a relevant example of these processes, leaving evidence of this in its urban layout of and in its unique mestizo architecture is an expression of the cultural richness of the city (gutiérrez, 2019; bailey, 2010) the domestic architecture of arequipa has followed a process that evolved from adobe constructions topped with wooden log roofs, covered with straw, to those of thick walls, made of a volcanic stone locally called “sillar”, which is a kind of ignimbrite. the vaulted roofs and domes, as well as the ornaments, were typically made of the same stone. due to continuous seismic events that periodically destroyed the city, several styles are superimposed in the structures of the city. the action of earthquakes destroyed roofs that were just placed (not joined) on top of walls, which easily collapsed to the strength of the geological thrust; the vault was a since it incorporated aesthetically as well as to resist earthquakes (quiroz paz soldán, 1983). the case study selected for this research is a mansion called "casa del corregidor abril y maldonado", whose origins date back to the 16th century. its architectural typology stands out for the use of “sillar” as a constructive material in almost the entire building elements such as walls, pretables, stairs, roofs, floors, niches, arcades, etc. this two-story house is arranged around two patios as it was a common way to spatially distribute and provide light for ventilation to the surrounding rooms. these patios also represented different types of privacy, as the most external one has a social role (and therefore it includes the stairways) whereas the inner yard ad a more intimate function. nevertheless, the latter is framed by a beautiful arcade. both patios are connected by an alley and many of the surrounding rooms are covered by vaults. currently, the casa del corregidor abril y maldonado, is restored, having a high percentage (65% approx.) of conservation from its original status. (fig. 1). figure 1. layout of the casa del corregidor abril and maldonado, drawn manually in autocad (rodriguez, 2002) the main façade of the building which is composed of two stories, made in the so-called a republican-style, which has fewer ornaments than the baroque style, yet it includes a wooden balcony and windows with neoclassical ornaments (fig. 2). zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 figure 2. façade of the building (zeballos, 2019) 3. surveying techniques peru is a country with a vast built heritage, but which has had considerable mismanagement in its maintenance, due to economic and political situations (belletich, 2015). the main problem for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage in peru is the lack of budget. there is not even the minimum necessary to start a process of surveying registration and cataloging, the first step that should be done, in order to undertake a serious work of conservation, restoration, and enhancement of archaeological assets. these neglects are being taken advantage of by land traffickers and robbers that harm the cultural heritage, especially affecting the most vulnerable archaeological sites and architectural places (baltazar, 2009). particularly there is a bias between the existing and registered heritage. at best, surveys have been developed using conventional methods, which in many cases have been incomplete, flawed, or expensive and time-consuming. 4. the use of traditional survey methods in peru these traditional methods include measurements made by hand, with metallic tape or alternatively, other manual measuring instruments include ultrasonic meter. these later types of equipment work as a “sonar” that emits sound impulses at the ultrasound level, and upon impacting these sound waves with the measuring surface, a return of this sound will be generated. the distance is calculated in relation to the return time of the sound to the equipment. these devices are useful to measure points of difficult accessibility. however, their reliability is not guaranteed as they depend on the consistency of the surface to be measured. the more solid and compact the surface, the more reliable the measurement. also, these devices have a limited range in terms of maximum distances to be measured, an obvious consequence of the sound wave system that inevitably tends to dispersion. a second stage is, already in the cabinet, to interpret and transcribe the graphic information in a scale drawing, usually drawn in a two-dimensional format in cad software, and whenever errors occur, oftentimes it is necessary to retake measurements. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 another form of measurement traditionally used in peru for surveying large archaeological sites and occasionally architectural heritage includes the use of optical levels, theodolites, and the total stations. unlike the first group, require a higher level of training and experience, since they are the equipment of better performance, but also of greater complexity. their accuracy will depend on the correct reading made by the operator. unlike the manual methods, these systems are based on the placement of the equipment at a central point, from which radial measurements are made taken. an alternative to this method is the 3d metro laser. this technology will have to be placed in a central position from where the fully stabilized and leveled equipment will be ready to take the measurements. from there, the equipment is operated remotely from a tablet and is able to record several points in space, that ultimately will produce a vectorial 3d “wire” which can be exported to dwg, dxf, jpge, jpg, csv, etc. formats from the equipment’s software. the advantage of this equipment is that computer files are automatically generated, reducing possible errors during data recording, interpretation, and construction of plans. however, the system requires a lot of practice, as the operator must first establish a fairly organized measurement sequence, and the quality of the result will depend on the ability of the operator and the number of points taken in order to build a reliable model. in the best of cases, the final product will still need a manual retouch as several details are easier to take by hand. also, it will not consider the intricacy of finer details. 5. photogrammetry photogrammetry is a technique that aims to define precisely the shape, dimension, and position of an object in space; using one or several photographs to obtain coordinates in three dimensions (quirós, 2014). for many years this technique was analog, today since the emergence of new technologies in camera and computer equipment is mainly digital (schenk, 2002). the advantages of this system are that it is a much quicker survey method, it is low cost as it does not require professional photographic equipment. it only needs a few technical and human resources. it can obtain a large amount of information (color, textures, details, etc.) there is a variety of software to process the data (various license costs) and the results show significant quality detail. the disadvantages include that the degree of precision subject to equipment and experience, it requires knowledge of photography and management of specialized software. also, edited photographs often lose valuable information for the method (contrast adjustment, color correction, etc.) and data processing software is usually time-consuming and it requires a powerful computer to process a large amount of information, especially regarding complex surveys. another disadvantage is the difficulty to measure the external form of rooftops, as it is an ideal method for surveying interior spaces. while this method used to employ expensive aircraft flights in the past, nowadays it is carried out with unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs), popularly known as drones. later, 2d and 3d computer-generated models can be created, and as they can be georeferenced, they can accurately represent the dimensions and physical features of the measured buildings. studies on the use of drones have been carried out in several places in order to create accurate models of ancient monuments, showing the versatility of this process for the creating of point clouds that store the properties of the studied elements, particularly their materials and shapes. this method is excellent to collect information, from large scale landscapes and achaelogical sites to the geometry of a building and particularly of the shape of its roof (lo brutto, garraffa, & meli, 2014; brumana, et al., 2013), however, it has difficulty to measure interiors, especially in narrow places. use of drones is highly recommended for heritage management (sun & zhang, 2018) and it can be combined with othey methods of topographic acquisition (achille, et al., 2015). a careful flight plan should be design to achieve better results for georefecing and producing the model (barba, barbarella, benedetto, & fiani, 2019). the reduction in the prices of drones as well as software has allowed the use of these aerial vehicles to become more popular, although their use in peru is still not very widespread and the rental of these services is relatively expensive compared to traditional methods, at least for medium-size and small surveys. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 on the other hand, to our knowledge, photogrammetry using a photographic camera has not yet been utilized in arequipa since it is a method that is basically unknown for cultural assessment and preservation in this city. 6. laser scanner also known as lidar (light detection and ranging o laser imaging detection and ranging), it consists of a highpowered laser moving horizontally and a mirror rotating around a vertical axis in order to cover large areas, scanning thousands of dots every second (izgarevic, 2018). laser scanning also requires a high-end computer that can store and handle large amounts of data and also special software to develop the process. this is a very time saving and very accurate and reliable technique for surveying historic buildings (nex & rinaudo, 2010), as it produces very fine-detailed point cloud models, particularly for façades or interiors, although there is also lidar equipment available for aircraft, both manned and unmanned. its cost-benefit would be related to the size of the surveyed area as well as its frequency of use, however, in developing countries, whose heritage offices usually operate under low budgets, the cost of a lidar scanner as well as the pricey software, not to mention the lack of trained staff to carry out the surveys would make this method definitely out of reach. although the use of laser scanner in peru and in other developing countries is very difficult due to its high cost, there are several documented experiences of its use for heritage surveying in developed countries, both isolated and in combination with photogrammetry using uavs, having obtained high-quality results in a short time (achille, et al., 2015; fassi, fregonese, ackermann, & de troia, 2013). 7. summary of different surveying methods as can be seen in comparative table 1, the manual method is affordable but has low quality and accuracy, particularly for historical buildings. semimanual methods are better in accuracy but difficult to use and expensive. on the other extreme, the lidar method has the best quality and accuracy, but the price of hardware and software makes difficult to afford. therefore, due to their high accuracy, ease of use, and affordability, three photogrammetric methods have been employed for surveying the house, in order to make a comparison between them. these are efficient and yet affordable ways to acquire data in historical buildings. table 1.comparative methods for surveying historical buildings method output format accuracy quality ease of use affordability traditional vectorial low low high high camera photogrammetry cloud point high high high high camera 360 cloud point high high high high aerial photogrammetry cloud point high high medium medium laser scanner cloud point very high very high medium very low 8. surveying the casa de abril y maldonado 8.1. photogrammetry using a semiprofessional camera a) equipment the equipment used was a nixon coolpix b500 camera, configured in a preset mode and with a resolution on 16 megapixels. the white balance was set to daily light and the iso sensitivity was set to 300. it is not recommended to set them in auto mode as they may vary from picture to picture. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 as for the computers a desktop with cpu core2quad 2.8 mhz, graphic board gtx 770 with 2gb vram, ram 16gb and ssd was used, and also a laptop cpu i7 3610q 3.3 mhz, graphic board gt 650m with 4gb vram, ram 16gb and ssd. the photographic survey day lasted one hour, from 10:30 to 11:30 am, on a sunny day with good conditions of natural light, free of obstacles and people. b) software several types of software were used, as shown in table 2. table 2. software use for image processing in photogrammetry software affordability quality ease of use agisoft metashape profesional 1.5 medium medium high realitycapture 1.0 low low high 3df zephyr free free high high autodesk recap 2020 medium high high c) process to achieve the reconstruction of the architectural heritage by means of photogrammetry using a semi-automatic camera, a series of technical challenges had to be overcome in the different stages of the process, which we will summarize in two phases. the first stage was the survey using the camera. the ideal conditions for the photographic record are subject to issues of accessibility to the workspace, access to ceilings, alleys, and others specific to each building; as well as the absence of obstacles such as people, animals, or any other mobile element that obstructs the capture of images.the lighting conditions to obtain the best results are daytime with a cloudy sky, as sunny days with high light contrasts cause poor photographic records during data processing, and that is applicable also to the 360° camera method. while taking the photographs, it is better to avoid rotating the camera as it will affect the quality, accuracy, and position of the final result since the software positions the image based on coordinates. it is important to generate a sequence of images that share common areas to be overlapped and pictures should be taken orthogonally, in perspective, and at different heights. the second stage was to process the images. the specialized software for processing photographic data requires that the images should not be manipulated in any way, that is, rotating them, trimming them, adjusting contrast values, color, brightness or any alteration; since it produces loss of valuable information and in many cases, the software simply does not recognize the image file. images that are discarded usually mostly due to problems such as overexposure, dark surfaces or high contrasts (fig. 3) zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 20 figure 3. image processing in agisoft. 8.2. photogrammetry using a 360° camera a) equipment the equipment used was an insta 1x 360° camera, which has two 180° lenses and a resolution of 5.7 k. in the case of the façade, the camera was mounted on a tripod and the photographs were taken perpendicularly at 1.5 meters from it and horizontally at intervals of 1.5 m each, with a buffer area before and after the building. in the case of the inner courtyards, the camera was placed in several locations until the model was completed. b) software the results are uploaded in matterpoint, an application that can be downloaded both from apple store and google play, and it provides a cloud service which delivers a point cloud and a 3d model. c) process the model is built using the captured imagery and is stored on the mobile device using the matterport app. for the construction of the 3d model, a sequential workflow must be carried out that is progressively checked on a plan layout (fig. 4). figure 4. image processing in matterport. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 8.3. aerophotogrammetry a) equipment the equipment used was dji phanton 4 pro drone, configured in a preset mode and with a resolution of 20 megapixels. for image processing a dell precision t5500 workstation was used. b) software two types of software were used, as shown in table 3. table 3.software use for image processing in aerophotogrammetry software affordability quality ease of use agisoft metashape profesional 1.5 medium medium high pix 4d low high high c) process for the survey of the façade with a drone, it has been experienced performing vertical flights every 2.5 meters, both horizontal flights, and vertical shots. subsequently, the imagery was processed in pix 4d as it produced a better point cloud result (fig. 5). figure 5. image processing in pix 4d. 9. discussion the methods used had different performances and qualities of the results. as for the façade, there were results were obtained by a combination of uav imagery and pix 4d software, as it was possible to obtain a point cloud of acceptable accuracy and consistency of materials, which can be clearly distinguished (fig. 6b and 6c). less accurate results were obtained in the photogrammetry method, which succeeded in showing the volumetry and general ornaments in the façade (fig. 6a). however, none of these methods was accurate enough to collect fine detail form details, such as metal latticework and other ornaments, as well as cracks in the frontage. to get enough quality of these elements the use of a lidar scanner is advisable. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 figure 6. results of point cloud format in photogrammetry (a) and aerophotogrammetry (b and c). also, in the case of pix 4d, an obj file can also be created, which can be easily modified in software like 3d max and can be easily exported to autocad, sketchup, vectorworks or other vectorial software (fig. 7). figure 7. results of digital format in aerophotogrammetry (a and b). defects can be observed in the latticework of the handrail. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 23 as for the inner patios, the best results were obtained by the use of the 360° camera, which proved to be both quicker and more accurate than the semiprofessional camera photography, as it reduces errors and blind points. also, matterport software can create 360° views than can easily be uploaded to vr glasses for educational purposes (fig. 8). regarding the process of photogrammetry using a terrestrial camera, a series of problems or challenges occurred at all stages of the surveying process. more than 20% of the photographic record has been discarded due to problems of photographic origin, the poor lighting conditions of various spaces; errors of parameter adjustment of the camera in certain lighting conditions or due to obstacles presented at the time of the shot. therefore, it is advisable to take some extra photographs to avoid various visits to the site. it is highly recommended to previously plan the photographic record, the position of the photos, the configuration of the camera, carry additional batteries, etc. to minimize time loss at the time of photographing the building since differences in time between shots produce errors in the photometric calculation. also, it is important to carry out preliminary tests to adjust parameters in the software to avoid wasting time at the final processing of the photometric model. figure 8. results of digital 3d model in a semiprofessional camera (a) and a 360° camera. also, in both methods, vectorial plans can be created in pdf reports, which in turn can be converted to cad by means of ocr software for further editing and easier distribution. also, several problems occurred at all stages of the process; as it was inevitable to discard more than 20% of the total photographic record due to problems of photographic origin, lighting conditions of several spaces or obstacles that appeared at the time of surveying. it is highly recommended to establish a protocol prior to the surveying process which should include the position of the photos, the configuration of the camera, visual angles, etc. it is also to take the pictures in the shortest time possible, as the time difference between shots may be subjected to changes in the lighting conditions, which produces errors in the photometric calculation. zeballos-velarde/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 10. further steps being this research a work in progress, the next steps will include elucidating ways to make a proper of these models to cad, as the totality of agencies in charge of heritage management in arequipa use this format in their daily work. also, from an educational perspective, a 3d reconstruction of past scenarios based in the final model and historical and archaeological research will be carried out, in order to have a better understanding of the evolution of this important colonial monument. these conservation techniques will be replicated in similar cases in peru. acknowledgements the authors would like to thank the universidad católica de arequipa, peru, for sponsoring the participation in this international congress and for funding the “uso de la realidad virtual y aumentada para el estudio, análisis, preservación del patrimonio edificado. caso de estudio: la casona del corregidor abril y maldonado-arequipa” (use of virtual and augmented reality for the study, analysis, preservation of built heritage. case study: the casona del corregidor abril and maldonado-arequipa) research project, to which the current paper is associated. references achille, c., adami, a., chiarini, s., stefano cremonesi, f. f., fregonese, l., & taffurelli, l. 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(2016, nov. ). drones over mediterranean landscapes. the potential of small uav's (drones) for site detection and heritage management in archaeological survey projects: a case study from le pianelle in the tappino valley, molise (italy). journal of cultural heritage, 22, 10661071. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2016.06.006 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.713 farwell ạl-'anbari̇yi̇n aliaa el-dardiry1, ahmed el antably1 1 arab academy for science, technology and maritime transport abstract would the disappearance of one's building influence his own daydreams, experience, and sense of belonging? would this person remember it? would these memories preserve the demolished building? this paper explores people's memories and perceptions upon the demolition of a historical building, and their effect on the produced space and sense of belonging. it documents people's narratives as a way of conserving the building through their memories. the paper focuses on wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, a market that dates to the fatimid period and represents a significant mamluk architectural style. its location is at ạl-mu’iz street, near ạl-ạzhar street, ạl-jmmạliyha district, cairo. however, nowadays, it is just a ruin with a fence and street vendors next to it, after its demolition in february 2019. the study utilizes qualitative methodology through site visits, observations, and random semi-structured interviews with people in ạl-muʿiz street. the collected data is thematically analyzed. the results reveal the diversity of memories and their dependence upon the level of interaction with wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the ability of people's memories to conserve, not only the tangible heritage, building's architectural design and materials, but also the spatial experience, events, and social activities. furthermore, memories show people's sense of belonging and place attachment, especially to those who used to work there, even after the building's demolition. during site visits, it is remarkable to observe the ability of previous shop owners and workers to conserve their memories about wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin by using simple elements. finally, the paper shows the importance of using memories as a way to conserve wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin even after its demolition. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd's international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords memories; documentaion; post demolition; wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin 1. introduction the scope of the paper is the lost tangible heritage and the daydreamers who are bound to them. it explores memories of lost buildings, as well as their ability to document and relive that building one more time. the paper focuses on wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin for several reasons: its location, historical background, architectural significance, and most importantly, for its recent demolition that had an echo on social media and public debates. through using narrative writing, the paper is exploring the memories of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's vendors and shop owners, who have experienced it. it explores the influence of the demolition on the everyday life of its dwellers and the relationship between memories and spaces produced post the demolition. this research follows a qualitative methodology, in which it depends on on-site observations and semi-structured interviews. then through thematic analysis, the data is analyzed. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 the paper consists of five sections. the first section illustrates the concepts of memories, placelessness, and the role of memories in reliving lost tangible heritage. the second section is an overview of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, its historical background, and architectural significance. the third section, entitled "research methods," focuses on the qualitative methodology. the fourth section, "daydreamers of ạl-'anbariyin," is about the analyzed data from the memories of the interviewees and site observation. it includes three subsections: topophilia, time, and event, as well as the right to be haunted by memories. "conclusion" is the fifth and last section. it discusses the outcomes. 2. reliving lost tangible heritage according to unesco, tangible heritage is the material significant elements, such as monuments, of the built environment (hassan, 2014). however, heritage is not just a physical artifact; it is a cultural process, which people associate with everyday life (harvey, 2001). they are important, not only because of their architecture and past events but also because of their connectivity with ordinary people's lives (lowenthal, 1979). this connectivity and association help in the formation of a bond between buildings and their people, which is called place attachment (lewicka, 2008). this attachment encourages people to begin making memories and feel the intimacy about that building. memories are connected to our senses. with the help of these senses, the mind starts creating stories that could easily illustrate its experiences, and enable them to persist in life (archibald, 1999). the demolition of the building announces the end of the building's life (thomsen, et al., 2011). under this circumstance, in which the building is lost, placelessness, as relph has described it, occurs (relph, 1976). it is when people lose their sense of place (sumaiyah, 2013). despite the lost buildings, memories have their role in reviving them and the ability of these memories and their documentation to sustain those lost buildings (kenneth, 1990). 3. wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin: overview the location of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin is in a ạl-mu’iz street, near ạl-ạzhar street, ạl-jmmạliyha district, cairo (figures 1 and 2). it has its historical background and architectural style (figure 3). figure 1. location of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the black rectangle indicates wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the black dashed line indicates ạl-muʿiz street. the black continuous line indicates harit tarbi'at ūwf. (source: google earth pro. (october 12, 2018)). figure 2. location of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the white dashed rectangle indicates wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin façade and its shops which overlook ạlmuʿiz street. the white dashed line indicates the attached building. (source: https://www.elanbarienagency.com/) https://www.elanbarienagency.com/ author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 the building used to be ạl-m’aūnah prison in the fatimid period (al-malty, 2002). sultan qalāwun, during the mammluk period, demolished the prison and constructed "qaysạriyaẗ ạlʿanbr": a market for amber (ạl-maqrīzī, 1441). subsequently, according to the national archives (national archives, 1864), wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin had passed by two phases. in the first phase, before 1810, farahat al-hinawy owned and reconstructed it to include a wikālah (market), a small khan (motel), and hawanit (shops). then in 1855, a new owner y’aqūb byk ṣabry, one of the assistants of muhammad ’aly bạsẖạ (mubạrak, 1889), combined the previous functions to make a big wikālah (market), in which it includes several shops, for selling textiles and perfumes, and rooms for accommodation above them. it was a four-story building, with a courtyard in its middle and attached to two buildings. to access the building, people used the main entrances that overlooked ạl-mu’iz street, as well as, from the stairs of the attached buildings. a shop owner said that wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin used to be the keystone, in which it connected two existing buildings, through being in the middle. therefore, despite moving from one building to another through ạl-mu’iz street, workers, and visitors, through the connected passway that surrounded the courtyard, could move easily away from noise and crowdedness of the street. although in 2005, fire affected the building, its interior (figure 4), and its façade (figure 5), shops continued to function, as well as storage areas (figure 6). figure 3. the façade of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. (source: al-ahram online article, 2016 http://www.ahram.org.eg/newsq/565296.aspx) figure 4. deterioration of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's interior. (source: dardasha tareq, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztllsrwju8) 2015 figure 5. deterioration in the elevation of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. (source: dardasha tareq, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztllsrwju8) http://www.ahram.org.eg/newsq/565296.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztllsrwju8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztllsrwju8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztllsrwju8 author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 figure 6. wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin in 2015. the building was demolished in february 2019 (al-aref, 2019) (figure 7). currently, a three meters high corrugated sheet fence surrounds the ruins of the building, cutting the threads of attachment to the space, in which the building used to exist (figure 8). figure 7. the façade of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. (source: al-ahram online article, 2016 http://www.ahram.org.eg/newsq/565296.aspx) figure 8. the black continuous line indicates the fence. the black dashed line indicates one of the attached buildings. the black dotted line indicates the ruins. (source: al-mesryoon, 2019. https://almesryoon.com/story/1235663/) 4. research methods this paper uses site-based observations and semi-structured interviews with users of the site, to gather memories about wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. site visits and interviews took place on several random days in april and may 2019. the randomly conducted interviews ranged between ten minutes to thirty minutes, focusing on the memories and daydreams of people who once experienced, worked or visited wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the number of interviewees was nine from the workers and shop owners in the building and its surroundings (figure 9). despite the inability of four interviewees to share their memories, because they were new vendors and had not experienced the building well, the other interviewees were able to share theirs. at first, the interviewees seemed anxious and did not want to say anything about wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. despite earlier anxiety, they started sharing their stories. some of the interviewees felt the need to show their photos of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, although they did not have them. another one took a paper and a pen to draw a plan of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, to illustrate how it used to look like, as well as, http://www.ahram.org.eg/newsq/565296.aspx author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 the names of their owners. another one recommended me to watch a video about the building on youtube. the last one, to explain the courtyard of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, used the furniture in his shop to form the shape of the courtyard. later, the interviews were thematically analysed. figure 9. the location of the interviewees, in the surrounding of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. (source: google earth pro. (october 12, 2018). wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, cairo. 30° 02'49.02" n, 31° 15'36.42" e, eye alt 100m. digitalglobe 2019. http://www.earth.google.com [may 7,2012]) 5. daydreamers of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin inspired by gaston bachelard and michel de certeau, this section is about the interviewees' memories of the building. it includes three sub-sections. "topophilia" is the first sub-section, which is concerned with the narratives and memories of the interviewees regarding the tangible and intangible essence of the building. "time and event" is the second sub-section. it is about events that interviewees still remember. the last sub-section, "the right to be haunted by memories", is about memories and their relationship to the produced space after the building's demolition. 5.1. topophilia through the lens of bachelard's "the house of the cosmic root" and "the house of l' antiquaire" (bachelard, 1969), i could reflect on interviewees' narratives about wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, their own home, as well as, their daydreams. some of these interviewees could not remember the full details of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, due to their short-time experience. one of the interviewees mentioned: "i was new. i just used the building for storing." it may also be due to their lack of experience. another interviewee admitted: "unfortunately, i did not enter it. i could just remember its façade, as i used to pass by it." i could yet find interviewees who experienced the building. they were able to tell wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's story. they, as edmund husserl argues, experienced it in their "transcendental conscious life" (husserl, 2003). this consciousness appeared in one of the interviewees' talk: "i could remember the building itself and the people who used to work there as one family. it used to have a spirit that would never be repeated one more time". a shop owner added: "i had worked there for twenty-five years. we used to have our workshop place for crafts. all the workers are still my friends." a worker, who used to work there for twenty years, could illustrate the architectural details, such as the courtyard, the crypt, the wooden door, the wooden handrail, the vaulted shops. in addition to that, he mentioned the names of the workers and shop owners. he illustrated the influence of the crypt on his dreams; for him, it is an ambiguous place (figure 10). he described his feeling of comfort when he used to sit in the courtyard and look at the sky. another interviewee expressed his feeling of being at home, as he used to have his own exhibition room, in which he could do anything freely. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 figure 10. interviewee's drawing of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's plan. it shows the names of shop owners, the crypt's location, the fire's date (2005), the building's history (1000 years), the courtyard, and other architectural elements. for another interviewee, the essence of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin is the courtyard. he used his shop furniture to explain its rectangular shape. he mentioned the enclosure of the courtyard, which provided him with a sense of intimacy and privacy. he added that this inner courtyard influenced communication and connectivity between the workers, where a worker could call the other. the courtyard was their focal point and gathering space for eating and other activities. it was their own lived space. the courtyard also connected wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin to the other attached buildings. therefore, workers and visitors could easily access wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin and move freely between the three buildings (figures 11 and 12). figure 11. the black continuous line indicates the location of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. the white rectangles indicate the attached existing buildings. (source: google earth pro. (october 12, 2018). wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, cairo. 30° 02'49.02" n, 31° 15'36.42" e, eye alt 100m. digitalglobe 2019. http://www.earth.google.com [may 7,2012]) author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 12. a sketch that shows the attached buildings to wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin and its courtyard one of the interviewees talked about the functions inside wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin and recommended a video to watch on youtube, to understand more. he said that the building used to have several functions, besides the shops, such as an exhibition, storage spaces, and residential rooms. it was a multi-functional space that embraced the workers. they could sell, exhibit, and store their goods in one building. despite its authenticity, shop owners and workers were able to customize and invent in their shops. to satisfy their needs for organizing their goods, they used wooden or glassed shelves, chairs, and desks, which suited their shops (figure 13). some of the interviewees reached the field of the immemorial. they took much time to imagine and express the odor of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, and the texture of its wood and stone, "the texture of the stone had added to the authenticity of the building," "there were special wooden ceiling, as well as, old textured wooden handrail." another one mentioned the pleasant fragrance that used to spread in the building. figure 13. interior of a shop, on the ground floor of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, overlooks ạl-muʿiz street. (source: dmc video, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urjq_wbe6tu) 5.2. time and events through phenomenological temporality, husserl could be able to study the essence of things and individuals (young kim, 2016). i focus on the retentional aspect of präsenzzeit (gallagher, 2013). the essence of the retentional aspect is the intentional sense's preservation of the experienced object, even after it has vanished in the past (gallagher, 2013). this appears in the interviewee's narratives about wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's past events, which they have witnessed and experienced. these past events are still embedded in their conscience, and they can recall them. some of these past events are pleasant to remember. one of the interviewees remembered the first day of working in the building, as well as, the communal days. other past painful events could not be forgotten. a shop owner recalled: "i had an exhibition inside the building. it got burnt that day in 2005. its image is still in my mind. i tried to forget, but i could not". another one said: "i have witnessed all the events, the fire, and the demolition. these images are still embedded in my mind". author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 5.3. the right to be haunted by memories the demolition of the building was followed by the emergence of the three-meter corrugated sheet fence (figure 14), that gazes from hence to thence (morgensturn, 1905), leading to the formation of an abstract space. this abstract space is not just a space, but also can disrupt some social relations (lefebvre, 1991). however, against the existence of the fence, vendors are adapting and producing their spaces. this takes place through negotiating the fence. instead of it being a border, they use it as a partition, and with the help of light structures, they could show their goods. memories have haunted the space, making it habitable (de certeau, 2011). this affects the social codes, in which people practice in that space. from the field observation and the interviews, some of the vendors, who used to work in wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, still have the desire, the sense of belonging, and the right to continue working in the same place. one of these vendors said, "i have been working here, pointing at the space of the building, since i was young. even after the demolition, i put my goods on these shelves, because i feel that it is my own space" (figure 15 and 16). one of the vendors used the same sign of his demolished shop (figures 17 and 18). another one is still putting wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's address on his business card that he gave during the interview. figure 14. the fence and the adjacent buildings figure 15. produced spaces. the white dashed line indicates the produced space. the continuous white line indicates the fence. figure 16. vendor's space author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 location of the image: towards harit tarbi'at ūwf from ạl-mu’iz street. figure 17. the white dashed rectangle indicates a shop that has its sign, before wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin demolition. source: al-ahram online article, 2016 figure 18. the white dashed rectangle indicates the same shop with the same sign, after wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin demolition. location of the image: ạl-mu’iz street. the absence of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin influenced vendors' memories and everyday life by several means. firstly, it broke the connectivity between the adjacent buildings on both sides. they were connected visually so that the author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 passerby would see their exterior facades as one façade. according to an interviewee, the buildings were internally connected, and workers and visitors could freely move from one building to another through the stairs of the two existing buildings and passageways surrounding the courtyard of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin. for him, wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin was like the keystone. with its demolition, the connectivity breaks down. this leads to the use of a movable ladder to reach the first floor of one of the attached buildings. (figure 19 shows one of the attached buildings. the black dashed line is one of the existing buildings. the white circle marks the path that used to connect the two buildings. the white dashed line shows the ladder. the white continuous line indicates the fence.) furthermore, instead of the connection provided by wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin between the two attached buildings, vendors have to use ạl-muʿiz street. figure 19 one of the attached buildings. location of the image: towards harit tarbi'at ūwf from ạl-mu’iz street. secondly, the absence of the courtyard impacts the vendors' private world. instead of the centralized gathering focal point, in which different activities take place, linearity becomes the norm. vendors align their goods with the fence. (figure 20 shows the alignment of shops with the fence. the continuous black line indicates the fence. the white dashed line indicates the space which is occupied by the vendors sitting in ạl-mu’iz street and using the fence and light structures in showing their goods.) ạl-mu’iz street becomes their gathering point, where vendors gather and commune. there is no privacy, as mentioned by one of the vendors. the presence of vendors in the street influences the spatial experience and perception of walkers. one of the vendors declared: "something changed, the building used to provide a sense of intimacy." author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 figure 20. the alignment of shops with the fence. location of the image: ạl-mu’iz street. finally, wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's embracement of a multiplicity of functions no longer exists. nowadays, some of the vendors leave their goods or their light structure unattended in the street. others have to carry and reorganize their goods every day, as they could not leave their goods and they have to store them in another place (figure 21 shows vendors storing the goods. the black continuous line indicates the fence, in which vendors use it as a partition. the black dashed line indicates the storage of the vendors, overlooking al-muʿiz street.). despite the absence of wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, as well as, the existence of the fence as a new border, the vendors have their spatial language. every vendor knows his territory. (figure 22 shows the territoriality. the black continuous line indicates the fence. the white dashed line indicates the vendors' boundaries). they could define their boundaries, by using their light structures. even if the vendors remove their goods and shelves, their own space is still identified. one of the vendors mentions: "most vendors here used to work in the building. even the new one, we treat each other as one family". figure 21. vendors storing the goods. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 figure 22. territoriality. location of the image: ạl-mu’iz street. 6. conclusion the objective of the paper is to explore people's memories of a demolished building and their ability to document and conserve it. moreover, it explores the role of these memories in the produced space after the building's demolition. i have chosen wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin, for its architectural authenticity, historical significance, as well as its role in ordinary people's everyday life. from the thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews, i deduce several points. firstly, people, who self-experience the building, memorize it, and become attached to it. this appears in the interviewees' detailed narratives, as well as their drawings. secondly, the building's architectural design influences people's memories, experiences, and dreams. this point is expressed in the influence of the crypt, as well as the courtyard, on the interviewees. finally, even after the building was lost, people can recall the events that they witnessed in that building. this takes place in the interviewees' memories of the building's significant events. furthermore, it shows the ability of memories to express and document a demolished building. after the wikāliẗ ạl-’anbariyin's demolition, however, the existence of the fence, that represents the power, social spaces have been produced by vendors, in which some of them used to work. this is because, from the interviews, they have the desire, sense of belonging, as well as the feeling of having the right to shape their own city. the absence of the building impacts the workers' lives. it changed from an enclosure, centralised and private gathering space, to a public street space aligned with the existing fence. despite this, vendors can organize their produced space and define their boundaries. correspondingly, from the interviews and site observation, memories have their influence on the produced space. this could be seen, through the signs that the vendors use, in addition to vendors' spatial experience and way of communication. acknowledgements after thanking allah, the prophet, my family, i would like to thank dr. ahmed el antably, for his support, in addition to the interviewees for their collaboration. furthermore, i would like to dedicate this paper to the daydreamers, who memorize and document their narratives about their built environment. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 references al-malty, z.(2002). nail al-amal fi zail al-diwal, part 4. al-assrya publishing house, beirut, lebanon. al-maqrizi, t. 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(2002). architecture in everyday life. new literary history. 33. 707-723. 10.1353/nlh.2002.0046. http://www.alb-neckar-schwarzwald.de/morgenstern/morgenstern_poems.html http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.833 the role of value engineering in government housing projects in developing countries to improve value mahmoud zaki1, nermeen omar2, alaa zoair 3 1 professor, tanta university, faculty of engineering, department of architecture 2professor, tanta university, faculty of engineering, department of architecture 3 demonstrator, tanta university, faculty of engineering, department of architecture abstract government housing projects are among the complex issues facing developing countries’ governments. there have been many attempts to solve problems related to this issue and a lot of effort has been made in this direction. the main problem is lowering the cost of lodging, without sacrificing its quality and the effectiveness by which it fulfills the needs of its occupants. this became possible upon the use of the value engineering technique. value engineering is an effective tool used to solve problems related to housing, by lowering cost on one hand and sustaining or even ameliorating quality and performance. the purpose of this study is to try to identify a series of proposed solutions and value indicators and to describe their role in improving value in government housing projects. this process may assist the designer in choosing and managing, value indicators during the creative phase, using references from the literature and the analysis of case studies. the literature review identified the reasons for high costs and poor performance, which are often a result of misunderstanding of the fundamental principles of design criteria and value indicators, followed in government housing projects. the review also pinpointed the most important considerations that improve value. results obtained in this study feature the positive effects of methods under the umbrella of value engineering, applied in government housing projects. it was found that savings of 15% to 40% can be achieved in the total cost of a certain project, using this technique. generating ideas in the creative phase is one of the most important stages in value engineering studies. a set of value indicators and proposed solutions in the form of a checklist were derived and can be used in the future, during the creative phase of value engineering studies in the initial design stage of government housing projects. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords value engineering; government housing; value; cost ; 1. introduction the value engineering (ve) theory and its application are currently among the most popular and rapidly spreading methods, in most developing and less developed countries around the globe. this has taken place as designers and http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 other players in the construction field are currently under pressure to find methods to fulfill their customers’ expectations in terms of quality and function, while maintaining costs under tight control. strategies related to ve have been able to produce this effect, obtaining value for money (othman et al., 2020). project managers and contractors face a lot of problems while managing their projects. these problems include, but are not limited to, issues related to materials used, such as poor quality, high cost, waste, and loss. other problems include poor planning, management, control, and communication; as well as over-budgeting, delayed deliveries, unexpected changes in weather, and shortages in various fields, including labor (ravish et al., 2016). these problems lead to conflicts within the project and can cause delays in its timeline, as well as increased cost. as a result, there is a great need to find methods to reduce and control costs, so as to achieve effective control in such projects. contractors can suffer greatly from cost reduction; however, current cost reduction techniques can lead to lesser costs without losses to contractors, during the performance of their various duties. ve has not been fully integrated into the processes of the government housing projects in developing countries value engineering (ve) has achieved prominence in projects in the housing field. since construction can bear some negative impact, along with its positive ones, on both the environment, as well as the people it serves, ve has a role in achieving the latter by improving the quality of housing projects, along with their durability, reliability, and work performance (zimmerman, 1982). the purpose of this study is to identify a series of value indicators and suggested solutions that may assist the ve team in choosing proposed solutions and managing value indicators during the development phase. the paper makes use of literature review dealing with the subject of the application of ve, a method with specific steps and stages, which serves the purpose of improving value. it explores value standards for government housing projects, analysis of examples, and ve reports to understand the pattern of proposed ideas in government housing projects, major value criteria, and suggestions of value engineering and classifies them. figure 1 explains the method applied in this paper. figure 1. the structure of the paper and the methodology applied. source: authors. 2. literature review several studies dealing with projects that applied value engineering were discussed. value engineering is a robust approach, which uses continuous improvement to ameliorate performance within a project, through the application of a systematic analysis of its various aspects. as for value, it is defined as the ratio between function and cost. (tom and gowrisankar, 2015). to achieve this purpose, ve analyzes function and applies creativity along with teamwork (sharma and belokar, 2012). value engineering is a creative step-by-step approach that attempts to raise the value of a certain system. the most important step of this process is idea generation. members of a value engineering team depend on their knowledge and expertise for idea generation. they also employ them to evaluate the different scenarios obtained from ideas generated to replace original ideas (moon et al., 2012). to improve value, ve works on reducing costs and enhancing quality by working on features within the design of residential buildings, for increased customer satisfaction. the availability of information facilitates idea generation (ravish and vinoth, 2016). among the principles of the value methodology, the generation of ideas and the evaluation of a selection of construction systems come first to achieve low-cost and good-quality housing in the extended egyptian urban first a literature review, which explains the role of ve, as well as the value of houses second: an analysis of examples, on which ve was applied. it explains the case before ve and the improvement that occurred after the application of each of its phases third: the identification of the items of the value indicator checklist and the suggested design solutions zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 landscape (agrama et al., 2014). the literature review indicates that generating ideas in the creative phase is one of the most important phase in value engineering studies, so it is necessary to find a checklist that classifies value indicators and proposed solutions. 2.1. value in project manzagement in his research, (al-yousefi, 2007) defined value as a relation between cost and function or performance. according to (hiley and gopsill, 2000), when these items are added together and are optimized, the greatest value is achieved, i.e., function and quality are raised to the highest point, while cost is reduced to the lowest point. value identifies users’ desires, needs, and requirements, along with the project’s goals, functions, and objectives and focuses on achieving effectiveness, by using the stated definitions of each of the previously mentioned factors. following this step, the quality characteristics that make the project appealing are identified. in conclusion, value proposals are generated. they would usually achieve the requirements at minimum cost (over the life cycle of the product). figure 2 identifies the meaning of value, in terms of achieving a balance between cost, function, and quality. value = function or performance/cost or price (hiley and gopsill, 2000). figure 2: the three main issues of value. source: (al-yousefi, 2007). function is the feature in a product/service that serves the purpose for which it was created (i.e., meeting the needs and wants of users). in studies on ve, function is expressed by two words. the first is a verb indicating the activity or movements and the second is a noun that is measurable, to enable estimating the product/service’s cost and comparing it with other substitutes. the purpose of this analysis is to find substitutes to achieve the same function. value studies depend on job analysis, so as to reduce cost and ameliorate value (walk, 2012). in general, there are two types of functions:  basic function is determined from the point of view of the userwhere the user is a member of the value engineering team. it represents the main reason for an item to exist.  secondary function does not help in achieving the basic function, but only supports it; in the sense that it helps in marketing it (younker, 2003). cost represents the amount of money that a buyer pays to own a product or to have a service performed. it is divided into three constituents: 1. direct cost of materials 2. direct cost of labor 3. overhead cost zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 for the purpose of this study, cost is applied to describe the design value, meaning the amount of money paid for the function to be achieved, as per the design. costs expressed are those related to maintenance, spaces, and their construction (el sadawi, 2008). quality is known as the achievement of the desired level of performance or function, through the properties and possibilities offered by the product or service efficiently throughout its life span. this takes place if the product/service is used for the purposes, it was created for and according to operation principles (alfraidi and ibrahim, 2018). 2.2. ve methodology as per save international, there are six successive phases in a ve study. they are divided over three workshop stages: before the workshop, the workshop itself, and after the workshop. figure 3 shows the methodology followed by save international, with its phases and stages (rachwan et al., 2016). this study investigates stage 2, the workshop stage, representing the technical part, along with its phases. the phases constituting this stage include the following:  information  function analysis  creativity  evaluation  development  presentation figure 3: ve methodology. source: (rachwan et al., 2016). the information phase is the information gathering phase, where data is collected regarding the background of the project, its requirements, and its constraints, as well as the suggested design and its estimated cost. also, during this phase, a functional analysis is performed for the purpose of identifying the parts of the project that could be high in cost. the design team has an important role during this phase, it gives out more information related to the chosen design and is present during the first meeting of the ve team (sharma and belokar, 2012). in function analysis phase, the ve team provides a definition for each of the project’s functions. this takes place using the previously described method, i.e., providing a two-word explanation, the first word being a verb and the second being a noun that can be measured. for each function, whether primary or secondary, and that by using zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 function analysis system technique (fast diagram) it is graph used to organize the relationship and specify the correlation among the different functions that have been defined by a sentence beginning with a verb composing of two words. by techniques, relationships among functions are arranged under logical relationships and being placed in particular order depending on importance of each. the relationship between its cost and its value is identified (tang and bittner, 2014). during the creative phase, the ve team uses its skills of creativity to find the different methods that can be used to achieve the different functions of the project. the creative phase aims to look at functions and possible areas of high cost or low value and attempts to generate alternative solutions and methods for the project to be able to achieve these function(s). a brainstorming session is held by the value team, using the information supplied and generated from their initial studies and thoughts (save, 2007). in evaluation phase, the ve team conducts a specific type of evaluation to identify the ideas that can achieve improvement in value, while performing the required function(s), using available resources and following the requirements related to performance (dell'isola, 1997). the development phase is the proposal making phase, where documentation supporting the various alternatives is thoroughly prepared, so as to allow decision-makers to choose the optimum ones for implementation. this phase seeks to perform additional analyses, in order to choose the alternative with more added value from the previous phase (clifford, 2013). the objective of the presentation phase is to present to decision-makers, managers, and stakeholders, the proposed value suggestions. this information is delivered through a presentation and a report with explanation about the various alternatives and the opportunities that each one presents (save, 2007). 2.3. government housing projects the population increase is the biggest challenge faced by developing countries. one of the major issues related to this increase is housing. thus, a lot of effort is made to solve the problem related to the construction and management of housing projects. further, the major changes in the construction market and innovation in building methods have a strong effect on the execution of such projects (marzouk et al., 2010). construction systems influence the way these projects are managed, a process that requires their characteristics to be thoroughly identified (agrama et al., 2014). various methodologies are available in the field of housing to assess value, however, the main issue in this context is determining the definition of value. different meanings are available to explain the value of a house, they are all applicable at the same time and can be summarized as follows (de jonge, 2005): the value of a house:  relates to its total building costs.  varies as a result of a mix between maintenance and diminishing performance.  relates to where it is located and depends on status and quality that makes it socially acceptable, in a tradeoff between the former and the two latter factors. 3. analysis of the application of ve on government housing project examples the coming part of this research is considered the second step towards fulfilling its aim. in this section, the authors were able to analyze two selected housing projects for which value engineering has already been applied, as well as the impact of applying ve on improving their value and to identify their value indicators. table 1 summarizes the basic information of the two selected projects, including project names, basic data, and selection criteria. in the information phase, it is important to understand the background and decisions that influenced the development of the design. the ve team leader prepared a cost model from the assessed costs provided by the project’s team (rachwan et al., 2016). zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 table 1. summary of the projects’ basic information. source: updated from (jeyakumar, 2013 & bashir, 2015). example (a) example (b) name of project ruwais housing complex expansion ‒ phase iii merowi dam housing project housing type (a basic data location: abu dhabi, united arab emirates owner: emirati ministry of housing type of building: type f4 (7 buildings) type f5 (10 buildings) for a total of 17 six-level buildings total built-up area: 80,700 m2 cost of the project: 427.76 million uae dirhams project duration: 24 months location: merowi, sudan owner: sudanese ministry of housing type of building: housing type a (10 buildings) for a total of 10 three-level buildings total built-up area: 40,100 m2 cost of the project: 407,235,080 sudanese dinars criteria used for choosing the project high construction cost (estimated) and high value indicator high construction cost and requirements to satisfy clients’ expectations ve team certified value specialist (cvs) architect civil engineers end user certified value specialist (cvs) three civil engineers two architects owner in the analyzed example projects, the ve team produced a generic study of the project’s elements as a whole and their cost ratio to that of the entire project. this stage also included further refinement of the cost, space, and other models, prepared before the workshop session. these models were updated based on information received from the owner/designer. function analysis is the single most distinguishable feature of ve, as it creates a specific view of the project. this analysis aids in garnering different ideas for the project, which eventually leads to a list of recommendations that provide improvement in quality and/or less cost (al-yousefi, 2007). the architectural and structural systems were among the examples studied in the functional analysis by fast diagram of the two previously described sample projects. each of these projects’ items and their costs were analysed. this analysis was conducted to choose the items that have the most effectiveness, in terms of cost on the totality of the project. figure 4 shows the cost model for example (a). example (a)’s architecture system had a significantly high percentage of cost than the project’s other systems. this has been a guiding point for the ve team. as for example (b), its structural system had the highest cost effectiveness as shown in figure 5. the fast diagram, which was prepared by the value engineering team leader just prior to the value engineering workshop, was used as a baseline for both examples for guidance and to answer why these functions are important to the owner. zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 4. cost model for example (a). source :( jeyakumar, 2013) figure 5. cost model for example (b). source: (bashir, 2015). the creative phase involves producing creative ideas to achieve the same basic functions at the lower level costs or to achieve the necessary improvements and feeding them to the evaluation phase for evaluation by the team, clients and/or users who collaborate together to accomplish this task. table 2 shows the most important proposals and final ideas resulting from the value study in projects a and b. in these two examples, a group of ideas were proposed, evaluated, analyzed, and divided into value indicators. the main techniques for the creative and evaluation phases were applied to both projects, however, the results were different as each has its unique characteristics. during the development phase, each idea resulting from the ve study was developed, so as to yield a working solution. these solutions were presented in the form of written proposals, such that the owner(s) and stakeholders can understand each one and its benefits. supporting material for each proposal should involve diagrams, calculations, sketches, cost comparisons, and text that includes the purpose of the proposal. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 percentage of total cost percentage of total cost zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 table 2. summary of proposal ideas after applying the creativity and evaluation phases on the two examples. source: authors as per the information in jeyakumar, 2013 & bashir, 2015. value indicators example (a) example (b) cost 1eliminating foldable or sliding doors between dining and living rooms as needed and changing the function of their spaces 2changing the materials of some items from imported to local to save cost and time, while maintain the level of quality 3changing the finishing material of façades 4trying to reduce the excessiveness in the safety factor, leading to a decrease in the amount of concrete and steel 5selecting landscaping materials that are easy to maintain 6changing the pavements of internal roads to interlock pavements 7handling balconies in a way that guarantees privacy within the residential unit (need for privacy) 1changing the finishing material of floors 2changing the supplier of some items from international (imported) to local to save cost and time, while maintaining quality 3changing the specifications of the material of the corridors between residential units 4changing the finishing material of the exterior, while preserving its quality 5changing the method of implementation 6changing the method of finishing ceilings quality 1optimizing landscaping 2optimizing the number of children’s playgrounds 3optimizing the number of service blocks 4modifying the shape and material of the main doors from solid to veneered and fire-rated. 5revisiting the external light of buildings 1studying the relationship between buildings, in terms of height, spacing, and orientation to provide more shade function 1optimizing or minimizing shaded areas 2re-arranging walkways 3.1. results of the analysis of the examples the analysis described above of the application of the ve study on the two specified projects has proven that this process leads to an increase in value. in the first example, the analysis showed that applying ve has the potential of decreasing the initial costs of the project by 30.44 million uae dirhams, a cost saving of 7%, while savings in life cycle costs can reach 4.79 million uae dirhams, a cost saving of 1% (jeyakumar, 2013). these results can be seen in table 3. regarding the other example, it was found that applying the ideas of the proposals can achieve improvements in the quality of elements, they were suggested to replace and reduce cost by about 18.76%, leading to savings of 76,407,000 sd (bashir, 2015), distributed as seen in table 4. through the results and the suggested ideas from the analysis of the examples, a checklist was made for the development of the creative phase. this checklist is divided into indicators of value and the proposed criteria for each indicator, which can be seen in table 5. table 3. summary of the outcome of ve on example (a). source: jayakumar, 2013. description result percentage of cost saving total number of ideas 150 potential initial cost saving – uae dirhams 30,441,970.00 uae dirhams 7% zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 table 3 continued life cycle costing – uae dirhams 4,793,694.00 uae dirhams 1% total initial and life cycle cost savings – uae dirhams 35,235,664.00 uae dirhams 8% table 4. summary of the outcome of ve on example (b). source: bashir, 2015. item proposal cost in sd percentage of cost saving 1 change aluminum doors and windows to steel doors and windows 23,303,000 s.d. 5.72%. 2 change the ceramic tiles to cast in-situ terrazzo tiles 10,725,000 s.d. 2.63%. 3 use walls with tri-di panels in their finishing 42,379,000 s.d. 10.41% total value engineering potential savings 18.76% table 5. checklist of value indicators and suggested design solutions. source: authors. value indicator criteria for the proposed solutions reason for choosing the proposed solutions cost 1canceling an item (unnecessary costs) cost saving 2design modification cost saving 3change in specifications reducing the cost of raw materials 4change in the method of implementation reduced implementation cost 5energy conservation cost saving 6maintenance/operation reducing the cost of use (maintenance/operation.) quality 1environmental considerations and sustainability criteria improving quality 2application of user's needs the desire of the owner or user 3application of security and safety standards improving quality function 1design modification increase in performance 2adding an item 3change in the location of an item 4. conclusion value engineering is considered a robust methodology for improving the value of government housing projects. it works on ameliorating the quality of a project, reducing its cost, and improving its different design features, for the benefit of clients. this takes place through the generation of creative ideas that reduce cost, while maintaining quality and functionality. this research aimed to provide a checklist for the creative phase. this list contains value indicators zaki/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 and suggested solutions for the creative phase, enabling the adoption of ve in developing countries, to increase the use of the method within government housing projects. it was obvious from the projects given as an example for the application of ve and the analysis performed that idea generation is the most important part of the ve job plan. the savings achieved were the result of the proposed solutions presented by the ve team in both projects. they were presented in table 5, which was divided into value indicators (cost, quality, and function) and the criteria for the proposed solutions in each item. the results achieved the aim of this study and suggested methods to increase the use of ve in government housing projects, to achieve better value. this list is a reference for the most important value indicators and ideas suggested by ve for government housing projects. this checklist can effectively encourage the adoption of ve in developing countries. it is the intention of this paper to provide more opportunity to promote the adoption of ve in government housing projects when these projects are carried out in a similar style and using similar methods, to achieve improved value. references agrama, f. a., al-nemr, m. t., and abdo, m. a. (2014). value engineering for low-cost housing construction in egyptian expansion urban. advanced research in engineering sciences (ares), 2(2), 1-6. alfraidi, y. n. and ibrahim, a. o. (2018). value and quality in architecture: a study of the principles of value engineering. journal of al-azhar university engineering sector, 13(47), 514-529. al-yousefi, a. s. and cvs-life, f. s. a. v. e. i. (2007). value engineering application benefits in sustainable construction. riyadh, kingdom of saudi arabia: project management institute persian gulf. bashir, m. (2015). derivation of a mathematical model for the application of value engineering in the construction industry. khartoum, sudan: university of omdurman islamic university. clifford, b. (2013). application of value management in a holistic approach. a presentation organized by the hong kong institute of value management, 26, 1-43. de jonge, t. (2005). cost effectiveness of sustainable housing investments. dell'isola, a. 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(2012). achieving success through value engineering: a case study. proceedings of the world congress on engineering and computer science, 2, 24-26. tang, p. and bittner, r. b. (2014). use of value engineering to develop creative design solutions for marine construction projects. practice periodical on structural design and construction, 19(1), 129-136. tom, n. and gowrisankar, v. (2015). value engineering in residential house construction. international journal of civil engineering, 6(6). walk, t. (2012). value engineering approach to increase cost efficiency. engineering and construction, 2, 1-4. younker, d. (2003). value engineering: analysis and methodology (vol. 30). crc press. zimmerman, l. w. and hart g. d. (1982). value engineering: a practical approach for owners, designers, and contractors. van nostrand reinhold company. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.715 conservation techniques of architectural heritage and private property legal rights – case study alexandria, egypt khaled el-daghar 1 1 assistant professor beirut arab university, faculty of architecture design and built environment tripoli branch, lebanon e-mail: k.eldaghar@bau.edu.lb abstract conservation projects of architectural heritage primarily aim at preserving the cultural character and protecting the historical and value buildings through a set of techniques/approaches and concepts that deal with valuable urban heritage. these concepts and approaches are sometimes a major obstacle to community development. thus, for a better understanding of the debate over conservation versus development in terms of ownership and private property legal rights, the study will review the classification of different techniques by applying them at the level of architecture, urban and society. hence, these have been classified into three basic levels: building, urban and community, whereby policies for each type will be reviewed. these arguments will be discussed within the alexandrian experience in architectural heritage listing and management. moreover, the study also explores evaluation criteria of historical and value buildings, clarifying the attempts to conserve the architectural heritage in alexandria. the study focuses mainly on the conflict between conservation techniques and concept of private property legal rights, and hence, proposing some future measure to address the conflict of interests between conservation on one hand and private property ownership legal rights on the other. in addition, it will present some recommendations for preserving the unique architectural style of the mediterranean sea that distinguishes the city of alexandria. it will also adhere to the remains of this heritage by taking into consideration the legal rights of private property, which can contribute to the conservation techniques of architectural heritage for alexandria. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords conservation; architectural heritage; private property; legal rights; alexandria egypt 1. introduction it is noticeable in recent years that there are many initiatives and real endeavors in alexandria governorate to conserve and protect the culture of this city. the culture is represented in preserving the historical and cultural heritage of the city; these initiatives and endeavors have followed a period of neglect resulting from the poor economic situation that occurred to the city in the past years (hanafi, 1993; alex med, 2008). this situation has caused a decrease in the resources spent by the state on the projects of development and conservation of the city buildings. this led to a clear violation of the urban and architectural heritage manifested in the historical and valuable buildings that are considered to be a national treasure and a special character of this city, distinguishing them from other egyptian and international cities (ministry of culture, 2010). http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 private property legal rights are embedded in the conservation heritage processes practices in many societies worldwide. it is premised on the philosophy of community ownership and benefit/use. however, the legalistic public property concept, where ownership and benefit/use is vested in the state and the people, can only access and use with permission of the state. the state prevents the property owners from benefit/use, which leads to conflict, manipulate the law or even given away the building to external group with minimal benefit or common good for the people (guiso & sapienza & zingales, 2006). occasionally, this conflict maybe based on goodwill and some societal norms without necessarily any legislation (hezel & francis, 2009). 2. conservation techniques of architectural heritage 2.1. building level the building is the basic unit of the urbanization and there are numerous types, which can be classified for the buildings (el esawy, 2012), each type and classification has its own policy that can be dealt with through the building (as shown as figure 1): figure 1: the conservation techniques of architectural heritage – building level (author) 2.1.1. classification of building types monumental buildings: every property or movable produced by different civilizations or created by the arts, sciences, literature and religions from the prehistoric era and during the successive historical eras until a hundred years ago is considered as a monument. it is considered as a monument when it has an archeological or historical value or significance as a manifestation of different civilizations, or has a historical connection to it as well as the remains of human breeds and their contemporary beings (harrison & huntington, 2000; al-manshawi, 2013): heritage buildings: the total number of buildings, structures and formations, which form the product of what we have inherited from our ancestors and predecessors of cultural achievements and civilization features. value buildings: historical buildings, buildings associated with important events, visually distinct buildings of the city or have aesthetic value, visually distinct buildings (landmarks), important buildings in the formation of the public character, buildings with important function or functional value, buildings related to an important figure or symbolic value and buildings with architectural value. buildings that are not valuable but must be conserved: existing buildings, which are considered to be an urban heritage and a treasure to be preserved, especially if this heritage has an important significance on the basis that it completes the urban fabric. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 2.1.2. building-level policies the conservation of the building has three basic determinants through which the policy of dealing with it can be decided. firstly, determining the main value of the building, i.e. the more important the building, the less freedom of choosing the handling policy; secondly, the current state of the building, i.e. the extent of damage: ruins, poor or good condition; and finally, the purpose or aim of the conservation process whether it is preservation of the original state of the building or the development and modification to suit with the modern era. accordingly, policies of dealing with buildings can be divided into the following (el esawy, 2012; al-manshawi, 2013): protection, retention and prevent deterioration of the building: these include maintenance, preservation and conservation policies. re-establishment and renewal of the building: these include restoration, reconstruction, renovation, up-grading, expansion, development and conversion policies. re-use of the building: these include the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse policies. substitution, transition and elimination of the building: these include replacement, saving and clearance policies. 2.2. urban level urban is the architecture or the continuation of countries by industry, trade and construction. the relationship between man and place is reciprocal. urbanization is considered as a reflection of the specificity and culture of the society and its features. it is the translation of a set of social relations, and the culture and heritage of society is the basic form that shapes its architecture. the urban environment is defined as the physical fabric that expresses the results of human interaction with its environment, in order to satisfy the material and spiritual requirements of man within the limits of his cultural, social and intellectual background (el borombaly, 2015). the urban environment consists of all that is constructed and man-made buildings/blocks and spaces (solid and void, and urban patterns), which is the rule governing the relationship of blocks with spaces (el esawy, 2012; al-manshawi, 2013): (as shown as figure 2): figure 2: the conservation techniques of architectural heritage – urban level (author) 2.2.1. classification of urban types urban is defined as the environment dominated by human additions, its material and non-material products, its human stable climax and its direct ranges (el borombaly, 2015): historical / archeological urban with a character: urban fabric or the heart of old cities where there are many distinctive features that indicate the ancient culture and nature of the users at the time. random urban (informal settlement): this is an urban construction that is built without permission or license on agricultural land basins, or built-up areas through actual possession or occupancy by laying primitive materials. the problem of this construction lies in the proximity or overlap of archaeological areas. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 new cities: new towns and communities, and governmental and public housing are among the easiest areas to monitor and deal with, as they are pre-planned contrary to the above-mentioned types that grow progressively with no planning. 2.2.2. urban-level policies new urban communities: only maintenance and follow-up are required to prevent their degradation or the appearance of infringements in them (harrison & huntington, 2000): random urban: it varies according to its type, where dealing with built-up areas through actual possession or occupancy applying primitive materials must be by clearance and replacement. this is different from informal settlement, so it is better to deal with it through the policies of up-grading and renovation / renewal. in the worst cases, the policy of clearance and replacement is to be applied. historical and archeological urban: this is different in terms of the handling directions with this rare type of urbanization, between conservation and other approaches of development and improvement. this is based on the historical conditions of the region (urban, social, economic, etc.) and according to its location and worldview at the national and regional levels. 2.3. community level the community is considered among the most important pillars of conservation. if there is an indigenous community or an authentic craft in a historical place, it must be dealt with especially if it is complementary to the nature of the place (el borombaly, 2015). community is the third pillar and complementary to conservation, so the culture of society is reflected in its surrounding urbanization (as shown as figure 3): figure 3: the conservation techniques of architectural heritage – community level (author) 2.3.1. classification of community types each type of the classification has its own properties that it adds to its urbanization. if the community changed in some place, this would be one of the imbalance factors affecting urbanization. for example: if a rural community migrates to cities, i.e. to an urban community, this would be considered as an outlandish community, just like extraneous additions to buildings. therefore, a distinction must be made between the two words community and society (el esawy, 2012; al-manshawi, 2013). accordingly, existing communities in the archaeological areas can be divided into: local community of the region: it is considered as the heritage to be conserved, especially if this community is one of the historical societies that has an integrated role and has a social heritage of traditions and customs associated with it. it contains static and dynamic values reflecting the cultural characteristics of the society that in turn mirrors this architectural and urban heritage (el borombaly, 2015). therefore, one of the objectives of conservation projects el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 in this case is to preserve the original craft and the original community. in this case, we stand among several basic policies; preservation of the original craft, which cannot be moved or the nature of the place cannot exist without it, conservation of the same people inhabitants and artisans of the area, while having effective development control on the addition methods to the workmanship to ensure continuity of life in this area. that is the introduction of modern techniques in the existing crafts but with limits so as not to cause distortion of the general character of the place. in addition, this community can be dealt with through up-grading and rehabilitation to enhance community efficiency. a community can be taught a craft and many non-governmental organizations (ngos) work to raise the cultural and educational level, i.e. to return to its original craft, but with a modern perspective through which the standard of living and culture of the existing community can be raised (harrison & huntington, 2000). new community socially and culturally compatible: these are the non-indigenous communities in the region but the ones that share many common attributes among them and the indigenous/original community. otherwise, these communities work to sustain life or re-develop, and re-use of a particular area (el esawy, 2012; al-manshawi, 2013). mixed community socially and culturally incompatible: communities that cannot reconcile with the place and the intensity of the phenomenon often occur as a result of migration from the countryside to the cities due to high population density and lack of housing. they form a different fabric that is not homogeneous with urbanization or with the existing indigenous/original community. this community can be dealt with by the gradual replacement policy, which results in renovation / renewal of the community by moving them to other state housings and finding another alternative to the usage of these buildings. for example: the agency, whose primary function was to trade and accommodate traveling merchants, can be worked on by one of two ways; either by restoring its original function as commercial stores (bazaars), or exploiting them in a new use that ensures their survival and renewal by additive reuse them as studios (workshops) and places for artists to sell their paintings and their artistic products in the same archaeological agency. hence, the gradual replacement and renovation / renewal of community mean that community which does not conform to the place and to be replaced by another community that can be compatible with this place (el borombaly, 2015). 2.3.2. community-level policies (as an urban entity) there are many methods and policies to deal with the community, but compatibility of this community with the place must be identified through observing the extent of the deterioration caused by the community to the urban environment; therefore, the most appropriate policies of dealing with the community can be determined (harrison & huntington, 2000): compatibility of population categories with the existing areas: the characteristics of the population vary according to their urban areas. if this community is indigenous in the region, i.e. it is the community that has existed since the beginning of this region; this community is more compatible than any other exogenous/outsider community (el esawy, 2012; al-manshawi, 2013). community relationship with the extent of deterioration: there are many reasons caused by the community affecting the deterioration of urban areas, including (el borombaly, 2015): ▪ weak perception of the aesthetic or historical abstract value of the building and the inability to translate it into economic value, making some owners tend to distort and destruct the archaeological building deliberately, in order to cause damage that lead to its demolition, selling and benefit from the land. ▪ neglecting the necessary periodic maintenance needed for the conservation of this type of buildings. ▪ perform careless and distorted maintenance processes of the monument. ▪ the infringement of the architectural style by changing the building character, through modifying or adding technological innovations without considering the aesthetics of the building. ▪ damage caused by misuse of unsuitable function of the building. ▪ the redundancy of some buildings. ▪ the socio-economic incompatibility between current users and the original setting of the buildings (areas). el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 3. methodology as the study is exploring legal rights of private property as one of the conflicts that may impede the implementation efforts to conserve the architectural heritage, it will attempt to do so by reviewing conservation approaches of architectural heritage at three different levels: building level, urban level and community level. a number of case studies will then be presented in terms of their property legal rights within the conservation process by analizing the evaluation criteria of historical and value buildings, clarifying the conflict between conservation of architectural heritage and private property legal rights and the attempts for conserving the architectural heritage in the city of alexandria. taking into account the guidance of all local enitites to restore areas of historical interest to be preserved, the participation of all parties in the conservation projects to ensure continuity, and the reuse of heritage buildings in other functions that may serve the community. furthermore, the role of concerned international organizations is to be investigated, as well as the role of private investments in the continuation of these conservation projects, which can contribute to the process of conserving the architectural heritage in its different forms at the city of alexandria. 4. case study preserving the architectural heritage and private property legal rights 4.1. background of alexandria, egypt alexandria is the second-largest city in egypt and a major economic center, extending about 32 km along the coast of the mediterranean sea in the north central part of the country. alexandria was founded around a small, ancient egyptian town 332 bc by alexander the great, king of macedon and leader of the greek league of corinth, during his conquest of the achaemenid empire. alexandria became an important center of hellenistic civilization and remained the capital of ptolemaic egypt and roman and byzantine egypt for almost 1,000 years, until the muslim conquest of egypt in ad 641. hellenistic alexandria was best known for the lighthouse of alexandria (pharos), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and alexandria great library that was the largest in the ancient world. the city was at one time the second most powerful city of the ancient mediterranean region, after rome. from the late eighteenth century, alexandria became a major center of the international shipping industry and one of the most important trading centers in the world (alex med, 2008). 4.2. evaluation criteria of heritage and value buildings in alexandria conservation and preservation of architectural heritage represent a message in preserving the values of public and private properties. these values help to set priorities in the conservation or preservation and maintenance of historical buildings. for example, the buildings that were established in alexandria during the end of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the beginning of the twentieth century, many architects/artists created beautiful iconic landmarks/memorials that soon chronicle the history of the nation (abdel fattah, 2012; ministry of culture, 2010), this can be shown in the monument of saad zaghloul in 1923, where it stands tall, attracting tourists from all around the world (as shown as figure 4): figure 4: the monument of saad zaghloul, raml station alexandria (imgrum, 2018) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 the values of public and private property come in three main axes: firstly, emotional values, i.e. admiration of the building, sense of identity or subjectivity, continuity through the ages and spiritual symbols; secondly, cultural values, i.e. documentaries, historical, archeological, architectural, urban, scientific and natural reserves); and finaly, usage values, i.e. functional, economic, social, traditional and political (abdel fattah, 2012; ministry of culture, 2010). for example: historical values: a famous owner (resident or beneficiary of the place), rare (according to the place's history) and precedence of construction (the first building of its kind at this time) (abdel fattah, 2012; ministry of culture, 2010), such as the egypt station (as shown as figure 5), the oldest railway station in alexandria. it was built in the thirties of the last century and was mentioned that the egyptian station, in its current form, was opened in 1927 (part musings, 2015), a pioneer building such as the first municipal council in egypt, and the old wooden buildings of the fish market in anfoushi in alexandria. figure 5: egypt railway station building alexandria (part musings, 2015) architectural values: the symbol (the building has an aesthetical character), the style (construction and building by one of the pioneer architects), the materials (materials of construction and building were used for the first time in that era) and the elements of construction (such as handwork ornaments or landscape of rare trees) (abdel fattah, 2012; ministry of culture, 2010), such as montaza palace in 1892 (as shown as figure 6), the khedive abbas ii built the palace to serve as a summer residence for his family. until king farouk rose to egypt's throne, the montaza palace remained the royal summer residence of the royal family. the beauty of the palace lies in its unique location on the alexandria beach, where it was built on a high plateau surrounded by gardens and forests on an area of 150 acres. its architecture combines french and islamic ottoman styles, and its gardens include basins of flowers, plants, trees, playgrounds, children's garden, a summer stage and a center for marine sports (egypt travel link, 2004). figure 6: montaza palace (montaza royal gardens 150 acres) alexandria (egypt travel link, 2004) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 functional values: it can be defined as any building performing a certain function for the first time in history (abdel fattah, 2012; ministry of culture, 2010), such as collège saint marc in 1928 (as shown as figure 7). it was the first school in alexandria that taught all pre-university levels at that time. the history of collège saint marc dates back to 1921 when the monks managing st. catherine school thought that they needed a new school to accommodate the increasing number of students, so they went to king fouad asking permission to build a new school, and the foundation stone was laid in 1926 on an area vacant of any buildings in el shatby. the school opened in 1928, and the monks themselves supervised the building and proposed some designs based on their knowledge of architecture sciences (aaha index, 2008). figure 7: collège saint marc, el shatby alexandria (aaha index, 2008) 4.3. conserving architectural heritage and private property legal rights in alexandria one of the main problems facing the conservation of heritage buildings is the dispute/conflict between the freedom and legal rights in privately owning these buildings (regardless the civilizational and cultural considerations) and the holding or controlling those buildings through governments (regardless the individual considerations of private property). this adopted the idea of the welfare of the community over the rights of individuals, supported by those advocating the process of conserving the architectural heritage. these are mostly the class of intellectuals and academics. it is clear that these policies are quite unfair to the rights of the owners of those buildings. in addition, it is clear that these policies did not bring about any positive results to preserve the architectural heritage. rather, they had a negative impact on the plans to conserve the historical and value buildings, which likely outweigh the economical aspect more than the cultural issue in most cases. consequently, when evaluating the conservation cases of architectural heritage, consideration should be given to the issue of the private ownership/property of these heritage buildings in order to conserve and preserve them. the main obstacle in the conservation process of architectural heritage is money because the property of those buildings belongs to ordinary people who took the position of defending their legal rights in their own ownership of that heritage and to benefit from it. recently, the increase in the value of construction lands in the city and the spread of the increasing temptations of businessmen led the owners of those unique buildings to sell them to some construction companies. as a result, this demolished these historical and value buildings through legal methods and was replaced by residential towers to earn a large amount of money. for example, villa checorail in 1930 (as shown as figure 8) was built by the art deco style. it was designed by three of the most famous french architects: leon aziman, jack hardy and george park, and was especially famous for the wealthy checorail and his heirs until the nationalization laws of the 1950s and 1960s were passed and it was nationalized. it has been expropriated to become like the rest of what was nationalized then as the property of the egyptian state. regardless of the moral or legitimacy of this nationalization, it has become the property of all egyptians. then, in the 1970s, the villa was a presidential residence. finally, the harsh blow to this wonderful villa comes from a decision issued by a former prime minister, removing it from the list of heritage, as el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 well as removing it from the list of the archaeological / historical buildings of the city (el mwatin newspaper, 2016). thus, there is nothing to prevent its demolition, after obtaining the necessary permits. figure 8: villa checorail, ahmed shawki street; roshdy alexandria (el mwatin newspaper, 2016) therefore, it is necessary to think in an unusual way to conserve or preserve such works of unique cultural heritage by taking into consideration the private property’s legal rights and the cost of conserving these buildings with the help of the regional and international cultural organizations and communities. this is made to prevent the reoccurrence of disasters against architectural heritage, such as what happened in villa gustave aghion 1922 (as shown as figure 9). at the beginning of the twentieth-century, gustave aghion commissioned the french pioneer architect auguste perret to build a villa in the wabour al mayah district in the center of alexandria, where construction began during this period. unesco has listed a number of buildings designed by perret in the world heritage list due to their high value to become a heritage for all humanity not for one nation. however, villa aghion is listed as a monument within the french architectural heritage only and not on the unesco's list according to what was released by sources in the egyptian ministry of antiquities, following a wave of protests in the alexandrian community on the demolition of the historical villa (news, 2014). the technical secretariat for the conservation of architectural heritage in alexandria warned in a report that "the governorate is facing a historical disaster, after the removal of 43 historical villa, palace and building from the list of heritage in alexandria, and entering into the preparations for demolition". unfortunately, the last of these demolished buildings was villa gustave aghion in 2010s. figure 9: villa gustave aghion, ahmed ismail street alexandria (news, 2014) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 4.4. attempts for conserving the architectural heritage in alexandria the possibility of compatibility between conserving architectural heritage and private property legal rights may clearly be demonstrated in the incident of the u.s. consulate general in alexandria. the consulate was a royal palace for several decades known as the magnificent basili palace 1928 (as shown as figure 10) on el-horeya road (formerly known as fouad street), which was a villa of the greek timber merchant basili, built in modern italian style and remained until 1954 and then sold to the u.s. consulate, which remained until it was bought by the supreme council of antiquities in 1996. it was decided to be closed at the end of the twentieth century and was for sale. a businessman offered to buy it for 22 million egyptian pounds and to turn it into huge residential buildings. however, the egyptian ministry of culture presented an offer to buy the consulate and use it as a museum for the history of alexandria. the offer was approved by the u.s. consulate. although the ministry of culture's offer was only 8 million egyptian pounds, the u.s. consulate has accepted the much lower price so that this palace again would be used for the noble purpose as (alexandria national museum). the museum mainly focuses on three collections: ancient egyptian, coptic and muslim, and includes a collection of about 1800 artifacts covering all ages from the old kingdom to the modern era and completes the collection contained in the greek museum. it remains a rare and unique building of the mediterranean architectural heritage (home-sis., 2016). the incident does not need more comments, but may serve as a message "to whom it may concern". figure 10: alexandria national museum (formerly known as basili palace), el-horeya road alexandria (home-sis., 2016) 5. conclusions the reason for these crimes against the architectural heritage of alexandria is the increasing cases of selling those unique and value buildings through their owners in an attempt to make money since this is considered as their constitutional right. the government of the july 23, 1952 revolution excluded a few rare cases, where it confiscated a number of villas and palaces used to serve governmental purposes. however, there were some owners who preferred to sell their villas and palaces to banks, companies and organizations suited to their activities. therefore, it is necessary for the government and the concerned bodies to intervene, in order to conserve these architectural heritage and value buildings. this intervention is considered parallel to the application of the laws that prevent the demolition or modification of these buildings. definitely, this must be done by legal means that address the investment and economic companies and the banks by obliging them to use these buildings for the purposes of their departments and companies while ensuring their commitment to regular maintenance without any interference that could damage the value of these buildings. this proposal can be supported by a legal mechanism/technique guarantees the state to conserve these heritage and value buildings by self-financing, as long as it is done through a team work with high technical capabilities in conservation and preservation fields. there have been successful examples of major banks, institutions and companies that have stimulated their efforts and strength to support this noble objective in order to conserve this national wealth. at the same time, they support el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 the private property legal rights for owners of these buildings and compensate them financially in a rewarding, civilized and respectful manner. furthermore, increase awareness and motivation for public participation while clarifying the value of those heritage buildings. likewise, it is also possible to increase the awareness of future generations by adding these concepts and information to educational programs, enabling these children to recognize the importance of conservation and development policies and values for valuable heritage and historical buildings, alongside the following: 1. the importance of increasing popular participation and cultural awareness of the value of alexandria city architectural heritage to unite the public opinion to face the overwhelming materialistic/economic ambitions prevalent in those days. 2. the importance of adherence to the implementation of conservation laws and policies very firmly, which helps to develop the national wealth and heritage, while updating the inventory and conservation lists of heritage in alexandria, and activating the role of the conservation committees in the city, such as the technical secretariat for the conservation of architectural heritage in alexandria, and not issuing weak administrative decisions that would lead to the loss of these architectural heritage and value buildings. 3. the importance of amending law no. 144 of 2006 regarding the regulation of the demolition of buildings and non-fallable buildings and preservation of architectural heritage, and the attempt of filling the existing gaps in its executive regulation, beside the revision of ministerial decree no. 301 of 2016 and in coordination with the national organization for urban harmony. 4. the importance of re-reviewing the judgments issued by the administrative court of justice in the last twenty years, which approved the removal of 43 villas and palaces in alexandria from the heritage folder/report, while putting a deterrent punishment for demolition contractors when they demolish buildings without obtaining the necessary permits. 5. the importance of creating unusual ways to motivate institutions, major banks and companies to adopt the process of conserving and developing the architectural heritage of alexandria, through the enactment of appropriate legislations and fair legal settlements for the private property legal rights of the historical and value buildings owners. 6. acknowledgement my profuse thanks and gratefulness go to all my colleagues at beirut arab university, specially prof. mohamed assem hanafi, dr. mary felix and mrs. samar hamieh for their support and perceptive advices. reference aaha index. (2008). collège saint-marc. page de fond. retrieved from http://www.aaha.ch/photos/saint-marc.htm abdel fattah, s. e. m. (2012). funding management of historical areas rehabilitation projects, cairo case study. msc thesis, faculty of engineering, helwan university, egypt. retrieved from http://www.cpas-egypt.com/pdf/shehabmohamed/ms.c/002.pdf alex med. (2008). the alexandria heritage catalogue. according to declaration 278 of 2008, the official egyptian press, el waqaa el masreya, issue number (5), egypt. retrieved from https://www.bibalex.org/alexmed/projects/details.aspx? egypt travel link. (2004). montaza complex alexandria egypt. retrieved from http://www.etltravel.com/montaza-alexandria/montaza-palacemontaza-complex/ el borombaly, h. 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(2016). le musée national d'alexandrie-l’organisme général de l’information. retrieved from http://www.sis.gov.eg/story/83907?lang=fr imgrum. (2018). instagram viewer. #saad_zaghloul #steingberger #cecil #hotel #ram.... husssaid. retrieved from http://www.imgrumweb.com/post/bijq10bfnsc ministry of culture. (2010). guiding manual: principles and criteria for civilizational coordination of buildings and heritage areas of distinctive value. approved by the supreme council for planning and urban development, in accordance with law no. 119 of 200 8 and its executive regulations. national organization for urban harmony, egypt, 1(1), 1-48. retrieved from http://www.cpasegypt.com/pdf/national_organization_for_urban_harmony/01/001/01.pdf news. (2014). sport and opinion from the guardian's us edition. demolition of alexandria architectural gem begins, world news, the guardian. retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/06/demolition-alexandria-architectural-villa-aghion part musings. (2015). part travel blog. page 2 – part musings, part travel blog. retrieved from http://qtplum.wordpress.com/page/2/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.675 multi-scale assessment of urban gardens as constructed habitats for biodiversity conservation in jeddah, saudi arabia deborah a. middleton1 1assistant professor college of architecture and design, effat university, jeddah saudi arabia abstract biodiversity in arid urban environments depends upon habitat formation that balances both bioclimatic and biophysical environment needs. there is the potential for urban gardens to establish symbiotic ecosystem services from microhabitat formation that collectively form an assemblage of ecological patches to connect a diverse range of flora and fauna, and establish community driven nursery and seed collection initiatives. this study of urban garden habitats situated within a new urban district of jeddah saudi. the analysis concentrates on the ability of garden spatial formations to construct a heterogeneous spatial morphology of sub-patch within the larger urban landscape patch. patch and subpatch formations are examined based on the criteria of (i) assemblage of the spatial habitat (characterized by shape and spatial organization); (ii) integration of spatial, functional and vegetation plantation patterns; (iii) connectivity. findings reveal that garden layout is structured by the integration and layering of plant types to generate cool understory habitat with seedling establishment, and water conservation. designed layout of the garden as a spatial pattern is augmented with a range of microclimate mediators to dim solar exposure within the plantation habitat. a strong heterogeneity in plant formations and combinations is seen to dominant the garden formations. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords arid urban garden; spatial morphology; heterogeneous; constructed habitat; biodiversity; spatial scales 1. introduction 2020 has been established as a significant milestone to achieve proposed targets set by the global strategy for plant conservation. (hall et al., 2011) a preliminary 2010 iucn red list assessment of the arabian peninsula‘s most important plant areas (classified on a national basis) highlights the need for immediate conservation of at risk endemic flora. the consistent taxonomy checklist of plants in the arabian peninsula is being compiled at the royal botanic garden edinburgh. (hall et al., 2011) in yemen 699 endemic tax have been reported on (69%) identifying 220 species at risk of extinction, 20 critically endangered, and 38 endangered, with 162 species identified as vulnerable. in the valley forests of the western escarpment mountains in yemen and saudi arabia, 13 of 18 regionally rare species are assessed as critically endangered and 5 as endangered. (hall et al., 2011) strengthening the development of ecosystem services in urban areas assists in achieving the proposed gspc targets 2011-2020 specifically gspc object ii: plant diversity is urgently and effectively conserved; target 8: at least 75 per cent of threatened plan species in ex-situ collections, preferably in the country of origin, and at least 20 per cent available for recovery and restoration programmes. (hall et al., 2011) http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 the kingdom of saudi arabia became a signature to the convention of biodiversity (cbd) in 2005 establishing their first strategic action plan soon after. the saudi arabian cbd strategy concentrates on ways to stabilize ecosystems to immediately address the loss of biodiversity. (hall et al., 2011) government stakeholders such as the high commission for the development of arriyadh, have documented the tax. of endemic plants, engaging in a number of initiatives to disseminate indigenous plant knowledge. (high commission for the development of arriyadh 2014) the high commission has also initiated field research centers at thumamah park to investigate the cultivation of at risk endemic species. their publication on the taxonomy of vegetation found in the central najd region is a good starting point to identifying a conservation strategy that reintroduces endemic vegetation into the natural habitats constructed in urban areas. this paper aims to contribute insights into how urban gardens as naturalistic constructions are being structured in extreme arid urban environments. 2. literature review 2.1. habitat construction for biodiversity conservation in extreme arid landscape contexts the main drivers of biodiversity loss relate to the rapid expansion of settlements combined with the interaction of economic, social and cultural factors, and the increasing occurrence of extremely high temperatures and uneven rainfall, with endemic vegetation at risk due to the frequent planting of mono-plant cultures. (abdulaziz et al., 2005) changes in agricultural practices in the southwestern region of the country relate to the enlargement of farm areas, has also led to the loss of agricultural terraces. this in turn has resulted in the loss of microhabitats for plants and increases soil erosion and flash flooding. subsequently as people relocate to urban environments, there is also a loss of traditional knowledge relating to traditional agricultural practices, and understandings of ecosystem management. the gathering of naturally occurring foods and medicines is still important to the people and economy of the country. additionally, recognizing the importance of plant habitat in cities is an important criteria for selecting sites for conservation action. to date the majority of research on mosaic landscapes has focused on the loss of natural habitats and/or their fragmentation rather than on the construction of new habitats in extremely damaged or at risk ecosystem ecologies. investigating the spatial range of simple to complex constructed habitats that may be sustained in extreme ecology contexts such as those found in the arabian peninsula, constructing urban garden habitats will generate a natural diversity and through scaling of these initiatives over time, will enable larger habitat formation for at risk species. (goodard 2010) constructing habitats in cities also will contribute significantly to the development of ecosystem services. at the present time, exploring the construction of urban garden habitats for biodiversity has not been incorporated into the saudi arabia’s biodiversity conservation action plans. the city of arriyadh has actively engaged in establishing new habitat, but a number of key challenges face regional and local stakeholders, the primary being the absence of design research and guidelines on how to establish and sustain biodiverse ecological patches in extremely arid ecosystems. there is a need to define the specifications of habitat types to be constructed, in addition to establishing guidelines for the design and construction of ecological corridors and their connectivity range. policies are also needed at the local governmental level administration and maintenance of neighborhood community garden initiatives. there is also an absence of assessment metrics for arid constructed habitats specific to urban areas in the arabian peninsula. 2.2. constructing habitats in cities for biodiversity urban gardens enable people to interact with nature and establish ecosystem services that impact the quality of urban life. the management of urban gardens alters land cover and species diversity, with groups of gardens forming green patches that become important refuges for natural species. information on wildlife gardening is limited in ecological research, with the majority of research undertaken in developed countries. (goodard 2010) urban habitats are constructed with varying types of vegetation or landcover to form a distinctive environmental condition, providing natural resources required by different species or species group. (wang 2008) the design of biodiversity enabling habitats is related to the need to increase the abundance of birds, butterflies, and other animals middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 and plants valued for their aesthetic and functional attributes. (hough 2004) numerous challenges face municipalities seeking to balancing recreational and ornamental need with the construction of greenspace that will sustain and increase the density of native biodiversity. different spatial arrangements at macro and micro scales enables the formation of heterogeneity, an important structuring consideration for sustainable biodiverse habitat formation. (goodard 2010) understanding the relationships between ecological function and spatial structure and scale will also enable the ecological consequences of proposed spatial solutions or risks to be anticipated and modeled. (leitao 2002, pace et al., 2015) to date there is a limited understanding of how constructed spatial habitats relate to ecological processes, species establishment and dispersal, and species responses in extreme arid climates of the arabian peninsula. arid urban environments pose challenges to constructing habitats for biodiversity due to the absence of water, good soil types, present vegetation range, and a symbiotic background mosaic. in extreme arid urban contexts, spatial patterning of habitats and their patches as discrete or integrated assemblages may expose constructed habitats to higher risk and need for ecoservice management due to the type and patterning of land cover. (landis 2017, pace et al., 2015) the identification of ideal urban sites and neighborhoods to establish urban garden initiatives requires study of the site solar exposure and above variables, but also depends upon the symbiotic commitment of local community caretakers to sustain the urban gardens over time, and the municipalities design expectations of constructed biodiverse habitats as compared to ornamental or recreational urban landscapes. 2.3. heterogeneous spatial structure and biodiversity one of the central concerns of landscape ecology is how spatial heterogeneity shapes the dynamics of ecological systems and temporal processes. (pickett and cadenasso 1995) increasing the heterogeneity of landscape ecologies depends more on the spatial structuring of patches and habitats rather than the spatial range of scales. (pickett and cadenasso 1995) different approaches to the spatial structuring of constructed habitats have been found to limit the ability of the habitat to expand over time, resulting in a stigmed resilience to rapidly changing ecosystem characteristics. (pace et al., 2015) research suggests that urban habitats create a consistent set of habitat templates (hard-surfaced environments with shallow compacted soil and extreme hydrological conditions and temperatures) that tend to attract species drawn disproportionately from rocky habitats (larson et al., 2000, 2004) urban landscaping practices in saudi arabia focus on imported monoculture vegetation acclimatized to the extreme arid and solar environment. (abdulaziz 2005) different spatial habitat formations represent different conditions that attract different flora original or imported, and distinctive vegetation composition. (lundholm et. al 2006) different taxa will perceive and respond to landscape structure at many spatial scales depending on a range of parameters. a key challenge is to maximize vegetation complexity throughout the ecosystem. (goodard 2010) 2.4. describing heterogeneous dimensions of constructed and natural habitats constructed habitats display variations in how they assemble patches for different species of flora and fauna. studies of spatial heterogeneity of a habitat frequently link to the functional ability of the habitat to support and generate variety, richness and abundance of living organisms. (landis 2017) describing the morphology of spatial patterns in constructed habitats (urban gardens) requires a fine grain analysis of patch and sub-patch, in order to understand how constructed habitats form resiliency and change over time. studying spatial patterns reveals regularities in underlying ecological processes, and function of ecological parameters within them. the fine grain patterns present in urban gardens may enable them to enhance biodiversity due to more frequent and diverse disturbances in the patch system. (pickett et.al., 1995) essential characteristics of natural and constructed habitats are their assemblage of spaces (patches and subpatches), and shape (geometry, size, vertical height). assemblage complexity enables the formation of a larger more intact habitat area. the integration of vegetation patterns of different taxa, different specie, maturity range, with a diversity of spatial assemblage approaches will provide richer more dynamic habitat formation that is more resilient to ecosystem change. the size and shape of patches has been shown to determine to a large degree their ecological and functional characteristics with patch spatial structure, described as homogeneous or heterogeneous. (pickett and middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 cadenasso 1995, landis 2017, pace et al., 2015) the connectivity of patches is an additional essential structure that enables the movement of flora and fauna across patches and meta-zones. (leitao et al., 2002) corridors that form connecting linkages allow both the dispersion of flora and fauna throughout the urban system across spatial scales. in contrast discrete design approaches exhibit strong edges, boundaries or limits with no apparent connectivity, that inhibit the formation and expansion of bio-diverse ecosystems. discrete patches may be differentiated by biotic and abiotic structure or composition. (pickett and cadenasso, 1995) edges or overlapping formations are characteristics of shape that have been associated with the spatial dimension of habitats and ecological processes. (landis, 2017) constructed habitats have been found to reshape the existing microclimate profile of a site by the organization of vegetation patterns to reduce the lands exposure to solar radiation and high winds.(lin, 2018) three types of landscape function are associated with the shape and complexity of landscape habitat patches; production such as food, wood, recreation and community services; protection natural functions maintenance and enhancement of biological species; regulation – microclimate formation, temperature, wind and air quality. (leitao et al., 2006) the minimum habitat requirement for an indicator species has generally been identified to be in the area of at least 0.30.5 hectares. (redpath 1995, van apeldoorn et al., 1992, harris 1984, robbins et al., 1989, rudd, 2002) table 1.concepts supporting heterogeneity in constructed habitats. concept selected criteria assemblage complex assemblages of patches and vegetation is better for wildlife and more highly appreciated by people.(roetman and daniels 2008) shape complexity patch shape complexity (leitao et al 2006) exterior and interior volumes, canopy and wall structure.(farinha-marques et al., 2016) spatial organization patches are layered out as linear or nonlinear areas that differ from the surrounding background landscape (linehan 1995) and exhibit connectivity within and across patch/nodes.(farinha-marques et al., 2016) spatial scale landscape scale factors affect microclimate (grasses, trees and shrubs). (lin et al., 2018) integration a dynamic measure of ecosystems patterns, shape complexity, functional distribution, taxa. variety, and spatial types. vegetation pattern layering of vegetation (horizontal and vertical) (farinha-maraques et al., 2016) patch integration is nested or polygonal in both vertical and horizontal orientation. functional distribution multifunctional diversity is measured by the distribution of functional types, spatial structure and taxa relationships in the habitat. (landis 2017) planting phases different planting phases are introduced at intervals to enable all planting phases and managed succession (mature, junior, seedlings). (hough 2004) seasonal disturbance includes canopy ground cover closure and thinning, invasive barriers and edges, patch turnover (hough 2004, landis 2017) connectivity patch connectivity is linear/discrete or multi dimensional (heterogenous) in arid environments the territorial range may be substantially lower as a single tree may form an important mediating link in a stressed ecosystem. microclimates result from the interaction between prevailing climate and objects in the landscape. (brown & gillespie 1995) by focusing on the solar path orientation around the site vegetation placement in gardens may construct shading screens and canopies to decrease solar exposures of the garden sites. tree shading is an important mediator for bioclimatic formation. a study of olive tree shadow on soil middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 temperature during summer period can reduce the temperature by 11° c. (panagopoulos 2007). urban green structures cool hot air by evapotranspiration, provide shading to the ground and adjacent building walls, and reduce the velocity of wind, regenerate air quality, absorb air borne dust and filter noise. 3. methodology 3.1. research framework the aim of this study is to describe the spatial heterogeneity composition of two recently established urban garden habitats, and describe their spatial formation. figure 1 research framework a literature review was undertaken to identify morphologies of heterogeneous spatial formations and discuss their affordances to structure urban habitat construction for biodiversity application. the survey of two urban habitat nodes describe the morphology of the landscape ecology patch structure at the intermediate-micro scale. the survey examined two parameters of heterogeneous habitat construction; (i) the assemblage of patch and sub patches (characterized by shape and spatial organization); (ii) integration of the patch structure characterized by the functional diversity range (characterized as seasonal or phased). a linear study of the two urban garden node sites morphogenesis over time was documented through frequent photographs to capture seasonal and annual patch structural changes (sub patch shape, space and vegetation pattern). a descriptive matrix of the heterogeneity morphology of the urban garden patch formations establishes a comparative framework for future studies. 3.2. background bio-climatic environment context saudi arabia contains three distinct climate area’s, coastal area’s, internal dry area’s, and highlands. (alrashed et al. 2015) in jeddah, a city on the red sea coast, residents experience an average temperatures of 32° c to 49° c, with 45° c in the shade during summer months. in winter, average temperatures range from 24° c – 30° c. relative humidity varies seasonally from 55% 65% with significant levels of air pollution and airborne dust. vegetation in the makkah region and city of jeddah is generally sparse with 60% in low-lying areas. cool high mountains, arid deserts and steeps, and hot semi-arid coastal plains characterize saudi arabia’s natural environment. dry hot winds are especially threatening to bird and plant resilience during summer months. low and unpredictable rainfall, and severe droughts pose challenges to conserving the kingdoms biological diversity. infrequent rain primarily falls in the southwestern escarpment on the red sea coast. 3.3. urban gardens as constructed habitats in jeddah in this study of urban gardens, heterogeneous patches are examined in two habitat nodes, (garden sites) surrounded by an ecosystem context of larger spatial expanses of hot dry desert. this natural environment experiences hot dusty soils that shift in the wind, and extreme solar radiation exposure. the solar irradiance at the king abdulaziz university main campus station, latitude 21.49604, longitude 39.24492 elevation 75(m), finds the annual average assessing heterogeneous morphology of urban garden constucted habitat assemblage shape complexity spatial layout integration distribution connectivity middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 temperatures ranges from 30.7 °c to a maximum daily average temperature of 37.6 °c at this station. daily solar irradiance levels (zell 2015) are recorded as: ghi (wh/m2) dni average daily dhi average daily average /maximum average /maximum average /maximum 5925/8066 5142 /9327 2329/5107 biodiversity loss due to habitat fragmentation, and species decline in saudi arabia will continue to increase rapidly with climate change and the expansion of cities and human settlements into resource rich natural enclave habitats. currently municipal landscape strategies in jeddah persist to establish limited patch types resulting in segregation and bounding of biodiversity species, ultimately limiting the natural reproduction of biota. (a) (b) (c) figure 2 character of the landscape matrix found in the study area. (a) warood 2 district of jeddah; (b)site of garden 1 composed of three patches; (c) site of garden 2 composed of two patches. (a) (b) figure 3 (a) garden 1 mix of urban agriculture taxa. (b) garden 2 constructs urban forest mixing citrus and banana fruit with a range of tree species and flowering shrubs. 4. findings 4.1. overview this visual survey of jeddah urban gardens, establish by private individuals on vacant land in a new urban district, examine how the gardens are spatially formed to construct patch habitats for a range of vegetation species. two constructed habitat (ch) nodes are distinguished as site 1 (s1) and site 2 (s2). patch formations within the node are identified as patch 1,2,3 (p1, p2). assemblage heterogeneity of the spatial morphology of the garden is coded to (a) describe the dimension of sub-patch, (b) describes patch core dimension, (c) describes the edge position. site position in the connectivity matrix is shown in dark grey. a limited description of the taxa classification is made. middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 4.2. visual survey spatial scale and heterogeneity 4.2.1. s1 p1 longitudinal garden observations garden 1, 5 years old, uses modified root watering with inverted water bottles, and garden hoses. this patch is highly stable with minor adjustment in plantation within b, the main tree cluster. this area is used for sprouting of seeds and seedling establishment for later transplantation. the constructed patches establish microclimates through their assemblage of space and space, and integration of vegetative patterning and functional distribution and the formation of sub-patches and layering, are found to integrate different plant taxa and create microclimate. garden management problems focus chickens invading this garden from s2 garden. clear activity zones are established and the area is used by neighborhood community members. table 2. description of constructed habitat patch types found in jeddah saudi arabia s1p1 heterogeneity spatial description photographs assemblage spatial formation shape edges semi-discrete rectangular – oval patches, high density compact core cluster, surrounded by dense natural ground cover. a dense canopy of foliage establishes evapotranspiration and microclimate. high ground cover with compact patch cluster in center. assemblage heterogeneity b core size:26 m x30 m a sub-patch size: 20 m x 25 m functional distribution microclimate, ecosystem services. restricted spatial development. connectivity adjacent patches (3) radial (c ) edges (e,s,w) a large variety of plant species with trees planted in close proximity to seedlings and small plant varieties positioned in the understory. taxa. biodiversity (a) butterfly birds, vegetation, ecosystem service. (b) plantains, carica papaya, aubergine, bamia, palm, mango, lime tree, other trees. (a) ornamental /herbaceous/ moliheya garden management seasonal micro-scale agriculture shared with local neighborhood. high visibility and sociability. a b c s1p1 s1p2 s1p3 middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 4.2.2. s1 p2 longitudinal garden observations irrigation methods are variable depending on the knowledge and availability of financial resources, garden 1 uses modified root watering with inverted water bottles, and garden hoses, while garden 2 uses irrigation canals. table 3. site1 patch1 description of constructed habitat s1p2 heterogeneity spatial description photographs assemblage spatial formation shape edges limited heterogeneity patch organization establishes seasonal agriculture. linear-horizontal assemblage heterogeneity functional distribution restrictive spatial development -phased seasonal. limited shade and microclimate formation. b core 35 m x 20 m a sub-patch size: 5 m x 10 m connectivity linear, horizontal, discrete patch, adjacent patches. moderate-high flexibility adjacent sub-patch organization taxa. biodiversity onion, garlic, bamia, eggplant, moliheya, khatti meeth lauki squash, basil, carica papaya, naturalistic ground cover, very good soil formation. free-range chickens from adjacent garden plot pose challenges for seed dispersal, plantation patterns. garden management seedlings are established in close proximity to the denser canopy, with a variety of shading constructions used. the site is primarily agricultural. s1p1 s1p2 s1p3 middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 4.2.3. s1 p3 longitudinal garden observations the constructed patches establish microclimates through their assemblage of space and space, and integration of vegetative patterning and functional distribution and the formation of sub-patches and layering, are found to integrate different plant taxa and create microclimate. irrigation methods are variable depending on the knowledge and availability of financial resources, garden 1 uses modified root watering with inverted water bottles, and garden hoses, while garden 2 uses irrigation canals. table 4. s1 p3 description of constructed habitat s1p3 heterogeneity spatial description photographs assemblage spatial formation shape edges restrictive spatial development, shaded ground cover rectilinear. (c) bounded fence patch, edges (s, w), sidewalk (n) assemblage heterogeneity patch 30’ x 30’ functional distribution eco-system services as a community social node, it establishes seasonal agriculture, free-range chickens. fencing establishes garden identity in the community. connectivity limited. site is bounded by tall buildings, the patch is related to adjacent subpatches in linear formation. taxa. biodiversity onion, garlic, bamia, eggplant, khatti meeth lauki squash, basil, carica papaya, chili pepper, cucumber, tomato, mints. garden management strong boundary edge is maintained with constructed fencing. plants are distributed across the site with minimal species integration. canopy formation by papaya. limited layering. papaya used to generate solar shading across the garden. a c s1p1 s1p2 s1p3 middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 36 4.2.4. s2 p1 longitudinal garden observations the constructed patches establish microclimates through their assemblage of space and space, and integration of vegetative patterning and functional distribution and the formation of sub-patches and layering, are found to integrate different plant taxa and create microclimate. irrigation methods are variable depending on the knowledge and availability of financial resources, garden 1 uses modified root watering with inverted water bottles, and garden hoses, while garden 2 uses irrigation canals. table 5. site 2 patch1 description of habitat construction s2p1 heterogeneity spatial description photographs assemblage spatial formation shape edges restrictive spatial development as radial edges shaded ground cover with grasses (b) open patch, strong edges formed by tree line (s, w), sidewalk and building (n) edges constructed to mediate solar and wind forces. heterogeneity assemblage a patch 40.5 m x 20 m b core 30 m x 15 m linear tree line is on the right (s) facing. functional distribution eco-system services, microclimate formation, node for community socialization as indicated by trace chair positions. connectivity open within a district with limited connectivity for species and flora dispersion. alignment to s2p2 taxa. biodiversity bird habitat formation. endemic trees, herbatious shrubs, ornamental trees, citrus trees, grasses, plantain, palm. non-layered garden management earth berms and tree line on the western edge establish wind flow away from garden. trees provide shading at peak solar irradiance times. irrigation canals establish seedling nursery for future transplantation. fallen leaves are used to cover water canals. s2p1 s2p2 buildings a b c middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 37 4.2.5. s2 p2 longitudinal garden observations this garden transformation is slower than garden s1. this site is used as a nursery for small trees and shrubs that are transplanted into s2 p1. the constructed patches establish microclimates through their assemblage of space and space, and integration of vegetative patterning and functional distribution. soil formation is highlighted in this garden. observations highlight constructions of shading devices using different techniques and plant species as seen in the photographs in table 5. this constructed habitat is ideal for establishment of at risk species through use as a small scale nursery. it presents an ideal model to support local district development of gardens of similar typology. table 6. site 2 patch2 description of habitat construction s2p2 heterogeneity spatial description photographs assemblage spatial formation shape edges restrictive spatial development; convex spaces establish patch pattern. canopy formation height: 10 – 20 m edges are vegetation linear wall formations used to generate shading structure on patch core. (e, s, w), heterogeneity assemblage functional distribution eco-system services, strong microhabitat formation. moderate high variation trees and shrubs with mixed maturity and type in vegetation patterning. connectivity limited district taxa. biodiversity birds and endemic plants. garden management canopy bridges are used to construct shading in the inner field with climbing vines. zipties shape stem/branch growth. plantation is aligned to irrigation canals. b s2p2 buildings s2p1 p1 c c b b b middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 4.3. observed integration of multiple spatial scales table 7.typology of spatial structures found in this study of heterogeneous constructed habitat. patch type criteria patch meta-population zone identified as habitat node in this study. areas within an urban environment bounded by major physical barriers (roads, highways, water ways) that inhibit the migration of flora and fauna. multiple types of green space patches may co-exist in a zone. s1;s2 patch network interaction between nodes is more accurately measured as the minimum distance between green spaces, as this distance is more reflective of that to be crossed by biota rather than the distance from the geometric center of one green space to another.(rudd 2002) s1p1,p2, p3,+ under construction; s2p1,p2; corridor core habitats are linked together to allow birds and wild life and plants to move from one area to another. the construction of habitat corridors in addition to establishing patch connectivity is a spatial organization tactic that enables the mobility and increases spatial range to sustain biodiversity of flora and fauna in cities. strong s1 and s2 interior connectivity. poor s1 & s2 node connectivity urban block corner distinctive plantation patch positioned adjacent to pedestrian or vehicular traffic. s1p1; s2p1, p2 urban block side edge distinctive patch positioned on the patch side adjacent to traffic pedestrian or traffic that establishes vertical wall /screen. s1p2, p3 sidewalk edge linear spacing between individual sidewalk blocks (lundholm 2006) s1p1;s2p1,p2 sidewalk pavement horizontal, flat concrete built structure, human foot traffic (lunholm 2006) boundary to s1p2-p3 planted grasses area large patch area planted with grasses, shrubs, agricultural vegetation, ornamental types s2p1 planted area medium-small distinguished by spatial permeability in a layout defined by wall plantations, irrigation and/or canopy cover. s1, p1;s2p2 planted walls to generate shading distinguished by enclosing wall plantation, irrigation and/or canopy cover. s2p1, p2 seedling nursery vegetation range is developed in small planters spatially structured as a nursery. s2p1, p2 seedling understory young plants are positioned adjacent to mature vegetation which provides shading. s1p1, p3;s2 p1,p2 middleton/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 5. conclusion arid regions are commonly perceived to contain less plants and animal species, yet microclimate and biodiverse habitat formation in extreme arid environments is possible. how landscapes are structured and the interactions they generate are fundamental questions in landscape ecology. (pickett 1995) extending and expanding biodiversity in arid cities requires researchers to explore a range of generative morphologies that shape formations of ecological scale, structure, and process. classical approaches to landscape ecology typically focus on how the structural adjacencies and distribution of function affect discrete or heterogeneous communities and eco-systems. (pickett and cadenasso 1995) this visual survey reveals three key aspects of the urban garden management that are of interest to developing future strategies for arid urban city contexts. urban gardens may be used to construct a range of habitats that will collectively form an assemblage of ecological patches to connect a diverse range of flora and fauna. as local hotspots urban gardens can infuse the city and its public spaces with a diverse green infrastructure and provide tremendous value to achieve action towards the conservation of biodiversity. as constructed habitats, urban gardens provide vegetative structure and biodiversity for ecosystems, establish microclimates, and open recreational spaces. urban gardens also provide a spatial scale that supports much needed experimentation in the construction of novel habitats in arid climates. these habitats may be focused to establish or integrate a range of taxa. that range from forest formations to urban agriculture and ornamental gardens. through careful management and engagement with local community members, opportunities for seed collection and seedling plantations are possible to be used to restore regional natural ecosystems. future studies would ideally examine the indigenous varieties vs. the imported plant taxa used in the garden. the urban gardens reviewed in this study also establish ecosystem services for education and awareness programs are also supported by urban community gardens initiatives, providing opportunities to increase cooperation and local resource capacity for managing and conserving biodiversity. traditional indigenous agricultural practices are proven and often are the only effective means to conserving the genetic diversity of land race crops with a rich assemblage of species. gardens are an informal means to increase public awareness of biodiversity, provide education, and enhance benefit sharing with local communities while instituting systems of collaborative management of resources and the transfer of knowledge of eco-systems and plants. community gardens also provide linkages to socio-economic development, provide outdoor recreation and promote co-operation in local communities. to establish constructed habitats in saudi arabia a number of factors must be carefully coordinated to avoid future risks of established habitat loss and ensure successful outcomes and return on development investment. references abuzinada, a. h., al-wetaid, y. i., & al-basyouni, s. z. m. 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(2015). assessment of solar radiation resources in saudi arabia. solar energy, 119, 422-438. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2015.06.031 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.909 development plan for decreasing crime rates at el amir hamad archeological site yasmin moanis hatem 1 , rasha ali 2 1,2 assistant professor at the department of architecture, delta university for science and technology email: dr.yasmin.moanis@hotmail.com 1 , abstract recently, the direct causal relationship between the built environment and well-being has been shown to affect the quality of life as well as the performance of the urban environment. while it is often difficult to establish, the urban built environment plays a major role in shaping the way people behave inside it. (thwaites, kevin, et al., 2016) while urbanization takes place in a transforming society, societal development leaves its impact on the urban spaces. when industries and development plans decline in some parts of the city, especially those with archaeological value, these parts become abandoned due to migration. urban pockets or gaps inside the built environment are left behind to suffer from informality, deterioration, increasing crime and unemployment rates. the aim of that research is to find some possible solutions for improving the public abandoned spaces that accommodate dangerous buildings, high rates of unemployment and unsafe urban areas in the regional range of meet-ghamr, dakhlia governorate. (aggnieszka lisowska, 2017). the targeted area of the study is "minaret el amir hamaad" in meet-ghamr, dakahleia, egypt. it is one of the most important archaeological sites in the islamic heritage of dakhlia governorate, which is well known for its unique mosques and mosque minarets. © 2022 the authors, published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers keywords archeological sites, heritage crime, urban open spaces, development plans, conservation, safety 1. introduction without a doubt, accurately identifying and improving historical sites and buildings is extremely imperative as it allows communities to continue to exist while preventing history from fading away and being ruined. abandoned sites may intentionally cause the deterioration of the assets and the surrounding urban area. (jon m. shane, july 2012). the complex problems of abandoned historical sites pose a threat to the surrounding structures and present a direct risk to the type and rate of crime in a process known as "house stripping," "scavenging," or "urban mining". in these cases, the offender destroys the asset and then sells it away. abandoned urban areas are highly linked to naturally increasing and developing crime rates and types, which increases the value of the asset. (jon m. shane, july 2012). this empirical research demonstrates the importance of involving the preservation of archaeological sites that should be linked to a long-term conservation plan to protect them from being abandoned and demolished. in addition, it discusses the term "heritage crime" and the relation between crime and abandoned heritage areas. http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:dr.yasmin.moanis@hotmail.com1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 the importance of involving the preservation of archaeological sites is discussed through studying the local area of "el amir hamad corner," which is considered to be one of the extensive archaeological areas at meet-ghamr dakahleia, egypt. additionally, the study highlights the problems affecting the area such as; negligence, demolition, abandonment, fewer amenities and services caused by the new dwellers of criminals or displaced people. 2. research aims and objectives the study aims to properly prepare a development plan for the archaeological site of el amir hamad corner, taking into consideration the area's built environment on an urban scale through: -examining the current situation of el amir hamad corner, and carefully investigating the physical and social conditions of the local area. -studying crime rates, types and distribution inside the historic area to carefully evaluate the situation and properly establish an operational plan. preparing several planning alternatives and reasonably achieving the potential target related to conserving the historic site by exploiting the extensive archaeological history of the area. 3. research methodology  a quantitative and qualitative field study for el amir hamad corner is conducted to determine the number of residents, building conditions, and types of economic activities in the area.  from both practical and theoretical perspectives, an analytical study of the existing case of historic buildings and street network is conducted to investigate the behavioral attitude of active users, sufficient strengths, and critical weaknesses.  a sustainable development plan is carried out for the historical region within the comprehensive framework of the strategic concept of a social and alternative relationship with complex nature and regional levels. finally, a conclusion is drawn based on the analytical data and research results to create an optimum solution for el amir hamad archaeological site. 4. el amir hamad corner, dakahlia, egypt (case study) tourism is a common phenomenon in egypt as a modern country that encompasses 1/3 of world-historical sites. therefore, the necessity of developing and conserving these sites in a way that improves the social, sociological, and psychological aspects of the district has become evident. besides, it is greatly significant not to abandon them so that they can be perceived as an explicit and healthy image for the space. (mohamed kamal mohamed ghodya, 2021). tourism leads to a temporarily increased number of people from outside the local district to enter into a relatively compact area. it can easily change a completely hazardous site into a safe one by introducing tourists (allowed stranger) to the local district which may transform the area’s character to better one; especially, if it is already suffering from certain types of crime like drug dealing, theft, prostitution, or vandalism. ( postma,a. and schmuecker,d. (2017). the unused urban space and abandoned urban gaps between buildings and other physical built areas with no community attention; specially for a city that has many archeological and historical sites, can cause many problems concerning social, psychological and physical spaces. these spaces have high potential for reconstruction and conservation. therefore, integrating these spaces into the surrounding community gradually with well-designed plans of conservation can help in developing the area throughout the time. el amir hamad corner is selected as the case study to make an economic and social development plan to improve the regional security and reduce the local crime rate as it consists of some historical buildings (el ghamry mosque el amir hamad minaret-el arwam church). in addition, it suffers from neglect and low conservation and maintenance level. it accommodates certain types of criminal acts which make it an unsafe area for local citizens. https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=albert%20postma https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=dirk%20schmuecker rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 the city was constructed by el amir hamad ben mekled beik in the year 1615. it was considered as an islamic an archaeological site on 21st november, 1951 with an official declaration no. 10357. it typically consists of el amir hamad minaret which is close to el grand ghamry mosque founded on mamluk period. the historic mosque occupies a significant position with a nile view of meet-ghamr, egypt. 4.1 problem definition the gradual deterioration of certain historical areas leaves a negative impression about the cultural aspect and safety of that social space which carries islamic and coptic history. in the study area of el amir hamad minaret, the gradual deterioration and low conservation rates separate the area gradually from the surrounding fabric, leaving the inner space with no definite building shapes, archaeological remains, high unemployment and crime rates, and concentrated fabric in the middle of the local area. the ruined mosques and the graceful minaret are left for ruthless destruction and are left abandoned. thus, this area acts as an adequate space for potential criminals and disordered behavior to appear. one of the major problems inside the proposed site is that the surrounding buildings are typically considered to be a slump informal area with no specific shape or social structure. it was announced to be an unsafe urban area by the governorate of dakalhia, unit of informal settlements. the study area of el amir hamad corner naturally suffers from condensed building fabric in the middle of crumbling used buildings, which shows the gradual deterioration of the historic site around the graceful minaret, ruined ghamry mosque, and most of the iconic buildings typically found to be owned by the endowment "awqaf". it is also neglected by the private owner, which leads the abandoned area to be a suitable host for illegal criminals, disordered acts, and urban crime. the local area in the middle with low-rise buildings typically causes a marked decrease in the viable option of natural surveillance and decreases direct contact with the surrounding fabric as well. figure 1: deterioration of the historical heart of the proposed site of el amir hamad corner, dakhlya,meet-ghamr, egypt (2004-2018) source: authors figure 2: case study el amir hamad minaret, analysis and problem definition source: authors (a) (b) (c) rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 on the other hand, the visible outline of the area includes the most towering buildings, which merely make it a suitable option to typically leave the middle severely deteriorated and less connected to the outer district. according to the most recent surveys on that area, which suffers from drug dealing, theft, prostitution, and vandalism, the two great mosques have been left for demolition with no maintenance. thus, it suffered fron neglect and developed a high rate of crime. 4.2 el amir hamad corner and safety the area lies on the distinguished shore of the nile river in the city of meet-ghamr, at the corner of el amir hammad, which is considered a unique archaeological architectural work. the area suffers from harsh environmental conditions, as the surrounding area which includes 104 old dilapidated houses is classified as a slum area and entered the government development program several years ago without progress or achievement until it became a breeding ground for piles of dirt and turned into an unsafe zone (government slump development unit). the site acquired great importance as a religious, spiritual, and commercial symbol. it was a port for transporting goods and was supported by its proximity to the nile river. besides, it is one of the individual models of archaeological angles in lower egypt and needs to be highlighted for development and inclusion in tourism programs. (archaeological awareness and cultural development, dakahlia archeology). among the most important islamic shrines: al-mowafi mosque one of the most famous mosques in mansoura, founded by king al-saleh “nagm el-din ayoub” in 583 ah – 1187 ad. al-ghamry archaeological mosque and minaret it is located in meet ghamr city. this unique minaret dates back to the reign of mamluks muhammad ibn abi bakr alsedik mosque it is located in meet demsis at markaz aga. it is the mosque of mohammad ibn abi bakr al sedik, son of the companion sahabi of prophet mohammad (pbuh) and the first caliph of the muslims. his tomb was discovered in 1950. prince hammad it is located next to alghamry mosque; and it dates back to mamluks era. figure 3: the surrounding built environment for the area (a,b,c) figure 4: the minaret of prince hamad mosque and its deterioration value and historical monuments of grand ghamry mosque source: https://heritage.weladelbalad.com figure5: a detailed map for the site problem definition source: authors rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 el amir hamad mosque is one of the historical monuments at meet-ghamr. it suffers severely from the potential danger of demolishing and erasing the cultural history of a significant period where a number of owners of the surrounding buildings demolished their rented houses from the endowments and started constructing modern, undefined buildings. consequently, they damaged the local area’s history and architectural heritage for the purpose of building their own homes away from the regulations and government rules. most of the demolished buildings are extremely damaged. they are owned by the endowment that was severely neglected for years, and many acute problems are caused by that exact reason. the mosque is considered to be one of the rare suspended mosques in the eastern delta region in the ottoman period, thanks to the establishment of "wedoa" places at the bottom of the corner, as well as the creation of an external corridor under the southern area and lower rooms with intersecting domes. (https://gate.ahram.org.eg/daily/news/808123.aspx) 4.3 site analysis the area's condition is objectively analysed to depict the difference between positive and negative points inside the area, starting from the solid and void maps, which show the real, condensed, used fabric of the private buildings with a very appalling condition inside the area near to el ghamry mosque and el amir hamad minaret, which caused the demolishing of the rest of the surrounding buildings in bad condition and leaving the area for potential criminals and prostitution. a detailed study for the building types and occupation is carefully carried out to generate the right design decision for the used area. the analysis shows that most of the land ownership irretrievably goes to the endowment of the authoritarian government and the rest is citizen ownership "which caused the problem at first". thus, by calculating the proper ratio, it is found that 65% goes for the endowment and 35% are citizen ownership. corner among the most important coptic shrines saint mar-gerges church it lies in meet demsis at markaz aga. it is composed of two buildings; one of which dates back to more than 1,600 years. monastery of st. damiana: it is located in damiana village at markaz belqas. it includes five churches; one of which is an archeological church in gothic style that was discovered late in 1947. building number floor no r f o 16-17-18-19-20-21-28-29-30-31-65-91-91 ground floor 1 1 e 4-3’’-6-7-8-11-12-13-14-15ground floor 1 1 e 44-55-45-46-47-49-52-62-63-64ground floor 1 1 e 3 ground floor 1 2 e 1-2 demolished e 9-10-24-25-32-35-37-39-43-48-102 ground and first floor 2 2 e 22-23 ground +first floor 1 2 e 36-38-46 empty land e 40-51-92ground +2 floors 3 3 e 41-42-56-59ground +5 floors 5 5 e table 1: the most important archeological areas at meet ghamr, dakahlia, egypt source: national organization of urban harmony figure 6: the entrance and the shape of el amir hamad mosque and minaret, and the rate of deterioration rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 5. understanding heritage crime for the study area heritage crime is a concept attached to any heritage site. it means "any offence which harms the value of heritage assets and their settings to the present and future generations or which impairs their enjoyment." in other words, it could be said that it is a punishable offence in which any individual intentionally harms the moral or physical value of heritage assets and their historical settings. (robin bryant (2020). according to yaron gottlieb, there are many different types of crimes against our heritage, including theft of lead and other metals from churches and other historic buildings; architectural theft; illegal metal detecting; unlawful alteration and damage to listed buildings; unlawful demolition of buildings and structures in conservation areas; damage to monuments; arson; graffiti; and other forms of antisocial behavior in proximity to heritage assets (yaron gottlieb, 2020). most heritage assets are properly protected by specific legislation to typically prevent harm caused by possible damage or unlicensed alteration on the international level. however, other crimes such as apparent theft, criminal damage, aggravated arson, and anti-social behavior offences can also damage and harm heritage assets and interfere negatively with the allowed public's social enjoyment and personal knowledge of their cultural heritage (korsell et al., 2006). 95 ground +6 floors 37 37 c 97 ground +6 floors 7 5 c 96 ground 5 shops+4 floors 12 12 c 78-82 ground shop+4 floors 5 5 c 83 ground 2 shops+4 floors 5 5 c 90 ground 2 shops+4 floors 6 6 c 79 ground 3shops+4 floors 7 7 c 104 parking 1 1 g 105 storage c 81 ground floor shop s s c 84-85 empty land c 86 ground 1 shop+3 floors 4 4 c 0 ground+11 floors 12 12 c 89 ground shop +2 floors 3 3 c 103 2 shops 2 2 c 70 3 shops 3 3 c 54 mosque e 50 el amir hamad minaret e e=endowment c=citizen o=ownership r=residence = none s=store f=family table 2: the total analysis of the site source: authors figure7, 8, 9, 10 and 11: the total analysis of the site and building conditions figure 12: the effect of low maintenance for the mosque rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 in egypt, touristic sites are carefully secured. most of them are protected by the established rules and local legislation. however, in some smaller cities that typically have a great deal of local historical heritage and valued assets, touristic sites suffer severely from being away from the excessive regulations and political rules and are left for gradual deterioration, as in the proposed area of meet ghamr, dakhalia, egypt. it could easily be affected by heritage crime. (h. tavakoli and m.h. marzbali (2021). the proposed study area typically contains one of the famous and valued minarets of el amir hamad in addition to the ruined gamry mosque, which is similar in a unique design to "azahar al sharif". however, they suffer from some types of heritage crime that include architectural theft of some ornaments from the mosque and the church (particularly of wood and stone); criminal damage (e.g. graffiti on a scheduled monument); illegal remain detecting; anti-social behavior (most particularly occupying and living inside historic sites along with some other activities); unauthorized changes to historic buildings and the illegal trade in cultural objects (robin bryant, 2020). abandoning this historic site, without any sort of maintenance, results in an increase in violent crime rates through time with some specific types of punishable crimes that intentionally harm the abandoned properties and local inhabitants. consequently, these crimes take place and increase by time (han, hye-sung, and helm, scott. august 1 st , 2010 this entry was published). 6. tourism industry and safety for the abandoned historic sites the potential tourist and resident users of a certain space simply propose an economic diversity of possible options to some more economic improvements to typically increase the nominal income for both stack holders and local habitats of that local area. the idea of the local tourism industry on the economic scale naturally involves many alternative options. accordingly, it offers and generates continuous occupations in many altered areas. (wto, 2002) by encouraging local tourism through the introduction of a suitable development plan, the local economic value of the urban space increases, which helps to bring investments to the area and local hotels, cafes, food courts, gathering pedestrian points, tour guide agencies, retail, and souvenir giveaway shops can typically help to reliably deliver many diverse levels of gainful employment for local people in the neighborhood. (oecd, 2020) according to a study conducted in philadelphia, which is considered to be one of the heritage cities that suffer from vacant and abandoned buildings, the city is using an abandoned building remediation strategy to reduce blight and crime, stabilize real estate value, and encourage economic development. the results indicate that the low-cost method of possible renovation could possibly be an effective means to reduce crime. moreover, this study provides useful evidence of the potential effect of abandoned building remediation policies on decreasing crime rates in cities. (kondo mc et al., 2015). 7. proposed development plan for the study area rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 cultural tourism positively brings about a massive consequence in flourishing any archaeological site by its vast impact of radically increasing pedestrian safety, social balance, positively enhancing criminal attitude, and economic balance to the place, so it was humbly proposed to conserve the historic site with all the great archaeological buildings inside it (elamir hamad minaret, el local ghamry mosque, and el arwam church) and to widely establish a current path for tourists to instantly get inside the site to enjoy the magnificent scenes offered by the historic buildings and mosques inside after carefully restoring it to the past situation. from the outside, tourists can enjoy the broad view of the nile and el arwam church. the solution proposal indicates precisely the following steps of a considerable improvement: the touristic path proposed according to the arrangement of the significant archaeological building inside the site with profound respect to the main streets, secondary streets, car pathways, pedestrian walkways, and empty land distribution.  first step: carefully explore all the vacant land to properly manage to solve the problem related to considerable space.  second step: state the archaeological lots that can be involved in the touristic path.  third step: start rearranging the local inhabitants inside the area at the visible edge of the historical site to conserve all the historic buildings.  fourth step: use all empty lands inside the area to make amenities and services for the tourists and manage the sites belonging to the endowment to refresh the history of those buildings.  the fifth step: properly plan a touristic path for the typical tourist to naturally enter the site as indicated in the leading figure (8 and 9). three possible pathways are clear to the specific plan proposed as follows: 7.1 first proposed path: the first route starts from one of the main streets of the area that looks over the river nile, "el horya road", leading directly to the middle of the historic site towards the arwan church and then through "ez el dein road", which faces the "ghamry mosque" with its fantastic architecture. then, the tour is led to the proposed pedestrian area that starts from "zawiya street" and ends by the main gathering point to end the official trip as illustrated in the following diagram. figure 13 : the historic site potentials. source: authors. figure 14: the proposed solutions based on current potential of the site. source: authors rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 7.2 second proposed path: it starts from the main street "el horeya road" and the proposed main waiting and gathering point, and then inside the historic site towards the arwan church, then inside the site from "eez el dein road" which faces el ghamry mosque, and then to a pedestrian area starting from "hamad street" and ending at the proposed main gathering point to end the official trip as illustrated in the following diagram. figure 15: the second proposal for the site source: authors figure 20: the first proposal for the site source: authors rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 7.3 third proposed path: it starts from the main street "el dakhakny road", reaching to el ghamry mosque and then to prince hamad minaret, passing through the other conserved buildings and finally to the nearest gathering point proposed, which includes all the amenities that any tourist may need. according to previous research, the rate of potential crime decreases gradually over time with proper maintenance and management. the development of the area and the gradual introduction of tourism effectively increase the activity inside the area and bring a new economic factor to the area. this humble effort can help in developing the surrounding area and stimulate the local governorate to integrate the idea of developing abundant historical sites into their management plan. furthermore, it helps other middle eastern government agencies to propose integrated management tools for the stimulation of historic cities. 8. conclusion the potential problem of abandoned buildings and vacant lots lies in their being devastated structures seen daily by urban residents. they may create physical opportunities for violence by sheltering illegal activity, ignoring the historical assets and areas and enabling them for destruction, abundance, and neglect. this could lead to severe radical changes on the minor scale of urban fabric and in crime typology and rates as well. a complete management plan should be applied by the government to improve those sites to restore them gradually, rather than barely keeping as they are. an essential part of the potential problem is the endowment policies and how they improperly treat the old assets of the local area. by introducing the historical tourist resources to the site, many problems can be easily rectified by time. it also contributes to the elimination of crime and fear of crime rates, which ensures the continued development plan proposed to the captive population of those areas. the economic aspect of the site comprises a crucial factor that affects the development of the site. urban planning studies for heritage areas that rely on tourism as their main source of income in order to benefit from their development, the creation of new economic value that is supportive to the wellbeing and lifestyle of the inhabitants and users of the area. improving the behavioral, social, psychological conditions and wellbeing of the local community represents a significant challenge to typically minimize the crime rate and fear of crime figure 16: the third proposal for the site source: authors rasha ali ,yasmin moanis/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 9. recommendations the proposed management plan intensely supports the successful completion of the work and appropriately regulates cultural tourism at such archaeological sites. the alternative relationship between crime rates and cultural tourism undoubtedly remains a sensitive spot of debate for a long time. some researchers suggest that tourist destinations can clearly affect the safety perception of visitors the. on the other hand, incorporating a modern type of active users from different cultures inside any space can definitely affect crime rates as they gradually decrease. by the time, the local area is improved as a recent economic source for work will take place and also a new lifestyle will be developed under the supervision of the government and will seriously affect economic and social level. -taking into consideration the image of the local area, which naturally makes it a unique space to explore despite the heritage site itself, such as (culture, hospitality, infrastructure, and local attractions), uniform management of the security of the site, introducing the site to the local tourism that makes it safer by time. -the authorized public and privet sectors should voluntarily undertake the civic responsibility to properly maintain and instantly improve the historic site from all practical sides of possible crime and demolition. -promptly introduce alternative activities and historical events related to the most common heritage buildings to be gradually held in the local area, such as celebrating islamic and christian religions. -carrying out public meetings with local users and local stakeholders to inform them about the historical importance of radically improving the standard of living inside the area and to identify the importance of safety and security problems. -promptly introduce a long-term plan of possible threats that could be critically involved by introducing cultural tourism inside the protected area which should be positively related to the emergency plans of the used site. -an authorized public or private force should be applied inside the local area to instantly solve and interfere whenever necessary. empirical data on the area of crime types and sufficient quantity should be appropriately cleared from time to time to identify hot spots and initiate the exact action at the right time. additionally, crime data should be generously offered by the local government for the general public to ensure the key role of local awareness and encourage inhabitants to help in solving crime problems. finally, it is highly recommended to increase the inhabitant's ownership feeling which leads to enhancing the perception of safety and reducing crime rates. references territo ,l. ,hasted ,j.b. ,&bromley ,m.l.(2004).”crime and justice in america: a human perspective .upper saddle river” ,nj :pearson education ,inc. un habitat.(2007).kenya slum upgrading programme (kensup),nairobi,kenya. pizam a., (1999), 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(2016). urban design and quality of life. 10.1007 /978-3-319-314167_14.) https://www.e-unwto.org/author/wto https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=albert%20postma https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=dirk%20schmuecker https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2055-5911 https://doi.org/10.1108/jtf-04-2017-0022 8. conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.834 smart streetlamps as part of a smart city approach in macau yile chen1, liang zheng2 1 faculty of humanities and arts,macau university of science and technology,macau,china 2 faculty of humanities and arts,macau university of science and technology,macau,china abstract smart cities are the mainstream trend of modern city development. with the promotion of the guangdong-hong kong-macau greater bay area policies, macau, as one of the four central cities in the greater bay area, has pioneered the development of smart cities. the development goal of the smart city is to use modern electronic information technology to manage, coordinate, share efficiently, and interoperate the city's transportation, logistics, energy resources, and communication services. comprehensive perception and information collection are the basis for its smart urban management. as one of the important node devices at the perception level of the smart city, smart street lights in macau are not only the lighting infrastructure, but also include environmental monitoring, video surveillance, communication networks, internet of things, information interaction, charging piles and other economic functions of the people's livelihood. under the above premise, this article discusses the urban policies, applications and prospects of smart streetlamps in macau. at the same time, it compares the social nature and related policies of the mainland, analyzes the particularity of building smart streetlamps in macau, and based on the application of smart streetlamps in macau, propose optimization and development suggestions to promote the construction and development of macau's smart city. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords smart streetlamps; macau; smart city; guangdong-hong kong-macau greater bay area; urban governance measures; 1. introduction with the advancement of science and technology, the elements of smart cities will become more and more diversified. from the perspective of data management, smart cities combine data analysis, processing, security, privacy, etc., to encourage application innovation and improve the efficiency of citizens' lives. a unified data management framework is very important for the application of smart cities. for example, install traffic monitoring equipment on street lights. because the street lights are on the road and there is a power supply system, they can be perfectly combined to collect road information from all over the country, let the data be automatically processed and analyzed, and reported to the local transportation department and urban residents for effective management or tracking. therefore, the overall quality of urban life can be improved(fu yidong,2012). at present, various countries and regions have researched smart streetlamps, such as india(velaga, n. r., & kumar, a,2012), malaysia(yusoff, y. m., rosli, r., karnaluddin, m. u., & samad, m,2013), san diego(perry, t. s.,2018), sheffield(dizon, e., & pranggono, b.,2021), brunei (ali, d. n. s. k. p., au, t. w., & suhaili, w. s.,2017), etc., and the construction of smart streetlamps in macau has started relatively late, there is currently no relevant research http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 literature. in the current research on smart street lights, the main focus is on the dynamic control of the lighting system of the street lights(ouerhani, n., pazos, n., aeberli, m., & muller, m., 2016; dheena, p. f., raj, g. s., dutt, g., & jinny, s. v.2017; fujii, y., yoshiura, n., takita, a., & ohta, n. 2013; salman, a. d., khudheer, u., & abdulsaheb, g. m. 2019; prasad, r. 2020), followed by the low-energy street light system combined with solar energy equipment(velaga, n. r., & kumar, a,2012; green, b. 2019)and smart street light network management system (dizon, e., & pranggono, b.,2021; 13) and related sensors and equipment components(arjun, p., stephenraj, s., kumar, n. n., & kumar, k. n. ,2019). there is less research on the early deployment of smart street lights, but this has a positive role in promoting the development of smart street lights in cities. for example, yusoff introduced the preliminary work of smart streetlamps system development. he believes that before the full implementation of the smart streetlamps system, many factors need to be considered, such as wireless equipment, lighting energy saving, security features, etc. (yusoff, y. m., rosli, r., karnaluddin, m. u., & samad, m,2013). dizon analyzed the characteristics of smart streetlamps and the factors that need to be considered when deploying smart streetlamps in sheffield: deployment location, street lamp type, road type(dizon, e., & pranggono, b.,2021). in summary, the advantages and effects of smart street lights in terms of energy-saving are obvious, and their equipment and network systems have gradually matured, and the urban issues that need to be considered for the deployment of smart streetlamps need to be further explored. this article discusses the factors considered in the early deployment of smart streetlamps. the deployment location of smart streetlamps, the impact on the city, the types of street lights, etc., with the policy documents issued by the macau government as the research background, combined with the surveying and mapping analysis of field investigations, reveals macau the status quo and improvement ideas of smart city construction. the purpose is to lay the foundation for the comprehensive deployment of future intelligent street lighting systems and to lay a foundation for the establishment of existing technologies. 2. the development history of macau's smart city macau is one of the core cities in china's guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area1, one of the four largest bay areas in the world, and has a developed economy and gdp2. at present, macau is building a smart city, and the design and promotion of smart streetlamps is one of the important links, and it is inseparable from the policy guidance issued by the relevant departments of the macau government. the development of smart streetlamps in macau is closely related to the construction of smart cities. with the launch of the "outline of the twelfth five-year plan for national economic and social development", the concept of smart cities has been widely promoted and implemented in my country. according to the national development and reform commission’s statistical report, more than 500 cities in my country have proposed smart city development plans. at the same time, the macau special administrative region government clearly set the development goals of macau to build a smart city in the 2016 "macau special administrative region development plan (2016-2020)" and "policy address", and established a “smart city special group” and the “smart city task force” coordinated, promoted and promoted the related work of smart cities within the government, and since then launched the prelude to the development of smart cities in macau. since then, the development of smart cities in macau has been accelerated in various departments and fields and has achieved remarkable results. at the end of 2016, the macau science and technology development foundation sponsored four professional teams to carry out the research activities of "macau smart city development direction and strategy research" and "macau smart city development to smart travel feasibility study". scholars, industry representatives, social organizations, investigate and visit, and hold relevant seminars and consultation meetings to collect opinions from the community. in 2017, the smart city development guidelines and policies that conform to the actual conditions of macau were launched.the macau sar 3 government and alibaba group signed the "strategic cooperation framework 1 the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area (greater bay area) comprises the two special administrative regions of hong kong and macao, and the nine municipalities of guangzhou, shenzhen, zhuhai, foshan, huizhou, dongguan, zhongshan, jiangmen and zhaoqing in guangdong province. the total area is around 56 000 km2. based on the latest figures provided by the guangdong province, the hong kong special administrative region government (sarg) and the macao sarg, the total population in the greater bay area is over 86 million and the gdp is usd 1,668.8 billion in 2020. 2 gross domestic product (gdp) is the standard measure of the value added created through the production of goods and services in a country during a certain period. 3 macao special administrative region, is a special administrative region of china.located west of the pearl river estuary in guangdong province, chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 agreement for building smart cities", using alibaba's cloud computing and big data technology to accelerate and complete the government's infrastructure construction and information technology for building smart cities reserve. 2018 is a year in which macau has made great breakthroughs in smart city iot technology. the university of macau established the state key laboratory of the internet of things for smart cities. the guangzhou blockchain industry association, the hong kong blockchain industry association and the innovation center of the university of macau form the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area blockchain alliance to apply blockchain technology in smart health, smart tourism, smart finance, and smart logistics. at the same time, macau telecom and tencent signed a memorandum of cooperation to use tencent cloud technology to cooperate in the fields of cloud computing, big data, internet of things and artificial intelligence in macau. in february 2019, the macau science and technology development foundation and webank signed a cooperation agreement. the first cooperation project will use blockchain technology to achieve safer and more efficient entity identity authentication and data exchange, accelerating the popularization of electronic payments in macau. in may 2019, the macau smart street light project was completed, integrating more than 20 functions such as smart lighting, 5g/4g communication micro base stations, flood monitoring, people flow monitoring, charging piles, etc., providing the sar government in energy, transportation, public security, tourism, etc. this project provides services in multiple fields, achieve multiple uses with one shot, and help build smart cities. in september 2019, china mobile hong kong, china mobile guangdong, macau telecom, and guangdong communications industry association jointly established the "greater bay area 5g nagano alliance", which has deepened the coordination of communications technology in the greater bay area and promoted the development of the 5g ecosystem. in december 2019, bank of china united net union clearing co., ltd., unionpay international co., ltd. and macau pass co., ltd. launched a "cross-border wallet" service that facilitates cross-border mobile payments, breaking the barriers of mobile payment in the two places. in april 2020, the macau government issued the "2020 policy address", which specifically pointed out the development plan of creating a "digital macau" through a new generation of information technology, and speeding up the construction of 5g networks, data centers, and digital infrastructure to improve the city. the level of intelligence in management, industrial development, government services, and social governance will promote the construction of smart cities such as smart government affairs, smart customs clearance, smart medical care, smart tourism, and smart transportation. in june 2020, the general office of the ministry of transport, the general office of the people’s government of guangdong province, the general office of the people’s government of guangxi zhuang autonomous region, the general office of the people’s government of guizhou province, and the general office of the people’s government of yunnan province issued the “about the pearl river water transport to the guangdong-hong kong-macau greater bay area” implementation opinions on construction" to promote the construction of smart ports, smart waterways, smart ships and smart maritime affairs in guangdong, hong kong and macau. accelerate the construction of smart port projects, advance the construction of the digital waterway of the xijiang trunk line, advance the research and development and application demonstration of intelligent shipping in guangdong, hong kong and macau, promote the integrated application of beidou navigation system, internet of things, cloud computing, big data and other information technologies in the field of water transportation, and promote the integration of information technology based on the area. research and application of block chain global shipping service network platform. 3. factors affecting the development and application of smart street lights as early as the "macau smart city development strategy and construction of key fields" issued by the macau government, the development of smart cities was divided into five development goals, seven development strategies, 40 nautical miles west of hong kong, macao’s 23.5 sq km of territory comprises the macao peninsula, taipa island and coloane island and is inhabited by about 450,000 people. chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 13 key areas, and six pilot programs, of which six in the pilot plan, smart streetlamps rank first, which is the primary goal of the macau government to develop smart cities. according to field investigations and records, the current smart streetlamps in macau are only installed at the intersection of avenida da amizade(see figure 1). this section is dotted with office buildings, schools, casinos and hotels of different heights. it is one of the busiest sections of the macau peninsula. figure 1 smart streetlamps in macau (image source: screenshots by cartography and cadastre bureau) figure 2 night lighting of smart streetlamps in macau (image source: zhangshu best news) 3.1 considerations for the deployment in terms of project planning, smart street lamps, as a new type of street lamps, have superior functions and technologies than traditional street lamps, but they also have certain limitations. at present, they cannot completely replace traditional street lamps and can only be used as urban street lamp systems. as a supplement and partial upgrade, the following three issues should be considered when planning and deploying smart streetlamps: 3.2 economic benefits of smart streetlamps the cost of traditional street lamps is low, and the material cost is only about 1,000 yuan. however, because of its high technology content and high equipment integration, the material cost of smart street lamps usually requires more than 100,000 yuan, and the price is dozens or even hundreds of times that of traditional street lamps, and smart street lamps the labor cost for maintenance and repair of precision equipment on the internet is even higher. chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 therefore, the deployment of smart streetlamps must first weigh the economic viability of the site area after its placement, and can rationally use charging pile charging, billboard advertising rental and other functions and service recovery a certain cost will form an economic closed loop to prevent smart streetlamps from becoming a municipal fiscal "vampire" and "face-saving project"(yusoff, y. m., rosli, r., karnaluddin, m. u., & samad, m,2013). the deployment of smart streetlamps in macau is carried out in phases as planned. the initial goal is to optimize traditional street lights into led street lights and save electric lights. secondly, reasonable overall planning and comprehensive planning, arrangement of smart streetlamps in neighbourhoods with high demand, new town reclamation areas, cotai city and other suitable neighbourhoods, in an optimal way to let citizens and tourists experience the smart city development belt of macau (gassmann, o., böhm, j., & palmié, m. ,2019). 3.3 the authenticity of the urban environment macau has a long history of urban architecture and place culture, and the indigenous people have formed a stable place memory and place image on the site. according to the definition of place intention by american urban planner kevin andrew lynch, places are composed of paths, edges, regions, nodes, and landmarks. urban street lights have formed the role of nodes and landmarks in some places in macau. for example, in macau rotunda de carlos da maia is a landmark of the site, it is not conducive to replace the original street lamp with a smart street lamp, so as to avoid the bias of the collective memory of the city (clark, j. ,2020). 3.4 acceptance of local residents as an emerging product, smart street lamps have occasionally been controversial in news reports in recent years. for example, on august 24, 2019, individual citizens in hong kong destroyed the smart streetlamps outside the corporate plaza in kowloon bay, hong kong because they were worried that smart streetlamps would recognize faces and leak citizens' privacy. the emergence of such a phenomenon not only has local political and cultural factors, but also exposes the generation gap between the government and citizens. therefore, it is necessary to carry out adequate communication with citizens and implement education and popular science before the deployment of smart streetlamps, so that citizens can understand smart streetlamps can have a positive effect on urban development and citizens' lives, avoiding unnecessary panic and suspicion for citizens (houbing, s., ravi, s., tamim, s., & jeschke, s. ,2017). even if it is known from the public information of government departments, the smart streetlamps in macau only collect relevant environmental data and traffic data, and do not involve personal privacy. but there are still many people who are not clear about its data collection. this will depend on further promotion by government departments to the public to explain their doubts. 3.5 demand analysis under the background of the construction of a modern smart city in macau, the promotion of the construction of a world tourism and leisure center and a sino-portuguese trade platform, many urban public facilities in macau need to be updated urgently to meet future needs. at the same time, with the support of the macau sar government, it is combined with the government. for the purpose of use by departments and citizens, the construction of smart streetlamps also has the following six requirements: 3.5.1 boost the popularity of 5g networks on june 29, 2020, the first phase of the macau 5g mobile communication network construction project was completed in june. it is expected that the full coverage of indoor and outdoor 5g signals within macau will be completed by the end of 2021, and the service will be officially launched after the macau sar government issues a 5g license. although macau has built hundreds of 5g base stations so far, due to macau’s topography and urban environment, there are many street curves and steep slopes. the sea area is 85 square kilometers, and the distribution of land and buildings is uneven. covering the construction of 5g networks poses certain challenges, and placing 5g micro base stations on smart streetlamps can speed up its construction. the comprehensive coverage of 5g is the key to the subsequent improvement of smart tourism capabilities(green, b.,2019). chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 3.5.2 make up for the lack of urban charging piles according to statistics from the bureau of statistics and investigation of the macau special administrative region government (hereinafter referred to as the bureau of statistics), as of april 2020, there are 122,907 registered motorcycles in total macau, accounting for about 20% of the total population. however, according to statistics from the macau cem electric power company, 35 parking lots in australia are equipped with charging stations for trams. each parking station has about 1-9 charging parking spaces, for a total of about 180 charging stations, which is a huge gap with the number of trams. the charging pile interface reserved for smart streetlamps in macau can be used with parking spaces on the street, providing a certain degree of protection for the power supply of electric bicycles and even the future popularization of electric vehicles. 3.5.3 optimize the organization of traffic passenger flow traffic congestion has always been a common social problem in macau. according to statistics from the statistics bureau, in 2014, there were about 240,000 motor vehicles in macau, and the average speed of motor vehicles on macau's main roads was about 12 kilometers per hour. until 2016, there were more than 250,000 motor vehicles in macau, an increase of 10,000 from two years ago, but the length of the road has not increased significantly, and the speed of motor vehicles is slow, which not only affects the driving experience of car owners, but also makes citizens wait for buses. the extended time has caused inconvenience in life. secondly, there are several ground repair projects in macau every year, which not only did not significantly help to improve traffic, but even further deepened the phenomenon of road congestion. the secretary for transport and public works of macau, luo liwen, said frankly about this: "there is no way." (green, b.,2019)macau smart streetlamps collects the implementation status of road conditions through traffic monitoring equipment, and allows car owners and citizens to adjust travel routes and traffic modes according to actual conditions through remote control and information release, to a certain extent alleviate the problem of traffic congestion. 3.5.4 reduce environmental pollution and power waste according to the macau energy development office report in june 2020, most of the roads and public outdoor lighting fixtures in macau currently use high-pressure sodium lamps, about 14,000. the civil affairs department of macau stated that high-pressure sodium lamps consume a lot of energy and have a high failure rate, leading to increased maintenance costs including human resources, time, and parts. compared with the high-pressure sodium lamp, the led lamp of the smart street lamp has higher luminous efficiency and is more energy-saving. in 2013, the civil affairs department of macau completed the improvement project of the lighting in the actual condition of the roads, and installed 50 sets of 4m high 60w led lights. according to the report after the completion of the project, the total power consumption has been reduced by 53% compared with the previous year. in addition, its higher color rendering can make the field of vision clearer, and its longer light-emitting life can reduce the frequency of street lamp maintenance, which can improve driving safety and relieve mental stress on road traffic. at the same time, the led lamp does not contain mercury, so it will not pollute the environment, and the material composition is more environmentally friendly. 3.5.5 create a smart tourism brand image although macau has a history of more than 400 years of cultural convergence between chinese and western cultures, and has left some historical sites, but overall tourism resources are not abundant. in terms of resources, it is not outstanding. at the same time, a single tourism industry relies too much on the controversial gambling industry, which affects the positive development of macau's tourism industry and is likely to form a stereotype of a "gambling city" and a city name card. under the development strategy of smart cities, the development of smart tourism is not only the general trend, but also an opportunity for macau to build a better tourism brand image. liu dingji, a professor at the faculty of business administration of the university of macau, said that smart tourism includes clothing, food, housing, and transportation, but macau still has a long way to go(perry, t. s.,2018). chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 as the infrastructure and support facilities of a smart city, smart streetlamps can not only carry 5g base stations and drive the development of smart industries, but also provide data support for tourism applications (app) through data collection from various testing equipment, enriching tourists’ experience the usage habits and experience of o2o (online to offline) enhance the convenience of tourists' travel(figure 3). at the same time, the interactive display screen of smart streetlamps can provide a platform for new media. there are more application scenarios in tourism guides, convenience information, cultural and creative products, public service advertisements, etc., and the use of video, pictures, animation, music and other communication media to allow tourists to perceive the city culture of macau, improve the impression of macau city, and create a more diverse city image (macau daily,2019). 3.5.6 improve city data collection capabilities smart applications in smart cities require the support of big data. the secretary for administration and legal affairs of macau, zhang yongchun, stated in the macau legislative council on june 11, 2020 that data is key to a smart city. at present, macau needs to solve the problem of data collection and intercommunication. smart streetlamps contain several data collection equipment, including noise, passenger flow, traffic flow, environment, public security, etc., and under the relatively high density and large number of street lights, it can effectively and accurately collect city data, which is an efficient application of big data. 3.6 smart street lighting equipment analysis in macau the smart light poles in macau combine the needs of multiple departments and the local characteristics of macau. they are both functional and aesthetic. broadly speaking, they have the following features (guangdong rongwen technology group co., ltd ,2020): 1) adopting a "holistic" smart streetlamps design, and the appearance of smart streetlamps that are more in line with the local customs of macau and the image of an international city, thereby enhancing the modern urban landscape of macau (figure 1); figure 3 smart streetlamps in macau (image source: photo by the author) chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 2) a cross-departmental integrated management platform that integrates up to 20 types of smart devices, and can carry 72m/s wind resistance and withstand the strict requirements of subtropical storm surge, supports multiple different business management departments, independent management of equipment, and unified deployment of communication interfaces (see figure 3 ); figure 4 function analysis of smart streetlamps in macau (image source: drawing by the author) chen/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 3) designed intelligent lighting: adopts ipv6+mesh wireless networking control technology for lighting control, multi-link design and each street lamp is equipped with a single lamp controller, which can realize remote control, lighting on demand, and the overall effect can save 70% of energy , the brightness is increased by 10%, and the management and maintenance cost is saved by 40%; 4) the iot platform that integrates multiple communication methods, integrates 5g and 4g base stations, helps macau to deploy massive and more densely scaled 5g site needs, while avoiding repeated construction and saving investment, it is on the light poles of smart streetlamps mount 5g micro base stations to realize the intensive construction, co-construction and sharing of infrastructure; 5) smart light poles that integrate intelligent traffic and traffic monitoring, and support multiple alarm mechanisms for event linkage, to meet the needs of real-time urban data feedback processing for immediate alarms of abnormal situations and direct warning of major problems; 6) the led weather screen of the macau geophysical and meteorological bureau (smg) is linked with weather sensors to display local weather information to the public in real time. 4. conclusions and recommendations at present, smart streetlamps in macau are still in the experimental application stage for the first time. compared with some mainland cities, they are not the first to be carried out in the guangdong-hong kong-macau greater bay area. therefore, through the development of smart streetlamps, we can see that macau has a certain degree of contribution to the construction of smart cities. in addition, due to the legal division and protection of the historical urban area and the buffer zone of the world cultural heritage in macau, some residential areas in the old urban area have not been able to put smart streetlamps into use, so they are more restricted.in this regard, the research suggests: 1) from the perspective of urban style coordination: for new city reclamation areas, smart streetlamps can be considered for deployment in urban planning and construction to make subsequent urban data detection and management more convenient; and for historical urban areas such as the macau peninsula in larger areas, the application of smart street lights is more difficult. if the original street lights were more modern and have a certain negative effect on the city, you can consider transforming them into smart street lights; for taipa and cotai city, there are more modern buildings and dense traffic. in the area, it is necessary to increase investment in the application of smart street lights to facilitate standardized management of urban traffic and urban crime prevention. at the same time, it should be considered that the appearance of smart street lights when used in different areas is consistent with the urban style of the area or the architectural style of the district, instead of using the same smart street lights in the entire macau sar. 2) from the perspective of sustainable development goals, sdg 13: an international city with an economic boom like macau is also facing the problem of resource consumption and carbon emissions. through the monitoring equipment included in smart street lights, real-time coordination should be carried out on environmental, resource, and energy issues. disaster monitoring from spatial data can provide guidance and warnings for effective disaster reduction in cities. regarding each smart street lamp as a data monitoring point set up in the street, the administrative department can consider further establishing a method model of climate change parameters, data products with clear spatial information, and decision support for climate change response in the background system. references ali, d. n. s. k. p., au, t. w., & suhaili, w. s. 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https://www.researchgate.net/profile/aymen-salman-2/publication/332100581_an_adaptive_smart_street_light_system_for_smart_city/links/5c9fd1ca92851cf0aea2b8a3/an-adaptive-smart-street-light-system-for-smart-city.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/aymen-salman-2/publication/332100581_an_adaptive_smart_street_light_system_for_smart_city/links/5c9fd1ca92851cf0aea2b8a3/an-adaptive-smart-street-light-system-for-smart-city.pdf http://www.macaodaily.com/html/2019-10/03/content_1385927.htm http://www.macaodaily.com/html/2019-10/03/content_1385927.htm https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9144848?casa_token=pgzdo8f324eaaaaa:feguem0-xr3mioplnvfnvnplbhkxbszr4cddjmcpchwwgbli1vp9ypjw3arfopjootkc5qerzd5g7gi https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9144848?casa_token=pgzdo8f324eaaaaa:feguem0-xr3mioplnvfnvnplbhkxbszr4cddjmcpchwwgbli1vp9ypjw3arfopjootkc5qerzd5g7gi http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 37 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.836 cultural landscapes preservation at the interface of urban planning and sprawl laouar imene1 1 architect & urban planner at the direction of urbanism architecture & constructioncoordinator at real estate promotion and management office, algeria. abstract from ancient times, the sea has played a key role in shaping and generating settlements and cities. the history of civilizations has been marked by the cultural development of human societies along coastlines. accordingly, these territories are harbor of an important coastal heritage; that plays a pivotal role in maintaining the link between the past and the future. in fact, while cities grow and their populations increase, their planning becomes a challenge for sustainable development. through different forms and mechanisms, coastal sprawl is materialized, by the massive occupation of populations and industrial activities along coastlines. in this vein, coastlines endure many conflicts, which lead to the degradation of cultural and natural resources and may result in loss of cultural identity associated with the presence of cultural landscapes. the paper aims, to discuss planning approaches and challenges related to managing cultural and coastal landscapes, facing the impact of coastal sprawl. the paper is based on a landscape analysis; it interviews the urban, social, juridical and morphological frame. an understanding of urban sprawl through the lens of annaba’s coastline is required for its implication as a social support of the identity and the history of the city. the paper also examines how the coastalization affects the cultural heritage based on the monograph of one of the valuable french colonial constructions in algeria. lastly, the study demonstrates, some key opportunities for advancing future adjustments, and coastal management approaches. for instance, new tools and more appropriate methodologies that combine the preservation of the coastline and the preservation of the cultural heritage. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban planning; cultural landscapes; coastalization; sprawl; heritage. 1. introduction urbanization, and specifically sprawl, have been an important issue in urban analysis and planning strategies. undoubtedly, the foremost tradition in urban studies has given sparse intention to water in urbanization. the few researchers traded waterscapes as a case in social, environmental, and economic perspectives focused on the physical and natural aspects. from an overall perspective, coastlines combine both natural and human components and also a cultural heritage that refers to the common collective maritime identity. in fact, the coastlines are often seen as highly valued and wealthy areas that hand over valuable benefits. this has stimulated the expansion of coastlines it has become densely populated areas and that gave rise to greater inequality. furthermore, coastal landscapes are shared and governed simultaneously by a plurality of texts, often indecisive applied in an uncoordinated manner by the institutions. the actual situation, has captured the attention of urban planners to adopt many challenges and approaches to manage coastal and cultural landscapes. this paper provides insights on cultural landscape evaluation http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0197397511000816 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0197397511000816 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 acknowledging the presence of valuable heritage and the several phenomena that could threaten its resources (agapiou et al.,2015). it then summarizes, the country policies for management of the coastal landscapes. therefore, it challenges the knowledge of coastal sprawl impact, and coast requirements for urban development and the preservation of cultural, natural and social dimensions (beriatos et al., 2010). finally, this research aims to provide a coastal sprawl analysis methodology, that contributes to the understanding of sprawl dynamics to defend coastal areas. it provides also a toolkit for future planning strategies, cultural and coastal landscape preservation, with an approach to emphasize on the main question of the continuation of the process of coastalization and its impact that has reached an alarming stage. 2. coastal sprawl coastalization, refers to the process of concentration along the coastline of both the population and activities, due to coastal attractiveness. the city of annaba is located in the east of algeria, is considered to be one of the best known historic cities in algeria. with 80 km annaba’s coastline has an enviable position that tells the story of the city conquest and the landing of the french marine army on the 27th of march 1832. in addition, it encompasses a historic, cultural and archeological heritage. regardless of the value of the existing heritage, annaba’s coast constitutes a symbol of identity notably, whit its role in the construction of the collective memories. this maritime dimension was the interest of many geographers, navigators who sailed the mediterranean and for colons as vandal, numids, romans. since the second half of the 11th century, the coastal sprawl has become well known and marked by an important urban expansion. in this vein, the center of the city has been transformed from the interior to the coast with the construction of the new city by arabs. therefore, it offered a maritime orientation to annaba as evidenced by its new site overlooking the sea and the appearance of a fortified mediterranean. today, annaba’s coastline is undergoing a progressive and worrying coastalization. it concentrates the majority of the large-scale industrial activities linked mainly to industrialization period. this change of state was the first seed of disorder, anarchic urbanization and the alteration of the quality and the distinctive character of the cultural and coastal landscapes. in this paper, we address this gap through the lenses of annaba’s coast, which serves as a practical case study to examine how this process of coastalization affects the cultural landscapes that comprises rich historical heritage values (visser, 2004). the restaurant “the caravel” constitutes one of the valuable french colonial constructions in algeria build at xixth and xxth centuries, with a purified modern style, an ingenuity of construction and adaptation to the coastal context. figure1. thermal baths vs industrial zone, (source:http://annaba.net.free.fr/bone.grenouillere.htm,2018) imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 figure 2. view of the caravel restaurant from the lion's pier.( source: https://gallica.bnf.fr, 2018) 3. cultural landscapes preservation and urban planning tools the present urban planning strategies testify to the conflictual feature in dealing with developments and population growth and the conservation of valuable and historical heritage. on the one hand, the preservation of the character of existing cultural and coastal landscapes; on the other hand, the transformation of coastline that has formed the main argument for conservation (ahmed soufiane, 2009). to preserve the unique character of cultural landscapes and to control coastal sprawl, the legislation has set up two levels of protection in the international and national frame. however, the position of algeria toward the legislation reflects some disparities besides a lack of coastal landscapes methodologies for a balancing urban water demand and heritage preservation. in fact, the preservation strategies highlighted in the law 02-02 relating to the protection and the valuation of the coastline dates from february 05, 2002 ignored the current discourse of sustainability and correlations of cultural landscapes with coastal areas. more specifically, the implication of heritage in the development of communities and values for future generations. from a legal perspective, at the national level, the confronted analysis of the national land use plan, the coastal development plan and algerian maritime code showed that municipalities differ widely in their capacity to predict change and control coastal sprawl in conformity with the national framework and local priorities (döring et al.,2017). therefore, that may explain the conflictual situation. in the light of the urbanization of coastal areas, local development plans failed to link between the fields of coastal sprawl and cultural landscapes preservation. regrettably, cultural landscapes are often threatened or neglected by institutional as well as future planning strategies are not integrating its management (hepcan et al.,2013). this has profoundly transformed the coastline and led to problems of multi-use, accompanied by alteration of the cultural heritage characteristics. this situation has shaped new features for the coastal space and extremely modify the perception of users, and their own living environment. in addition, the loss of the balanced link between heritage assessment and the new built environments (antrop, 2004). however, the coastal laws and the master plans have not prevented the urbanization, for several reasons like the absence of control and the lack of environmental interest. the legislative analysis illustrates also, the insufficient adaptation and the weak coordination of institutions in charge of managing the coastline or its activities. 4. methods & materials sprawling coastal development dynamics can only be understood through the lens of landscape analysis, based on historical land planning documents and tools highlighted above. lynch’s urban analysis method adopted in our study stipulate that, the urban form must be identified by its characteristics which make it unique, that allow us to appropriate it to give it affective significance (fig.3). thus, the identified elements interact in the definition of the urban landscape perceived by the user. in this vein, the study presents a method to generate a contextual understanding of the influencing factors of urban sprawl, and also for analyzing how urban sprawl growth has and will affect heritage landscapes on annaba’s coast. the method attempts, to measure sprawl from a landscape perspective. on the representational side, the mapping first focuses on the site attributes that structure the studied path. https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/extremely imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 40 figure 3. elements of urban landscape. (source: philippe panerai et al, 2005) therefore, the measures and indices used are derived from urban and architectural frame in a selected path. there for the classification of the representations that are qualitative measures for spatial pattern is favorable in accommodating the landscape dynamics combined with the agents of change (diagram.1). this study serves to identify the interaction between cultural landscapes preservation and coastalization and the impact of the one on the other. although, the comparison of continuous landscape image despite coastalization, helps to analyze and focus on the nature of change in both structure and the functioning of landscape. according to lynch, the method then provides the elements of the site organization, such as boundaries, crossed sectors and landmarks. figure 4. diagram synthesis of the studied path.( source: author, 2018) imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 in urban studies, the relief represents the first framework of the organization of the territory on which the landscape is based. owing to the relevance of the study case and to draw the depth knowledge of the current requirements of the landscape which interpellate coastal and urban territories. landscape diagnosis, takes a part in this research as a basic tool for planning, intervention and management of landscapes. thus, the landscape is an essential dimension in the aim of preserving both cultural and natural assets. as well as development strategies of territories, who are forced to respond to the growing demands of populations to better take into account the new requirements of landscape. to achieve our intent, a landscape block diagram for the studied section gives the summary representation of the landscape ambiances adapted in both coastal and urban contexts with the presence of heritage. its used as interview support that permits us to better understand their representations and to appreciate their management practice. moreover, the conclusions of this type of survey can help actors to collect information that integrates a landscape dimension (brown et al., 2017). the landscape, approached from this angle, contributes to the construction of a social link between actors who often misunderstand the structure of landscapes. in addition to describe changes in structure and urban morphology, particular attention is paid to land cover transition dynamics over a vulnerability study allowing the mechanisms observed in spatial frame. it consists of defining the appropriate coastal climatic and anthropogenic phenomena for vulnerability analysis. identification of vulnerability profiles and their spatial distribution helps to determine typical indicator value combinations, and which urban vulnerability profiles characteristics, also interpretation and verification. in this analytical step, each urban vulnerability profil is described and interpreted. accordingly, the combination of results and indicators can be interpreted in terms of threats and challenges related to cultural landscapes preservation (rayan, 2012). the developed analysis sheet, summarizes the current conflicts among urban development, urban planning tools and cultural landscapes preservation. in this sense, and to forecast an example of this common pressure, annaba’s coast is the support, relying on a combined analysis of urban growth potential and threats to heritage. within the framework of the development of research subject and considering the importance of the social dimension, the social study allowed us to measure the degree of abundance of the studied path. then, it can be divided into a certain number of sequences, each one represents a succession of plans summarized in a descriptive sheet. this analysis examines how urban areas have developed above time, also to examine the forms and the mechanisms of coastal sprawl, throw a historical perspective. 5. discussion and practical applications the studied path was divided into 16 sequences (figure 4), an analytic and descriptive sheet (figure 5) for each sequence, was drawn up according to the results. the diagnosis carried an interruption that divided the studied area into different unities represented by the change in the (forms of urbanization, social practices, quality of vegetation’s, dimensions of sidewalks and roads, style of facades..). https://www.linguee.fr/anglais-francais/traduction/interruption.html imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 42 figure 5. sequential analysis sheet. (source: author, 2018) the rupture in vision plans reveals the important pattern change in response to coastal sprawl process at an atypical proportion and rate and therefore, given rise to significant impacts on the landscape pattern. thus, the spatio-temporal analysis confirmed that costal sprawl has changed the structure and also influenced the functioning of coastal landscapes, giving a rise of inharmonious characteristics of coastal areas. the results of layering (figure 8), are clearly explaining the prominent features of coastal and cultural landscape dynamics with the transition between the two forms of occupation (urbanization,industrualization) represented in imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 43 layering map with two units. these changes aimed to the degradation, destruction of the cultural heritage in the studied area and affected the quality of the enviroment. meanwhile, schematic section of the studied path illustrates the current conflicts among urbanization and the negative changes in the urban pattern and the physical state of the cultural heritage (figure 6 and figure 7). the profiles review two forms of occupation: -an industrial silhouette (figure 6), constitutes the background of the studied area, a concentration of industrial constructions in the area, namely fishing port; factories and the port companies. therefore, the formation of new artificial zones along the coastline created huge monotone structures. all these activities are often polluting, harmful, cumbersome hide and deteriorate the symbolic value of the cultural landscapes. figure 6. profil section a, (source : author, 2018). figure 7. profil section b. (source : author, 2018) -an urban silhouette (figure 7), illustrates the spread along the coastline with an occupation that led to a radical modification of the environment. the different vision plans explain the results of anthropogenic actions that create an unbalanced trend. these results have also made demonstrable that the two forms of occupation create an undefined pattern and destroy human cohesion with no respect to the identity and character or the importance of the history. -it has been clear that, coastline is facing pressures never seen before. for this reason, coastal landscapes conservation strategies have to be integrated within the larger goals and balance of both conservation and development. -the urban sprawl forms and mechanisms are distinguished by analyzing overlaid urbanized area maps of the studied area. it should be noted that, according to the interpretation of the layering in different levels. (figure 8), the spatiotemporal pattern of coastal sprawl for each study context have expanded, also the spatiotemporal landscape imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 44 pattern configured by the two sprawl forms changed ,obviously (catalán et al., 2008). the different sprawl forms, patterns in the studied path have transformed significantly, with their proportions both in terms of occupation and function. -the overall lecture of the elements constituting the landscapes, has allowed us to identify the position of the coastal heritage included in its natural environment (figure 9 & figure 10). due to conflicts generated by urban and industrial sprawl, coastal landscape has been reshaped, and transformed. however, it is necessary to understand how this transformation took place using comparative profiles visions of this genesis which is opposed by a comprehensive lecture of the elements that organize the new landscape. the strong visibility of heritage implies to privilege the relevance of the project in order to recreate a strong link between landscape elements. for this, adopting a contrasting natural cover, in order to set the fundamental guidelines for the sustainable development, protection and enhancement of the coastline. figure 8. landscape units layering. (source: author, 2019) figure 9. landscape lecture profiles, (source : author, 2018). caravel restaurant unit 1 unit 2 rupture imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 45 figure 10. landscape lecture profiles, (source : author, 2018). taking annaba’s coast as a research area, the diagram section tool demonstrates that annaba’s coast is undergoing a major transformation of its urban structure. it is critically important to properly characterize coastal expansion origins from the first installation and the concentration of the majority of the large-scale industrial activities linked mainly to the industrial period in annaba (de rosa et al.,2013). the recognition of the spatial patterns enhancement from classified images, rapid urban expansion towards the coastline has been observed. the industrial area is more severe harmful because of its consequences on the coastline, cultural and natural elements. these findings were tested through landscape analysis and layering presented in the diagram (sterzel et al.,2020). figure 11. results of flow design analysis, (source: author, 2018) the results are based on the outcome of the vulnerability and risks analysis using flow design simulation for testing (figure 11). it showed that, each profile is characterized by a specific combination of indicators and value representing mechanisms that generate vulnerability. a complex result, due to the proximity to the sea and also the type of relief and the quality of the vegetation that covers the studied entity. besides, natural phenomenon appears the stagnant zones that affect air quality or comfort where the air flow accelerates around the corners of the building causing a imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 46 region separated at high speed from the corners. it has been clear from the results that climate change related to the urban expansion subsequently, several phenomena have been developed: -anthropogenic phenomena: comparing patterns and profiles, the covered area illustrates the consequences of all forms of urbanization, coastalization, and industrialization; they are therefore exposed to human activities that affect the cultural heritage and reduce the attractiveness of the coast. -climatic and ecological phenomena: is one of the most traumatic mechanisms of environmental degradation, notably through the textural and the mineral impoverishment of soils and the movement of large volumes of sand by wind. this type of phenomenon is caused by the presence of a heavy industrial activity and also a fishing port (polluting activity during the loading and unloading of ships). thus, the direct or indirect introduction of waste, substances (liquid discharges, solid discharges). this phenomenon led to the degradation of the physical state of the studied area. figue 10. synthesis diagram, (source : author, 2018) 6. conclusion the current debate between urban planning strategies and heritage preservation of the coastal areas, testify to a variety of mechanisms implemented in response to a diversity of heritage objects. however, cultural heritage management policies appear to be all the more delicate to define as it continues to unfold before our eyes, through an ever more extensive definition (taylor et al.,2011). as a result, the pressures of urbanization and insufficiently planned urban development, the urgency of responding to sustainable development and climate change, challenge cultural landscapes to address the complex issues of the conservation of valuable heritage (trovato et al.,2018). a sustainable development of cities depends on, the integration of historic values and heritage into urban development processes. the recognition of the huge impact of urban sprawl practices and understanding its implications and causes allow the preservation of urban landscapes, to ensure their continuity. in this study, we identified and investigated the factors correlated with coastalization related to changes of the image and landscape structure in the selected area. during the evaluation of the studied case we confirmed that it conceals various historical values which contribute, to its role as a place of exchanges and sociability in annaba’s coast. the conclusions explain the contradictions between the threat of coastalization and cultural landscapes preservation and the continuation of development with no respect of tools that leaded to intensifying those risks (whitehand et al.,2010). furthermore, it reflects the present attention given to find an approach, which integrates both urban conservation and development in balance with social, environmental, and cultural considerations. however, beyond the proposed development project that have been presented as a solution to this scientific work, the present study provides empirical results from the above mentioned, with important lessons in terms of knowledge relative to the legislation preserving the coast as an entity composed of both cultural and natural and social components. in the same way, that the approached subject opens the way to researches in the thematic for preservation tools and instruments, that adapts with the specificity of the coast and the presence of cultural heritage in coastal areas. imene / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 47 acknowledgements i would like to express my gratitude and my deep appreciation to my supervisors, mr hocine aouchal; 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(2010). conserving urban landscape heritage: a geographical approach. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 2(5), 6948-6953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.05.047 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.912 connecting cities across infrastructural divides: case studies from self-build practices in tshwane east paul g. devenish 1 , denambaye m. demba 2 , alexia katranas 3 and delani kriek 4 1phd candidate & master’s studio supervisor, department of architecture, university of pretoria, rsa 2,3,4 2021 master’s degree graduates, department of architecture, university of pretoria, rsa abstract this paper investigates opportunities to connect divided cities by analysing ways in which occupation practices operate alongside, subvert and potentially transform historic, and presently developing urban infrastructure divisions in tshwane’s eastern urban region. through a critical theory lens, existing and perpetuating conditions of infrastructural segregation are examined in order to understand scenarios through which built environments, as assemblages, maintain conditions of extreme inequality and power. in this respect, urban spatial research projects, analysing formal and informal settlement patterns are presented. the projects form part of an architecture design lead research studio that focuses on discovering alternative scenarios for urban environments by examining existing infrastructure barriers, and unpacking methods for the transformation of segregative systemic forms. extracts of the projects are presented as case studies with a focus on areas around mamelodi east and moreleta park in rapidly growing parts of tshwane. these projects demonstrate conditions through which urban divisions of scarcity are established and constructed along infrastructure development zones in the region. they also raise key spatial questions pertaining to inequality and the role of capital investment in its perpetuation. the second part of the project involves socio-spatial methods of mapping self-build situations occurring alongside hard infrastructure zones in the region. the studies focus on the composition of building fabrics that actively attempt to circumvent issues of scarcity and unequal access to material and social infrastructures. through the establishment of physical interfaces, people form modes of operation despite extreme resource limitations. the project aims to identify alternative ways of reading territorialised urban infrastructure assemblages by examining critical zones of urban occupation. while the examples expose many of the volatile situations that the urban majority experience on a perpetual basis, the primary aim is to reveal from the everyday – urban spatial emergence and methods of coding and mapping these emergences towards an adaptive, reparative and transformative approach to divided cities. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open-access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer review is under the responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords assemblage; infrastructure space; interfaces; informality; urban networks 1. background the sustainable development goals (sdgs) recognise a universal right to basic resources, to water and sanitation, and to safe, resilient, and sustainable cities (united nations, 2015). achieving these targets requires new ways of http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 responding to urban occupation in contexts marked by extreme wealth disparity and unequal access to infrastructure. the challenge of transforming urban environments is complex – not only does it raise key questions about citizenship and the right to the city, but it also highlights the urgent need for infrastructure that facilitates viable livelihoods for vulnerable inhabitants. in facing future city scenarios, in contexts of growing inequality, it is important for urban and architectural designers to examine systemic frameworks through which cities operate as they grow and perpetuate ingrained systems of infrastructural inequality. these issues are made stark and legible in the many scars and divisions in urban landscapes in south africa, the most unequal country in the world (world bank, 2022). for the sdgs to be realised here there needs to be a rapid and substantial shift in how basic services and associated urban infrastructures are conceived and developed, and a re-evaluation of the mechanisms and methods by which people gain access to them. the growing body of research on this topic recognises that urban infrastructure is not simply a set of facile technical devices that control and regulate mechanical, electrical, informational, transportation, and/or other material flows, but rather a systemic network of interfaces that connect (or exclude) people, resources, services, capital and wealth. thus, urban infrastructures act as assemblages that establish power over, and shape territories of material distribution and equality or inequality (dovey, 2012, lawhon et al., 2014; von schnitzler, 2016; wafer, 2020). colonial, apartheid, and modern planning practices have entrenched patterns of compartmentalization and systems of resource and labour extraction producing tight strictures of exclusion through which people must operate. south african apartheid-era urban development was implemented with specific intentions of racial segregation. this was achieved via tightly controlled land-use regulations and the rollout of built services and social infrastructures in ways that benefited the white minority (von schnitzler, 2016; mbembe, 2019; judin, 2021; mpofu-walsh, 2021). examples of this include regulated provisions for transport, water, electricity, education, work, recreation, and skills development – the legacies of these exclusions are still evident and in cases highly entrenched in the south african landscape. today, public and private development patterns – both of which follow the dictates of neoliberalism – reinforce unequal urban systems, with built infrastructures continuing to perpetuate poverty and exclusion at multiple scales (peres, 2015; maharaj, 2020; mpofu-walsh, 2021). these historic and unfolding territories of infrastructure operate as adaptive assemblages that interconnect through built environment spaces. from a critical theory paradigm, these spaces are understood as devices that maintain power over and facilitate the territorial marginalization of large majorities of inhabitants (judin, 2021), particularly in cities of the global south. conditions of control are partly reinforced by crime responses and more generally by systemic aspirations for exclusive and consumptive urban lifestyles. formalised urban environments are structured to maximise barriers, surveillance, and private policing while not disrupting the circulation of material market economy consumables. in this respect, capital moves freely through infrastructures of freight warehousing, distribution, and ‘lifestyle’ offerings often segregated alongside conditions of extreme poverty, infrastructural decay, and violence. the aim of the study is to identify methods of representation and coding of socio-spatial occupation scenarios that reveal potentialities for the transformation of divisive structures. material separations between inhabitants of the tshwane east region are analysed both in terms of characteristics and in terms of potentialities – that is by the relationships that exist between material and human urban assemblages and the opportunities that these relationalities present (simone, 2004; du plessis, 2012; de landa, 2016). scenarios for the rescripting of infrastructure development strategies are identified through the observational drawing and documentation of existing occupations in marginalised spaces. challenges are articulated alongside innovative modes of practice in the face of extreme resource scarcity. the reading of urban infrastructure from an adaptive territorial perspective helps us think about alternative modes of material and resource exchange. it demonstrates existing and emergent scenarios at play in our built environments operating through urban junctions at multiple scales over time. the approach to scale follows the ontological positions set out by de landa (2016) – micro-urban form emerges at the individual scale of people and the interactions they share with the material worlds surrounding them. the mezzo scale operates beyond the neighbourhood as regional territories, and in this investigation, the macro scale is set as paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 the whole urban form and its broader territorial network. this multiscale approach enables the visualisation of ‘thick descriptions’ as identified by van aswegen (2021) which provide a qualitative lens through which the mapping processes are developed and articulated. it also helps us think about our infrastructure as both hard and soft, and as complex, adaptive assemblages. from a socio-spatial perspective, formal and informal material worlds are seen to operate through interfaces that can enable or disable dialogue and exchange. the distinction between the formal and the informal is developed after dovey (2012) who acknowledges the complex spectrum that exists between these two terms and recognises that they generally operate in tandem as part of social structures and built environments where the formal and informal operate in a kind of symbiosis. informal in the context of this paper is used to describe built environments that fall outside of formal building approval processes, that are generally made from the adjoining of adhoc components and materials to fulfill basic built environment needs or opportunities. it is important to note here, that while the distinction between formal and informal is made in this paper, we recognise more generally the association of the informal building sectors with greater assemblages of other formal and informal processes. given the rapid population growth and densification expected in the tshwane east region alongside historic and perpetuating conditions of urban inequality, it is important to consider the latent potentials at play between formal and informal, and static and kinetic actors within our built environments, to reconfigure existing boundaries of segregation as productive and sustainable sites for human habitation. 2. theoretical framework & methodology 1. assemblage theory the methodology is built from an assemblage perspective by examining the spaces between urban objects as a study of dispositions (till, 2009), territories, and potentialities (de landa, 2016). this approach facilitates an understanding of urban fabrics from the perspective of its spaces, seen as the gaps between urban actors and objects. in this way, the fields of architecture and urbanism can borrow and build on the pedagogy posited by mushakavanhu in ‘reading zimbabwe’: how do we engage with archives as sites of erasure, how do we archive gaps and how can we translate these experiences in the form of critical knowledge production? (mushakavanhu, 2021) when considered in relation to urban landscapes, these questions challenge us to develop both new methods for mapping and understanding divisive infrastructures and new frameworks for repairing damaged cities. they also underscore the need to access and prioritise knowledge systems emerging out of informality and to consider how these might impact built environments. new urban arrangements emerge at multiple scales from both informally and formally developed built environments. to better understand this pieterse (2009) after long (2001) propose a method of reading and mapping that considers the urban occupant’s ‘lifeworld’, which includes the various urban systems and built environment interfaces that people engage with in their everyday lives. processes of observational drawing and mapping examine socio-spatial urban patterns of relation which reveals soft infrastructure scenarios. this approach informs the understanding of relationships between urban assemblages which serve as case studies. the case studies function as socio-spatial lenses that help us to understand emergent characteristics as well as territorialisation tendencies at play in tshwane east.. the socio-spatial network and lifeworld mapping techniques are analysed through a structured assessment of conditions of territory and relationality (de landa, 2016) and acknowledge limitations at play in terms of occupation tenure (simone, 2004). the analysis aims to highlight emergent networks and built environment systems that are operating as workarounds to infrastructural exclusions. understood from the perspective of dovey & ristic (2017) the drawing or mapping process involves interpretations and perspectives of the worlds around us. maps represent aspects of existing space but also involve numerous biases in their coding of types and classifications, virtual characteristics, and in some cases, future scenarios. in this respect, maps are seen as forms of representation that present aspects of physical, perceived, and conceived worlds. maps reveal points of novel intersection and paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 provide opportunities for the connection of seemingly separate urban forms, but they can also reinforce conditions of segregation and inequality. an assemblage perspective involves a reading of urban environments as conglomerates of heterogeneous material and social parts operating as relational systems. the term is a translation from the french word agencement used by deleuze & guattari (1987) to describe the arrangements of social and material realities. this perspective facilitates the identification of conditions of relationships and territories which de landa (2016) expands on by emphasising the significance of potentialities that exist within such assemblages. by analysing the various scenarios that are possible within a system and exploring ways of mapping and coding these relationalities and potentialities, we identify opportunities that may enable and transform segregated urban assemblages and territories. 2. infrastructure space & life world mapping the concept of infrastructure space is understood from the perspectives of easterling (2016) who argues that builtenvironment services operate as systemic entities through complex networks of spatial composition and connection. viewed from this perspective we recognise that infrastructure systems function to regulate the flows of materials, resources, people, and ultimately wealth, capital, and power. it is important to note here that the infrastructural means and interfaces by which people are able to communicate and connect, access services, move around, maintain themselves, and generally operate viable livelihoods are often nested within macro systems and devices of political and economic surveillance and/or control. in this respect, they can be understood as operating systems that regulate power and wealth structures. wafer offers a useful interpretation: [i]nfrastructures include a complex network of material and institutional structures that underpins the functioning (and dysfunctioning) of modern cities. to the extent that infrastructures are understood as complex networks, they are also therefore implicated into systems of power and politics ... [they] coordinate, connect and distribute people, commodities, capital, and resources. (2020: 86) building on this concept, easterling (2021) emphasises the importance of understanding architecture as suspended in thick, lumpy, material mediums and scenarios of operation. a useful distinction to make here is the relationship between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure as described by winning (2010) and matsipa (2017) – that is the physical services (hard elements) that operate through softer human and non-human interfaces and networks. in the same way that software facilitates interactions between components in a computer and hardware represents the electronic fabric of the device, we can think of our cities as a product of both the hard-built environments suspended in and operationalised through softer networks including social norms, customs, laws, relationships, politics, power structures, energy supplies, exchange contracts, etc. by thinking of the spaces that enable or exclude social or exchange arrangements we develop a view to uncover potentialities for recoding segregated worlds. seen from this perspective we take a reading of space as a principal regulator of urban networks, often nested within territories of surveillance and power. through the operating potential of space easterling (2016) proposes a ‘hacking’ or infiltrating and subverting of the devices of power that can potentially reconfigure the internal operations of segregated city forms. building on the process of lifeworld representation, casakin & valera (2020) pair occupation patterns with actor networks to understand public space complexity through studies of relationality. the understanding of this relationality means that we can think about designing beyond objects, till (2009) unpacks this by interrogating approaches to design that recognise the interdependencies of materials and making processes and the implications of time and disposition. part of this argument means that we think about ways in which we adapt and reuse existing built environments, how we inhabit infrastructures and spaces in transformative regenerative ways (du plessis, 2012), and what the worlds we make today will enable in the future. as a means of accessing this, frichot (2019) draws on ideas of gleaning, collecting, gathering, and quilting, bhan (2019) makes an argument for occupying and repairing urban divide and mehrotra & vera (2018) recognises the synergy between static forms and kinetic actors as socio-spatial change enablers. paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 3. south africa and tshwane context: historic and perpetuating inequalities figure 1. maps showing location of case studies in south africa, gauteng and tshwane contexts the methods and themes identified from the theoretical framework above are used in the contextual analysis to better understand patterns of spatial emergence in highly segregated contexts. the case studies include self-build urban occupations in formally developed areas in tshwane east. this region makes up the northern portion of the gauteng province in south africa and adjoins various other urbanised zones that make up the greater gauteng city region (gcr) assemblage. as a seat of fiscal and national governance and as part of the largest urban economy in south africa, the gcr exhibits significant capital investment alongside extreme spatial segregations and inequalities both historic and perpetuating (ballard, et. al., 2021). the specific case studies focus on two mezzo-scale settlements in tshwane east (see figure 1.). case studies 1 and 2 are based in moreleta park and explore issues of informality, urban spatial emergence, constructed scarcity, and material assemblages. this area was designated under apartheid for low-density exclusive white occupation with existing black residences displaced. in its present-day moreleta park’s development patterns are highly segregated and compartmentalised, with a number of established gated residential and commercial developments alongside informal self-build settlements. the second set of studies are located in mamelodi and focus on social and recreational infrastructure. mamelodi was established in 1945 and designated for the resettlement of displaced black persons under apartheid. both areas exhibit characteristics of informal occupation and self-build adaptations alongside formal infrastructure segregations. the analysis of conditions of segregation and accessibility in these two historically distinct regions allows for a broader sampling of conditions through which infrastructural segregation perpetuates and provides varied insights into ways in which infrastructural interfaces are established, occupied, and potentially transformed. 3.1. urban infrastructure segregations under apartheid prior to apartheid, segregation was already common in south africa – racial separation, settlement control and urban compartmentalisation characterised colonial occupation as seen in examples of legislation such as in the natives land act of 1913. in this example we can see how the state sought to establish power and control over mining and agricultural capital in south africa, by reserving the right to rent or own strategically located land to the white population. in addition, the act spatially secured exploitative access to black labour to support the production of capital at a much larger scale (philip, 2014). paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 in 1948, south africa saw the election of the nationalist party into government, whereby apartheid was formalised on an institutional level. the party’s strong “religio-political” afrikaner nationalist agenda, which sought to further secure the interests of the white minority in relation to land rights, was evident in the urban policies that followed (janse van rensburg, 2009). apartheid-era built infrastructures adhered to a vision of racial segregation that was established under colonial rule but sought to formalise and further entrench aspects of this segregation in law, urban and regional settlement forms, and in labour and industry. urban development in this period was characterised by strict regulation of land occupancy and use as well as by intentional decisions about the development of service infrastructure (transport, water, electrical, waste, data, etc.) and social infrastructure (courts, banks, education, health, recreation, etc.) (von schnitzler, 2016; mbembe, 2019; judin, 2021; mpofu-walsh, 2021). the apartheid city served not only as a place of racial and class segregation but also as a complex engine for promulgating labour exploitation and wealth extraction. its carefully planned infrastructure served as a vehicle for entrenching white supremacy in all aspects of life. at the micro and mezzo urban scales, ‘the group areas act of 1951’ saw the demolition of many neighbourhoods; the forced relocation of people based on racial, ethnic, and class segregation; and the establishment of infrastructural boundaries, with severe restrictions on the movement of non-white persons and on their access to resources, transportation and land tenure (maharaj, 2020; judin, 2021). at the macro scale, ‘the black homelands citizenship act of 1970’ included the formalisation of bantustans as an attempt to denationalise black citizens from the country and enforce control over interregional movement. 3.2. perpetuations of segregation after apartheid the post-apartheid city continues to perpetuate unequal access to infrastructure. formal urban development has tended to prioritise compartmentalised, privately managed, and serviced enclaves. extractive industries operate under corporate industry ownership and social infrastructure such as healthcare, security, schooling, communication, etc. is frequently accessed privately by the wealthy. in the transition into democracy, we have seen racial segregation evolve into wealth-based infrastructural exclusion, though the latter continues to reflect historical racial divisions (mpofu-walsh, 2021). rapid urbanisation without adequate industrial growth and an existing infrastructural deficit is the dominant condition subjected to most post-colonial african cities, resulting in high unemployment and poverty (pieterse, 2011). despite displaying an inefficient urban form, tshwane boasts a comparatively lower unemployment rate and a higher gdp per capita than the south african average (un-habitat, 2020). this is a major pull for economically strained citizens of peripheral rural areas, neighbouring provinces, and sadc countries such as zimbabwe and lesotho. however, the city faces high levels of inequality, represented by a high gini coefficient (gauteng provincial government, 2021). levels of multidimensional poverty have seen an increase in peripheral areas (former black homelands), with affluence and capital investment projects remaining largely concentrated in previously advantaged white areas, on the opposite end of the city (katumba et. al., 2019). the combination of inaccessible private spaces and rapid population growth has however also resulted in the emergence of informal economy-based self-build settlements. as city regions such as tshwane east expand and adjoin one another in the gcr it is notable that despite limited formal land tenure and poverty, these self-build settlements have established and continue forming alongside and in between capital investment areas in highly unequal spatial arrangement patterns. according to maharaj (2020), self-build settlements in south africa have tended to establish near inner-city areas, on the edges of former white suburbs, and growing alongside affluent development zones. considering current legislative efforts such as the spatial planning and land use management act of 2013 (spluma) a shift has occurred regarding the legal redressing of urban inequality and the protection of occupants of these settlements (joscelyne, 2015). despite this, tshwane remains a deeply divided “dual city” with policy implementation limited in the face of continued uneven development served by the labour of inhabitants from marginalised areas (horn, 2020; peberdy, 2017). a firm correlation has been drawn between the insecurity induced by segregation and scarcity, racial tension, and the subsequent socio-spatial division that prevails in south african cities. similar conditions of segregation are paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 analysed in five other divided cities by calame & charlesworth (2012) their analysis focuses on tendencies and patterns of spatial divisions, and the ways in which such divisions form and adapt in efforts to control issues of insecurity through segregation changes over time. from this, standard pattern codes emerge and assist in the reading of processes of reorganisation and compartmentalisation evident in a segregated urban context as illustrated in figure 2 (katranas, 2021 after calame & charlesworth, 2021). as a prerequisite for real spatial healing and reparation of the injustices of colonialism and apartheid, it is important to acknowledge the significance of sociopolitical territories as well as processes of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation. to design integrated cities, the perspectives of an emerging, marginalised, urban majority should be considered to address social, economic, and geographic exclusion (harvey, 2007; pieterse, 2011). the following section considers relationships between informal and formal built environments in order to understand the emergence of socio-spatial patterns from the perspective of everyday lived experiences. figure 2. segregated spatial patterns and scenarios of change over time 4. moreleta park and plastic view 4.1. urban fabric on an inter-neighbourhood scale, the emergence self-build settlements alongside gated communities in moreleta park as the pace of local urbanisation intensifies in south africa, the continual emergence of self-build urban settlements in areas of commercial and residential development will too (neuwirth, 2008). mehrotra & vera (2018) maintain that spontaneous kinetic currents supersede and evade the norms of the static formal city, increasing their presence and effect as urbanisation intensifies. reluctance to recognise and negotiate this inevitable kinetic urban future can result in an even more volatile urban landscape that further endorses exclusion. moreleta park is analysed through this lens as a product of rapid sprawl since the early 1990s (landman, 2004), the area is made up of a residential assemblage of gated communities and shopping centres on ecologically valuable land. moreleta park most evidently displays the many negative effects of sprawl on the urban environment this suburban archipelago enforces further exclusion through rampart boundary conditions without planning for a spatially just urban future (soja, 2010). the area also lacks the sensibility of scale and organisation necessary to secure resilience in its morphology (peres, 2015; katranas, 2021) characteristic of a ‘floating city’ (salat et al., 2011), large shopping malls and centralised amenities dominate the landscape yet remain monofunctional as static change averse urban islands. empty pockets of land (aiding in the increasing emergence of self-build settlements) create barriers between isolated developments and the only planned attempt at stitching these suburban islands together exists in the form of wide roadways (city of tshwane, 2018). solomon mahlangu drive is an important anchor in this respect; where urban sprawl and urbanisation meet; and where a number of self-build settlements, such as plastic view, are identified in leftover spaces between developments and along urban infrastructure servitudes. the reasons behind the emergence of self-build settlements along this spine are a combination of inherited issues and situational influences. the exclusionary landscape of moreleta park is also characterised by a number of residual areas occurring between development, these spaces are classed as sloap (spaces left over after planning) and can be viewed as a hyper-densified trope of south africa’s tense suburban state – and its possible future (creswell, 2013). paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 sloap can also be associated with junkspace (koolhaas, 2014) which includes, conceptually, the disjunction of modern planning approaches where multiple ideas and agendas are often compartmentalised and their junctions left unresolved. sloap tends to be situated between up-market housing developments and malls, creating a perfect niche of opportunity for spontaneous settlers to build a livelihood (du plessis & peres, 2013). as informal currents often do, these in-between spaces address a need for affordable living spaces close to work opportunities, in reaction to non-provisions thereof. as soja (2010) argues, from these far-reaching implications one can affirm that justice or, for that matter, injustice is inextricably bound to a consequential geography. case study 1 includes the cataloguing of 18 new spontaneous urban settlements in the region (see figure 3). in line with urbanisation trends traced in gauteng, at least ninety other spontaneous settlements have emerged in pretoria over the last five years (du plessis & peres, 2013). the mapping process shown here forms part of a socio-spatial lexicon of patterns of development of emergent self-build settlements and are descriptive of soft and hard infrastructure interactions and entanglements. through the cataloguing and coding of various individual sociospatial attributes of the spontaneous urban settlements selected in the analysis, eight shared characteristics have been revealed as shown. these characteristics range from patterns of emergence to settlement configurations and when understood together, this list has the ability to determine the location probability of future spontaneous settlements. the record of attributes has proven applicable to countless other existing self-build settlements, tracked with a variety of gis programming, all over south africa. since a kinetic neighbourhood located within a static suburb isn’t an anomaly bound to moreleta park, the possibility of a prototypical architectural response to the urban and architectural issues, is revealed. 4.2. the microscale of emergent self-build settlements despite policy reform during the post-apartheid period lingering social constructs prevent the active dismantling of divisive urban forms. informal settlements are regarded as obstacles to be removed by formal development actors. plastic view, identified in the previous section as a self-build settlement of moreleta park, is emblematic of this broader issue of continued exclusions and stands as a densified narrative of the post-apartheid south african urban condition. the reluctance of the moreleta park community and of practitioners to recognise and engage with the formalised settlement of plastic view is emblematic of a broader reluctance to negotiate with this kinetic mode of urbanism (mehrotra & vera 2018). the non-recognition of the permanence of plastic view is further demonstrated by an open letter sent on the 14th of may 2021 to the mayor of the city of tshwane, randall williams, and other recipients. in this letter the community caring forum (2021) reminds its readers of the seventeen court orders against plastic view, leading up to a list of requests including “the removal and deportation of all undocumented occupants” and “the breaking down of the shacks to prohibit expansion at all costs” (community caring forum 2021: 6). case study 2 aims to reveal the social spatial value of such self-build housing settlements and scenarios through which basic livelihood infrastructure is achieved despite very limited resources and basic rights. figure 4 details a planned view of building fabrics and a scenario of typical use for a portion of plastic view. the plan reveals characteristics of street interfaces with individual housing units defining the rhythm of street setbacks and entrances. centrally located is a creche and 2 shops, a tavern, and community office that demarcate other edges of this communal area, and the play area and sports field are also situated within surveillance range of these shared, more public facilities. paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 figure 4. occupancy plan of an area of plastic view showing a scenario of sunday morning activities and street interfaces (katranas, 2021) figure 5. illustration of design iterations exploring the connection of divisive urban infrastructure hypothetical future scenarios based on field observations of building practices in plastic view (katranas, 2021) paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 through the assemblage of self-built spaces, a marginalised community has established a number of interconnected social and economic infrastructures that operationalise a mutual support in the face of extreme conditions of scarcity and exclusion. figure 5 builds on this and presents a speculative axonometric drawing considering scenarios of formalisation of the kinds of interfaces that are observed in plastic view. this exercise functions as a speculative mapping process that allows us to consider developmental scenarios for transforming infrastructural divides in informal self-build settlements as productive and effective forms of housing and livelihood infrastructures. case studies 1 and 2 reveal the emergence of urban processes at the mezzo and micro scales where people are operating through self-made and adaptive urban assemblages despite extreme resource limitations and poverty. moreleta park is in this respect a context possessive of both the challenges and opportunities through which the future city can be postulated; where within a 3km2 area, infrastructural deficit meets excess. in the interrogation of these issues kriek (2021) explores opportunities for repairing urban divisions, noting the urgent need for the static city to incorporate adaptive characteristics of kinetic occurrences in establishing urban resilience. 5. social infrastructure interfaces in mamelodi east during the peak of apartheid, a number of displaced black populations were relocated to mamelodi from the 1950s through to the late 1970s (breed, 2012). infrastructure development implemented during the period focused on the construction of housing, the regulation of transportation, and the limitation of access routes to ‘white’ areas of the city (strauss, 2019). here the scarcity of public open space and social infrastructure can be understood as a direct legacy of apartheid planning and as a means to control the gathering potential of non-white groups during the time (city of tshwane, 2005). in the post-apartheid period, the housing shortfall in townships has seen a focus on subsidised state housing; the resultant limited focus on non-housing services has led to a lack of maintenance or development of public open spaces and recreation facilities (mcconnachie & shackleton, 2010; denoon-stevens & ramaila, 2018). where state or ngo-developed social infrastructures have been implemented they often stand as monofunctional giants following the established segregated grain of the region, disconnected from community dynamics. therefore, as a response, many social infrastructures and services are developed through informal economy sectors and community organisations (urban studio, 2020). this spontaneous dynamism often relies on taking inspiration from existing elements (directly linked to services or not) and bringing alterations, additions, different uses, activities, and meanings to objects and spaces to satisfy communal needs (demba, 2021). case study 3 builds on the theme of kinetic potential (see figure 6) and illustrates on an interpersonal scale, the socio-spatial scenarios and networks observed along a stormwater and access servitude in mamelodi. here demba (2021) examines the accessibility of social infrastructure as well as methods by which people build alternative socio-spatial networks, nodes, and routes to facilitate the operations of their daily lives. these ad hoc inventive means are developed through informal economies, and community organisations (de beer et al., 2020). examples of social and recreational activities are observed as part of informal infrastructures of trade, gathering, playing, maintaining, exercising, etc., spatial material interventions are adaptive and straightforward in fulfilling needs and are developed through social practice. the occurrence of these activities along a stormwater channel can be attributed to the open space that it maintains which makes it a viable movement route. an important observation in this respect is the common space that these various activities share, this is part of the reason that recreational spaces are considered as they pair human practices with human needs to foster hybrid scenarios catering to social needs. here, one can draw comparisons to the above scenarios in moreleta park where formal infrastructures are considered static elements while the informal and community-based activities represent the kinetic part of the township; where the varied collective actions, patterns of occupation, and the links established between them create systems capable of participating in the sustainable development of future urban schemes if understood correctly and contextually (demba, 2021; katranas, 2021; kriek, 2021). just as pieterse (2009) after simone (2004) considers the important role that people play in providing infrastructure as collectives to benefit communities in developing contexts of cities of the global south, the study of everyday street interfaces and occupations aims to find ground-up solutions capable of reconciling and reintegrating isolated paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 or underused infrastructures. by recognising all the many human and non-human actors that make up the public realm as an assemblage, we establish new meanings and opportunities for the rescripting of divided spaces. figure 6. activity mapping along open space network in mamelodi east (demba, 2021) 6. outcomes and conclusion through a process of life-world observations of urban occupations, the case studies attempt to reveal systems of socio-spatial networks and assess their operating potential in relation to infrastructural exclusions and needs. the case studies present a broad sample of ways in which urban infrastructures emerge through socio-spatial arrangements in tshwane east – often operating to circumvent conditions of extreme inequality, scarcity, and exclusion. of particular interest is the observation of the concurrent evolution of informal self-build settlements alongside gated communities. here conditions of territorialisation are seen to agglomerate around capital investment zones and projects. both formal and informal built environments coevolve through processes of fortification, exclusions, and compartmental occupation. the relationality between occupants of informal economies and those of more formal areas is seen to overlap in many instances, people living in one sector may find themselves working or operating in another. in line with this idea, the contextual analysis reveals the inevitability of the coexistence of formal and informal residential settlements and economies in the region. through a study of patterns of the assemblage of self-build settlements, the case study also reveals socio-economic relationality an example of this is the emergence of settlements in congruity with building construction sites as a result of job opportunities. an important question that arises here is what role the funders of capital investment infrastructure projects play in the transformation or perpetuation of conditions of major urban inequality. built environment projects are always a product of a collaboration between designers, builders, makers, and other stakeholders, and they always operate through relational flows within their contexts. by recognising and affirming these collaborations and partnerships paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 we can potentially transform the way we make our worlds. in facing the urgent need to redress issues of urban inequality it is imperative that built environment practitioners explore scenarios for the establishment of shared access to basic resources and acknowledge the inevitable coexistence of the static and kinetic, and the formal and informal forces that shape our cities. by illustrating spatial settlement practices alongside divisive urban infrastructures the project identifies key occurrences in tshwane that are attempting a repair and recalibration of divisive infrastructure. south africa’s urban fabric is constituted of vast networks of civil systems, stormwater services, roadways, parks, servitudes, railways and other publicly owned property. by examining scenarios that challenge infrastructural exclusion this project identifies and tests opportunities for reconceptualising urban forms to reimagine them as shared common elements that have multiple sides and potential functions that can connect rather than divide. the future development of tshwane and possibly 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(2021). the architecture of scarcity (unpublished master’s dissertation). university of pretoria. katumba, s, cheruiyot, k, mushongera, d. 2019. spatial change in the concentration of multidimensional poverty in gauteng, south africa: evidence from quality of life survey data. social indicators research, (145): pp. 95-115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02116-w koolhaas, r., 2014. junkspace:(2002). in the people, place, and space reader (pp. 22-26). routledge.(print copy) kriek, d. (2021). negotiating the future city: cataloguing consequential spontaneity in the static city (unpublished master ’s dissertation). university of pretoria. mbembe, a. (2019) necropolitics. translated by s. corcoran. duke university press. available at: https://doiorg.uplib.idm.oclc.org/10.1515/9781478007227 mc connachie, m. & shackleton, c. 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(2021). archiving gaps: reading zimbabwe and the internet, online lecture, 21 april 2021. https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/archiving+gapsa+reading+zimbabwe+and+the+internet/1_poji6m77 neuwirth, r. 2012. the power of the informal economy. proceedings: ted global, 20-28 june, california. https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_neuwirth_the_power_of_the_informal_economy?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_ source=tedcomshare peberdy, s., harrison, p., & dinath, y. (2017). uneven spaces: core and periphery in the gauteng city-region. gauteng city regional observatory, university of the witwatersrand and university of johannesburg. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23592 peres, e. (2015). the translation of ecological resilience theory into urban systems (doctoral dissertation). university of pretoria. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/56100 pieterse, e. (2009). african cities: grasping the unknowable (public lecture). university of cape town. https://www.alnap.org/system/files/content/resource/files/main/grasping-the-unknowable-26-august-09.pdf pieterse, e. (2011). rethinking african urbanism from the slum. cities, health, and well-being conference hong kong, november 2011. philip, k. 2014. a history of townships in south africa, from mahajan, s, ed. 2014. economics of south african townships: special foc us on diepsloot. world bank studies. world bank, pp. 31-49. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.uplib.idm.oclc.org/lib/pretoriaebooks/detail.action?docid=1771195 salat, s. et al. (2011). cities and forms: on sustainable urbanism (print copy). cstb urban morphology laboratory. simone, a. (2004). people as infrastructure: intersecting fragments in johannesburg. public culture 16(3), 407429. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/173743 soja, e. (2010). the city and spatial justice. in: bret, f. & gervais-lambony, p. (eds). justices and injustices. university of paris press: pp. 55– 74. https://www.jssj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/jssj1-1en2.pdf strauss, m. (2019). a historical exposition of spatial injustice and segregated urban settlement in south africa. fundamina, 25(2), 135–168. https://doi.org/10.17159/2411-7870/2019/v25n2a6 till, j. (2009). architecture depends. cambridge (print copy). mit press. https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5557323 http://www.treasury.gpg.gov.za/ https://doi.org/10.21138/bage.3001 http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19785 https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.75.2.3 https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12051 https://hdl-handle-net.uplib.idm.oclc.org/10520/ejc94046 https://search-ebscohost-com.uplib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&an=2558566&site=ehost-live&scope=site https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02116-w https://doi-org.uplib.idm.oclc.org/10.1515/9781478007227 https://doi-org.uplib.idm.oclc.org/10.1515/9781478007227 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2009.09.009 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25369-1_3 https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/city-kinetic/docview/2068488241/se-2?accountid=14717 https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/city-kinetic/docview/2068488241/se-2?accountid=14717 https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/archiving+gapsa+reading+zimbabwe+and+the+internet/1_poji6m77 https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_neuwirth_the_power_of_the_informal_economy?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_neuwirth_the_power_of_the_informal_economy?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23592 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/56100 https://www.alnap.org/system/files/content/resource/files/main/grasping-the-unknowable-26-august-09.pdf https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.uplib.idm.oclc.org/lib/pretoria-ebooks/detail.action?docid=1771195 https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.uplib.idm.oclc.org/lib/pretoria-ebooks/detail.action?docid=1771195 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/173743 https://www.jssj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/jssj1-1en2.pdf paul g. devenish, denambaye m. demba, alexia katranas and delani kriek / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 united nations. (2015). the millennium development goals report 2015. https://www.undp.org/publications/millennium-development-goalsreport-2015 united nations habitat, (2020). world cities report 2020: the value of sustainable urbanization. un habitat. https://unhabitat.org/world%20cities%20report%202020 urban studio. 2020. healing urban fractures, inside a pandemic, vulnerability, imagination, innovation in the city of tshwane. de beer, s., thomos, l., nnorom, j (eds), university of pretoria. https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/187/zp_resources/2020-healing-urban-fracturesreport.zp196770.pdf van aswegen, a. (2021). disruption by dissociation: exploring human-centred design through transformative engagement in the spatial design studio. phd dissertation, university of pretoria von schnitzler, a. (2016). democracy's infrastructure : techno-politics and protest after apartheid. princeton university press (print copy) wafer, a. (2020). infrastructure in south african cities. in massey, r. & gunter, a. (eds) urban geography in south africa: perspectives and theory (pp.85-96). (ser. geojournal library). springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25369-1_6 winning, f. (2010). creativity and flexibility: the nexus between infrastructure space and art. australasian drama studies, (56), pp.7 –24. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.041086683238351 world bank. (2022). inequality in southern africa: an assessment of the southern african customs union. world bank publishing. https://doi.org/10.1596/37283 https://www.undp.org/publications/millennium-development-goals-report-2015 https://www.undp.org/publications/millennium-development-goals-report-2015 https://unhabitat.org/world%20cities%20report%202020 https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/187/zp_resources/2020-healing-urban-fractures-report.zp196770.pdf https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/187/zp_resources/2020-healing-urban-fractures-report.zp196770.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25369-1_6 https://doi.org/10.1596/37283 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.676 regenerative mobility: disruption and urban evolution m.n.p.a. alcantara1, a.s. da s. gonzaga2, e.c. kneib2 1 københavns universitet, copenhagen, denmark & politecnico di milano, milano, italia 2 universidade federal de goias, goiania, brazil abstract mobility plays an important role in the cities by enabling people to carry out the most varied activities across the territory, as well as to ensure the city fully function. in addition, analogies to the human organism can be made by this urban dynamic, looking for solutions to specific issues. moreover, this paper has been based by the premise that phenomena and urban elements could be conceptualized, explained and transformed from contemporary and innovative approaches applied in the medical field. for this reason, this paper aims to develop and present a new concept associated with urban mobility, based on the principles of regenerative medicine: the regenerative mobility, a concept with disruptive and evolutionary purposes. furthermore, the structure of this paper is summarized by the introduction which contextualizes the theme, presents and characterizes the techniques used in the research. additionally, the following chapters explore essential aspects of the city, explaining why it needs a mobility change and new concepts. therefore, the concept of regenerative mobility is presented as a potential of mobility and cities improvement, followed by pragmatic cases, capable of illustrating some of its principles. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords regenerative mobility; urban mobility; urban evolution; disruptive concept; medicine regenerative 1. introduction the dynamics and complexity that characterize the establishment of people in territories, the structuring of urban spaces and the analysis of transport systems are, on several occasions, compared to the processes that keep the human body alive (odum, 1973; ackroyd, 2000; samaniego & moses, 2008). indeed, in the 19th century, the urban conception, according to enlightenment, has considered the city something similar to the veins and arteries, with circulation principles that were based on the bloodstream and gradually applied to the urban centers (sennet, 2008). thus, as a complex and systemic organism, cities have their metabolism (carta, 2017) and have the challenge of seeking a new urban metabolism (iaac, 2012). if innovation consists in transforming knowledge and ideas into values, urban innovation can be seen as a learning process acting on (and transforming) practices in urban collective environments (concilio, 2016). thus, the city is the best place where innovations could find necessary tangible/intangible resources, as long as it is able to recover its propensity for creativity and collective intelligence (carta, 2017). hence, the approach that has been used by this research starts from the premise that phenomena and urban elements could be conceptualized, explained and transformed from contemporary and innovative approaches applied in the medical field. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 42 moreover, the brazilian urban growth is related to a displacement model based on individual motorization. consequently, this model has degraded cities, making collectiveness unfeasible and also, causing incalculable social, environmental and economic damages. as a result, it affects the quality of urban life directly. however, even in concepts that have already been consolidated, such as sustainable urban mobility, it is clear that the need to change paradigms has been shown less sensitive to existing concepts and proposals. therefore, from the assimilation between the phenomena that manage cities and human body, and from the perception that concepts are dynamic and must evolve according to social construction of knowledge, this paper aims to develop and present an innovative, disruptive and revolutionary concept for urban mobility associated with a paradigm shift and supported by collectiveness. indeed, its specific objectives are concentrated on: the identification of similar aspects between the dynamics of urban and human organisms; the development of relations between the concepts of regenerative medicine and regenerative mobility; and also, the development of first aspects which integrate this new concept of regenerative mobility. furthermore, the methodological procedure has adopted the format of bibliographic research. in this case, its development was based on works already developed by other authors such as those found in books and scientific papers. moreover, regarding the goals, the research type is exploratory, since it is an initial study, which will promote further, more structured researches. indeed, this type of research aims to develop, clarify and modify concepts and ideas; in addition to reveal a specific problem and also, to promote conceptual aspects capable of solving or minimizing it (gil, 2008). 2. collectivity: an essential factor of the city cities are mainly made up of social connections. otherwise, they are not only large portions of people but social links clusters. for instance, space, time, and infrastructure play a crucial role in enabling social interactions to create and persist, consequently, allowing them to become open to increased connectivity (bettencourt, 2013). because of its increased diversity, the city, a space of encounter and coexistence between "unknown" people, gives the urban environment an enriching and civilizing character. in addition, in community life, a group cohesion does not leave space for appeals that touch only an individual. as a matter of fact, kuster (2009) presents an enlightening metaphor. the author associates the conflicting relationship between the possibility of joining the maintenance of individuality to the dynamics of the puzzle. one piece, when connected to another, no longer exists as an isolated object, but as part of a set. moreover, this is what allows to start the search for other pieces, which gives more meaning to the collective with each new piece added (kuster, 2009). thus, glaeser (2011) emphasizes that the power of cities is not only linked to appropriate forms or extraordinary architectures, but rather to the collective way in which their inhabitants are organized, how they deal with their conflicts and cooperate with each other, exchanging ideas, artifacts, information, services, among others. harvey (2008) considers that the city right goes beyond the individual freedom of access to urban resources, but consists of entitlement to change ourselves and thus change the city. however, this right is collective, since this transformation depends on a collective power to reformulate urbanization processes (harvey, 2008). it should also be noted that the city is made up of a complex and therefore plural society. pluralism presupposes the coexistence of multiple voluntary and inclusive linkages, which reveals an openness to a multiple belonging awareness (fleury et al., 2008). therefore, life in cities involves the collectivity, which requires its inhabitants a conscience and behavior consistent with this characteristic. furthermore, kuster (2009) warns that in order to live in society, it is necessary to balance doses of affection (desire) and responsibility. the city is collective by nature; however, when choices and actions of a public character are applied on individual interests’ basis, there is a significant threat to the quality of urban life and can result in serious problems. the absence of the notion of collectivity in the population, as well as in social, political or economic representatives, results in a distorted treatment and experience of urban life. despite being challenging and involving rules that control individual impulses, city life requires paradigm shifts to become, in fact, collective cities. lima (2015) associates useful transformations of public spaces with their limits and possibilities, also, the more open and intense the interactions in free areas, the more effective will be their transformation. alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 43 indeed, by assuming its collective character in various aspects, the city recognizes its essence and enhances its capacity to offer a quality of life to all. by associating collectivity with multiplicity in the offer of opportunities and possible activities, the city becomes more productive and also enhances the interactions between people and citizens with city spaces. further, a key factor in order to occur such interactions is the displacements’ needed around the city, which is also directly involved with the community. by driving solutions to urban displacements based on the priority of individualization, the municipality harms itself and, consequently, the people who live in it. the following chapter explores the urban mobility issue under the collective bias. moreover, it reveals how individualization problems in displacements have damaged life in cities and how it is possible to find ways, through the collectiveness, that enables cities to evolve. 3. urban mobility: transformation requires new concepts from the industrial revolution, cities began to experience explosive growth phenomena, which consequences have been perpetuated until nowadays. further, the results significantly reached people's lifestyles by introducing new concepts of space use, particularly intending to the massive deployment of road space for automobiles. besides, the extensive areas occupied by low densities also stimulate and are stimulated by the excessive use of cars (girardet, 2010). additionally, treatments like this contribute to the exhaustion of cities' capacity to provide quality services to people. as a result, the urban environment becomes deficient, susceptible to degradation and decay, thus compromising people's quality of life. urban mobility in brazil has experienced a significant increase in displacements by individual motor vehicles. furthermore, associated with this phenomenon, there are also substantial increases in travel times, energy consumption and road space, pollutant emissions and the number of traffic accidents (antp, 2010). these are some of the policy issues that have given priority to individual vehicles over collective modes of transportation. the collectiveness has been losing value, space, demand, and importance in the city and brazilian society. notably, the paradigm shift has been sought for some time, targeting better cities. for instance, the term sustainability was officially presented in 1987 at the united nations world commission on environment and development (cmmad, 2008). moreover, the term was defined as the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations (cmmad, 1988). in brazil, this term was strengthened in 1992, at the event rio-92, which concluded by the need to aggregate the economic, environmental and social components to guarantee sustainability (senado federal, 2017). in the early 2000s, the national urban mobility policy was introduced and followed by the presentation of the term sustainable urban mobility, defined as a result of transportation and circulation policies sets aimed to provide democratic access to urban space through an effective, socially inclusive and in an ecologically sustainable way of prioritization collective and non-motorized transportation modes (ministério das cidades 2004). subsequently, numerous other concepts and definitions have been developed at the national and international levels, combining mobility and sustainability, such as the world bank council for sustainable development (wbcsd, 2009), which according to them, sustainable mobility corresponds to the ability to know people’s needs so that they can now move freely, gain easy access to places, communicate and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values (wbcsd, 2009). furthermore, regarding the concepts, hjorland's (2009) approaches that concepts are dynamically constructed meanings, which classify the world according to particular interests and theories. as a matter of fact, concepts cannot be understood in isolation from the objectives and theories that motivated their construction (hjorland, 2009). the author recognizes that the essential function of concepts is to fix reality parts in thought, language and other symbolic systems that enable their communication and reflection. besides, hjorland (2009) emphasizes that temporal context must be considered in the study concept since the meaning of a term cannot be something perennial or fixed definitively. the author also emphasizes that the concepts are dynamic and must evolve according to the social construction of knowledge. within the city, it is essential to highlight the concept of the system as an important attribute. according to bertalanffy (1995), the system notion can be perceived in several contexts. indeed, starting from a biological foundation, the author has developed the general theory of systems, which there is a general tendency to the integrate natural and alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 44 social sciences. furthermore, the system is understood as a group of elements in interrelation with themselves and the environment. davis (1974) reports the possibilities of systems classification, which stands out the open system concept, more appropriate to the urban context. otherwise, it is about the existence of relationships in which there are information, materials and energy exchanges with the environment. thus, an open system is the one that interacts with itself and also with other systems, in order to have exchange and communication. the author also highlights the concept of homeostasis to affirm that open systems tend to adapt. for this reason, open systems require to adapt to the changes which their environments are subjected as a fundamental factor to guarantee their existence. in the field of medicine, strand et al. (2004) have compared and evaluated complex adaptive systems (cas) and human complexity. moreover, the authors define human complexity as the result of higher mental capacities and human culture. furthermore, the cas concept is adopted by the same authors according to a variety of natural systems, such as the human central nervous system, the human immune system, ecosystems, economies, and cities. therefore, the authors report that the analysis of human complexity is necessary to recognize the process towards the identification of the medical objective itself may be a significant challenge in medicine. in addition, about the disruptive characteristic, it is evident in this paper the adopted terms, for example, references from bower & christensen (1995) and christensen (1997), that refer to disruptive innovations. according to these authors, the disruptive term is associated with a paradigm shift and new trajectories for the improvement. besides, in a contemporary and future context and also, associated concepts, adams (2006), has raised some questions about the world's landscape and possible future changes, and also some other questions regarding if sustainabilityrelated concepts provide a coherent and sufficient basis in order to have a change. moreover, table 1 presents some concepts available in the literature that relate sustainability to the environment, transportation, and mobility. table 1.relation between sustainability, environment, transports and mobility. source: authors. world commission on environment and development (cmmad, 2008) environment ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs. embarq (2006) transport set of transport activities associated with a relevant infrastructure that, collectively, leaves no problems or costs that future generations can not solve or support. ministério das cidades (2004) mobility a result of a transport and circulation policies set that aim to provide democratic access to urban space through an effective, socially inclusive and in an ecologically sustainable way of prioritization collective and non-motorized transportation modes. kayal et al. (2014) refers to an alternative concept that seeks to understand the complex movement of people and goods in cities, as well as the link between transport and land use. world bank coucil for sustainable development (wbcsd, 2009) corresponds to the ability to know people’s needs so that they can move freely today and in the future, in order to facilitate access to places, also to communicate and establishing relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values. sustainability concepts and sustainable urban mobility have inspired various researches. furthermore, they have been and continue to be very relevant for improving the planning and development of the cities. however, for adams (2006), the sustainability concept, while befing holistic, attractive and versatile, is also imprecise, since the idea of sustainability can unite people, but not necessarily make them seek consistent goals. moreover, the sustainability concept has been widely used in different areas, by environmentalists, government officials, economists, planners and entrepreneurs, who express many different views using the same concept. for the author, a profound paradox surrounds this concept: on one side, everyone joined in this sustainability era (governments, civil society, and the alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 45 private sector), on the other side, global activities become less and less sustainable since rhetoric sustainability is ignored in practical decisions. besides, adams (2006) reinforces that sustainability concept is no longer sufficient for the necessary changes and he also questions whether such a concept provided a consistent basis for change. the same is pointed out by girardet (2015), who emphasizes that even for the planning of new cities, or for retrofit of existing cities, the concept related to sustainability is no longer sufficient. in brazil, there is a tendency to increase the degree of urban degradation provoked, among other reasons, by paradigms and behaviors detrimental to urban mobility. therefore, mobility in brazilian cities faces a crisis. as a consequence, it is still necessary, in the field of mobility, to find adequate answers to the new demands of this crisis. according to the considerations expressed so far, which it can be concluded the rupture necessity, associated with a lack of sustainability sensitivity, the following questions are addressed: − how to change the existing scenario? − is the sustainability concept sufficient to guide this change? − should we work for urban mobility that (just) does not leave problems for future generations? − or should we desire urban mobility that can contribute to making future cities better than the present cities, so that they could really evolve? adams (2006) reinforces that the attainment of favorable conditions for cities to be healthy organisms depends on positive transformations. on the other hand, the transformation requires new concepts, new ways of involving society in the search for solutions. moreover, an effective strategy could be achieved by adopting an advanced or evolutionary approach, emphasizing the sense of future improvement not only to keep the organism supporting cities alive but also to correct and improve it (adams, 2006). consequently, as an answer to the previously asked questions, the next chapter brings the regenerative mobility approach as a new potential path, expressed by a new concept. 4. regenerative mobility: new ways through the city in fact, considering the negative impacts of cities and the need to break concepts and behaviors related to urban mobility, it has been highlighted a possible connection between this scenario and a medical approach. furthermore, the urban body has been degraded due to the practice of inadequate and incompatible actions allied with the balanced development of the environment where it is inserted. indeed, the correction of the damage caused requires a significant change of concepts and behaviors. 4.1. regenerative medicine additionally, in the medical field, due to the necessity to change the course of chronic diseases, the ways to evolutionary treatments have been sought in the principles of regeneration. the first reference to the term regenerative medicine was published in 1992, by kaiser l. r., in an american article. according to the austrian society for regenerative medicine (2016), the regenerative medicine is evolving in its studies and research and develops an attempt to change the course of chronic diseases by regenerating condemned cells, tissues and organs, giving them superior conditions compared to the prior ones before the disease was acquired. a good example is what has been done with hematopoietic cells, which make up the hematopoietic tissue, precursor of the red bone marrow and responsible for the production of blood cells and lymph (amabis & martho, 2004). furthermore, the introduction of hematopoietic stem cells in cases where they used to manage fully functional organs made it possible to reconstitute all the hematopoietic cells of the patient. thus, for the first time, the bone marrow could be slowly regenerated. the author warns about the existence of a crucial restrictive factor in medicine: there are not enough organs for all the transplants demand (oliveira et al., 2012). moreover, this experience reveals that the emergence of regenerative medicine, characterized by the combination of tissue engineering, stem cell therapy, regeneration factors, extracellular matrices and therapeutic cloning, is intended to replace organ transplants. as a result of its restrictive factor, transplants have come to be seen as insufficient for medicine. from this deficiency, alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 46 regenerative medicine excels in offering pathways capable of advancing the treatment of diseases and achieving better results for patients. furthermore, among the approaches of regenerative medicine is the work of professor shinya yamanaka of kyoto university in japan, who in 2007 transformed human cells into pluripotent cells (ips), capable of transforming into various cell types (hayden, 2011). otherwise, the cells have proved to be a benefit of regenerative medicine, since by using the skin, blood or other cells of a person, it is possible to reprogram them into ips cells and also use them to improve liver cells, neurons, or whatever is necessary to treat a disease. the work by professor yamanaka, along with professor john gurdon, has yielded the medicine nobel (abbott, 2012). further, regarding the applications, some studies show cases applied in the regeneration of retina, glaucoma and alzheimer's (scudellari, 2016); and also other studies on brain stimulation and research in neuro-rehabilitation (mayo clinic, 2016). 4.2. regeneration: from medicine to the city moreover, seeking significant advances in diseases solutions, the medicine has identified that organ transplant treatments were deficient and, therefore, insufficient. similarly, in the context of urban mobility, it is possible to identify a similar situation. for cities, the challenge is to create more than sustainable cities, but cities that can regenerate, improve and evolve. thus, they must guarantee future and present generations not only efficient but also low carbon resources, improvement of ecosystems which have been exploited beyond their limits (girardet, 2010). in order for cities to achieve desirable scenarios capable of providing quality of life to all its inhabitants, under superior conditions to those they have already offered, the principles of regeneration emerge as a new paradigm capable of responding more adequately to the crisis so far faced, and that aims more than "sustain" their capability to offer urban life. there is a significant lack of targeted medical treatments for healing or change that reaches the primary source of a disease, especially those that are subject to degeneration. consequently, these have only palliative treatments, without favorable results. moreover, this scenario ratifies how feasible is the field of regenerative medicine in the search for diseases cure of a different perspective. accordingly, it becomes feasible to use treatments that act directly on the main and initial element of system change: the cell itself (austrian society, 2016). the palliative treatments applied nowadays in urban mobility through many cities involve aspects of road infrastructure, usually in an attempt to increase the cars flow. as a consequence, actions such as the construction of overpasses, widening streets and avenues, increasing the speed limit, creating parking areas, among others, can give a momentary sensation of improved mobility. however, such actions end up encouraging, even more, the use of individual vehicles, provoking in cities the opposite effect: the degradation of the collective and also, an urban mobility crisis. therefore, it is necessary to use treatments that act directly on the primary element of system change: the urban displacements. mulgan (2018) points out, regarding the human organism, that neurons only become useful when connected to billions of other neurons: the entire group becomes much more useful than the sum of its parts. a similar relationship happens in urban space: the collective, a fundamental characteristic of the city, is a factor which the quality of life depends. furthermore, by associating the regeneration of medicine and urban mobility, the collectiveness could be understood as the treatment essence to be applied to urban displacements. moreover, the roads that lead cities within reach of regenerative mobility are only possible if the treatment of urban displacements is based on the community. under those circumstances, it is necessary to have a break from the individual to the collectiveness: collective cities as an answer to the mobility crisis. besides, regenerative medicine has the potential to solve the problem of donor organ shortage compared to the number of patients requiring organ transplantation (nih, 2013). further, transplants, still nowadays, are used as an alternative to curing diseases. however, regenerative medicine offers ways to overcome a significant barrier faced by those who need a transplant: the scarcity of donors. indeed, realizing that this deficiency interferes directly and negatively in the success of the treatment of the diseases, regenerative medicine finds in the stem cells a way to overcome the paucity of donors and to reach more effective and efficient results, thus allowing unprecedented gains in medicine. alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 47 regenerative mobility, on the other hand, has the potential to contribute significantly to the solution of the problem related to urban displacements, nowadays excessively carried out by automobiles. in this case, the use of individual motor vehicles contributes to the scarcity of spaces for people, that is, spaces of leisure, nature, with safety and quality for pedestrians and cyclists. additionally, cars are too much used as a model for urban displacements. however, regenerative mobility offers ways to overcome a significant barrier faced by those who need to move through cities: the excess of individual motor vehicles in transit. besides, verifying that this condition is a decisive factor not only in the displacements but also in the quality of urban life, regenerative mobility finds in collective public transport and in the collective city the primary way to overcome problems such as congestion, aiming at reaching more efficient and effective conditions to enable people’s displacement, thus allowing real gains to mobility and the city as well. thus, urban mobility will only reach evolutionary frames if there is a sufficient investment in actions based on the prioritization of modes such as collective public transportation, cycling, and walking; in parallel with the discouragement of car use. in addition, the rational urban land use is aiming to reduce the distances traveled and making it compatible with transport systems, also should contemplate a centralities' network. (kneib, 2014 and 2016). 4.3. regenerative mobility and its potential for improving cities the city is a complex and systemic organism. hence, its regeneration depends on several factors, among which are the mobility, accessibility, land use, health, education, public safety, environment and others. in this context, urban mobility plays a fundamental role, by enabling people conditions to carry out the most varied activities across the territory. however, public transit, preferentially facilitating medium and long displacements. is the structuring mode, able to meet the principles of collectiveness and, therefore, is essential for regenerative mobility. therefore, regenerative mobility could be a great hope for cities that experience degradation scenarios of mobility and wish to break this process and evolve. even for those cities that are already on the road to sustainability, regenerative mobility becomes essential, since sustaining alone may not be enough for mobility and cities to evolve. hence, the concept and principles of regenerative mobility could be applied to any city. in order to summarize and simplify the relationship approach between regenerative mobility and regenerative medicine, figure 1 outlines the regeneration process developed on the treatment of "weakened organisms". in addition, in t1, the organism is in a healthy state, which constitutes a normal condition of its functioning. subsequently, in t2 it could be observed the beginning of symptoms appearance that announces the arrival of a particular disease. afterward, in t3, the disease progresses, and the debilitation caused by the damages to the organism make it doomed to saturation. thus, in t4, after receiving expressive interventions based on regeneration, the organism recovers. consequently, when it has regenerated, the organism does not return to its initial state (t1), but could also attain higher levels of health and conditions for its full and continuous development. figure 1. regeneration process developed on the treatment of "weakened organisms". source: authors. alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 similar to regenerative medicine procedure, it is also possible to observe the mobility transformation stages on the regenerative process. moreover, it should be noted that regenerative mobility could be applied not only in cities with condemned mobility but also in those with fewer damages (sick mobility) and even in cities with mobility "in operation". figure 2 outlines the procedure for regenerative mobility. figure 2. regeneration process of "impaired mobility". source: authors. furthermore, in the cities’ case, regeneration depends on several factors, with mobility being one of the basics. additionally, obtained initially through the pillars of planning, sustaining, improving and evolving, public transportation is the structuring element of regenerative mobility. therefore, regenerative mobility, based on the collectiveness, through public transportation, will be the basis of regenerating city process (fig. 3). figure 3 the basis of regenerating city process. source: authors 4.4. application of regenerative mobility principles since this is exploratory and initial research, as described earlier in this paper, which aims to develop, clarify, modify and innovate concepts and ideas, for this reason, it becomes crucial to understand the proposed concept regenerative mobility to illustrate some of its principles with practical examples. around the world, some cities already present actions and projects that reveal close relations to the principles of regenerative mobility. as an illustration for a reflection and beginning of construction of this concept, two european cities (london and berlin) and another latin american city (bogotá) has been presented below. − london, england alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 it has been clearly observed that the role of public transportation as a strategies focus, has complemented and articulated with several other elements. moreover, according to the mayor of london (2015, pg.1): "improving transport is central to most regeneration plans, and that plays a key role in regeneration in london". london uses the concept of regeneration similar to urban (re)qualification (helping places to prosper). decisions taken by tfl (transport for london) play a central role in neighborhoods regeneration on the search for new investment and in promoting a high quality of life for its residents (mayor of london, 2015). table 2 presents a set of strategies and policies to support regeneration, which adopts the transport as the primary element. table 2.london: strategies and policies to support regeneration. source: authors, based on mayor of london (2015). opportunity and intensification areas 38 opportunity zones have been allocated, such as areas of industrial occupations abandoned, with significant capacity to develop through residential and commercial activities. besides, 7 intensification zones have been designated, which can accommodate work activities and residences. london enterprise panel lep it contributes to the economic development strategies distribution that the mayor designates through the programs’ action between local partners. investment in public transport for qualification is a key feature of london growth fund. lep also has guaranteed 20 million euros for roads and workplaces. economic development strategy it actively refers to the public transit role on qualification. transportation links should support regeneration in the opportunity zones. it also includes a commitment to consider the best ways to make local transport and environmental improvements contribute to development. financing of roads and urban centers re-qualification since 2011 the city of london has invested resources in roads requalification. improvements in transportation configure some of the various consolidated projects as part of the city's duties. transport strategies tfl and the city of london afirms that some actions need special attention. for example: support of economic development; improvement in quality of life; support to urban renovation and fight against deprivation. − berlin, germany indeed, searching for new mobility and concerning the importance that the urban transport policies influence on population's choices for new transportation modes, for instance, it has been analyzed the case of berlin. furthermore, this is a case where traditional motoring patterns are not significant for its mobility, especially regarding the growing number of adepts to other modes such as bicycle, walking and shared vehicles, for example, to the detriment to the individual cars. moreover, following the technology advances and its potential for smarter mobility, in particular, it has been recognized in berlin that smartphone applications have also been embedded as tools that help people make their displacements decisions. the berlin metropolitan region (bmr) has been made up by the city of berlin and 18 other local authorities close to the capital. in 2013, the bmr added 4.4 million people, within 80% of this total living in berlin. although it is a more evolved context concerning the investments and the quality of public transport services, the suburbanization impact on displacement has been through increasing travel distances. furthermore, faced with such a challenge, the investments have concentrated in the road network, as well as in the public transportation of the region. therefore, the increase of the railway capacity in and through berlin has been noted, due to the strategies performance based on the so-called "mushroom concept" (pilzkonzept), which is the intersection of two basic planning concepts: axis and ring concepts which includes four stations of main lines decentralized in the ring line (ringbahn) around the city center. moreover, the new concept consists of the central station berlin hauptbahnof which enabled more extensive services and a new connection between the east-west and north-south directions; and five other stations, some old and alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 some new ones. besides, it has created a new high capacity rail branch in the south and a north tangential connection (lse cities, 2015). furthermore, implications of the strategies implementation based on the mushroom concept in berlin were significant: they widened regional connectivity and increased transport flows by increasing service levels. hence, after its inauguration, regional suburban train services grew more than triple, with travel times being reduced by up to 35 minutes (lse cities, 2015). additionally, the demand increase for public transport between 2001 and 2011 was over 20%, from 1.14 to 1.38 million passengers. on the other hand, the relative participation of cycling and walking has been highlighted. consequently, the most significant gain was the decrease in car use. in order to reduce pollution in berlin, a low emission zone (umweltzone) has been established in 2008, which settled restrictions on specific neighborhoods, focusing on the adoption of low pollution certified vehicles (lse cities, 2015). the transport policy that has been applied in berlin also prioritizes walking and cycling as a transportation mode. further, with the construction of more than 1,000 km of cycling infrastructure, the number of cyclists has increased by more than 40% between 2004 and 2012. for this reason, this investment impact has been reflected by the active participation of cycling in all displacements in berlin. despite the advances, travels by cars still occur in higher numbers than the others (37%). subsequently, there are trips by public transport (30%) and by bicycle (17%) (lse cities, 2015). moreover, individual vehicle availability rates are high in berlin. however, 27% of households do not own a car. a survey by the lse cities (2015) found that among the reasons why inhabitants do not own a car, 53% is due to the high cost of owning and using the car, and also 47% said it was unnecessary to own a car in berlin. furthermore, shared cars have also been an increasing option among the population (lse cities, 2015). the development of new information and communication technologies has caused significant and increasing impacts on the travel behavior in berlin, with an emphasis on public transport. according to the research, 37% have smartphones with internet access, and displacement applications often used (lse cities, 2015). thus, advances in the quality of urban life had fundamental strategies based on public transportation. moreover, connectivity increase has not only been provided through actions such as the "mushroom concept", which had as its main purpose the rail region network, but also a combined action of the various transportation modes. although the car use is still significant, it is evident that berlin's transport policy, based on public transport prioritization, has achieved better results in its organization and conflicts solution. therefore, this is a case in which there are indications of the application of consistent actions related with regenerative mobility and, as this concept emphasizes, there is always the need to seek new advances, innovations, and improvements. − bogotá, colombia bogotá has had public transportation as a crucial element in its urban transformation. in this case, transmilenio, the bogotá bus rapid transit (brt) system, was a determining change factor of the chaotic urban development scenario in a dense city marked by social segregation with more than 7.5 million inhabitants (bocarejo & tafur, 2013). the first phase of the transmilenio system was inaugurated in december 2000. inspired by curitiba brt system and created as a key element of a mobility strategy to reduce the use of individual vehicles, prioritizing public transportation and non-motorized modes. further, the main goal of tranmilenio was to create an economic system, capable of improving productivity and quality of life in bogotá. besides, transmilenio has provided comfort, speed and safety displacements to citizens. as a result, the challenges caused by severe social problems related to the absence of excellent public transportation and also the constant congestion have been transformed by transmilenio implementation. bocarejo & tafur (2013) have recognized that transmilenio was able to change the perception of bogotá: from bankrupt to a sustainable and promising city example. further, transmilenio has constituted the most visible change, but also it has effectively influenced aspects of bogotá's urban structure and citizens' lives, such as land use, productivity, road accidents and even crime and public health. alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 51 as project focus has been the vast capacity of public transportation, the transmilenio system has as differential measures that complement and support public transportation use. indeed, this system has included 300 kilometers of new cycle paths, improvements in public space, and also the dominical closing of 120 kilometers of highways to private motor vehicles, among other resources. thus, the success of this project and the effective priority of collectiveness, measures have been implemented to discourage the car use, through parking restrictions and also a restricted use program by the license plate number (ministério das cidades, 2008). indeed, with new cycle routes, improvements in the public space and also the transmilenio system, citizens could notice a transformation that had been expanding through the city. among the urban improvements that have been mentioned, such as connection, development of areas, the material of brazilian ministério das cidades (2008) has emphasized that transmilenio represent an example of a high-quality urban regeneration mix with brt system, mainly in roads where there is exclusive access to public transport. therefore, according to bocarejo & tafur (2013), in the last decades, bogotá has developed a consistent policy based on principles that give priority to public transportation and non-motorized modes, revealing the objective of consolidating a dense city with a development-oriented to public transportation. furthermore, the authors affirm that transmilenio has corroborated to the fact that mobility changes have a direct impact on urban development. however, even in success, the city still faces some challenges, such as the increase in motorization rates, loss of service quality, segregated areas with fairness lack of service, showing a city that has transformed itself for the better but still has much more to evolve. 4.5. regenerative mobility and its basic attributes the practical cases presented converge with the regenerative mobility concept, in which public transportation is a fundamental element for positive and structuring changes in cities. moreover, this regeneration depends on several factors, in which the mobility is one of the basilar. consequently, regenerative mobility, guided by the collectiveness, focusing on public transportation, will be the basis of the regenerating city process. the paper has developed the following specific objectives: first, to identify similar aspects between the human and urban organism; secondly, to strengthen relations between the concepts of regenerative medicine and regenerative mobility. subsequently, the third specific objective, which deals with the initial development of regenerative mobility characteristics, could be illustrated through a concepts synthesis and the case studies addressed. further, from the conceptual approach developed, as well as from the case studies carried out and with the pillars of planning, sustaining, improving and evolving, it is possible to highlight seven essential attributes of regenerative mobility: 4.5.1. systemic approach the first attribute portrays a significant analogy between medicine (human body) and urban mobility: the pieces interfere in how the whole system works. hence, the systemic approach is necessary for regenerative mobility to be feasible. therefore, it is essential to consider the interrelationship between urban mobility and the spheres in which it is inserted and interacted. thus, public policies need to be transversal and integrated; otherwise, mobility will not be regenerative. 4.5.2. recognition of city's metabolism the second attribute refers to the notion that each city works as a complex and systemic organism, as well as singular and particular. thus, before applying any strategy of urban planning, first, it must be known the territory in which intends to intervene. furthermore, the particularities of each city as well as the particularities of each human organism must be taken into account before going through a particular treatment. if this is not a condition for defining intervention strategies in a city or a person, there are risks that, contrary to what is intended, cause other problems. 4.5.3. collectivity focus despite its peculiarities, a characteristic, however, is common to all cities: the collectivity. moreover, in this context, the third attribute has been justified, and the same presupposes respect for the city’s collective essence. further, as alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 discussed in this paper, the city is, by its nature, multiple and diverse, these characteristics making it prosperous and civilized. indeed, it is evident that choices arising from individual interests threaten the quality of urban life. therefore, in the urban mobility context, this can have a substantial and negative impact on the conditions of people displacements through the urban territory, which contributes to degrading any city. 4.5.4. disruptive innovation the fourth attribute considers something that is at the core of regenerative mobility: the notion of a necessary disruption process to give space for a paradigm shift and, thus, open the way for new paths. furthermore, this notion must be accompanied by the awareness that time is part of the urban organism, which causes this continuous changes. hence, the treatment given to the city can not perpetuate without it being under the constant changes and consequent new necessities. 4.5.5. identification, evolution, and improvement of existing urban elements this attribute is also an essential step for the development of regenerative mobility since there is the understanding that a configuration or treatment given to the city no longer meets their needs and, therefore, hinders or even prevents it from evolving. hence, by identifying such elements, it is possible to transform and thus improve them, achieving evolution. 4.5.6. direct action on urban displacements although it is contradictory, it is also common to find actions that sake urban mobility and, erroneously, do not consider their due importance urban displacements. however, these must also be accompanied by the notion that the city is collective by its essence. the sixth attribute refers to the treatment given to this characteristic in front of urban mobility interventions. therefore, collectiveness is expressed in this attribute based on the preference given to pedestrians, cyclists and public transportation to the detriment of individual vehicles use. 4.5.7. recognition of public transport as a structuring element since the city is the space of multiplicity, diversity, and collectivity, public transport is a fundamental mobility element. the seventh attribute of regenerative mobility observes the structural character of this modal and considers that it should be at the core of the urban displacement improvements actions, as well as must act in a harmonious and integrated way with other transportation modes. lastly, this connection must have people as protagonists, with public transport as the collective structure of the cities in function of meeting the needs that the population presents regarding the displacements through the territory. moreover, this paper is a result of initial studies on the regenerative mobility concept, and it should also be highlighted that the attributes presented here have been derived from the concepts discussed so far. therefore, these are essential characteristics of regenerative mobility, which in the deepening researches development, it will function as a basis for the next shreds of evidence about this concept. table 3 presents a synthesis of these attributes and their presence in each of the case studies. table 3.synthesis of regenerative mobility attributes. source: authors. regenerative mobility attributes london berlin bogotá 1. systemic approach: the pieces interfere in how the whole system works x x x 2. recognition of city's metabolism: each city works as a complex and systemic organism, as well as singular and particular x x x 3. collectivity focus: respect for the city’s collective essence x x x 4. disruptive innovation: necessary disruption process to give space for a paradigm shift x x alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 53 table 3 continued 5. identification, evolution, and improvement of existing urban elements: certain elements no longer meet the needs and therefore hinders or even prevents the city from evolving. by identifying these elements, it is possible to transform and thus improve them, achieving evolution x x 6. direct action on urban displacements: urban mobility interventions based on collectiveness, from the preference given to pedestrians, cyclists and public transportation to the detriment of individual vehicles use x x x 7. recognition of public transport as a structuring element: should be at the core of the urban displacement improvements actions, as well as must act in a harmonious and integrated way with other transportation modes x x x hence, the attributes listed in table 3 are initial properties that seek to translate the first steps of the developed concept in an applied method. moreover, they are extremely important in the research scope of this subject, since they are primary and initial elements to understand the related phenomena, as well as for the development of qualitative and quantitative research on the theme, including the development of indicators, which could help the mobility characterization and how it could become a regenerative mobility allied with the pillars to plan, sustain, improve and evolve. 5. final considerations the approach that has been presented by this paper has raised questions that are challenging and also fundamental to the cities. moreover, it is essential to recapture adams's (2006) position, which asserts that challenges require vision and daring, and the sustainability concept may no longer be sufficient to induce necessary changes. in order to change the existing scenario, that cities face a mobility crisis, this article supports adams's (2006) vision and presents the concept of regenerative mobility, which seeks an approach beyond sustainability, a concept that is capable of contributing to making the cities of the future better than those of the present. london uses a regeneration definition for its projects, however, associated with urban requalification. girardet (2010 and 2015) uses a term more robustly, in what he calls a regenerative city, relating to its ecosystems, surroundings, resources, and landscape, mentioning a restorative relationship, and comparing the urban regeneration concept with the eco-regeneration. the author also mentions initiatives of urban regeneration, focusing on the health and wellbeing of inhabitants, in great britain, germany, and the united states. however, in this paper, the regenerative is not just a term associated with mobility, but also provided as a new concept, with specific disruptive and evolutionary purposes. furthermore, cities can offer the ability to establish better conditions of quality of life, always seeking to avoid new problems, overcome old problems and repair damages already caused. thus, the essence of such solutions lies at the heart of every city: the collectiveness. besides the urban mobility context, the regeneration concept derivation, brought from the medicine, relates the promising of stem cells with the potential of public transport. furthermore, this is the way through which cities could achieve significant evolution. additionally, it is on this purpose that the regenerative mobility contribution is found. moreover, it is necessary to reverse roles from the individual to the collectiveness. also, it is indispensable to consider the systemic character that manages the cities and also applies to urban mobility. based on bertalanffy's (1995) theory of general systems, as in the medical field and also in urban mobility, the interactions between the pieces and the whole system are impermanent. therefore, in order to regenerative mobility be feasible, the system requires that it is essential to consider the interrelationship between urban mobility and the spheres in which it is inserted and interacted. alcantara/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 in addition, it has emphasized that its conception does not rule out the sustainability importance and its potential in offering improvements to mobility, cities and, consequently, people. however, regenerative mobility includes sustainability in its principles but warns: just sustaining is not enough. therefore, going beyond that is necessary. urban mobility will only reach evolutionary frames if there is adequate investment in actions based on the prioritization of public transportation, complemented by cycling and walking; parallel to the rational use of the car and the adequacy of the activities disposition in the territory. eventually, it is fundamental to recover and articulate existing concepts and proposals, such as the compact city and transport oriented development principles, which aim to stimulate the mixed land use and the compact occupation, thus reducing the displacements distances and bringing people closer to the available high capacity transport infrastructures (itdp, 2017). thus, when dealing with innovation in urban systems, it is also necessary to consider as a critical approach the principles of the living labs concept (concilio, 2016), which will allow a deeper understanding of future works. in order to give a clue to practical cases that converge with the regenerative mobility concept, three examples in which public transportation is a fundamental element for positive and structure changes. moreover, this regeneration depends on several factors, being the mobility one of the basilar. consequently, regenerative mobility, based on the collectiveness, through the pillars of planning, sustaining, improving and evolving, has public transportation as the basis of the regenerating city process. moreover, it is noteworthy that this paper achieved its general objective in developing and presenting a disruptive concept of regenerative mobility. besides, by pointing out similarities between the dynamics of urban and human organisms and thus developing relationships between the concepts of regenerative medicine and regenerative mobility, it is emphasized that this work also reached its specific objectives. indeed, it is a concept launched in its initial bases, and that seeks to aggregate researches, knowledge and involve society in order to pursue solutions. under those circumstances, it is expected that this article could contribute to the first steps of regenerative mobility and also instigate the reflection of researchers, managers, planners, and society itself. in conclusion, the development of this work had some limitation due to this new concept, for instance, the small number of references associated even related to the regenerative city. on the other hand, this characteristic can also be a stimulus for other works to be developed in order to continue the development and consolidate the regenerative mobility concept. hence, potential future work is expected to develop practical methods applicable to cities, including classifications, characterizations and also quantitative and qualitative tools for diagnosis, planning, and evaluation, to consolidate regenerative mobility and contribute to driving cities to the desired evolutionary process. references abbott, a. 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(2009). mobility for development project. retrieved july, 2018, from http://www.wbcsd.org/ pages/edocument/edocumentdetails.aspx?id=45&nosearchcontextkey=true http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 68 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.718 adaptive reuse and interventions of chinese architectural heritage in the city of lasem, indonesia timoticin kwanda 1 1department of architecture, petra christian university, indonesia abstract in indonesia, lasem identities as a china town are constructed and developed over time, and chinese architectural heritage is one of the main qualities and identity of the city. recently, these unique chinese architectural heritages have been transformed for tourism needs. this paper aims to document the transformation of functions or adaptive reuse, and its impact to forms and meanings of the chinese architectural heritage of the city, and focuses on whether the interventions occurred was by the principles of architectural conservation. in april 2019, the study surveyed and documented five chinese historic buildings in karangturi area in lasem to understand how the architectural heritage has transformed. the result shows that tourism has a direct influence on changes in the building functions in lasem, such as the oei house and little china that have changed from residences to homestays to accommodate the needs of tourists lodgings. the other two buildings, namely house of nyah giok and nyah lasem museum have also changed their functions from residences to a batik home industry and a museum related to tourism attractions. interventions on the four buildings with sensitive uses are following the principle of minimum intervention that preserved the original main buildings and changed only in the wings buildings, and new buildings for lodgings were infilled in vacant land of the site for the oei house case. for one building, however, tourism has no direct influence on changes in the building functions, it has changed from a residence to an islamic boarding school for the development of islamic education that had nothing to do with preserving chinese culture. indirectly, the building remains a tourist destination because of its unique chinese architectural features. findings shows that for the four chinese owners, the meaning or significance for the adaptation of the building is preserving historic values of the chinese architecture, and economic values as well by developing commercial spaces and historic areas for tourist attractions. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords lasem; adaptation; interventions; chinese architectural heritage 1. introduction lasem is a small town located in central java, also known as petit chinois, has various objects as tourist destinations, especially architectural heritage with typical chinese architecture in three chinese areas, such as little china village in karangturi quarter, the batik industry center in babagan area, the ancient chu anh kiong temple, and the well-known lawang ombo or opium house in dasun area. the opium house was even used as a setting for the 2002 romantic drama film ca bau kan (the courtesan), relates an indonesian woman who returns to indonesia from the netherlands in search of her roots, her mother, a village woman known as ‘ca bau kan’ or courtesan in colonial indonesia. based on this potential, in 2017, the rembang regency government in central java http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 69 has developed an urban design guidelines for three conservation areas (62 ha) in lasem to create new tourism attractions, such as (1) the mosque, the city square, karangturi chinese area, little china heritage, and po an kiong temple (25 ha); (2) the opium house, tjoe an kiong temple, islamic boarding school (17.5 ha); and (3) lasem batik area, and gedongmulyo chinese area (19.5 ha). recently, however, in 2019 the rapid growth of the tourism sector in the city will pose a threat to the transformation of the shape and meaning of chinese architectural heritage. for this reason, conservation efforts are needed, namely through preservation, protection, development and appropriate use to reduce the threat of physical interventions that are not following the principles of conservation (kwanda, 2013 & 2015). this study aims to document the building transformation of functions, and its impact on forms and meanings that occur in the heritage buildings in lasem to support tourist needs, and to identify the physical intervention on the heritage buildings that under conservation principles. the study seeks to enrich and fill the existing knowledge gaps in building conservation disciplines, especially in the adaptation of chinese architectural culture in the city of lasem. later on, it is hoped that the conservation guidelines especially for adaptive reuse will be proposed based on the conservation principles for cultural heritage buildings in the city. 2. adaptation and interventions the term conservation was firstly mentioned in the venice charter 1964, however, no description for the term. afterward, the term is described in many charters, such as in the burra charter 2013 an internationally known for its comprehensive and detailed contents. in this charter article 1.4, conservation means ‘all the process of looking after a place to retain its cultural significance’. for feilden (2003), conservation is defined as ‘the action taken to prevent decay and manage change dynamically’, and all of these acts are to ‘prolong the life of our cultural and natural heritage’. lastly, to revise the outdated existing principles with the new notion of values advocated by the burra charter, english heritage (2008) produced the conservation principles, policies and guidance for the sustainable management of the historic environment, and conservation is defined in principle 4.2 as ‘the process of managing change to a significant place in its setting in ways that will best sustain its heritage values, while recognising opportunities to reveal and reinforce those values for present and future generations’. substantially, the above definitions are all alike that have come to see conservation as the management of change, seeking to retain what people value about places extending the concept of conservation from mere preservation to embrace enhancement or positive change. thus, conservation can be defined as managing change in which actions taken or process of looking after a place is to prevent decay and retain or sustain cultural significance or values. the action taken or intervention may include a combination one or more of the ascending degrees of intervention: (1) prevention of deterioration or maintenance, preferred as the best representing the minimum intervention principle, (2) preservation of the existing state, (3) consolidation of the fabric, (4) restoration, (5) rehabilitation, (6) reproduction, (7) reconstruction, (8) adaptation. response to the adaptation of chinese architectural heritage in lasem, the interventions of forms must be by the principles of architectural conservation. as a reference for the study, three conservation principles were taken according to orbasli (2008), firstly, historic values in buildings or historic sites, namely architecture and history, if it is lost will reduce its value. secondly, historical integrity whereas historic buildings are relics of the past that hold kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 70 details and information about the past; and thirdly authenticity that does not mean returning the building to its original form but all changes that occur honestly (authentic) must be disclosed. for adaptation or new functions, the heritage buildings must be related to the environment and surrounding communities, namely meeting the needs of the community as a place to work, live and play (rozov, 2013). in terms of meaning or reasons for adaptation, agustiananda (2012) argues that motivation for the adaptation of buildings is economic potential by developing commercial spaces for tourist attractions, and sustainable and commercial building functions can make historic areas become lively tourist attractions (yıldırım & turan, 2012). 3. methods the first stage of the study is data collection through a field survey done in april 2019 in the city of lasem. five chinese architectural heritages have been chosen in the karangturi area as the largest chinese settlement where tourism is growing rapidly, namely, the oei house, little china also well known as the red house, batik house of nyah kiok, nyah lasem museum, and kauman islamic boarding school. the buildings were chosen because they have changed the original function, such as from the original function as a residence to a homestay, to a museum, to a batik home industry, and a school. the buildings were documented through field surveys to identify the physical change through photographs, measuring, and interviewed with the owners or occupants. based on the result of documentation, drawings were made to show changes in the existing physical condition of the buildings. to examine the extent to which adaptation and transformation of form have occurred, a comparison is made between the drawings of the existing condition of the buildings and the basic typologies of similar architecture. the typology of the building used about the object of study selected is the typology of a traditional chinese house with a courtyard (fig. 1). chinese architecture of shelter in lasem in particular also demonstrates this chinese architectural style, such as produce a basic plan of the si-he-yuan courtyard with the main axis of the symmetrical building, symbolizing the axis of the universe connecting the earth (axis mundi) and the fixed point of the northern star. the orientation of facing north-south is also identified with the seat of the king who is considered the son of the sky facing south, supported by the north star which is considered the center of the universe and the seat of the ruler of the sky tian or gods (kustedja, sudikno & salura, 2012). this is then widely imitated by the community, although there is freedom to build in the other direction according to the feng-shui analysis by linking the time of birth of the building owner. figure 1. typology of traditional chinese house with courtyards. source: wang, 2012. besides, the shape of a rectangular floor plan found also in lasem is a visualization of the division of space into 4 segments that follows the theory of cosmology coupled with the philosophy of yin-yang, the five phases and season, and four 4 mythological animals ruling the sky. facing the four wind directions, south symbolizes warmth, growth, fire phases or summer and the red bird; east side towards the sun as the symbol of birth, wood phase or spring, and the green-blue dragon; west side as a symbol of the end of the day or life, metal phase or autumn and the white tiger; and the north side is the worst direction facing the cold wind, dark region direction, water phase or winter and the snake and black turtles; and the ground phase is human as the midpoint of a cosmological map (knapp, 1992). similar to ancient chinese architecture, wood is the main material and most of the buildings are in the wood frame structure of chinese architecture in lasem. some typical features of chinese architecture found in lasem are gable walls retaining fire which are built to exceed the height of the roof that aims at preventing the spread of fire; an kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 71 exposed roof construction frame inside of the building where the entire frame beam is visible; a queen post is a short pole on the roof construction, this pole rests on the beam, to bear the purlin beam on it; and dou gong, a wood construction that combined of dou (a bearer beam for a short beam rests on it) with gong system of architectural style (a beam bearing an arc sitting on a column) of the qing dynasty (guo, 2002). 4. the chinese settlements in lasem chinese immigrants to southeast asia have primarily come from only three of the southernmost provinces, which are hainan, guangdong, and fujian. chinese immigrants came to indonesia in several waves. while some date the earliest immigration of chinese to indonesia as far back as the fourth century, however, some argue that the first chinese immigrants which predominantly hokkien traders from fujian province in indonesia in 800–900 ad (lim & mead, 2011). it was not until the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, however, that large numbers of immigrants from the southern provinces began arriving, especially at the ports in java. the motivating force behind immigration appears to have been adversity at home, political oppression under the manchurian qing dynasty, and economic hardships following the opium wars (jones, 2009). figure 2. the chinese settlements and architectural heritage in lasem the transformation of the city of lasem has also influenced by several immigration waves in the city. lasem city is a subdistrict city on the north coast of java in the regency of rembang. since the 16th century, many chinese residents have settled in lasem city, and they are acculturated with the indigenous people, this is evidenced by the existence of the chinese residential areas that grew side by side with the local community. the first of the chinese kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 72 settlement in lasem was originally located only around the pier on the edge of lasem river with the center of the settlement at the tjoe an kiong temple in dasun district (fig. 2). after 1600, there was a great deal of chinese immigration, especially from fujian province to lasem, because it was felt that many relatives and friends had lived there. so chinese settlements in lasem develop towards the south of the highway (the daendels road), on the edge of lasem river. this new settlement is called karangturi, and soon after, a new temple was founded called poo an bio temple in the area, and followed by another new chinese settlement in babagan area developed towards the west of karangturi with another new temple called gie yong bio (figure 2). the dutch (voc) took control of lasem in 1679. the center of power in the palace in front of the city square began under the control of dutch power and established their fortress in the tulis area. in 1750, the dutch fort was moved to rembang, 13 km west from lasem, and in the following year lasem was downgraded from the regency town to the subdistrict town until now. the government center in front of the city square then turned into a trading center. consequently, in the 19th century, the peak of lasem city's glory was at the end. at the same time, a new residential area is called gedongmulyo was developed towards the west of lasem river and to the north of the highway. in this new area, temples were not established, and gedungmulyo settlement is the last chinese settlement in lasem. 5. adaptation and interventions of the chinese architectural heritage in general, a survey was done by aini, antariksa and turniningtyas (2016) shows that there are 239 historic buildings in five districts of lasem, and more than half of the buildings are chinese architecture that comprises of 121 chinese architecture styles (51%), 87 buildings of the dutch indies styles (36%), 13 buildings of chinese indies styles (5.4%), and 15 javanese raised timber floor houses styles or gladak style (6.3%), 2 buildings of chinese javanese styles (0.85 %), and 1 building of javanese-indies style (0.45%). most of the physical condition of these buildings are in poor condition without maintenance (43%), and with maintenance that carried out only by repairing damaged ornaments, and some buildings have been damaged and left unoccupied. the five historic buildings in karangturi chinese area were surveyed and documented in april 2019 to understand the physical changes to the buildings as follows. 5.1. the oei house (roemah oei) in 1823, oei am migrated from fujian to lasem, and in 1818 he built as a residence. later on, his son, oei thian ho, used the building for tapioca and black sticky rice trading place. a batik production house. the third generation of the family used the building for a horse-drawn carriage. in 2016, according to oei ling hiem, the seventh generation of the family, the main building was restored by the oei family museum. the main building is a typical chinese architecture with a rectangular floor plan and a strong symmetrical axis with the main gate in the middle of the wall (fig. 3). wood is the main material especially for the floor and wood frame structure for the roof, and an exposed roof construction frame inside of the building where the entire frame beam is visible, usually decorated beautifully (fig. 4). in 2018, a two-story new building with chinese architecture style was built at the backyard functioned as a homestay of 15 rooms named as wisma pamilie, and a café was opened using the terrace at the front section of the house (fig. 5). despite the changes in the function, the new buildings do not disturb the original main building that is still intact. it has a strong cultural tourist attraction with this unaltered form, which is one of the most popular tourism objects in lasem. kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 73 figure 3. the transformation of the oei house: (a) the site plan of the existing condition, (b) the floor plan of the existing condition, and (c) the floor plan of the original condition figure 4. the original main building of the oei house: (a) the main gate, (b) the exposed roof construction frame, (c) the main hall in the main building, (d) the front terrace functions as a café, and (e) the oei family museum g f e d b c b a. the main gate b. kios/new buildings c. d. e. f. g. a b c a b c d e a kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 74 figure 5. the new two-story building for homestay: (a) the gate to the homestay called wisma pamilie, (b) the front façade of the new two-story building for homestay, and (c) the backside of the new oen and two-story building for homestay 5.2. little china (tiongkok kecil) little china is also well known as red house as it is painted with red color. in the 1800s, it was used as an opium house, and later on it was used for a swallow's nest. in 2017, the building on the left side was restored and used for a homestay of only four rooms, a batik store on the middle building, a café, and parking area were added at a vacant land next to the batik store (fig. 6). currently, as a response to increasing demand on bedrooms requests, the owner plans to extend the complex to the land next to it. the building is a typical chinese architecture with a rectangular floor plan and a strong symmetrical axis with the main gate in the center of the homestay building; wood is the main material especially for the floor and wood frame structure for the roof. it is a hybrid of chinese and the dutch indies style with a neo-classic column at the front terrace (fig. 7). despite the changes in the function, the owner maintained the original form of the buildings. little china has a strong cultural tourist attraction with this unaltered form, both of which are quite popular tourism objects in lasem. figure 6. little china is a large complex with three main buildings: (b) a homestay, (c) a batik store, (d) a new building for café and parking at a vacant land, and (e) the residence a. b. c. d. e. a b c b e kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 75 figure 7. the three main buildings of little china: (a) the main gate to the homestay building, (b) the entrance of the homestay, (c) the façade of the batik store, (d) the owner’s residence at the backside of the batik store, and (e) the new building for café and parking area 5.3. the nyah kiok batik house it was built in the 1900s as a residence for the kiok family with a main building and two wings, and since 1973 it has been used for batik home industry. the building is a typical chinese architecture with a rectangular floor plan and a strong symmetrical axis with the main gate in the center of the boundary wall, and gable wall (fig. 8). figure 8. the floor plan showing changes of functions and forms at the nyah kiok house wood is the main material especially for the wall, floor, and ceiling. it has a wood frame structure for the roof with an exposed roof construction frame inside of the building where the entire frame beam is visible, a queen post to bear the purlin beam on it, and dou gong wood construction system of chinese architectural style (fig. 9). the a b e e e d c a. main gate b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. b a c j kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 76 main building of the nyah kiok batik house although functioned as a working place for batik artisans has not been changed at all considering that it has the historical and cultural significance of batik in lasem, therefore the batik house has become one of the important tourist destinations. the wing buildings on the left and right have changed a lot, on the left side a new room for the residence was built. figure 9. the chinese architectural features: (a) the main gate with the gable wall, (b) the verandah with wood frame structure, (c) the addition of new building for residence, (d) dou gong wood construction system at the verandah, and (e) the gable wall of the main gate 5.4. the nyah lasem museum it was built in the 1850s as a residence with a main building with a chinese style and one wing on the left side built in the 1900s with the dutch colonial style. since the 1880s it has been used for batik production, and today it is used for a museum of private collections, and accommodation for backpackers at the left-wing building. the main building is a typical chinese architecture with a rectangular floor plan and a strong symmetrical axis with the main gate in the center of the boundary wall, and gable wall (fig. 10). figure 10. the floor plan showing the transformation of the main building and the left wing of the museum, (g) the exposed roof construction frame, (h) the left wing with the dutch colonial style, (i) the verandah with wood frame structure, (j) dou gong wood construction system, and (k) the museum room with the collections a d c b e a. b. the verandah c. d. e. f. f c a d e b g kh j i kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 77 wood is the main material especially for the wall, floor, and ceiling. it has a wood frame structure for the roof with an exposed roof construction frame inside of the building where the entire frame beam is visible, a queen post to bear the purlin beam on it, and dou gong chinese wood construction system (fig. 10). the deteriorated condition of the main building is more due to the owner having no management power, hence the original building of this museum tends to be vulnerable to damage. 5.5. kauman islamic boarding school it was built as a residence, and in 2001 it was bought by an islamic cleric that changed it in 2005 for an islamic boarding school. the original building has changed a lot, in 2007 a new two-story building was built at the front section that used to the main gate and boundary wall, and new structures at the left and right wings including the backside of the building (fig. 11). as with the kauman islamic boarding school, the allocation of functions to an islamic boarding school made the owner changed many parts of his house. the interesting thing about the main building of this boarding school is the cultural acculturation trail that is seen from the style of the main boarding house which is a mixture of colonial and chinese architecture styles. for this reason, tourists visited the boarding school to see its unique architectural style. currently, some bedrooms of the building are also used to accommodate tourists, and a batik store is opened for tourists. figure 11. the first and second floor showing the transformation of the building for schools, (h) the entrance through the first floor of the new building, (i) the terrace of the main building, (j) a prayer room on the first floor of the new building, (k) the lobby of the main building seen from inside, and (l) the new structure for prayer room and classroom f c g f c c k j i l h first floor second floor kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 78 6. analysis and discussion von meiss (1990) states that identification of changes in function and form by looking at architectural elements can interpret the experience of space and architectural forms that generate memory and affect the ambiance of an architectural work. the results of architectural elements identification of the cases show that the changes in shape that occur due to the changes in function, from residences to lodgings as shown in the oei house and little china. despite the changes in the function, the owner maintained the original form of their main buildings to keep the historic values of chinese architecture (fig. 3-10). subsequently, the oei house (fig. 3-5) and little china (fig. 6-7) have a strong cultural tourist attraction with this unaltered form, both of which are popular objects in lasem. the main building of the nyah kiok batik house although functioned as a place of work for batik artisans has not been changed at all considering that it has the historical and cultural significance of batik in lasem, in such a manner the batik house has become one of the important tourist destinations (fig. 8-9). while the changes in the original form of the traditional chinese houses in the nyah lasem museum is more due to the owner having no funding to maintain, consequently the original timber building of this museum tends to be vulnerable to damage (fig. 10). as with the kauman islamic boarding school, the changes in functions from a residence to an islamic boarding school made the owner change many parts of the house (fig. 11). the interesting thing about the main building of this boarding school is the cultural acculturation trail that is seen from the style of the main house that is a mixture of colonial and chinese architectural styles. looking at the cases in lasem, it can be concluded that adaptive reuse or the changes in the function of a building should be based on cultural association to keep the historic value of chinese architecture. otherwise, the adaptive reuse of the traditional chinese house that has no cul tural context to chinese architecture such as the islamic boarding school, the interventions made were quite enormous and the minimum intervention principle was ignored. meanwhile, the significance to retain the original form of the buildings are both the historical values by maintaining its original form of the building that has created a high cultural attraction, and the economic interest of the distinctive chinese architectural heritage for tourism. the tug of war between the interests of conservation to conserve the shape and meaning of the chinese architectural heritage in lasem with the interests of the tourism industry that prioritizes functional and economic aspects becomes an issue of the city losing its character as a china town. for this reason, it is necessary to develop guidelines for physical interventions on the site such as a proper infill design, and on these historic buildings (kwanda, 2004). 7. conclusion it could be concluded that chinese historic architecture in lasem is a worthy heritage that has to be conserved for its historic chinese architecture values. despite the recent conservation interventions done by the building owners, the issue of buildings decaying is particularly vital since their condition in the last decades has deteriorated immensely and evidently. the community, activists and authorities alike s hould address this issue. this research is simply an effort to shed light on the value and historical importance of these chinese architectures, and to highlight the function and physical changes of these buildings for tourism and other uses. in conservation, the changes of these chinese heritage buildings are unavoidable which has to be managed. to manage change in conservation is critical to identify appropriate new uses, such as adaptive reuse from the original use of a residence to a homestay, to minimize the need for change to the existing fabric. while adapting to new uses, it requires sensitivity in handling change and making minimum intervention to preserve the original form of the historic fabric. indeed, it is accepted that heritage buildings should continue to retain their cultural significance and be prominence with adaptive reuse. acknowledgements i gratefully acknowledge the financial support for presenting and publishing this paper from the ministry of research, technology, and higher education of the republic of indonesia. kwanda/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 79 references agustiananda, p. a. (2012). urban heritage conservation in surakarta, indonesia: scenarios and strategies for the future. international journal of civil & environmental engineering ijcee-ijens 12(02), 28-34. http://ijens.org/ijcee.html. aini, s., antariksa & turningtyas (2016). pelestarian lingkungan dan bangunan kuno di kawasan pecinan kota lasem. [master’s thesis, universitas brawijaya]. universitas brawijaya repository. http://repository.ub.ac.id/157210/ australia icomos. (n.d.). the burra charter: the australia icomos charter for places of cultural significance 2013. retrieved october 27, 2019, from http://www.australia. icomos.org. english heritage (2008). the conservation principles, policies and guidance for the sustainable management of the historic environment. retrieved november 12, 2019, from http://www.historicengland.org.uk feilden, b. m. (2003). conservation of historic buildings. architectural press. guo, qing-hua (2002). visual dictionary of chinese architecture. images publishing. icomos. (n.d.). international charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites (the venice charter 1964). retrieved april 17, 2019, from http://www. international.icomos.org/e_venice.htm. jones, r. (2009). chinese loan-words in malay and indonesian: a background study. university of malaysia. knapp, r. g. ed. (1992). chinese landscape: the village as place. university of hawaii press. kustedja, s., sudikno, a. & salura, p. (2012). feng-shui: elemen budaya tionghoa tradisional. melintas-international journal of philoshophy and religion 28(1), 61-89. https://doi.org/10.26593/mel.v28i1.289.61-89. kwanda, t. (2004). desain bangunan baru pada kawasan pelestarian di surabaya. dimensi teknik arsitektur 32(2), 102-109. https://doi.org/10.9744/dimensi.32.2. kwanda, t. (2013). mengelola perubahan: perencanaan konservasi gedung de javasche bank surabaya. dimensi (journal of architecture and built environment), 40(1), 39-52. https://doi.org/10.9744/dimensi.40.1.39-52. kwanda, t. (2015). authenticity principle in conservation of de javasche bank of surabaya: materials, substance and form. procedia engineering 125, 675 – 684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2015.11.104. lim, h. & mead, d. (2011). chinese in indonesia: a background study. sil international. https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/42/18/ 93/42189372626348570380267654218017959519/silesr2011_028.pdf . orbasli, a. (2008). architectural conservation: principle and practice. blackwell science. rozov, d. (2013). carlile house: finding ways to preserve run-down heritage buildings through their adaptive reuse [master’s thesis, unitec institute of technology]. unitec institute of technology reseach bank record. https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2467. von meiss, p. (1990). elements of architecture: from form to place. van nostrand reinhold. wang, yuwei (2012). persistence of the collective urban model in beijing. http://projectivecities. aaschool.ac.uk/portfolio/yuwei-wang-beijingcollective/ yıldırım, m. & turan, g. (2012). sustainable development in historic areas: adaptive reuse challenges in traditional houses in sanliurfa, turkey. habitat international 36, 493-503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.05.005. http://www/ https://doi.org/10.26593/mel.v28i1.289.61-89 https://doi.org/10.9744/dimensi.32.2. https://doi.org/10.9744/dimensi.40.1.39-52 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2015.11.104 https://www.sil.org/system/files/ https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2467 http://projectivecities/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.05.005 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.849 geospatial data acquisition using unmanned aerial systems (uas); a paradigm for mapping the built environment of the niger delta region of nigeria leonard m.o aminigbo 1 , joshua brown 2 , precious n. ede 3 coastal research group (coreg) department of geography and environmental management, rivers state university, portharcourt nigeria. p. m. b. 5080, nkpolu-0roworukwo, rivers state, nigeria email:leonard.aminigbo@ust.edu.ng, joshua.brown@ust.edu.ng, precious.ede@ust.edu.ng phone numbers: 08030899971, 08033126784, 08062964674 abstract the rivers state university campus in portharcourt is one of the university campuses in the city of portharcourt, nigeria covering over 21 square kilometers and housing a variety of academic, residential, administrative and other support buildings. the university campus has seen significant transformation in recent years, including the rehabilitation of old facilities, the construction of new academic facilities and the most recent update on the creation of new collages, faculties and departments. the current view of the transformations done within the university campus is missing from several available maps of the university. numerous facilities have been constructed on the university campus that are not represented on these maps as well as the qualities associated with these facilities. existing information on the various landscapes on the map is outdated and it needs to be streamlined in light of recent changes to the university's facilities and departments. this research article aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of unmanned aerial systems (uas) in geospatial data collection for physical planning and mapping of infrastructures at the rivers state university port harcourt campus by developing a uas-based digital map and tour guide for rsu's main campus covering all collages, faculties and departments and this offers visitors, staff and students with location and attribute information within the campus. methodologically, unmanned aerial vehicles were deployed to obtain current visible images of the campus following the growth and increasing infrastructural development. at a flying height of 76.2m (250 ft), a dji phantom 4 pro uas equipped with a 20-megapixel visible camera was flown around the campus, generating imagery with 1.69cm spatial resolution per pixel. to obtain 3d modeling capabilities, visible imagery was acquired using the flight-planning software dronedeploy with a near nadir angle and 75 percent front and side overlap. vertical positions were linked to the world geodetic system 1984 and horizontal positions to the 1984 world geodetic datum universal transverse mercator (utm) (wgs 84). to match the uas data, gcps were transformed to utm zone 32 north. finally, dense point clouds, dsm, and an orthomosaic which is a geometrically corrected aerial image that provides an accurate representation of an area and can be used to determine true distances, were among the uas-derived deliverables. http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:joshua.brown@ust.edu.ng environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords uas, geospatial, acquisition, orthophoto, mosaic, flying –height. 1. introduction remote sensing is a technique for gathering data about items or the environment without having to come into direct contact with them. the electromagnetic energy (eme) reflected and/or emitted by such items is the primary medium of interaction. the radiant energy's intensity/brightness readings are gathered by a sensor, which is then calibrated and recorded as digital recordings of point-wise data. while the spatial groupings of intensities contain very specific geometric information about an object, the magnitudes of the intensities portray specific thematic or attribute information about the object. thus, it is feasible to infer the features of such objects both in terms of geometric (physical dimensions) and attribute characteristics by analyzing the patterns generated by the spatial distribution of intensities and variations in the magnitudes of the intensities of such recorded radiation (nature). remote sensing is a technique for gathering information from a distance. the atmosphere reduces the contrast of all objects observed by aerial imaging in general. when two objects consisting of sand with a reflection coefficient of 30 and a coniferous forest with a reflection coefficient of 1, the object contrast, k can be stated as follows: ……… eq. 1 the visual contrast is then influenced by the 3 percent diffused ambient lights. thus: ……… eq. 2 this illustrates that resolutions of generally low-contrast aerial photographs should not be compared at a contrast of 1000:1, but at a contrast of 1.6:1, for which the modulation of 1 diminishes to 0.23. thus, the modulation transfer function, as shown in figure 2.38, is flattened, and its intersection with the limiting function of the eye is lowered in resolution. aerial survey camera systems with image motion compensation are, in practice, achieving a resolution of between 40 to 50 lp/mm for black-andwhite images and of between 30 and 40 lp/mm for color images. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 fig. 1: image resolution at low contrast fi g. 2: imaging through an objective. 1.1. concepts for image mapping filtering each pixel's neighbouring pixels are used in filtering procedures. local filters work with an image matrix, d(x, y), that has a finite, usually small size, such as 3 3 or 5 5. a weight matrix, w, has been allocated to this matrix (x, y). a convolution of the image matrix, d(x, y), with the weight matrix, w, yields the outcome of the filtering process for each pixel, d(x, y) (x, y). image (x, y) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 image w (x, y) figures 3 and 4 illustrate examples of a 3x3 image matrix, d(x, y), and a number of key weight matrices, w(x, y). from a practical standpoint, we can define image mapping as the science and art of capturing images of an object or environment and obtaining accurate geometric measurements from the images for various purposes such as the construction of planimetric and topographic maps (showing object surface details), classification of soils (object body makeup), interpretation of geology, military intelligence acquisition, and so on (mosaic). image acquisition and image metrology are the two procedures that make up this system. image acquisition is the process of planning and photographing the target object to be mapped, whereas image metrology is the art and science of recovering precise geometric measurements (size and shape) of the photographed object for positioning, mapping, navigation, and applications. we describe image mapping in this monograph as the dual processes of image production and object reconstruction from images. the image generation technique turns the three dimensions of the frequently enormous object space into a convenient two-dimensional image space, sacrificing one dimension of space in the process. on the other hand, image metrology (object reconstruction) aims to recover the original image, skow, et al, (2017). the image generation technique turns the three dimensions of the frequently enormous object space into a convenient two-dimensional image space, sacrificing one dimension of space in the process. on the other hand, image metrology (object reconstruction) aims to recover the three dimensions of the object space from the two dimensions of the picture space, which necessitates the discovery of the missing dimension. this sets the setting for a major engineering challenge in attempting to map the physical environment using a remote sensing instrument. this problem will be referred to as an image mapping problem in this book. we'll also recognize the technique of capturing an image of a target item (commonly referred to as imaging or photography). the process of object reconstruction is known as the inverse problem of image mapping, while the direct problem of image mapping is known as image coverage. in some real-world picture mapping applications, problems are frequently simplified by assuming that the target object or environment is flat and two-dimensional. carlson, et al, (1997). this assumption is impractical and it considerably simplifies the problem to that of data transformation between two planes. this simplification is useful in situations where the target object's or environment's height isn't a concern. in general, a variety of techniques and methods have been used to solve the mapping problem. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 one popular assumption is to treat the image's flat 2d space as a virtual 3d space, transforming the problem into a virtual 3d to 3d translation. another new feature is the use of many images to cover the same target object or area du, et al (2017). this opens up a lot of possibilities for solving the inverse problem we're dealing with. for example, the object can now be reconstructed using either a direct mathematical calculation or an indirect route of relative and absolute orientation, which can be done in a wholly mathematical or partially analogue and partly mathematical manner. it is also possible to extend the basic projector model to account for nuisance variables and perform an integrated object reconstruction with additional but different data types in what is known as spagio. the image mapping procedure can also be used as part of a set of sensors for dynamic applications like navigation and real-time position monitoring. the options are truly limitless. the photographs are captured from space, from the air, or from a ground station. we're talking about photographs collected using a camera placed on a plane flying over the area or sensors on a satellite platform in this note. this is to make the presentation and understanding of the universal and adaptable principles and formulations for all mapping contexts easier. the optimum mapping approach for huge projects has yet to be developed: mapping using aerial pictures in addition, satellite-based image mapping is becoming increasingly common, particularly for planimetric features, maps and revisions on a small to medium size. the civilian and military mapping agencies of government are the primary consumers of aerial mapping methods. the essential characteristics and algorithms for gathering data for map construction from photos are thus; the film-based or digital cameras or sensors mounted on aircrafts pointing vertically downward, understanding the process of image generation and developing the mathematical relationship between points on the picture and points in the object space are both required for image metrology, picture formation is conceptualized as an optical projection of the item onto the image plane, the imaging ray, projector, optical bundle, or simply ray is the optical ray that enables this projection, perspectivity assures that all infinitely many rays from the object space travel via the same point on their way to the picture space, the projection center, perspective center, or exposure point are all names for the same place. this notion is utilized to create projective equations for single camera to object space imaging as well as two or more cameras to object space imaging in the next sections. we should mention that in the multi-camera instance, two or more cameras cover the same region of the object space (i.e, overlapping images). the derivations are purely dependent on the theory of analytical vector geometry for ray tracing or modeling, whose basic equation is the straight line equation, which has been thoroughly explored in earlier chapters. we simply state that the equations used to solve the inverse problem of image mapping are the inverses of the equations used to solve the direct problem of mapping. 2. materials/methods 2.1. data gathering following the expansion and increased infrastructural development at portharcourt campus of rivers state university, uas surveys were conducted to obtain current visible imagery of the study area. the study area was subdivided into four major quadrants a, b, c, d and e from a base map as shown in figure 1. uas surveys were done to obtain current visible images of the campus following the growth and increasing infrastructural development at rivers state university's portharcourt campus. at a flying height of 76.2m (250 ft), a dji phantom 4 pro uas equipped with a 20-megapixel visible camera was flown around the campus, generating imagery with 1.69cm spatial resolution per pixel. to obtain 3d modeling capabilities, visible imagery was acquired using the flight-planning software dronedeploy with a near nadir angle and 75 percent front and side overlap ( westoby et al. 2012;). over 2000 photo images of the study area were acquired on the 18 may 2020 in mostly cloud-free sky and excellent light circumstances (low zenith angle) to reduce cloud shadows. ground control surveys were carried out to guarantee the data's geographic accuracy. trimble geo7x ground control survey equipment with global navigation was used to collect ground control points (gcps). environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 with a precision of 60.4 cm, this device permitted high-accuracy ground surveying and precise point measuring. the 10 points (gcps) were gathered using 1m-31m targets placed around the study area and at various elevation levels. vertical positions were linked to the world geodetic system 1984 and horizontal positions to the 1984 world geodetic datum universal transverse mercator (utm) (wgs 84). to match the uas data, gcps were transformed to utm zone 32 north (utm 32n). the data gathered was transferred from the uas storage devices to a laptop, which was running on a generator. it was an immense effort, resulting in an unprecedented amount of information (almost 10,000 photos totaling 50gb) with a resolution of roughly a square inch per pixel. all images were processed into a single pix4dmapper file in just under 46 hours, producing a 3d densified point cloud, a 3d textured mesh and a high-resolution 15gb orthomosaic map. figure 1: ortho-photo base map of rivers state university portharcourt campus. 2.2. data preparation agisoft metashape professional (agisoft 2019) was used to process uas footage and create post-event imagery and 3d-modeling solutions (dsm and point cloud). to reduce positional distortions of 1–10 cm caused by camera gps location inaccuracies, uas pictures were co-registered to gcps (johnson et al, 2018). due to changes in lighting conditions, color corrections were made using the calibrate color technique in agisoft metashape professional to equalize brightness values over the entire dataset. dense point clouds, dsm, and an orthomosaic, a geometrically corrected aerial image that provides an accurate representation of an area and can be used to determine true distances, were among the uas-derived deliverables. 3. results and analyses in zone a the open space beside geology department opposite law faculty is the largest vacant space with a total area of 2,543.20 sqm whiles in zone b the largest vacant space of 62,143.86 sqm is located at the back of the department of forestry and research farm. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 in zone c, open space adjourning the main gate opposite the catholic church is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 32,666.07 sqm while in zone d, open space in front of s.u.g secretariat and love garden is the largest vacant space with a total area of 6,543.87sqm. in zone e, open space along the amphitheatre/old faculty of management science and back of faculty of engineering is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 6,453.65sqm. finally, the largest vacant space of 62,143.86 sqm is located at the back of the department of forestry and research farm which is in zone b. using pix4dmapper, a number of outputs including topographic maps were used to plot carefully the built portions of rivers state university portharcourt campus. the drone survey was also used to create a ‘fly-through’ video which was presented to the university management. figure 1: 2021 uas acquired imagery of rivers state university portharcourt campus. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 figure 2: 2015 sentinel imagery of rivers state university portharcourt campus. figure 3: 2005 orthophoto imagery of rivers state university portharcourt campus. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 figure 4: composite imageries of rivers state university portharcourt campus, 2021, 2015 and 2005. open spaces in zone (a) table 1: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (a) s/n open space identification cordinates easting (meters) northing (meters) elevation (meters) area (sqm) 1 open space beside geology department /opposite law faculty 275617.308m 530913.943m 8.60 2543.20 2 open space between needs assessment and medical centre 275585.950m 530688.805m 1.28 2276.45 table 1: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (a) in zone a, the open space beside geology department is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 2, 543 sqm. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 open space in zone (b) table 2: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (b) s/n open space identification cordinates e (meters) n (meters) z (meters) area (sqm) 1 open space within the faculty of environmental sciences 275929.347m 530906.575m 10.55m 2754.86 2 open space in between the central library and convocation arena 275928.985m 531033.854m 12.47 44372.86 3 open space at the back of department of forestry, environment of teaching and research farm and central library 275803.015m 531364.656m 13.25 62143.86 4 open space between information technology centre and engineering faculty 275715.758m 530424.619m 6.50m 2875.86 table 2: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (b) in zone b, the open space open space at the back of the department of forestry and research farm is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 62,143.86 sqm. open space in zone (c) table 3: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (c) s/n open space identification cordinates e (meters) n (meters) z (meters) area (sqm) 1 open space behind management sciences 276128.555m 530694.479m 14.56 9822.7 2 farm land between security village and convocation arena 276215.134m 531365.487m 10.22 135447.48 3 open space adjourning the main gate opposite the catholic church 276599.231m 531118.142m 12.63 32666.07 4 open space of maracana stadium and nddc female hostel 276152.679m 530153.019m 11.33m 16782.54 table 3: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (c) in zone c, open space adjourning the main gate opposite the catholic church is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 32,666.07 sqm. open space in zone (d) table 4: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (d) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 s/n open space identification cordinates e (meters) n (meters) z (meters) area (sqm) 1 open space behind catholic church, motor park and security village 276411.385m 531266.225m 17.42 184600.71 2 open space in between the senate building and works department 276342.996m 530729.560m 13.51 15618.7 3 open space behind f and g/h hostels 2766319.618m 530374.609m 15.66 7286.78 4 open space adjacent to the filling station 276453.816m 530639.481m 16.10 11940.59 5 open space behind the college of medicine and nddc female hostel 276084.516m 530350.933m 12.35 5377.49 6 open space adjoining back gate behind the f.c.b.b p/g hostel 276435.493m 530019.948m 8.52 4426.97 7 open space in front of hostel e and basket ball court 2756104.142m 529808.830m 9.21 2384.93 8 open space along road (c) opposite old v.c complex 275968.679m 529819.988m 7.44 28635.05 9 open space directly opposite the u.b.a/polaris bank 276060.182m 530072.917m 9.89 6048.76 10 open space in front of s.u.g secretariat and love garden 276180.704m 530084.099m 10.48 6543.87 table 4: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (d) in zone d, open space in front of s.u.g secretariat and love garden is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 6543.87sqm. open space in zone (e) table 5: location and sizes of open spaces in zone (e) s/n open space identification cordinates e n z area (sqm) 1 open space along road a and road b junction adjoining the lecturers quarters 275612.237m 530126.427m 9.33 12648.79 2 open space along the amphitheatre/old faculty of management science and back of faculty of engineering 275679.174m 530245.010m 12.70 6453.65 in zone e, open space along the amphitheatre/old faculty of management science and back of faculty of engineering is the largest vacant space within the zone with a total area of 6453.65sqm. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 figure 5: spatial distribution of open spaces in rivers state university. figure 6: spatial distribution of open spaces in rivers state university. environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 4. conclusion from the image data obtained from dji uas, pix4dmapper application was used to generate a 3d point cloud and 2d orthomosaic of the campus in high resolution. the on-site flight and ground survey took one day, and processing this data required an additional two days. combined with data gathered on the ground with handheld gps units, the university now has a comprehensive map of built and vacant areas that will be used to plan and manage infrastructure assets within the campus. this lofty ambition is built on the basemap created with uas. “the basemap becomes a two-way source of conversation, connection and interactions within the university community and the general visiting public and the results of this project will have undoubtedly impact on policy 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bull. amer. meteor. soc., 100, 2405–2409, https://doi.org/10.1175/ bams-d-19-0124.1. wang, x., m. wang, s. wang, and y. wu, 2015: extraction of vegetation information from visible unmanned aerial vehicle images . nongye gongcheng xuebao, 31, 152–159, https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1002-6819.2015.05.022. https://doi.org/10.1175/ https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1002 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 109 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.681 a model proposed for the prediction of future sustainable residence specifications using analytical network process ayman m. zakaria eraqi1, walid abdul-hady shoura1 1lecturer at architecture department, faculty of fine arts, minia university, egypt. abstract in egypt, people are unable to determine the qualities of appropriate residence that achieves quality and occupant satisfaction, and contributes to sustainability of residential conglomerations. in general, developing countries lack housing information which can be used to enhance quality of residence. also, the methods of assessing and identifying the appropriate criteria for future residence quality remain traditional ones that cannot address the multiple, conflicting, overlapping aspects to reach a good decision. this calls for using the analytical network process (anp), an effective tool for specifying the relative importance of all factors impacting a specific issue for making an appropriate residential decision. in addition, this method provides results for the decision element impacts network within the decision structure; thus contributing to more understanding of the mechanisms and requirements of residence selection. the proposed decision structure comprises a two-level network: main clusters, main elements, and sub-elements included in the demographic characteristics group, the residence criteria group, the demand parameters group, the supply parameters group, the residence specifications group, and the alternatives group which representing, in total, the decision and specifying the percentage needed for each housing level. results of the model showed complete capacity in smoothly addressing complexities and overlapping in the decision structure. the decision structure showed that 52% chose luxury residence, 28% chose middle-class residence, and 19.5% chose the economic residence. mechanisms of decision making were analyzed; particularly in terms of relationship to demographic characteristics and residence specifications. also, the importance and impact of demand / supply parameters in reaching decision were analyzed. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainable residence specifications supply/ demand decision making prediction analytical network process (anp) 1. introduction residence type and nature are crucial in specific lives of individuals at any community; highly impacting the general condition of satisfaction and the quality of life (zebardast, 2009; das, 2008). in egypt, people are unable to determine the qualities of appropriate residence that achieves quality and occupant satisfaction. this is clear in cases of occupants' modifications to residence whether by adding to spaces or canceling some (eraqi, 2016). this is common for all occupant levels; from low-income to luxury housing. regardless of the economic and social development level of a society, it is still essential for meeting human needs, as well as the quality and cost for achieving quality of life to individuals (jiboye d., 2010b). also, satisfaction with http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 110 the residence condition is highly related to satisfaction with the residential district condition (das, 2008; eraqi, 2016). residence variables explain largely the variation in satisfaction with life (oswald, wahl, mollenkopf & schilling, 2003). due to domestic variations in the quantitative and qualitative dimenstions of the residence quality concept, it would be difficult to specify one group of criteria and indicators that apply to all regions at all times. contrary to the developed countries, developing countries lack documented housing information in real estate activities to be used effectively in assessing residence quality (rindfuss, piotrowski, thongthai, & prasartkul, 2007). various quality of life indices were developed. (kurian & thampuran, 2011) developed a methodology for assessing residence quality using requirements given by residents. they identified a number of indices such as (location, building design, building materials and technologies, aesthetics, etc.) that contributed to establishing correlation among the type of residence, resident requirements, and their relative weights. this helped in studying the relationship among different factors and indices. also, objective measures were used in the housing quality index to assess physical features, amenities, services, and the environment of the dwelling units (fiadzo, houston & godwin, 2001). yet, these objective measurements were criticized for failing to explain the psychological and social aspects of residence satisfaction (mohit, ibrahim, & rashid, 2010). yet, these methods still depend on simplified measures which do not address the issues of appropriate decision and overlap of parameters needed for reach decision. therefore, the multi-criteria decision analysis (mcda) which can conduct assessment, correlation, and comparison among a huge number of variables to give the optimum alternative (natividade, piantanakulchai & antunes, 2007) is used; one of these is the anp, an analysis method that provides an effective tool for specifying the relative importance of all parameters impacting the identified problem decision/assessment. this paper focuses on predicting the desired residence level, and attempts to recognize the mechanisms and parameters of resident attitudes to determine the specifications of the residence that achieves residence quality and occupant satisfaction to them; as well as the influence of demographic characteristics on the decision in light of different economic conditions, intermingling of parameters impacting demand and supply, and the variation and overlap of decision makers influencing such mechanisms. this makes determining residence specifications complicated if traditional methods are used, and calls for using an analytical method such as the anp. 2. the literature and techniques because the anp gives the best results when the system is fully represented, it is necessary to collect as much of the relevant data as possible to provide a realistic representation of the monitored networks. (saaty, 2016, p. 163). so, we will review the critical information for building a good decision structure. 2.1. parameters impacting the housing system residence sustainability depends largely on achieving occupant satisfaction requirements by the residence (eraqi, 2016). this is reflected in residence appropriateness for requirements of residents, and the quality of its internal and external elements which meet residents' needs and provide them tranquility. all such factors were introduced as indices representing criteria for the quality of residence. such indices should specify priorities of residents (meng & hall, 2006). sustainability is influenced by stability in the housing market system and relevant factors. this requires a universal understanding of surrounding changes and their corresponding impact on the housing market, particularly on residence, to be able to accomplish the state of sustainable residence. the housing market is influenced by the economy, interest rates, true incomes, changes in housing volume, and demand parameters. demand is influenced by a number of factors such as the economic growth which is reflected in people's incomes and, consequently, increased demand. also, unemployment – or even fear of the same – impacts buying residence. interest rates also matter; the more the interest rate on mortgaging, the more the pressure on family income is and, hence, reduced demand, real estate recession, as well as drastic fall of real estate prices as in a previous case in britain. also, consumers trust specify the potential of bearing mortgage risks; when individuals fear price falls they delay purchase decisions. another factor is the availability of mortgaging. the more mortgages are facilitated eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 111 by banks, the more the purchasing power of families and increased demand for real states are. this was globally down with the 2007 mortgage crisis. supply impacts demand. shortage in supply pushes prices high, and vice versa. the capacity for bearing costs is essential in demand; the less the house price to income is, the more demand grows. location is a major factor in determining price of a house; the more excellent is location and its features (near schools, services, railways), the more the value of residence is and the less demand by families becomes (pettinger, 2017). the level of management impacts residence quality assessment (meng & hall, 2006). 2.2. the housing status in egypt egypt signed the international covenant on economic, social, and cultural rights. in its 11th article the covenant states the right of families to adequate housing detailed in seven points: legal security of tenure; affordability; habitability; availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure; accessibility; location, to benefit from all types of services; and cultural adequacy connected with the expression of cultural identity and life styles (escrnet; human rights). the last point is a major reason for the inability to meet family needs, particularly the lowincome who are forced to live in certain styles imposed by the government; such styles do not consider diverse needs, requirements, and lifestyles which express diversity of cultural identity. this is reflected in lack of sustainable residence, and conducting many modifications to residence by users to fit their needs. the housing sector in egypt faces many challenges; particularly in low-income housing, with economic pressures on real estate prices resulting from economic reform decisions and subsequent raises in real estate prices. the central bank of egypt reacted by providing a package of funding incentives to the housing sector at low interest rates to encourage funding housing for low and middle income categories, particularly as the cost of official housing is beyond the reach of most families. yet the level of mortgage funding is still the lowest in the region (1%) (world bank, 2014, p2). the value of mortgaging in egypt is 0.36% of the gdp; much below the global average (60-80%). developing mortgaging for 30 years of interest rates would enable many people to obtain a residence (brg, 2019). the auction policy adopted by the government for land plots led to increasing costs of owning residence and, consequently, less demand (jaap & michael, 2018, p 24). the high level of speculations in egypt leads to increasing real estate prices and, thus, lack of houses at reasonable prices. investment in speculations focused on main locations, city centers, and new residential conglomerations. this led to turning to luxury housing, and reduced supply of low and middle-income houses (hassan, 2019). there is not much data available for measuring the influence of increasing land prices on residence prices in egypt (world bank, 2009). speculations account for 25-30% of real estate transactions in egypt (shawkat, 2015). this is reflected in the residents ’decisions to purchase housing. the slow real estate growth in egypt is attributed to legislative barriers and funding obstacles. also, the current governmental programs cannot be afforded by the low and middle-income categories (brg, 2019). wrong selection of new residential conglomerations locations, being remote from employment opportunities and social facilities without sufficient transportation, contributes to increased vacant units in such areas and looking for informal areas to achieve the proximity required by the income of these families (the world bank 2014, p 3). 2.3. the analytical network process (anp): the anp is a developed version of the mcda. thomas saaty, author of the ahp, proposed the anp to allow for more interaction among complex and interconnected system elements (decision problem), and make relationships and reactions among such elements and, thus, reach a smooth solution for the decision problem (hsu & kuo, 2011). the ahp adopts a multi-level hierarchy for reaching a decision (saaty & vargas, 2006). it is a top-down process. meanwhile, in the anp, feedback is for the elements making the system in different levels of the hierarchy and inside levels in the so called network (eraqi, issa, & elminiawy,2019). decision elements are organized in networks, groups called clusters, and elements called nodes (adams, saaty, & saaty, 2003). the anp allows for interaction and feedback among and within clusters. the first is called outer dependence, whereas the second is called inner dependence. the decision is based on criteria in a hierarchy, and also depends on each other (inner dependence). eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 112 also, criteria depend on other criteria (outer dependence), which make prediction more accurate and capable of addressing complex problems in the human society. (eraqi, issa, & elminiawy, 2016). because problems cannot usually be designed in a hierarchical manner; as they include interaction and dependence among elements in the top hierarchical level with those in the bottom level, and independence of elements is practically rare in the working life; they are represented by a network in the anp instead of the hierarchy and are not organized in levels as is real life situations. also, the one-way relationship in the ahp is replaced by an actionreaction one in the anp; which makes the latter more powerful in decision making (saaty & vargas, 2006). the anp uses the super decision program for performing calculations. it can be used in a simple network of onelevel relationships, or complex networks of two or more levels, starting by the main network, then one or more subnetworks for reaching a decision (eraqi ، issa ، elminiawy ، supporting a decision for informal settlements development using the analytical network process ، 2019). anp adopts pair comparison of decision nodes and clusters of control criteria for obtaining the relative weights. this is done by a 1-9 scale assessment for comparing two nodes, fig (1), (issa, ahmed & ugai, 2014). the consistency ratio (cr) of the pairs comparison matrix must be less than 0.1 to be accepted (satty, 1980). the program results consist of three matrices (saaty r.w., 2016): unweighted super matrix – contains all the local priority vectors of the comparison groups in the network . weighted super matrix – the cluster weights have been multiplied times the local priority vectors in the unweighted supermatrix to make each column stochastic (that is, sum to 1). limit matrix – the weighted super matrix has been raised to powers until it stabilizes that is, all the columns in the matrix have the same values . figure 1. scale assessment for comparing two nodes the computations synthesize command displays the results of the alternatives in three ways: as ideal, normal and raw. smart means using raw numbers if the network has more than one network; use ideal numbers if the network is either a network with a lower level or a network with rankings. (saaty, 2016, p. 105). sabri & yaakup (2008) conducted a comparison to evaluate urban extension. they concluded that anp results are more realistic than ahp. the anp approach was applied in selecting optimum locations, roads, construction planning, and project selection (cheng & li, 2005; bottero & lami , 2010; banar, kose, ozkan, & acar, 2007). it was used in other studies as a tool for making prediction in light of uncertainty (limited data) (banai, 2010). it was used in the quantitative assessment of residential communities urban development and future planning orientation projects (wang, lee & chang, 2010). it was also used in assessing housing quality in ghana (hussey, 2014). further, it was used to establish an indices-system for assessing the construction of sustainable communities (zon, su & wang, 2018). eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 113 3. defining model criteria predicting the characteristics and specifications of a residence required for a target category depends on an intermingled, interrelated, complex set of nodes which – in their interrelation – specify an appropriate residence that achieves sustainability required for future urban conglomerations. such nodes are connected to decision makers, characteristics of target residents, parameters influencing their residence demand, specifications of sustainable residence, and the variables of residence properties. 3.1. demographic features criterion despite residence differences in terms of type, size, and design; measuring occupant satisfaction with residence quality remains connected to demographic features of residents (mohit, ibrahim, & rashid, 2010). this was confirmed by a study conducted by eraqi (2016), as the influence of such characteristics was reflected on all criteria related to resident decisions for identifying urban development priorities; age, income, education, and tenure status impact quality assessment (ibem, 2012). also, the social status and household composition impact residence quality assessment (spain, 1990). the cultural background, family level, and ethnic/tribal origins impact residence quality assessment, too (meng & hall, 2006; mohit, ibrahim, & rashid, 2010). criteria of residence quality vary from urban to rural areas, and rich and poor districts. hence, the spatial pattern and demographic characteristics are essential parameters in selecting the optimum alternative for a sustainable residence that meets satisfaction and quality desired by occupants. 3.2. the criterion of residence residence quality indicators can be merged in four main criteria: (hussey, 2014, p 30) the economic criterion: this criterion examines the income-rent relationship (jiboye d.a., 2010 a); and the residence cost burden, and residence value and uniqueness (hussey, 2014); and access to work and affordability (kutty, 1999). the social criterion: this criterion includes the degree of crowdedness (jiboye d. a., 2010a); the cultural level (meng & hall, 2006); housing & room intensity (kutty, 1999); tenure (hussey, 2014), the level of privacy (jiboye a. d., 2007); and residents' homogeneity (eraqi, 2016). the physical criterion: this one focuses on physical sustainability, such as integrity of residence (design, appearance, equipment) (jiboye d. a., 2010a); structural adequacy: infrastructures (internal facilities and residence services) such as water, electricity, solid/liquid waste treatment. the criterion includes sustainability of building design (the number of floors, integrity of building elements such as wall/floor materials (hussey, 2014); the type and security of the district, and the level of public facilities and public services provided (kutty, 1999); residence features (number of rooms, kitchen size, room area, natural ventilation/daylighting) (amao, 2010). the environmental criterion: this one reflects the environmental quality of the district such as location, utilities (transportation, children playgrounds, educational and health facilities) (ibem, 2012), access to services (schools, markets ….etc.); the external environment of the residence, landscaping, and uniqueness of the district (amao, 2010). 4. criteria of controlling the housing market mechanisms of selecting specifications of the appropriate residence, of a housing project, are controlled tools of supply and demand that regulate the housing market in general. supply is linked generally to impacts beyond residents' control extent, whereas demand represents the power of residents to deal with the offered housing projects. supply and demand cluster nodes can be referred to as follows: 4.1. parameters influencing demand demand is affected by the poor selection of the new residential blocks that are far away from job opportunities and social facilities (the world bank, 2014, p. 3). the low income and the inability to afford the costs of borrowing lead to decreased demand for the housing sector (pettinger, 2017; wolrd bank, 2014). eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 114 demand in the housing market is affected also by changes of the size of housing and the ratio of the supply, ratio of unemployment, rate of mortgage interest; the customers' trust, and location characteristics that increase demand and the price of the residence (pettinger, 2017). 4.2. parameters influencing supply supply in the housing sector is influenced by the economic conditions and the stresses (the world bank, 2014, p2). the wrong housing policies can lead to low demand which is reflected in decreased supply. rates of speculations affect the housing supply and patterns. orientations of the real estate investment influence the housing production (hassan, 2019). moreover, supply also is affected by the legislative barriers and funding obstacles (brg, 2019). 5. developing the proposed model and selecting criteria the proposed model has been developed using the technique of network analysis process (anp). the research background revealed that there are many correlations between parameters of decision and the intermingling and overlapping of effects. the model consists of three phases. the first phase represents the targeted sample, its characteristics, and decisions weights related to the same. the second phase represents control and decision influencing parameters; and the third phase represents the decision and characteristics of the future residence. the brainstorming strategy has been used as an acknowledged scientific approach to extract and authenticate information (issa, ahmed, & ugai, 2014; alwetaishi, gadi, & issa, 2017). the held sessions of brain storming consisted of a group of five experts in the sector of housing; three of them are academic and two members are real estate developers. a proposal of criteria was presented according to what has been identified in the research background. a structure, of the network of correlations between the nodes and clusters in the main network of the structure of decision and the sub-networks, was introduced. after three sessions, experts confirmed some nodes in the main and subnetwork, and excluded some other poor nodes as to reduce number of comparisons in the proposed model to reduce the size of the evaluating questionnaire by populations or experts. after approving the proposed model of the decision structure that consisted of a two-level complex network; main and sub-networks, clusters and nodes that will be assessed by the experts and others will be evaluated by the residents have been determined, fig (2). evaluations were done through questionnaires. a random sample; consisting of 200 targeted populations; in new minia city, evaluated nodes of (parameters influencing the demand), (residence criteria) and (residence specifications) according to the correlation method shown in the fig (2). ten experts assessed the correlation between the clusters of (influencing demand) and (influencing supply), as they are the most specialized and informed of the complexities of correlation between the nodes of the two clusters. the structure of the model can be illustrated as follows, fig (2): clusters of the targeted sample: consisting of two clusters: • cluster of (demographical characteristics): pairs of nodes of this cluster are compared to the nodes of (parameters influencing demand), (residence criteria) and (residence specifications) and (outer dependence). this cluster consists of the following nodes: age category, educational level, income level, ethnic origins, and household composition. this cluster correlates to (inner dependence). each node includes sub-networks to compare pairs of the subsidiary nodes, and influencing parameters recognized by experts. these influencing parameters are: affordability, the residential quality, and the residential satisfaction; to evaluate the contribution of the subnodes in determining the relative weight of the main nodes of the cluster, that plays a role in the final decision of selecting the alternative. • cluster of (residence criteria): it represents some criteria identified by the experts, related to the residential quality, and the residential satisfaction, pairs of nodes of this cluster was compared to the nodes of (parameters influencing the demand), with a feedback. pairs of nodes of this cluster were compared to the nodes of (residence specifications) and (parameters influencing the demand). this cluster consists of main nodes: social characteristics, economic characteristics, environmental characteristics, and physical characteristics. each node includes a subnetowrk representing the subsidiary nodes that determine the relative weights of the main nodes of the cluster that plays a role in the final decision of selecting the alternative. comparison is done between the sub-nodes with inner dependence. eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 115 clusters of decision control: these are criteria controlling and affecting the orientation of decisions. this cluster includes (parameters influencing demand) and (parameters influencing supply). pairs of nodes of each cluster were compared with internal dependence. pairs of nodes of the two clusters are compared with a feedback to assess the role of each node of the clusters in the final decision. pairs of nodes of this cluster are compared to the nodes of residence specifications as (outer dependence). this cluster includes the following two clusters: • (parameters influencing demand) cluster: it consists of five nodes: affordability, the interest rate, the uniqueness of the residence, the customers' trust, and characteristics of the district. • -(parameters influencing the demand) cluster: it consists of five nodes : legislations, economic changes, political changes, real estate investment, and speculation. clusters of making decisions: it includes two clusters through which a decision can be made: the (residential specifications) cluster and (the alternatives) cluster that represents the required ratio of each housing level according to the impact of the higher levels on the decision structure. these subclusters are as follows: • the residence specifications cluster: it represents the required specifications of the residence. pairs of nodes of the cluster are compared to the cluster of (the alternatives) with a feedback. each node includes a subnetwork to compare pairs of the subnodes to influencing parameters identified earlier by the experts according to the fig (2). this cluster consists of four major nodes: the nature of the residence, the nature of the community, the area of the unit, the residential-unit floor. table 1. clusters, nodes and subnodes of decision structure criteria of controlling the subnetwork sub-nodes nodes cluster residence quality affordability residential satisfaction urban origins ethnic origins demographical characteristics rural origins bedouin origins nuclear family family pattern extended family compound family high educational level medium no qualifications <2000 income categories 20005000 500115000 >15000 2035 age category 3650 >50 eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 116 table 1 continued internal feedback district type physical characteristics residence criteria residence properties residence integrity building sustainability district security structural efficacy residence uniqueness economic characteristics residence burden access to work tenure type social characteristics residence intensity privacy homogeneity access to services environmental characteristics district location landscaping district uniqueness external environment district properties parameters influencing demand consumers' trust location uniqueness affordability interest rates real estate speculation parameters influencing supply political changes economic changes legislations real estate investment eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 117 table 1 continued ethnic origins affordability independent residence residence nature residence specifications mixed residence (in a building) family residence gated community community nature new community (new cities) traditional community (existing) > 100 m2 residence area 100-120 m2 121-150 m2 > 150 m2 ethnic origins – age category ground floor residence floor first floor second floor third floor + 3rd floor figure 2: the proposed decision structure influencing demand demographical characteristics influencing supply residence criteria residence specifications the alternatives outer dependence feedback expert evaluation sample evaluation outer dependence o u te r d e p e n d e n ce outer dependence inner dependence inner dependence feedback eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 118 6. results results of pairs comparison normalized by cluster that 52.38% preferred luxury residences, whereas 28.02 chose middle-income residences, and 19.58% chose economic residences, table (2). table 2. results of decision structure alternatives name normalized by cluster limiting economic residence 0.19589 0.026517 luxury residence 0.52389 0.070919 middle-income residence 0.28022 0.037933 result analysis in weight supermatrix shows that priority in economic residence specifications was given to floor (53.96%), followed by residence nature (25%), community nature (14.28%), and area (10.94%). the priority of residence specifications in luxury residence was given to area (58.15%), followed by community nature (57.14%), floor (16.34%), and the nature of residence (5%). priority in middle-income residence was given to area (30.9%), followed by floor (29.69%), community nature (28.57%), and residence nature (25%), table) 3(. table 3. priorities of residence specifications for each residential level floor community nature residence nature area r e si d e n c e l e v e l economic 0.539615 0.142857 0.25 0.109452 luxury 0.163424 0.571429 0.5 0.581552 middle 0.296961 0.285714 0.25 0.308996 table 4. priorities of decision nodes in the proposed model name normalized by cluster limiting interest rate 0.20409 0.061855 affordability 0.22602 0.068503 location uniqueness 0.18322 0.055531 consumers' trust 0.14021 0.042495 district properties 0.24646 0.074697 real estate investment 0.18675 0.058209 legislations 0.17548 0.054698 economic changes 0.27727 0.086424 political changes 0.19821 0.061782 real estate speculation 0.1623 0.050588 social characteristics 0.15402 0.020455 eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 119 table 4 continued economic characteristics 0.24869 0.033027 environmental characteristics 0.26724 0.035491 physical characteristics 0.33005 0.043833 residence floor 0.07202 0.008429 community nature 0.50033 0.058561 residence nature 0.27567 0.032266 residence area 0.15198 0.017788 as for nodes priority, the highest impact was for economic changes (8.64%), followed by district characteristics (7.46%), affordability (6.85%), interest rate (6.18%), political changes (6.17%), and community nature (5.85%). the lowest impact was for area (1.7%), followed by social characteristics (2.04%), and residence nature (3.22%). table (4) adding limited priorities of cluster nodes to identify the relative weights of cluster in the decision structure shows that the biggest weight was given to residence criteria (quality of residence) (52.73%), followed by supply parameters (31.17%), demand parameters (30.30%), and residence specifications (11.70%). table (5) as for nods priorities normalized by cluster, it can be seen that the highest impact within the residence criteria cluster was for physical characteristics (33%), with the least being social characteristics (15.40%). in supply parameters, the highest impact was for economic changes (27.27%), with the least being real estate speculation (16.23%). in the residence specifications cluster, the highest impact was for community nature, with the least being residence floor (7.20%). table (4) table 5. priorities of cluster cluster periorities2 name limiting residence criteria 0.527303 demand parameters 0.303.81 supply parameters 0.311701 residence specifications 0.117044 fig (3) shows the relationship among relative weights of nodes impacting residence specifications. results show that the highest impact over community nature is location uniqueness (0.148), followed by district properties (0.139), and interest rates (0.126). the least impact was for household composition (0.615), followed by age (0.543). as for the nature of residence, the highest impacting nodes are: consumers' trust (0.803), followed by education (0.787), and ethnic origins (0.769). the lowest were age and economic properties; 0.313 and 0.477, respectively. as for residence area, the highest impacting nodes were: household composition (0.615), followed by location uniqueness (0.492), and income and economic characteristics (0.477). the least were ethnic origins and age; 0.174 and 0.167, respectively. as for residence floor, the highest impacting nodes were: age (0.965), followed by consumers' trust (0.401), and ethnic origin (0.285). the least were location uniqueness and social characteristics with zero for both. eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 120 figure 3. relationship among relative weights of nodes impacting residence specifications fig (4) shows the results of the pairs comparison between the demand and supply nodes. comparison reveals that the highest influencing parameter on interest value is economic changes, whereas the least is real estate speculation. the highest parameter influencing real estate investment is affordability and the least is legislations. location uniqueness is highly influenced by speculation, and is least influenced by economic changes. the highest parameter in consumers' trust is legislations and the least is speculation. district properties are highly influenced by speculation, and least influenced by political changes. figure 4. the results of the pairs comparison between the demand and supply nodes 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 residence floor community nature residence nature residence area 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 real estate investment legislations economic changes political changes real estate speculation interest rates affordability location uniqueness consumers' trust district properties eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 121 6.1. results of relevant subnetworks as for the subnetworks, it can be seen that for the overall synthesized priorities for alternative, using normal results, priorities of sub-nods of residence nature were: family residence (0.14), followed by independent residence (0.11), and mixed residence (0.034). as for community nature the priorities were: gated community (0.25), followed by the new community (0.13), and the traditional community (0.035). as for residence floor, priorities were: higher than 3 rd floor (0.037), and the ground floor (0.032), with the least being the first floor (0.019). as for residence area, priorities were as follows: <100 m2 (0.077), with the least being >150 m2 (0.006). fig (5) figure 5. the overall synthesized priorities for alternatives subnetworks results for demographic characteristics show that the highest impact of residence satisfaction , within each main nods, was for without qualification people and extended families, age <50, income <15000, and rural origins. as for affordability, the highest impact was for the without qualification, nucleus families, age 20-35, income >2000, and rural origins. as for residence quality, the highest impact was for high qualification, compound families, age < 50, income < 15000, and urban origins. fig (6) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 independent residence mixed residence family residence gated community new community traditional community higher floor third floor second floor first floor ground floor >150 m2 <100 m2 120-150 m2 100-120 m2 raw normals ideals eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 122 figure 6. subnetworks results for demographic characteristics fig (7) shows sub-results for each node of the residence criteria cluster. the highest in social haracteristics is tenure type, whereas the lowest is homogeneity. the highest in economic characteristics is residence burden, whereas the least is access to work. as for the environmental characteristics, the highest is access to services, whereas the least is landscaping. as for physical characteristics, the highest was district type, whereas the lowest was residence integrity. in this paper, the model validity was checked for ensuring accuracy of results in two ways. the first adopts logical connections among model structures nodes based on data, research backgrounds, and expert help in specifying structure nodes and parameters. the second test was two five-expert sessions for discussing and analyzing model results and checking the validity and logic of results. experts agreed that results are representative and logical in sequence and interconnection in mean results up to final results. 7. discussion and conclusions results showed capacity of the model to give clear results for residence alternatives, with the required percentage for each alternative. this was done in a manner that does not rely on direct alternative assessment by targeted individuals. rather, it was done by connecting them to variables controlling/influencing the percentage of such decision. also, participation by experts in some decision structure phases and levels, which need cumulative experiences, affected balance of final model results. model construction by linking decision making complexities and overlaps affected the ability to analyze results at all levels and increasing knowledge of demographic properties impacts in residents' selection of nodes within decision cluster as a whole or even their deep impacts on relative weights of prioritizing residence quality, satisfaction, or affordability as influencing parameters selected from the demographic characteristics cluster, in decision making at the higher levels up to selecting the desired residence. also, the relationship among decision control clusters was analyzed for more knowledge of external effects on the housing market. although results cannot be generalized to the small sample size and randomized selection, they represent a successful testing of the model efficacy and credibility. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 residential satisfaction affordability residence quality eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 123 figure 7. sub-results for each node of the residence criteria cluster final results showed that the majority of subjects selected luxury residence. this can be attributed to the high-income of most sample individuals, as confirmed by results analysis of network nodes. it was reflected, as in fig (5), in a significant increase of the relative weight of enclosed community under the community nature node. it was accompanied by an increase in the relative weight of family and independent residence, as well as +3rd /ground floor; usually the closest to high-income selections. it was even at the cost of area; by selecting the highest area as <100m2, followed by 100-120m2, at the cost of >150m2 which is supposed to be the most wanted by luxury level. this means that many luxury residence seekers turned to less areas to maintain luxury for a price they can afford for the desired residence. analysis of decision nodes priorities within the model structure for selecting an alternative, table (4), shows that the highest impacting are economic changes, followed by affordability, interest rate, political changes, and real estate investment. this is seen from the relative weights of nodes considered by the model as model structure controlling 0.074505 0.211011 0.129053 0.070647 0.234159 0.280626 0.088054 0.123799 0.067559 0.117177 0.316885 0.1958 0.310814 0.493386 0.169156 0.204609 0.287924 0.338312 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 building sustainability structural efficacy district security residence integrity residence properties district type external environment district uniqueness landscaping district location access to services access to work residence uniqueness residence burden homogeneity privacy residence intensity tenure type p h ys ic a l c h a ra ct e ri st ic s e n vi ro n m e n ta l c h a ra ct e ri st ic s e co n o m ic c h a ra ct e ri st ic s s o ci a l c h a ra ct e ri st ic s eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 124 criteria for selecting the alternative; as such nodes are in the demand and supply clusters. this, again, confirms success of the model structure and nodes interconnecting network. analyzing the demographic characteristics results and their correlation with other results, fig (6), it is found that affordability was the least influential for people from urban origins and those with <15000 income, <50 years old; who are supposed to have saved some money and have more money, extended families of more than two generations and higher economic condition, and university graduates who occupy positions that provide relatively stable financial status. these results conform to reduced interest of these clusters with the affordability node, and their focus on the other two nodes – residence quality and residential satisfaction – which express more affluence. this is confirmed by an opposing result of the increased impact of affordability for people with rural origins, people with <2000 l.e. income, youth between 20 and 35 who have less savings and job stability, nucleus families with reduced financial capabilities, the low-educated, and irregular workers. such categories focus mainly on residence satisfaction in return for much less interest in residence quality which would increase cost. analyzing the impact of nodes of this cluster on residence selection specifications, fig (3) , it can be seen that age impacts floor selection with less impact in other specifications. this is logical, as the elderly select lower floors in general to enjoy proximity to gardens or due to their health conditions. the education node focuses more on the nature of community and the nature of residence due to lifestyle and its social, cultural, and cognitive interconnections. income is obviously important in selecting the nature of community, with much less impact in selecting the nature of residence which is clearly more impacted by ethnic origins that focus equally on the nature of community. household composition had the largest impact in selecting residence area, as a result of household pattern impact on area. upon moving to analysis of residence criteria cluster, the highest cluster in decision structure according to relative weights of cluster in the structure, table (4) shows – in the subnetwork of social characteristics – that privacy and social homogeneity did not have the highest impact, perhaps because the majority of sample individuals selected luxury residence in which the importance of such parameters diminishes relatively. this was accompanied by a clear priority given to tenure type. in the subnetwork, economic characteristics, residence burden had the highest weight. the lowest weight was given to access to work, perhaps due to high level of most of the sample individuals who can have a car to go easily to work – especially that the sample was selected in a new urban community. access to district services and facilities had the highest impact in environmental characteristics; a result conforming to reality. meanwhile, district location and district uniqueness came second in importance; being a major parameter – according to research background – in maintaining value of the residence commodity, which is considered according to the egyptian style of real estate saving a method for increasing the value of savings. in terms of physical characteristics, the type of district had the highest impact, followed by residence features, and structural efficacy. this, too, confirms the above mentioned principle of achieving a safe economic residence value in addition to the required welfare. in general, the impact of cluster nodes on selecting residence specification, fig (3), shows that social and physical characteristics had the highest influence in community nature selection, the environmental characteristics had the highest influence in selecting the nature of residence, and the economic characteristics had the highest impact in determining residence area. as for the analysis of decision control criteria, fig (4), the demand cluster and the supply cluster, for which experts assessed node pairs, it can be seen that economic and political changes were the most influential on interest; being reflected on target groups ability to meet the requirements of buying residence with the help of mortgage. meanwhile, legislations were the most influential in consumers' trust for spending their savings on purchasing a residence; perhaps due to legislative fluctuations accompanying political and economic turbulences in lasting for some time in egypt and the corresponding changes of interest rates or residence purchase burdens such as real estate taxes, etc. also, it was found that affordability is largely influenced by the size of economic investment and real estate speculation. increasing the former leads to abundance in supply; thus reducing prices and raising the purchasing power of residents. meanwhile, increasing speculation leads to the contrary; increasing real estate prices, followed by reduced purchasing power of residents. also, results show that real estate speculation had a significant impact in selecting district properties and location uniqueness as developers interest in speculation is much higher when district properties and location uniqueness are higher; increasing the value of residence in a district and impacting the purchasing power eraqi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 125 negatively and positively, as well as the purpose of purchasing – use or investment as is common in the egyptian real estate market. analysis of the supply cluster nodes impact (the model did not specify direct correlation for pairs comparison among the nodes of demand impact and residence specifications clusters) on selecting residence specification, fig (3), shows that district properties, location uniqueness, interest rates, and affordability are the highest impacting selection of district nature; in decision structure in general or within the cluster. this confirms, as previously indicated, the strength of the cluster in specifying the alternative in the decision structure. also, consumers' trust had a high impact on determining the nature of residence, both in decision structure or within the cluster. meanwhile, 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(2018). research on the hybrid anp-fce approach of urban community sustainable construction problem. research article, 2018, 10. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.717 sustainable tourism and culture: a symbiotic relationship reham kamel el-khadrawy1, amr abdalla attia2, marwa khalifa2, rowaida rashed4 1 phd candidate, department of urban planning, faculty of engineering, ain shams university 2 professor, department of urban planning, faculty of engineering, ain shams university 4 associated professor, department of urban planning, faculty of engineering, ain shams universityg abstract cultural tourism offers a strong motivation to preserve the elements of cultural heritage in tourist destinations. it helps to preserve cultural elements as important tourist attractions. cultural tourism’s notion is unlimited to visiting monumental attractions only, but it has also become an interactive experience with the social fabric of the community through attending exhibitions, festivals and events, and the purchase of traditional local products. thus, the human capital factor in tourism is linked to the quality of tourism products. with the growth of international tourism, the importance of sustainable tourism development has emerged to protect natural, cultural, and human resources, in addition to achieving economic development. as non-sustainable tourism development has led to the deterioration of tourism resources. this research paper examines if cultural tourism contributes to decrease tourism seasonality and achieve sustainable tourism development in cultural heritage sites. a case study of aswan was selected. aswan has unique and important elements of cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), but it still faces many problems like tourism seasonality, besides its tourism is still weak compared with other cities that have the same tourism potential. based on a literature review and analytical study of global examples that achieved sustainability in cultural heritage sites, a field study of aswan was conducted to evaluate the current status of cultural tourism, besides illustrating the challenges of achieving sustainability. the major result that has emerged from the study is paying attention to cultural tourism is the possible solution to the challenges that aswan tourism faces. finally, the paper concluded that investment in human capital creates opportunities for cultural tourism which in return resolves one of tourism’s major challenges: seasonality. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords cultural heritage; cultural tourism; sustainable tourism; human capital; seasonality; aswan. 1. introduction tourism is mainly perceived as a major industry that contributes to 10% of the world’s gdp, along with a wide range of job opportunities (eenca, 2017). it also considered among the most important means of cultural exchange, as it provides an experience for tourists to learn about the cultures inherited in local society as well as cultures from contemporary life (unescap, 2008). hence, tourism has been considered as a tool for attracting visitors to cultural sites and venues, and culture is considered as a source of attractive opportunities for cultural experiences to tourists (eenca, 2017). unfortunately, tourism could have damaging multiple effects on cultural heritage sites (unescap, 2008). however, cultural tourism could be viewed as part of the solution to such tourism problems. according to richards & raymond (2000), cultural tourism had witnessed significant growth in recent decades, as tourists had http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 55 become increasingly interested in learning about the culture, heritage, and history of the destinations they visit. therefore, cultural tourism creates a growth market, and cultural tourists are seen as desirable tourists in cultural destinations. consequently, this had led to tremendous growth in the number of cultural places around the world in the last twenty years, which had led to the emergence of competitions between cultural places with each other and with other types of tourist attractions. due to these competitions, some cities began to search for innovative solutions to develop cultural tourism, increase income and jobs, and at the same time support culture of local communities. this had done by adopting new and innovative strategies that rely on human capital (richards & raymond, 2000). many researchers including el-sayed (2006), lut & vlad (2010) and esu (2012), agreed that the main factor of success and achieving competitiveness in the tourism sector is "human capital". where human capital in tourism is the essence of the tourist offer, due to the nature of tourism services that requires a direct interaction between the tourist and the tourism workers. therefore, developing human capital leads to improving tourism services, and consequently, the ability to compete with other tourist countries. egypt has diversity in the tourism field and possesses many tourism assets. at the same time, cultural tourism in egypt is a competitive, unique, and non-recurring type of tourism. due to the existence of the successive civilizations, which resulted in unique social and architectural cultures stemming from the natural environment, in addition to the local community traditions that considered as one of the most important attraction elements (ibrahim, 2013). furthermore, egypt is one of the most populous countries in the middle east. it also has the advantage of being a young country, due to having a large number of young people under 30 years old, representing around 61% of its total population (mpmar, 2016). this research aims to examine if cultural tourism contributes to decreasing tourism seasonality, overcome political issues and terrorist attacks, and achieve longlasting advancement in cultural heritage sites. the methodology of this study is based on the integration between three main approaches: the first one (descriptive approach): is based on literature review concerning the paper topic, the second one (analytical approach) is based on a comparative analytical study between three cities from different countries focusing on developing the cultural tourism, and the third one (case study) is based on field study took place from 6th -8th of march, 2019, interviews with hotels owners & workers in gharb soheil, shop owners in aswan market, tour guides & tourism companies, aswan municipality employees and a random sample of aswan residents including youth, women & men. nomenclature ch cultural heritage ct cultural tourism ecoc european capital of culture gopp general organization for physical planning td tourism development st sustainable tourism std sustainable tourism development unwto world tourism organization 2. literature review: 2.1. cultural heritage & cultural tourism in the past, cultural heritage merely addressed perceptible heritage or monuments. now the meaning of ch has widened to include all the evidence of people’s lives and activities from the past; comprising imperceptible heritage, historic areas, and cultural landscapes. in particular, the manifestations of ch can be grouped into two wide categories: a) tangible heritage: denoting the physical heritage such as monuments, traditional buildings, archaeological sites, temples, and historic cities. b) intangible heritage: signifying the abstract societal cultural expressions, such as conventional customs, societal practices, festivals, music, and craftsmanship (unescap, 2008). el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 the cultural heritage sites are major tourist attractions, therefore, cultural heritage is the key asset for cultural tourism endurance (unescap, 2008). the european association for tourism and leisure education "atlas' defines ct as: "all movements of persons to specific cultural attractions, such as heritage sites, artistic and cultural manifestations, arts and drama outside their normal place of residence" (eenca, 2017). and unwto defines cultural tourism as “a form of tourism motivated by representations of peoples and their cultures” (unescap, 2008). hence, ct's concept emphasizes culture and its environment, locals’ standards and traditions, arts and entertainment resources including cultural pr8oceedings, museums, and legacy areas and socializing with the local residents (cherplan, 2013). therefore, heritage and arts are considered to be "primary elements" of cultural tourism. whenever tourism and heritage harmonize, tourism returns would be used to ensure the endurance of heritage environments. hence, ct can boost the community and help maintain cultural and social benefits (eenca, 2017). 2.2. cultural tourism impacts on heritage sites: tourism influences heritage sites in both positive and negative ways. ct conserves cultural heritage through revenues’ augmentation and local crafts’ revitalization. it can also boost employment and generate additional income for local businesses (unescap, 2008). ct also could be considered as a part of solving tourism concentration problems, through redirection of cultural tourists to visit less popular destinations or go at less popular times of the year (richards, 2005). on the other hand, ct has negative impacts; some impacts might be fast and direct, such as draining cultural heritage resources and infrastructure, this could take place through congestion, crowding, and high demands. other impacts are indirect and slow; such as socio-cultural values altering, high housing prices and the natural environment depletion (unescap, 2008). tourism aids host communities by providing motivation for local residents to care for their legacy and cultural practices (unescap, 2008). 2.3. sustainable tourism development: due to the constant growth of worldwide tourism, sustainable td has emerged to protect natural, cultural, human resources, and achieves economic development. as unmanaged tourism expansion has led to the deterioration of tourism resources. according to untwo, sustainable td manages resources achieving economic, social, and aesthetic needs (unescap, 2008). unwto further defined st as “sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. it is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social, and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity and life support systems” (unescap, 2008). it is essential that relevant stakeholders including the local community, conservationists, tourism operators, property owners, planners, site managers, and policymakers are involved as this is required for the sustainable tourism industry and maintain heritage resources for future generations (unescap, 2008). previous international initiatives and conventions emphasized the significance of culture in sustainable development. unwto in 2001 adopted the “global code of ethics for tourism” (cherplan, 2013), that embodies the milestone of (st). the key themes of cultural and eco-tourism according to unwto are (cherplan, 2013): first, the contribution of tourism to create mutual esteem between people and their societies; second, tourism acts as an important factor of sustainable development, third, as tourism exploit cultural heritage, it also contributes to its enrichment. fourth, an equitable share of socio-economic benefits that tourism activities generate should be targeted to local residents. unesco’s latest initiative on “culture: a bridge to development” aimed to improve cultural heritage in all its forms as a prevailing tool for a sustainable multilayer development approach (unesco, 2011). according to unesco (2015), culture represents a key aspect that fosters sustainable urban development, this takes place through urban identity and environmental protection, encouraging relevant activities to attract visitors, and creating a flexible economy. according to unesco (2012), the outcome document of un’s rio+20 conference highlighted the importance of cultural diversity; “we acknowledge the natural and cultural diversity of the world and recognize that all cultures and civilizations can contribute to sustainable development” (article 41). the document accentuated the importance of the occurrence of a robust relationship between people, their environments and their cultural heritage (30); it also el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 strengthened the importance of financing cultural tourism-related projects (130 and 131); “the need for conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of human settlements, the revitalization of historic districts, and the rehabilitation of city centers” (134); it also affirmed the vital affiliation between culture and biodiversity (197) (unesco, 2012). 2.4. human capital importance to sustainable tourism: according to abu-aljdael (2012), achieving a competitive advantage in tourist destinations is not depends on traditional resources such as natural, technical or other resources, as these resources become easy to imitate, but it depends on the scarce resources that are difficult to imitate like culture & human capital. and according to el-sayed (2006), the investment in human capital through training and education reflected in the improvement of tourism services and the ability to compete with other tourist destinations. as the tourism industry requires direct interaction between the tourist and the local community. moreover, the un’s rio+20 conference emphasizes the role of the local community in sustainable development (unesco, 2012). article (6) recognizing that “people are at the center of sustainable development”. article (30) distinguishing the complex bond between people, their ecosystems and their cultural heritage. article (41) focus on human development and the role of cultures and civilizations in the contribution to sustainable development (unesco, 2012). after the literature review, the importance of culture could be emphasized, as it’s considered as a basis of sustainable tourism. it helps to conserve the cultural heritage, ensure economic returns to local communities, and provide motivation to maintain the heritage and cultural practices. also, it involves a large number of people including the local population, stakeholders, and tourists. we also illustrated the importance of human capital in sustainable tourism development, as an investment in human capital through training and education reflected in the improvement of tourism services and the ability to compete with other tourist destinations. 3. sustainable tourism development in egypt: ministry of planning monitoring and administrative reform in egypt issued report entitled "sustainable development strategy: egypt's vision 2030" (mpmar, 2016). the development strategy is based on the three main dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, and environment), and includes 10 main pillars. however, this study will be limited to the pillars concerning tourism, culture and human capital. the following part illustrating the challenges faces sustainable tourism development in egypt followed by the proposed strategic policies & programs to achieve tourism sustainability: 3.1. challenges facing sustainable tourism development in egypt (mpmar, 2016): − the instability of political issues that have led to security problems over the last decade. − insufficient tourism infrastructure, in addition to the absence of linkages between tourism recent trends and existing services − absence of diverse tourism amenities, insufficient advertisement as they are only directed towards private resorts, in addition to the negligence of cultural tourism, health tourism, religious tourism, eco-tourism, desert safaris, oases tourism, and conferences and exhibitions tourism − the rigidity of organizational institutions due to the various number of stakeholders including ministries, and different administrative bodies, and their conflict of interests. − absence of coordination between different institutions. − absence of public awareness of the significance of cultural heritage and their role in preserving heritage sites − insufficient financial resources that are targeted to keep and protect heritage sites, in addition to lack of financing cultural and artistic works. − lack of protection of egypt’s intangible heritage. 3.2. egypt strategic policies & programs to achieve sustainable tourism development: a) human capital (mpmar, 2016): − allowing different incentives either through financing development projects or tax minimizing. el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 58 − develop human skills through subsidizing labors training in the tourism sector and relevant activities. − encouraging technical education exclusively tourism and hotel education. − establish training centers in the tourism sector according to international standards. b) tourism & culture: according to mpmar (2016), the first objective of the strategy is to encourage culturally relevant businesses including entertainment and traditional crafts. the second objective is to ensure the efficiency of tourism bodies along with minimizing the terrestrial gap of amenities provided due to location. the third objective is to preserve egypt’s heritage through protecting, maintenance, and increasing awareness as well as attracting national and international visitors and supporting local cultural activities. polices & programs will be as follows: − adopting innovative programs to increase societal’s historic and cultural awareness. − establishing a database including cultural products and activities in egypt. − increasing the efficiency of cultural tourism infrastructure and expand its scope. − protecting and developing local crafts through financing them and endorsing exhibitions and agendas. − establishing stimulating environments to encourage local industries. − updatig techniques of protection and reconstruction of heritage. − formation of efficient policies and plans to protect heritage (mpmar, 2016). as a result, the above section explains that developing cultural industries and developing human skills through training & education, are key factors in egypt’s strategic policies & programs that were set to overcome challenges faces tourism sustainability. 4. global experiences: the following part is a presentation of global cities aimed at achieving sustainable tourism development through the development of cultural tourism. three cities were selected, two of them were chosen from unesco world heritage list, and the third one won the title of the european capital of culture in 2012. 4.1. maribor, slovenia (european capital of culture 2012): maribor city is the second-largest city in slovenia, with a total number of residents of 95'881 persons in 20161. the old city center which built in the 13th century has a rich historical heritage which is evident in numerous churches, monuments, museums, and other sites. the city faced many political alterations and after world war i, it came under the rule of the kingdom of yugoslavia. in 1991 and after the breakup of yugoslavia, it became part of slovenia (maribor, 2015). the breakup subsequent collapse of heavy industry that was at the time the flagship of the national economy, resulted in heavy economic, social, and infrastructural damage for the city of maribor. by the 20th century, the city was developed as an educational and cultural center and became one of the major education centers of slovenia (maribor, 2016). maribor titled as the european capital of culture (ecoc) in 2012 (maribor, 2015). the preparation period was 6 years before the title-year. in 2010 the city council of the municipality of maribor established the public institute “maribor 2012” to be responsible for the inclusive process of planning and executing the “maribor 2012 – european capital of culture” project (maribor, 2015). the ecoc criteria require the nominated city to host hundreds of toplevel cultural events spread out throughout the year, and to develop physical infrastructure (cultural venues, accommodation capacities, and transport connections), also to develop “human infrastructure” which is needed to host the ecoc. the criteria also require significant engagement with the citizens of a city: involve schools, universities, youth clubs, civil society organizations, and the engaging of the private sector in the cultural and creative industries (european-commission, 2012). 1 http://population.city/slovenia/maribor/ el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 59 according to maribor (2015), multiple stakeholders carried out 308 programs and projects in maribor in the title year, including the local community, the slovenian, and international partners. in addition to nearly 5,300 events took place in 2012 and included more than 30 different countries. “maribor 2012” mission and vision were based on cultural promotion as this approach represents essential factors focusing on the importance of having a strong bond gathering individuals, cities, regions, and countries. it also targeted the founding of strengthening social relations through various cultural ventures. the plan also integrated different segments of the local community in the cultural projects after providing the required training and attending cultural awareness programs (maribor, 2015). the following figure 1, the benefits of ecoc in maribor figure 1 illustrating the tourists & overnights numbers from 2000 to 2017 in maribor 2 (adapted by the researcher) from the above, we can notice that ecoc brought new opportunities to maribor, it revitalized the city center through various cultural festivals & events spread out throughout the whole year and proven that cooperation is a key step to achieve sustainability, as local community involvement played an important role in the ecoc project’s success, after providing them with the required training. it also was able to attract more visitors, which consequently lead to recognize maribor as “one of the top ten tourist destinations in europe” (maribor, 2015). establishment of maribor 2012 (planning, preparation, organization) cultural products (festivals & events) local community participation (training & cultural awareness) figure 2 maribor key steps to achieve tourism sustainability (adapted by the researcher) 4.2. morelia, mexico (world heritage list): morelia is the capital of the michoacán state and is sited within the middle of the mexican republic (alfaro, et al., 2012); with a population of 899'000 persons in 20163. it has one of the most important universities in mexico (alfaro, et al., 2012). morelia was built in the 16th century and contains 249 monuments that reflect the town's architectural history. unesco declared morelia historic centre as a world cultural heritage in 1991. morelia historic centre is the main attraction, and it is protected by robust regulations and legislations (unesco, 1991). in addition, morelia joined unesco creative city network in 2017 as a creative city of music (unesco, 2017), it built a distinguished dynamic musical character through its large musical program. since 1989, the morelia music festival miguel bernal jiménez takes place as an international event that is festive with famous artists along with its many musical educational activities (unesco, 2017). 2 from 2000 to 2011 statistics are from (horvat, 2012), and from 2012 to 2017 statistics are data collected & adapted by the researcher from slovenia official website https://slovenia.info 3 https://populationstat.com/mexico/morelia 40000 49000 57000 69000 85000 100000 123000 147000 156500 178686 80000 124000 135000 161000 190000 215000 220000 264000 281700 348000 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 2000 2003 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2015 2016 2017to u ri st s & o v e rn ig h t s ta y s n u m b e rs tourists overnight stays ecoc 2012 preparation phase el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 morelia being rich with exquisite architectural, cultural, and historic sites along with its beautiful natural destinations has led to its being among the most visited tourist destinations in mexico. it also has a wide variety of entertainment facilities such as; theaters, museums, cinemas, and bars. it also has an international airport, and a bus terminal with nine lines that offer transfers to the entire state, as well as major cities across mexico (alfaro, et al., 2012). in 2005 morelia city established the “council of cultural sites of the historic centre of morelia”, to be responsible for the development program of the historic centre urban. morelia’s plan targeted its transformation into a world-class sustainable city that would take place through economic progress, residents’ quality of life improvement, adequate use of public services and spaces, and environmental management. in addition, tourism was introduced as an important factor for economic revenues by mexico’s development policies (unesco, 1991). morelia includes the “conservatorio musical”, a 277 years old music school that encompasses various numbers of artists in different specializations (alfaro, et al., 2012). morelia also has fifteen universities, six of them offering tourism as an undergraduate program, and two as an area of expertise. four universities offer seminars and courses related to tourism, and one of them has established a research center for tourism (cietec), which has conducted an annual survey from 2010 to 2014 to study the profile of tourists visiting the state in an effort to provide information for decision-makers. and the result was that city is primarily a domestic destination since 85 % of tourists are domestic tourist stays an average of 3.5 days, and international tourists (15%) stay an average of 10 days, visiting museums or attending cultural festivals & events (medina, 2014). with the changes of the administrations of the state government and the municipality of morelia in the second half of 2015, new vision-related to tourism management of the city was set. the main idea was “to make the historic center a vibrant heart of the culture and citizenry that attracts more visitors”. this vision promoted various actions and projects in the last two years; such as the rescue of the public spaces of the city for the benefit of its inhabitants, celebrating the 25 years of the recognition of historic center of morelia as a world heritage, and position morelia within the wedding and romance tourism segment. the following figure 3 illustrating the tourist numbers from 2000 to 2017 (pardo, 2017): figure 3 illustrating the tourists' numbers from 2000 to 2017 in morelia (pardo, 2017) (adapted by the researcher) from the above, we can notice that morelia faced tourism sustainability challenges, which represent in seasonality, terrorist attacks in 2008 and insecurity, violence, and instability issues in 2012 through the mixture of two characteristics. a) the development of human capital, as human capital in morelia considering as a strengths point, due to its adherence to the customs, traditions, and expressions of regional culture, as well as its training education through specialized tourism programs. b) morelia's political intention to strengthen the tourism sector through ct development. in addition to the beauty of the city’s architecture, natural and cultural attractions as well as the festivities related to the intangible heritage which provided an important foundation to develop the tourism sector. 720.7 746.6 702.9 819.4 767.5 781.9 742.2 813.2 738.3 723.3 816.1 705.3 529.8 721.5 885.0 717.0 803.0 1700.0 0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1000.0 1200.0 1400.0 1600.0 1800.0 t o u ri st s n u m b e rs b y ( 1 0 0 0 ) tourists terrorist attack on morelia cultural heritage center usa forbid citizens from traveling to mexico due to insecurity issues pope francis visited morelia el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 establishment of council of cultural sites of the historic centre of morelia (development program of the historic centre urban) cultural tourism (festivals & events throughout the whole year) human capital (training & education) figure 4 morelia key steps to achieve tourism sustainability (adapted by the researcher) 4.3. fez, morocco (world heritage list): located in the north of morocco, fez is the capital of the fas-meknes province and the second-largest city in morocco, its population in 2014 was around 1,146,500 inhabitants (morocco, 2018). dating back to the 9th century with the oldest university in the world (unesco, 1981). after the transferring of the political capital from fez to rabat back in 1912, its position as the cultural and spiritual center of morocco was attained. fez city is considered to be among the most well conserved historic municipality in the arab region. fez is well known for its superb architectural, rich artifacts sites, urban heritage along with its elegant lifestyle, tenable skills, and iconic culture. in 1981 fez city was listed as a world heritage city by unesco (unesco, 1981). fez conservation strategy encompasses all intangible and tangible heritage. the renewal project was based on the rehabilitation and revitalization approaches and the restoration of heritage sites with the partnership of multiple investors. the plan also targeted infrastructure upgrading. accordingly, fez’s image changed from a stagnant, depleted city into a livable and evolving city. during the period of 1981 to 2005; different investments and conservation projects took place; an overall budget was conceded including a 52.9% for infrastructure, 22.1% for rehabilitation projects, 11% for the restoration of monuments, 6.6% for environmental protection, 4.9% for cultural and tourism development and finally 1.3% and 1.2% respectively targeted for training and institutional support (radoine, 2008). recently, morocco framed its development strategies to encompass ct as its main target through the development of historic quarters, resulting in a distinctive city for tourism attraction. the development notion sought to attract tourism-related to historic sites and various cultural events (alami, et al., 2017). to achieve the conservation strategy, the morocco government created a new institutional framework in 1989 (ader-fès) to be responsible for the development of fez. “ader-fès” set a vision of fez’s heritage revitalization through the enhancement of inhabitants’ quality of life (radoine, 2008). fez’s ct has evolved in the recent years, it had transformed to an economic touristic hub attracting multinational immigrants to settle, work and mainly found guesthouses; that had multiplied through the past 20 years from one guesthouse back in 1997 up to 112 guesthouses in 2016 (alami, et al., 2017). in 2013, the government has implemented a project named “ziyarates fez”. the project was based on the adaptive reuse of locals’ homes into guesthouses where families offer the visitors one or more rooms, this would facilitate interactions between different cultures and experience the local life. allowing the pilot project, the “ziyarates fez” project for the first time to be legal was according to an agreement between different governmental institutions and ngos (alami, et al., 2017). the project aimed to involve tourism in human development through the following undertaken actions: restoration & upgrading of residential houses, services quality control, local’s training on tourism importance, and grant funds for guesthouses’ furnishing. above all, training was provided to all families in the project about "tourism professions" including; welcoming guests, cooking, bedding and house-holding, ensuring the security of tourists, and accompaniment (alami, et al., 2017). the moroccan government initiated robust policies in order to avoid mass tourism in fez, to reduce the socio-cultural impact on the local population (alami, et al., 2017). fez also adopted a project named: "fez, capital of traditional arts and showcase of the craftsmanship of morocco" targeting the exploiting of fez’s extraordinary cultural products and branding the local crafts and their high-end images including: 'zellige', ceramics, brassware and textiles, and traditional clothing (alami, et al., 2017). the following figure 5 illustrating the tourist numbers in fez from 2009 to 2017: el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 62 figure 5 illustrating the tourists & overnights numbers from 2009 to 2017 in fez (morocco, 2019) (adapted by the researcher) the cultural tourism project in fez had developed opportunities for local authorities, and improved the living conditions of the population. through the restoration and rehabilitation processes and the upgrading of fez infrastructure, developing human capital through training, and developing the national handicrafts. fez achieved sustainable tourism development by achieving economic revenues to the local community through their direct involvement in cultural tourism projects and heritage conservation projects. establishment of ader-fes (development of fez) cultural tourism (festivals & events throughout the whole year) ziyarates fez (cultural tourism & development of human capital through training ) heritage rehabilitation & infrastructure upgrade (continuous improvement of the living conditions) development traditional arts & handicraft (development of high cultural products) tourism polices (avoid mass tourism & reduce sociocultural impact) figure 6 fez key steps to achieve tourism sustainability (adapted by the researcher) 5. case study: aswan, egypt: aswan is the capital of aswan governorate, located in the south of egypt with a population of 421'070 persons (gopp, 2017). aswan was known as “sono” through the ancient egyptian times; the word means the market as it was a famous commercial center serving merchants coming and going to nubia (sis, 2017). in the ptolemaic era, aswan was named “syene”, and then its name turned into “lipa swan” by the nubians (sis, 2017). later, it was entitled “the land of gold”, for its great treasures or the nubian kings’ cemeteries (sis, 2017). aswan encompass16 archaeological sites and unesco declared the nubian monuments from abu simbel to philae as a world cultural heritage in 1979 (unesco, 1979). in addition, aswan joined the unesco creative city network as a creative city in crafts and folk art in 2005 (unesco, 2005). aswan is famous for its traditional crafts including beaded jewelry, fabric manufacture, palm related crafts, and clay and needle-work products (unesco, 2005). 5.1. the current situation of aswan tourism: aswan considers as one of the most important tourist destinations in egypt, where aswan has all elements of attractions, such as monuments, temples, nature reserves, and islands scattered in the nile, in addition to aswan high dam and nasser lake. aswan is also famous for its therapeutic areas by burial in the sand. in addition, aswan includes many full-service hotels and floating hotels between aswan & luxor and eco-tourism motels in gharb sohail and abu simbel (aswan, 2016). it also offers a rich cultural experience through staying in nubian guesthouses in gharb soheil the nubian village (shampoo, et al., 2019). aswan also has multiple patterns of tourism in addition to cultural tourism, such as scientific tourism, fishing tourism, deserts adventure tourism, medical tourism, and many other tourism types. aswan also has an international airport and a railway station (aswan, 2016). 360.0 370.8 313.4 322.2 369.1 395.2 362.5 353.2 504.3 812.5 820.7 643.8 644.4 770.8 823.1 724.4 682.4 947.7 0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1000.0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017t o u ri st s & o v e rn ig h t s ta y s n u m b e rs b y 1 0 0 0 tourisrts overnight stays arab spring revolutions el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 unfortunately, although aswan has all the above-mentioned tourism possibilities, which can qualify it to be one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, it was affected by the tourism seasonality, terrorist attacks, and political issues, which led to a significant drop-off in tourists’ numbers in aswan, especially after the 2011 revolution. the following figure 7 illustrating the situation of the tourism sector in aswan from 2008 to 2017: figure 7 illustrating the tourists & overnights numbers from 2008 to 2017 in aswan 4 (adapted by the researcher) from the above figure, we can see that the average overnight stays in aswan are ranging from (1.6 to 1.7 nights/tourist) before and after the revolution. in addition, and according to aswan statistics (aswan, 2016), the global tourism ratio decreased from 92% in years (2008 and 2010) to be 28% in 2014. aswan workforce: the workforce in tourism sector represents only 2% from the total workforce in aswan, and the main workforce is in industries sector with 25%, followed by agriculture sector with 6% (gopp, 2017), most of the tourism workforce changed from the tourism sector to another sector after the 2011 revolution, most of the tourism bazaars in aswan market changes the selling products from tourism souvenirs to household and clothes (site visit). aswan cultural facilities: aswan has only one cinema, one theatre, one culture palace, one sound & light show, three museums (capmas, 2018). in addition, there are only five annual international festivals held in aswan during the period from november to march each year. aswan infrastructure: the current infrastructure in aswan hadn't been renovated for 70 years (soliman, 2018). 5.2. strategic plan for aswan development (gopp, 2017): in 2017 the president abdel fattah el-sisi announced that aswan would be the "capital of african culture and economy". this vision was part of the recommendations concerning the second youth conference held in january. in may 2017, the general organization for physical planning (gopp), set future vision & development projects for aswan governorate according to egypt's vision 2030 and national strategic plan for egypt 2052. the vision included projects in the following categories: road development & beautification, construction of new hotels & ecotourism hotels, construction of handicrafts villages in abu simbel, edfu, and com ombo, in addition to the development of river marina berths. 4 from 2008 to 2014 statistics are from (aswan, 2016), and from 2015 to 2017 statistics are data collected & adapted by the researcher from website https://www.egypttoday.com 660.7 430.0 442.2 152.5 136.8 114.9 115.6 133.0 159.6 175.5 1073.1 708.9 729.0 256.2 213.3 186.8 206.5 236.7 266.5 298.4 0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1000.0 1200.0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 t o u ri st s & o v e rn ig h t s ta y s n u m b e rs b y 1 0 0 0 tourists overnight stays 2011 revolution el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 figure 8 illustrating the development projects in aswan governorate (gopp, 2017) (adapted by the researcher) all the proposed projects concentrated on traditional tourism, industrial, and agriculture sectors and didn't include any project concerning cultural tourism or human capital in aswan. in contrast, egypt's vision 2030 set objectives to achieve sustainable development in the tourism sector included: develop human skills for tourism workers and establish training centers in the tourism sector. develop cultural industries including cinemas, theaters, music, and traditional crafts, protect & develop heritage crafts through financing & marketing (mpmar, 2016). 5.3. recommendations: from the literature review, and global experiences cities, there are key steps to achieve std in aswan, and overcome tourism seasonality; this would take place through terrorism eradication, and political life stability, along with achieving the vision that was set for aswan to be a "capital of african culture and economy". the following are the summarized key steps: 1. developing aswan cultural tourism, through the strategies and programs aimed at engagement of the local community, enhancing their quality of life through economic growth, urban regeneration, and participating in cultural events. 2. establish an institution to be responsible for the development of cultural tourism in aswan, and to manage and coordinate the cooperation between different bodies and stakeholders, government sector, private sector, and the local community. 3. develop cultural structure; such as cinemas, theaters, libraries, and festivals & events throughout the whole year (not only in the winter months). 4. develop human capital in aswan through education and training. and the establishment of training centers specialized in developing human skills for workers in the tourism sector and related services. el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 65 5. set policies and regulations to maintain aswan’s heritage and cultural tourism through security and safety regulations, periodic maintenance and increasing public residents’awareness, and city branding to attract both local and international guests. 6. imitate ziyarates fez project, and apply it in gharb soheil to be registered in a legal framework through the government, and provide the required training to the local community, to be a world-class cultural tourism village. 7. develop handicraft products through financing and marketing. 6. conclusion: from the literature review, the global experiments, and the work field conducted in aswan, the following results were achieved: − culture tourism could be considered as a basis of sustainable tourism. it helps to conserve ct, attain profits to the hosting societies, and increase incentives to preserve legacy and artistic practices. it also could be considered as a part of solving tourism concentration problems, through redirection of cultural tourists to visit less popular destinations or go at less popular times of the year. − heritage and arts are considered to be "primary elements" of cultural tourism. − human capital’s role is important in achieving sustainable tourism development, as an investment in human capital through training and education reflected in the improvement of tourism services and the ability to compete with other tourist destinations. − all the global cities examples shared certain key steps to achieve sustainable tourism development, such as; developing cultural tourism through the festivals and events spread throughout the whole year, renovation and rehabilitation of urban fabric, establish an institution to be responsible for the development of cultural tourism, develop human capital through education and training, in addition to engaging the local community in cultural programs and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants. − aswan considers as one of the most important tourist destinations in egypt, where it has all elements of attractions, whether natural or cultural, in addition to the huge investments represents in full-service hotels. unfortunately, aswan was affected by the tourism seasonality, terrorist attacks, and political issues especially the 2011 revolution. therefore, the general organization for physical planning (gopp) set future vision & development projects for aswan. however, all the proposed projects concentrated on traditional tourism, industrial, and agriculture sectors, and didn't include any project concerning cultural tourism or human capital in aswan. − to achieve sustainable tourism development in aswan, there are key steps need to be achieved, such as; establish an institution responsible for cultural tourism in aswan, develop cultural structure (cinemas, theaters, libraries, and festivals & events …etc), develop human capital through education and training, set policies and regulations to maintain aswan’s heritage and cultural tourism, in addition to develop handicraft products through financing and marketing. which consistent with egypt's vision 2030. − paying attention to cultural tourism is a possible solution to the challenges that aswan tourism faces (tourism seasonality and terrorism). − investment in human capital creates opportunities for developing cultural tourism, this is the right way to benefit from all the existing natural and cultural assets in aswan (tangible & intangible) and resolves one of tourism’s major challenges: seasonality. el-khadrawy / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 references : abu-aljdael, h. b. 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(2012). tourism and intangible cultural heritage. retrieved september 05, 2018, from www.unwto.org http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.677 typology and solar gain analysis: vernacular courtyard houses of tabriz, iran maryam khatibi1 1 phd candidate, department of architecture and urban studies, dastu, milan, italy abstract the study presents the results of typological analysis and simulation modeling analysis of traditional courtyard residential houses in the cold semi-arid climate of iran. the purpose of the research has been to analyze and evaluate traditional passive environmental strategies and their elements to provide implications for the design of sustainable residential buildings in contemporary time. five existing traditional courtyard houses in the city of tabriz, iran, are used as case-studies to analyze the typology and the solar zoning conditions and to develop simulation models. the ecotect simulation program is used to calculate the solar gains of the buildings and to analyze the effectiveness of the natural passive systems along with native design strategies in terms of potential solar gains of main and secondary living spaces. however, in the vernacular, not only the awareness of the climatic and topological considerations is important, but also the values, rituals, and beliefs that shape the design of the dwellings need to be considered. the research is based on the hypothesis that vernacular buildings (courtyard houses) of iran have been environmentally sustainable structures. however, an important challenge of the study has been to avoid the technological bias and to consider the cultural and social aspects and embodiment of the studied houses, as well. the study also addresses the potential shortcomings that limit the reliability of iranian vernacular architecture at present in order to arrive at a more holistic understanding of the sustainability of the vernacular architecture in the country. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords courtyard housing; solar gains analysis; sustainability; typological analysis; vernacular architecture 1. introduction the environmental focus in regard to the sustainability and built environment is growing because of the immense importance of environmental issues in a time of rapid climate change, global warming, environmental pollution and the depletion of natural resources. sustainability in the world of architecture is regarded as one of the most important and internationally endorsed principles of the environmental ethic of the twenty-first century (asquith & vellinga, 2006). in this manner, sustainability in the building practices has now become a major criterion in the judgment of architectural and planning practices. according to the united nations environment program of sustainable buildings & climate initiative (unep sbci, 2009), buildings consume up to 40% of the energy use in the world and they are responsible for one third of global greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions in most countries. concurrently, most big cities in iran produce high level of air pollution, which is far exceeding the standards set by the world health organization (who) and posing considerable health problems (sarbib et al., 2001). hence, the http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 reduction of energy consumption and preservation of energy are important for iran. the specific problems that signify the importance of designing environmental friendly houses in iran are as follows: building sector emissions in iran: the pollutant and ghg emissions by residential sector are overrepresented in iran (iran’s deputy for power & energy affairs power & energy planning department, 2013). high energy use of residential buildings in iran: residential sector has been responsible for almost 38% of final energy consumption during 1974-2013. of this amount, the operation phase is responsible for approximately 85% of a building’s total energy use (ibid). the dependency on fossil fuels for heating buildings: the energy consumption for the building sector in iran is mainly provided by the natural gas, petroleum products, coal, and electricity. natural gas and electricity final consumption by the building sector in iran has increased considerably during 1974-2013 (ibid). according to iran’s ministry of energy, residential buildings have consumed 41% of the total iran’s energy consumption of natural gas during the previous nine years (iran ministry of energy, 2017). fossil fuels are used in iran without consideration; accordingly, 98.8 % of the country’s total residential energy consumption is supplied from oil products and natural gas (nasrollahi, 2009). increased rate of energy price: the average electricity sale price for residential buildings in iran has increased from 2.3 rial/kwh in 1974 to 346.7 rial/kwh in 2013 (iran’s deputy for power & energy affairs power & energy planning department, 2013). energy supply depletion: the majority of iran’s oil resources are in the second half of their life span and other resources are inefficient. renewable energies are not practically used in iran. however, the use of renewable energies such as wind and solar energy is going to be increased. currently, only a small-scale conversion is being made to nuclear energy for the electricity’s production in an effort to counter the aforementioned consumption (nasrollahi, 2009). a reduction in energy consumption and the introduction of energy efficient houses, hence, would have a significant impact on the overall energy consumption of iran. one way to meet the need for sustainable buildings is to raise the awareness of the importance of vernacular architecture. this is because in architectural theory the factors that surround the art of building, is embedded in the society, and is passed on from one generation to the next through tradition (asquith & vellinga, 2006). this cyclical period of sustention is broken by outside forces and changes that ignore the complex nature of social and environmental forces and result in inappropriate architecture. while globalization has brought convenience in living and communication, it has threatened the architecture and the built environments we live in (ibid). in a world that the scarcity of energy resources and environmental pollutions is likely to increase, the durable and conscious vernacular architecture needs to be raised. 1.1. objective of the study the objective of the present study has been to advocate for more awareness of vernacular architecture of the cold climatic region of iran, not so much as museum components but as viable housing environments, which can contribute to a healthy and rewarding twenty-first century life style. this study recognizes buildings with environmental adoptive patterns that have proven their worth and efficiency over the centuries in iran. five vernacular houses in the city of tabriz, iran are analyzed in regard to their typology and solar zoning strategies. in that way, the study aims at exploring the possible strategies for increasing the sustainable design strategies in contemporary houses of iran. moreover, this study takes into consideration that the design of houses cannot be divided from those who eat, sleep, cook, and play in them. in the vernacular, not only the awareness of the climatic and topological considerations is important, but also the values, rituals, and beliefs that shape the design of the dwellings need to be considered (asquith & vellinga, 2006). the present research aims to avoid a romanticized approach towards the studied vernacular houses. as, vellinga (2015) suggests, many of the recent publications emphasize the “harmonious” ways in which vernacular traditions relate to their environmental contexts (p.6). but a romanticized approach to vernacular reveals the tendency to draw conclusions based on limited or partial evidence (ibid). khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 58 while, this study is based on the hypothesis that vernacular buildings (courtyard houses) of iran are environmentally sustainable structures; an important challenge is to avoid the technological bias and to consider the cultural, social, and economical sustainability and embodiment of the studied houses. thus it is intended to address the potential shortcomings that limit the reliability of iranian vernacular architecture at present in order to arrive at a more holistic understanding of the sustainability of the vernacular architecture in iran. 2. vernacular architecture the interest in vernacular architecture started in the eighteenth century, though the first scholarly analyses of vernacular buildings started in the late nineteenth century (upton, 1990; oliver, 1997). however, many of these early studies were used to criticize contemporary architectural practices, rather than paying attention to the way in which the traditions might contribute to the future built environments. the main interest in studying vernacular architecture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was to document and classify the historic and traditional forms and styles, most of them especially in the case of non-western traditions, were considered as destined to disappear. many of these studies were conducted in europe and the us by historians and architects who were influenced by the arts and crafts movement (asquith & vellinga, 2006). consequently, arthur upham pope1 and robert hillenbrand2 are among the western experts and professors who have studied vernacular art and architecture in iran. since the beginning of the twentieth century, the dominant paradigm in architecture has been modernism (özkan, 2006). modernism over time has become diversified and has developed a plurality of its own, which can be categorized within seven groups. conservatives as one of these groups developed into two fundamentally different sub-groups: classicists and traditionalists. while, classicists believe that whatever that was built in the past is good enough for the urbanized world to repeat in most loyal form, traditionalists such as hassan fathy are more geared to appropriate technologies and social concerns present in the traditional architecture (ibid). the most influential reaction to modernism in architecture is traditionalism, which focuses on research in vernacular architecture and the revitalization of traditional building practices. later, in 1964 the venice charter was approved by international council on monuments and sites (icomos), which called for the international recognition of the value of vernacular architecture, stated that not only the great works of art but also the modest works of the past should be considered as historic monuments (ikuga et al., 2012). icomos created a special committee in 1976 to promote a coordinated international effort in order to identify, study, and protect vernacular architecture (ibid). 2.1. vernacular housing and sustainability the scholarly effort in the sustainability of vernacular architecture remained marginal until the late 1990s, when sustainability emerged as a topic of political, academic, and popular interest (vellinga, 2015). most of the new studies on vernacular architecture endeavor actively to evaluate the properties of particular building types and investigate how the layout, form, and materials of the vernacular buildings relate to local climatic and geographical conditions. on the other hand, in learning from the vernacular buildings, the focus must not be just the buildings or the “physical shells”, but the sustenance of vernacular knowledge, skills, and experiences (asquith & vellinga, 2006, p. 11). with a critical and forward-looking perspective towards vernacular architecture, it will be possible to cling to the vernacular and to claim that there still is a place for vernacular architecture in the twenty-first century. in 1987, the world commission on environment and development of the united nations in its report “our common future” also known as the bruntland report defines sustainable development as a development that “meets the needs and improves human conditions of this generation without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same” (world commission on environment and development [wced], 1987, p.8; chiu, 2012, p. 91). cities, where most of economic activities, employment, and educational activities take place are considered as the focal point. likewise, the role of housing in the pursuit of sustainable development of the cities has been explored by governments, professionals, and academies since the early 1990s. 1 arthur upham pope (1881-1969) is best known as a pioneering american expert on persian/iranian art, architecture and archaeology. 2 professor robert hillenbrand is educated at the universities of cambridge and oxford (d.phil. 1974). he has been teaching at the department of fine art, university of edinburgh focusing on (persian/iranian) islamic art and architecture. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 59 the international encyclopedia of housing and home (2012) puts forward that sustainable housing development refers to a housing development that “meets the housing needs and improves the housing conditions of this generation without compromising the ability of future generation to do the same” (smith, 2012, vol. 7, p. 92). accordingly, sustainable architecture needs to recognize the energy consumption and polluting side effects caused by buildings and the relationship that exists between the buildings and the behavior of their occupants (ikuga et al., 2012). that is the only way not to compromise future generations’ wealth in housing. likewise, vernacular architecture is invaluable as a technical and conceptual source of sustainable architecture. vernacular architecture in each instance around the world ensures the habitability of buildings and has provided functional strategies that are compatible with the locally available resources and functions of the buildings (ibid). 3. traditional built environment of iran the notion “traditional city” refers to the city before the modernization of iranian society, which began after world war ii (wwii) (kheirabadi, 1991, p.6). however, traditional cities and houses still form the old parts of many contemporary iranian cities and built environment, and planners can learn a great deal from a close observation of their forms and the logic behind them. the physical morphology of the traditional iranian city is a cultural-historical response to the climatic condition of the country. contrary to modern iranian cities, which are copies of the contemporary european and american cities, the traditional iranian city is compact with a high density of residential areas, which is homogeneous in its buildings. the compact traditional city has had the potential to minimize the climatic stress greatly and mitigate microclimatic conditions. accordingly, traditional iranian city minimized empty spaces, had buildings of uniform heights, contained narrow streets, provided covered bazars, and considered proper orientation to the wind and sun. in traditional iranian cities, residential areas as the private sections were connected to the bazar as the public section of the city by small and narrow covered or uncovered alleys. the plan of iranian traditional houses has been an open rectangular courtyard, with rooms around two or more sides. traditional houses were designed to give a compact and organic appearance to the cities. looking from the outside, they look similar having the same height and design; however, the iranian traditional houses do vary in internal design strategies and architecture. normally, size and internal decoration of these houses reveal the owner’s taste and financial condition. walls and roofs of an iranian courtyard house are thick and the courtyard acts as a temperature moderator. the center of the courtyard normally has a pool of water and small gardens containing flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees surrounding the water. courtyard houses existed in pre-islamic iran and also in non-islamic regions of the world. even though, the origin of courtyard housing is related to the necessity for defence and climatic considerations, because of its conformity with islamic requirements, this typology remained as the dominant pattern for houses in many muslim cities. therefore, defense and climate should be considered as equal importance to religion or other social beliefs in the separation of physical spaces by walls and courtyards (ibid). one aspect of the courtyard house is that it has wings, which have different orientations allowing differentiation and segregation of functions that can be alternated in accordance to a daily or seasonal cycle (samizay, 2012). in order to achieve comfort, life is circulated in an iranian traditional courtyard house both vertically between levels and around the open yard on daily basis or between wings on seasonal basis. thus, the cool north-facing wing of the house is used for the summer, while the warm south-facing wing of the house is used in the winter. north and south wings of the house provide the two crucial sets of “climate-conscious” rooms (ibid, p.133). traditional iranian cities and houses have been built in such a way to harmonize the surrounding environment and to provide better living conditions for their inhabitants. contrary to the tendencies of present planners, the traditional builders in the process of forming the physical urban and housing design have tried to work with and not against the forces of nature. 3.1. the city of tabriz tabriz is the fourth largest city of iran and the capital of the east azerbaijan province, which is located in the northwestern part of the country (see table 1) (fig. 1). khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 table 1. general geographical information of tabriz (source: iran meteorological organization, 2018; encyclopedia britannica, 2018) latitude longitude elevation current population 38 5 n 46 17 e 1361.0 m 1.6 million figure 1 tabriz on iran’s map (source: www. iranmap.com/) tabriz has a long history that dates back to 1,500 bc and contains many historical monuments, which represents the transition of iranian architecture in its long historical timeline (encyclopedia britannica, 2018). the city of tabriz has been destroyed severely by very strong earthquakes in the years 858, 1034, 1272, and 1780 (omrani & esmaili sangari, 2006). considering the disastrous earthquake of 1780, tabriz has been probably rather a shabby town at the time when it was taken over by the qajars3 (werner, 2000). however, soon after 1820s, tabriz started to have a fast rise. accordingly, fraser and southgate in their reports during 1820s and 1830s state that tabriz is the most agreeable city in persia (ibid). 3.2. climate tabriz is located in the cold and mountainous climatic region of iran. iran has several different climatic regions and climatic divisions of the country is based on climate classification of w. köppen (kasmaei, 2004). cold climatic region of iran is generally characterized by warm and dry summers and cold winters, where winters are harsh and snowy (ibid). based on köppen’s classification, tabriz has a bsk climate type (nasrollahi, 2009), which means a cold semi-arid climate. according to meteorological organization of iran, the average air temperature of tabriz differs from -2.4 to 25.6 °c from january to july and the average maximum temperature for these two months are 2.2 and 32.7 °c respectively and the average minimum temperature varies from -5.7 to 19.2 °c (ibid). 3.3. urban fabric the traditional urban fabric and houses in tabriz are mainly inwardly oriented and the buildings in the whole city make an inter-connected structure. traditional iranian cities are not simply “tangle of blocks badly ventilated by labyrinth of twisted alleys and dark courts”, however, they have been planned to satisfy the cultural needs of their inhabitants and to deal with the pragmatic realities of the environmental conditions (kheirabadi, 1991, pp. 87-8). one important reason behind the physical form of traditional iranian cities and houses has been the strong desire for privacy and tranquility. however, the new tabriz city of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is the outgrowth of the central old town, which surrounds and spreads out from the traditional town nucleus. it contrasts sharply with the old town and it is sprawling and diffused over a large area, with wide avenues and western-style houses and apartment complexes. 3 qajar dynasty has been the ruling dynasty of iran from 1794-1925. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 3.4. traditional courtyard houses paul oliver (2006) writes in his book built to meet needs that vernacular architecture is “the architectural language of the people with its regional and local dialects” (p.17). courtyard houses in tabriz have not been just an architectural type, but a way of life. the spatial and formal elements, which fell into an introverted blueprint, reflect the society of its times. this form of architecture met with the requirements of the traditional extended family system and the climate. the anonymous master builders were the architects of these courtyard houses. the architectural tenets were passed from one generation to the next and skills were developed by practical experience from a very young age. the site characteristics and owners’ needs were considered and incorporated in the design and construction of these traditional houses. in the traditional part of tabriz most of the buildings are connected to each other on three sides, with the fourth side facing the street, lane, or alley (nasrollahi, 2009). the orientation of buildings varies from southwest facing to southeast facing and the most important parts of the buildings are located to the north of the site. five traditional houses in tabriz will be investigated in regard to their typology and potential passive solar gains in order to analyze their architectural functions according to climatic condition of the region. this approach is important, since it highlights the effective architectural factors in adapting housing to a given climate. 4. typological analysis five traditional courtyard houses in the city of tabriz are analyzed in regard to their typology variations. house no. 1 (alavi house) belongs to the middle of qajar era (1794-1925), which is located in the historical urban fabric of tabriz (fig. 2). in this period the main spaces of the main structure are located on the northern side of the courtyard facing south for the climatic and sunlight reasons. in house no. 1, the eastern side of the building is also built up, which gives an l-shape to the house. in this house, the main spaces such as reception hall, pool room, side rooms, and ivan (veranda) are located along the main axis of the house. figure 2 courtyard house no.1 (source: iran cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization) house no.2 (qadaki house) is located in the historical urban fabric of tabriz, belongs to the middle qajar period (1794-1925). the north section of the house has a reception hall with sash windows on the ground floor, which opens to the north and south parts of the building (fig. 3). the eastern and western wings of the house have two floors, where the floor above contains the bedrooms and living rooms and the basement contains the kitchen and cistern. these wings have given a u-shape to the house number 2. figure 3 courtyard house no.2 (source: iran cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization) khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 62 house no.3 (sharbat-oghli house) belongs to the end of the qajar period (1794-1925), which is located in the old district of tabriz. the northern part of house no. 3 is the main side of this house, while the west wings are ranked as second importance (fig. 4). a two-storey construction is located on the western wing of the south courtyard that has given a t-shape to the house. there is also a private courtyard on the northern side and access is provided through a front door. figure 4 courtyard house no. 3 (source: iran cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization) house no.4 (savojbolaghi house) is located in the historical urban fabric of tabriz, belongs to the late qajar period (1794-1925). in this period the northern part of the building, which faces south is still the main side (fig. 5). in house no. 4, the western side of the building is also built up, which gives an l-shape to the house. in this house, the main parts of the house such as the reception hall, pool room, and veranda are still located in the line of the main a xis, though the iranian architecture was influenced by foreign elements in this period (keynejad & shirazi, 2011). figure 5 courtyard house no.4 (source: iran cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization) house no.5 (parvin etesami house) belongs to the early pahlavi4 period (1925-1941), which is located in old district of the city of tabriz. in house no. 5 the northern section of the building, which faces south is dominant with no other constructed wings (fig. 6). therefore, the number of the constructed parts of a house is decreased considerably in this period given the house a line-shape. figure 6 courtyard house no.5 (source: iran cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization) 4 the pahlavi period was the ruling time of pahlavi dynasty of the imperial state of iran from 1925 until 1979. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 the traditional urban courtyard houses of tabriz have contributed to the zoning and land pressure requirements of the city. in courtyard dwellings of tabriz, the courtyard is like a protected garden, an open reception space, a connector between the rooms surrounding it, and a service space where cooking and washing took place. the differences in scales of the courtyards demonstrate the flexibility of the forms, which are surrounded by built space. not all courtyards are identically enclosed on different sides. illustrated through table 2, the typology variation and analyses of these five traditional courtyard houses have been presented. table 2. comparison between 5 traditional courtyard houses of the city of tabriz and their typology transformation over time (lcy: courtyard length, wcy: courtyard width) (source: author) house 1 house 2 house 3 house 4 house 5 l-shape (type 1) u-shape t-shape l-shape (type 2) line-shape orientation south south south south south courtyard public private public & private public public courtyard shape rectangular rectangular rectangular rectangular rectangular lcy/wcy (unit.m) 1.92 1.24 2.25 1.36 1.1 1.30 reception hall ground floor, central ground floor, central first floor, central ground floor, central ground floor, central veranda overall in southern facade overall in southern facade overall in southern facade overall in southern facade no sash windows yes. in south facade yes. in north & south facades no yes. in south facade no staircase hidden hidden central foreign architectural influence foreign architectural influence side rooms yes yes no no no pool house yes yes yes no ornamentation iranian tile & plaster work iranian tile & plaster work iranian tile & plaster ١vork iranian tile & plaster work. foreign influence decorative pediment iranian tile work khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 considering the typology analysis highlighted in table 2, all houses face the south with the major reception hall located on the southern side of the building. however, only in house no. 3 this reception hall is located on the first floor, while in other 4 houses this reception space is located on the ground floor of the house. the u-shaped house and the t-shaped house are introverted with the private courtyards, while l-shaped houses and the line-shaped house are semi introverted with public courts. the overall veranda is present in all four houses of qajar era, while in early pahlavi era the overall veranda disappears and southern façade is much more dominant. the secondary wings of the house disappear in the early pahlavi period. side rooms also disappear towards the early pahlavi period. in earlier constructed houses of qajar period, pool houses5 are one of the most important spaces in the range of main axis on the northern part of the house. however, in later houses and towards the early pahlavi period, the pool house is completely missing. while earlier qajar houses have hidden staircases, towards the early pahlavi period the staircases gain importance in houses (no.3-5) and get influenced by foreign architecture. moreover, the iranian ornamentation, plaster, and tile works of the qajar houses get influences of foreign architecture to the end of this period and in early pahlavi period the ornamentation is simpler. 5. potential solar radiation gains analysis the solar zoning of these five traditional courtyard houses in the city of tabriz have been done. the analysis procedure does not consider the effect of neighboring houses on the studied houses. solar zoning in courtyard housing determines “a house layout so that rooms looking into middle court and surrounding spaces are cool in summer and warm in winter” (land, 2006, p.234). the cold semi-arid climate in the region of tabriz is characterized by cold & humid with occasional frost periods in winters and warm & dry summer periods; with extreme temperatures of more than 33° c during the day in summer. therefore, during winter period, living is organized on the north side of the house thus receiving full solar exposure for warming (in northern hemisphere). on the other hand, during summer period living functions need to be organized on the sides of the house, which avoid the high temperature summer sun. therefore, the studied courtyard houses have to benefit from the living on different wings of the court in accordance to season in order to receive the sun or to exclude it. accordingly, this design strategy contributes to being warmed by passive solar radiation in winter and avoids excessive summer heat. the software program ecotect (version 11) is used in this study to evaluate the impact of multi parameters on the direct solar gain of the selected courtyard buildings. ecotect is an environmental analysis tool that allows designers to simulate building performance. ecotect couples an intuitive 3-d design interface with a comprehensive set of performance analysis functions and interactive information displays (marsh, 2003). the software has the capacity to generate the most complex building geometry and also offers different visualization facilities such as the sun path diagrams, shadow information, and potential solar gains of the structure in real time (ibid). furthermore, software called origin (version 2015) is used for data analysis and graphing. this software is produced by originlab corporation and runs on microsoft windows. it supports 2d/3d plot types and is validated by academic and industrial works worldwide (originlab, 2017). fig. 7 illustrates the geometry of the l-shaped courtyard house no.1, which shows its design strategies about its location, orientation and its relationship to the courtyard. the rotation degree for this house is 29° from north offset. the daily sun path and shadows for the house in the month of january and july (day 15) have been simulated by the software ecotect (figs. 8 & 9). 5 pool house was a covered area with a basin in middle. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 65 figure 7 geometry of house no. 1 (images 9-23 from the analyses done in software ecotect) (source: author) figure 8 3d view of house no. 1 (7:00 am, january) figure 9 3d view of house no. 1 (7:00 am, july) figs. 10 & 11 illustrate the geometry of the u-shaped courtyard house no.2, which shows its design strategies about its location, orientation and its relationship to the courtyard. the rotation degree for this house is 8° from north offset. figure 10 geometry of house no. 2; south facing façade khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 figure 11 geometry of house no. 2; north facing façade figs. 12 & 13 show the daily sun path and shadows for the house in the month of january and july (day 15), respectively. in month january, the south facing reception hall of the house as the main space of the house receives direct passive solar sun radiation from 8:00 am to 14:30 pm completely. however, in month july the reception hall does not receive direct solar radiation throughout the day. figure 12 3d view of house no.2 (8:00 am, january) figure 13 3d view of house no. 2 (16:00 pm, july) fig. 14 illustrates the geometry of the t-shaped courtyard house no.3, which shows its design strategies about its location, orientation and its relationship to the courtyard. the rotation degree for this house is 30° from north offset. figs. 15 & 16 show the daily sun path and shadows for the house in the months of january and july (day 15), respectively. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 67 figure 14 geometry of house no. 3; north facing façade figure 15 3d view of house no.3 (january, 8:00 am) figure 16 3d view of west wing of house no.3 in shadow (july, 11:30 am) fig. 17 illustrates the geometry of the l-shaped courtyard house no.4, which shows its design strategies about its location, orientation and its relationship to the courtyard. the rotation degree for this house is 15° from north offset. figs. 18 & 19 show the daily sun path and shadows for the house in the month of january and july (day 15), respectively. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 68 figure 17 geometry of house no. 4; south facing façade figure 18 3d view of house no.4 (january, 8:00 am) figure 19 3d view of west wing of house no. 4, (july, 12:00 pm) fig. 20 illustrates the geometry of the line-shaped courtyard house no.5, which shows its design strategies about its location, orientation and its relationship to the courtyard. the rotation degree for this house is 10° from north offset. figs. 21 & 22 show the daily sun path and shadows for the house in the month of january and july (day 15), respectively. khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 69 figure 20 geometry of house no. 5; south facing façade figure 21 3d view of house no.5 (january, 16:00 pm) figure 22 3d view of house no.5 (july, 16:00 pm) considering the data from solar analysis, house no.1 gets 4 ½ hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its main living space and 4 ½ hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its secondary living space in the east wing (tables 3 & 4). the main living space of house no.1 does not receive the direct unfavorable solar radiation in july due to roofed veranda in front of it and its climatological orientation. however, khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 70 the east wing of the house gets 9 hours of unfavorable direct solar radiation in month of july. house no.2 gets 6 ½ hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its main living space and 2 & 3 hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its secondary living space in the west and east wings respectively (tables 3 & 4). the main living space of house no.2 does not receive the direct unfavorable solar radiation in july due to roofed veranda in front of it and its climatological orientation. however, the west and east wings of the house get 4 and 4 ½ hours of unfavorable direct solar radiation in month of july. table 3 hours of direct solar radiation for houses no.1-5 regarding the main living space (source: author) house no.1 l-shape (type 1) reception hall house no.2 u-shape reception hall house no.3 t-shape reception hall house no.4 l-shape (type 2) reception hall house no.5 line-shape reception hall rotation degree 29° 8° 30° 15° 10° direct passive solar gain (january) 7:00-11:30 4 ½ 8:00-14:30 6 ½ 8:00-13:00 5 8:00-14:00 6 8:00-16:00 8 direct passive solar gain (july) 9:00-12:00 3 8:00-15:30 7 ½ table 4 hours of direct solar radiation for houses no.1-5 regarding the secondary living space (source: author) house no.1 l-shape (type 1) west wing east wing house no.2 u-shape west wing east wing house no.3 t-shape west wing east wing house no.4 l-shape (type 2) west wing east wing house no.5 line-shape direct passive solar gain (january) 10:30-13:30 4 ½ 9:30-11:30 2 12:00-15:00 3 8:00-10:00 2 8:30-11:00 2 ½ direct passive solar gain (july) 9:30-18:30 9 8:00-12:00 4 12:00-16:30 4 1/2 6:00-11:00 5 7:00-11:30 4 ½ house no. 3 gets 5 hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its main living space and 2 hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its secondary living space in the east wing (tables 3 & 4). the main living space of house no.3 does not receive the direct unfavorable solar radiation in july due to roofed veranda in front of it and its climatological orientation. however, the east wing of house gets 5 hours of unfavorable direct solar radiation in month of july. house no.4 gets 6 hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its main living space and 2 ½ hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its secondary living space in the west wing (tables 3 & 4). khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 71 however, the main living space of house no.4 gets 3 hours of direct unfavorable solar radiation in july and also the west wing of the house gets 4 ½ hours of unfavorable solar radiation in july. house no. 4 has a roof veranda in front of its main space; however the courtyard has smaller dimensions in comparison to other studied houses. because of the sun’s diminished angle in the sky during the winter months, an undersized court for a two-storey structure, which encloses the court makes this outdoor space undesirable and results in darkness of the structure. finally, house no. 5 gets 8 hours of desirable direct solar radiation in month january for its main living space in january, while this space gets 7 ½ of unfavorable direct solar radiation in month july (tables 3 & 4). this house does not have any other wings. diagram 1 illustrates the comparison of the duration of direct solar gain in month january for houses no.1-5, while diagram 2 shows the comparison of the duration of direct solar gain in month july for houses no.1-5. considering the duration of hours for favorable direct solar gains in month january, houses no. 2, 1, & 4 demonstrate a good performance (11 ½ hours, 9 hours, and 7 hours respectively distributed between wings). however, they demonstrate 8 ½, 9 hours, and 7 ½ hours of unfavorable direct solar gains in month july respectively. diagram 1 comparison of duration of direct solar gain diagram 2 comparison of duration of direct solar gain for 5 studied houses in month january for 5 studied houses in month july (done in software origin) (source: author) (done in software origin) (source: author) on the other hand, the reception hall of houses 1 & 2 does not get any unfavorable direct hot solar radiation in month of july. the reason is that the angle of the sun’s rays during the summer is high and the narrow roofed verandas of houses no.1 & 2 prevent the heat rays of the sun from reaching the main living spaces. considering house no.5 the reception hall of this house gets 8 hours of favorable direct solar gain in january, while this living space is overheated during month of july since it receives unfavorable direct solar gains for 7 ½ hours daily. considering the analysis in this part houses no. 3 & 5 are omitted from analysis since they demonstrate a poor seasonal performance in regard to favorable and unfavorable direct solar gains. the aforementioned analysis has to be coupled with the data analysis from the amount of direct solar radiation for houses no.1, 2, and 4 in months january and july. diagrams 3 & 4 illustrate the comparison of amount of direct solar gain in months january and july for the whole building for aforementioned studied houses. accordingly houses no. 2, 1, and 4 have better performance for the month of january, respectively. this data need to be limited to the direct solar gain of the houses for the reception hall, which is the main living space of the house (diagrams 5 & 6). diagrams 5 & 6 illustrate the comparison between the houses 1, 2 & 4 in regard to their direct solar gain for reception hall space in months january and july. accordingly, houses no. 2 & 1 respectively have better performance in month january and also they do not demonstrate any unfavorable solar gain for month of july (see appendix a regarding the information and tables). khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 72 diagrams 3 & 4 comparison of direct solar gain for houses 1, 2 & 4 for the whole building in january and july (done in software origin) (source: author) diagrams 5 & 6 comparison of direct solar gain for houses 1, 2 & 4 for the reception hall in january and july (done in software origin) (source: author) still, this data have to be coupled with the data obtained from typology analysis in section 4 of the study and secondary data obtained from previous research in the field. the typology analysis of studied houses revealed that courtyard houses of cold climate region of iran have south-facing winter rooms, which are located on the north side of the courtyard. these rooms are called “aftab-ru (facing sun) or aftab-gir (sun catcher) in persian” (foruzanmehr, 2016, p.4). however, the courtyard houses of cold climatic region of iran do not contain any north-facing summer rooms and hence south-facing winter rooms are used as living space during summer, as well. the potential solar gain analysis revealed that south-facing rooms of houses no. 1 & 2 are not exposed directly to sun compared to other studied houses in month july. on the other hand, the west-facing façade of house no.1 faces the sun’s rays from sunrise to evening in month july, which consequently causes this east wing of the house overheated and not thermally comfortable for bedrooms. according to foruzanmehr (2016), “a room with a façade opening to the west is generally the worst case encountered, owing to the heat gain of the surrounding environment during the day and the angle of the sun’s altitude, which allows the sun’s rays to penetrate into the interior” (p.4). furthermore, the east-facing façade of house no.2 faces sun’s rays from sunrise to moon in month july; hence, it cools down considerably by the evening, making this exposure more suitable for bedrooms. therefore house no.2 shows proper solar performance for south facing and east facing facades during months of january and july. 6. conclusion as the first step, the typological analyses of studied houses are carried out in order to introduce and discuss the transformation of studied cases over the given time period. secondly, the computer simulation analyses are done for duration and potential direct solar gains of studied houses. the results of this study can help designers in making decisions regarding the orientation, form, and applicability of courtyard housing in bsk climate of iran. the courtyard house no. 2 (u-shaped) has the best passive solar performance during the months of january and july. it was found khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 73 out that the south-facing reception hall of house no. 2 as the main living space of the house receives 6 ½ hours of direct solar radiation from sunrise till afternoon in month january. moreover, considering the thermal mass of thick walls of the structure, the sun heat is stored in thick mud brick walls and earthen floors and then is released within 79 hours to keep the inhabitants warm when the sun moves on (meaning after 14:30 pm). during the hot summer months, when heat and excessive light are not desirable, the south facing façade of the house also does not work against our desire. since the angle of the sun’s rays during the summer is high, a narrow eave (in this case the roofed veranda) will prevent the heat rays of the sun from reaching the main living space. thus, the south-facing section of the house can be called the main solar-conscious living space of house no.2. furthermore, it was shown that the eastfacing façade of house no.2 faces sun’s rays from sunrise to moon in month july. therefore, it cools down considerably by the evening, making this exposure more suitable for bedrooms. as a result, the east-facing wing of the house can be considered as the secondary solar-conscious living space of house no.2. however, the study revealed that the west-facing façade of house no.2 and other studied house (house no.1), are generally the worst cases encountered, owing to the heat gain of the surrounding environment during the day and the angle of the sun’s altitude, which allows the sun’s rays to penetrate into the interior in month of july. in iran, the courtyard house has evolved from the “geographic, topographic, and climatic conditions” of different regions of the country and the “overall arrangement of the interior of such a house was based on kin relations” (karimi, 2012, p.124). not only were most traditional houses built according to climatic and geographical features, they were also “self-sufficient micro-communities that raised vegetables and livestock” (ibid, p.341). but when new products became available in the iranian market, the “economic self-sufficiency of the traditional iranian house eroded”, and the household turned into a consumer spending habit (ibid, p.341). thus, the spatial arrangement of the traditional courtyard house was in harmony with the rituals and living activities of that time. moreover, women were much more limited to the house and its tasks during the time that courtyard housing was dominant in iran and women working outside the house were discouraged. however, during the first pahlavi period (1925-1941) iran undergoes major infrastructural reforms that affect the look of iranian cities and residential neighborhoods. the hygiene and domestic improvements in housing have been the focus of such a reform. the real everyday life in iran from the early 1950s to the late 1970s demonstrates that “there was neither total conformity to western life styles and commodities nor a steadfast embrace of traditional values” (ibid, p. 134). in spite of the fact that by the 1960s iran was moving away from traditional construction methods and traditional lifestyle, there have been some architects who tried to link traditional iranian architecture with modern technologies and accommodate the unique environmental characteristics of iranian regions at the same time (karimi, 2014). parallel to the rise of the post-modern movement in the west that allowed past architectural motifs, there have been a return to traditional iranian building methods “not only [as] a reaction to the rigidity of the imported western modernist styles, but also [as] a timely response to a popular global trend” (ibid, p.341). the lessons that can be learned from the studied courtyard houses of tabriz emphasize not only the optimal orientation and form to use passive solar energy effectively, efficient multi-functional design strategies such as the roofed veranda to create desirable environmental and space solutions, but also emphasizes the adaptation to contemporary iranian lifestyle. the present-day courtyard house has to be built for a smaller family with a different lifestyle, while, combining the benefits of solar-conscious living spaces and courtyard with the contemporary apartment lifestyle as much as possible. appendix a. considering the direct solar gains for house no.1, in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm, it is 3188, 6299, 3507, 0, and 0 w.h respectively for the whole building, while this amount in month july at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, and 16:00 pm increases to 6008, 8330, 7301, 4470 w.h for the whole building (0 w.h at 18:00 pm) (table 5). focusing on the reception hall of the house, the direct solar gain of this space in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16 pm, and 18: pm is 2229, 2768, 1044, 0, and 0 w.h (table 5). khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 74 table 5 direct solar gain of house no.1 (unit: w.h) (data done in ecotect, source: author) house no. 1 7:00 am january july 12:00 pm january july 14:00 pm january july 16:00 pm january july 18:00 pm january july direct solar gain (whole building) 3188 6008 6299 8330 3507 7301 0 4470 0 0 direct solar gain (reception hall) 2229 2768 1044 0 0 considering the direct solar gains for house no.2, in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm, it is 8371, 30621, 22171, 6130, and 0 w.h respectively for the whole building, while this amount in month july for the whole building at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, and 16:00 pm increases to 31261, 55715, 47188, 28707, and 13859 w.h (table 6). focusing on the reception hall of the house no.2, the direct solar gain of this space in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16 pm, and 18: pm is 3056, 15504, 10072, 2177, and 0 w.h (table 6). table 6 direct solar gain of house no.2 (unit: w.h) (data done in ecotect, source: author) house no. 2 7:00 am january july 12:00 pm january july 14:00 pm january july 16:00 pm january july 18:00 pm january july direct solar gain (whole building) 8371 31261 30621 55715 22171 47188 6130 28707 0 13859 direct solar gain (reception hall) 3056 15504 10072 2177 0 considering the direct solar gains for house no.3, in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm, it is 5406, 13384, 7963, 1108, and 0 w.h respectively for the whole building, while this amount in month july for the whole building at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm increases to 16959, 22818, 16910, 11182, and 5612 w.h (table 7). focusing on the reception hall of the house no.3, the direct solar gain of this space in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16 pm, and 18: pm is 3577, 10635, 6163, 827, and 0 (table 7). table 7 direct solar gain of house no.3 (unit: w.h) (data done in ecotect, source: author) house no. 3 7:00 am january july 12:00 pm january july 14:00 pm january july 16:00 pm january july 18:00 pm january july direct solar gain (whole building) 5406 16959 13384 22818 7963 16910 1108 11182 0 5612 direct solar gain (reception hall) 3577 10635 6163 827 0 khatibi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 75 considering the direct solar gains for house no.4, in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm, it is 1286, 3374, 2090, 469, and 0 w.h respectively for the whole building, while this amount in month july for the whole building at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, and 16:00 pm increases to 1884, 4210, 2717, 1387, and 279 w.h (table 8). focusing on the reception hall of the house no.4, the direct solar gain of this space in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16 pm, and 18: pm is 712, 2055, 1267, 287, and 0 (table 19). moreover, reception hall of house no. 4 has direct solar gains from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm in month of july at 9:00 am and12:00 pm as 2035 and 2479 w.h (table 8). table 8 direct solar gain of house no.4 (unit: w.h) (data done in ecotect, source: author) house no. 4 7:00 am january july 12:00 pm january july 14:00 pm january july 16:00 pm january july 18:00 pm january july direct solar gain (whole building) 1286 1884 3374 4210 2090 2717 469 1387 0 279 direct solar gain (reception hall) 712 2055 2479 1267 287 0 considering the direct solar gains for house no.5, in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16:00 pm, and 18:00 pm, it is 3406, 10094, 6197, 1315, and 0 w.h respectively for the whole building, while this amount in month july for the whole building at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, and 16:00 pm increases to 4780, 12983, 8360, 4295, and 866 w.h (table 9). focusing on the reception hall of the house no.5, the direct solar gain of this space in month january at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, 16 pm, and 18: pm is 776, 3555, 2418, 698, and 0 w.h (table 20). moreover, reception hall of house no. 5 has direct solar gains from 8:00 am to 15:50 pm in month of july at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 14:00 pm, and 16 pm as 1433, 4560, 3367, and 1497 w.h (table 9). table 9 direct solar gain of house no.5 (unit: w.h) (data done in ecotect, source: author) house no. 5 7:00 am january july 12:00 pm january july 14:00 pm january july 16:00 pm january july 18:00 pm january july direct solar gain (whole building) 3406 4780 10094 12983 6197 8360 1315 4295 0 866 direct solar gain (reception hall) 776 1433 3555 4560 2418 3367 698 1497 0 0 references asquith l. & vellinga m. 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(1987). our common future. oxford university press: oxford. http://www.tabriz.ir/ http://www.originlab.com/origin http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 20 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i2.757 a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis for rooftop photovoltaic systems in lightweight steel-structured industrial buildings xinyi hu1,*, junyu hu2, hong zhang1 1 school of architecture, southeast university, nanjing 210096, china 2 department of architecture, civil engineering and environmental sciences, tu braunschweig，braunschweig d-38106 ，germany *corrspoding author: xinyi hu (huxy.seu@gmail.com) abstract there is a widespread consensus that energy efficiency of buildings is an essential component of sustainable development and several kinds of renewable energy technologies have been widely used to achieve this sustainable goal. as a rapidly developing country, china’s manufacturing industry still occupies a prominent position, with a large number of industrial buildings that are also a crucial part of urban planning. compared with multi-story and high-rise commercial buildings, large industrial sheds have a much more usable roof area, where rooftop photovoltaic (pv) systems are increasingly used. however, due to the small structural margins of the lightweight steel-structured (lss) industrial buildings and the large initial investment of the thin-film pv system, few case studies are available for this kind of industrial buildings. in this research, three representative cities in china, with varying levels of solar radiation availability, are selected as typical external design factors. taking a typical lss industrial building with an added thin-film rooftop pv system as an example, a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis is conducted from environmental and economic aspects. the results of the analysis demonstrate the effectiveness of the rooftop thin-film pv system as a means to increase the energy efficiency of the lss industrial buildings. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords industrial buildings; rooftop pv system; lightweight steel-structured; cost-benefit analysis 1. introduction it is well established that construction activities consume large amounts of natural resources that cause the release of carbon dioxide, entailing immense environmental load. in order to achieve energy efficient design, sustainable buildings consider the application of renewable energy technologies (chwieduk, 2003), such as solar energy. recent research on building integrated photovoltaic (bipv) is mainly focused on the residential and office buildings. industrial buildings are composed of production plants and auxiliary buildings. the auxiliary ones include warehouses and public auxiliary buildings. the sustainable development of industrial buildings also deserves attention. in 2017, china’s industrial power consumption reached 4.5×1012 kwh, accounting for 69.4% of china’s total power consumption (national bureau of statistics of china, 2017). according to the green development plan in industry (2016-2020), the industrial structure adjustment and the industrial transformation and upgrading promotion are mainly achieved through the transformation of traditional high energy-consuming industries and the resolution of http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:huxy.seu@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 excess capacity (ministry of industry & information technology of china, 2016). the power efficiency retrofit of production processes and equipment, the collection and utilization of waste heat, and other relevant methods are applied to decrease the industrial power consumption. clean power in industry also plays a vital role in improving china’s energy structure and achieving targets for saving energy and reducing emissions. large-scale utilization of industrial plant roofs, especially the large number of light steel-structured ones, to develop distributed photovoltaic(pv) systems is a feasible and effective way to increase the proportion of clean energy generation rapidly. compared with public buildings and residential buildings, industrial ones are mostly single-story, with low building density and large flat roofs, which means that more pv system capacity can be installed with more significant potential for solar energy applications. industrial buildings themselves require large energy demand. china’s average industrial and commercial electricity price in 2019 is $109.3/mwh, higher than the residential one of $75.56/mwh (national energy administration, 2017). electricity generated by the pv systems can be employed to satisfy their own electricity demand and save power expenses. in 2017, the on-grid electricity price of pv power generation was $134.3/mwh, which was 2.5 times that of coal-fired units and 3.7 times that of hydropower (national energy administration, 2017). the additional generated power can also be sold to the public grid, creating new economic benefits for enterprises. one of the factors restricting the development of rooftop pv projects in industrial buildings is the impact of the rooftop pv module weights on the roof carrying capacity, directly affecting the safety and reliability of pv projects. the total weight of conventional glass-based pv modules with brackets is about 15-20 kg/m2, which exceeds the load margin of most lightweight steel roofs. due to the load limitation of the lightweight steel roof, the cost of developing the rooftop pv system of the existing lightweight steel-structured industrial building and the roof reinforcement is relatively high. on the other hand, steel consumption in developing the pv system of newly-built ones is significantly affected. given other uncertain factors, such as system installation costs and insufficient technology promotion, decision-makers still doubt the investment as it leads to few actual application cases. however, in recent years, the cost of solar cells and pv systems continues to shrink as lightweight pv module technology gradually matures (state grid energy research institute co., 2019). the load of flexible thin-film pv panels is only 3kg/m2, much lower than that of traditional crystalline silicon ones, which results in little impact on steel consumption. therefore, the possibility of rooftop pv system application in lightweight steel-structured industrial buildings is steadily increasing. the objective of this study is the typical single-story lightweight steel-structured industrial building. the main goal is to study the difference in life cycle carbon emissions of the objective building before and after the rooftop pv system installation, and the economic cost-benefit analysis of the pv system. through the quantificational calculation of cost and gain from the environmental and economic perspective, this paper provides reasonable suggestions for the application of rooftop pv projects in industrial buildings. figure 1 the research structure. hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 2. methodology the research conducted in this paper is a two-step procedure: (1) the design properties of the reference building should be decided (section 2.1), and three cities with high, medium, and low solar energy resources respectively are chosen according to the climate context (section 2.2); (2) before and after the rooftop pv system is installed, the life cycle carbon assessment of the industrial buildings in these three cities and life cycle economic cost-benefit of the pv system is calculated (section 2.3 & 2.4). the research structure is depicted in figure 1. 2.1. the reference scenario a reference scenario was set up for further comparative analyses, considering a building featured by basic properties. the reference object is a single-story lightweight portal framed industrial building with no crane (figure 2), the lifespan of which is assumed to be 20 years. the typical plan is 60 m×30 m, with a gross area of 1800 m2. the top height of the outer longitudinal wall is about 5.5 m, and the highest point is 7.5 m. according to functional requirements, the column spacing of the long side is 10 m, and the portal frame span is 30 m. the independent foundations under columns are adopted. the steel beams and columns are h-shaped steel with variable cross-section. the building is a new industrial building so that its thermal design and indoor design temperature of heating and cooling would meet the requirements of “unified standard for energy efficiency design of industrial buildings”(mohurd, 2017). the envelope adopts a combination of double-layer steel decks and rock wool insulation boards. the reference scenario includes the life-cycle phases evaluated using the following design conditions shown in table 1. figure 2 the envelope, structure, and simulation model of the reference building. table 1. basic properties of the reference building. construction structure lightweight steel structure (lss) height 5.5-7.5m shape coefficient 0.24 external wall u-value 0.607 [w/m2 k] roof u-value 0.533 [w/ m2 k] opening window ratio* external walls 0.08 roof 0.12 external windows glazing type clr 6+13a+6 (aluminium window frame without break) glazing u-factor 2.71 [w/m2 k] hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 23 table 1 continued hvac heating system type / energy resource central heating / anthracite-fired cogeneration, combined heat and power (chp) units cooling system type / energy resource distributed air-conditioners / electricity environmental control heating set point 16 [°c] or 60.8 [°f] cooling set point 28 [°c] or 82.4 [°f] * window ratio of external walls = area of transparent components of external walls/ total area of external walls；window ratio of roof = area of transparent components of the roof / total area of the roof. 2.2. city selection due to various geographical locations, solar radiation intensities in china are quite different. in general, the total annual solar radiation in the western region is higher than that in the eastern region, except for tibet and xinjiang, and is lower in the south than in the north. since most southern areas are foggy and rainy, located between the 30-40° north latitude, solar radiation decreases with latitude decline (solar gis, 2019; tschopp et al., 2020). there are roughly five different districts in china, divided according to the amount of solar radiation (zheng and yi, 2010). solar district i has the most abundant solar energy resources, the highest value located in the qinghai-tibet plateau with a radiation amount higher than 2,200 kwh/m2·yr. the lowest value is found in the chuan-yu region of solar district v, with about 950 kwh/m2·yr (li et al., 2014). there are five major types of climatic regions in china, which are severe cold regions, cold regions, hot summer and cold winter regions, hot summer and warm winter regions, and temperate regions, and there are different building design requirements for different climatic regions (huo et al., 2017). most areas of the solar district i, ii and iii with abundant solar energy resources belong to severe cold and cold climate areas, while solar district iv and v belong to hot summer and cold winter regions, hot summer and warm winter regions, and temperate regions. most of china’s areas and populations are concentrated in the solar district ii, iii and iv. in this study, three representative cities are selected, namely ruoqiang in xinjiang in solar district ii, dezhou in shandong in solar district iii, and nantong in jiangsu in solar district iv. figure 3 (a) global irradiance in china and selected cities (solar gis, 2019); (b) outside dry-bulb temperature, global radiation, and average rainfall of ruoqiang, dezhou, and nantong (energyplus, 2005; weather atlas, 2020). hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 the seismic design requirements and basic wind and snow loads of these three cities are similar. therefore, the difference in the amount of steel consumption for lightweight steel-structured industrial buildings can be ignored, and these cities can be used as the design contexts. the geographical location, solar energy resources and climate conditions of the selected cities are shown in figure 3. ruoqiang and dezhou belong to the cold region, while nantong belongs to the hot summer and cold winter region. 2.3. life cycle carbon emissions assessment methodology life cycle carbon emission assessment (lcco2a) considers all the carbon-equivalent emission output from a building during all five phases: materialization, transportation, on-site construction, operation, and end-of-life. the carbon emissions during raw material extraction, transportation and component manufacture period are defined as the carbon emissions during materialization period. the transportation phase in this paper consists of two processes: transporting building materials from the factory to the construction site and transporting the demolition waste from the site to the recycling factories or landfill. the end-of-life phase includes three parts, demolition, recycling, and disposal. the disposal phase is to transport the demolition waste which has been included into the calculation of the transportation phase. there is a lack of data on construction and demolition of industrial buildings, the carbon emissions which only share a little part according to the previous study (bonamente and cotana, 2015), so the calculation of these two stages is ignored in this paper. therefore, lcco2a of industrial buildings in this research is simplified as the following: 𝐶𝑂2 = 𝐶𝑂2𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 + 𝐶𝑂2𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 + 𝐶𝑂2𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝐶𝑂2𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (1) where co2 represents the carbon emission of the whole life cycle of a building (kgco2e), 𝐶𝑂2𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 , 𝐶𝑂2𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 , and 𝐶𝑂2𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 represent the carbon emissions during the materialization, transportation, and operation (kgco2e), respectively. 𝐶𝑂2𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 is the carbon credits obtained from recycling (kgco2e). 2.3.1. materialization phase analysis during the materialization phase, the amount of carbon emissions includes not only the fossil carbon emissions released during the extraction, transportation and manufacture stages, but also the process carbon emissions resulting from the chemical effects, especially the concrete manufacturing. the amount of carbon released during this phase can be determined directly as: 𝐶𝑂2𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = ∑ 𝑖 1 𝜌𝑖 𝑚𝑖 (2) where 𝜌𝑖 is the carbon emission factor for the i th type of building material (kgco2 e/unit), which can be extracted from an appropriate carbon emission database considering both fossil and process carbon emissions (mohurd, 2019). 𝑚𝑖 is the amount of the i th type of building material (kg or m3), which can be summarized from the component list of the revit model. the weight of connecting parts is estimated as the 10% of the steel. 2.3.2. transportation phase analysis the transportation phase is divided into two parts, the process when the building materials are transported from the factories to the construction site and the process of the demolished remains transported to the landfill and recycling site. the shipping distance applies the default values in the standard for building carbon emission calculation (gbt51366-2019) (mohurd, 2019). 𝐶𝑂2𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = ∑ 𝑖 1 𝑚𝑖 𝐷𝑖 𝜑 + ∑ 𝑗 1 𝑚𝑗 𝐷𝑗 𝜑 (3) where 𝑚𝑖 the amount of the i th type of building material used for construction (kg). 𝑚𝑗 is the amount of j th disposed or recycled material. 𝐷𝑖 is the transportation distance of the i th type of building material (km). the default value for hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 concrete is 40km, and 500km for other materials. 𝐷𝑗 is the transportation distance between the construction site and landfill or recycling factory of the jth type of building material (km). for the steel, aluminium and concrete which are assumed for recycling, 𝐷𝑖 is equal to 𝐷𝑗 . as for the other disposed materials, 𝐷𝑗 is assumed as 200km. 𝜑 is the carbon emission factor for transportation [kgco2e/(t·km)]. in this research, the value is assumed as 0.129 [kgco2e/(t·km)] by heavy-duty diesel trucks with load capacity of 18t. 2.3.3. operation phase analysis the energy consumption required for different industrial activities varies a lot. therefore, in this study, the carbon balance during operation phase only considers emissions from minimum space heating and cooling requirements and credits from electricity generated by the rooftop pv system and combined heat and power (chp): 𝐶𝑂2𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑇 × (𝐶𝑂2ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 + 𝐶𝑂2𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 − 𝐶𝑂2𝐶𝐻𝑃,𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 ) − ∑ 𝑡 1 𝐶𝑂2𝑃𝑉 (𝑡) (4) the annual primary energy consumption and generation are simulated by designbuilder, based on energyplus, where the labor intensity level inside the building is assumed as light labor (designbuilder software ltd, 2020). both the indoor design temperature and mechanical ventilation setting meet the current design standard (mohurd, 2017). the annual carbon emissions and credits during this phase are determined by multiplying the quantity of energy resources (coal or electricity) with its carbon-equivalent emission factor: 𝐶𝑂2ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 𝜌𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑙 𝐸ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 (5) 𝐶𝑂2𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 𝜌𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (6) 𝐶𝑂2𝐶𝐻𝑃,𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 = 𝜌𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 𝐸𝐶𝐻𝑃,𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 (7) 𝐶𝑂2𝑃𝑉 (𝑡) = 𝜌𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 𝐸𝑝𝑣 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝜎(𝑡) (8) where 𝐶𝑂2ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 and 𝐶𝑂2𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 represent the annual carbon emissions due to the heating and cooling system (kgco2e/yr). 𝐶𝑂2𝐶𝐻𝑃,𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 is the annual carbon credits from the chp unit (kgco2e/yr), while 𝐶𝑂2𝑃𝑉 (𝑡) is the carbon credits from the electricity generated from the pv system in the tth year (kgco2e). t is the building life span and is assumed as 20 years in this study. 𝐸ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 and 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 are the annual energy consumption due to heating and cooling demand (kwh/yr). 𝐸𝐶𝐻𝑃,𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 is the annual amount of power generated from the chp units (kwh/yr). 𝐸𝑃𝑉 is the theoretical amount of electricity generated by the pv system (kwh/yr). 𝜂𝑃𝑉 is the efficiency of the generation system considering losses due to conversion and dirt, which is summarized as 89.3%. 𝜎(𝑡) is the solar module efficiency in the tth year, which is 97% in the first year and decays at a rate of 0.7% every year until the end of use. t is the lifespan of the building, assumed to be 20 years in this study. 𝜌𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑙 and 𝜌𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 are the carbon emission factor of anthracite and electricity grid, with the value as 0.34 kg co2e/kwh and 0.9914 kg co2e/kwh, respectively. 2.3.4. recycling phase analysis the credits during recycling are calculated as the emission difference between the original production and reproduction after recycling. 𝐶𝑂2𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 = ∑ 𝑗 1 (1 − 𝛼𝑗 )𝜔𝑗 𝐶𝑂2𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,𝑗 (9) where 𝛼𝑗 is the ratio of carbon emissions between the reproduction and the original production of the j th building materials, calculated as 50% (mohurd, 2019). 𝐶𝑂2𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,,𝑗 and 𝜔𝑗 are the carbon emissions during materialization and recycling rate of the jth recycled material. according to the previous study, the recycling rate of the steel, rebar in concrete, and aluminum are estimated as 90%, 50%, and 95% (yan, 2011). hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 2.4. cost-benefit analysis of the pv system the two-slope roof is loaded with a flexible thin-film pv system of 128.4kw. its economic cost-benefit analysis, similar to the aforementioned lcco2a, includes three phases: the initial investment phase, the operation phase, and the demolition phase. there are obvious investment and income variables in the first two stages, and the third one is the estimated cost of dismantling and recycling after 20 years. considering that this project is a distributed pv project with a small installed capacity, and currently china’s pv panel recycling technology is not mature enough, the calculation of the third phase is eligible in this study. therefore, the cost-benefit analysis of the pv system can be based on the following formula: 𝐵𝑃𝑉 = ∑ 𝑡 1 𝐵𝑜𝑝(𝑡) − 𝐶𝑜𝑝 − 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡 (10) where 𝐵𝑃𝑉 is the total benefit of the rooftop pv system during the 20-year life cycle ($), 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡 is the initial investment, 𝐶𝑜𝑝 and 𝐵𝑜𝑝 are the cost and benefit during the operation phase ($). 2.4.1. initial investment the initial construction costs include the equipment procurement cost, design and installation fees, and other subcharges. it is generally calculated by multiplying the installed capacity by the cost per unit of installed capacity: 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡 = 𝑊 × 𝐶𝑤 (11) where w is the installed capacity of the pv system (kw). 𝐶𝑤 is the unit cost of the system ($/w), which is the summarized cost of the sub-items in table 3. table 2. cost breakdowns of the industrial distributed pv system (manman, 2019; patel, 2020) sub-item cost ($/w) category sub-item cost ($/w) category solar module 0.650 equipment procurement design fee 0.029 design inverter 0.055 engineering insurance 0.007 installation and debugging combiner box 0.017 system debugging 0.017 dc/ac cable 0.036 installation fee 0.080 monitoring system 0.043 others 0.014 total 0.948 2.4.2. cost and benefit during the operation phase the system’s operation cost includes annual maintenance and insurance fees, as well as the replacement cost of the inverter in the 10th year. the self-generation of power is firstly supplied for self-use, and surplus power is sold to the public grid. the benefits are divided into three parts: state subsidies for pv power, the cost savings of self-use electricity, and the revenue of on-grid surplus power. 𝐶𝑜𝑝 = 𝑇 × 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡 × (𝛽𝑚 + 𝛽𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟 ) + 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡 × 𝛽𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟 (12) 𝐵𝑜𝑝 (𝑡) = 𝑃𝑠𝑢𝑏 × ∑ 𝑡 1 𝐸𝑃𝑉 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝜎(𝑡) + 𝑃𝑥 × 𝑇 × 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 + 𝑃𝑦 × ∑ 𝑡 1 [𝐸𝑃𝑉 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝜎(𝑡) − 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ] (13) hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 𝛽𝑚, 𝛽𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟 , and 𝛽𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟 represent the system maintenance rate, insurance rate, and inverter replacement rate, which are 1.20%, 0.25%, and 8.56%, respectively. 𝑃𝑠𝑢𝑏 , 𝑃𝑥 , and 𝑃𝑦 are the state subsidy, general industrial electricity price, and feed-in tariffs for pv power in ruoqiang, dezhou, and nantong, the value of which are presented in the table 4. table 3. the state subsidy, industrial electricity price, and on-grid price of pv generation in three typical cities. general industrial electricity price ($/kwh) feed-in tariffs for pv power ($/kwh) state subsidy ($/kwh) ruoqiang 0.066 0.057 0.014 dezhou 0.094 0.064 nantong 0.100 0.079 3. results and discussion 3.1. results of the life cycle carbon emissions assessment in this paper, process-based analysis is applied to obtain detailed results presented in figures 4-6, respectively. the embodied carbon amounts and distribution of each raw material for the reference building are presented in table 4 and figure 4. 1136 tons of concrete is used to construct the building, which corresponds to about 89% of the overall weights of the building. most of the embodied carbon emissions are contributed from steel with five types (50.04%), concrete (30.70%), and mineral wool (14.53%), and the remaining is the materials used for skylights and windows. the higher amount of embodied carbon for steel and concrete compared to other materials is due to the larger volume of steel and concrete. electrolytic aluminum is a high-carbon emission industry. however, due to the low density of aluminum, the total weight of the aluminum window frames used is small and its carbon emissions only account for 0.03%. table 4. the embodied carbon emissions of different materials used in the reference building. components type of building material mass (kg) carbon emissions (kgco2 e/m2 floor) columns, beams, wind columns hot-rolled carbon h steel 32734.50 42.74 column bracing and roof horizontal bracing hot-rolled carbon steel bar 5573.50 7.25 purlins cold-rolled carbon steel coil 14836.50 20.85 external walls and roof, shutter doors hot-galvanized carbon steel coil 26974.58 46.61 independent foundations hot rolled carbon steel rebar 1470.90 1.91 connecting parts 5314.45 7.08 independent foundations and the floor with apron concrete c30 1135752.00 77.56 skylights and windows aluminum 7.45 0.08 glass 18939.60 11.89 insulation material mineral wool board 33364.13 36.70 note: the density of mineral wool board used in the reference building is 180 kg/m3 . hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 figure 4 carbon emissions of different materials used during the production phase. the heating demand is satisfied by the anthracite-fired chp units with heat and power production simultaneously, offering a number of environmental benefits over traditional heating methods, particularly other fossil fuels. as shown in the below figure 5 and figure 6, ruoqiang and dezhou are located in the cold region, with the annual heating demand and chp power generation higher than that of nantong. this latterre is located in hot summer and cold winter regions, where the carbon emissions increase significantly in july and august due to cooling devices. for these three cities, the carbon credits obtained from chp generation are smaller than carbon emissions during winter months (from january to march and from october to december). no heating demand in other seasons means that there is no extra carbon credit from chp generation. but with the pv system installed, as shown in figure 6, the buildings will gain carbon credits all year around. the monthly carbon credits obtained from chp and pv generation are even bigger than carbon emissions from heating or cooling. figure 7 presents the life-cycle carbon balance of the reference buildings with or without the pv systems in three typical cities. due to climate differences, the carbon emissions during the operation phase vary a lot in the three cities. the proportion of carbon emissions during materialization, transportation, and operation is 11.71%, 0.71%, and 87.57%, respectively in ruoqiang. this proportion is 13.97%, 0.85%, and 85.18% in dezhou. while it changes to 24.34%, 1.48%, and 74.18% in nantong. without the pv system, the carbon emissions in three cities are all bigger than credits from chp generation. if the pv system is installed, the buildings will be converted into more environmentally friendly ones. the carbon balance is achieved by pv power generation alone, with the values of 2222 kgco2e/m 2, 1999 kgco2e/m 2, and 1706 kgco2e/m 2 in ruoqiang, dezhou, and nantong. figure 5 monthly carbon emissions and credits during the operation phase. hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 figure 6 monthly net carbon emissions during the operation phase. figure 7 life-cycle carbon balance of the buildings with or without pv systems. 3.2. cost-benefit analysis of pv system taking into account the decay rate of pv systems, the actual total power generation of the buildings in ruoqiang, dezhou, and nantong within 20 years is 4000mwh, 3599mwh, and 3071mwh, respectively. figure 8 shows the distribution of the life-cycle pv generation power and the corresponding share of revenues. the building in nantong has the largest proportion of self-use electricity at 21.12%, with electricity savings accounting for 21.68% of the total revenue. the self-use proportion of the building in dezhou (16.08%) is slightly smaller than that of ruoqiang (17.21%). however, ruoqiang’s industrial electricity price is lower, resulting in the proportion of cost savings in dezhou (18.25%) more significant than ruoqiang (15.66%). during the whole life-cycle, the annual cumulative cost and benefits are shown in figure 9. the initial investment is $121,723. except for the additional inverter replacement in the 10th year, the annual fixed cost during the operation period is $1,765. the net profits of the ruoqiang, dezhou, and nantong pv projects are $122,747, $130,621, and $131,810, respectively. the specific costs and benefits are shown in table 5. in the 20-year cycle, the initial investment accounts for about 72.70% of the total cost, and the profit margin is 42.30-44.05%. the net profit of pv projects was firmly related to the initial investment cost. the simple payback period of the project in ruoqiang is 10 years, and that of dezhou and nantong are 9 years, which means that the revenues expend the cost or reach the breakeven point at this time. the ruoqiang area has the best solar resources among the selected cities with the largest power generation and state subsidies. however, due to the low industrial electricity price and low on-grid price of pv power, the net profit in the whole cycle is the smallest and the payback period is the longest. therefore, the net profit of pv projects is not positively correlated with local solar radiation. hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 figure 8 the distribution of the life-cycle pv generation power and revenues. figure 9 annual cumulative cost-benefit analysis. table 5. life-cycle cost-benefit analysis of the reference buildings in selected cities 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕 ($) 𝑪𝒐𝒑 ($) total cost ($) state subsidies ($) savings of selfuse ($) revenues of surplus power ($) gross revenues ($) net profits ($) ruoqiang 121723 45719 167442 55999 45436 188754 290189 122747 dezhou 50383 54395 193286 298064 130621 nantong 42998 64873 191381 299253 131810 4. conclusion a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis of a typical lightweight steel structure industrial building is conducted. the aim of this study is to quantitatively analyze the effects of applying the rooftop thin-film pv system on this kind of buildings from both environmental and economic aspects and provide reasonable suggestions for decision-makers. in terms of environmental loading, the total carbon credits from pv systems of the reference buildings in three typical cities with different solar radiation intensities balance the carbon emissions throughout the life cycle. during the operation phase, the monthly carbon revenue generated by chp units and pv systems is greater than the emissions due to heating and cooling. as for the absence of pv systems, the carbon revenues from the chp production and material recycling of the reference buildings in selected cities are less than the total carbon emissions. in terms of economic benefits, the profit margin of this pv project in three cities is 42.30-44.05%, with the payback period 9-10 years. because of the different industrial tariffs of electricity and on-grid prices of pv generation in different regions, the net profit of the project and the abundance of solar energy resources is not a positive correlation, where various influencers, such as construction environment, state policy and market price, should be considered. hu/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 taken together, these findings suggest a positive role for the application of rooftop thin-film pv projects for the lightweight steel structure industrial buildings from both environmental and economic perspectives, which provides reasonable references for decision-makers. it would be interesting to compare the environmental and economic benefits of lower-priced silicon solar panels applied to the reference building with some structural reinforcement, to those of the thin-film solar panels, as part of a future research. references bonamente, e., & cotana, f. 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(2011). research of energy consumption and co2 emission of buildings in zhejiang province based on life cycle assessment. zhejiang university: hangzhou, china. zheng, w., yi, r., (2010). utilization and development of solar energy industry in china. resources & industries, 12(2), 89-92. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 37 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i1.716 critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving for improving education performance – case study thermal retrofit to ensure health and wellbeing of historic built environment in lebanon khaled el-daghar 1 1 assistant professor beirut arab university, faculty of architecture – design and built environment tripoli branch, lebanon e-mail: k.eldaghar@bau.edu.lb abstract the global ecological crisis is an indispensable issue that needs to be solved. the importance of developing critical thinking and communication skills in teaching-learning methods will help to enhance education performance; as well, the students would become informed participants in environmental decision-making. lebanon is suffering from multiple ecological problems due to the environmental mismanagement, particularly energy problems. for this reason, training the lebanese students mainly in architecture schools should to think critically about environmental issues, and using collaborative problem-solving as one of teaching-learning methods and techniques, which will be directly reflected in finding solutions to the problem under investigation. the researcher aims to experiment and apply this method in a history of architecture class at faculty of architecture, to improve the environmental quality of health and wellbeing in historical built environment. this will increase the awareness for conservation aspects of architectural heritage in students, on the one hand. in addition to spread the spirit of teamwork, to facilitate the concept of integrated design process between the different disciplines when practicing professional life, on the other hand. therefore, the study aims to produce a new methodology for integrating teaching-learning method in architecture, presenting various international attempts of thermal retrofit in historical built environment, guiding the architectural students to follow the same approach of such projects, which will save energy in a country that has a major problem in electricity. the case study is based on a real problem in a realistic situation in tripoli old souks at north lebanon, in which the instructor and the students will analyze and propose some solutions of building thermal retrofit within this historical context, using collaborative problem-solving strategy that could clarifying its reversal extent on the validity of health and wellbeing with the continuity of conserving the architectural heritage. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords critical thinking; collaborative problem-solving; education performance; thermal retrofit; historic built environment 1. introduction the global ecological crisis is an indispensable issue that needs to be solved. in his article examining development education in testing times, fielder (2009) says that people are craving good news in times of global crises, but to http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 have honest good news has become a scarce luxury, especially to someone working in the area of developmental education and global justice. hence, a developmental education response to the current crisis has to be framed as an educational perspective that accounts for the seriousness of the current economic state. unfortunately, the crisis has affected people on a subconscious level where people's confidence in the political, social and economic system in which they grew up has been radically put into doubt by reality. this crisis has opened our eyes to reconsidering the ways we do things, live our lives and – as educators – teach, learn and think about the world. thus, critical thinking skills should be developed in the curricula to help educators and students solve problems because our learners will need not only to anticipate and figure out what the problem is, but also have the skills, confidence, knowledge and interpersonal/management capabilities to be able to deal with problems as they arise. for this reason, teachers' professional and personal concerns are considered crucial factors that will bring about the change (peacock 2009). collier believes that "to build a unity of purpose, thinking needs to change, not just within the development agencies but among the wider electorates whose views shape what is possible. without an informed electorate, politicians will continue to use the bottom billion merely for photo opportunities rather than promoting real transformation" (collier 2008: xii). the teaching-learning methods or active learning techniques enhances the students' knowledge and understanding of the course content, thence, developing friendships and networks through active learning course activities could also assist students in establishing a certain identity in the social communities of their universities. active learning methods are specific educational techniques that are related to the skills of the instructor(s) and the way they deal with the students. through active learning techniques, students can produce wide variations in quality and educational objectives that can be achieved, such as project-based learning, problem-based learning, research-based learning, problem-solving, simulation-based learning, design-build, etc. (braxton et al. 2000; donnelly & fitzmaurice 2005). because our environmental crisis is due to the inability of humans to think about ecological patterns, systems of causation and long-term effects of human actions, ecological literacy should be included in education (orr 1994), especially in architecture. fortunately, individuals with ecological awareness have started to prefer nature-friendly products as they gain awareness of an ecological life. öztürk-demirbaş (2015) maintains that building one's life on ecological values is only possible through raising awareness about the subject through education. in his article, teaching eco-literacy during a period of uncertainty, peacock (2009) addresses the difficulty of developing an appropriate eco-literacy curriculum, and suggests that key skills and attitudes are needed, including respect for evidence, understanding risk and predictability in relation to ethics, and communication skills and action competence. the study also contributes to a broader understanding for the practice of thermal retrofit of historic and heritage buildings, in order to improve environmental quality in historical built environment, where the students with the aid of their instructor analyze and propose some solutions of building thermal retrofit within the historical context using collaborative problem-solving strategy. however, more future studies using quantitative methods as tools of measurement, simulation and development to prove the effectiveness of these solutions should be considered. 2. improving education performance techniques 2.1. critical thinking and communication skills the importance of developing critical thinking and communication skills in teaching eco-literacy will help the students become informed participants in environmental decision-making. thus, the goal is to train students to think critically about environmental issues, and there is a wide variety of critical thinking approaches that can profitably be brought to bear on environmental issues. six critical skills that underlie critical thinking in the environmental science can be identified, as follows (yurtoğlu 2018): 1. healthy skepticism and awareness of political and social biases in oneself and within the environmental science. 2. familiarity with and willingness to use simple quantitative reasoning to tackle unfamiliar problems. 3. ability to use simple models to formalize thinking about unfamiliar problems. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 4. effective use of what you already know to tackle new problems, especially an awareness of how just a few basic scientific laws help clarify problems. 5. understanding of how variability influences what we know and what we can know about the world around us. 6. ability to think quickly and informally about scientific claims, and especially developing an effective ability to say "that makes sense" or "that sounds implausible" when presented with quantitative estimates. when students in architecture schools apply these skills, they are not only pinpointing the problem but also finding a solution for the problem, which is considered a target in education. thus, it is important to think critically and try to find variable solutions for the environmental problems. having a new generation of critical thinkers will be reflected in a bunch of decisions that are made to protect our environment (peacock 2009; yurtoğlu 2018). there are many practical applications for ecology in critical thinking and communication skills. there has been a high emphasis on literacy in the primary phase in recent years, though in the uk this has tended to focus on reading and writing, to the detriment of listening and speaking. such skills are crucial in relation to what has been called action competence, i.e. the skills needed to get things done and achieve change (peacock 2009). this proves that literacy in ecology can be acquired through presenting the material and exposing the students to texts, audios, videos, presentations, etc… and discussing these issues whether in writing or in speaking. this will familiarize the students with the terms that are related to the environment and enrich their knowledge in the area (yurtoğlu 2018). the ever-increasing consumption, use of pesticides and egocentric behaviors in people's lives ruin everything natural. to choose the natural and minimize the individual consumption is the essence of ecological life (yuce 2018). unfortunately, our world is changing in many ways that threaten the sustainability of life on earth where human activity is considered as the major corruptor of this planet (zeunert 2017). ecologists believe that an ecosystem approach is essential for addressing the environmental issues facing our world today. not only should the scientific community understand this, but also managers, policy makers, teachers/instructors, and citizens must grasp the concepts of ecosystem function for environmental change. sadly, there is a gap in society's understanding of ecosystems (maybin 2006; zeunert 2017). to see the world from an environmental lens, ecological literacy is needed. thus, we need to go beyond text books and engage learners in the real world of ecosystems where it will combine research and education to help address threatening concerns facing our society. ecological literacy highlights the interrelationship between ecology, economy, and society. it places humans as central parts of ecosystems and recognizes the effects of relations between humans and other species. therefore, it is crucial that our society develops a new understanding and a new awareness of human's relation to his environment (maybin 2006; yuce 2018). 2.2. collaborative problem-solving methods collaboration is a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit. collaboration enables individuals to work together to achieve a defined and common business purpose; collaboration concept is "the way a team plays as a whole determines its success. you may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime" (babe ruth, legendary baseball player; 1895-1948). it exists in two forms: synchronous; where everyone interacts in real time, as in live sessions or online meetings through instant messaging and/or via skype, and asynchronous; where the interaction can be time-shifted, as when uploading documents or annotations to shared workspaces (slimani et al. 2006). one of the principal differences of the process is that the architect is not simply the form-giver, but an active participant in exploring alternative ideas within a broader team of experts who play active roles earlier in the process, "everyone is a co-learner in the process" (bill reed, sefc idp workshop; april 2006). in particular, there is collaborative problem-solving and collaborative decision-making between building technology system designers/professionals (as shown as figure 1), rather than team members simply taking their assignments away to work on and bringing them back to be re-integrated. it has been proposed by some that integrated design process (idp) could be equally called integrated decision-making (zimmerman 2011). el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 40 figure 1: integrated building technology system designers/professionals (author) collaborative team members often work in parallel, with different distributed and heterogeneous architecture/engineering tools around the world. concurrent architecture brings new ways of organizing design and execution/manufacturing activities, inducing deep modifications such as the concurrent realization of product life cycle tasks. this approach emphasizes the integration of all the disciplines that contribute to the project development, beginning in the earlier design activity so that important decisions are made considering the entire project life cycle (as shown as figure 2). concurrent architecture/engineering practices are applied to reduce time and improve the performance as a whole (slimani et al. 2006). figure 2: phases of idp project life cycle (author) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 architects/engineers have long understood the performance benefits of collaborative problem-solving and integrated design process. when the whole design team works closely in early design, the result is often reflected on wellbeing (as shown as figure 3); big reductions in energy use, better daylight performance, and improved thermal comfort, often without increasing capital cost that lead to more control over design as following (slimani et al. 2006; zimmerman 2011): 1. capital cost savings. 2. improved project delivery. 3. improved architect/engineer workflow. 4. improved occupant wellbeing. figure 3: benefits of collaborative problem-solving and integrated design process on improve wellbeing (author) integrated design process in construction projects creates a foundation for increasing efficiency, by good communication, transparency, and a focus on the overall project delivery method (as shown as figure 4). this design is considered as game-changing design solutions that greatly benefit owners and result in more fulfilling outcomes for all team members involved (slimani et al. 2006): ▪ iterative nature: one of the biggest benefits of the integrated design process is that it eliminates random acts of design (rad). ▪ minimizes the risk: with integrated design system, companies take the risk of guaranteed price and ensure that the client's project does not go penny over the assigned budget. ▪ design from a developed perspective: owner's project requirements (opr) documents the top priority list for any successfully integrated design process. ▪ cost-shift investment: project teams often try to overcome the challenge by cutting areas that have a more long-term impact. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 42 figure 4: integrated design process in construction projects delivery (author) collaborative problem-solving facilitate integrated project delivery (ipd) to open communication and build trust in the relationship, as collaborators discover that all are working together for a shared outcome. this increases the joint commitment in the relationships and in the organization. it also indicates a commitment in helping others in order to reach their goals and objectives, also to improve everyone's performance in the development of the project (as shown as figure 5). moreover, collaborative communication encourages in finding creative solutions. this increases the likelihood that others will take the ownership of an issue and its solution (daigle et al. 1996; zimmerman 2011). figure 5: integrated project delivery (ipd) behavior (author) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 43 the national science foundation nsf (1994) task force report states that the ability to work in groups is an expected skill of graduates. although the recent curriculum documents call for such activities, the recommendation for the early use of groups is often ignored. choosing a collaborative approach in education is a departure from the traditional model of the controlled, as lecture-driven classroom is familiar to most instructors and students. collaborative approach contrasts with the traditional approach in terms of the attributes of each. the traditional approach is characterized by: competition, focus on one's own work, destructive criticism of others, manipulation of the system for one's benefit, and a general lack of trust. the collaborative approach is characterized by: cooperation, compromise, flexibility or roles, trust and respect of others, questions as well as constructive criticism, and group problem-solving (daigle, et al. 1996). the use of groups and teams is not without perceived disadvantages; macgregor (1992) identifies seven belief shifts that must take place to enter into such a collaborative problem-solving learning environment (daigle, et al. 1996; fiedler 2009): 1. from listener, observer, and note taker to active problem solver, contributor, and discussant; 2. from low or moderate expectations of class preparation to high ones; 3. from a low-risk, private presence in the classroom to a public one with many risks; 4. from attendance dictated by personal choice to attendance dictated by community expectations; 5. from competition with peers to collaboration with them; 6. from responsibilities and self-definition associated with learning independently to learning interdependently; 7. from notions that teachers and texts are the sole sources of authority and knowledge to the notion that peers, oneself, and one's community are additional and important sources of authority and knowledge. students and instructors must be guided in making this transition to overcome the bias for the traditional approach. the use of groups often results in greater time demands. these collaborative skills do not occur spontaneously. research has shown that process related issues of group activities consume as much faculty time as issues related to course content. dysfunctional group behavior often occurs when members have not mastered a common problemsolving strategy or are not synchronized among the members. another major concern is that of accountability. slavin (1990), cautions that both group goals and individual accountability are essential in a collaborative environment. the influence of individual psychological types in group situations also is a potential source of communication dysfunction if not properly managed. thus the individual psychological types of team members influence the effectiveness of teams applying formal problem-solving methodologies (daigle, et al. 1996; peacock 2009). learning is more active and more effective when students work in peer groups to develop problem solutions and reach the results. the instructor cannot leave the use of collaboration to chance, but must establish an environment conducive to collaboration and encourage the student's transition from passive listener to active contributor. the instructor should create a "culture" in which groups can succeed. therefore, the instructor's responsibility is to train, guide, and manage the activities of the groups. curricula documents call for the use of groups; researches demonstrate the benefits of collaborative learning environments. however, individual skills, especially problem-solving skills, cannot be sacrificed for a collaborative approach (daigle, et al. 1996; wiersma & henry 2005). the main theoretical basis for designing the collaborative problem-solving (cps) learning goals, which proposed by the organization for economic co-operation development (oecd) are obtaining inter-correlations for the students' performance to assess the overall collaborative problem-solving skills, which could be as follows (daigle et al. 1996; wiersma & henry 2005; fiedler 2009): 1. establishing and maintaining shared understandings. 2. taking appropriate action to solve the problem. 3. establishing and maintaining team organization. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 44 an integrated team in an integrated design studio offers distinct advantages when compared to the traditional project team. if, as zimmerman says, "the future of building design is found in idp", then a better future for the idp is found in the activities of an integrated design studio (wiersma & henry 2005; zimmerman 2011). unfortunately few teams possess these attributes (as shown as figure 6). for example, some team members may work more than others or complete entire projects by themselves, but their efforts go unnoticed. this scenario can lead to workplace conflicts, frustration and loss of motivation (slimani et al. 2006). figure 6: successful teamwork's key attributes (author) 3. thermal retrofit in historical built environment 3.1. thermal retrofit impact on health and wellbeing the term built environment, or built world, refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings to parks. it has been defined as the human-made space in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis. the built environment encompasses places and spaces created or modified by people including buildings, parks, and transportation systems. in recent years, public health research has expanded the definition of built environment to include healthy food access, community gardens, and mental health. within the field of public health, built environments are referred to as building or renovating areas in an effort to improve the community's wellbeing through construction of aesthetically, health improved, and environmentally improved landscapes and living structures (hensel 2010; aelenei et al. 2011). thermal comfort according to the american society of heating, refrigerating and air-conditioning engineers (ashrae) is "that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation". there are two main approaches to thermal comfort: the steady-state model and the adaptive model. the adaptive model is mainly based on the theory of the human bodies adapting to its outdoor and indoor climate. in addition to three adaptive thermal comfort standards that are comprehensively reviewed: the american ashrae 55-2010 standard, the european en15251 standard, and the dutch atg guideline. although thermal sensitivity varies from one person to another, according to age, gender, activity, cultural habits, etc., the basic principles behind thermal comfort are largely universal (taleghani et al. 2013). thermal comfort is experienced via number of conscious interactions between three personal and environmental factors: physiological: the way our bodies work and interact with our environment; physical: the main parameters of the environment around us (air temperature, air humidity, air movement, and room surface temperature); socio psychological: the way we feel as a whole (tired, stressed, happy, etc.) and the kind of social environment we live in (taleghani et al. 2013; du et al. 2015). thermal retrofit have received increased attention in recent years as a result of constant concerns for energy supply constraints, decreasing energy resources, increasing energy costs and rising impact of greenhouse gases on world climate. promoting whole, building strategies that employ passive measures with energy efficient systems and technologies using renewable energy (torcellini 2006; aelenei et al. 2012; du et al. 2015). what was not identified in any of the studies was the need for assessing the impacts of building retrofit measures on occupant health and wellbeing. for example were there any changes in indoor air quality and also thermal comfort, and how did they affect the building and subsequently the occupants themselves? are occupants healthier post retrofit, or have they experienced any health issues? of particular concern is the highest exposure for wind driven rain and therefore any retrofit measures of insulation to the exterior façade could have unintended consequences of moisture crossing the exterior face onto the interior face of exterior walls. as a result this potential moisture ingress can impact upon internal https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/steady-state-model el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 45 occupant comfort. therefore, thermal retrofit is seeking to improve the monitoring and evidential base of information in relation to the impact of retrofit energy efficiency measures in relation to general health and wellbeing, the improvements in energy performance and reductions in carbon emissions, and thus alleviation from fuel poverty and impacts upon health and wellbeing for occupants (sartori 2012; wimmers 2012; littlewood et al. 2017). the impacts of retrofits on health and wellbeing varied by buildings, mainly including: 1) full facade (including the base) thermal insulation (usually 20-30 cm of expanded polystyrene eps or in some cases mineral wool on external walls); 2) roof thermal insulation (solar collectors were installed on the top of the roof in some cases); 3) improving heating and hot water systems (e.g., replacement of heating system trunk pipelines with new ones, new thermal insulation for piping system); 4) improving ventilation and heat recovery systems (e.g., new fans in attics/roofs; installation of adjustable air vents on the top part of the plastic windows; 5) replacement of old windows with more efficient windows, glazing of balconies or terraces, replacement of doors, etc. (du et al. 2015; littlewood et al. 2017). 3.2. thermal retrofit of heritage and historic buildings retrofitting means; providing something with a component or feature not fitted during manufacture or adding something that it did not have when first constructed, while energy retrofit is recognized as a measure to help with protection of heritage by providing healthy indoor environments that can have a longer lifespan. retrofits in places of cultural and historical significance are often described as a balancing act between optimization and conservation of original features. the concept of thermal retrofit considers upgrades to energy efficiency and thermal comfort, in the building stock does not provide adequate indoor comfort conditions (besen & boarin 2018). thermal retrofit of historic and heritage buildings or improve environmental quality in historical built environment can take place when the buildings have elapsed useful life or are reaching their end of useful life (as shown as figure 7&8), and it take place in three conditions; conversion of heritage buildings, adaptation of building's function, and reconstruction of damaged buildings. (el-darwish & gomaa 2017): figure 7: christchurch cathedral after the earthquakes in 2011 (telegraph 2011) figure 8: urm building on barbados st. damaged after the earthquake (schwede66 2011) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 46 the improvement of envelope thermal insulations, lighting and glazing, where thermal performance of a building relies on its ability to resist air penetration as well as its ability to prevent heat exchange through structure. therefore, if retrofit is applied on energy efficient retrofit methods at the building envelopes, annual fuel cost would be reduced approximately one-third of the current situation of the building. also, off-the-shelf thermal upgrade measures with suitable attention to detail to design, specification and installation can realize the reduction in u-values anticipated, and hence it can significantly reduce heat requirements for space and in term co2 emissions. as well by envelope retrofit, efficient solar protection, high thermal inertia, and hybrid ventilation strategies; in addition to domestic water heating, photovoltaic panels and solar thermal air conditioning (a combined strategy of retrofit) achieved up to 83% total reduction in electric energy demand. thus, building retrofit objectives can be recognized as follow (el-darwish & gomaa 2017; besen & boarin 2018): ▪ make buildings more thermal efficient and sustainable. ▪ help cut carbon emissions. ▪ contribute to overcoming poor ventilation and damp problems, therefore improving the health of occupants. ▪ improved energy efficiency. ▪ increased staff productivity. ▪ reduced maintenance costs. ▪ decrease 40% of total energy consumption. ▪ increase building adaptability, durability and resiliency. ▪ improve amenities for the building's occupants and improve the performance of the building. hence, building and environmental conditions from outdoor to indoor, whose variation may influence the intercoupled variables (as shown as figure 9), are outdoor air temperature, solar radiation in environmental conditions; radiation cooling/heating and ventilation type in hvac systems; internal heat gains and schedule of occupancy and operating conditions; wall, ceiling, floor and window to wall ratio's (wwr) of building envelope properties; and finally floor area and ceiling height in building size can determine the whole building thermal and indoor airflow behaviors, whereas individual characteristics may have distinctive influence (el-darwish & gomaa 2017): figure 9: environmental variables that can affect the interior of buildings (les bodwell 2012) thus, thermal comfort that plays a major role in energy consumption can be achieved through adding slight modifications to previously constructed buildings, and by the use of the following selected issues based on their efficiency and feasibility for retrofit (el-darwish & gomaa 2017; li et al. 2017): 1. insulation and thermal bridge. 2. air tightness and infiltration. 3. window glazing. 4. solar shading. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 47 4. methodology architectural heritage is a valuable asset and its adaptation to future is an important aspect that contributes to its preservation. this paper has provided an overview on issues and opportunities related to thermal retrofit of historic built environment generally, and heritage buildings in lebanon particularly, providing the basis for subsequent stages of this research. the study will handle the great importance of developing critical thinking and communication skills in teaching-learning methods and strategies, in addition, to collaborative problem-solving methods to improve education performance. the research depends on a systematic methodology via reviewing the thermal retrofit in historical built environment. moreover, it will illustrate thermal retrofit impact on health and wellbeing, especially in heritage and historic buildings. the paper concludes with a realistic case study (thermal retrofit of tripoli old souks, north lebanon) in which the proposed "interactive" teaching-learning strategy in architectural education has been trilled. this strategy suggests a framework based on critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving methods in four phases: analyze the historical built environment of the study area (tripoli old souks in north lebanon) in different historical periods, identify the problem of the study that can negatively affect lebanon, review in international attempts of thermal retrofit in historical built environment, and finally an application of thermal retrofit in the study area (students' final submission), to enhance health and wellbeing with preserving the cultural and architectural heritage, in addition to, the context image and social activities of these historical built environment. the experiment was conducted in beirut arab university, tripoli branch, lebanon on a mandatory course (history of architecture iii) for faculty of architecture design & built environment students. the sample was 27 students of the 3rd level that were attending the fall semester, academic year (2019-2020). 5. case study critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving to improve education performance for the purposes of this paper, the researcher is considering the group activity involved in critical thinking accompanied with collaborative problem-solving as part of architecture students' education in beirut arab university on a particular course (history of architecture iii, 3rd year students). specific intervention will be implemented to improve environmental quality in historical built environment (thermal retrofit for old souks of tripoli, north lebanon), which will increase the awareness for the students of health, and wellbeing aspects and its impacts on conservation aspects of architectural heritage. in addition to, spread the spirit of teamwork to facilitate the concept of integrated design process between the different disciplines, which will expose them to a real problem in a realistic situation. this teaching-learning method will be experimented through four phases: the first is an archival review to analyze the historical built environment of the study area (tripoli old souks in north lebanon) at different historical periods. the second is an analytical review to identify the problem of the study. the third is an identical review for international attempts of thermal retrofit in historical built environment. the fourth is an application of thermal retrofit in the study area with the continuity of conserving the architectural heritage to ensure health and wellbeing of historic built environment in lebanon. as a result of the interactive strategy in architectural education and by comparing the outcomes before and after assessment of students' level, it is obvious that applying critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving increased the environmental awareness for the students, which is completely distinct from the ordinary methods on research activity, where it becomes clear after this experiment a radical change in students activity occur, the way of thinking, outputs, solutions and proposals that were distinguished in greater depth. 5.1. phase i (analyzing the historical built environment of the study area in lebanon) the instructor with the third-year students divided into groups illustrates and analyzes the historical built environment of the study area (tripoli old souks in north lebanon). tripoli is considered as lebanon's second capital. it is situated 85 km north of beirut along the mediterranean coast; the city was founded on the mediterranean seaside during the 14th century bce. it was not until the middle age that tripoli became a city with two poles: the marine city (el-mina); original site of tripoli, and the medina; currently the mamluk core (tripoli old souks). in 1289 the mamluk conquered the crusader city that was situated on the peninsula and razed it to the ground and built a city at the foot of el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 the crusader citadel along the abu ali river, around 3 km to the west. this strong structure can clearly be seen as a form of historic built environment that largely determines cultural and architectural heritage (ginzarly & teller 2016). in 1953 the directorate general of antiquity (dga) in lebanon asked unesco to conduct an urban study about the mamluk core in tripoli. they identified 44 monuments that should be conserved. moreover, the survey was very punctual and was centered on specific buildings treating them as frozen icons that stand alone in the architectural heritage without looking at different social and spatial relationships between the built and the natural environment. the selection of listed buildings was mainly based on age, function, and architectural characteristics of the buildings. selected buildings are religious and public buildings include the citadel, churches, mosques, khans, schools, and public baths. the mission recognized the historical significance of residential houses and their role in constituting the specific character of the city but it did not include these in the list. in 1955 under the surveillance of the association for the preservation of the archaeological heritage of tripoli a new heritage survey was conducted. this time the scope of heritage was extended to include sites, comprising cemeteries, gardens, residential blocks, and pedestrian commercial streets. this time the early ottoman developments outside the boundary of the mamluk core had its portion of listed monuments (al-harithy 2005; ginzarly & teller 2016). 5.2. phase ii (identifying the problem of the study in lebanon) thence, the instructor with the students starts to study and identify the scope of the problem, as lebanon is suffering from multiple environmental problems due to the environmental mismanagement. ngos, education, and the government are trying to raise the awareness of the lebanese people. unfortunately, this is not sufficient and is not reflected in their practices. the energy crisis in lebanon is one of the most problems that need to be solved. although the lebanese people are suffering from the lack of electricity, yet they scarcely try to find ecological solutions in their buildings. international studies show that thermal retrofit of buildings will be an effective solution for both the government and the citizens. thus, the application of such projects will be an efficient solution for the energy crisis that is facing lebanon (khoury & khoury 2011; ginzarly & teller 2016). for this reason, architects are considered an essential part of the solution i.e. increasing their attention to thermal retrofit will be positively reflected in finding solutions regarding this crisis, and will also improve the built environment, where the problem facing lebanon after the civil war is concerning the ecological issues. lebanese students in higher education and architecture schools programs are normally not even familiar with the term sustainability except some universities. moreover, research proved that a handful of ngos, global corporations, local businesses and the ministry of the environment are currently addressing ecological issues in lebanon but on a surface level (khoury & khoury 2011). 5.3. phase iii (international attempts of thermal retrofit in historical built environment) then, the instructor and the participant groups began to study different international attempts of thermal retrofit in historical built environment. one of the international attempts was the jama masjid in the kalbadevi neighborhood near crawford market at the south mumbai region in india. the construction of the mosque started initially in 1775 with rising of foundations on the tank (water reservoir) that was situated at this site in the midst of gardens and open land. the date of a one-story building completion (ad 1802 / ah 1217) and was erected over the tank and formed the original nucleus of the present jama mosque. a top floor was added with the munificence of a prominent konkani merchant mohammad ali roghay in 1814. the thermal retrofit of mumbai mosque decreased electricity bill by 67% (as shown as figure 10). it saved 35 tons of carbon dioxide (co2) a year and switched to solar energy for 70% of its electricity requirements, which made jama masjid to have the highest capacity to generate solar power, through 31kilowatt power (kwp) rooftop solar system with 92 panels that was installed in the mosque. this thermal retrofit will help not only the mosque, but also the areas around the city that don’t get sufficient supply of electricity. they have installed a net-metering system, which will export the surplus power generated by solar back to the grid (bhardwaj 2017). el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 figure 10: international attempt 1; thermal retrofit for improving the mumbai jama masjid in india (author & participant students) another international attempt was the st. michael and all angels church in withington, england. the current structure, the third church building on the site, was built between 1879 and 1881 although parts of the original medieval church building (chapel has existed on the site since 1488), notably the tower, survive from earlier periods. this house of worship has undergone a thorough thermal retrofit to become britain's first zero carbon church (as shown as figure 11). featuring a biomass boiler for heat, and a solar array on the roof, the church is now running on 100% renewable energy. the 12th century building is now powered entirely by renewable energies: the solar energy is generated with 24 solar modules with a total output of 3.12 kw, which are installed on the roof of the church. the modules were carefully installed to meet strict regulations concerning historical buildings by using a special ladder system that did not affect the structure of the building or the visual appearance. given that many churches were traditionally built on a strict east/west axis, they have plenty of south-facing roof space that is ideally primed for solar energy (grover 2012). figure 11: international attempt 2; thermal retrofit for improving the st. michael and all angels church in withington, england (author & participant students) 5.4. phase iv (thermal retrofit to ensure health and wellbeing of historic built environment in lebanon) the students with the aid of their instructor worked on special design criteria for improving environmental quality (thermal retrofit) to ensure health and wellbeing aspects of historical built environment, specially, within the study area (tripoli old souks in north lebanon). for example, one of the participating groups created solutions for improving the taynal mosque in tripoli, lebanon, which is an oblong structure of sandstone, and have been founded by sayf ad-din taynal an-nasiri al-ashrafi (d. 1343), he was a prominent emir "prince" and mamluk of an-nasir muhammad, the bahri mamluk sultan of egypt. he served as the nawab "sovereign ruler" of tripoli for three terms, and gaza for one term, in the mid-14th century during the reign of al-nasir muhammad. he ordered the construction of the taynal mosque in tripoli in 1336. the mosque peculiarities reflect the remnants of a crusader church built by the carmelite fathers at the time of the crusades. their design criteria include the installation of photovoltaic solar panels and solar thermal power plants, the reduction of drinking water consumption, the conversion of lighting and the installation of a centralized technical management system. this last mechanism will facilitate the control of el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 various installed equipment and control doors. through these certain modifications, students were able to resolve the problem (as shown as figure 12). figure 12: sample 1; thermal retrofit for improving the taynal mosque (author & participant students) another example, other participant group created solutions for improving the mansouri great mosque in tripoli, lebanon, which also known simply as the great mosque of tripoli. it was built in the mamluk period, from 1294 to 1314, around the remains of a crusader church of st. mary. in any case, the two christian elements in no way detract from the traditional muslim nature of this great royal mosque, the first building erected in mamluk tripoli. the mansouri mosque was named after the mamluk sultan who conquered tripoli from the crusaders in 1289, al-mansur qalawun. the mosque itself was erected by his two sons, al-ashraf khalil, who ordered its construction in 1294, and al-nasir muhammad, who had the arcade built around the courtyard in 1314. their design criteria include installing a vertical pv system to make renewable energy in the wind direction, composing solar panels on the roof of the building to make renewable energy through the sun direction, and closing the arched openings by low-e glass to enter more light and reflect the heat. through these certain modifications, students were able to resolve the problem (as shown as figure 13). figure 13: sample 2; thermal retrofit for improving the mansouri great mosque (author & participant students) el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 51 6. conclusion action should be taken to solve the energy crisis problem, and students should be ecologically literate. for example, the focus of beirut arab university in lebanon is to let staff members, researchers and students support their researches and projects by environmental studies and inspire concepts from environmental approaches, based on the capability of its environmental labs. whereby, the most significant development challenges of sustainability are associated with climate change, global poverty, social and economic inequality, population growth, as well as, demographic changes and adaptation to rapid global economic changes. hence, the role of architects, decision makers, and engineers working in the domain will acquire further significance. the research has addressed a limited scope within the quest of viable strategies to achieve thermal retrofit, therefore, energy consumption for historical buildings of the study should be measured after using retrofit strategies (double glazing, air tightness, external wall insulation, and solar shading), to conclude how much is energy reduced by regular/simulation-based measurement tools, in order to ensure that the proposed solutions of building thermal retrofit within the historical context have been succeeded on health and wellbeing with the continuity of conserving the architectural heritage. as a broad perspective, it could be concluded that retrofit strategies of historic built environment affects human comfort and hence energy consumption which is a vital one, also needs to be considered/addressed through a number of recommendations, guidelines and special measures, as follows: • encourage historic building thermal retrofit technologies that can reduce cooling energy demands, although in some case it can decide cooling appliances as unnecessary. • further studies can be made in order to enhance thermal human comfort or to address the cost-effective measures on short term and long term. • retrofit measures can target visual comfort or other human comfort issues. • support research on new innovative materials and techniques that can reduce energy consumption. • support other retrofit strategies on historic built environment and study their cost effect on long terms. • different types of buildings can also be studied. furthermore, the use of groups is accomplished throughout the curriculum, as well as larger more complex projects are addressed, the students will be better prepared to meet their career demands. the perceived benefits of the initial attempts at integrating the critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving in the curriculum are based on the observations and feedback, which can contribute in improving education performance as follow: 1. teaching architecture students the literacy of ecology, in addition to applying in their design projects, will help in improving health and wellbeing and the ecological life attitude towards the community. this education will drive the students' attention towards ecological buildings, and subsequently thermal retrofit. 2. architecture and construction work needs to foster environmentally friendly practices and students have to be aware of built environment glossary and practices. 3. the schools of architecture at the university level can inspire architecture students as well as encourage and support ecological designs that incorporate sustainable thinking in their design projects. 4. enhancing the importance of sustainability in buildings design would drive the students' attention towards the environment as well as the community. 5. the integrated design process idp with operations and training provides stronger wellbeing integration than either might achieve in isolation. 6. when people work together, they can share ideas, provide feedback and keep each other accountable. teamwork allows for brainstorming and often leads to better decision-making. employees can share the workload and help each other, which leads to greater productivity and faster turn-around times. el-daghar / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 7. strengthening the socio-cultural aspects in research and education curricula will create new sustainable solutions for human, urban, industrial and business, thereby reflected on health and wellbeing in the built environment. acknowledgement my profuse thanks and gratefulness goes to all my colleagues at beirut arab university and ms. maya safar for their support, also, to all my bau 3rd year students (class 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(2011). the integrated design process guide. canada mortgage and housing corporation, cmhc schl home to canadians, years ans, canada. 1(1), 1-18. retrieved from https://moodle.polymtl.ca/file.php/1047/idp-charettes/article_design_guide_en_aug23.pdf http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 83 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.840 rural regeneration in egypt: a review of existing typologies in borderline areas shahira assem abdel-razek, yasmin moanis1 1 delta university for science &technology, faculty of engineering, department of architectural engineering, gamasa city, mansoura, dakhliya, egypt corresponding author email: dr.yasmin.moanis@hotmail.com abstract tracking rural areas and studying them may not be an easy task. the concept of whether the area at hand is urban or rural could be simple, but lately rural areas could carry many features that may deviate the definition into one which is unclear. in urbanized rural development, reversing the urbanization spotted may not be the ideal way to go, urban developers often suggest that to go back to the roots is to regenerate the area back into rural, however, regenerating rural areas using rural parameters and definitions may not be what the urban area in hand needs and the changes and challenges that are facing rural communities in egypt need to be understood before any plan can be deemed as effective or even worthwhile the rapid increase in urbanization and how it affects agriculture land, shorelines, and rural land, has affected badly the rural capacity, and led to a constant threat of overhaul in place of towns, cities, and other urban activities. however, rural areas are the lungs of the planet alongside forests and other green areas and having them diminish substantially will lead to an inevitable catastrophe. regenerating rural areas should focus on revitalizing and embedding them into the social, cultural, and economic structure of the region, however, it may not always involve turning them back to what is commonly termed as rural. this research attempts to review and discuss the meaning and definitions of rural regeneration with a view to propose a strategic plan to regenerate borderline areas in egypt. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords regeneration, challenges, rural identity, urbanization, sustainability, rural developments ; 1. introduction regeneration in nature is the process of restoring or replacing parts or entire systems as part of the reformation of that being, (sugimoto, et al, 2019) similarly, in the built environment, regeneration depicts the process behind the revitalization of existing areas to make better use of them and provide better opportunities for their inhabitants. the regeneration process may target some or all of the following: economic, infrastructure, social, environmental, and physical aspects of the area, all in an attempt to promote better living opportunities and health to the individuals and citizens. (donnison, 1993; osborne, s., williamson, a., & beattie, 2004) however, when addressing regeneration at large, defining the area at hand is a must, whether we are dealing with an urban area or a rural one will greatly influence the types and schemes needed to devise and implement, as well as the needs of the people benefitting from them. whether it is renewal, redevelopment, regeneration, reform, or rehabilitation, across the different terminology http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 84 that exists, the idea of reassessing the situation at hand to come up with better solutions to aid in human development and prosperity stays at heart. regeneration is also dependent on several factors, which include (sugimoto, et al, 2019): 1) environmental inputs and existing surrounding characteristics, which may be in turn linked with physical aspects of the built environment, 2) responses to those inputs, that lead to the development of a plan for the rehabilitation and regeneration of the area; and, 3) criteria that may directly influence the development of the reformed area or space. while the difference between urban and rural areas may be well known and established, whether through research, or through common knowledge and prevailing ideas, the concept of knowledge of what each of them means is in fact confusing. of the somewhat many definitions of what rural is, one definition depicted it to be “the areas outside big towns where there are stronger connections of inhabitants with agriculture and forestry, which may or may not be their only source of income, are generally referred to as the rural areas”(satterthwaite et al., 2010), with a focus that the core characteristic of any rural area is its’ direct linkage with land use and its value economically as a mean variance to what urban is (perpar, 2002, cox et al., 2017; roca & arellano, 2017) the overspill of urbanization in rural areas has raised a new concept for dealing with the swift changes that affect those areas to discuss whether rural regeneration and revival, with all its features is the only mean to revive the rapidly disappearing rurality of the area. developers, planners, and decision-makers each day have to work efficiently and holistically to help support and encompass this cancer-like spreading phenomenon. this fast and unplanned urbanization leads to poor infrastructure, unplanned areas, poor housing, inadequate living, unemployment, and a dramatic increase in crime rates and a decrease in the overall resources of the place. urbanization also leads to pollution, degradation of land, and eventually climate change. although, humans started off as rural dwellers, it has suddenly become clear that the vast number of the population of the world would much rather live-in urban areas, this is evident through the projected rate of urbanization and the fact that by 2050, 68% of the world will be living in urbanized areas. research has established that of the world’s 7.8 billion people, present on earth today, it is estimated that more than fifty percent live in urbanized areas, and with the ongoing rate of urbanization and population growth, predictions state that by the year 2050, there will be about 2.5 billion more people added to the urban population, mostly in the continents of africa and asia, reaching a rough estimate of 68%. (undesa, 2018). urban and rural areas are linked together economically, socially, and environmentally and despite the continuous spread of towns and cities, rural areas pose an important part of any country’s area and value. however, with the looming threat of urbanization and the development of urban areas caused by an increase in the po pulation and the effect of migration from rural areas to urban areas, urbanization has in turn affected all the different types and sizes of communities; small villages turn into towns, and towns into cities, until it leads to the development of mega-cities, with more than ten million people. this increasing density of population in urban areas has led to health problems, consequently, death rates, historically, are higher in urban areas in comparison to rural areas, however, urban areas, worldwide, have managed to sustain their existence through the continuous migration of people from rural areas. (keyfitz, 1984). different patterns of consumption have also complimented the difference between urban and rural; for example, urban populations consume much more food, energy, and durable goods than rural populations. energy consumption for electricity, transportation, cooking, and heating is much higher in urban areas than in rural villages. urbanization also affects the broader regional environments. regions downwind from large industrial complexes also see increases in the amount of precipitation, air pollution, and the number of days with thunderstorms. urbanization and urbanity have encroached on the rural space and activities which were once only pertained to rural have become urban too. agricultural activities, once the predominant economic driver of rural areas have decreased in status due to outdated laws and regulations which have failed to meet the expectations of the people living there, abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 85 also the continuous evolution in technology has made way for other economic potential to arise and take over. this constant evolution of spaces and economic drivers has led the rural capacity to diminish and take on urban traits, albeit in the same location. another added factor is that of over-population; with the absence of proper litigations, and in the absence of a governed ecosystem, the land became prone to be built upon, deeming it useless for rural activities, or making it too expensive to rehabilitate. one of the most important questions is the size of a settlement to be functioning as an urban system. in our case the international criterion cannot be applied. this paper focuses on the concept of regeneration of a given area which may not be identifiable as either rural or urban and how best to tackle the existing problems in a wider frameset. the following literature review presents available research regarding both rural and urban regeneration, then follows the methodological framework, the discussion comes next to highlight the urbanization that happened in select areas of the delta region and the intersection that exists in both developmental strategies needed to address its regeneration. 2. research methodology rural and suburban communities in egypt have faced severe limitations starting from the industrial revolution and the immigration of its inhabitants from the suburban areas near the delta region to urban areas like cairo and alexandria. as the inhabitants move to work in industry, agriculture land is abandoned, and the problem of rural areas versus urban areas comes to light. the research methodology utilized is bibliographical desk-oriented research that strives to understand the path forward to implementation of rural regeneration and developmental projects in egypt. most of the problems that have come to surface are across whole community sectors, while other problems are linked to a certain nature-of-life of those areas. most of the socio-economic problems facing those who left their agricultural land and moved to the urbanized community were that they lost their identity and as a reason the following generation is born into an urbanized habitat leaving behind their identity and damaging the patch of agricultural lands, making them urban dwellers in rural contexts. it is thus safe to say that the challenge that we face may be rooted more in demographics than in geography, however what is the appropriate nomenclature of the land that they live in and what are the optimum types of regeneration that is needed to enable them to become better living communities. city and rural areas extensions and development have become an urgency, such challenges cannot be easily or entirely handled without researching and applying appropriate development plans. is the area classified an urban and rural based on specific criteria or is it possible to be living in an urban setting with rural characteristics? 3. literature review connections of our rural areas with urban centers are still relatively intensive; the administrative-territorial distribution of urban and rural municipalities is not appropriate for their purpose, because some urban municipalities include also relatively widely extended and significant rural hinterland. from the viewpoint of integrated rural development planning the most applicable criterion between urban and rural space is an area defined as "the area of managed urban settlements" such areas are in spatial plans exactly defined and they change in accordance with the development or with urban settlement growing in process of spatial planning. the settlements with urban character were summarized upon the geographical definitions in slovenia, which sort settlements according to their central function into seven groups (crnic, 2014; perpar, 2002) in addition to damaging quality of life, urban sprawl has a significant influence on the environment, social structures and economies. the brundtland report, written in 1980 when urban sprawl was already accepted as a serious problem, defined it as the ‘uncontrollable physical expansion of cities. the same report stated that urban sprawl created ‘serious problems in urban environments and economies’, it was foreseen that ‘if cities are developed without guidance towards rural areas and agricultural productive lands, additional agricultural area losses will arise’(shkaruba et al., 2017; wakode et al., 2014; world commission on environmnet and development, 1985) in 2005, bookchin emphasized that urbanization destroys natural landscapes and the cities themselves. evaluating urban sprawl as a negative phenomenon, which will endanger cities and the countryside, land transformation due to urban sprawl changes cities into synthetic environments(clark, 1982; white, 2019). thus, it is necessary to observe abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 86 land transformation as it occurs in parallel with urban sprawl in temporal and spatial scales.(tayyebi & pijanowski, 2014)(gormus et al., 2019) however, there is a very wide variation between the problems associated with the urban areas of the world; such as unemployment, high cost of land and housing leads to lack of suitable shelter (which inevitably leads to the development and expansion of informal settlements, squatter areas and sometimes even homelessness), inadequate or inappropriate services and/or infrastructure, deteriorated individual health and educational services, and often increased levels of pollution due to unawareness or accessibility. with the rapid increase in urban population, a new term was coined to address the areas that immediately surround cities and towns; peri-urban, while those areas that surround the peri-urban are dubbed as semi-urban. peri-urban areas have been growing rapidly ever since the industrial revolution as inhabitants of rural areas seek to improve their status by immigrating from rural areas to urban ones. the result is a transition from villages and land (rural), to towns and cities (urban). (madsen et al., 2010) classifying areas into urban, peri-urban, semi-urban and rural is a tedious task, in-order to define these boundaries, demographics, and area of land needs to be assessed (figure 1). boundaries of these areas do not neatly separate themselves by lines on a map. needless to say, urban sprawl and development often leads to the merge of these areas onto each other, thus making it difficult to determine the size of cities and towns by their demographics. (national research council, 2019) defining the area is also augmented by the fact that defining characteristics of urban and rural areas vary from the global north to the global south, as well as from developed countries to developing or under-developed ones. the villages of the global north and of developed countries are more environment-climate friendly, the spawns of green areas and the preservation of land deem them healthier than those of cities, the cost of living may be greater, and some urban dwellers prefer moving to rural areas after retirement for a different experience. this is not the case of villages in the global south, or those of developing or under-developed areas, where the rate of urbanization is higher, and the agricultural land has shrunk due to lack of reinforcement of laws and regulations. in this paper, we will be dealing with villages of the global south and hereafter any reference to a village is in the location of the global south. figure 1: diagram illustrating placement of urban, peri-urban, semi urban and rural areas. source :researcher abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 87 urban cities face several challenges including but not limited to availability of affordable housing, poverty, increased rate of crime, poor traffic control, absence of clear air. however, with all the limitations of urban areas, it is no secret that inhabitants of rural areas are more and more fleeing from their rural surroundings and villages to the city in hope of a better quality-of-life and better socio-economic standing. pull and push factors) (figure 2). this migration, influenced by technological evolution and economic growth and development ((marshall, f., waldman, l., macgregor, l., mehta, l., and randhawa, 2009) is possibly, also affected by conflict and social disruption. this internal migration to the cities has left rural communities in a state of fragility and frailty and has affected parts of evolved cities into becoming areas of informal settlements and squatters. figure 2 exchanges and interactions of the rural-urban-metabolism source: adapted from repp et al. 2012 by researchers rural communities are facing the constant threat of being overhauled in place of towns, cities, and other urban activities. however, rural areas are the lungs of the planet alongside forests and other green areas and having them diminish substantially will lead to an inevitable catastrophe. that is why the rural regeneration act was developed; to focus on revitalizing rural areas and embedding them into the social, cultural, and economic structure of the area(chang & chou, 2011). the challenges facing rural areas are diverse however, they are more or less one or more of the following: illiteracy, poverty, lack of access to infrastructure (water, sanitation, fuel, internet, etc.,), decayed or nonexistent accessibility to road networks, lack of existing healthcare facilities and educational services, basic amenities like retail and recreational areas, not to mention lower income and higher unemployment rates. (figure 3), while those that face urban areas may be classified into social, behavioral, and economic issues. figure 3 challenges facing rural and urban regeneration sources: modified by researchers from ((yilmaz et al., 2010) , (donnison, 1993) and (nassar et al., 2016)) abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 88 when closely examined, some of the challenges in the rural case of egypt may in turn deem some areas, which were once classified as rural, now change status, and become peri-urban or even urban, due to the vast encroachment on land and the long years of decay and lack of proper solutions. administratively, egypt is divided into 27 governorates categorized as following: urban governorates (cairo, alexandria, port said, and suez) with no rural population mentioned, and the other 23 governorates are divided into urban and rural areas. the increase in migration between urban and rural areas and the incapability to meet the rising in inhabitants’ essentials led to the appearance of new and diverse social problems within the urban structure. which led also to the transferring of the behavior and traditions of rural inhabitants to the city; resulting in creating informal areas on agricultural lands, if the situation remains as is, it is expected that egypt loses about one million acres of its best lands during the coming years.(mohammed emam hammad, 2019)(kruseman, 2007). 3.1. rural verses urban regeneration rural regeneration in context refers to the implementation of combined policies and strategies that aim to enhance social, economic, physical, and environmental and community standards to counteract existing formations including urbanization, immigration and abandonment of the area. it often appears after the area at hand becomes nearly derelict or faces continuous challenges. (de luca et al., 2021; edwards et al., 2000) rural regeneration, as a solution to the problem of land abandonment and population decrease resulting from migration, was developed in the uk in 1997, focusing on reliant infrastructure, economic equality, employment availability and land renewal, through partnerships to facilitate and utilize existing resources in an aim to reach governance and give precedence to equality in citizenship. (edwards et al., 2000; osborne, s., williamson, a., & beattie, 2004). urban regeneration, on the other hand, addresses institutional governance, social inclusion, economical mobility, and environmental cohesion, all while focusing on community participation and social responsibility and inhabitant perception. the synergies between both rural and urban regeneration shed light on the concept of utilizing public community participation to better develop an overall needs assessment of the current needs of each individual area and to better tailor a development or regeneration plan that fits to that specific layout. (abdelrazek et al., 2009). 3.2. challenges facing regeneration in egypt to be able to better understand the rural regeneration problem in egypt, first a definition should be developed that does not conform to any of the present norms, (which could be the main problems that developers may face). the idea that rural areas should be regenerated and returned back to their original context may not be what the overall public rural population need. on contrary, the public rural population may well be in need of evolving their surroundings that have evolved more into urban than through regenerating the underlying realm that is present between rural and urban, and neither case may be applicable, merely because that sense of space and sense of place of the rural area may well be lost. when discussing the parameters that have to be included in the idea of regeneration, prioritizing what is important is a key. what is it that needs to be kept and what needs to be left to change is part of the development and regeneration plan. one of the main drivers of migration is rural poverty, in a survey done in 2010; it was found that most of this poverty lies amongst youth. rural youth account for 59% of egypt’s total youth, comprising of 85% of egypt’s poor youth (soliman & gaber, 2010) therefore, it is a deduction that poverty is very much a characteristic of rural egypt and thus having less access to public services and goods, of these services, the inevitable lack of access to schooling in turn becomes a major determinant of low quality work opportunities throughout life and thus the poverty vicious cycle reproduces itself. (mccormick & wahba, 2004; zohry, 2005) the egyptian government across the last 50 years has devised several rural developmental reform programs, most of them focusing on the upgrade of rural poverty, one of these projects was the national program to improve the livelihood of the poorest 1000 villages, implemented over a course of two stages. the stages aimed to regenerate 150 abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 89 villages and 850 respectively. however, the project was not completely implemented due to the uprise in january 2011 and lately as this research was being finalized, the 1500 village regeneration project. one of the previous research done on the global experience of urban regeneration discussed the main issues that helped in the urban regeneration initiatives in london and lebanon and concluded that the main key for the regeneration process was the development body which panels the authority of the regeneration process in terms of (regeneration through partnerships, single regeneration budget, new deal for communities, city challenge, enterprise zone, urban development corporation, and other approaches have marked a transition into a more participatory historical process). (nassar et al., 2016; osborne, s., williamson, a., & beattie, 2004) 3.3. the rural development initiative in egypt egypt is considered to be one of the main growing countries in the arab world today that faces a lot of urban, economic, social, environmental, and political challenges. it faces a continuous increase in population annually, besides the continuous migration from rural areas. this growth in population has caused many urban problems in the city, where urban development started out in the past decades and centuries and where uses of urban areas have changed over time. figure 4 timeline of rural development policies in egypt source: authors the existing present-day agricultural area on the rural delta lands and valleys are considered marginal if compared to the modernized agricultural lands that represent the horizontal expansion of those cities. like what is happing on the western delta land the current or traditional agriculture in the old is performing quite well under the existing limitations of: small holdings, labor-intensive methods, traditional irrigation (elmenofi et al., 2014; kruseman, 2007; soliman & gaber, 2010) resilient rural development plans could increase the impact of the product, but that would be at the cost of unemployment, bio-diversity and it would also indicate a loss of social cultural values for the identity in the old land, and one of the many issues that may disillusion our idea of regeneration is the concept of what is aesthetically acceptable. malcolm smith in his book, “urban regeneration”, discusses that there are three different approaches to tackling issues that arise within a city to be able to reform it; inerrability, agility, and stewardess, all embedded in the institutional governance pillar of urban regeneration. rural regeneration in egypt passed through five different eras; (figure 4) • rural reform (before 1973) • rural development policies based on liberalization of the egyptian economy (1973-1993) • establishing the shrook national project (1993-2007) abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 90 • targeting the 1000 poorest villages (2008-2012) • an honorable life (haya kareema) (ongoing-2019-2030) these first four eras showcased that developmental projects need a holistic integrated approach that targets the inhabitants and community cohesion and live-ability, hence resulting into establishment of “a decent life”, an initiative spearheaded by the egyptian government to provide water and sanitation, appropriate housing, medical and educational services and establishments, economic support through job creation and welfare. the aim of the project is to improve standard of living and quality of life with investment of human capital at the heart of the project. (un, n.d., 2021) 4. urban-rural case in egypt figure 4: illustration of the case of urbanization in egypt from 1972 to 2019 source: google maps extracted by researchers in responsese to the raised calls for narrowing the rural – urban gap and overcoming the development constraints in rural egypt, participation and decentralization are seen by many as key mechanisms for reform and promoting sustainable development in egypt in general and in rural areas in particular. egypt is an urbanized country that is characterized by rural-urban migration, low agricultural contribution to growth (11.7% of the gdp in 2017) and half or more of the poor population living in urban areas. the expected income differentials between rural and urban areas influence the migration decision. although rural dwellers migrate to urban areas looking for formal sector jobs, which often pay higher, the sector only hires a small portion of migrants, while the rest goes to the informal sector absorbing non-skilled and zero-skilled labor. (un‐habitat, 2004; wakely & riley, 2011) 5. discussion determining the nomenclature of the area assessed; whether urban or rural, is the first step to planning an effective, efficient, resilient, and sustainable plan in-order to allow it to cope with the rapid and fast changes around it. rural development and regeneration are essential for economic growth and since formal jobs in the industrial sector are in limited supply, and because job creation and social services are less costly in rural areas, highly efficient agriculture should be able to produce more than its own consumption, which is not the case in all developing countries. as urbanization and industrialization are on the rise, and rural-urban migration persist in emerging economies, developing the technical skills of citizens in rural areas would help them get jobs in different industries without them having the informal sector as the only option. developing and improving the rural areas to cope with the urbanization process without harming the identity and the patch of the agricultural land should be through improving their living conditions and to stark a link between the rural and urban areas all together (urban-rural relationship). abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 91 understanding and addressing the rural problem to relieve the urban areas from rural migrations which will by default need more housing unit, jobs, services, healthcare facilities and various environmental services. as evident in figure 5, urbanization in different egyptian governorates has greatly impacted the quality and type of land; rural areas have become desolate and in some areas have even become part of the urban corridor due to it being impossible to restore them as before. this has led to depreciation in the agricultural value of the land, although the economic value of the land has increased. this is a common problem that some inhabitants also focus on, in some cases, urban land value is higher than agricultural land value, and thus inhabitants may intentionally destroy the agricultural realm of the land in hope for better economic value. development of human resources represented in the non-tangible force like education and knowledge management, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social inequity, also play a big role in rural development not only the tangible one like agriculture and the built environment; building a resilient social frame for comprehensive rural development through providing technical assistance, increasing awareness, empowering youth and entrepreneurship ventures, enhancing economic utility (based in form, time, place and possession), and maintenance of individual rural culture, enforcing a link between the public and the government to disseminate governance concepts, utilizing public opinion. all the previous can be established through broad analysis of social and economic conditions, and motivation of public participation and mobility to evolve the society needs, planning local society development individually to help complete the overall image, and to follow up the plan and to produce an evaluation that helps in redirecting the plan if needed. the foremost essential developers of regeneration in a defined area are economic empowerment, access to sustainable and efficient infrastructure, presence of affordable land and housing, access to knowledge, access to basic services and environmental sustainability and resilience. regeneration whether urban, rural or the fusion of both should focus on the importance of economic empowerment, as most of the rural population depends on land-related vocations. regeneration policies should enhance, empower, and support small and local businesses as well as identify and embed cultural and heritage initiatives to help each individual rural community to take advantage of its resources and manage and utilize its potentials to achieve economic growth. also, to be able to achieve better results of regeneration, public policy and regulations regarding land use, and building regulations should be addressed, despite the increased interest in rural housing in recent years, access to a home in rural areas remains highly inaccessible due to highly restrictive building policy, and accessibility. the proposed regeneration plan for any of the defined areas should be divided into the following steps: step1: defining whether the area at hand is urban or rural utilizing community participation and perception, as well as previous governmental plans. step 2: according to the stimulated definition, main pillars of the development plan should then address regeneration tactics inclined towards urban regeneration, rural regeneration or a mix of both or a new derivative all together, while taking into consideration a new established set of design principles of both rural and urban areas. the development plan should be assessed through community participation and public needs, the plan should they be implemented and monitoring and evaluation should be an ongoing process to ensure effective reform and regeneration, all this should be while keeping an eye on governance and social cohesion. the idea of coming up with cultural triggers to be implemented in economic empowerment should also be addressed and focused on through community assessment. (figure 8). developmental plans should also address land value and tariffs in an attempt to decrease the idea of urbanizing for gain. laws and regulations concerning land value and accordingly building laws should be revisited to ensure that proper empowerment is given to these citizens. step 3: implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the success or hindrances of the initial plan and continuous update and review of the situation. this phase should also take into account the pillars of governance to ensure public acceptance, transparency, integrity and accountability being the foremost three needed. abdel-razek/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 92 figure 5: proposed regeneration plan (sources: authors) 6. conclusion in conclusion, several areas that were once deemed as rural areas in egypt have now crossed the paths to being urbanized and no amount of regeneration will be able to change its status back to rural. these areas wh ile not yet fully urbanized have lost the characteristics of rural areas and may only be associated with their rural identity through the acquisition of land, nevertheless, these areas cannot be termed urban either as the characteristics of the people living there may still be under influence of tradition more than their urban counterparts and may be closely knit as is. the regeneration of these areas should focus on empowering the families that still live there through economic solutions and piping of investments that may or may not be linked to their land origin, it also involves the development of their infrastructure and services as well as the promotion of better job opportunities and economic growth. the circular economy behind urban areas may well need a lease in the rural void that may not be achievable in urban settings. thus, whether dubbed as urban or rural, these areas need regeneration that focuses on the essence of what individuals need and their evolving everyday challenges. this will decrease the number of migrants that move into urbanization yearly as well as decrease the urban sprawl that occurs from this unplanned migration and may offset the presence of squatters and slum areas. further research utilizing community participation and public mobility in previously defined areas is recommended and will be followed up on by the researchers, additional research should also address the importance of revisiting laws and regulations regarding rural land policies, a metric system for both urban and rural land and a survey to the actual needs of the inhabitants of each particular part. the limitations to this research include: • rural inhabitants’ acceptance of the idea of rural regeneration and staying where they are, most rural dwellers want to live in urban communities and may shun the advances of the project. • a decrease in agricultural land and agricultural practices has rendered many rural regions as obsolete and thus need a different mode of action. references abdel-razek, s. a., ismail, g. a., & saad, s. g. 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(2005). interrelationships between internal and international migration in egypt: a pilot study. international migration, july, 98. https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.18361.31841 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.864 sustainability and diversity in the architecture of intercultural universities in mexico peña dalia1, mesquida peri2 1professor at the national pedagogical university of hidalgo, mexico 2professor at parana university, brazil abstract intercultural universities in mexico have been created since 2001, currently there are 12, the last one to be created is the intercultural university of baja california in san quintin. these universities are governed by an intercultural model that states that they must incorporate linguistic expressions and manifestations and knowledge of indigenous peoples in their substantive functions as well as in their scientific activity, but some of them have also incorporated cultural and sustainable expressions in their architecture. in this sense, there are experiences of these universities that incorporate different cultural and sustainable elements in their architecture. based on the above, this study presents some experiences of intercultural universities in mexico that recover cultural and sustainable elements in their architecture. methodologically, we resorted to reflexive ethnography by conducting several interviews with the architect of the uiceh. some of the results obtained in the research show the importance of how, through the architectural spaces, elements of interculturality and sustainability are embodied, including some related to local cultures where the universities have an impact. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords intercultural universities; architecture; sustainability; interculturality 1. introduction the creation of intercultural universities was promoted by the general coordination of intercultural and bilingual education (cgeib), the undersecretary of higher education and the secretaries of education of the states, thus creating in 2001 the first intercultural university; the intercultural university of the state of mexico (uiem). (schmelkes in mato, 2008). there are currently 12 intercultural universities 1in mexico; the autonomous indigenous university of mexico, the intercultural university of chiapas, the intercultural university of the state of hidalgo, the intercultural university of the state of mexico, the intercultural university of the state of guerrero, the intercultural university of the state of puebla, the intercultural university of the state of michoacán, the intercultural mayan university of quintana roo, the intercultural university of san luis potosí, the intercultural university of tabasco, the intercultural university of veracruz and currently in 2021 the intercultural university of baja california opened in san quintín. 2 1 at: http://www.anui.org.mx/(revised october 5, 2021) 2 https://uibc.mx/index.php http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 the intercultural universities are governed by an educational model that establishes the foundations of interculturality, proposing intercultural dialogue as "the possibility of promoting a process of dialogue and learning" (casillas and santini, 2009) and also promotes "the incorporation of linguistic expressions and manifestations of the cultures and knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the country, both in the substantive functions of the university and in its insertion in the fundamental corpus of its scientific activity. these institutions 3 share several characteristics among which are that they have low enrollments, share similar unconventional educational programs except for the universidad autónoma indígena de méxico, consider a community linkage axis in their educational programs, incorporate the teaching-learning of indigenous languages, are located mainly in indigenous regions, promote the cultural and linguistic diversity of the regions where they have an impact4. in addition to these characteristics, these institutions also share what concerns the construction of spaces: "from the perspective of the cultures of indigenous peoples, it is the duty of intercultural universities to promote the economic, cultural and social development of indigenous peoples, preserving their identity. for this purpose, lines of action are proposed that emphasize three axes: the use of materials and construction systems of the region in their facilities; the development of harmonious forms integrated to the landscape or to the traditional local architecture, and the projection in the design of the symbology and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the region" (casillas and santini, 2009) it is worth mentioning that not all intercultural universities have followed this line of construction system using materials from the regions where they are located, nor the harmonic forms, nor the use of symbology, but there are some intercultural universities that share these approaches and have also incorporated the perspective of sustainability. in this sense, this work shows 5 intercultural universities that have incorporated intercultural and sustainable perspectives in their architecture, so the main objective of this work was to analyze the cultural and sustainability elements incorporated in the architectural spaces of the 5 intercultural universities in mexico. this research was built through different in-depth interviews (taylor and bogdan, 2000). in addition, different architectural designs provided by the architect of the uiceh were retrieved. so we resorted to reflective ethnography (guber, 2001). another technique that i used in this section and that was fundamental for the reconstruction of this research was ethnographic photography (brandes s/f). 1. literature review the relevance of the term "intercultural" in latin america emerged in the 1990s, when various research and debates began to emerge from different approaches: social, anthropological, educational, political and promoted by different actors: academics, researchers, students, civil organizations, indigenous and afro-descendant groups (lópez-hurtado and quiroz, 2007). addressing the issue of interculturality is complex due to the diversity of studies currently existing not only in latin america, but also in the world. in this sense, it is impossible to make an analysis that does not leave out some research, a reflection, a contribution, a challenge, etc., so here i will take up the discussions that i consider essential and that will allow me to identify positions, reflections and contributions on the subject. several studies in latin america related to interculturality in higher education institutions present interculturality experiences of conventional, afro-descendant and indigenous higher education institutions, analysis from intercultural policy, conceptual discussions etc., (mato, 2008, 2009, 2018; ramirez, manjarrez and flores, 2013; lopez, 2009; tubino,2005; walsh, 2002; fournet betancourt, 1998 and gasché, 2004 y 2014 among others). 3 information obtained from my participation in the annual meetings of the uis. 4 information from participation in meetings of intercultural universities (uis) dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 now this section aims to provide an overview of the emergence of intercultural higher education in mexico and the diversity of research that has emerged on the subject. the san andres dialogues of 1996, in which the various participants, such as bilingual teachers, civil organizations, academics and community leaders, made explicit the urgency of developing an intercultural education for all (dietz, 2009) were a trigger to meet various demands, including educational ones, so in relation to these events the general coordination of intercultural and bilingual education (cgeib) was created in 2001 to offer a culturally and linguistically relevant education to indigenous people at all levels (schmelkes, 2008). if we add to the above demands the data showing the inequity that has existed between the mestizo population and indigenous groups and the low percentages (2%) of access of this vulnerable population to higher education (bertely, 2011), it is evident that there is an urgent need for higher education programs and institutions that cater to these populations. this is how intercultural higher education began to take shape in mexico, with the creation of intercultural universities by the (general coordination of intercultural bilingual education (cgeib), whose reasons, as schmelkes mentions, were the following: "(a) the low coverage of the indigenous population in higher education in general, and in public education in particular. the country's indigenous population represents 10% of the national population. however, it is estimated that barely 1% of higher education enrollment is indigenous. the national education program 2001-2006 recognized this inequality in the educational opportunities of the indigenous population and proposed tripling the enrollment of indigenous people at this educational level, as well as at the previous one (sep, 2001). it was considered that the creation of intercultural universities, to be located in regions with a significant percentage of indigenous population, could contribute to the achievement of this goal by bringing the educational offer closer to the population that otherwise would not have access to it. b) indigenous demands. these demands have been escalating in such a way that they now incorporate not only access to basic education, but also to job training and higher education. the organized indigenous peoples have also qualified their demands, and have requested that this educational offer include the teaching of indigenous languages and be open to their own cultural contributions. c) the geographic imbalance of national development. c) geographical imbalance of national development. the regions where indigenous populations are concentrated are particularly disadvantaged, despite the fact that many of them are rich in natural resources. by training professionals, it was thought, universities can orient the educational offer and the training of their students towards the solution of regional problems and towards the promotion of the integral development of the region". (schmelkes in mato, 2008:312). the creation of intercultural universities was promoted by the cgeib, the undersecretary of higher education of the public secretary and the state education secretaries, thus creating in 2001 the first intercultural university; the intercultural university of the state of mexico (uiem) with federal funding 80% and state budget 20% (ibid:314). to date, 12 intercultural universities have been created. dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 2. methodology methodologically, we resorted to reflective ethnography (guber, 2001) through which several interviews were conducted (taylor and bogdan, 2000) with the architect of the uiceh, which allowed an approach to the history of the construction of the university and to understand how the different proposals of interculturality and sustainability were reflected in the construction. the unstructured interviews have a high degree of freedom and depth. "in this regard, brimo (1972: 209) points out that an unstructured interview never relies on a list of questions established in relation to the order in which they are asked or the way they are asked, but rather on a freer conversation; the freedom will vary depending on the nature of the unstructured interview in question. (tarrés, 2001:6) i conducted more than 10 interviews with the architect of the uiceh, he was responsible for the construction of the university, so he provided me with the architectural plans and some photographs of other intercultural universities. the photographs were fundamental (brandes s/f), the images of some constructions of the universities shown in this research are an important part of the project, the images of the constructions, the green and sustainable areas of the universities invite the reader to imagine beyond what the photograph itself represents. "the key role of photography in exercising power remains in its possibility of allowing the intensive investigation of the other ... according to foucault, photography allows the viewing public "the possibility of ... classify and punish. it establishes upon the photographed a visibility by which they can be differentiated and judged." (ibid:33) the photographs of the intercultural universities, some provided by the architect and others recovered during the ethnographic work i carried out, allow me to visually understand the cultural and sustainability elements found in each construction. after recording the interviews, we proceeded to the analysis of the data where we began to find that the architecture contained elements of both intercultural and sustainability conceptions, these conceptions were linked to the planning and architectural design. some of the results found in this research were that the architecture of the five intercultural universities recovers local elements of the cultures of incidence. it was important to identify that universities such as the one in hidalgo implemented eco-technologies in their construction, setting an example of sustainable and intercultural construction for other types of higher education institutions. 3. case studies 3.1. the intercultural university of the state of mexico (uiem) it began activities in september 2004, located in san felipe del progreso.5 it offers bachelor's degrees in language and culture, bachelor's degree in sustainable development, bachelor's degree in intercultural communication, bachelor's degree in intercultural health, bachelor's degree in intercultural art and design, bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in management of rural6 innovation. its construction is based on pre-hispanic symbolism with materials from the region, diversity of styles and architectural elements that integrate the context and provide identity with the concept of interculturality. (architect of the uiceh) 5 en http://uiem.edomex.gob.mx/historia-uiem 6 http://uiem.edomex.gob.mx/posgrado dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 figure 1, uiem main building source architect of the uiceh the construction of the university is full of fretwork and staircases that resemble those of a pyramid, surrounded by the stone serpent, the buildings have signs in indigenous languages. "i traveled to several universities to see the constructions. the one in the state of mexico for me is somewhat exaggerated, as well as a university teotihuacan, it is saturated with pre-hispanic symbolism, i do not think that all that symbolism is part of the identity of the students." (uiceh architect oscar covarrubias, june 2019) 3.2. intercultural university of chiapas (unich) the intercultural university of chiapas (unich), began its academic operations in 2005, in the city of san cristobal de las casas. 7 it currently has four academic units: uam oxchuc, uam las margaritas, uam yajalón and uam valle de tulijá. it offers bachelor's degrees in: intercultural communication, intercultural law, sustainable development, language and culture, medical surgeon and alternative tourism, master's degree in intercultural studies and master's degree in social and solidarity8 economy. it has an architectural concept based on the urban typology of the place (san cristobal de las casas), using traditional forms, textures and materials, integrating directly with its context. (uiceh architect oscar covarrubias, june 2019). 7 https://www.unich.edu.mx/san-cristobal/ 8 https://www.unich.edu.mx/# dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 figure 2, architecture of the intercultural university of chiapas source architect of the uiceh "in the construction of a building many factors are involved, the main one is economic, because it governs the designs, for example: many intercultural universities are type buildings of those built by the institutes of educational infrastructure. an example is the university of chiapas that tried to give it a little bit of identity with the urban image of san cristóbal de las casas, mud roofs, quarry boards, but what i identified in all the universities is the interaction with the indigenous languages, what they also baptized the buildings with names in indigenous languages". (architect of the uiceh, june 2019) 3.3. intercultural university of the state of tabasco (uiet) the intercultural university of the state of tabasco was created on april 5, 20069. it has academic units in vicente guerrero and villa tamulte de las sabanas. it offers bachelor's degrees in intercultural communication, intercultural law, sustainable rural development, tourism development, intercultural nursing, language and culture and intercultural health. modules of buildings deployed in radial form, functionalism and use of materials from the region integrating with its environment. (uiceh architect, june 2019). 9 http://www.uiet.edu.mx/antecedentes.php dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 20 figure 3, intercultural university of the state of tabasco (uiet) source architect of the uiceh 3.4. intercultural mayan university of the state of quintana roo (uimqro) the university was created in 2006.10 it offers degrees in language and culture, alternative tourism, municipal management, community health, arts management and development, engineering in agroecological production systems, engineering in information and communication technologies, engineering in business development and a master's degree in intercultural education11. this university has also recovered the symbolism of the region, from the logo that can be found on the university's website to the construction of its buildings. figure 4, uimqro12 logo. 10 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1slxjuomzlhia4zafxghbf96wrsbvgi85/view 11 https://www.uimqroo.edu.mx/?menu=programas_educativos 12 http://www.uimqroo.edu.mx/ (revised on february 7, 2020 http://www.uimqroo.edu.mx/ dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 "the mayan profile is, from the author's point of view, a representative icon of the mayan culture. based on those countless images made in stones and paintings, he takes it making it with simple and precise strokes similar to those used by the mayan painters themselves. it thus represents the mayan root. the position of the face. that the face is with the chin up, not only means that it is looking at the star in the hand, but also represents the yearning, the drive and the desire to move forward. the earring is a gear, symbol of technology and movement. the star. the author gives this symbol more than one meaning. in the first place, it represents laser beams, something that for him is one of the most important inventions of these times, and therefore the most advanced in technology. it also represents knowledge, mathematics and geography; hence the two squares and the four triangles. for the mayas the four cardinal points were important, that is why it is a star with four points, xaman, nohol, lak'in and chik'ín. in general, the symbol represents the sky, the cosmos, astronomy, and also astrology" (uimqro, 2020). the uimqro has a building in the shape of a "zero" inspired by the mayan culture and the vertices of the hurricane. there is also the kukuxklán building that in the front part ends with snake heads alluding to the pyramid of kukuxklán. (teacher of the uimqro) there are distinctive mayan culture badges for the bachelor's degrees that were selected by students and academics which are the following: "lic. en lengua y cultura itsamnaj is the deity that symbolizes knowledge and wisdom. he is recognized as the inventor of writing". bachelor in alternative tourism kukulkan, is one of the creator gods of our world. it is accepted that he came to yucatan from other lands. he is associated with the wind, the thunder and the sun". these universities were a reference for the architect who was in charge of the construction of the intercultural university of the state of hidalgo (uiceh), which is presented below. 3.5. intercultural university of the state of hidalgo (uiceh) the intercultural university of the state of hidalgo began its activities on september 3, 2012 under the model of intercultural universities in one of the regions of the state of hidalgo where there is a large presence of indigenous population. according to the national council for the evaluation of social development policy (coneval) this area is considered highly marginalized and is known as "the otomí-tepehua region", located in the municipality of tenango de doria, hidalgo, mexico. the region has the presence of otomi, tepehua and nahua indigenous groups. the university's curriculum is based on language, sociocultural, linkage, disciplinary and methodological axes. it currently offers bachelor's degrees in alternative tourism, sustainable development, language and culture, sustainable agricultural production, art and digital design, intercultural law and nursing. the uiceh incorporates elements of sustainability in its construction: the walls and steps are built with stone from the region, due to the type of climate in the region an eco-technology was also introduced to one of the buildings in the form of a siphon: cold air is brought in and cools the building and only work with the classrooms on the perimeter. there are also solar panels, more than 200, in the classroom module, saving 95% of energy. dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 figure 5, solar panels in classrooms source source obtained from the uiceh page "the rector asked me to visit the page of the earth university of costa rica and from there we got the ideas that the buildings should have rainwater collection, we have 1600 square meters of slab, all these rainwater contributions fall into a cistern and are reused for sanitary discharges, and sanitary discharges, we have two biodigesters of 7000 liters each where the processes are done, the problem is that we have no dining room, the idea is to reuse the bio-gas, store it and take it to the dining room and use it. also because of the type of climate we have here we put an eco-technology to one of the buildings in a siphon way, cold air is put in and cools the building and only work with the classrooms on the perimeter and we have solar panels (uiceh architect, november 2018). "interculturality is linked to sustainability." (former rector, fieldwork june 2019). unfortunately due to lack of budget several eco-technologies were omitted: "well, within that heat, well in the building if the sustainability part works for us, unfortunately that sustainability is only in the first building of classrooms to give comfort to the students, we also for budget issue some eco-technologies were also omitted, but this, as you can see, here are all the diagrams, here is everything." (uiceh architect, 2018 fieldwork) sustainability is present throughout the construction: "one of the main requirements is that we must be a sustainable institution, then from the beginning we were projecting this, capture and reuse of rainwater, uh, reuse of gray and treated water, use of biodigesters, to generate bio gas and use of sludge for fertilization and composting of land, natural ventilation, solar energy based on a solar cell system and the use of harmonious forms integrated dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 23 into the landscape, this, cultural significance, uh, well, more than anything was the integration of building elements of the indigenous cultures of the region, elements of traditional local architecture, symbols and environment". (architect oscar covarrubias of the uiceh, fieldwork june 2018). when one arrives at the uiceh by private or public car, one finds an institution full of colors and murals from the entrance. to get from the entrance to the student module it is a one minute walk, through a corridor surrounded by grass and some small trees that have been planted in 2019.already climbing the first stairs you get to see the student module that is located at the back and has tenangos painted on the facade of the entrance. upon arrival, the visitor is confronted with a space that has glass doors, which allows observing an impressive landscape covered with vegetation of the mesophilic mountain forest. figure 6, student module source provided by the uiceh architect the student dome, where the classrooms are located, has a terrace with stained glass windows that allows you to enjoy a breathtaking view of the sierra. "so another of the requirements was that i wanted to have contact with the environment, we are friends of the environment, so that's why we have that amount of glass, of gates that from any point of the university, well the lobby and those that are corridors and common areas you can see outside, that's why there are big domes and big gates, because the truth is that there are some pictures and the one i really like is from the lobby of the classrooms, if you look towards the terrace you can see the sierra, it looks impressive, and precisely because of those effects of fog, rain, sun, light, shadows, whatever you want". (architect oscar c. from uiceh, 2018) upon entering the students' dome it is observed that in the center there are plants and a huge stone, on the right side is provisionally the library and a computer classroom, this space initially in the architectural plan was indicated as the computer lab, but due to lack of resources it was divided into two spaces: library and computer lab, which became multifunctional spaces. five meters from these, on the outside, there is a mural. entering from the left side you can see the men's and women's restrooms and a mosaic mural at the entrance, which represents a tree. the 12 classrooms are distributed in the space at the back, separated by corridors, each corridor has six classrooms. dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 figure 7, women's and men's restrooms and a mosaic mural at the entrance source dalia peña islas inside this dome there is another mural that covers the entire wall, covering 3 complete classrooms. this mural was created by uiceh students. on one side of the bathrooms there is an exhibition of traditional tools, with small texts created by students of the sustainable development degree program. 3.6. the planters inside the student and academic modules of the rectory the planters that would be located in the center of the domes were also considered. the uiceh architect noted the following: "i as an architect had another proposal, the planter should have a theme, the rector suggested it should be. "we could not put in copales, ahíles, very large vegetation and the most representative were the ferns and we put in three, unfortunately they have not been given much because the fern receives indirect light, grows under the trees and here is under the dome on that side we have to reinforce these planters. we did not have the planters at the beginning, that came from dr. kugel. in the upper module we found a rock and we left it as an ornament and it happened to be in the center of the planter". (architect oscar covarrubias of the uiceh, field diary in 2018). part of the vegetation of the otomí-tepehua region is made up of ferns, a type of vegetation that is typical of the mesophilic forest and that was also contemplated as part of the design of the university. according to some conversations with the faculty, even the stone that the architect talks about in the talks i had with him takes up the silhouette of the mountain in front of the university: dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 figure 8, student dome planter source dalia peña islas 4. discussion intercultural universities have tried to incorporate the elements pointed out by the intercultural model of the university, these elements propose the dialogue of western and community knowledge in their curricula, educational practices and infrastructure. the cases of intercultural universities presented in this paper reflect in their construction elements of sustainability and interculturality of the communities where they operate, including regional materials such as stone, vegetation and cultural elements such as signs in indigenous languages. it is worth mentioning that despite these efforts of these institutions to incorporate these elements of both sustainability and interculturality, there are still challenges such as the need to generate diagnoses that incorporate the sustainable and intercultural visions of the inhabitants of these regions, getting involved in the processes and being part of these architectural designs from their vision, that is, incorporating their knowledge but not only from the external vision without consultation and direct participation. it could be argued that within the perspectives of interculturality there are functional, relational and critical perspectives, as walsh (2008) points out. the first two, according to the author, propose an interculturality that has worked for the state but has not considered the voices of the peoples, and does not analyze the power that has always existed of the dominant classes. this is important to mention because in the case of intercultural universities they recover the relational perspective of interculturality, in some way recovering cultural and environmental elements of the communities, but they still have an enormous challenge because the indigenous populations have not been involved in the design of these institutions. these practices of sustainability and interculturality incorporated in the infrastructure are the beginning of an innovative proposal from the intercultural universities that recovers cultural, linguistic and environmental practices of indigenous peoples, these proposals can even open the possibility of recovering materials that have ceased to be dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 used such as stone, adobe (a mixture of mud and straw with which the walls were made). these materials have been replaced by cement, which generates more pollution. the architecture of intercultural universities with this vision can serve as examples for the recovery of knowledge about materials considered traditional in the construction of houses in the communities of incidence and that are no longer recognized by the new generations. there is no doubt that these institutions present interesting visions of how historical, sustainable and cultural elements can be incorporated in their infrastructures, suggesting that these practices can be transferred to the so-called conventional universities, even assuming those challenges that the intercultural universities themselves still face in relation to the incorporation of people in the decision-making, design and evaluation processes of this type of projects. intercultural universities can be an example of innovative approaches on how to articulate the epistemic diversity of knowledge from their infrastructure, curriculum and educational practices. something important to mention about the difficulties for this type of architecture to be implemented in other educational institutions, at least in the case of mexico, is the budget and the vision of those responsible for the educational architecture, that is, if an analysis is made of the architecture of other educational levels such as elementary or high school, the educational architecture does not present characteristics such as intercultural universities, something important to mention about the difficulties for this type of architecture to be implemented in other educational institutions, at least in the case of mexico, is the budget and the vision of those responsible for the educational architecture, that is, if an analysis is made of the architecture of other educational levels such as elementary or high school, the educational architecture does not present characteristics such as those of intercultural universities. this raises the need to incorporate intercultural education in the leaders responsible for educational infrastructure projects so that the importance of recovering both cultural and sustainable elements of the communities where the educational institutions will have an impact is taken into account. 5. conclusions the architecture of the five intercultural universities recovers local elements of the cultures of incidence. the uiem recovers pre-hispanic elements in its architecture and recovers signs in the indigenous languages of the local communities. unich recovers traditional materials in its construction trying to give identity to the architecture with mud roofs, quarry boards and its interaction with indigenous languages. the uiet, like the other intercultural universities, recovers materials from the region in its construction. the architecture of the uimqro is inspired by the mayan culture which it recovers in its buildings. the uiceh incorporates cultural elements of the region and incorporates the category of sustainability in the architecture incorporating eco-techniques, materials from the region such as stone and vegetation. it also incorporated the collection and reuse of rainwater, reuse of gray and treated water, use of biodigesters to generate biogas and use of sludge for fertilization and composting of land, natural ventilation, solar energy based on solar cell system and use of harmonious forms integrated into the landscape was the integration of building elements of indigenous cultures of the region, elements of traditional local architecture, symbols and environment. an essential characteristic of these five intercultural universities is the recovery of cultural and environmental elements of local cultures, recognizing their diversity and richness in the architectural designs. this research shows how, through the architecture of the five universities studied, elements of local cultures and elements of sustainability are recovered. it is important to recognize how the vision of these intercultural universities tries to adhere to the visions of the indigenous peoples where they have an impact. dalia/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 the visual elements offered by this type of construction are not only beautiful in the eyes of students, teachers and staff working there, but also recognize the importance of the materials used in the communities where they operate, as in the case of hidalgo, which recovers stone from the region. few studies were found that show how, through architecture, elements of interculturality and sustainability are embodied, so this work is considered important as a reference for further research on the subject. references brandes, s.,(s/f). la fotografía etnográfica como medio de comunicación. universidad de california, berkeley casillas, l., y santini l. universidad intercultural. modelo educativo. cgeib. méxico, d.f. 2009 fornet-betancourt. la filosofía intercultural", in: dussel, enrique eduardo mendieta-carmen bohórquez (eds.), el pensamiento filosófico latinoamericano, del 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"la interculturalidad crítica como proyecto ético-político", in: encuentro continental de educadores agustinos. lima, january 24-28, 2005. available at: http://oala.villanova.edu/congresos/educación/lima-ponen-02.html.2005 walsh, c.,(2002). interculturalidad y política: desafíos y posibilidades. norma fuller editora, universidad del pacífico.walsh, c.,(2002 y 2012 ). gasché, j., 2008b; bertely m., (2007 y 2013) en sartorello s. (2019). milpas educativas para el buen vivir. nuestra cosecha. impreso en méxico por ultradigital press centeno 195, valle del sur http://www.uiet.edu.mx/ http://oala.villanova.edu/congresos/educaci%c3%b3n/lima-ponen-02.html.2005 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.791 impacts of land-use transformation on agriculture land in afghanistan, kabul city as case study hamidullah amin1, mansour rifaat helmi2 1msc. urban and regional planning, king abdulaziz university 2lecturer at architecture and planning faculty, king abdulaziz university abstract the change in land-use over a certain period of time is inevitable. this paper investigates the issue of land use change on agricultural land that has become a phenomenon affecting the economy and environment in kabul, the capital city of afghanistan. agriculture is the main economic source of afghan cities, however, due to rapid population growth, population densification, and inability to apply kabul city’s master plan and regulations, a large portion of land cover transformed from agricultural areas to unplanned developments and have shifted the function of communities from productive societies into consumer and dependent societies. the study sheds light on yakatoot as a study farmland area in kabul city to present an alive example of what is happening in the reality of agricultural land in kabul. therefore, approaches for sustainable conversion of agricultural land in kabul city is a vital quest that needs to be followed seriously. the study illustrates afghanistan's land laws. it identifies the social, economic and environmental impacts of land-use change. this paper applies qualitative methods, where data and analysis worked by using field surveys, aerial photographs from google earth and data collected from crida. it also investigates international experience regarding land-use change and sustainable solutions. therefore, due to positive implications of urban agriculture practice as a feasible and sustainable approach to tackle the ongoing challenges related to land-use change in kabul city, this paper suggests inducing this approach in kabul city’s master plan and other urban initiatives because it will not only lead to environmental protection, but also, it will re-establish economic stability, enhance social welfare, revive city’s historic identity. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords land-use change; urban agriculture; land-use impact; informal settlements; afghanistan; kabul city 1. introduction land-use is defined as the mode of the utilization of land by humans, like, farming, mining, and felling (soja & kanai, 2021). accordingly, land-use change is the transformation of a land-use type by humans either through another form of land-use (such as the change from an agriculture land into informal settlements) or through changes in management practices inside of a land-use type (for example, the intensification of agriculture in an area). usually, these changes in land-use occur next to human habitats (cowell, 1995). land transformation of agricultural land has become a global phenomenon plaguing, especially, in developing countries that rely in their economy on agriculture. in afghanistan agriculture is the primary resource in achieving food security and economic development, where it represents 31% of annual national income. afghanistan was also known for its quality agro products. according to usaid agriculture http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 53 was once the historical identity of afghan cities (usaid, 2019). kabul city for example has once produced all its food need inside its city and districts. it supplied food for a two million population in 90s (jica and dcda, 2009). a considerable amount of land-use change has occurred in the kabul city in recent years. the reason behind these changes is mainly war conditions which led to population concentration in kabul and high housing demand. it resulted in rapid population growth, problems in land laws and regulation and economic deficulties of farmers in their land. the kabul city was designed for a two million population in 1978 (un-habitat, 2015). while it reached 4.5 million in 2011 which indicated how fast growing it is (jica and dcda, 2009). the acres of cropland, pastureland, and rangeland decreased predominantly, which has created so many unplanned and slum areas. there are plenty of places in kabul city facing this phenomenon, in this paper yakatoot area has been considered as a sample for the research study. because the area is very close to the city center and once was totally an agriculture land. yakatoot is located five kilo-meters south to kabul airport, in the ninth district of kabul city. due to changes in the last two decades residential houses covered a large space of the yakatoot agriculture area which occupies about 214.6 hectares of the total 332 hectares. in 2009 there was 117.2 hectares of agriculture land in yakatoot which was further transformed into illegal development since then. there are some government organization as well specially, the lots which are located along the main streets and corners are mostly covered by government institutions and local commercial units. now due to problems stated above there are only a few involved in agriculture inside the city. according to crida’s (capital region development authority of afghanistan) survey, about 34 percent of agricultural land has been transformed to informal settlements in a period of 2009-2016, which means only 40 hectares is left for agriculture purposes. these settlements do not have proper infrastructure, so it caused environmental contamination in the area. which has driven the community and its surrounding area to serious urban challenges. in order to understand how land-use change affect the productivity of a city, we need to explore the socio-economic and environmental impacts of land-use change. in addition, the international case studies have been reviewed in this study to find ways of fighting the land-use change inside the kabul city and other similar cities. the studies featured how urban agriculture could be a feasible solution to avoid land-use change. this paper aims to investigate the land-use transformation issue and its relation with socio-economic and environmental imperfections created by these transformations. it will also elaborate the causes of the land-use change and the parallel practices affecting the phenomenon and their policy implications. the research will finally go through the urban agriculture practice which is the craft of cultivating corps and other agro products which has been a potential solution for many similar land-uses change cases around the world. in other words, the study indicates that how an emphasize on inducing the urban agriculture in urban laws and regulation could restore the kabul city`s historical identity. it would revive the craft of urban agriculture in yakatoot in specific and in kabul city plus other afghan cities as a whole. moreover, it will stop informal developments in agriculture land inside the cities which will predominantly reduce the socio-economic and environmental negative impacts of land-use transformation. figure 1. the location of yakatoot municipal area in kabul city amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 2. literature review 2.1. land laws land laws and regulations are one of the main causes of good land values around the world. in a global context the insecurity of land tenure and poor administration of land rights are the main causes of poverty and inequality (united nations, 2021). studies have shown that the better the land regulations, the higher its price and productivity will be (han et al., 2020) (glaeser et al., 2003). in addition, it is also interpreted from above articles that more efficient land laws led to economic development and high social welfare rates. that’s why the international organizations invest in strengthening the land regulations in developing countries to support sustainable development and justice in land access ( dowall & clarke, 2018). moreover, there are some viable regulations exist in some developing countries but due to poor enforcement of these laws many developing cities suffer from urban, social, economic and environmental issues. a joint un, un-habitat and world bank report reveals that most of the land development policies are inefficient in poor and developing countries ( dowall & clarke, 2018) (unama, 2015). for instance, in india the rapid urbanization and inefficiency in urban development policies have led to creation of slums and densely populated areas where sustainability fades away. the study suggests government intervention in providing enough land access and housing for poor also provision of public facilities by reforming those land policies which are solely based on business activities and revenues generation for the governments and private sector. it’s also believed that the transformation of agriculture land which is in some cases inevitable should be taken first on low quality agro-land (niemand, 2011). developing countries like jordan experience the land-use change due to poor land-use planning laws. land-use change especially change of agricultural land to residential built area has caused an urban sprawl and serious environment degradation in jordan, shihan, which is considered a waste of agro-land and costly servicing the sprawled areas (al tarawneh, 2014). another example could be india with vast green and agriculture land, experiences sever land-use change due to new developments and rapid urbanization process ( dowall & clarke, 2018). the land laws in afghanistan are mainly based on national land policy prepared by national land authority of afghanistan and decreed by cabinet under the supervision of president (arazi, 2017) (arazi, 2007). violating the national land laws is one of the major causes of land-use change in afghanistan. the problem arises because these national laws are not broke down and interpreted to the local level. another problem, most of the properties in afghanistan have never been surveyed. a majority of landowners do not hold legally recognized deeds to their property but rather have customary land deeds with poorly defined property description. these properties are grabbed and sold many times. the lack of clear boundaries is a major factor in land-use change, it often leads to land disputes. years of war and conflicts also prevented the import of modern survey and mapping technologies by which boundaries could be easily determined. however, there are some efforts in this area by urban sector including afghan geodesy and cartography head office (aghco) and arazi authority of afghanistan but it remains ineffective because of the land grabbers and incoordination between different urban sector organizations (fhcraa & usid, 2009). 2.2. administration of land in afghanistan: in most of the developing countries the administration of land is centralized which bring lots of problems from budget issues to lengthy development documents processing that makes them inefficient ( dowall & clarke, 2018). on the other hand, most of the developed countries try to decentralize the land management and authorize the local authorities for an efficient land administration ( dowall & clarke, 2018). the government of afghanistan consolidates the land to its own support. the decree 99 was issued in april 2002 to stop the distribution of public-land to undeserving beneficiaries. the distribution of public land is the responsibility of national government which limits the misuses of public and government land in the country. unfortunately, during conflicts, most of public and state land was under the control of previous war commanders. formally the arazi land authority and municipalities administrate the land issues in afghanistan. the local government needs to follow what is stated in national land policy and assigned to them by central government (arazi, 2017). a combination of amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 55 customary, statutory and religious laws determines the ownership of land. communities sometimes interpret the laws and ownership of land without consideration of any government document. land disputes are also judged based on these interpretations and islamic laws regarding land ownership (un-habitat, 2015). informal housing on the other hand is growing in kabul city because of poor land administration in kabul city (fao-un, 2013). 2.2.1. role of courts in land administration the judgments on disputes and sales of land are usually managed by courts in an international level (united nations, 2021). they facilitate the protection of rights and provision of deeds in many countries. they are also important entities in archiving property deeds and judging the land claims. there are courts at provincial and district level in each province of afghanistan (un-habitat, 2015). the provincial courts which are about 34 in number, usually gather and archive all documents and land dispute cases in one book. the local courts report all those documents to central courts in paper-based activity and progress reports (un-habitat, 2015). the problem this lengthy process creates affects the people’s desire on grabbing land. in fact, the land laws and its related government bodies indirectly help the land grabbing which supports land-use change. 2.2.2. land-use change and urban agriculture a study on land-use changes in kabul city covering the years 2000 to 2010 reveals that deforestation and a decrease in overall agricultural land has been occurring due to multiple development and demand factors on residential plots (najmuddin et al., 2018). an empirical study in china indicates that on one hand, a controlled land-use change would have positive impact while on the other hand, uncontrolled change of land-use may have negative socio-economic consequences for people (wang & sun, 2016). studies also imply that there is a far more demand of land-use change in countries like china and nigeria because of housing needs (worku, 2020) (a.e, 2017). china is intensively experiencing the land-use change due to high demand for industrial and residential land. thus, it seems controlled by housing demand and economic development (jin et al., 2015). another study from minnesota describes that land-use changes may benefit the private land owners but in the cost of harming the ecosystem and decreasing net social benefits from it (polasky et al., 2010). it is also believed that the positive social and cultural impacts of urban agriculture is more important than its economic impact (robert et al, 2020). accordingly, the urban agriculture make an outstanding 15 percent of sydney`s food supply with much better social and cultural positive impacts (robert et al, 2020). in italy a study examines the environmental impacts of agricultural land-use changes into built areas due to poor management based on economic considerations, it caused urban expansion and kept italy in a challenge to tackle the environmental problem and contribute in reducing the climate change up to 2030 (martellozzo et al., 2018). the land-use change even in most developed communities affect the sustainable development especially when there is a change in agriculture land (niemand, 2011). the changes could also include affecting the social behavior of people and the natural resources in an area (jiang et al., 2013) (niemand, 2011). the farmland around the world in total is experiencing development interventions and being decreased enormously (jiang et al., 2013). due to urbanization dilemma urban agriculture could support food production as the world would experience food shortages. it would provide more urban jobs especially for poor which will reduce poverty expected of urbanization trends (rooyen & langer, 2021). there are evidence that population growth made governments to undermine the food production initiatives for the sake of housing and development demands (a.e, 2017). despite the fact that urban agriculture reduces hunger and support food supply, it would also contribute in environmental preservation, waste management and sustainable development (krishnan et al., 2016). a study reveals that due to significant increase in the world`s urban population urban agriculture would contribute in food supply and sustainable development of cities with the fact that 25 to 30 percent of urban population is involved in urban agriculture now (orsini et al., 2013). a study from delhi in india, which has more socio-economic similarities with the kabul city was carried out by josef martinez and harpreet kaur. the research was on agriculture activities (in both sides of yamuna river in 2017), there are about 7000 farmers in delhi who cultivate corps and grain inside the city and present it to local markets (martinez, 2013). the study says: "these farmers live along the banks of the yamuna river. the indian government may not accept their doing, but they unwillingly created urban agriculture practice inside the city and farm in urban areas to support their families and take part in supplying the local markets (martinez, 2013). they farm smaller plots amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 of land but can get higher profits by growing three or four seasons and selling their products directly into the local markets, avoiding middlemen entirely ". despite the conflicts between these farmers and their government, this practice (urban agriculture) has contributed a lot in economic and environmental protection of the city (martinez, 2013). in response to rapid urbanization of kabul city and to avoid the land-use transformations from agriculture to urban areas, a comprehensive study suggests consensus or community-based development and decentralization of land development practice to the local authorities in order to limit further transformations and speed down the urbanization process (hidayat & kajita, 2019). it would be responsive if the officials work on supporting the agriculture inside the city and avoid further illegal developments and accordingly to decrease socio-economic and environmental negative impacts. 2.3. land-use change imperfections 2.3.1. socio-economic impacts the land is considered as an important factor of production and a vital supporter of the economy through its involvement in food and housing production. so, land is the main pillar of agricultural based economies and it provides considerable socio-economic benefits (fao-un, 2013). whereas, land-use transformation in kabul caused so many socio-economic negative impacts. for instance, illegal developments in agricultural areas may provide landowners with some benefits but also, it causes soil contamination due to daily use of chemicals by humans and decreases the quality of agriculture products. as a result, the income from these products decreases intensively (faoun, 2013). as the urbanization process continues, land-use transformation speeds up. in the case of kabul city, these transformations target agricultural areas. while targeting this land, it also affects the input and output scales of adjacent land as well (najmuddin et al., 2018). when the farmers find their land like squatter island inside the informally developed areas having difficulties to move their machinery toward it, they change their mind on how to utilize their land in a profitable way (sell it for homeless people and they construct informal residential units on it). agriculture presents important opportunities for farmers (rooyen & langer, 2021). if they are not encouraged to find alternative ideas of selling parts of their land for development purposes (niemand, 2011) (crida, 2016). the concept of producing agro-products will gradually change in areas located near to the cities. farmers are affected by urbanization and produce less but expensive products. instead, they use part of their land for construction purposes. for example, no farmer in ykatoot area, farm low-value products like potatoes but they farm fruits and high-value vegetables instead. hence a huge part of yakatoot area is being transformed into residential informal areas annually. major socio-economic impacts found: • conversion of agriculture land to informal settlements reduce the food productivity of cities and increase dependence on imports. • land-use change removes agriculture craft from kabul city. • construction process reduces land quality and productivity • conversion of agricultural land to irregular developments reduces the public spaces and green landscape of areas • land-use change in kabul city produces a vast number of informal settlements in which, no infrastructure is provided. 2.3.2. environmental impacts land-use change is probably one of the deadly forces which harms the ecosystem and devours green areas in afghanistan. this phenomenon transformed the landscape of kabul city and deprived more than three million people of safe drinking water. additionally, underground water has been lowered up to 30 meters (world bank, 2010), the soil contamination and air pollution reached the sever levels, and the whole scene of the city is transformed with 70 percent informally developed areas (mostly in agricultural land) (un-habitat, 2015). amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 agriculture and greenery provide many unique services. they lay the ground for biodiversity and promotes wildlife habitat, they decrease the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and they avoid soil erosion by recharging underground water. these services directly affect the ecosystem. if they are ignored it could lead to a lot of urban challenges. for example, if the illegal land-use changes continue in kabul city there will be a lot of extra informal settlements added to the existing 70% informal developments. as a result, the soil & water contamination and air pollution will increase predominantly which could make kabul inhabitable (worldbank, 2021). there are currently three urban sector organizations (crida, kabul municipality, and ministry of urban development) and one international organization (un-habitat) working on upgrading and redevelopment of informal settlements in kabul city, but unfortunately, they only could provide some basic needs to these settlements so far (fhcraa & usid, 2009). major land-use change environmental impacts found: • land-use change without any previous planning has negative effects on natural resources including water, air, soil, nutrients, plants, as well as ecosystem and animals. • land-use change specifically changing to informal areas without infrastructure causes degradations and contamination of water, soil, and air. • in kabul city, where the only drinking water source is underground water, water levels have faced sever descending which cost both people and the environment. 3. the research methodology this research studies the phenomena of agricultural land transformation in afghanistan by examining the impacts of this transformation on socio-economic and environmental aspects. the methodological framework used in this study has explored the existing land laws and regulations regarding land development and agricultural land in afghanistan, according to which, all public and private land in afghanistan should be utilized. this study examines the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of land-use change within the area based on qualitative studies. also, different international and national case studies in the field have been investigated. international case studies regarding the land-use change and urban agriculture are reviewed to understand the depth of the issues and how to avoid further decrease in agricultural land within the city, and to investigate for a sustainable solution. yaktatoot, is a local case in kabul to illustrate alive example of what is happening on agricultural land in kabul city. the indian model was selected as an international example to take the advantage of scientific studies in the subject of urban agricultural as an experience proven usefulness in tackling and reducing the impacts of land use changes in kabul. the evaluation of socio-economic and environmental problems created by land-use change in the area also needed primary data. thus, several socio-economic and environmental analysis surveys have been conducted by crida in kabul city (yakatoot area) in 2016 (crida, 2016). a detailed land readjustment report was also prepared by crida in 2016. moreover, secondary data and gis satellite images have been prepared to compare the changes between 2009 and 2016 in yaktatoot. the similarities of the land-use change and its factors in the area with the international land-use change cases have driven this study toward urban agriculture. so, several agricultural cases like the case from sihan city, world bank investigated cases and the study from sarada krishna were also investigated to promote an effective solution for the problem in the area and other agriculture land within the country. furthermore, the poor access to updated data and few studies on the topic could be mentioned as limititions in this study. 4. results and discussion 4.1. yakatoot area afghanistan with 34 provinces has one of the historical capitals in the world. kabul the capital of afghanistan has a history of 3500 years which was famous for having gardens, palaces and an ancient transit way named silk road in the region (l. planet, 2019). due to decades of conflict in this country the kabul city`s infrastructure is destroyed and now it is the home of nearly 70 percent informal settlements (un-habitat, 2015). the new established government amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 58 in afghanistan prepared some urban rules and regulations to avoid the transformation of agriculture land to informal developments but it seems inefficient. this study picks the yakatoot as the study area because the area is very close to the kabul city`s center and once was totally an agriculture land (crida, 2016). the area was supplying the vegetables to its surrounding areas. the important thing about this area is that it was once a productive green agriculture land inside the city. yakatoot is located five kilo meters south to kabul airport, in the ninth precinct of kabul city. the residential houses covered a large space of the yakatoot area which occupies about 214.6 hectares of the whole area which is 332 hectares in total (crida, 2016). the lots which are located along the main streets and corners are mostly covered by government institutions, military base, and private companies. previously the area was barely used for agriculture and food production purposes but now unfortunately the illegal and informal developments changed its face and created many urban challenges to the area and its surrounding. figure 2. pictures of the area showing the transformation of agriculture land in year 2009 agricultural land was covering about 117.2 hectares of the whole area (crida, 2016). figures (3a and b) below illustrate that 34 percent of agricultural land transformed into informal settlements from 2009 to 2016 which is a clear example of how land-use change can be challenging. figure 3.(a) satellite image of yaktoot 2009 (unfccc, 2018) figure 3.(b) satellite image of yaktoot 2016 (unfccc, 2018) amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 59 4.2. urban agriculture urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around a village, town or city. urban agriculture can also involve animal husbandry, agriculture, agroforestry, urban beekeeping and horticulture, these activities occur in suburban areas as well. thus, urban agriculture plays an important role in making food more affordable and in providing emergency supplies of food. in addition, urban agriculture can reflect varying levels of economic and social developments, urban and sub-urban agriculture expands the economic base of the city through production, processing, packaging, and marketing of consumable products. which results in increasing the entrepreneurial activities and creation of jobs as well as reducing food costs and improving quality. the urban agriculture reduces demand pressure of vigitables and fruits on rural areas (robert et al, 2020). additionally, it provides employment, income, and access to food for the urban population, which help to relieve chronic and emergency food insecurity. chronic food insecurity refers to less affordable food and growing urban poverty, while emergency food insecurity relates to breakdowns in the chain of food distribution. there are a number of social benefits that have emerged from urban agriculture, such as increasing overall social and emotional well-being, improved health and nutrition, good income, employment, food security within the households, and community social life (rooyen & langer, 2021). based on a report a person may have decreased levels of stress and better overall mental health when he/she has opportunities to interact with nature through a garden (wu, 2007). urban gardens also offer a space of retreat in densely populated urban areas (crida, 2016) (niemand, 2011). there are many documented cases by junjie wu in which community gardens lead to improved social relationships, increased community pride, and overall community improvement and mobilization (wu, 2007). it can also be connected to decreased levels of crime and suicide rates (wu, 2007). the urban agricluture should be considered above the land development initiavies because of its importance for future food scarcities and sustainable development (a.e, 2017). while urban agriculture supports walkability aspects, it can also be supportive to change the travel behavior of residents and avoid their reliance on car transport system (wu, 2007)(crida, 2016).in afghanistan agriculture sector accounts for up to 40 percent of afghanistan’s gross domestic products. agriculture is considered critical to afghanistan’s food security and a driver of economic growth. the majority of afghans rely on agricu lture of their family’s sustenance. prior to decades of conflicts, afghanistan’s agricultural products earned a global reputation for excellence. kabul university produced a report in 1988 which found that agricultural output was 45 percent less than the 1978 level which was approximately 50% of gdp and it continued to get worse now (fhcraa & usid, 2009)(crida, 2016). based on the socio-economic and environmental vulnerability of yakatoot and other similar areas in kabul city, we found urban agriculture as the best and most effective solution to avoid land-use changes. thus, based on socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture and the similar case of delhi city and the number of 7000 employment opportunities which it made as well as suppling food to the city, this paper found urban agriculture as an effective defense against informal land-use change in kabul city and a protective shield against negative socio-economic & environmental impacts caused by land-use change in kabul. the study also generate the figure 4 which elaborates the patterns and solutions to prevent the affect of land-use transformation based on findings of this study; furthermore, it shows the direct and indirect impacts of urban agriculture as the solution to the socio economic and environmental imperfections of land-use change. the diagram further illustrates that from economic point of view the urban agriculture could be more efficient if we increase the impact value of produced products by inflicting supportive policies. as well as in social part we need new development initiatives to avoid urban segregation and provide more housing in a densification process. amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 figure 4. urban agriculture as a feasible solution 5. conclusion land-use change as it was defined in this study could be more challenging and negatively impactful if not controlled, especially, if we put it in afghanistan context. the state of its impacts depends on how well it is guided towards a controlled and manageable process that will lead to socio-economic and environmental sustainability, otherwise, it will turn out to be an unpleasant process that will affect the overall sustainability of an area. as it can be seen in the case of kabul city, land-use change is leading to the creation of informal settlements. the agricultural and green land decreased predominantly, which has created so many unplanned and slum areas. generally, a poor land management, problems in laws, inconsideration of housing needs, and inexistence of support for urban agro products could be the main motives for land-use changes in kabul city. it has caused serious challenges to various urban sectors. dense informal settlements, lower living quality in more than 70% of kabul’s residential areas, dissatisfying economic stability, and insufficiency in public services are some of the negative impacts of land-use transformation in the city. for instance, yakatoot area is one of the many agricultural areas of the capital city that has faced land-use transformation. going deeper to the causes of land-use change in yakatoot area, this paper found that there are three main causes that led to the transformation of agricultural land: rapid population growth, demand for housing, poor infrastructure and planning laws plus lack of enforcement of these laws. the residents sold parts of their land to the amin/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 homeless and received money instead of cultivating the land. subsequently the trend continued until the area was full of informal settlements facing sever socio-economic and environmental problems. the yakatoot area and many more similar areas are experiencing the above-mentioned transformation and caused negative impacts to the environment as well as socio-economic conditions of the city. for instance, the areas are changing to consumer places in terms of food and agro-products. these land use transformations affect the overall productivity of adjacent land and removes the agriculture craft from the city. it also created so many informal developments without any infrastructure and facilities which will surely decrease the quality of life by affecting the soil, water and air qualities. to come up with a sustainable solution for the current situation, this paper recommends promotion of urban agriculture as a feasible option to avoid further land-use changes. the study went through the implications of urban agriculture in an international context and evaluated the land-use change imperfections. the lessons drawn from the study suggests a viable support of agriculture inside the cities and locating markets near to agricultural villages, which is known as urban agriculture. the study also revealed that urban agriculture has led to the sustainable environment by increasing economic activities, creating eco-friendly neighborhoods, lowered waste production, production of food inside the city, and reasonable product prices. we need an urban agriculture strategy to establish eco-friendly neighborhoods, and stop the ongoing land-use change trend in the yakatoot area and the kabul city. meanwhile, the urban agriculture itself is widely used as a preventive strategy to avoid land-use change. worth of mentioning that, besides the socioeconomic and ecologic impacts of urban agriculture, the urban aesthetics of city will also be enhanced and will revive its lost appearance. so, we need to promote urban agriculture through development initiatives to achieve food security, socio-economic development, and environmental protection. references dowall, d. e., & clarke, g. 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(2020). urban agriculture could provide 15% of food supply to sydney, australia, under expanded land use scenarios. land use policy, 94, 104554. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.838 towards programs sustainability: assessment of institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs in tanzania daniel wandera clief naku1*, jacob kihila2, eluether mwageni3 1*geography department, st john’s university of tanzania, dodoma, tanzania 2institute of human settlements studies, ardhi university, dar es salaam, tanzania 3school of spatial planning and social sciences, ardhi university, dar es salaam, tanzania abstract this paper brings to the fore an assessment of institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs for the case of tanzania. it is highly acknowledged in various scholarly literature that there is a strong link between community participation and development programs. in fact, literature shows that communitybased development programs that have allowed community members to be fully involved in various programs have been successful when compared to those where community members are seen as spectators. however, in order for community members to take part in the programs, there are several determining factors, ranging from socio-economic, socio-cultural to institutional based factors. this study therefore sought to assess institutional determinants with the aim of identifying the major institutional determinants capable of influencing effective community participation in development programs. the study used four programs that were categorized as locally funded, government funded, donor funded and joint funded development programs. a combined sample size of 316 participants from all the four programs was employed. collected data were analyzed through the within-case analysis and the comparative analysis approaches. results of the study revealed that program benefits, objectives and leadership were the major institutional determinants for promoting effective community participation in development programs. when compared to methods used in the other three examined programs. hence, the study concluded by emphasizing on the need to ensure these institutional based factors (program benefits, objectives and leadership) should always be given due attention in any development program. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords community, participation, development, programs, institutional determinants 1. introduction the need for effective community participation as one of the means for enhancing program sustainability is increasingly becoming a pre-requisite for successful implementation of development programs in tanzania and worldwide. unfortunately, there is inadequate empirical research to generate information and knowledge on the determinants for effective community participation for enhancing program sustainability in tanzania. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 although scholars such as evan et al. (2019), apsalone (2013) masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) have, from a theoretical point of view, indicated that some of the key determinants to effective community participation could be categorized as institutional, socio-economic and socio-cultural determinants, the inadequacy in information and knowledge on these determinants creates a knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. hence, this study seeks to explore this knowledge gap with emphasis on institutional determinants. in this study, the concept of program sustainability is conceptualized to largely refer to the continuation of a program’s goals, principles, and efforts to achieve desired outcomes as stressed by riggs, (2012). simply put, it involves making sure that the goals of the program continue to be met through activities that are consistent with the current conditions and resources that are available (op.cit). hence, as revealed by sabastian et al., (2018), program sustainability contributes to the attainment of sustainable development at the community level through influencing the social, human, economic and environmental aspects of the community. this paper therefore, adopts the concept of sustainability in development programs from a general perspective as reflected in the concept of sustainable development. similarly, according to bamber et al., (2010), development programs at the community level are normally designed and implemented with the intentions of achieving the desired objective of enhancing community development and that they remain sustainable. sebastian et al., (2018) further stress that when a program is not sustainable; its impacts decrease leading to unmet expectations and thus affecting development efforts of the community as a whole. however, in order to achieve this, wasilwa (2015) suggests that active participation which is open and allows community members to actively take part in all stages of the program is essential for the sustainability of a program. according to wasilwa (op.cit), it leads to capacity building, which enables the community to be more effective and efficient in the process of identifying, monitoring and evaluating the program and thus contributing to its sustainability. in addition, akumu and onono (2017) also echo that community participation allows beneficiaries to influence the direction and execution of development programs rather than merely receiving a share of the program. similarly, according to undp, (2013), in order to walk in the human development pathway, people should engage fully in activities that reform lives and they should be able to participate in policy making process and results. odoyo (2013), further argues that effective community participation in development projects and programs need to be fully embraced if sustainable development is to be attained in communities. the author emphasizes that, in order to achieve effective community participation in development programs, there is a need to pay close attention to key factors that serve as determinants for effective community participation in development programs and thus ensure that such factors are supportive to the process of community participation in development projects and programs. in support of this view, masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) among other scholars point out that these key factors or determinants to effective community participation could be categorized as institutional determinants which include aspects of rules, leadership, program policies, program objectives, program instruments as well as program benefits and their distribution. it includes as well socio-economic determinants which focus on issues such as resource availability, literacy level and economic structure (ethnicity, income, class). another category of determinants is the socio-cultural determinants relating to aspects of attitudes, values, skills/capacity, beliefs, awareness and gender. this study therefore sought to assess institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs. specifically, the study focused on the case of tanzania. 2. background of the study as pointed out by beck and crawley (2002), community participation is fundamental to achieving sustainable community development in any community. however, in order to achieve this, odoyo (2013) suggests that there is a need to pay close attention to key factors that serve as determinants for effective community participation in development programs and thus ensure that such factors are supportive to the process of community participation in development projects and programs. naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 62 in the context of this study, such factors are seen as determinants for effective community participation and may be grouped as socio-economic, socio-cultural and institutional determinants (masanyiwa and kinyashi, 2008). these are pre-requisite determinants for effective community participation to occur in development initiative such as programs and project may be contextual and specific to particular locations. the focus of this study is on institutional determinants and according to (masanyiwa and kinyashi, 2008), these determinants are institutional related. they originate from the institution implementing the program and the regulations that have been put in place for the smooth implementation of the program. hence, these factors may among others include; rules governing how people participate, leadership, program policies, program objectives, program instruments and program benefits including how such benefits are distributed. an empirical study by asaduzzaman (2008) revealed that some invisible but serious institutional issues affected the extent of people’s participation in development programs and projects. for instance, the lack of effective institutional mechanism which gives the poor and marginalized people to take part in the development project planning, supervision and or implementation. similarly, nkonjera (2008) did a study on community participation in development projects that had interest in water supply in mbeya district, tanzania. the study used descriptive statistic with a sample size population of 120 and revealed that the level of participation in development projects was still low despite of the government’s commitment to promote community participation in development projects and programs. this situation was largely attributed some institutional factors such as leadership of the projects. hence, as noted from literature, the above explained factors that include rules, policies, program objectives, program benefits and how they are distributed as well as program leadership are key institutional determinants for effective community participation. these factors must be well spelt out to people so that they can effectively participate in the program. 3. methods the study employed a cross – sectional research design and a case study research strategy. the cross-sectional research design was used because it is best suited for studies that aim at finding out the prevalence of a phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude or issue, by taking a cross-section of the population. in addition, kumar (2011) stress that cross sectional designs are useful in obtaining an overall ‘picture’ as it stands at the time of the study and designed to study some phenomenon by taking a cross-section of it at one time. as such, this design was chosen in line with the above stated views whereby the researcher was interested in examining institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs. on the other hand, the case study research strategy was used because it is open to use of other approaches of analysis including both qualitative and quantitative approaches that the study intended to use. yin (2003) observed that case study research strategy can accommodate both qualitative and quantitative approaches, thus allowing the researcher to get a rich mix of data for the study. sampling procedures included purposive sampling for key informants and random sampling for program beneficiaries. using a 95% confidence level and yamane 1967 formula for sample size determination, a sample of 316 program beneficiaries. this sample size was drawn from four examined program categories that included the locally fully funded program, government fully funded program, and donor fully funded program as well as the joint fully funded program. all the 316 program beneficiaries (study subjects) participated in the study through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. both primary and secondary data were collected and employed in the study. primary data was collected through focus group discussions and interviews with key informants. data collection tools involved semistructured questionnaire, key informant questionnaire and audio recorder. secondary data was collected by making reference to relevant text books, past studies and reports both in hard and soft copy. all collected data were analyzed based on two analysis approaches that included the within case analysis and comparative case analysis. in the context of this study, the within case analysis was used as an analytical approach in naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 which each single case in the study was examined independently and in detail while the comparative case analysis was an analytical approach used to compare findings from different single analyzed cases. three study areas that included arusha, morogoro and iringa within tanzania were involved in the study as shown in figure 1. figure 1: geographical locations of study areas source: consulate of the united republic of tanzania (2019) 4. results and discussion 4.1. institutional determinants in locally fully funded development programs institutional factors as pointed out by masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) are equally influential in determining the participation of people in development programs. according to the authors, these factors may, among other factors, include rules governing how people participate in programs, leadership from the implementers, program policies, program objectives and program benefits. as such both institutional determinants were examined in the context of the examined locally fully funded development program. results of the analysis showed that five institutional factors were pointed out by study respondents as being influential in their participation in the program. these factors included rules, leadership, program policies, program objectives and program benefits. in the context of this study, rules referred to guidelines put in place by program implementers that one had to follow in order to participate in the program. program policies were looked at as principles put in place by program implementers to implement the program. program objectives referred to what the program intended to achieve while program benefits referred to what the program sought to offer to the program participants. hence, based on the individual face to face interviews, it was revealed that institutional factors such as program objectives, leadership and program policies were seen to be more influential in determining the participation of youths in the program than rules and program benefits. in fact, results showed that thirty-five-point five percent (35.5%) of the respondents attested to program objectives, twenty-seven-point seven percent (27.7%) pointed out leadership while twenty-point seven percent (20.7%) stated program policies. these results concur with findings of howard-grabman et. al., (2017) who in their study on factors affecting effective community participation in maternal and newborn health program planning, implementation and quality of care interventions also found that factors relating to program objectives, policies and leadership were crucial in influencing peoples’ participation in the programs. the implication is that, from the institutional point of view, factors such as program objectives, program policies and program leadership are of paramount importance in ensuring people participate in locally fully funded development programs. arusha morogoro iringa https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-017-1443-0 https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-017-1443-0 https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-017-1443-0 naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 from the study, in line with the program objectives, the interviewed study respondents stated that the objectives of the program were very clear to them and for that matter it was easy for them to know what the program was about. for instance, among the pointed-out objective of the program was in the program slogan ‘protect your dream’. through this objective, youths were given education on how to protect their dreams and this encouraged most of them to stay involved in the program. one of the interviewed respondents stated that: ‘for me as a youth, it is important to protect my dream and so when i heard about the coming of a program with this kind of focus, i was motivated to join the program. i do not regret joining the program because i have been exposed to so much that i did not know.’ this view was further echoed by the program coordinator who revealed that as a voluntary program, they had to think a lot so as to come up with a program selling slogan that would attract youths to be part of the program. the program coordinated stated that: ‘youths are very difficult groups to deal with and especially getting them involved in a program or project that has nothing in form of tangible asset or money to give them. so, before we rolled out the program, we had to think a lot for a slogan which when used, it would attract them to join the program. that is when we came up with the slogan – ‘protect yourself.’ a similar perception was expressed during the focus group discussions where participants revealed that their desire to protect their dreams as advocated for by the program was very crucial in encouraging them to join the program. on the side of the female participants, the issue was avoiding to become a mother or having to add more children to the already they have while on the part of the male, it was about avoiding to become a father at an unexpected period which would affect one’s dreams. in terms of leadership, the interviewed respondents also felt that leadership provided by kinara organization as implementers was very important in encouraging people to join and also stay in the program. for instance, participants revealed that the leadership system is very open, transparent and very supportive to the youths. importantly, respondents acknowledged the close follow up to every individual participant by the program implementers. this action as revealed by participants makes them feel a sense of belonging to the program. this was also supported by the views of the program coordinator who stated: ‘as a program coordinator, i work with my group leaders to see to it that we are in close contact with every participant. if after a week we have not heard from the participant, we visit him or her although at times we simply call him or her on phone. this has been very helpful in keeping the youths interested in the program.’ with regards to program policies, program participants pointed out that policies guiding their involvement in the program were friendly enough to allow anybody interested in the program to join. to them, this was another influencing factor that saw many youths join the program. for instance, as revealed by the interviewed respondents, joining the program only required one to complete a commitment form to confirm his or her interest in the program. once the form was completed, the participant was then allowed to join colleagues in undertaking various program related activities. this implied that absence of bureaucratic and complex procedures in policies guiding the joining of an individual in the program made it easy for those interested in joining the program to do so. to substantiate this view, one of the interviewed youths narrated that: ‘the whole process of joining this program was made simple by the program implementers. because they wanted committed people, i just had to fill in a commitment form and i was allowed into the program.’ this view was also seconded by respondents during focus group discussions and later by the program coordinator as key informant. according to the respondents during focus group discussions, most youths normally get turned off from programs of this nature if policies guiding their joining of the programs are either demanding or restrictive. for the case of this particular program, this was never the case and therefore any youth would find it easy to join. generally, as advocated for by masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008), as well as from scholars such as howard-grabman et al., (2017), program policies, program objectives and leadership in place are very critical in determining participation of people in development programs. figure 2 presents a summary of these findings. naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 65 10.7 27.7 20.7 35.5 8.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 rules leadership program policies program objectives program benefits figure 2: institutional determinants in locally fully funded development programs source: field survey, 2020 generally, although there are several institutional determinants to effective community participation in development programs, in the context of the examined locally fully funded development program, institutional factors such as program objectives stood out as key in determining the participation of program beneficiaries in this kind of program. however, it should be noted that while the other factors were not found to be key in this particular program on the basis of the program focus, they could be key in other locally fully funded development programs with different program focus. 4.2. institutional determinants in government fully funded development programs in terms of institutional determinants, findings from the study revealed that in the case of the examined government fully funded development program, eighty-five-point seven percent (85.7%) pointed to program benefits as a determining factor for people’s participation in programs of this nature. according to respondents, to a great extent people tend to participate in government programs because of the benefits they expect in return. this finding aligns with the views of mubita et al., (2017) who in their study on the importance and limitations of participation in development projects and programs in zambia stressed that people need to see participation beneficial to them especially in terms of empowering them so as to effectively participate in development projects and programs. this implies that in the context of this study, people’s participation in the examined program much depended on how beneficial the participation process was to them as well as the program itself. in view of this perception, one of the interviewed respondents stated that: ‘people normally expect something from a government project, so their participation is largely attached to what they expect in return. this situation arises from the fact that government programs are not designed by the people themselves to get a sense of ownership and join the program not because he or she expects something from the program. on the contrary, because government programs are not designed by the people themselves and therefore come straight from the government, an individual is forced to first look at how he or she benefits. this view was however not largely shared by the secondary education officer as a key informant in the examined program. according to the key informant, not all people put benefits first in deciding to participate in government fully funded development programs of this nature. to some, it is always about other factors such as patriotism regardless of what they expect to get in return. the key informant stated that: ‘…of course, some people are interested in what the program will offer to them but we cannot conclude that all people have such mind set. some people participate in programs of this nature because of patriotism. wanting to serve their communities and country’ naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 in addition to the factor of program benefits as revealed by respondents and patriotism as indicated by the secondary education officer, fourteen-point three percent (14.3%) of the respondents also revealed that other factors such as someone’s position within an institution may automatically require such an individual to participate in the program of this nature without any objection. for instance, in the case of the examined government fully funded development programs, head teachers in schools where the program was being implemented had no option to reject participating in the program. an interviewed respondent in support of this view stressed that: ‘when you are in a position that makes you the contact person for the government, you cannot avoid participating in any government project however much you think the program is not okay. so, your position when working in a government institution will automatically get you to participate in a program of this nature. it does not matter what you know or think but getting the program being implemented is more important’. on account of the findings on the institutional determinants of effective community participation in government fully funded development programs, this study found that the views expressed by masanyiwa and kinyahsi (2008) on the subject matter were prevalent in the examined program but specially on the aspect of people being influenced in such program on the basis of what they expect in return as benefits. consequently, the study also revealed that, besides the benefit issues, there are other institutional factors such as patriotism of an individual and the position held by an individual in a government institution that could propel such individual to participate in the program. findings of this analysis are as presented in figure 3. figure 3: institutional determinants in government fully funded development programs source: field survey, 2020 overall, the findings on institutional determinants of effective community participation in development programs of this nature also show that, even with institutional factors in such programs, a combination of factors does prevail. as such, it may not be sufficient enough to conclude that a single institutional factor can on its own be a defining determinant for effective community participation in a program of this nature. 4.3. institutional determinants in donor fully funded development programs with regard to institutional determinants for effective community participation in donor fully funded programs, results from the examined program showed that factors such as program objectives, leadership, program benefits as well as program policies were the most influential in determining participation of community members in the program. of the four factors, respondents pointed out that the most influencing factor was about program objectives which forty-five-point seven percent (45.7%) of the respondents attested to this finding. this finding concurs with the views of howard-grabman et. al., (2017) who found that program objectives are very critical in determining the participation of people in development programs. this implies that from the institutional point of view, donor fully 85.7 14.3 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 program benefits any other factor naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 67 funded programs need to have clear objectives that can encourage people to participate in such programs so that they can contribute to the sustainability of the program. according to the participants, the objectives of the program played a vital role in attracting people into the program. for instance, among the objectives of the program was the desire to raise net incomes of smallholder tree farms which would then translate into increased household income. based on such reasoning as revealed by the respondents, many saw the program as an investment opportunity. one of the interviewed respondents explained that: ‘we were all attracted into this program for different reasons but for me when i heard that the program was going to help me grow trees that i would later sell and get good income, i developed interest in the program and joined it.’ another respondent also explained that: ‘this program came to help us get out of poverty. most of the tree planters are very rich people with vast acres of land but through this program, a man like me am able to also grow quality trees that i will sell and get money’ these views were equally substantiated by members in the focus group discussions who also revealed that the focus of the program in addressing income issues among the poor was very important and this contributed to people joining the program. on the other hand, the program coordinator also revealed that: ‘we wanted to have a program that people would like to be a part of. as such, our emphasis was on ensuring that the program objectives are inclined towards realizing this expectation.’ the other most influencing institutional factor as revealed by the respondents was leadership. in this aspect, thirty three percent (33%) of the respondents attested to this finding and according to them, the leadership from fdt was very supportive to every participant. this encouraged people to remain and continue participating in the program. one of the interviewed respondents stated that: ‘it is very easy for someone to give up on this program because right from the preparation of the farm to taking care of the trees one has to do so many activities. however, through the dedicated leadership of fdt, people have stayed positive about the program including myself’ similarly, nineteen-point two percent (19.2%) of the respondents indicated that program benefits were among the factors that were influential to people’s participation in the examined donor fully funded development program. this finding is similar to the findings of howard-grabman et. al., (2017) as well as masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008). hence, this implies that ensuring that expected program benefits are clearly explained to the intended program participants is key to influencing peoples’ participation in programs of this nature. according to the respondents, people had to assess how beneficial the program was to them before deciding to join especially after knowing that program benefits were not in the short run but rather in the long run. from the focus group discussions, members commented that: ‘…knowing how we will benefit as individuals was also important in convincing us to join the program. we were very inquisitive when we first heard of the program and so when we met the implementers, they were able to sensitize us. besides, the three discussed factors, 2.1% of the respondents also indicated that the implemented program policies such as allowing people to join their small pieces of land to meet the 2 acres’ requirement was equally useful in encouraging people to join the program. according the respondents, if such friendly policies had not been implemented, some people would have failed to join the program regardless of their interest in the program. figure 4 presents the analysis of these findings. naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 68 33 2.7 45.7 19.2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 leadership program policies program objectives program benefits figure 4: institutional determinants in donor fully funded development programs source: field survey, 2020 overall findings on institutional determinants for effective community participation from the examined donor fully funded development program showed in programs of this nature, factors relating to program objectives, leadership, benefits and their distribution as well as policies are very critical in influencing people to join the program from an institutional point of view. precisely, the findings concur with the views of masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) as well as the views of howardgrabman et. al., (2017) who pointed out that, factors of this nature are very important in determining the extent of people’s participation in a program because they mainly affect the governance and operational mechanisms for implementing the program. in addition, the findings further demonstrated that, although some of the factors may be more influential than others in influencing people’s participation, it will still be a combination of various factors and not just a single institutional factor to influence effective community participation in programs of this nature. 4.4. institutional determinants in joint funded development programs findings on the institutional determinants for effective community participation in the case of the examined joint funded development program revealed that factors of the program benefits, leadership as well as program objectives were the most influential institutional factors that influenced people’s participation in the program. these findings concur with the findings of howard-grabman et. al., (2017) as well as masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) who equally found that program benefits, leadership and objectives were indeed influential to peoples’ participation in development programs. according to the authors, these factors lead to increased participation which consequently contribute to sustainability of the program. for the case of program benefits and distribution, findings showed that fifty-two-point eight percent (52.8%) of the respondents cited this factor as the most influencing factor. according to the respondents, people were eager to know how beneficial the program would be before deciding to join it. in fact, one of the respondents narrated that: ‘when the people from pfp came to explain to us this program, i was very interested in hearing how the program was going to benefit me. when they explained that after supporting me to grow my trees i would then sell at a very good price, that is when i decided that i should also join.’ another respondent commented that: ‘my wife attended the meeting because i was away and when i returned, she explained to me how the people from pfp had told them the program would benefit us, i eagerly waited for the next meeting where i was given more information on top of what my wife had told me’ naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 69 this feeling was equally shared by members from the focus group discussions whereby members narrated that if it had not been for the program implementers to spend more time explaining to people about the program and how they would benefit in the long run, most people would have been hesistant to join the program. one of the members from the focus group discussion explained that: ‘it was a very nice approach for pfp to spend more time telling us about the program and how we were going to benefit. many people in this community have been part of many programs but after wasting time in the program, one comes to realize that the program was not of help’ these views generally revealed how influential the aspect of program benefits was in influencing people to join a program of this nature. another crucial institutional factor in influencing participation of people in the joint development program as revealed by the respondents was the factor of leadership. according to the findings, thirty-point three percent (30.3%) of the respondents cited this factor as being among the most influencing factors in joining the program. in addition, the respondents revealed that leadership displayed by pfp right from introducing the program to the time when this study was carried out was exceptional in the sense that implementers were very supportive and reaching out to the farmers at all times. this view was amplified by one of the interviewed respondents: ‘i have been part of so many programs in this community but i can tell you, i have never seen a program where the implementers stay this close to the people. pfp staff members are always ready to hear from you, check on you and advise you whenever you have problems’ the members of the focus group discussion also explained that: ‘surely we are in this program together. pfp has been with us in every step right from preparing the tree nurseries and made sure that farms are well maintained’ to triangulate these views, discussion with the program director also revealed that in terms of leadership, pfp had adopted a grass-root field-based approach where field officers within the program communities had been identified, trained and empowered to lead the process from the grass root. the program director explained that: ‘if there is anything we have desired to do to perfection, is ensuring that our leadership is felt among our program participants. we don’t want to see them get disappointed because we failed to play our part. we want them to be proud of us and to count on our support at any time. we have trained and empowered forest field officers in every community we work in and for that matter, our support in these villages is on a daily basis.’ from these views, an affirmation was again drawn that indeed, the aspect of leadership in the case of the examined joint funded development program was of necessity in influencing the participation of people in the program. lastly, study respondents also revealed that to some extent the factor of program objectives also played a role in influencing them to join the program. according to the findings, sixteen-point nine percent (16.9%) of the respondents attested to this view and according to them, it was important to understand the objective of the program. as it was revealed by the program director, the overall objective of the program was to increase income in the southern highlands of tanzania by supporting private plantation forestry and strengthening wood-based industries. to program participants, knowing and understanding this objective was very important to them because according to the interviewed residents, it showed them what they should expect by joining the program. one of the proponents of this view explained that, ‘pfp staff did a good job to tell us what the program was about because through that we know the objective of the program and how relevant it was to us.’ again, from such kind of explanation, this study confirms that the issue of program objectives though not strongly advocated for by many of the respondents appeared to be one of the influencing institutional factors in determining the joining of people in the examined joint funded development program. figure 5 shows the findings of this analysis. naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 70 30.3 10.9 52.8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 leadership program objectives program benefits figure 5: institutional determinants in joint funded development programs source: field survey, 2020 in general, the findings on institutional determinants for effective community participation in joint funded development programs as per the examined program showed that, aspects of program benefits and distribution, leadership as well as program objectives were indeed influencing factors to the participation of the people in a program of this nature. this further confirms the views put forward by masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008) on the relevance of these factors in determining people’s participation in development initiatives. 4.5. case comparison and discussion on institutional determinants for effective community participation from the examined development programs the comparative analysis for the institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs from the four examined development programs showed that there were several institutional determinants that need to be taken care of. these determinants were cited by the respondents as being influential in their participation in the various four examined development programs. such determinants include rules, leadership, program policies, program objectives as well as program benefits and their distribution. however, across all the four examined programs, three institutional factors were considered as the most influencing factors and they include leadership, program objectives and program benefits. in terms of the leadership factor, twenty-seven-point seven percent (27.7%) of the respondents found it influential in the locally fully funded program, thirty three percent (33%) in the donor fully funded program, and thirty-point three percent (30.3%) in the joint funded program. this factor was not found to be influential in the government fully funded program. for the program objectives factor, thirty-five-point five percent (35.5%) of the respondents found it influential in the locally fully funded program, forty-five-point seven percent (45.7%) in donor fully funded and ten-point nine percent (10.9%) in the joint funded development program. in the case of the program benefits and distribution factor, eight-point five percent (8.5%) of the respondents found it influential in the locally fully funded program, eight five-point seven percent (85.7%) in the government fully funded program, nineteen-point two percent (19.2%) in donor fully funded program while fifty-two-point eight percent (52.8%) in the joint funded development program. on account of the fact that the three institutional factors were found to be very influential across the four examined development programs, the study confirms that the factor of program benefits and their distribution whose average influence was forty-one-point six percent (41.6%) stood out as the most influencing institutional determinant for the effective community participation in development programs (see table 1). this therefore meant that from the naku/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 71 institutional perspective, the factor of program benefits and their distribution must always be addressed regardless of the nature of the program for effective community participation is to be achieved. table 1. average score for key cited institutional determinants institutional determinants percentage (%) average percentage (%) rungs locally funded program government funded program donor funded program joint funded program program benefits 8.5 85.7 19.2 52.8 41.6 1st program objectives 35.5 0.0 45.7 10.9 23.0 2nd leadership 27.7 0.0 33.0 30.3 22.8 3rd source: field survey, 2020 generally, the findings on institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs revealed that the factor of program benefits and their distribution was a very important factor which attests to the views put forward by masanyiwa and kinyashi (2008). however, in relation to institutional determinants as per findings of this study, it is also very possible that multiple institutional factors may influence a single program at the same time though the difference will be in the level of intensity. based on such observations, this study advocates for the view that all institutional factors that may be anticipated to influence the program need to be taken care of so as to avoid the risk of having some people left out of the program. in so doing, this will promote meaningful participation in the program as advocated for by authors such as shutte (2016), wasilwa (2015), beck and crawley (2002) as well as arnstein (1969). 5. conclusion this study sought to assess institutional determinants for effective community participation in development programs so as to enhance program sustainability in tanzania. based on the findings, the study showed from an empirical point of view that indeed, there are several institutional factors that can influence the extent of people’s participation in a development program. however, and most importantly, findings showed that there are three key factors that need not to be ignored at any one time in the implementation of any development program regardless of the nature of the program. such factors include, program benefits and their distribution, program objectives and program leadership. based on such findings, the study recommends that program implementers and funders should always pay attention to the above three mentioned factors if effective community participation is to be achieved in any 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(2008): community participation in water development projects in mbeya district, tanzania. morogoro. unpublished odoyo. c (2013): factors affecting implementation of community projects: case of kimira-oluch smallholder farm improvement project in homa bay county, kenya. universal journal of management,1(2),111 118 riggs. k (2012): strategies for sustainability of grant-funded programs, utah state university. journal of extension, 39(5), 1-6. sebastian. i.c, eduard.g.c, cristian, e.l and luliana.l (2018): community based programs sustainability. a multidimensional analysis of sustainability factors wasilwa. c (2015): effects of community participation on sustainability of community based development projects in kenya, unpublished. yin, r (2003): applications of case study research (2nd ed). thousand oaks: sage publications, london. katrina, a.k (2012): conducting educational research: step 5 on identifying the population. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1443-0 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1443-0 http://dx.doi.org/10.19044/esj.2017.v13n5p238 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 73 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.839 challenges facing components reuse in industrialized housing: a literature review lisco margherita, martinez carlos, persson urban 1 1 department of construction management, lund university of technology, 22100, lund, sweden abstract natural resources points towards sustainable development. since a large proportion of human consumption is linked to buildings and construction, this means managing the construction process in more sustainable ways. strategies that target greater material efficiency and which promote circular economy concepts are among several approaches that are gaining in popularity. the adoption of life-cycle thinking and practices in design, construction and end of life through the reuse of construction components and materials is one such action to achieve a sustainable built environment. reuse is not a new concept and technical solutions do exist; however, practical realization is hampered by many interrelated challenges. this review paper is the result of a literature review for an exploratory study that aims to identify obstacles to the reuse of building components and materials. the context is industrialized housing, particularly timber-based construction, as this is a sector where modern manufacturing and onsite practices have become established. the main obstacles identified and corroborated in the literature, along with their potential solutions, are summarized and conclusions drawn on the future direction of research needs. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords design for reuse; building components reuse; industrialized housing; timber; circular economy; sustainable developments ; 1. introduction the global condition of climate change is a consequence of human consumption of natural resources when the earth’s resilience goes beyond the boundary of ability to sustain itself over the long term. a large proportion of this consumption is linked to buildings and construction where one solution is to adapt the concept of sustainable development to the construction industry and to manage the construction process in sustainable ways (jonasson et al, 2020). defining sustainability for a construction project is a complex task. the term consists of many different and connected parts during the process, involving the client, project team members, other stakeholders, issues of aesthetics, functionality and material interactions. the construction industry is more responsible than other industries for global co2 emissions (unep, 2018). in 2014, the european commission noted that circular economic systems were of immense benefit for sustainable development across europe and encouraged member states to adopt them (com, 2014). subsequently, the united nations organisation framed the goals for sustainable development in its agenda 2030, where goals 9, 11 and 12 mostly concern the construction industry. construction, among other activities of human behavior, also generates a huge amount of waste (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). over the past decade, concerns about the impact of climate change on the built environment have increased. zero-carbon performance has been highlighted, together with a shift from solely the performance of the product, i.e. the building, to the construction http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 74 process and a whole life-cycle perspective. these concerns have recently evolved to a focus on zero carbon, zero energy and, in the long run, to “retrieve what we lost” or “doing more good” by adopting a net-positive impact view that is defined as regenerative development (cole, 2020). during the transformation to a zero-carbon, resilient, sustainable and regenerative society, buildings in most countries play a major part in the use of energy and the impact of carbon emissions. globally, buildings consume about 35% of the total available energy, responsible for roughly 38% of total carbon emissions, and generate about 36-40% of all man-made waste (unep 2020). the adoption of strategies for material efficiency, promoting circular economy concepts using life-cycle approaches in design, construction and end of life by re-using construction components or materials, is among the most critical of actions to achieve a sustainable built environment as stated in the latest global status report for buildings and construction (unep, 2020). furthermore, in order to meet the multiple criteria of sustainability, industrialized construction could be a part of the solution that also contributes to solving the housing shortage. a benefit of off-site construction is the production of decent quality, affordable housing that can be rapidly assembled on-site. prefabrication can improve environmental performance considering that the building is designed to be reused (aye et al., 2012). industrialized housing construction (ihc) consists of different approaches (i.e. prefabrication, modularization, off-site fabrication, or modern methods of construction) (kedir and hall, 2021). the possibility to build parts of the structural frame as planar structural modules (walls, floors, etc.) contributes to a reduction in construction time. moreover, the reuse potential of prefabricated timber-based structures is claimed to be at least 69% (aye et al., 2012). the global consumption of natural resources by the construction industry is not sustainable. it is, therefore, essential to re-think the construction process in terms of the efficient utilization of natural resources, their reuse and the recycling of demolition waste, as a minimum. construction professionals, including practicing architects, engineers and construction managers, as well as environmentalists, researchers and academics should be called upon to play a major role in helping to sustain our environment (khatib, 2016). hence, due to an increasing urban population and the need for affordable housing, our study focuses on the reuse of building components. this paper aims to identify enablers and challenges for the reuse of building components in industrialized housing with a focus on timber-based construction. 2. method in order to determine drivers and barriers for reuse of building components, a literature review has been conducted. the search engines used to retrieve the articles are, web of science and scopus. the keyworks used to retrieve the articles included reuse, building components, building elements, construction, and industrialized timber construction. the search was done from 2000 to 2021. a total of 136 articles were retrived and 30 were selected for the review, because of their relevance for the study. starting by briefly analyzing resource and waste management, the study describes the issue of housing shortage in sweden and identifies a possible solution in industrialized housing. the focus, thereafter, is on demolition and deconstruction phases in a project, which are considered crucial to re-think the entire construction process. while exploring the common enablers and barriers in buildings construction, the attention is shifted to specific obstacles and opportunities to enable a reuse approach in industrialized housing concentrating on timber buildings. the latter are thereafter demonstrated to be suitable to fulfill the sustainable goals and the principles of circular economy in construction. figure 1 – implementation of circular economy in construction. margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 75 3. literature review 3.1. resource and waste management the circular economy (ce) and sustainability concepts are becoming a matter of great importance among policy makers, academia and industry. ce is defined “as a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing and narrowing material and energy loops” (geissdoerfer et al., 2017). to promote the concept of ce in the built environment, the waste and resources action programme (wrap), has published considerable good practice guidance to be adopted by the industry (wrap, 2013). this includes bim, designing-out waste, designing for disassembly, off-site construction and sustainable procurement, as well as adopting fairness, inclusion and respect. in creating an effective ce in construction, a significant majority of building materials must be recoverable for reuse and recycling (pan et al., 2015; tukker, 2015). there is a shared understanding that the reuse of building components is preferable to recycling (rakhshan et al., 2020; arora et al., 2019; mayer et al., 2019; cooper and gutowski, 2017; hoornweg et al., 2015; park and chertow, 2014) since energy requirements for recovering building components for reuse are less than when recycled (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). although recycling is a common practice, a more value-driven approach is reuse. as noted by iacovidou and purnell (2016), the production of new construction materials in europe consumes 5-10% of total energy use. landfill resources are limited and natural resources are scarce and when the ecological impact of the increased extraction of raw materials is taken into account, it seems fairly obvious that traditional construction methods have to give way to more sustainable processes and practices. the construction components need to be seen not as problematic waste, but as an investment opportunity to achieve the big change required to make the construction industry more “sustainable, smarter and resourceful” (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). buildings are made by assembling components (e.g. foundations, columns, beams, façades, windows, doors and appliances). according to niu et al. (2021), cascading construction and demolition (c&d) materials is imperative. the authors define the term “cascading” as the combination of reusing, recycling and material recovery of c&d and divide the elements in a building suitable for cascading into two main categories: load-bearing elements (e.g. foundations, walls, floor slabs, columns and beams) and non-load-bearing elements (e.g. light/partition walls and facades). reuse has the highest priority among all cascading scenarios (i.e. reduction, reuse and recycling) (niu et al., 2021). it is, therefore, important to change the terminology and thinking from material stock to components stock, and from waste management to building components management (arora et al., 2019). 3.2. housing shortage in sweden a shortage of housing is not uncommon in developed countries; see, for example, boverket (2020). in common with other countries, the shortage is due to a lack of investment in new and refurbished housing stock. the situation has been made worse by substantial immigration. in 2020, 212 of sweden’s 286 municipalities (i.e. 74%) reported housing shortages. even though this number has been decreasing slightly over recent years, it indicates a persistent problem. iacovidou and purnell (2016) have proposed initiatives to enforce changes that can lead to more sustainable construction management and less production of construction and demolition waste (cdw). according to iacovidou and purnell (2016), such initiatives are: re-thinking the design of buildings by using materials that are both durable and recyclable, and therefore carrying low embodied energy; reducing the use of materials with a high carbon footprint and promoting manufacturing practices that take resource efficiency into account; and enabling reuse of construction components. to improve the potential for reuse in construction, it is first necessary to prove its technical feasibility in a holistic way. in other words, there is a need to re-think the way we plan, design, construct and deconstruct in order to make the entire process “more resource efficient and reduce its carbon footprint” (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). 3.3. industrialized housing the need for new housing calls for increased productivity and affordable, sustainable and cost-effective buildings. industrialized housing (ih) has long been promoted as a solution to house shortages, in many countries, including sweden, where the arrival of prefabrication was identified in the portable colonial cottage for emigrants advertised margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 76 in 1833 (ågren and wing, 2014). a more recent proposal is horden’s helicopter-delivered home in 2012 (ibid). with the advent of newer digital technologies, ih could increase substantially given a reduction in the time needed to design and build multiple units as a result of repetitive processes and the pre-determined use of different materials and layouts. an example of what can now be achieved is svenska allmännyttans kombohus, where a cost reduction of up to 25% is possible (svenska allmännyttan, 2020). moreover, ih does not have to be devoid of architectural or aesthetic quality; it simply has to be among its primary objectives. even if standardization of design work in housebuilding has, for the last 20 years focused on production, economics and sustainability (aitchison, 2017; lessing and brege, 2018), it is important to have “the involvement of architects in [the] industrialized house-building processes to meet future demands for aesthetics and functionality that satisfy end-user and client values and requirements and to ensure the creative work of artistic and engineering design” (jansson, 2018). indeed, over much of the 20th century, architects such as wright, le corbusier, fuller and gropius have contributed their interpretation of prefabrication to housing, proving that it is the result of sociological, economic and political constraints and requires more than just technical know-how to become successful (ågren and wing, 2014). industrialized house builders prefabricate building modules for assembly on-site, are responsible for almost the entire building process and can control and improve the quality of building manufacture in a better way than conventional construction companies (johnsson and melling, 2009). moreover, introducing more industrialized methods into the construction industry could increase efficiency and reduce defects, closing the gap between manufacturing and construction based traditionally on craftsmanship (ibid). there is therefore a need to shift from project-based to process-based production as argued by winch (2006). ih also provides opportunities for the reuse of building components instead of recycling, which equates to a higher level in the waste hierarchy (wrap, 2008a) and contributes to a reduction in cdw. the latter represents a significant benefit from the perspective of the ce. a building’s life-cycle and the possibility to reuse building components rather than recycle materials is a crucial aspect of “circularity”. according to tavares et al. (2021), the benefits of prefabrication are waste reduction, cost and time saving, growth of productivity and better building performance. a few studies have compared prefabricated buildings with traditional buildings. the results reveal a reduction of 5-40% in environmental impacts when using prefabrication methods, and an investment cost reduction of 30% compared with traditional construction (tavares et al., 2021). in ihc, structures can be manufactured off-site “as a volumetric element (3d) or as a panelized system (2d)”. unfortunately, there is a lack of literature concerning resource efficiency with respect to ihc (kedir and hall, 2021). so far, our literature review has not revealed any cases where the reuse of building components in ihc has been explored. this confirms the need for further research in the field, which could support the thesis that a new design concept, based on the reuse of building components, is crucial to satisfying the criteria of sustainability and the global goals of agenda 2030. 3.4. deconstruction and reuse iacovidou and purnell (2016) define deconstruction as “the careful dismantling of a building or structure to maximize the recovery of its components for reuse”. they identify various strategies that promote component reuse in construction. design for deconstruction: a design approach that aims to “close the construction components loops” also named as design for adaptability and deconstruction (dfad). among the advantages, we can count the extended duration of the structure which leads to economic and environmental benefits. there are, unfortunately, challenges connected to “technical, economic and logistical barriers”. design for reuse (dfr). when designing a new structure, reclaimed components are included in the project. if the layout is similar to the previous building then dfr can be successful. otherwise, many design adjustments are required. it is critical to form a close collaboration between all stakeholders, for instance, architects, other designers, engineers, contractors and trades. design for manufacture and assembly (dfma). the construction components are fully manufactured off-site and assembled on-site. assembly and disassembly are fundamental in order to enable deconstruction and recovery of components and therefore sustainability of the products and structures. margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 77 van den berg et al. (2020) identify, in the practice of design for disassembly (dfd), some principles for building components to be suitable for reuse, namely that building connections should be minimized, accessible and reversible. in addition, their study defines economic demand, proper disassembly routines and element control performance as conditions for element recovery. the most suitable definition for the purpose of this study is the one suggested by (cristescu et al., 2021), i.e. design for deconstruction and reuse (dfdr). the main principle supported by both definitions is a new way of designing a building, allowing the reuse of its parts, repaired or properly dismantled, in new applications. this can be for the original purpose or a different purpose, while prolonging the life-cycle of the building components and materials (cristescu et al., 2021). the difference between design for deconstruction or dfad and dfd, as described by long (2014), among others, is that the latter involves recycling building materials and components and so preserves just a small amount of embodied energy. it is, therefore, less environmentally friendly and sustainable than dfad, where the building components are reused directly or relocated in a new or existing building. awareness about buildings changes over time and proper planning is required to re-think current approaches to construction in order to reach environmental goals (ibid). further support for the reuse of components as a way to save more energy, when compared to recycled materials, is to be found in da rocha and sattler (2009). moreover, the reuse and recovery of elements and components are good practices according to the european waste framework directive since 2008. even so, the reuse of building components in a systematic way is far from being a common procedure in the construction industry. 3.5. reuse in construction: enablers and barriers rakhshan et al. (2020) suggest that reuse drivers are “economic (25%), organizational (23%), environmental (17%) and social (15%)”. economic drivers are the lower price of reused components and the higher price of landfilling, although they might differ depending on the geographic location. reducing cdw generated by construction companies and “promoting the green image of the companies” are the most important organizational drivers. in reducing cdw during renovation and demolition of buildings, reuse of building components appears to be a preferable solution which allows for recovery of functional components, e.g. tiles, bricks and windows (da rocha, and sattler, 2009), interior walls, panels and doors. rakhshan et al. (2020) identify the scarcity of landfill sites as a major environmental driver. among the social drivers are society’s environmental concerns and a better understanding of the advantages of reuse among stakeholders. rakhshan et al. (2020) state that practices that prefer deconstruction over demolition could lend themselves to the reuse of recovered components. considering the entire building process, deconstruction and reuse appear to be preferable over demolition and recycling, by offering higher environmental and economic benefits. nonetheless, training in deconstruction techniques together with policies and, possibly, legislation that promote such practices are probably required to achieve the durable benefits of deconstruction. rakhshan et al. (2020) identify the economic, social, and technical barriers when reusing building components. economic barriers are further categorized into supply chain level by identifying the lack of reuse market, component level and project level, the latter highlighting the need for a financial risk assessment in the early planning phase of a project. according to rakhshan et al. (2020), overcoming these barriers is possible if collaboration between construction and demolition firms is established and financial incentives are available. moreover, the cost of reclaimed components should be sufficiently attractive. one possible solution is offered in the uk where the tax for landfilling has increased in order to encourage reuse practices. according to rakhshan et al. (2020), social barriers can be classified into perception, awareness and risks. studies mostly focus on the negative approach of stakeholders towards reuse practices which hinder its adoption in the construction industry. arora et al. (2019) define the way evaluations about material stock and outflows are made and introduced to the public as one of the major obstacles which hinders the suitability of the results. the authors state that, usually, those reports focus on single material-type results, whereas a representation as component-type could increase interest on the part of policy makers and decision makers (arora et al., 2019). developing “standard test procedures to test, evaluate and certify the recovered building components” (rakhshan et al., 2020) is the proposed solution to overcome these barriers, which could expand the reuse market. margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 78 lastly, technical barriers are categorized into deconstruction level, performance level, and health and safety level. presently, buildings are not considered or designed for deconstruction and this represents a challenge; however, this barrier can be overcome by adopting innovative designs for new buildings. at the performance level, reusability of the element represents a barrier to the reuse of building components at their end of life as a consequence of damage, design changes, etc. at the health and safety level, precautions necessary to increase health and safety during deconstruction activities could also increase the total cost of the project (rakhshan et al., 2020). to promote reuse and environmental efficiency, it is necessary to reduce material excess in new building components and optimize the design, which could save a considerable amount of material (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). the goal of the stakeholders involved in the construction process should be to ensure adaptable design, to optimize recovery of building components for reuse and to apply new design strategies. enabling assessment of the reuse potential of components during the manufacturing phase of a project would save time that would otherwise be spent during onsite assessment (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). 3.6. industrialized timber housing (ith) cristescu et al. (2021) describe a long history of timber building techniques; however, timber’s popularity as a construction material on a significant scale in europe has been mostly confined to the second half of the last and present century where the primary use is for housing. currently, in sweden, 80% of single-family houses are built off-site, as a result of a long development history of prefabrication, which has led to a reduction of 20-25% against the cost of traditionally constructed buildings and an 80% saving in time (ibid). while the use of light-frame prefabricated structures has become more common for multi-storey housing, cross-laminated timber construction is the most widely used. timber for multi-storey buildings has, however, increased from 13% in 2018 to 20% at the end of 2019 (ibid). in sweden, as in finland, slovenia and the uk, panels with the insulation layer inserted between studs and joists is the most common practice (ibid). as a widely available and biodegradable material that grows naturally, timber is considered crucial to achieve the environmental goals of the european union, even though its reuse can be problematic (huuhka et al., 2015). indeed, as a natural material, reclaimed components demand special care and control if they are to be reused (cristescu et al., 2021). the benefits of using timber in housing are identified in a reduction of the carbon footprint, by extending the life-cycle of building materials, and in a reduction of the environmental burden, by reusing structural components. the growth of off-site construction is expected to contribute to the diffusion of timber-based construction because of waste reduction, as well as material and time efficiency. despite these encouraging signs, timber-based construction is not following the principles of the circular economy neither is it taking into account the whole life-cycle cost of the buildings, suggesting a further field for research (ibid). currently, the reuse of timber structural components is hindered by a lack of design standards (for example, demolition practices that prevent damage to components); the lack of a sufficient market for recovered materials; restrictive building regulations and constraints imposed by the fixed dimensions of available components, negatively impacting the flexibility of a design (cristescu et al., 2021). concerns about technical performance and safety, when reusing structural timber components, would suggest that policy and regulation should drive the ce with respect to structural timber (niu et al., 2021). glue laminated timber in common with traditional timber framing has a high reuse potential and both offer environmental benefits (huuhka et al., 2015). the literature has documented those barriers commonly obstructing the development of timber reuse in construction. the obstacles are mainly to do with cost, inconsistent quality, inconsistent quantity, perception and trust. as reported by huuhka et al. (2015), the highest reuse potential is offered by prefabricated steel components while the lowest is concrete. nevertheless, timber’s potential is relatively close to that of steel. in identifying reuse potential and barriers, local issues such as structural systems, climate and societal conditions should be taken into consideration, since they vary from country to country (ibid). according to iacovidou and purnell (2016), reuse potential measures “the ability of a construction component to retain its functionality after the end of its primary life”. when considering timber construction, timber trusses have a low reuse potential of <50%, while timber floorboards have a medium reuse potential of 50% and structural timber has the highest >50% if properly deconstructed. it seems to be difficult to deconstruct timber components correctly when cleaning, de-nailing and sizing. design interventions such as holes for wiring have made timber components margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 79 more reusable, allowing for efficient deconstruction (iacovidou and purnell, 2016). a recent study showed that timber-based structures are mostly reusable: 65% of building materials are reusable and 35% are recyclable (akanbi et al., 2018). this value could be increased by, for example, designing for deconstruction and using demountable connections (e.g. dowels and bolts) in the process (ibid). rakhshan et al., (2020) argue that structural and nonstructural timber components can, if properly deconstructed, have a high potential for reuse. however, timber components are difficult to deconstruct, require specialist skills and equipment during reclamation of components, and are exposed to decay. hence, efficient deconstruction is essential and, consequently, special design features to reduce damage are needed to promote the reuse of timber sections and contribute to decreasing the environmental impacts, which rakhshan et al. (2020) estimate to be 83%. in sweden, there is an ongoing development of reusable products database by the center for circular construction (centrum för cirkulärt byggande). by creating such a systematic database of components with unique ids, and by utilizing available digital tools and building information modeling the acceptance of reused components in the construction industry could increase. 4. discussion despite the economic, social and technical barriers, reuse in construction seems inevitable in the future, because of global population growth, scarcity of resources and housing shortages. as iacovidou and purnell (2016) have argued, a research commitment is necessary to demonstrate the economic, environmental, technical and social benefits of reuse. doing so will lead to a better understanding of how to optimize the recovery of value for stakeholders through deconstruction and reuse, by simply changing current practices. there is an inevitable concern about the availability of timber for industrialized timber construction in the future, which could undermine the sustainability of the entire process (mantau et al., 2010). therefore, the concept of cascading is being used more and more to indicate the need to prolong the use of the same resource (i.e. building material or component), placing recycling for energy purposes last (niu et al., 2021). chisholm (2012), in recognizing the environmental benefits of using timber as a construction material for housing (e.g. carbon dioxide reduction, availability of timber in europe, less energy to process timber components, high strenght-to-weight ratio, good thermal performance and carbon capture), emphasizes how “timber contained in the housing stock can act as an urban forest for harvesting” if the practice of reuse becomes popular. moreover, the strategy of dfdr should be centered around modular and component deconstruction (e.g. floors, roofs and walls), rather than single parts or materials to support a reuse approach (chisholm, 2012). our literature review confirms the need for a holistic approach to the entire construction process, which should examine the conception and design phase and current demolition procedures. in addition, digital solutions are required to develop an efficient virtual building components’ database for a growing market. furthermore, a decision-making tool and global, as well as regional, regulations need to be adapted to these newer forms of construction. last, enabling reuse practices could easily and rapidly contribute to a reduction in cdw. nevertheless, to demonstrate the above, further studies must be conducted to examine the economic value of reuse of building components by manufacturers, particularly planar and volumetric elements (cristescu et al., 2021), rather than recycle building materials. figure 1 shows how increased knowledge of the construction process while involving all stakeholders in the different phases, develops and improves the entire process and can generate, as a result, a reduced amount of cdw. further education and training in new skills for all stakeholders, together with incentives, would encourage active participation in reusability strategies. there is a need to implement the enablers and overcome the barriers to reuse. it is evident that in order to overcome many of the barriers pointed out in this research, strong collaboration is needed among the different stakeholders involved in the construction process. for example, construction firms and architecture design firms could learn from deconstruction firms on the reuse of building components. furthermore, the implementation of platforms for knowledge sharing are needed to be able to spread the knowledge about reusing practices. margherita/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 80 figure 2 – re-thinking the construction process. 5. conclusions most political decisions and legislation focus on waste management when trying to solve sustainability in construction. this is agreeable since the amount of waste generated is a significant concern and the availability of landfill is increasingly scarce. however, attention should be directed to the design phase, which is the most influential stage in the delivery of decent, affordable housing, where change is necessary to ensure circularity is achieved. once the reusability of building components andelements is introduced in the design process, a major contribution to solving the problem of waste will have been found. resource efficiency in housing construction should be able to fill the gap between housing demand and current construction methods. furthermore, the demolition phase of the construction process has to be better analyzed and improved to reduce the amount of cdw and, consequently, the carbon footprint of the construction industry. reuse of building components is a recommended practice from a circularity perspective. it seems necessary, therefore, to reintroduce building components in the supply chain, replacing the perception of a waste problem with an opportunity to make the construction industry more sustainable and resourceful. ith has much to offer as a solution to housing shortages and has less environmental impact than traditional construction, which could be reduced even more through the reuse of building components. unfortunately, a lack of quantitative and qualitative data about the benefits of reuse in construction hinders the spread of this practice. with this in mind, it is evident that reuse of building components needs to be adopted on a large scale and embraced by all stakeholders in a project. it is crucial to change attitudes towards reuse in construction and to establish a broader involvement and stronger collaboration between all the stakeholders responsible for the different phases of the construction process, starting with planning and design, and continuing with manufacture, construction, handover and maintenance to the point of refurbishment or deconstruction for reuse from a holistic perspective. industrialized timber housing construction is a potential area which provides many opportunities for reusing building components. there is a need to study the reuse practices of building components in industrialized timber housing construction, thus, this study will further explore the field by analyzing multiple cases. this study will explore the barriers to, and enablers of, reuse in ith from the perspectives of clients, building contractors, designers and demolition contractors. refrences https://www.undp.org/sustainable-developmentgoals?utm_source=en&utm_medium=gsr&utm_content=us_undp_paidsearch_brand_english&utm_campaign=central&c_src=c entral&c_src2=gsr&gclid=cj0kcqiaweanbhdearisaj5hwbdth9uwqdojmljrn1qwwlaepuebwxmhxfz5s1kiiufkiohx9ek23saaq3cealw_wcb aitchison, m. 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(2014), five moments in the history of industrialized building. construction management and economics, 32(1–2), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120332 https://wrap.org.uk/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.792 management of marine plastic waste generated from land-based sources in viet nam: problems, constraints, and solutions gam pham thi1, thang nguyen trung2, sunil herat3, tung nguyen thanh1 1 policy and legislations department, viet nam administration of sea and islands, no. 83 nguyen chi thanh street, ha noi city, viet nam 2 institute of strategy and policy on natural resources and environment (isponre), 479 hoang quoc viet str., cau giay dist., ha noi, viet nam 3 school of engineering and built environment, griffith university, nathan campus, queensland 4111, australia abstract viet nam is ranked no 5 in global plastic waste contribution to marine environment. the long coastline in viet nam provides a livelihood for millions of households as well as the food security for the whole country. the use of plastics per capita increased nearly eleven fold, from 3.8 kg/person in 1990 to 41 kg/person in 2015. the two highy populated cities (hanoi and ho chi minh city) alone generate 80 tonnes of plastic waste every day. landfilling is the primary treatment method of solid waste while recycling is still limited. tax for plastic bags exists, but implementation is not efficient. application of extended producer responsibility still faces many constraints. regular monitoring and data collection related to the status of marine plastic waste pollution are inadequate. moving forward viet nam needs to focus on a number of issues including strengthning the legislation, raising awareness, promoting research on innovative recycling technologies, and promoting international cooperation. this paper investigates current issues, challenges, and constraints in managing plastic waste in viet nam and makes recommendations for improvement. the paper utilises an unsystematic narrative overview as the research method. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords viet nam, plastic waste, recycling, policies and legislation, health impact 1. introduction viet nam has a long coastline, high population, rapid economic growth, urbanization, and tourism development in recent years. it has a land area of 33,123 thousand hectares (ministry of natural resources and environment – (monre), 2016) with a coastal length of about 3,200 km, excluding the coastline of islands (viet nam government portal. (2018) with approximately 3,450 rivers, streams and 114 estuaries flowing into the sea monre. (2015). the total population in viet nam was estimated at 94.67 million people in 2018 (general statistics office of viet nam, 2018), which is expected to increase by 18% in the period between 2015 and 2030 (the world bank, 2018). the country has also experienced rapid urbanization. however, the urban infrastructure has still not met the environmental requirements (monre, 2017). http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 viet nam had relatively high economic growth over the past ten years, with gdp growth increasing from 5.66% in 2008 to 7.08% in 2018 (figure 1). consumer industries, especially those generating plastic waste, are growing. in 2018, total commercial marketing of consumer goods and services were estimated at 4,395 trillion viet nam dong (vnd), an increase of 11.7%, compared to that in 2017 (general statistics office of viet nam, 2018). figure 1. the gdp growth rate in viet nam during 2008-2018 (general statistics office of viet nam, 2018) at the same time, viet nam tourism is also growing fast. from 2013 to 2018, the number of international arrivals has doubled and the number of domestic tourists increased by nearly 2.3 times; the revenue from tourism industry increased from 200,000 billion vnd in 2013 to 620,000 billion vnd in 2018 (viet nam national administration of tourism, 2019) (figure 2). figure 2. number of tourists in viet nam 2013-2018 (general statistics office of viet nam, 2017) the viet nam’s plastic sector is growing rapidly increasing from 16% to 18% in the period of 2010 to 2015. the use of plastic products per capita increased nearly 11 times, from 3.8 kg/person in 1990 to 41 kg/person in 2015 gdp growth (%) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 90,000,000 80,000,000 70,000,000 60,000,000 50,000,000 international arrivals domestic tourists 30,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 65 (viet nam plastics association, 2015). the industrial and construction plastics account for the high proportion in plastic industry structure. however, plastic packaging had also increased due to the growth of some products such as food and beverages and non-food sectors with an increase from 2.8% to 15.1% (kien duong, 2018) (table 1). table 1 the growth of food and non-food sector in the period of 2011-2016 (kien duong. (2018) segment scale (us$mill) 2015-2016 growth rate (%) 2011-2016 compound annual growth rate (cagr) instant noodle 1.388 -2,5% 2,8% instant coffee 251 8,3% 12,2% sauces and spices 970 9,6% 7,7% candy 1.245 8,8% 9,0% fisheries 7.053 7,3% 2,9% washing, laundry 1.082 16,3% 13,0% surface cleaning solution 94 8,3% 12,2% skin care products 280 12,3% 15,1% hair care products 208 5,2% 8,8% body care products 138 8,0% 9,6% despite the rapid growth of the plastic industry, domestic plastic raw materials only met 20-25%, the rest was imported (viet nam plastics association, 2015). plastic scrap imported into viet nam increased from 2016 and surged in the first six months of 2018 due to the ban of scrap import of china (table 2). besides, the illegal import of waste in the form of plastic scrap also increased; until january 25, 2019, there were more than 24,000 scrap imported containers unclaimed for more than 90 days in all seaports (nhan dan online, 2019). table 2 plastic scrap import from 2016 – 2018 (financial times, 2018) year 2016 2017 the first six months of 2018 quantiy (thousand tons) 245.8 385 277.7 values (million us$) 43.5 70.9 63.3 this paper investigates current issues, challenges, and constraints in managing plastic waste in viet nam and makes recommendations for improvement. the authors utilise an unsystematic narrative overview to conduct the research. such literature review is considered as most appropriate for the type of research required for this study. a narrative overview means the paper will condense information and resources from various sources (eg. governmental legislations, peer-reviewed journal articles, government and international reports etc) to understand the development of the topic and develop future directions to solve issues, challenges and gaps. 2. marine plastic waste pollution in viet nam together with the growing population, rapid urbanization and tourism development, economic growth in general, and the development of plastic industry, the generation of domestic solid waste have been growing in viet nam. the total amount of household solid waste was estimated to be 25.5 million tons in 2017, of which urban solid waste contributing to 38,000 tons per day and rural domestic solid waste contibuting to 32,000 tons per day thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 (monre, 2017). with an average growth rate of 6.6% per year, the total amount of household solid waste is forecast to reach 54 million tons in 2030 (the world bank, 2018). the estimated amount of plastic waste contributed to about 8 to 12% of the total municipal solid waste (viet nam environment administration, 2018), which is equivalent to 2.04 to 3.06 million tons of plastic waste per year generated. with an average domestic solid waste collection rate of 55% 65% (ministry of construction, 2017), the amount of non-collected plastic waste was about 0.714 to 1.377 million tons per year. in phu quoc island (kien giang province), the amount of domestic solid waste is at 155 tons per day, of which 29.5 tons (19%) being plastic waste. of this volume, only 1.1 tons are recycled by households, 17 tons collected (~ 60%) and 11.4 tons (~40%) are still discharged directly into the environment (wwf-viet nam, 2018). according to the statistics of the ministry of natural resources and environment (monre), hanoi ho and ho chi minh city generates about 80 tons of plastic waste daily. hanoi produces around 4,000 to 5,000 tons of solid waste, of which plastic waste accounting for 7-8% while ho chi minh releases about 7,000 tons of waste, of which nylon waste accounting for about 10% (monre, 2017). this figure is 12.2% 14.2% for hai phong, 6% 18% for phu tho and from 3.4 10.6% for other provinces in viet nam (the world bank, 2018). regarding waste collection, by 2018, the municipal solid waste collection was about 85-86% in urban area, but relatively low in rural areas with around 40-55% collection rate. it is estimated that around 8-12% of municipal domestic solid waste is recycled and 70-75% of the collection is landfilled (monre, 2018). by 2015, there were about 660 landfills in the whole country, with a total area of about 4,900 ha, of which, 203 landfills, (accounted for about 31%) were managed in an environmentally safe manner while the rest were just open dumping sites (the world bank, 2018) there is a significant amount of solid waste, including plastic waste, ending up in open environment as a result of mismanagement. most of these plastics end up finishing in the sea because plastic waste is easy to follow rivers to the sea, owing to its lightweight under the impact of wind and flow (the world bank, 2018). plastic waste at sea is a significant concern of the world today because of its adverse effects on marine ecosystems. according to a recent study, viet nam is ranked fourth country, which contributes to the most significant volume of plastic waste entering the ocean (closely following china, indonesia, and the philippines) with around 0.28 to 0.73 tons per year (jambeck, et. al., 2015). the marine pollution caused by plastic waste on beaches and coastal areas and islands in viet nam is becoming a major issue. the volume of plastic waste collected is about 8-10m3 per day from the bays, which belong to cat ba archipelago in hai phong city; a dozen of tons of plastic waste such as plastic bottle, plastic bag in do son beach, etc. (tuoi tre paper, 2018). the 2018 "let's clean the sea" campaign, which was held once a week at least one area contaminated by marine debris, has collected 1,282 tons of marine debris (summary of the campaign 'let's clean the sea', 2019). according to many fishermen in the south-central area, marine plastic waste in coastal areas is estimated to be three parts of fish and one part of plastic waste (alarming plastic waste in seafood exploitation, 2019). 3. environmental impacts of plastic waste the marine litter mainly consists of plastic waste generated inland and finiding its way to oceans. marine litter has become a problem to many countries due to its major impacts on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. due to this reason plastic waste contamination in open environment is attracting much attention from both researchers, policy makers, and the general public. since marine organisms can ingest or become entangled plastic waste, marine litter is considered hazardous to the entire ecosystem. a study conducted on eight regions in the asia and pacific region (between australia and china) concluded that the likelihood of disease in coral reefs increased to 96%, this would directly affect organisms that colonize these coral reefs for feeding, breeding, etc. for instance, another study concluded that the loss of integrity of coral reefs have reduced fisheries productivity by a factor of 3 (lamb et al., 2018). a study conducted on the inshore reefs of thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 67 australia’s great barrier reef revealed coral would often regard microplastics for prey and can consume up to ~50𝜇g of microplastics (hall et al., 2015, hankins et al, 2018). ingestion of plastic waste by fish also affects human consumption and consumption by predators, such as birds. fish samples collected from a market in makassar, indonesia, revealed anthropogenic debris in 28% of individual fish and 33% of individual shellfish. this raises a concern about the effects of fish consumption on human well being (rochman et al., 2015). most effects on sea turtles due to marine litter arise from ingestion and entanglement. ingestion of plastics by these sea turtles causes intestinal blockage, internal injuries, and malnutrition. this ingestion may occur directly or indirectly. there is evidence that juvenile green sea turtles ingest plastics through the consumption of macroalgae (di beneditto and awabdi, 2014). entanglement remains the most common cause of mortality in sea turtles, causing lacerations, increased drag, which may cause drowning and subsequent death (nelm et al., 2015). studies conducted on green sea turtles found that there was a 50% chance of mortality if a sea turtle had 14 pieces of plastic in their gut. it is also suggested that ingestion occurs most frequently in juvenile sea turtles (wilcox et al., 2018). 4. policies and legislation on plastic waste management in recent years, viet nam has issued many policies and legislations to take measures on precaution, prevention, and treatment of solid waste, including plastic waste (box 1). the country has also established a system of agencies from the central to local level on waste management. accordingly, the monre is the focal ministry to unify the state management of solid waste, in coordination with the ministry of construction (moc), the ministry of industry and trade (moit), the ministry of agriculture and rural development (mard), the ministry of health (moh) and provincial people's committees. box 1. policy and lesgiations documents on waste management (government of vietnam, 2012, 2013, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2015d, 2019) regulations on prevention, collection, and treatment of solid waste (including plastic waste) • law on environmental protection 2014; • law on environmental protetion in 2020, which will replace the law on environmental protection in 2014 and will be efective from 1st january, 2022. • decree 38/2015/nd-cp dated may 24, 2015, on the management of waste and discarded materials • decision 16/2015/qd-ttg dated may 22, 2015, on retrieving and treating discarded products • circular no. 34/2017/tt-btnmt dated november 10, 2017, on recovering and processing discarded products • law on marine resources and environment 2015 incentive regulations of environmentally friendly products • decree 19/2015/nd-cp dated february 14, 2015, on the guidance of the implementation of several articles of the law on environmental protection • law on enterprise income tax in 2008 • decree 218/2013/nd-cp dated december 26, 2013, providing detailed regulations and guidelines for the implementation of the law on enterprise income tax environmentally friendly plastic bags and financial measures to reduce non-biodegradable plastic bags • law on environmental protection tax 2010 • decree 67/2011/nd-cp dated august 8, 2011 guidance on the implementation of the law on environmental protection tax thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 68 • circular 159/2012/tt-btc dated september 28, 2012, amending and supplementing circular 152/2011/tt-btc dated november 11, 2011, issued by the ministry finance guiding the implementation of decree 67/2011/nd-cp • circular 07/2012/tt-btnmt dated july 4, 2012, regulating criteria, ordering, and procedures for certification of environmentally friendly plastic bags. regulations on sanctioning administrative violations • decree 155/2016 / nd-cp dated november 18, 2016, on the fining of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection other relevant policies • resolution no. 36-nq/tw dated november 22, 2018, approved by the central committee of the communist party of viet nam on the strategy for sustainable development of viet nam's maritime economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045. • decision 491/qd-ttg dated may 7, 2018, approving the adjustment of the national strategy on integrated solid waste management to 2025, with a vision to 2050 • decision 1216/qd-ttg dated september 5, 2012, approving the national environmental protection strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030 • decision 582/qd-ttg dated april 11, 2013, approving the program on strengthening environmental pollution control due to the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in daily life by 2020. • decision 622/qd-ttg dated 10/5/2017 approving the national action plan to implement the 2030 agenda for sustainable development • decision 1746/qd-ttg dated december 04, 2019, approving the national action plan on marine plastic debris management by 2030 according to the legislation on solid waste in viet nam, waste should be separated at the source, reduced, reused, recycled and treated. recycling and energy recovery from waste is specially enhanced to limit landfilling. a hazardous waste generator should do registration at environmental agencies, and the waste should be managed only by licensed companies. the extended producer responsibility (epr) mechanism is applied with products and packaging materials with recycable value for the recycling responsibility of the producers and importers in the law on environmental protection 2020, which has not applied before. with regards to plastic waste, the law on environmental protection tax 2010 has imposed tax on plastic bags. besides, viet nam is promoting the usage of biodegradable plastic bags in daily life, as well as regulations on certification of this kind of bags. 5. problems, constraints, and reasons for plastic waste management 5.1. problems and constraints firstly, a landfill is the primary treatment method of solid waste while recycling is still limited. current policies and legislations have provided incentives for products from recycling and waste treatment activities in terms of land lease, loan, taxes, prices, and product consumption, etc. however, treatment of solid waste by landfill remains the majority, and only 25-30% are treated by intermediate process and recycling (including plastic waste). the current actual cost per tonne of solid waste treatment is estimated at $ 24 for collection, $ 11 for transportation and $ 4 for landfill (the world bank, 2018). this cost is too low, leading to creating unfair competition for other treatment methods such as energy recovery incineration and composting. furthermore, recycling of plastic waste is carried out at many informal recycling facilities in craft villages with outdated technologies (viet nam environment administration, 2018). this activity poses a risk of environmental pollution and creates unfair competition for investors in the field of formal plastic waste recycling. thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 69 secondly, the tax for plastic bags has been applied, but the implementation is still limited. the law on environmental protection tax in 2010 regulates taxation on plastic bags with a tax between 30,000 and 50,000 vnd per kg and applying 50,000 vnd per kg from january 1, 2019 (viet nam national assembly, 2014, viet nam national assembly standing committee. (2018), which is equivalent to 250-500 vnd/plastic bag. it is highly likely that the environmental tax applying for plastic bags is not high enough to limit the usage of plastic bags, especially single used plastic bags (government of viet nam, 2017). also, pre-packaged goods and eco-friendly plastic bags are not taxable (government of viet nam, 2012). till may 2018, there were 43 plastic bags of 38 companies that were granted certification for such products (viet nam environment administration, 2018); however, the quality of these bags should also continue to be viewed in terms of environmental friendliness with full testing and scientific processes. also, imported plastic bags and domestic plastic products for prepackaged goods are also not subject to this tax (the paradox of friendly plastic bags, 2019). there are some obstacles in the collection of nylon bag tax. the total tax collected from nylon bags decreases 16 times from 2012 to 2016, while the total amount of environmental protection tax increases four times (table 3) (government of viet nam, 2017). the price of single-use nylon bags is sometimes equal to the tax rate and even lower, with prices ranging from 25,000-50,000 vnd/kg. consequently, single-use nylon bags are usually provided free of charge and it is difficult for the business of environmentally friendly bags to be viable. table 3. environmental tax revenue in 2012-2016 (financial times, 2019) indicator 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 total revenue from environmental tax (billion dongs) 11.160 11.512 11.970 27.020 44.323 revenue from nylon bag tax (billion dongs) 827 168 71 69 56 thirdly, current policies provide for a lot of incentives to develop manufacturing industries related to plastic products; however, the implementation of epr is still limited. the state has made a number of preferential and supportive policies to develop the plastic industry, namely: (i) production of plastic components and technical rubber (government of viet nam, 2015d); (ii) supporting industries (such as synthetic fibers, electronic product components with plastic parts, rubber components; automotive plastic, plastic components in high quality, etc ... ) (government of viet nam, 2015a); projects on molds and plastic equipment manufacturing are preferentially lent up to 85% of the total capital (ministry of industry and trade., 2011). therefore, the plastic industry will have the right conditions for its development, leading to an increase in consumption and disposal of plastic products. meanwhile, the implementation of the epr in accordance with decision no.16/2015/qd-ttg dated may 22, 2015 on collection and treatment of discarded products (including even plastic waste from used waste electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and transportation means) remains very limited. so far only a few large enterprises have established points for collection of discarded waste and the recovery of discarded products has hardly been implemented. although regulations on epr for packaging materials including plastics is regulated in the law on enviromental protection in 2020 they have not detailed to implement. fourthly, there are some obstacles in policies and laws related to collection and management of marine plastic debris. there are no clear regulations on marine waste collection responsibilities, especially marine plastic debris until the law on environmental protection in 2020 is approved, however, this law provides only genernal responsibity of provincial-level people's committees in the direction of the collection and treatment of plastic waste in its locality. furthermore, the identification of provincial boundaries and responsibilities of state management on the sea is not specific. up to now, the collection of waste at sea, including plastic waste, is mainly done by seasonal projects or through environmental campaign and communication events. vehicles, equipment and resources for such work are still very limited, thus marine plastic waste collection is only carried out at some beaches. thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 70 finally, the regular monitoring, investigation, survey, and information collection related to the state of marine plastic waste contamination are limited. the system of control and supervision of marine environmental pollution in general and contamination of plastic waste, in particular, is much less and not adequate with the length of the coastline. there are currently only three observation stations in ha tinh, quang binh and hai phong (monre, (2016). besides, there is lack of national technical standards on seawater quality with limits related to plastic waste. 5.2. reasons for problems and constraints firstly, there are financial constraints to carry out the end of life management of plastic waste from land-based activities. the cost of collecting, transporting and treating domestic solid waste mainly comes from the state budget (about 4,000 billion vnd/year) because the revenue from environmental sanitation fees meets only about 25% of demand. however, provincial budgets are limited and local authorities cannot provide enough capital for waste management (the world bank, 2018). at present, the average investment capital for organic fertilizer and incineration facilities is 662,972 million vnd and 585,780 million vnd/ton respectively, while the average investment capital for landfill is only vnd 30,190 million/m3 (the world bank, 2018). therefore, landfilling is the choice of many local authorities, leading to leakage of plastic waste into the oceans. secondly, human resources to protect the environment is limited, especially at the grassroots level, to effectively implement policies and laws concerning plastic waste. state management staff on environmental protection have not met the requirements in terms of quantity and quality. by 2016, the total number of state management staff on the environment is 17,724, of which 11,996 are part-time officers at the commune level (67%) (monre, 2016). the environmental management staff is young, lack of high expertise and experience, less trained and updated knowledge regularly. thirdly, there are constraints in policy enforcement, inspection, and handling of violations. there is a shortage of human resources for control in policy implementation on natural resources and environment. there are 672 inspectors in the whole country; average of 2 officials under monre being in charge of one province and about 07 local officials in each province doing this job. these inspectors are responsible for inspection for all the sectors under monre’s responsibilities. in the inspection and examination plan of the localities, only 51% of the provincial department of natural resources and environment (donres) have activities on examining law enforcement on the environment (monre 2018). on the other hand, according to regulations, waste littering, including plastic waste, is subject to strict penalties of up to 7 million vnd (government of viet nam, 2015a). however, although violations are prevalent, the sanctioning of these violations is almost not implemented. fourthly, some policies are not implemented or given unrealistic goals. in order to control and limit plastic waste, viet nam has developed a program to improve environmental protection by using non-biodegradable plastic bags (government of viet nam, 2013). it has set targets by 2020: (i) reducing 65% of the volume of non-degradable plastic bags in supermarkets and trade establishments compared to 2010; (ii) reducing 50% of the volume of nonbiodegradable plastic bags in traditional markets compared to 2010; (iii) collecting and reusing 50% of non biodegradable plastic bag waste generated daily. however, until now, most of the projects under this decision have not operated because of various reasons. hence there is no doubt that the objectives mentioned above has not been achieved by 2020. fifthly, the coordination among agencies in waste management is not suitable. monre unifies the state management of environmental protection, but some management duties related to solid waste collection and treatment are assigned to the moc. in provinces/cities, this activity is assigned to the department of construction (doc) and donre. recently, the government decided to assign the monre to be the national focal agency on solid waste management (gov, 2019), which is currently in the process of transferring implementation. the ministry of science and technology was assigned to lead and coordinate with the moc and monre to evaluate the new domestic solid waste treatment technology, which was first researched and applied in viet nam. however, for technology that is not applied for the first time, it is not clear which ministry is responsible. on the other hand, thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 71 the monre is assigned the responsibility to guide and organize the evaluation, inspection, and evaluation of waste treatment technology. sixthly, understanding, awareness, responsibility, and participation of stakeholders are still limited. the knowledge and appreciation of environmental protection of sectors and especially local authorities are scarce. in many places, local government leaders lose their power in this work (environmental officials, 2019). violations of organizations and enterprises on environmental protection are quite widespread, for example, in 2017, 33% of the inspected establishments have committed violations (monre, 2018). people, especially coastal people, have a habit of littering the sea, including plastic waste such as fishing gear, bottles, nylon bags, etc. for example, 80% of fishermen in ngu loc commune, thanh hoa province, keeping their habit of discharging domestic solid waste into the sea is a stark example tuoi tre paper. (2018). consumers still have the practice of using non-disposable plastic products and discharging them into the environment. 6. recommendations firstly, reviewing, building and completing policies and laws on municipal waste management with special focus on plastic waste should be implemented urgently. plastic waste management based on a circular economy approach should be strictly considered by competent authorities in viet nam, which is considered as a good practice in some countries such as japan, singapore, france, netherlands, german, united states, etc, to control the lifecycle of plastic procducts and reduce the emision of plastic waste (nguyen hoang nam, 2019). furthermore, the government should make the policies and laws to concentrate on recycling, minimizing landfilling and reducing the disposal of plastic waste. the environmental protection tax on plastic bags should be increased; tax on other singleuse plastic products should be imposed. the usage of single-use products should be gradually limited and prohibited by the vietnamese government, which is being applied successfully in countries like belgium, denmark, greece, and israel to reduce the generation of single-use plastic waste (unep, 2018). the government should also develop policies to incentivise the production and use of green products to replace the single-use plastic products. regulations for epr to recycle, collect and treat (directly and indirectly) plastic packaging and other plastic products should be detailed and provided enough resources to implement effectively. the government should specify the responsibilities of stakeholders in the management of plastic waste in oceans. secondly, the government should effectively implement the sorting of domestic solid waste at source, enhance the collection, treatment, recycling, and reuse of solid waste, including plastic waste. the priority should be given to urban areas and residential areas along rivers, coastal areas, and seaports. the regulations improved concerning sorting, collection and treatment of domestic solid waste regulated in the law on enviromental protection in 2020 should be effectively implemented to avoid the mis-management leading to the leaking of the plastic waste into the sea. apply a landfill tax to ensure competitiveness between landfill with other waste treatment methods; prohibit burying solid waste containing plastic waste in riparian and coastal areas. thirdly, the focal agencies of solid waste management at all levels should be monre and donre. responsibilities and coordination mechanisms among relevant agencies in solid waste management, including plastic waste, should be specified. moreover, the government should strengthen the capacity of management agencies, of which focusing on environmental management officials. fourthly, developing feasible strategies, planings, and specific action plans following viet nam's practices should be one of priorities. the government should implement effectively the national action plan on marine plastic debris management by 2030; handle unsanitary landfills; invest in crucial projects on solid waste treatment, which are suitable to the conditions of sub-regions and regions; enhance research and application of modern science and technology in the collection, treatment, monitoring and supervision of marine plastic waste. the investment of can tho province in viet nam to build a solid waste treatment plant for energy recovery incineration, which treats 70% of domestic solid waste generated in this province, is a good example to apply the other provinces to limit the landfill in viet nam (ngoc han, 2020). thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 72 fifthly, the number of national and local environmental inspectors should be increased, and their capacity should be strengthened. inspection plans should be implemented at provinces/cities to take precaution, preventing and treating plastic waste from land-based activities to restrict disposing of plastic waste into the sea. sixthly, promoting and raising awareness of stakeholders on avoiding, preventing, minimizing and treating plastic waste should be enriched. some local authorities in viet nam have applied successfully the involvement of stakeholders to deal with plastic waste problems and cat hai district in hai phong city is a typical example. in this district, the local authority mobilizes the participation of individuals, travel facicities and social organizations to use environmentally friendly products to replace the plastic products as well as clean the environment (hoang tan, 2019). therefore, the success of cat hai district should be used to develop the suitable policies to adjust behaviors, habits of using single-use plastic products to familiar with the use of environmentally friendly products (. the government should ensure adequate mechanisms to encourage successful implementation of domestic solid waste management such as sorting at source, limiting plastic waste disposal into the rivers and sea; help stakeholders to effectively implement the slogan: "reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste". finally, international cooperation on marine environmental protection, including reducing and treating trans boundary plastic waste at sea should be promoted. viet nam should be active in developing a comprehensive regional and global cooperation mechanism, which incorporate programs and projects aiming to coordinate and implement control and reduction of ocean plastic waste. 7. conclusions marine plastic waste is a global environmental problem. plastic waste is being present throughout the seas and seriously threatening the marine environment and ecosystem. globally, viet nam is considerd by a recent study as one of the top five countries for plastic waste discharge into the sea. the government has been working hard to resolve this pressing issue, but there are numbers of limitations and shortcomings in policies and laws; lack of resources for implementation, inspection, examination and handling of violations; limited awareness of stakeholders on marine plastic waste problems. therefore, in moving forward, viet nam needs to focus on the following isues: a) to complete the legislations system on waste management by isuing decree and circulars for implementation of the law on environmental protection 2020 on epr of plastic packaging; ban on plastic bags and certain single-use plasctics and; guidelines for monitoring and management of marine plastic waste. economic instruments such as tax on landfill, waste volume-based charge (pay-as-you-throw) should be introduced. b) to successfully implement the national action plan on marine plastic debris management by 2030 through an appropriate funding program to ensure achievements of objectives of the plan. the collection, recycling and treatment of plastic waste should be further strengthened. c) to continously raise awareness of people and management agencies on marine plastic waste, to implement the national campaign on prevention and reducing plastic waste through which knowledge on plastics and microplastics also to be enhanced. d) to promote researches and studies on diferrent aspects of marine plastic waste managemnt including recycling technologies, impacts of plastics and microplastics on health and environment, related standards and technical regulations, ect. e) to promote international cooperation on marine plastic waste management. viet nam should proactively participate into development of an international agreement/convention on marine plastic waste and an international center should be estalished in the country. being a rising economy in the south east asia region, viet nam is standing in front of a development decade with many opportunities and challenges. in the next 10 years the country should improve its environmental management including successful solutions to resolve the marine plastic waste issue as strongly committed by the government. thi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 73 references alarming plastic waste in seafood exploitation. 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(2018) report on baseline study on status and solid waste management focus on plastic waste in phu quoc, with finan cial support from wwf and usaid, wwf-viet nam to study on "reducing plastic waste in phu quoc." https://www.nhandan.com.vn/kinhte/item/39066402-quyet-liet-giai-phong-phe-lieu-ton-dong-tai-cac-cang-bien.html https://www.nhandan.com.vn/kinhte/item/39066402-quyet-liet-giai-phong-phe-lieu-ton-dong-tai-cac-cang-bien.html https://www.nhandan.com.vn/kinhte/item/39066402-quyet-liet-giai-phong-phe-lieu-ton-dong-tai-cac-cang-bien.html https://baomoi.com/tong-ket-chuong-trinh-hay-lam-sach-bien-nam-2018/c/28096599.epi https://baomoi.com/tong-ket-chuong-trinh-hay-lam-sach-bien-nam-2018/c/28096599.epi https://baomoi.com/tong-ket-chuong-trinh-hay-lam-sach-bien-nam-2018/c/28096599.epi https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/moi-truong/nghich-ly-tui-ni-long-than-thien-1259884.html https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/moi-truong/nghich-ly-tui-ni-long-than-thien-1259884.html https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/moi-truong/nghich-ly-tui-ni-long-than-thien-1259884.html http://chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/nuocchxhcnvietnam/thongtintonghop/dialy http://chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/nuocchxhcnvietnam/thongtintonghop/dialy http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/index.php/items/13460 http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/index.php/items/13460 http://vpas.vn/gioi-thieu/tong-quan-nganh.html http://vpas.vn/gioi-thieu/tong-quan-nganh.html http://vpas.vn/gioi-thieu/tong-quan-nganh.html http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 75 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.793 understanding tourists’ motivations: the case of al baha montainous region in saudi arabia ali bokhari1 1department of archeitecture, faculity of engineering, al baha university abstract motivations are critical factors in understanding tourists’ behaviors in relation to destination choice; they relateto needs, goals, and preferences. extensive research on this topic has been documented in the literature. however, there are few empirical studies on ecotourist cities in mountainous regions that are facing an increasing number of challenges due to the cost of infrastructure development. attention to tourists’ motivational factors in ecotourist cities is critical for specifying their needs and preferences when drawing up future urban policies to develop ecotourist areas. in this study, the variables that influence tourists’ motivations, and their likelihood of revisiting those areas, were analyzed. the principal results show the significant role of accommodation locations and marketing in attracting visitors to ecotourist areas. these findings suggest that private and public sectors should invest in tourists’ residential development with a high level of accessibility and views. moreover, tourist advertisements should be given more attention, especially on social media platforms. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords tourism planning; planning for mountain areas; tourism investment; ecotourist; tourists’ motivations 1. introduction ecotourism is greatly expanding in most countries because of the advantages it offers to the host communities, and the tourists, and the land (regmi & walter, 2017). the authors of several studies have recognized the role of ecotourism in cultural preservation, sustainable development, and economic growth (liu et al., 2011). visiting heritage and natural conservation sites is the most significant form of modern-day tourism due to its role in enhancing urban and rural areas development (chi, cai, & li, 2017). it not only provides an economic stimulus at the national and local levels but also substantial benefits at the individual level (dans & gonzalez, 2018; hsu, 2019). therefore, enhancing ecotourist areas has become a major objective for many countries that want to attract international tourists who wish to enjoy their rich local, natural, historical, and cultural points of heritage (esfehani & albrecht, 2018; ismagilova, safiullin, & gafurov, 2015). ecotourism in mountainous areas in particular is facing an increasing number of challenges in terms of local and regional development, due to natural hazards including rock falls and landslides and mudflows, and the cost of infrastructure development (aseres & sira, 2020; rivera-hernández et al., 2018). therefore, many countries have attempted to create investments in these areas, to optimize the cost benefits, and to promote regional and national tourism development strategies (sharpley & telfer, 2014). enhancing urban development is largely associated with a number of visitors, which has become another objective for many countries to attract more tourists to ecotourist http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 76 destinations. attracting more tourists requires an understanding of their needs and motivations for visiting these areas; this is the objective of many studies (agyeiwaah et al., 2019; suhartanto et al., 2020). the literature shows a growth in the number of investigations of tourists’ motivations and behaviors (nguyen & cheung, 2014; regmi & walter, 2017). however, research conducted to analyze the characteristics of ecotourists and their perceptions toward their visited destinations needs to be strengthened and expanded to manage these tourist destinations in a sustainable way (abuamoud et al., 2014). although ecotourism is of high significance in mountainous areas, there is a limited number of comprehensive studies investigating tourists’ characteristics and their visiting motivations to devise possible policies for future development meeting tourists’ expectations. thus, the objective of this research was to understand tourists’ motivations to visit ecotourist mountainous areas, which extend the current understanding of ecotourism (agyeiwaah et al., 2019; correia et al., 2013; suhartanto et al., 2020). the remainder of this paper is structured as follows: the next part presents the literature review, followed by an overview of selected geographical areas. next, materials, methods, and data analyses are presented before the results and conclusions. 2. literature review enhancing conditions in rural areas threaten many governments with the challenge of finding new opportunities for income, employment, and means of sustaining the livelihoods of members of the local communities. rural tourism can be an alternative way for revitalizing communities and enhancing urban development. in relying on a rural area’s natural and cultural resources, such as beautiful and versatile landscapes and the traditional lifestyles of indigenous communities, the goal of ecotourism vendors is to provide visitors with the opportunity to take advantage of local heritage and nature’s characteristics (apostolakis, 2003; lun et al., 2016; tian et al., 2016; xie & shi, 2020). ecotourist development policies in particular have become part of the vision of many countries. the literature shows a number of studies whose authors have aimed to understand tourists’ behaviors and their perceptions toward ecotourist areas, which are strategically driven by policy makers at local, national, and international level (oviedo‐ garcía et al., 2017; sharpley, 2002). creating successful ecotourism policies seems particularly important for many countries in maintaining tourism as a key source of natural income by which to thrive (sharpley & roberts, 2004). ecotourism is a field that is still exposed to several open questions in tourism research (rivera-hernández et al., 2018) and it needs further investigation to highlight the challenges that goventments experience during tourism policy implementation. this is important to the specific case of ecotourism in mountainous areas (dunets et al., 2019). number of ecotourism studies refer to rural areas in general, or studies in the field are only implicitly focused on ecotourist areas. however, rural uplands and mountains offers unique travel experiences due to their diverse natural and cultural environments (fredman, 2008; hussain et al., 2019). additionally, nepal and chipeniuk (2005) mentioned that mountainous areas are characterized by numerous distinctive elements including fragility, diversity, difficulty of access, marginality, aesthetics, and niche, which, because of their singularity, they have specific implications for tourism development. they encompass the most extensive array of topography, climate, flora, fauna, and cultural diversity on earth. mountainous areas suffer from the precariousness of tourism development, which need an integrated approach balancing tourists’ needs, the environment and local communities (godde, 2000). mountainous areas more likely to be prototypical regions for analyzing ecotourism development because they are generally characterized by natural beauty and cultural heritage in saudi arabia, making them ideal destinations for ecotourists (jimura, 2016). they also face a number of challenges, such as accessibility and difficult topography, making the implementation of tourism development challenging. understanding tourists’ motivations to visit such locations can enhance the investments and experiences of wise tourists; this will contribute to meeting the needs of both local residents and visitors. 2.1. tourist motivations tourist motivations have been an objective for tourism research several decades (antón et al., 2017; kozak, 2002; murdy et al., 2018). motivation theory comes from consumer behavior literature, whose scholars argue that motivations represent internal forces of individuals that lead to their actions and behaviors (devesa et al., 2010). bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 77 travel motivations are related to human needs that drive a person to participate in particular tourism activities such as swimming, horseback riding, and mountaineering (yousaf et al., 2018). thus, motivation has a crucial role in affecting travel decisions and tourists’ behaviors (mansfeld, 1992; yousaf et al., 2018) because it illustrates why people travel to specific selected destinations, and why they engage in ecotourist activities during their vacations (mahika, 2011). one of the most important and widely referenced motivation theories with psychological roots has to do with escaping and seeking (gnoth, 1997). crompton (1979) also pinpointed psychological motives including relaxation and exploration, etc. as well as cultural motives including education and novelty. in particular, psychological motives were described as inner motivations influencing individuals, known as person-specific motivations such as the need to escape his/her environment (heitmann, 2011), while cultural motives or outer motivations were described by destination-specific characteristics. fletcher et al. (2017) categorized motivation factors into three types, namely: cultural; physical, such as relaxation; interpersonal, such as socializing; and prestige, such as self-esteem and selfactualization. mehmetoglu (2012) distinguished between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations and park and yoon (2009) mentioned knowledge, relaxation, adventure, family, travel bragging, and sports as motivational factors for travel. among the most common motivational factors that have been investigated are self-development, relaxation, and family togetherness (farmaki, 2012). although some researchers have investigated the concept of motivation within the context of tourism (agyeiwaah et al., 2019; antón et al., 2017; prentice, 2004; suhartanto et al., 2020), few studies have been conducted to explore tourists’ motivations in terms of ecotourism in mountainous areas. a study by the countryside commission (1995) identified key visitors’ motivations including relaxation, health, and peace and quiet. these results were supported by a research conducted in france (federation nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles, 1989), whose authors found that tranquility, relaxation, fresh air, and greenery and were the factors driving tourists to visit the countryside. categorizing tourists based on their values, activities, or socio-economic characteristics has a critical role in shaping urban policies that must balance local community needs, economic growth, and sustainable development. frochot (2005) identified three types of ecotourists: active tourists who engage in adventure-oriented activities; gazers, who prefer to relax and enjoy the surroundings; and those who are interested in experiencing rural settings. furthermore, devesa et al. (2010) recognized four groups of rural tourists. the first group includes tourists who seek tranquility and interactions with nature; the second consists of tourists interested in the cultural aspects of certain sites; and the third group includes tourists whose activities focus on gastronomy, natural areas, visiting family and friends, or relaxing in their own house. in close agreement with devesa et al., studies by yi et al. (2011) and slee et al. (1997) describe three types of rural tourists, these are: rural-centric tourists who engage in rural-oriented activities; passive rural tourists who participate in classical tourism activities including visiting cultural sites; and those who visit family and friends in the countryside. molinillo and japutra (2017) added that tourists can be categorized based on the types of attractions they visit, such as arts-based, heritage sites, music festivals or zoos. in previous studies, scholars have indicated that clustering tourism types is challenging due to the different tourist motivators, which adds to the complexity of identifying which factors create tourism and how our urban policies can enhance tourism. therefore, within the context of travel to mountain regions, it is imperative that ecotourist motivations are investgated to allow for a clearer understanding of the concept, as well as better urban and regional policies. 2.2. tourism and heritage drawing on the literature, researchers have investigated the relationship between tourism and heritage to understand the of tourism development in heritage conservation areas. the types of heritage tourists visiting these areas influences the implementation of appropriate tourism policy protecting heritage sites (nguyen & cheung, 2014). in this regard, poria et al. (2003) presented a tree type of heritage tourist: the first tourists group who just visit heritage places; the second group who is visiting heritage sites and aware of the heritage attributes and cultural values of these areas; and third group of heritage tourists are those who are believe that heritage site is part of their own experience and their visit is motivated by the heritage values and attributes of the site. bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 78 vong and ung (2012) investigate heritage hourism in macau, china, and they have noted four aspects are associated with heritage tourism which are history and culture, heritage interpretation, facilities and services at heritage sites, and heritage attractions. yan and morrison (2008) mentioned that it is important to consider what importance to understand the values of heritage tourism and their motivations to visit these types of sites. moreover, number of researches investigate the relationship between world heritage site properties and tourism. among others, we can highlight those focused on certain sites of canada (donohoe, 2012), portugal (remoaldo et al., 2014), romania (bucurescu, 2015), spain (yousaf et al., 2018), israel (poria et al., 2003), china (yang & lin, 2014), and vietnam (nguyen & cheung, 2014). the significance of enhancing culture and heritage tourists’ experiences are strongly attractive for tourists seeking to reinforce the protection of heritage (poria et al., 2013), particularly for those travelers seeking local authentic tourism experiences and genuine places (timothy, 2011). thus, heritage is one of the most important and fastest-growing aspects of tourism these days (poria et al., 2003). tourists decide to visit an ecotourist area that has rich natural and heritage characteristics (correia et al., 2013). consequently, these factors must be analyzed and understood because there is a great diversity of heritage sites and each will be affected by different variables (breakey, 2012). furthermore, tourist sites are under a strong competition among them to attract more tourists, particularly international visitors (remoaldo et al., 2014). local culture and heritage can be attributes that differentiates one site from another and make them more attractive for different type of tourists (bell, 2010; bucurescu, 2015). arange of places, including cultural and natural sites, makes substantial differences for understanding visitors’ needs and consequently providing better management of these areas (poria et al., 2013). studying tourists’ motivations to visit ecotourist areas in mountainous regions allows for orienting and reinforcing various tourism management policies. 3. study area surrounded by mountains, the al baha region is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in southwestern saudi arabia, as it has mild weather in the summer and cool weather in the winter. the population of the region is around 476,000, and its economic basically relies on the agricultural and tourism sectors. with heritage villages such as zee ain and bani saar, the region enjoys an important focus on cultural tourism (un educational scientific and cultural organization, 2015). zee ain is an archaeological village that was declared a world heritage site. developed in the sixteenth century, it is more than 400 years old (unesco, 2015). the historic villages of al khalaf and al khalif both contain archeological gems as well as numerous ancient islamic inscriptions on basalt stone (saudi tourism authority, 2018). valleys, mountains, plains, waterfalls, and forests contribute to the area’s natural beauty. all these features indicate that, at present, the region is one of the best representatives of an ecotourist destination in saudi arabia and the middle east at large. in 2018, over than 1.2 million local trips were made to al baha carring more than 1.5 million tourists to the area with total spending 373 million usd on tourism (ministry of tourism, 2019). it bacomes an attractive destination for thousands of tourists as a consequence of its rich cultural heritage and local historic importance. enhancing ecotourism in al baha minimizes tourism negative impact upon the local environment and local heritage sites toward more sustainable development. 4. materials and methods to understand tourists’ motivations and factors that influenced their decision to visit the al baha region, a questionnaire was adapted from previous research for use in this study (breakey, 2012; vong and ung, 2012; poria et al., 2013; jin et al., 2016). the survey was designed to analyze two groups of variables: first, the sociodemographic profiles and the principal characteristics of tourists’ trips (including trip duration, type of accommodation, and destinations visited) were queried; second, the factors that defined their trip motivations and satisfaction as well as the probability of their interest in revisiting the area were explored. a five-point likert scale (1 is not important and 5 is very important) was employed to assess tourists’ motivations to visit al baha. to evaluate the likelihood of repeat visits to the area and to gain further information, questions with yes or no responses accompanied open-ended questions. at the end of the survey, an open-ended question was used to ask about any constraints that tourists may have experienced during their visits. bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 79 the first section of the survey pertained to the sociodemographic charactaristcs of indiviuals (e.g., age, gender, educational level, country of origin, income level, and professional category). next, a series of variables to analyze tourist satisfaction (e.g., hospitality, historic heritage, visitor information points, citizen safety, city cleanliness, and restaurants) were assessed to determine motivations to visit the destination. finally, logistic regression analysis— using the factors obtained in the factorial analysis as independent variables—was employed to discover the factors increasing the probability that a tourist would revisit the region. the data for the dependent variable of the regression model was obtained from the survey question regarding whether or not respondents were willing to revisit the area. the data for the independent variables were drawn from the factor scores that were obtained from factor analysis. before the data were collected, a pilot test was conducted with 30 tourists in the first two weeks of april 2018 to ensure that the survey were appropriately written and designed. a total of 873 surveys were completed in the summer of 2018 and 2019 (i.e. between april 2018 and august 2018, and april 2019 and august 2019) and 743 of them were useable. convenience sampling was used, as it is common in this type of research in which the surveyed population is available in a pre-determined space and time (finn et al., 2000). data were collected from participants in 15 locations, which are the most visited sites by tourists; these included an airport, three main malls in the area, and 12 residential tourism sites (hotels, resorts, and apartments). 4.1. data analysis the sociodemographic profiles of the tourists visiting the al baha region were determined first (see table 1). next, a factorial analysis of the aspects related to the visit was conducted with varimax rotation as well as an analysis of the internal consistency of the factors (cronbach's alpha). the final model employed all factors with reliability greater than 0.5 and have an eigenvalue greater than 1, which were assessed by cronbach’s alpha test (izquierdo alfaro et al., 2014). next, a logistic regression analysis was used to determine the probability of a tourist repeating their trip to al baha. it was also used to introduce the factors from the factorial analysis in the regression model as independent variables to determine which ones significantly increased or decreased the cited probability. table 1: respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics sociodemographic characteristics total (%) (n = 743) 1. age <18 16.55 18–24 19.52 25–34 30.28 35–49 21.13 >50 12.52 2. educational no bachelor’s degree 34.72 graduate diploma 23.55 bachelor’s degree 31.36 post-graduate degree 10.36 3. employment status full-time worker 42.13 part-time worker 17.23 student 30.96 unemployed 9.69 bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 80 table 1 continued 4. marital status single 30.82 family without dependent child/children 43.07 family with dependent child/children 26.11 5. first time visitor yes 37.15 no 62.85 6. monthly household income (sar/month) <4,999 34.59 5,000–9,999 29.74 10,000–19,999 27.19 >20,000 8.48 7. willingness to visit again yes 69.72 no 30.28 5. results three factors have an eigenvalue greater than 1 were identified as the most influential factors for trip satisfaction. the 14 statements for visiting motivations were factor analyzed, and items with loadings lower than 0.5 were removed. the remaining 10 items were employed in a factor analysis, generating three factors, which explained 56.8% of the total variance (see table 2). the first factor, responsible for 25.01% of the total explained variance, comprised three items that reflect the aspects related to culture: cultural activities and shows, heritage buildings, and historic districts. the second factor (21.83% of the variance) grouped the items used to estimate the stay dimension (e.g., views, accessibility to local businesses, ease of public parking). the third and final factor, marketing, explained 17.97% of the variance with two items: media and visitors’ information/visitor assistance points. the three groups obtained through the factorial analysis (culture, stay, and marketing) were then used as independent variables in the logistic regression model (see table 3) to determine which of them was significantly associated with the probability of a repeat visit. table 2: factor analysis of tourists’ motivations motivational statements factor culture stay marketing cultural activities and shows 0.872 heritage building 0.833 historic district (e.g. zee ain and bani saar villages) 0.779 views to valleys and mountains 0.821 accessibility to restaurants, parks, and local markets 0.780 ease of public parking 0.682 bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 81 table 2 continued media 0.679 visitors’ information and visitors’ assistance points 0.614 local business advertisements 0.536 eigenvalues 2.79 2.10 1.80 explained variance (%) 25.01 21.83 17.97 accumulated explained variance (%) 25.01 46.84 64.81 reliability coefficient 0.75 0.74 0.76 total variance of factors: 64.81, kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo): (0.87); bartlett sphericity test (p < 0.001); n = 743 the logistic regression model showed results that were statistically significant (χ2[3] = 46.72; p < 0.001); the model explained 43.20% (nagelkerke r2) of the variance, and it correctly classified 68.0% of the cases. the results presented in table 3 indicate that stay (or = 3.73) and marketing (or = 2.57) significantly increased the probability that a tourist would visit the region again. the natural characteristics of the area (e.g., valleys, waterfalls, and forests) were found to truly define the tourists’ experiences and certainly increased loyalty to the destination in terms of their intentions for a return visit. marketing, vis-à-vis the effects of media (especially social media) also significantly increased the probability that a tourist would visit the region again. on the other hand, culture did not have a significant effect (p = 0.79). this is curious, since the aspects related to cultural activities (especially visiting a historic district) are usually highly valued when one decides whether or not to visit a certain tourism destination on another occasion. tourists’ preferences not to revisit a historic area during their next visit to al baha may have resulted from the poor infrastructure and limited public facilities therein. the results highlight that 76.58% of the tourists would, however, potentially repeat their visit to the al baha region. table 3: logistic regression analysis variables β se wald odds ratio 95% ci sig (pvalue) constant 1.40 0.53 6.46 4.0 0.011 culture 0.04 0.23 0.03 1.04 0.67 – 1.59 0.785 stay 1.31 0.23 31.13 3.73 2.35 – 5.95 <0.001 marketing 0.93 0.10 84.96 2.57 2.11 – 3.16 <0.001 model: 𝑥 2(3) = 46.72; 𝑝 < 0.001 nagelkerke r2 = 0.432 𝑁 = 743 5.1. tourist accommodations this research shows that the locations of tourist accommodations has a substantial role to play in attracting tourists to al baha. visitors who had accommodations that featured good views of valleys and mountains and that were accessible to local market/commercial areas were much more likely to revisit the area. trip duration and marital status can affect tourists’ preferred types of accommodation. the results also revealed that the majority of the tourists bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 82 preferred more spacious accommodations (e.g., apartments and villas), particularly those who stayed in al baha for more than a week. a spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to assess the association between accommodation size (i.e. number of rooms) and trip duration. a statistically significant, positive association was found between accommodation size and trip duration for tourists visiting the al baha region (rs = 0.67; p < 0.050). the type of preferred accommodation varied according to tourists’ marital status. indeed, single tourists and couples or families without dependent child(ren) preferred to stay in a hotel or apartment near the downtown core, while families with dependent child(ren) preferred to stay in villas or resorts. therefore, the city council should attract investors to develop different types of accommodations to meet the needs of all potential visitors. 5.2. marketing, social media, and ecotourist development the traditional use of social media is mainly for entertainment or online shopping; however, it also has a large number of possible different practices in everyday life (kaplan and haenlein, 2010). social media marketing in the tourism industry is increasingly prevalent. social media affects different aspects of tourism – from tourists’ information searches and decision-making behaviors to tourism promotion and tourists sharing their own holiday experiences on various channels (boyd and ellison, 2007, carneiro et al., 2018). leveraging social media to market tourism products and activities has proven to be an excellent strategy (amitay et al., 2020). social media enables tourists to search for information on destinations to visit and to choose the best option among several alternatives (hutter et al., 2013; perakakis et al., 2016). the prevalence of social media enhances investment opportunities for local businesses and organizations to increase their profits (mccabe, 2017). the leaders of many city council regard social media as an essential tool to enhance their domestic tourism, and tourism saudi arabia is no exception. claims that social media plays a crucial role in holiday planning and booking are mentioned by the increased traffic to tourism websites (amaro et al., 2016). in this study, tourists were asked if they use any social media applications to make their travel decisions, and if so, which one(s). the findings show that 52% of our sample (n = 387) used a social media platform to gain information regarding accommodations, tourist attractions, and local business (e.g. restraints and shops). the statistics presented in table 4 highlight that tourists seek restaurants and cafés using instagram and twitter (50.27% and 27.96% of respondents, respectively), whereas snapchat aids their visits to parks or heritage areas (66.38% of respondents). instagram, twitter, and snapchat are all prominent applications in saudi arabia, as they give people the opportunity to share experiences and information (ministry of communications and information technology, 2019). furthermore, social media influencers are predominantly active on these three platforms and their marketing, when executed properly, is more effective since consumers tend to trust them more than traditional advertising due to the close relationship between consumers and influencers (lou & yuan, 2019). most tourists also considered accommodation reviews on google reviews or reservation websites (66.67%). this finding highlights the modern role of social media in marketing to tourists, particularly those in areas with limited advertisements and marketing strategies (e.g., rural areas and ecotourist cities). social media marketing can be more effective with younger generations who are more likely to use it. somers’ d was run to determine the association between age group and the use of social media among 387 participants. a positive, statistically significant (d = 0.64, p < 0.050) correlation was found between age group and tourists’ use of social media to gain destination information. table 4: tourists’ use of social media for different purposes social media platform for visiting tourist destinations accommodation booking local businesses (e.g. restaurants, cafés, and shops) instagram 38 (10.73%) 17 (6.37%) 187 (50.27%) facebook 15 (4.24%) 10 (3.75%) 4 (1.08%) whatsapp 26 (7.34%) 12 (4.49%) 13 (3.49%) snapchat 235 (66.38%) 23 (8.61%) 23 (6.18%) bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 83 table 4 continued youtube 5 (1.41%) 5 (1.87%) 4 (1.08%) google 15 (4.24%) 178 (66.67%) 34 (9.14%) twitter 18 (5.08%) 6 (2.25%) 104 (27.96%) others 2 (0.56%) 16 (5.99%) 2 (0.81%) total 354 267 372 the findings of this research offer significant practical and policy implications, notably relating to the intensity of social media use by tourists and tourism businesses in ecotourist areas. the results suggest that it is important to market to tourists on social media platforms to attract more of them to the area. according to the findings, tourists and tourism operators were in favor of instagram and snapchat compared to other social networking sites, as they are commonly used in saudi arabia. governmental and non-governmental agencies, media, advertisers, and tourism operators should keep an eye on instagram and snapchat to remain updated on tourists’ activities. social media has rich data regarding tourists’ motivations, perceptions, and behaviors – including their reviews of popular businesses and locations (e.g., restaurants, parks, hotels) in the al baha region. to develop the region, governmental and nongovernmental agencies should be attentive to local businesses’ reviews, as they can affect tourists’ decisions. 5.3. tourism and local culture heritage culture has an important role in attracting tourists to the al baha region. the results of many studies have confirmed that heritage buildings and cultural activities can drive urban and economic growth, not to mention the industry as a whole (ginting, 2016; garcía-hernández et al., 2017). heritage villages in al baha (such as zee ain and bani saar) have the potential to be developed to enhance public facilities and infrastructure to gain an important source of income through tourism. in this study it was found that the local culture did not significantly affect tourists’ likelihood of revisiting al baha. table 5 summarizes tourists’ assessments of the challenges of visiting heritage areas in al baha; most notably, these included poor infrastructure and accessibility. such challenges may reduce the attraction of visiting the heritage areas. one tourist mentioned, “it is hard for an elderly person to walk on a hilly site without any assistance.” another mentioned that “during the summer season, many tourists are visiting the heritage area, but a limited amount of car parking and lack of an alternative mode of transport (such as a bus or train) made [their] experience unpleasant.” the availability of public facilities near heritage locations was also highlighted as a key concern. one tourist said that “families with dependent kids need restaurants, cafés, and restrooms when they visit tourist locations, and there are a limited number of these services in heritage locations.” some tourists also mentioned the lack of explanation on the history and culture behind these buildings, including signage and information centers. table 5: tourists’ feedback on challenges of visiting heritage areas challenges statements accessibility and infrastructure limited public parking near heritage buildings roads in poor condition limited tourist coaches to heritage areas poor pedestrian pathways, particularly for elderly and disabled tourists public facilities limited public services such as restaurants, cafés, and restrooms limited tourist information some areas lack tour guides bokhari / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 84 6. conclusion this study was conducted to explore tourists’ motivations to visit ecotourist areas in order to offer an understanding of what attracts them to the al baha region. through a series of modeling exercises, three factors (culture, stay, and marketing) were positively associated with tourists’ decisions to visit ecotourist regions. furthermore, the stay and marketing factors were found to drive tourists to revisit the areas. this research has highlighted the fact that tourists’ original preferences for visiting ecotourist areas are primarily driven by local culture, including cultural activities and shows, heritage buildings, and historic villages. however, it was found that tourists often prefer not to revisit heritage buildings and historic districts because of poor infrastructure and accessibility concerns. limited public facilities also negatively influence tourists’ likelihood of revisiting historic locations. the results also revealed that tourists prefer to visit ecotourist areas because of the hotels and resorts which have good views of the surrounding villages and valleys and that are near local restaurants and shops. those deciding the location of any new residential development should consider the aforementioned key factors to attract tourists to the region. the government should attract real estate investors to develop different types of accommodations to meet tourists’ diverse needs. the role of marketing was found to be positively associated with tourists’ perceptions of ecotourist areas. the effect of social media on the younger generation was particularly strong. it was found that tourists are more likely to use social media sites such as instagram and twitter when they are looking for restaurants and cafés, and they use snapchat to obtain information for public parks or heritage areas. tourist marketing strategies should integrate these platforms. moreover, social media sites have rich data reflecting tourists’ motivations, perceptions, and behaviors, which should be used by the government and investors during the future production of urban policies to develop the region. the results from this study have extended the current understanding of tourist motivations (see albayrak and caber, 2018; 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(2018). tourist's motivations to travel: a theoretical perspective on the existing literature. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd. v7i1. 862 turning urban streets from infrastructures into living places early research outcomes of a case study in prato, tuscany gabriele paolinelli1, lorenza fortuna2 1associate professor, department of architecture, university of florence 2phd student, research fellow, department of architecture, university of florence abstract in the second half of the twentieth century urban landscapes were affected by heavy infrastructural development. with regard to streets, managing the growing fluidity and speed of motor vehicle flows has been a priority for most designers. nowadays there are multiple driving forces behind a transition that could accommodate different uses within the streets, primarily the cultural, social and economic exchanges that streets faciliated in the past but that have been lost over time. in the spreading practice called “shared street” most signage and traffic lights can be removed to permit the self-regulated and spontaneous circulation of all users and vehicles. this paradigm is discussed with regard to its potential to strengthen urban landscape identity, ensuring accessibility, redefining uses and practices within the street, reducing injuries and misbehaviour, and offering real and perceived safety to all users. “back to the street” is an ongoing design research project dealing with integration strategies for different kinds of urban streetscapes. which design features are necessary to encourage a change in attitude, speed and hierarchy for street users? how can these features positively affect urban landscapes in general and the liveability of streets first and foremost? the research attempts to answer these questions by considering street design as a means of triggering the effective enhancement of urban public spaces. the paper is based on the case study of via san paolo in prato (tuscany) and presents a set of quality requirements for street design such as plant integration, water drainage, and comfortable paths for both cyclists and pedestrians. as the design for separate flows cannot fulfill all the quality features in via san paolo, mostly due to its varying width, it is assumed that the “shared street” can replace it in order to enhance community life within the streets while promoting local sustainable mobility. the research examines two options: sharing the street in narrow stretches or along its whole length. a preliminary comparison is proposed to discuss the earlier research outcomes. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords landscape design; urban streets; shared streets; accessibility; liveability 1. introduction the widespread distribution of cars as a predominant means of private transportation since the 1950s has resulted in significant transformations of landscapes, and mostly of cities. these changes primarily concerned the streets, as places of vehicle transit, but they have consequently affected several aspects of urban life. the available modes of transport have changed our habits, with commercial, work and leisure activities being relocated to outside the settlements (bohigas, 2007; capuano, 2020). http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 as sylvia crowe (1960) foresaw, the need for faster transit has radically changed how people use streets, resulting in the loss of many opportunities for social, cultural and economic exchange, and in the contradiction of the primary function of cities as places in which to live. while cities’ dynamics have been analyzed in-depth by architects, urbanists, economists and sociologists, some authors have started to focus their interest on streets as crucial elements of collective urban identity. despite many differences in terms of perspectives and key issues, a debate started in the 1960s on the relational, multiscalar and multifunctional role of public spaces, and particularly of streets. while lynch (1960) underlined the importance of the legibility and identity of space, relating to memory and orientation through streetscapes, cullen (1961) and alexander (1977) read the streets as coherent sequences of frames. at the same time, appleyard and lintell (1972) analyzed the consequences of increased traffic on outdoor activities and gehl (1971) started his still ongoing studies on the social dimension of urban streets, focusing on uses in relation to their morphological, material and functional qualities. a new way of interpreting urban streets gradually emerged, looking at people's emotional and sensory experiences. urban landscapes are designed in search of a new spontaneous and awakening social process, where streets take on a metaphoric and cognitive meaning (rykwert, 1982). the widespread distribution of cars as a predominant means of private transportation since the 1950s has resulted in significant transformations of landscapes, and mostly of cities. these changes primarily concerned the streets, as places of vehicle transit, but they have consequently affected several aspects of urban life. the available modes of transport have changed our habits, with commercial, work and leisure activities being relocated to outside the settlements (bohigas, 2007; capuano, 2020). as sylvia crowe (1960) foresaw, the need for faster transit has radically changed how people use streets, resulting in the loss of many opportunities for social, cultural and economic exchange, and in the contradiction of the primary function of cities as places in which to live. while cities’ dynamics have been analyzed in-depth by architects, urbanists, economists and sociologists, some authors have started to focus their interest on streets as crucial elements of collective urban identity. despite many differences in terms of perspectives and key issues, a debate started in the 1960s on the relational, multiscalar and multifunctional role of public spaces, and particularly of streets. while lynch (1960) underlined the importance of the legibility and identity of space, relating to memory and orientation through streetscapes, cullen (1961) and alexander (1977) read the streets as coherent sequences of frames. at the same time, appleyard and lintell (1972) analyzed the consequences of increased traffic on outdoor activities and gehl (1971) started his still ongoing studies on the social dimension of urban streets, focusing on uses in relation to their morphological, material and functional qualities. a new way of interpreting urban streets gradually emerged, looking at people's emotional and sensory experiences. urban landscapes are designed in search of a new spontaneous and awakening social process, where streets take on a metaphoric and cognitive meaning (rykwert, 1982). nowadays, after around seventy years of cars moving through cities, problems concerning conflicts, injuries, pollution and the identity of places have considerably increased, depleting the liveability of urban open spaces, peoples' health and social equity (gehl, 2010; shannon and smets, 2010; nijhuis and jauslin, 2015; furtlehner and licka, 2019). growing traffic flows and the suggestion of speed as a major means of freedom have reshaped our proximity (smets, 2007) and detached our bodies from the ground (pavia, 2020). with the increase in the width and number of lanes and the spread of parking areas becoming new parameters for city transformation, the liveable space within the streets has been significantly reduced. the expansion and densification of cities' infrastructures and the combustion of fossil fuels are also causing a severe decline in the quality of air, water and soil, affecting the ecological functioning of natural systems and, indirectly, humans’ quality of life (rosenzweig et al., 2018; eea, 2019). awareness of the need for a change in attitude is widely shared among the scientific community and public authorities. most cities around the world are moving towards a new understanding of urban mobility systems. contemporary visions are emerging where pedestrians and cyclists have priority over motor vehicles and public open spaces are designed to host a wide range of activities and convey a sense of place and wellbeing (alberti, 2015; furtlehner and licka, 2019; sala i marti et al., 2020; bellmunt, 2021). sustainable mobility is being included in city planning theory and practice as a multilayered strategy for citizens' health: it reduces air pollution, enhances people's lifestyles, promotes physical activity, and helps social interactions and small economies. walking is an inherent activity through which humans have engaged in learning and discovery since their early appearance in the world. it is also a medium paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 for connecting with things and people. furthermore, cycling enables freedom of movement and an impromptu use of space that no other means of transport can offer, except one's feet. in italy, the average speed of vehicles in urban streets equals that of bicycles, exceeding pedestrians by only 2 km/h during traffic congestion hours (fiorillo et al., 2018), making cycling the most efficient means of transport in the urban realm. however, the pedestrian and cycle mobility plan deals more with research on the identity of places than with the infrastructural arrangement for slow transit flows (furtlehner and licka, 2019). sustainable mobility can become a playful practice. in this active experience the physical space can symbolize and strengthen our awareness and joy of belonging to the urban community (panzini, 2020). since buchanan's main work “traffic in towns” (mot, 1963) highlighted the need to tackle the problem of cars in cities, many contributions have addressed this issue both in scientific discourse and in professional practice. the design of sustainable mobility has become relevant, attempting to figure out which quality features are needed to encourage walking and cycling and enhance the identity of places within cities. reducing the danger represented by vehicles has also become a key issue. different approaches have emerged to accommodate, by means of design, all the functions streets are required to have in this perspective. the term “woonerfs”, first coined by niek de boer in 1965, refers to residential areas where vehicles conform to pedestrian and cyclist rules; “complete streets” emphasize the need for a comprehensive design for users of all abilities and with all kinds of transport. in mark francis’ theory (2016), “democratic streets” deal much more with the concept of collective use and social equity, and “shared streets”, as promoted by hans monderman, concern the removal of signage for the self-regulated sharing of space among all users and vehicles. the ongoing research process "back to the street" concerns the contemporary need to turn urban streets from infrastructures into living places. in this paper we aim to investigate the opportunities provided by “shared street” design to enhance community life within the streets while promoting local sustainable mobility. the paper is based on the case study of via san paolo in prato (tuscany) and presents a set of quality requirements for street design such as plant integration, rainwater drainage, and comfortable paths for both cyclists and pedestrians. the research examines two options: sharing the street in narrow stretches or along its whole length. the paper is organized as follows: − the introduction above (paragraph 1) frames the cultural and historical context of the work, explaining the reason for the research; − a discussion on methods and materials (paragraph 2) details the landscape architecture research as carried out in this project; − an insight into the “shared street” approach is provided to enable us to better understand its implications in landscape design (paragraph 3); − a depiction of the context where this work is being carried out follows (paragraph 4) to develop specific opportunities and critical issues that lead to the research hypothesis; − a preliminary comparison is proposed to discuss the earlier research outcomes (paragraph 5); − a conclusion is provided to initiate a discussion that could lead to deeper knowledge of the key issue (paragraph 6). 2. methods and materials this research provides a preliminary discussion on “shared street” design through a “projective design” research method (deming and swaffield, 2011). the work uses a “research by design” approach (deming and swaffield, 2011; nijhuis and bobbink, 2012, jong and van der voordt, 2002). the research was conducted in partnership with the mobility and infrastructure office of the municipality of prato, which asked for quality to be integrated into the streets in the san paolo district. in order to address the provisions of the main urban plans we referred to the structural plan, the operative plan and the sustainable mobility plan. since paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 it was not possible to carry out an instrumental survey, we had to represent our topographic database at a 1:2000 scale, as resulting from a vectoral plan provided by the municipality based on regional photogrammetric data. aerial photo interpretation has been used for the number of trees and their position and dimension. the study of plans and databases was followed by a series of surveys in the area to observe and note its distinctive features. this led to the choice of via san paolo as the place in which to test the design process. indeed, this street suits our work on the “shared street” layout more than others as it has some specific charateristics: − average vehicular flows, with moderate speed and number of cars passing by on a daily basis; − mixed zone with a combination of commercial, residential and public functions; − lack of community use and prevalent transit function; − cyclist and pedestrian discomfort; − provision of the enhancement of sustainable mobility and emissions reduction. two samples were investigated by design according to two functional layouts: sharing the street in narrow stretches or along its whole length. the samples were selected as representative of the street’s diversity and its general features. the process resulted in four outputs to be compared as a support to develop critical thinking. among the several approaches that can be taken to conduct the study, three main filters through which the street design has been interpreted are worth mentioning: − the european landscape convention (council of europe, 2000), which underlines the need to take care of everyday-ordinary landscapes: streets belong to this category; − the climate crisis, which highlights the damage caused by cities' dissipative systems: it calls for a review of urban mobility among other sustainable approaches (rosenzweig et al., 2018; eea, 2019); − the social depletion, which can be faced through more inclusive and integrated design: it allows to enhance a sense of belonging to the urban community (gehl, 2010; nogué, 2010; panzini, 2020). 3. sharing spaces to discover places the current interest in sustainable mobility leads to the enhancement of urban lifestyles by bringing the bicycle back into play as an alternative means of daily transportation. the resulting urban transformation process aims to generate new relationships between all street users for both physical and cultural change in the urban realm. specifically, the “shared streets” layout is meant to highlight the ‘place’ function rather than the ‘transit’ function of streets, with the aim of hosting the wide variety of activities and feelings that the public realm can offer to citizens, creating a social environment where they can linger and not only pass through (hamilton-baillie, 2008). this design configuration requires an innovative approach in which almost all signage is removed, including traffic lights. the reduction in information and rules should generate, for those who appreciate such a design solution, a spontaneous and safer sharing of places, thus resulting in better enjoyment of public space for all users, but most of all for pedestrians and cyclists. therefore, shared streets are completely different in design from those that provide a fast and direct connection for vehicles (such as highways): they have a continuous surface with no separate sidewalks, no change in ground level, fewer demarcations, and less specific features within the space. these qualities distinguish streets built for cars from streets built for people where everyone should feel part of a community in everyday life. such non-regulated places require constant negotiation between different needs, based on cultural signals and informal social protocols (hamilton-baillie, 2008). the uncertainty deriving from this design approach offers a higher degree of freedom to move through the space and enables multiple uses of the whole width of the streets, including both permanent functions and unexpected activities. this also reinforces eye contact and concern for the surrounding context which is capable of reducing conflicts between users (ruìz apilànez et al., 2017). although in some solutions there is scientific evidence of a decrease in paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 injuries, some authors (methorst et al.,2007; moody and melia, 2011; imrie, 2012) argue that this is due to the lower presence of pedestrians and cyclists. in fact, they assume, they would feel unsafe and uncomfortable in such a configuration and choose some alternative way. but it is also worth mentioning the lack of efficient ordinary street signage. the european road safety observatory recorded 25,000 road deaths and almost one million injuries in 2016 in europe, 20% of which were at road intersections (erso, 2018) where traffic lights are meant to prevent them and signals are present and visible. in fact, it seems that the higher sense of safety perceived in a place with a large number of rules can result in lower attention to the context as well as in misbehavior. however other critical issues concerning shared streets emerge, for example some authors have emphasised the difficulty blind and visually impaired people have in moving through such spaces, and also those with other mental or physical disabilities (imrie, 2012; steyvers et al., 2015). while drivers can easily reduce their speed, it might be hard for disabled people to feel safe negotiating the space as they are aware of their lower levels of stimulation. nevertheless, perception is a major issue for such a hypothesis to evaluate safety, aesthetics satisfaction and use dynamics. as reported by ruìz apilànez et al. (2017) in a recent study on “exhibition road” in london, many factors influence people's behavior and appreciation of shared streets. for example, 70% of users who received the questionnaire viewed the new aesthetics of the road as positive in comparison to its previous appearance, and all of them understood the priority given to pedestrians and cyclists. the test showed a consensus on the comfort provided through a place's legibility and order, but this did not apply to its safety perception. in fact most people primarily used the “safe zones” on the street side to feel protected although they could occupy its full width. so, as other authors report (hammond and musselwhite, 2013), the street sides are often crowded but the center of the road is occupied in unexpected ways, mostly by people crossing. furthermore, what emerged from this study is an adaptation issue, since frequent users had a more positive attitude than other passers-by. so, it seems clear that speed reduction is not sufficient to guarantee a safe and comfortable shared use of the streets, since continuous surfaces result in erratic movements that can confuse and disorientate users. this is why street design requires a multidisciplinary approach and to overcome the idea that it is only a matter of transport engineering (karndacharuk et al., 2014). landscape architecture plays an important role in defining the identity and legibility of spaces to tackle the ongoing discourse on these critical issues, reaffirm the multifunctional role of the streets and awaken a new sense of place and community. landscape architecture helps to create new use opportunities to drive the transition towards this new mobility paradigm through the design of pavings, the implementation of vegetal systems, and the inclusion of new signs and symbols which can convey proper management of streetscapes without imposing restrictions and rules. a landscape approach also provides tools for interpreting site conditions and qualities to offer a proper conversion of places and match both the social and environmental needs. a depiction of the context where this work is being carried out follows to examine specific opportunities and critical issues that led to the research hypothesis. 4. the case study of via san paolo in prato and the “back to the street” hypothesis the “san paolo” district in prato is located to the west of the old town, within the “macrolotto zero” area. the district has some distinctive characteristics, such as a mixed zone where residential, productive, commercial and service functions coexist in a peculiar urban form. here a series of wide square blocks is placed along streets that connect the old town with the rural areas beyond the western boundaries of the city. the growth of such a compact urban structure in decades has resulted in soil consumption, significant changes to the historical rural structure, and altered the ecological functioning. nevertheless, some natural residuum that has not been touched by urbanization still remains in this area, sometimes as parks or gardens, sometimes as rural or semi-abandoned fields. in its urban planning previsions, the municipality of prato states the need for a cross-scale approach to the urban and agricultural landscape as a whole, primarily based on new relationships between buildings, services and open spaces, stronger ecological connections and the enhancement of sustainable mobility. like other districts located around the paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 city center and mostly constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, san paolo plays a strategic role in these visions due to its relevance in terms of location, population density, economic exchange and public services. therefore, the san paolo district reflects many significant transition objectives for this strategy for a future city. in the structural plan (municipality of prato, 2019) the area plays a role of connection between different urban parts of the city center and the countryside to the west, from the highly served and densely populated northern districts to the southern industrial settlements. the coexistence of different functions, buildings and open spaces here enables a more structural and pervasive transformation of the public realm. furthermore, the urban plan (municipality of prato, 2018a) identifies a network of both existing and planned public services and an asset of disused or degraded industrial buildings to be renewed as collective hubs. moreover, the urban forestry plan envisages san paolo as the widest rural park which should cross the west side of the city with an east-west orientation. the sustainable mobility plan (municipality of prato, 2018b) identifies the whole san paolo district as a low emissions zone and defines some “zone 30” areas and many cycling lanes to redefine the whole mobility system within the district and in connection with the rest of the city. since sustainable mobility is conceived as a pervasive and integrated urban system, it may become a trigger for the regeneration of open spaces. these prospects as a whole combined with the analysis of the landscape qualities and surveys provided insight into via san paolo, which has several significant features that can be built upon to develop new visions for the san paolo district: − it runs east-west connecting the city center to the ring-road and beyond, over the hospital area, crossing the whole district; − it intersects some important streets for urban mobility, so it could integrate a system of existing or planned cycling paths; − it hosts some community services, such as schools, churches, gardens, and cultural and commercial activities of urban relevance; − it has a number of buildings that are about to be completely or partially demolished to create new urban gathering places; − it has a direct connection with the future san paolo park to the south and marks the edge of the dense settlement to the north. the surveys carried out to understand dynamics and practices within via san paolo show it to be an ordinary landscape that can be easily found in suburban areas. here a variety of building types and functions merge with the morphological diversity of open spaces generated by the layering of interventions. both the street and most of the san paolo district often flood due to the lack of vegetation and permeable soil. moreover, the street cannot provide shape nor shelter for a more comfortable collective space in terms of temperature and sense of place due to the lack of vegetation. the few existing vegetal formations are in poor condition or spontaneous, often invading the street corridor because of a lack of maintenance (fig. 1). in addition, vehicles have priority over people who are often forced to move in unsafe ways, and bicycles must travel in the vehicle lanes as there are no cycle paths (fig. 2a; 2b). furthermore, sidewalks are often non-existent or narrow even for one person (fig. 3a; 3b). however, vehicle mobility is also not fluid or uniform, with frequent changes in the direction of travel and number of lanes. even parking lots are not well managed, with cars parking on the sidewalks and in many other unregulated places, which results not only in a disturbing and chaotic landscape but also a lack of functionality for pedestrians first and foremost (fig. 4a; 4b). so, it seems necessary to turn via san paolo from an infrastructure into a living place, affirming people's priority over vehicles and guiding the design process towards a paradigm of economic, social and environmental sustainability. a set of quality features, as listed below, is assumed to encourage a change in attitude, speed, and hierarchy for street users, positively affecting urban landscapes in general and the liveability of the street primarily: paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 − first, sustainable mobility has to be a priority, creating space for pedestrians and cyclists so they can move around not only with a right of way but also in a comfortable and inviting place; − second, vegetation should be integrated into the design as much as possible to deliver shade, mitigate the temperature, enhance pleasure, improve soil quality and quantity, and increase biodiversity; − third, a water-sensitive design that channels the infiltration and management of rainwater should be an integral part of the street's conception as the expression of a wider and interconnected system; − fourth, the street should enable a variety of different uses besides urban mobility, such as resting or sitting, assembling or watching others passing by. a “shared street” hypothesis was developed since the design of separate flows cannot fulfill all quality features in via san paolo, mostly due to its varying width often resulting in narrow stretches. the hypothesis assumed that the “shared street” could enhance community life within the street while promoting local sustainable mobility. the research examines two options: sharing the street in the narrow stretches or along its whole length. a preliminary comparison is proposed to discuss the earlier outcomes of research by design. figure 1. spontaneous vegetation overruns the street corridor. . figure 2 (a) figure 2 (b). lack of safety for cyclists riding along the vehicle lane in a de facto shared street. . figure 3 (a) figure 3 (b). lack of safety for pedestrians walking along the vehicle lane in a de facto shared street. paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 figure 4 (a) figure 4 (b). unregulated parking along via san paolo. 5. ongoing activities and early outcomes of research by design by comparing the options, we aim to evaluate the findings and initiate a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of a shared via san paolo. as shown in fig. 5, the resulting schemes of the whole street have one main difference. while the first option results in considerable fragmentation where the ordinary and shared street layouts alternate in stretches from fifteen to seventy meters in length, the second option uses a more homogeneous spatial language. option 1 produces frequent changes in height between paved surfaces and the landscape scenery where users are left to alter their behavior and thus probably require more visible signs to warn of the changing rules. figure 5. a diagram of the two options of the street partial or total sharing. a closer look at these layout options is proposed in two consecutive stretches (fig. 6a, 6b, fig. 7a, 7b), including the most common features along via san paolo in terms of width, spatial configurations and functions. their varying widths of 10 to 16 meters fall within the average of the whole street and are the prevailing condition. they both have a rugged surface generated by a combination of private and production buildings with their related open spaces and gardens. these different spatial configurations result in a lack of structural legibility of the streetscape which has to be challenged by landscape design. this is why a paving pattern consisting of a uniform sequence of double-colored bands is preliminarily proposed for both solutions to enhance the perception of a wide and continuous open space. this solution has two additional purposes. firstly, it aims to enhance the transversal visuality and use of the road, paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 balancing the dominant axial perception. secondly, this spatial feature functions as signage to reduce the speed of vehicles. all buildings are 2 or 3 floors high and host production or residential functions, and most have small front gardens, recurring features in via san paolo. as both solutions for these stretches can be considered valid transformation layouts for via san paolo, some preliminary discussions can be pursued to foster the ongoing research activities. stretch 1 in option 1 (fig. 6a) features a corridor where flows can be separated with a 4.5 meter one direction vehicle lane flanked by comfortable 4-5 meter cycle and walking paths where trees and benches can also be integrated to match all quality features. nevertheless, this solution cannot be adopted in all stretches so it would produce a discontinuous layout where a just 30 meter car lane is cut on both the east and west sides by a shared street layout. furthermore, the existing parking lots are removed to obtain more space for all separate uses. while active mobility benefits from a continuous and wide surface area, cars must travel down a lane with often changing surface levels. this means that vehicles could not reach higher speeds in option 1 than in option 2. stretch 1 in option 2 (fig. 6b) shows a layout where the ordinary street has been replaced by a shared street for its full length. here a surface varying from 5 to 10 meters in width can be used by all users and a “safe zone” is maintained on one side where people walking or cycling can feel more comfortable without negotiating their space with vehicles. less space is needed for shared flows, allowing for the design of 12 parking lots which are in demand among residents. bigger trees than in option 1 can be integrated, providing shade, micro-climatic comfort, water infiltration, and beauty. figure 6 (a). stretch 1, option 1: partial sharing; plan and section (a-a’) show a lack in vegetation and use possibilities. paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 stretch 2 in option 1 (fig. 7a) shows a 10 meter wide corridor arranged for separate flows where a 4.5 meter vehicle lane runs in the center with a 1.8 meter sidewalk to the north and a more comfortable 4 meter cycle and walking path to the south. therefore, sustainable mobility finds its own space within the street, giving cyclists and pedestrians a right of way. however, as the corridor is not wide enough to plant vegetation, there is no permeable soil to drain rainwater, and no shelter or shade are provided for users, thus compromising the flexible and varied use of the space. this transformation is suitable for the proper transit of all users but does not fulfill all the main qualitative criteria taken into account. the corridor is not wide enough for parking lots, so some are reclaimed in the adjacent street. figure 6 (b). stretch 1, option 2: total sharing; plan and section (a-a’) show a more hospitable and varied street landscape. stretch 2 in option 2 (fig.7b) shows a 5 to 10 meter wide shared surface where the central area is dedicated to transit while the remaining space can be interpreted as “safe zones” and rest spaces equipped with benches and vegetation. small and/or fastigiate trees are planted as the canopies will not expand too much to the private gardens and buildings. however, a vegetal structure is provided while it is completely missing in option 1, restoring the permeable and fertile soil. even in option 2 the corridor is not wide enough for parking lots, so some are reclaimed in the adjacent street. paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 figure 7 (a). stretch 2, option 1: partial sharing; plan and section (b-b’) show the absence of vegetation and a lack of use possibilities. figure 7 (b). stretch 2, option 2: total sharing; plan and section (b-b’) show a more hospitable and varied street landscape. paolinelli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 6. discussion and open conclusions the two options show different solutions that could help to improve the urban landscape in terms of accessibility, micro-climate, hydrology, and spatial identity, ultimately enhancing resilience, well-being and sustainability. as for the early outcomes mentioned above, we propose some general arguments. in option 1, the presence of an actual vehicle lane should not allow cars to exceed 30 km/h, due to the often changing spatial configuration that alternates between the layout of shared and separated flows. however, the streetscape itself could suggest such behavior without imposing restrictions. in fact, the succession of different levels acts as a speed bump. so we can assume that the two options present no differences in terms of vehicle speed. option 1 produces frequent changes in the landscape scenery and use that could disorientate users. the separation of flows in option 1 requires more space for transit, depriving the street of many other uses and components, including parking lots, permeable soil and vegetation. this can sometimes prevent the landscape from achieving a widespread adequate quality level. furthermore, the citizens' frequent demand for parking lots might generate opposition to such transformation, even thought it might represent an opportunity to provide them elsewhere away from the streets, for example inside buildings to be restored. option 2 provides general and better integration among all street components resulting in widespread landscape quality. since we assume that it is better to avoid a sectoral and partial approach to design in order to make the project more effective, we would recommend option 2 for via san paolo and streets that in general have similar spatial and functional features. nevertheless, as the “shared street” layout cannot be implemented throughout the whole city road network, it is useful to evaluate a hybrid solution such as option 1 to trigger a transformative process where different solutions can fit the diversity and hierarchy of the streets in the urban landscapes. in conclusion, it is worth analyzing the shared street layout in more depth to better understand its potential to enhance urban landscapes, promoting the integration of different uses and components of road networks, encouraging people to come “back to the street”. in fact, as this design investigation shows, the shared street could provide much more space for non-transit activities and generate places for developing proximity relationships among citizens, and this is mostly the case in narrow streets. to move towards a more sustainable urban environment it is necessary to overturn the current paradigm where motorized transit influences and often undermines people's freedom of movement. to enhance sustainable mobility streets should be more attractive and pleasant, and vegetation plays an important role in this strategy. as the aforementioned results show, the shared street layout often permits a wider vegetal system within the streets, even where there is a lack of space in the ordinary layout. plants along the road network is notably important for the connectivity and ecological efficacy of the urban vegetal system, which can positively affect not only the city's beauty, health and micro-climate conditions, but also environmental quality at larger scales. however, while for these reasons the shared street seems to be a proper transformation for some urban streets, a 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(2015). accessibility of shared space for visually impaired persons: a comparative field study. british journal of visual impairment, 33(2), 96-110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264619615575793 https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2019.1623551 https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2012.739549 https://doi.org/10.1068%2fa44595 https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2014.893038 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/tran.12.00047 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-016-0036-2 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0264619615575793 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i2.756 value chain analysis of large cardamom in taplejung district of nepal keshav bhusal1,*, rishi ram kattel2, shiva chandra dhakal 2 1department of agricultural economics and agribusiness management, agriculture and forestry university, chitwan, nepal *corresponding author e-mail: agkeshavbhusal@gmail.com, telephone: +9779847147062 2assistant professor, department of agricultural economics and agribusiness management, agriculture and forestry university, chitwan, nepal e-mail: rrkattel@afu.edu.np, telephone: +9779841373843 2associate professor, department of agricultural economics and agribusiness management, agriculture and forestry university, chitwan, nepal e-mail: scdhakal@afu.edu.np, telephone: +9779845048704 abstract this study assessed the value chain analysis of large cardamom (amomum subulatum roxb) in taplejung district, nepal and explored the functional linkage and upgrading strategies among the key value chain actors. one hundred and sixty farmers were surveyed purposely along with 5 local and district level traders, 5 regional level traders and exporters and 5 enablers who were sampled using rapid market appraisal in march 2018. the study presents a comparative analysis among large holders (n=72) and smallholders (n=88) large cardamom farmers using spss and ms-excel. the majority of farmers used suckers as propagating materials which was a major source of disease conduction. 62.5% of farmers adopted traditional dryers for curing, which reduced the quality of large cardamom whereas about 30% of them used improved dryers for curing that enhanced quality. the majority of farmers had not adopted value addition practices like tail cutting, grading and packaging which were carried out at trader level. large cardamom prices were normally determined by the export market of india. the average land area of large cardamom per household was 21.56 ropani with 36.74 ropani for the large landholder farmers and 9.14 ropani for the smallholders. the key problems faced by farmers and traders were high price swing, lack of disease-free propagating materials, reliance on the indian market, aged orchards, shrinking productivity, and minimal collaboration among the chain actors. therefore, adoption of good management practices (gmps)upgraded bhattis, transfer of tail cutting technology and storage management, along with value addition activities like grading (color and size), tail cutting and packaging need to be adopted with strong adherence to export quality. this study revealed that necessary action needs to be taken to maintain a high level of collaboration among the value chain actors thereby increasing the value chain efficiency of nepalese large cardamom. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords functional linkage; large cardamom; marketing price; problems; swot; upgrading strategies; value chain http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:agkeshavbhusal@gmail.com mailto:rrkattel@afu.edu.np mailto:scdhakal@afu.edu.np https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 1. introduction large cardamom (amomum subulatum, roxb.) is an evergreen, perennial and herbaceous spice crop of zingiberaceae family, which is known as alaichi in nepali and renowned as queen of spices and black gold (shrestha, 2018). according to timsina et al. (2012), the record of large cardamom in nepal goes back to 1865 in illam, nevertheless commercialized cultivation commenced in ilam in around 1953. its cultivation is gradually spreading and reached 51 districts in 2017 (moalmc, 2017). nepal is the largest producer and exporter of large cardamom with 55 % of the average annual world production, followed by india and bhutan (gon & itc, 2017). since 1993 both the production and land area of large cardamom have increased with a compound annual growth rate (cagr) of 0.530 % and 0.490 % respectively (shrestha, 2018). the main districts in the cultivation and marketing of large cardamom in nepal are ilam, panchthar and taplejung where taplejung alone covered 33 % of productive area and 38 % of the overall production of large cardamom in the country (moalmc, 2017). among all, taplejung is identified as the lead district in terms of land area and production occupying 23.33 % of the total area with 45 % of the national production. the productivity of cardamom was also highest in taplejung with 0.7 mt ha-1 in comparison to the national productivity of 0.36 mt ha1 (dado, 2017). price variability has been a conscious problem of the large cardamom industry in nepal (poudel and chen, 2012). international market trends show that the demand of large cardamom is at the rate over 15% annually and nepal stands a good chance to become the leading exporter to the world market (flcen, 2016). “despite the significant contribution in rural and national economy, cardamom has failed to attract support in dealing with different problems such as pests and diseases problems, low quality cardamom, highly fluctuating market, narrow market base and lack of support services.” (chhetri, 2007); chapagain et al. (2014), illustrated that, “the heavy plantation of large cardamom within the community forest or any other national forests resulted in degradation of the natural forest, such as the alnus nepalensis (uttis). analyzing the situation, the dfo started interfering with large cardamom cultivation in any type of national forests. the market actors whose livelihoods are directly associated with large cardamom cultivation are fretful due to contemporary disease like chirkey and furkey, and concerned organizations are seen baffled to address the problem” (rai and chapagain, 2014). even though the marketing channel, being strong and district traders, are steadily involved, the weak coordination among the chain actors is hampering the production and marketing of the cardamom sub-sector. the value chain study of the large cardamom provides in-depth understanding of key agriculture stakeholders such as producers/farmers, traders, processors and exporters to work together to increase commercialization in large cardamom. various cross cutting issues related to production and marketing throughout the value chain, price at each stages of value chain, how the actors of value chains are linked, addressing the problems in the chain and recommending the appropriate upgrading strategies and methods of strengthening the market linkages with the major objectives to analyze the value chain function, enabling environment, market chain and inputs/service and to investigate the value chain upgrading and governance structure of large cardamom has been the major concern of the study. 2. materials and methods the site selected for the study was phungling municipality of taplejung district, province 1, nepal. according to the 2011 general census, the district has a population of 127461 inhabitants living in 26509 households and covering an area of 3646 km2 (1408 sq. mi). the district is the leader in terms of land area, production and productivity which justifies its choice as the case study for this research. a sample of 160 farmers was used and the sample size was determined with the help of a database management system, raosoft inc. with 95 % confidence level, 7.7 % margin of error and 50 % response distribution. five local level and district level traders were selected to determine market channel and value chain using snowball technique. five enablers were selected purposely at various levels and stages from local to national level. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data required to carry out the research. the questionnaire was designed using kobo toolbox (https://kf.kobotoolbox.org/#/forms/axsxt7qmgrtb8att3 y9q7x) that dealt with issues specific to production and marketing of large cardamom. an effort was made to incorporate questions into the questionnaires, pertaining to key issues identified in addition to different checklists developed and used to collect information from the producers, local and district level collectors, wholesalers, exporters and enablers. the primary data were collected by household survey through pre-tested interview schedule, focus group discussion, key participant interview and direct observation while the secondary data were gathered from district profile, village development committee/s/rural municipality/s (vdcs/rms ) profile, published reports of ministry of agriculture and livestock development (moald), food and agriculture organization (fao), agribusiness promotion and marketing development directorate and central bureau of statistics (cbs), and supporting organizations publications like the federation of large cardamom entrepreneur associations of nepal (flcean), the international centre for integrated mountain development (icimod), the international trade center (itc) and the trade export and promotion center (tepc). the data were coded, tabulated and analyzed using statistical package for social science (spss) and microsoft excel. to compare the different chains, the recorded data was analyzed descriptively, using weighted and non-weighted averages, percentage shares as well as standard deviations. in depth discussion with key actors of value chain was made on swot analysis. in order to understand the traits of the value chain players and the interrelationships among them a value chain map of large cardamom sub-sector was prepared with all attempts to make the maps easily comprehensible. the enabling environment providers and institutions which govern the large cardamom value chain of nepal were identified and their functional relationship was analyzed. a number of variables like population distribution, family size, size of the land holding, household income, category of land, etc. were analyzed by using simple descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequencies, standard deviation and mean. according to the agriculture development strategy (2015-2035) (ads, 2014) “the rural population is classified into three groups; commercial farmers (with 1 to 5 ha of land), subsistence farmers (with 0.5 to 1 ha of land) and landless and near landless (less than 0.25 ha)”. this knowledge was referenced in the study to categorize the respondents as large land holders (farmers cultivating plots larger than 1 hectare) and small land holders (farmers cultivating plots less than 1 hectare) a five-point scaling technique was used to analyze the farmers’ perception on the importance given to the different production and marketing constraints. the direction and severity of thoughts of the respondents towards any proposition is obtained by a scaling technique. the index of importance of different production and marketing constraints was calculated using the following formula (equation 1). (1) where, i = importance/ severity index ∑ = summation si = scale value at ith importance/severity fi = frequency of importance/severity given by the respondents n = total number of respondents (∑fi) subedi et al. (2019a) adopted this scaling technique to explore the problems associated with potato production in terai region of nepal. they also used this technique (subedi et al., 2019b) to find the production problems associated https://kf.kobotoolbox.org/#/forms/axsxt7qmgrtb8att3%20y9q7x bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 with wheat. this above formula was also applied by shrestha and shrestha (2017) to “rank the problems with maize seed production”. the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (swot) related to cardamom value chain were analyzed from the group discussion, interview and key participants. the analysis was carried out at each functional level of value chain i.e., input supply, production, collecting/trading, wholesaling and retailing. information thus obtained from different actors in the value chain was used in swot analysis. 3. results 3.1. socio-economic characteristics out of the total sample of 160 farmers, 45 % were large landholders (72) and 55 % smallholder farmers (88). the overall average age was 50.93 years (table 1). the overall average period of schooling was 6.14 years. the overall average family size was 5.81. the economically active household members were 4.04. the dependency ratio1 was 59.89 % with greater dependency among the smallholders 63.02 % followed by 56.11 % among the large land holders (table 1). the average number of people involved in the cardamom production were 2.49 per grower, with 2.69 members actively involved among large landholders and 2.33 among smallholders (table 1). the total land holding was 27.32 ropani2 where large landholders possessed 42.12 ropani and smallholder’s owned 15.10 ropani. the total irrigated land was 20.68 ropani with 32.03 ropani of irrigated land owned by large landholders and 11.39 % by the smallholders. the average cardamom cultivation area was 21.56 ropani with the cardamom cultivation area of 36.74 ropani for the large land holder farmers and 9.14 ropani for the smallholders. the overall experience of cardamom farming was 18.36 years. table 1. socio-demographic characteristics (continuous variables) variables overall (n=160) large landholders (n=72) small holders (n=88) mean difference t-value age of hhh 50.93 51.96 50.09 1.87 -0.931 year of schooling 6.14 8.06 4.58 3.476 6.013*** total family size 5.81 5.99 5.66 0.33 0.911 economic active hh members 4.04 4.20 3.90 0.29 0.961 dependency ratio (%) 59.89 56.11 63.02 -6.91 -0.659 members involved in cardamom production 2.49 2.69 2.33 0.36 2.564 total land holding (ropani) 27.32 42.12 15.10 27.14 5.89*** irrigated land (ropani) 20.68 32.03 11.39 20.63 6.03** cardamom cultivation (ropani) 21.56 36.74 9.14 27.60 9.196*** experience of cardamom farming in years 18.36 21.06 16.16 4.89 2.582** note: *** and ** indicate significant differences at 1 and 5 % levels respectively. 1 dependency ratio is the percentage of ratio of dependent population (children aged under 15 and older population above 65 years) to economically active population (aged 15-64 years) 2 20 ropani= 1 hectare bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 table 2 depicts the majority of male headed hh in the study area. the majority of the households, 56.2 % were literate. in terms of ethnicity, the sample comprised 55 % adivasi/janjati followed by 41.9 % of brahmin/chhetri and 2.3 % dalits (table 2). remittance was the major source contributing to the gross domestic product in the country. decisions regarding the cardamom cultivation and selling were mutually done. the majority of the farmers i.e. 97.5 % had access to loans. the majority of the farmers (96%) were associated in some sort of farmers group which indicates that the farmers were well aware about the benefits and opportunities of being together within the groups. overall, 36.2 % received training related to cardamom farming, of which 40 % were large landholders and 34 % of the smallholder farmers. the major source of training was i/ngos (78%) followed by governmental organizations (35.5%). the majority of the farmers (60.6%) received technical assistance regarding cardamom cultivation. table 2. socio-demographic characteristics (categorical variables) by land category variables large landholders small holders overall chi-square value gender of hhh male 61(84.7) 82(93.2) 143(89.4) 2.98* female 11(15.3) 6(6.8) 17(10.6) education illiterate 12(16.7) 58(65.9) 70(43.8) 39.10*** literate 60(83.3) 30(34.1) 90(56.2) ethnicity brahmin/chhetri 25(34.7) 42(47.7) 67(41.9) 2.94 aadibasi/janjati 44(61.1) 44(50.0) 88(55) dalit 3(4.2) 2(2.3) 5(3.1) decision about cardamom cultivation and selling male 26(36.1) 43(48.9) 69(43.1) 3.13 female 5(6.9) 3(3.4) 8(5.0) both 41(56.9) 42(47.7) 83(51.9) access to loan yes 71(98.6) 85(96.6) 156(97.5) 0.663 no 1(1.4) 3(3.4) 4(2.5) membership in social group yes 69(95.8) 85(96.6) 154(96.2) 0.063 no 3(4.2) 3(3.4) 6(3.8) bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 table 2 continued training yes 28(38.9) 30(34.1) 58(36.2) 0.394 no 44(61.1) 58(75.9) 122(63.8) technical assistance yes 43(59.7) 54(61.4) 97(60.6) 0.045 no 29 (40.3) 34 (38.6) 83 (39.4) notes: figures in parentheses indicate %. ***and * indicate significant difference at 1 and 10 % levels, respectively 3.2. status, value addition activities and marketing of large cardamom area and production of lc was figured to be in increasing trend in the study district. the area under lc plantation has increased from 2,925 ha in 2011/12 to 4,200 in 2017/18. similarly, the overall production has also increased from 1,410 in 2014/15 to 2,940 mt in 2017/18. however, productivity seems to be fluctuating in the given period. the productivity was lowest i.e.360 kg/ha in 2014/15 and greater productivity in before and after consecutive years. the highest area, production and productivity till date, 4,200 ha, 2,940 mt and 700 kg/ha was recorded in 2017/18 respectively (figure 1). figure 1 area, production and productivity of large cardamom in taplejung district (source: dado taplejung (f.y. 2009/10-2017/18) the overall production trend of lc as shown in table 3. depicts that the total production of the large cardamom seemed to remain relatively stagnant over the last five years with an average production of about 200 kg. among the large land holder farmers, the production trend seemed to be gradually increasing from 236.32 kg in 2013 to 307.34 kg in 2017 while the trend seemed to decrease in case of smallholders from 171.64 kg in 2013 to 113.71 kg in the year 2017. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 table 3. production trend of large cardamom in the study area year overall large landholders small holders mean difference t-value 2017 202.88 307.34 113.71 193.63 6.30*** 2016 191.60 285.17 111.89 173.28 4.83*** 2015 202.74 280.00 130.85 149.15 3.37*** 2014 206.11 259.34 152.07 107.27 1.82* 2013 204.99 236.32 171.64 64.67 0.79 notes: figures in parentheses indicate %. ***and * indicate significant difference at 1 and 10 % levels, respectively mostly, the inputs for the production of lc were obtainable locally. the major inputs required were land and labor, seedlings, irrigation, fuel, machinery-tools and jute bags supply inputs. the farmers get the required inputs from regional and district level input traders through their district or local level distributors, agents, retailers or agro-vet supplier shops. ramshahi (73 %) followed by golshahi (16 %) and ramla (2 %) are some of the mostly grown varieties in the district. the majority of the farmers (80%) used the old stocks from their own farm or nursery while 99 % farmers used either old stocks, suckers or seedlings from others’ farm or nursery. agriculture development section and cardamom development center (cdc) provides 5 % of total share of seedlings and seeds. the farmers do not practice chemical fertilizers during the production which is considered an organic lc production in the districts. table 4. input requirements and suppliers’ network inputs required suppliers share (%) source or origin land and labor locally available 100 % locally nepal seedlings or seeds locally available (own farm/other farms and private nursery) dado, cdc 95 % 5 % nepal and india (sikkim ) water and electricity drinking water corporation, free running water and nepal electricity authority 100 % domestic nepal fuel nepal oil corporation 100 % imported india machinery and tools regional or district distributors regional-40% district-60 % india or nepal fertilizer and pesticides agriculture inputs co. or district distributors 100 % imported india jute bags jute products manufacturing companies in biratnagar 100 % domestic nepal jute bags, plasticcoated plastic and plastic bag manufacturing companies domestic-40 % imported-60 % india and nepal source: itc, 2019 and field survey, 2019 the major processing activities in large cardamom include curing followed by cleaning, grading, grinding and tail cutting. a majority of the households (88%) cured the product. tail cutting, grading and grinding is carried out mostly after cleaning and curing the product at local and regional levels. recently, around 1 % farmers were found to practice bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 tail cutting. the majority of the postharvest activities, including grading and tail cutting, was carried out at the regional level. table 5. post-harvest management of the large cardamom processing of large cardamom (1=yes) large landholders small holders overall chi square value cleaning 57(79.2) 66(75.0) 123(76.9) 0.387 curing 62(86.1) 79(89.8) 141(88.1) 0.507 tail cutting 1(1.4) 1(1.1) 2(1.2) 0.020 grading 2(2.8) 3(3.4) 5(3.1) 0.052 grinding 2(2.8) 1(1.1) 3(1.9) 0.580 note: figures in parentheses indicate % there were two types of bhatties3 for curing the cardamom. the majority of the households (62.5%) were still using traditional bhatties while 30.6 % were using improved smokeless bhatties (table 6). this study found out that a higher proportion of farmers in both categories were adopting traditional methods. curing technique was found to be statistically significant among the categorized farmers at 5 % level of significance. also a very few (about 7%) of the households cured their product directly in sun which can be attributed to the coinciding of harvesting season with rainy season followed by winter in the high hill regions. table 6. method of curing curing of cardamom (1=yes) large landholders (n=72) small holders (n=88) overall (n=160) chi square value traditional bhatties 39(54.2) 61(69.3) 100(62.5) 3.88** improved bhatties 28(38.9) 21(23.9) 49(30.6) 4.2** sun drying 5(6.9) 6(6.8) 11(6.9) 0.057 notes: figures in parentheses indicate %. *** and ** indicate statistical significance at 1and 5 % levels respectively. the major basis of grading among the few households (i.e. 3% of total) was based on size of the product followed by color and boldness of the product. among the categories, large land holder farmers were found to grade the product only on the basis of size while the smallholders were found to be grading by size, color and boldness in equal proportions. the grading’s tedious nature and the lack of standard grading criteria by vendors in addition to shortages of tools and techniques among the producers result in minimum grading percentages at farmer’s level. table 7. basis of grading of large cardamom basis of grading (1=yes) large landholders small holders overall chi square value size 3(4.2) 2(2.3) 5(3.1) 0.469 color 0(0.0) 2(2.3) 2(1.2) 1.657 boldness 0(0.0) 2(2.3) 2(1.2) 1.657 note: figures in parentheses indicate % 3 large cardamom capsules curing structure bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 the large cardamom is stored in air tight sacks by 58.1 % of the total sampled households followed by 10 % in wooden platforms and spread in naked floor by 5.6 %. storage of cardamom in wooden platforms was found to be significant statistically at 5 % level of significance as per observed p-value. table 8. storage practice of the large cardamom by the farmers storage of large cardamom (1=yes) large landholders small holders overall chi square value air tight sacks 43(59.7) 50(56.8) 93(58.1) 0.137 wooden platform 12(16.7) 4(4.5) 16(10.0) 6.465** spread in naked floor 6(8.3) 3(3.4) 9(5.6) 1.809 notes: figures in parentheses indicate %. ** indicates statistical significance at 5 % level. it was found that 95.6 % of the producers were selling their cardamom to district headquarter-phungling while 4.4 % of the producers sold theirs directly outside the district (neighboring districts). the similar result was found among the farmers’ categories regarding districts where to sell. farmers were commonly using two points of sale i.e. from home (95%) and from village market (93%) and some farmers adopting both points of sale. majority of the households (95%) sold their product via district level collectors followed by 36 % of the producers selling through village level collectors. majority of the large landholders and smallholders were selling their product to the district level collectors. also, 76 % of the total producers were found to have an oral agreement with the traders while no any sort of written agreement was found among the producers and traders. the major payment mechanism among the producers and the traders was down payment followed by the advance mode of payment. about 95 % of the producers receive hand cash at the time of trading while 74 % of the farmers received advance payment. similar results for payment mechanisms were obtained among the farmer’s categories. the farmers stored their product at the traders store without any charge. the farmers benefit themselves by acquiring the necessary logistics for running their livelihoods and basic cardamom orchard management from the traders. the producers cut the price of the product in consultation with the traders when they fetch the appropriate price or when they are in need of the money. table 9. marketing of large cardamom in the study site parameters (1=yes) category large landholders (n=72) smallholders (n=88) overall (n=160) t/chi square value district to sell taplejung 70(97.2) 83(94.3) 153(95.6) 0.798 place to sell from home 68(94.4) 81(92.0) 149(93.1) 0.356 from village level market 70(97.2) 82(93.2) 152(95) 1.361 collectors involved village level collectors 26(36.1) 32(36.4) 58(36.2) 0.001 district level collectors 70(97.2) 82(93.2) 152(95.0) 0.243 agreement oral agreement 57(79.2) 65(73.9) 122(76.2) 0.615 payment mechanism advance payment 55(76.4) 64(72.7) 119(74.4) 0.279 down payment 70(97.2) 83(94.3) 153(95.6) 0.798 note: figures in parentheses indicate %. *** indicates statistical significance at 1 % level. the leading actors in the value chain of lc were found to be farmers, local level collectors, district level collectors, regional level collectors and exporters. both categories of farmers, large land holder and smallholder farmers, solely depend on village level collector and district level traders for the distribution of the marketing of the cardamom. thus, bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 the regional level traders are the major stock center and a chain to the international markets. the regional level traders upgrade the value of large cardamom through various post harvesting techniques including cleaning, sorting, curing, tail cutting, grading and packing of the bulk mass of cardamom. the majority of the regional traders are also acting as exporters. figure 2 product flow of large cardamom various channels of marketing were identified in the study area. the service provided by the traders such as credit facility and input supplies followed by the farmer’s capacity to stock the product has been a major concern in determining the market channel. similar market channels in bhojpur district were reported (kalauni & joshi, 2019). mostly, farmers were selling their product to the village or local traders/agents. the marketing channels identified are presented diagrammatically in the figure 3 below: figure 3 marketing channels of large cardamom in the study area (source: self illustration, 2018) figure 4 value chain map of large cardamom in the study area (source: author, 2018) farmers district traders (district based) exporter (birtamod) local traders (village based) district traders (district based) regional traders (region based-birtamod) exporters (birtamod) exporters (region basedbirtamod) bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 3.3. major value chain actors farmers: individual farmers, representing almost 97 % of total production, were the main actors engaged in production of large cardamom. similarly, unnati (2016), estimated that more than 67,000 farmers are involved in lc farming all over nepal, which considers 25,000 hh from illam, panchthar and taplejung districts. the average cardamom cultivation area of farmers in the study area was 21.56 ropani with 36.74 for the large landholders and 9.14 for the smallholders. the average amount of the cardamom sold by individual farmers annually amounts to 153.2 kg with the large landholders selling the average amount of 236 kg and 85.2 kg sold by smallholders. the key functions these farmers mainly carry out include land preparation, inputs management, post-harvest practices like cleaning, tail cutting, drying, grading, bulk packing, storing and transportation to village collection centers or to the local level collectors. the washed and cleaned harvested products were taken to the dryer within a week. local collectors/traders: local collectors were found to be the agents of traders in district market centers, who work themselves for district traders (phungling) or wholesalers(birtamod). there were 65 local level collectors in the phungling municipality which is also the major market hub within the district. they were individually responsible to their district trader. the cardamom produced is packed in a jute sack as well as plastic inside a jute sack bag provided by the agriculture development section. local collectors have a crucial role of managing and transporting the products from village centers to district traders. district collectors/traders: in the district there were 2 to 5 market centers with 25 traders engaged in lc trading. the product from village collection centers was transported to and collected at district market centers. the district level traders do not practise any sort of processing. the traders receive clean and cured cardamom. the traders only store the cardamom till they fetch the reasonable price from the regional target, birtamod. the transport cost for trading to birtamod is carried by the district traders themselves. cardamom trading occurs throughout the year but the traders mainly start receiving the cardamom from the month of bhadra-ashoj while the remaining peak trades in the month of mangsir (75 % of the produced cardamom) and declining forth forward. the major functions of district traders include making provision for advance payments to farmers, arrange post-harvest management (such as cleaning, grading, repackaging and storage) until wholesalers in birtamod keeps the order, determine the final price as per regional price and finally arrange transportation of product up to wholesalers. they are affiliated to the cardamom traders’ association and follow the traders’ standards and product quality accordingly. most of the places in phungling municipality had road access and therefore a tractor was hired for collective transportation of the product either to the village collector or directly to the district traders or farmers carrying the load to the nearby collector depending on the quantity of product. a bulk of large cardamom at the districts were transported to the wholesalers at birtamod via tractor, truck or pickup. the cost of the transportation was covered by the selling parties. regional collectors/ traders/ wholesalers/ exporters: according to nepal national sector export strategy of large cardamom, 2017-2021, the number of wholesalers in birtamod were 30, of which the exporters of lc count were 4 of lc (gon & itc, 2017). the regional level traders rely on their work experience for trading the cardamom at an international level. they receive the major portion of the product in mangsir starting from bhadra-ashoj. the major cost for running the business was accounted for by storage, transport and processing. they were responsible for the transportation fair and custom tariffs for transporting the product. the wholesalers/exporters conduct purchasing lc from district traders and some large local level collectors and manage transport (up to birtamod) along with payments to district traders. grading, packaging, storage and transportation either from birtamod or biratnagar /jogbani border crossing point, preparation of export consignments and documentation for clearance at customs point is organized by wholesalers. the traders mainly called the government to establish and promote the brand “everest big cardamom” that might help in recognizing the domestic product in the international market and keep the importers secured about the quality standards and volume of the product. the traders had been appealing to the government for creating the congeal environment of trading directly to bangladesh by declining or supporting the duty free trading which may help to break down the monopoly of the indian market. approximately 98 % of the tail cutting is done at the regional level whereas only about 2 % is done among the farmers. tail cutting, usually done using simple scissors, bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 is a tiresome process and is usually carried out by females, charging per the volume/weight that they process. both males and females are involved in cleaning. regional traders grade the lc in three groups – jumbo jet (jj), standard / super delux (sd) and usual types known as chalanchalti or ilami for quality selling as well as making price variation to the producers. table 10. grade and specification of the large cardamom in nepal grade and specification jumbo-jet (jj) standard(super) delux (sd) chalanchalti/ilami (cc) hygiene dust free, smoke less and fungus free size larger larger smaller tail cutting yes yes less than 15% tail color natural natural natural moisture percent less than 12% less than 12% less than 12% medium sized less than 5% less than 10% source: flcen (2016) nepali collectors and exporters sell whole pods in superior jute handy bags, branded labeled bags are highly preferred. indian trucks enter nepal through birtamod and the consignments are loaded directly in the truck from the warehouse of the wholesaler and then transported to india through the biratnagar / jogbani customs point. only two indian transport companies had monopolized the transportation of lc from nepal to india. the average truckload of lc was about 10 tons (gon, 2017). the price information or the price is normally determined by the buyers in delhi, siliguri or kolkata market and subsequently respective prices by other traders in the central, wholesale, district and village market centers were determined. pricing for farmers and traders mainly relied on the grading of products within the country. lc is normally graded into three groups; jj, sd and cc, which determines the price range. size of capsules (the larger size fetches more price), tail cutting (fetches more price), moisture content below 12 % is considered ideal and color and appearance (light brown fetches more price) are the major factors determining the grade of lc. the price information collected from flcen revealed high price fluctuation of lc in subsequent years. in contrast, there was high fluctuation within month and day as per the farmers and traders involved. siliguri in india is the central market for lc but during the past decade the market hub shifted to delhi and kolkata. around 50% of nepali lc is marketed to outside nations (especially to pakistan) from delhi and kolkata along amritsar and mumbai. payment is cost and freight (cfr)–delhi table 11. major market centers for lc india pakistan bhutan nepal siliguri: alupatti new market karachi : jodia market phuntsholing auction market fikkal, new delhi : garodia market lahore : akbari mandi dhankuta kolkata : amartola and armenian streets rawalpindi : ganj mandi birtamod source: flcen (2016) the major organization, enablers and facilitators involved in the large cardamom sector with their roles are briefly tabulated in table 12 below. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 table 12. organizations, enablers and facilitators institutions roles organization/sector associations federation of large cardamom entrepreneurs of nepal (flcen) birtamod wholesalers are organized under one umbrella, flcen, which assists only the trade making policy sector linked with government agencies. traders' rights, facilities are reflected with the government through the institutions. policy support cardamom development centre, fikkal (cdc) with the purpose of cardamom research and development, this institution has been working especially for seedling production and training the cardamom farmers and cardamom related activities. this is only one government farm, which is producing and distributing quality cardamom seeds and saplings in the country. national spice crops development programme (nscdp) nscdp, a national level institution, mainly focuses on cardamom policy development, implementation and assisting financial issues. technology transfer among lc growing districts and farmers, policy, implementing constraints, subsidies including national coordination is also governed by the nscdp. agriculture development offices its role and responsibilities in particular cardamom development includes cardamom area expansion, startup of cardamom nursery, training farmers, dissemination of seed and seedlings and cardamom plantation management along with coordinating district level dcci, flcen and traders while formulating district level policy and plan including processing/ drying facilities establishment. trade service network trade and export promotion centre (tepc) tepc maintains cardamom export import data from export import point. presently, the export brand logo as "everest big cardamom'' has been finalized by the tepc and flcen in order to facilitate trade of cardamom in addition to launching the processing /dryer construction especially in new areas of cardamom growth. federation of nepalese chamber of commerce and industries/ agro enterprise centre (fncci/aec) agro enterprise centre, a private sector under the fncci, gathers market rates of lc from various markets and updates it to centers providing market information. additionally, aec recommends for improvement of lc industries with gon and advocates export promotion programs. international trade center (itc) itc assisted nepal in framing a national sector export strategy for lc. this strategy is a comprehensive five-year roadmap for enhancing productivity and export promotion to achieve greater penetration in existing markets for lc. the strategy is underpinned by an overall vision of “developing nepali black and pink everest cardamom production and quality to increase export revenues and support sustainable economic development”. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 table 12 continued research nepal agricultural research council (narc) the development objectives of narc are “to conduct qualitative studies and research, identify constraints and issues, and propose policy and strategic measures for the overall development of agriculture. narc also coordinates, monitors and assesses agricultural research activities conducted by other government and non-government agencies in nepal. the agricultural research station in pakhribas is involved in crop research and training on the agronomic, preharvest and postharvest practices of large cardamom. national commercial agriculture research programme (ncarp) in pakhribas is also responsible for conducting research on large cardamom varieties and agronomic practices”. 3.4. production and marketing problems in large cardamom different problems were faced by the farmers during the cardamom cultivation and production. five points scaling technique (1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4 and 0.2) was used to detect the relative seriousness of the production problem. the value obtained from the ranking scale revealed that the attack of pest/disease has maximum index value (0.9) and minimum was for the lack of quality rhizome/seedling with the index value of 0.39. relative seriousness of the problem faced by the farmers followed the sequence of attack of the disease/pest followed by limited irrigation facilities or poor rainfall; limited technological knowledge mainly improved cultivation practices; scientific nursery management and post-harvest handling; limited farm labor and limited quality rhizome/seedlings. the major diseases prevailing were chirkey, furkey and sheath rot. table 13. various production problems of lc farmers in the study area problems major factor (1) to minor factor (0.2) weight index rank 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 attack of pest /disease 82 76 1 0 1 143.6 0.90 i irrigation/poor rainfall 77 55 10 9 9 132.4 0.83 ii limited technological knowledge 1 11 45 87 16 74.8 0.47 iii limited availability of farm labor 1 11 64 16 68 68.2 0.43 iv limited quality rhizome/ seedlings 0 7 41 47 65 62 0.39 v various problems were faced by the farmers during the marketing of the cardamom. five points scaling technique (1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4 and 0.2) was applied to notice the relative intensity of the marketing problems. the value obtained from the ranking scale depicted that the low seasonal price/price fluctuation had the maximum index value (0.92) and minimum was for the distance to market with the index value of 0.23. relative intensity of the problems faced during marketing of the cardamom followed the sequence of low seasonal price or price fluctuation; more gap between farm gate and retail price; limited marketing knowledge; poor transportation and distance from market. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 table 14. various marketing problems of lc farmers in the study area factors major factor (1) to minor factor (0.2) weight index rank 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 low seasonal price /price fluctuation 104 52 3 1 0 147.8 0.92 i higher marketing cost 48 75 34 1 2 129.2 0.81 ii limited marketing knowledge 6 30 104 15 5 99.4 0.62 iii poor transportation 3 3 13 126 15 66.6 0.42 iv distance to market 0 0 4 18 138 37.2 0.23 v 4. swot analysis the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats (swot) of cardamom was analyzed based on the interaction with the farmers, local traders, member of cooperatives, district level traders, regional level traders, organizations and enablers and facilitators. the production and marketing problems are illustrated in the table 15. table 15. strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of large cardamom production and marketing strength weakness production i. traditional knowledge on cultivation ii. long productive period iii. high value crop even with frequent price alteration and is known as black gold iv. long storage life v. conducive agro-climatic condition and diversified topography vi. best suited crop for small and marginalized farmers vii. marginal investment to garner continuous income viii. crop insurance (75 % subsidy on premium by government) i. ageing of crop and poor management resulting decline in yield ii. limited technical knowledge resulting poor quality product iii. weak extension services to transfer technology iv. limited quality inputs v. increased infestation of diseases and pests vi. inadequate research and development facilities vii. no insurance policy adopted by growers viii. shortage of skilled technical manpower ix. inconsistent government policies marketing ix. high value low volume crop x. long storage life xi. profit is relatively higher xii. steady growth in export volume and earnings xiii. established cash crop, prioritized and valued as top exportable commodity by ntis/mocs x. non-existence of auction practice xi. weak bargaining capacity of farmers xii. lack of market information & poor market access intelligence xiii. suitable branded logo yet to be finalized as everest big cardamom xiv. farmers lack their own organized marketing unit xv. price fixation mechanism is unknown x. adulteration bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 table 15 continued opportunities threats production i. suitable climate and geography possessing comparative advantage ii. high affinity of farmers towards lc production iii. prioritized crops in the country iv. attention of different organization (cadp, ads, unnati) v. enough land area. potential for new plantation/ expansion vi. potential for new plantation/expansion vii. high potentiality for technology adaptation as improved dryers i. declining labor availability ii. drying out of water sources iii. increasing trend of chemical pesticides usage instead of suitable organic method iv. diseases and pest incidence marketing viii. good demand in national and international market ix. increasing the awareness on value addition x. high demand in international markets xi. large market potential within the country xii. value addition possibilities through grading, tail cut, and smoke-free drying xiii. attempt to diversify market xiv. potential to employ large number of people v. poor quality product resulting declining international reputation vi. intense competition from neighboring countries vii. political instability viii. division forest office has stopped its cultivation in community forest due to threat in biodiversity ix. high price fluctuation x. invasion of duplicate cardamom in international market xi. dependency on foreign market xii. domestic consumption is very low (2 % or less) 5. upgrading existing large cardamom value chain the upgrading of the product can be done with the management of varoius dimensions of market i.e. 4p’s-product, price, place and promotion. the existing practices include a majority of traditionally cured, minimal graded and tail cut product which is available at nrs. 835 per kg. the local market, district (phungling), and regional market (birtamod) are the major trading routes with the major export market being india. promotion of the product through the brand “everest big cardamom” is underway. the major product upgrading strategies encompasses maximizing production and research suggesting commercially viable production, advance dryer promotion, technology transfer for tail cutting and national quality standards categorization. 10-15 % extra worth can be delivered by tail cut and graded cardamom. potential international markets (third world countries) need to be explored and trading agreements finalized by the government sector for export with strict adherence to product promotion activities like setting national standards, organic certification and branding the product. the process upgrading refers to the whole process from input supply to production, harvesting, post harvesting, and processing to marketing. process upgrading regarding large cardamom in the study district shows two major steps for upgrading this product. firstly, the cultivation process presently includes cultivation in private marginalized lands and community forests based on rhizomes from old stock-prone to disease and pests. this can be upgraded by bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 promoting seedlings based production from well managed nursery with adoption of good agricultural practices (gaps) and good management practices (gmps). secondly, the manual harvest followed by various post harvesting practices includes traditionally cured, no grading and poor storage management. this practice needs to be upgraded through management of improved bhatties, adoption of grading (export quality standards), storage management and dissemination of technology (like technology for tail cutting and improved curing). the functional upgrading of large cardamom value chain actors is one of the most important aspects of firm level upgrading strategies. in this study, four major actors with their present functions have been addressed for upgrading their functions. first, farmers can be upgraded through timely delivery of quality seedlings and associated inputs, incentive for replantation for disease prone cultivation, technical knowledge (gaps, gmps, quality standards, market information) and technology (improved dryer, grader, tail cutting, packaging material) insured for quality production. second, village level traders can motivate farmers to learn more and practice drying and grading in addition to trading graded and tail cut products at higher value to district and regional markets. third, district level traders need to motivate farmers and village traders for availability of final product (graded and tail cut lc) and trade graded and tail cut product to other district and regional markets. lastly, regional traders/exporters need to explore the international markets and export to third world countries along with enhancing capacity of national exporters/traders in expanding direct market access to the international markets. the channel upgrading can be done in either of the waysi) consensus development regarding premium price payment of processed product like tail cut, graded and smokeless cardamom or ii) existing channels of exporter who are exporting other high value products like coffee, tea, ginger exporters might be mobilized to include tail cut, graded and smokeless lc. inter-sectoral upgrading entails that the product or other remainings of lc could be used diversly for making papers and fiber utilized for making handicrafts. this practice has been initiated by establishment of cottage industries in the study area (taplejung) by development organizations like himalica. this can be further upgraded by exploration of potential for product diversification through research such as making papers and fiber utilized for making handicrafts. inter-firm upgrading can be assured through“support to link traders and farmers to flcen (an umbrella organization to all the value chain actors) and even facilitate to form flcen district chapter and strengthen these district level units so that they would start taking care of all issues and concerns related to large cardamom in their respective districts. consequently, this district chapter may become proactive for carrying out regional to national level policy issues.” business development services and finance services can be upgraded in the light of access to finance, quality seedling, technology for tail cutting, research on scientific management in community forest and incentive for replantation. first, although the provision of advance payment from traders is in practice, increasing the product holding capacity of farmers through lc based loan provision from financial institutions needs to be assured. second, limited and untimely availability of quality seedling is to be assured through timely availability, nursery management training and awareness on cultivation based on quality seedlings instead of old stock rhizomes. ownership and strengthening of this mechanism through government sectors such as agriculture development section, pmamp, cdc and narc is a must. third, the prevailing method of tail cutting through rubbing while curing (farm level) and using simple scissors (regional level) can be upgraded in a long run through associations with researchers in institute of engineering (ioe), research centre for applied science and technology (recast), narc, cdc etc. for identifying better technology for tail cutting. fourth, research on scientific management in community forest is a must owing to depletion of natural forest, such as the alnus nepalensis (uttis), and interference in lc cultivation. provision of land allocation for disadvantaged groups (dag) regarding lc production has to be enhanced. lastly, no incentive for replantation of old and disease prone orchards, except for limited technical support, has been found, which can be addressed through development of potential provision to compel agriculture development section and government agencies to provide incentive for replantation with detailed selection criteria and felt need. there is neither any enabling policy for encouraging investments from private sectors nor state's significant support to the producers. therefore, there has to be significant resource allocation from the government for the management bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 of lc nursery, capacity building through training, technical support, field visits, and incentives for replantation of disease prone cardamom gardens along with easy access for loan, price and market (local and export) regulation. 6. discussion the study suggests average area, production and productivity of the lc to be 1.08 ha, 202.86 kg and 187.83 kg/ha respectively. the similar status with production was found in terathum district by bhandari and bhandari (2018) with 200 kg large cardamom production and 232 kg ha-1 productivity from an average cultivation area of 0.86 ha, and average farming experience of 22 years. in the study area, 31 % were adopting improved dryer while a study by bhandari and bhandari (2018) in terathum district found that a“relatively lower proportion, only 7 % of the farmers with access to improved lc drying facility, while traditional type of dryer was used by 93 % of farmers.” we observed the average days to curing in traditional bhatties is 1.37 days while that of the improved bhatties is 0.48 days while deka, biswas, gopakumar and potty (2003) reported 17-24 hours drying time with improved dryer and the volatile oil content of 2-2.4 %. in this study, the relative seriousness of the problems faced during marketing of the cardamom followed the sequence of price fluctuation, more gap between farm gate and retail price, lack of marketing knowledge, poor transportation and distance to market. similarly, according to shrestha and shrestha (2018), key problems of cardamom producers and traders were“high price fluctuation, lack of disease-free saplings, dependency on indian market, very old orchard, declining productivity, drying out water resources, adulteration, lack of research and extension support services, lack of favorable government policy and least coordination among the chain actors.” the major actors involved in the value chain of lc in the study were farmers, local level collectors, district level collectors, regional level collectors and exporters similarly, shrestha et al. (2018) identified the two major marketing chains in sikkim district, india. in the study conducted in terathum district, bhandari and bhandari (2018) suggested that, “the farmers responded 87 % of them selling their product to traders located in the district directly, while the rest of the farmers sold their product through the local collectors.” 7. conclusion large cardamom is one of the major cash generating spice crops in taplejung district. this district is the leader district in terms of area of cardamom cultivation and total production. however, this has been facing severe threat in recent years and its productivity is declining. key problems facing large cardamom farming are pests and diseases, limited value addition, highly fluctuating market, and insufficient support services. the major marketing channel concentrates farmers to district level traders to the regional traders in birtamod. the marketing channel is robust and district traders are lively involved but the weak coordination among the value chain actors is constricting the production and marketing of the cardamom sub-sector. therefore, a new collective trademark, maintaining the quality standards, and pricing policy formulation and accreditation of nepalese certifying laboratories to global standards could be a major priority. the focus on using recent scientific technologies like healthy seedlings, scientific grading mechanisms, improved dryers with efficient marketing channel and destinations would definitely help the large cardamom farming industry become competitive in the international spice market while conquering the “last mile” of the export process and could also help put an end to youth migration in search of employment opportunities from the hills to various countries. to that effect a series of recommendations are presented below: − ensure better and healthy seedlings for farmers and thereby improving productivity by advancing good agricultural practices (gaps) concentrating on disease-pest management − improve production and post-harvest practices of large cardamom through adoption of good management practices (gmps)upgraded bhattis, transfer of tail cutting technology and storage management, to increase value retention. − the practice of value addition activities, like tail cutting, grading (color and size) and packaging are currently negligible at both local and district level markets. a collective grading mechanism with strong adherence to export quality standards, therefore, needs to be promoted locally. bhusal/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 − strengthening the coordination among marketing networks and institutions needs to be assured so that the fluctuation of price would be controlled and the quality standards be formalized. − to further strengthen its effectiveness in global trading, a national large cardamom policy needs to be formulated and an institutional mechanism with private sector association needs to be created for sectoral coordination and promotional activities. references adhikari, j. (2000). decisions for survival: farm management strategies in the middle hills of nepal. adroit publishers. ads. (2014). agriculture development strategy (2015-2035). singhdurbar, nepal: ministry of agriculture development (moad), government of nepal. bhandari, n., & bhandari, t. (2018). marketing and socioeconomics aspects of large cardamom production in tehrathum, nepal. journal of nepal agricultural research council, 4(1), 79-85. chapagain, d. (2011). assessment of climate change impact on large cardamom and proposed adaptation measur es in eastern hill of nepal. kathmandu: ministry of environment. chhetri. (2007). mid-term review of cardamom sub-sector report. prepared for snv nepal. dado taplejung. (2017). annual agriculture development programme and statistics books of taplejung district. deka, t. n., biswas, a. k., gopakumar, b. and potty, s. n. (2003). large cardamom curing through icri improved bhati. j. hill res., 16(1): 5760. dharmendra kalauni & arati joshi | (2019) production economics, marketing and critical success factors of large cardamom in bhojpur, nepal, cogent food & agriculture, 5:1, 1701358 gon, & itc. (2017). nepal national sector export strategy large cardamom, 2017-2021. nepal. moac, m. of a. and c. (2008). statistical information of nepalese agriculture. kathmandu, nepal. moad. (2014). statistical information on nepalese agriculture, government of nepal, ministry of agriculture development. moalmc, m. of a. l. m. and c. (2017). statistical information on nepalese agriculture. singha durbar, kathmandu, nepal. rai, j. k., & chapagain, s. p. (2014). value chain analysis of forest products in koshi hill districts of nepal : challenges and opportunities for economic growth. (jailab kumar rai & suhrid prasad chapagain, eds.). forestaction nepal and rrn. sharma, g., joshi, s. r., gurung, m. b., & chilwal, h. c. (2017). package of practices for promoting climate resilient cardamom value chains in nepal. package of practices for promoting climate resilient cardamom value chains in nepal. sharma, g., sharma, r., & sharma, e. (2009). traditional knowledge systems in large cardamom farming: biophysical and management diversity in indian mountainous regions. shrestha, a., and shrestha, j. (2017). production, problems and decision making aspects of maize seed producers in banke dis trict, nepal. azarian journal of agriculture, 4(6), 212216. shrestha, k., & shrestha, j. (2018). value chain analysis of large cardamom in ilam district of nepal. azarian journal of agriculture, 5(6), 179-189. shrestha, k. p. (2018). growth trends analysis of large cardamom in nepal. paper submitted to nepalese horticulture society. socioeconomics agriculture research policy division (sarpod), nepal agriculture research council (narc), nepal. subedi, s., ghimire, y.n., adhikari, s.p., devkota, d., shrestha, j., poudel, h.k., & sapkota, b.k. (2019b). adoption of certain improved varieties of wheat (triticum aestivum l.) in seven different provinces of nepal. archives of agriculture and environmental science, 4(4), 404-409 subedi, s., ghimire, y.n., gautam, s., poudel, h.k., & shrestha, j. (2019a). economics of potato (solanum tuberosum l.) production in terai region of nepal. archives of agriculture and environmental science, 4(1), 57-62 timsina, k., p shrestha, k., pandey, s., & h paudel, i. (2012). value chain analysis of cardamom (amomam subulutum roxb): a case study of taplejung district, nepal. agriculture development journal. 9. yadav, p. k., shrestha, k. p., & mandal, d. l. (2015). present situation and future strategies for research and development of large cardamom in nepal. in r. chaudhary & s. p. vista (eds.), proceedings of the stakeholders consultation workshop on large cardamom development in nepal. commercial crop division, narc, khumaltar, nepal. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.790 identification, dimension and evaluation of catalytic projects in tehran, iran elnaz sarkheyli1, kianoosh zakerhaghighi2 1 senior lecturer at malmö university, sweden 2 associate professor, hamedan branch, islamic azad university, hamedan, iran. abstract since the 1980s, a wide range of physical and non-physical interventions, including megaprojects and flagships to small-scale projects and temporary usage, are prescribed as catalysts for urban regeneration. the strategy of utilizing urban catalysts as a tool for urban renewal has been encouraging by many city authorities through specific subsidization and privileges. however, there is no correct and precise definition of the tools and the qualities they should provide as their impacts. besides, some criticize the catalytic projects due to their unsustainable, unjust, and destructive consequences. this paper intends to provide a more comprehensive definition of urban catalysts by reviewing the existing literature. the research has been done through a deductive and inductive approach to reach the principal dimensions and criteria for catalytic projects. it uses a series of potential projects and interventions in the city of tehran (16 projects and practices) as case studies to check the dimensions and criteria and the quality of each project as catalysts. the quality of the selected case studies was ranked through expert judgment and checklist method. the findings show the cases' rank on how their catalytic impacts comply with sustainable development goals. according to the results, seven criteria (environmental sustainability, context-based development, pattern making, branding, social quality of life, economic prosperity, and market adaptability) are essential to ensure the sustainability of catalytic impacts of catalyst projects. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd's international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban catalyst, urban regeneration, sustainable catalyst, tehran 1. introduction and problem statement among urban regeneration-related debates, many practitioners and scholars tend to see some physical and nonphysical interventions as stimuli or catalysts. thus, the projects having broader effects than their specified sites have strategically been designed to regenerate the urban decay in an area. the concepts of prestige projects, flagships, and pioneer projects have been mainly raised with this prime purpose (smyth, 1994). the concept, developed under catalytic theory, implies that one or a series of elements can impel and guide subsequent developments and lead to the incremental, continuous regeneration of the urban fabric (attoe, logan, 1989:45). more recently, a new related term, urban acupuncture, has been introduced as small interventions replacing grand plans and redevelopment schemes (madeddu, 2016: 533) and positively affect social, ecological, and even economic and physical dimensions of the surrounding environment (daugėlaitė, gražulevičiūtė-vileniškė, 2018: 5). http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 a wide range of physical and non-physical interventions are considered as stimuli or catalysts in the related literature. from those notable large-scale and expensive physical developments called megaprojects and prestige projects to the smaller ones called flagships and further to the trivial physical and non-physical changes leading to a gradual transformation of an urban area can be called catalysts. undoubtedly, there are different views on each type of catalyst. many scholars have addressed the success and failure stories of the relevant experiences (attoe, logan, 1989; loftman & nevin, 1995). however, the main idea of catalysts has remained attractive and valuable. who is not attracted to the anecdote of the positive metamorphosis of a left, decayed, and undesirable urban area as a result of the development of a museum or the installation of a fountain only? it is noteworthy to say that the idea of utilizing urban catalysts refers to the existence of a situation of need to change and a call for transformation stemming from the abandoned, decayed, poor, unsafe, unstable, and undesirable urban areas. in short, the catalysts encounter the problematic urban regions, which already relate to several tensions, service and infrastructure lack, social discontent, and poor quality. however, some of the projects could not create values and regenerate their peripheral areas and even have led to negative consequences and empty promises (loftman & nevin, 1995: 307). the critics matter more when the projects and their developers have gotten a considerable amount of public budget, funds, loans, privileges supporting a project with catalytic benefits for a larger group of people. nearly all projects, especially the large-scale and index ones, lead to broad impacts on their surroundings in terms of physical aspect (changing the main structure of the city or neighborhood), landscape, traffic (increasing the vehicle and pedestrian trips demands), social and economic status of an area. so, the idea of catalyst projects wants to emphasize the positive and long-term impacts. therefore, to have suitable catalytic projects, it is crucial to ensure and boost the value of the project's results and control their negative consequences. according to the statistical center of iran, the city of tehran, the capital and the most populated city of iran (over 8 million population in 2017, according to the statistical center of iran), has experienced rapid population growth and physical expansion over the last decades (after the 1970s). the growth is accompanied by the dilapidation or rundown of neighborhoods suffering from poor physical, functional, infrastructure, transportation services, environmental, and health conditions (abbaszadegan, 2010; assadpour, melles, 2018 ). according to the urban renewal organization of tehran (2016), 5% (3268 hectares) and 24% (14792 hectares) of the city include distressed and unsustainable areas, respectively. the areas suffer from the lack of infrastructure, unstable and left buildings, fine-grained parcels inappropriate for redevelopment, the concentration of poverty, crime and disorders, and unsafe spaces. tehran municipality and the organization for urban redevelopment have implemented several plans and renewal projects to address the deterioration of the built environment during the 1990s and 2000s. following the infill development approach, the renewal and regeneration projects have aimed to revitalize the inner urban areas and prevent the continuation of urban decay. one of the strategies applied in this regard in tehran has been urban catalysts (sajadzadeh, hamidinia, dalvand, 2018; hashemi, shieh, zabihi, 2020). the most common projects include building malls, markets, hotels, cultural or community centers, parks, streets, public spaces, walkways, parking, etc. however, there is still not a clear border between catalysts and non-catalysts projects in tehran. in other words, calling a project a catalytic one primarily refers to the urban authorities and their developers' efforts to highlight the benefits of a project in their surrounding areas. the majority of the projects have been funded by the government/municipality (public sector) or through the public-private partnership model. public-private partnership (ppp) as a tool to overcome the financial crisis and the low performance in public administration (codecasa, ponzini, 2011) has been largely recommended and applied in urban regeneration (kort, klijn, 2011; mohammadi et al., 2014) and can be seen as one of the manifestations of neoliberalism. the neoliberal perspective in urban regeneration has also been accompanied by deregulation, competitiveness, and stakeholder engagement. negotiation with developers, determining privileges for partnership, and lowering the building laws to make the collaboration attractive and efficient for developers are among the strategies tehran municipality has applied in urban regeneration. while urban catalysts have been accepted as a valuable tool in urban regeneration by many practitioners and scholars, one can hardly find an unambiguous definition for urban catalysts. in other words, there is still not a clear definition explaining what the tools should bring with them and how they should influence their surroundings. therefore, this sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 40 paper is going to provide a more comprehensive definition of the tools by reviewing the existing literature. moreover, by looking through the negative consequences or inefficiency of such projects and practices, it tries to set the criteria through which we can reach more sustainable urban catalysts. 2. literature review 2.1. definition of urban catalysts various kinds of physical and non-physical interventions may be labeled as urban catalysts. undoubtedly, each kind may have different characteristics and impacts while they follow similar purposes, the acceleration of urban development and regeneration. attoe and logan (1989:45) explain that a catalyst is an urban element that is shaped by a city and then, in turn, shapes its context. its purpose is the incremental, continuous regeneration of the urban fabric. a catalyst is not a single end product in an urban regeneration process but an element that impels and guides subsequent development (attoe, logan, 1989: 45). in other words, urban catalysts are strategic tools, and their effectiveness depends on the complementary and following policies and actions. urban catalysts should generate activity, act as anchors, and respond to spatial conditions that can promote positive development, so they need to be strategically planned and located in terms of activities and the arrangement of those activities (bohannon, 2004: 1526). the first generation of catalysts, prestige, and flagship projects, widely experienced in the 1970s and 1980s in many north american and european cities, are the production of neoliberalism ideology and the symbols of placemarketing instruments and property-led approach to urban regeneration (temelova, 2007: 169-170; smyth, 1994: 27). the particular form of the prestige projects mentioned by scholars includes convention centers, festival marketplaces, shopping malls, major office complexes, and leisure and sporting facilities (loftman, nevin, 1995:300; harvey, 1988). the large-scale and costly developments in some sources are sometimes called megaprojects. on the other hand, flagships are smaller-scale projects, like an office complex, with the same purpose: they encourage or facilitate organic growth within urban areas and change local perceptions about particular locations (loftman and nevin, 1989: 301). the concept of an urban catalyst developed under the catalytic theory (attoe and logan, 1989) as a subset of the prior urban design theories and are the tools for effective urban design. accordingly, "an urban catalyst might be a hotel, a shopping complex, a transportation hub, a museum or theater, a designed open space or, at the smallest scale, a special feature like a colonnade or a fountain" (attoe and logan,1989: 45). attoe and logan (1989: 46) propose that urban catalysts are better thought of as smaller elementsa building, a fragment of a building, a complex of buildings, or even a report or set of guidelines. loftam and nevin (1995: 311) explain that shifting the concept of urban regeneration from land and property development to the regeneration of communities has led to the policies encouraging the prestige projects and flagships to generate more socially equitable outcomes mid-1990s. thus, the new prestige and flagship projects tend to be more responsive to the community demands rather than only considering economic development. megaprojects, including prestige projects or large-scale and expensive infrastructure projects, also have been addressed as urban catalysts (varrel, kennedy, 2011; sarkheyli, rafieian, 2018; ponzini, 2011). stadiums, convention centers, sports facilities, brownfield redevelopments, transit projects, airports are among the megaprojects considered as urban catalysts. some scholars also view mega-events such as sports events and cultural festivals as urban catalysts and as powerful engines in the neoliberal reconfiguration of the city (sanchez, broudehoux, 2013). the most recent generation of catalysts includes non-physical and small-scale, preferably community-led interventions. some of the small-scale catalysts are theorized through the concept of urban acupuncture which has been introduced by lerner (2014). urban acupuncture was described as a cross-architectural manipulation of the city's collective sensory thought and as a strategy focusing on small, subtle, and light interventions that employ and positively direct community energy, including active citizens to address urban problems and improve the city's landscape, and is a substitute for large, top-down interventions that usually require massive investment from scarce municipal funds (al-hinkawi, al-saadi, 2020). the "needles" of urban acupuncture can be various types of interventions and events (daugėlaitė, gražulevičiūtė-vileniškė, 2018; lerner, 2014) ranging from a building, a park, a public space, a fountain, a street art, to a street festival, or a brt1 system or any other positive happening in public spaces. 1 bus rapid transit (for example, the brt sytem in curtibia was outlined by lerner (2014) as urban accupuncture. sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 moreover, the concept of urban catalysts has been used in tactical urbanism, including low-cost and temporary changes to the built environment like the temporary use of abandoned building and spaces as a way to stimulate further urban regeneration in an area (oswalt, overmeyer, and misselwitz, 2013; martin, hincks, 2020). this focuses on the catalytic impact of the temporary use of the leftover site in urban areas usually driven by community groups. thus, there has been a shift in attitudes toward catalysts since the 1970s: from the large-scale physical developments built by private investors to the smaller scale physical and non-physical changes based on local demands or driven by local communities. however, it does not mean that local authorities are not tempted to seek a new prestige project, which is large-scale and costly, especially in neoliberal societies. 2.2. dimensions of urban catalysts catalysts of all kinds have a nearly similar mechanism to regenerate urban areas. as the urban acupuncture theory states, the catalysts create the chain reactions in their surrounding area through motivating and activating the useless and static energies and forces. catalysts also replace the undesirable image from an area with a bright vision. catalysts influence people's perception of an area (bohannon, 2004: 10), enhance local attractiveness, and boost civic pride and business confidence (temelova, 2007: 169-170; bianchini et al., 1992; tavasanoglu and healey, 1992). they can create a new, better identity for an area and increase the attractiveness of a place. consequently, or at the same time, catalysts attract private sector finance (smyth, 1994; temelova, 2007: 170). catalysts increase the property values (remelova, 2007: 170; bianchini et al., 1992; smyth, 1994; loftman and nevin, 1995) and the profitability of investment in an area. besides, catalysts generate activities and work as an anchor (bohannon, 2004: 10). they activate the energy flow (the movement and activities of people, the ecological flows, the information flows, and exchange) in an area (daugėlaitė, gražulevičiūtė-vileniškė, 2018: 5). catalysts cause more people, tourists, and developers to be interested in visiting and living, and investing in the area. also, catalysts attract similar activities from the same type and other types (like commercial, office, housing, art, culture, and leisure) that formerly had no demand in the place (smyth, 1989). catalysts provide benefits for all city residents through the generation of wealth, jobs, a high-quality physical environment, and a new place to visit, admire and enjoy (loftman and nevin, 1995: 304). so, as the preparatory or ultimate actions, utilizing catalysts leads to physical revitalization. catalysts may be a physical development on their own. however, they encourage more developers to invest in their surrounding areas and develop or renew infrastructure and old buildings. temelova (2007: 169), in his paper, shows that a high-profile project can be one of the driving forces in physical revitalization through the provision of symbolic power, credibility, and appeal to a declining neighborhood. the characteristics mentioned above for urban catalysts could be summarized in four dimensions of influence: reimagining/reimaging and identity promotion, economic value creation, activity generation, and the encouragement of physical development/ the physical stimulation (figure 1). figure 1. four dimensions of influencing urban catalysts the four dimensions can be considered to distinguish an urban catalyst from other kinds of projects or interventions. some types of catalysts may have more or less influence on some aspects comparing to others. thus, a more urban catalyst p h y sica l stim u la tio n reimagining economic value creation a ct iv it y g e n e ra ti o n sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 42 comprehensive definition of catalysts suggests that "catalysts are the physical or non-physical strategic tools causing reimagining, activity generation, economic value creation, and the encouragement of physical development to regenerate an urban area." table 1 explains the four dimensions for urban catalysts and their related indicators. table 1. dimensions of urban catalysts dimensions indicators reimagining and identity promotion creation or revival of an identity for an area (a neighborhood, a city, or a region) through the creation or promotion of cultural, social, tourism attractions, or creation of an economic hub; landscape design and changing the negative image of the place; improvement of the general index of quality of life in the place and making it competitive with other high-quality places in the city/ region; activity generation increasing the volume of pedestrian and vehicle; increasing retail and service activities (like banks, hotels, cafes, restaurants), and offices; economic value creation job creation; provision of diverse jobs and activities; considerable increase in the public sector's income through selling more services and higher taxes from new buildings; considerable increase in land and property value comparing other areas of the city. increase of the citizens' average income; encouragement of physical development the acceleration of development and renovation of lands and properties and more investment demand compared to other areas of the city; higher profitability of investment in the area rather than other areas of the city. 2.3. towards sustainable urban catalysts despite the attractive impacts of catalysts, those are criticized in several aspects. the projects, especially the larger ones, like prestige projects and flagships, have been widely criticized as exclusive facilities mainly justifiable in economic terms (temelova, 2007: 169). healy et al. (1992) state that these projects tend to be confined to profitable locations for private sector investments (loftman & nevin, 1995: 306). some scholars addressed the social consequences of megaprojects, including extensive displacement (gellert & lynch, 2003), cultural change (marrewijk et al., 2008), the destruction of the exisiting urban fabric (ryan, 2013), as well as their unpredicted financial and technical challenges (fybjerg, 2012). also, several authors questioned the ability of flagships to trigger off development and sufficiently distribute the benefits of growth (temelova, 2007: 170). critics believe that the claimed successes of such projects are not proved (loftman and nevin, 1995: 305). many renewals and revitalization schemes for cities touted as catalysts remain inert, have little impact and do not cause the promised urban reactive change (attoe, logan, 1989: 46). also, it is noted that the projects may encourage the fragmentation of cities and the planning of individual elements rather than planning an integrated urban system; they do not offer a reliable foundation for generating stable and sustainable economic regeneration; they are the production of optimistic views to private investments and include empty promises; they may lead to higher and longer-term financial costs for public agencies; they often entail the diversion of scarce public sector resources away from welfare-related needs and deprived neighborhoods; there is little evidence that catalysts generate significant employment or benefits for disadvantaged residents and so on (loftman and nevin, 1995; 309-310). "bianchini et al. (1992) warn that propertyled regeneration and investment in flagships may even have damaging effects on local businesses and communities due to hiking rents and land values. it can contribute to social displacement and segregation. a decline in other urban areas may accompany the growth in the regeneration neighborhood, thus reinforcing the existing socio-spatial sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 43 inequalities" (temelova, 2007: 170 quoted from bianchini et al., 1992; harvey, 2000; vicario and monie, 2003; kaplan et al., 2004). these critics question the efficiency of urban catalysts in the degraded areas, where most are the settlements of the poor, the weak, and unemployed people. they argue that the related physical developments and the subsequent changes may lead to inevitable challenges like extensive displacement, gentrification, public dissatisfaction, segregation, and speculative tendencies. however, as long as the introduction and spread of the new types of community-driven, small-scale and non-physical catalysts, there have been efforts to maximize the benefits and minimize the harmful impacts of catalysts. in other words, the catalyst should be designed, planned, and implemented to be more sustainable solutions. it means that the provision of socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable catalysts as tools for urban regeneration matters. the most commonly stated definition for sustainable development is that put forward by brundtland, emphasizing that three dimensions of economy, society, and environment need to be present (lombardi et al., 2011). while the contemporary sustainability literature may center around the un's more diverse set of sustainable development goals (sdgs), the three dimensions themselves were explicitly embedded in their formulation (purvis, mao, robinson, 2019 quoted from un, 2012). urban regeneration has a substantial impact on all three dimensions/pillars of sustainable development (lombardy et al., 2011). the three-pillar understanding of sustainability in brownfield remediation and regeneration has been linked to the environmental aspect to reducing the risk of contamination and the secondary adverse effects; the economic pillar in relation to the cost of remediation and the impact of site restoration on the surrounding economy; and the social pillar, including safety, community impacts, stakeholder engagement, public participation, environmental justice and social inclusion (alexandresu et al., 2018 quoted from hou and al-tabbaa, 2014). this paper tries to consider the evaluation criteria by assuming potential conflicts between urban catalysts (which possibly lead to reimagining, economic value creation, activity generation, and physical stimulation) with sustainable development. as it was illustrated in figure 2, the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social, physical, and environment) and their related sub-concepts have been seen in this research. the concepts were summarized in environmental resiliency, context-based development, human-based development, environmentallyfriendly development, culture-based development, local identity promotion, good governance, social inclusion and vitality, social justice, promoting the local economy, economic dynamics, and market adaptation. considering the different catalytic impacts, the conflict map between catalytic impacts and the sustainable development goals was drawn. according to the potential conflicts between the goals and the catalytic effects, seven substantial criteria were identified for the sustainability assessment of urban catalysts. figure 2. conflict map between sustainability goals and the probable catalytic impacts of an urban catalyst sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 44 3. research methodology the research aims to provide a more comprehensive and clearer definition of urban catalysts in practice and in the shadow of the sustainable development concept. firstly, as a result of the literature review, it was discussed that if urban projects are creating changes in the everyday activities in an area, the general image of the area, the physics and texture, and economic value of a built area could be considered as a project with catalytic impacts. however, the catalytic consequences could be valuable if those could be screened through seven criteria. thus, as the second step, the authors asked a group of experts in sociology, civil engineering, urban planning, architecture, environmental specialist, economist, and management to list the sub-criteria and indicators for each criterion considering the particular conditions in the city of tehran. the lists were combined, integrated, checked, and recategorized at a meeting with experts at tehran municipality. therefore, the list has been used as a checklist for evaluating and ranking the case studies in tehran (table 2). table 2. criteria and indicators for assessing the intensity and quality of stimulation by urban catalysts criteria sub-criteria indicators environmental sustainability conservation 15 energy and consumption pollution sensitivity to context physical 10 functional pattern making based on local values 8 based on standards as a compact and mixed-use development branding physical 10 non-physical social sustainability citizens right 28 quality of life social network participation and engagement transparency and trust regulatory futuristic economic prosperity competitiveness 18 resources and opportunities market adaptability self-restraint 3 risk accountability sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 45 the research strategy was a case study strategy, and for that, as the third step, sixteen projects were chosen and analyzed through a checklist method. the case studies were selected from the suggestions of various experts at tehran municipality, practitioners, and academics in tehran. in the fourth step, the authors collected and reviewed the published and official reports like newspapers, journal articles, documents. they made a summary of all critical and positive notions and impacts reported regarding the projects. then, the projects were evaluated and ranked through expert judgment (a group of experts of different specialties and fields scored each project on each indicator based on a likert spectrum (from 1 to 5)). finally, the scores of each project were summed up, and the analytical comparison diagrams have been made. to improve the validity and credibility of the results, the authors checked the preliminary results of the evaluation process with experts at tehran municipality to consider any necessary change. 4. case studies in tehran to understand how different types of projects respond to the criteria, various kinds of recent projects and practices in tehran were chosen to be scored through the checklist prepared based on table 2. the projects were chosen based on the comments of a group of experts who were familiar with the recent projects in tehran or were engaged in such projects at the tehran municipality. the projects were also selected based on their significant reported or expected impacts on their surroundings (neighborhood, city region, or city). the projects include a range of large-scale projects and flagships to non-physical practices (table 3). table 3. the list of projects and practices in tehran, selected for evaluation categories projects/practices key developer scale of impact description largescale projects persian gulf artificial lake public sector city the construction of an artificial lake and several high-rise housing buildings and commercial projects in the west of the city velayat park public sector city land use change of a 300-hectare site in the south of tehran, an old military airport, to a public space and theme park nahjolbalaghe park public sector city development of a 30-hectare urban park (between niyayesh highway and evanak boulevard, along with the farahzad river valley, which is the northsouth natural axis located in the northwest of tehran, including walking and biking paths, the art garden, rock-climbing park, and a skate park flagships hyperstar shopping mall private sector city region a shopping complex, in the west of tehran, with brand shops and a food court which is developed by an iranian subsidiary of french multinational retailer carrefour in iran atlas mall private sector city region a commercial complex, comprising nineteen floors for offices, shops, stores, restaurants, six-level parking, developed by an iranian bank in niyavaran, one of the northern and affluent neighborhoods in tehran koroush commercial and cultural complex private sector city region a commercial and cultural complex with modern architecture and harmonic design of color and light in the west of tehran: it includes the country's largest cineplex, cinema gallery, kids club, food court restaurants, many coffee shops, and a collection of various stores. sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 46 table 3 continued milad tower public sector city a multi-purpose tower and one of the tallest towers and freestanding structures in the world is a part of the international trade and convention center of tehran. the tower with an octagonal base, symbolizing the traditional persian architecture, functions as a sophisticated urban attraction and city plaza. tabi'at pedestrian bridge public sector city the most extensive pedestrian (270 meter) overpass, connecting two public parks by spanning a highway in northern tehran: the project, designed as part of a local competition for the design of a bridge to connect two parks, has won several international awards due to its exemplary approach to an infrastructure project. the bridge is not only a pedestrian path but also is a multi-story gathering place with restaurants, cafes, and open spaces for the community. the grand mosalla of tehran public sector city the grand mosalla mosque of tehran is a location for holding weekly friday prayer and cultural, political, educational, worship activities, including book fairs and religious ceremonies. its design reflects the islamic architecture in modern time iran and the islamic architecture in other areas that were formerly part of iran. khavaran cultural center public sector city region the complex's architecture inspired by iranian traditions and elements provides a low-income neighborhood in the south-east of tehran with a variety of cultural facilities theatre and cinema halls, library, educational classes, exhibition hall, sports center, meeting spaces, and marketplace. bahman cultural center public sector city region the bahman cultural center, built on a formerly slaughterhouse in the slums of southern tehran, is a municipally created public space for cultural advancement in tehran and was the first and largest of its kind in the city of tehran. the land-use change and construction of the cultural center have had a significant impact on the process of social change, enriching the women and the youth in the region. urban design projects marvi gozar public sector neighborhood the restoration project of marvi gozar, initiated by tehran's beautification organization and tehran municipality, consists of designing an entrance space, restoring the old facade, adding a traditional bazaar roof, and creating a plaza (meidan in persian). transformation of hefdah-eshahrivar street to a walking street public sector neighborhood transformation of a commercial street called hefdah-e-shahrivar, one of the main central streets in tehran, to a walking space to make it a tourist destination sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 47 table 3 continued panzdah-ekhordad pedestrian street public sector city region converting panzdah-e-khordad, a historical and commercial street to a walking street and a tourist destination with vibrant public spaces and tourist activities nonphysical practices museum of qasr prison public sector neighborhood restoration of qasr prison and its transformation to a museum and public space parvaneh friday market public sector city region parvaneh friday market building as bazar for handcrafts: a multi-story car parking (parking garage) works as a temporary market (bazaar) of persian handicrafts and antiques on fridays and attracts a large number of artists and art-lovers. 5. results and discussions the results, illustrated in figure 3, show that nearly all projects achieve the lowest scores from the market adaptability criterion. however, the more sensitive projects to their context (context-based development criteria) and the social quality of life got the highest scores. figure 3. the scores of the selected projects/practices in tehran according to the suggested evaluation criteria the large-scale projects show that despite the expected economic and social benefits of the development project of persian gulf artificial lake in the explanatory reports of tehran municipality, the project got low scores in market adaptability and economic prosperity criteria. due to the new character, the project has made the city and the western 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 persian gulf artificial lake velayat park nahjolbalaghe park hyperstar shopping mall atlas mall koroush commercial and cultural complex development of milad tower tabi'at pedestrian bridge the grand mosalla of tehran development of khavaran cultural center land use change and construction of bahman cultural… restoration project of marvi gozar transformation of hefdah-e-shahrivar street to a… transformation of panzdah-e-khordad street to a… museum of qasr prison parvaneh friday market for handcrafts environmental sustainability sensitivity to context pattern-making branding social sustainability economic prosperity market adaptability sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 regions, and tourist attraction and physical branding achieve a high score. however, the project did not get a good score in the environmental aspect because of its insufficient attention to the surrounding neighborhoods' health quality and environmental protection. both the development projects of nahjolbalaghe and velayat parks got high scores in the environmental aspect. velayet park got a high score in social sustainability, pattern-making, branding, and contextual sensitivity. the project also includes various activities and has provided various job opportunities for different groups giving it higher scores in the economic prosperity criterion. besides, the project has been developed in a low-income neighborhood with low access to such entertainment and green facilities. the project's good access to public transportation is another reason the project got a high score compared to the other recent projects and practices in tehran. on the other hand, nahjolbalaghe park was developed in an unsafe and brownfield area and was designed as a variation of well-designed open spaces for different users and activities. the unique landscape design of the project also causes the project to get a high score in terms of branding. as it was mentioned in the problem statement and the literature, megaprojects and large-scale projects have usually been criticized due to their social and economic consequences (flyvbjerg, 2012; gellert and lynch, 2003; marrewijk et al, 2008). the cases studied have been developed by public budget, and two of them (velayat park, and nahjolbalaghe park) targeted the leftover lands (a formerly military airport and a valley with substantial social and environmental problems). therefore, they had a considerable role in the city improvement, among other things. however, the persian gulf artifical lake is mainly designed to make a new brand for the city and the region to stimulate and serve the high-density housing and office developments in region 22 of tehran (a newly built region). regarding the flagship projects, based on the research findings, the development of tabi'at bridge, khavarn cultural center, and bahman cultural center have successfully improved social quality. at the same time, the shopping malls, milad tower, and the grand mosalla of tehran were not successful in the social sustainability criterion. however, the grand mosalla of tehran, milad tower, and tabi'at bridge got high scores in branding since those work as contemporary landmarks of tehran now. also, the flagship projects instead of the hyperstar shopping mall and koroush shopping mall got high scores in branding and pattern-making. the unique architectural form of the tabi'at bridge, reflecting both natural and modern features, its adaptation with the natural areas surrounding it, and the provision of a vibrant public space, causes it to get high scores in the sensitivity to context, pattern-making, branding, and social sustainability. bahman and khavaran cultural centers got high scores due to the functional variation, job production, and influence on the social improvement of the surrounding communities. as discussed by temelova (2007), healy et al. (1992), and loftman & nevin (1995), most of the flagships are mainly justifiable in economic terms and locate in profitable locations. it is noteworthy that except khavaran and bahman cultural centers, the other flagships evaluated in this study have been located in the medium to high-income regions. most of the projects, especially the shopping malls, which have been developed by the private sector, were developed with a higher density or other land uses than was set by building by law and the city master plan. even though it could be argued that the projects are attracting people and inviting more developers and activities to their surroundings, the projects can be criticized due to their role in segregation and the exacerbation of the gap between the lower and higherincome neighborhoods (temelova, 2007: 170; bianchini et al., harvey, 2000). among the urban design and non-physical projects, the transformation of hefdah-e-shahrivar got a low score because of the dissatisfaction of a group of people, lack of public participation, and inadequate attention to other criteria. the high score of panzdah-e-khordad street and marvi gozar are because the projects aimed to limit the physical interventions in the existing structures and were appreciated as almost successful rehabilitation and regeneration projects. however, inadequate attention has been paid to market adaptability, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability in these projects. among the other non-physical projects/practices, the qasr prison land-use change to a museum got a good score. at the same time, it has not considered the environmental and economic criteria effectively. as it was discussed in the literature chapter, the most recent strategies recommended for urban regeneration include smaller-scale, not expensive, and non-physical changes (oswalt, overmeyer, and misselwitz, 2013; martin, hincks, 2020; al-hinkawi, al-saadi, 2020). the projects, especially those designed or led by communities and the citizens' initiatives, can be successful in terms of social sustainability. tactical urbanism and temporary use, and urban sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 acupuncture can be useful tools for urban regeneration. however, the studied cases show that the projects' success also depends on the quality of community engagement and the continuity of the projects/practices. their catalytic impacts are also dependent on the other complementary projects/practices supporting their positive impacts in the regeneration of a degraded urban texture. in other words, as it was mentioned, the catalysts are strategic tools (bohannon, 2004; attoe and logan, 1989), and their effectiveness relies on the following and complementary policies and actions. the scores the selected projects in tehran have gotten in each sub-criteria and indicator can present an overview of the common approaches of city projects and practices in tehran. for example, in the environmental sustainability criterion, inadequate attention has been paid to the betterment of public access to the projects, energy-saving, sustainable energy resources, sustainable construction materials, recycling, reducing human heat, and reducing water and soil pollution. regarding sensitivity to context, the visual adaptability of the project structure with the surrounding physical and natural features, adaptation with users' demands and comfort, acceptable walking distance, and protection and conservation of the existing natural and human-made elements, particularly the valuable and stable ones have been very effective in the higher or lower scores. insufficient attention to the vernacular, local, and environmental-friendly values and architecture, encouraging social interactions, and not having a strategic perspective on physical development and placemaking (in pattern-making and branding criteria) are also seen in the recent projects. the lack of evaluation criteria for evaluating physical and non-physical approaches causes the authorities to decide based on their attitudes. developers can get the municipality's support by distorting their projects' attributes and exaggerating their projects' benefits. although personal attitudes can also influence the qualitative scoring of a project in different criteria, such criteria can lead to more projects toward better quality in the long term. figure 4 suggests a framework for the evaluation of any catalytic projects. it aims to screen the projects' impacts and guide planners, authorities, and developers in designing, locating, and approving urban catalysts for urban regeneration. the framework has been made up of seven primary questions addressing the seven criteria for evaluating the projects toward sustainability and the four dimensions of catalyst projects adopted from the literature review and discussion. figure 4. questions for sustainability assessment of urban catalysts sarkheyli/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 6. conclusion urban catalyst is a relative and comparative term. however, it can be a seductive and precarious title. how such projects are valued is strongly dependent on society's values, including the values determined directly or indirectly by those in power. according to the literature review, such projects usually affect an urban texture in four dimensions, including reimagining, activity generation, physical stimulation, and economic value creation. these aspects get different meanings in different spatial and temporal realms along with the societal, technical, and value changes. therefore, identifying such values and considering those as the basis for evaluation of the projects' impacts is significant in order to guide and direct the future pioneering project. this paper discussed the likely conflicts between the catalytic projects' impacts (the four aspects) and the sustainability goals (economic, social, environmental, and physical sustainability) through the existing literature. according to the conflicts, it suggests an evaluation framework, including seven criteria for evaluating catalytic projects. the criteria include physical and content identification, pattern making, contextualism, environmental sustainability, market adaptability, economic prosperity, and improvement of social quality of life. the criteria are explained as the questions which could be translated based on each city context and the significant values considered by each community. the framework can be used either in the preliminary process (evaluation of proposals) or when the projects or practices are done and are the subject of evaluation due to other reasons like receiving financial aid or other credits and privileges. references abbaszadegan, m. 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(2005). another guggenhaim effect? central city projects and gentrification in bilbao, i n r. atkinson & g. bridge (ed.), gentrification in a global context, the new urban colonialism" routledge, london & new york https://dx.doi.org/10.22111/gdij.2017.3446 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.914 living on water and land: challenges and opportunities for the development of amphibious communities in the peruvian amazon rainforest gabriela p. vildosola a,b,d , jorge alarcon a,b , leann andrews a,c a centro de investigaciones tecnológicas biomédicas y medioambientales, peru b university of washington, c pennsylvania state university d universidad científica del perú abstract loreto, the largest amazonian region in peru, is home to more than 200,000 inhabitants that live in traditional riverside rural communities adapted to an amphibious lifestyle, with houses that rise or float on the river in times of flooding and perch on the dried riverbed in low water times. nevertheless, these amphibious communities are not exclusive to rural areas. iquitos, the largest city of loreto, is surrounded by alluvial plains, where more than 90,000 people live on the water and bring a rich social, cultural, and environmental vibrancy to the regions. however, poor infrastructure conditions and limited resources in this communities affect the ecosystem and the population's health. the objective of this qualitative study was to understand the physical, sociocultural, and environmental conditions in which these amphibious communities live and identify the political, legal, and cultural barriers that prevent their healthy urban development. data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews, surveys, and observation of physical and environmental conditions. the results suggest conflicts in the formalization processes of theses informal communities, from administrative and legal aspects to a limited definition of habitable territory. we identified the benefits of the current urban-architectural conditions of these communities, whose housing typologies, adapted to the seasonal change of the rivers, may provide a alternative model to adapt with resilience to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. we also identified challenges in sanitation, accessibility, public space, and strengthe of community networks, as well as challenges in the response of the government whose proposals for relocation of the amphibious communities have not fully considered these communities' economic, social, and cultural values. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords built environment; urban resilience; amphibious communities; peruvian amazon. 1. introduction in addition to the recent global pandemic and climate emergencies, main challenges of the 21st century include coping with population growth in cities, the increase in slums and informal settlements, and providing adequate and affordable housing and infrastructure with accessible urban services for vulnerable population (un-habitat, 2022, 2016). according to the united nations update on sustainable development goal #11, sustainable cities and communities, by 2030 more than 60% of people worldwide are expected to live in cities, almost one quarter of the global population (over 1 billion people) currently are living in slum conditions lacking tenure, safe utilities or living space, and three times that many (or more than 3 billion people) are in need of adequate and affordable http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 housing worldwide (unsd, 2019). acknowledging that adequate housing is a basic human right because of its impact on health and safety, equity and inclusion, and livelihood opportunities, the un calls for increased efforts to address policy barriers and built environment investments to address this global emergency that likely has only intensified with the recent global pandemic and climate change (unsd, 2019). peru´s urban development and built environment conditions reflect these challenges. according to the 2017 census, 43.7% of the population lives in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing (inei, 2018) and this number is expected to grow in the coming decade. the main cities of the peruvian amazon, including iquitos, have additionally unique challenges with rapid indigenous migration from the jungle leading to mass development of amphibious slums communities built within the urban floodplains. these communities contain wooden houses that float on the river or rest on stilts high above the floodplain. these designs, adapted from traditional houses design in rural amazonian areas where many residents have migrated from, adapt to the seasonal dynamics of the rivers in times of flooding or dry spells, characteristics that may promote resilience to climate change and sea level rise. however, these communities also suffer from poor infrastructure conditions and limited resources that affect ecosystem and human health. this article presents an overview summary of preliminary research findings on amphibian communities settled on the alluvial banks of iquitos, the most populous city in the peruvian amazon and capital of the department of loreto, the largest geographical region in peru. objective: the study´s objective was to understand the physical, social, cultural, and environmental conditions in which amphibious communities live and identify the political, legal, and cultural barriers that prevented their healthy urban development. methodology: this study had a qualitative approach. data collection was through semi-structured interviews, surveys, and observation of physical and environmental conditions during the months of may to november 2021. the team conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with officials, academics, and inhabitants of the amphibian communities. the team also conducted an open online survey with 23 multiple-choice questions about perception and conditions of amphibious communities, and received 147 responses from the general population living in the non-flood-prone highlands of iquitos. lastly, observations of physical and environmental conditions was carried out over five days in five different amphibious communities around the city. 2. the context loreto, located in northwestern peru, is part of the amazon ecosystem and occupies almost a third of the peruvian territory (ceplan, 2019). despite this large area, its population represents only 3.37% of the country's total and is predominantly urban with 68.7%, concentrated in the capitals of the provinces, and with iquitos being the most populated. however, in four of its provinces, more than 61% of the population is rural, where more than 200,000 riverside inhabitants live in traditional rural communities adapted to an amphibious lifestyle, with houses that rise or float on the river in times of flood and perch on the riverbed in times of low water (inei, 2018; desmaison, espinoza, jaime and gallardo, 2019). according to the classification made by jorge burga (2018, p.116-117), traditional amazonian housing can be: (1) settled on the ground, located in high areas that are not subject to flooding; (2) floating, based on wooden logs and (3) elevated on stilts. the last two adapt to the changing water level of the rivers in the summer and winter seasons. wood predominates as a material for the structure and partitions and irapay leaves for the covers. he also indicates that these houses are the ones that have had little influence from other cultures, maintaining over time most of their original traditional characteristics. currently, with increase urban influences, some of the houses´ materials are being changed, such as irapay leaves to metal or plastic corrugated sheets for roof coverage. amphibian communities are not only found in rural areas. more than 90,000 people live on the outskirts of the city of iquitos, on the alluvial plains whose landscape varies with the seasonal change in the water level of the rivers surrounding the city. to adapt to this situation, the people build their houses in the likeness of rural and traditional houses, floating or on stilts. elevated wooden paths, made by the community, connect the houses during the river's rising season. in other situactions, residentes have raised the level of their streets with fill material, gaining ground author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 from the river. when built properly, many of these homes are resilient and can cope with extreme fluctuations in water including the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. however, poor environmental conditions and lack of infrastructure including water and sewer services have a negative impact on the health of these communities and the ecosystems they live within. (alarcón, et al, 2018). figure 1 rural yanamono community, figure 2 salaverry urban amphibious slum in iquitos indiana, peru 3. key findings 3.1 physical conditions architectural typologies most amphibian communities use traditional architectural typologies, traditional construction approaches and traditional materials. the houses are floating or rest on stilts. their structures and partitions are made of wood. althougf, the traditional irapay sheet is still used, the materials and construccions systems are changing with urban influences, and many roofs are zinc calamine, like the rest of the city. the neighbors express these changes: “previously, the roof was made of irapay leaves, almost most of the houses, and before the 2000s, the houses were made of rafts, floating. almost all the houses were floating because that's how they started." currently, there is a gradual change towards contemporary materials and construction techniques, such as concrete columns, beams, and brick walls. residentes express that they make these changes respond to maintenance and time costs, durability and as a symbol of progress: "the house is emerging little by little. previously, the columns were made of horcones, that is, of sticks. and little by little, they are being built of concrete, column after column that has required a long time. it is not finished yet. because as we know, water grows in the area, so it means that the horcones do not last long due to humidity". there are some variants in houses on stilts. in stilted houses the first level is used for a warehouse, garage or shop during the river's low season. in the high river season, the warehouse moves to another place, and the shops go up to the second level. some houses may also have an additional level for bedrooms. accessibility and mobility accessibility and mobility within amphibious neighborhoods are conditioned by the dynamics of the rivers. in times of low water, when the riverbed dries up, residents may move between houses without inconvenience, either in smaller vehicles or on foot albeit they may need to climb down long stairs to reach the ground if they live in stilted houses. the most mobility difficulty is experienced in times of flood, when the water rises since it is necessary to build floating or stilted wooden bridges to access the houses. in the past, the local governments has supported some communities with materials for this bridges. however, for several years now, the local government supported only access bridges to educational and health facilities, not personal residences. a resident reveals: "the handmade bridges that are built when the water rises... the years began to pass and, the construction of the bridges was stopped, that is, they only built up to a certain point, up to the school...". in the belén amphibious area of iquitos, you have the alternative of using canoes to get around when the river rises, however, it demands an additional cost, author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 harming the household budget that could support food, water, healthcare or other living expenses. a resident of the aahh sachachorro states “the biggest problem is the issue of fares… you must have your [own] canoe or your [own] boat so that you can move, if you do not have it, you have to pay, so, i will carry (canoe)… ”. public space public spaces exist during the river's low season. soccer fields and recreation spaces are improvised in the dry riverbed and become vibrant communities places. a resident describes: “…when the river goes down… their activities are carried out at ground level, there are spaces where they set up their sports fields, or suddenly there are some [community] meetings, we have a slab that is exactly where it is going to be. the boardwalk, where they also hold their meetings”. the drawbacks to these succesful public spaces occur when the water level rises. these spaces disappear and the most affected are children and adolescents. as stated by a resident: "...children begin to swim in the water... and young people and adults begin to look for sports spaces, for example, visit [other] communities that have a space that is not subject to flooding and start playing sports, normally the school field is used…” access to public services in amphibious neighborhoods, the electricity service is communal and may be installed precariously above water level. usually, community organization pay for a conecction on highlands and they extend cords to the households living on the floodplain. in some cases, electric companys will install direct conecctions to the household when electric post can be secure and communities have some preliminary land tenure documentation. there are problems accessing clean running water the supply either lasts for only a few hours and may have contamination issues, or is lacking entirely and residentes need to purchase water form a neighbor. a resident states: "the neighbor supplies us with little water... she has acquired her little water, i think she has bought the water line." there is a discourse that the service is achieved equitably because residents describe that they “fight for it”, as indicated by the daughter of a villager: "if we have water... not all of them, for example, in my case, my father was the first to have water, as always when they seek to improve him, there are only a few...". few have sewage drains. the property title, or lack of it, impacts access to services, and, in most cases, a sanitation system. there are also problems with the municipal collection of solid waste and trash in the communities, especially in times of rising rivers. the neighboors reported that some of the options for waste management are burning trash, hiring local transportation to send it to areas where the municipal service is more reliable. 3.2 sociocultural conditions worked most of the inhabitants of the amphibious neighborhoods dedicate their lives to fishing, agriculture and trade, transport, and construction. the type of work may vary depending on the season when the river is low or high. there is a strong link between the river and employment and so families seek to live on the riverbank, with most of amphibious communities living in the lower area of belén, which allows them to access the belén market where resindest may have a stall, work at the port, or in related businesses. as a resident expressed: “this settlement, the lower area of belén, drives the city of iquitos, it is the driving force… because everything comes from belén, from the market… the market is so big, they all come from san juan or punchana… because of the things at lower prices. that is what attracts people…”. another neighbor confirms "my dad came to live here [in the floodplain], because it is accessible to the market, because they are from the daily bread, they work here in the port, and from here we make a living, and with which he has educated us." cultural life in the water parallels the traditional amazonian culture of rural areas because the initial settlers of amphibious communities comes from the riverside communities in the jungle. these communities have adapted to live in different ways depending on the season and the dynamics of the rivers. likewise, their ways of living are more communal. to most residents living in a flood zone is not always conceived as wrong or risky, rather it is traditional. "…and in that amazonian world, water, the forest and the rain, are an essential part... which implies the abundance of resources and creativity, in times of drought it is planting, it is living the forest, the land, they are author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 new sources of food. it is landscape beauty; in times of flood, water is an extraordinary source of life, water is pleasure for the amazon, it is an enormous pleasure.” organizational structure amphibious communities have representatives who are elected in community assemblies. theses representatives manage solutions to social and physical problems, and contact elected representatives such as congressmen, mayors, and governors, depending on the issue. as a representative says, “we have recently met with the high-level commission of the presidency of the current president… that until december they must build the educational and health buildings… and we are also coordinating with the ministry housing...". independetly of what is the organization structure, community organize mingas (collaborative work practices) to address community needs, such as cleaning the landscape of trash and weeds, dealing with citizen insecurity and crime, and solving built environment problems such as the construction of access bridges, elevation of grades, and water services. as one member of the community expressed "i did my things as an authority, i managed to have communal electricity, water with the neighbor, and so on..." interpersonal networks the neighbors thet were interviewed highlighted that community structure and collaborative work are fundamental for neighborhood, community and families development. mingas are developed to improve and clean the place and build wooden bridges but there are other dynamics to provide interpersonal sopports. for example, neighboords always collectivly save funds to support community projects. as a neighbor said, “we all collaborate with two soles, three soles, five soles. we have made a little bag to build our bridges, so as not to be bothering our authorities, we collaborate among neighbors ..." likewise, groups of young activists have been formed in the belén neighborhood in iquitos to carry out activities in favor of the community, environment, education, and culture. one of its members said, “…since 2016 [they have] been working in an articulated manner with the population [that gathers to form] community mingas, based on cultural festivals [and] participation among young people, that is why now you are currently seeing committed young people.” however, according to residents, in some cases, interpersonal relationships are affected during the time of rising rivers. living in confined spaces and limited access to public spaces for recreation may promote acts of domestic violence, "...but because of that (non-existence of public spaces) there are many problems. of course, the level of violence in the houses increases, the stress in the family, because it is a closed space." 3.3 environmental conditions the changes that are taking place in the houses, such as the change of materials or construction systems, were observed to not be very adaptive to the amazonian climate. corrugated sheets for roof coverage, without a ceiling, generate great heat and poor air circulation in an already hot location. traditionally the houses have been open and spacious with leaf roofs to face the heat. on the other hand, if this houses are built too high, they are negatively impacted by winds, with climate change making weather events more intense, more frequent, and more difficult to predict with certainty. these urbanization techniques avoid being able to prevent, adapt and plan with confidence. the neighbors also report that the flood usually brings snakes, and there are problems when water accumulates and stagnates for long periods of time because the puddles become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. without formal utility infraestructure, the contamination of rivers by dumping sewage and solid waste is a problem, affecting not only people but also the animal population and the ecological environment (wetlands, flora, and fauna). 3.4 barriers in the formalization process according to the interviews in this study, it was identified some of the reasons why the population settles in risky or non-authorized areas are the lack of a housing policy, the lack of urban planning, and the lack of urban land. “i imagine that what leads people to settle in these areas is the need for housing. it has not been adequately addressed by the government”. likewise, the lack of a territorial approach that considers traditional amazonian lifestyles adapted to the amazonian floodplain and its rivers does not allow exploring urban-architectural alternatives to author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 improve the habitat in amazonian amphibian neighborhoods. an interviewee states, “the laws are made from a mentality that does not reflect the lifestyle of the people. so, there is a large gap between what the laws say and what people do." this also critically means that the communities settled in the alluvial plain cannot be formalized because the law qualifies this territory as a "non-mitigate risk zone" due to the flooding caused by the increase in its waters during the amazon winter season. despite great efforts, many communities remain informal preventing or limiting public investment in services and infrastructure in amphibious neighborhoods. because of all these challenges, the state's proposal is to relocate these communities to high ground that is not prone to flooding along the iquitos – nauta highway, more than 14 km (or one hour by bus) from the amphibious neighborhoods. while well intentioned, this solution has not been optimal. of the four relocated experiences reviewed within this investigation, it was identified that three of theses neighborhoods do not have physical sanitation, water or property title. only one have lectricity. in other case,housing modules with light materials were inlcuded but not electricity hooh up. one resident of these relocated communities explains, “we have proof of possession, not title. there is a problem of overlapping land that is not solved. because of the slowness of the regional government office and the passivity of the president of urban empowerment”. the most recent development plans carried out by the ministry of housing faimed to relocate 2,600 families to the so-called new city of belen. after six years, the ministry has only managed to relocate 397 families. and it still does not have water and sewer services or equipment. one of the problems reported by residents is the distance to their work centers related to the belen market and the river since it requires more time and money. “i do not work, because i cannot work as the market is far from me, the [bus] ticket, coming and going, now if you have mobility, gasoline has risen in price, you have to invest fifteen soles in gasoline and, all that remains for us is a little awkward for us…”. another problem is housing, whose concrete and small living corridors has not considered the climate or culture of the families living within them. over the last decade, in order not to be relocated, some amphibious communities have asked the authorities to raise the level of the streets to access formalization and water and sewer and sanitation services. this avenue is not regulated but is faily accepted by the entity that performs the formalization process. some interviewees, mainly academics, do not believe that ground elevation is an adequate solution since it affects environmental health and causes ecological damage. while, most municipal officials interviewed do not agree with this practice, they sometimes accept it because they cannot think of another alternative, some residents demand these approach since they see the opportunity to access the benefits of formalization, such as access to the property title, services, and equipment. another barrier identified in the formalization processes of amphibious communities is the physical sanitation of the land because they are privately owned land or in the process of being reverted to the state. therefore, these processes usually last more than ten years. 4. conclusions the urban and architectural typologies of amphibious communities adapting to seasonal changes in floodplains can be strategies for the development of resilient housing and neighborhoods adapted to climate change. however, the lack of a territorial approach that incorporates the traditional and urbanizing amazonian ways of inhabiting, added to the relocation processes as the only currently proposed alternative solution for these communities, limits the exploration of technical alternatives to improve the living conditions of the amphibious communities. different barriers were identified in the formalization processes of the amphibian communities. which include the qualification as a non-mitigate risk area and, limiting the definition of habitable land. other obstacles are administrative processes, existing owners, and jurisdiction of floodplains. however, the communities have found some strategies to access formalization themselves, such as raising the street level. city planning must incorporate proposals for the sustainable and healthy development of amphibious and slums communities, as these communities continue to grow ans expand cities. for this, it is necessary to consider the author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 challenges identified in this research, such as water and drainage sanitation, accessibility and mobility, public space and recreation, improvement of construction systems, strengthening of community networks and cultural values, preservation of ecological resources and environmental responsiveness. 5. acknowledgements research reported in this publication was supported by the fogarty international center of the national institutes of health under grant #d43tw009345 awarded to the northern pacific global health fellows program. the content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the national institutes of health. the authors express their gratitude to the nih fogarty international center and joe zunt of the university of washington, who leads the northern pacific global health research fellows training consortium. to the architecture graduates wendy tresierra and selva sanjurjo; to all participants in the interviews: professionals, academics, officials, and members of the amphibian communities. without their collaboration, this research would not have been possible. references 1. un-habitat. envisanging the future of cities. world cities report 2022. retrieved for https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2022/06/wcr_2022.pd 2. un-habitat. urbanization and development: emerging futures, word cities report 2016. retrieved from https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/wcr-2016-web.pdf. 3. united nations statistics division (unsd). 2019. report on goal #11, sustainable cities and communities. retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-11/ 4. national center for strategic planning, ceplan. national report: peru to may 2020 "the protection of life in the emergency and after". second voluntary national report for sustainable development. unedited version. 2020. retrieved from https://www.ceplan.gob.pe/informenacional/. 5. peruvian national institute of statistics and informatics, inei. loreto final results 2017, volume 16. 2018. retrieved from https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/menurecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/est/lib1561/. 6. desmaison, b., espinoza, k., jaime, k. y gallardo, l. living together in the amazon in the 21st century, urban planning and design guide for cities in the peruvian low jungle. project self-sustainable cities in the amazon casa. lima: pucp publishing fund. 2019. retrieved from https://casapucp.com/publicaciones/guias/ 7. burga, j. folk architecture. history of peruvian architecture, volume i. lima: ed. faua. 2018. 8. alarcón, jo., alarcón, j.a. y andrews, l.. epidemiology, landscape architecture, "one health" and innovation: experience in an amazonian community. rev. peru med exp public health, 35(4), 2018. 66774. doi:10.17843/rpmesp.2018.354.4109. https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2022/06/wcr_2022.pd https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/wcr-2016-web.pdf https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-11/ https://www.ceplan.gob.pe/informe-nacional/ https://www.ceplan.gob.pe/informe-nacional/ https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/menurecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/est/lib1561/ https://casapucp.com/publicaciones/guias/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.837 towards a comprehensive climate adaptation framework for india’s port infrastructure and operations: lessons from global best practices pushp bajaj1, chime youdon 1 1 national maritime foundation, new delhi, india abstract the ever-growing impacts of climate change such as extreme heat, more frequent heavy precipitation events, intensifying tropical revolving storms, and sea level rise continue to pose major threats to india’s critical maritime infrastructure. as the country moves towards its ambition of becoming a leading blue economy of the world, a wide range of initiatives have been taken by the central and state governments to expand the maritime sector with a specific focus on the transport sector. however, there is little emphasis being paid on protecting the existing and planned seaport infrastructure against the deleterious impacts of climate change. none of the major ports in india have a dedicated climate action strategy and climate adaptation finds no mention in the policy documents pertaining to the maritime transport sector. in this context, this paper aims to highlight the need for a comprehensive, holistic and dynamic climate change adaptation strategy for india’s port infrastructure including support infrastructure and supply chains. the adaptation strategy, at the individual ports’ level and the national level, must be preceded by rigorous risk assessment studies to identify and prioritise the major challenges arising from climate change at the local level. the paper draws upon international best practices in climate risk assessments and adaptation measures to provide a way forward for indian ports. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords climate risk; climate adaptation; resilience; maritime sector; ports; shipping. 1. introduction coastal areas around the world are among the most vulnerable geographical areas to climate change. in addition to the generic impacts such as rising temperatures, extreme heatwaves, erratic rainfall patterns, etc., that are common to all land areas, coastal areas are exposed to two more dramatic impacts of climate change: a) sea level rise and b) increasingly frequent and intense tropical revolving storms (fuchs, 2010; williams, 2013; ranasingha & jongejan, 2018; kulp & strauss, 2019). they are typically also densely populated, primarily due to the myriad economic opportunities that are afforded simply by being in the vicinity of the ocean and having access to the rich marine resources. approximately 40 percent of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers (km) of the coast. coastal zones around the world are also experiencing the fastest rates of urbanization and growth and undergoing remarkable socio-economic and environmental transformations in the process. as a result, even more people are moving to coastal areas from the hinterland to take advantage of the growth trends. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 in recent years, india, recognizing the immense potential of its maritime space, has launched a slew of measures to expand and enhance the maritime sectors of the economy and facilitate the transition from a ‘brown economy’ to a ‘blue economy’. the latest and most comprehensive development plan, in this regard, is the maritime india vision 2030 (miv-2030), launched by the prime minister in march 2021 on the inaugural day of the maritime india summit 2021 (mopsw, 2021). under the aegis of the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways (mopsw), the port-led development model outlined in the miv-2030 is focused on building world-class greenfield ports, creating ‘smart ports’ and modernizing existing ports, reducing logistics by enhancing land-connectivity, promoting port-led industrialization and public-private partnerships. over 150 initiatives have been identified so far under the 10-year plan which is expected to generate over inr 3 trillion in investment and 2 million new jobs. the plan also lays emphasis on building a sustainable and green maritime sector by increasing the use of renewable energy at ports, improving air quality at ports, reducing water consumption and improving health and safety standards. notably, no explicit targets for reduction of greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions have been defined yet. similarly, no mechanisms have been mentioned to calculate the life-cycle ghg emissions of the greenfield ports that will be constructed. nonetheless, the commitment towards improving energy efficiency and increasing renewable energy usage in the vision document denotes a significant step towards a sustainable transition. even though the motivation for sustainability measures such as improving efficiency and using technology may be rooted in the economics, to save on fuel costs and time, they could, in principle, be considered a part of the climate change mitigation strategy. however, there are no plans in this port-led development model to adapt to the impacts of climate change that have already occurred or those that are projected to occur in the nearand long-term future. currently, while almost all indian ports have extensive ‘disaster management strategies’ for natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, fires, etc., these disaster management strategies do not account for the ongoing changes that are occurring in the frequency, intensity, and behavior of these disasters due to climate change. none of the major indian ports have a dedicated ‘climate change adaptation’ strategy. this is, in fact, a common theme across most coastal states in the world, there is little emphasis on enhancing the resilience of the ports and shipping infrastructure and the critical supply chains to the impacts of climate change compared to the emphasis given to climate change mitigation by reducing carbon emissions from ports and shipping. as discussed in detail in the next section, everything from rising temperatures to flash floods to sea level rise and more frequent cyclones, will adversely impact port infrastructure and the personnel which could seriously hamper the ability of the ports to carry out their operations and meet their targets. this would, at best, result in frequent localized, short-term economic losses and, at worst, lead to increasing instances of shutdowns of one or more ports for weeks or even months causing crippling damage to the country’s economy. currently, india has 12 major ports (see figure 1), that are managed by the mopsw of the central government, and 205 minor ports, that are managed by the state governments of the states in which the port is located (mopsw, n.d.). india’s maritime transport sector accounts for 95 percent of the country’s total trade by volume corresponding to 70 percent of total trade by value. the absolute volume of trade is expected to continue to grow significantly under the miv-2030, in fact, capacity augmentation for maritime trade is one of the core objectives of miv-2030. of course, trade forms a significant portion of the indian economy. in 2020, india’s trade-to-gdp ratio was 36.47 percent; at its highest point, in 2012, the trade-to-gdp ratio was 55.79 percent (macrotrends, n.d.). in order to ensure the long-term security and sustainability of its maritime transport sector, india must make its ports ‘future-ready’ by making them ‘climate-resilient’. this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the steps and guidelines that need to be followed to develop an exhaustive climate adaptation strategy for seaports in india, based on a discussion of international best practices. to set the context, section 2.1 highlights the observed and projected impacts of climate change on indian ports and the urgent need for an adaptation strategy. of course, the first essential step towards climate adaptation and building climate resilience is a robust ‘risk assessment’ which must include a study of the climate hazards to a particular region and type of infrastructure, the ways in which the region and infrastructure are exposed to those hazards, and the degree of damage that could potentially be caused by those hazards. section 2.2 discusses these elements and how they may be determined, through a review of risk assessment frameworks that have been utilised in recent years. section 3 provides an overview of the current and proposed adaptation measures by ports around the world to enhance their bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 resilience to the impacts of climate change. section 4 provides a way forward for indian ports and analyzes how these best practices can be molded-to and utilized-in the indian context. finally, the main conclusions of the paper are collated in section 5. figure 1: location of india’s 12 major seaports. 2. literature review 2.1. impact of climate change on indian ports before assessing the impacts of climate change on ports, it is critical to realize that the influence and interlinkages of ports extend well beyond their physical location. the road and railway networks in the hinterland are just as important for port operations as the maritime shipping network. industries, small businesses, and local communities, in faraway regions in the hinterland are dependent on the efficient functioning of the ports for their own operations. several port infrastructure assets, including the support infrastructure and supply chains, and human personnel, are vulnerable to climate-change-induced events such as sea level rise and climate-change-altered events such as extreme precipitation, tropical revolving storms, storm surges, and heatwaves. flooding due to extreme precipitation or after a cyclone could cause damage to radio and radar equipment, storage facilities, and inundate inland road and rail networks resulting in delay in operations. high speed winds during cyclones could affect loading/unloading crane operations and cause damage to communication and navigation equipment, in addition to generic damage to buildings and warehouses. in many cases, ports halt all operations during cyclonic storms, particularly during severe cyclonic bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 51 storms, to minimize damage. however, with more frequent and intense cyclones being predicted in the indian ocean due to climate change, the average annual economic loss caused by direct infrastructure damage or due to operational downtime, will likely increase in the coming decades. frequent and more extreme heatwaves and overall increase in high-temperature days could lead to significant increase in energy consumption of cold storage equipment and refrigerated containers, as also for air conditioning of office buildings. additionally, sustained periods of extreme heat could lead to damage to road and rail infrastructure and affect the health and productivity of human personnel due to harsher working conditions. in may 2021, when cyclone tauktae (which made landfall as an extremely severe cyclonic storm) hit the west coast of india, it caused significant disruptions in operations at the jawaharlal nehru port trust (jnpt) in navi mumbai in maharashtra. the jnpt is one of the youngest ports and the top container port in india. the port has a 39.54 km long main harbor channel with a draught of 14 km. the container traffic at jnpt constitutes about 50 percent of total container traffic handled by all the indian major ports (around 9 million teus) (jnpt, n.d.; parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, 2018). following standard protocols, the port took preventive measures by evacuating most port areas before tauktae made landfall. only the control rooms at the ports were kept active for monitoring purposes for three days (15 to 17 may 2021). many vessels which were scheduled to route through the west coast were called off from berthing. jnpt has four dry port or dry dock sites in wardha, jalna, nasik and sangli that facilitate cargo aggregation in the hinterland away from the port; the roadblocks and cancellation of railway lines during the cyclone led to significant delays for shipping lines. overall, suspending all the operations at the jnpt resulted in congestion at the port and severely affected the supply chain. other non-major ports in the areas hit by tauktae were affected even more badly and operations were suspended for several weeks (shah, 2021). this setback, of course, added to the losses incurred due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic which had already caused a slow-down in port operations and disrupted supply chains due to labor shortages and force majeure during the global travel restrictions. additionally, more erratic and extreme monsoon rains and strong winds, due to climate change, are becoming an annual nuisance for the city of mumbai and the state of maharashtra, in general. frequent, heavy monsoonal flooding also affects port operations. in 2020, during a record-setting monsoon season, mumbai recorded a total rainfall of over 1,240 mm in the month of august, which was more than double the average rainfall of 585 mm for that month (pinto, 2020). in the same month, three high-capacity cranes deployed at the jnpt collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds. however, no injuries or casualties were reported since operations were already halted, and personnel evacuated due to bad weather (nayak, 2020). the year before that, 2019 also broke several records for monsoon rainfall in mumbai (gupta, 2019). such events are expected to become more common all along the west coast as climate change continues unmitigated. in october 2014, cyclone hudhud hit the coast near visakhapatnam as an extremely severe cyclonic storm (escs) with a wind speed of 175 km/h, causing extensive damage to the city and its neighboring districts. hudhud was one of the two strongest tropical cyclones of 2014 within the bay of bengal (cheela et al, 2014). over 250,000 people were affected, and the city of visakhapatnam suffered billions in damages. within a few hours of hitting the coast, the cyclone caused significant impacts on the naval dockyard, vizag steel plant, hindustan petroleum limited, and other critical assets. an estimated four hundred boats conducting fishing and related activities were damaged and seventy-two were sunk without trace; thirty-eight trains were cancelled on 12 october 2014 (pti, 2014). around 2,250 km of roads were damaged, and the total loss incurred by the local industries was estimated to be around inr 100 billion. the indian navy suffered economic losses of around inr 20 billion. the estimated damages faced by the visakhapatnam port trust was around inr 3 billion (singh, 2016). several port services remained on hold even days after the cyclone. the damages to the road and railway infrastructure caused significant hindrance to the movement of trucks to the port, vital internet services remained unavailable, and consequent supply-chain disruptions posed considerable delays in providing essential services. these are just a few of the recorded examples of the ways in climate-change-related events are adversely affecting the port infrastructure and operations in india. unfortunately, the true extent of the damages caused by climatic events to indian ports cannot be accurately estimated due to the lack of robust data collection, monitoring and reporting in bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 the public domain. lack of data records is, in fact, one of the major challenges in the efforts to analyse and create awareness about these impacts and the growing trends. according to the 2020 climate change assessment report of the ministry of earth sciences of the government of india, there has been a significant increase in the number of heavy precipitation events and severe cyclonic storms over india since 1950 (krishnan et al, 2020). the climatemodels-based projections suggest that frequency and intensity of these events are expected to continue to increase throughout the 21st century primarily driven by the warming of the atrmosphere and the ocean which is creating favorable conditions for heavy precipitation events and rapid intensification of tropical cyclones (sarthi et al, 2014). 2.2. dimensions of climate risk the first and most critical step towards any climate adaptation strategy or policy is a comprehensive ‘climate risk assessment’. in the present context, the term ‘climate risk’ corresponds to risks or threats, arising as a result of contemporary anthropogenic climate change, to human lives, livelihoods, infrastructure and operations, and natural ecosystems and resources. this definition becomes more and more specific as the scope is narrowed down either in terms of the stakeholders or the specific impacts of climate change or a specific timeline. the fifth assessment report (ar5) of the un ipcc, released in 2014, laid great emphasis on and attempted to quantify the concept of ‘risk’ which is crucial for making decisions with respect to managing the effects of climate change (ipcc, 2014). the report described the risk posed by climate change as a combination of ‘hazard’, ‘vulnerability’, and ‘exposure’. wherein, hazard corresponds to a singular event or a changing trend that could have an adverse impact, exposure corresponds to the elements (people, infrastructure, livelihoods, ecosystems, etc.) that may be exposed to the adverse impacts of the aforementioned hazard(s), and vulnerability corresponds to the degree to which the adverse impacts can cause damage and the lack of capacity to cope with those damages. almost all climate risk assessment frameworks follow essentially the same general approach to measuring risk, however, they may use different terminologies and they may have different methods to quantify hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities (scott et al, 2013; becker et al, 2018). while global scientific analyses, such as those published by the un ipcc, provide a broad overview of the major threats arising from climate change at the global scale, what are more relevant for policy-making are the national and local level manifestations of these threats. all three of these factors and the resultant climate risk vary widely across temporal and spatial scales and depend on a wide range of social, economic, demographic, geographic, cultural, institutional, political, and environmental parameters. these parameters are typically not easily quantifiable. even if they are quantifiable, they may not be recorded frequently and accurately enough to provide robust insights. this makes rigorous, quantitative climate risk assessment an extremely challenging problem. the task becomes even more difficult when analyzing future climate risks, several decades or even a century into the future, where the number of possible scenarios-of and uncertaintiesin climate hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities, grow exponentially (wilby et al, 2009; dickson et al, 2012). therefore, in many cases, climate risk assessments, instead, rely heavily upon the stakeholders’ ‘perceptions’ of risk that are typically recorded through a series of surveys/ interviews which are then transformed to a numerical index or to risk-categories to facilitate comparative analysis. in the context of seaports, climate change risk assessments and adaptation planning are relatively novel areas of research. most of the literature in the area has come out in the last one to two decades, a majority of that has emerged from the more developed parts of the world (becker et al, 2012). in an attempt to fill the gaps in data and information availability for risk assessments and adaptation planning, asariotis et al (2017), under the aegis of the united nations conference on trade and development (unctad) secretariat, conducted a comprehensive online survey of stakeholders in the port-industry to understand the impacts of climate change and weather-related events on the ports around the world. a total of 44 ports (73 percent of which were located in developed countries), from 29 countries, participated in the survey which comprised questions related to the profile of the port, the history of climate and weather-related events that impacts the ports, the availability of information for a vulnerability assessment, and the level of preparedness. about 70 percent of the ports that participated reported that they had been impacted by climate or weather-related events in the past, in terms of operations and delays, and some of them also experienced physical damage to infrastructure. a significant number of them indicated that future infrastructure investment plans would consider weather/climate-related factors, however, this result should be interpreted with the caveat that most of the bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 53 ports that were surveyed were located in developed countries which are better equipped financially and better informed than the developing and least-developed countries. the survey also found that there is a significant lack of data availability in terms of local-level future projections of climatic changes and the port operational and infrastructure design parameters which would play a critical role in adaptation planning. while the global-level studies/ surveys such as those conducted by unctad provide critical insights into the broader issues and an international perspective, more nuanced risk assessment studies with nationaland local-level details are necessary to inform adaptation decisions for individual ports. nursey-bray et al (2013), conducted a nationallevel climate vulnerability assessment of ports in australia, through a systematic literature analysis and two stakeholder workshops. the authors followed the ipcc-prescribed definition of ‘vulnerability’ and focused on determining “(1) real or potential [climate change] impacts on the system [the port ecosystem]; (2) the systems’ ability to cope and adapt to these impacts; and (3) the extent to which coping capacity may be constrained by environmental or societal conditions.” the participants in the workshops comprised ports managers, workers and administrators within australia’s port-industry. the workshops were also supported by a survey questionnaire before and after the workshop to gather the participants opinions on how climate change has and will affect the ports. based on the literature review, the broader impacts of climate change on ports were divided in five key areas: (1) environmental impact, (2) infrastructure, (3) ports and people, (4) occupational health and safety impacts, and (5) supply chain impacts. the expert surveys were then used to assess the “the ability of the systems to cope and adapt to these impacts”, and the constraints that may limit the ability to build adaptive capacity as seen by the port authorities. as one would expect, the study found that while all ports will indeed be affected by the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability varies significantly between the different sections of port infrastructure and operations. importantly, the surveys revealed that most port authorities displayed high levels of confidence in their ability to adapt to the ongoing and projected changes. the authors called for a standardized national-level framework which can be applied to individual ports to assess the climate vulnerability of australia’s port infrastructure. the semiquantitative yet robust methodology of the study provides a blueprint for researchers in other countries on how to break down climate vulnerability into its critical components and systematically evaluate it through perception surveys. port-specific case-studies have also been conducted in the recent past. to mention a few, stenek et al (2011), published a comprehensive climate-risk assessment report, including financial impacts estimates and suggested adaptive measures for the terminal maritimo muelles el bosque (meb) in colombia. the authors categorized the impacts across a wide range of operational, financial, reputational, legal, environmental and social categories and across different future climate change scenarios. the study was accomplished through a combination of desk-research and modelling, and discussions with the port authorities, local government and climate change experts. the study also laid great emphasis on the interdependencies between the port operations and hinterland industrial activities and local businesses. following a similar methodology, cox et al (2013), conducted a climate risk assessment for the avatiu port in the cook islands. building upon previous studies the authors took specific steps to address the interconnectedness of port operations with the broader city infrastructure and included multiple stakeholders for a more holistic assessment. messner et al (2013), used the port of san diego as a case study to understand the impacts of climate change, sea level rise in particular, on ports and provided an evaluation framework for risk and vulnerability; chettri et al (2013), also studied the impacts of sea level rise on port infrastructure and operations using port kembla in new south wales as the case-study. all of the aforementioned vulnerability/ risk assessment studies utilize some combination of ‘desk-research’ and ‘expert interviews/ surveys’ or ‘stakeholder workshops’. the ratio of this combination may vary significantly depending on accessibility of data and port personnel. as discussed later in section 5, expert interviews/ surveys become particularly relevant for developing countries, such as india, where robust, long-term data records may not be available. it is important to remember that at the national or regional level all the ports taken together form the larger maritime transport network of a country. by corollary, it is also true that some ports may be more critical to the broader maritime sector than the others. arguing for a holistic, multi-port approach to climate risk assessment and adaptation planning, mcintosh and becker (2017) stated that “at the single port scale, decision makers such as port managers may consider the uninterrupted functioning of their port the number one priority. but, at the multi-port (regional or bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 national) scale, policy-makers will need to prioritize competing port climate-adaptation needs in order to maximize the efficiency of limited physical and financial resources and maximize the resilience of marine transportation system as a whole.” towards this end, the authors highlighted the lack of multi-port assessment studies and provided a critical review of the few indicator-based multi-port vulnerability assessments that have been published in recent years. the ‘indicators’ used in such studies typically include quantifiable, observable quantities, for instance, projected sea level rise, storm surge level, value of port assets, port efficiency measures such as turnaround time, etc., that can collectively be used to determine the vulnerability or risk of the system. one of the limitations of indicatorbased assessments at multi-port level is the fact that the indicators need to be generic enough that they can be applied to all ports under consideration. while this may allow for a comparative analysis to be conducted which would generate a relative ranking of the ports according to their risk level, it limits of the scope of the indicators which may lead to an incomplete assessment of the risk. nonetheless, a standardized approach to multi-port assessment would be highly relevant for india, since india has 12 major and over 200 non-major ports, and more ports are being planned under the central government’s long-term development plans. considering the limited financial and technological capacity of the country, it would have to prioritize the more vulnerable ports in the adaptation plans which would require a comparative multi-port assessment. 3. state-of-the-art in climate adaptation measures for seaports with growing literature and increased awareness of the ways in which climate change impacts will affect coastal regions, coastal state/ city planners are increasingly acknowledging the need for implementing adaptive measures to minimize damages to infrastructure. however, in the port industry very few ports globally have actually taken appropriate adaptive measures (becker et al, 2018). some studies have noted that this could partly be attributed to the difference in timeframes of port planning activities, which typically ranges between 5-15 years and the timeframes in which climate change impacts play out which could be over multiple decades, particularly in the case of sea level rise (becker et al, 2012; scott et al, 2013). this myopic approach to infrastructure planning is, of course, a hinderance to climate adaptation planning in all sectors and at all levels of governments. in almost all cases, the critical maritime transport infrastructure has a lifetime of many decades and therefore their planning and maintenance processes must ensure resilience to mediumand long-term threats arising from climate change. a wide range of adaptation measures for seaports have been proposed, analyzed, and some have been implemented, in recent years. adaptation measures could range from ‘soft measures’ such as changes in standard operating procedures, adaptation policies, emergency preparedness exercises, generating more accurate local-level climate projections, etc., to ‘hard measures’ which include infrastructural changes such as building seawalls/ storm surge barriers, expanding the dimensions of breakwaters, upgrading drainage systems, increasing elevation of infrastructure, etc., and everything in between. in this context, the city of rotterdam in netherlands provides an example of a holistic approach. the city set up the “rotterdam climate proof (rcp)” programme, as part of the broader “rotterdam climate initiative” of 2008, which aims to make rotterdam resilient to climate change by 2025 while simultaneously generating opportunities to make the city more attractive (rotterdam climate proof, 2010). the rcp is focused on five major aspectsflood management, accessibility, adaptive building, the urban water system and the urban climate. the rcp has laid specific emphasis on knowledge sharing, creating awareness, and promoting innovation in science and technology. the city founded the “connecting delta cities” knowledge network, in 2009, as a part of its initiatives under the c40 climate leadership group. some of the members of the knowledge network include tokyo, jakarta, hong kong, new york, new orleans, london, ho chi minh city, melbourne, and copenhagen. in 2021, the port of rotterdam authority and the municipality of rotterdam jointly launched the “flood management adaptation strategy programme” to protect the port and associated industries from the impacts of climate change including sea level rise, storm surges and increased likelihood of tidal flooding (port of rotterdam, 2021). the port authority of new york and new jersey (panynj) had integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation into their environmental sustainability policy in 2008 which recognized safety, resilience and environmental sustainability as its primary objectives. in 2009, the panynj engineering department released the climate resilience design guidelines that demand climate risk factors to be incorporated into the design and construction of bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 55 ports’ buildings and other infrastructure. the design guidelines were further updated in 2015 and again in 2018 (panynj, 2018a). the port authority completed the climate risk assessment focusing on flood-related risks across all port facilities in 2020. the follow-up multi-year programme was initiated in 2021 focusing on applying rigorous, engineering-based assessment techniques at the local level. notably, the panynj was the first public transportation agency in the usa that promulgated carbon emissions reduction targets to align themselves with the goals of the 2015 paris climate agreement. it made commitments to reduce its carbon emissions by 35 percent by 2030 and by 80 percent by 2050 (panynj, 2018b). the city of kaohsiung in roc (taiwan) which hosts the port of kaohsiung, roc’s largest international port, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including rising temperatures and frequent bouts of extreme weather events. in response to these growing threats, a number of measures have been taken by the city to enhance the resilience of its physical and social infrastructure, including large-scale restoration of wetlands to protect its coastline, upgrades to water management and drainage systems to mitigating urban flooding, construction of energy efficient ‘green buildings’, among others (urban climate adaptation, 2019; lai, 2012). notably, the port of kaohsiung received the 2021 world ports sustainability program (wpsp) award for resilient physical infrastructure. in australia, several ports have undertaken extensive climate risk assessment studies in recent years and incorporated measures to mitigate socio-economic damages from the impacts of climate change. for instance, the port of melbourne adopted corporate climate change policy in 2007, a climate change action strategy in 2009 and became a signatory to the world ports’ climate declaration (ng et al, 2013). other ports in western australia, northern territory and new south wales have taken adaptive measures against flooding from cyclonic storms and sea level rise (scott et al, 2013). the city of jakarta in indonesia is one of the largest coastal megacities in the world which is also considered to be one of the most vulnerable cities to coastal flooding, large parts of the city are already below sea level. studies have shown that the primary cause for increasing flooding events in jakarta is land subsidence being caused mainly by unsustainable and unmanaged extraction of groundwater for various industrial and domestic purposes (ng et al, 2012; chaussard et al, 2013). the extent and frequency of coastal flooding will be worsened by accelerating sea level rise in the coming decades. according to model-based projections, the potential flood area extent is estimated to increase by 110.5 sq km by 2050 relative to 2000 levels (takagi et al 2016a). the simulations also indicated that the rate of flood area expansion during the 2025-2050 would be 3.4 times faster than that in the 2000-2025 period. the ports of jakarta are severely affected frequently by tidal floods and storm surges. the sunda kelpa port is the oldest port in jakarta spanning 52 hectares of land area. some estimates suggest that the port is currently experiencing 5-10 cm of land subsidence per year, over the last two decades. according to port authorities, around 20 percent of the annual income is spent on adaptation measures including protective dikes and raising the elevation of port infrastructure which is being done in a section-by-section manner (esteban et al, 2020). similarly, the pelabuhan perikanan samudera nizam zaham port which is the largest fishing port in indonesia is experiencing 7-12 cm of subsidence annually. consequently, the port elevation was raised in 2002 and then again in 2012 by +1.4 m. the muara angke port was also raised three times, in 2006, 2011 and 2014, by 40-50 cm each time using sheet piles (esteban el al, 2020). other studies have argued that the protective dikes that have been built are themselves vulnerable to sea level rise and increased frequency and intensity of tropical storms (takagi et al, 2016b). moreover, measures such as increasing the elevation of port infrastructure are akin to “band-aid solutions”, and very expensive ones at that, which focus on short-term adaptation rather than increasing long-term resilience of the infrastructure. 4. molding to the indian circumstances as alluded to before in section 1, india has initiated a number of measures in recent years to expand its maritime transport sector and the broader blue economy. there is one thing that is common across all of these initiatives, that is the overwhelming emphasis on capacity augmentation and modernization. while that is commendable and necessary for economic growth, it is crucial to acknowledge and prepare-for current and projected threats arising from the impacts of climate change which may otherwise derail the ambitious expansion plans. there is an urgent need for a holistic and dynamic climate change adaptation strategy to ensure the protection and continued operation of the existing and planned port infrastructure. clearly, this adaptation strategy will have to be based on a series of risk bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 assessment studies at the national-, stateand local-levels. in this regard, the amount of literature in india is relatively sparse. for the first time in 2020, a comprehensive ‘climate change assessment report’ for india was published by the ministry of earth sciences (moes) (krishnan et al, 2020). this much-needed report highlighted the observed and future projections of temperature, precipitation, sea level, extreme weather events and the indian monsoon system, among other parameters, over the indian region. in 2021, the department of science and technology of the government of india published a report entitled, “climate vulnerability assessment for adaptation planning in india using a common framework”, which mapped all-india state-level and district-level vulnerability to climate change (dst goi, 2021). however, the report provided an incomplete picture because it was solely focused on determining vulnerability based on an analysis of the current state of infrastructure and stateand national-level policies. the report did not account for the current and projected evolution of climate-change related ‘hazards’ and the level of ‘exposure’ of the districts and states, which are necessary for quantifying ‘risk’. the authors acknowledged this caveat and mentioned that additional studies will be conducted on these aspects in the future. this lack of robust and reliable long-term data records and analyses of climate variables and local-level climate projections poses a major hurdle towards a quantitative climate risk assessment of ports in india. as discussed in section 3, this limitation is often remediated, at least partially, by conducting interviews and workshops with domain experts and stakeholders to collect qualitative information-on and perceptions-of risk to infrastructure and operations. insofar as adaptation measures are concerned, india would have to work within the national financial and technological limitations which may preclude the possibility of adopting the cost-intensive hard infrastructure solutions that have been adopted by the more developed cities/ countries, such as rotterdam, some of which were discussed in section 4. consequently, india would have to utilize a creative combination of hardand soft-measures, in other words, a combination of capacity building (that is the generation of material wherewithal) and capability enhancement (that is enhancing the human ability to manage the impacts), to build resilience against climate change. considering the national circumstances described above, the following interventions are recommended for policy makers in india at the nationaland state-level governments to enhance the resilience of the country’s port infrastructure: a) conduct comprehensive climate risk assessments of india’s major and non-major brownfield ports, including assetor area-specific details, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders including climate scientists, engineers, port authorities, local government officials, industry members, local businesses, and local community members including the fisherfolk. this could be incorporated as an actionable under the ‘portmodernisation’ goal of the maritime india vision 2030 (miv-2030) to ensure security and continued functioning of existing ports. additionally, preemptive climate risk assessments and adaptation planning for the current and projected impacts of climate change should be mandated for all greenfield projects proposed under miv-2030. b) a standardised framework is needed which can be applied to all ports to produce a comparative analysis of climate risk, which could then be compiled into a national-level assessment of the broader maritime transport sector of the country. this would allow the central and state governments, private entities, and port management authorities to identify the most vulnerable ports and the most vulnerable sections or assets within individual ports which should be prioritised for adaptation actions. c) as discussed in section 4, climate change adaptation measures for ports could include ‘hard measures’ or ‘soft measures’ or a combination of the two. due to limited financial resources in india, hard measures (which may include creation of protective infrastructure or retrofitting or relocating existing infrastructure) would require cost-benefit analyses to be conducted to identify the most viable options. nature-based protective solutions such as creation of coastal dunes, conservation and plantation of mangrove forests, etc., should be seriously considered, in combination with the man-made protective infrastructure, which would provide cost-effective ways to reduce the impacts of floods and storm surges. the protection and conservation of such ecosystems would also provide additional ecological and socio-economic benefits for coastal regions. conservation efforts are already being pursued by some of the coastal states in india; these efforts could be integrated with port planning and development to maximise the benefits. bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 d) since ports form integral components of the city, state, and country’s economy, and are inextricably linked with hinterland activities, there is a need for greater cooperation at these levels to generate a cohesive adaptation strategy. for instance, the resilience (or the lack of resilience) of hinterland road and railway networks, energy infrastructure, fisheries infrastructure, and other industries, against climate-changeinduced hazards would have direct consequeces for port operations and efficiency. therefore, city-wide or state-wide adaptation strategies that address the broader socio-economic systems would have to be developed accordingly. the examples of new york and new jersey in the usa and kaohsiung city in roc discussed in section 4 provide insights into combined port and city climate adaptation strategies that have been attempted. e) importantly, the adaptation strategy must account for the dynamic nature of climate change. the impacts of climate change are expected to continue to grow at an accelerating rate even in the more optimistic future scenarios. moreover, there are new phenomena that are being discovered constantly that challenge our past predictions, especially with regard to sea-level rise and the intensification of extreme weather events. therefore, the adaptation measures cannot be short-sighted, one-time efforts but should leave room for further changes and updates as we learn more about these natural processes and their interactions with human activities. this is also important because protective measures that involve construction of hard-infrastructure such as seawalls, breakwaters or support structures to increase the elevation of port infrastructure are capital and time-intensive and, therefore, require careful planning to ensure long term sustainability. along the same lines, it is necessary to put in place mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of the adopted measures and re-assess the risks at regular intervals, every five to ten years. devising and implementing a holistic and dynamic climate adaptation strategy for seaports will not only ensure a secure and sustainable maritime transport sector but also facilitate india’s ambitions of becoming a leading blue economy of the world. f) finally, it must be recognised that some regions may be beyond adaptation and would be completely inundated by sea level rise in the coming decades. in india, this is particularly relevant for the bay of bengal region and the sundarbans delta in particular which is experiencing a much faster rate of sea level rise than the global average due to a combination of geographical and anthropogenic factors. the ports in such regions would have to be systematically decommisioned or relocated to other regions. therefore, planned retreat should also be considered as an adaptation action that may become increasingly necessary in the future. 5. conclusion as global warming continues unabated, the knock-on effects of rising atmospheric and oceanic temperatures such as more frequent and intense extreme weather events (heatwaves, heavy precipitation and tropical cyclones) and accelerating sea level rise pose major threats to coastal regions around the planet. for the maritime trade sector, these climatic changes will have direct impacts on the port infrastructure and the ability of the ports to maintain maximum operational efficiency. as discussed in detail in the paper, in india, more frequent extreme weather events are already affecting port operations which lead to downtime ranging from a few hours to several days. collectively, these operational downtimes can add-up to major economic losses for the country. in the coming decades, climate-changeinduced sea level rise will significantly worsen the impact of cyclonic storms and tidal flooding and will emerge as an irreversible threat to the port infrastructure. adapting brownfield ports to sea level rise may require significant modifications to the existing infrastructure (such as raising elevation) or building protective infrastructure such as breakwaters or storm surge barriers, all of which will require long-term planning and huge financial costs. while india has taken several measures in recent years to expand its maritime sector, there are no nationalor locallevel strategies to protect the port infrastructure and operations against the growing impacts of climate change. a stark example of this is the lack of emphasis on climate change adaptation in the maritime india vision 2030 which is the guiding document from the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways for the maritime trade sector for the next decade. in this context, this paper highlights the need for a holistic and dynamic climate change adaptation strategy for india’s port ecosystems and provides recommendations for a way forward based on a comprehensive literature review of international best practices. the adaptation strategy must be built upon rigorous and comprehensive climate risk assessments of the ports and interdependent supply chains to determine the internal and bajaj / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 58 external vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change. a standardized national-level risk assessment framework would be critical to conduct a comparative vulnerability analysis of india’s major and non-major ports to identify the most vulnerable ports which may require priority action from the central government (in the case of major ports) or respective state governments (in the case of non-major ports). moreover, considering the dependencies of the port on the broader city activities and vice versa, the adaptation strategy must take an integrated approach and incorporate the needs and limitations of all stakeholders including the city authorities, industries, local communities and businesses. as discussed in the paper, the ideal adaptation strategy should be based on a combination of infrastructure-level and operational-level solutions which considers not only capacity-building but also capability-enhancement measures. devising and implementing a holistic and dynamic climate adaptation strategy for seaports will not only ensure a secure and sustainable maritime transport sector but also facilitate india’s ambitions of becoming a leading blue economy of the world. acknowledgements this research was supported by the 2021-22 fellowship of the coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure (cdri), application id 201104207. the authors would 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development pg. 47 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.867 research and application of climate-responsive design of traditional vernacular houses in chaoshan, china jinglei li1, zhaoji wu1, yufeng zhang1 1state key laboratory of subtropical building science, department of architecture, south china university of technology, guangzhou, china abstract chaoshan vernacular house is an important branch of lingnan traditional houses in south china, with a long architectural history and excellent climate responsiveness to the hot-humid climate. the modern rural houses learn the traditional experiences mainly in the form but fail to inherit the climate-responsive design and wisdom of the traditional houses. this study took the widely distributed xiashanhu houses in chaoshan as the object, generated 128 xishanhu parametric models by combinations of various parameters on design factors of building, opening, shading, construction, and street layout, and investigated the climate-responsive design techniques by using the parametric methods. the results show that the hall width, room width, cornice height, orientation, and wall construction are the key climate-responsive design factors oriented towards thermal performance of xiashanhu houses. the optimized designs are: the smaller hall width (4.05m，4.32m，4.59m), the smaller room width (2.7m，2.97m，3.24m), the larger cornice height (4.92m，5.1m), the orientation ranged from 30° north by west to 30° north by east, and the brick and concrete wall. the rationality and validity were verified by applying the optimized climate-responsive designs to the re-construction of a new rural house. compared to the original case, the thermal performance is significantly improved by 5.18-9.98%. a detailed discussion was also provided on considering the actual situation and needs of the modern buildings in the process of "using the past for the present." this study is believed to provide valuable references for the research and modern applications of climate-responsive designs of traditional vernacular houses. it also contributes to the preservation of architectural and cultural regional characters and the inheritance of architectural climate responsiveness in contemporary times. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords traditional vernacular house; xiashanhu house; new rural house; parametric methods; climate-responsive design 1. introduction in the chaoshan region in south china, many traditional vernacular houses are widely distributed, and many projects are underway on the reconstruction or new construction of rural houses dominated by residents or the government. there is an urgent need to extract and apply the design strategies of traditional houses for contemporary projects. then we can preserve the architectural and cultural regional characters and inherit the excellent performances on architectural climate responsiveness. however, the related practices at present are mainly qualitative (imitating appearance and plan form or using materials and components) rather than quantitative ways. besides, the key design factors and techniques for maintaining the architectural performances are still not fully revealed. taking xiashanhu http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 houses, the most representative traditional vernacular houses in chaoshan, as the object, this study aimed to investigate the climate-responsive design techniques of traditional houses and to apply the techniques to the new rural houses. nomenclature ch cornice height eol eave oversailing length hd hall depth hlw horizontal lane width htc_r heat transfer coefficient of roof htc_w heat transfer coefficient of wall hw hall width ppd the percentage of dissatisfaction pd patio depth rw room width rdd recessed door depth sar_w solar-radiation-absorption ratio of wall sc the sensitivity coefficient sl shading length sw street width tii_r thermal inertia index of roof tii_w thermal inertia index of wall tpr thermal comfort period ratio vlf_w visible light reflectance of wall vlw vertical lane width wwr window-to-wall ratio 1.1. site and climate lingnan traditional houses, mainly including guangfu, kejia, and chaoshan vernacular houses, are located in the hothumid area in south china. the hot-humid area is classified into the humid subtropical climate regions (cfa/cwa) in the köppen-geiger climatic map (beck, h. et al., 2018), as shown in figure 1. taking shantou city, where xiashanhu houses are mainly distributed, as an example, the local climate was analyzed as follows. li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 figure. 1 the present-day map (1980–2016) of köppen-geiger climate classification shantou is located at 116.4° east longitude and 23.21° north latitude, with an altitude of about 587m above sea level. the climate data of shantou were obtained from (china meteorological data network, 2020), which covered the climatological period from 1981–2010, as shown in table 1. the summer (june to august) is hot and humid, with temperatures around 27.5-29.1°c and relative humidities around 78-82%. the winter (december to february) is temperate, with temperatures around 14.7-16.6°c and relative humidities around 70-76%. the sunshine hours are long, and the rainfall is abundant in summer in shantou. table 1 average climate data in shantou from 1981 to 2010 month jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec mean temperature (°c) 14.7 15.8 17.8 21.6 25.2 27.5 29.1 28.9 27.9 25.1 20.8 16.6 max. temperature (°c) 19.0 20.0 21.9 25.4 28.7 30.8 32.8 32.4 31.6 28.7 24.9 20.9 min. temperature (°c) 11.7 13.0 14.9 18.9 22.6 25.1 26.4 26.1 25.1 22.0 17.3 13.2 rainfall amount (mm) 28.0 68.3 103.6 171.9 207.7 273.1 225.2 280.5 162.9 31.4 32.1 33.2 rainfall days (≥0.1mm) 7.2 10.8 12.7 13.3 15.3 17.1 13.4 13.7 9.9 5.2 4.8 5.2 mean relative humidity (%) 73 76 75 77 78 82 78 79 75 69 71 70 sunshine hours (h) 143.2 96.0 101.7 112.8 134.7 170.9 239.7 218.6 200.7 207.6 181.2 171.5 li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 besides, givoni's bioclimatic chart in shantou (b. givoni. man, 1969) was plotted using climate consultant 6.0 and photoshop as figure 2 shows. the comfort zones are centralized in transition seasons and winter, indicating that summer is the significant period for thermal performance improvement. by using different design strategies, thermal comfort performance can be improved to some extent in different seasons. in winter, moderate internal heat gain (such as lights, people, and equipment) can maintain indoor thermal comfort. in summer, both sun shading (preventing solar radiation) and natural ventilation (taking away the heat) can contribute to indoor thermal comfort. besides, even though active dehumidification and cooling are also effective, there are no discussions about them because the passive ways are focused on in this study. some strategies are not plotted in the figure on account of lower effects, i.e., high thermal mass and heating. figure. 2 the bioclimatic chart of shantou 1.2. climate-responsive design of lingnan traditional houses there are many practices of lingnan traditional houses in responsive to the hot-humid climate, such as small or no windows, plan form with patio, and compact street layout et al. xiashanhu houses are the most representative chaoshan houses. its layout is similar to that of lingnan traditional houses, i.e., patio, kitchen and storage rooms in the front, hall and bedrooms in the back, and single-storey (lu and wei, 1990; lu, 2008), as shown in figure 3. xiashanhu houses were chosen as the research object in this study as: they were widely promoted due to their economic and technical benefits, especially in modern times, and widely distributed now in many traditional villages with the comb layout (chen, 2014); the layout of contemporary rural houses follows that of xiashanhu houses, i.e., hall and patio in th e middle, and bedrooms and other rooms on both sides (jin, 2014). figure. 3 the typical plans of xiashanhu houses li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 51 many studies investigated the climate-responsive design of lingnan traditional houses based on field observations or measurements. for instance, chen (chen, 1965) pointed out that the layout with patio was important for the traditional houses in aspects of natural cooling and indoor thermal comfort in summer. li (li, 1993) conducted a field study on the qing dynasty houses in foshan. he found that both the street layout and construction techniques contributed to the decrease and stability of the indoor temperature and the good natural ventilation. the studies (zeng et al., 2009; pan and gao, 2010) confirmed the good thermal performances of lingnan traditional houses by testing indoor temperature, humidity, and wind speed. by using pmv, they also confirmed good human thermal comfort in vernacular houses. simulation tools were adopted in some studies as well. for instance, ma (ma, 2011) used fluent to study the natural ventilation in chen clan temple. li (li, 2013) adopted envi-met and energyplus to study the pearl river delta villages, focusing on both outdoor and indoor thermal environments. it can be learned from the previous studies that thermal performance is important for understanding the climate-responsive design of lingnan traditional houses. meanwhile, the design factors influencing thermal performance include the parameters of the building, opening, shading, construction, and street layout. furthermore, only a case or small cases are focused on in the majority of previous studies. the key design factors determining the climate responsiveness of traditional houses are still not fully understood, even in the studies with cases in a large sample like (hui, 2016). 1.3. design guidances on new rural houses some guidelines and studies offered design guidances on the new rural houses in guangdong, china. a document recently issued by the local government (guangdong provincial department of housing and urban-rural development, 2021) stated that the new rural houses in chaoshan should fully consider the current situation of residential land and absorb the architectural elements of traditional houses. jin (jin et al., 2014) suggested retaining patios in the new rural houses as the semi-open spaces (patio and open hall) were effective for the traditional houses to adapt to the hot-humid climate. she also suggested organizing better natural ventilation by breaking the custom of not opening windows in the north. chen (chen, 2014) found that the traditional lane widths of 4m/2m (horizontal/vertical) improved the ventilation at the entrance, patio, and hall of traditional houses. based on the findings, he suggested the horizontal lane width of 6m in the new villages, together with the well-designed openings’ location and size in the new houses. jin (jin, 2014) recommended using louvered roof shadings for the new low-rise rural houses with patios and optimizing wall and roof materials to improve the indoor thermal comfort. yu (yu, 2011) applied his research result of the optimal patio height-to-width ratio (3:1-5:1) for the traditional houses to the design of a three-storey rural house, which resulted in a good performance. in summary, it can be known that the current design guidances on new rural houses in chaoshan are qualitative rather than quantitative: for the reconstructions, the guidances are mainly focused on materials, appearance, and traditional components (gables, courtyard walls, window panes); for the new constructions, the guidances are mainly focused on the inheritance of traditional elements, enclosed plan, and functional zoning. the qualitative guidances have some disadvantages. one is that the dimension rules and design strategies contained in the vernacular houses can not be completely followed, resulting in building performances being not guaranteed. the other is that even for the partial imitations, the operations are always arbitrary. 1.4. applying parametric methods to climate-responsive design of traditional houses the parametric methods had been widely applied in the performance-oriented modern architectural design. based on the genetic algorithm, tuhus-dubrow (tuhus-dubrow and krarti, 2010) optimized building form and wall-and-roof construction dimensions to reduce building energy consumption. based on energyplus and jeplus, delgarm (delgarm et al., 2016) optimized building orientation, dimensions of windows and shadings, and construction materials (heat transfer coefficient) to cut down the energy consumption. using grasshopper, ladybug, and honeybee, zhang et al. (zhang et al., 2017) optimized building orientation, depth of rooms and corridors, and wwr to improve energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and daylight. li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 in recent years, they were also applied in the traditional houses’ studies. for instance, wang et al. (wang and liu, 2002) investigated the effects of design factors and determined the key design parameters for the cave thermal environment by introducing the parametric design method. in a historical building in italy, roberti et al. (roberti et al., 2017) assessed the airtightness of doors and windows and ventilation performance, and proposed reconstruction schemes oriented towards cooling/heating loads and thermal comfort by using the parametric method. based on the grasshopper and plug-ins, zhu et al. (zhu et al., 2020) optimized the energy consumption, daylight factor, and predicted percentage dissatisfied (ppd), considering the plane layout, air conditioner setting temperature, and building shape and façade. it can be summarized from the above literature review that: only a case or cases in a small sample are focused in the majority of previous studies, and the key design factors determining the climate responsiveness of traditional houses are still not fully understood. the current design guidances on new rural houses are qualitative rather than quantitative. the parametric methods have unique advantages in generating large sample cases, studying the impact of multiple design parameters on various performances, and guiding the optimal design schemes. this study aims to study and apply the climate-responsive design of xiashanhu houses in chaoshan, china. the specific goals are as follows: (i) to investigate the basic design factors and to generate the parametric models in a large sample; (ii) to screen the key climate-responsive design factors oriented towards thermal performance; (iii) to determine the solution set of key design factors by objective optimization; and (iv) to verify the rationality and validity by applying the climate-responsive design of the traditional houses to a new rural house. this study will provide valuable references for the research and modern applications of the climate-responsive design of traditional vernacular houses. 2. methods a parametric platform was established for this study using the rhinoceros & grasshopper software and the referred plug-ins. the platform consisted of three modules: the parametric modeling module, the building performance calculation module, and the sensitivity test and optimization module. figure. 4 a xiashanhu parametric model (target building in red and surrounding buildings in gray) li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 53 2.1. parametric modelling the parametric modeling module generated the xiashanhu parametric models according to the design parameters of xiashanhu houses (see figure 4), with the generation order of single building, opening and shading, constructions, and street layout. the parameter values and the abstract plan are summarized as follows. the abstract plan for the xiashanhu parametric models (fig. 5) was obtained from the typical traditional plans (fig. 3) that slightly modified in the frontage door according to the common situations of contemporary rural houses. figure. 5 the abstract plan of xiashanhu parametric models the building parameters included the values of width, depth, and height for the spaces of the hall, room, side room, and patio (figs. 6, 7), and the data for xiashanhu houses were obtained from the refs. (lu&wei, 1990; lu, 2008), including both the interval and range as shown in table 2. figure. 6 the width and depth of xiashanhu houses(a1: hw, a2: rw, b1: hd, b2: pd, b3: rrd) li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 figure. 7 the height of xiashanhu houses (h: ch) table 2. the building parameters of xiashanhu houses (mm) parameter hall room side room patio width interval 270 270 =rw =hw range 4050-5670 2700-4320 depth interval 540 =hd =pd+rrd 2700 range 4340-7040 4050-6750 ch interval 180 =ch of hall =ch of hall =ch of hall range 2760-5100 slope value 25° the opening parameters were determined according to (lu&wei, 1990; lu, 2008; chen, 1963; gao, 2007; zeng, 2010; cheng, 2013; tang, 1996; tang, 2001) as shown in figure 8, with the wwr range and interval of 0.02-0.1 and 0.02. the opening shading parameters were obtained from (lu, 2005; zhang, 2015; qiu, 2017) as shown in figure 9, with the rrd range and interval of 340-1960mm and 180mm. the gable wall is a representative design of lingnan traditional houses, and the gable wall shading parameters of xiashanhu houses are shown in figure 10, with the range and interval of 310-1390mm and 180mm for the eave oversailing length (lu&wei, 1990; lu, 2008). figure. 8 the opening shading parameters of xiashanhu houses (unit: mm) li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 55 figure. 9 the gable wall shading parameters of xiashanhu houses the constructions of wall, roof, windows, and floor were determined for xiashanhu houses, referring to (tang, 2005) for the details. xiashanhu houses are in a low-density community layout, with the range and interval of 1100-2900mm and 300mm for the vertical lane width, and 0-1800mm and 300mm for the horizontal lane width (lu&wei, 1990; lu, 2008; chen, 2014; hui, 2016; qi, 2013). 2.2. thermal performance evaluation the building performance calculation module evaluated the thermal performances of all xiashanhu parametric models by using the ladybug plug-in to call simulation software of energyplus. as stated in the introduction, thermal performance is important for understanding the climate-responsive design of lingnan traditional houses. we adopted a thermal comfort index reflecting the integrated thermal impacts of temperature, radiation, wind speed, and humidity on inhabitants to evaluate the thermal performance of xiashanhu houses. based on a recent study in the hot-humid area of china combining climate chamber experiments and field surveys (zhang, 2018), a modified pmv-ppd model was used for the thermal comfort calculation of local people. the percentage of dissatisfaction (ppd) was calculated by (fanger, 1970) together with the modified equation by (zhang, 2018). for the calculation, the metabolic ratio and clothing insulation by (zhang, 2018) were used as tables 3-4 show, the indoor air and radiant temperatures and humidity were obtained by the building performance calculation module, and the indoor wind speed was estimated as the opening wind speed converted from the inflow air volume through low openings. table 3. the metabolic rate for thermal comfort calculation space main activities metabolic rate (met) hall sitting 1.0 room sleeping 0.7 patio standing 1.2 side room working (such as cooking) 2.0 li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 table 4. the clothing insulation for thermal comfort calculation space summer (apr 24 to nov 20) non-summer (nov 21 to apr 23) indoor spaces (room and side room) 0.30 clo 𝐼𝑐𝑙 = −0.040𝑡𝑜 + 1.517 semi-open spaces (patio and hall) 0.29 clo 𝐼𝑐𝑙 = −0.026𝑡𝑜 + 1.193 the ppd that no more than 20% was identified as comfortable, and the tpr was calculated by: 𝑇𝑃𝑅 = ∑ (𝑇𝑃𝑖/𝑡𝑖) 𝑁 𝑖=1 𝑁 × 100% (1) where tpi is the annual thermal-comfort hours of the i-th space; ti is the annual usage hours of the i-th space; n is the number of spaces in a house. for the indoor thermal environment simulation, the personnel density and per-capita calorific values were determined according to function and people’s activities in the space (table 5), the thermal disturbance values were all set to 0, and the hourly in-room ratios of people were estimated by the modern people’ timetable as follows: hall: 100% for 9:00-13:00 and 14:00-22:00, and 0 for the rest; room: 100% for 23:00-8:00, and 0 for the rest; patio: 50% for 9:00-13:00 and 14:00-22:00, and 0 for the rest. side room: 100% for 8:00-9:00, 11:00-13:00, and 18:00-20:00, and 0 for the rest. table 5. the personnel density and per-capita calorific values space hall room patio side room personnel density (people) 3 2 3 1 per-capita calorific value /w 108 72 126 207 2.3. sensitivity analysis and objective optimization the sensitivity test module tested the sensitivities of various design factors and screened out the key climateresponsive design factors based on the thermal performances of all xiashanhu parametric models. the local sensitivity analysis method was used, with the sensitivity coefficient calculated by equation (2) (lam and hui, 1996). the top five design factors in the ranking of sensitivity coefficient were identified as the key design factors and entered the objective optimization with the other factors maintaining constants. the objective optimization module determined the optimized designs among all xiashanhu parametric models oriented thermal performance by linking the calculation software and galapagos plug-in. the parameters set for the objective optimization were referred to (shen, 2012), as table 6 shows. we took the first 5% of the designs when the thermal performance indices were optimal as the optimized solutions. the optimized values of key design parameters that occurred most often in the optimized designs were determined as the optimal design to be applied in the new rural house (referring to section 3.2). table 6. the parameters for objective optimization parameter max. stagnant population initial boost maintain inbreeding value 20-50 50 2 5% 75% li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 𝑆𝐶 = ( ∆𝑂𝑃 ∆𝐼𝑃 ) ÷ ( 𝑂𝑃 𝐼𝑃 ) (2) where sc is the sensitivity coefficient; ip is the independent variable; op is the dependent variable. 2.4. application in a new rural house a modern chaoshan rural house in shantou was selected as the application case. the case is representative in the area, with the plan following xiashanhu houses and in a low-density village layout. the general plan, actual and interior photos, and plan dimensions are shown in figures. 11-13, and the design factors are listed in table 9 for the application case. figure. 10 the target village in shantou, china, captured from google earth (the target house in red) figure. 11 the actual and interior photos of the application case (chen, 2014) li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 58 figure. 12 the plane dimensions of the application case the reconstruction schemes were generated for the application case using the key design parameter values of the optimal designs. the first set of schemes were achieved by optimizing the key climate-responsive design factors (referring to section 3.1) one by one, and the last scheme was achieved by simultaneously optimizing all the key design factors. the new schemes are different from the original case only in the key design factors, and these various reconstruction schemes were proposed to adapt to the diversified situations in practice. lastly, the difference ratio was used to describe the performance improvement by optimization by equation (3). 𝑃 = 𝐴 − 𝐵 𝐵 × 100% (3) where p is the difference ratio; a is the performance index of the new case; b is the performance index of the original case. 3. results 3.1. key climate-responsive design factors totally 128 xiashanhu parametric models were generated by combinations of the various design parameters in section 2.2. based on the thermal comfort index calculation, the sensitivity coefficients of each design factor to the thermal performance of xiashanhu houses were obtained in figure. 14. since the parameters of tii_w, sar_w, and htc_w were all for wall construction, the five factors of ch, hw, orientation, rw, and wall construction that had the bigger sensitivity coefficients were identified as key climate-responsive design factors for xiashanhu houses. li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 59 figure. 13 the sensitivity coefficients of design factors for xiashanhu houses 3.2. optimized climate-responsive designs the 76 optimized climate-responsive designs were obtained by objective optimization for xiashanhu houses. the optimized results are shown in table 7, with all design parameter values listed on the right column, the optimized values marked in grey, and the optimized values that are most common in practices in the box. table 7 the parameters for optimized climate-responsive designs key design factor all and optimized values hw/m 4.05 4.32 4.59 4.86 5.13 5.4 5.67 rw/m 2.7 2.97 3.24 3.51 3.78 4.05 4.32 ch/m 2.76 2.94 3.12 3.3 3.48 3.66 3.84 4.02 4.2 4.38 4.56 4.74 4.92 5.1 orientation/° 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180 195 210 225 240 255 270 285 300 315 330 345 wall construction rammed earth wall adobe wall brick and concrete wall solid-brick wall double-brick wall triple-brick wall it can be known that the optimized values of hw and rw were the smaller ones, the optimized values of ch were the larger ones, the optimized orientation was from 30°nw to 30°ne (150°-210° in table 6), and the optimized walls were brick and concrete walls. the optimized values that occurred most often in the optimized climate-responsive designs were determined as the optimal design (table 8). li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 table 8. the parameters for the optimal climate-responsive design key design factor optimal values frequency hw/m 4.05 47/76 rw/m 2.7 38/76 ch/m 5.1 49/76 orientation/° 180 21/76 wall construction brick and concrete wall 71/76 3.3. reconstruction schemes of new rural house the six construction schemes of the new rural house were generated using the optimal climate-responsive design of xiashanhu houses, which design parameters are shown in table 8 together with those of the original case. the new schemes are different from the original case only in the key design factors, as shown in grey in table 9. table 9. the design parameters of new rural house for original and new schemes design factor original case scheme 1 scheme 2 scheme 3 scheme 4 scheme 5 scheme 6 hw/m 5 4.05 5 5 5 5 4.05 rw/m 3.8 3.8 2.7 3.8 3.8 3.8 2.7 ch/m 3.6 3.6 3.6 5.1 3.6 3.6 5.1 hd/m 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 pd/m 6.27 6.27 6.27 6.27 6.27 6.27 6.27 rrd/m 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 eol/m 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 wwr/m 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 sl/m 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 vlw/m 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 hlw/m 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 orientation/° 30 30 30 30 180 30 180 wall construction solid-brick wall solid-brick wall solidbrick wall solidbrick wall solidbrick wall brick&con crete wall brick&con crete wall roof construction tripling tiles tripling tiles tripling tiles tripling tiles tripling tiles tripling tiles tripling tiles li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 3.4. performance of optimized designs and reconstruction schemes the thermal performances of the original rural house and the reconstruction schemes are shown in table 10, confirming the validity of the reconstruction designs with the different ratios of 5.18-9.98%. furthermore, the design factors ranked in the aspect of performance improvement by ch, orientation, hw, wall construction, and rw, and the improvement of multi-factor reconstruction scheme was greater than that of single-factor. table 10. the tprs of the existing rural house and new schemes original case scheme 1 scheme 2 scheme 3 scheme 4 scheme 5 scheme 6 tpr 54.1 57.1 56.9 58.2 57.4 57.1 59.5 the different ratio/% 5.55 5.18 7.58 6.10 5..55 9.98 the rationality and validity of the optimized designs of xiashanhu houses and the reconstruction schemes of the new rural house were further analyzed by following the building physics and climate-responsive design principles. according to section 1.1, xiashanhu houses generally have good thermal performance in the transition seasons and winter, indicating that the summer is the time of concern for the thermal performance improvement of the houses. besides, during the summer daytime, the thermal performance of xiashanhu houses is mainly influenced by indoor radiation, opaque envelope radiation, and natural ventilation. the indoor radiation enters the room through windows and patio openings, the opaque envelope radiation is controlled by the area of the opaque envelope and building orientation, and the natural ventilation is mainly affected by the orientation and opening area. the hw affects the patio opening area and the corresponding opaque envelope area. smaller hw values were shown in the optimized designs of xiashanhu houses and in the reconstruction scheme 1 of the rural house. a better thermal performance was achieved by a smaller hw due to the less indoor solar radiation from the smaller patio opening area and the opaque envelope radiation from the smaller opaque envelope area, which had a similar principle with the sun shading strategy in figure. 2. similarly, a better thermal performance was achieved by a smaller rw due to the smaller areas of the relevant opening and opaque envelope. the ch affects the opening area as well as the shading from surrounding buildings. the larger ch value was chosen in the reconstruction scheme 3 of the rural house. a larger ch produces greater indoor radiation through a larger opening while providing more shadings from surrounding buildings. the two aspects have opposite effects on thermal performance. the optimized designs of xiashanhu houses are focused on the larger ch values, indicating that the positive effect of strengthening shadings is stronger than the negative effect of increasing opening area, which supports the rationality of the reconstruction scheme 3 as well. the orientation affects the received solar radiation and natural ventilation. compared with the orientation distribution of total solar radiation (fig. 15), it can be found that the orientations in the optimized designs and the reconstruction schemes fall well within the range of lower solar radiation, resulting in less solar radiation and better thermal performance. this demonstrated the significance of lower solar radiation in summer as figure. 14. figure. 14 the orientation distribution of total solar radiation li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 62 two thermal properties of wall construction, i.e., heat transfer coefficient and thermal inertia index, affect the thermal performance of buildings. the heat dissipation can be improved by a larger heat transfer coefficient and a smaller thermal inertia index, i.e., a smaller ratio of thermal inertia index to heat transfer coefficient (d/k), and the opposite is true for heat insulation. the thermal properties of the six wall constructions in xiashanhu houses are listed in table 11. the d/k values of the optimized designs are in the middle, indicating that the good thermal performance of xiashanhu houses can be achieved by balancing heat insulation and dissipation. this is consistent with the hot-humid climate characteristic of intense solar radiation in the daytime and low air temperature at night in summer, as well as the building heat transfer feature of heat insulation (heat transfer from outside to inside) in the daytime and heat dissipation (heat transfer from inside to outside) at night. this is also consistent with the low effects of high thermal mass strategy in figure. 2. the optimized d/k values of the wall were therefore determined to be in the range of 2-3 for xiashanhu houses, and that of the reconstruction scheme 5 fell well in this range. table 11. the thermal properties of wall constructions in xiashanhu houses wall constructions heat transfer coefficient k(w/(m2·k)) thermal inertia index d d/k double-brick wall 1.65 2.98 1.8 solid-brick wall 1.77 3.62 2.0 rammed earth wall 1.82 4.44 2.4 brick and concrete wall 1.74 4.78 2.7 adobe wall 1.27 5.17 4.1 triple-brick wall 0.96 4.67 4.9 it can be seen from the above analysis that the reconstruction schemes 1-5 can improve the thermal performance of the rural house through five key design factors respectively. although the action paths are quite similar, the effects of the five design factors are superimposed rather than offset each other, resulting in a greater improvement by multifactor reconstruction scheme than that of single-factor. 4. discussion taking the widely distributed xiashanhu houses as the object, this study discovered the climate-responsive design of chaoshan vernacular houses oriented towards thermal performance, and verified the rationality and validity by applying the design to a new rural house. in such a process of 'using the past for the present,' the actual situation and needs of the modern buildings should be fully considered and met to ensure usability and effectiveness. jia (jia, 2012) pointed out that the height of chaoshan vernacular houses was mostly 5m. in this study, larger ch values are shown in the optimized designs of xiashanhu houses (4.74m, 4.92m, and 5.1m), which are consistent with the majority of traditional ones. nevertheless, the results could not be suitable for all new rural houses as the traditional houses are mostly single-storey while the new houses can be multi-storey. the optimized climateresponsive designs for multi-storey houses should be further studied by taking into account the essential difference between multiand single-storey houses as well as the current limitations on building height (organized by the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, prc, 2014) and construction cost. the optimized values of hw (i.e., the patio width) for xiashanhu houses are 4.05m, 4.32m, and 4.59m in this study, corresponding to the patio height-to-width of 1:1. however, yu (yu, 2011) suggested the patio height-to-width of 3:1-5:1 as beneficial for modern buildings' solar radiation protection and ventilation. the main difference is that the former is for the single-storey houses while the latter is for the multi-storey ones. besides, dali et al. (dali et al., 2011) found that in semi-open areas of traditional buildings on the southwest coast of india, mrt was lower than the bedroom (about 1°c). it shows that the semi-open space has better performance than other areas. li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 hw and rw are closely related to the occupant's space usages. the current standard (organized by the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, prc, 2014) requires the double bedroom not less than 9m2, the living room not less than 10m2, and the straight length of the living room wall greater than 3m. accordingly, the optimized smaller values of hw and rw (hw: 4.05m, 4.32m, 4.59m; rw: 2.7m, 2.97m, 3.24m) in this study meet the usage requirements. the optimized orientation is from 30° north by west to 30° north by east for xiashanhu houses, and in an actual modern project, the orientation should be flexibly selected and adjusted considering both the topography and planning scheme. the wall construction is one of the key climate-responsive design factors of xiashanhu houses, with the rammed earth wall and brick and concrete wall as the optimal. for the modern rural houses, the latter construction is superior to the former from aspects of cost, environmental protection, and thermal performance. jin (jin, 2014) suggested optimizing the wall and roof constructions simultaneously for better building thermal performance. in this study, the roof construction is not screened as the key factor to participate in the optimization due to the very few and lowperformance roof constructions used in the traditional houses. more high-performance roof and wall constructions emerging in modern rural houses should be covered in future studies. chen (chen, 2014) pointed out that the street width affected both the indoor and outdoor ventilations of chaoshan vernacular houses, with the greater impact of hlw on the entrance wind speed than that of vlw. this is quite different from the present study, showing that the factors of hlw and vlw have only a few effects and the effect of vlw is slightly greater than that of hlw. this is because the ventilation and wind speed are focused on in the previous study, while the thermal performance that includes temperature, humidity, radiation, and wind speed is the focus of this study. the effect of solar radiation on the thermal performance of traditional houses is stronger than that of natural ventilation, as section 3.4 shows. the present study shows that wwr only has few impacts on thermal performance, and the small windows widely existed in traditional houses is the main reason. chen (chen, 2014) confirmed that both the location and size of windows affected the indoor ventilation. furthermore, jin (jin, 2014) found that in the low-rise rural houses with patios, the usage of roof louvered shadings was superior to the traditional façade shadings in thermal performance. the location of openings and the new shadings should be considered together with the wwr design in subsequent studies. to point out, at this time, it is confirmed that the present study can be applied to the rural houses in chaoshan region of china, with a similar plan following xiashanhu houses and in a low-density village layout. and based on the detailed identifications of climate-responsive performance in section 3.4, the application range can be further extended to the ones in the whole hot-humid climate area of china. on the other side, as a general method of learning the wisdom of traditional houses designs and applying to modern buildings by using the parametric method, the present study can be applied much more widely to various climates and regions. 5. conclusions this study took xiashanhu houses as the object and investigated their climate-responsive design factors in five aspects of building, opening, shading, construction, and street layout. totally 128 xishanhu parametric models were generated by combinations of various design parameters. five key climate-responsive design factors were identified based on a-year-round thermal performance evaluation, and 76 optimized climate-responsive designs were obtained by optimization. the optimized designs of xiashanhu houses were applied to the re-construction of a new rural house to verify rationality and validity. the main conclusions are as follows. to improve the thermal performance of xiashanhu houses, the summer daytime is the time of concern. the incident solar radiation, opaque envelope radiation, and ventilation are the main paths. the hall width, room width, cornice height, orientation, and wall construction are the key climate-responsive design factors. the optimized climate-responsive designs oriented towards the thermal performance of xiashanhu houses are: the smaller hall width (4.05m，4.32m，4.59m), the smaller room width (2.7m，2.97m，3.24m), the larger cornice li / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 height (4.92m，5.1m), the orientation ranged from 30° north by west to 30° north by east, and the brick and concrete wall. the rationality and validity of the optimized climate-responsive designs of xiashanhu houses were verified by applying the optimized designs to the re-construction of a new rural house and achieving significantly improved thermal performance by 5.18-9.98% compared to the original case. the actual situation and needs of the modern buildings need to be fully considered and met to ensure the usability and effectiveness of 'using the past for the present', and this study makes a detailed discussion on the case of chaoshan houses. this study is believed to provide valuable references for the research and modern applications of climate-responsive designs of traditional vernacular houses. acknowledgement this work was supported by the provincial science and technology plan projects in guangdong province “guangdong housing and urban-rural construction science and technology collaborative innovation 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(2014). residential design standards. china architecture & building press. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 research paper received: 6 december 2023, accepted: 12 june 2023, published online: 30 june 2023 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.933 whose carbon capture? a bit of good news michael shafer founder and director of warm heart foundation, a.phrao, c.chiang mai, thailand abstract global policy, policymakers and government representatives in the oecd countries routinely ignore the potential role to be played by carbon sequestration from crop waste biochar made by poor smallholders in t he developing world. this paper argues that this is a mistake and makes the case for the design, development, and distribution of low-cost, low-tech biochar making equipment to the world’s poorest farmers living on small farms and possessing only widely and thinly spread biomass resources on rough terrain. it argues that paying attention to the crop wastes of poor farmers can reduce ghg and pm2.5 emissions considerably and contends that the private motivations that underpin this approach can replace the talk of large-scale social behaviour change with a self-replicating system built on farmers’ envy. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords biochar; climate change; developing world; low-tech; low-cost; solution 1. introduction “whose carbon capture?” is not an idle question. the national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine (usa) call for us to remove 10 gigatons per year of co2 equivalent annually until 2050. (national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine (usa): accessed 10/12/2022) a recent internet ad for a direct air capture complex (the coolest and best funded stuff around) suggested that the facility (the largest in the world) would be able to remove 0.5 gigatons annually by that time. not a big piece of the pie. “so, why worry? “we” all ask? “we” defined here as those developing low tech, distributed biochar systems and applying the ebc artisan farmer accreditation system. we think that we are making great strides; the question is, therefore, “just who is working on this carbon capture, for whom, and to what end?” 2. what is the problem? as normally understood in the biochar world (indeed, most places), “we” are those in the west, north, oecd, or whatever countries. here is the problem. today’s world population is 8 billion, but “we” are less than 15 percent of it, and by 2050, “we” will be less than 12 percent. (worldometers: accessed 10/7/2022) what of the “rest” who are currently 85.7 percent of the world’s population and by 2050 will be 88.3 percent? just what claim do “we” have on decarbonizing the atmosphere? what are “we” decarbonizing for, for whom, and how? if we use unfccc agreements as the benchmark, then the 1997/2005 (passed/ratified) kyoto agreement marked the beginning of a degree of western climate awareness and willingness to engage in climate change. kyoto, however, used a carbon emissions trading system that regularly amounted to little more than accounting trickery and allowed (according to some, caused) global atmospheric carbon (yes, much from developed countries) to rise dramatically. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ shafer/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 (napoli, c.: accessed= 10/12/2022) the idea, however, was that since “we” made the problem, “we” should be responsible for fixing it. while “we” may indeed have once caused most of the problem, by 2005, this was clearly no longer the case, as demonstrated by china’s and india’s co2e contributions to global emissions being ranked one and two on the great tally board. what to do? the 2015 paris accords tried to target carbon removal, and this made considerably more sense than the old kyoto system. unfortunately, it did nothing to solve the underlying political problem, i.e., that neither china nor india wanted to play, that donald trump would pull the usa out of paris, and that the saudis and russians have no interest in reducing fossil fuel use. in other words, international diplomacy could not crack the “whose carbon capture?” problem, despite the big role in climate change gas (ghgs) emissions played, of ghg production by the rest and how (by whom) this is to be done. (the meltdown in madrid over who would pay how much for what made this clear to the world.) (hood, m.: accessed 10/12/2022) sharm el’sheikh did little to improve this picture. 3. what is to be done? how will we get around the dreams and egos of china’s, india’s, russia’s, and america’s rich and educated upper classes? how can we deal with the likely collective action failure of any large-scale behavioural change effort (e.g., everyone “ought” to go vegan)? should we just give it up today? 4. we should not quit. “we” should, instead, look to the “rest of the rest” to help with our planetary problem.” and who are these folks? they are the billions of poor people who have never had any say in making climate change policy. what is the alternative? even if you discount the importance of ghg-belching hand-me-down diesel lorries and buses and the emissions of hand-me-down factory and power generation equipment in the “developing” world, another key problem source lies right where the poor live: in the carbon-containing waste left in their fields to rot or be burned. if open field are burned, after all, crop waste around the world generates gigatons of ghgs and pm2.5. if allowed to rot, it is equally dangerous to the atmosphere, although not to our lungs. 5. squaring the circle what can the illiterate, isolated smallholder farmers of the rural developing world do? they can make biochar from their crop wastes using small-scale, highly distributed biochar-making “machines”i (and, with all due respect to statisticians, shafer’s “law of big numbers” is that anything times one billion is big! there are 525 million poor farms out there (84 percent of total farms). (world bank, accessed 10/12/2022) at a household size of a little less than 5, this means that there are 2.5 billion very poor people living on small holdings. (samberg et al.: accessed 10/12/2022). if only 250 million farmers made a single tonne of biochar (approximately 20 percent), they could sequester 0.5 gigatons of co2 right now for as little as $50-$75 per tonne, not the outrageous amounts now paid in the oecd countries to outfits such as direct air capture, inc..) (personal communication: carbon futures, 8.25.2022) why not use the big, high-tech machines used in the oecd? in part because they are too capital-intensive for an almost worthless feedstock and product. (here the problem is also that intense competition in oecd markets has elevated economies of scale in production to first place for business but also results in heavy regulation.) (personal communication, hans-pieter schmidt, ithaka institute, 8.25.2022) when considering much crop waste (cassava tops, cocoa pods, maize and millet stalks, rice straw, etc.), much is widely and thinly distributed across tough terrain and cannot be collected cost-effectively. distributing bigger, high-capacity pyrolyzers to each poor farmer or even farming community makes no sense. besides, bigger machines cost more money, quickly eliminating poor farmers from the game. faced with gigatons of crop waste burned every year (estimates range from 50 to 90 percent of total waste burned), generating gigatons of co2e, ch4, pm2.5, and so on, that would never be collected or charred, the questions are: “can small-scale, farm family sized pyrolizers work? can they make enough char of acceptable quality?”1 1 these questions are regularly asked at climate change and biocharist meetings. shafer/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 6. warm heart’s contribution at warm heart, where the problem presented itself initially in the form of choking smoke for three months of the year. we answered both questions in the affirmative. we spent 2016 to 2018 developing low-cost, minimal-tech family-sized machines. in part, this meant reducing the cost and construction complexity of building long-standing machine designs (reducing the jolly roger tlud (top-lit, up-draft) oven from three costly barrels to one, improving transportability, and limiting the materials and technical skills requirements). elsewhere, it required cutting the cost of materials, lowering the weight, and eliminating the need for a skilled welder that such machines as the kon-tiki demanded. having tested these simplified machines with local farmers and demonstrated the quality and quantity of biochar they could produce, warm heart moved on to larger-scale (greater numbers of uninvolved farmers) tests. we randomly selected a high-corn waste producing district where we were unknown and introduced ourselves. we formed a community advisory board (cab) with veto power over our work. the first cac immediately vetoed our plan, but with certain stipulations produced and agreed to a variation of it. we offered 2 baht (us$0.15) per 10-kilogram (kg) bag of char produced. the community made 15,000 bags before we had to call off the experiment because we had no more money. in keeping with our mission, warm heart’s initial idea was to create a self-sustaining (because profitable), selfreplicating village social enterprise that produced both biochar and value-added biochar products, paying farmers for the former and villagers for the latter. this proved to be impossible for many reasons. the level of internal division within the village dampened the idea of a village coop, while the lack of business skills left the farmers unable to imagine setting funds aside to cover operating costs at the start of the next year. no one wanted there to be any money left over that might be stolen by one or more members of the coop. the real problems, however, had to do wi th production. the equipment was too costly, the area lacked 3-phase power and, most importantly, we could find no local market for the value-added products. biochar-based fertilizer offered the highest margin, but was rejected by nearly everyone, largely because both the fertilizer and hybrid seed salesmen (who were the villagers’ most important source of new agricultural practices) and the government did not support the ideal. (actually, bangkok talked a lot about biochar at meetings, but discombobulated as the government is, it could not communicate this to the provinces where the local “maw diin,” literally “dirt doctors,” hold sway.) it took a while, but we eventually recognized that no one in the community felt that smoke mattered. it was simply there. (why should little old me try to do anything? this is “their” problem, whoever “they” are. let them stop the smoke.) likewise, potential buyers of smokeless biochar briquettes cared only about price and ignored what we at warm heart thought would be the key selling point: the fact that they did not smoke or cause health problems. our primary customers, large international hotel and resort chains, closed with the pandemic. we soon discovered that there was an excellent international market for biochar and biochar-based value-added products, but that in the international market, nothing mattered more than the certification of the biochar itself. 7. certification we immediately began investigating certification, but soon found that none of the existing international certificates applied to small farmers. instead, these systems (ibi, ebc, verra, and gold star) were all intended for use only in the oecd. although they were applied to all biochar inappropriately, unintentionally, and misleadingly, they were impossibly complex and costly for warm heart and for the hundreds of millions of farmers we hoped to represent. beginning in 2020, therefore, the warm heart foundation (which i lead) devoted itself to this problem. warm heart approached, in particular, the international biochar initiative (ibi) and the european biochar consortium (ebc) to argue that it made no sense to exclude the poor (who could benefit financially and agronomically from certification) when crop waste burning constituted such a large source of ghgs, pm2.5, rapidly rising healthcare costs, and total agricultural resources. luckily for me, key players in the international biochar world, notably tom miles, president of the ibi, kathleen draper; director of science at ibi and hans-pieter schmidt, founder of the ithaka institute and the most important voice inside ebc, also believed that the poor should be included. after two years of pushing, cajoling, and providing shafer/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 solutions (e.g., the use of blockchain technology and a cell phone-enabled app), the ebc finally published its “tropical farmer standards” (now the “artisanal farmer standards.”) on march 4, 2022, just six and a half months before the preparation of this article, the ebc and warm heart joined in an ibi-hosted webinar to announce that warm heart was the first organization in the world to be recognized as accredited to certify small farmers’ biochar as sequestering co2 and so deserving payment for carbon removal credits.2 we were immediately buried in requests from poor farmer organizations globally and were forced to stop accepting new applicants when our backlog reached 55. they remain on hold while we try to deal with really big organizations such as corus, with millions of farmers in their systems. the keys to all verification efforts for high-tech or low-tech biochar require proof that (1) the quantity and (2) quality of the biochar are as stated and that (3) production is not polluting. ebc’s own data indicated that the char quality is high and the amount of carbon (c) in biochar made from each different feedstock is x or y. warm heart developed a system for “weighing” biochar in the field, the cell-phone app (to verify appropriate production standards through gps and date-encoded photos and videos), and the case for using a blockchain (to ensure that records could not be changed). despite the development of such a system, as a small ngo, warm heart faced a major problem: how to verify what, exactly, the ever-growing number of farmers is doing? to deal with the problem, warm heart established biochar.life, pbc,3 to carry out large-scale production verification as well as sell carbon removal credits and pay individual farmers for the biochar they had certified. since march 4, 2022, biochar.life has paid poor farmers in kenya and malawi $56,000, $175 per participating farmer. owned by warm heart, we also hope that biochar.life will support us and our programs over the long term. if so, warm heart will become the only entirely independent ngo in thailand; that is, without international, religious, or royal patronage.) the great thing about the warm heart/biochar.life system is that it is entirely market based and requires no costly, foreign interventions to replicate. the first step of its operation provides participating farmers with a financial incentive to convert waste biomass to biochar. the second step, available after participation, involves the farmers’ soil improvement, better water retention, and higher yields from the use of biochar in their fields. with this system, we did not have to convince anyone of anything. those (generally, the poorest of the poor, single women heads of households) participating make money immediately and see continuing rising returns with use. sooner rather than later, those who chose not to participate at the start, look at participants’ greater incomes and ask to join as well. the individuals in both groups make private decisions to participate based on their own calculation of what is best for them. given existing disparities, the program may actually increase local inequality, but it raises the floor for the poorest. 8. conclusion it is surely inadvisable to ignore the very poor, who constitute a huge portion of the world’s population, or to consider only high-volume, high-tech, centralized equipment when seeking to reduce global ghg and pm2.5 emissions. to sequester co2 and improve the quality of life of the poor, it is essential to stop the open-field burning of crop waste. rather than posing this as something that “ought” to be done (by whom? says who?), warm heart’s system involves abandoning efforts to affect large-scale social change. (this is simply a reality check. if all change depends on costly outside help, there is not enough money to help all these farmers. as a result, big efforts often create a “swiss cheese” effect with lots of “holes” in development and little in between.) as it costs very little, is profitable, and grows on its own, the warm heart system provides the model for a self-replicating, self-sustaining system in which the incentives are private (the acquisition of money and improved agricultural performance) and not simply changed relative prices 2 since we were accredited, similar systems have been published, notably by the verra institute. shafer/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 as a result of inflows of outside money or the exhortations of ngo staff about climate change and the health consequences of breathing a lot of smoke. what is required? the literature is very thin, and considerable research is needed. specifically, it is necessary to study the actual sequestration of co2 by biochar and that sequestration’s durability. likewise, little is known about the value of biochar-based fertilizers in different soils and under different conditions. these suggestions, especially the second, pose uncommon research demands on scientists since this work cannot be conducted in the laboratory. such lab results will then need to be fitted into an economist’s model to understand their implications for smallholder farmers. acknowledgements the author wishes to acknowledge hans-pieter schmidt, kathleen draper, tom miles, and warm heart biochar and biochar.life teams in africa, singapore, thailand, and the us. funding declaration: this research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors/individuals. ethics approval: not applicable. conflict of interest: not applicable. references https://www.biochar.life (website, press release and power point) carbon engineering, https(://carbonengineering.com/our-technology/ ebc, https://www.european-biochar.org/en no author given. https://www.embroker.com/blog/startupstatistics/#:~:text=about%2090%25%20of%20startups%20fail.&text=10%25%20of%20startups%20fail%20within%20the%20first%20yea r.&text=across%20all%20industries%2c%20startup%20failure,be%20close%20to%20the%20same.&text=failure%20is%20most%20com mon%20for,70%25%20falling%20into%20this%20category. gibbs et al. (6.10.2022) “now the ipcc has recognized that carbon removals are critical to addressing climate change, it’s time to act.” mckinsey sustainability. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/sustainability-blog/now-the-ipcc-has-recognized-thatcarbon-removals-are-critical-to-addressing-climate-change-its-time-to-act.2022. https://www.goldstar.org herren et al., effects of synthetic fertilizer and farm compost on soil nematode community in long-term crop rotation plots: a morphological and metabarcoding approach. plos one. 2020 mar 17;15(3):e0230153. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230153. pmid: 32182269; pmcid: pmc7077811 houser, k. (2022) “the future of meat is sustainable — and a little weird.” freethink*. july 30, 2022. jeffrey et al., (2015) the way forward in biochar research: targeting trade-offs between the potential wins.” https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12132 lehmann, johannes and stephan joseph, biochar for environmental management: science,technology and implementation, 2 nd edition, routledge, 2015. marion, j. yale program on climate change communication. (2021). “explore climate change in the american mind, beliefs and at titudes https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/, 2021 r. l. mulvaney,* et al., “synthetic nitrogen fertilizers deplete soil nitrogen: a global dilemma for sustainable cereal production.” m. hood, “why cop25 failed. phys.org, news (https://phys.org/news/2019-12-cop25-climate.html, accessed 10.12.2022) national academies of sciences, engineering and medicine (usa) (cited in environmental defense fund,https://www.edf.org/article/carboncapture-fight-climate-change-stop-climate-pollution, accessed 10.12.2022. napoli, c. sais review of international affairs, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/493430/pdf, accessed 10.12.2022) our world in data (2022) “smallholders produce one-third of the world’s food, less than half of what many headlines claim”. https://ourworldindata.org/smallholder-food-production. d. sanberg et al., “subnational distribution of average farm size and smallholder contributions to global food production,” environmental research letters, 2016 environ. res. lett. 11 124010, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124010, accessed 10.12.2022.) https://www.biochar.life/ https://carbonengineering.com/our-technology/ https://www.european-biochar.org/en https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/sustainability-blog/now-the-ipcc-has-recognized-that-carbon-removals-are-critical-to-addressing-climate-change-its-time-to-act https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/sustainability-blog/now-the-ipcc-has-recognized-that-carbon-removals-are-critical-to-addressing-climate-change-its-time-to-act https://www.goldstar.org/ https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12132 https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ https://phys.org/news/2019-12-cop25-climate.html https://www.edf.org/article/carbon-capture-fight-climate-change-stop-climate-pollution https://www.edf.org/article/carbon-capture-fight-climate-change-stop-climate-pollution https://muse.jhu.edu/article/493430/pdf https://ourworldindata.org/smallholder-food-production https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124010 shafer/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 world bank, handbook-working with small farmers, worldbank.org/curated/en/284771480330980968/pdf/110543-handbook-working-withsmallholders.pdf, accessed 10/12/2022. worldometers, world population, population by region: www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-region, accessed october 7, 2022. personal communications personal communication, carbon.futures, 8.25.2022. personal communication, hans-peiter schmidt, 8.28.2022. how to cite/reference this paper: apa: shafer, m. whose carbon capture? a bit of good news. environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), 25–30. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.933 acm: shafer, m. whose carbon capture? a bit of good news. environmental science & sustainable development. 8, 1, 25–30. doi:https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.933. acs: shafer, m. whose carbon capture? a bit of good news. essd 8, 25-30. abnt: shafer, m. whose carbon capture? a bit of good news. environmental science & sustainable development, [s. l.], v. 8, n. 1, p. 25–30, [s.d.]. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.933. disponível em: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/933. acesso em: 30 jun. 2023. chicago: shafer, michael. n.d. “whose carbon capture? a bit of good news”. environmental science & sustainable development 8 (1):25-30. accessed june 29, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.933. harvard: shafer, m. (no date) “whose carbon capture? a bit of good news”, environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), pp. 25–30. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.933. ieee: m. shafer, “whose carbon capture? a bit of good news”, essd, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 25–30. mla: shafer, m. “whose carbon capture? a bit of good news”. environmental science & sustainable development, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 25-30, doi:10.21625/essd.v8i1.933. accessed 30 june 2023. turabian: shafer, michael. “whose carbon capture? a bit of good news”. environmental science & sustainable development 8, no. 1 (n.d.): 25–30. accessed june 30, 2023. https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/933. vancouver: shafer m. whose carbon capture? a bit of good news. essd [internet]. [cited 2023 jun. 30];8(1):2530. available from: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/933 http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-region http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i2.835 rejuvenation in rural ireland in response to the covid-19 induced urban-to-rural migration phenomenon shreya sen1 1 student, bk2ac1 bouwkunde als wetenschappelijke discipline bsc bouwkunde, technische universiteit delft abstract the aim of this paper is to discuss the paradigm shift in residential choices induced by the covid-19 pandemic in europe. firstly, the resilience of the rural regions belonging to the northern periphery and arctic program will be explored—the challenges brought about by covid-19 within their tourism sectors, and the opportunities for rural revival generated by the current shifts in workplace mobility. the paper will then delve deeper into the case study of ireland. the pre-existing issue of ireland’s one-off housing and suburban sprawl will be explored, and the extent to which the regional plan “our rural future” will tackle these issues by optimizing building density and dwelling typology in the post-covid-19 era. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords northern periphery and arctic program, rural rejuvenation, “one-off” housing, second homes, regional planning development, remote working, building density, dwelling typology, covid-19 ; 1. introduction we live in an era of intense urbanization. global trends indicate that populations are projected to increasingly concentrate in urban regions— leaving small towns and rural areas to face youth out-migration, brain drain, and increasingly ageing populations (fisher, 2021). these trends are also evident in the case of the 9 partners of the northern periphery and arctic program (2014-2020), a transnational cooperation between norway, sweden, iceland, finland, ireland, northern ireland, the uk, faroe islands, and greenland (npa, 2021). the northern periphery program aims to help these remote communities based in the northern fringes of europe to harness their potential for innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth (npa, 2021). the covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact in disrupting old patterns and attitudes, from employment practices to perceptions regarding urban versus rural living (nordic talks, 2021). several factors defining the periphery such as a low population density, localized services, and higher levels of civic engagement have added to the resilient nature of the periphery during the pandemic. covid-19 has impacted not only the daily lives in rural communities of these npa regions, but also their local tourism (fisher, 2021a). the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have demonstrated the economic and social consequences of an excessive dependency on international tourism during crises—with threats of further spreading pandemics, and significant drops in trade and income (fisher, 2021a). advocates of sustainable tourism believe that the lessons from covid-19 will reinforce the need to balance sustainable community development with the well-being of inhabitants (benjamin et al, 2020). this form of http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 “regenerative tourism” may promote trends of tourism equity and a revival of the rural areas in the post-pandemic age. the current pandemic-induced shift in workplace mobility could help achieve such a rural revival. as lockdowns and social distancing restrictions force the greater part of the global population to stay home for extended periods, access to green spaces and large private spaces have become a luxury for many (åberg et al., 2021). competing trends of a second-home boom, advancements in ict and teleworking, and a prevailing counter-urbanism sentiment have the potential of spurring rural rejuvenation by attracting city dwellers to relocate, at least seasonally, to sparsely populated rural areas (åberg et al., 2021). understanding the broader context and characteristics of the npa regions in europe provides further insights into the case study of ireland. similar to the other regions part of the northern periphery and arctic program, rural ireland has also been confronted by several pressures with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. a large elderly demographic and difficult access to healthcare facilities have critically hindered the ability of some of ireland’s largely dispersed rural regions to counter the pandemic as effectively as their urban counterparts (oecd, 2020). a large contributor to this issue is the pre-existing tradition of ireland’s suburbanized settlement patterns with its “oneoff” housing estates. these are detached, private properties in the countryside; c.a. 26% of the two million occupied housing in ireland can be categorized as “one-off” housing estates (central statistics office, 2021). these dwellings are representative of a deeper issue linked to ireland’s conservative socio-political culture and fondness for the rural idyll (mcdonald & nix, 2005). rural communities are worried about the constant threat to rural institutions and the lack of critical infrastructure essential towards maintaining the cohesiveness of communities (ifa, 2015) presently, the covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the suburbanization process. this is due to a shift from on-site to remote working in cities, which has softened the demand for commercial office spaces (noonan, 2021). several irish towns and villages have thus transformed into low-density, temporary, green havens for the urban generated rural dwellers. this has consequently led to an increase in demand for affordable individual housing units in the outskirts of counties galway, west cork, mayo, westport, roscommon, kerry, and donegal (hutton, 2020). amongst homebuyers, the focus has shifted from the traditional commuter belts, and to the rural, west coast (meehan, 2021). northwest ireland generally has the highest proportion of one-off housing; the region is also one of the most economically disadvantaged of the country with few urban settlements (central statistics office, 2021). reflecting upon the shift in attitudes of potential home buyers, the irish government decided to execute its regional development plan “our rural future: 2021-2025”, to tackle the dispersed suburban settlement issue (dept., 2021). the plan aims to reverse acute rural decline and address rural housing in a broader regional development and settlement context (dept., 2021). in addition to dealing with the historical pattern of dispersed development, the plan seeks to protect regions under strong urban influence from unsustainable over-development. this will be achieved with the introduction of sustainable, carbon-neutral, and well-integrated walkable communities that are in proximity to amenities and collective services (dept., 2021). alongside socioeconomic rejuvenation, the country’s cultural identity will be enriched by the urban-to-rural migration since ireland’s heritage lies in the heart of its rural landscape, flora, and fauna (corcoran, 2018). the aim of this paper is to discuss the paradigm shift in residential choices and explore the policy approach to rural development in light of the needs and opportunities highlighted by the covid-19 pandemic. firstly, the phenomenon of peripherality and the impacts of the pandemic will be investigated in the larger context of the npa regions. aspects such as the resilience of the peripherality and impacts of the pandemic on local tourism in the npa regions will be further evaluated. next, the paradigm shift regarding workplace mobility and the favor for varied typologies of second homes—cabins, cottages, seasonal holiday accommodation, and one-off housing—will be discussed in order to tackle territorial inequalities and evaluate opportunities for rural revival. the paper will then further delve deeper into the case study of ireland—first discussing the dominant issue of ireland’s suburban sprawl and the prevalence of “one-off” housing. then the paradigm shift from urban to rural regions during covid will be explored alongside the contributing socioeconomic factors. finally, the government’s regional development policy, “our rural future: rural development policy, 2021-2025” will be evaluated, which offers solutions to these issues. sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 23 2. covid-19 impacts and recovery in the northern periphery and arctic program the northern periphery and arctic program (2014-2020) is a transnational cooperation between 9 partners: norway, sweden, iceland, finland, ireland, northern ireland, the uk, faroe islands, and greenland (npa, 2021). despite variations in geographical features, these regional partners share a number of opportunities and joint challenges such as low population density, low economic diversity, peripherality, abundant natural resources, and high susceptibility to climate change (fisher, 2021). a sparse population growth, youth out-migration, brain drain, and an increasingly ageing population are their defining demographic characteristics (fisher, 2021). the northern periphery program aims to help these remote communities harness their potential for innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth in a resource-efficient way, thus paving the way toward self-sufficient, circular economies (npa, 2021). as covid-19 spread throughout europe in spring 2020, the npa monitoring committee initiated the “npa covid19 response call,” supporting seven projects that aimed towards understanding the impact of covid-19 across the npa regions with regard to (a) clinical aspects, (b) health and wellbeing, (c) technological solutions, (d) citizen engagement/community responses, (e) economic impacts and (f) emerging themes, focusing on care homes and university campuses (npa, 2021). investigating the impacts of the pandemic on npa’s peripheral regions reinforces the need for a fresh perspective regarding peripherality and localism, as well as a proper assessment of assets, strengths, and opportunities that these remote regions offer during times of crisis. 3. resilience of peripherality in the npa regions during covid-19 during the pandemic, a common trend across all npa regions was that rural communities—due to their size, smallscale networks, and interdependent nature with inbuilt cooperative systems—had a more dramatic response to the pandemic through community-based initiatives (nordic talks, 2021). rural regions with their smaller populations and close-knit communities were able to provide greater civic engagement through volunteering, voting, and immunization (fisher, 2021b). in the context of the faroe islands, iceland, and greenland, the general population was permitted to book covid-19 tests utilizing a contact tracing app. developed in just 10 days by volunteers, the app functions without the intervention of a doctor—thus streamlining the testing process, quickly shutting down community transmission, and reducing the workloads of doctors (fischer, 2021b). in the case of islands uist and barra in the outer hebrides, scotland, the covid-19 outbreaks were effectively suppressed by bottom-up initiatives of island communities, often going a step further than public mandated measures (nordic talks, 2021). a survey by scottish rural action suggests how well-resourced local organizations and stakeholders such as community councils, development trusts, local businesses, and statutory sector organizations were able to respond to local needs in targeted, dynamic ways (scottish rural action, 2020). such micro-and small enterprise sectors often act as breeding grounds for new business developments and innovations within a wide range of economic sectors, ranging from the bioeconomy in the nordic regions to the healthcare technology of northern ireland (fisher, 2021b). micro-businesses in the primary sector are crucial in the delivery of critical services, from food through servicing machinery to retail, which cannot be easily imported from outside to the local economy (fisher, 2021b). these are aspects that contribute to the resilient nature of the peripheral economy, which is often characterized by a loyal local customer base. the resilience of the periphery is evidenced by the relatively low mortality rates, hospitalization numbers, and infection rates per capita—a staggering twofold difference between urban and rural centers (nordic talks, 2021). finland saw that its peripheral districts, in contrast to its capital city helsinki, have been able to keep the infection rates comparatively low (fisher, 2021). this phenomenon can be attributed to the low accessibility, low population density, and increased dispersion of the remote areas. these aspects are inhibitory factors, generally perceived as negative in the context of modern-day globalization—yet in the light of the pandemic, they have aided in quick organization and reaction (nordic talks, 2021). the highlands and islands of scotland suffered from less severe impacts of covid-19 due to high levels of vaccination (fisher, 2021b). by february 2021, the outer hebrides had the highest proportion of its population vaccinated of scotland’s health board, orkney the second-highest, and shetland the fourth-highest (fisher, 2021b). in the case of ireland, the pandemic has brought a new appreciation of sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 community health care with successful campaigns such as “no doctor no village,” especially general practices in remote peripheral locations that enjoy high patient trust (nordic talks, 2021). this has been transformative within irish health services seeking to strengthen relationships and lines of communication and integration” (nordic talks, 2021). investing in localized services and preventative health care is economically beneficial if delivered locally so that patients do not incur the travel going to centralized services in cities. however, there have also been outliers—several individual communities and peripheral regions have been hit harder by the second and third waves of covid-19 than the first. for example, the regional comparisons in sweden demonstrate a mixed picture (svanberg, 2021). in july 2020, northern sweden demonstrated the highest covid-19 cumulative death rate—23.6 per 100,000—in the arctic region (svanberg, 2021). a shift in workplace mobility and opportunities for remote working contributed to lower rates in the arctic region from mid-march through june—with the exception of northern sweden, which exhibited a sharp rise of infections due to its relaxed cross-border policies (petrov et al., 2020). a number of island communities in scotland, northern ireland, and ireland have been hit significantly higher by covid-19 compared to finland and norway—which can be linked to eased travel restrictions, general seasonality of the coronavirus, and vaccination numbers (fisher, 2021b). implementation of targeted measures in the arctic region, based on the vulnerability of locations, businesses, and population composition, are potential means that could have helped avoid hard-hit regions (petrov et al., 2020). 3.1. impacts of covid-19 on tourism across npa regions prior to the pandemic, the development of mass tourism had been one of the major economic drivers adopted by the national governments and peripheral communities in the npa regions to help provide jobs, diversify economies and address demographic challenges (fisher, 2021a). tourism had been noted as one of the fastest-growing economic sectors across npa regions such as the nordic countries, scotland, and ireland (world tourism organization, 2020). the faroe islands, iceland, and greenland are examples of fishing-based economies that have recently transitioned into tourism-based economies (fisher, 2021a). mass tourism however involves key challenges—an imbalanced seasonal distribution of visitors across the year, short-term employment opportunities, coupled with an increasing trend of outmigration to urban areas leading to an ageing labor force (nordic talks, 2021). during the summer tourist season, some small irish islands receive thousands of day visitors every day, which puts huge pressure on public and community infrastructure, community life, and priorities (nordic talks, 2021). this results in often limited, poorly distributed, low-skilled employment opportunities in remote regions. adding to the detrimental nature of mass tourism, covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns have demonstrated the economic and social consequences of an excessive dependency on international tourism during crises—with threats of further spreading pandemics, and significant drops in trade, income, and employment (fisher, 2021a). the shrinking demand for tourism during the pandemic occurred almost overnight amongst overseas overnight tourists, cruise boat passengers, festivals and event attendees, and business visitors. the aviation sector belonging to the highlands and islands region of scotland was seriously affected, with passenger numbers falling by 78% between april and november 2020 (fisher, 2021a). in the context of the nordic countries, the wto indicates that the region had been affected by an estimated 75% decrease in international tourism between april and june 2020 (fisher, 2021a). overall, covid-19 has demonstrated that local and regional economic growth depending solely upon tourism is no longer a viable strategy when confronted by crises such as pandemics and the climate crisis. advocates of sustainable tourism believe that the lessons from covid-19 will reinforce the need to balance sustainable community development with the well-being of inhabitants (benjamin et al, 2020). this form of “regenerative tourism” will promote tourism equity and a revival of the rural areas in the post-pandemic age (benjamin et al., 2020). there is significant evidence of businesses that have adopted and survived this sudden downturn in international tourism. for example, 52% of the bccdc survey participants belonging to the tourism sector in greenland, iceland, and the faroe islands believe that covid-19 has prompted business models and tourism development strategies to accommodate local tourism, remote or distant tourism, staycations, and second homes (fisher, 2021a). for many communities and businesses, this focus on domestic markets has brought tourist businesses closer to all-year-round trade and income (nordic talks, 2021). sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 3.2. paradigm shift in workplace mobility across npa regions an excessive dependency on international tourism has been one of the driving factors diminishing economic resilience in peripheral communities during the pandemic. npa regions now have the opportunity to encourage rural revival amidst another emerging theme—a paradigm shift in workplace mobility and a renewed interest in rural living among urban dwellers (åberg et al., 2021). covid-19 has significantly disrupted old patterns and attitudes, from employment practices to perceptions regarding rural living. over the course of the pandemic, peripheries have become a refuge for maintaining health, strengthening community ties and local economies (nordregio, 2021). as lockdowns and social distancing restrictions force a greater part of the global population to stay home for extended periods, access to green spaces and large private spaces have become a luxury for many (åberg et al., 2021). in several instances, these “digital nomads” and “knowledge workers” are escaping to the rural regions to access assets like affordability, space, and access to nature (nordregio, 2021). however not all rural communities will be able to capitalize on this rural renaissance without a sufficient supply of services, communal amenities, and infrastructure (åberg et al., 2021). as people increasingly divide their time between their urban permanent home and their rural second home—this trend may further suggest the need for improvement within the connections between the urban and rural areas (åberg et al., 2021). the eu biodiversity strategy for 2030 states, “the recent covid-19 pandemic makes the need to protect and restore nature all the more urgent, the pandemic is raising awareness of the links between our own health and the health of ecosystems,” – urging for investment and policy development promoting the revitalization of rural areas (european commission, 2021). effective implementation of infrastructure and use of distance-spanning technologies could also help contribute to a change of employees’ preferences regarding residence, which would, in turn, revitalize the counter-urbanization processes and counteract the brain drain from peripheral areas to urban centers (espon, 2019). the ability to offer suitable housing options like zero-energy and shared housing solutions is also vital to these communities to remain attractive to the highly educated, and at the same time maintain a source of revenue for local craftsmen and businesses (nordregio, 2021). norway, sweden, denmark, and finland have noted a rise in people relocating to their seasonal residences or second homes during lockdowns and stay-at-home orders (fisher, 2021). second homes are not a new trend in nordic cities; historically, the region has had a strong tradition for second homes (slätmo et al., 2019). as a result of the ongoing urbanization patterns and the increasing compactness of the nordic cities, many choose to acquire a second home in the outskirts of the citiesequipped with private gardens and access to nature (slätmo et al., 2019). half of the population in the nordic region has access to a second home or “cabin” that is utilized during summer or winter seasons or during weekends. there is thus a prevalence of a counter-urbanism sentiment amongst the second-home owners and seasonal tourists, also known as the “voluntary temporary populations” (slätmo et al., 2019). the changing dynamics of the nordic labor markets, provided by the shift to remote working and off-site learning, are strengthening the culture of second-home ownership and cabins (nordregio, 2021). inari, finland’s largest municipality, is an example of this. demographic analysis shows that the majority of people buying second homes in inari are wealthy migrants from the capital helsinki and other large cities. remote working possibilities for workers within the fields of it or teleworking (one million fins are now engaged in the field of teleworking) permit them to work off-site and reduce commute (nordic talks, 2021). in another case, swedish media (dn) reports an emerging post-covid trend of young swedish families moving from stockholm to other peripheral regions in search of more spacious facilities where work and family life can both be combined, after over 40% of working professionals were sent into work-from-home mode (fisher, 2021a). this counter-urbanism sentiment is strengthened also after persistently booming housing prices in urban areas and expensive flats with smaller living areas in dense urban settings (fisher, 2021a). similarly, north iceland enjoyed an active tourist season in 2020 based entirely around domestic tourism—reporting an increased interest in staycations, as well as their own regional history, nature, and traditions. there have been reports of people normally based in norway and denmark who have moved to the faroe islands since they can work remotely with fewer covid-19 restrictions (fisher, 2021a). the islands and idylls of rural scotland are attracting the lockdown-weary (cundy, 2020). after scotland’s first lockdown froze the market for three months, parts of the country experienced interest in suburban and rural properties sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 (cundy, 2020). the massive growth in popularity of the isle of skye in scotland is an example of this (fisher, 2021a). 40-50% of the local housing stock in the isle accounts for holiday accommodation, cottages, and seasonal homes (cundy, 2020). the area is hugely popular with incomers, often retirees, buying second homes and retiring to the island. they are not part of a cultural heritage that has been passed down generations in islands like skye, and price local families, who might continue this cultural heritage, out of the housing market (cundy, 2020). this postlockdown paradigm shift exacerbates the already unsustainable situation in many islands which are struggling to sustain tiny communities in the face of youth depopulation as well as the survival of gaelic languages in the heart of island communities (fisher, 2021a). in this way, the apparent welcome trend of skilled professionals moving into peripheral regions can undermine the sustainability of the peripheral communities that they find so attractive (scottish rural action, 2020). the retirees migrating to peripheral areas may not be able to contribute much longer to economic activity and may well require significant health care in the future (cundy, 2020). this negative demographic development in remote and peripheral areas is partly rooted in unfavorable house market conditions over the last few decades, including higher costs to build social housing in peripheral areas, the poor quality and often low value of housing, and significant land issues for securing housing plots (scottish rural action, 2020). this fondness for the rural idyll and the presence of second homes part of the cultural heritage in scotland is to an extent reflected in the case of ireland. the urban to rural migration phenomenon has been underway for generations and the pandemic-induced transition from on-site to remote working in cities has further accelerated this inverse process (nordic talks, 2021). several irish towns and villages have transformed into low-density, temporary, green havens for the urban generated rural dwellers (noonan, 2021). the commute is no longer of the essence given remote working. among migrant workers, families, and retirees, there has been an increased interest in buying detached private properties or “one-off housing” in the outskirts of ireland, especially the rural west coast (hutton, 2020). the irish government intends to take advantage of this shift in the psyche—by moving away from mass tourism, which has indeed aided in economic diversification in the past but has worked as an extension to the urban market (nordic talks, 2021). instead, irish policymakers intend to promote a sustainable, rural revival by considering the rural perspective. factors defining peripherality such as closely-knit communities, and a pluralistic work-life balance have allowed irish rural communities to effectively respond to covid (fisher, 2021a). these are strengths that can be further developed with investment in physical infrastructure like high-speed broadband and sourcing suitable buildings to make rural towns viable for remote work (fisher, 2021a). the case study of ireland will be explored further in this paper. 3.3. “one-off” housing and ireland’s suburban sprawl figure 1: percentage of homes constructed since 2011 that are one-off houses, 2016 (central statistics office, 2021) sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 similar to the other partners of the northern periphery and arctic program, ireland’s permissive housing policies continue to facilitate widely dispersed, suburbanized settlement patterns—“one-off” housing estates being one of its defining features (meehan, 2021). “one-off housing” refers to self-built, detached properties in the countryside, see figure 1 (meehan, 2021). the one-off housing debate in ireland sparked in april 2001 when the department of the environment revealed that 30-40% of the annual home completions are single houses (characterized by their 58-meter-frontages) in the countryside—these were properties that were becoming increasingly opted for by urban migrators (nix, 2003). currently, 26% of the two million occupied housing in the country can be categorized as “one-off” housing estates (central statistics office, 2021). for perspective, 60-70% of all new housing in counties galway and wexford is categorized as one-off housing (nix, 2012). an “urban generated rural dweller” is said to live in a single house in the countryside, but commutes to a city or town for work (nix, 2003). according to the central statistics office, the demographic commuting to work for greater than 30 minutes have higher incomes, which suggests that much of the “counter-urbanism” is largely based around the middle-class flight (central statistics office, 2021). urban-based rural dwellers opt for one-off housing since they promote privacy, allow families to reside near relatives, bear minimal site costs, and can be selfbuilt to fit taste. moreover, these estates allow farmers to effectively live on their land, with time-saving and security benefits (meehan, 2021). however, the current irish one-off housing phenomenon is generally disconnected from agricultural practices—the teagasc farm survey indicates that there are 140,000 farms in ireland compared to the 442,669 one-off dwellings (dillon et al., 2021). the construction of one-off housing estates in the countryside is the most graphic manifestation of suburban sprawl (epa, 2008). over the past two decades, this dispersed settlement pattern has consequently led to the footprint of dublin to double or even triple that of european cities with similar-sized populations (see figure 2) (epa, 2008). figure 2: average household carbon footprint (hennigan, 2020) the widespread construction of single dwellings in the periphery of urban centers is an unsustainable manner of living in contrast to closely-knit housing developments (with c.a. 5-meter-house-frontages) that feature collective service sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 functions: mail delivery, waste collection, septic tanks, phone and electricity connections, footpath provision or public lighting (see table 1) (nix, 2003). despite the trend for commuter living, the infrastructure and transport links from the sprawling suburbs to the city have been inadequate (mullen, 2014). these suburbs experience a constant process of infrastructure catch-up on the building of new roads, services, and amenities that attempt to connect homes with places of work—contributing to ireland’s high levels of car dependence (npa, 2019). these poorly serviced commuter towns are in need of structural reforms and rural revitalization if they were to sustain the migrating population post-covid. table 1: distance of one-off housing from town by year built, 2016 (,20) distance from town built before 2011 built 2011-2016 not stated total less than 500 metres 500 metres – 1 km 1-5 km 5-10 km 10 km or more total 28,252 40,567 275,706 58,330 4,447 407,302 775 1,179 8,745 1,773 114 12,586 429 561 4,043 845 74 5,952 29,456 42,307 288,494 60,948 4,635 425,840 according to the irish rural dwellers association, rural institutions like schools, post offices, and the lack of critical infrastructure are under constant threat of suburbanization (ifa, 2015). the dispersed “one-off” housing properties further amplify these issues. for instance, parts of ireland are categorized as “too rural” for the provision of ambulance services and hospitals—thus requiring people to travel long distances for receiving health care (ifa, 2015). additionally, given the greater range of commercial services and infrastructural networks in cities, more people are likely to bypass local towns and villages, and settle in the suburbs. “one-off housing” properties thus rob rural towns and villages of their collective service functions, vibrancy, and local economies—further dragging the rural hinterlands into the commuter catchments of larger cities (mcdonald, nix, 2005). this form of dispersed living erodes local services and amenities that are vital towards maintaining socially cohesive, vibrant rural communities. 4. paradigm shift from urban to rural during covid the coronavirus pandemic has induced a transition from on-site to remote working in cities—softening demand for commercial office spaces and in turn accelerating the urban-to-rural migration process (noonan, 2021). several irish towns and villages have thus transformed into low-density, temporary, green havens for the urban generated rural dwellers. online property search data is indicative of an attitude shift amongst home buyers, with an increased interest in affordable individual housing units in the outskirts of counties galway, west cork, mayo, westport, roscommon, kerry, and donegal (hutton, 2020). the preference is decreasing for traditional commuter belt counties like wicklow, kildare, and meath, as home buyers opt for developments in the rural, west coast (hutton, 2020). the regions with the highest share of one-off housing are in the west coast (42%), mid-west (31%), and south-west (29%). northwest ireland generally has the highest proportion of one-off housing (see figure 1); the region is one of the most economically disadvantaged of the country with few urban settlements (central statistics office, 2021). the following subsection aims to discuss the socio-cultural and economic factors in ireland that contribute to the shift in preference from urban to rural housing during covid. 4.1. sociocultural and economic factors with the opportunity of remote working during covid, potential home buyers are opting for houses in the outskirts with picturesque greenery and pastoral landscapes (hutton, 2020). the pastoral backdrop of the countryside holds particular resonance in ireland (corcoran, 2018). according to rowe, “pastoralism continues to serve as a critical lens through which to mark human progress and as an optimistic source for dealing with threats encroaching from either a natural or suburban wilderness” (rowe, 1992, p. 226). historically, irish nationalism has maintained an sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 uneasy relationship with urban life, and the status of dublin as the center of ireland has long since been ambiguous (horgan, 2004). since ireland’s independence in 1922, the view that irishness and urbanity were in a contradictory relationship became prevalent (horgan, 2004). whilst the idea of the rural peasantry became the essence of irishness, it also articulated a view that was anti-urban. the trope of anti-urbanism is still deeply embedded in irish culture and politics. in contemporary ireland, dublin’s rapid expansion and increased cosmopolitan essence have received cynicism from those who feel that these changes have led to material impulses perceived contrary to the identity of the irish (horgan, 2004). the large-scale conversion of former agricultural lands into “one-off housing” properties in the suburbs is in part reflective of the people’s fondness for the rural idyll and their aversion to high rise (mullen, 2014). according to the 2020 census, only a staggering 8.2% of the irish population lives in apartments (eurostat, 2020). the rest of the population does not prefer apartments regardless of their convenience; a strong attachment to the land is in the psyche of many irish people (mullen, 2014). the shift in lifestyle choices prompted by covid and the urge to move back to the rural regions is partially reflective of ireland’s historical “counter-urban” sentiment. although the agricultural sector has been categorized as essential activity during covid and maintained during lockdowns, labor-intensive sectors (agriculture, food-processing, mining, and forestry) that are critical for the rural economies are experiencing shortages in workers and a disrupted food supply chain; this is primarily associated to border closures, disruptions in logistical services, and additional impacts of brexit (oecd, 2020). future threats of climate change, brexit, and automation will be felt more harshly in the outskirts of dublin and cities located further away—leading to even more unbalanced regional disparities and an escalated housing crisis in the capital (social justice ireland, 2021). if a sustainable shift does not take place in the rural regions and companies revert to “business as usual”, the population shift and any rural policy action will be inefficient in maximizing equal economic recovery for all parts of the country (oecd, 2020). 5. scope for revitalization in rural ireland the irish government aims to capitalize on and utilize the inclination of potential home buyers to live in rural areas, as an opportunity to tackle the dispersed suburban settlement issue post-covid (dept., 2021). “our rural future: 2021-2025” is a government initiative with the aims of reversing acute rural decline and addressing rural housing in a broader regional development and settlement context. it seeks to tackle ireland’s dispersed suburban development and protect these areas from unsustainable over-development (dept., 2021). the current urban generated hemorrhaging of scattered “one-off” housing isolates dwellers from supermarkets, gps, and pharmacies, and is associated with increased roads and commuting costs (taylor, 2008). it is key to develop spatial strategies focusing on how dwelling typologies and building density can be optimized in response to the urban-to-rural migration, which is predicted to escalate the suburbanization process. two such spatial strategies, as opted for in the post-covid regional plan in ireland will be discussed in the following subsections. 5.1. remote working hubs and revitalized town centers in order to stimulate innovation within local economies, the government intends to invest in enterprise space with remote working facilities and co-working hubs in rural towns (dept., 2021). a network of 400 remote working hubs— a pilot scheme converting local pubs into multi-purpose communal spaces—and revitalized town centers (parks, green spaces, and recreational amenities) aim to spur rural rejuvenation, whilst relocation grants and tax incentives will be introduced for businesses to support home working (noonan, 2021). covid containment measures instigate remote working practices, remote learning, and e-services—which are of the essence in rural regions regardless of covid— where the commute tends to be longer; indeed, the increased connectivity of services through broadband and investment in public infrastructure aim to further spur employment opportunities and encourage rural-urban linkage (department of rural and community development, 2021). with its rural investment, the government seeks to acknowledge the commercial and communal activities in rural areas but also recognize the challenges faced by the dwellers (dept., 2021). these challenges include the effect of vacant and derelict properties on the vitality of towns and the impact of online shopping on town-center retail. the sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 pandemic has highlighted the importance and convenience of shopping locally, and the government intends to invest further in rural revitalization to support the viability of local businesses and further promote residential occupancy in town centers (dept., 2021). 5.2. optimizing dwelling typology & building density “our rural future” aims to place town centers in the heart of decision making. locating communal services such as schools or medical services in town centers rather than in the outskirts aids in town revitalization by increasing footfall and by creating a sense of space (dept., 2021). another approach involves utilizing existing buildings and unused land for new development to promote residential occupancy (dept., 2021). the new regional plan is inspired by the new urbanism movement—an urban design movement popularized in the us during the 80s, which seeks to foster ecologically-sensitive, walkable neighborhoods (nix, 2003). this transitoriented development (tod) suggests an end to cars and the commute for remote workers. shops and houses are arranged to ease commute by foot or bike (npa, 2019). well-laid out parks, green spaces, and town squares are key to creating a vibrant center. new urbanism also involves sensitive and effective land use with the aim of reducing under-utilization and dilapidation. the national planning policy thus aims to deliver a minimum of 40% of ireland’s new housing within the existing build-up of cities, towns, and villages on infill/landfill sites (npa, 2019). new urbanism also dictates high-quality design development and architectural diversity within communal living (nix, 2003). since the ability to self-build a family dwelling suited to one’s needs at an affordable cost in the countryside is a key driver to ireland’s settlement pattern—it can be used to foster creativity and innovation. for example, by providing an option for people to upsize and build a house of their own layout on a larger site yet within walking distance to amenities such as schools, churches, and sports facilities (dept., 2021). 6. evaluating “our rural future” the rural communities of ireland in 2025 will be determined by the extent to which they can successfully adapt to support the future of work, whilst transitioning into a more sustainable society. with the execution of “our rural future”, the government seeks to exploit the shift in workplace habits promoted by covid (hutton, 2020). flexible workspaces a short commute away from home, alongside grants and tax incentives are measures promoting workers to remain in or move to rural ireland in the thousands (dept., 2021). trade unions such as the irish congress of trade are in complete favor of this shift, claiming that remote working has the potential to be a win-win opportunity for both workers and rural areas (wall, 2021). remote digital connectivity and increased capacity of remote learning will enable the youth in rural areas to access higher education within local communities— helping reverse generations of depopulation, brain drain, and ingrained migration (wall, 2021). reducing the digital divide through broadband rollout will help address shortcomings in physical infrastructure such as transport links (noonan, 2021). although remote working will drive people back to rural areas, an overreliance on home working must be avoided since not everyone has a suitable area at home to work from. thus, as lockdowns ease, the availability of office spaces and working hubs in towns and villages becomes critical to the success of the strategy (noonan, 2021). in order to achieve social cohesion, the 400 working hubs need to focus not only on start-ups and creatives but also on integrating local communities by facilitating classrooms or gatherings of people. key to the rejuvenation plan is an integrated, place-based outlook in order to maximize investment and meet long term needs of rural areas (dept., 2021). this is achieved through a “town-first” approach, with the intention of attracting retail and commercial premises to the center of towns rather than the outskirts (dept., 2021). inspired by the new urbanism movement, all new houses will be built in clusters close to the main street and dispersed one-off housing will be avoided. according to reports from the central statistics office, currently, the average distance to most everyday services for rural dwellings is 3 times that of urban dwellings (central statistics office, 2021). provision of adequate services and infrastructure close to home is thus critical to the success of the plan. the covidinduced psyche of shopping locally is also reflected in the plan; the plan will support local businesses and retail stores sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 in order to promote residential occupancy in town centers (dept., 2021). the plan also focuses on converting preexisting vacant and derelict properties into remote workspaces, green spaces, and recreational amenities to make vibrant hubs for community engagement (npa, 2019). improved land use in turn aids in promoting green tourism, and employment opportunities in the rural communities within the fields of renewable energy, bioeconomy, and sustainable economy (npa, 2019). these factors will assist rural ireland to move past the aftereffects of brexit and post-covid recovery (social justice ireland, 2021). 6.1. skepticism ireland has previously experienced the consequences of a decentralized program; this has led to business organizations like dublintown resisting the government’s regional development plan (kelly, 2021). ireland's last decentralization push, now labelled as the “decentralization debacle”, occurred in 2003 when government department buildings and civil servants were moved from the capital dublin to different towns across the country (noonan, 2021). it involved the dispersal of 10,992 public servants based in dublin to 58 different locations in 25 counties (mccreevy, 2017). the headquarters of 8 government departments were moved to counties as far apart as cavan and killarney (mccreevy, 2017). this initiative however granted fewer employment opportunities and policy changes than expected (noonan, 2021). the program did not comply with what is traditionally understood as “decentralization”, which involves a proper transfer of power from the center to the elected authorities at the local branches who receive some degree of autonomy in relation to policymaking— an idea that is more complex than simply moving around buildings of the central government (mccreevy, 2017). the 2003 decentralization initiative was essentially about spreading development, but the development remained in dublin. no new policy formations thus came into effect in these rural outskirts, and the “dublin-mindset”, the idea of central decision-making limited to the capital, thus remained (mccreevy, 2017). with its “decentralization”-inclined approach, “our rural future” seeks to achieve balanced development across the country; however, this approach has been historically proven elusive and regarded as a hindrance to long-term national growth (dept., 2021). the proposed plan aims to balance growth throughout ireland and reduce rural decline by ensuring that provincial cities like waterford, cork, and donegal can act as a counterbalance to dublin (hutton, 2020). from an inclusive point of view, this proposal appears great. but regional disparities, that exist due to underlying economic competencies and varying industrial dynamics, make it difficult to achieve balanced growth across regions (crowley, 2019). this is the reason why agglomerations like dublin exist—as services linked to technology, culture, education, and leisure are easily accessible by people, a cluster of firms, and organizations in geographical proximity (crowley, 2019). moreover, larger cities have always had larger labor pools, improved infrastructure, and access to resources. dublintown argues that “our rural future” with its work-from-home incentives is “anti-dublin” bias, and they fear for a loss in foreign direct investment from organizations seeking the quality of life provided by urban settings (noonan, 2021). they believe that shifting major businesses to areas in the far outskirts of dublin will be fruitless, since these regions are lacking in the technology frontier, skilled labor and as a result, in their ability to attract customers (crowley, 2019). they also suggest that under-resourcing the capital city will place the irish economy on the wrong trajectory. it will also contribute to a misallocation of the taxpayer’s money (noonan, 2021). dublintown claims the government’s redevelopment approach to be overly optimistic and believes that the shortterm approach only draws on the current psyche of the people dissatisfied with urban living during lockdown (kelly, 2021). given the attractiveness of urban centers for modern life, encouraging workers to stay away from the capital is guaranteed to fail (noonan, 2021). before the pandemic, cities had proven how urban centers can encompass educational, leisure, entertainment, and cultural opportunities (kelly, 2021). dublin has disproportionately borne the brunt of the virus containment measures, but lessons from the past prove that cities are the best place to rebound and regenerate economic activity (kelly, 2021). dublin will thus continue to play a predominant role in ireland’s future, where the population growth will predictably outweigh that of surrounding regions by 2040 (crowley, 2019). despite the argument of over congestion, dublin’s growth-share in jobs has been rising over the last two decades (kelly, 2021). it is therefore short-sighted by the government to forgo these opportunities in its regional development plan. sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 6.2. the case for “real decentralization” ireland is fertile ground for a decentralization initiative given the “counter-urban” sentiment of the people when it comes to housing development (horgan, 2004). but in order to reap the benefits of such a plan, the government needs to aim for “real decentralization”, which proper transfer of power from central dublin to the local authorities who gain control over decision-making regarding revenues, spending on services, infrastructural policies, housing, education and health (mccreevy, 2017). consequently, with an increased need for providing services and collecting revenues at a local level comes the need for a share of civil servants from dublin who will be relocated to rural towns (noonan, 2021). the minister of rural development heather humphreys claims “our rural future” to be a “modernday, worker-led decentralization” movement, with the 300,000 civil servants/remote workers playing a key role (wall, 2021). in contrast to the “decentralization debacle” of 2003, the government outlines in its regional plan that the paradigm shift will be carried out by the people (wall, 2021). this manner of gradually increasing local government capacity in order to facilitate policy changes is already in play in the nordic countries and switzerland (crowley, 2019). the outskirts of dublin and regions further out will be most affected by the threats of climate change, brexit, and automation—leading to even more unbalanced regional disparities and an escalated housing crisis in the capital (social justice ireland, 2021). this is why the government considers “our rural future” as the much-needed intervention to disrupt the pro-dublin development bias (dept., 2021). despite its optimistic growth plans outside of dublin, there are indeed limitations to the plan associated with the per capita spending at the county level—dublin will be receiving the highest financial support in the context of ireland’s 2018-27 budget (crowley, 2019). this will undoubtedly restrict the ability of “our rural future” to meet regional convergence and its population target growths set for areas outside of the capital. vast areas of the country such as the northwest will be receiving little financial aid, which will worsen urban sprawl and dispersed development (crowley, 2019). one of the biggest limitations of the regional development plan may be that it is being executed with a largely unchanged institutional top-down approach, with the exception of some proposals for change at the regional level. a top-down national approach should ensure place-based, spatially blind policies and institutions in pivotal developmental areas (crowley, 2018). the topdown approach dictates that the priorities of the government must shift to connective infrastructures like roads, railways, and broadband to reduce the economic distance for firms (crowley, 2018). to futureproof the vibrancy of villages, “our rural future” indeed mentions successful bottom-up tactics. a bottom-up approach deals with local and regional governance; it focuses on the different needs and structures of the individual counties to maximize their growth potential (crowley, 2018). it demands local and regional policies that cater to their needs, which in turn affect the residential and local investment needs of the areas. to deal with the issue of under-resourced regions, one idea is the provision of funding through substantial land value tax to reduce inefficiency and fund local services (crowley, 2018). dublintown claims that a decentralized plan will lead to a misallocation of the taxpayer’s money, but the unsustainable, widely dispersed settlement patterns in the suburbs already consume more tax income than they generate and the properties are cross-subsidized. additionally, the affordability of servicing and maintaining basic services such as roads, post offices, and broadband in dispersed settlements has a direct cost on one-off dwellers themselves. this results in the frequent withdrawal of services, leading to disparities in the provision of amenities and services in the rural regions. this further reinforces the importance of a combined bottom-up, top-down approach. the relocation of workers to the regional hubs is designed to generate further business and encourage autonomy in decision-making so that they can guide their own growth in the future (noonan, 2021). waterford, donegal, and cork have great potential for socioeconomic rejuvenation (hutton, 2020). the implementation of both top-down and bottom-up rejuvenation strategies by the government in rural ireland will help determine the success of the current plan in comparison to the 2003 decentralization debacle. ireland’s population is expected to grow by a factor of a million in the next two decades—which means 550,000 more houses and 660,000 new jobs (dept., 2021). expansion of smaller cities and villages in the north, south, and the midlands thus becomes critical in order to ease congestion in dublin. with its plan, the government intends to ensure that rural ireland does not suffer drains in experience as people continue to relocate to dublin for employment (dept., 2021). the main way of achieving this is by encouraging people to live in town centers—as opposed to relocating to sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 the capital—and by redistributing employment per region by decentralizing various industries (dept., 2021). this will help in achieving viability and economies of scale in smaller cities. pandemic or not, the dispersed living is unsustainable from the urbanism point of view and must be tackled by the government. a dispersed settlement increases car dependency and the cost of providing services such as broadband, electricity, and ambulances leading to car dependency whilst diminishing the social life and viability of rural communities (ifa, 2015). with the building of integrated neighborhoods modelled on the basis of new urbanism, green parks, and town squares— the government simply plays the role in infrastructural catchup by facilitating hubs for remote working, clusters of housing around the existing build-up of villages, broadband rollout, schools, roads, hospitals, etc. (npa, 2019) the government believes in the need to futureproof the vibrancy of both cities and villages in ireland (dept., 2021). decentralization will help ease the housing crisis, reduce transport congestion in the city, and will help provide much sought-after office space by repurposing pubs in rural towns (dept., 2021). whilst the government’s plan is to be welcomed, it is not without its challenges. it has received a fair amount of opposition from city-based businesses and organizations, claiming that it will hinder dublin’s ability to attract foreign direct investment and that workers seek the quality of life provided by cities (noonan, 2021). even though ireland is still at an early phase in building a remote working culture, the government’s plan shows a step in the right direction. in order for this plan to succeed, remote working can no longer be a one-off deal between employees and employers. a systematic approach is required to embed remote working into the economy, for example, with incentives to maintain remote jobs as remote, as outlined in “our rural future” (dept., 2021). remote working brings the opportunity for a much-awaited cultural shift. businesses, the government, and the community need to make a collective approach in driving the occupancy of the co-working hubs. companies need to advertise open roles as location-agnostic, such that rural communities have the visibility of opportunities. “our rural future” is fundamentally about equal access to opportunity. the government must manage a drift to towns and villages rather than one-off housing since that increases the cost of provision of basic services like gps and schools (npa, 2019). there are a few other limitations associated with “our rural future”, for example, the manner in which its success can be measured. the plan simply outlines that the government intends to maximize the number of families living outside of big cities, but that is not a concrete manner that helps decipher the extent of rural rejuvenation or progress made in sustainability. a few potential ways of measuring success are, for example, the number of jobs generated, the number of new start-ups and entrepreneurship, the number of enrolments in school, or the reduction in one-off housing per county. the planning framework indeed encourages the cluster living permitted around a given radius surrounding towns and villages. no more one-off housing will be permitted in extremely rural areas with the exception of farmers who cultivate surrounding land. this raises a number of questions. what happens when someone inherits that piece of land—will they be expected to continue farming? what is to be done with the existing one-off housing? how can a distinction be made between the one-off urban sprawl, accounting for c.a. 70% of incidents, and the more sentimental irish rural housing idyll that is so important to its culture? 7. conclusions the 9 partners of the transnational cooperation northern periphery and arctic program—norway, sweden, iceland, finland, ireland, northern ireland, the uk, faroe islands, and greenland—share a number of aspects in common: a sparse population growth, youth out-migration, brain drain, and an increasingly ageing population are their defining demographic characteristics. the defining features of the northern periphery regions such as close-knit communities, pluralistic work-life balance, and localized services have helped remote regions respond more effectively to the pandemic (nordic talks, 2021). covid-19 has impacted not only the daily life in rural communities of these npa regions but also their local tourism. the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have demonstrated the economic and social consequences of an excessive dependency on international tourism during crises (fisher, 2021b). advocates of sustainable tourism believe that a form of “regenerative tourism” is needed to promote trends of tourism equity and sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 a revival of the rural areas in the post-pandemic age. this form of rural revival may be supported by the pandemicinduced shift in workplace mobility. as lockdowns and social distancing restrictions force the greater part of the global population to stay home for extended periods, access to green spaces and large private spaces have become a luxury (åberg et al., 2021). competing trends of a second-home boom, advancement in ict and teleworking, and the longing for the rural idyll have the potential of spurring rural rejuvenation by attracting city dwellers to relocate, at least seasonally, in sparsely populated rural areas. understanding the broader context and characteristics of the npa regions in europe allows further investigation of the case study ireland. similar to the other regions part of the northern periphery and arctic program, rural ireland has also been confronted by several pressures with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. “one-off housing”, the rural residential typology common in ireland, refers to self-built, detached properties in the countryside and is the most graphic manifestation of ireland’s suburban sprawl (epa, 2008). census data shows that the main drivers of “one-off” housing is a suburbanized lifestyle, permissive policies, affordability, and proximity to large towns which can offer employment and services within easy reach by car—whilst having a backdrop of the pastoral landscape (central statistics office, 2021). covid has induced a shift in attitude amongst home buyers; the opportunity of remote working has increased interest in affordable individual housing units in the outskirts of cities (hutton, 2020). the irish government took this as an opportunity to execute its regional development plan “our rural future: 2021-2025” with the objective of tackling dispersed development in ireland and protecting areas from inappropriate over-development (dept., 2021). alongside socioeconomic rejuvenation in the brexit climate, the country’s cultural identity will be enriched by the urban-to-rural migration since ireland’s heritage lies in the heart of its rural landscape, flora, and fauna (corcoran, 2018). with the building of integrated neighborhoods modeled on the basis of new urbanism, green parks, and town squares— the government aims to play the role in infrastructural catchup in a “modern-day, workerled decentralization” movement (wall, 2021). by encouraging migration from urban to rural whilst tackling the overall historical pattern of dispersed development, the regional development plan will protect areas that are under strong urban influence from unsustainable over-development (dept., 2021). it is critical to note within the scope of this paper that ireland, in comparison to many other european countries, has a more fertile ground for the implementation of a such policy given its fondness for the rural idyll. its “counter-urban” sentiment is rooted in its culture, reflected in the dispersed development and lack of high rise in the capital city (mullen, 2014). these factors will largely contribute to the success and acceptance of the government’s redevelopment plan. however, there are a number of limitations to “our rural future”. the plan seeks to achieve balanced development across the country; however, this approach has been historically proven elusive by the 2003 “decentralization debacle” (noonan, 2021). the current plan does not have an exit strategy for dublin in the long term. city-based businesses and organizations thus fear a loss in foreign direct investment from organizations seeking the quality of life provided by urban settings (noonan, 2021). dublintown claims the government’s redevelopment approach to be based on a potentially short-term trend and believes that it only draws on the current psyche of the people dissatisfied with urban living during lockdown (kelly, 2021). furthermore, regional disparities will make it more difficult to achieve balanced growth across regions (crowley, 2019). this is one of the main contributors to why agglomerations like dublin exist—as technological, cultural, educational, leisure and entertainment services are most easily accessible by the people and clusters of firms in geographical proximity (crowley, 2019). dublin’s growth-share in jobs has been rising over the last two decades (kelly, 2021). indeed, it would be short-sighted by the government to forgo these opportunities in its regional development plan. the success of the plan is to a large extent dependent upon the attitudes of how employers adapt to the new norm. the plan does not propose a concrete solution to the existing one-off housing or ways to assess the success of the “rejuvenation” objective. given the government’s relocation grants and tax incentives, the shift from urban to rural will be gradual; it is unrealistic to expect a mass exodus of people to move to the rural because of the attractive opportunities provided by an agglomerate like dublin. the plan must be executed keeping in mind both top-down and bottom-down approaches, or else it may risk the same failures as the 2003 decentralization debacle. sen / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 overall, “our rural future” is a 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(2021). a reaction-driven rural renaissance on a swedish island post covid-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212895 https://www.interreg-npa.eu/ https://www.interreg-npa.eu/ https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212895 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.866 sustainable urban development: bioregionalistic vision for small towns surekha k c1 1assistant professor, school of planning and architecture, bhopal, india abstract cities and towns are the social constructs in regional settings. they physically manifest and exist as power centres through various layers of culture, economy, politics, and religion. there was a symbiotic relationship between the ‘setting’ and the ‘construct’ in the past. with time and advent of technology, haphazard developments led to degradation of ecological systems and have become a confronted affair. global warming, its adverse effects and the constant references to the words ‘sustainability’ and ‘resilience’ pose questions on the existing planning models. small towns experiencing a tremendous pressure of urbanisation and rich in natural resources, coherence and identity are fast changing. an indispensable change in the planning models is necessary to mitigate this existential crisis and condition the emerging urbanism in small towns sustainably. this paper unearths the role and possibilities of bioregional planning as a sustainable urban development paradigm and suggests few indicative parameters for envisioning bioregionalism in small towns. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords bioregionalism, region, small town, sustainable 1. introduction the region in its geographical domain coexists with the unique natural elements and is continuously evolving and shaping the cultural landscape within it, irrespective of its scale from local to global (vidal de la blache, 1926, passi, 1991; keating, 2001; macleod & jones, 2001; murphy, 1991). the relationship between the natural regional features sustaining life, the physical/built features ensuring health and safety and the cultural features propagating tradition were strong, cohesive, and interdependent in ancient settlements. “a region becomes established when it is identified in social practices and regional consciousness, both inside and outside the region – it has an ‘identity” (paasi, 1991). we lost the classic concept of the region as a sustainable setting and identity with the dawn of industrialization, new technological advancements in planning, transportation, materials, and networking. the studies on the world’s population projection trends inform that 68 percent of the total global population will live in urban areas by 2050 compared to 54 percent in 2016 (data retrieved from un world urbanization prospects). these overwhelming trends of urbanization, globalization, consumerism, and networking have led to a condition which totally cuts off humans from the rooted ground. the focus is on global values, which resulted in stereotype projects and few major accepted trends in all fields. the urban pattern spreads out haphazardly without respecting the natural systems and cultural landscape pertaining to the region. these “natural processes are the foundation of every region’s sustainability and are essential to all life and human settlements” (daniel, 2007). http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 “by 2030, the world is projected to have 43 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, most of them in developing regions” (un world urbanization prospects, 2018). this expected development will mostly happen in small towns; “they are towns where ordinary residents experience the vagaries of the global economy and the impacts of global climate changes. they are places that often play a pivotal role within regional economies, that lend character and distinctiveness to their regional landscapes, and that collectively account for a significant fraction of population in many regions” (knox & mayer, 2009). in view of the aspirations of small towns and the fast pace of urbanization; it is right to intervene and condition the emerging urbanity sensibly respecting the various layers of plurality that exist in an urban environment. this will make our developing towns more livable and add to the quality of life. what is needed is not a curtailment of urban space planning and design because we cannot afford to do it by means adopted in the past, but recognition of natural factors as determinants of urban land use and reorientation of our planning and design policies towards solutions based on management policies which harness the economic forces of nature (laurie, 1979). newer development perspectives should be adopted for integrated growth between urban, nature and cultural landscape. this should consider the carrying capacity, land suitability, and feasibility of functions introduced in a region. the urbanity of a region should be molded locally with a holistic and sustainable urban development paradigm as portrayed by the philosophy of bioregionalism, eco urbanism, eco polis, biophilia etc. “one another approach gaining increasing attention in this context is ecosystem-based adaptation (eba), explicitly bringing ecological principles and ecosystem conservation together with climate change adaptation; it may be linked to community-based adaptation (cba), which may be a fruitful way forward in urban contexts” (simon, 2016). “transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development” (coined by un, department of economic and social affairs) reiterates the role of ecology in accomplishing the sustainable development goals and the “sdg, goal 11: make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (coined by un, department of economic and social affairs). “an environmentally led approach suggested a return to a more symbiotic relationship between built culture and natural systems, a return with far-reaching spatial implications” (hagan, 2015). in this view, “bioregionalism is a new process of thinking and is one such option. it is a way of making a new social construct through territories with different entrances, where we will have to work with concepts like consciousness of place and global archaeology and formulate new proposals and test them on the ground” (prost, 2017). the paper tries to establish bioregional planning, an inclusive doctrine which integrates ecology and social constructs to build up a sustainable development framework for small towns. 1.1. research questions and objectives r1. what are the common threads/relations between these philosophies/theories sustainable urban development, bioregionalism and small town urbanism? objective 1: investigating each theory/philosophy through a critical analysis of literature available and deciphering common underlying principles. r2. can bioregionalism be an alternate development paradigm for achieving sustainable urban development in small towns? objective 2: detailing out the possibilities of bioregional planning by further analysing based on common underlying principles. r3. what are those few indicative parameters to be looked in to mould a bioregionalistic vision for small towns? objective 3: summarising the study by arriving at indicative parameters for designing small towns. 2. methodology an extensive literature review on these three theories (sustainable urban development, bioregionalism and small town urbanism) is used as a methodological tool to analyse critically and correlate the common pronicples among them. this will help to establish that all three are interelated and work together for fostering sustainable habitats. further, the possibility of bioregional planning is explored based on these common principles for suggesting indicative parameters for envisioning bioregionalism in designing surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 sustainable small towns. figure 1 shows the methodology of the paper. methodology. source:author. 3. literature review: core concepts of theories/philosophies the following section will look at each theory individually to decipher its core concepts, values, and attributes. 3.1. bioregionalism as an ‘eco-cultural’ centric theory “bioregionalism is a body of thought and related practice that has evolved in response to the challenge of reconnecting socially just human cultures in a sustainable manner to the region-scale ecosystems in which they are irrevocably embedded” (aberly, 2005). it originated as a social activist campaign in north america in the early 1970s. peter berg’s and gary snyder’s writings in the 1960s rooted the initial concept of bioregionalism and they strongly believed to take cues from the traditional wisdom of our ancestors and identify ecosystem as a place for a successful life ahead. he emphasizes the importance of a healthy and just population with individual and cultural identities, marked by natural boundaries rather than political administrative boundaries (aberly, 2005). “bioregionalism is a technical process of identifying biogeographically interpreted culture areas called bioregions” (van newkirk, 1975). “within these territories, resident human populations would restore plant and animal diversity, aid in the conservation and restoration of wild eco-systems, and discover regional models for new and relatively non-arbitrary scales of human activity in relation to the biological realities of the natural landscape” (aberly, 2005). “bioregions are resource-rich regions such as a common watershed, biota, landform, and biogeography (snyder 1990, 1995; mctaggart 1993; robertson 1996; foster 1997; house 1999; mcginnis 1999) which forms a life place and gives a unique identity and value to a particular region. identifying such bioregions will help in creating sustainable cultural built forms which can strengthen the natural landscape and add to coexistence and resilience. the final boundaries of a bioregion are best described by the people who have lived within it, through human recognition of the realities of living-in-place” (berg & dasmann 1977). in their writings, they emphasized the importance of a decentralised, bottom up approach of governance and identification of boundaries based on culture and ecology; questioning the arbitrary political and administrative boundaries of governance. it rejects the phenomenons of industrial, consumerist and globalised stereotypes and desires to flourish a localised, resilient and cyclic economy in a symbiotic identifiable cultural landscape. kirkpatrick sale proposed “bioregionalism as an alternate development paradigm by based upon principles including”: division of the earth into nested scales of natural regions. surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 development of localized and self-sufficient economies. adoption of a decentralized structure of governance that promotes autonomy, subsidiarity, and diversity. integration of urban, rural and wild environments (sale, 1985). bioregional planning addresses the conflicts existing between civilisation and nature; issues of development and the need for conservation; adapting to vernacular and experimenting the new; bring revolutionary change and achieving stability; balancing the economy, market forces and protecting the ecology. so, it is an eco-cultural and place centric theory which advocates sustainable habitats for all life forms on earth. place, ecology and governance become the foundational base for bioregionalistic vision. bioregionalism can be envisaged as a continuing and evolving process and requires adaptation with its context at every point of time for fostering sustainable future. figure 2 shows the summary of the theoretical understanding of bioregionalism. figure 2 diagrammatic representation of the summary of the theory of bioregionalism. source:author. 3.2. other supportive regionalist theories the former works of frederick jackson turner, howard odum, lewis mumford and patrick geddes contributed substantially to regionalism. geddes’ theory of ‘place, work and folks’ and gedessian valley section reinforces the quest for the sustainable development at the regional level. “geddes called for the ‘systematic planning of entire regions’, and insisted on the importance of ‘survey before plan’, a survey of local and regional conditions social, historical and physical before proposing any interventions. this was important not only in geographical terms, but in temporal ones: the past informs the present informs strategies for the future or should” (hagan, 2015). “this integration of settlements and modes of production and consumption into the context and conditions of their natural region, roughly delineated by the local watershed, later formed the conceptual basis of bioregionalism” (w. stephen, 2004). another important proponent of ecologically conscious planning and who devised a method of mapping for the same was ian mcharg. “ecological planning is that approach whereby a region is understood as a biophysical and social process comprehensible through the operation of laws and time. this can be reinterpreted as having explicit opportunities and constraints for any particular human use. a survey will reveal the most fit locations and processes” (mcharg, 1997). lewis mumford, a disciple of geddes, focussed on “ecological regionalism that combines planning, design and a biocentric understanding of natural processes within a politically grounded and civic-minded environmentalism” (critchley, 2004). thus, many theories have developed over time, which reinforce the need for an eco-cultural urban development. 3.3. small towns, small town urbanism and the need for an alternate development paradigm “small towns can be extraordinary places, towns that have their own identity and a sociable and enjoyable way of life for their inhabitants” (knox & mayer, 2009). these towns could be resource-rich regions and have a unique cultural landscape. they can be places of environment and pedestrian friendly, encouraging and promoting local crafts, cuisine, traditional wisdom and architecture. “the small town is a context-dependent concept, and should be defined by a variety of indicators comprising material forms, socioeconomic functions, types of administration, and so forth” specific to region and geographic location setting. (bell & jayne, 2009). based on population, small towns are urban agglomerations, having 20000 to 500000 population (un world urbanisation prospects, 2018). small town urbanism is the emerging condition of urbanity that envisions for a fair, affordable, incremental, grassroot level participatory sustainable urban development. it refers to the way of life, ever developing through migration, integration to built fabric, expressing identity as materiality and society through tangible and intangible elements. the heterogeneous surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 morphology of small towns with the rural-urban dichotomy adds to the distinctiveness of place. “different kinds of small towns in different settings have different needs, challenges and opportunities. their well being is often critical not only to their inhabitants but also to the economic and social cohesion of metropolitan regions and deep rural areas. they can be havens in a fast world, places whose inhabitants think globally and act locally. yet globalisation undermines the distinctiveness of many smaller urban places and threatens vitality and culture” (knox & mayer, 2009). there are chances of small towns getting engulfed within the urbanised areas because of urban sprawl and completely transforming its cultural landscape. they also face the adverse effects of global warming, being less resilient. “the social and cultural forces, associated with globalization, have overwritten local social and cultural practices and globalization has generated a world of restless landscapes, in which the more places change the more they seem to look alike and the less they are able to retain a distinctive sense of place” (ritzer 2007). thus, small towns give immense opportunities to develop as centres of sustainable habitats, respecting the characteristics and uniqueness of the region. it is at this venture that the paper tries to explain bioregional planning as an alternative development paradigm for designing these towns. the paradigm should have context based parameters to build sustainable strategies for environment, social and economic aspects of the town. “therefore, sustainability in small cities has to ensure that this reformulation is not laborious and does not create imbalances, and that identity of people and places is the main concept of any project to conserve the small cities quality of life” (ricci, 2007). small towns could be a model of decentralised self sustainable habitats dispersed amidst lush agricultural hinterlands as polarised growth centres keeping a high-speed connectivity to the urbanised neighbouring city. the carrying capacity of the region and the resources that offer a good quality of life can restrain the growth and extent of small towns. it can also look at nature based solutions for resilience and involve local self governments and participatory planning at grass root level for a bottom up planning. so a guiding development paradigm based on the indicative parameters is a necessity to condition urbanism. figure 3 shows the indicative parameters for the assessment of small town urbanism based on the three major aspects of sustainable urban development. indicative parameters for the assessment of small town urbanism. source:author 3.4. sustainable development bioregionalism and small town urbanism “the development of a vision for a sustainable city means setting up goals that depend on the needs of the community, the environmental, social and economic values. it is not a defined static state, but a process that changes with the changes in the society, the institutions and culture of living” (sofeska, 2016). “the small town sustainable development is a combination of economic development, social and cultural progress and environmental protection with full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, while achieving surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 stability and peace throughout the world” (un-habitat, united nations human settlements programme, 2019). bioregionalism and small town urbanism summarises on ecological bonding; indigenous cultural coherence; democratic decentralised governance; and region reliant and dependent economy. both these concepts envisions sustainable development. “furthermore, in the sustainable development philosophy, the notion of think global, act local tends to favour local actions and thus small localities are places where such experimentations can take place” (mainet, 2015). “a true shift toward sustainability ultimately will require what i call green regions: spatial units that mix urban settlements with surrounding hinterlands and ecosystems and that together yield compact, sustainable cities and settlement patterns” (beatley, 2011). 3.5. common principles and focus areas deciphered out of literature review from the critical analysis of the theories/philosophies, it could be concluded that bioregional planning of small towns can condition the small-town urbanism envisioning sustainable urban development. figure 2.3 shows the grouping of the major keywords associated with each theory governed by four major focus areas – place, ecology, governance and economy. table 1 shows the comprehensive relational framework of the theories based on place, ecology, governance and economy as the common principles/focus areas. figure 4 keywords narrowed down to four major focus areas. source:author table 1. comprehensive relational framework of the theories. source:author. bioregionalism small town urbanism sustainable urban development e c o l o g y eco-cultural centric place-people centric ecology, social and economic sustainability. mega-meso-micro scale bioregion-ecoregionwatershed micro scale town architecture mega-meso-micro scale regional-metropolitan-townarchitecture natural features as shared commons unique features of the town as shared commons common and fair stake of resources surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 table 1 continued p l a c e decentralized growth centres as urban hubs amidst natural landscape depending on the carrying capacity of the bioregion. compact city development, concentrated growth poles connected by high-speed networks to other small towns or megacities in the region, polycentric development. holistic spatial development of balanced growth in rural and urban areas and reducing concentration at centres and distributing in satellite parts. natural features, boundaries as extend and assets, symbiotic relationship with cultural landscape for character and identity. unique features of the town (ecology, culture, tradition, heritage, local arts, crafts, economy) and its natural assets as a base to establish a sense of place and identity. focus on cultural landscape and local identity for the sustenance of the region. g o v e r n a n c e decentralized governance pattern vested on local self governments informed by people. participatory planning, community level stewardships and local governing bodies. grassroot level and bottom top planning approach. e c o n o m y development of localized and self-sufficient economies localised economies for surviving indigenous communities global based local economies for sustaining the region 4. exploring the possibilities of bioregional planning in small towns the place dynamics and the aspirations of small towns urge for a framework to support a guided growth pattern in order to curtail the urban transformation likely to happen in the future. the core principle to base upon will be a shift in the approach of planning to a ‘place and people centric sustainable habitat’ approach. therefore, the setting and the communities are always in the forefront and all the allied layers of physical, economy, politics etc act as supporting background systems to achieve sustainability. this section of the paper tries to analyse and detail out the possibilities of bioregional planning in small towns based on common underlying principles/focus areas identified. each subsection will discuss the planning and design strategies for envisioning bioregionalism in small town development. 4.1. ecology bioregionalism is grounded in environmental ethics as nature forms the base for sustenance of life. the first strategy would be to reify the ecological layer as the determinant for the growth of town to mold the cultural landscape and providing food, water, energy, shelter, and resilience. it is extremely important to recognize the function of the environment, its attributes, and resources as shared commons. bioregionalism urges making resources as shared commons on a fair base. the concept of boundaries and territorial demarcation advocated by bioregional planning relies more on natural boundaries like watersheds rather than administrative or political boundaries. watershed planning from a regional perspective would be enabled by the second strategy. the prime step involved in creating a bioregional plan is to do mapping of the existing resources and patterns (shared commons) in the region. (wahl, 2017). so, mapping of the covers – ‘blue, green and brown’ of the region becomes the third strategy to comprehend unique bioregional patterns and resource base of the region for formulating action plans and councils for protecting watersheds. “once identified, these ecological patterns and spatial resources are logical form determinants – they suggest the spatial form to guide plans toward sustainability” (silbernagel, 2005). “bioregionalists view the local watershed as an appropriate scale for decentralized, community-based environmental learning and self-governance. they visualize federations of watershed communities united at the level of the larger region” (nelson & weschler, 2001). the watershed-based planning approach is fairer encompassing bottom top approach, inclusive, participatory, surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 holistic regional development, preserving/conserving the sensitive areas and fosters sustainability (foster,1985; slocombe, 1993; johnson et al., 1998). “an environmentally sensitive approach to land use planning and urban development is key to successful sustainability efforts in small towns” (knox & mayer, 2009). this must be conceived and implemented at two levels – spatially and regulatory. reducing ecological footprint and encouraging compact developments will help to contain spatial growth within the carrying capacity of the region. at a macro-level, several small towns can form polycentric dispersed growth centres with high-speed transit systems at a regional level for networking and movement. within the small town, a compact city ensuring adequate natural open spaces as lungs for leisure and resilience. decentralized approaches in terms of physical development and governance are yet another trait of bioregionalism; small town urbanism can also work at its best adopting a decentralized model. small towns could have an adaptive cyclic model based on carrying capacity and apportioning of resource base for current and future needs. “the adaptive cycle model suggests a tendency (rather than a deterministic relationship) for systems to pass through phases of growth (seizing opportunity), conservation (accumulation and specialism), release or creative destruction (collapse and uncertainty) and reorganization (innovation and restructuring)” (powe, 2020). in a nutshell, the focus of bioregional planning for small towns should be on an eco-place centric approach concentrating on ‘place’, ‘setting’, ‘context’, ‘ecology’ and ‘environment’. the bioregional patterns need to be understood from a regional scale and not in piecemeal project basis. the scales can vary from macro-meso-micro to efficient knowledge of the unique systems referring to the region/small town. “to bring about real change, environmental sustainability efforts must be integrated into the social and economic fabric of small towns” (knox & mayer, 2009). 4.2. place “thayer (2003) uses the term life-place synonymously with bioregion. the study of life-place connects natural place, sacred place, identity, local arts, practices, food, and wisdom into a holistic knowledge set. the bioregion, a unique area defined by natural boundaries and supporting distinct living communities, is emerging as a meaningful geographic framework for understanding place and designing long-term sustainable communities. bioregional patterns are regionally unique and fit with geomorphic, climatic, biotic, and cultural influences of a place” (silbernagel, 2005). thus, the social components of a region shape the cultural landscape and will be physically manifesting as built forms or as tangible, and intangible elements. theory of bioregionalism tries to unearth these elements to allow for future developments sensibly and gives identity to the small town. the first strategy is to identify these elements which form the spatial metaphors for placemaking and place marking in small towns. further, they are enhanced by natural cues of the region such as green belts, agricultural fields, and hinterlands, green and blue corridors in determining the growth and extend of the small town, formulating development regulation guidelines and techniques of land development including setback regulations, minimum lot sizes, zoning, and controlled land uses. sustainable methods of construction with indigenous resources and materials become the second strategy for bioregionalistic vision and can also help in lowering the carbon footprint. the combined effort of vernacular wisdom and experimental efforts in modern construction can reduce embodied energy and bringing in new vocabulary and identity to the small town. bioregionalism theory advocates the natural energy cycles which are close ended in a loop. circularity in resource consumption and ‘cradle to cradle’ practices in a small town make it a sustainable entity. third, well derived policies supporting sustainable regional growth patterns add to the aspirations of small-town development. “policies for small towns need to build on the assumptions about the relations between people and place, activities, locational dimensions, resonance with material experiences and cultural imageries” (healey, 2007). the place making and landscaping of small towns should be conversant through bioregional patterns and should be appropriate to give an inclusive character and dynamism. the space within the town becomes compact settings to enhance social interaction and place identity (powe et al., 2017; daniel, 1999; tolbert et al., 2002; hanna et al. 2009). the sense of place, the associational value of people, and place attachment nurtures through bioregional planning. apart from this, mixed-use developments, walkable neighborhoods and transit oriented developments, sustainable modes of transport including cycling and public transport, passive solar designs, greening, inclusive and universal design, waste management and sustainable resource production and consumption for food, water, energy, promoting surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 36 local arts and crafts are all ways of incorporating bioregional vision at the place level. small towns that pursue sustainable measures augment community development, place identity, and mobilize resources. (friedman, 2014; dale et al., 2008). in short, a symbiotic relationship between culture and ecology can promote a reduced ecological footprint. the social construct of small town depends on the history and legacy associated with it. bioregionalism offers a platform for analyzing these life forms and incorporating them into future developments. undoubtedly, the quality of living and the livability index will be thoroughly enhanced with this alternate development paradigm. 4.3. governance “bioregionalism is a daringly inclusive doctrine of fundamental social change that evolves best at the level of decentralized practice. although none of the tenets of bioregionalism are etched in stone, these tenets stake claim to a dynamic, grass-roots approach to conceptualizing and achieving transformative social change” (aberly, 2005). environmentally sensitive land use planning regulations as part of the governance and laws should be implemented for mainstreaming bioregionalistic vision. the power of taking decisions shall be vested upon the local governing bodies for more inclusive, fair and informed planning. the regional resources and patterns can be best identified and conserved by the residents or communities of the region or a town. bioregionalistic vision for small towns advocates a democratic mode of governance in its strictest sense. some common decentralized approaches to governance which can be adopted includes collaborative environmental planning (wondolleck and yaffee, 2000), community based environmental management (agrawal and gibson, 1999), institutionalized participation (ribot, 2002), and an enhanced role for civil society (friedmann, 1998). the local level decision making strengthens communities and the bonding with nature; helps in efficient implementation of policies; monitoring the resources and for better resilience. 4.4. economic according to urban theorist jane jacobs (1961) “cities are settlements that generate economic growth from their own local economy”. the word ‘local’ needs to be stressed here as it suggests rootedness and living in place, core concepts of bioregionalism and small-town urbanism. economic sustainability is yet another dimension to achieve an integrated urban development perspective. “the goal of economic activity is to achieve the highest possible level of cooperative self-reliance in bioregionalism” (aberly, 2005). projecting and paving a way for economies of localization forms a major strategy. localized economies based on the identified assets of the small towns, along with revitalization efforts for declining sectors to bring in newer job perspectives and products with experiments and exploration through networking and globalization, can reinforce the place economics. small town urbanism, since it is based on local character, place identity; the urban form and morphology can contribute to economic sustainab ility through responsible tourism initiatives. as the town itself becomes an artefact for enjoyment, responsible tourism initiatives will have fewer negative effects on the socio-cultural and environmental context and generate economic benefits for local people and is participatory, interdependent in all tourism related activities. “providing desirable places to live in and visit, where a combination of heritage buildings and desirable locations near natural amenities, encourages business to set up to supply the emerging local economy and/or niche manufacturing which may have a wider market” (powe & hart, 2017). local crafts, arts, heritage, food, indigenous resources, architecture etc. becomes central for achieving a unique economic model prevailing to the region/town. these can become self-expressive for maintaining the cultural landscape and to bring in conviviality and hospitality. “an asset-based approach developed by john kretzmann and john mcknight in the early 1990s helped sell their unique selling points (usp’s) in a global world and found a niche. the homogenization that results from globalization may even allow small town economies to be distinct and to draw economic success from being different” (knox & mayer, 2009). so, these localized economies become as much as part of the global economy and contribute to the gdp of the nation. this further strengthens the spatial dynamics and interdependence of a ‘mega city and a neighboring small town’ or ‘urban and rural’ or ‘city and the suburb’ relationship. with small towns, they can become primary centres of manufacturing activity too, providing employment opportunities and parasitic small business growth. the proximity of living and working places advantages the economic setups combined with the space/time compression of a globalized world. being indigenous and rooted to place help in building ‘eco-economics’ for the community. “ecosurekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 37 economics means bioregionally-scaled economies designed based on ecological principles. it means running an economy the way nature runs a forest. ecological principles mandate decentralization, deconcentration, and regionalization of our economic systems. as much as possible, there must be local production, consumption, and fullscale recycling, drawing from local resources. it further mandates that no economic activity be allowed that is destructive or compromising to the ecological integrity of the region within which it takes place” (haenke, 1996). 5. a framework for a bioregionalistic vision for sustainable small town there is a lot of possibility for the betterment of small towns in planning, advocacy and the approach attributed to creating sustainable habitats within them. the paper has elaborately discussed the need for being visionary and flexible to adapt to newer paradigms – bioregionalism in particular. also the relational bonding of various layers of urban and their correlation within the three theories/philosophies of bioregionalism, small town urbanism and sustainable urban development has been thoroughly deliberated. the thrust areas of these three theories/philosophy are evidently interrelated and could be summarised as ecology, place, governance, and economics. figure 4.1 shows the summarised thrust areas of the theories/philosophies discussed and ultimately leading to sustainability. a detailed approach for incorporating the bioregionalistic vision is discussed in the next subsection. figure 5 summarised thrust areas of the theories/philosophies discussed leading to sustainability. source:author. 5.1. indicative parameters for bioregionalsitic vision for sustainable small towns having identified the thrust areas of theories/philosophies which clearly propose an eco-cultural development perspective; certain indicative parameters are devised for formulating the bioregionalistic vision of small towns. “bioregionalism is a social movement and action-oriented field of study focused on enabling human communities to live, work, eat, and play sustainably within earth’s dynamic web of life. at the heart of the matter is this core guiding principle: human beings are social animals; if we are to survive as a species, we need healthy relationships and secure attachments in our living arrangements with one another and with the land, waters, habitat, plants, and animals upon which we depend” (pezzoli & leiter, 2016). so bioregionalism is essentially an attempt to bring back nature to daily life for sustenance of life forms on earth and to create just, safe, resilient and healthy sustainable habitats. “it is at the human-scale of community where sustainability turns from a concept into a lived reality of regenerative cultures adapting to the uniqueness of the lifeplace they inhabit” (wahl,2017). a set of indicative parameters and strategies has been identified to ground the theory of bioregionalism spatially and also to aid in adopting a practical approach for designing sustainable small towns. these parameters focus on the three thrust areas of bioregionalism – ecology, place and governance. “a society which practices living-in-place keeps a balance with its region of support through links between human lives, other surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 living things, and the processes of the planet — seasons, weather, water cycles — as revealed by the place itself” (berg & dasmann, 1977). the indicative parameters also look at these large processes at a regional scale (to set a base), to a town and community level (to understand the relevant negotiations shaping a cultural landscape) and to a need and scale of one’s own self (to change the behaviour and attitude towards nature). table 2 shows the indicative parameters and a framework for bioregionalistic vision of small towns. table 2. indicative parameters and a framework for bioregionalistic vision for small towns. source:author suggestive parameters of small towns indications leading to planning and design strategies for sustainable small towns based on bioregional planning research methods for data collection thrust areas identified boundaries/exten ds reestablish the boundaries based on natural assets. setting up of action plan cells based on natural boundaries. space as watershed.1 regional mapping with gis tools ecology, natural place shared commons/terrain and its features/ territorial domain land characteristics as unique features – blue, green and brown cover. hydrology, geology, vegetation, cultural landscape. delineation of bioregion 2 for macro level spatial planning, recognizing suitable areas for development and marking reserved natural areas. identifying ecological assets. site survey, mapping with gis tools, aerial photography, bioregional mapping 3 place, cultural landscape, ecology resource base identifying resources unique to the region and having a symbiotic relationship with its culturally built form for optimum allocation of resources 4 and to find the dependency over neighbouring towns/cities/regions for scarce resources. resource inventory through survey, mapping natural/cultural place determinants of growth determining the geographic, climatic, socio-cultural, political, religious, economic determinants of growth to understand the evolution of the spatial pattern of the town. 5 documentation, historiography, on site interviews, old repositories. natural place and cultural place carrying capacity computing calculations based on the study of a region’s capacity to hold species without failing the natural system. 6 carrying capacity evaluation models ecology, natural place disasters and resilience measures determining risk prone areas for a resilient spatial development pattern7, type and frequency of disasters, use of “nature based solutions for mitigation” (kabisch et.al., 2017) and check on statistical data of global warming and its side effects on towns. collaborative and community participatory climate and disaster risk mapping and indexing. ecology, place, communities surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 table 2 continued size, shape and pattern of development understanding the existing pattern to identify whether it has followed the geography, outgrowth, and sprawl. mapping, land use maps, old repositories, photographs ecology, place demographics, density analysing statistical data to project population and migration trends. density in terms of numbers and spatial density. census data place local and indigenous traits and usps documenting, analysing local 8 arts, crafts, construction techniques, architecture, settlement patterns, history and heritage, food, modes of transport. implementing cultural asset based approach for localized economies. on site documentation and mapping, videography, photography, interviews, surveys place community identification of community 9 set ups based on ethnicity, ghettos, or any similar cultural trait, religion, caste, etc. on-site documentation, survey, mapping place place attachment and value identifying the sense of place 10 for sustaining the character and identity of the town. phenomenological study, cognitive mapping, visual survey methods and mapping. place, ecology, cultural landscape. urban morphology analyzing the urban transformation based on – its form, time and resolution and to unearth the forces acting on the physical structures. on site documentation, survey and mapping place, governance mobility existing mobility trends and modes of transport and related issues. identifying potentials of blue cover for alternate transportation systems, rapid transit systems for promoting a compact urban form. walkability, pedestrian experience, use of non-motorized transports for a sustainable transport network. on-site documentation, survey and mapping place, governance urban systems recognizing the underlying systems of waste management, water, power, networks, energy. suggesting closed loop systems and making it more sustainable. use of indigenous regional features for sustainable means of energy production, recycling, upcycling, etc. on-site documentation, survey and mapping, interviews, videography, photography place, ecology, governance establishments of power identifying religious and political scenarios, tolerance levels. to find out how leadership could help in bringing awareness at community level for a more decentralized and grassroot level system. survey and documentation place, governance surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 40 table 2 continued governance recognizing the rules and regulations pertaining to the community, conduct, administration and construction. analysing and programming to a democratic system, bottom-top planning approach, inclusive and participatory, community level grassroot planning, decentralized governance. 11 documentation, interviews, survey place, governance policies, programs and self stewardship deriving policies at various scales of town structure from municipal to neighborhood to one’s own self. informing using workshops, behavioral and attitude change of one’s own. creating awareness among the inhabitants through environmental stewardship. 12 interviews place, governance “space as watershed, watersheds, as models that delineate local natural communities, are thought to provide the organizational basis for mediating relations between cultures and local environments” (ryan, 2012). “bioregions are geographical provinces of marked ecological and often cultural unity, its subdivisions...often delimited by watersheds, or water divides of major streams” (berg, 1985). “the term ‘bioregionalism’ names a social movement advocating the formation of environmental policy within the natural boundaries of a bioregion rather than the artificial boundaries of existing states or other political jurisdictions” (mcginnis,1999). “in terms of composition, the bioregion should be delineated with a clear basis in geography and ecology that has an impact on place without determinism” (ryan, 2012). “bioregions can be distinguished by particular attributes of flora, fauna, water, climate, soils, and landforms, and by the human settlements and cultures those attributes have given rise to” (sale, 1985). “bioregional mapping is a community and participatory process to create maps that combine ecological and physical information with social and cultural information within a given place, as defined by those living there or the communities most impacted. it is both a tradition that dates back thousands of years, inspired by countless forms of indigenous mapping, and also that has emerged as a direct and modern response to the erasure of local cultures in the face of our current ecological, economic and social crises” (letsinger, 2020) “bioregionalism involves the process of mapping cultural and biogeographical forces. maps are important forms of communication and relationship building. mapping place is an essential first step to self-governance and community-based empowerment” (aberley 1993; aberley et al. 1995). “bioregionalism is prefaced by an understanding of the land, its geographical features, resource inventory, and carrying capacity” (sale, 1985) “the growth of urban systems is also influenced by the scale of urban space, traffic network, and complexity of the terrain” (fan, y et al., 2018) (thapa et al., 2011; ayazli et al., 2015; zhang et al., 2013). “carrying capacity the maximum number of a species that can be supported indefinitely by a particular habitat, allowing for seasonal and random changes, without degradation of the environment and without diminishing carrying capacity in the future” (hardin,1977). “strong bioregionalist premise (or sbp), which maintains not only that the planetary ecosystem must remain within its carrying capacity (implied by any conception of sustainability),but also that individual bioregions must likewise remain within their carrying capacities” (vanderheiden, 2008). “carrying capacity is the limit of growth or development of each and all hierarchical levels of biological integration, beginning with the population, and shaped by processes and interdependent relationships between finite resources and the consumers of those resources” (monte-luna et al., 2004). “building a resilient city requires detail and careful assessment of its current level of vulnerabilities and resilience” (parwin et al., 2011). “during such assessment and initiatives it should be remembered that there are large differences in risk and vulnerability within urban areas” (satterthwaite et al., 2009). surekha/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 table 2 continued “a contextual knowledge aimed to define planning and design decisions as place-specific bioregional signatures, and also suitable to keep resources use at a regenerative level and avoiding resources drawbacks” (sale, 1985). “the system of shared service in a community connects the society to the regional terrain. a bioregional relationship to the landscape is based on the scale at which the region and place is perceived and includes the scale at which one perceives the community’s sphere of responsibility and action. moreover, the map of a landscape can result from the inhabiting of a place by a community” (aberley et al. 1995). “ the ideal of community-as-bioregion is an image of behaving organisms that shape a system of meanings and self~ regulating relationships” (mcginns, 1999) “understanding people’s sense of place that is, the affective bond[s] or link[s] between people and specific places” (hidalgo et al., 2001) “can provide insights into how people interact with and treat both natural and built environments” (gosling & williams, 2010). “the findings of sense-of-place research can, for example, inform understandings of pro-environmental behavior (scannell & gifford, 2010; vaske & kobrin, 2001), placeprotective action (lukacs & ardoin, 2014), management of regional amenities (carrus et al., 2005), participatory landscape planning (manzo & perkins, 2006), and environmental education initiatives (kudryavtsev et al., 2012). in short, place matters” (gifford, 2014). stedman (2003) observes that “landscape characteristics such as land use, land cover, and population density collectively produce meanings (e.g., solitude, beauty, wilderness) to which people develop affective bonds of attachment”. “bioregional philosophy posits that communities should be decentralized, governed by self-rule, and distributed within the natural boundaries of a region” (church, 2014). “it is through the social practices of neighborhood-oriented stewardship that community identity and place and community attachment can be fostered. individual actions can be influenced through reflective and transformative learning processes during or following neighborhood-oriented stewardship activities, or by public discourse. policies that reflect urban bioregionalism would provide opportunities for nature activities through the support or implementation of municipal programs and partnerships in the region” (church, 2014). 6. conclusion throughout the discourse of this paper, there has been a constant attempt to establish the need for ‘going back to our roots’ for sustenance of life. theoretically, the paper argues that with sensible and sensitive planning efforts, both the dimensions of culturally built environment and natural environment can coexist and mutually help each other sustain and mitigate. bioregionalism is one such paradigm, which could be mainstreamed in planning sustainable small towns. the research can continue taking up each of its thrust areas and elaborating further on the possibilities of achieving it fully. evaluating relevant case studies for exploring more strategies could be another methodological take away for this research to continue. it is extremely important to be global but better informed locally. “bioregionalism developed out of a grass-roots interest in how to bring about social change that would lead people to protect and restore the environment on a local level” (wahl, 2017). within the concept of bioregionalism, it is flexible and adaptive based on place parameters. that is how it fosters self-sustaining habitats and maintains distinctive places (small towns) within a region. a revival and retrofitting at various scales are necessary to ground this concept and to make it practical. thus, geopolitics, fluidic boundaries and local communities and features form the basis of the bioregionalistic vision. it also encompasses selfrealization, self-propagation and being responsible in a certain way for being environmental stewards. “the bioregional principle has important worldwide connotations. it is in line with the vision of gandhi and schumacher, who saw a new world order based on small, organic groupings, geared to satisfy all the needs of whole human beings, respecting each other’s identities, exchanging surpluses, and cooperating 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(2013). identifying determinants of urban growth from a multi -scale perspective: a case study of the urban agglomeration around hangzhou bay, china. applied geography, vol. 45, 193–202. zhang, mo., liu, yiming., wu, jing., wang, tiantian., (2018). index system of urban resource and environment carrying capacity based on ecological civilization. environmental impact assessment review, volume 68, 90-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2017.11.002 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12424 https://designforsustainability.medium.com/ https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098032000084550 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2768119 https://unctadstat.unctad.org/en/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2017.11.002 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 20 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.674 architectural education for sustainable urban regeneration arzu çahantimur 1, rengin beceren öztürk1 1assoc.prof. rengin beceren öztürk, ph. d. bursa uludağ university,faculty of architecture, department of architecture, bursa, turkey abstract urban regeneration is one of the important agendas of turkey as a developing country. rapid urbanization problems have been causing vital social and economic problems together with physical and spatial ones especially in big cities of turkey. thus, national and local governments handled urban regeneration as a practical method for solution of these problems. however, they unfortunately don’t implement urban regeneration according to its real requirements. instead, this multi-dimensional and complex process is seen as a pull down and built up operation. considering this situation and being in awareness of the responsibilities of architects throughout urban regeneration process, the authors think that urban regeneration should be discussed in the scope of architectural education. this paper presents the purpose, the process and the products of an undergraduate architectural design studio that was undertaken at bursa uludağ university, faculty of architecture. the architectural and urban design projects of the students of which aim was to offer a livable and sustainable mixed used living environments are discussed together with their conceptual backgrounds. putting stress on the differences between theory and practice, the conclusion introduces a critical evaluation of urban regeneration and sustainable housing concepts in turkey. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban regeneration; sustainable development; architecture; living environments; education 1. introduction: urban regeneration for sustainable development the most comprehensive definition of urban regeneration is ; an extensive vision and actions aimed at providing a lasting solution to the economic, physical, social and environmental conditions of problematic urban areas in order to solve urban problems. the concept of sustainable development is also most widely accepted by various platforms of the world as the economically feasable development that increases the quality of environment and social life. in this case, urban regeneration implementations are emerging as important forms of intervention in providing sustainable urban development. thus, it is clear that the concept of sustainability should not be considered separately from ‘regeneration’ in urban regeneration implementations. in this context, the overall aim of sustainable urban regeneration can be defined as the development and implementation of multi-dimensional and integrated projects for urban environments in different scales with various qualifications (e.g. streets, neighborhoods, districts and cities), with collaboration of the related parties. urban regeneration provides a great contribution to sustainable development by reducing the speed of expansion of city boundaries while enabling the recycling of urban land and buildings, while allowing the use of existing urban areas in a more compact and more intensive way. taken from this point of view, it is expected that urban http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 transformation activities, policies and processes should integrate technical, spatial and socioeconomic problems with an holistic approach to reduce not only the negative impacts of urbanization, but also the harms of environmental risks. on the other hand, urban regeneration should also improve the quality of urban life. however, urban regeneration studies can not be implemented in this ideal form everywhere in the world. especially in developing countries which are experiencing a rapid urbanization process but have economic insufficiency, these regeneration implementations are far away from ideal urban regeneration applications. turkey is one of these countries. especially in big cities, demolition and reconstruction is generally referred to as "urban regeneration" by local governments and contractors. in order to create livable cities that offer a sustainable life, ideal urban regeneration practices should take the place of these practices, which threaten the future of the cities. in this study, the importance of architectural education will be emphasized in the achievement of ideal urban regeneration studies which will contribute to sustainable urban development. first, the current situation will be clarified regarding the issue briefly mentioning the urban regeneration projects in turkey. in the next section, the architectural studio process and the products obtained by the authors will be presented, with emphasis on the necessity of integrating concepts of housing, urban housing and urban regeneration with the concept of sustainability in architectural education. the study concludes with the discussion of students' approach to the subject. it is considered that this study once again emphasizes the importance of architectural design studios, which form the backbone of the architectural education, for sustainable urban development. 2. urban regeneration in turkey the urban transformation studies carried out in turkey can be classified as; urban regeneration in slum areas, urban regeneration in urban centers, urban regeneration that is inevitable when industrial centers abandon the various urban centers of successor cities, urban regeneration to reduce disaster damage and urban risks. görgülü(2009), indicates that the squatterization process experienced between 1950-1980 because of rapid internal and external migration is an important breaking point for turkey. in this period, the squatter areas that were formed by illegal settlement became unhealthier with the improvement plans developed by local governments. this situation shows that urban regeneration is perceived as a process of demolish and rebuild in turkey. the years between 1980 and 2000 was the period in which especially the large cities of turkey were affected by the outward-oriented liberal economy and globalization. the two important developments in this period were; the construction of licensed and unlicensed settlements in the city and the expansion of settlement areas towards the fringes of the city. urban regeneration studies observed in this period have shown their selves in the industrial, central and coastal areas of the cities as well as in residential areas. preservation of historic areas by gentrification is also began to be used at this period, as well as renovation, rehabilitation and redevelopment of low quality and risky urban areas (ataöv and osmay 2007). tekeli (2011), also emphasizes the importance of 1980s in the urban development process of turkey. in the early '80s, cities were growing with the increase in the number of individual buildings. subsequently cities went on growing with formation of large urban areas such as mass housing districts, education and service campuses, and organized industrial zones. these areas, which are far from the city centers, have caused the functions of the city centers to be derelict, or they have been built to carry these functions from the city center. this situation has caused the cities to grow rapidly in their vicinities. regeneration studies have been implemented in these areas in order to ensure that vacated city centers do not become a depressed area, and practices in these areas have generally resulted in gentrification. in the period covering 2000 and beyond, local government's cooperation with the private sector accelerated and urban regeneration was defined as a strategy for the first time. this strategy, which is defined as urban renewal only, has begun to be applied to transform different urban parts into places with different uses. the gentrification and preservation of the historical residential areas and the improvement of the apartment areas are the implementations of this period. çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 in addition to the implementations for improving the socio-economic disadvantages, the revitalization implementations for tourism have been made and the implementations for transforming the slum areas into livable residential areas have begun to gain importance. however, in turkey, often it is observed that, urban regeneration projects are far from taking reference from the architectural and urban identity of the city and they are alien to the spirit of the city. mostly focusing on real estate and ignoring the socio-cultural and economic necessities, the implementations just have physical space arrangements. on the other hand, unfortunately, local people have been the aggrieved party of all these studies. 3. urban regeneration discussed in architectural education as a rapidly developing country with so many implementations of urban regeneration projects in turkey should be considered as an opportunity to create livable and sustainable cities. however, in order to take advantage of this opportunity architectural and urban design and practices that are consistent with sustainable urban development principles are inevitable. at this point, it is necessary to put stress on the importance of architectural education. during the past decades, urban environmental education and education for sustainability concepts have been increasingly taking place in the undergraduate programs of architecture and urban design. as long as rapid urbanisation continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, sustainability and sustainable cities will be one of the main topics of design faculties. many institutions that have included “sustainability” concept in their mission and vision emphasize various sustainable urban development requirements in their educational curriculum and apply them as different approaches. these can be summarized as; compact urban design, creating livable communities through high quality design, encouraging sustainable building design and sustainable housing, greening cities, encouraging sustainable energy use, maintaining and preserving built and cultural heritage and promoting positive urban processes to create livable environments (halliday, 2006). on the other hand, salama(2002) indicates that, embedding “sustainability” concept in architectural education has made transdisciplinary thinking a necessity when architects, urban designers and planners are approaching the design of the built environments. and the objective outcomes of transdisciplinary thinking paradigm can be seen and evaluated via architectural design studios. as ledewitz(1985) explains, enabling students to simulate an actual process of professional action in a simplified way is the benefit of design projects. thus, project-based learning is considered to be the backbone of the design studios. the validity of predicting that architectural education has an important role in achieving sustainable urban regeneration ideally that has been discussed at the beginning of the study can be experienced in architectural design studios. problems about urban life and urban environment in real life should be addressed in design studios with project-based and problem-solving approaches. candidates of architects should experience this critical thinking process with a holistic approach. the authors, who set out with the belief in this necessity, discussed sustainable urban regeneration in architectural design studio 4, in which they collaborated. 3.1. the case: an architectural design studio discussing urban regeneration in the scope of this study, the aims, inclusion and outcomes of the architectural design studio iv are presented via example student projects. it is one of the main compulsory courses of the undergraduate program of architecture at faculty of architecture in bursa uludağ university, turkey. the main aim of this fourth design studio is to make students conscious about the importance of existing natural and built environment throughout their design process. the students are expected to develop solutions considering the potentials and problems of the existing built environment (bursa uludağ university web page). the authors as the instructors of the design studio coordinated at 2016-17 spring semester, put stress on the concept of “sustainable urban regeneration”. the students were expected to develop a mixed-used housing complex in one of high-density residential areas of bursa, which is the fourth biggest city of turkey. this area is preferred as to be the project area because of being at one of the rapidly developing axes of the modern city. also, along this main street there are so many building constructions called as “urban regeneration” by the local government. çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 23 the key concepts discussed throughout fourteen weeks studio curriculum were; sustainable housing, livable communities, sustainable urban development and urban regeneration. in the first weeks the students made a literature survey about these concepts while exploring the physical and socio-cultural characteristics of the project area and its near environment through maps, models, dioramas and surveys conducted to the local people. after these analysis they all came up to the point that they should develop housing projects that offer facilities and services that meet residents’ basic needs and build community cohesion through open spaces, community gardens or leisure facilities. they understood that they should handle the design problem with a holistic approach including environmental and socio-cultural issues. however, as being the second year undergraduate students they didn’t know how to do that. some successful examples selected from the developed projects are presented below with brief explanations. the process of developing students' thoughts and projects and the final products are discussed in the conclusion. 3.2. example projects this building complex in which people are able to meet their social activities, various kinds of sportive activities and the other daily life needs, is located over a sloped land. the upper and lower level streets are connected with the public spaces between the housing blocks which are designed in harmony with the topography. people will prefer to live in these blocks, not only for their need of housing, but also for their social needs which are very important for an urban life. the green roof gardens of the blocks also serve the residents as meeting places, see figure 1. figure 1. muhammet yusuf birinci activity valley this housing project including mixed used functions is designed on a building plot which is located in a high density neighbourhood. a primary school, a middle school and a high school take place around this plot. for this reason, the student aimed to design a residence which also includes cultural and commercial activities for young people. the surrounding roads, which people are familiar with, continue through the building plot and a public space is formed at the junction of them. the organic forms of the building blocks let this complex to have an active green route for pedestrian flow and act as a meeting point especially for the young people, see figure 2. çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 figure 2. büşra beşen public space for youth the main aim of this housing complex design is to provide green open spaces for people living in this high density neighbourhood. the unbroken fronts of the blocks create a canyon effect, where a public garden is formed at the more silent part of the building plot. this public garden constitute an open place for various kinds of social and cultural activities that take place on the ground floor of the blocks. the outdoor vertical and horizontal circulation system of the blocks let the residents to see eachother more than usual in their everyday life. the complex offers various types of flats for different life styles, see figure 3. figure 3. zeynep fazilet kaya green canyon a modular design approach is adopted for this urban housing complex. all of the indoor and outdoor spaces have similar modules providing to use the building plot with optimum capacity. it includes various types of flats designed with modules. also, the facades of the building complex reflect the similar modular proportions that enable shady living places. the continuity of the public places, which provide various kinds of indoor and outdoor social activities, let this urban housing complex to be livelier, see figure 4. çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 figure 4. zeynep sena sancak modular living space the main aim of this mixed used housing complex is to offer social activities and shopping alternatives not only for its residents, but also for local people. the ground floor includes commercial and social spaces that are integrated with the public garden in the middle of the three main blocks. the uninterrupted pedestrian alley connects the main street with a greater public garden while the commercial axis invites people to the courtyard, which is an intersection of activities, see figure 5. figure 5. merlinda mollavequriintersection of activities 4. conclusion it has been seen that the critical thinking skills of the students have been improved with the studies carried out within the scope of the presented architectural studio. despite being second-year students, they could integrate the data they got from their initial analysis. these are sustainability concepts and requirements they have learned from the literature analysis, the positive aspects of the successful implementations they have found from example case studies, and the needs of the local people. in this studio students experienced a problem-solving process including çahantimur/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 many different aspects of a high-density residential area together with the necessities of a mixed-used housing complex with different socio-cultural and commercial functions. it has been the greatest achievement of the semester for students to gain the awareness that they can contribute achieving sustainable urban development as future architects. for this purpose, they have developed scenarios for creating livable communities and sustainable living environments. however, since their architectural design skills have not yet reached sufficient maturity, it has been seen that students could not fully reflect the life scenarios and concepts they proposed to their architectural and urban design projects. it is thought that in the ongoing process of their education our students will overcome the problems they experienced when they were trying to reflect their key concepts to their architectural projects. however, the most important thing is to empower students to translate the lessons they have learnt during their education as positive and sustainable changes to their professional and daily lives. acknowledgements the authours would like to thank the third instructor of the studio tülin şen (arch.), the research assistant gözde kırlı özer (m.arch) and all of the students for their contributions to the architectural design studio iv, 2016-17 spring semester at bursa uludağ university, faculty of architecture, department of architecture. references ataöv, a., & osmay, s. (2007). türkiye'de kentsel dönüsüme yöntemsel bir yaklasim. odtü mimarlik fakültesi dergisi= metu journal of faculty of architecture, 24(2), 57-82. görgülü, z. (2009). kentsel dönüşüm ve ülkemiz. tmmob i̇zmir kent sempozyumu, 769-780. gürler, e. (2003). kentsel yeniden üretim süreci üzerine karşılaştırmalı çalışma: i̇stanbul örneği. kentsel dönüşüm sempozyumu bildiriler kitabı, yıldız teknik üniversitesi basım-yayın merkezi, i̇stanbul, 113-158. halliday, g. (2006). international perspectives on best practice in the development of urban environmental education, and edu cation for sustainability programs. australian journal of environmental education, 22(1), 141-145. kocabaş, a. (2014). yeşil sürdürülebilir kentsel dönüşüm: kavramsal çerçeve ve uygulama araçları. böke, e.(ed.), 24. ledewitz, s. (1985). models of design in studio teaching. journal of architectural education, 38(2), 2-8. salama, a. m. (2002). environmental knowledge and paradigm shifts: sustainability and architectural pedagogy in africa and the middle east. architectural education today: cross cultural perspectives. lausanne: comportements. p51-59. tekeli, i. (2011). kent, kentli hakları, kentleşme ve kentsel dönüşüm yazıları. 2.baskı, tarih vakfı yurt yayınları, i̇stanbul. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i3.934 improving urban resilience through formal integration of waste pickers in jordan’s solid waste management 1muna hindiyeh, 2talar oghlenian 1,2 school of natural resources engineering and management, civil and environmental engineering dept., german jordanian university, amman jordan, p.o. box 35247; muna.hindiyeh@gju.edu.jo; ta.oghlenian@gju.edu.jo abstract the main aim of this project is to study the situation of waste pickers around the world and to analyze the situation of the informal sector of solid waste management in jordan specifically. different methods like surveys and desk reviews did the study. it included studying their behavior, the places they work, the types of materials they collect, the method of collection, and much more. after this analysis, the focus was to find the most suitable method to formally integrate this sector with the government to benefit the waste pickers, the government, and the whole solid waste situation in the country. based on the results of our study, recommendations for the waste pickers’ situation in jordan were given. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords solid waste management; waste pickers; jordan; survey. 1. introduction 1.1. municipal solid waste in jordan: throughout the past years, jordan’s population has rapidly increased for many reasons, such as the refugee crisis, the improvement of medical care, and political stability. whenever there is an increase in the population number, there is an increase in the generation of sw, and based on the giz (2014) report, jordan produces 2,077,215 tons of msw per year, as shown in figure 1, with an annual growth rate of 3%. figure 1. composition of different types of msw in jordan from giz (2014) report. http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:muna.hindiyeh@gju.edu.jo mailto:ta.oghlenian@gju.edu.jo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 studies have shown that sw differs in type and from one area to another depending on the income rate, urbanization, and general lifestyle. the gwmo (2015) report showed that 34% of the msw generated in high-income countries is organic waste, while 53% of the msw is organic waste in low-income countries. since jordan is considered a lowincome country, 50% of its msw is organic, the highest among all types of msw present. although 90% of the waste in the rural areas and 70% of the waste in urban areas is being collected, no waste is being composted in jordan, 7% of it is being recycled, 48% is sanitarily landfilled, and 45% is illegally thrown in dumpsites as shown in figure 2. figure 2: percentages of waste disposal methods by giz (2014) report [1]. 1.2 landfills in jordan: all the waste generated throughout the years resulted in 21 domestic landfills in jordan, with the al ghabawi landfill being the only engineered one [2]. the landfills are operated by 100 municipalities and 21 jordan securities commissions. moreover, two public authorities are directly responsible for swm in jordan; gam is mainly responsible for the greater amman area (the capital of jordan), and aseza is responsible for the special economic zone of aqaba. the gam is responsible for collecting, transporting, and disposing of the waste to the al ghabawi landfill site, considered the largest landfill in jordan, serving ten other major cities besides the capital. as for aseza, the mission of collecting and transporting the waste is managed by a private company that disposes of the collected waste in a landfill operated by the common services council [3]. 1.3 informal sector of solid waste management one of the main problems in the swm sector is the informal sector, known as waste pickers, who are, based on the definition of ilo, individuals or small and micro-enterprises that intervene in waste management without being registered without being formally charged with providing waste management services. usually, they are engaged in collecting and recovering reusable and recyclable solid waste from the source of waste generation to sell them to the recyclers directly or through intermediaries to earn their livelihood. although this sector is not recognized or controlled by any official authority, it highly contributes to managing the city’s msw, as they collect, sort, reuse and sell it, retrieving its value in the recycling chain. figure 3 illustrates the basic root of mswm in jordan [4]. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 figure 3: flow chart for msw streams and waste pickers’ role in jordan from tafila case study [4]. in most developing countries, the structure of this sector is pyramidic, as in figure 4, where at the top of the pyramid are the industrial shop owners or the scrap buyers who buy small quantities of waste (plastic, paper, glass, metals, etc.) from households. below them come, numerous traders, including retailers and wholesalers, several of whom are not registered as businesses. at last, comes the waste pickers who freely collect waste from dumpsites, uncontrolled landfills, and municipal garbage bins. as we move up the pyramid, trade value increases [5]. figure 4: the structure of the informal sector in developing countries by cwg-giz [5] in this paper, the waste pickers’ situation in jordan will be discussed further in detail, parallel to case studies from different countries worldwide. the first stage was to analyze and understand the full meaning of waste picking to identify the category of the society we are dealing with. the next step was collecting all the necessary laws, regulations, and instructions that concern or affect waste pickers in any way from the ministry of environment and the ministry of municipal affairs. in addition, it is important to see what other companies have done on this topic, so a couple of reports were collected discussing waste pickers in jordan. after that, the social aspects had to be considered from both the waste picker’s point of view and the people of the society themselves. therefore, a survey was done and filled out by the society, and a questionnaire was set and asked to the waste pickers themselves. 2. methodology this study was performed using the following methods:  desk reviews: scientific and academic references related to the informal workers of the waste management sector as well as best practices followed in the world from middle to low-income areas, have been used.  surveys: an online survey was filled out by 160 people to identify the society’s thoughts regarding the social condition of waste pickers in jordan and to see how much people are willing to collaborate with the sector. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4  questionnaires: a set of questions was prepared and answered by waste pickers in order to have a clear view of their lifestyle and their challenges. discussion sessions: several discussion sessions took place with experts regularly to discuss each result and find the most suitable recommendations. 3. results and discussion 3.1 waste pickers and landfills in jordan waste pickers can collect waste from many different places. they can collect waste from houses, streets, sanitary landfills, and dumpsites. unfortunately, there is not enough data or statistics in jordan to summarize the exact amount of waste in each collection area [6]. however, different studies in different governorates in the swm sector involved studying waste pickers. the focus is on jordan’s three landfills: al-akider, al-husyniat, and madaba. tables 1 to 4 illustrate the number, age, gender, and education level of waste pickers in each of these three landfills: table 1. the number of jordanian and syrian waste pickers. landfill number of waste pickers number of syrian waste pickers total number al akaider 22-32 13-18 35-50 hussenyat 10-11 20-24 30-35 madaba 6-7 14-21 20-30 total 38-50 47-63 85-115 table 2. ages of waste pickers landfill under 16 years 16-20 years 36-50 years over 50 al akaider 0 0 1 0 hussenyat 0 0 2 0 madaba 0 4 0 0 total 0 4 3 0 percentage 0% 21% 16% 0% table 3. genders of waste pickers. landfill male female al akaider 1 0 hussenyat 8 2 madaba 8 0 total 17 2 percentage 89% 11% muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 table 4: education level of waste pickers landfill primary school middle school secondary school al akaider 1 0 0 hussenyat 6 2 0 madaba 6 2 0 total 13 4 0 percentage 68% 22% 10% did not attend schools these three landfills are examples of ones that support the informal sector by allowing them to collect waste through contractors that handle all their issues. other landfills do not allow waste pickers to enter the landfill, with al-ghabawi being one of them. 3.2 laws and regulations until 1980, the environment was not a known word in jordanian laws and regulations when the ministry of municipal affairs added the environment to its name, becoming the ministry of municipal and environmental affairs. this lasted for only 23 years; in 2003, a ministry specializing in environmental affairs was created called the ministry of environment. several legislations related to the environment have been enacted since the ministry’s inception until now [2]. the first environmental law in jordan was published in 2003, along with the establishment of the ministry, and then in 2006, a new version of the law was published, canceling the law of the year 2003. as for now, the current active environmental law is environmental protection law no.6 of the year 2017, containing 31 articles [7]. in february 2005, regulation no.27 for solid waste management, based on article no.8 of the environmental protection law no.1 of 2003, was published, holding only seven articles. these articles involved the basic measures of handling solid waste. unfortunately, the phrase “waste picker” was not mentioned in the law or the regulation. based on these articles, we can deduce that although the environmental protection law did not mention any specific articles related to waste pickers, these two articles affect them based on their daily activities of collecting wastes from public trash bins in an unsafe method, classifying them as illegal activities with legal consequences. in 2019, instructions for solid waste management based on article no.7 of regulation no.27 of 2005 for solid waste management was published, having sixteen articles [8]. for the first time, “waste pickers” were mentioned in the definitions and the articles as follows: “waste pickers: the people who pick up recyclable waste as waste management operations.” article 13 states that: “general provisions for solid waste management facilities (landfills, sanitary landfills, and transformer stations): the following shall be taken into consideration during the management of solid waste management facilities: 1. not allowing informal waste pickers to collect waste under any circumstances in facilities dealing with solid waste. 2. facilities officials assigned to dealing with solid waste must coordinate with the government to develop a simple infrastructure that allows waste sorting and helps waste pickers create micro-enterprises to sort waste formally. allow only authorized users to enter the site, exclude children and animals, and prepare a record for visitors to the site”. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 although the waste pickers were noticed and identified in these instructions, they were not allowed to enter and collect waste from landfills and transport stations. this is due to health and administrative control, as most informal waste pickers do not follow the basic safety measures and bring children to work at the site. on the other hand, the government obliged the facilities’ officials to help the informal waste pickers by establishing small businesses integrated with the facilities’ operation to formalize and legalize their work with the appropriate licenses and approvals. in the year 2020, law no.16 for solid waste management was published called the solid waste management framework law containing thirty-two articles and four appendices that explain the categories, properties, and disposal and returning methods of solid waste. the following articles had direct effects on waste pickers [9]. article 27 prohibits informal waste pickers from collecting solids as they do not follow the appropriate procedure for each type or have no legal approval or license. anybody who does not follow these law articles will face legal issues. the main conclusion from all the laws, regulations, and instructions since the beginning is that each new one has more details and specifications in solid waste management and waste pickers topics than before. this indicates that although the changes are slow and not major, they still indicate that a developing country like jordan is moving positively. building accurate simulation will significantly influence building predicted energy consumption [10]; many studies covering the building thermal performance in different climate zones to optimum building thermal performance [1114], even the feasibility of using photovoltaics in terms of reducing the construction cost and saving energy [15]. the informal solid waste management sector has become a vital component of the system worldwide. waste pickers play a significant role in the collection and recycling of waste, yet they face numerous challenges that hinder their integration into the formal sector. this literature review will explore the existing literature on waste pickers and their integration into the formal solid waste management system, specifically focusing on jordan. to earn their livelihood, waste pickers collect, sort, and recycle waste materials, mainly from the streets, dumps, and other public places. according to the world bank, approximately 15 million people earn their livelihood through waste picking [16]. in developing countries, waste picking has become an essential livelihood for marginalized groups and contributes significantly to solid waste management. however, waste pickers face numerous challenges, such as low wages, lack of recognition, and unsafe working conditions [17]. integrating waste pickers into the formal sector has been discussed for many years. formal integration can give waste pickers better working conditions, higher wages, social security, and health benefits. several countries, such as brazil, india, and south africa, have initiated programs to integrate waste pickers into the formal solid waste management system [18]. however, integrating waste pickers into the formal sector requires collaboration between the government, waste management companies, and waste pickers’ organizations. waste pickers are crucial in the informal solid waste management system in jordan. waste picking has been a common livelihood in jordan for many years, contributing significantly to the country’s recycling efforts. however, waste pickers in jordan face several challenges, including unsafe working conditions, lack of recognition, and low wages. several studies have explored waste pickers’ situation in jordan and recommended solutions to integrate them into the formal solid waste management system. for example, a study conducted by al-sari et al. (2017) recommended establishing a waste picker association, providing them with training and education, and integrating them into the formal solid waste management system [18]. waste pickers play a vital role in the solid waste management system worldwide. however, they face numerous challenges, such as unsafe working conditions, low wages, and lack of recognition. integrating waste pickers into the formal solid waste management system can provide them better working conditions, higher wages, and social security. in jordan, waste pickers contribute significantly to the country’s recycling efforts but face several challenges. several studies have recommended solutions to integrate waste pickers into jordan’s formal solid waste management system, such as establishing a waste picker association and providing them with training and education. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 the study by albatayneh et al. (2018) aimed to present an alternative approach to simulating wind effects on the thermal performance of buildings. in another study, albatayneh et al. (2022) explored the potential of rooftop photovoltaic systems as a shading device for uninsulated buildings. juaidi et al. (2022) experimentally validated the impact of dust on grid-connected photovoltaic system performance in palestine, while albatayneh et al. (2020) evaluated the effectiveness of infiltration against roof insulation aimed at low-income housing retrofits in jordan [1922]. abdallah et al. (2022) investigated the effects of soiling and the frequency of optimal cleaning of pv panels in palestine. al-omary et al. (2021) developed a hybrid moving average algorithm for predicting energy in solarpowered wireless sensor nodes. muhaidat et al. (2021) emphasized the significance of occupants’ interaction with their environment in reducing cooling loads and dermatological distress in east mediterranean climates [23-25]. albatayneh et al. (2020) highlighted the significance of sky temperature in assessing the thermal performance of buildings and compared temperature versus energy-based approaches in the thermal assessment of buildings (albatayneh et al., 2017). monna et al. (2021) simulated the potential energy use reduction in residential buildings in palestine towards sustainable energy retrofitting. finally, albatayneh et al. (2018) adapted cfd modeling for building thermal simulation. these studies highlight the importance of sustainable and energy-efficient building design and management, focusing on contexts like jordan and palestine [26-30]. 3.3. a survey that tackled society’s view of waste pickers an online survey was completed in jordan to study where waste pickers stand in our society. one hundred sixty people filled out the survey; 105 (65.6%) were females, 133 (83.1%) lived in the capital amman, and sixteen were educated university bachelor graduates. the next part of the survey was regarding waste pickers and their interactions with society in specific. the following questions were asked: 1. how often do you run into waste pickers? as shown in figure 5, 10 (11.3%) people barely see them each month, 37 (23.1%) see them weekly, 59 (36.9%) notice them daily, and 46 (28.7%) do not see them anywhere near them. figure 5. how often do people run into waste pickers? muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 2. have you ever witnessed a waste picker involved in any illegal activity? as part of the survey, it was important to see if anybody witnessed a waste picker involved in any illegal activity. in order to prove that most of them are decent people, and fortunately, people proved us right as 144 (90%) of them answered that they have never seen any waste picker involved in any illegal activity. the other 16 (10%) mentioned that they have seen them steal or destroy public properties. 3. have you ever interacted with a waste picker? although most people who filled out this survey see waste pickers on a different time basis, 112 (70%) never interacted or even spoke with them. in comparison, 46 (28.7%) interacted with them and found it a comfortable experience; the rest 2 (1.2%) felt that their interaction was scary and uncomfortable. 4. are you with legalizing their work by forming a waste pickers’ syndicate? 129 (80.6%) of people were against forming it, and the rest were against it. this could be due to financial issues that could occur between the waste pickers themselves. 5. would you mind having regular direct contact with waste pickers? for example, them coming to your home and collecting the waste? most people mentioned that they had never faced a problem or witnessed illegal activity regarding waste pickers. moreover, they support formalizing and integrating them with the government. however, 86 (55.1%) of them were against increasing the interaction between them and the waste pickers by allowing the waste pickers to come and collect waste from households on a regular organized basis. this number is considered relatively good; maybe if more people filled out the form, more people would approve. 6. are you providing health insurance and education rights for child waste pickers? one important aspect of waste pickers is child waste pickers. these children do not have basic human rights like access to schools or even health insurance. therefore, part of this survey was regarding these children, where 153 (95.6%) of them expressed that children should not be allowed to work like this but should have the basic opportunities like any other child. 3.4. questionnaire for waste pickers themselves the survey gave a clear image of how society looks at waste pickers, but another important part was to see the waste pickers’ side, so we decided to interview them. the interview was held on november 21, 2019. the waste pickers interviewed lived on the land next to the industrial area in al bayader, amman. figure 6 shows one of the waste pickers living places. figure 6. the picture was taken during the interview. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 there were inconsistencies in the answers of those who were asked. some said they are originally from palestine to feel more socially accepted. however, they are actually from turkmenistan, a sovereign country in central asia. they speak their turkmen language, and they came to jordan during the rule of the ottoman empire, and during the days of king hussein, they were granted jordanian passports. they also did not give us accurate numbers regarding the money they earn from selling the waste as it comes to money (usd14 to usd35). they feel threatened that people might think that they earn a lot from it or that they might even create businesses that might affect their work. what was also noticed from this interview is that they always feel threatened that they might be evacuated from the country, even though many of them have jordanian passports. also, waste pickers do not have a negative social effect on society as much as they have a positive one; they help society. in addition, the way that people look at them as normal people with tough jobs and living conditions shows cultural development. 4. conclusions and recommendations informal solid waste management via waste pickers was studied and analyzed in jordan. the main conclusion from all the laws, regulations, and instructions since the beginning is that each new one has more details and specifications in solid waste management and waste pickers topics than before. this indicates that although the changes are slow and not major, they still indicate that a developing country like jordan is moving positively. many different solutions can be done regarding waste pickers; these solutions can be categorized into three main methods. the first method would be integrating them into the national solid waste management plan of the government; the second would be establishing small enterprises by the private sector, and the third would be community based organizations. moreover, before the government decides to integrate them into its plan, it should have full knowledge of the costs of managing solid waste and compare it to the costs that will be saved when the informal sector is integrated. to begin with, dealing with waste pickers is not very easy, especially when it comes to the most important thing to them, which is waste, as it is their main source of income. therefore, when working with them, we should ensure they still have access to waste and the right to own it, adding that the government will hold a share of the total income. therefore, the government can assign waste pickers many different jobs, such as: 1. collecting waste from a household level regularly. (raising awareness to people regarding the separation of different types of wastes before this would result in benefit). 2. collecting waste from landfills, sanitary landfills, and dumpsites. 3. sorting the collected waste. 4. in some cases, reselling it to consumers. these jobs also apply when it comes to small enterprises as well. they would hire waste pickers to collect waste according to the national solid waste management plan. the difference between small enterprises and the government is that the private sector runs small enterprises; therefore, the income would be shared with the waste pickers and the owners. these enterprises will reduce the governments’ costs of managing solid waste. the third solution would be community based organization (cbo); in a community-based organization, people develop a suitable method to collect, sort, and sell its generated waste. the workers of the cbo are all from the same community, which provides more job opportunities. in addition, all the money earned after the expenses have been paid can be invested in improving the local community. studies from around the world have shown that these three methods were the most efficient ones when the following rules are followed: 1. providing shelter for most of the homeless waste pickers. 2. providing them with at least the basic health insurance of the company. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 3. providing with safety wear during working hours. 4. providing them with the necessary facilities like bathrooms in their working areas. another important recommendation would be to sort out all the numbers of waste pickers organizations and join the global alliance of waste pickers or even create a national alliance of our own. when this sector is integrated, different parties benefit from it, some financially, others socially, and for most of them, better life quality is provided. references giz, inception report, 2014. instructions for solid waste management of year 2019, ministry of environment. ebtihal a. aldayyat, motasem n. saidan, mousa a. abu saleh, sudki hamdan, colette linton, solid waste management in jordan: impact and analysis, 2018. mohammad aljaradin, kenneth m. persson, emad sood, the role of informal sector in waste management, a case study; tafila-jordan, 2015. giz, inception report, 2019. undp, solid waste value chain analysis irbid and mafraq, jordan, 2015. environmental protection law no.6 of year 2017, ministry of environment. solid waste management regulation no.27 of year 2005, ministry of environment. the solid waste management framework law no.16 of year 2019, ministry of environment. albatayneh, a., alterman, d. and page, a., 2018, january. adaptation the use of cfd modelling for building thermal simulation . in proceedings of the 2018 international conference on software engineering and information management (pp. 68-72). albatayneh, a., 2021. optimising the parameters of a building envelope in the east mediterranean saharan, cool climate zone. buildings, 11(2), p.43. albatayneh, a., 2021. optimisation of building envelope parameters in a semi-arid and warm mediterranean climate zone. energy reports, 7, pp.2081-2093. albatayneh, a., jaradat, m., alkhatib, m.b., abdallah, r., juaidi, a. and manzano-agugliaro, f., 2021. the significance of the adaptive thermal comfort practice over the structure retrofits to sustain indoor thermal comfort. energies, 14(10), p.2946. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a. and moghtaderi, b., 2017. temperature versus energy based approaches in the thermal as sessment of buildings. energy procedia, 128, pp.46-50. albatayneh, a., alterman, d., page, a. and moghtaderi, b., 2018. renewable energy systems to enhance buildings thermal performance and decrease construction costs. energy procedia, 152, pp.312-317. lopez, c., onzere, s. n., & omondi, g. a. (2017). integration of informal waste pickers into the formal waste management system: a review of the literature. waste management, 69, 347-356. medina, m. (2010). informal recycling and occupational health in santo andre, brazil. international journal of occupational a nd environmental health, 16(2), 182-189. wilson, d. c., velis, c., cheeseman, c. r., & restrepo, i. (2006). waste management and recycling in the developing world. london: earthscan publications ltd. al-sari, m., al-adamat, r., & malkawi, m. (2017). situation of waste pickers and recommendations for the future in jordan. waste management & research, 35(1), 3-12. albatayneh a, alterman d, page a, moghtaderi b. an alternative approach to the simulation of wind effects on the thermal perf ormance of buildings. international journal of computational physics series. 2018 feb 27;1(1):35-44. albatayneh a, albadaineh r, juaidi a, abdallah r, montoya md, manzano-agugliaro f. rooftop photovoltaic system as a shading device for uninsulated buildings. energy reports. 2022 nov 1;8:4223-32. juaidi a, muhammad hh, abdallah r, abdalhaq r, albatayneh a, kawa f. experimental validation of dust impact on-grid connected pv system performance in palestine: an energy nexus perspective. energy nexus. 2022 jun 16;6:100082. albatayneh a, assaf mn, jaradat m, alterman d. the effectiveness of infiltration against roof insulation aimed at low income housing retrofits for different climate zones in jordan. environmental & climate technologies. 2020 dec 1;24(2). abdallah r, juaidi a, abdel-fattah s, qadi m, shadid m, albatayneh a, çamur h, garcía-cruz a, manzano-agugliaro f. the effects of soiling and frequency of optimal cleaning of pv panels in palestine. energies. 2022 jun 8;15(12):4232. al-omary m, aljarrah r, albatayneh a, jaradat m. a composite moving average algorithm for predicting energy in solar powered wireless sensor nodes. in2021 18th international multi-conference on systems, signals & devices (ssd) 2021 mar 22 (pp. 1047-1052). ieee. muhaidat j, albatayneh a, assaf mn, juaidi a, abdallah r, manzano-agugliaro f. the significance of occupants’ interaction with their environment on reducing cooling loads and dermatological distresses in east mediterranean climates. international journal of environmental research and public health. 2021 aug 23;18(16):8870. albatayneh a, alterman d, page a, moghtaderi b. the significance of sky temperature in the assessment of the thermal performance of buildings. applied sciences. 2020 nov 13;10(22):8057. muna hindiyeh, talar oghlenian / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 albatayneh a, alterman d, page a, moghtaderi b. temperature versus energy based approaches in the thermal assessment of buildings. energy procedia. 2017 sep 1;128:46-50. monna s, juaidi a, abdallah r, albatayneh a, dutournie p, jeguirim m. towards sustainable energy retrofitting, a simulation for potential energy use reduction in residential buildings in palestine. energies. 2021 jun 28;14(13):3876. albatayneh a, alterman d, page a. adaptation the use of cfd modelling for building thermal simulation. inproceedings of the 2018 international conference on software engineering and information management 2018 jan 4 (pp. 68-72). http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i1.487 selecting ventilation fan capacity for university classroom based on empirical data wannawit taemthong1 1associate professor, king mongkut’s university of technology north bangkok, bangkok, thailand abstract this paper presents a guideline for selecting ventilation fan based on empirical data. the research project was undertaken in a university classroom of 64 square meters. in a two-hour experiment, carbon dioxide levels exceeded 1600 ppm when not using any ventilation system. subsequently, the carbon dioxide levels increased approximately at a rate of 11.49 ppm per minute for 15 students sitting in the room. the carbon dioxide levels within the tested classroom exceeded 1000 ppm after the 42nd minute. when students left the room, co2 decreased approximately at a rate of 3.67 ppm per minute. straight-line functions were used to model the increasing and decreasing behaviour of co2 concentration in the classroom. an example of how to select an appropriate ventilation fan capacity is shown as an approximation guideline. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords carbon dioxide; classroom; indoor air quality; ventilation 1. introduction ventilation rates have significant impacts on building energy and indoor air quality (persily, 2016). good indoor air quality promotes occupant health, comfort and workplace productivity (cheong & chong, 2001). thermal comfort in classrooms is an important requirement to promote students’ efficiency and reduce health symptoms (stazi, naspi, ulpiani, & di perna, 2017). indoor carbon dioxide concentrations can be used to measure building ventilation and indoor air quality (persily & de jonge, 2017). as ventilation to supply fresh air in an air-conditioned office consumes a considerable portion of energy, while higher ventilation rates result in less dilution, high ventilation rates can have a huge impact on both energy costs and comfort (wong & mui, 2008), (prill, 2000). higher indoor air quality initiatives result in a nonlinear increasing trend in annual thermal energy consumption (wong & mui, 2008). while low ventilation rates consume less energy, they may result in poor indoor air quality (wang, xie, liu, & xu, 2016). indoor air quality is associated with student learning ability. good air quality in classrooms enhance both children’ levels of concentration and teacher productivity (clements-croome, awbi, bakó-biró, kochhar, & williams, 2008). high levels of co2 have been shown to have an effect on pupils’ learning ability (griffiths & eftekhari, 2008). levels of carbon dioxide can increase by up to 4800 ppm during the first two hours of a classroom in a not well-ventilated classroom (heudorf, neitzert, & spark, 2009). it has been established that mechanical ventilation systems are able to ensure the highest outdoor air supply rates in classrooms, independent of the season pg. 13 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd (gao, wargocki, & wang, 2014). installing an air exchange fan can reduce indoor co2 concentration by up to 10.4% (kang, tseng, wang, shih, & nguyen, 2016). ventilation rates represent a critical parameter related to building energy bills and health and comfort of occupants (batterman, 2017). poor ventilation potentially causes excessive humidity and the accumulation of gas or chemical exposure (bernstein et al., 2008). (wargocki and silva, 2015) studied impacts of manually window opening to reduce co2 level in school classroom. co2 sensors were provided as visual indicator in classrooms for teachers and students to react by opening windows. they found that energy usage increases in winter and cooling requirements reduces in summer due to such operation. overall indoor air pollution exposures attribute to their health since most europeans spend more than 90% of their time indoors (arvanitis et al. 2010). people spend most of their time in confined spaces and thus are exposed to high extent to chemicals accumulated indoor (kotzias & pilidis, 2017). indoor air pollution has a high correlation to outdoor air source (sabazioti, galinos, missia, kalimeri, tolis, & bartzis, 2017). strong emission sources affect indoor environment in buildings (sakellaris, tolis, saraga, & bartzis, 2017). in order to design and manage appropriate ventilation systems, the effects of increasing and decreasing rates of co2 need to be studied. it is useful to know the carbon dioxide generation rates of students in a classroom. (persily and de jonge, 2017) studied co2 generation rates for building occupants based on human metabolism and exercise physiology. several methods can be used to estimate and model co2. (lawrence and braun, 2007) suggested a methodology for estimating co2 using field measurements and developed a co2 schedule to manage demand-controlled ventilation in small commercial buildings. (lu, knuutila, viljanen, & lu, 2010) introduced a method of estimating occupant co2 generation rates from measurements in mechanically ventilated buildings. (jiang, masood, soh, & li, 2016) used realtime co2 measurements as an estimator tool for co2 levels. (bartlett, martinez, & bert, 2004) used numerical method to estimate co2 concentration in natural ventilation elementary school classrooms. they found that co2 were generated at a rate 404 mg/min per child and air quality in such classroom was lower than recommended air standard. in addition, weekly et al. developed partial and ordinary differential equations for modeling and estimating co2 in a conference room setting (weekly, bekiaris-liberis, jin, & bayen, 2015). however, none of the above studies considered either increasing or decreasing rates of co2 levels in a classroom environment in hot and humid climate liked thailand and modeling them in a function of carbon dioxide versus time. this paper aims at modeling co2 behavior and suggesting a method for designing ventilation fan capacity in classroom. 2. research methodology the study was implemented in one classroom of the king mongkut’s university of technology north bangkok. it had a size of 64 square meters, and a ceiling height of 3.5 meters. fifteen students were present in the room. initially, two experiments were undertaken involving increasing and decreasing levels of co2. rates of co2 concentration in the classroom were recorded by an indoor air quality meter (kimo aq 200). data was modelled using the linear regression method, which is a statistical technique for modelling the relationship between variables (montgomery, peck, & vining, 2012). a straight-line function was selected to represent co2 concentration data. apprehension regarding using slope and y-interception represents the reason for using the straight-line form shown in equation 1. the slope of a straight-line represents the relative increasing/decreasing rate of co2 concentration. the y-interception represents the initial co2 level in the room prior to occupancy. y = ax + b (1) where y = carbon dioxide concentration in ppm; x = time in minutes; a = slope of a straight-line or increasing/decreasing rate of co2 concentration; and b = y-interception or initial level co2 in the room. the first and second experiments studied the increasing and decreasing of co2 as shown in figure 1 and 2, respectively. data were gathered on november 9, 2015 during 13:00 to 15:00 for the first experiment in figure 1. carbon dioxide levels were recorded for two hours while students were present in the classroom. nevertheless, actual co2 concentration has a single curvature, as shown in figure 1, and a 2nd degree polynomial function should be used for better correlation than a straight-line function. however, the polynomial can be best employed to estimate figures pg. 14 taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd within the range of the data known. it is not an effective model for making predictions because it tends to create double curvatures later. therefore, a straight-line function was selected to represent increasing and decreasing rates of co2 in this research as an approximation model. in our experiments, two variables were found. carbon dioxide levels in a classroom are a function of the time that students are present or left the classroom. the co2 concentration in figure 1 can be represented by a straight-line function, as shown in equation 2. it has a correlation value or r2 of 0.988. thus, the increasing rate is 11.49 ppm/minute, as shown in the slope value. y = 11.49x + 427 data for the second experiement were gathered on november 9, 2015 during 15:15 to 17:15 as shown in figure 2. the decreasing rates of co2 concentration can be noticed after students left the classroom without ventilation fans having been operated. such rates decrease naturally. all doors and windows were not open during the two-hour periods under consideration. a straight-line model for these data sets is shown in equation 3. it has a correlation value or r2 of 0.994. co2 decreased at a rate of 3.67 ppm/minute. correlation values of the decreasing rates of co2 function is obviously better than the increasing rates of co2 function. y = −3.67x + 1801 (3) figure 1. increasing rates of co2 in the experimental room figure 2. decreasing rates of co2 in the experimental room pg. 15 taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd with respect to carbon dioxide levels, the occupational safety and health administration specifies the transitional limit of carbon dioxide in workplace as 5,000 ppm over a time weighted average (osha, 2017). a generally satisfactory level for indoor co2 concentration is between 1,000-1,200 ppm (ashrae, 2014). therefore, the level of co2 used as a threshold in this research is 1,000 ppm, representing generally acceptable indoor air quality. the impact of employing ventilation fans is then studied by encouraging fresh air into the room and reducing co2 concentration, as shown in figure 3. it illustrates the data gained in the third experiment where ventilation fans were operated. the fans were operated manually when co2 levels inside the room exceeded 1000 ppm. the ventilation fans supply fresh air at a rate of 362 cfm, or 616 m3/hr. the actual ventilation rate, which ensures acceptable indoor air quality, is 24.13 cfm/person. this number is higher than that recommended by thai standards. the minimum ventilation rate required for a classroom in thailand stands at 15 cfm/person (eit, 2005). the fresh air supply fan has enough power to disburse co2 at a rate under 1,000 ppm. the test duration in figure 3 is less than 120 minutes due to classes adjourning before time. from figure 3, the ability to dissipate co2 concentration can be determined by projecting the increasing rate beyond the 64th minutes with equation 2, and subtracting with actual co2 figures for the period between the 64th and 101st minutes. thus, we arrive at the projection shown in figure 4. the difference between the values of the two lines shown in the figure 4 can be modelled as presented in equation 4. it can estimate a removal rate of co2 while ventilation fan is operated. the installed ventilation fans, which have a capacity of 362 cfm, have the ability to remove co2 at a rate of approximately 13.4 ppm/minute. by dividing 362 cfm with 13.4 ppm/minute, 27 cubic foot of fresh air is required to remove one ppm of co2. y = 13.4x − 0.98 (4) however, ventilation fans serve to channel hot and humid air into rooms since thailand is subject to a typically hot and humid climate. electricity consumption increases since air conditioning units work harder and consume more electricity to maintain the room temperature at 25 ◦c. energy consumption is 1.28 and 1.91 kwh when ventilation fans are switched off and on, respectively. through dispersing fresh air into the experiment room, electricity consumption increased by 49%. thus, minimizing the use of ventilation fans can save energy. figure 3. operating a ventilation fan at a threshold of 1000 ppm pg. 16 taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. using equation 2 to project increasing rate of co2 to determine the ability to dissipate co2 by installed ventilation fan. 3. scenarios in operating ventilation fans to maintain desirable indoor air quality, ventilation fans should be operated in rooms crowded with people. in this section, we will consider two scenarios concerned with the operation of a ventilation fan. the first scenario mimics situations when co2 sensors are set to operate ventilating fans at 1000 ppm, as shown in figure 5. equation 2 was used to generate co2 in both scenarios. meanwhile, the ability to remove co2 by fans as represented in figure 3 is used to simulate the co2 concentration behaviors when operating ventilation fans. the total fan operating time is 54 minutes and the maximum co2 found is 1015 ppm. second, the alleviation of co2 concentration is studied after students having left the classroom. two methods were considered involving alleviation under natural conditions and alleviation using ventilation fans, as shown in figure 6. during the first 120 minutes, classes were full with 15 students studying for two hours. subsequently, students left the classroom. in figure 6, the top line represents the situation where co2 decreases naturally at a rate of 3.67 ppm per minute as determined from equation 3. it is obvious that co2 cannot be removed to a satisfy level at 1000 ppm within one hour. the other line represents the situation where the ventilation fan was operating and students left the room for one hour. co2 concentration reduced at the combined rates of 3.67 and 13.4 ppm per minute as determined from equations 3 and 4, respectively. when using the latter method indoor air quality quickly improves. co2 concentration diminishes by 1029 ppm in one hour. since most classrooms in thailand are vacant during lunch period from 12:00-13:00, schools should be strongly encouraged to operate ventilation fans during this period in order to restore air freshness in the classroom. 4. selecting ventilation fan size this section gives a guideline in selecting the appropriate size of ventilation fan based on developed models. the question under consideration concerns if 25 students are attending a class in a 64 square meter room, what is the appropriate capacity of a ventilation fan in cfm. the first step involves calculating the co2 emission of 25 students. based on our data, co2 increases at a rate 11.49 ppm/minute for 15 students or 0.76 ppm/person/minute. pg. 17 taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd therefore, the co2 emission rate for 25 students should be 19.15 ppm/minute, as shown in table 1. from earlier results, it is suggested that approximately 27 cubic feet of fresh air would be required to remove one ppm of co2. therefore, a ventilation fan capacity of 517 cfm is appropriate for this size of room and number of students. this number is higher than recommended by eit (2005) and (ashrae, 2007) at 375 cfm and 187.5 cfm, respectively. furthermore, the fan might be controlled by co2 sensor setting a threshold at 1000 ppm to turn the fan on and off at 800 ppm. such operation could minimize energy consumption from air condition unit. figure 5. simulating an operation of a ventilation fan at a threshold of 1000 ppm. figure 6. effects of co2 removal by natural means and using ventilation fan after students have left a classroom pg. 18 taemthong / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. example in selecting the size of ventilation fans input number of students 25 persons size of room 64 sq.m. process rate of co2 generated by students at a rate of 0.76 ppm/person/minute 19.15 ppm/min result required size of fans to maintain 1000 ppm based on 27 cf/ppm 517 cfm 5. conclusion this research outlines details of preliminary models for estimating and predicting co2 concentration in classrooms. an example case study is presented. however, there are many limitations regarding the models since they are developed in terms of a classroom of 64 square meters with 15 students in attendance. more research could be undertaken to develop more versatile models encompassing different situations such as different size of rooms, ventilation fan capacities, and number of students. in our experiment, co2 increases at a rate 11.49 ppm/minute with 15 students, or 0.76 ppm/person/minute. it decreases naturally at a rate of 3.67 ppm per minute after students have left the classroom. this rate also depends on the nature of openings to the room. guidelines for selecting the size of ventilation fans to reduce co2 concentration in classrooms have been suggested. the operation of mechanical ventilation may be required during vacant periods before students enter their next class in order to ensure acceptable indoor air quality for students. this research demonstrates how to develop a model for estimating co2 values in a classroom from an empirical study. an increasing rate of co2 due to students being present in the classroom were found at 0.76 ppm/person/minute. by using a ventilation fan, co2 level in room reduces. from our study, a 27 cubic foot of fresh air is required in order to remove one ppm of co2. as a result, building designers can use this number as a guideline in selecting ventilation fan capacity. 6. acknowledgments this research is supported by the royal thai government funding of fiscal year 2014 through the king mongkut’s university of technology north bangkok (kmutnb). the author wishes to thank them gratefully. 7. references 1. arvanitis, a., kotzias, d., kephalopoulos, s., carrer, p., cavallo, d., cesaroni, g., ... & fromme, h. 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(2008). an energy impact assessment of indoor air quality acceptance for air-conditioned offices. energy conversion and management, 49(10), 2815-2819. pg. 21 introduction research methodology scenarios in operating ventilation fans selecting ventilation fan size conclusion acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.558 the sinkhole occurrence risk mitigation in urban areas for the historic salt mine agnieszka malinowska1, ryszard hejmanowski1, artur guzy1, andrzej kwinta2, paweł ulmaniec3 1faculty of mining surveying and environmental engineering, university of science and technology, cracow, poland 2agriculture university, cracow, poland 3wieliczka salt mine, wieliczka, poland abstract the present research focuses on the definition of a novel methodology for sinkhole risk assessment above shallow salt mines. the research were carried out on the area above the wieliczka salt mine, a world heritage site. the study of vertical stresses on the basis of a theoretical state of rock mass deformation in the area of test chambers was performed. furthermore, the risk of chamber collapse due to ventricular stress exceeding the limit specified in the zone were calculated based on the arch pressure theory. the final stage of the research consists of spatial analysis that leading to the identification of chambers potentially influenced by other risk factors. the research shown in the article strongly suggests that combined spatial analysis with geotechnical analysis may lead to reliable sinkhole risk assessment methodology. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords salt deposit; sinkhole; risk management; convergence; gis 1. introduction 1.1. background in 1960 a sinkhole of ca. 100 m diameter was formed as a consequence of a goaf in the schmidt salt chamber at the wieliczka salt mine. within 15 minutes, the terrain had subsided and as a result, two houses collapsed. similar events have occurred in other parts of the world, frequently causing serious damage. the problem of sinkholeprone chambers is extremely complex and, despite many years of re-search, is not yet fully understood. it is known that old and shallow workings have to be backfilled. moreover, some mines such as the one found in wieliczka, are unesco world heritage site, and therefore their preservation and maintenance for fu-ture generations is a priority. regardless, safety measures must be implemented to provide assurance for the citizens of wieliczka, as the oldest part of the mine rests under the town center. the course of the deformation process in the saline rock mass is pg. 85 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd influenced by the geomechanical properties of various types of salt present in the wieliczka salt mine. it is also caused by a number of mining and geological factors which lead to sink-hole-formation (çanakcı, güllü, 2009; kleczkowski, 1993; przybyło, 1980). the studies presented in this paper focus on determining the most important risk factors responsible for the formation of weaker zones in the rock mass and, consequently, which en-courage the formation of caving collapse process. in the past, most evaluations on the risk of sinkhole formation concentrated on empirical solutions or numerical geomechanical calculations (ryncarz, 1993). however, those methods turned out be unreliable for a number of reasons. it is the critical evaluations of previous methods of estimating the sinkhole risk that have led to the concepts presented in this paper. widely agreed upon approaches that the sinkhole risk evaluation methods should be principally based on a spatial analysis en-compassing the present technical state of the chambers, mutual bedding, applied exploitation systems and interrelations between the chambers. 1.2. geology of the study area wieliczka is located in the south-east of poland. the saliferous formation is as a narrow strip covering an area of 7 km to the east-west and 0.9 km to the north-south. the depth of the extracted deposit reaches 370 meters. underground mining activity in this region first took place in the 16th century. salt mining has been carried out in about 2000 chambers on 9 levels, an area which amounts to 7.5x106 m3. the most intensely developed part of the town itself, which has a population of 20,000, is located directly above the oldest and shallowest part of the mine. because of complex and diverse geological conditions, various salt extraction methods have had to be used in this region. the salt deposit is divided into two strata. the lower strata are strongly inclined with a 15◦-70◦ inclination, and are folded. the upper layer consists of loams and salt solids and has been strongly dispersed by tectonic movements. five types of salt have been recorded in the analyzed area (kleczkowski, 1993; przybylo, 1980): 1. beds of green salt, 2. solids of green salt, 3. shaft-salt, 4. “spiz”-salt, 5. solids of “zuber”-salt located in the loam bed. various exploitation methods were applied with regard to the salt-type, as well as to the geological and hydrogeological conditions. the salt strata were isolated from water infiltration by a marl and loam bed. above the loam and marl bed sandy loams formed, thanks to which water infiltration was able to take place. in those areas, quicksand beds formed. the northern part of the salt was strongly distributed and cracked, thereby allowing water infiltration to the chambers in this area was possible. 1.3. sinkhole risk mitigation in urban areas at the first stage of the investigation was to design the architecture of functional database. currently, geographical it has been repeatedly shown after many years of research and observation that the main factors which can be significantly attributed to the formation of sinkholes are: (mancini et al., 2009; ryncarz, 1993; saustowicz, 1955; whittaker, reddish, 1989). – height of the chambers pg. 86 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd global studies and also events in poland show that the height of the chambers is one of the most important factors in causing the development of sinkholes. the height of the chambers in the wieliczka salt mine ranges between 4 and 50 meters. – thickness of the roof ledge the thickness of the roof ledge is defined as the difference of the terrain surface datum and workings’ roof datum. the thicknesses of the roof ledge in the study area vary depending on the depth (the roof ledge for the chambers on the first level ranges between 23 and 300 meters). – quaternary sediments and strata overlaying loam beds quaternary strata can be a factor which increases the probability in the occurrence of a sinkhole through the possible infiltration of water to the chamber when the continuity of the strata has been disrupted. the quaternary strata in the research area are thick with inserts and water-bearing lenses. water infiltrates through fractures formed as a result of rock mass relaxation, and do so along vertical workings. – type of chambers the salt exploitation mode is directly connected with the type of salt and the way it is deposited. salt exploitation in the wieliczka area was carried out employing various methods. generally the chambers can be divided into those which are made in a block of salt, those which were made in a salt bed, those which are leached, and finally, holed chambers. most sinkhole-prone chambers are the shallowest chambers of irregular shape and varying thickness of salt cover, insulating against water influxes. – distribution of chambers with regards their interrelations the interrelation of the chambers is the most complex issue, requiring advanced computer applications for analyzing spatial interrelations between the chambers. the most hazardous are the complexes of chambers on neighboring horizons, especially when the size of the chambers is considerable. the afore mentioned factors will be the criterion of the final selection of sinkhole-prone chambers.3.1. risk map development. 2. methods for assessing the risk of sinkhole occurrence 2.1. assumptions and general scheme of research at the beginning of the study was obvious that the complicated geological conditions in the rock mass and historical excavations do not allow the use of any classical numerical calculation methodology to assess the sinkhole occurrence. the goal of the research was to combine the empirical approach for subsidence prediction with the geomechanical method for strain calculation and with geographical information system (gis). those general assumption allowed to create an own, original method for sinkhole occurrence above the historical salt mine. the present research result consists of four stages (fig.1). the first stage consists of the rock mass deformation analysis in the area of the shallowest salt chambers using knothe’s generalized geometrical-integral model (knothe, 1953)(fig.1a). the results of those calculations made it possible to find vertical movement s and strains ε x, ε y, ε z caused by the convergence of chamber workings in the deeper horizons of the mine. pg. 87 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. scheme of research methodology the second stage of the research facilitated the estimation of deformations and vertical stresses in the area of walls in shallow chambers (fig. 1b). with those calculations it was possible to separate chambers for which vertical stresses were similar or exceed the average tensile stress and compressive stress values, and those which were regarded as critical. depending on the risk of the exceeding critical values, categories of differing risk have been determined. the third stage of the research evaluates the range of the cracking zone above chambers with pressure arch theory (fig.1c). depending on the depth which could be reached by the cracking zone, four sinkhole-prone zones were found. the forth step was the gis integration of the analytical results with risk factors which could not be analyzed due to their qualitative characteristics (fig. 1 d). finally, the chambers which generate a potential risk of sinkhole occurrence on the surface have been selected. 2.2. predicted deformations in the vertical plane deformations in the vertical plane were predicted using knothe’s theory. according to this theory the exploitation of an elementary volume of deposit, dv and horizontal plane, dp generate an elementary subsidence at point a. this subsidence can be described as: dsa = f (x,y)dp (1) where: -dsis the elementary subsidence at point a, -f(x,y) is the influence function, -dp is the area of an element of the chamber. employing the principle of superposition it has been assumed that vertical displacement at point a, as denoted by sa is the sum of elementary subsidence coming from all elementary volumes in the exploitation field area: sa = ∫∫ p f (x,y)dp (2) pg. 88 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd assuming various forms of the influence function f(x,y), we can define various prediction models for displacements and deformations. in knothe’s theory (knothe 1953), the following generalized influence function for a flat state of displacements is assumed: f (x) = smax h √ 2π ex p(−h2x2) (3) where: -smax= a g is the maximum final subsidence [m], -a is the exploitation coefficient, depending on the way the post-exploitation void has been filled out, -g is the thickness of exploitation, -h is the parameter of the influences dispersion. following a parametrization of the influence function, i.e. assuming the limited range of the influence of the exploitation and introduction of parameter r, the function (3) can assume the form (4): f (x) = smax 1 r ex p(−π x2 r2 ) (4) the parameter r is the radius of the influences dispersion, also called the range of the main influence. this parameter is connected with the strength characteristic of the rock mass, through the dependence (5): tgβ = h r (5) where: -h is the depth of exploitation [m], -tgβ is the parameter of rock mass corresponding to strength properties of rocks. knothe’s classic theory only enables us to predict deformations in a vertical plane. for the sake of practicality, the theory had to be supplemented by theoretical calculations in a horizontal plane. studies by budryk (budryk, 1953) turned out to be crucial for predicting horizontal displacements and strains in poland. for the sake of the presented method, it was necessary to determine the state of strains at points of the salt panel sidewalls. those strains for all panels were calculated from the relation (6): εx = ∂ ux ∂ x , εy = ∂ uy ∂ y , εz = ∂ uz ∂ z (6) where ux, uy, uz=s, are the respective horizontal movements (budryk, 1953). knothe’s principles (see model above) were somewhat generalized for the saline rock mass. each panel localized at 9 levels of the wieliczka salt mine was numerically introduced by its geometrical simplification. in the process of convergence, specific elements of all panels were generating displacements and deformations at the analyzed points of the sidewalls in other panels. in this way, it was possible to determine definitely the state of strains for each sidewall of the salt panel. 2.3. determining the stresses in vertical plane in determining the risk of panel stability loss under the influence of deformation of other panels on the basis of strains determined from knothe’s general theory, the stresses were defined with the hook’s general law. on the basis of deformations and parameters of rocks making up the rock mass, the stresses can be calculated from the dependence: σx = 2g 1−2ν [(1−ν)εx + ν (εy + εz)] σy = 2g 1−2ν [(1−ν)εy + ν (εx + εz)] σz = 2g 1−2ν [(1−ν)εz + ν (εy + εx)] (7) pg. 89 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd where: -g is the shear modulus, -v is the poisson number. as vertical stresses have the biggest influence on the stability of sidewalls, further analyses were focused only on those stress values. due to the fact that all panels stay within the influence of the lower panels, they needed to be grouped according to the vertical stress. it should be emphasized that these are stresses are exclusively caused by the deformation of the rock mass coming from the contraction of other panels with respect to those analyzed. this categorization was introduced for the needs of the saline rock mass analyses presented in this paper. this was the author’s solution. the following (risk) categories for vertical stresses were proposed: ->category 1 – deformation stresses within the critical value limits, ->category 2 – stresses exceed critical values less than twice, -> category 3 – stresses exceed critical values twice, ->category 4 – stresses exceed critical values three times, ->category 5 – stresses exceed critical values four times. in total, 283 panels met the criteria assumed for the vertical stress analyses. the results obtained reveal that a relatively large number of panels could be subjected to the negative impact of deformations caused by other, deeper-located panels. it should be stressed that the selected panels could have been back-filled or protected otherwise in view of the expected deformations. this would confirm the assumed stress analysis methods used in this paper. 2.4. determining the range of the cracking zone determining the feasibility of discontinuous deformation occurrence on the terrain surface over the exploitation panels is related with defining the range of the direct impact of the cracking zone on the near-surface rock mass layers. in a given situation, the rock mass in the near-surface zone consists of a few layers of varying geomechanical properties and it is important to indicate which layers will house the cracking zone. immediately under the ground surface we have a clayey sand layer with a sliding tendency. thus, if the cracking zone reaches that layer, discontinuous deformations in the form of cones will appear on the surface. then, a clay-gypsum layer follows in the geological profile. if the cracking zone reaches that layer, its water tightness will be disturbed and a massive water influx can occur, causing a washing off the sands. in this case, various fractures may be formed. a further risk analysis of 283 preselected panels lies in using the pressure arch theory. in this way, panels which are a potential source of discontinuous deformation on the terrain surface could be selected from among the panels in danger of vertical stress higher than the strength of the rocks. taking into account the similar character of data illustrating the geometry of the workings, as well as the build and geomechanical properties of the rock mass, sałustowicz’s simplified model was applied (sałustowicz, 1955). in this model, also referred to as the pressure arch theory, the assumption was made that the cracking zone takes the form of an ellipse in the vertical cross-section. the size of the semi-axis of that ellipse depends on the dimension of the working and the properties of the neighboring rocks. when rocks are made up of a low tensile strength rock mass, the tensile stresses will have a decisive significance on the range of the cracking zone. an example scheme presented in fig. 2 was analyzed. the depleted panel had the following dimensions: radius r, height ge the semi-axes of the ellipse were denoted as a and b. there were additionally marked with the height coordinates pg. 90 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of the terrain surface zpow , the top of the cracking zone zsp, the roof of the panel zst and the floor of the analyzed panel z0. as already mentioned, the prerequisite of cracking zone formation is to exceed the tensile strength of value rr by stressing the level of layers making up the panel roof. this condition can be written as follows: −pz + ( 1 + 2 a b ) px ≥ rr (8) where pz and px are primary stresses on the top node of the ellipse. after substituting the dependence of horizontal vs. vertical pressures and determining the boundary value from (8), the dependence for the semi-axes has been obtained in the form below: a b = rr(1−ν)− pz(2ν −1) 2pzν (9) the primary vertical pressure at the height of the panel roof was determined from the dependence: pz =−γ(zpow −zst) (10) figure 2. estimating the range of cracking zone over the salt chamber where: -g is the average specific weight of the deposited over chamber rock mass. in line with fig. 2, the ellipse equation was introduced. in the assumed coordinates system it has the following form (11): (x b )2 + ( z a )2 = 1 (10) after substituting the coordinates of point p (from fig. 2) to (11) and after transforming it, we get: a = √ 4 (a b )2 r2 + g2e (12) taking into account (9) we have: a = √ 4 ( rr(1−ν)− pz(2ν −1) 2pzν )2 r2 + g2e (13) pg. 91 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd thus, the vertical coordinate of the cracking zone top node can be ultimately obtained from the dependence (14): zsp = z0 + ge 2 + a = z0 + ge 2 + √ 4 ( rr(1−ν)− pz(2ν −1) 2pzν )2 r2 + g2e (14) according to the above dependence, the vertical coordinate of the cracking zone for the 283 previously selected and potentially endangered panels, was determined. 2.5. determining of the cracking zone in compliance with the theoretical assumptions presented in the previous sub chapter, the top node of the cracking zone was calculated. for doing so it was necessary to determine the required geometrical and geomechanical parameters. the assumption was made that the rock mass was layered; the parameters of each layer were assumed experimentally and on the basis of literature data (hwalek, 1971). based on the theoretical dependencies obtained, the location of the top node of the cracking zone was determined over each of the analyzed panels. prior to determining its degree, the risk of discontinuous deformations occurrence on the surface should first be classified. the principle, according to which the risk zones were grouped, has been graphically presented in fig. 3. figure 3. the classification of hazard zones due to location of cracks zone apex the analysis of the obtained results reveals that most of the analyzed panels belong to risk zone one, and only two cases to category four. on the basis of the obtained results relating to the formation of a cracking zone and with the results defining the potential risk of stability loss, it is possible to determine the shallow exploitation panels which can hypothetically generate discontinuous deformations in the terrain surface. the below table (scheme 1) cross-juxtaposes the number of panels grouped in specific risk categories of stability loss, (as a result of vertical stresses) with the risk categories of discontinuous deformations (resulting from the localization of the top node of the cracking arch). in this way fifty-five sinkhole-prone chambers have been distinguished. scheme 1: analysis of the number of salt panels with respect to risk categories and cracks zones it can be concluded from the above table that dozens of panels require more detailed analyses. panels belonging to hazard zone ii can generate discontinuous deformations in the terrain surface mostly in the form of fractures, whereas the cracking zones over such panels may bring about significant consequences for the safety of the mine’s pg. 92 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd operation. breaking the continuity of water-bearing horizons may result in an uncontrollable influx of water to the mine. three exploitation panels require special attention. they belong to risk zones three and four as discontinuous deformations in the form of cones could appear above them. 2.6. gis analysis the next step was to match the theoretical results with mining and geological risk factors which were discussed in chapter three. global research devoted to the estimation of mining risks, has proven that geographical information systems are an optimal tool for integration and the analysis of varying geological and mining factors (malinowska, hejmanowski, 2010; mancini et al., 2009) for this purpose, the selected risk factors were integrated using gis. the spatial analyses were mainly based on dependencies stemming from the boolean logic. as a result of the analysis performed, 15 chambers were selected as potential sinkhole risks for the terrain surface (fig. 4). figure 4. map of sinkhole hazard occurrence 3. results and discussion the author’s method assess the risk of discontinuous deformations on the terrain surface. this has been done by modeling the vertical stresses on the basis of the theoretical state of rock mass deformation in the area of the studied chambers is presented in the paper. for chambers potentially at risk of stresses over the boundary values, the cracking zone was established using the pressure arch theory. consequently, the number of chambers was narrowed down to 55 chambers, which were potentially at risk of discontinuous deformations of the surface. by supplementing theoretical analyses with results of additional studies of mining and geological factors, 15 sinkholeprone chambers were eventually selected. the final stage of the studies was conducted using spatial analyses, from which chambers, in danger of being influenced by other risk factors were able to be distinguished. 4. acknowledgments this research has been financed by the national sciene center, grant no.umo-2014/15/b/st10/04892. pg. 93 malinowska / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. references 1. brudnik k. (2010). the complex hydrogeology of the unique wieliczka salt mine. polish geological review 58, 787–796 (in polish). 2. delle rose m., federico a., parise m. (2004). sinkhole genesis and evolution in apulia, and their interrelations with the anthropogenic environment.nat hazard earth sys,4, 747–755. 3. malinowska, a., & hejmanowski, r. (2010). building damage risk assessment on mining terrains in poland with gis application. international journal of rock mechanics and mining sciences,47(2), 238-245. 4. kleczkowski a. (1993). groundwater in the vicinity of cracow – potential and threats. archives of the faculty of hydrogeology and geological engineering of agh university of science and technology, 11, 35–38 (in polish). 5. malinowska, a. a., & dziarek, k. (2014). modelling of cave-in occurrence using ahp and gis. natural hazards and earth system sciences,14(8), 1945-1951. 6. malinowska a.a., matonóg a. 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(1993). outline of rock mass physics. katowice: silesian technical publisher (in polish). 12. saaty, t. l. (1980). the analytic hierarchy process. new york: mcgraw-hill. 13. wieworka, p., prunier-leparmentier, a., lembezat, c., vanoudheusden, e., & vernoux, j. (2009). 3d geological modelling at urban scale and mapping of ground movement susceptibility from gypsum dissolution: the paris example (france). engineering geology,105(1-2), 51-64. 14. wieworka, w., o’byrn, k. (2012). selection of backfilling technology works in the ksawer caverns complex of the wieliczka salt mine.agh journal of mining and geoengineering,36, 107–115 (in polish). 15. yilmaz, i. (2007). gis based susceptibility mapping of karst depression in gypsum: a case study from sivas basin (turkey). engineering geology,90(1-2), 89-103. pg. 94 introduction background geology of the study area sinkhole risk mitigation in urban areas methods for assessing the risk of sinkhole occurrence assumptions and general scheme of research predicted deformations in the vertical plane determining the stresses in vertical plane determining the range of the cracking zone determining of the cracking zone gis analysis results and discussion acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.87 understanding localness of built form at the urban scale: case of karachi, pakistan suneela ahmed1 1department of architecture and planning, ned university of engineering and technology, karachi abstract many cities in the developing world aspire to imitate cities of the west in their built form since for them this represents ‘modernism’ and the future. pakistan is a young country and the contribution of a new generation of architects and planners has been inspired by the west, in the post-modern traditions and not informed by the local cultural, social and physical aspects of the society. karachi, within pakistan, has recently seen the construction of a number of buildings and urban design projects that conform to the international concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation and are a response to the desire of politicians to create a global image for the city. using the urdu word maqamiat in relation to the built form, this research assesses what it means for a city to be local in the context of karachi, being specific, having particular variables impacting the built form, but dealing with similar issues of identity crises as other formally colonized nations. a combination of deductive and inductive research approach that arch over mixed methods are used, in order to reveal the nature and value of maqamiat of built form. semi-structured interviews, focus groups, urban morphological documentation, archive review and personal observation methods have been used for data collecting. content, narrative and focus group analyses are used to interpret data. this research is part of a ph.d. that was undertaken at oxford brookes university from 2012-2016. the research postulates lessons from its study of local processes of built form production, the value given to local places by indigenous communities and the impact of global forces through imageability, aesthetics, and style. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords global; indigenous; local; urban morphologies; karachi 1. introduction karachi has recently seen the construction of a number of architecturally distinctive buildings that conform to the international concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation and are a response to a global image (mumtaz, 1999). karachi, a mega city of 15 million residents and the main seaport of pakistan, has a rich collection of buildings and structures of varied architectural styles ranging from 20th-century architecture to neo-classical buildings and classical british architecture. there is also the presence of indo-gothic buildings, neo-renaissance and hindu architecture. a new generation of architects and planners, mostly trained in the western institutions of planning and design, has been engaged with the recent building activity in the city. their contribution to the cityscape has pg. 39 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd been the introduction of some form of ornamentation and cladding on the building facades and designing of urban spaces in the post-modern traditions (mumtaz, 1999). these built forms do not use the architectural and urban design elements existing previously in the city and are not the best climatic or responsive solutions. furthermore, professionals do not understand the way communities associate with local spaces and thus these spaces are not considered important enough to be included in the design of newer housing. these urban spaces, which have certain meaning associated with them, and certain words, are used to describe them, and cannot be translated into other languages without losing their meaning, are documented and analyzed in this paper. the paper is divided into four sections with the first section providing a synthesis of the literature reviewed and explains the meaning of maqamiat, the second section documents and analyzes the case study area of clifton in terms of urban morphological evolution, the third section analyzes the case study area in terms of local tangible and intangible aspects of the built form and the meaning people associate with the built form, and the fourth section presents a conclusion to the research findings and analysis. 2. literature review recent literature (davoudi and madanipour, 2015; hirt, 2012; peterson, 2010; sheppard and mcmaster, 2003; marston et al., 2005; low and lawrence, 2003) addresses the role of designers and architects in design and development of newer localities within cities of the developing world. this literature focuses on the debate about how can cities modernize and develop and yet retain their identities and localness as the indigenous spaces of the cities and the meaning people attach to them are not always valued in the newer developments because of which they are being lost. thus, the question, about the role of understanding the indigenous places and communities and the requirement of feeding the lessons learned therein, into new developments within a city arises. the literature review of works of urban anthropologist (low, 2009; marston et.al, 2005; holtzman, 2004; sheppard and mcmaster, 2003; low and lawrence, 2003) details the requirement to analyse places at diverse global and local scales, and to understand that the global models get incorporated in the local contexts, but, these spatial models are contextual rather than universal. the importance given to an indigenous language does not always have to be in a physical form (street names written in an indigenous language); it can take ideological roles too (baloy, 2011; low, 2009; oliver 1997). the acknowledgment of a certain local word used to describe an urban space and the inability to translate it into any other language (e.g. english, which is the de facto official language of planners and architects) is a recognition of certain types of urban places in a context, which is lost in newer developments. thus, local urban spaces and practices, which cannot be linguistically translated into english, represent spaces, which are not always valued by professionals designing newer areas in a city. these professionals are mostly trained in western planning and design schools and have little analysis of the local urban spaces and the value communities give to them. professionals use different terminologies, which represents modern spaces, which are the result of the globalization phenomena. steger and mcnevin (2010) point out the many new metaphors and similes used to define the changing urban space as a result of globalization: ‘networks’, ‘nodes’, ‘cells’. metaphors are not only meant to capture in ‘words and sentiments what already exists in space’ space’ (steger and mcnevin, 2010), but also drive the development of cities in a particular direction. for instance, in the case of karachi, politicians talk about ‘making it like dubai’, which results in the design and development of tall buildings clad in glass and steel responding to a certain aesthetics preferences of politicians. thus, the study of figure of speech, within the language used in planning and policy documents to describe the vision for the city might lead to an explanation of the type of built form being produced in the city as ‘language transforms space just as space transforms language’ space’ (steger and mcnevin, 2010). pg. 40 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. urban morphological evolution of kehkashan, clifton part of kehkashan clifton in karachi (called clifton in short) was developed by the british. this area still exists with a few landmark buildings and retains its urban morphology, although the land use of the majority of the buildings has changed from residential to commercial. the british had developed what is known today as old clifton to house their top ranking government officials in bungalows as they believed the sea had healing powers and provided pleasant environmental conditions away from the congested parts of the city (figure 1). thus, the inception of this case study area was in its elitist background, and it still continues to be a locality within the city housing the elite. although there are many pockets of informal settlements, which have sprung up over the years to house the domestic worker serving the elite, but the dominant face of clifton remains elitist. figure 1. 18thcentury map of karachi drawn by the british showing clifton and its connection to cantonment and old town. the locality houses, the mausoleum of abdullah shah ghazi, a saint who is venerated throughout the subcontinent, and attracts thousands of visitors daily (figure 2). this shrine dates from the 9th century, and has acquired a landmark status over the years. there is also a temple next to the mausoleum named maha dev temple, which is equally venerated by hindus and is believed to be a hundred and fifty-year-old structure (figure 3). both the shrine and the temple have been a part of the indigenous settlement of karachi and have continued to be a major part of its history. figure 2. the new face of the mausoleum of abdullah shah ghazi there is also a beach in clifton, which attracts visitors from all of pakistan because of its easy access and supporting facilities. the presence of the clifton beach has always given importance to the development of the locality. as mentioned previously, the roots for the development of its urban morphology were laid during colonial times and some important landmark recreational buildings came into existence in the early 19th century like the band stand pg. 41 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and the lady lloyd pier which was originally a pier but with the receding sea today it has become a walkway (figures 4 and 5). kehkashan clifton covers an area of 1,950 acres and was sanctioned by the government of pakistan in october 1964. this scheme was meant as a recreational-cum-high income residential scheme for bungalows and multistoried flats on plots varying from 600 to 4,500 square yards. this scheme was meant to extend the city right up to the sea eliminating marshes and sandy wastes providing space for a population of 150,000 (kda, 1969) (figure 6). it had to grapple with many technical issues, the most important being land consolidation and reclamation. a well-established network of main streets, service lanes, pedestrian paths and connector roads were inherent characteristic of the scheme. figure 3. mahadev temple in clifton figure 4. the band stand as seen in 19thcentury figure 5. the band stand as seen today pg. 42 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. layout plan of kehkashan clifton karachi the idea behind the launch of clifton kehkashan was to develop residential zones along the beach and provide multi-storied high-density housing on the pattern of similar beaches in other parts of the world. it was also meant to provide accommodation for various foreign diplomatic missions in karachi. the boating basin was to develop, as a recreational zone within clifton, catering to the locality and to the rest of the city as well. kehkashan clifton was thinly populated until the 1970s but with the ethnic violence erupting in the city in the 1980s and with migrant pathans settling in the northern and central parts of the city (which was the location of the ethnic clashes), the wealthy and elite started shifting to the southern parts of the city, including clifton. as clifton had initially developed as a locality catering to the elite, it suited the requirements of these people moving from the north of the city with big plot sizes, the presence of many parks and recreational areas. the beach also acted as a leisure point. the physical distance of clifton from the rest of the city has also led to social and cultural distances as residents of clifton only interact with people of common backgrounds and interests and the poorer sections of the city and the elite never come in contact with each other except as domestic workers in the houses of the rich. the elite enjoy going to hotels, clubs, parks, malls, cinemas and expensive restaurants dotting kehkashan clifton and adjoining the elite locality of defense housing society, whilst the poorer sections of society visit the beach, play land, fun land and some parks for recreation. the majority of the private schools and colleges are also located within the elitist neighbourhood. recently, the city has also been experiencing the shifting of offices from the central business district (cbd) to clifton. this change in the land use with the relocation of head offices of a number of banks and financial institutions to clifton has resulted in an increase in the real estate value of the locality and it is envisaged by the city planners that with efficient transport connections, housing mixed land use, with residences for the elite and proximity to the harbour, clifton has the potential of developing into a cbd for the city. the downside of this consolidation of land use in clifton is the decline of the building stock in adjoining areas of saddar and ii chundrigarh where property owners are finding it difficult to find a tenant for their properties as the locality of clifton is preferred. the clifton commercial area has, over the years, emerged as a sub-metropolitan centre. besides retail activities, pg. 43 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it also has a large percentage of offices and institutional uses. being amongst the early schemes planned and developed by kda, clifton has served as a reference scheme for other similar development initiatives within the city. clifton has, over the past ten years, experienced a rapid change in its land use with the change in the floor area ratios (far) for the main arteries and the land use regulations for the locality. the single storey houses and residential complexes facing the primary roads have been replaced by high-rise real estate, mixed use development, incorporating offices, schools, shopping malls, apartments and other non-residential uses. the trend in the change of the land use continues in the secondary lanes where schools or offices causing traffic chaos have replaced the residences. recently clifton has seen the construction of a number of shopping malls, parks and educational institution facilities and projects by private developers. the area to date has retained its elite and high profile ambience. the extroverted colonial bungalow has been an intrinsic part of the urban morphology of clifton. until today, the bungalow style development dominates the urban morphology of the locality, although the sub division of plots has reduced the sizes of these bungalows and many of the colonial bungalows have seen a change in land use from residential to commercial. the bungalow, which was part of the initial development of the clifton cantonment by the british, is a hybrid built form that was introduced as a foreign element but was adopted by locals and eventually became part of the indigenous landscape. in studying the evolution of this typology, lessons can be drawn with respect to urban morphology, sense of aesthetics, climatic response, use of technology, respect for traditionalism versus modernism and response to global imagery. 4. local tangibles the case study area comprises of a gridded urban street pattern with low density and mixed land use. according to the interviews conducted in the case study area, the residents of the low income area within clifton perceive the boundaries of their neighbourhood according to the bus stops in the vicinity, although the locality has street numbers and road names. these are secondary in their association about the boundaries of the neighbourhood. the residents of high-income areas within clifton are related to the boundaries of the neighbourhood via the landmarks in the area, these landmarks could be a school, a restaurant or a historical recreational building. very few respondents (two out of fifteen) identified the limits of the neighbourhood with the current governance structure. generalabad colony, within clifton, is a low income housing settlement, with residential land use dominating the locality. it has a gridded urban street layout, with all streets leading to the railway tracks at the rear. the streets are narrow with no vehicular access. the street is an extension of the house, and is utilized for socializing by men and by children playing. the locality is a pathan dominant area, thus women socializing on the streets are not seen. women stay indoors and are rarely seen outside their homes as this is a requirement of the cultural norms of the community. the majority of the residential buildings are ground plus one (figure 7). a trend is however seen of going higher (up to ground plus five) with the new structures coming up on the primary roads of the locality. the residential typology of apartments is also being introduced along with a new language for the facades, which are being clad in materials like tiles and make use of pre-fabricated screens (figure 8). the area around the railway lines serves as the open space for the locality and many men can often been seen socializing there. the railway tracks are only used twice a day by local trains thus, during the rest of the day, the area is safe for the children to play around (figure 9). the open ground of the railway lines is also used for informal parking by transporters and many informal grocery shops serving the locality have sprung up (figure 9). as the high income locality within clifton is dominated by large plots, the residents are not seen socializing on the streets because all these houses have lawns within their plots and elders mostly socialize there in the evenings (figure 10). pg. 44 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. the ground plus one residential development in generalabad figure 8. newer building in the locality of generalabad figure 9. railway lines in generalabad pg. 45 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 10. the houses in clifton block 5 figure 11. the parks of clifton block 5 pg. 46 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd children play within their houses or in the nearby parks. the area is dotted with trees, which adds to the aesthetic quality of the locality along with the presence of the parks (figure 11). these parks were previously open grounds (in 2010), which were used by young men for playing ball games as they were freely accessible. with the development of these grounds into designed parks, the users have changed from children and teenagers to the elderly. the entry to the parks is restricted to families, and they have entrance fees and ball games are not allowed. the primary roads of block 5 clifton house have many cafes and restaurants, some of these serve at the city level and have, over time, acquired the image of landmarks for the locality. many schools dot block 5 clifton. most of these are housed within bungalows and only a couple of them have purpose built campuses. land use controls are weak within the locality, thus, these ad hoc land uses spring up in bungalows but the control over height restrictions are strong and the bungalows located along secondary roads are not allowed to go beyond ground plus one, no matter what their land use is. for the residents of generalabad, different spaces within the neighbourhood were important (according to the qualitative interviews conducted in the area). these vary from the railway lines to the government school to the beach. the reason for giving importance to these areas is either because they serve as social gathering spaces for the community (space around railways lines, jirgah, park, beach) or as landmarks that are used to define the limits of the locality (ziauddin hospital, railway line). there is a custom within the locality of generalabad that a committee based on the elders gets together regularly to decide on important matters related to the neighbourhood. these elders (men only) meet regularly, or as and when required. they have designated an area along the railway lines where they meet, and the area is defined by a few benches (figure 12). this is known as the jirgah and is an informal system of decision-making but is acknowledged and respected by formal governance structures. a jirgah is a traditional assembly of the leaders that make decisions by consensus according to the teachings of islam and is a cultural and ethnic practice taking place in the khyber pakhtunkhawa (kpk) province from where the residents of generalabad originate. the decisions taken in a jirgah range from urban infrastructure to family feuds to inheritance to marriages to adultery. the jirgah is very traditional in its outlook and women are not allowed to participate. they are considered not knowledgeable enough as they live a segregated life staying mostly indoors. any issue that a member of the community faces is discussed and decided in the jirgah, which cannot be challenged by the community or by any formal system of governance. only the people belonging to the same ethnicity can be a part of this informal decision making process. since the jirgah is an ethnically and religiously unified group of people, social aspects of maqamiat in the form of community empowerment and mobilization are an inherent part of it. decisions about the provision of sewerage and water lines through community mobilization are taken by the jirgah in generalabad and followed up successfully with the government. the jirgah appoints people from within the community to liaison and follow up with the government. figure 12. jirgah alongthe railway lines the residents feel that the particularity of the neighborhood stems from the fact that the locality is in close proximity pg. 47 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to porch areas and is well served via public transport offering the area particularity in terms of real estate values. this is complemented by the fact that the majority of the area is leased, unlike other low-income settlements in the city. yet another particularity is offered by the fact that the locality has block and street numbers giving a sense of ownership and belonging to the residents. this is not the norm in the rest of the city where low-income settlements may not always have street names and house numbers, especially if they are neighborhoods, which have not been issued property lease by the official bodies. as generalabad is a low-income settlement, the implementation of building controls is weak. this gives the residents the possibility of adapting their structures to their social and economic requirements. the houses expand vertically in an incremental manner. the individual houses allow the possibility of adaptability to accommodate the increasing household sizes and more than one household. the weak controls also result in adaptation of public spaces for purposes they are not meant for, for instance, the open space around railway lines is being used for socializing and as a playing area for adults and children respectively. on one hand, the residents see the proximity of the settlement to the elite neighborhoods and developed areas as having potential, and on the other hand, it is also seen as a threat, as the builders and developers eye the locality for upscale development. the threat is increased by the accessibility the settlement offers. the proximity to the beach offers another threat to the area as there is a general trend of developing localities close to the beach as upscale housing schemes in order to promote a global image of the city. with the development of the china port along the beach right across generalabad, residents fear the conversion of their settlement into a high-income residential area in the future. as mentioned previously, the elders are skeptical of the rapid infrastructure development happening within the vicinity. 5. local social processes the intangibles that help explain maqamiat of the built form is the structure of the society in terms of its ethnicity and demographics. this section analyses the reading and interpretation of the built form with respect to social responsiveness and is largely based on the data obtained via stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions. the role of the built form in the co-existence of the communities, the social meanings associated with the built form and ideas about place attachment are reviewed here. the planned area within clifton has mixed ethnicities and mixed political allegiance. the unplanned areas are mostly ethnically homogenous. the development of low-income areas in the city follows a certain process where one family coming from a rural area settles in the city and then asks other members of the same ethnicity to join them. the low-income settlements are usually supported via political patronage. this support gives them economic and political security as when the locality has consolidated over a number of years the settlers can apply for regularization and lease documents. according to the focus group conducted in the low income area of clifton, the political and ethnic homogeneity helps the residents approach the local government and lobby for issues like lease of plots, provision of infrastructure, and preparation of plans for their localities as ethnicity is a common bond between them, and they are able to operate as one force. generally, because of the presence of the beach, people from the entire city associate with clifton. the middle income and the low-income groups are the major users of the beach, although a smaller percentage of the highincome groups also frequent the beach. the citizens do not talk about going to the beach; they talk about picnicking in clifton. the recreation opportunities like fun land, the presence of the mausoleum and the temple, and the recently constructed dolmen mall add to the experience of the picnickers. stakeholders along the beach of karachi vary from hawkers, restaurants owners, visitors, vendors, residents and shop owners. these stakeholders have different types of interest in the area, which are not necessarily being addressed in the current development of the area as envisaged by politicians and developers. their focus is more on upscale, enclosed development in the form of malls, cinemas and shopping complexes, which is disconnected with the reality of the stakeholders using the beach on a daily basis. the activities taking place on the beach include kite flying, children playing, camel and pg. 48 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd horse riding, riding beach buggies and morning and evening walks. the festive and spiritual activities of abdullah shah ghazi’s mausoleum start on thursday after dark and end on sunday. this activity attracts thousands of people on a daily basis from within the city and the rest of the country. these people visit the shrine to pay offerings and niyaz (offering food in the name of said). the pilgrims visit the beach in the vicinity. the traditional route adopted by the pilgrims to reach the beach has become a heritage walk in itself. as the upscale developments are aimed towards gaining maximum profit, the local stakeholders, vendors and hawkers are being removed or minimized, with their replacement of newly built kiosks and restaurants. the stakeholders that are still present on the beach pay bhatta (bribes) to the police that affect their daily income. in the low-income settlement of clifton, which is located in close proximity to the clifton beach, the impacts of these upscale developments are enormous as there is a threat of eviction despite the fact that the locality is a leased settlement. the security of ownership is important for the residents and they take pride in the fact that they are the first residents of the area and have managed to get 80% of the houses leased. they also take pride in the fact that the locality has a homogenous ethnicity living in close proximity to people belonging to other ethnicities, (there is a christian colony in the neighbourhood) peacefully in a city that is generally troubled by ethnic rivalry. in generalabad, the open land around the railway track has been adapted for social purposes by elders and children. the streets have also been adapted for social and recreational purposes by children. this is possible because the narrow streets do not allow any vehicular traffic. this possibility of adaptation of the open land to the social requirement gives the area residents a sense of belonging to the locality. the open area around the railway lines provides opportunities for different types of economic activities to spring up informally, which cater to the locality of generalabad. activities like grocery shops and gaming areas are seen along the railway lines. the gaming area around the snooker table (called dubbo locally) (figure 15) is an important socializing area for the residents too, especially men and young boys but not women because women stay indoor due to social and cultural norms. figure 13. economic (left) and entertainment (right) activities along the railway lines in generalabad the weak regulation controls of the built form allow it to be adapted to household economic needs as well. this is appreciated by the residents of the area who belong to low income groups and feel the need to accommodate economic activities like religious schools, tuition centres and cottage industries within their household to earn extra income. the participants of focus group in generalabad defined the edge of the locality as the railway lines and the main road. the open area around the railway lines and the local mosque were pointed out as important social nodes. the streets double up as social/recreational spaces for children and the railway line doubles up as an edge where children play. the church, the lumberyard, the local park and the government school were pointed out as important pg. 49 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd landmarks which have existed since the inception of the neighbourhood and with which residents associate some meaning. these structures give the residents a sense of continuity, spatially and temporally. the residents feel that the particularity of the neighbourhood stems from the fact that the locality is in close proximity to porch areas and is well served via public transport offering the area particularity in terms of real estate values. this is complemented by the fact that the majority of the area is leased, unlike other low-income settlements in the city. yet another particularity is offered by the fact that the locality has block and street numbers giving a sense of ownership and belonging to the residents. this is not the norm in the rest of the city where lowincome settlements may not always have street names and house numbers, especially if they are neighbourhoods, which have not been issued property lease by the official bodies. 6. conclusion it can be concluded that there is a discrepancy between how the politicians and government representatives perceive the development of kehkashan clifton and how the residents want it to be developed. the government envisages the locality as an upscale residential development located on a beachfront, whereas the residents perceive it largely as a residential area and are more concerned about adequate infrastructure and water provision than seeing the locality changing with time because of global influences. the section on the tangible aspects of maqamiat aimed to explore the meaning and multiplicity that the residents and shop owners attach to the environmental responsiveness of the built form. the historical evolution of the case study area from a remote place connected via a dirt road to the main city during the colonial times to the thriving city centre today housing malls, hotels, embassies, parks, cinemas, retail and housing facility, located on the beach front, points towards the economic potential of the area. in terms of the intangible aspects of maqamiat, the sense of social attachment is strong amongst the low income neighbourhoods where the streets and open spaces, like the railway lines, are used as a space for socializing by residents and gives them a sense of security and belonging. the major conclusions point towards the meaning of space that, as perceived by communities, is not always bound by physical form. references 1. baloy, n. j. (2011). “we can’t feel our language”: making places in the city for aboriginal language revitalization. american indian quarterly, 35(4), 515-548. 2. davoudi, s. and a. madanipour, eds. (2015). reconsidering localism. new york, routledge royal town planning institute. 3. hirt, s., & zahm, d. (eds.). (2012). the urban wisdom of jane jacobs. routledge. 4. holtzman, j., englund, h., fratkin, e., schlee, g., spencer, p., & holtzman, j. (2004). the local in the local: models of time and space in samburu district, northern kenya. current anthropology, 45(1), 61-84. 5. kda (1969). a note on development of kehkashan (clifton): kda scheme no.5’. karachi. 6. khuhro, h., & mooraj, a. (2010). karachi: megacity of our times. oxford university press. 7. low, s. and d. lawrence-zúñiga, eds. (2003). the anthropology of space and place: locating culture. oxford, blackwell. 8. low, s. m. (2009). towards an anthropological theory of space and place. semiotica, 2009(175), 21-37. 9. marston, s. a., jones iii, j. p., & woodward, k. (2005). human geography without scale. transactions of the institute of british geographers, 30(4), 416-432. pg. 50 ahmed / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. mumtaz, k. k. (1999). modernity and tradition: contemporary architecture in pakistan. oxford university press, usa. 11. oliver, p. (ed.). (1997). encyclopedia of vernacular architecture of the world (vol. 3). cambridge: cambridge university press. 12. peterson, m. (2012). sound, space, and the city: civic performance in downtown los angeles. university of pennsylvania press. 13. sepe, m., & pitt, m. (2014). the characters of place in urban design. urban design international, 19(3), 215-227. 14. sheppard, e., & mcmaster, r. b. (eds.). (2008). scale and geographic inquiry: nature, society, and method. john wiley & sons. 15. steger, m. b., & mcnevin, a. (2010). global ideologies and urban landscapes: introduction to the special issue. globalizations, 7(3), 319-326. pg. 51 introduction literature review urban morphological evolution of kehkashan, clifton local tangibles local social processes conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.557 estimation of coating materials contribution to the tvocs emissions of wood flooring in indoor environment aliaa mahmoud1 1teaching assistant, architecture department, mansoura college academy, dakahlia, egypt abstract based on the increasing concern about the exposure to volatile organic compounds (vocs) from indoor finishing materials, industrial companies are called to meet the growing demand for more sustainable products. recently, most designers and consumers have more environmental considerations while selecting the finishing materials. these considerations are related to the vocs content of the finishing material itself regardless of its coating layers. nowadays, interior wood coatings are commonly applied to large surfaces (ceilings, walls, floors) and many types of furnishing, leading to a high loading factor (surface-to-volume ratio). these coatings might contribute significantly to the vocs emissions due to repeatedly and periodically use during maintenance, remodeling, and renovation of interior spaces. the aim of this study is to estimate the wood coating materials contribution to the tvocs emissions of wood product in the indoor environment to shed light on the importance of comprehensive analysis of wood material with all treatment coatings. so, a small interior space with controlled temperature, relative humidity, and air exchange rate was simulated using ia-quest program to investigate the influence of three wood coating materials; stain, wax, and varnish which were applied to an area of natural hardwood oak floor. the tvocs emission data resulted from the different coated wood floor was compared with vocs emissions caused by the natural wood floor to find out the coating material contribution in tvocs emissions of a wood flooring material. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords wood coating materials; volatile organic compounds; simulation software; finishing materials; interior spaces 1. introduction there is an increasing attention concerning indoor air quality for public health because individuals spend up to 90% of their time in the indoor environment (bluyssen, 2009). epa studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that the indoor pollutant levels may be 25 times and it maybe reaches to 100 times higher than outdoor levels (daisey, angell & apte, 2003). volatile organic compounds (vocs) are considered to be the most important indoor pollutants due to continuous emissions from many sources (bacaloni, insogna & zoccolillo, 2011). finishing materials among all sources have a significant attention showing that more than 60% of vocs emissions come from finishing materials and furnishings. numerous studies have shown that reducing the indoor air quality (iaq) result from the vocs emissions of from pg. 75 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd commonly used materials such as wood products, floor coverings, wall coverings, etc. these emissions may cause general symptoms from inhalation of fumes or vapors and skin absorption (hussain, he, mohamad, & tao, 2015). the symptoms include a headache; eye, nose, or throat irritations; a dry cough; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentration; tiredness. the health effects differ widely as shown in (figure 1), based on the exposure period that can be either acute term exposures (hours to days) or chronic exposures (years to a lifetime) (bluyssen, 2009). figure 1. common symptoms of exposure to high levels of vocs (bluyssen, 2009). generally, finishing materials appear in composite forms such as the wall assembly (paint/ gypsum board) or the floor assembly (varnish/ stain/ wood). voc emissions floor assembly has not been theoretically examined. from the experimental studies of carpet/adhesive assembly, it has been found that the main source of voc comes from the adhesive in the floor assembly. it has been found that adhesive in the floor assembly is the main source of voc; the emission of the assembly displays lower delayed peak and slower decay rate in comparison with the adhesive alone (black, pearson & work 1991; low, zhang, plett, & shaw, 1998). thus, it is more important to understand multi-layer material emission characteristics in a building than single-layer one. some multi-layer models were proposed (bodalal, 1999), a general multi-layer emission model that can be used to simulate wet/dry, dry/dry, dry/wet material assemblies is not yet available (haghighat & huang, 2003). until now, abundant studies have been done on of voc emissions measurement. most of the studies use a smallscale test chamber under controlled environmental conditions. such these measurements are very essential in order to accumulate and compile a reliable database of indoor materials. however, there is maybe a difference between both the geometry and boundary conditions in buildings and that in the test sample. hence, the measured data from a chamber may not be entirely suitable for actual buildings. on the other hand, with the rapid progress of computer hardware and numerical algorithms, mathematical models and numerical simulations can partly overcome the disadvantage of laboratory measurements (xu & zhang, 2003). this paper discusses the simulation method of predicting vocs emissions from a multilayer material with a specific focus on the emissions from wood-based floor material. three types of coating layers; stain, wax, and varnish were applied to the natural type of wood flooring; unfinished hardwoodred oak. the objective of this study is to estimate the wood coating materials contribution to the tvocs emissions of wood product in the indoor environment to shed light on the importance of comprehensive analysis of wood material with all treatment coatings. 2. multi-layer material concept most finishing and furniture consist of multi-layer materials which are considered to be as sources of vocs. these finishing materials may include both wet and dry materials such as carpeting, wallpaper, wood floor, paint, and glue. indoor air quality is considerably affected by the vocs emission from dry building materials, as not only the emission is a long-time process but their large surface areas are also permanently exposed to indoor air (yang et. al, 2001). on the other hand, the characters of voc emissions from wet materials have a high initial emission rate and fast decay, afterwards a low emission rate and slow decay. it can be clarified by three emission stages from wet materials: evaporation dominant phase (wet material), transition phase (relatively wet), and internal diffusion pg. 76 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd controlled phase (completely dry) (yang, chen, zeng, zhang & shaw, 2001) . for wet materials, such as glue, wood stain, voc concentration within the materials has a very high initial, consequently (haghighat & huang, 2003). each layer in the multilayer assembly has vocs emissions, not only from the top surface but also from the core and bottom layer. it is essential to recognize the emission characteristics of common multilayer materials to provide valuable information for the manufacturing process and to finally eliminate the vocs released into the indoor air (xu & zhang, 2009). multi-layer materials contain three composition forms: dry/dry (e.g. composite particleboard or plywood), dry/wet (e.g. vinyl floor tile+ glue+ plywood; carpet+adhesive) and wet/dry (e.g. paint + gypsum board). the material configuration and voc emission processes are shown in (figure 2) (haghighat & huang, 2003). figure 2. physical configuration of voc emissions from a multi-layer material. (1) internal diffusion; (2) desorption; and (3) external convection and diffusion (haghighat & huang, 2003). most types of wood-based flooring are made of composite assembly as natural wood floor usually passes through numbers of treatment steps in the finishing process as shown in (figure 3) (kim, 2010). this treatment applying as a coating layer such as stain, wax, and varnish layer. wood stains, also known as wood dyes are designed to change the color of wood while leaving the grain still visible by soaking pigment into wood fibers with a solvent and then having it set and bind to the wood. most stains don’t offer a lot of protection to wood, so when using a stain it’s regularly a good idea to apply a protective coat of something else like a varnish or wax (rowell, 2012). figure 3. the wood floor finishing with different coating layer varnish begins as oil, but it’s cooked with a resin to produce a drying, hard, wood finish. its main role is that of a protective coating on the surface; it doesn’t penetrate like wax does (flexner, 1993). waxes are derived from many types of mineral, vegetable and animal sources. as a finish, waxes don’t penetrate wood, but rather sit atop pg. 77 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it. they will prevent it from oxidizing but don’t particularly enhance the wood. (shupe, lebow & ring, 2008). applying all these three types of coatings aren’t be essential for each wood finishing process as each type of wood floor has its required treatment steps. 3. case study procedure this paper established a simulation procedure to evaluate the voc emissions for each type of flooring coating and its contribution to the tvocs emission of the wood flooring. to simulate indoor voc concentrations in a residential unit due to wood coating materials, some information and key parameters discussed in eq. (1) need to be determined. the whole simulation procedure can be generally divided into three steps including: 1. collection of basic information, indoor space geometry, and its environmental conditions 2. selection of the wood flooring with its coating layer type and its voc emission factor, and 3. dynamic simulation of indoor tvocs concentration using a simulation tool named “indoor air quality emissions simulation tool (ia-quest) every step in this procedure has its tools either using the field visits to using different simulation tools. a detailed discussion of each step is given in the following case study section. 3.1. mathematical model it is known that pollutant distribution in a building is in general non-uniform (haghighat et al. 1994; brohus 1997; wang and emmerich 2010). however, for our study of voc concentrations in a residential unit of a family residential building, studies indicate that the non-uniformity is not that important under normal room ventilation conditions. the equation of the vocs concentration in a space can be written as following (willem & hult, 2013): dc/dt = ea/v + nh (cout c) (1) where c is the change in concentration over (t) time of an indoor contaminant in an enclosed space, e is the emission rate in mass per unit floor area per unit time, a is the floor area, cout is the concentration of the chemical in the outdoor air, v is the volume of the space and nh is air exchange rate in air changes per hour (ach). 3.2. simulation software the case study will undergo two main simulation phases; the air flow rate simulation and finishing materials selection simulation. to go through these phases, three programs will be used to build and simulate the base case and the proposed cases. these programs are autodesk autocad software (2d,3d), autodesk computational fluid dynamics (cfd), and indoor air quality emission simulation tool (ia-quest) version 1.1 as shown in (figure 4). figure 4. the simulation process concerning the programs used pg. 78 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. case study the above-proposed procedure with the three steps has been applied in a typical master bedroom from the apartment that was selected randomly from residential towers in mansoura. egypt using ia-quest simulation program. 4.1. basic information collection the basic information that is needed includes the room value v and ventilation rate q in eq. (1). in detail, the newly constructed residential unit was chosen to be used in the simulation procedure as shown in (figure 5). five cases based on coating layer selection was applied to the wood floor in the master bedroom in this unit. the floor plan of this room was defined as shown in (table 1) to be with of 176 m3 there are two windows with an area of 2.31 m2, 1.75 m2, and the flooring area was calculated to be 59 m2. the master bedroom was simulated to be under constant environmental conditions; at 25 ±1.0 c◦, and 50 ±5.0 % relative humidity. concerning the air flow rate, a simulation was established with cfd simulation program with air velocity which has been set to be 3 m/s with north direction according to national data of the faculty of agriculture climate station in mansoura university which is the nearest data to the building site. the air flow rate from room windows was calculated according to the following equation (santamouris & allard, 2000): q = a ∗v ∗ c (2) figure 5. layout of the residential unit and the master bedroom marked in yellow (left), the geometric model for the master bedroom (right) table 1. the geometric configuration of the master bedroom item room specification for all scenarios volume (m3) 176 m3 area (m2) 59m2 window area (m2) win.1 =2.31 m2 , win.2 = 1.75 m2 ceiling/flooring surface area (m2) 59 m2 from the above equation, the air flow rate was calculated based on the velocity resulted from cfd and inlet window area as shown in (table 2). also, the cfd simulation results show the air flow distribution around the building to be driven to the room inlet and outlet as illustrated in (figure 6). pg. 79 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2. the environmental specifications related to the ventilation aspect type value average air speed vx (m/s) 0.9 openable inlet window area (m2) 2.31 air flow rate (m3/s) 0.2484 air flow rate (m3/h) 894.24 figure 6. the air flow distribution outside and inside the master bedroom (left), the vx velocity normal to the inletwindow (right) 4.2. selection of the wood flooring with its coating layer type nrc database in ia-quest program has a wide range of wood flooring materials; single and assembly materials, natural and synthetic materials were all included in, i.e., natural wood including, oakwood, engineered products with adhesives, including, laminate tile, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard. the program also provides a database for a variety of wood floor coatings (won et. al, 2005). as discussed before, every wood flooring has its treatments; stain, varnish, and wax with their different steps in the procedure. among nrc database, a natural hardwood; red oak; the unfinished material was chosen to be simulated in case (1) as shown in (table 3), while in case (2) wood stain layer (oil-based; applied on oak) was added to the natural hardwood. the case (3) was simulated with the natural red oak coating with varnish layer (polyurethane; oil-based; semi-gloss). in case (4), (5) the natural red oak was coated with a wax, floor (paste; oil-based) and a wax, floor (liquid; water-based) consecutively. table 3. the selected materials for cases with emission factor and id in the nrc database (won et. al, 2005). case no. flooring type material id nominal emission factor (mg/m2h) maximum emission factor (mg/m2h) 1 hardwood; red oak; unfinished oak1 0.11968 0.19849 2 hardwood; red oak; unfinished oak1 0.11968 0.19849 wood stain (oil-based; applied on oak) ws6a 803.30 16082.27 3 hardwood; red oak; unfinished oak1 0.11968 0.19849 varnish (polyurethane; oilbased; semigloss) ur8 154.50 10231.86 4 hardwood; red oak; unfinished oak1 0.11968 0.19849 continued on next page pg. 80 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued wax, floor (paste; oil-based) wx2 408.97 40733.13 5 hardwood; red oak; unfinished oak1 0.11968 0.19849 wax, floor (liquid; waterbased) wx6 51.346 162.94 4.3. dynamic simulation of indoor tvocs concentration the ia-quest program was used to simulate tvocs concentration for each case based on numbers of main inputs; the volume of space, ventilation rate, material type, and its coverage space. concerning the simulation time, the study put a simulation period with 336 hours. 5. results and discussion during the emission simulation, the concentrations of tvocs resulted from different types of wood coatings were predicted. figures (figure 7) show the concentration-time profiles during the 336-h test period for vocs emitted from the eight scenarios. there are some findings as follows: 1. at the first glance, the result for using unfinished oak wood floor without any coating layers in case (1) record a very low vocs concentration with a value of 0.3 mg/m3 in comparison with the results from any coating layer used in the other cases and also when compared with leed standard as it is in line with standard and even below. 2. the highest max.tvocs concentration was found in case (4) with 220 mg/m3 resulted from using the oilbased wax layer as a coating for the oakwood floor which represent 733 times higher than case (1) and 440 higher than leed standards. while the lowest max.tvocs concentration was mentioned in case (5) with water-based wax as a coating resulting in 5 mg/m3 which represent 16 times higher than case (1) and 10 times higher than leed standards. so, there is a wide difference in tvocs concentration in the space result from using oil and water based even for the same type of coating; wax coating. 3. using oil-based stain as a colorant for the oakwood flooring in case (2) raised tvocs concentration in the room from 0.3 mg/m3 for the unfinished oak floor to 54 mg/m3 due to applying the stain coating. this significant increase is only due to using this slight colorant layer with 180 times higher than using the natural oak floor. while using oil-based varnish as a protective and polished layer for the oak flooring in case (3) elevated the tvocs concentration to 35 mg/m3 which is 117 times higher than using the unfinished floor. figure 7. the analysis of tvoc concentrations of the cases v.s elapsed time pg. 81 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd after discussing the vocs concentration for each case resulted from different type of coating layers, there is a necessary need for analyzing the vocs concentration along the simulation period as shown in (table 4) to understand the voc behavior for each coating layer. the analyses show the following: 1. first, concerning reaching the cases’ peak point (max.tvoc concentration) which their values are illustrated in the first previous points, there is also the time factor to be analyzed. for case (1) with using the unfinished oakwood without any coating layers, case (3) with using the stain layer, and case (4) with using oil-based wax layer, they reached to their peak only after 1-2 hours after installation. notice that the peak value for case (3) was a constant for the first 14 hours. while in case (5) with using water-based wax layer reached after 7 hours. the case (2) with using stain layer has the longest time to reach its peak among all cases as it took 16 hours. from these values, it is shown there is a critical vocs behavior in the first 20 hours after installation. 2. after reaching their peaks, the cases have a rapid decay for a specific period and then a slow decay to reach their min.tvoc concentration. for the rapid decay, all cases almost decayed rapidly until almost 60-80 hours. in spite of the highest peak; 220 mg/m3 record in the case (4) with using oil-based wax layer, the value after a small rapid decaying (58 hours) was lower than the case (2) using the stain layer with the same decaying period. these results deserve to be discussed as the case (4) peak is higher than the peak in the case (2) with 4 times. 3. all cases spend a period in the slow decay to reach to their min.tvoc concentration. although case (2) and (3) reached the same value of 1.5 mg/m3, using the oil-based wax layer in case (4) reach its minimum after only 90 hours while using stain layer in case (2) reach after 190 hours. so regardless of the high peak point of case (4), it shows interesting behavior after reaching its peak than other cases. 4. concerning case (5) with using water-based wax which represents a peak with 5 mg/m3 which is 10 times higher than leed standards, the min.tvoc concentration after 160 hours is 0.12 mg/m3 recording a value lower than leed and even almost the same case (1) value with using the unfinished oak wood floor. table 4. the analysis of tvocs concentration during the simulation period for each case case no. decay time leed standard peak point rapid decay slow decay steady value 0.5 mg/m3 reach time (h) value (mg/m3) decay time (h) value after decay period (mg/m3) reach time (h) almost steady value (h) value (mg/m3) 1 after 1h 0.3 8-80 (72 h) 0.14 80-260 (180 h) after 260h 0.09 2 after 16 h 54 16-80 (58 h) 10 80-190 (110 h) after 190 1.5 3 after 1 h 35 13-70 (57 h) 3.0 70-170 (100 h) from 113 35 after 170 1.0 4 after 2 h 220 2-60 (58 h) 7.0 60-90 (30 h) after 90 1.5 5 after 7 h 5 7-70 (63 h) 0.4 70160 (90 h) after 160 0.12 pg. 82 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 6. conclusion a method to estimate the coating layers contribution to the tvocs emissions of wood product in the indoor environment was established. this method is essential to shed light on the importance of comprehensive analysis of wood material with all treatment coatings. the method has been done using simulation tools for the typical master bedroom to investigate the influence of three wood coating materials; stain, wax, and varnish which were applied to an area of natural hardwood oak floor. the tvocs emission data resulted from the different coated wood floor was compared with vocs emissions caused by the natural wood floor to find out the coating material contribution in tvocs emissions of wood flooring material in the interior space. the results from the comparison show that the coating layer may be considered as the main source of emissions in the multilayer wood flooring. also, the results show varied value for vocs concentration due to different types of coating that indicate the importance of analyzing and studying the different type before installing. for example, there is a wide range in tvocs concentration resulted from different coating layers for the purpose of protecting and polishing; varnish layer recorded tvocs concentration lower than using oil-based wax while using water-based wax is the lowest results among the polishing materials. on the other hand, there is an essential need for analyzing the long-term behavior for each type of layers to understand the vocs emissions mechanism that differ during their decay. 7. references 1. bacaloni, a., insogna, s., & zoccolillo, l. (2011). indoor air quality. volatile organic compounds: sources, sampling and analysis. in chemistry, emission control, radioactive pollution and indoor air quality. italy: intech. 2. black, m., pearson, w., & work, l. (1991). a methodology for determining voc emissions from new sbr latex-backed carpet, adhesives, cushions, and installed systems and predicting their impact on indoor air quality. in (p. 267-72). atlanta, usa. 3. bluyssen, m. p. . (2009). the indoor environment handbook: how to make buildings healthy and comfortable. (3th edition ed.). routledge) 4. bodalal, a. (1999). fundamental mass transfer modeling of emission of volatile organic compounds from building materials. 5. daisey, j., m., angell, w. j., & apte, m. g. (2003). indoor air quality, ventilation and health symptoms in schools: an analysis of existing information. indoor, 13(1), 53-64. 6. flexner, b. (1993). understanding wood finishing. pan macmillan. retrieved, 9, 24. 7. haghighat, f., & huang, h. (2003). integrated iaq model for prediction of voc emissions from building material. building and. environment, 38(8), 1007-1017. retrieved from https://sciencedirect.com/science/a rticle/ pii/s0360132303000647 8. hussain, m., he, y. l., mohamad, a., & tao, w. q. (2015). a new hybrid algorithm for numerical simulation of voc emissions using single-layer and multilayer approaches. numerical heat transfer, part b: fundamentals, 67(3), 211230. 9. kim, s. (2010). the reduction of formaldehyde and vocs emission from wood-based flooring by green adhesive using cashew nut shell liquid (cnsl). journal of hazardous materials, 182, 919-922. retrieved from https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0304389410003092 10. low, j., zhang, j., plett, e., & shaw, c. (1998). effects of airflow on emissions of volatile organic compounds from carpet adhesive assemblies. ashrae transactions, 104(2), 1281-1288. pg. 83 aliaa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 11. rowell, r. (2012). handbook of wood chemistry and wood composites. crc press. 12. santamouris, m., & allard, f. (2000). natural ventilation in buildings: a design handbook. earthscan. 13. shupe, t. f., lebow, s., & ring, d. (2008). causes and control of wood decay, degradation. retrieved from from https:// fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf2008/fpl 2008 shupe001.pdf 14. willem, h., & hult, e. (2013). ventilation control of volatile organic compounds in new us homes: results of a controlled field study in nine residential units. lbnl. 15. won, d., magee, r., yang, w., lusztyk, e., nong, g., & shaw, c. (2005). a material emission database for 90 target vocs. indoor air. 16. xu, j., & zhang, j. s. (2009). modeling emissions from a multi-layer furniture material assembly. 17. xu, y., & zhang, y. (2003). an improved mass transfer based model for analyzing voc emissions from building materials. atmospheric environment, 37(18), 2497-2505. retrieved from https://sciencedirect.com /science/ article/pii/s1352231003001602 18. yang, x., chen, q., zeng, j., zhang, j., & shaw, c. (2001). a mass transfer model for simulating volatile organic compound emissions from ‘wet’ coating materials applied to absorptive substrates. international journal of heat and mass transfer, 44(9), 1803-1815. retrieved from https://engineering.purdue.edu/ 19. yang, x., chen, q., zhang, j., magee, r. j., zeng, j., & shaw, c. (2001). numerical simulation of voc emissions from dry materials. building and. environment, 36(10), 1099-1107. retrieved from https://engi neering.purdue.edu/ pg. 84 introduction multi-layer material concept case study procedure mathematical model simulation software case study basic information collection selection of the wood flooring with its coating layer type dynamic simulation of indoor tvocs concentration results and discussion conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.88 implementing environmental management systems (ems) in sarawak: adoption factors lee lee ho1, puong ling law2, soh fong lim3 1department of civil engineering, faculty of engineering, universiti malaysia sarawak 2department of civil engineering, faculty of engineering, universiti malaysia sarawak 3department of chemical engineering & energy sustainability, faculty of engineering, universiti malaysia sarawak abstract in most organizations, environmental management systems (ems) adoption is based on a voluntary basis in which the adoption depends on the organization’s aspirations for better environmental performance. organizations are attracted by very practical benefits through implementation of ems in their organizations. the primary purpose of an ems implementation is to improve environmental performance continually in an organization. this research investigates the factors that drive the adoption of ems by organizations in sarawak. empirical findings of a survey on the above in sarawak organizations are presented. about 112 survey questionnaires invitations were forwarded to various organizations in sarawak and a total of 47 responses (about 42.0%) were received. walford (1995), in his assertion, said that sampling techniques require 10 percent or more of observations or sampling fraction so that they are to be considered representative of the total population. from this research, organizations which have implemented an ems are mostly from larger organizations in sarawak which have been established for more than 15 years with over 251 employees and more than one operating location. the results showed that iso 14001 is the most common ems frameworks adopted by organizations in sarawak followed by roundtable on sustainable palm oil (rspo). among the ems adoption factors in sarawak, ems implementation motivation and the role of top management are the most critical factors in ems adoption in sarawak. besides, management support is also another essential factor for ems adoption among sarawak organizations followed by the current market orientation factor. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords iso 14001; implementation motivation; role of top management; management support; current market orientation 1. introduction there is no denying that our environment is constantly changing. as it changes, there is an increasing need to be aware of the environmental problems that surround it such as global warming, air and water pollution, increased carbon footprint, ozone layer and natural resources depletion, climate change, natural disasters, acid rain, genetic pg. 80 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd modification and many more which affect every human, animal and nation on earth. such environmental problems would cause disasters and tragedies, now and also in time to come, until and unless we look for the solutions to address the various issues seriously. ems implementation in organizations can be a positive step to improve the global sustainability problem. ems is a framework that assists organizations to consistently review, evaluate and improve its environmental performance to achieve their environmental goals (usepa, 2016). the very purpose of implementing an ems is to enhance the environmental performance of organization. ems implementation has provided measurable environmental and business performance improvements for organizations in many countries. according to to ho and law (2015), ems implementation has proven to be a practical way in enhancing environmental performance of an organization in sarawak by ensuring that the organisation has effectively managed its environmental risks. in most organizations, ems adoption is based on a voluntary basis in which the adoption depends on organizations’ aspirations for better environmental performance. besides, in recent years, the growing environmental awareness and public concerns has prompted governments and industries of both developed and developing countries to change their status about environmental issues from being reactive to proactive (marambanyika & mutekwa, 2009). therefore, to achieve sustainable development in the process of decision planning and making, resources and environmental considerations shall be integrated (wced, 1987). darnall et al. (2000) found that some other considerations, which are categorized as non-environmental such as enhancement of public relations, fulfilling customer demands and overall costs reduction also contributed greatly to encouraging organizations to adopt an ems and seek certification. govindarajulu and daily (2004) found that adoption of ems is also influenced by top management’s commitment as well as organizational management’s awareness of environmental protection (russo & fouts, 1997). fryxell, lo & chung (2004) found that motivation and perceived benefits are also main factors for ems adoption among organizations. the primary objective of this research is the identification and examination of factors that account for adoption of ems by organizations in sarawak. earlier studies and literature have linked ems implementation to improved environmental performance as a whole and subsequently motivate organizations to implement ems as well. ems implementation is also more common in european countries compared to malaysia. questions arise, for examples (1) if ems implementation can lead to improved environmental performance in organizations which adopt ems in comparison to non-adopters, why are there only a handful of organizations in sarawak, malaysia that are adopting ems? (2) what are the major factors for sarawak organizations to adopt an ems? in this research, six adoption factors for ems implementation in sarawak were considered: 1.1. role of top management klassen (1993) viewed that the first thing that is required from an organization for the adoption of an ems is the commitment from top management. top management plays an important role in the integration of the organization’s functional areas, which is giving direction and promotion. urban and star (1991) stated that top management has become a critical factor in implementing successful competitive strategies. chin (1999) found that top management commitment played an important role for ems implementation in printed circuit board industry in hong kong. 1.2. management support through the reorganization of organizational structure, environmental strategies can be formulated (daft and macintosh, 1984). randall (1995) viewed that to incorporate good environmental practices in organization, it requires changes in organization, be it structurally, responsibilities delegation, personnel training, as well as the communications and control management. decisions to advance environmental management actions is difficult to carry out especially in organizations whose managers who still think traditionally and are mentally defensive towards environmental practices, (stone et al., 1997). pg. 81 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.3. motivation in ems implementation according to rivera-camino (2001), in european firms, the pressure groups that motivate organizations to adopt ems are the national regulators (83.5%), followed by owners, management, and employees (70.15%). the third source of influence are international regulators, with an impact of 64.5%. the result (table 1) revealed the level of influence (in %) that the pressure groups have on ems implementation in european firms. table 1. influence of pressure groups on ems implementation in european firms influence of pressure groups level of influence (%) none moderate high national regulators 7.4 9.1 83.5 owners, management, employees 12.4 17.45 70.15 international regulators 17.3 18.2 64.5 voluntary agreements, local population, environmental organizations 18.75 25 56.2 customers, competitors, consumer organizations, distributors, suppliers 25.16 17.74 47.06 scientific institutions 27.1 34.0 38.9 from an iso 14001 registered organizations survey conducted in canada, the results revealed that most organizations were motivated to adopt iso 14001 because they would like to have a positive environmental outlook, encouraging goodwill and integrity(yiridoe et al., 2003). based on the user rankings of factors influencing the adoption of iso 14001 standard from the iso 14001 continual improvement survey 2013 (iso, 2014), the commitment to environmental protection or conservation (2016) was the strongest environmental driver for iso 14001 adoption. the second strongest environmental driver was the risk reduction of adverse environmental impact. primary influences related to business management included customer requirements and public image. figure 1 shows the results of the survey on the factors influencing iso 14001 adoption. figure 1. results of iso 14001 continual improvement survey 2013: factors influencing iso 14001 adoption source: iso (2014) 1.4. current market orientation according to maier & vanstone (2005), in germany, there are many organizations certified to use iso 14001 and emas requirements because of the public has strong awareness on environmental issues. besides, the high adoption rate is also because of some german companies that demanded their suppliers to have certified management systems. based on an empirical study among organizations in germany, usa, india and china (dögl, 2015 & pg. 82 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd benham, 2015) regulatory, social stakeholders and market influences positively affect the organizations’ corporate environmental responsibility practices. the study also pointed out that environmentally responsible behavior is increasing due to green technologies, products, communication as well as strategies. according to bhattacharyya & cummings (2015), the corporate environmental performance was getting more interest from the organizational stakeholders. he also viewed that environmental performance measurement is influenced more by its organizational system as well as the stakeholder relations rather than operational countermeasures and environmental tracking. azzonea, noci, manzini, welford & young (1996) found that stakeholders also demanded environmental improvements as well as the evidence that these have been made. therefore, there was a need for an integrated framework for environmental performance indicators. fryxll, lo & chung (2004) found the enhancement of the firm’s reputation as the second main driver for iso 14001 certification. analysis by azzonea, bianchi & noci (1997) highlighted that market pressures such as customers and public opinion requirements, competitors’ actions, were the main trigger of the process towards environmental certification. in particular, firms were induced to obtain an environmental certification to improve relationships with stakeholders, shareholders and supply value chain partners. environmental certification was considered as a useful tool with which to demonstrate to external factors the quality of their environmental systems and to improve their green image. scott (2003) viewed that organizations can use iso 14001 certification to benchmark the commitment level in their supply chain, for example, kingfisher, a company that used iso 14001 certification as an essential criterion, evaluated a few thousands potential suppliers within their supply chain. schmidheiny (1992) viewed that business is responsible to change the world development direction, which would help the world sustainably develop. 1.5. implementation support according to azzone et al. (1997) who conducted an empirical study on ems certified companies in italy, these companies have significant availability of implementation support. the analysis revealed that they have well qualified human resources who were able to understand the environmental implications of products and processes and efficient research and development departments which enable them to introduce innovative solutions when necessary. in the event that internal facilities are insufficient, the companies could take advantage of resources at headquarters level as there was a high level of internationalization. environmental certification also induced all firms analysed in italy 1997 to develop formal and codified audits to verify environmental performance trends in a particular area of activity. 1.6. organizational culture in japan, many organizations have adopted iso 14001 due to japan’s earlier experience with iso 9000. in the beginning, japanese organizations that implemented iso 9000 found that it was slow as they considered they already have very good quality standard. however, due to request from european and us customers who requested japanese suppliers to register themselves with iso 9000, massive japanese firms had implemented iso 9000 to avoid losing business opportunities. therefore, when iso 14001 was introduced, japanese firms had adopted iso 14001 standard to a high degree. with that, japan has more than 5500 iso 14001 registrations by december 2000, including manufacturing and service firms, schools, universities and government agencies. there is a similar experience with iso 9000 in taiwan, which also encouraged firms to proactively seek iso 14000 registration (corbett & russo, 2001). in italy, most ems certified companies already have a total quality management system prior to adopting an ems. in particular, the sample firms have been assisted by their existing quality procedures, which have been adjusted to accommodate the environmental issues, thus allowing them to save time and money (azzonea et al., 1997). pg. 83 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. material and methods the research methodology structure entailed the following target: determination of the ems adoption factors among organizations in sarawak, where the adoption factors are chosen through the researcher’s experience as well as factors that several other literature had suggested which had important roles in determining adoption of an ems. the source of information and the relevant research techniques that were employed to achieve the targets mentioned above include, but are not limited to, the following: – primary sources of information: questionnaire with a total of seven sections; informal interviews with environmental management system representatives (emr) from several organizations from sarawak, malaysia, government or government-linked bodies, such as department of standards malaysia and sirim-qas international (2015) as well as a few other accredited certification bodies certifying ems. – secondary sources of information: the literature, retained documented information of ems of one of the organization in sarawak, malaysia, data from international organization for standardization (iso)(2014) department of standards malaysia and sirim-qas international. 2.1. sampling design the population of this study is only comprised of organizations in sarawak that are certified with ems under sirim qas international sdn. bhd.; certified to ems under other accredited certification bodies accredited to department of standards malaysia, united kingdom accreditation services (ukas) and others and registered under sarawak manufacturers’ association (sma). the department of standards malaysia (dsm, 2015) has a total of 13 accredited certification bodies for environmental management systems (ems). the statistics, which were updated from quarter 3, year 2015 show that the total number of ems accredited certification or certified organizations in malaysia is 1,137 organizations. sirim qas international sdn. bhd., as the main dsm accredited certification body for ems has issued a total of 723 ems certifications in malaysia, which comprises of about 40 percent of the total ems certificates under dsm (sirim qas, 2015). out of the total 723 ems certificates, a total of 38 ems certificates were issued for 32 organizations in sarawak. the researcher has invited all the 32 organizations from sarawak to participate in the survey questionnaire and or informal interview regarding their ems implementation. besides, to increase the reliability of this research, the researcher has invited the other 20 ems certified organizations from 12 other accredited certification bodies accredited to department of standards malaysia, united kingdom accreditation services (ukas) and other accreditation bodies to participate the study. the researcher has randomly selected 60 organizations from the list of sarawak manufacturers’ association members, or about 30 percent of the total 204 organizations from sma list. walford (1995) in his assertion said that sampling techniques require 10 percent or more of observations or sampling fraction so in order to be considered representative of the total population. 2.2. data collection method one of the key source of information for this study is through the data gathered and or data analysis performed from questionnaire with title, “survey on implementation of environmental management systems”. the questionnaire was prepared in hardcopy as well as softcopies such as in the format of microsoft word and pdf format sent through email and or hand carry to targeted respondents. besides, the researcher has prepared the same questionnaire online using the google forms template for those who prefer to reply online. the online questionnaire can be found through the link, http://goo.gl/forms/5echn1jrvh. besides having to choose the most suitable answer(s) on the different items in the questionnaires to measure the variables, a 5 point likert scale was used, which is described as 1 strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 neutral, 4 agree and 5 strongly pg. 84 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd agree. nunnally and bernstein (1994) recommended that when a measuring instrument is used for data collection, the subjects used should be those for whom the instrument is intended. therefore, the respondents targeted in this study through the questionnaire were the organizations’ environmental management representatives (emr), safety, health and environment (she) managers, and other directors or executives whose jobs are related to environmental issues. a cover letter from the researcher’s academic supervisor was attached together with the questionnaire to request the targeted respondents to reply. besides, the researcher has made personal telephone calls to most of the targeted respondents and to some, personal meet up appointments to explain to them personally the purpose of the questionnaire. informal interviews were conducted through informal meetings and other means of telecommunication with selected emr (about 65% from the total respondents) of the certified organizations who have responded to the questionnaire. 3. result and discussions the results of the research show that organizations which have implemented an ems, more than half (66.7%) of them are from larger organizations in sarawak with over 251 employees, about 28.6% of them are from organizations with 51 to 250 employees and only 1 of them is from an organization with a total of 10 to 50 employees. a possible reason for this distribution of sizes is that there is less available human resource, finance and time allocated for ems in medium and smaller organizations than in larger organizations. as for the total number of operating location for organizations with an ems implemented, more than half (52.4%) of the total organizations have more than one operating location. besides, most of the respondent’s organizations (about 80.9%) with an ems implemented have been established for more than 15 years. figure 2 shows the role of top management in organization planning to implement an ems as well as in organization with an ems. different elements on the role of top management are getting a total of at least 62.5% to 100% of the respondent’s organizations from both categories to agree and strongly agree on. the findings confirmed the view of $ that the comitment from top management is required for the adoption of an ems as well as for ems implementation. the findinul (chin, 1999) also showed that 100% of the respondents agree and strongly agree that it is the decision of the top management to implement ems in their organization and confirmed the literature by urban and star (1991) that top management has become a critical factor in implementing ems. figure 2. role of top management pg. 85 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3 shows the importance of management support in organization planning to implement an ems as well as in organization with an ems. different elements on management support are getting a total of at least 50% to 100% of the respondent’s organizations from both categories to agree and strongly agree. the finding confirmed to the literature by randall (1995) who viewed that to incorporate good environmental practices in an organization, it requires changes in organization, be it structurally, responsibilities delegation, personnel training, as well as the communications and control management. stone, joseph & blodgett (2004) viewed that managers’ mentality and decisions are essential to advance environmental management actions. and generally, organizations which have implemented an ems strongly agree more than organizations which are planning to implement an ems that management support is an essential factor for ems adoption in organizations. figure 3. management support figure 4 shows the importance of ems implementation motivation factor in organization planning to implement an ems as well as organization with an ems. different elements on motivation are getting a total of at least 87.5% to 100% of agree and strongly agree from both categories of respondents. among the elements under motivation factor, 100% of the respondents strongly agree that ems is believed to be able to reduce waste and pollution and strongly agree and agree that ems has positive impact on organization’s environmental performance and also adoption of ems enhances the organization’s relationship with authorities and communities. figure 5 shows the importance of the current market orientation factor in organization planning to implement an ems as well as in organization with an ems. different elements on current market orientation are getting a total of at least 50% to 87.5% of agree and strongly agree from respondents in both categories. among the elements under the current market orientation factor, a total of 87.5% of respondents from the category of organizations are planning an ems and a total of 85.7% of respondents from the category of organizations are implementing an ems, they strongly agree and agree that ems is able to fulfill the current legislation enforced by local authorities. this result confirmed the literature by dögl (2015) that regulatory, market and social stakeholders have positive influences towards the firms’ corporate environmental responsibility practices. apart from that, a total of 75.0% of respondents from the category of organizations are planning an ems and a total of 81.0% of respondents from the category of organizations are implementing an ems, they strongly agree and agree that ems is for the purpose of dealing with consumer-driven green demand as well as market pressures. this result confirmed the study by dögl (2015) who pointed out that environmentally responsible behavior such as green technologies, products, communication and strategies were requested by companies’ stakeholder in an increasing trend and by azzonea et al. (1997) who highlighted that market pressures such as customers and public opinion requirements, competitors’ actions, were the main trigger of the process towards ems certification. pg. 86 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. implementation motivation figure 5. current market orientation figure 6 shows the importance of the implementation support factor in organization planning to implement an ems as well as in organization with an ems. different elements in implementation support are getting a total of at least 12.5% to 95.2% of agree and strongly agree from respondents in both categories. among the elements under implementation factor, a total of 50.0% of respondents from the category of organizations are planning an ems and a total of 95.2% of respondents from the category of organizations are implementing an ems, they strongly agree and agree that there have been ongoing supports for ems implementation in their organizations. however, with regards to the elements concerning internal audit programs being ongoing as well as the program showing continual improvement, organizations which are planning to implement ems, a total of 50.0% to 62.5% of the respondents strongly disagree and disagree about it. however, a total of 95.4% of the respondents from the category of organizations which had implemented an ems strongly agree and agree about the same matter. the difference in this response is because in organizations which had implemented an ems, internal audit is a mandatory requirement to abide. these results also show that both categories of respondents have different opinions in implementation support factor as ems adoption factor. organizations which have implemented an ems viewed (85.7% to 95.2% of them strongly agree and agree) the implementation support as very essential for pg. 87 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd successful ems adoption. this result confirmed the literature azzonea (1997) that ems certified companies have significant availability of implementation support, be it in the internal audit program, resources sharing and support from the headquarters, qualified human resources and supports. figure 6. ems implementation support figure 7 shows the importance of the organization culture factor in organization planning to implement an ems as well as in organization with an ems. different elements in organization culture are getting a total of at least 12.5% to 95.2% of agree and strongly agree from respondents in both categories. among the elements under the organization culture factor, a total of 87.5% of respondents from the category of organizations are planning an ems and a total of 80.9% of respondents from the category of organizations are implementing an ems, they strongly agree and agree that prior ems implementation, there were other management systems such as iso 9001, ohsas 18001, iso 22000 implemented in their organizations. this is a similarity among the two categories of respondents, in their opinion. this result confirmed the literature by corbett and russo (2001) who said that iso 14001 adoption in japan and taiwan was high due to both countries’ earlier experience with iso 9000 quality requirements and the experience also had encouraged firms to proactively seek iso 14000 registration. besides, this is confirmed by literature by azzonea (1997) who has written that in italy, most ems certified companies already have a total quality management system prior to adopting an ems. in particular, the sampled firms have been assisted by their existing quality procedures, which have been adjusted to accommodate the environmental issues, thus allowing them to save time and money. however, with regards to the matter that employees are equipped with necessary knowledge and skills for ems implementation, only 12.5% of respondents from organizations which are planning to implement ems agree while the other 50% of the same disagree about it. however, there are 85.7% of the respondents from the category of organizations which had implemented an ems strongly agree and agree about the same matter. besides, another matter with regards to organization culture, which has bigger differences compared to both categories of respondents, is about awareness of environmental issues is cultivated in the organization through communication from management, training and campaigns. about 50% of respondents from organizations which are planning to implement ems agree while the other 12.5% of the same disagree about it. however, there are 95.2% of the respondents from the category of organizations which had implemented an ems strongly agree and agree about the same matter. the difference in this response is because, in organizations which had implemented an ems, trainings regarding the ems requirements and ems awareness in general are normally given to the employees in the organizations. and the experiences in managing an ems throughout the years would increase the knowledge and skills of the users of the ems. pg. 88 ho / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. organization culture 4. conclusion from this research, organizations which have implemented an ems are mostly from larger organizations in sarawak which have been established for more than 15 years with over 251 employees and have more than one operating location. iso 14001 ems is the most accepted and well-known ems in sarawak at the present moment. as for the adoption factors investigated, ems implementation motivation and the role of top management are the most critical factors in ems adoption in sarawak. the results show that under a motivation factor, 100% of the respondents strongly agree that ems is believed to be able to reduce waste and pollution, they strongly agree and agree that ems has a positive impact on the organization’s environmental performance as well as the fact that adoption of ems enhances the organization’s relationship with authorities and communities. besides, 100% of the respondents also agree and strongly agree that it is the decision of the top management to implement ems in their organization. management support is also another essential factor for ems adoption among sarawak organizations followed by current market orientation factor. both of the factors drove at least 50% of their respondents to strongly agree and or agree to the respective elements. both adoption factors, namely implementation support and organization culture, are getting a total of 12.5% to 95.2% of agree and strongly agree from respondents in various elements. 5. acknowledgments the authors acknowledge the funding of this research by the ministry of education in malaysia through mybrain 15, the facilities provided by universiti malaysia sarawak, as well as to the respondents of the questionnaires. references 1. azzone, g., noci, g., manzini, r., welford, r. and young, c.w. 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(2003) iso 14001 ems standard registration decisions among canadian organizations. agribusiness, 19(4), pp. 493-457. pg. 91 introduction role of top management management support motivation in ems implementation current market orientation implementation support organizational culture material and methods sampling design data collection method result and discussions conclusion acknowledgments http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i1.489 green building with nature concept on lakeside resort design wasilah wasilah1, andi hildayanti1, hamzah hamzah1 1architectural engineering, faculty of science and technology alauddin islamic state university, indonesia abstract the natural condition of matano lake is heavily scenic includes the land, water, air, energy, and reasonably required to preserve. exploration in the resort design with green building and design with nature concept is one of preservation effort to maximize the natural potency of the area based on the aspect of environment, socio-economics, and sociocultural. the method in the design process involve a green building and design with nature principles implementation in the site plan, structural design, natural energy to maintain the building thermal and natural lighting, and reuse rainwater management to optimize the resort function, green materials and prevent the residual material. the result explained the lakeside resort based on green building and design with nature principles increase the aesthetic potential view and environmental sustainability of matano lake. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords resort; green building; design with nature; structure; material building; lakeside 1. introduction most of green building concept is to create a better life and meet the next generation needs. the aim concern on the environmental protection, health, and social. the environmental destruction phenomena have been existing in all aspect of life and cause a natural disaster (hildayanti, shirly & suriana, 2012). some societies are intense expressing a restoration and the balance of nature. one of the program is green building concept that includes a building development, house, apartment, office, and so forth. the green building concept tries to practice efficiency in four factors: efficiency in structure design, energy, water, and material (frick and suskiyanto, 2007). the purpose of design structure efficiency is to minimize the impact of development, from the execution to the building occupation. if the step is not efficient, then the development will produce a negative effect to the environment. the negative effect might occur in massive material usage or wasteful. additionally, efficiency in energy includes the steps to save the energy. the energy is including a daily needs energy, such as air and sunlight that come into the building or energy for operational aspect. for example, a building with wooden material tend to produce a lower disposal energy than the stone, concrete, or steel material. energy efficiency also relates on the number of electrical consumption of the building to support the optimization the function of the building (frick and mulyani, 2016). besides that, water efficiency relates on the life principles that strongly depend on the water. in fact, the human cannot live without a water, meanwhile the supply of the clean water is become a polemic. therefore, the green building concept also concern to water consumption efficiency. the efficiency includes how to get the water and pg. 31 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd green water management. for example, the rainwater reservoir tank, absorption wells, and soon could practice in order to collect the water. furthermore, material efficiency related on the building structure material. the material has a correlation with the efficiency of structure design. application of green building concept should practice as the necessities of material precisely (safrilia, 2013). please be advised that excessive material usage will boost the development budget, more impact to the environment, high energy consumption during the construction process, and etc. consequently, the principle in green building concept emphizes the design principle which concern on the environmental condition and the concept is closely related with design with nature. the principle is building without environmental destruction. the building design has a great expectation where the design should provide a solution on the development problem as the human needs but does not create a problem to the environtental (prihambudi, 2010). one of the typical solution to apply this objective is to practice the sustainability principle that concern with the aspect of social, economy, environment, and local wisdom as the design identity itself. in many ways, green building principle has a huge benefit for the human life and enviromental sustainability. some of advantages in the green building are (1) as a saving, from co t development saving, electrical, water, and saving the energy (frick and suskiyanto, 2007). the impact explicitly on the financial and. simple and small monthly expense. the practice of green building concept definitely involves an extra cost in early development, but the concept will economical for a long-term operational cost. some studies have proved an economical green building concept practice with; (2) an increasing productivity and quality of life of the occupant with green building concept. in fact, the concept definitely influences the productivity improvement. for example, there is a study in 31 green buildings in seattle city. the result explains the worker absences reduce up to 40%. the cushman & wakefield study conclude that the sick leave decline to 30% in the employee and increasing of profit because an improvement of employee performance. the increasing also occur in the quality of life. the green building may minimize a stress, an increasing of a life style, more health, and a good social condition. based on the study of the green building concept and a huge benefit of design with nature for human life and environment sustainability, this paper designs a lakeside resort area that high potential for the development of lakeside tourism function. the lake is matano lake that located in sorowako city, east luwu regency, about 600 km southwest of makassar city, south sulawesi. matano lake has 16,408 km2 wide and high potential for a new tourism destination in some part of the lakeside (east luwu culture and tourism office, 2016). currently, some lakesides area become a location of a recreation, such as ide beach, kupu-kupu beach, and salosa beach. matano lake presents an exotic panorama, cool water, beautiful lakeside landscape with many big trees with a lot of leaves that create pleasant atmosphere (minisitry of environmental of indonesia, 2014). however, some aspects have a poor tourism accommodation. according to east luwu tourism office data 2015-2016, tourism facility is inadequate and poor supporting facility (south sulawesi culture and tourism office, 2016). therefore, the formulation of resort area design performs to fulfill a demand of resort area development as tourism area. the resort would be facilitated and become a destination for local people, domestic, and international tourist. the development·should be provided a local income and an effort to create an innovative and efficient green building design. 2. research method this study conducted a content analysis approach to realize the result of the design with green concept application. the design methods of this study are: a) literature study: data collection on green building, efficiency of structure design, efficiency in energy, water, material, and a requirement and the standard of the room for facility area in lakeside resort. b) design location observation: collecting the information on the series of tourist activity in lakeside recreation area, characteristic of the tourist, and matano lake environment as the siteplan to support the resort design. c) analysis in the design approach: identifying the green building principle, including: pg. 32 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – structure design efficiency, such as element of the construction and building structure. – energy efficiency, used the natural potential such as the air and sunlight that come into the building and the aspect of operational energy. – water efficiency, how to get the water and green management. rainwater reservoir tank, absorption wells, and etc., are a method to collect the water. – material efficiency, implementation of building material for the development of architecture elements, such as wall, roof, and floor. material usage practice as the necessities of material precisely. d) the concept design; applying theroom configuration with the green building principle and design with nature, integrated with the social and environmental aspect the siteplan. the principle of green building and design with nature is to emphasize the harmony and balance between physical design and high quality of the landscape. e) the result of the design: in form of resort area design in matano lake area with the implementation of green building concept and design with nature to present an efficient, expressive, and innovative. 3. result and discussion 3.1. design transformation the design considers on the protection of lakeside to minimize the water and air pollution. an unoccupied building could have another benefit by modifying the function of the building into commercial function. the transformation of building function consistent with the local government policy as the effort to increase the quality of lakeside environmental. however, there are some obstacles during the development of the area. the obstacle factors are erosion or abrasion, sedimentation, and high cost on the siteplan development because the development involve specific technology and construction. therefore, the formulation of land use concept determines the function of the area as the resort with some supporting facilities to optimize the resort function. the concept will provide an access for the public, providing some green, economical, accommodative facilities for long-term period in order to attract the visitor. according to the activity that facilitated by matano lakeside resort, there are three resort activities: category, primary, secondary, and tertiary function. a. primary function. the function is the primary requirement for the resort, such as: 1) occupation the occupation is the primary function in the design as the place for relaxation, to stay, and enjoying the matano lake environment from the resort. the resort facility should facilitate the visitor activity to create a comfort atmosphere. 2) entertainment and recreation based on the design theme, the resort certainly presents an entertainment and become a recreative area located in the matano lakeside. this function is the primary attraction of the resort. the attraction will realize in form of mini waterboom/water park, outbound arena, swimming pool, and some others supporting facilities. b. secondary function. the realization of this function is to support or operating the primary function, such as: 1) administration the administration related to the all resort management, such as: manager room, staff room (administration) and etc. 2) commercial service commercial facility is the facility that support the quality of the resort, such as cafe, atm, minimarket or convenience store and souvenir shop. pg. 33 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3) promotion the promotion category will facility are the hotel announcement to the tourists and organize the event to attract the visitor to come the resort. 4) sport the sport facility is to support the requirement inside the resort. the facilities are swimming pool, jogging track, and outbound area. c. tertiary function. the function is to support the primary and secondary function, which are: 1) service a service will support all resort activity, include maintenance /repair and building maintenance. 2) service function the function will present a service to the resort guest. all quest needs will provide by service function. the service function facilitated with main kitchen, engineering, praying room, and parking area. the resort facilities above conclude that the room requirement define by the building function to be facilitated the room inside the building. the next part will describe the site plan of lakeside resort area of the matano lake and some recreation facilities inside the resort area (see figure 1). figure 1. the site plan and the facility of matano lakeside resort area the site plan is 60,000 m2 or 6 hectares. total of the lands space is 11,569.31 m2 or 19.28 % of the site plan. 48430.69 m2 is non-built-up area and most area is a reforestation area with big tree and shrub vegetation. the allocation of built-up area and non-built-up area proportion usage is one of the implementations of design with nature concept with the application of balance between resort physical design and reforestation composition in matano lakeside land. 3.2. structure design all wooden material must dry, old, straight, and without a crack, and the humidity degree is less than 15% as the requirement stated in pkkl 1970-ni.5. the selection of wooden material because a wood construction is an pg. 34 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd accessible material. the material is the material that mastering by the local engineer because the characteristic of wood are easy to cut and flexible (measurable, easy to cut, elastic, and etc.). the truss construction for the roof will resist the wind pressure horizontally and proved by the application in the traditional house. in fact, the construction is standing for a hundred years, depend on the preparation of the wood material (see figure 2). figure 2. the building structure a re roof. middle, and sub structure. the sub structure of building practice the caisson pile to adapt the land contour, and pedestal column applied in the building pile. the middle structure of house building is reinforced concentrate and the upper structure is a wood truss. some buildings have foot plate sub structure, a common structure found in the high building with soft land condition. the foundation characteristic is economical and the land pit is few that make the project time saving. 3.3. energy the light and the air are the most important elements to provide the illumination into the building interior and sufficient natural ventilation. the elements also present amenities to the user for their activity. the rooms with ventilation and natural illuminance will have sufficient humidity and keep the environment condition. moreover, sufficient ventilation and natural illuminance will save the electrical energy, because the building will not completely depend on the artificial light and mechanical ventilation. the strategy of natural energy consumption inside the matano lakeside resort area (see figure 3). energy consumption inside the building will maximize by the implementation of building orientation that positioned between the sun path and the wind (sahabuddin, 2019). the most advantageous building positioning is to the west from the eastward. the opening head to the south and east to avoid direct sunlight. the building will have enough wind opening, the ventilation positioning is horizontal and vertical, and the larger room positioning will direct to the wind direction. the building considers on the window orientation to the sun with natural material that absorb the heat. the material includes wooden material for the interior, fence and vertical garden, pitched roof formation (simple plane) to reduce the temperature under the roof. the design provides a terrace for the pg. 35 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd building/house as a transition area between outdoor (yard) and indoor (building) that create a micro atmosphere either inside the building or around the building. the design enhances green vegetation, secondary skin concept on the faced to reduce the heat of the sunlight, providing an open space inside the building, and located the pond around the building area. moreover, there are implementation of building form configuration, cross ventilation, and skylight to reflect sunlight from the top. figure 3. the utilization strategy on natural energy for building illumination and ventilation 3.4. water water efficiency more emphasize on the reuse of rainwater utilization for operational resort. reservoir system provides a reservation for the rainwater. reservoir tanks is dark painting to obstruct the growth of algae, enclose, the ventilation is like a filter, and easy to clean (if use for a clean water system). the water reservoir tank material is from concrete and clay. the reservoir container material is from fiberglass reinforced plastics (frp) which available in various form and dimension. the reservoir tank or storage is the most important component for rainwater system and usually is the most expensive system. reservoir water tank located as close as possible to the rainwater splash area and the dimension calculation is based on the requirement, rainfall frequency, wide surface, budget, and aesthetic (see figure 4). the tank position to the rainfall area and filter in accordance with the water current and important to maximize the water collection. therefore, some strategic location selected for reservoir tank and along with the characteristic of the location as describe in figure below. pg. 36 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. location of water tank positioning according to the allocation of various room requirement to optimize the resort function, two water tanks should be able provided up to 150,000 liters with consumer standard needs is 10-15 liters/person/day. the water tank characteristic is communal or center. the water will distribute through the pipe with water pump support. 3.5. materials according to design approach that emphasize the green building concept and design with nature, the material selection priority on the green material. the green material is not only for environmental sustainability, but more efficient and energy saving based on the long-term estimation cost aspect. green material selection includes the aspect of technology and application. according to the aspect of technology, material selection avoids the toxic contain material and the production is compatible with the nature. wooden material application is appropriate with the quantity and availability of material in the nature. as long as the site plan area has abundance wood resources then wood utilization still appropriate for the construction process. moreover, in the utilization aspect, green material selection like is transparent glass material will generate more reflection of the natural sunlight. wooden is in accordance with the requirement and avoiding produce a residual material. figure 5. building material pg. 37 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd most of the material in building resort is used natural material, such as wood, stone, and straw. moreover, the glass material implemented on the building window. the purlin roof and lath, terrace, and the upper wall is wooden material and the main wall is brick wall. 4. conclusions green building with nature concept is one of the effort for sustainability development. the formulation process considers on the harmony of the nature and physical and non-physical design component to avoiding a natural destruction because of the development in the lakeside resort area. the government has make an exclusive regulation for waterfront area as critical consideration in the development of coastal area. benefit in the application of green building with nature concept in the matano lakeside area is a preservation in east luwu local architecture. principally, the concept practices a natural synergy that create a local wisdom with green building concept. implementation of green building with nature concept component includes the composition of built-up and non built-up area where the area function are the reforestation and playground area. the building material, secondary skin is the obstacle from a direct sunlight into the building. the utilization of rainwater is to support resort activity around the matano lakeside area. the function of recreation activity with natural interaction concept present the visitor to enjoy the vegetation landscape view and matano lake with playground, swimming pool, and field area facilities. as a result, green building with nature concept principles are structure design efficiency, energy, water and material efficiency. these efficiencies have been applied in the design of matano lake lakeside resort. 5. acknowledgments authors would like to show our gratitude to the architectural engineering laboratory staff, faculty of science and technology alauddin islamic state university, for sharing their pearls of wisdom with us during the course of this research. 6. references 1. dinas kebudayaan dan kepariwisataan provinsi sulawesi selatan [south sulawesi culture and tourism office]. (2016). analisa data kunjungan wisatawan (nusantara dan mancanegara) [data analysis in tourist visit (local and international)] 2015-2016. 2. dinas kebudayaan dan pariwisata luwu timur [east luwu culture and tourism office]. (2016). mengenali potensi budaya dan pariwisata luwu timur [introduction on culture and tourism east luwu potency]. 3. frick, h., and mulyani th. (2016). arsitektur ekologi (seri arsitektur ekologis 2) [eco-architecture (2nd series of eco-architecture)], yogyakarta: kanisius. 4. frick, h., and suskiyanto, fx bambang. (2007). dasar – dasar ekoarsitektur (seri arsitektur ekologis 1) [architecture fundamental (1st eeco-architecture series)], yogyakarta: kanisius. 5. hildayanti, a., shirly w., & suriana l.t.. (2012). review procedures for building housing and settlement with the concept of green river flowing river pampang area makassar city. 6. kementrian lingkungan hidup republik indonesia [minisitry of environmental of indonesia]. (2014). gerakan penyelamatan danau matano (germadan or a movement to save the mantano lake) matano. 7. neufert, e. (2000). data arsitek jilid 1 [architect data 1st volume]. jakarta: erlangga. 8. neufert, e. (2002). data arsitek jilid 2 [architect data 2st volume]. jakarta: erlangga. pg. 38 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 9. prihambudi, a. (2010). resort dikawasan wisata kota batu dengan tema green architecture [resort in kota batu tourism area with green architecture theme], undergraduate thesis in fts itn malang. available in (https://www.scribd.com/doc/214634640/skripsi-arid-prihambudi-resort-di-batu-denga n-tema-green architecture), accessed on 3 march 2017, 20.17. 10. safrilia, a. (2013). perancangan resort dengan penerapan prinsip ekologi di pulau menjangan kecil karimunjawa [resort design in application of ecology principle in menjangan kecil karimunjawa island], article in ft brawijaya university malang. available in (http://arsitektur.ub.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/201 3/10/jurnal-ilmiah12.pdf), accessed on 20 april 2017, 21.10. 11. sahabuddin, w. (2019). the design of space based on architectural geometry. international journal of engineering & technology (9) pg. 571-576, science publishing corporation 7. appendix a a.1. specification of room requirement and dimension in the matano lakeside resort design in this appendix we present the collecting data used for specification of room requirement and dimension in the matano lakeside resort design. table 1. requirement and room dimension room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source management general manager room 1 5 4.4 22 m2 tss assistant general manager room 1 4 3.1 12.4 m2 tss manager room 1 4 2 8 m2 da management staff room 1 4 2.3 9.2 m2 hpd financial manager room 1 3 3 9 m2 da financial staff room 1 8 2.3 18.4 m2 da marketing manager room 1 3 2.3 6.9 m2 tss marketing staff room 1 3 2.3 6.9 m2 hpd meeting room 1 9 2 18 m2 hpd pantry and locker 1 7 1.2 8.4 m2 ap toilet 1 5 2.25 33.75 m2 da subtotal 3 144.55 m2 20% for circulation 28.91 m2 total 173.46 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source hunian resort type a resort occupation guest room 1 9 9 m2 ap continued on next page pg. 39 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2 continued family room 1 9 9 m2 ap master bedroom 1 12 12 m2 ap pantry 1 5 5 m2 ap wash stand 1 1 0.64 0.64 m2 stui bathroom 1 1 2.25 2.25 m2 da subtotal 20 757.8 m2 20% for circulation 151.56 m2 total 909.36 m2 type b resort occupation guest room 1 9 9 m2 ap family room 1 15 15 m2 ap master bedroom 1 16 16 m2 ap children bedroom 1 9 9 m2 ap pantry 1 5 5 m2 ap wash stand 1 1 0.64 0.64 m2 stui bathroom 1 1 2.25 2.25 m2 da subtotal 11 625.79 m2 20% for circulation 125.158 m2 total 750.948 m2 type c resort occupation guest room 1 15 15 m2 ap private room 1 15 15 m2 ap family room 1 12 12 m2 ap master bedroom 1 25 25 m2 ap children bedroom 1 20 20 m2 ap pantry 1 9 9 m2 ap wash stand 1 1 0.64 0.64 m2 stui bathroom 1 1 2.25 2.25 m2 da subtotal 6 327.84 m2 20% for circulation 65.568 m2 total 330.09 m2 1990.398 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source entrance lobby 1 40 0.9 36 m2 bpds receptionist 1 2 0.9 1.8 m2 bpds locker 1 3 0.882 2.646 m2 nad book keeper 1 1 0.02 0.02 m2 hpd wash stand 4 1 0.64 2.56 m2 stui bathroom 1 1 2.25 2.25 m2 nad subtotal 45.276 m2 20% for circulation 9.0552 m2 total 54.3312 m2 pg. 40 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source service cashier 1 4 2.75 m2 11 m2 nad restaurant 1 150 2.5 m2 375 m2 nad cafe 1 30 2.5 m2 75 m2 nad staff room 1 20 2.25 m2 45 m2 nad kitchen 1 10 4 m2 40 m2 nad kitchen and washing room 2 4 0.2 m2 1.6 m2 tss food storage 32 1 0.1 m2 3.2 m2 hpd drinking storage 2 1 0.18 m2 0.36 m2 nad freezer storage 1 7.5 m2 7.5 m2 ap serving room 1 32 0.32 m2 10.24 m2 nad laundry 1 16 m2 16 m2 tss cleaning room 1 25 m2 25 m2 ap office boy room 1 18 m2 18 m2 ap staff resort room 1 30 m2 30 m2 ap parking staff room 1 8 m2 8m2 ap gardening room 1 8 m2 8 m2 ap gardening storage room 1 4 m2 4 m2 ap locker 1 10 0.882 m2 8.82 m2 nad parking gate 3 1 1 m2 3 m2 nad toilet 1 1 2.25 m2 2.25 m2 nad wash stand 1 1 0.64 m2 0.64 m2 stui subtotal 675.93 m2 20% for circulation 135.186 total 811.116 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source m.e.p staff room electrical room 1 3 1.5 4.5 m2 ap engineering room 1 3 0.8 2.4 m2 ap genset room 1 25 25 m2 ap toilet 2 1 2.25 4.5 m2 da subtotal 36.4 m2 20% for circulation 7.28 m2 total 43.68 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source entertainment and recreation children swimming pool 2 200 400 m2 ap adult swimming pool 2 500 1000 m2 ap water park 1 400 400 m2 nad continued on next page pg. 41 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 6 continued outboud area 1 5000 5000 m2 ap visitor locker 1 100 0.882 88.2 m2 ap dressing room 10 1 1.25 12.5 m2 nad toilet 10 1 2.25 22.5 m2 nad rinse room 10 1 2.25 22.5 m2 nad subtotal 6945.7 m2 20% for circulation 1389.14 m2 total 8334.84 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source management, staff and costumer musallah 1 40 1.008 40.32 m2 da toilet 4 1 2.25 9 m2 da storage 1 1 25 25 m2 ap subtotal 74.32 m2 20% for circulation 14.864 m2 total 89.184 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source security guard head of security 1 2 5 10 m2 ap security staff room 1 4 5 20 m2 ap security post 4 2 2 16 m2 ap locker 1 6 2 12 m2 ap toilet 1 1 2.25 2.25 m2 da subtotal 60.25 m2 20% for circulation 12.05 m2 total 72.3 m2 room quantity capacity standard (m2) area (m2) source parking area parking area car 29 5.5 x 2.4 348 m2 da motorcycle 72 2.2 158.4 m2 da bus 3 12 86.4 m2 da speedboat 6 7.25 33.3 m2 da subtotal 592.8 m2 m2 50 % for circulation 296.4 m2 m2 total 889.2 m2 m2 room area (m2) total of building area continued on next page pg. 42 wasilah / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 10 continued management 173.46 m2 resort occupation 1990.398 m2 entrance 54.3312 m2 service 811.116 m2 m.e staff 43.68 m2 entertainment and recreation 8334.84 m2 management, staff, and consumer 89.184 m2 security guard 72.3 m2 parking area 889.2 m2 total remarks d.a data arsitek [architecture data] (neufert, 2000; neufert, 2002) t.s.s time saver standar for building types a.p asumsi pribadi [personal opinion] pg. 43 introduction research method result and discussion design transformation structure design energy water materials conclusions acknowledgments references appendix a http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i1.486 facades for achieving visual comfort: high performance computing fatima belok1, mostafa rabea2, mohamed hanafi3, ibtihal el bastawissi4 1phd candidate and teaching assistant, faculty of architecture-design & built environment, beirut arab university 2assistant professor, faculty of architecture-design & built environment, beirut arab university 3professor, faculty of architecture-design & built environment, beirut arab university 4professor and dean of faculty of architecture-design &built environment, beirut arab university abstract within the last few decades, many digital technologies have been integrated to the field of architecture. this in turn has developed a number of architectural trends based on these revolutionary changes. kinetic skin is one of these trends that is directly related to visual performance and comfort, an important aspect. the feeling of comfort is related to the sense organs network; i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, tactile sensors, heat sensors and brain. visual sensation is the most dominant one in human perception since the eye contains two thirds of the nerve fibers within human central nervous system. the use of kinetic facades for achieving visual comfort in spaces has been recently the subject of many researches, where various aspects have been explored. however, this paper will attempt to review these researches while identifying gaps and potential for future research. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords visual comfort; kinetic facades; optimization; digital tools 1. introduction 1.1. visual comfort and daylight the illumination engineering society of north america (ies) noticed that activity and perception could be reinforced through the lighting. most of human perceptions are influenced by light (natural or artificial), which is a source of enjoyment and aesthetic pleasure. it also affects mental health. also, daylight factor should be considered for having more comfortable spaces (jenkins & newborough, 2007). daylight could affect mainly three categories, which are functional efficiency, energy efficiency and human health (el-dbaa, 2016). a) functional efficiency: adequate lighting allows for better functional efficiency, not only in terms of direct use, such as reading and writing, but in exposing features of color, texture, and form that increases spatial and functional pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd efficiency of space (el-dbaa, 2016). b) energy efficiency: by reducing the amount of artificial light, and by improving the amount of daylight in a space, the energy consumption will automatically be reduced. this reduction is not only related to the electricity, but also will reduce the cooling and heating load (el-dbaa, 2016). c) human productivity and health: the importance of daylight does not only on the energy efficiency, it is also related to its advantages on user’s productivity and health. studies show that people working at night have a considerable increased negative mood than others working in daylight, since psychological well-being, mood, body temperature and brain activity, are influenced by the light in a specific architectural environment (tomassoni, galetta & treglia, 2015). the nervous system could be disturbed if their amount of daylight is unsatisfied, which will motivate the feeling of fatigue (el sheikh, 2011). working or studying for long time in a space illuminated only by artificial light will cause discomfort and stress, while daylight helps to give a healthy space. thus, controlling the amount of daylight in spaces, will improve the user productivity and mood. (tomassoni et al., 2015). 1.2. kinetic facades definition and importance building envelope improves human comfort, because it is the layer between the outside and the inside of a building (kim, 2013). the shading devices or the building envelope could be static or dynamic. those that are nonstationary are generally described by words such as convertible, kinematic retractable, kinetic, or simply adaptive. in architecture, adaptive and dynamic building envelops are the current trends (fouad, 2012; barozzi, lienhard, zanelli & monticelli, 2016). kinetic is the movement, while architecture is the style of the building (fouad, 2012). thus, kinetic architecture is the design of buildings that are produced by movement. several technologies responding to changing needs have been developed, where kinetic architecture is one of the most important technologies, which is considered as an evolution from static to dynamic form in architecture (al horr et al., 2016). many researchers have discussed kinetic architecture from 1970 till now, such as zuc and clark in 1970, michael a.fox in 2003, chuck hberman, sanchez-del-valle in 2005, robert kronenburg in 2007, kostas terzidis in 2008, etc. (barozzi et al., 2016). sanchez-del-valle explains that usages of adaptive kinetic structure are due to economy of means, and responsibility toward the natural environment and human need satisfaction. in addition, in 2005 sanchez-del-valle said, “adaptive kinetic architecture creates an ecological system as its components have shifting interdependencies when responding to changing environment”. in addition, kostas terzidis in 2008 has argued that adding motion to a building will be important, since it will affect the design, aesthetic and performance of the building. consequently, kinetic architecture is not just about moving a building, but it is also making a link between nature and built environment, regarding the environmental variations. furthermore, kinetic architecture could be applied in different ways based on the purpose of the system (rossi, nagy, & schlueter, 2012). for instance, it could be applied on building facades, on building structure, in the landscape and others. this paper focuses on kinetic shadings. kinetic and adaptive shadings could serve as a good treatment more than the fixed ones, since adaptive systems can be modified in relation to external environmental changes such as solar radiation, to achieve the optimum daylight and shade during the day. this mechanical system could be added on external or internal facades (fouad, 2012 & barozzi et al., 2016). in addition, many interactive ideas and concepts have been recently invented and could adjust and interact with environmental factors such as daylight heat, wind, or even people (al horr et al., 2016). 2. aim the aim of this paper is to explore possible roles for architects in developing kinetic facades for achieving visual comfort. pg. 2 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3. objectives the paper objectives are: – exploring the current state of art in kinetic facades and visual comfort. – exploring possible future applications and studies. 4. methodology this paper will start by a literature review on different recent researches and studies that focuses on how to reach visual comfort using kinetic facades, then an evaluation and a comparative analysis for the recent researches followed by a discussion. finally, it will end by conclusions and recommendations. 5. previous work optimizing visual comfort and enhancing the daylight performance in different spaces, has been the aim and target of many researchers in several studies. based on some readings in this field, it has been noted that architects and designers usually follow a certain process; i.e. starting with designing the kinetic skin and specifying its mechanism, then testing different alternatives using environmental simulation programs and software, and finally linking all of them to reach optimum solutions. based on this process, and based on the responsive kinetic skin design framework (explained later), the examined researches in this field are classified in three categories, as shown in fig.1, which are: form and mechanism, computational analysis and simulation, and design framework category. figure 1. categorization of different researches examining the daylight performance using kinetic systems (source: author) 5.1. form and mechanism category this category mainly focuses on researches examining the form and mechanism of kinetic systems for enhancing daylight performance in a space. it includes the scale, the composition, the aesthetic, and the motion of kinetic shadings. several researchers discussed in their studies the performance of fixed and movable shadings in different architectural spaces. some of them examined the effect of fixed screens on enhancing the daylight distribution with modification of one shading parameters, such as the shape of cells of the screens, rotation angles, and screen opening proportion (horizontal: vertical) from 1:1 to 18:1 (sabry, sherif, gad elhak, & rakha, 2012). however, recently most of the researches are focusing on dynamic shadings in response to external environmental factors, such as the daylight, wind factor and others. as dynamic systems have several advantages in comparison to the static one, for instance increasing occupancy comfort, increasing energetic performance and giving chance for pg. 3 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd aesthetics opportunities. in addition, adaptive architecture allows changing the building behavior responding to real world events (rossi et al., 2012), nowadays, new technologies allow designing dynamic systems, which are related to internal and external conditions. (meyboom, johnson & wojtowicz, 2011) focused on the different shapes and organizations of kinetic facades, which affect human comfort inside the space as shown in fig.2. facades, which are the link between outside and inside of a building, should be responsive to adapt these environmental changes and satisfy the human comfort. this is where the amount of light (artificial or natural) and the shadings devices especially the kinetic one, could be controlled based on the illuminance standards, are all serving and targeting the occupants’ and the users’ comfort, as shown in fig.3 (rossi et al., 2012). figure 2. examples of different shapes and organizations that could be presented on kinetic facades (source: rossi, nagy & schlueter, 2012). figure 3. the importance of the occupant in each factor (source: rossi, nagy and schlueter, 2012). pg. 4 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd (varendorff & garcia-hansen, 2012) have done a comparison for many shapes of kinetic systems on a specific building facade to identifying the best daylight distribution in relation to daylight glare probability and the amount of exterior unobstructed view. in a similar approach, (elghazi & mahmoud, 2016), have tested several origami techniques, which are one of the designs approaches that could provide kinetic shadings for better daylight performance based on several parameters, such as the motion and the module size. in addition, they have also examined the optimum number of folds and divisions for the origami geometries, as shown in fig.4. figure 4. different scale, composition and mechanism for a kinetic façade for optimizing daylight performance (source: elghazi & mahmoud, 2016) (el-dbaa, 2016) has studied the effect of the kinetic facades in an office building on improving the daylight performance through specifying the best louvers movement using simulations. it has determined the best movement of two types of kinetic louvers, rotation and vertical movement. in addition, it has given many examples concerning the kinetic façade’s motion and mechanism, as shown in fig.5. figure 5. examples of different kinetic facades’ motion and mechanism (source: el-dbaa, 2016) pg. 5 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd thus, based on these studies, it is noted that designing the form, geometry and mechanism of a kinetic system should be done through using different modeling software and programs such as grasshopper, rhino and others for inserting many inputs. architects and designers therefore face some problems in the process of modeling of kinetic system, since it consumes lots of time and efforts. 5.2. computational analysis and simulation category the computational analysis and simulation category reviews researches focusing mainly on environmental simulation for daylight; it also involves small description and presentation of the existing digital application and plug-in used by architects to do this type of simulation. several papers have examined and compared different types, methods and plug-ins for daylight and glare simulation. (yoo & manz, 2011) has argued that visual comfort increases and glare decreases by installing fixed shading devices. in a similar approach, (sabry et al., 2012) has studied the daylight performance through using several solar screens shape. in addition, the effect of using shading devices on daylight performance was investigated by many researchers in several climates and locations, since the negative effect of solar radiation and direct sunlight could be reduced by using shading devices (wageh & gadehlak, 2017). in 2016, tzempelokps and hiong have developed a strategy for controlling the glare using roller blind. (eltaweel & su, 2017) developed a reflective blind strategy that could be used parametrically through grasshopper for rhinoceros. (katsifaraki, bueno, & kuhn, 2017) have developed a new shading controller, in office buildings that also controls the glare and maximizes the daylight level through doing a prototype in freiburg, germany. nowadays simulation tools are very important, since many architects want to test internal spaces before the construction phase (evangelos & david, 2005). several digital tools, such as diva, honeybee, rayfront, relux 2004 vision and lightscape are used by architects to evaluate the performance of a building facade quantitatively and qualitatively in correspondence to the daylight transmittance of this façade (kim, 2013). many inputs should be introduced to those tools, such as the space materials, the materials transmittance, the grid of measurement, the weather file and others, while the outputs are graphs and tables. diva is a plug-in inserted to rhino software. it allows evaluating the environmental performance on urban landscape and buildings, as shown in fig.6. in harvard university, the graduate school of design developed diva initially, but now solemma llc. is developing diva (he, schnabel, chen & wang, 2017). also, the glare and illuminance level could be calculated in different software, such as diva and energy plus, which is a program for energy simulation used by architects, engineers and researchers (”energy plus”, 2018). figure 6. a daylight simulation using diva plug-in (source: el-dbaa, 2016) pg. 6 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd however, an extended and long workflow for optimization process and corresponding visualizations graphs are needed to be done by architects to reach the optimum kinetic shading for achieving visual comfort, which is considered as a problem for architects, since it will take lots of time to be accomplished, as shown in fig 7. in addition, users should practice on all of these programs to reach the optimum solution which is also another problem faced by many architects. figure 7. optimization process workflow and the corresponding visualizations panels in some of the visualization tool (source: gadelhak, lang & petzold, 2017) 5.3. design framework category many researchers have proposed theoretical frameworks for supporting the design, as shown in fig.8. for instance, in 1970 the waterfall model is a framework focusing on the early design stage, as shown in fig.9a. in 2000, another framework was proposed, which is the pathfinder model (horváth, 2000), as shown in fig.9b, the most updated theoretical framework is the responsive kinetic skin design framework for supporting the design process of kinetic architecture in early design stages (zboinska cudzik, juchnevic & radziszewski.,2015), as illustrated in fig.10. pg. 7 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. chronological order of the theoretical framework (source: author) figure 9. shows the two existing structured frameworks for the conceptual design process before the appearance of the theoretical framework of kinetic architecture (source: zboinska et al.,2015) the responsive kinetic skin design framework was constructed and developed focusing on the construction of its foundation. several experiments were prepared to specify the framework characteristics (zboinska et al., 2015). this framework has explored six design aspects of adaptive architecture, as shown in fig.10, which are: – functionality: selecting the best solution to have the optimum performance (using grasshopper and galapagos). – form: defining the geometrical shape/composition, and exploring esthetically each part (using rhinoceros and grasshopper). – kinetic behaviors: exploring the visual qualities of the movement, and simulating of the system dynamism (using kangaroo) pg. 8 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – performance: analyzing and simulating computationally the system performance, such as environmental performance, structural performance and other (using karamba and diva). – responsive behavior: studying the interaction between the environment and the architecture. also analyzing the real time performance in the physical environment (using arduino toolkit, firefly, sensors and actuators). – system mechanism: specifying the material and the mechanical design of the system. also fabricating the prototype and testing its movement (using laser cutter and 3d printer). those six design aspects were also explored by various means (zboinska et al.,2015), as shown in fig.11. figure 10. responsive kinetic skin design framework and its cycle (source: zboinska et al., 2015) figure 11. various means that explore the six design aspects of the framework (source: author) however, this framework is not yet digitalized to be easily used by architects and designers. it still also needs more empirical verification, more exploration for its advantages and limitations, and need more development in the future (zboinska et al.,2015). 6. conclusion and recommendations based on the above review; the current researches in the field of kinetic facades for daylight optimization has been focused on the following lines: pg. 9 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – kinetic facades’ form and mechanism, in which researches have explored several shapes, scale, aesthetical compositions and motions of kinetic facades. – kinetic facades’ form and mechanism, several researches have focused on developing and applying different environmental simulation programs and software related to optimizing daylight using kinetic systems. – kinetic design framework, in which several studies have examined theoretically different design frameworks, mainly the responsive kinetic skin design framework, as it is related to kinetic and responsive behavior. hence, it is recommended to discuss and explore more possible future researches in the topic concerning the enhancement of daylight performance by applying kinetic shadings. these recommendations to be categorized as follows: – in the form and mechanism category: it is recommended to explore more on automatic optimization of the form and mechanism of kinetic shadings to improve the daylight performance in a space. – in the computational analysis and simulation category: the processes of optimization and visualization present many challenges for architects, require extensive computer programing knowledge in different software, and involves many different specialists to reach optimum solution. thus, for better functionality, it would be recommended to devise a single toolset that function automatically for facilitating architect’s ability to realize more effective kinetic skins. – in the design framework category: a theoretic framework needs to be validated through digital tools finding a mathematical relation between several environmental and kinetic parameters, to reduce its complexity. in addition, it is better to present it through an easy graphical user interface (gui), to be easily used by all architects, not just by those who are professional in using digital tools and applications. finally, the consideration of these recommendations will help architects to overcome many problems, to save time, to reduce their efforts, and to efficiently design and control kinetic shadings for ultimately achieving visual comfort in different spaces. in other words, architects’ role should positively develop towards more efficient environmental performance of building through kinetic facades. 7. references 1. al horr, y., arif, m., kaushik, a., mazroei, a., katafygiotou, m., & elsarrag, e. (2016). occupant productivity and office indoor environment quality: a review of the literature. building and environment, 105, 369-389. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.06.001 2. barozzi, m., lienhard, j., zanelli, a., & monticelli, c. (2016). the sustainability of adaptive envelopes: developments of kinetic architecture. procedia engineering, 155, 275-284. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.029 3. el-dbaa, r. (2016). the use of kinetic facades in enhancing daylight performance for office buildings. master degree. arab academy for science, technology and maritime transport. 4. elghazi, y., & mahmoud, a. (2016). origami exploration: a generative parametric technique for kinetic cellular façade to optimize daylight performance. shape, form and geometry, applications, 2. 5. eltaweel, a., & su, y. (2017). controlling venetian blinds based on parametric design; via implementing grasshopper’s plugins: a case study of an office building in cairo. energy and buildings, 139, 31-43. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.12.075 6. energyplus. (2018). energyplus. retrieved from https://energyplus.net/ pg. 10 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. evangelos, d. and david, c. (2005). daylighting simulation: comparison of softwares for architect’s utilization. in: ninth international ibpsa conference. [online] available at: http://www.ibpsa.org/proceed ings/bs2005/bs05 0183 190.pdf [accessed 23 jun. 2018]. 8. fouad, s. (2012). design methodology kinetic architecture (master of science). alexandria university. 9. gadelhak, m., lang, w., & petzold, f. (2017). a visualization dashboard and decision support tool for building integrated performance optimization. in shocksharing computational knowledge. rome, italy. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320057576 a visualization dashboard and deci sion support tool for building integrated performance optimization 10. he, y., schnabel, m., chen, r. and wang, n. (2017). a parametric analysis process for daylight illuminance. in: 22nd international conference of the association for computer aided architectural design research in asia (caadria). hong king, pp.417-425. 11. horváth, i 2000 ’conceptual design: inside and outside’, proceedings of the 2nd international seminar and workshop on engineering design in integrated product development, pp. 63-72. 12. jenkins, d., & newborough, m. (2007). an approach for estimating the carbon emissions associated with office lighting with a daylight contribution. applied energy, 84(6), 608-622. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2007.02.002 13. katsifaraki, a., bueno, b., & kuhn, t. (2017). a daylight optimized simulation-based shading controller for venetian blinds. building and environment, 126, 207-220. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.10.003 14. kim, j. (2013). adaptive façade design for the daylighting performance in an office building: the investigation of an opening design strategy with cellular automata. international journal of low-carbon technologies, 10(3), pp.313-320. doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctt015 15. liu, y. (2012). a study on perception of daylight shadows and visual comfort in library reading areas. in: american solar energy society. oregon. 16. meyboom, a., johnson, g., & wojtowicz, j. (2011). architectronics: towards a responsive environment. international journal of architectural computing, 9(1), 77-98. doi: 10.1260/1478-0771.9.1.77 17. rossi, d., nagy, z. and schlueter, a. (2012). adaptive distributed robotics for environmental performance, occupant comfort and architectural expression. international journal of architectural computing,10(3), pp.341-359. 18. sabry, h., sherif, a., gad elhak, m., & rakha, t. (2012). external perforated solar screen parameters and configurations: daylighting performance of screen axial rotation and opening proportion in residential desert buildings. in 14th international conference on computing in civil and building engineering. moscow,russia. 19. tomassoni, r., galetta, g., & treglia, e. (2015). psychology of light: how light influences the health and psyche. psychology, 06(10), 1216-1222. doi: 10.4236/psych.2015.610119 20. varendorff, a., & garcia-hansen, v. (2012). building envelope: performance optimization processes for a daylight responsive architecture. in 28th conference, opportunities, limits & needs towards an environmentally responsible architecture. peru. 21. wageh, m., & gadehlak, m. (2017). optimization of facade design for daylighting and view to-outside: a case study in lecco, lombardy, italy. draft, 1-9. 22. yoo, s. h. & manz, h. (2011). available remodeling simulation for a bipv as a shading device. solar energy,95(1), pp. 394-397 pg. 11 belok / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 23. zboinska, m., cudzik, j., juchnevic, r., & radziszewski, k. (2015). a design framework and a digital toolset supporting the early-stage explorations of responsive kinetic building skin concepts. smart and responsive design,2, pp.715-725. pg. 12 introduction visual comfort and daylight kinetic facades definition and importance aim objectives methodology previous work form and mechanism category computational analysis and simulation category design framework category conclusion and recommendations references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i1.488 sustainable design camp as a platform to apply the principles of editing urban design to the city’s strategic plan kochiro aitani1 1phd, associate professor, department of architecture, texas a&m university abstract “sustainable design camp” is a collaborative workshop organized by three universities. inter-disciplinary and international students are divided into several teams with their specialties as architecture and urban design, building systems, building structures and the landscape architecture under the instruction by the various experts. after the site survey with swot analysis, each team will find issues (weakness) and potentials (strength) of the target site. the proposed solutions will be evaluated by the environment evaluation tool casbee for community development. throughout of the entire process, students will be well-educated and trained to facilitate how to utilize their specialties in the inter-disciplinary settings, and furthermore, international approach helps to find out the issues and potentials of the site objectively. this collaborative approach among public, academic and private will be necessary to establish the city’s strategic plan for the sustainable future. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords green urbanism; sustainable development; renewable energy; local food; sense of place; nature 1. introduction kyushu university is constructing ito campus, which extends over fukuoka city and itoshima city. three campuses named hakozaki, ropponmatsu, and haramachi will be integrated into one at ito campus (figure 1). the relocation started in october, 2005. the relocation of the faculty of engineering, faculty of science and basic education programs are in progress. the multi-year relocation is expected to be completed in 2018. the study area of this design workshop consists of planned area for future kyushu university academic city, and maebaru northern area and shima eastern area, of itoshima city planning master plan. the objective of this design workshop is discovering the urban design possibilities of suburban campus life in the unique living environment of itoshima. the workshop will also try to develop the urban design and architectural proposals to enhance the living environment of the students and employees of kyushu university as well as the living environment of residents of the area. itoshima city is known for its beautiful nature; mountains, beaches, and agriculture products. yet, it is only 30 minutes from the center of fukuoka city. sunset beach concerts are held every summer, surfers come to surf, cyclists run around the peninsula, and fishing becomes popular. now a days, people’s life style has been shifting from “just working” to “enjoying hobbies”. itoshima could be the place for people enrich themselves with pg. 22 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd nature, without becoming totally disconnected from the “city”. residential apartments, single homes with view oceans are easily achieved in itoshima. if it is in tokyo, people need to commute at least two hours to reach this setting. multidisciplinary student teams from urban design, architecture planning, environment, building structures and the landscape will study the problems and potentials of the site. the environment evaluation tool casbee for community development will be used to evaluate solutions and the existing condition of the site. estimating the bee (building environmental efficiency) to evaluate the environmental performance of buildings before and after the planning of the scheme is a unique learning process of this workshop. figure 1. campus unification and re-location 2. principles of editing urban design in order to address the issues, the workshop began by carefully analyzing the city’s potential for improvement and considering the views of both the residents and visitors. kobayashi (2012) states, “most of the time, we learned that the cities had many natural resources and assets that result from a long history of trade, transportation and cultural exchange and knowledge”, in karatsu re editing a fragmented city. however the cities lost much of its attractive characteristics because those resources and assets were fragmented. a truly attractive city is the one which encourages people to walk. in order to create a more walkable neighborhood, a new design approach can be applied to any city. exchange may “re-edit” and reveal the city’s historic character as a walkable city. 2.1. character of target site for each workshop it is important to acquire an in-depth understanding of the site. the following are frequent issues stated by kobayashi (2012) which each workshop addresses: 1. once prosperous regions face urban decline with population growth and economic instability. 2. due to a shift in industrial activities, cities have lost a major industry that had sustained its citizens’ jobs, income taxes, etc. 3. historical resources for regeneration, such as building heritage, provide the possibility for valuable street-scapes 4. natural resource for regeneration such as beautiful nature is available pg. 23 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. varying public connectivity and transportation exist. 6. sense of the community is lacking or has been completely lost. additionally, there are many common urban issues which many cities suffer from such as the hollowing out of the city center, “downtown”, due to a decreasing population, an aging society, a loss of the young generation to the big cities for better opportunities, the rapid suburbanization by automobile oriented society, urban spread due to highway networks and development of suburban shopping centers, and a decline of old shopping streets in the city center. figure 1 shows a campus unification and re-location to the new campus, “ito campus”. to conclude, the following six themes are the common urban design theory for regeneration: 1. succession of urban memory: utilize unique character of city’s asset such as historical inheritance and the cultural heritage 2. unity and connection: re-network a variety of fragmented, dispersed resources 3. pedestrian oriented compact city: construction and maintenance of pedestrian friendly streets 4. return of inhabitants to the urban center: providing comfortable residential places to accommodate a diversity of residence 5. landmark: creation of a place that can become the symbol of the city, town, or even district 6. strengthen a sense of community 3. process of workshop kobayasi (2012) also stated, “the specific process of the workshop is divided into the following eight stages.” as a member of the instructors with prof. kobayashi, we have followed the similar process. during the charrette period each group gathered data and formed conclusions about the situation. each group then formulated a proposal scheme. 3.1. sharing basic information (understanding of aim and process) participants must clearly grasp the purpose and position of the workshop. there must be an understanding of the targeted country and city’s economic and social position as well as an overall understanding as to why the study area was chosen. the significance of a multi-field conversion study workshop must also be grasped knowing where one can contribute based on his/her expertise. 3.2. site survey (understand the area through a site-visit) in order to grasp the outline of the study area, a personal visit of the study area and related facilities in the vicinity is required in which research data is gathered on foot. it is important to clearly differentiate between two types of field work. 1) grasp and understand the features of the study area by intuition in a short time, and 2) take time and conduct analytical research in the study area based on research indices. it is preferable to conduct the former at this early stage, while the latter should be conducted as part of later, individual group work. 3.3. collection of local information and interview residents it is imperative to properly collate the issues of urban planning and environmental problems as well as information concerning policies for the measures to be taken. this should be done through the attending of lectures by the administration and universities as well as the referencing of existing information about the study area. in addition, it is important to ask citizens (called stakeholders) to present opinions concerning the current situation and their ideas regarding what it should be. these results will be the basis for establishing an urban and environmental plan. pg. 24 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.4. presenting a first impression before obtaining and analyzing detailed information of the study area, students walk around the study area without preoccupation and present the features of the study area intuitively. this is for the purpose of obtaining basic information to be used for future work in the workshop. each participant/group decides on the main theme to be pursued based on this information. 3.5. analysis of the site areas (extraction of “problems” and “potentials”) study and analysis of the topography, geography, history, nature, and environmental quality are used to extract “strengths” and “weaknesses” in the study area, and become aware of outside “opportunities” and “threats” (swot analysis). additionally, “problems” and “potentials” in both the inside and outside environment are extracted. 3.6. future vision of the district (investigation of the strategic design) groups think about how the problems in the study area can be solved, and what an attractive place it can become in the end. then search for a means in which the future vision can be established based off of the strategic design methods available. through the discussion, solutions for the existing “problems” are developed and a specific strategy to reach the site’s potential is reached. 3.7. specific design and plan for an effective site teams focus on a specific location or facility through which improvement would have the greatest effect on the area as a whole. a specific plan or design is proposed taking into consideration its context in order to show an actual example of the future vision as well as to show the strategic design method discussed as a prototype. by focusing on one significant location and making a concise proposal, a significant improvement is expected to emerge in the whole study area. 3.8. implementation of the vision (scenario proposal in order to implement the plan) study of the legal, financial and economic basis as well as the control/management system after the completion is conducted in order to put the final plan/design into practice so that the existence of a realistic and feasible scenario as opposed to a fictional one can be shown. it is hoped that the scenario in the timeline can be presented in stages: short term, middle term, and long term. 4. workshop methodology to present the society with a realistic scenario, not a fictional plan, it is important to study the legal and financial logistics, and the management for the long term vision, in order to implement final designs. this shows the comprehensive process of the workshop, in which participating students are divided according to their research topics. because the students can sometimes lose focus on their target and make their collaboration difficult, it is quite important for the participants to regularly report on their process and receive advice from the instructors and experts. kobayashi (2012) suggested at least four levels of design review process for exchanging ideas as listed below. pg. 25 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.1. desk critique to review the design process of each group, the instructors and experts go around the group-tables and discuss the design orientation. 4.2. pin-up the participating members show their ongoing work to the instructors and colleagues and conduct a design review in a relaxed way. it is important to avoid the overlapping of themes and to check the mutual relationship among the group projects. a process to confirm the structural strength of the proposal by all the members is implemented here. 4.3. mid-term review in the middle of the workshop process, it is important for the participants to make an interim presentation to the government officials and the “stakeholders” (the local citizens) to help them understand the progress of the work. at this point the effectiveness of the selected methods (image, model, oral presentation etc.) are analyzed and decisions are made with regards to how to make them more easily understood by the citizens. 4.4. final review for the final presentation the participants must highlight what they have learned and accomplished throughout the workshop incorporating the changes made with regards to the feedback they received during previous reviews. using the workshop’s process as an introduction, the participants present their final products by groups. it is necessary to pursue a high standard of quality in order to impress the representatives of the community and the press media through attractive panels, models, handouts and visual slideshow presentations. 5. enviromental assessment, casbee as a matter of course, energy consumption of cities and architecture play a large role in the global warming and depletion of energy resources. there are numerous issues to which the fields of architecture and urban design must respond to, that exist in regard to energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions. against such a background, countries throughout the world have developed tools for evaluating the environmental performance of buildings, and these tools are recently displaying a rise in popularity. comprehensive assessment system for built environment efficiency (casbee) is a tool for evaluating the environmental performance of buildings developed uniquely in japan by a sub-committee of the institute for building environment and energy conservation under the leadership of japan’s ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism. the evaluation is carried out step-by-step in a question and answer format according to an instructions manual. final evaluations are displayed according to a five rank system of “s rank” (excellent), “a rank” (very good), “b+ rank” (good), “brank” (fairly poor), and “c rank” (poor)according to the value of the built environment efficency (bee). bee is determined by dividing the environmental quality (q) by the environmental load (l). therefore, even if the architecture has a high environmental quality, the total score will be lowered if the environmental load is too heavy. the environmental quality is ranked according to indoor environment (thermal comfort, lighting, etc.), quality of service (durability, adaptability, etc.) and outdoor environment on-site (conservation, local characteristics, etc.). the environmental load is ranked according to energy (natural energy utilization, efficient operation, etc.), resources and materials (water resources, reducing usage of non-renewable resources, etc.) and off-site environment (consideration of local and surrounding environment, etc.). pg. 26 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd evaluation by casbee remains fundamentally voluntary, and no legal obligation regarding notification of results exists, but usage nonetheless is observable amongst local autonomous bodies. since casbee offers a broad perspective on design, it is useful not only as an evaluation tool but also as a design tool. versions exist not only for architectural specialists, but also for use by municipalities and renovation. use in japan is on the rise and further developments are expected in the future. 6. case study the workshop held in fukuoka, japan (summer 2017) was hosted by kyushu university from august 4 to 12, in collaboration with chinese culture university (taiwan), and texas a&m university. the theme of this year’s workshop was the planning of the core zone of kyushu university academic research city, mainly at the ito campus of kyushu university. during the workshop, the students were divided in eight teams each tasked with creating a future vision for one section of the district. in this eight day collaborative charrette workshop the participating undergraduate and graduate students of home (27 participants) and abroad (25 participants) worked under the guidance of 14 faculty members from the participating universities. the sustainable design workshop explored a multidisciplinary approach towards developing sustainable urban design and environmental strategies, considering ito campus neighborhood as a target area for creating a 21st century urban model. the students devised urban design and environmental strategies considering local context and international experiences for sustainable development of the area. 6.1. master plan of itoshima area, focus on “nature + health” the “itoshima style” is what guided the workshop’s overall concept. the slower, more nature-infused lifestyle leads to a happier and healthier life. the natural amenities are rich and lush that its design should bend to nature and fit in to the overall larger scheme of the topography. the master plan located the student housing close to the base of the campus for proximity, but kept the rest of the residential nestled in the beautiful lake at the bottom of the mountain. combining all these areas together is the hub (figure 2). figure 2. master plan the hub creates a focal point for restaurants, community, shopping, and transportation. this point would allow the flow of a funicular train up the mountain to meet the local bus route as well. as time passes, this funicular could be expanded further into the mountain side for improved access while still keeping a low profile. by keeping things pg. 27 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd on ground level, or below, the mountains are able to be expressed in their true glory. on the west side of the main mountain, would be the firefly condition of the business and technology sites. the research and technology institute would be located close to the university for easy access for students and faculty. where the agricultural research facility is more northern located in order to spread out appropriately for its focus type. the corporate focus zone splits these two in a firefly pattern for a perfect location in the mountainside. further firefly locations are chosen for when the itoshima campus and community expands in order to balance work, living, and nature. each of these small installation will, in time, create a beautiful network of enclaves that allow for good density with the country-style home that one would expect in itoshima. in all, the master plan allows for a beautifully connected community with fast transportation and an affinity and respect for what makes itoshima great (figure 3, figure 4). figure 3. student’s proposal figure 4. student’s proposal pg. 28 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. conclusions in the kyushu university academic research city plan, the two aspects are “building a regional science and technology system to promote exchange and creative activities of knowledge” and “formation of a comfortable space that serves as a stage for knowledge, dwelling and eternity”. in addition, as a design concept, “hotaru=firefly” was proposed, which its focus is to integrate with the rich natural environment of the itoshima region and the local community.the concept of “hotaru=firefly” is to distribute various activities and facilities around kyushu university as well as provide collaboration with the environment, such as research & development, design, and soho (small office, home office) businesses. students challenged their own “hotaru=firefly”, making use of the natural environment of each site and land use characteristics. as a result, we had wonderful and exciting proposals, even though it was done in such a short period of time. these proposals will be introduced in the future, such as utilizing the traditional architecture, village design that responds to the ecology of fishing and fishing villages in itoshima, and cooperating with the creative current itoshima region lifestyle and community. i trust this material will be utilized effectively. 8. acknowledgments i take this opportunity to express gratitude to who involved with itoshima projects, the hosted, sustainable architecture and urban systems of kyushu university, the supported organizations, college of architecture, texas a&m university, chinese culture university (taiwan), itoshima city, all of the related people for the workshop, especially prof. takeru sakai, prof. akihito ozaki, prof. prasanna divigalpitiya, prof. robert warden, prof. wei-lun kuo for their help and support. 9. references 1. aitani, k. (2017). urban catalyst, shokokusha publication, ltd., japan. 2. architectural institute of japan (2012). karatsu re editing a fragmented city, kajima institute publishing co., ltd., japan. 3. kobayashi, m. (2003). an evaluation report of the joint academic program of tokyo inner-city project, the 7th international congress of apsa, hanoi, 2003, 3-89 4. kobayashi, m. (2003). tokyo regeneration, tokyo inner city project, gakujutsu shuppan, japan. 5. kobayashi, m. (2015). public space design with citizens’ participation – creative collaboration of citizens, municipalities, and specialists in himeji city, x-knowledge, japan. 6. kobayashi, m. & takahashi, y. (2015). dna of shimokitazawa: new horizons for a livable and attractive neighborhood, x-knowledge, japan. 7. comprehensive assessment system for built environment efficiency (casbee), retrieved from http://ww w.ibec.or.jp/casbee/english/index.htm 8. aitani, k., kobayashi, m., deguchi, a., ariga, t., bosselmann, p., pellegrini, s. (2010). on karatsu international architectural and urban design workshop 2010, proceedings of 8th international symposium on architectural interchanges in asia (isaia). kitakyushu, japan, pp.1218-1223 9. aij international architectural & urban design workshop (2012). retrieved from http://www.aij-iaud-ws. org/ pg. 29 kochiro aitani / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. edaw asia (2008). edaw asai design boot camp 2008, edaw, singapore 11. jau editors (2009). international research camp in collaboration of kyushu and tongji university, journal of asian urbanism, september 2009, no.1, ished, pp.78-89 12. jau editors (2010). fukuoka research camp seeking for fukuoka style sustainable design, journal of asian urbanism, march 2010, no.2, ished, pp.88-97 13. jau editors (2010). international research camp in collaboration of kyushu university and gadjah mada university, journal of asian urbanism, march 2010, no.2, ished, pp.98-111 14. jau editors (2011). korean research camp 2 preservation and re-creation of the city, journal of asian urbanism, march 2011, no.4, ished, pp.76-81 15. jau editors (2011). fukuoka research camp seeking for fukuoka style sustainable design, journal of asian urbanism, march 2011, no.4, ished, pp.82-93 16. jau editors (2011). international research camp in collaboration of kyushu university and the university of hong kong, journal of asian urbanism, march 2011, no.4, ished, pp.94-105 17. jau editors (2012). international research camp in collaboration of kyushu university and the university of moratsuwa, journal of asian urbanism, march 2012, no.6, ished, pp.50-63 18. crince, r., fassam, d.a., glaudemans, m., goto, t., mader, j., verhoeven, s. (2012). ‘place making’, master class fukuoka 2012, fontys university of applied sciences, tilburg, the netherlands, pp.1-40 19. program of sustainable design camp (2012). re-generation of wanathamulla as an engine of colombo development, sustainable architecture and urban systems, department of architecture and urban design, graduate school of human environment studies, kyushu university, pp.1-50. japan 20. program of sustainable design camp (2012). towards the realization of a leading compact city, fukuokare-discovering its identity as a port town, sustainable architecture and urban systems, department of architecture and urban design, graduate school of human environment studies, kyushu university, pp.160. japan 21. program of sustainable design camp (2013). re-generation of ho chi minh city as re-cyclic town, sustainable architecture and urban systems, department of architecture and urban design, graduate school of human environment studies, kyushu university, pp.1-60. japan 22. program of sustainable design camp (2014). re-birth of kiltipur awareness of gifted nature and cultural landscape for wellbeing of citizens, hana-shoin cooperation, pp.1-119. japan 23. program of sustainable design camp (2015). recommendation for regeneration of urban brown field, hazaribagh, dhaka, hana-shoin cooperation, pp.1-111. japan pg. 30 introduction principles of editing urban design character of target site process of workshop sharing basic information (understanding of aim and process) site survey (understand the area through a site-visit) collection of local information and interview residents presenting a first impression analysis of the site areas (extraction of ``problems'' and ``potentials'') future vision of the district (investigation of the strategic design) specific design and plan for an effective site implementation of the vision (scenario proposal in order to implement the plan) workshop methodology desk critique pin-up mid-term review final review enviromental assessment, casbee case study master plan of itoshima area, focus on ``nature + health'' conclusions acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.86 the environmental and economical impacts of using media façades in commercial buildings in egypt amal abdou1, iman gawad2, yasmine el-touny3 1head of architectural department, faculty of fine arts, helwan university. 2associate professor at faculty of fine arts, helwan university. 3architect at meamar el-morshedy, cairo, egypt. abstract media façades is a subdivision of urban computing integrating digital displays into buildings, including structures and road furniture. it is frequently connected with over-dimensional screens and vivified, lit up publicizing, and places like times square. the façade is dematerialized and transformed into one immense promoting medium for sending messages. media façades can bring out the most assorted feelings, from a major city feeling to disturbance at light contamination. they are likewise seen as pop art or as blemishes. design tends to utilize media façades increasingly as a stylistic component. what used to be added to exteriors after the building development more in the method for a flaw is currently a part of the design procedure and offers new extension for visionary outline that is authored to the term ’mediatecture’. this research identifies the impact of using media façades on commercial buildings environmentally and economically. in addition to that experimental design cases of interactive building façades will be discussed and a swot analysis would be made to exemplify the challenges and discuss how they may be addressed. in addition, the examples are presented to demonstrate how to work with the difficulties inalienable in media façade design forms, taking into account the formation of different proposals for a media façade on current public buildings and new ones in egypt. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords economical impacts; environmental impacts; media façade; mediatecture; media intervention; commercial buildings; swot analysis; design processes 1. introduction during the most recent years we have been confronting a developing need of including designers into procedures of current city medialization. media architecture changes the present idea of design and façade development, highlighting the part of correspondence between building structures and condition. media façade is a façade that is both aesthetically and functionally specific and in this manner states the connection between technology, architectural design, innovation and substance to new media introductions of present day art as well as communication (cikic-tovarovic, sekularac & ivanovic-sekularac, 2011). pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the term media façade depicts transforming the building façade into an extensive open screen by supplying its external shell with smart, light-transmitting & interactive elements. media façades allow correspondence by means of technology onto a façade as advanced media, and media architecture represents the social, cultural and financial ramifications of these façades for the instant environment. when managing media façades as huge scale advanced screens from a human-pc cooperation point of view, we can define the term media façade as: media façades are computerized open screens with subjective frame components and of self-assertive determination, which are made by either preparing the external surface of a building with controllable, consistently molded, light discharging components or by digital content projecting onto it of which are installed during the construction of a building. media façades are an obvious case of the computerized expansion of urban spaces. they signify the idea of transforming the building surface into an extensive scale urban screen. due to their tremendous size, they require an interaction from a distance and they have an abnormal state of visibility. moreover, they are installed in a very dynamic urban environment with quickly changing conditions which result settings that are neither equivalent, nor reproducible. all of this makes the installment of media façades a challenging mission (gehring & wiethof, 2014). design tends to utilize media façades more as an aesthetic element. what used to be added to façades after being constructed as an aesthetic element is currently some portion of the design and construction procedure and offers new extension for visionary outline which under the term ’mediatecture’ (frtiz, 2009). figure 1. physical evolution of the screen 2. who will make use of its conclusions? deliberately, media façade is another idea that permits helping the urban communities and make roads more appealing. a well-built media façade wins drivers and people on foot alike, improves the picture of big organizations, and helps medium and little organizations to emerge among contenders. therefore, there is a developing interest in media façades covering the city space and attracting huge groups of viewers. media façades might be interesting to designers and architects, owners of buildings, advertising offices and television channels, advertising & marketing specialists, social networks and internet resources, and sponsors and investors (petrov, 2011). 3. building envelope (façade) there are few reviews researching building skin, building envelope and building façades where they all are diverse terms used to mark the outside components of a building. powler and kelbaugh characterized a ”building pg. 2 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd envelope” to be any surface that isolates the thermally conditioned inside of a building from its surrounding environment. as indicated by this definition, building envelope incorporates rooftops, outside walls, floors, ceilings and foundations and each assume an enormous part in the sustainability of the building and how the buildings react to various prerequisites. with a specific end goal to decide building necessities, (ashrae) characterized the building envelope into two sections: the outside and the semi-outside parts of a building where the definition of the building exterior envelope is: the components of a building that isolate the interior parts of the building from the outside. while the building semi exterior envelope is: the components of a building that isolated conditioned interior spaces from unconditioned spaces (dewidar, mahmoud, magdy & ahmed, 2010). 4. media façades urban architecture futuristically states that each and every piece of a future building will be associated digitally. buildings themselves will get to be a distinct media for correspondence especially for visual substance transforming them into large displays. media façades are the integration between digital displays and screens with buildings, landmarks, and road structures. generally “media façade” is a term for merging digital displays with the building façade. designers ought to have the capacity to manage this new material as an appearance of their design essentially changes in a way that couldn’t have been envisioned before (haeusler, 2009). one of the examples of the enclosure of media façade in buildings is times square in new york. with the appearance of the technology of smd (surface mounted gadget), high proficiency leds and intense processors, digital screens are introducing new transparent media façades that can cover the buildings futuristically. the challenges and possibilities of building urban structures that is utilized as multidimensional screens are gigantic. while there is a little uncertainty that the integration of media surfaces into design is unavoidable, these new potential outcomes being a blend between an augmented pc screen, the building architecture may endure thus of the rectangularity and flatness of the picture. in any case, that concern may not be completely viable as today’s media surfaces can be shaped to any frame on the need. media façades has to take the proportions of the building when being designed and extra new parameters were added to incorporate eyeball densities, viewing distances, daytime/evening lighting, the façade’s transparency, ventilation needs, heat indulgence, ecological effects, human security, and so on. the media façade field is interdisciplinary, not exclusively does it include architecture studying and urbanism, additionally some fringe regions of innovation, urban outline, technology, culture, art, marketing and advertising. designing media façade includes investigations of some particular aspects of design that affect operational and utilitarian façade objectives. disappointingly, media façades are typically an idea in retrospect, and never adhere the architectural design because they are still considered as ”digital screens” or ”signage” for advertising, that are not integrated in the architectural design (raheman, 2014). 4.1. media façades types media façades’ classification can be due to various qualities and properties, and they might incorporate how they display their content or how they are composed technically. in spite of the fact that a media façade is a fairly enormous screen, the physical properties of media façades contrast from custom desktop or mobiles. in particular, they accompany substantially bigger screens, and along these lines distinctive viewing aspects and distances. numerous media façades even cover more than one side of a building’s façade, which gives them a 3d non-planar shape figure. their resolution additionally may shift incredibly according to the used technology. there are six different types of media façades: – front projection façades: extend media content specifically onto the façade by means of at least one video projector. pg. 3 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – back projection façades: extend media content from behind the façade and onto translucent regions coordinated into the building. – display façades: convey content through the coordination of huge screen video displays into the surface of a building. – window animations: make utilization of the current windows in a building by lighting them up with the goal that they are seen as pixels. – illuminant or light-transmitting façades: coordinate light-emitting components into their surfaces. – mechanical façades: utilize mechanically mobile components to change façade appearances. the initial three façade types ordinarily include high resolution, while the later ones may bring down the resolution as they depend on the building’s architecture (e.g., one window is equal to one pixel) (haeusler, 2009). 4.2. opportunities of using media façades media façades are different from normal advertising architecture since they offer great environmental and economical opportunities, especially for commercial buildings such as digital media tools that are integrated into the built form both at the same time. afterwards, the design process, image, graphic, video, and light installations are designed by architects or graphic artists. communication may be one way (spectator) or two-way (interactor), it could be as an ornamentation integral element, façade has a digital flexibility, ephemerality shown as changeable content and display through time, and sustainability by using pv cells or natural sources. differences between media façades and advertising architecture can be summed up in the following table. table 1. from “advertising architecture” to “media façade”: communication through digital display skin (moza, 2012) advertising architecture media façade 1. attachment: digital media screens are attached onto the built form afterward. 1. integration: digital media tools are integrated into the built form both at the same time & afterwards design process. 2. façade: as a background for media content. 2. façade: as a means of media content. 3. display: image , graphic , & letter installations are defined by brand developers or specialist designers. 3. display: image , graphic , video, & light installations are designed by architects or graphic artists. 4. communication: one-way (spectator). 4. communication: one way (spectator) & two-way (interactor). 5. decoration: independent element. 5. ornamentation: integral element. 6. stability: façade has a stone stability. 6. flexibility: façade has a digital flexibility. 7. durability: periodical advertising content & stable billboards. 7. ephemerality: changeable content & display through time. 8. it is not sustainable not in all situations. 8. sustainability : by using pv cells or natural sources. 9. can not be used in temporary events. 9. can be used for sound and light shows and international competitions, promoting tourism. 4.3. the challenges facing the usage of media façades there were issues included by gehring and wiethof in 2014, for example: locating within the façade since the general appearance of the building having media façade is fundamentally shaped by position, shape and size of the content of the media on façade itself or façades of buildings. in connection to the whole building, media content may be: located on one façade or located in parts of all façades or located on the whole building. the relation to the road must be studied where details must be viewed from a calculated distance (fig. a), details level and the pg. 4 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd distance they are viewed from (fig. b), the light coming from behind the façade (fig. c) position of tall trees and other potential hindrances and additionally water surfaces must be taken into consideration (fig. d), position of other media façade adjacent media content intensity must be calculated and known (fig. e). figure 2. factors affecting the location of media content on certain structures moreover, dimensions, space, media façade shape, durability of the media façade, media façade visual comfort, lighting, and maintaining a strategic distance from light contamination, the impact of temperature changes, fires and wind speed, usage of sound and the connection to the encompassing land use, passersby, and the content, needs trained designers and highly complicated programs. light pollution with several negative impacts to humans, animals and plants, & rising energy consumption are considered to be great issues on designing media façades (cikic-tovarovic, sekularac & ivanovic-sekularac, 2011). in addition to these issues, there were several challenges stated by dalsgaard and halskov in 2010 that face the design of media façades such as: – new interfaces: urban setting prompts new types of interfaces. – integrating into buildings and environment: new establishments and frameworks must be incorporated into existing physical environment. – expanded requests for power and strength: shifting light and climate conditions over which designers frequently have nothing to do about must be considered. – creating specific content to suit the medium: the content needs to fit the screen. – adjusting partners and adjusting interests: exploring, arranging, changing, and adjusting partner interests can be basic to achieve the system success. – differences of circumstances: a wide assortment of circumstances happen in the city how does the media façade fit into the circumstances in a given area? – changing social relations: the presentation of new innovations can bring about interruptions and change social relations. – developing and unanticipated utilization of spaces: media façades will probably be utilized, seen and appropriated in diverse routes than designers plan. pg. 5 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. advantages and disadvantages of using leds in media façades without getting too technical, we should still mention the important advantages of media façade over other digital outdoor carriers such as led’s. they are presently fit for yielding 135 lumens/watt so they are energy productive, they have long lifetime 50,000 hours or increasingly if legitimately designed, don’t neend a warm-up period. led’s light is in nanoseconds, not influenced by chilly temperatures, due to that led’s ”like” low temperatures and will startup even in below zero climate, directional. with led’s you can coordinate the light where you need it, in this way; no light is squandered and excellent color rendering. moreover, led’s don’t wash out hues like other light sources, for example, fluorescents, making them ideal for presentations and retail applications, environmentally inviting. led’s also contain no mercury or different unsafe substances. led’s are also controllable where can be controlled for brilliance and shading. for case, a media façade may show graphic and shading impacts; text or pictures, commercials or slide-appears, on-line video, sport occasions, channels of satellite or digital tv, real-time data about car influxes, climate, money rates and crisis circumstances. although it has many advantages, we can’t overlook the disadvantages. leds are as of now more costly for starting expense, led execution relies on effectively designing the installation to deal with the warmth produced by it, and they must be provided with the right voltage and current at a steady stream. this requires some hardware skill to design the electronic drivers (petrov, 2011). 6. the interaction with human beings: immersive environment experimentation the development of the media façade has allowed the interaction with surrounding humans and passersby, where they become a part of the building and interacting with it. as simone arcagni expressed, ”the film re-situates around the local area” and ”because of the participation of the media, this present reality is changed into a lasting show in which all the limits amongst performing artist and observer, amongst reproduction and reality, history and appeal tumble down” (arcagni 2010, p. 40). in contemporary architecture, brilliant and enlightened surfaces, electronic screens, video projections, and intelligent media are progressively normal, combining and covering the physical surface of the conventional city. it is very similar to a communication amongst genuine and virtual world. the advancement of the computerized applications to architecture makes a vital change on man’s association with the architecture. there are many investigations of advanced application to architecture (gasparini, 2014). 7. environmental factors: the impact of led displays a building façade shields the building from wind, rain, dust and heat. as any electrical machine, led screens additionally affect nature and the other way around. the customary led screens, especially in huge sizes, have gigantic ecological results that keep them from being deployed as building façades. they produce a huge amount of warmth that can’t be dispersed without the utilization of air-conditioners, and don’t permit free flow of air and light amongst outside and inside; thus affecting the indoor condition and aesthetically. however, transparent leds utilize less energy, they are lighter, and they permit some level of transparency for associating the outside with inside (raheman, 2014). 8. energy and economic sustainability thinking about the media façade and environmental setting issues and also the sustainability of energy, two primary classes implied for examining the conceivable outcomes of energy sustainability ought to be recognized: – consumption of energy amid generation of material and components and ecological effect. – consumption of energy amid office operation. pg. 6 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the primary elements of green economical media architecture are: firstly, biologically and ecological development by decreasing the utilization of materials, using renewable assets, ”clean” innovations amid creation, establishment, recycling and reusing materials, wellbeing and speed, safety in producation, transport and establishment. secondly, reduction in consumption of energy amid production, transport and establishment, amid the misuse of structures, actively, through photovoltaic cells in media design, passively, through maintaining a strategic distance from sunlight, which requires extra fake lightning (cikic-tovarovic et al., 2011). 9. light pollution light pollution requires general concern when designing media façades especially when we are concentrating on the environmental impact of the façade on the surroundings. one of the best accomplishments of life is the ability to help our living space to lighten up in the evening. the enlightenment of both open and private spaces has expanded fundamentally over late years. the inspiration for this is various: industry factories are running 24 hours, city thruways are lit up to guarantee movement security, numerous authentic destinations are highlighted to attract travelers and an ever-increasing number of privates are utilizing outside light to forestall thefts. however, this advancement brings likewise certain downsides, which must be broken down. in spite of all eagerness for new advances and their advantages for humanity, it ought not to be neglected to tip the fingers on basic improvements. the negative effects cannot be denied, such as light scatterings that can annoy people on shining into houses. night sky exploration can be difficult with the presence of too much light. there is also a waste of electrical power since only a little amount of light is useful. there is a negative effect on the nature and untamed life; influencing the behavior of natural life creatures, causing a negative effect on plants, influencing their development cycles, causing dangerous effect on immigrant birds, which are diverted and getting perplexed. moreover, billions of insects die on the surfaces of open lights, thus, decreasing regular nourishment for birds. in addition, offensive advertising could occupy drives, particularly amid evening time, causing accidents (wachlowski, 2011). 10. international case studies the media façade responds effectively to outside triggers from its surrounding. if present day sensor advances (climate, temperature, traffic and light) are considered, it is not hard to run a media façade in the receptive mode. along these lines, the media façade can ”respond” to certain outside factors. outer factors could be a few parameters from the city, similar to climate, daytime, traffic density, or even office action. the media façade turns into a dynamic building skin which ponders effectively its condition. it can rethink itself consistently and build up its own dialect. 10.1. tower of winds figure 3. tokyo ito, tower of winds, yokohama 1986; (wachlowski, 2011). pg. 7 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the first case has been executed in 1986 in nippon: the ”tower of winds” in yokohama, which is a 21-meter high ventilating tower from a shopping center, changes measured wind power into different light movements on its surface. amid daytime, the punctured metal surface appears to be smaller, however, when the daybreak comes, the building uncovers its progression. as different info parameters are being registered progressively as indicated by a specific equation, people are unable to comprehend a basic reliance between a solitary parameter and the movement. in this way, the movement remains a puzzle failing to get unsurprising (wachlowski, 2011). 10.2. dexia tower in brussels another great case is the dexia tower in brussels, responding to temperature. climate tower is an urban establishment from the belgian design agency lab. it gauges tomorrow’s temperature, precipitations, cloudiness and wind by utilizing hues and geometrical patterns to envision/translate continuous information given by the royal meteorological institute of belgium. the building consists of 6000 windows, though behind each is a lighting installation that consists of 12 lights, each with three leds—a green, a red and a blue—that can be consolidated into an entire color palette. a color code relates to tomorrow’s temperature contrasted with the month to month normal, connected to a size of color temperatures running from red (6◦ or hotter), orange (4◦), yellow (2◦), green (month to month normal), cyan (2◦), blue (4◦) to violet (6◦) or colder (wachlowski, 2011). figure 4. weather tower, brussels; (wiederker, 2011) pg. 8 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10.3. greenpix greenpix is the first usage of economical, digital and sustainable media technology to the glass curtain wall. the building, including with the world’s biggest colored led screen and first photovoltaic cells, executes as an independent system that supplies its own particular energy for the light display. pv cells absorb the sunlight by day and utilize it to enlighten the screen and to make the light show at the evening time. the façade can demonstrate playback recordings, live substance, including live exhibitions, and client created content that are designed by specialists. the solid box shaped building picks up an informative viewpoint with its innovative ”smart second skin” (moza, 2012). figure 5. greenpix; day and night 10.4. new york city’s port authority bus terminal new york city’s port authority bus terminal covers 6,000 square feet of the façade and 25,000 square feet of architectural lighting. utilizing mediamesh, which is a stainless steel work texture with entwined led profiles and with associated media controls, introduced behind it where the leds render the pictures onto the façade, uses 80 percent less power than customary led show items, mediamesh® is a transparent framework that does not totally shut off the façade. the architecture of the building is hence not obliterated, and when shut down; the mediamesh® façade is likewise coordinated as an agreeable component of the architectural design (jp, 2015). 11. media façades in egypt media façades are considered a new induction to egypt, and are starting to be used widely across the country. they are mostly used on commercial and public buildings, mostly as an advertising medium. a couple of examples will be studied in the next section. 11.1. commercial buildings 11.1.1. downtown mall downtown mall is in the heart of new cairo, located on the 90th road in new cairo’s fifth settlement. based on 44,000 m2 of land, this grand business and corporate office focus is situated on the primary street 90 in new cairo. it comprises nine little buildings, where the ground and first floor in all buildings are committed to retail shops and eateries. among the nine buildings, four have five stories of office space. one of katameya downtown’s extraordinary focal points is its expansive open-air recreational and dining region. a substantial led façade is situated on the corner over the building, which promotes for the brands in the shopping center. on asking passersby pg. 9 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and drivers about the façade, they remarked that it hurt their eyes during the evening because of the glare and it causes distraction for drivers while the audiences complain about not having a large space in front of the façade to easily see it and check the brands it is promoting. 11.2. public buildings 11.2.1. laser projection laser projection is utilized as a part of sound and light show on public buildings where misr organization for sound, light and cinema works on the sound and light shows in the different archeological zones such as the speaks by sphinx (pyramids) territory at giza governorate, karnak sanctuary at luxor governorate, faila sanctuary at aswan governorate, abu simble sanctuary at abu simble zone, edfo sanctuary at edfo zone. they are universally eminent as their verifiable acculturated esteem is basic beyond depiction. the breakthrough innovation of lighting, laser and projection are used for envisioning the concealed divisions of pharaonic egyptian human civilization. the company does the future activities at the egyptian archeological destinations and different ones of touristic fascination, creates them and issues the photos, prints matters and multimedia according to the exceptional technology. the company also oversees and does the touristic benefit ventures identified with them, including the touristic transport administrations, association of imaginative shows at the archeological locales and of all what goes for engendering the way of life and expressions. this is done in order to keep pace with the most recent figure 6. new york city’s portauthority bus terminal figure 7. downtown mall media façade pg. 10 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd world accomplishments satisfied in this association whether by itself or through support with outsider (”sound and light”, 2010). figure 8. laser tagging on historical buildings 11.3. events 11.3.1. 3d mapping on the library of alexandria a 3d video mapping show was anticipated on 21 and 22 may 2014 on the façade of egypt’s bibliotheca alexandrina, the cultural center and main library in the mediterranean zone. the execution entitled ”enlarged reality: 3d video mapping show on ancient alexandria” was composed by the international augmented med venture, supported under the mediterranean cross-border cooperation program to advance tourism and archeological locations improvement. the subject of the projection, which joined sound and lighting impacts with digital & virtual components, is the historical backdrop of alexandria from its foundation until the classical period ended, with an extraordinary concentrate on the principle fascination destinations of the city and its authentic turning points. the show included adjacent to the established video projection, lasers, smart lighting, controlled blazes, a water curtain and an advanced 3d audio 8 framework (”laseronics-me”, 2014). figure 9. 3d mapping on the library of alexandria pg. 11 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 11.3.2. artistic projection on the bourse building in media city in cairo the opening of the sixteenth cairo arab media awards and as anticipated onto a full size beautiful imitation of the old cairo stock exchange building. the bourse building in media city in cairo was anticipated in the opening of the sixteenth cairo arab media awards. they utilized artistic projection façade. the artistic projection functions as follows: – a motion picture was projected onto a full size picturesque reproduction of the old cairo stock exchange building (otherwise called the ’bourse’) which is a piece of one of the present film sets being used at the studio praising the historical backdrop of egypt and the improvement of the arab media—covering print, radio, tv, advanced media and the web. – the imaginative process included 3d mapping of the building so the projections and work of art could be fitted to the architecture, permitting it to be utilized as a genuine 3d surface instead of simply having level projections connected. impacts included moving pictures inside the windows, pivoting sections and veil contra-cover impacts. – the projection framework comprised of 4 x 6k pigi projectors with twofold pivoting scrolls, two of which were utilized to fill the surface, and the other two to accomplish the cross blurring and contra-concealing. the toss distance was 60 meters, and the pictures secured the total of the 32-meter wide ’building’ (evans, 2011). figure 10. bourse building in media city in cairo 12. swot analysis for the previous case studies a swot analysis was conducted on the case studies with enviromental/ ecological and economical criterias and by studying the swot analysis for the case studies we found that from the ecological aspects: there was one strength point of using the media façades which was the building can react with the surrounding environmental conditions changing its colors according to the wind or temperature. on the other hand, the weakness were so much such as visual discomfort and light pollution, and implementation of sound and the relation to the surrounding land users and the audience. while the opportunities were creating bird-friendly façades so that the birds won’t hit it when they are flying, and they could also be used in environmental ads and save materials used in traditional ads that harm the environment. it also had threats such as the effect of temperature changes (thermal discomfort) and that bright lights might affect human/plants/ animals negatively. as for the economical aspects, the strengths were obvious as media façades were used in advertising and decoration, they could also be used in promoting tourism, landmark buildings and changeable content, and display through time as opportunities. unfortunately there were weaknesses and threats, such as devices that cost a lot and need trained engineers, and it might affect the façade if used on a heritage building. while the opportunities were that they could be a source of income to owner, could promote tourism, landmark buildings & changeable content & display through time. pg. 12 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2. swot analysis for the case studies criteria strengths weaknesses opportunities threats environmental /ecological the building can react with the surrounding environmental conditions changing its colors pv cells can be installed to generate electricity during morning times visual discomfort,& light pollution will cause eye strain and distraction to drivers especially at night implementation of sound & the relation to the surrounding land users -create birdfriendly façades so the birds won’t hit it when they are flying can be used in environmental ads and save materials used in traditional ads that harm the environment. the effect of temperature changes (thermal discomfort) bright lights might affect human/plants/ animals negatively economical used in advertising used in decoration can be used to promote charity events and for sound and light shows/competitions high initial cost high lifecycle costs (operation and maintenance) needs special expertise for design and installation, causing extra cost. income to owner promoting tourism landmark buildings changeable content & display through time might affect the façade if used on a heritage building moreover, studying the previous international and national case studies, we find that, there are different types of media façades and most of them are and could applied in egypt. due to the reason that they would have great potentials such as: they would strengthen the egyptian tourism by advanced sound and light shows, acknowledgement of egyptian monuments, can be used in public buildings openings, or in advertising and significant events (matches, concerts, . . . ). most importantly that they might not affect the surrounding ecology and enviroment negatively and it might be a source of income for the buidling they are being projected on. however, we can’t ignore the limitations it has such as: it needs trained designers, highly complicated programs, an open area, it might cause the loss of traditional identities, causes light pollution with several negative impacts to humans, animals and plants and rising energy consumption. however, these limitations could be solved and managed by time and by training designers, using high-tech equipment that doesn’t cause heat, light or noise pollution. 13. results and conclusion according to the analyses and discussions above, this paper’s conclusions may be summarized as follows: egypt is located in the north african desert; this topographical area gives the egyptian atmosphere a few attributes, which influences on designing any building. egyptian atmosphere is arid, hot dry summers, cold winters and rarely any precipitation which will urge designers to design building skins that will have the capacity to give natural ventilation, shading and lessen the consumption of energy. media façades are turning out to be increasingly universal in the urban condition: we can find little ones in cafeterias displaying menus; greater ones in shopping centers providing store registry data, for example; gigantic promoting brand item over a whole building façade. subsequently of their inescapable universality, there has been an expansion in research around them, particularly how individuals interface, engage, and facilitate around them. so we can presume that a media façade comprises essentially of animated photos and light created by electronic gadgets and is not only a decoration, so its function is not just ornamental, but rather, with its potential pg. 13 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd for representation it is used for interaction between the building and its surrounding environment. the utilization of programming and computerized shows connected to the building façades, regardless of whether they are glass, plastic or metal is changing drastically the importance of architecture. both, video and architecture are not only aesthetic, but they are as well innovative mediums, with its characteristic technological restricts. nonetheless, media façade configuration is joined by various particular issues that have been mentioned in the previous sections. making a legitimate system for the procedure of media façade configuration represents a decent stage for subjective association between media and architecture, and different fields too. in addition to that, we can see how media façades can affect the building economically and environmentally as shown in the swot analysis, how it could be a source of income to the building that uses its façade by promoting tourism or different advertisements. in addition to the environmental point of view, it could provide information about the weather as shown in the dexia tower case study, and special leds that could be used to be birds friendly. to put it plain, up until now, researches about media façades have occurred in various groups, for example; design, architecture, and art, which permits us to start collecting current discoveries, to move to better approaches for considering, and to sum up disciplines, working towards building a general comprehension of coordinating media façades in the architectural building design. 14. recommendations and further researches that can be done based on this research other researches could be done to determine the impact of using media façades on commercial buildings in egypt can be done by studying social and cultural aspects. designers ought to consider critical issues for proficient building façades; these issues influence the technologies added to building façades considering its cost and how proper it is for the building necessities. in this way vitality sparing, designers ought to properly select site for working, as the plan highlights changes with site climatic qualities, be mindful of any huge change in climatic conditions in the site. then properly choose the best façade innovation that serves the objective of the building, choose proper ventilation techniques that are reasonable for the building use and notify to all pc demonstrating that can lead the designer to the correct execution of the ideal façades’ techniques. references 1. arcagni, s. (2010). oltre il cinema: metropoli e media(1st ed. pp 40). torino: kaplan. 2. cikic-tovarovic, j., sekularac, n., & ivanovic-sekularac, j. (2011). specific problems of media facade design. facta universitatis series: architecture and civil engineering,9(1), 193-203. 3. dalsgaard, p., & halskov, k. (2010). designing urban media façades. proceedings of the 28th international conference on human factors in computing systems chi 10. 4. dalsgaard, p., & halskov, k. (2010). designing urban media façades. proceedings of the 28th international conference on human factors in computing systems chi 10,2277-2286. 5. dewidar, k., mahmoud, a. h., magdy, n., & ahmed, s. (n.d.). the role of intelligent facades in energy conservation. in international conference on sustainability and the future: future intermediate sustainable cities (fisc 2010)(vol. 1). cairo. 6. evans, j. (2011). the projection studio designs cairo opener daily online news lsi online. [online] lsi online. retrieved from: http://www.lsionline.co.uk/news/story/the-projection-studio-designs-cairo-opene r/-jntgfq pg. 14 abdou / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. frtiz, s. (2009). media façade. architonic. retrieved from https://www.architonic.com/en/story/susanne-fr itz-media-facade/7000408 8. gasparini, k. (2014). media façades and the immersive environments. wolkenkuckucksheim, internationale zeitschrift zur theorie der architektur,251-263. retrieved from: http://cloudcuckoo.net/fileadmin/issues e n/issue 33/article gasparini.pdf 9. gehring, s., & wiethoff, a. (2014). interaction with media façades. informatik-spektrum,37(5), 474-482. 10. haeusler, m. f. (2009). media facades: history, technology, content. ludwigsburg: avedition. 11. innovative-visual-systems.com, (2014). media façade — innovative visual systems. retrieved from: http:/ /innovative-visual-systems.com/category/media-fa̧0ptcade/ 12. keith, k. (2009). art and commerce meet on buildings’ interactive media facades. fast company. retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/1387409/art-and-commerce-meet-buildings-interactive-mediafacades 13. laseronics-me.com, (2014). laser shows and multimedia news, festivals, launch, 3d mapping, egypt, the middle east, bahrrain, kingdom of saudi arabia, sultanate of oman and the united arab emirates, sudan, libya and india. retrieved from: http://www.laseronics-me.com/news.php 14. moza, e. a. (2012). from “advertising architecture” to “media façade”: communication through digital display skin. in 1st international conference on architecture & urban design(pp. 1095-1104). epoka university department of architecture. 15. p., j. (2015). extreme makeover: new york city port authority. retrieved from http://www.brandmarketer s.com/archives/extreme-makeover-new-york-city-port-authority 16. petrov, y. (2011). media façade and dynamic digital signage: a new item on your media plan part 1. screens. retrieved from: http://www.screens.ru/en/2011/8.html. 17. raheman, f. (2014). futuristic transparent media façade for self-ventilated parking podium: a feasibility study. in proceedings of international conference on architecture and civil engineering (icaace’14)(pp. 111-117). dubai. 18. sound and light (2010). sound and light and cinema company shows. [online] retrieved from: http://w ww.soundandlight.com.eg/aboutcompany/businesslines/shows.aspx [accessed 3 jan. 2016]. 19. wachlowski, a. (2011). interactive media façades in the urban context(unpublished master’s thesis). modul vienna private university. pg. 15 introduction who will make use of its conclusions? building envelope (façade) media façades media façades types opportunities of using media façades the challenges facing the usage of media façades advantages and disadvantages of using leds in media façades the interaction with human beings: immersive environment experimentation environmental factors: the impact of led displays energy and economic sustainability light pollution international case studies tower of winds dexia tower in brussels greenpix new york city's port authority bus terminal media façades in egypt commercial buildings downtown mall public buildings laser projection events 3d mapping on the library of alexandria artistic projection on the bourse building in media city in cairo swot analysis for the previous case studies results and conclusion recommendations and further researches that can be done based on this research http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 review article received: 28 november 2022, accepted: 30 june 2023, published online: 30 june 2023 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.931 a review of noise management practice in nigeria ochuko felix orikpete1,2 and daniel raphael ejike ewim3* 1bristow helicopters nigeria limited, exxonmobil qua iboe terminal, eket. akwa ibom state, nigeria. 2centre for occupational health safety and environment (cohse), university of port harcourt, choba, rivers state, nigeria. 3department of mechanical engineering, durban university of technology, south africa. *corresponding author: daniele@dut.ac.za abstract technological advancement, modern systems of transportation, and an expanding human population have brought in their wake a disturbing situation of exposure to environmental noise. this paper was therefore written to create awareness about the expository effects and impacts of environmental noise pollution on the human population. the target population of interest was the nigerian population. the key findings were linked and related to existing regulations in nigeria and other countries to enable effective intervention strategies to reduce the harmful impact of noise pollution. noise pollution was identified as contributing to the poor health of citizens and as a barrier to development and growth at the national level. by focusing on adverse effects and risk factors, the paper highlighted methods to promote the best interests of the vulnerable population. the paper also acknowledged the issue of industrial and environmental noise pollution from the perspective of its contribution to the economic growth and development of the country. noise pollution was, therefore, required to be measured and controlled with the help of effective strategic laws. it would help reduce the negative effects on the economy and the vulnerable nigerian population. this paper will be useful in anticipating future reforms that can reduce the considerable noise pollution and its negative impact on the population. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords noise pollution; noise management; decibel; legislation; noise level; nesrea 1. introduction the words "sound" and "noise" are often interpreted as interchangeable terms in the dictionary. according to industry standards, noise pollution is mainly observed by individuals working near sources that produce sounds that are intolerable to the ear [1]. sound, on the other hand, can be considered a fluctuation that may be perceived by the human ear and can be interpreted at different frequencies by different individuals. a sound can often be pleasant to hear; however, noise is never good for the ear. it is mainly due to the higher frequency or intensity of the waves at which a certain sound is produced that it becomes rather unpleasant to the ears while having various negative impacts on individuals. noise can also be deemed an objectionable sound that is not pleasant to the human ear and can also have adverse effects on physical and mental health [2]. while an individual is working within an environment that is prone to emitting such noises, eliminating these sounds may not be possible. environmental noise pollution can be observed as industry-based noise pollution or can also be stipulated as per individual categorization or perception. noises are generally produced at a higher decibel, which can be uncomfortable, irritating, annoying, and unwelcome for the ears [3]. some of the environmental noises can also be based on the occupation of an individual working in the surroundings and emitting higher decibels. according to scientific specifications, any exposure to noise for more http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 than 8 hours of the period can be deemed a potential source of environmental noise pollution. so, in a nutshell, the noise emitted from all sources within proximity of an individual can be deemed environmental pollution. apart from industries, noise pollution can also be due to transportation noise, noise from the neighborhood, or any other unwanted resource deemed to be liable to cause distress [4]. the topic might not seem complicated; however, it can be rather threatening to human health, safety, and communication. it aims to preserve natural resources and promote their abundance for future use and utility promotion [5]. one of the major contributors to noise pollution is a spurt in economic growth. another factor contributing to environmental noise pollution is an increase in the number of motor vehicles on the road. this has contributed to overall growth, development, and industrial advances, which are inadvertently hurting the possibility of attaining development. there is also a dire need to acknowledge this issue and take the necessary action within the bounds of laws and regulations. this is also required to reduce the overall negative impact on the people of nigeria [5]. there has been a scarcity of evident and reliable research studies that can help explain the effect of industrial and environmental noise pollution on citizens in general. this paper will help in focusing on the key terminology involved in the subject matter and the overall impact of environmental noise pollution on an individual. the paper will also shed light on the underlying laws and regulations in nigeria and compare them with those of other countries to gain insight into possible ramifications. the paper will also emphasise the value of promoting a sound balance between cutting back on potential resources that generate considerable noise pollution and contributing to positive economic development in nigeria. the paper will discuss the various issues in different sections, beginning with the meaning of noise pollution and the rate of noise pollution in nigeria. the second section will discuss the sources of noise pollution (industrial machines, wind turbines, and construction sites). the third section will discuss the effects of noise pollution, which will be followed by section four, where the current methods for the management of noise pollution will be discussed. the fifth section will provide an overview of the rules and regulations that have been taken into implementable form and will help in the control of noise pollution. the last section will discuss the recommendations and conclusion. 1.1 methods in this review paper, a systematic approach was employed to filter and select relevant studies and literature. the process of data filtration involved several steps. first, a comprehensive search was conducted to identify relevant sources, including academic databases, research articles, conference proceedings, and reputable online sources. inclusion and exclusion criteria were established to maintain consistency and relevance, with a focus on including studies that specifically addressed noise management practices in nigeria and provided valuable insights or findings. the selected sources then underwent a rigorous evaluation process to assess their quality, reliability, and relevance. peer-reviewed articles, reputable research studies, and publications from recognised experts in the field were prioritised. pertinent information from the selected sources was extracted and synthesised to form a coherent narrative, incorporating key findings, important concepts, and relevant data. the entire process of data filtration was reviewed and iterated upon, taking into account feedback from experts and colleagues, to ensure the selection of the most valuable and up-to-date information for this review paper on noise management practices in nigeria. 1.2 understanding the concept of noise pollution the concept of noise pollution is not new to anyone and is one of the leading causes of various health-related issues. noise can take any form and be present within the close vicinity of an individual. increased noise projections can also result in increased levels of stress, high blood pressure, and even significant hearing loss [6]. noise pollution can also be deemed an invisible danger, the repercussions of which cannot be seen but are present. the overall definition of noise pollution is listening to unwanted and disturbing sounds that can interfere with an individual's healthy way of life. the level and intensity of sound are generally measured in decibels. various sounds can be heard within an environment and can have a damaging impact on the individual hearing them. environmental pollution can be heard at as low as 20–30 decibels and can range up to 120–140 decibels [7]. however, any sound that is over and above the decibel range of 85 can be damaging to the health of an individual, leading to potential harm. the issue of noise pollution in general and environmental pollution, in particular, can impact the well-being of an individual daily. this is also considered the most common cause of noise-induced hearing loss [8]. the issue of noise pollution also impacts all age groups of vulnerable populations and can also cause memory and attention deficits. some of these damages have also been found to be permanent, which again contributes to the overall burden. 1.3 basic terminologies associated with noise measurement noise is usually described and designated as having a certain "sound level." this is also recognized on an international level in terms of performance standards. audible sound pressures can vary from a range of 107 pa to 200 pa. decibel is another key term that is associated with sound [9]. it enables a more accurate algorithmically corrected prediction of sound levels, which helps explain the manageable range of sound and a sound level pleasant to the ears. noise levels in the environment, such as those produced by industry, construction, and road traffic, are commonly expressed in decibels (db(a). octave is the division of frequency ranges into possible bands of upper frequency [10]. this is also used to limit the audible frequency of sound necessary for promoting a safe ambient atmosphere. some other key ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 terminologies explaining the levels of sounds and noises include measurement of background noise level, measurement of time interval, reference time interval, rating level, residual noise level, specific noise source, and specific noise source. various terms are also used for quantifying the level of noise and sound produced in the environment [11]. these terms include an explanation of inaudible sounds, barely audible sounds, and just audible, audible, and dominant sounds. the dominant sounds are the ones that contribute largely to significant noise pollution. the operation of noise pollution can also be caused by constant sounds, intermittent sounds, and infrequent sounds. sound also comes with levels of vibration, and thus, a few common terms designate these levels of vibration. some of these terms include acceleration, geophone, maximum instantaneous charge, peak particle velocity, and scaled distance. 2. sources of noise pollution one of the most common sources of noise pollution is the environment. this is also commonly known as "sound pollution." the pollution is mainly caused by the propagation of noise, which varies in range. however, all of these sounds can contribute largely to the smooth facilitation of activities in human life. it can also be more damaging than normally anticipated, and thus the source must be identified and modified with effective preventive strategies. the most commonly observed sources of environmental pollution can be noted to come from machines, transport, and propagation systems. here is a detailed discussion of such sources. 2.1 noise from road transportation road transportation can include buses, bikes, cars, trucks, and many others. apart from the sound generated by the high-paced movement of these vehicles, noise pollution is also generated by the constant barking of horns. a normal car horn can generate a sound pressure level of 95–120 decibels [12]. this can be deemed to be significantly higher than the normal anticipated range suitable to be heard by the human ear. this can be suggestive of the impact of the noise pollution generated from road transportation and its impact on the vulnerable population impacted by the same. 2.2 noise from railways railway noise is generally considered to be the most environmentally friendly means of transportation szwarc et al. [13] compared the impacts of road noise and railway noise on the environment and found that the latter has a lesser effect on it. despite the fact that railways are one of the lesser-known hazards contributing to noise pollution, they cannot be avoided. noise from railroads can also have a greater impact on those who work in close proximity to these machines. the passing of a train can also generate low-frequency, inaudible ground vibrations, which can magnify the sound produced by this movement [14]. it can thus cause evident harm to the ears and raise mental health concerns. 2.3 aircraft noise knobloch et al. [15] argued that the invention of flight was one of man’s greatest accomplishments and has helped connect the world together. nevertheless, the increasing influx of passengers, requiring a larger number of aircraft and a total of more daily flights, has led to increased annoyance resulting from aircraft noise. gély and márki [16] compared the level of annoyance generated from the various sources of noise within our immediate environment, such as noise from manufacturing industries, noise from automobiles, railway noise, and aircraft noise, and found that aircraft noise was perceived to produce the greatest annoyance of them all, for the same equivalent noise levels. the noise produced by aircraft can reach 140 decibels or higher. this can be considered to be above the acceptable level of decibels normal for human hearing. a greater amount of noise is generated at the time of takeoff and landing, and thus, it can impact the ground staff who assist in these activities. there are major health consequences that can occur due to elevated sound levels. noise is also one of the most common problems associated with aviation. it can cause health issues such as sleep disturbance, anxiety and stress, annoyance, and even cardiovascular impairments [17-21]. moreover, benz et al. [22] opined from their research that a continuous stress state could result from steady exposure to aircraft noise. kors and collin [23] are of the opinion that for the aviation industry to continue to grow, control measures for aircraft noise reduction must be introduced. 2.4 noise from waterways noises produced by waterways can affect marine flora and fauna. this is mostly caused by the generation of anthropogenic noises, which can cause impairments in physical and behavioral displays [24]. these noises can indirectly impact population groups due to echolocation caused by the navigation of waterways. it can also make communication a bit difficult and add to the overall stress. 2.5 noise from industrial machines there are three most damaging sources of noise pollution that can arise from industry settings. three of these sources have been noted as machinery, construction, and vehicles. many industries require raw work to be done that cannot be executed without the use of drills, saws, progressive-use lathes, and so on. this is the reason why many industry ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 setups make it compulsory for people working on-site to use protective listening gear. this is considered to prevent hearing damage, which can be caused by subjection to constant high-pitched sounds within proximity. 2.6 noise from wind turbines wind turbines produce some of the higher broadband noises, which are mainly generated through high-intensity revolving rotator blades. this causes potential turbulence due to the passing of air at a higher pressure and thus generates a "whooshing sound," which can be damaging to the ears [25]. if the turbines get old, they also produce a constant, low-paced, high-intensity tonal sound that is sustained at a steady pitch but can contribute largely to environmental noise pollution. 2.7 noise from construction sites construction site noise is usually loud, and noise coming from such sites is usually noted to be at 90 decibels or above [26]. the noise pollution from a construction site usually comes from equipment such as bulldozers, compressors, pneumatic hammers, loaders, trucks, and even cranes used for lifting. the noise is also sustained at a constant level as work on these sites has to be carried out relentlessly. these higher levels and intensities of noise decibels not only affect those living nearby, but they can also affect those working on these sites, resulting in permanent or long-term hearing effects and damages. it also impacts the sleep pattern, which can be distressing for an individual’s mental health. 2.8 entertainment noise these noises come from pubs and clubs that have huge gatherings of individuals. however, although these activities help promote a culture of positive social engagement and interaction, they can often turn into nuisances. noise from clubs or open-air concerts can impair the normal functioning of the interactive environment and, thus, affect the people coming under its influence [5]. environmental noises coming from music can interfere with the neighbours' lives and also disturb their sleep patterns. this can also result in evident signs of distress and poor mental and physical health. it can also compromise the ability to perform activities smoothly. 2.9 noise from military activities military operations include actions taken on the ground, on the water, and in the air. most of these activities create a loud, intense sound that can also have significant damaging effects. military activities such as explosions can also result in noise-induced hearing loss [27]. it can also impact the level of performance and combat skills of an individual. apart from this issue, military personnel and training cadets are exposed to the risk of surprisingly high levels of noise, which can also lead to tinnitus and ringing in the ears. this has also been noted as the second-most commonly observed disability due to participation in military operations. 2.10 other public noise sources, such as firecrackers public noise pollution includes all types of man-made noise pollution. this can come from vehicles, the use of machines, obstructions in the functioning of a normal environment, and burning crackers. cracker burning can produce both noise and air pollution [28]. this can be noted in sounds that are louder and can generate huge bangs and thunderous sounds. cracker-busting not only damages the environment but can also make conditions of living for animals inhumane, and thus, it should be avoided at all costs unless it is very necessary and vital to be conducted. 3. effects of environmental noise pollution the issue of noise pollution has become a nuance for a lot of people, which creates a constraint on daily living. it has impacted a million people on a daily basis and also compromises their quality of life significantly. exposure to loud decibels of noise has been shown to have a major detrimental impact on people [1]. this is closely associated with issues such as high blood pressure, increased levels of stress and anxiety, heart diseases, and even hearing loss in severe cases. the problem has been shown to impact all age groups of people across the nation [29]. children, however, are more vulnerable to the risk of hearing loss due to poor development of the ear anatomy. subjection to loud decibels at an early age can be rather damaging for these young individuals. furthermore, a comprehensive review of the literature carried out by farooqi et al. [30] identified the effects of environmental noise to include increased heart rate, nausea, headache, insomnia, triggered hearing loss, high blood pressure, heart attack, impaired reproduction ability, exhaustion, decreased value of property, and dizziness. ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 3.1 hearing loss this is one of the major issues related to noise pollution. the hearing loss caused by the impact of noise pollution can be temporary or permanent in nature. aside from age, it is also affected by the extent and intensity of the exposure [31]. loud noises have a direct impact on the inner ear, commonly known as the cochlea. loud noises and sounds can cause irreparable damage to the cells and membranes of the cochlea. these cells die over the exposure period due to this. the most critical part is that the impact of the loud noise persists even after the exposure has been cut off. this can result in permanent damage to the auditory neural system, which can leave the person hearing impaired [3]. in most cases, this gets detected in later stages, making it rather difficult to get the issue treated. 3.2 sleep disturbances studies have shown that environmental pollution can be the root cause of fragmented sleep patterns [32]. this can be less refreshing for the person, which eventually hinders a good mood. some noises may not be of a higher level, causing you to awaken from a deep sleep. however, these noises can still have multiple subconscious effects on sleep stages and sleep cycles. the sleep cycle varies from a lighter stage of sleep, which comes with low waves, to a deeper sleep pattern. environmental noises have been shown to increase the speed of rapid eye movements, which can further cause potential disturbances in sleep patterns [2]. this disturbance in sleep patterns, especially during the night, is associated with the extra production of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. this release of hormones can result in elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and even irregularities in heart rate and rhythm. short-term impacts of noise pollution on sleep patterns can be reflected in poor physical and mental functionality. due to disturbances in sleep patterns, one will experience sleeplessness, which will also result in irritability [33]. on a long-term basis, poor sleep quality can be shown to cause cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and even stroke in a few rare scenarios. in totality, poor sleep caused by noise pollution can significantly increase the overall risk of health and decrease the quality of life. 3.3 speech interference the issue of noise is present in all walks of life and impacts our daily functionality. due to noise, there can be severe confusion while communicating with one another. interrupted communication can also result in poor outcomes as it directly impacts social interaction [34]. noise can interfere with communication, which is not only restricted to industrial places but is also far-reaching to other settings such as offices, schools, open spaces for mining and construction, and many other places as well. this can severely compromise your quality of safety and interaction. it can also have a direct influence on your productivity and learning capabilities [34]. it is necessary to have a good comprehension of what the other person is saying to enable good communication with them. however, excessive noise pollution can hamper this effective communication method. this can also compromise your social participation and functionality. having a compromised social interaction status can also compromise speech intelligibility [35]. this can hamper various signs and signals of communication, which might lag in acknowledgment. environmental pollution creates a lot of warning sounds, which can make it difficult to robustly comprehend speech. this can also lead to miscommunication and poor outcomes in social interactions, creating a sense of distrust and uncertainty. 3.4 annoyance annoyance can be defined as a sense of displeasure. this is associated with the poor impact of a condition or a situation on an individual or a group of people. compared to other forms of environmental pollution, noise pollution has been observed to have a significant impact and relate to a sense of annoyance in the behavioral displays of individuals [36]. due to this factor, the person is also more likely to experience a negative impact on various body functions, such as cardiovascular health, metabolic diseases, and even poor impact on cognitive functioning. 3.5 other effects of noise pollution noise pollution has also been closely related to the cause of tinnitus, which is defined as an abnormal sensation in the ears. tinnitus is also marked by sound in the absence of an external sound source. this is usually caused by excessive exposure to noise. most patients exposed to chronic noise have been reported to suffer from tinnitus [37]. this condition also gives rise to other secondary concerns such as anxiety, psychological distress, depression, communication issues, tension, irritability, and increased frustration [17]. the condition can also impact the wellbeing of the person and the quality of life by restricting social participation and interaction. the ear is connected to the brain, which assists in the coordination of the stimulus-response and creating the required action. all sound signals are sent to the brain for interpretation, and thus, a clear and precise message must be relayed to fetch specific details [38]. noise pollution sends an excessive number of sound signals to the brain at once. this type of overriding sound can dull the brain's response time and also lower the rate of response significantly. gradually, with due course, cognitive functioning is bound to be reduced, which is required for sound reasoning and decision-making. industrial noises, which are typically higher in decibels and are constantly fed into the environment, can have the most detrimental effect on an individual. ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 4. key environmental noise concerns in nigeria and management methods the existing literature highlights several key noise concerns in the context of nigeria, including transportation-related noise in urban areas, industrial noise pollution, and the impact of cultural elements on noise levels [39]. construction noise [40], as well as transportation noise, particularly from road traffic, has been found to adversely affect residents' health and well-being, leading to increased stress levels, sleep disturbances, and reduced quality of life. industrial activities generate significant noise, posing health risks for nearby communities [41]. cultural practices such as traditional festivals and social gatherings contribute to noise pollution, necessitating a balance between preserving cultural traditions and mitigating excessive noise [42]. vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of noise pollution. we will now discuss the various methods of environmental noise management used in nigeria, which encompass targeted interventions and policies aimed at creating a more sustainable and harmonious soundscape for all. 4.1 land-use planning and design the major reason for noise zoning and land use planning is to prevent people from being exposed to levels of noise that are incompatible with their well-being and health. according to rajé et al. [43], land-use planning and management are critical in order to ensure that only a small number of people living near airports are subjected to aircraft noise. this is done by introducing specific land-use zoning around airports that is compatible with land usage within the airport area. land-use planning helps in zooming out the location and the type, which allows for assessing the level of decibels allowed in the specific region. it can also be used to design noise-sensitive areas through strategic mapping [44]. this is also done by allocating a significant distance between new noise-emitting sources and more sensitive regions. this is one of the most underutilized methods but, it is rather effective as it assists in planning before the incorporation of the developmental plan in the specific region. 4.2 building insulation building insulation can be done with the help of soundproofing the building's surroundings. a choice of materials can be installed in the walls, such as cellulose, foam, or even fibreglass. this can be an effective strategy for significantly reducing outside noises and, as a result, the disturbance and annoyance caused by environmental pollution [45]. 4.3 noise barriers it also depends on the noise barrier material and the surface of the treatment. the amount of original noise energy reflected or scattered back to the resources. some of the left-over portions are absorbed by the material, and thus, the overall sound that is reflected is distracted from the top edge. a noise barrier can be effective in reducing noise levels by 5 to 10 decibels [46]. this material can be used to insulate windows or buildings to cut back on noise levels. 4.4 use of silent electric cars silent electric cars can have acoustic technology, which can help issue a warning sign for producing noise. this can also be controlled by a sensor, which can artificially lower the decibel level of the pollution these cars cause to the environment. 4.5 quiet road surfaces the noise abatement potential of quiet road surfaces is generally lower than that of noise screens or facade insulation. this is also a good way to cut down on decibel levels and possible noise pollution in the environment. 4.6 efficient building design architectural design can also be done to reduce the possibility of noise pollution. this can be done by using specific sound-proofing materials or by designing the building in a manner that helps cut down on unwanted noises and sounds and eventually controls the decibels. 4.7 efficient soundscape design the soundscape is the new measurement framework that aims to more accurately reflect the listener's experience of the sounds that they hear in context. soundscape management aims to treat noise as a resource rather than a waste to improve the acoustic environment in which we live [47]. so, this can be a good way to control noise pollution in the environment, especially in industrial settings and close-by neighbourhoods. existing noise regulations and standards, such as iso 12913 soundscape, provide valuable insights and guidance for noise management practices in nigeria. iso 12913 focuses on the concept of soundscape, which emphasises not only the decibel levels but also the overall acoustic environment, including its quality, character, and perception by ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 individuals [48]. by drawing from iso 12913 and similar standards, nigeria can incorporate elements of soundscape assessment and management into its noise regulations. this approach encourages a more holistic approach to noise management, taking into account not only the quantitative aspects of noise but also the subjective experience and perception of sound. it can help inform the development of comprehensive noise management strategies that prioritise the creation of pleasant and sustainable acoustic environments in various settings, including urban areas, residential neighbourhoods, and public spaces. 4.8 efficient traffic management traffic management can help identify the various noises and sources contributing to higher decibels in the environment. with this information, traffic can be sent to places where there aren't as many people. this will assist in noting the sounds and reducing their audible levels, which are pleasant to the ears, thereby contributing to controlling the possible negative impact of environmental noise pollution. 5. legislation as an important tool for noise management the use of legislation can include the application of laws and regulations that can help prohibit the use of higher decibels, which can be damaging to the ear. these regulations can also help in seeking federal actions and penalties against authorities and bodies that are contributing largely to increased levels of environmental noise pollution [49]. it is also a constructive approach to creating provisions for ensuring the practice of regulated levels of decibels within the scope of legislative practices. in organized societies, laws are meant to regulate human behavior. according to ijaiya and joseph [50], the purpose of promulgating environmental laws is to curb the menace and threat to the environment posed by human activities in the search for economic gains and development. apart from international treaties and conventions, each country makes its own laws in the form of acts of parliament, edicts, or decrees. legislation plays an important role in environmental noise management as it provides a framework for deciding whether a noise level is acceptable or not. it is the government's responsibility to ensure the measurement of noise abatement from various sources. the national environment protection agency must ensure that noise levels and intensities do not exceed the designated limit and that environmental quality is sustained as per specified quality standards. the national environmental standards and regulations enforcement agency (nesrea) is the agency responsible for the implementation of environmental laws in nigeria, including laws governing exposure to environmental noise [51]. 5.1 overview of the existing noise management approaches in nigeria the existing noise management approaches in nigeria encompass a range of strategies and initiatives aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of noise pollution. the country has recognised the importance of addressing noise issues and has implemented various measures at different levels. at the national level, nigeria has established the national environmental standards and regulations enforcement agency (nesrea), which is responsible for developing and enforcing environmental standards, including those related to noise. nesrea has enacted regulations that set permissible noise levels for different types of activities and industries. additionally, state and local governments have also introduced their own noise control measures and guidelines, often tailored to address specific regional or local concerns. these approaches typically involve a combination of noise zoning, noise level limits, and licensing requirements for noisy activities, with enforcement carried out by environmental agencies and law enforcement bodies. however, despite these efforts, challenges related to enforcement and awareness persist, requiring further attention and improvement in noise management practices in nigeria [52]. in order to stop noise pollution, nesrea has set a decibel limit that is acceptable on both an international and a national level. the standard approval level of noise within residential areas has been set at 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels during the night. in industrial regions, this level must not exceed 90 decibels during the day [53]. the higher range is primarily determined by the industry setup. clubhouses and entertainment outlets have been instructed to operate in an enclosed and soundproof environment. a noise permit is also required for places where there are possible chances of higher decibels being emitted into the environment and eventually leading to significant environmental noise pollution [53]. 5.2 noise regulations in various countries due to the evident risk of harm, many countries have developed effective legislative regulations to control the dose of noise to which people are generally exposed. most developing countries are subjected to the issue of noise pollution due to exposure to high-decibel sounds generated by industrial setups. this includes countries like pakistan, india, and china, which are located on the asian continent, and many others [54]. the exposure limit for these developing countries has been set at 85–90 db for 8 hours maximum per day. however, in the noise regulations for the 22 countries that make up america (latin america, canada, and the united states), the limit has been set at 85 db [55]. this has been noted as the permissible exposure limit, which has been deemed appropriate by the international organization for standardization (iso) and the european economic community (eec). the majority of american countries do not have established occupational noise levels in decibels [56]. in developing nations, the frequency ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 levels also play a vital role in deciding the optimal level of decibel suitable for hearing as compared to the intensity generated from these environmental sounds. major sources of environmental noise pollution have been noted as traffic, industrial setups, and recreational centres, which are located within the close vicinity of residential complexes. therefore, the legislative regulations are also closely associated with further reducing the acceptable decibel ranges within these locations. 5.3 exposure limits given by international bodies the world health organization (who) recommends that noise exposure levels should not exceed 70 db over 24 hours and 85 db over 1 hour to avoid hearing impairment [57]. the environmental protection agency (epa) report identified 70 decibels (db) over 24 hours (75 db over 8 hours) as the average exposure limit to environmental noise [58]. this agency has also identified the outdoor noise levels as being 55 db and the indoor levels as 45 db as being the highest. the occupational safety and health administration (osha) has mandated that workers limit their exposure to 90 decibels (db) or less in order to avoid hearing damage and other psychological distress [59]. 5.4 challenges associated with the enforcement of noise regulations in nigeria the enforcement of noise regulations in nigeria encounters various challenges that must be addressed for effective implementation. one of the significant challenges is the lack of awareness and understanding among the general population regarding the importance of noise regulation and its impact on health and well-being. many individuals in nigeria remain uninformed about the potential risks associated with prolonged exposure to high levels of noise, which undermines their compliance with noise control measures [60]. this lack of awareness highlights the need for comprehensive education campaigns to inform the public about the adverse effects of noise pollution and the benefits of adhering to noise regulations. inadequate infrastructure and resources pose another challenge to the enforcement of noise regulations. the limited availability of noise monitoring equipment, particularly in rural areas, hinders the accurate measurement and assessment of noise levels. additionally, the scarcity of trained personnel and the lack of designated agencies or departments responsible for noise regulation enforcement further impede effective implementation. addressing this challenge requires investment in appropriate equipment, the establishment of dedicated enforcement bodies, and the training of personnel to effectively monitor and enforce noise regulations [61]. the diverse and multicultural nature of nigerian society presents unique challenges in enforcing noise regulations. different cultural practices, traditions, and social norms may impact noise levels and perceptions. balancing the preservation of cultural heritage and individual freedoms with the need to protect public health and well-being requires careful consideration and stakeholder engagement. it is essential to foster dialogue and collaboration with community leaders, religious institutions, and cultural organisations to develop noise control strategies that are sensitive to local customs and traditions [62]. lack of compliance and resistance from stakeholders, including industries and businesses, is another significant challenge faced in noise regulation enforcement. some industries may be hesitant to invest in noise reduction measures due to concerns about increased costs and potential disruptions to their operations. businesses operating in densely populated areas may find it challenging to meet noise restrictions while balancing customer demands and operational requirements. effective enforcement strategies should involve stakeholder consultations, providing incentives for compliance, and promoting voluntary adoption of noise control measures [63]. inconsistencies and gaps in legislation pose additional challenges. the existing legal framework may lack clarity or specificity regarding noise regulations, making it difficult to prove violations and enforce penalties. it is crucial to review and update the legislative framework to provide clear guidelines for noise control, establish robust mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement, and streamline the legal processes to ensure timely resolution of disputes [64]. insufficient financial resources allocated to noise regulation enforcement is another challenge that needs to be addressed. inadequate funding often results in a lack of personnel, equipment, and infrastructure necessary for effective enforcement. adequate budgetary provisions must be made to ensure that noise control agencies have the necessary resources to carry out their monitoring, enforcement, and public awareness activities [65]. overcoming these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach. it involves strengthening public awareness and education campaigns, investing in infrastructure and resources, fostering stakeholder collaboration, reviewing and updating legislation, and allocating sufficient financial resources. additionally, partnerships with international organisations and sharing best practices with other countries can provide valuable insights and support in addressing noise regulation enforcement challenges. by addressing these challenges, nigeria can create a more conducive environment for the effective enforcement of noise regulations, leading to improved public health, enhanced quality of life, and sustainable development. ewim/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 conclusions and recommendations the issue of industrial and environmental pollution has become a major public health issue globally. however, the noise component has not been widely studied in nigeria. apart from highlighting the issue, reflection and emphasis were also laid on the current legislative regulations progressing towards controlling and managing noise pollution across nigeria. the best method that was identified to manage the problem of noise pollution was to implement the rules and regulations that would allow the management of noise pollution. the national environmental standards and regulations enforcement agency was identified as the primary agency responsible for the implementation of environmental laws in nigeria and, as such, has a vital role to play in effecting change. the paper discussed the key role of the regulatory bodies to ensure damage control and establish effective preventive strategies for narrowing down the industries and institutions responsible as the largest contributors to noise pollution in nigeria. to 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(2023). a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria. environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.931 acm: orikpete, o.f. and ewim, d. 2023. a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria. environmental science & sustainable development. 8, 1 (jun. 2023), 31–42. doi:https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.931. acs: orikpete, o. f.; ewim, d. a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria. essd 2023, 8, 31-42. abnt: orikpete, o. f.; ewim, d. a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria. environmental science & sustainable development, [s. l.], v. 8, n. 1, p. 31–42, 2023. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.931. disponível em: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/931. acesso em: 30 jun. 2023. chicago: orikpete, ochuko felix, and daniel ewim. 2023. “a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria”. environmental science & sustainable development 8 (1):31-42. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.931. harvard: orikpete, o. f. and ewim, d. (2023) “a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria”, environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), pp. 31–42. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.931. ieee: o. f. orikpete and d. ewim, “a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria”, essd, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 31–42, jun. 2023. mla: orikpete, o. f., and d. ewim. “a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria”. environmental science & sustainable development, vol. 8, no. 1, june 2023, pp. 31-42, doi:10.21625/essd.v8i1.931. turabian: orikpete, ochuko felix, and daniel ewim. “a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria”. environmental science & sustainable development 8, no. 1 (june 30, 2023): 31–42. accessed june 30, 2023. https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/931. vancouver: orikpete of, ewim d. a review of noise management practice in nigeria: a review of noise management practice in nigeria. essd [internet]. 2023 jun. 30 [cited 2023 jun. 30];8(1):31-42. available from: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/931 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 91 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.869 a study on the strategies of park city construction of chengdu from the perspective of urban heat island mitigation lichen wang1, kangkang gu1,2,*, dong dong1,2 1school of architecture & planning of anhui jianzhu university 2anhui academy of territory spacial planning & ecology *corresponding author e-mail address:kangkanggu@163.com abstract in the process of urbanization, various urban problems have become increasingly prominent, and the heat island effect is one of them. the expansion of urban land, the increase in construction intensity and the increase in population make the urban heat island effect even worse. the construction of park cities improves the ecological environment of the city and is considered to have a positive effect on alleviating the heat island effect, but it is not clear whether it has such an effect or not. this article explores whether the construction of park city can help to improve the urban thermal environment effectively, and also, seek solutions for how to improve the construction of park cities so that the heat island effect can be better mitigated. landsat8 remote sensing images in 2014 and 2019 were used to estimate the fractional vegetation cover (fvc) and land surface temperature (lst) in the third ring road of chengdu. land use data were also introduced into the study to analyze lst changes in different surfaces and fvc.the results indicate that: (1) the area of the heat island zone in the third ring road of chengdu decreased by 0.91% from 2014 to 20 19, and the area of the cold island zone increased by 17.89% ; (2) the urban blue-green space is conductive to mitigating the urban heat island effect, in which the water provides the best mitigation, while impervious surface and bare land may aggravate the urban heat island effect; (3) the fvc in the area of the third ring road in chengdu is on the rise as a whole, and there is a significant negative correlation between fvc and lst (p < 0.01). based on the above results, this paper shows that park city construction is beneficial to alleviate the urban heat island effect, and more attention should be paid to blue-green space layout and quality, along with urban ventilation and fvc control. our results provide useful input for green space planning and the construction of park city in the future. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords park city construction; heat island effect; mitigation; land cover; fractional vegetation cover; chengdu 1. introduction urban heat island (uhi) refers to the phenomenon that temperatures in the urban area of a city is significantly higher than those in the outer suburbs. with the development of the economy and society, under the influence of climate change and other factors, the uhi gets increasingly obvious, which not only causes extreme weather such as hot weather and heavy rain but also negatively affects the growth of flora and fauna in cities. medical studies show that high ambient temperature can easily lead to human irritability and mental disorders, and furthermore, it even increases the incidence of heart and respiratory diseases, thus resulting in an increase in mortality (peng, 2020). http://www.press.ierek.com/ about:blank https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 92 in recent years, scholars have carried out a large number of studies on the uhi, by two major research me thods of on-site measurement and estimation based on satellite data (ouyang et al, 2021; amindin et al, 2021). previous studies have focused on the following facets: the temporal and spatial characteristics, cause of formation, influencing factors, mitigation measures of uhi, the relationship between uhi and air pollution, and the impact of uhi on human health (tian et al, 2021; zhang et al, 2007; park et al, 2017; li et al, 2014; wang et al, 2021; laaidi et al, 2011). studies have found that meteorological characteristics (e.g. wind speed, humidity, etc.) (zong et al, 2021; alekseeva et al, 2019), urban spatial morphology (e.g. building density, floor area ratio, night light intensity, etc.) (sun, 2020; liu et al, 2020), and land use (singh et al, 2017) all have a certain degree of impact on the urban heat island intensity (uhii). the research on strategies of thermal environment improvement focuses on urban ventilation, green space and water and ground materials, rational planning of urban layout and ventilation corridors and optimization of blue-green space pattern, strategies to improve the quantity and quality of green space and so on (peng et al,2017; guo et al, 2015; yang et al, 2021). among them, green spaces are considered to be able to alleviate the uhii directly and effectively, whose effect is influenced by size, shape and layout (jonghoon et al,2017; li et al,2014). previous studies have shown that the cooling degree and range of green space are positively correlated with the area and negatively correlated with the shape index (yuan et al, 2017). in further studies, scholars used models (such as cfd model) to quantitatively evaluate the impact of urban spatial morphology, land use, and other factors on urban thermal environment and proposed corresponding planning strategies to provide guidance for urban construction (yuan et al, 2020; iizuka et al, 2020). in 2018, during a visit to tianfu new area of chengdu, general secretary xi jinping proposed the concept of "park city" for the first time. the proposal of "park city" not only reflects the development concept of "ecological civilization" and "human-centered", but also reflects the consideration of the development mode and the pathway of urbanization. in recent years, chengdu has made persistent efforts to advance the construction of park city. related theoretical studies mainly focus on the construction strategies, paths and ecological value of park cities, including constructing ecological network systems, promoting park layout optimization, shaping city style, innovating park management mode and so on (lin et al, 2020). however, the current studies have not yet covered the impact of park city construction on the urban thermal environment. although park city construction helps to increase the urban blue-green space and improve quality, it is still not clear whether the park city construction can effectively alleviate the uhi. therefore, it is crucial to discuss how to carry out urban construction in a way to mitigate the increasing urban heat island effect more efficiently. the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of park city construction on the urban thermal environment, and discuss how to optimize park city construction in order to alleviate the urban heat island effect in an even better fashion. accordingly, we choose the lantsat 8 satellite image and surface coverage data. through the spatial statistical analysis and correlation analysis, we try to explore the influence of the park city construction of chengdu on alleviating the uhi, reaching the research conclusion on the basis of the parks in chengdu city urban construction strategy, thus to provide further optimized guidance for the construction of park city. in addition, we also put forward the urban strategies of chengdu park city construction based on the research conclusions, which give further guidance for the construction of chengdu park city. 2. materials and methods 2.1. study area located in the western part of sichuan basin, the topography of chengdu blocks the air flow inside the city, which brings about a significant heat island effect in chengdu, under a subtropical monsoon humid climate. the terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and the west is dominated by deep hills and mountains, while the east is plain. the annual average temperature is about 16℃, and the uhi effect is significant. the annual frost-free period is 278 days, and the average annual precipitation is 900 ~ 1,300 mm, with low wind velocity and few sunny days. covering a total area of 14,335 km2, chengdu registered an urban built-up area of 949.6km2 in 2019, that is to say, its urbanization rate reached up to 74.41%. in recent years, chengdu has vigorously promoted the construction of wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 93 park city, and achieved certain results, including the newly added green space of 19 million square meters, the forest coverage of 39.9%, the green coverage of built-up area of 43.5%, and the per capita green area of parks of 14.9 m2. restricted by the cloudage of study data, the study area was delineated as the inner area within the third ring road in chengdu. arcgis software was used to obtain the scope of the study area, that is, 19,285.29hm 2 as the total area. figure 1. satellite image of the study area 2.2. source of data the satellite data used in this study come from the geospatial data cloud platform of computer network information center of the chinese academy of sciences (http://www.gscloud.cn). in the study, we selected landsat8 satellite image data from august when the flora grows well. in view of the outbreak of covid-19 in december 2019, satellite data from august 13, 2014 and august 11, 2019 were further selected for the study. the image quality was good with no cloud over the study area, which meets the research needs. although the surface temperature retrieved by satellite remote sensing is only the surface temperature at the time of satellite transit in one day, however, the thermal field distribution characteristics of the surface of the study area are constant, so it can be used to study the distribution of the ground thermal field, and it can also cover the entire study area. the land cover data came from the ear th big data science and engineering data sharing service system (http://data.casearth.cn/). the classified land cover data of 2015 and 2020 (with a spatial resolution of 30 meters) were selected to calculate the land cover of chengdu in 2014 and 2019 respectively. table 1. satellite data information imaging time satellite spatial resolution （m） cloudage sensor august 13, 2014 landsat8 30 3.74% oli_tirs august 11, 2019 landsat8 30 0.89% oli_tirs http://www.gscloud.cn/ http://data.casearth.cn/ about:blank wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 94 2.3. data pre-processing remote sensing has become an important way to observe uhi. remote sensing images can cover the whole study area, and the distribution characteristics of urban heat field are stable. therefore, remote sensing images can be used to study the spatial distribution of uhi in the study area. factors such as terrain, earth rotation, atmospheric refraction and others may have various influences on remote sensing imaging. in order to reflect lst as accurately as possible, envi5.3 software was used to conduct atmospheric correction and geometric correction on the thermal infrared image. finally, the satellite imagery and land cover classification data were collected by using the vector layer within chengdu's third ring road. surface temperature inversion methods mainly include atmospheric correction method, single window algorithm, single channel method and so on. in this study, atmospheric correction method was used to process landsat8 data and the lst was obtained by inversion. the main principle of atmospheric correction method is to evaluate the influence of atmospheric effect on surface thermal radiation based on atmospheric data, by removing the value of this part from the total thermal radiation to obtain the surface thermal radiation intensity and convert it into the corresponding lst (wu et al, 2016), which is used to characterize the changes of uhii. however, due to the different weather conditions at different imaging times, it is difficult to study the changes in the uhii from the inversion of the lst directly. normalized mean-standard deviation method (zhou, 2019) is adopted to classify uhii, that is, firstly standardize the lst, and then use the mean-standard deviation method to divide the study area into five zones: intense heat island zone (ihi), mild heat island zone (mhi), no significant zone(ns), mild cold island zone(mci) and intense cold island zone (ici). 2.4. analytical techniques 2.4.1. land cover and uhii the research superimposed the land cover data and lst data in the inner area within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014 and 2019, calculated the average lst of various types of land cover respectively, and made statistics on the types of land cover in different uhii grading zones. finally, we got the land cover data in each zone. the purpose of this analysis is to determine the influence of various land cover types on lst. considering that the lst obtained by satellite data inversion may be affected by weather conditions, in order to intuitively analyze the different effects of different urban land cover types on uhii, we choose to measure the impact of land use change on lst based on the average lst change value of different areas. therefore, this paper divides the study into different zones according to the different land cover types in the inner area within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014. arcgis software was used to calculate the average lst of each zone in 2014 and 2019 and obtain the lst change, which was used as the basis to measure the change of uhii. after that, we counted the land cover types of each zone in 2019 and further divided them into smaller zones. then, we calculated the average lst of each smaller zone in 2014 and 2019, subtracted the lst change obtained here from the average lst change mentioned above, and finally, conducted quantitative analysis of the changes of uhii in different land cover zones (a positive result means a rise in lst, which means an increase in uhii. a negative result means a drop in lst, which means a decrease in uhii). 2.4.2. calculation of fractional vegetation cover (fvc) in the study, we used the pre-processed data to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi), and then converted the specific values outside the interval into the background value (0) to calculate the fvc: 𝐹𝑉𝐶 = (𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼 − 𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙)/(𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼𝑣𝑒𝑔 − 𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙) (1) in the formula, 𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼𝑣𝑒𝑔is the ndvi of pure vegetation-covered pixel, and 𝑁𝐷𝑉𝐼𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙is the ndvi of bare soil-covered pixel. wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 95 in this study, fvc is divided into five grades, and the classification criteria are as follows: [0, 0.2] is low fvc, (0.2, 0.4] is medium-low fvc, (0.4, 0.6] is moderate fvc, (0.6, 0.8] is medium-high fvc and (0.8, 1]is high fvc (peng et al, 2017). the fvc of different uhii zones was analyzed by arcgis software. 3. results 3.1. spatial distribution characteristics of uhii the lst retrieved from landsat8 images can be obtained through data processing by arcgis. the average lst of the study area on august 13, 2014 was 35.89℃, and the temperature distribution ranged 26.39℃ to 47.86℃. on august 11, 2019, the average lst was 40.21℃, and the temperature distribution ranged 29.80℃ to 49.81℃. in this study, we divided the study area into five zones (fig. 2). the area and proportion of each zone are shown in table 2. figure 2. classification of uhii within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014 and 2019 table 2. classification of suhii suhii range 2014 2019 value change1 area （hm2 ） proportion （%） area （hm2 ） proportion （%） ihi ts≥(a+sd) 2,929.23 15.19 2,874.33 14.90 mhi (a+0.5*sd)≤ts＜(a+sd) 3,202.11 16.60 3,081.78 15.98 ns (a-0.5*sd)≤ts＜ (a+0.5*sd) 7,138.62 37.02 3,864.42 20.04 mci (a-sd)≤ts＜(a0.5*sd) 2,815.74 14.60 6,578.73 34.11 + ici ts＜(a-sd) 3,199.59 16.5 2,886.03 14.96 1 "+" represents an increase in area from 2014 to 2019; "-" represents a decrease in area from 2014 to 2019. based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that: in 2014, the area of ns zone within the third ring road of chengdu is relatively large, reaching 7,138.62hm2, accounting for 37.02% of the total area. the area of uhi is 6,131.34hm2, accounting for 31.79% of the study area, mainly distributed in the urban center and the southwest region, which is the area with relatively concentrated construction land with low afforestation degree. in 2019, the area of mci zone is relatively large, reaching 6,578.73hm2, accounting for 34.11% of the study area and increasing by 3,762.99hm2 compared with 2014. the area of uhi is 5,956.11hm2, accounting for 30.88% of the study area, mainly concentrated in the urban center, which has decreased compared with the area in 2014. wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 96 3.2. the effect of land cover on uhii 3.2.1. land cover in the study area according to the land cover data, there were 8 land cover types in the study area in 2014, namely cropland, forest, grassland, shrubland, wetland, water, impervious surface and bare land. the area occupied by different land cover types in order of arrangement was as follows: impervious surface > cropland > grassland > forest > water > bareland > wetland > shrubland. in 2019, there were 6 types of land cover in the study area, including cropland, forest, grassland, water, impervious surface and bare land. the area occupied by different land cover types in order of arrangement was as follows: impervious surface > cropland > water > grassland > forest > bareland. the specific composition is shown in table 3. as can be seen from the statistical data, in the process of park city construction, the impervious surface within the third ring road of chengdu increased by 923.63hm2, accounting for 4.80% of the study area, while the area of blue-green space decreased by 900.28hm2, accounting for 4.68% of the study area. table 3. statistics of land cover types in the study area land cover 2014 2019 value change1 area（hm2） proportion（%） area（hm2） proportion（%） cropland 1,629.37 8.46 1,026.24 5.33 forest 72.03 0.37 1.61 0.01 glassland 306.16 1.59 10.21 0.05 shrubland 0.86 0.00 0.00 0.00 wetland 3.58 0.02 0.00 0.00 water 70.60 0.37 144.26 0.75 + impervious surface 17,143.23 89.06 18,066.86 93.86 + bareland 23.40 0.12 0.05 0.00 total 19,249.23 100 19,249.23 100 1 "+" represents an increase in area from 2014 to 2019; "-" represents a decrease in area from 2014 to 2019. 3.2.2. uhii in different land cover areas in this paper, land cover data and lst data are superimposed, and the temperature of different land cover types is statistically analyzed by spatial analysis in arcgis software. the obtained results are shown in fig. 3. by comparison, the average lst of various land cover types in the study area in 2014 in order of arrangement was as follows: impervious surface > bare land > grassland > cropland > shrubland > forest > water > wetland, and the average lst in 2019 was as follows: bareland > impervious surface > grassland > water > forest > cropland. wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 97 figure 3. lst in different land cover areas in order to analyze the relationship between uhii and land cover intuitively, statistics are made on the classification of uhii in different land cover areas, and the proportion of the obtained area is calculated to draw the classification scale diagrams of uhii of different land cover types (fig. 4 and fig. 5). figure 4. scale diagram of uhii for different land cover types in 2014 wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 98 figure 5. scale diagram of uhii for different land cover types in 2019 from the analysis above, we found that the obvious urban cold island effect shows up in water, forest, wetland and cropland, and the lst is significantly lower than other land cover types. the lst of impervious surface and bare land in the study area was the highest, and the areas with ns zone and uhi zone accounted for a large proportion in these areas. the lst change of impervious surface, water and cropland varies more than 14℃, while the change of lst of wetland, shrub land and forest land is smaller. 3.2.3. changes of uhii in different land cover areas in this paper, the land use of the study area is divided into 8 zones according to the land cover situation within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014. we made statistics on the area and annual average lst of each zone and calculated the average lst change. the results are shown in table 4. then, we further divided each zone according to the land cover in 2019, calculated the change of lst, and compared it with the change of average lst to judge how the uhii is changing (fig 6). table 4. average lst and its variation in different land cover areas land cover (2014) area（hm2） average lst（℃） changes of lst（℃） 2014 2019 cropland 1,629.37 33.17 38.16 4.99 forest 72.03 32.23 37.09 4.86 glassland 306.16 33.28 38.90 5.62 shrubland 0.86 33.26 38.45 5.19 wetland 3.58 31.92 36.92 5.00 water 70.60 31.51 35.92 4.41 impervious surface 17,143.23 36.24 40.46 4.22 bareland 23.40 34.45 40.36 5.91 wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 99 figure 6. variation of uhii in different land cover zones from 2014 to 2019 the above analysis shows that the uhii decreases when the land cover type is changed to cropland, grassland and water, and the uhii decreases the most when the land cover type is changed to water. the uhii increases when the land cover type is changed to impervious surface or bareland. the results of quantitative analysis indicate that bluegreen space such as cropland, grassland and water is beneficial to reduce uhii, while impervious surface and bareland have negative effect on reducing uhii. 3.3. relationships between fvc and uhii 3.3.1. spatial distribution of fvc in the study area spatial distribution of fvc within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014 and 2019 is shown in fig. 7. according to the spatial statistical analysis of arcgis, the area of moderate fvc in the study area was the largest in 2014, up to 9,735.66hm2, accounting for 50.48% of the study area. the area of high fvc and medium high fvc is smaller, respectively accounting for 1.97% and 13.17% of the study area. the area of low fvc is the smallest, accounting for 0.47% of the study area. compared with the fvc in 2014, the area of low, medium low and moderate fvc zones in 2019 in the study area decreases to varying degrees, while the area of medium high and high zones increases. the area of medium high fvc increases the most, reaching 1,027.62hm2 (table 5). table 5. grade distribution of fvc within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014 and 2019 zone 2014 2019 area （hm2） proportion （%） area （hm2） proportion （%） low fvc zone 90.99 0.47 85.41 0.44 medium low fvc zone 6,538.05 33.90 5,582.25 28.95 moderate fvc zone 9,735.66 50.48 9,637.56 49.97 medium high fvc zone 2,540.16 13.17 3,567.78 18.50 high fvc zone 380.43 1.97 412.29 2.14 wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 100 figure 7. spatial distribution of fvc grades within the third ring road of chengdu in 2014 and 2019 as a whole picture, the vegetation in the area within third ring road of chengdu was in good condition. after promoting the construction of the park city, fvc has been significantly improved, and the layout of green space is more reasonable, indicating that the construction of the park city plays an important role in promoting the realization of urban environmentally friendly and the improvement of human settlement quality. from the perspective of spatial distribution, the area of the medium low fvc zone within the third ring road of chengdu decreased significantly from 2014 to 2019, especially in the urban center. the area of medium and high fvc expanded, spatially to the center of the city or to the west. the area of the western part and the ns zone around the water system decreased greatly, and most of them turned into the mci zone. compared with the analysis of the fvc changes above, it can be found that the fvc in this area increased significantly. in general, with the construction of park city such as urban afforestation, the area of heat island zone decreased while the area of cold island zone increased, indicating that the park city construction has a significant positive effect on the reduction of uhii in the study area. table 6. statistics of fvc in different heat island zone (hm2) zone 2014 low fv medium low moderate medium high high ihi 11.97 1,008.54 1,487.43 377.01 44.28 mhi 16.56 1,107.81 1,634.67 391.77 51.30 ns 33.66 2,420.64 3,576.33 952.74 155.25 mci 12.96 930.33 1,431.27 380.34 60.84 ici 15.84 1,070.73 1,605.96 438.30 68.76 zone 2019 low medium low moderate medium high high ihi 29.88 821.07 1,439.91 527.67 55.80 mhi 10.71 898.83 1,577.52 540.00 54.72 ns 14.40 1,128.15 1,935.54 702.63 83.70 mci 21.78 1,884.96 3,261.15 1,259.55 151.29 ici 8.64 849.24 1,423.44 537.93 66.78 wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 101 3.3.2. effect of fvc change on heat island effect by importing the fvc data in 2014 and 2019, and the lst data obtained by inversion into spss software for correlation analysis, we find that fvc and lst showed a significant negative correlation (p < 0.01), indicating that the higher the fvc, the lower the lst is. table 7 correlation analysis between fvc and lst surface temperature 2014 2019 spearman rho fvc correlation -0.420** -0.454** number of significant (double-tailed) 0.000 0.000 cases 214,704 214,704 ** significant at 99 % ( p < 0.01). in this study, spss is used to fit and analyze the data, coming into a regression equation of the relationship between fvc and lst, and the origin software is used to plot. arcgis software is used to calculate the average lst in areas with different fvc, and the results are shown in fig. 8 and fig. 9. figure 8. fitting analysis of fvc and lst figure 9. average lst in different fvc zones wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 102 in the fitting equation, y is lst (℃), x is fvc (range [0,1]). the significance of the equation p < 0.01. according to the fitting analysis, compared with the low fvc and the medium low fvc zones, the lst in the moderate fvc and high fvc zones is lower. it can be seen from the statistics of average lst in different fvc zones that the lst difference between low fvc and medium low fvc, medium high fvc and high fvc zone is large, while the temperature change range among medium low fvc, moderate fvc and high fvc zone is small. the maximum average lst difference among zones with different fvc was 0.38℃ in 2014, and 0.58℃ in 2019. the above analysis shows that, on the whole, the increase of fvc is beneficial to the reduction of uhii, although the actual cooling effect may be affected by other factors. 4. discussion existing studies have shown that blue-green space is conducive to the mitigation of the heat island effect. the park city construction aims to build an ecological civilization and create a good living environment, which is considered to have a positive effect on the improvement of urban thermal environment. in the study, we found that the heat island in chengdu is mostly concentrated in the areas with concentrated construction land and low afforestation rate, especially in the downtown area of the city. after the construction of the park city, the area of the heat island decreased and the area of mci increased. cropland, grassland, and water are beneficial to the mitigation of the heat island effect, while impervious surface and bare land may have the adverse effect. there was a noticeably negative correlation between fvc and lst. according to the analysis on the impact of land cover and fvc on the uhii, we propose the following strategies for park city construction of chengdu: increase the cooling effect of blue-green space renovate bareland control the expansion of impervious surface this study shows that the existence of blue-green space reduces lst, while the existence of impervious surface and bareland renders it higher. uhii increases when converted to impervious surface and bareland, while uhii decreases when converted to farmland, grassland and water. therefore, in the process of construction, attention should be paid to the protection of the ecological environment and to increase the area of urban blue-green space. furthermore, the expansion of impervious surface and the increase of construction intensity shall be controlled, and bare land shall be eliminated and rationally utilized. however, in the process of urban development and construction, the expansion of impervious surface is inevitable, which will inevitably compress the area of urban blue-green space. existing studies have shown that the layout of urban green space has a notable impact on the urban meteorological environment. the cooling effect of green space on the surrounding environment is limited to a certain spatial range, yet the overall cooling effect of the decentralized green space on the surrounding environment is better than that of the centralized large green space (luan et al, 2014; miao et al, 2013). it can be perceived that in the process of alleviating the urban heat island effect, it is also necessary to improve the quality of the blue-green space and adjust the spatial layout appropriately in addition to ensuring the urban blue-green space. during the construction, attention should be paid to increasing the amount of green space, making full use of the existing blue-green space, and optimizing the urban blue-green space network to enhance its cooling effect. in the downtown area of the city, the impervious surface is large but the land resources are limited, so it is not suitable to increase the large scale of urban green space. in the constructions, limited space can be used to increase the thermal comfort of a small area by appropriately adding spot-like green space or small bodies of water, which is conducive to breaking the heat island effect area and eliminating the scale effect and superposition effect of the heat island. at the same time, it can also convert the existing bare land into green space to improve the environmental quality. integrate construction with urban ventilation corridor planning wang / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 103 increasing air motion is one of the crucial ways to mitigate the uhii. in this study, we found that the lst of the medium low fvc zone in 2019 was slightly lower than that of the moderate fvc zone, which may be related to the presence of plants that hindered the flow of wind, resulting in agglomeration and increase of temperature. in the study of the impact of urban structure on the urban thermal environment, we can see that uhii is directly proportional to the urban building density, that is, the greater the density of urban building, the lower the air circulation efficiency, resulting in the severer heat island effect (peng et al, 2017). in the process of park city construction, the protection of wind sources should be strengthened and attention should be paid to creating open spaces to introduce cold air from the periphery of the city into the city. at the same time, the temperature difference between the cold and hot islands in the city should be fully utilized, and the spatial layout should be reasonably arranged to form local air circulation in the city and accelerate air motion. reasonable control of fvc although both vegetation coverage and surface temperature showed a noticeably negative correlation, for alleviating the heat island effect, higher vegetation coverage is not always better. the quantitative analysis also reveals that the presence of forest may increase lst. excessively high fvc will hinder air flow, cause heat accumulation and increase regional temperature, which is also one of the causes for the high temperature in chengdu in summer. existing studies have shown that, for different floras, the range of the effect of fvc on temperature is different (li et al, 2021). in the process of park city construction, plant species should be reasonably selected according to the needs, and fvc should be classified and controlled, to give full play to the cooling effect of different plants and alleviate the uhii. the results indicated that water have a good cooling effect, and its cooling effect may be even superior to that of green space. in actual construction, water can be added to the existing green space to make full use of its mitigation effect on the heat island effect, and to reduce the accumulation of vegetation in the green space, so as to accelerate the air flow in the urban green spaces. 5. conclusions this study contributes to the understanding of the contribution of park city construction to the enhancement of the urban environment, and also provides a new perspective for further optimizing park city construction. in this paper, we used landsat8 data and land use data to clarify the impact of park city construction on the urban heat island effect, and found out the direction for the further improvement of urban thermal environment. the results show that there is no doubt about the park city construction serving as the aid to the mitigation of the heat island effect, even though its effect is affected by land use and fvc. the existence of blue-green spaces is beneficial, while the impervious surface 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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103208 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107976 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107976 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107976 https://doi.org/10.14088/j.cnki.issn0439-8114.2021.20.009 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106876 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106876 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106876 https://doi.org/10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2017.10.018 https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.673786 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.55 soot emission analysis in combustion of bio-gas diesel dual fuel engine bui van ga1, bui thi minh tu2 1department of mechanical engineering of transport 2department of electronic and telecommunication, danang university of science and technology abstract soot emission in bio-gas diesel dual fuel engine has been analyzed by numerical simulation with 2-stape soot formation model of magnussen. the result shows that soot formation mainly occurred in diffusion combustion phase of diesel pilot jet. soot peak value is proportional to the first peak value of rohr, and it is found at around the same crank angle position with the second peak of rohr. at a given engine speed and diesel content in the fuel, the highest soot peak value is obtained with slightly rich mixture whereas soot concentration in exhaust gas increases monotonically with increasing equivalence ratio. increasing diesel content in the fuel increases both soot peak value and soot concentration in exhaust gas. at a given equivalence ratio and diesel content in the fuel, engine speed has a moderate effect on soot formation rate but a significant effect on soot combustion rate. soot concentration in the exhaust gas practically vanished as equivalence ratio under 0.98 and 15% diesel content in the fuel. this is the ideal operation regime of biogas diesel dual fuel engine in view of soot emission control. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords biogas; renewable energy; biogas-diesel dual fuel engine; soot emission; magnussen model 1. introduction depletion in fossil fuel resources and a growing awareness of the serious effects of global warming have forced numerous governments all over the world to formulate and enforce application of renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emission. bio-fuels that are environment friendly present attractive behaviors in combustion and emissions (yoon & lee, 2011; nabi & hustad, 2012). among bio-fuels, bio-gas is considered as an abundant resource of renewable energy in developing countries. application of this fuel on diesel engines for transportation, irrigation and non-grid power generation purposes is preferred due to its high thermal efficiency. this is especially important not only in the developing countries where meeting the growing demand of fossil fuels is a major economic challenge, but also in the developed countries where greenhouse gas emission reduction is an important commitment according to the cop21 convention. biogas, mainly consisting of ch4 and co2 has almost the same properties as natural gas. however, as a renewable fuel, the use of bio-gas presents two profits: it provides an alternative source of energy for fossil fuel that saves and protects the environment from the harmful greenhouse gases, carbonic and methane that would be emitted into the pg. 67 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd atmosphere. due to low energy density and cetane number, bio-gas cannot be used as a single fuel in compression ignition (ci) engine, but it can be used in the dual fuel mode. the engine, which uses conventional diesel fuel and bio-gas fuel, is referred to as bio-gas diesel dual fuel engine. it is basically a modified diesel engine in which bio-gas fuel, called the primary fuel, is the main source of energy input to the engine. the primary bio-gas fuel is compressed with air, but does not auto ignite due to its high self-ignition temperature. a small amount of diesel, usually called the pilot, is injected as in a normal diesel engine near the end of compression of the primary fuel-air mixture. this pilot diesel fuel, auto ignites first and acts as a deliberate source of ignition for the combustion of the gaseous fuel-air mixture. the pilot diesel fuel contributes only a small fraction of the engine power output. load of the engine is controlled mainly by bio-gas fuel (ga, nam, tien & tu, 2014; ashok, ashok & kumar, 2015). thus, the combustion process and emission in a dual fuel engine is complex as it combines the features of spark ignition engines and compresses ignition engines (wagemakers & leermakers, 2012). soot is primarily identified as major constituent of the emission emerging from diesel combustion. the presence of diesel pilot injection in biogas dual fuel engine should be thus considered in view of pollution emission. several technologies have so far been developed to reduce soot emission from diesel combustion combustion (zhu, cheung & huang, 2010; cheng, cheung, chan, lee, yao & tsang, 2008). the combination use of gaseous fuels and conventional diesel fuel to reduce soot emission has been reported by numerous researchers. tomita et al. carried out research on a hydrogen diesel dual fuel engine (tomita, kawahara, piao, fujita & hamamoto, 2001) and they reported a reduction in soot concentration to near zero levels at all diesel injection timings and at all equivalence ratios of hydrogen. tsolakis, hernandez, megaritis and crampton (2005) obtained similar results of reduction in the total mass of soot emissions in combustion of hydrogen diesel dual fuel. besides, a considerable number of studies (saravanan, nagarajan, sanjay, dhanasekaran & kalaiselvan, 2008) and (saravanan & nagarajan, 2008) reported a reduction in soot emissions when ch4 was used as a primary fuel in a ch4 diesel dual fuel engine. it is generally believed that the more carbon a fuel molecule contains, the more likely the production of soot is by the fuel during combustion (tree & svensson, 2007). moreover, the chemical structures, such as aromatics, c=c and cyclic molecules, are regarded to have increased soot producing tendency (smith, 1981). in dual fuel mode, some amount of diesel is replaced by the gaseous fuels, which are higher ratio of hydrogen to carbon; thus, soot emission is consequently reduced. thus, in view of soot emission reduction, it is particularly a positive merit in favor of dual fuel engines converted from existing diesel engine. although there are numerous research works on experimental and theoretical investigations concerning the dual fuel operating mod, a comparatively lower number of specific research works on soot emission of biogas diesel dual fuel engines are found. the past investigations concentrated mainly on the performance and fuel consumption characteristics for biogas diesel dual fuel engines. mustafi and raine (2008), studied emissions from a dual fuel engine fuelled with natural gas and biogas; however, dual fuel combustion characteristics and their effects on emissions were not presented there. an effort using biogas biodiesel in dual fuel application are found in references (yoon & lee, 2011; luijten & kerkhof, 2011) where engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics are investigated. although the results of these above primary works show that bio-gas diesel dual fuel operation seem to be regarded as an appropriate way for simultaneously controlling emissions from diesel engines and saving petroleum based diesel fuel, it is necessary to investigate into more detail the reduction characteristics of exhaust emissions with special emphasis on soot formation in order to establish bio-gas as a real alternative fuel for diesel engines. the emission characteristics of dual fuel engine are affected by both the pilot diesel fuel as ignition source and the primary premixed bio-gas fuel. the experimental investigations of combustion and emission of such kind of engine is very complicated and expensive. thus 3-d modeling takes into account the interactions between different phenomena including turbulent flow, spray, combustion, soot formation and naturally the geometry of combustion chamber presents more advantage. it allows a precise investigation of the problem as it provides all required properties at any point within the combustion chamber and at any time. in other words, numerical modeling makes pg. 68 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it possible to explore combustion characteristics and soot emission that may be difficult and/or expensive to achieve with experiments. fundamental aspects concerning cfd one dimension simulation of combustion process and soot formation in diffusion flames have been carried out by (vignon & ga, 1995). they found out that soot formation given by magnussen model is fitted well to experimental data. an integral model of soot formation based on magnussen model has been established by bui et al. to investigate soot formation in combustion of an experimental diesel engine (ga, mai, brun & vignon, 1999). good coherence between model and experiments has been observed. the model was then applied to successfully calculate soot formation in combustion of furnace (ga & lu, 2002). multidimensional cfd simulation of combustion in an idi diesel engine has been studied by (zellat, rolland & poplow, 1990) using kiva code. strauss, schweimer & ritscher, 1995 had studied the combustion and pollutant formation processes in diesel engine using speed cfd code. sera, bakar & leong (2003) formulated dual fuel engine simulation model and studied the combustion process of a natural gas diesel dual fuel engine, and good levels of agreement were obtained between measured and predicted results. singh, kong, reitz, krishnan & midkiff (2004) studied the combustion and emissions of a natural gas diesel dual fuel engine and showed that dual fuel engine combustion results in significant reduction in soot emissions. in brief, cfd simulation is an efficient method to explore combustion and soot emission of compression ignition engine (barzegar, shafee & khalilarya, 2013). the paper aims to analyze the effect of different operation parameters of biogas diesel dual fuel engine on soot emission. the issue of reduction of soot emission is explored by controlling diesel/biogas ratio, fuel -air equivalence ratio and swirl in combustion chamber of a biogas diesel dual fuel engine, which is converted from a vikyno ev2600nb single cylinder diesel engine. the research is carried out by numerical simulation with help of fluent cfd code and soot emission model of magnussen. 2. numerical simulation in the present study, the computational fluid dynamics (cfd) code fluent was used to model a complex combustion phenomenon and soot formation in biogas diesel dual fuel engine. the numerical modeling was taking into account the effect of turbulence via k-ε model, droplet breakup of diesel jet via wave model. soot formation is modeled by magnussen mechanism (magnussen & hjertager, 1977). the mechanism can be depicted by two participating processes, the formation and oxidation of soot. in this study, the two-step soot model was applied. with respect to the model, in addition to solving the transport equation for soot mass fraction, the model also requires the solution of another transport equation for radical nuclei concentration. the net rate of soot generation is the balance of soot formation and soot combustion. soot formation is proportional to radical nuclei concentration whereas soot combustion. soot formation is proportional to fuel concentration, oxygen concentration and ε /k (ε : turbulence energy dissipation; and k: turbulence kinetic energy). the net rate of nuclei generation is given by the balance of the nuclei formation rate and the nuclei combustion rate. the nuclei formation rate is proportional to fuel concentration and e−e/rt . the nuclei combustion rate is proportional to soot combustion rate. numerical simulation is performed on a single cylinder, vikyno ev2600nb di diesel engine having an omega bowl shaped piston. the engine specifications are given in table 1. calculations are theoretically carried out on a closed system from intake valve closure at 0◦ca to exhaust valve opening at 360◦ca with different operation conditions. the diesel fuel is injected via a single hole injector at top of combustion chamber. initial conditions for pressure and temperature in the combustion chamber are 0.95bar and 350k, respectively. bio-gas contains 70%ch4 and 30%co2. the amount of diesel pilot injection or diesel content in the fuel namely d15, d20 and d25 corresponds to 15%, 20% and 25% energy contribution of diesel in total energy of fuel mixture, respectively. pg. 69 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. engine specifications cylinder volume (cm3) 1181 bore (mm) 118 stroke (mm) 108 number of cylinders 1 compression ratio 16.5 rated output (hp)/rate speed (rpm) 20/2200 maximum output (hp)/maximum speed (rpm) 25/2400 figure 1. calculating space and meshing figure 2. soot and temperature distribution in combustion chamber (d15, ϕ =1.1, n=2400 rpm) pg. 70 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd fig. 1 presents geometry of combustion chamber and calculating space. dynamic meshing of in-cylinder space of the engine is generated automatically by ansys code. there are 9279 nodes in the space with high density in combustion chamber. figure 3. rate of heat release, pressure and soot concentration vscrank angle of biogas diesel dual fuel engine combustion (d15, ϕ =1.2, n=2400rpm) the biogas-air mixture is suggested to be homogenous. the combustion process is modeled via partially premixed model. calculation procedure of effects of fuel composition and operation condition on engine performance have been presented in detail in (ga, hai, tu & hung, 2015). the distributions of soot concentration and temperature are illustrated in fig. 2 for a typical operation condition. the result shows that soot concentration is accumulated in high temperature region where diesel concentration is available. 3. result and discussion 3.1. analysis of soot emission in dual fuel combustion as it has been mentioned above, soot emission is the balance of soot formation and soot combustion that depend on temperature, fuel concentrations, oxygen concentration and turbulence intensity in the combustion chamber. these effects can be analyzed via the rate of heat released (rohr) in dual fuel engine. fig. 3 presents rohr, in-cylinder pressure (p) and soot concentration (s) as functions of crank angle (ca). rohr curve has two peaks in which the first peak is higher than the second. peak of pressure is located between these two rohr peaks. soot concentration is continuously increasing with increase in pressure and reaches a peak at around the same crank angle position with the second peak of rohr. after this peak, soot concentration is decreased gradually due to oxidation. in fact, rohr curve is mainly due to fuel consumption via three burning phases of the dual fuel combustion process: (1) rapid premixed combustion of the pilot diesel fuel, (2) diffusion combustion of pilot diesel fuel and premixed combustion of the primary biogas and (3) premixed combustion of biogas and the left over pilot diesel fuel. during the first phase of combustion, a small part of pilot diesel fuel and a little quantity of the biogas entrained by the spray is consumed. rohr in this phase is mainly due to the diesel fuel burned. soot formation mechanism in dual fuel mode in this phase is thus not quiet different from diesel fuelling mode. the second phase is due to the burning of a maximum part of the biogas and a part of the rest of the pilot diesel fuel. biogas burns mainly during this phase of the combustion. soot formation in this phase increases due to diffusion combustion of diesel droplets and soot agglomeration at high combustion temperature. finally, the third phase is due to the combustion of the rest of the two fuels that are not burned in the last phase. in this phase soot formation decreases while soot combustion increases; hence the resultant soot generation in expansion stroke decreases gradually. soot concentration at the end of expansion stroke, namely soot in exhaust gas, is the main concern of the research. pg. 71 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. rorh vs crank angle with different equivalenceratios (d15, n=2400rpm) figure 5. sootconcentration vs crank angle with different equivalence ratios (d15, n=2400rpm) figure 6. rohr peakvalue and soot peak value vs equivalence ratio (d20,n=2400rpm) pg. 72 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd fig. 4 shows rohr traces of combustion for three different equivalence ratios of 0.9, 1.0 and 1.5 at constant engine speed of 2400rpm and 15% diesel content in the fuel. at a given diesel content in the fuel and at constant engine speed, it can be observed from the figure that the peaks of rohr decrease in the cases of equivalence ratios of 1.5 and 0.9 relative to equivalence ratio of 1.0. as equivalence ratios of the fuel-air mixture are higher or lower than stoichiometric, it is suggested that this may result in the slower flame propagation speeds than the maximum speeds achievable during stoichiometric combustion. when the fuel-air mixture is relatively close to stoichiometric, the peak of soot concentration is much higher as shown in fig. 5. the peak soot values are 3.25.10−9, 1.16.10−9, 5.06.10−9 kg/kg for ϕ =0.9, 1.0 and 1.5, respectively. rich or lean mixture results in a decrease in soot concentration due to low rohr. in any case of operation, soot concentration is proportional to the first peak of rohr. with lean mixture, both fuel concentration and combustion temperatures are low, resulting in a low soot concentration. with rich mixture, fuel concentration is high but soot concentration is not increased due to low combustion temperature. in general, at a given operation regime, the maximum soot concentration is obtained in mixture slightly higher than stoichiometric as shown in fig. 6. fig. 7 presents a general comparison to verify the interactions of soot emissions with diesel content in the fuel. it confirmed the above observation that soot formed at early stages of combustion due to diffusion combustion of diesel fuel. at the same equivalence ratio, high diesel content in the fuel satisfied soot formation increases. at the same equivalence ratio of ϕ =1, soot peak value is lower by about 30%, and soot in exhaust gas is lower by about 60% as diesel content in the fuel decreased from 25% to 15%. significant increase of soot emission in exhaust gas as diesel content increases can be explained by the fact that diesel is the highly carbonated fuel providing largely radical nuclei particularly the rich fuel zones inside the combustion chamber. moreover, diesel fuel contains aromatic compounds favored soot formation. it can be speculated that the formation of the majority of soot was caused by the quantity of diesel fuel injected into the combustion chamber, which was minimized in the case of dual fuel operations. soot particles form primarily from the carbon in the diesel fuel. in biogas, the carbon/hydrogen ratio is lower when compared to diesel, so soot formation is less in low content of diesel in fuel as a result. besides, soot oxidation processes, being a function of temperature, in dual fuel combustion are more important than those in diesel engines, due to higher in-cylinder temperatures that result from increased heat release rates. therefore, reduction in soot emissions can be attributed to (1) a direct consequence of flame temperature reduction in early phase of combustion and the lowered concentration of diesel, (2) increased oxidation of soot nuclei/precursors in the soot forming region by increasing turbulence intensity and the enhanced concentrations of oh in combustion region. 3.2. effects of fuel concentration fig. 8 shows the reductions in x f .exp(-e/rt) implying a beneficial effect of equivalence reduction (x f : fuel concentration; e: activation energy; r: universal gas constant; t: temperature). at a constant engine speed 2100rpm, a reduction in equivalence ratio from ϕ =1.3 to ϕ =1.0 causes up to 25% reduction in x f .exp(-e/rt). otherwise, it can be seen on fig. 9 that the reduction of equivalence ratio results in a net increase in xo2.ε /k (where xo2: concentration of oxygen). a reduction in equivalence ratio from ϕ =1.3 to ϕ =1.0 causes up to 17% increasing in xo2.ε /k. however, this effect is less at the lean mixture due to reduction of turbulence intensity resulting from reduction of flame speed. at the same condition, the increase of xo2.ε /k only 6% as ϕ decreases from 1.3 to 0.9. therefore, as previously discussed, it could be suggested that a decrease in equivalence ratio promotes soot oxidation and reduces initial soot formation at a given engine speed. these effects are more important as mixture richer than stoechiometric. fig. 10a and fig. 10b show the effect of equivalence ratio on the total soot mass concentration at a given diesel content in the fuel. the peak of soot concentration (smax) is increased as equivalence ratio increased from 0.98 to around 1.2 and 1.3. as mixture is richer than this value, the soot concentration peak is decreased very fast but contrarily soot concentration in the exhaust gas (sexhaust ) increased. this is due to the low temperature of incomplete combustion, which is not favorable for soot oxidation. pg. 73 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. soot concentration vs crank anglewith different diesel content in thefuel (n=2400rpm, ϕ =1) figure 8. variation of xf.exp(-e/rt) in function of crank angle with different equivalence ratio (d20, n=2100rpm) figure 9. variation of xo2ε /k in function of crank angle with different equivalence ratio (d20, n=2100rpm) pg. 74 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd fig. 11 shows maximum soot concentration and soot concentration in exhaust gas plotted for various equivalence ratios and diesel contents in the fuel. the soot concentration in exhaust gas appears to be monotonically increasing with increasing equivalence ratio of the mixture, whereas maximum soot concentration presents a peak at ϕ =1.2, 1.25 and 1.27 for 15%, 20% and 25% diesel content in the fuel, respectively. one could notice that the peak of soot concentration in function of equivalence ratio tends to have a richer mixture as diesel content increased. the soot is then oxidized in the leaner regions of the mixture so that most of the soot is burnt before exhaust to the atmosphere. soot concentration in the exhaust gas is practically vanished as equivalence ratio is under 0.98 and 15% diesel content in the fuel. this is the ideal operation regime of biogas diesel dual fuel engine in view of soot emission control. figure 10. a: effects of equivalence ratio on soot concentration (d15, n=2400rpm) b: effects of equivalence ratio on soot concentration (d20, n=2400rpm) figure 11. smax (æ), sexhaust (—) vsequivalence ratio with different diesel content in the fuel (: d25, –: d20, ···: d15,n=2400rpm) 3.3. effect of swirl fig. 12 and fig. 13 show that rate of increasing of x f .exp(e/rt) is expected to be smaller than that of xo2 .ε /k as increasing engine speed. one possible explanation for this is that at higher engine speed the mixture displaced due pg. 75 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to the swirl severely affects the ε /k despite the increase in in-cylinder temperatures arising from improvement of combustion effects to exp(-e/rt). it can be seen that as engine speed increases, ε /k is increased particularly during the second phase of combustion and hence enhanced soot combustion. this suggests that at a given equivalence ratio and diesel content in the fuel, increasing of engine speed results a reduction in soot emission. the variation in soot emissions with crank angle at different engine speeds is portrayed by fig. 14. it can be observed from the figure that soot emissions decrease with the increase of engine speed at a given equivalence ratio. with equivalence ratio ϕ =1 and 20% diesel content in the fuel, peak values of soot concentration are 2.1.10−8, 1.3.10−8 and 1.0.10−8 for engine speed of 1800rpm, 2100rpm and 2400rpm respectively, i.e. a decreasing of 50% peak value of soot concentration as engine speed increases from 1800rpm to 2400rpm. soot concentration in exhaust gas is reduced by about 60% as the same condition. increasing the engine speed improves soot combustion due to increasing ε /k, and this is the reason that might have an impact on soot emission. in general, the above positive results are obtained in this simulation research in favor of biogas diesel dual fuel engine on soot emissions; it can be concluded that it is a promising technology for controlling soot emissions in existing conventional compression ignition engines with minor engine hardware modifications, thus saving fossil fuel and saving the human life from the hazardous effects of exhaust gas pollutants from the conventional diesel engines. figure 12. variation of x f .exp(-e/rt) in function of crank angle with different engine speeds (d20, ϕ =1) figure 13. variation of xo2ε /k in function ofcrank angle with different engine speeds (d20, =1) pg. 76 ga / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 14. soot concentration vs crank angle with different engine speeds (d20, ϕ =1) 4. conclusions the soot emission characteristics of the biogas diesel dual fuel engine have been analyzed by numerical simulation. the following conclusions are drawn: 1. soot formation mainly occurred in the phase of diffusion combustion of diesel pilot jet in biogas diesel dual fuel engine. in any case, soot peak value is proportional to the first peak of rohr, and it is found at around the same crank angle position of the second peak of rohr curve. 2. in biogas diesel dual fuel engine, soot formation rate is not quiet different form diesel engine, but soot combustion rate is much higher. soot emission can be reduced by shortage pilot injection time and increasing biogas quantity in combustion for a higher value of the second peak of rohr. 3. increasing diesel content in the fuel increases both soot peak value and soot concentration in exhaust gas. at the same equivalence ratio of ϕ =1, soot peak value is lower by about 30% and soot in exhaust gas is lower by about 60% as diesel content in the fuel decreased from 25% to 15%. 4. at a given engine speed and diesel content in the fuel, the highest soot peak value is obtained with slightly rich mixture. in the case of biogas diesel dual fuel engine, the highest soot peak value is obtained with ϕ in the range of 1.2 and 1.3 as diesel content in the fuel varies from 15% to 25%. however, soot concentration in the exhaust gas increases monotonically with equivalence ratio. 5. at a given equivalence ratio and diesel content, engine speed has a moderate effect on soot formation but a considerate effect on soot combustion. soot concentration in exhaust gas reduces by about 60% and soot peak value reduces by about 50% as engine speed increases from 1800rpm to 2400rpm at a given equivalence ratio and diesel content in the fuel. 6. soot concentration in the exhaust gas is practically vanished as ϕ =0.98 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(2010). emissions characteristics of a diesel engine operating on biodiesel and biodiesel blended with ethanol and methanol. science of the total environment,408(4), 914-921. pg. 79 introduction numerical simulation result and discussion analysis of soot emission in dual fuel combustion effects of fuel concentration effect of swirl conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v2i1.89 urban regeneration as an approach for rehabilitating the two-entrance region of alexandria city walaa el-sayed yoseph1 1architecture department, faculty of fine arts, alexandria university, egypt abstract over the last four decades, the urban formation of alexandria city’s two-entrance region has changed from natural agricultural farmlands to informal urbanized areas that contain different uses. the urban regeneration is an approach for restructuring the urban informal areas by providing radical changes depend on the origins of the social and economic formation of the informal areas. this process is based on the contemporary urban design principles that help in analyzing the formation of urbanization based growth and stating the required principles for a rehabilitation process, since the traditional methods by demolishing and replacing mostly failed to cope with the continuously rising social and economic changes in the areas. this approach considers the distorted growth by urbanization or urban sprawl as a required social and economic guidance in regenerating informal areas. the paper attempts to analyze the potentials behind the urban distortion by the ongoing urbanization process in the region. it was found that the social formation and economic creations in the areas are the basis for creating an optimal urban pattern. it aims to assist with the emergence of academic disciplines that effectively regenerate a comprehensive framework to continuously manage the urban growth for generations to come. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban regeneration; urban sprawl; urbanization process; urban design theories; alexandria city 1. introduction the urban spaces’ configuration is a direct response to society’s culture, identity, economics, and environment on one hand, and is also affected by legalizations and policies on the other hand. the contemporary principles of urban design are based on the origins of the spaces’ formation to regenerate an adequate rehabilitation process to contain uncontrolled urbanization continuously (clancy, 2017). since 1960, the contemporary urban design principles are in a state of upgrading and theorizing to form approaches that empower the community to be involved in the development and maintenance process by analyzing the existing social and economic formation of their settlements. this action came after the failure of urban design theories from 1918 to 1960 (taylor, 2010), where the traditional methods by demolishing and replacing mostly failed to cope with the rapid social and economic changes that rise faster unlike the rehabilitation process (wall & waterman, 2010). recently, since most countries became aware of the importance of urban revival or regeneration processes, they started to re-examine their urban policies and enact new legislations that are based on the contemporary principles pg. 52 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of urban design to regenerate a well-defined purpose, method, and solution (andersen, 2007). the uk government released ”the uk government‘s urban white paper” based on the report of lord rogers. the french government released ”a new planning act, the sru of 2000” based on the ideas of the sueur report of 1998. furthermore, other well-known programs exist such as the ”social cities program” in germany and the ”major cities program” in the netherlands, as well as recent initiatives in urban planning in both brussels and the walloon region of belgium (andersen, 2007). those programs aim to revive the cities’ urban distortions as urban sprawl, informal areas, or uncontrolled urbanization according to adequate analysis for concerned urban formation. in egypt, a number of legislations were stated to solve informal areas’ issues. however, most of them failed to cope their social and economic configurations. in most cases, the informal communities recreate themselves again according to their informal vision (jacobs, 1992). the study addressed this point with special regards to the urbanization process within the region of alexandria city’s two entrances: the suez canal road and the 45th road. over the past four decades, both entrances have witnessed a rapid urbanization process and extreme urban sprawl toward the agricultural areas. the study seeks to emerge the academic disciplines that regenerate a comprehensive framework to effectively cope and reform the uncontrolled rapid urbanization process overcoming regenerations. 2. theoretical base of urban design issues and principles the urbanization process does not always enhance the quality of city urban life (clifford & edwards, 2012) ; it may accompany urban sprawl issues or extend the process. since the industrial age, many cities around the world face different shapes and forms of rapid urbanization process and urban sprawl according to many factors. on the other hand, principles were theorized to face those issues in urban life. periodically, there was retrofitting revolutions for upgrading policies and regulations to rehabilitate the informal areas in the cities. since 1960, the urban design principles are mostly based on a moral debate that involves the environmental, social and economic formation of the informal communities (walton, 2007). the contemporary urban design principles had emerged from several case studies, stated as theories for rehabilitation, counted by hundreds to serve different disciplines socially, economically and environmentally (wall & waterman, 2010). accordingly, the urban regeneration process is not a fixed process but rather utilizes the required principles for analysis, evaluates and rehabilitates the urban issues. the analysis process is based on a literature overview to shed some light on the debate about some terms and principles. urbanization process is an increase in a population in cities and towns versus rural areas (clifford & edwards, 2012). its origins began during the industrial revolution when workers moved towards manufacturing hubs in cities to obtain jobs in factories as agricultural jobs became less common. until now, the gravitation towards the city is an issue in urban configuration and formation of cities (hassan, 2012). since then, large cities face the uncontrolled situation of urban sprawl. the urban sprawl is a situation in which large stores, groups of houses, etc. are built in areas around a city that formerly had few people living in it due to the de-concentration of urban land use (roberts, sykes & granger, 2015). some theories consider urban sprawl, as a term, to be a general concept without a precise meaning or definition (taylor, 2010) that also is hard to be measured. both terms are about the state of public realm damage on the cities border socially, economically and environmentally. notably, urban sprawl is not related only to urbanization process. terms such as suburbanization, urban growth, or suburban development are related too. the theoretical connection comes from their impact images and characteristics in the public realm; which means there are various terms and definitions involved in the analysis process of this field. the lack of certain defined concepts impedes the application of the most appropriate methodological approach or significant and valid results. therefore, contemporary principles based on a group of criteria for analysis is quite demanding. urban regeneration is a comprehensive and integrated approach; it resolves urban defects by analyzing the origin of the spaces configuration socially, economically, and environmentally, to promote a lasting physical improvement in the urban formation (ploegmakers & beckers, 2015). its methodology keeps pace with the consequences of pg. 53 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd continued processes of urban change by relying on the adequate principles for the urban defects. it is a flexible approach that absorbs the upcoming situations and new field studies for developments. this may be the more effective approach in the developing informal areas according to the following: – urban regeneration process does not just alleviate the social and economic defects; it manages the rapid and continuous changes, and keeps up with the emerging activities for inhabitants in a well-studied framework (hassan, 2012). – there are some powers who may impede or disagree with the idealistic development methods, such as stakeholders, owners, residents or legislations. the urban regeneration depends on those powers in the rehabilitation process as factors for restructuring (ploegmakers & beckers, 2015). – the social judgment for space may be very subjective in any community; the revival process needs a base. considering the origins of the space formation as a reference in the process eliminate this dilemma. adopting these procedures in rehabilitating the informal areas reveals two advantages. first, inhabitants become potential in the space, their small investments or visions manage and maintain the rehabilitation process. second, the governments adopt regulating the inhabitants’ vision, investments and type of activities for restructuring the space, and thus the urbanization process become under the authorities’ study and control continuously (hassan, 2012). regeneration is an approach that depends on the potentials and attraction points of an area, respect the existence formation of social and economic activities, to rehabilitate the physical environment comprehensively. it works as a collaborative process between several disciplines; socially, economically and ’in the first place’ ecologically, to result a three-dimensional form fits human needs in urban life (ploegmakers & beckers, 2014). 3. analyzing the urbanization process at the two entrances of alexandria city: alexandria city witnessed a state of rapid urbanization process along its southern border for the last forty years (fig.1). this region attracts the investors and stakeholders to set new economic activities according to its available wider areas and their cheaper prices relatively than inside the city, as well as, it attracts migrants from rural areas. originally, alexandria’s southern border is an open agricultural region with fresh water bodies that act as a natural green belt that borders the city. since 1980’s, the city urban extension was towards this region, as many farmlands had been razed and water bodies silted. in the 1990’s, the alexandria governorate allowed investors to raze farmland or silt water body to start some economic activities at the city entrance, the suez canal road (alex med, 2017). that movement takes about 10 years to attract the investors and community. in the 1990’s, some reactional facilities have been opened, but the rate of occupation had raisin after opening well-known hyper maker at the entrance of alexandria city. the facilities and activities provided by this market served and attracted the city inhabitants to head out to city border. since 2000’s and for 15 years later, a series of shops, cafes, restaurants, and other facilities established at the region. meanwhile, the inhabitants were headed along the city’s southern border to establish small and big facilities due to the scarcity of vacant lands and their prices inside alexandria city. however, this inhibition method was not under the government directions. the success of every sector or zone along the southern border started with a success of one facility that attracted the inhabitants out of the city, and then the construction method started rapidly with other similar or complementary facilities held in the place. the second city entrance, the 45th road had been urbanized according to individuals’ visions. the timeline shows the urbanization process toward the region of alexandria city two entrances is in a state of exponential growth over years (fig.2). although the governmental and inhabitants urbanization movements were not according to clear concept or trend in construction, each entrance has its own characteristic image in the urban space, defined by the economic activities (fig. 36). for example, the both sides of suez canal road are occupied by reactional, hosting and commercial facilities (fig.3-5), while the both sides of the 45th road are occupied by service facilities, schools, headquarters, and residential compounds (fig.4-6). pg. 54 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the suez canal road became the recreational destination for alexandria city inhabitants while the 45th road became a destination for essential facilities. figure 1. the city growth over the last four decades (google earth, n.d.) 3.1. the economic formation of the region the economic factor was the power of urbanization process at the city entrances. the economic activities, projects, and facilities attract the inhabitants from all over alexandria city to be vibrant destinations for the great sector of citizens despite the dangerous movements next to the regional roads (fig.5,6). both areas are not provided by tunnels or bridges for pedestrians, but the inhabitants cross the dangerous regional road constantly as a circulation between the usages. the southern border was the nearest and easiest direction for economical extension; the city gridiron planning extended along the mediterranean coast is bordered by southern agricultural region making the only permeability to be the south (fig.1). the city entrances were the sanctuary for the investors and stakeholders to establish new businesses in wider and cheaper land than inside the city. rapidly, the entrances were revived by the vibrant image of economic activities instead of open extended green farmlands. the urban image of the city entrances is changing every year according to upcoming projects. the survey showed the type of projects are confined in commerce projects (as branded shops, hypermarkets and mallsrestaurants and cafés, clubs and a hotel), schools, and residential buildings (vary from small villager homes to large residential compounds). pg. 55 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. the urbanization process along the alexandria city two entrances (2003-2016), the suez canal road, and the 45th road (google earth, 2017). pg. 56 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. the urban image at the suez canal road (yoseph, 2017). figure 4. the urban image at the 45th road (yoseph, 2017) figure 5. facilities at the suez canal road (yoseph, 2017). pg. 57 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. facilities at the 45th road (yoseph, 2017) there was not a certain vision when the razing and urbanizing processes were done even though the attached urban context to each entrance is shaped by a certain type of the economic activities and land use (see table 1). the suez canal road is connected to the city center. the projects that have been established succeeded in attracting users such as clubs, hypermarkets, malls, cafés, restaurants, and similar facilities. the 45th road in there is connected to almost the three biggest districts in alexandria city; the type of projects are schools, hypermarkets, and mega housing projects. table 1. the economic formation at alexandria city entrances alexandria entrance the suez canal road the 45th road authorized by alex med (2017) the government allowed razing farmland and silting water bodies for construction; the investors and stakeholders take that move. not authorized, landowner razed their own farmlands for construction. attached land-use the city center, the central park, main facilities in the city, class districts. the highest populated districts; sidi bisher, mandra, montaza attracted facilities clubs,hypermarkets, malls, restaurants, and mega stores. schools, workshops hypermarkets, small housing unit and mega housing projects. early attracted projects malls and mega stores schools and housing this urbanization process is an application of economic activities that are required for the city inhabitants. it grows in the only available direction according to the city formation (fig.1), regardless of its ecological impact towards the agriculture region. the following urban design principles state the economic potential at the region beyond the non-visionary urbanization process in the areas: – “economic needs’ as targets and attraction points” (rottle & yocom, 2010). the available and cheaper areas promote establishing small and big economic activities. at the suez canal road, the economic sphere is opened for reactional activities, while it is opened for small crafted business at the 45th road (fig.5:8). – ”manage sustainable economic” (jacobs, 1992). there is a spontaneous land use identified in (table 1), each are considered as stand-alone economic in both areas. attracting inhabitants agrees with the concept of ”economically viable and maintained to continue success and function of the space” (jacobs, 1992). 3.2. the social formation of the region the urban design is a process based on human activities in public realm. it is influenced by the contemporary civilization and reacted to the spatial system over years (walton, 2007). the human factor, in those cases, play a pg. 58 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd big role in shaping the street public realm. the type of users at each entrance of the city shapes the public realm, density, dimension, and characteristics. the individuals’ visions in optimizing the micro-urban space affects the overall image of the public realm, and characterize its roads civilization image (fig.5&6). the users at the suez canal road are customers, clubbers and shoppers that seek for a well-designed destination for recreation and leisure. the urban context is ordered by straight or curved lines (fig.7), formed wide streets, well-constructed facilities, and green areas. even though, it misses the national vision for constructing, identified iconic buildings or landmarks that suit the entrance of the alexandria city (fig.5). the users at the 45th road are farmers or middle-class inhabitants who seek to find a new and available settlement for inhabiting. they build middle-class housing units and establish some workshops for bread-winning (fig.6). they urbanize the area according to their sense and background, and customize the public realm according to their class vision. it is a more medieval concept than a modern one. accordingly, the spatial system is characterized by high densities, small outward expansion, narrow streets, unclear building compositions, and highly compacted spatially land uses (fig.8). the human share of well-designed urban spaces is missing. this area is also constructed in a non-national vision. the contemporary urban design principles are applying the social potential according to the levels of interacting with the type of activities (ellis, 2013). principles state the social potential at the suez canal road: – “creating a theater of public life” (tiesdell & oc, 1998), that represented in wideness between different land use; the urban context is divided separately between the types of functions (fig.7). the mega stores, clubs, mall, cafes, and restaurants are located in zones. the movement between those activities supports comprehending the full image of the overall urban space, and promote lively atmosphere between usages. – ”encouragement for more social activities within the urban fabric” (taylor, 2010), the aforementioned diversity in land use for more than function supports good social interactions. – ”enhancing the city life” (walton, 2007), the areas present a required level of service that is not available inside the city, in well-constructed facilities; attract the inhabitants from all over the city (alex med, 2017). principles state the social potential at the 45th road: – ”design in an urban context” (andersen, 2007), the urbanization process followed the agriculture land grid (fig. 8). the streets pattern are gridiron plan as the same module and rhythm of the original farmlands’, although the razing process is done randomly. that is considered as a spontaneous concept followed in the region. – ”promote social growth” (walton, 2007), the open extended gridiron plan of the agriculture region promotes horizontal extension, along and across the grid. razing farmland is against the environmental principles, but the extension is increasing over years, creating a vibrant and desirable settlement for inhabitants. this potential is required to be optimized environmentally. the social growth for the sub-neighbourhoods enriches the existing zones; the urban areas are not deserted or abandoned, but hourly occupied. it seems that inhabitants seek for the new urban zone to start a life. although the urban sprawl is not a desirable situation for city borders, the urbanization along the city are a distention. 3.3. the environmental impact at the region this urbanizing process has a negative environment impact. razing agricultural fields and silting water bodies cause serious well-known ecological problems. enact laws or regulation to prevent razing or silting processes, in this case, are considered to be superficial solutions. already existing in the egyptian law (article 35 of law 57 of 1959) is an indispensable live-able settlement in this region. this is the first environmental challenge in the area. pg. 59 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. a well-constructed urban context around the suez canal road (google earth, 2017. figure 8. a high-density urban context around the 45throad (google earth, 2017). the principle ”satisfying ecological needs and to compensate for the loss of nature” (roberts, sykes & granger, 2015) aims to mitigate negative effects of urbanization by providing the urban context with alternate green and water areas. their concept emphasizes on achieving integrated for the original ecosystem. the second challenge; urbanization process, misses contemporary urban design theories, such as less density, wider streets, low dense population, plazas, and sufficient green areas. the urbanization is growing as old slums configuration at the 45th road (fig.6), while at the suez canal road, the urbanization is growing without terms, just investment visions. the third challenge, constructions are native methods or retrograde visions. no eco-friend methods suit the region green life. these situations are existing in both city entrances. the principle ”physical manifestations of human ecologies” (jacobs, 1992) imposes satisfying ecological needs by determining the densities, concepts, and methods of the construction process. 4. discussion urban regeneration is how to obtain the potentials beyond negativities. over history, many cases show that the ongoing informal areas recreate themselves after demolishing or replacing (roberts, skyes & granger, 2015). urbanization processes at the two entrances of the alexandria city are clear cases of urban sprawl, which are considered as a big defect infects the city formation. even though there are running economic activities and vibrant urban communities stand behind this urban deformation. the urban regeneration, in those cases, revolves around the type of social formation and ongoing economic activities at each entrance. the followed methods depend on attributing the optimal required urban state to the contemporary principles that achieve highly urban rehabilitations for their type of formation and activities, requires a delicate development process that balances between the stand-alone social formation and economic activities and the ongoing razing process to mitigate the negative environmental impact. the assessment seeks to search the contemporary principles that accomplish the high objectives in this specific case such as optimizing the razing and controlling the negative effects environmentally, enhancing the sense of identity of each regional entrance social formation and achieving high urban space quality at each level socially. as well as imposing the national vision, supporting the succeeded standalone facilities and creating responsive urban context to upcoming changes economically. pg. 60 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.1. managing growing process the urban growth or expansion is a state of place value; the value may be an inherited culture, some kind of labor, specific activities, or a series of investments. those values in urban design involve the activities that make the place liveable and support the belonging. managing growing process depends on the kind of the place values; at each regional entrance of alexandria city, the economic growth manages to attract a certain class of the inhabitants and characterizes a certain social formation. the economic activities, running facilities, and social classes shape the space own values that promote their own growth, but conflict with the land-use master plan. that is a critical issue according to the urban design data. the city natural green belt must border the city without constructed areas, the agricultural land and water bodies must be preserved and the land use must be according to optimal structure density. the regions along both the entrances are driven by an interest group coalition who all benefit from continuous growth and expansion. therefore, it is hard to stop or prevent. enacted laws could not stop this uncontrolled urbanization. the ongoing growth method, at least, is required to be according to the ideal urban structure density, to control the urban sprawl expanding into rural lands, and preserve the remaining agricultural land where about 31% of farmlands were razed (alexmed, 2017). the process aims to restore the urban growth according to the urban self-perpetuating of the area. it suggests a development pattern following the succeeded economic model in the region, and achieves the new urbanism principles for dense and compact, promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types, manages the relationship between the quality of life, and suggests an economic pattern. 4.2. managing the distortion process the extended areas based on classes of individuals’ visions in constructing and urbanizing is not on an integrated design process that is started from regional planning to urban design level. the optimal required goal of the urban regeneration process is managing the space values for people than would otherwise be produced (tiesdell & oc, 1998), that can come at three levels. 4.2.1. environmentally as the economic factors attract the investors and small businesspersons to this region continuously, the slight edification is required to control the urbanization process. principles as “working with the landscape” (clifford & edwards, 2012) and “design with nature” (rottle & yocom, 2010) could restore the resulted negative environmental affect (roberts, skyes & granger, 2015). – the “working with the landscape” (taylor, 2010) could optimize the land ratio in the razing process, which means the urbanized areas will be among agricultural fields instead of infertile lands. – the “design with nature” (rottle & yocom, 2010) could control the negative effects of urbanization by preserving the natural biodiversity of the region in the urban design. imposing those principles targets conditioning the ratio of natural agricultural land around projects to enforce urbanizing in a harmony with the surrounding region as a natural landscape. the region could be revived as smallspecialized worker villages or functioning communities distributed in the open green agricultural region. that could control the connection between man, his actions, and the natural environment, and create an identified space respect the region nature. it mainly aims to convert the urbanization process from an urban sprawl to an integrated process with existing nature of the area’s agricultural formations. 4.2.2. socially the following principles promote regenerating the social potential at both regions. pg. 61 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – ”places for people” (gehl, 2006) aims to sense an identity that came out of people behavior, by providing a variety in use to be vibrant zones to wider sectors of society. – ”connect to the surrounding urban fabric” (walton, 2007), aims to achieve permeability, accessibility, and connection in the urban fabric. the natural grid of the farmland is a potential for achieving a good context hierarchy, to connect different land use visually as well as physically, and to promote circulation routes around the spaces. – ”mixed use” (jacobs, 1992) aims to enhance the quality of public realm and sustain social formation for life, by analyzing the existence use to promote the upcoming. there is a social shifting in running on the city borders that requires good management by higher optimal goals. the regions at both alexandria city entrances have a high number of population, their social factor is a powerful potential connected to the economic activities in the area. managing the social formation and its regeneration is not only by attracting more sectors of users. it is a method of controlling the quality of use to be a vibrant atmosphere. the 45 road social formation is characterized by slums areas with massive residential buildings blocks (fig.4&6). at the suez canal road, it is not slums as its mixed-use facilities in a non-national vision or designed land-use (fig. 3&5). the process of non-slumming or relocating settlements in the area is hard to process due to the power of continuous attracting the users and inhabitants. however, each region has its economic base for regenerating the social formation and sustaining the use for life that is the power to implement the first principle. controlling the ideal density comes by providing sufficient natural green areas, and creating a strong and clear hierarchy of paths, streets, and roadways network. for example, at the 45th road region, the natural gridiron plan is not in a strong hierarchy and the housing design is not clustered with series of green areas to optimize the privacy. in addition, at the same region, there are mixed-use functions between workshops and residential whereas the workshops attract customers who are strangers to the residential blocks and causes unclear movements that attack the social privacy. 4.2.3. economically over history, cities are manifested by economical means and location as a paramount success within the city’s urban formation (boundless, 2016). economic diversity in cities is always a decisive factor in urban design theory (jacobs, 1992). that concept shapes the diagrammatic land use in a cities’ master plan, as it is organizing into single land use zones. all the southern borders of alexandria city witnesses a challenge in shaping the diagrammatic land use. mainly, each entrance’s region needs an ”economic vision management” (jacobs, 1992), this principle imposes a national vision sustains an economic vision for upgrading the existence economics and maintains their continuity and growth. also, the principle of ”enrich the existing economic fabric” (gehl, 2016), is necessary for supporting the succeeded standalone facilities by empowering the land-use mater-plan and the formation of the urban contest. this principle enriches the mutual relationship between the urban fabric and the land use, which means designing land use should respond to their surrounding context by complementing each another‘s, to support the spaces strengths and minimize their weaknesses (jacobs, 1992). the third required principle for regeneration is ”design for change” (walton, 2007), to be responsive to upcoming changes in the urban fabric by proposing a flexible land use master plan contains related economic activities to the existence one. the economic regeneration aims to preserve the economic means from decay, where a non-visionary or uncontrolled method in urbanization may not have the support for continuity. 4.3. laws and regulations the contemporary urban design principles are a wide range of theories not specific methods for the rehabilitation process. using urban regeneration as an approach for implementing new policies and practices is based on an analysis process by an unlimited range of urban design principles. the research presented the most related principles to the cases formation and state. the analysis process could emerge academic framework to regenerate and pg. 62 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd optimize the urban defects at the region of the two entrances of the alexandria city comprehensively (see table 2). the study sought to draw the base for the needed laws to be enforced for regenerating the area and to control the distortion growth over coming regeneration continuously. table 2. a framework for urban regeneration process at the region of alexandria city two entrances potential beyond the uncontrolled growth entrance the suez canal road the 45th road environmental ”satisfying ecological needs and to compensate for loss of nature” (roberts, sykes & granger, 2015). regulations for evaluating the impact of the original ecosystem and measure its loss. ”physical manifestations of human ecologies” (jacobs, 1992). regulationsfor eco-friendlyconstruction methodologies socially ”creating a theatre of public life” (tiesdell & oc, 1998). ”designin an urban context” (andersen, 2007). regulationsfor promoting the urban reactional activities. regulationsfor evaluating the design order among nature. ”encouragement formore socialactivitieswithin the urban fabric” (taylor, 2010). ”promote social growth” (walton, 2007). regulations for activities’ type at each region, and stating required future fields in the areas. ”enhancing the life of the cityanditsinhabitants” (walton, 2007). regulations for creating a remarkable urban entrance for the city. regulationsfor evaluating the identified urban image. regulationsfor planning concepts and regulatory lines. economically ”economicneed and growth are a target and attraction point.” regulating reactional projects. regulating services projects. ”manage sustainable economic” (jacobs, 1992). regulations for studying continuous maintaining the activities type, land use, and price. urban regenerating process in the area entrance the suez canal road the 45th road environmental “working with the landscape” (clifford & edwards, 2012). enacting laws for stating the green area and natural farmland ratios within projects area “design with nature” (rottle & yocom, 2010). enacting laws for preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in the areas. socially ”places for people” (gehl, 2006). ”connect to the surrounding urban fabric” (walton, 2007). ”mixed use”(jacobs, 1992). continued on next page pg. 63 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued enacting laws for identify performance criteria by stating the trend, style, and characters for the land use, the constriction ratio and street network, to manage the relationship between the human, use and his action, and to reform the urban context to be as an urban characterization for each entrance identity. economically ”economic vision management” (jacobs, 1992). ”enrich the existing economic fabric” (gehl, 2006). ”design for change” (walton, 2007). enacting laws to state the vision for an upcoming project in a master plan, to sustain the economic factors. supporting reacting supportingthesmall business, services facilities, and workshops. regeneration process may base on merging civil life with urban nature to compensate the missing urban criteria as less population and construction dense, wider streets and sufficient public areas. table 2 shows the urban regeneration as an approach for rehabilitating the region of the alexandria city two entrances. the approach based on contemporary principles that are flourished from similar case studies around the world and stated as urban design theories. based upon, this approach suggested required laws and regulations as a base for rehabilitating the region, and it could absorb more regulatory laws that emerged from similar analysis process. 5. conclusion when alexander the greater founded the alexandria city, he developed a small-succeeded fishing village called rhakotis. this process depended on the potential of the existence small settlement to be the well-known alexandria city, as an ideal example for urban regeneration concept. urbanization and urban sprawl are terms that refer to damages, deteriorations or distortions in the urban realm, but the ongoing urban life beyond this image is the key elements for the regeneration process. the southern region of alexandria city is witnessing an uncontrolled urbanized process that grows towards the agricultural region constantly, and may be faster than required enacted laws to regulate the razing for the urbanization process. this urbanization process resulted from required economic activities for alexandria city, and supported types of social activities at each region. that caused some negative environmental impacts. in addition, the urbanization process was state of urban sprawl formed some informal areas, but each entrance of the city has its own urban character. the suez canal road is characterized by a universal style for different types of economic recreational activities. the 45th road is characterized by distorted urban areas that reflect the struggle between the individuals’ power in creating their own realm and their optimal goal of achieving higher standards of living. each zone was urbanized in absence of national economic vision or organized legislations. enacting laws to rehabilitate each region needs a scientific approach to manage the distorted changes continuously. the contemporary principles are based on a literature; using those principles to rehabilitate the region must involve a thorough analysis for the existence settlement to empower the hidden economic and social potential in the process as the following: – the traditional way as demolishing informal areas for total restructure is not effective, it is like facing a power of a vibrant settled community, the resulted social and economic damages are greater than to be contained. mostly, the areas will recreate itself again. pg. 64 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – the ecological damages caused by the urbanization process need a delicate development process to manage the balance between the stand-alone economic activities and the ongoing razing process. inadequate legislations are required to involve preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in the areas. – the economic activities and the type of the social life created in the areas are the basis for creating the urban pattern. even the environmental deteriorations become constraints in the restructuring process. – the inhabitants’ vision in settling in the region could be the base for stating trends, styles and characters for the land use. in a brief, avoid ignoring the social factors (as the citizens, the government, and the private sector) in shaping the urban pattern. – the relationship between the human and his actions can reform the urban context, and power creating an identity for the urban formation. – avoid the lack of experimentation with the updated urban theories, and avoid ignoring how areas have traditionally arisen from social, economic, cultural, political and ecological changes throughout time the suggested approach aims to cultivate the urban distortion and support the vibrant atmosphere at the two regions on many levels. also, enforce the perception sense of ecological aspect in a built-up environment, which could help in creating better place suite the type of uses. the required regulations are extending to existing situations as supplements to the vibrant potential in the areas to form the certain quality of their public realm coming regeneration. references ellis, c. 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(1992). the death and life of great american cities(2nd ed., pp. 22,30,86) penguin books. roberts p, sykes h & granger r. (2015). urban regeneration (1st ed., pp. 118,201,230,310) thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. rottle n, yocom, k. (2010). ecological design.(1st ed., pp. 12,19,23,50) lausanne, switzerland: ava publishing taylor, n. (2010). urban planning theory since 1945(1st ed.). los angeles: sage publications. wall e, waterman t. (2010). basics landscape architecture 01: urban design(1st ed.) lausanne: ava academia. walton, d. (2007). urban design compendium (1st ed., pp. 21, 35, 48, 60, 105, 118, 133, 141) london: llewelyndavies. clancy j. (2017). the origins of the principle of contemporary urban design theory. retrieved from: https://www. academia.edu/1202649/the origins of the principle of contemporary urban design theory. andersen, h. s. (2007). results from the first evaluation. in e. højgaard jensen, & a. munk (eds.), kvarterløft.: ten years of urban regeneration (pp. 51-58). københavn: integrationsministeriet. pg. 65 yoseph / environmental science and sustainable development, essd alex med, alexandria database, reports. (2017). retrieved from https://www.bibalex.org/alexmed/alexandriad atabase/reports.aspx boundless. (2016) models of urban growth. retrieved from: https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/bou ndless-sociology-textbook/population-and-urbanization-17/urbanization-and-the-development-of-cities-123/mode ls-of-urban-growth-698-10481/ references pg. 66 introduction theoretical base of urban design issues and principles analyzing the urbanization process at the two entrances of alexandria city: the economic formation of the region the social formation of the region the environmental impact at the region discussion managing growing process managing the distortion process environmentally socially economically laws and regulations conclusion http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.559 natural urban heritage and preservation policies: the case of kyoto’s waterways. tyana santini1, takahiro taji2 1assistant professor, architecture department, universidad ort, uruguay 2associate professor in the graduate school of engineering, kyoto university abstract the value of natural heritage within urban areas is nowadays gaining recognition, but there are still no clear reference frameworks to confront the complexities of their management. in this discussion, the challenges of the association of historical preservation and urban nature are explored through the analysis of the management of kyoto’s waterways. the conflicts caused by the rapid modernization of japan at the end of 19th century find in kyoto a remarkable expression in the tensions between renovation and conservation, providing a fertile frame for discussion. relevant achievements and shortcomings of kyoto´s experience are here analyzed, considering how the preservation of historic landscapes affected the protection of urban rivers, the relationship between sustainability and heritage, and the new environmentally aware approaches to river improvement. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban waterways; heritage and sustainability; natural heritage 1. introduction kyoto’s natural and historical heritage the ancient capital of japan stands out from other urban centers of the country because of its rich historical heritage and unique natural setting. the city is located in a basin surrounded with mountains to the north (kitayama), east (higashiyama), and west (nishiyama), with numerous rivers running through its millenary layout. since the 8th century, its remarkable natural scenery inspired members of the imperial court to build palaces and gardens that blended with the surrounding nature, complementing the countless temples and shrines scattered in and around the city. this blend of historical sites and remarkable landscapes have become trademark of the city and it is said that they even saved it from the bombings of world war two. while in most japanese cities the limited green areas have contributed to the motto ‘rich japan-poor japanese’ (sorensen & funk, 2007), kyoto has been relatively favored by its strong preservation policies that have promoted maintenance of its natural areas. one of the natural features more prevalent across the city are its waterways, which are deeply associated to its culture and traditions. within japan, kyoto was known for the quality of its ground and underground water, which was believed to be the reason behind the outstanding quality of its vegetables, its sweets, and its sake. the water from kyoto also gained the reputation of having purifying and magical properties. one the most celebrated temples pg. 95 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of the city, the kyomizudera (pure water temple), still carries the legend of the cleansing and wishing granting powers of the streams that run through its precincts, attracting tourists and locals in search of a change of luck. once a year, during the renowned celebration gion matsuri, the portable shrines of the procession are purified with the waters of the city´s main river, the kamo river (or river of the ducks). as in many other cities, commercial and industrial activities gathered around water sources that were essential for the life and economy of the city, and this way, many of kyoto´s waterways became intrinsically linked with urban areas of historic relevance. rivers provided water for households, industries, and agriculture, as well as serving as transportation routes. however, contrary to most european urban rivers, the shallow banks and irregular flow of kyoto´s watercourses were not suitable for transportation in their natural state. this situation, together with the frequent floods, prompted the early engineering and modification of river courses and the creation of channels since its early history. for example, the horikawa canal was dug during the 9th century with the main purpose of carrying goods along the city, and eventually, to osaka through the yodo river (kyoto city municipality, 2010). the canal was also used as means of flood control of its tributaries, to create the moat of the city´s castle (nijo), to feed the ponds of the gardens of shrines and temples of the area, and as water supply for the renowned textile industry of nishijin district. in 1868 the capital of japan was transfer to tokyo, and kyoto, the old imperial capital, started to suffer an economic decline. renovation and modernization measures were taken to confront this issue. one of the most important renovation works was the lake biwa canal. this unprecedented project, carried out by tanabe sakuro, became internationally renowned for its ingenuity and engineering prowess. the twenty kilometer canal provided running and irrigation water for kyoto city and its surrounding areas, and it fed the turbines of the first public hydroelectric generator that powered kyoto´s flourishing industries, its street lights, and the first electric trams of japan. the canal also brought new waterfront landscapes to the city along its main branch, heart of the okazaki district, and along its secondary branches that created new public spaces, as the promenade of the philosopher’s path. the rapid modernization that japan experienced at the end of 19th century radically changed many of its cityscapes. however, the natural and historic values of kyoto helped defined the city´s character as the keeper of traditional culture. although the economic pressures of development have been a constant challenge for the preservation of both natural and built heritage, the protection of these values was always important for the city managers who were aware of the importance of the touristic industry for the city´s economy. in 1898, naiki jinzaburo, the first major of kyoto, established the urban priorities that would define the city´s later development: gather the commercial activities in the south, maintain the historical districts and its traditional industries (as the textile industry or the production of sake), and preserve the natural landscapes of the east of the city. however, the natural areas protected were mostly those associated to historic places, and the protection of isolated natural features as rivers and canals was not considered. by mid-20th century the condition of urban streams and canals in non-historic areas gradually declined because the loss of their original functions and the effects of urban growth. in the suburbs, several water courses were buried or just disappeared. several of kyoto’s rivers were piped during the city’s modernization as a measure against floods, and following the industrial growth, a severe water pollution anticipated the environmental crisis of the 1960s. as a result of the ‘urban stream syndrome’ (walsh, et al., 2005) experienced by kyoto’s rivers, citizens turned their backs on the deteriorated streams. it was not until the 1970s and 1980s when the application of strict national and regional regulations led to an improvement the water quality of kyoto’s urban streams, and contemporary shifts in values are increasing the awareness of the potential of urban watercourses. in the following sections, some aspects kyoto’s management of nature and waterways as natural heritage will be discussed, considering how the preservation of historic landscapes affected the protection of urban rivers, the relationship between sustainability and heritage, and the new environmentally aware approaches to river improvement. pg. 96 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. aesthetic landscapes, tradition, and sustainability files the preservation of natural areas has a long tradition in kyoto. the first measures for the preservation of natural areas in and around the city begun in 1930 with the designation of the scenic landscape districts. this first measure considered mainly the natural areas located at the limits of the city near the surrounding mountains and some patches of green areas within the urban fabric. all the protected green areas were related to places of historic importance as palaces or temples, as the kiyomizudera located in the eastern mountains (kyoto city bureau, 2016). among the few protected green areas of kyoto that were not associated with built heritage were the banks of kamo river, the main river of kyoto that has been for long one the city´s most popular public areas. the extraordinary growth of the city after world war 2 put under test kyoto´s preservation measures, but a number of new policies helped confront the situation. in 1964, what began as a dispute over the conservation of the forests of kamakura city near tokyo —the oyatsu dispute— ended in the ancient capitals preservation law of 1966, which provided kyoto’s municipality with more legal tools to protect the historic landscapes from the growing urbanization (asano, 1999). preservation measures could not always be applied efficiently, and because of the pressure of land development they needed constant updates. in the following years, several amendments and new policies were created to improve the protection legislation, as, among others, the act on urban green space conservation (created in 1973 to be valid in all kansai region) created to protect suburban greenery, the kyoto city ordinance on conservation of natural landscape (enacted in 1995) to protect the view of the mountain ranges from the city, and special regulations for specific areas as the riverside aesthetic landscape district (2005) made to control the development the areas near the margins of urban and suburban rivers. although today the preservation of urban natures makes emphasis on sustainability and on the benefits of nature for the citizens, the protection of kyoto’s urban natures has been traditionally related to cultural and aesthetic interests. it is for that reason that one of the most important conservation tools was, and still is, the protection of views (or vistas). the protection of urban and natural views is certainly not unique to kyoto or japan. vancouver for example has protected view cones to guard the mountain landscape as appreciated from the city, while in london, protected views corridors were established since the 1930s to protect the views of important landmarks as the st. paul’s cathedral (karaga, 2015). in kyoto, there are thirty-eight officially recognized vistas under the vistaed view creation ordinance (all of which include natural features) that were selected out of 597 options taken from literature and citizens choices (kyoto city bureau, 2007). despite the predominantly aesthetic emphasis of this approach, the city’s rivers and its waterfronts have nonetheless greatly benefited from these measures that have protected the green areas along the main urban rivers. the new ordinance includes the category of views from waterfronts, which includes the hori river, the uji river, and the lake biwa canal sluice, as well as the ‘pleasant views’ of the kamo river from its bridges (kyoto city bureau, 2007). in japan, the protection of views is associated with the traditional gardening design concept of borrowed landscape or shakkei (taylor, 2006). when applying this concept, the distant natural background is used in combination with the nearer features of the landscape to create the illusion of continuity. unlike the protection of the landscape as the object to be appreciated, shakkei focuses in the interaction of the different layers of the landscape. in kyoto, the intrusion of unwanted objects in borrowed landscapes is considered a major loss, as in the case of the garden of the entsu-ji temple, which is said to be now ruined by the construction of housing buildings that interrupt the illusion of a continuous nature. to prevent this from happening elsewhere, there are strict height restrictions in the areas surrounding buildings of historical importance, as the kamigamo shrine in the north of the city and in the traditional district of gion near the city center (figure 1). at several points along the kamo river for example, the protected views have helped maintain the illusion of a surrounding nature that hides the city behind the greenery (figure 2). pg. 97 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 1. heights limitation to protect mountain views source: kyoto landscape.kyoto city bureau figure 2. view of kyoto from the kamo river source: taken by author, 2018 due to the abundance of natural values in kyoto and its close relation to built heritage, the preservation policies of the city are in close agreement with the historic urban landscape, which as defined by the unesco, is the resulting landscape of the historic layering of cultural and natural values and attributes. in the 2011 recommendations for historic urban landscapes, the unesco suggested that heritage conservation should be integrating into the broader management goals of the city, including sustainability. preserving existing resources is an essential part of sustainability, and therefore, the conservation of natural and built heritage is now considered a necessary task of sustainable urban management. but the relation between sustainability and heritage is not restricted to the preservation of resources. the compatibility of traditional practices and sustainability is a well-recognized fact in practices as varied as food production or architecture (parham, 2017; moor, 2017), and this agreement has also proven to be manifest in urban planning. in the case of kyoto, a good example in this respect are the measures taken in the historic togetsukyo bridge, that crosses the katsura river in the protected area of arashiyama. the current bridge was built in 1934, before the enforcement of laws promoting the use of lighting equipment, and therefore lights in the bridge were banned once pg. 98 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the bridge reached the heritage status. however, after long negotiations, the installation of lighting on the historic bridge was finally accepted after proposing a sustainable solution that included a small hydraulic power generator powered by the flow of katsura river (national small-hydro council, 2015). the installation began in 2005, and it became the first micro-hydropower system to be installed in one of the major rivers of japan, illustrating the promising potential for the application of environmentally friendly strategies in historical areas. on the other hand, the increasing environmental awareness has also led to the modification of some of kyoto´s traditions, as in the case of the practice of ‘yuzen nagashi’. this old tradition was the final stage of the dyeing process of fabrics, in which silk stripes were placed along the rivers of kyoto to clear them of excessive glue and dye, creating the effect of a multi-coloured water. in the 1940s, because of the growing concerns with water pollution, this practice was gradually discouraged until it was eliminated under the water pollution control law of 1974 (diet library database, 2010). today, a modified version of this practice is recreated for special festivals during the summer, using non-polluting colorful fabrics placed along some of the rivers and canals of the city. since the protection kyoto’s rivers and their environments has been driven mainly by their association to historical heritage and aesthetic values, the waterways that have received more attention over the years have been the kamo river and its margins, the takano river in the north of the city, the shirakawa river, particularly the section that runs along the historic protected area of gion, and the lake biwa canal. however, for most of the 20th century, minor rivers and streams without an apparent scenic value that could justify its protection have disappeared or deteriorated. for example, the horikawa canal, which once had a tremendous importance for the activities of the west of the city, once it lost it original functions it was gradually covered in most of its course and, as a measure of flood prevention, its water source was cut soon after the second world war. it was not until 1985 that a group of citizens formed the horikawa beautification group to try to restore some of its former aesthetic qualities. after years of negotiations, a restoration plan was presented in 1995, and the canal that had been buried and dried for fifty five years was brought to new life with a plan that combines flood prevention, amenity, and recovered heritage (kyoto city municipality, 2010)(figures 3 and 4). this change of attitude towards urban watercourses is the reflection of a worldwide trend of renewed environmental awareness that leads contemporary citizens to increase the demands for the improvement of the natural infrastructure of cities, which is helping to build a more diversified approach to the management of urban natures. figure 3. horikawa canal during the early 1990s source: kyoto city official website pg. 99 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. horikawa canal in 2013 source: biglobe news 2013/04/23 3. new approaches to the management of natural heritage besides the protections of rivers through the preservation of the natural urban landscapes, national and regional legislation for the management of rivers. however, the goal of these legal measures has traditionally been the control of floods, which is a priority of kyoto’s municipality. historically, floods have cause great damage to the city and its surrounding, specially along the courses of the kamo, the katsura, and the uji rivers, where many historic protected areas are located (figures 5 and 6). measures against floods started as early as the 9th century, but the changing conditions of factors affecting the flow of rivers, as the construction of dams, forestation or the surrounding mountains, and weather conditions, keep testing the improvements made in flood prevention. for example, the heavier rains occurring during the last years have caused serious problems since the infrastructure was not fit to bear the new precipitation levels. during the typhoon man-yi of 2013, more rain fell in one day than in the average of the month (masaki & kono, 2015), prompting the flood of the hozu-katsura river in the historic area of arashiyama, and causing considerable harm to the area. in 2018, the effects of the typhoon prapiroon forced the evacuation of hundreds of kyoto citizens living near the major rivers while the currents wrecked the city´s riparian infrastructure. improved flood prevention measures have greatly improved safety, and, since the risk of flood is cannot be completely eradicated because of the mutable nature of rivers, policies are focus on reducing flood damage (waley, 2000). figure 5. traditional street pontocho, 1936 flood. source: 1936, flood report, kyoto city hall pg. 100 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. togetsukyo bridge, arashiyama, 2013 flood source: asahi journal news portal, 19/01/2018 although flood prevention is still one of the main priorities of national and regional river administration, the approach of the river law amended in 1997, has added water use and river environment protection as equally important purposes of river administration (ikeuchi and kanao, 2003). the full ecological potential of urban rivers is being explored and exploited only recently. a previous measure from 1990 from the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism established a policy called nature oriented river works, and with the amendment of the river law this measure took new force and nowadays is slowly reaching urban rivers minor urban streams. in addition to the increasing attention paid to river environment quality in legal measures and official administration, contemporary awareness on environmental issues has led to a growing influence of the japanese preservation movements, which are now reaching urban grounds. traditionally, the efforts of environmental activists manly targeted the wild and hard-to-find nature, located as a rule in areas distant from urban centers (asano, 2007). however, the interest in smaller ecosystems, as the ones that might exists within cities, is gradually increasing. the interest in the creation and preservation natural areas within urban contexts is broadening the approach to the management of water environments, expanding the initial safety and aesthetic concerns into a more systemic view that considers its ecological aspects. until recently, the way in which the manmade natural riverbanks were conceived tended to be uni-layered, focusing mainly in visual aspects, and therefore created meagre environments for biodiversity. today it is understood that the natural areas along urban rivers can be managed as ‘bio-highways’ (taylor & patrick, 2006), since they are the most propitious areas within urban environments to promote rich and complex ecosystems. it has to be noted that, when it comes to japanese urban watercourses, the categories of man made and original natures are extremely blurred. as pointed out before, kyoto’s rivers have been tamed since its foundation in the 8th century for purposes of irrigation, transportation, or flood protection, and countless canals have been created, rearranged, and removed. within the contemporary landscape plan of the city of kyoto, the riverside category of the aesthetic landscape districts includes mainly engineered rivers and man-made canals as the takase river, a transportation canal dug in the 17th century, or the famous biwa lake canal, which was designated as modernization heritage in 2007 because of its importance for the history of kyoto. the urbanized riversides of these canals might contrast with some sections of the landscaped margins of the kamo river designed to look natural, but it has to be considered that both of these contexts are equally planned and deliberately crafted (figures 7 and 8). the category of historic urban landscape includes built heritage as well as natural heritage in its border sense (without considering the level of human intervention), but when dealing with environmental issues the distinction between of original and modified nature (as in a natural stream or a designed canal) becomes more complicated because of the association with the debates on which natures should be preserved and how (baldwin, de luce, & pletsch, 1994). pg. 101 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd without attempting to address the ethical or philosophical implications of the debates regarding original and modified environments, some basic facts of nature within urban contexts need to be clarified. first, what is generally classified as natural in urban planning differs from the definitions used in environmental discussions dealing with wilderness, and considerations about original states of nature or rewilding approaches are not always suitable for the urban contexts. urban natures refer for the most part to areas where the majority of the integrating elements are living natural features, category which includes from relatively untamed urban forests to the most cultured versions of nature as parks or gardens. secondly, the action of preserving or creating natural environments within cities has usually a different purpose than the protection of nature in areas uninhabited by humans. within urban contexts, the role of nature as an amenity usually takes priority over the concerns on ecosystems, which is a relatively new concept that is only beginning to be included in the discussions of urban nature. figure 7. lake biwa canal, okazaki district source: taken bythe author, 2015 figure 8. kamo river landscaping, kita guard source: taken by the author, 2015 the expansion of the approach to river protection in kyoto is being achieved through the integration of the civil society into the management process, while also considering the local history and traditions, measures which are also in line with the suggestions of unesco for the preservation of historic urban landscapes from 2011. within japanese urban planning, the national and regional governments were traditionally seen as mere managers of infrastructure (sorensen & funk, 2007), without real engagement with the improvement of the urban quality of pg. 102 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd life. according the japanese scholar shun-ichi j. watanabe (2007), a new urban environmental administration with a bottom-up style of planning is currently growing in japan thanks to the machi-zukuri movements (which literally translates as city making). these civic associations grew out of the combination of the traditional neighborhood associations and the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s that confronted government strategies that favored economic growth over quality of life. since the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s, there have been important political readjustments, and local groups have been increasingly involved in the governance of urban space (sorensen & funk, 2007). the current river improvement policy of the city of kyoto has integrated the concept of river making (kawazukuri) and waterfront making (mizube-zukuri) into its measures to manage the city’s watercourses. in japan, these concepts have been applied since 1990s as pilot projects promoted by the ministry of construction´s river bureau to approach the re-landscaping or rivers with natural materials, minimizing when possible the use of concrete, which was for many decades the predominant material used to in the river interventions (waley, 2000). the idea behind the integration of civil movements with municipal activities in the particular case of kyoto is to complement the complex tasks of flood prevention, which need to be carried out by the government, with other responsibilities that can be executed by citizens and local businesses, as landscaping, cleaning, and maintenance of riversides (kyoto city bureau, 2012).with the integration of river making programs, smaller rivers of areas that were not considered significant from the perspective of kyoto’s official history are being renovated with a systemic approach. many of these projects are part of an effort to merge existing watercourses and flood control, but contrary to the infrastructural projects of the previous decades, current developments consider the cultural and ecological context, as well as the aesthetic factor. some examples of these projects are the improvements of the arizu river, or the nanase river, where a layered project placed the flood prevention measures underground liberating the surface to create a landscaped park (made by tanaka survey and design office, figures 9 and 10). a significant aspect emphasized in the river improvement policy is the importance of recognizing the history and cultural meanings associated with the water course. the policy points out that the original scenery of the river and its margins should be considered in the renovation projects (kyoto city bureau, 2012). it has to be noted that in the case of kyoto, as elsewhere in japan, references to the original state of the river as in its natural state or to the way the river environment was before human intervention, are not as common as references to the condition of the river before the late 19th century modernization. many renovation and re-landscaping projects in kyoto and other cities place educational images of past epochs (mainly edo period) showing the local traditions, industries, and activities that took place in and around urban rivers. the new approach recognizes the social relevance of watercourses of all sizes, acknowledging that rivers are an integral part of the material fabric of the city, and of kyoto’s local cultures. in the new policy, it is argued that the loss of contact with the water has caused the loss of the common wisdom on how to control flooding and manage watercourses, and the improvement plans include measures to restore the familiarity of the society with the rivers, a concept called shinsui, that even considers the consciousness to ‘fear’ water (kyoto city bureau, 2012, p. 20). many restoration projects are using the concept of shinsui park, and create designs that allow the public to approach and interact with the water instead of creating an environment that only allows to see the watercourse from the distance, and also include many features of traditional japanese gardens as waterfalls, bridges, and the creation of little islands (walley, 2000). although there are some critics of this landscaping concept in japan, shinsui parks in kyoto, as the one designed for the renovation of horikawa canal, have proven to be extremely popular, particularly for children. river making associations come in many shapes and administration styles (kusakabe, 2013). the participation of civil societies in city planning is not always easy, and there is it is concern that the alleged participation could be reduce to a mere supply of information on the official plans. still, the involvement of non-governmental entities as the kyoto environmental activities association (keaa) that promotes the public interest in the environment, the volunteer groups that clean the riverfronts, or the association of kyoto hotaru (fireflies) dedicated to study of these popular insects, has propitiated a more comprehensive approach to the urban river management. pg. 103 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. nanase river, before intervention source: kyoto city official website figure 10. nanase river, layered plan source: kyoto city official website 4. final considerations although environmental concerns have entered the legal framework of river management relatively recently, kyoto’s interest on the preservation of the natural values of the city, particularly the interest on landscapes and vistas, have aided the protection of the city´s watercourses and its environments. unfortunately, the emphasis placed on historic relevance and aesthetic values to determine the landscapes to preserve led to the neglect and deterioration of most secondary streams and canals of the city, dedicating all the protection efforts to a few privileged examples as the kamo river or the biwa canal. there is still much room for improvement, however, recognizing the historical and cultural dimension of the natural and engineered urban streams, even when they have no touristic value, has helped kyoto’s municipality to improve the urban landscape while generating new and valuable ecosystems. the contemporary awareness on the importance of the protection of the environment by citizens and officials, have made sustainability a concept as valued as tradition in the management of kyoto’s heritage, as shown in the case of the togetsukyo bridge where new sustainable solutions coexists with age-old heritage. at the same time, this new consciousness of the importance of the environment has created a new sensibility towards nature that led to the reexamination of past solutions for flood control, and the concrete casements of urban streams are gradually being remodeled into landscaped urban parks. the current tendency in kyoto’s management of rivers is to create fine grained policies, each one adapted to the local characteristics and circumstances. despite the skepticism about the real power gained by civil society in the decision-making process of urban planning, the advantages of sharing efforts have been so far a positive experience. the evolution of the protection and management of kyoto’s urban rivers reflects the changing attitudes of society towards the natural environment. civil movements and researchers are addressing countless dimensions of the pg. 104 santini / environmental science and sustainable development, essd complex environment of urban rivers —as the influence of sound and light pollution, or the user’s interactions with the local flora and fauna— that could further enrich current practices. the citizen’s interest in environmental issues, together with the public acceptance of sustainable measures as a suitable complement of traditional settings has potential that is worthy of exploration. 5. acknowledgments this research is part of a larger investigation in kyoto’s waterways supported by japan foundation 6. references 1. asano, t. 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(2005) the urban stream syndrome: current knowledge and the search for a cure. journal of the north american benthological society,24(3) 706-723. 28. watanabe, s. (2007) “toshi keikaku vs machizukuri: emerging paradigm of civil society in japan, 19501980.” in a. sorensen and c. funk (eds.) living cities in japan (pp.189-205). london: routledge. pg. 106 introduction aesthetic landscapes, tradition, and sustainability new approaches to the management of natural heritage final considerations acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.555 revitalization strategy for historic core of ahmedabad utpal sharma1, parag mistry2, reema prajapati3 1director, institute of architecture and planning, nirma university 2assistant professor, institute of architecture and planning, nirma university 3visiting faculty, institute of architecture and planning, nirma university abstract in india, dense historic urban settlements were developed with the intention of provision of spaces for adequate engagement of the people. public squares and streets became important places of interaction. ‘historic core,’ especially had public spaces meant for various socioeconomic groups. ahmedabad city is a blend of a harmonious past and a vivacious present. number of historical and architecturally important buildings were built during muslim and moghul rules. one of the first built structures within the walled city is the bhadra fort, a citadel founded by sultan ahmed shah in 1411 with a huge public square in front, developed for purpose of procession and gathering. this bhadra precinct went through various layers of transformation in different eras and now have become vulnerable due to congestion and encroachment. though, a need for intervention was felt to bring back the lost vitality of the bhadra precinct, it was realized that a comprehensive approach would be the necessity. conservation and sensitive development approach was taken to tackle this problem through pedestrianization of the bhadra precinct, re-routing of traffic and restoration of bhadra fort. larger level traffic and parking issues were also considered beyond the site. alternative use of bhadra fort as tourist information center was considered. urban design guidelines were proposed for harmonious development in the surrounding area. this proposal was considered for funding under jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission (jnnurm) and was implemented. many issues were faced during implementation of bhadra project due to contextualization of informal commercial, religious and other cultural activities. political, social and administrative factors also played immense role in implementation of proposal. now since ahmedabad has achieved the status of world heritage city through unesco certification further implementation of this project will be relatively easy due to envisaged strong political and administrative support. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords revitalization; restoration; historic core; intervention; public square; bhadra; world heritage city 1. historic core as a place for public interaction there are key buildings and spaces around, which the city arranges itself a temple or grand mosque, a fort or a palace with market squares, etc. this place and the buildings give rich feeling of sense of belonging -continuity and identity. historic urban settlements have been an asset to the city since decades. public squares and streets became important means of interactions. ‘historic core,’ especially had a public square meant for various strata of pg. 45 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd public interaction. historic core may be defined as the neighborhood or environs of a place or a group of buildings that share or partly contain common physical, social, cultural activities. most indian towns and cities with a long history, have areas of strong architectural character, which are not formed. these in fact are the result of centuries of growth over which new elements are constantly juxtaposed with older ones. old buildings and older areas of the city are the assets as they represent history of the communities, embodying their tradition, heritage, and culture through architecture and urban form (intach, 2015). table 1. nomenclature amc ahmedabad municipal corporation asi archaeological survey of india cept center for environmental planning and technology gdcr gujarat development control regulations jnnurm jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission sewa self-employed women’s association unesco united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization 1.1. need for revitalization of historic core historic urban settlements is undergoing rapid changes and decline due to the pressures of urbanization. the historic core has become vulnerable over the period due these pressures. decay of historic core often occurs within the context due to extreme density, overcrowding, and encroachments. conversion of public square into smaller space leads to loss of engagement of people. there has always been a debate whether in any urban project, planning can be done taking historic developments into account. the protection and revitalization of historic center is a vital issue today as its existence is threatened by changing urban fabric. it is intimate and human in scale, often rich in diverse cultural, religious and social activities, they provide the variety in life’s background needed to match the diversity of society and that, by doing, so they gain value and acquire additional human dimensions (urbis limited, 2001). buildings with architectural significance and traditional values surrounding historic core are also considered for their preservation and conservation. preservation of these heritage structures requires maintenance and is necessary to maintain the building precinct or artifact in its present state to prevent and retard deterioration. conserving the unprotected historic core and architectural heritage surrounding the site ensures the survival of sense of place and character in a globalizing environment (unesco, 2013). it offers the opportunity not only to conserve the past, but also to define the future. thus, the conservation and revitalization of historic urban center seek to retain the part of the urban environment whose character is important to national and local heritage. 2. ahmedabad old city and the site 2.1. history ahmedabad is the seventh largest city of india and the largest city located in the state of gujarat. the city is a blend of a harmonious past and a vivacious present. the city owing to its rapid industrialization, is also referred to as the ‘manchester of the east’. in spite of high industrial growth, it has retained its past glory as of imposing architectural monuments built in hindu and islamic styles. the city’s, prosperous and eventful past and present is embodied in its rich kaleidoscope of history, art and culture, rich architecture and imposing monuments. the river sabarmati divides ahmedabad into two physically distinct eastern and western regions. the eastern bank of the river constitutes the old city, which includes the central area of bhadra (ahmedabadonline, 2008). the walled city of ahmedabad was founded in 1411 a.d. by sultan ahmed shah. the city is fairly, semi-circular, which is similar to many naturally grown cities on a river bank, core in the centre and radiating streets connecting the centre to the edge. the city enclosed by a strong fort wall, has a mixed pattern of activities and street layout. pg. 46 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the walled city of ahmedabad has all the historic characteristics with many historic buildings like fort, fort walls, gates, temples, mosques, and pols with its traditional houses. figure 1. map showing a walled city of ahmedabad and heritage monuments within bhadra fort precincts stroll in the walled city takes one down the memory lane, making one aware of the city’s glorious past. it is now packed with bazaars, the clustered and barricaded pol system of shanty buildings (traditional housing of ahmedabad old city) with numerous places of worship. most dominant, elements of the city are located on the eastern bank of the river. these elements are the royal quarters, the maidan (the square), and the mosque complex that originate from the river and follow the main street, now called gandhi road — ‘bazaar street’ (shopping street). the square in front of the bhadra fort used to be identified as ‘maidan-e-shahi’ (royal plaza). the british east india company took over the city in 1818 (ahmedabad, 2007). ahmedabad grew rapidly, becoming an important center of trade and textile manufacturing. structures like karanj police station, police booth and bank got built during the british rule in india. these structures were located inside the bhadra square within disturbed historic context. further, the construction of new architecturally significant buildings during the modern era in west ahmedabad led to a decline in visitors to the fort precinct. lack of adequate guidelines relating to formal and informal commercial activity zones in the old city has led to increasing encroachments by informal commercial activities, endangering the structure and spatial qualities of the monuments (burgess, 1900). 2.2. bhadra fort and its importance ahmedabad blends harmoniously as an ancient heritage city with a vibrant present. number of historical and architecturally important building exists even today were built during the muslim and moghul rule. one of the first built structures within the walled city is the bhadra fort, a citadel founded by sultan ahmed shah in 1411. bhadra fort served as the centre of royal government of the city during the moghul rule. the area between bhadra fort to teen darwaza was known as maidan-eshahi henceforth mentioned as bhadra square. it was designed as a processional space containing the main market place for the city. spread over an astounding 43 acres of land, the fort precinct houses many palatial buildings. the bhadra fort and gate are under the protection of asi, while azam khan palace is owned by the government of gujarat. the fort gets its name from the bhadra kali temple being located within the fort precinct, a temple built during the maratha rule, a heritage structure in its own right. the planning concept evolved around the central area of bhadra. the bhadra fort makes an axis with teen darwaza (triple arched gateway). on the south side of the axis is the main complex of jami mosque with the king’s, and the queen’s tombs. further south, and somewhat east of this complex’s spatial sense, the area is the main wholesale and retail trade centre of the town. presently, it is the busiest part of the town and congestion, overcrowding and chaotic traffic conditions. – heritage monuments in bhadra fort precinct pg. 47 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ahmedabad is endowed with a rich architectural heritage that is vital to the local identity and continuity of the place (amc & auda, 2018). the heritage potential of the walled city is immense in most of the aspects like economically, culturally, socially and aesthetically for the city and to the state of gujarat in a larger context. unesco in 2018, declared ahmedabad walled city as a world heritage site. hence, protection, and revitalization of historic centre, an ancient environment becomes a vital issue today as its existence is endangered. since, past few decades, the old city has undergone significant changes. the original form of several structures has been altered to a large extent significantly. today, the old city area has become a major commercial centre for the entire ahmedabad city. the area is congested due to heavy traffic of two & three wheeler and lack of parking facilities. several monuments of heritage significance are located within and in close proximity to the bhadra fort precinct. the famous teen darwaza, another major tourist attraction in ahmedabad, lies at the eastern end of the fort. initially, it served as an entrance to the royal plaza in the fort precinct. ahmed shah’s, mosque situated southwest of bhadra fort was built in 1414 and is amongst the city’s earliest mosques (auda, amc & cept, 2006). the azam khan sarai located adjacent to the bhadra fort, was built in 1637-38. the main street of the bhadra chowk, now called gandhi road is a ‘bazaar street’. the bazaar street is the major commercial area having a series of shops and are now encroached by daily job seekers and therefore required intervention in the form of redevelopment of the historic core. figure 2. existing site (source: author) bhadra precinct is believed to be the origin point of the city characterized by several pols, historical buildings/structures, marketplaces, cultural centers, religious places, etc. (vastu shilpa foundation, 2015). many important buildings and structures like bhadra fort, teen darwaza, bhadra kali temple etc. are located in this area. famous market places like manek chowk, fernandez bridge book bazaar, etc. are also found in this area. also, city-level transport terminals like lal darwaza bus stop and important buildings like city civil court, premabhai hall etc. also form a section of this part of the old city. for a long period of time, these structures were neglected and hence were in a state of disrepair with bhadra palace, it’s precinct, city wall and its gates in dilapidated condition. this urban heritage constitutes a living context, a technology, and a morphology, which required to be restored and adapted to meet the needs of the day (auda, amc & cept, 2006). the bhadra precinct displays new structures that have been added haphazardly with no respect to historic context. lack of maintenance has led to collapses in the structure. all these factors, including the inadequate infrastructure, under utilization and existing incompatible uses here have culminated in the precinct becoming inaccessible despite being one of the most significant symbolic heritage monuments ahmedabad has to offer. pg. 48 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd with the consequent shift in population to the suburbs, the symbolic and functional value of bhadra fort precinct as the heart of the city diminished over time, while the construction of new architecturally, significant buildings during the modern era in west ahmedabad led to a decline in importance of the fort precinct. hence, a strong need was felt to conserve this segment of the city, an area of immense heritage value (vastu shilpa foundation, 2015). figure 3. photograph showing procession at bhadra plaza during british time (source: amc archives) figure 4. photograph of bhadra plaza existing situation (source: authors) 2.3. issues in the present context old city of ahmedabad is undergoing major transformation in terms of use as well as built form. the intensity of use of the commercial areas located in the old city is increasing with people coming to these areas. the heritage structures suffer from poor maintenance due to the lack of public awareness and respect for heritage precincts. the pg. 49 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd structures are also impacted by traffic congestion, pollution, haphazard growth of the city and it’s surroundings and encroachments by vendors. lack of adequate guidelines relating to formal and informal commercial activities in the old city has led to increasing encroachments in the fort precinct thereby endangering the structure and spatial quality. bhadra fort precinct also faced several problems which are as listed below: – traffic and transportation old city being the cultural and economic heart of the city has been subjected to tremendous pressure, due to changes in the land use from simple to complex and mixed uses and to more intensive uses. residential units are being transformed into commercial units that attract more people and eventually increase in number of vehicles. additionally, the traditional and informal shopping in the city center generates a very large volume of localized pedestrian movement (bharti, 2014). this issue leads to problems like traffic congestion and haphazard parking. vehicular traffic has predominantly increased through the years, blocking the visibility and accessibility of heritage buildings. the public transportation exists around the old city but transportation inside the fort area is a complex issue. the use of the local buses is limited because of inefficient route planning, overcrowding, frequency or availability, high travel time and poor maintenance of buses. concentration of economic activities in the walled city attracts a large volume of traffic from all over ahmedabad. – hierarchy of road network and vehicular movement pattern the walled city has grown along the banks of river sabarmati, similar to many naturally grown cities with a commercial hub in the middle and streets radiating from hub to the edge, with dead-end street at residential areas. the road stretch from bhadra fort towards kalupur railway station acts as a spine for vehicular movement. this road resides most of the major architectural heritage monuments and has major commercial activities. this combination creates increased vehicular traffic. less availability of carriageway for vehicular traffic has further lead to overcrowding and traffic jams. figure 5. existing vehicular movement around the site (source: authors) – haphazard parking along bhadra precinct pg. 50 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the growing intensity of commercial land-use is attracting a large number of people every day. lack of adequate parking space has lead to regular traffic jams in this area. all along this growth, a constant check for planning and development of these older sections of the city is largely required. lack of this arrangement of constructive development towards providing organized parking, has created chaos in the old city. the area has few pay and park facilities and on-street demarcated parking. – informal activities presence of the informal sector at critical locations in bhadra precinct invites several problems. it causes traffic congestion, reduces the carriage way width and takes away pedestrian walkways. street vending has been existent in the old city. the number of hawkers has increased manifold in the recent years. always crowded and congested, the competition for space in this old city area has only intensified over the years (oriard, 2014). – pollution air pollution from vehicular exhaust is increasing causing irreparable damage to the heritage resources. the air pollution has increased at an alarming rate due to increase in vehicular traffic and inadequate public transport. – loss of visual character the visual character and aesthetic ambiance of the heritage buildings or precincts is largely engulfed by intense commercial activity, signboards etc. this issue is coupled with actual physical encroachments around these historic precincts (auda, amc & cept, 2006). 3. strategy for revitalization of historic core 3.1. current scenario the once abundant economic opportunities in the fort precinct got exhausted over time with the break-down in its conventional political system, while the migration of the city’s influential population from the old city to its newer parts led to significantly decreased the maintenance and lack of civic amenities. a culmination of resultant factors such as weakened urban infrastructure, poverty, and lack of access to the power elite who formulate policies for the urban region has led to the bhadra fort precinct being reduced to its current state of disuse and dilapidation and the loss of its status as the heart of ahmedabad. despite its present dilapidated condition, the grandeur of the precinct can still be perceived in the existing structure (nayak, 2003). though in decay and in the need of critical repairs, the bhadra fort precinct reflects a past glory that calls for urgent conservation and rehabilitation. the entire fort precinct is under asi’s (archeological survey of india) control. areas assigned to the state offices are now lying in disuse, while new structures have been added haphazardly without much respect for the historic context. all these factors have culminated in this historically extremely significant monument becoming inaccessible to tourists and locals alike due to its distinctly inadequate infrastructure and incompatible uses. the principal issues identified as critical and need to be duly addressed while carrying out a comprehensive and sustainable revitalization of bhadra fort precinct was: – loss of status as the heart of ahmedabad – dilapidated structures, damaged masonry and structural damage of buildings – illegal encroachments which are harmful to the physical and spatial character of the precinct pg. 51 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. existing structures within bhadra precinct (source: authors) 3.2. proposal on the revitalization of bhadra precinct a strong need was felt to conserve this segment of the city area of immense heritage value. an attempt for restructuring and revitalizing to conserve this area was proposed. the proposed pedestrianization of bhadra chowk & restoration and re-use plan aims to arrest critical issues by putting forth improvement strategies, overall revitalization plan of bhadra square. the area between bhadra fort to teen darwaza (triple arched gateway) is now proposed to be pedestrianized for people to move around comfortably and leisurely with covered walkway. the bhadra plaza is enhanced by adding on various landscape and design elements. the idea is to activate the bhadra area in the day and at night so that it acts as a city level public ‘place’. the hawkers’ zone is re-organized to avoid crowding of this place. restoration of old heritage buildings is proposed keeping the traditional setting of open space and streetscape. urban design guidelines, architectural controls and conservation guidelines are part of the proposal. the proposal also recommends the restoration of buildings of heritage value around bhadra fort including bhadrakali temple, city civil court. looking at the intense use and the character of this part of the old city, the proposal was divided into following parts: revitalization: – pedestrianization of street (bhadra fort precincts & bhadra plaza to teen darwaja (triple arched gateway)) – identification of tourist nodes and corridors along the street for heritage importance (like azam khan sarai, bhadrakali temple, bhadra tower, shah qutub’s masjid, tomb of ahmed shah, queen’s tomb) – to reduce encroachments around bhadra plaza to teen darwaja – traffic studies (including parking), analysis and identifying problem areas; and – up-gradation of required infrastructure along fort precincts and plaza urban design guidelines: pg. 52 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – urban design guidelines and architectural controls for surrounding structures restoration: – restoration of bhadra fort – conservation and adaptive reuse of azam khan sarai the proposal arrest these issues critically and is an attempt to improve the situation qualitatively by conserving the heritage structures that are one of the rare examples worldwide in history. realizing the tremendous potential presented by the fort precinct in becoming a revitalized symbol that reinstates grandeur and power that the city of ahmedabad exuded in the past, the reuse functions of the precinct are based on capitalizing on the spatial structure of the precinct that offers places of various scales and quality enabling its reuse as a place for citizens where cultural and recreational activities are carried out and restoring the function of the precinct as the central space for the city. conservation and sensitive development is the approach to the problem of such historic areas. 3.2.1. revitalization of bhadra precinct pedestrianization of bhadra precinct: an effort to pedestrianize this street and making it walkable, safe and comfortable, for the pedestrians was taken up as a component under this project. widening of sidewalks, improvements to intersections, street-scaping was identified interventions to improve the pedestrianization of the area. the aim was to provide public access to the bhadra area — heart of the city and enhancing link to streets. figure 7. proposal for bhadra plaza (source: vastu shilpa foundation) additionally, upgrading and coordinating physical elements such as signage, lighting, landscaping, pavement, food kiosks, public toilets and street furniture was proposed to make the whole area pleasant to walk through. the proposal attempts to reorganize the activities in hawking spaces, to define the spatial quality and bring forth the old grandeur that walled city and its historic precincts is renowned for. ‘no vehicle zone’ aims to make the streets more community friendly and reduce pollution was proposed. the implementation of street improvements contributed to historic core rejuvenation as an appealing, vibrant, and economically-vital community. the aim was to improve the pedestrian circulation system by reducing congestion, improving safety, and providing better pedestrian access to transit nodes and open spaces. this idea was proposed to create social and diverse cultural pg. 53 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd spaces with many opportunities for people to interact. multi-level parking facility was proposed nearby to prevent the vehicular access entering the plaza and providing people a true pedestrianized plaza. a good connectivity to city level transport nodes was proposed to encourage visitors and tourists. thought on the provision of battery operated buses on identified route and connecting to city level transport nodes located adjacent to these areas. this idea would help in encouraging people to use public transport for coming to the old city and not bringing their vehicles. this event in turn, will cause reduction in demand of parking space and provide freedom from excessive noise, air pollution, and traffic grime. the overall thought to pedestrianize this street was to develop it as a good pedestrian street created by closing the commercial street to vehicular traffic, permanently or over certain hours each day. retaining and conservation include both tangible and intangible heritage structures of unique architectural, cultural and historical value in bhadra precinct. a multi-angular approach with a modest plan is designed by conserving these buildings without hampering the facades but giving a face-lift by providing the temporary encampment and covering the buildings (heights in the limits of the urban guidelines) without compromising the livelihood of the street vendors. figure 8. proposed vehicular movement for pedestrianization of bhadra plaza (source: authors) figure 9. view of proposal for bhadra plaza from the fort pg. 54 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 10. actual execution of proposal – infrastructure up-gradation & facilities augmentation the streetscape and heritage conservation have been the concerns while designing this area. pavements to provide along the entire length of the road, dotted with few trees and to provide informal hawking spaces along the road which leads to teen darwaza. ample amount of regularized parking lot was also designed for the contentedly of the visitors. an attempt to hold the existing inner-city character while the proficient design transfers the heritage zone to a realistic contemporary built-up to conserve the character of the fort area was approached. the pedestrianization path from bhadra to teen darwaza deals with providing formal ‘stalls’ located and provided for hawkers/ informal activities for shopping along the footpath on the walkway, which act as a screen and lends a unique character to the street. the facade adds a screening effect to the old shopping street and the old shopping building. the demarcation of allocated spaces for hawkers would clear the arcades and provide free and uninterrupted pedestrian movement all along the shop edge. the design dealt with an organization of informal activities and traffic resolution. the mix of many small businesses and street vendors will still be a preferable form of commercial activity in the inner city and continue a traditional way of conducting business with a contemporary design. this idea will legalize the vendor market and allocate place for every vendor to continue with the livelihood lawfully. active sidewalks that is directly linked with adjacent commercial uses at the ground floor help animate the street. the street includes various public spaces of a scale where pedestrians can move comfortably and where informal activities can take place and can reinforce a vibrant street life in the old city (centre for responsible citizenship and sustainability, 2005). 3.2.2. urban design guidelines no adequate means of conservation can be devised without carefully considered plans of control for the maintenance and existence of buildings of historic and architectural values situated in human settlement areas. the controls ought not to be excessively restrictive but to be responsive to the physical, social and economic needs of the area and should stimulate conservation rather than stifle new development. it must consider the needs, convenience and natural aspirations of the people living on the site. the main objective was to preserve through ages an active historical heritage with its forms and original materials with adaptation and interventions without any tendencies to falsify. this idea was to preserve and protect against the damage of all kinds either done with intentions, negligence, or unawareness. as per the general development control regulations [gdcr (gujarat development control regulation) (section 17.20)] of ahmedabad, no development or redevelopment or change of use or engineering operations or additions, alterations, repairs, renovations including painting, replacement of special features or demolition of the whole or part thereof or plastering of heritage buildings and heritage precincts and pols shall pg. 55 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd be allowed except with the written permission of the competent authority. only the competent authority on the advice of the heritage conservation committee would prepare list of heritage buildings and precincts to modify 3.2.3. restoration the conservation of historical buildings that are neglected endangered, and which require immediate attention is one of the key strategy tried to achieve in this proposal. the focus area of the project includes the stretch from gates of bhadra fort to the gates of teen darwaza. this fact also includes the restoration and revitalization of the heritage structures by the side of this proposed street avenue. figure 11. monuments considered for restoration the precinct can also be conceived as a tourist center with facilities that allow tourists to explore the intricacies of life in the city, state, and the region. it could also become a starting point for all heritage activities in the city and the walking tours. renewing and restoring the masonry which has suffered considerable damage due to lack of maintenance is also taken up as part of the project. restoration shall include strengthening the structure of the fort precinct including azam khan’s sarai to prevent further damage to the structure. azam khan’s sarai could be remodeled as a sarai again by providing for all tourism-related needs, facilities for cultural events, food and ethnic markets and could be developed as an important exhibition center. figure 12. proposed nature of use of space pg. 56 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd various new structures have been added haphazardly in the fort precinct without any sensitivity to the existing heritage context. removal of these incongruous structures to retrieve valuable spaces is also taken up as a part of the project. comprehensive landscape design, to enhance spaces in the structures with due consideration of their scale and architectural qualities and use was planned to revitalize the structures which currently lie redundant or occupied by incongruous structures. considering the prominence of ahmedabad as a unesco world heritage site and one of the most attractive tourist destinations, the process of revitalizing the bhadra fort precinct necessarily needs to account for many visitors to the city each year. revitalizing the precinct hence has a proposal of the addition of adequate tourism infrastructure such as a tourist information center, signage and enhancing existing amenities to adequately cater to the estimated tourist influx. since the precinct with its variety of spaces — open and enclosed, offers numerous opportunities for the reuse of the sarai. an important son et lumiere was planned around the fort and bastions to showcase the various phases of city’s history. the revitalized precinct could be endowed with attributes that promote this place in becoming a major place for the celebration of public festivals and fairs. revitalization plan will arrest the issues critically and improve the situation qualitatively by conserving the heritage structures that are one of the rare examples worldwide in history. 4. implementation of proposal as mentioned above, the proposal has two major components with various sub-components which are as follows: component 1 — restoration of bhadra fort and azam khan sarai sub-components – renewing and strengthening of the structures – reuse of existing structures by the provision of tourist spaces – retrieval of invaluable spaces by the removal of incongruous structures – comprehensive landscape design – son et lumiere component 2 — revitalization of bhadra square sub-components – pedestrianization of the square – re-routing traffic to relieve traffic congestion – protecting character of walled city – providing hawking zones – solving parking issues – revised planning and development of existing bus terminal to accommodate parking and informal activities currently, the project was implemented on a site through support from urban local body (amc — ahmedabad municipal corporation) and funding from central government and state government. to implement the project without disturbing the norms and guidelines of protected monuments of asi, partnership was made between asi and urban local body (amc) with necessary guidance of national monument authority, government of india. due to funding under jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission (jnnurm), implementation of the project went on smooth. implementation of project was done in phase wise manner. apart from planning and development of bus terminal and implementation of parking plan along with provision of parking facilities, the rest of the project is implemented on the site. pg. 57 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.1. role of various factors during implementation the project has many stakeholders and hence, various organizations were involved either directly or indirectly in the development of the project. further, many political, social and administrative factors played important role in implementation of the project. these factors still have influential role in maintenance and current status of the project. due to various reasons like the need to address additional space for hawkers within or in nearby areas, the implementation of the project has stopped. this issue is due to shortages of funding from jnnurm mission under government of india. however, with unesco announcing ahmedabad walled city as a world heritage site, smooth further implementation of the project is envisaged. following is the list of organizations involved directly or indirectly in the project: organizations directly involved: – ahmedabad municipal corporation – archeological survey or india (asi) – national monument authority, government of india – consultants (cept university, vastu shilpa foundation) organizations indirectly involved: – bhadra kali temple authority – bank of india – premabhai hall trust – city civil court — bhadra – bhadra vendor association – self employed women association (sewa) – bhadra taxi stand association – karanj police stationbhadra both types of organizations played an important role in the development of the project. role of organizations indirectly involved was also as important in the implementation of the project. delay was faced due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the project. differences in opinion within stakeholders had an adverse influence the project. 4.2. issues faced during implementation site being the historic core of the walled city and since multiple stakeholders were involved in the project, many issues were faced during implementation of the project. space constraints, several activities in this hyper active area slowed the pace of implementation of the project. the project is linked to the city and its life in many ways. the old city also had a concentration of informal shops. there is no demarcated hawking space and hence the informal sector spread through the old city there are 80 to 100 (as per primary survey by the author) types of specialized markets such as clothes, general retail, utensils, vegetable/fruits/grain, hardware, shoes, jewelry, female accessories, stationary, etc; which is majorly used by the lower and middle income residents of the city. this hustling and bustling crowd has a footfall of an average 1 to 1.5 lakh (as per primary survey by author) visitors and tradesman etc.to and fro from lal darwaja bus station to teen darwaja. since this footfall couldn’t pg. 58 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd be restricted, it created a hindrance in the development of the project. lack of public awareness was another issue that prolonged the project time. since people were not sufficiently aware about the project, resistance from their side was felt during implementation and hence, there was lack of co-operation from their end. bhadra plaza being the core of the city, is an important premise for holding all celebrations on huge scale for all religions alike. around 300 – 400 thousand people gather in this area during these festivals. hence, the work stopped during these festivals which resulted in delayed implementation of the project. development of 22,000 square meter plaza area with multistory parking and better transportation was planned that could impact this place socially, culturally and economically. even though the plaza has been built, funds from central government stopped that stopped the development of multi-storeyed parking and bus terminal. further, as per the new street vendor policy, licenses was given to existing hawkers and street vendors. due to delay in implementation of the project the number of hawkers increased two-folds. however, these were unregistered hawkers. bhadra vendor association as well as self employed women association were against decreasing the number of hawkers since it will affect livelihood of many hawkers. this mismanagement lead to unorganized hawking spaces. further, incomplete development led to many problems like over-crowding, unregulated use of space, mismanagement in associations, etc created doubts on design and execution of projects. 5. conclusion bhadra precinct is a renowned historic core. the identity of the square as a historic core, needs to be re-established to sustain its importance within the city. revitalization and re-development of bhadra square was taken up to regain the losing identity of this historic core. however, the objective of any project cannot be achieved unless the project is implemented on site. after ahmedabad old city being declared as a world heritage site by unesco, it is expected that the envisaged project can be implemented to regain its identity as historic core of the city with strong public participation and political patronage. 6. references 1. amc, & auda. (2018, 04). ahmedabad comprehensive development plan. 2. ahmedabad. (2007). retrieved may 01, 2018, from https://howlingpixel.com/i-en/ahmedabad 3. ahmedabadonline. (2008). gujarat online network. retrieved 2017-09-12, from http://www.ahmedabado nline.in/profile/ 4. auda, amc, & cept. (2006). ahmedabad comprehensive development plan. ahmedabad: amc, auda. 5. bharti, m. (2014, may 13). integrating vendors in city planning. retrieved may 01, 2018, from https://por tfolio.cept.ac.in/archive/integrating-street-vendors-in-city-planning/ 6. burgess, j. (1900). the muhammadan architecture of ahmedabad. new delhi: asi. 7. vastushilpa foundation (2015). vastu shilpa foundation. retrieved 2018-05-01, from http://www.vastushil pa.org/app/ activity.php 8. intach. (2015). urban heritage in indian cities. in niua (ed.), . new delhi: niua. 9. urbis limited. (2001). landscape value of hongkong. in planning department of hongkong. 10. nayak, d. (2003). revitalizing our walled cities. restoration & renewal, a sympo sium on preserving cultural heritage #530(530). pg. 59 sharma / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 11. oriard, l. (2014). integrating street vendors in ahmedabad, india the case of bhadra plaza. in and others (ed.), integratingstreet vendors in ahmedabad, india the case of bhadra plaza. 12. unesco. (2013). creative economy report, special edition. creative economy report, special edition. 13. centre for responsible citizenship and sustainability. (2005). retrieved 2018-03-23, from http://www.istp .murdoch.edu.au/istp/casestudies/case studies asia/heritage/heritage.html pg. 60 historic core as a place for public interaction need for revitalization of historic core ahmedabad old city and the site history bhadra fort and its importance issues in the present context strategy for revitalization of historic core current scenario proposal on the revitalization of bhadra precinct revitalization of bhadra precinct urban design guidelines restoration implementation of proposal role of various factors during implementation issues faced during implementation conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.932 the design of a rural house in bushbuckridge, south africa: an open building interpretation wihan hendrikz a , amira osman b a researcher, architecture and industrial design, tshwane university of technology, pretoria, south africa; candidate architect, craig mcclenaghan architecture, johannesburg. bprofessor, architecture and industrial design, tshwane university of technology, pretoria, south africa; sarchi: dst/nrf/sacn research chair in spatial transformation: positive change in the built environment; director: platform 100. abstract this qualitative study argues that ongoing occupant involvement in housing design, construction, and maintenance processes leads to more appropriate buildings that can sustain their usefulness while undergoing change over time to adapt to dynamic user needs. this is demonstrated by the documentation of the design of a house in bushbuckridge, mpumalanga, south africa that uses open building (ob) principles so that the house adapts to the changing needs of the family and maintains its intergenerational value. this project centres on the occupant, not only at the outset with initial consultation but also throughout the lifetime of the project, as the house design is deliberately flexible and aims to allow many authors to participate in its future adaptations. based on this worldview, we use the following tools: a literature review on ob, an ob analysis of low-cost housing in general, and an analysis of the proposed design project. we compare low-cost housing projects using four ob principles: 1. how the project involves the occupant’s agency to build; 2. how the project separates its elements to facilitate this agency; 3. whether the project focuses on providing a housing product, or a housing process; and 4. how sustainably the delivered structure can accommodate the occupant’s current and future needs. the paper illustrates these ob principles in the design of a low-cost, rural house project in bushbuckridge to show that they also have value for the architecture at a small scale, and how a house can be designed to ensure that it adapts to the changing needs and creativity of the occupant. the paper concludes with the implications that ob principles have for the design process. the process no longer consists of a simple sequence that separated design and construction and ends with a housing product. rather, the design and construction focus on delivering a building process that the occupant can take ownership of, and sustain over the lifetime of the building. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open-access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer review under the responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords open building; architecture; rural house; bushbuckridge, south africa; 1. introduction south africans associate mass housing projects with the houses delivered through the post-apartheid outputs of the 1994 reconstruction and development programme (rdp) (moolla, kotze, & block, 2011). although these projects aim to house the homeless, they falter at addressing a fundamental divide in society: dignity (they are poor in quality and poorly located) and ownership (title deeds are often delayed and the method of delivery is exclusionary http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 leading to reduced sense of participation and involvement). their greatest failure is their design. the houses are too rigid to evolve with the occupant’s needs and too poorly constructed to ensure intergenerational value. low-cost housing projects such as elemental’s half a good house (moore, 2016) and urban think tank’s empower shack (block, 2017) aim to involve the occupants in the completion of the unit. this goes some way to acknowledge the occupant’s agency to build and recognises at least some of the principles of open building (ob). ob principles were developed in response to the rigid, post-war housing developments that could not evolve to meet the changing needs of the occupants and their community. these principles focus on the occupant’s agency to build. central to these principles is separating the building into a long-term, infrastructural portion, and a shortterm, flexible portion. if we design houses with sufficient flexibility for the occupant to construct and change them to their future needs, we can sustain their usefulness and reduce the social and environmental impact of demolishing much-needed housing. to further clarify ob principles, we analyse three low-cost housing developments, each believed to be stepping closer to realising these principles. we then illustrate the use of ob principles in a single-house project for a family in rural bushbuckridge, mpumalanga, south africa and draw relevant implications for the design and construction process in the broader architectural context. 2. methodology this qualitative study documents a house design that uses ob principles to centre the current known and future unknown aspirations of the occupant in its design. it considers the house malleable and conceived by many makers, evolving to the changing needs of the users. we use a literature review on ob and low-cost housing projects, an analysis of the project site and its socio-economic context, developing a brief of the current and potential future needs of the family as possible scenarios, and a breakdown of the building elements based on ob. 3. open building: mass housing in post-war europe delivered the number of residential units needed but was considered too rigid to evolve with the needs of the occupants. these estates provided a series of typologies: an unmarried person, a small family, or the elderly. once the occupant’s situation changes by getting married or growing old, they had to move out of their current residence into a new type (habraken, 1972, p. 45). these units also failed to consider changing market demand and lifestyles. inevitably, as the needs of the occupants and communities changed, the rigidity of these buildings made them too costly for remodelling and developers had to demolish them to make room for new developments that met the new needs. all this is at a great environmental and social cost. in 1961, john habraken articulated a set of building principles for mass housing in dutch in de dragers en de mensen (1961), which was officially published in english in 1972 under the title supports (1972). his response to these monoliths gave rise to what we now call open building (ob) principles. his central argument is that mass housing disrupts the natural relationship between the occupant and their home. houses should be flexible enough to accommodate the occupant’s need to build to meet their current and future needs. many architects and theorists adopted and further developed these principles. we can summarise four key principles of ob as follows: 1. the occupant should build their space. to truly live in a place is to make it. ob affirms the occupant’s agency to build and rebuild their dwelling. habraken points out that we have a natural desire and a natural capacity to build. he advocated for occupants to take ownership of the houses and change them to reflect their individuality and needs. one of our strongest urges of is our desire for possession, a personal environment where we can do as we like (habraken, 1972, p. 15). possession is how we take our environment into ourselves and make it part of our identity. it is also how we project our identity on our environments and how we express ourselves through them. it is important that buildings respond to our need to build and rebuild our space. this is not wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 only true because different people might live in a place over its lifespan, but also because our needs change over the course of our lives. 2. ob separates building elements into levels depending on their lifespan and the competencies needed to work on each level (habraken, 1998, p. 22). we call this process disentanglement (kendall, 2016). long-term elements form part of the primary level that we construct from durable materials. short-term elements form part of the secondary level that requires less durability and technical competency. this separation allows different authors with different identities, needs, and economic situations to affect various levels of change throughout the building’s life. 3. the building is a process rather than an end-product. a building is not a product that the developer delivers to the occupant. we should see the building continually evolve as it engages with new occupants. rather than trying to predict all potential future forms that might suit its occupants, ob provides the occupant with a building framework. its focus shifts from providing a house product to providing a process by which a house can emerge and re-emerge (habraken, 1972). it develops an infrastructure around which it accommodates unpredictable and continuous rebuilding. 4. ob builds for the present and the future. ob provides infrastructure that is sufficiently flexible for present and future occupants. it should accommodate the lifestyles of households and the future form of households that occupy it without significant restructuring (kendall, 1999). constructing the primary structures with long-term flexibility reduces the need to demolish them when the economic and socio-economic climate of the occupant and community changes. 4. rdp, half a house, and the empowerment shack in this section, we draw on precedents to discuss the presence or absence of the above ob principles in low-cost housing projects. these projects are typical units delivered through south africa's rdp housing, elemental’s half a house, and urban-think tank’s empower shack. each of these projects recognises the first ob principle by aiming to accommodate the occupant’s building agency at some point or another, typically after constructing of a core structure. they rely on the occupant completing the construction of the house to increase the quality of the houses or serve a greater number of people. as expressed by elemental in chile, instead of producing a few complete houses, they build many half-houses. we will introduce each case study with its context and a short description of the building typology. in terms of the second ob principle, we discuss how each project organises the occupant’s territory between a primary (delivered) structure and a secondary structure (occupant’s construction) and how their design choices facilitate or limit the occupant’s building activity. the third principle focuses on the extent that the occupant is involved in the design process. this involvement contributes to focusing the project on being a housing process that the occupant can take ownership of and sustain versus focusing simply on providing a housing product. for the fourth principle, measuring the sustainability of an ob project lies in how well the delivered structure allows the occupant to develop and redefine their home before it must be adapted or demolished. we will discuss the extent of each project’s internal flexibility, the potential for expansion, and the extent to which the occupant can reuse the delivered materials. 5. rdp housing by the department of human settlement, braamfischerville, soweto, south africa, 1996. the south african government has implemented the reconstruction and development programme (rdp) since 1994. the programme deals with a matrix of infrastructural projects for human settlement such as water, electricity, sanitation, and housing developments, as well as financial subsidies for housing. for south africans, the most wellknown aspect of the programme is the rdp housing projects that deliver low-cost houses to people. rdp housing aims to bridge the property ownership gap left behind by the dispossession policies of colonialism and apartheid. local authorities appoint local contractors through a tendering process to construct the houses. rdp housing wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 focuses on providing a core structure that the occupant can expand on. the programme has delivered almost four million houses to people in its first twenty years (1994-2014) (nokulunga, didi, & clinton, 2018). the programme’s mandate is to provide as many houses as possible to fill the country’s housing shortage. to that end, its design strategy is to provide each household with a minimum structure that is inexpensive and easy to construct. 5.1. typology in the case of braamfischerville, typical of rdp houses elsewhere, the detached houses stand free on a plot of land which allows the occupant to expand their structure as they need, as well as grow crops or raise livestock. 6. delivered structure and occupant construction the delivered structure is a one-room house with a sink and an enclosed toilet (moolla, kotze, & block, 2011). there is no clear distinction between long-term and short-term spaces or elements. the project seems to operate on an internal, delivered structure and the surrounding plot for development. since these projects have had time to develop, we can study how occupants have made use of the project. figure 1 is a partial figure-ground of the braamfischerville project with 62 plots of land (each originally supplied with an rdp house) that indicates the delivered structure on its plot with iterations of attached and detached additions as well as new buildings built in their place. we can see that occupants build onto the delivered structure as well as boundary walls. most occupants (24) decided to build their additions completely detached from their rdp. occupants of only 16 rdp houses opted to build their additions attached to their rdp house (this number includes further additions detached from the rdp). in the cases where the occupants built new structures over their rdp house (as 15 occupants had), they do not seem to retain any traces of the delivered structure or its spatial logic. this seems to suggest that they reject, and perhaps demolish, the delivered structure when they can afford to upgrade the house. the remaining 7 occupants had made no additions or alterations to their rdp houses. figure 1: figure-ground of braamfischerville illustrating occupant construction. by author, 2022. 7. occupant’s opportunities and limitations there is little design or construction guidance for the occupant. the initial/starter unit, its shape and size as well as its placement on the site, does not offer any clues as to how the future additions or expansions could be. they may design and construct whatever spaces they need with whatever means they have available. the above figure-ground illustrates this diversity in the responses by owners and thus diversity in the form of the occupant-built structures. the fact that most built structures are detached from the core units probably implies complexity in connecting the wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 units either due to the limited skills of the occupants or due to some restrictions posed by the design of the core units and their placement on the sites. as successful as the rdp projects are in providing houses, there are significant issues with the quality and design of these houses. although it is important to know that the quality of the houses varies widely inside a community and between communities, the following two studies capture similar findings in two different communities, the first, in gauteng and the second in the eastern cape. in a study evaluating the residents’ satisfaction with their homes, 43.5% were dissatisfied with the delivered structure, which the researchers attributed to poor design and contractors attempting to minimise construction costs (moolla, kotze, & block, 2011). another study conducted in 2012 also revealed that approximately 95% of responding residents use their personal income to maintain the quality of their houses (zunguzane, smallwood, & emuze, 2012). this again points to poor construction that leads to the delivered structures rapidly deteriorating. occupants want to build, but they struggle to change these rigid houses and must use their resources to maintain a house that cannot respond to their needs. instead of being able to rely on the durability of the house, occupants must either build outside the provided structure or, if they have the means, demolish it to build a new house in its place. 8. occupant involvement in the design process there are no documented community engagement or participatory processes for housing development. local authorities construct the houses and allocate them to an occupant afterward. as such, the occupant is not involved in the design process of the delivered structure. 9. extent of flexibility the occupant can use the interior of their delivered house as they see fit. however, the size of the room limits to what extent it can be redefined or subdivided. all the walls that define the envelope are structural. this is the most obvious design problem that limits the occupant from effectively expanding their residential units. for the occupant to expand the house, they require additional support measures to make new openings that connect the original structure to a new addition or risk damaging the existing building. this presents an unnecessary obstacle to occupants. the walls of the rdp house are built of clay or cement bricks that are then plastered and painted. any changes to the delivered structure would lead to rubble that would be difficult to integrate into new additions, except for filling and levelling the ground to build over. as we see from the figure-ground above, most occupants built detached units on their plots and many occupants demolished their delivered house to build a new home. the design of the rdp restricts the possible expansion and redefinition of the delivered house. any expansion onto the delivered house requires adapting it and thus we should consider the rdp house as having a low level of sustainability. 9.1. half a house by elemental, iquique, chile, 2003. the project housed one hundred families who have been living on the site in informal structures for thirty years. the budget per unit was $7500 and afforded 30 square metres of living space (moore, 2016). elemental’s approach was to provide each family with “half a good house” to maximise the impact of the funding and expensive land costs. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 figure 2: elemental’s iquique development, chile. archdaily.com, 2016. 9.2. typology the project is a series of attached triple-storey houses. each house has one completed half and the rest of its space is primed for expansion. the completed half consists of a complete envelope, kitchen, and circulation to the entrance on the first floor. the overall structure of the houses guides the occupant to fill the gap between the houses. 9.3. delivered structure and occupant construction the delivered structure of the house consists of a three-storey block completed with plumbing and electricity. figure 3 illustrates the separation between the delivered structure (in blue) and where the occupant can expand into or adapt (in orange). the block consists of a cast concrete frame with concrete block infill to establish the envelope along with windows and doors. the concrete block infill allows the occupant to redefine their envelope with more or fewer apertures. the entrance to the unit is on the first floor with the ground floor unfinished. in between the units is a floor on the first storey that functions as a platform for expansion. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 3: plan and elevation of half a house illustrating the delivered structure in blue and the intended additions and adaptations in orange. by author, 2022. along with the shared walls between the units, these elements form an indicative envelope and infrastructure that the occupant can fill in to expand their house. the occupant can immediately move into the delivered structure and in time develop the secondary structure as they need. from figures 3 and 4, we can see that the secondary structure is completely up to the occupant to design and construct. they may use whatever materials and technologies they have at their disposal. the simple geometry and uniformity of the delivered structure highlight each nuanced addition the occupant makes. figure 4: occupant infill construction at iquique. theguardian.com, 2016. 9.4. occupant opportunities and limitations the configuration of the delivered structure as a triple-storey building affords the units more living space on the expensive land. the void infill space between the units gives the occupant a clear guide on expanding their unit, especially as they can span structural elements between the units. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 the triple-storey layout of the units limits the occupant’s definition of internal spaces. for example, an elderly person must either climb the stairs to enter the house or move to the isolated ground floor. as much as the delivered structure guides the occupant in constructing the secondary structure, it also functions as a boundary that stops further expansion. this being an urban site allows for the definition of external space and the creation of an urban block that has a strong urban presence. the residential unit becomes a part of a whole configuration, a building block of the city rather than an isolated element on the periphery of the city. concerning how flexible the delivered structure is to the occupant’s needs, iquique presents an improvement over rdp housing both in the quality of the construction as well as its guidance on expanding the house. occupants do not have to break through structural elements to expand their houses. the separation between the delivered and occupant structure is more three-dimensional than with rdp houses. however, when considering the whole house, the delivered structure is contained to one half, relying on the occupant to construct new structural elements to use the infill half. elemental’s villa verde project in constitución, chile, addresses the latter concern by including a roof and floor support beams in the incomplete portion of the house. this means that the occupant can simply complete the floor and fill in the envelope to define the spaces they need. figure 5: elemental's villa verde project, chile, with additional infrastructure over the incomplete half of the house. archdaily, 2016. 10. occupant involvement in the design process the distinct decision makers in the design of the house create distinct elements in the structure – a separation of levels (osman, 2022). one group of decision-makers, such as the architects and contractors, deliver the primary structure. the occupant along with local contractors form the second group of decision-makers who design and construct the secondary structure. extent of flexibility the occupant has the freedom to conceptualise the configuration and use of the interior spaces. the size of the houses makes them flexible for interior subdivision. the ‘half a house’ approach to the project gives the occupant sizable space to expand into. placing the entrance to the delivered structure on the side where the occupant would expand, ensures that there is already a connection between the original structure and its additions. however, this connection only exists on the first floor. should the occupant want to connect the original and new structure on other floors, or simply enlarge the original door-sized connection on the first floor, they must break through the delivered structure. the architect seems to have appreciated this eventuality as they constructed these walls from concrete infill blocks. if properly planned and executed, the occupant can reuse the removed concrete blocks in the additions or elsewhere to limit the construction waste. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 empower shack by urban-think tank, khayelitsha, cape town, south africa, 2013. the empower shack aims to develop a methodology for upgrading informal settlement dwellings without the need to displace the residents. the house provides a core building with plumbing, electricity, and other regulatory features like firewalls. these walls help contain the spread of fires in settlements where the building density helps them spread and lead to large-scale devastation. local ngos fund the project with each empower shack running an average construction cost of r160 000 (block, 2017). the project is currently in its third phase with talks to include city funding in future phases of the development. typology the housing project aims to upgrade the existing footprint of the densely populated community. it also needs to provide economical means to distribute resources and mitigate the ever-present fire hazards of informal settlements. as such, urban think tank designed the units as double-storey rowhouses that shrink the layout needed for services compared to stand-alone units that are typical for the area. a firewall separates each unit to prevent the spread of fire. figure 6: phase three of urban think tank's empower shack prototype in khayelitsha, south africa. dezeen.com, 2017. delivered structure and occupant construction the empower shack delivers an immediately occupiable house to the residents. thus, the envelope and interior structure is already defined when the occupant arrives. the project allows the occupant flexibility by using soft materials (timber and sheet metal) and construction methods that are established in the community. it takes half a house’s approach with the infill cement blocks further into every element that defines the spaces. since all the elements are already delivered in the strict sense, figure 7 illustrates how the project separates the delivered structure into what the occupant would feasibly change (in orange) and the structure that limits change (in blue). wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 figure 7: elevation, section, and plan of the empower shack illustrating the hard structure in blue and the softer structure the occupant can readily adapt. by author, 2022. the delivered structure includes the foundations, the ground floor surfaced, firewalls made from concrete blocks, and the roof. along with these rigid elements, is also the internal first floor with a staircase made from timber. the construction also includes an initial secondary structure to fill in the envelope. these infill walls are made from a timber frame structure with sheet metal and polycarbonate cladding and include an entrance door and an openable window on the first floor. the occupant can further develop the interior of the unit with the materials and technologies at their disposal. timber construction is easier to manipulate compared to concrete or brick structures. occupants can redefine and build onto the envelope’s infill walls. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 figure 8: ground floor interior of the empower shack. dezeen.com, 2017, figure 9: first floor interior of empower shack. architizer.com, 2017. occupant opportunities and limitations the infill and floor materials are within the construction culture of the area. these material choices make it easier for the occupant to redevelop the interior construction and envelope to suit their needs. the technical performance of the firewalls presents a clear boundary that the occupant should not interfere with, otherwise they would jeopardise its function. occupant involvement in the design process the project entered its third phase in 2018 and had gone through extensive prototyping and community engagement process in the form of traditional consultations and computer-based exercises to develop a three-dimensional integration strategy for space, resources, and micro-funding (low, 2018). extent of flexibility the empower shack allows the occupant to redefine the interior and façade of the building to a great extent because of the softness of the material and how these materials are already within the building culture of the community. the empower shack does not allow the occupant to expand the footprint of their house, even though the lightweight façade seems to be an obvious route to do so. expanding outward beyond the protection of the firewalls would risk their function and south africa’s fire safety regulations would not allow it (to the extent local authorities enforce them). similar to elemental’s approach, this also allows the houses in unison to have an urban presence and street edge. there would be no foreseeable expansion sideways either as the concrete block walls divide the units and their ownership. the softness of the materials and their presence in the building culture ensures that the occupant can reuse the timber and corrugated sheet metal without much effort. reflecting on the case studies presented in rdp housing, the occupant is provided with a core structure on a plot of land. they can build onto the provided structure or freely on their plot. there seems to be no separation in the building spaces or elements. the project is focusses on providing a housing product upon which the occupant can improve. however, occupants seem to struggle with the rigidity of the core structure as most additions are detached from the core structure. half a house provides the occupant with one-half of a rowhouse with the infrastructure to fill in the other half. the configuration of the houses gives the occupant clear guidance in expanding their houses. although the separation seems more three-dimensional, by including the ground floor as an in-fill space, it still separates spaces rather than separating building elements. the project provides a finished product to the occupant that they can then build onto. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 the empower shack provides a similar row-house approach as half a house, however, the envelope is fully defined. the project separates building elements by using soft materials (timber and sheet metal) for internal floors and envelope walls. there seems to be greater flexibility for the occupant to redefine the interior spaces and exterior envelope. through its community workshops, use of local construction culture, and disentangling the building elements, the project seems to provide a building process, rather than a building product. empower shack seems to align closest with the identified ob principles. towards ob in low-cost housing each of these examples gives the occupant agency in building their spaces to a greater or lesser extent. in doing so, they respond to the rigid nature of mass housing projects that are used as emergency measures to house people. when considering the houses themselves, the projects divide the house into a delivered structure that is provided as a product to the occupant and the secondary structure that the occupant defines from scratch or builds into the delivered structure. in ob, the separation of a delivered (primary) structure and an occupant (secondary) structure is more fine-grained than what we have observed from the precedents. the disentanglement is more three-dimensional and separates building elements and services. another observation from these low-cost projects is that for buildings to respond to the occupant’s agency, the occupant must be able to adapt them with whatever means they have available. in urban, industrialised communities, we have a diverse selection of materials and elements to choose from. we can exercise discretion to ensure their sourcing and production mitigate the building’s strain on our environment. as these elements need maintenance or we develop better ones, we have the expertise on hand to fix or upgrade them. in a rural setting, we have a limited selection of building elements and materials. there must be a relationship between the materials and technologies used to construct the primary and secondary levels of the house and the materials and technologies available in the local area. this factor limits the potential use of prefabricated building elements to whatever is already within the local construction culture. sustainable building culture in rural ob projects relies on responding to existing building practices and materials. in principle, ob attends first to how we coordinate building elements and is less prescriptive of how we make these elements or how we source them. the occupant needs flexibility in what elements and materials they can use to accommodate varying availability. bushbuckridge house, bushbuckridge, south africa bushbuckridge is an experimental project designed by amira osman at the tshwane university of technology as part of a community engagement project, that aims to develop low-cost housing at a small-scale using ob principles. although the project is for a low-cost, standalone house, the family asked that it must steer away from the image of conventional low-cost designs such as rdp housing. the project uses the four ob principles as design strategies. first, it centres the occupant in the design and construction process. secondly, it disentangles the house at the building element level to increase its flexibility of the house and allow different authors to work on separate elements of the house. this strategy also ensures the house’s durability by spending enough resources on important structural elements and services. the third principle ensures that the occupant’s involvement in its design and construction provides the occupant with a housing process. the last principle ensures that the occupant can use the flexibility of the house to continually sustain their needs. bushbuckridge and family bushbuckridge is a rural community situated in mpumalanga, south africa. it is a low-income community where 46% of its citizens are unemployed and nearly half of its population dependent on the government for grant support (bushbuckridge local municipality, 2021, pp. 33-34). bushbuckridge has distinct developments along its ridges, each with a different socio-economic architecture, ranging from middle-income brick houses, lower-income cement block houses, corrugated metal houses, and traditional houses. the project is situated in a lower-income section of the community. the family requires a house that accommodates all its current members, but it will soon change as some younger members move out. the house must be flexible to allow future changes in the family structure. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 typology the bushbuckridge project is a standalone house, like rdp housing developments, except it has only one iteration. it also differs from most ob projects by being a single, standalone house whereas most of ob’s principles were developed for large-scale, attached, multi-unit housing. the aim of this design is to ensure that the occupants have a great level of agency in constructing and reconstructing the house. delivered structure and occupant construction the design employs two levels of competency, the primary and secondary levels, whose design and construction will be dealt with independently. the primary structure (figures 10 and 11) supports the house and supplies its basic infrastructure. an institution funds the primary structure while professionals build it to ensure quality workmanship. the secondary structure is easier for the occupant to construct and manipulate as their needs and economic circumstances change. the load-bearing structure of the house has the greatest lifespan and requires the greatest technical competency, whereas the envelope and other space-defining elements need shorter lifespans as we can foresee them changing with time (kendall, 1996). they need less technical competency from the occupant and allow for greater creativity in definition, materiality, and construction. the building elements in the primary level include the foundations; floors; structural walls – including their doors and windows; the roof; and basic plumbing – such as toilets, basins, and showers; as well as the infrastructure needed to run these facilities, such the solar geysers. the plumbing forms part of the primary level for this project as having it completed to high technical standard benefits the longer lifespan of the house. the materials in the primary level include concrete for the foundations and floors; cement blocks, plaster, and paint for the walls; timber, sheet metal, and insulation for the roof; as well as building elements like doors and windows. along with these, services such as plumbing and water reticulation, electricity reticulation, and water heating are also part of the primary structure. these services must be easily accessible yet positioned to not prohibit foreseeable changes in the house. figure 10: primary level (blue) completed. by author, 2022. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 figure 11: primary level: section through the bathroom. by author, 2022. the secondary level (figure 12) deals with the rest of the space-defining elements of the architecture that the family and local builders will design and construct with assistance from the architect. these are the room-defining elements of the building that were not part of the primary phase including the non-structural walls and their doors and windows; the connecting passages – that unify the three buildings into what can function as one house; the privacy screens; and the necessary landscape infrastructure. the materiality of the secondary level can be more diverse as they do not serve structural purposes. it can more closely reflect the local materiality and include creative uses of natural and inexpensive materials. figure 12: secondary level (orange) completed. by author, 2022. occupant opportunities and limitations: the layout of the house is detached into three buildings that are connected by an inner courtyard. this configuration allows the occupant to define multiple internal layouts to suit their needs as they are and as they change. the first iteration is a single-family home with four bedrooms (figure 13). the second iteration is a family home with two bedrooms and a separate structure with one bedroom for a tenant (figure 14). the third iteration has three separate dwellings which may function independently (figure 15). the family can reconfigure the house to suit their needs to a great extent before needing to extend the footprint of the house. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 figure 13: scenario 1: one house with four bedrooms. by author, 2022. figure 14: scenario 2: one main house with two bedrooms and one rental unit. by author, 2022. figure 15: scenario 3: three independent houses. by author, 2022. should the occupant need to expand the footprint of the house, its detached layout gives them space to do so. defining the outer long walls as a secondary structure means that the occupant needs not to work through structural walls as is the case with rdp houses. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 occupant involvement in the design process the bushbuckridge project differs from most housing developments in that the project has an intended occupant. the family is involved in a typical client-architect consultation process as with most architectural projects. this consultation process helps the architect develop a brief of what the occupant’s current needs are and how these needs could foreseeably change. along with professional experience and insight, the architect develops the primary structure. the primary structure should provide a decent infrastructure that would serve the family as well as allow for a great deal of flexibility to the secondary structure. after building the primary structure, the occupant cannot yet occupy the house as it lacks a complete envelope and space-defining elements. the occupant leads the design process in completing the house, where the architect takes on a facilitating and consulting role. completing the secondary structure is the first milestone in a liveable home. including the occupant at the primary level and handing over the design lead to them during the design and construction of the secondary level, helps the occupant take possession of the house as they have been involved in key decisions from its inception. the house is not a product they receive, but a familiar process they have helped initiate. extent of flexibility the bushbuckridge project allows the occupant to redefine the use of the house to a lesser extent by allocating certain uses to different spaces, and to a greater extent by reworking the secondary structure. the secondary structure allows the occupant to replace the material of the façade walls, its detailing, and its apertures. they can make the screen walls solid and remove internal walls to redefine the sizes of the rooms. the exterior walls that define the secondary structure allow for outward expansion of the house, whereas the detached configuration of the buildings ensures sufficient room for expansion while maintaining open spaces in between. separating the primary and secondary structures along building elements, rather than spaces, gives the occupant greater flexibility in how they want to define their spaces with materials, detailing, and openings. however, there are still a few limitations to the design. the primary structure serves as a limitation to the expansion in two cases. first, the roof height and angle, which stem from cost limitations, require consideration if there is extensive expansion against its lower end. the second case regards east and west expansion through the primary structure if this becomes necessary. this issue can be addressed in a similar way that elemental had in half a house by providing portions of secondary structure that the occupant can replace with doors or openings. although the project does not specify materials for the secondary structure, as the occupant would lead this design process, we can learn from the empower shack, in how it develops building elements from materials within the existing construction culture and in a manner that these materials can be disassembled and redefined for future uses. design process implications: the design process of an ob project differs from a typical design process as there can be multiple, sequential design-construction cycles in making the building. a typical, entangled, design process includes an occupant that the architect may consult. it usually involves a long design process where the architect determines the occupant’s needs, funding, and regulatory constraints and designs the building layout, spatial design for each room, material detailing, and furnishing. the design process concludes with the occupant’s approval of the design and the start of construction. during construction, there may be minor adjustments to the design, but the architect has made all the important design decisions. the occupant receives the building as a finished product. as the typical process relies on giving form to the occupant’s needs (habraken, 1972), it becomes increasingly challenging to design good housing in developments where there is no occupant. the architect has no one to consult to determine their needs and must rely on an abstracted version of 'the occupant' and define a reasonable form that 'the occupant' can inhabit. this abstracted process is what gave rise to unsustainable mass housing. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 ob provides a differentiation and disentanglement of levels of the built environment as a solution addressing the absence of an occupant from the initial design decision-making process. its aim is not in providing a complete product, but an infrastructure within which, the occupant, when they arrive on the scene, may design and construct their space as they see fit – or alternatively, to provide elements and building components that may be adapted and changed at occupation. figure 16: comparison between entangled and disentangled design processes. by author, 2022. in bushbuckridge, the design process occurs on each level. the architect adopts ob principles along with the family’s input to design the primary level. this ensures that the building is suitable for the family but also flexible for the next level. once we have built this level, the architect and the family embark on another, the more detailed design process for the secondary level. by disentangling the building into levels, we can distribute the design process over a longer time. we can defer important design decisions to a later level. this can be useful where the architect does not have a full image of the occupant’s needs and it would be better to make these decisions when the occupant is on site. not only does this process allow the family to give more creative design input, they can also inhabit the primary level to make more meaningful design decisions in the space, as opposed to making all the decisions on paper, before construction. drawing out the design process and involving the occupant as a leading decision-maker improves the design decisions made in ensuring the building is suitable, flexible, and sustainable by the occupant. conclusions this paper argues that we can use ob principles to improve the sustainability of low-cost housing projects by ensuring they maintain their usefulness as the family’s context and needs change. we set out four relevant ob principles: the occupant should build their space; we should separate building elements into levels based on their lifespans and needed competencies; the building should be a process, rather than an end-product; and buildings should be sustainable by responding to future, unknowable needs. these aspects all contribute to the occupant taking ownership of the house as a process (versus a product) and being able to adapt it to their changing needs. in the three low-cost housing case studies we found that the rdp housing aligned the least with the ob principles. occupants seem to find it difficult to work with the rigid delivered structure and as such, is the least sustainable approach. half a house took a more three-dimensional approach to disentangle the spaces for occupants to build into. this aligns closer to ob principles and would seem to improve the extent to which the occupant can sustain the delivered structure as their need for different spaces changes. empower shack aligned the closest to ob principles. it separated the building elements into a rigid structure and space-defining elements the occupant can readily change. the project focuses on providing a building process that the occupant can sustain. we illustrated the use of the four ob principles in the bushbuckridge project to illustrate that they are not only applicable to large-scale, low-cost developments. it showed how we can disentangle a standalone house to ensure wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 that it can adapt to the changing needs of the family. the primary structure of the house receives the necessary investment to ensure a long-lasting structure and well-functioning services. ob disentanglement is beneficial to the design process, which is no longer a simple, linear sequence leading to construction and concluding in an architectural product. this is typically an issue in mass housing projects where the architect cannot consult an occupant to understand their needs. in ob, we can defer critical design decisions that require consulting a user/occupant/owner to when they arrive on the scene. the architect can develop the primary elements for the housing and the occupant can design and construct the infill based on their current needs on occupation and reconstruct and adapt this as their needs change. by using ob principles, we can develop housing projects as sustainable processes as opposed to static products. we can develop a framework for the building that is flexible and disentangled enough to accommodate the unknowable needs of the occupant. the occupant’s later involvement in the design and construction of the space-defining structure embeds their thinking and practices into the house. they take ownership of a familiar home. references block, i. (2017, december 28). urban-think tank develops low-cost housing for south african slum. retrieved from dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/12/28/empower-shack-urban-think-tank-low-cost-housing-khayelitsha-south-africa/ bushbuckridge local municipality. (2021, february). bushbuckridge local municipality final integrated development planning 2020/21. retrieved 04 09, 2022, from https://www.cogta.gov.za/cgta_2016/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bushbuckridge-municipality.pdf habraken, n. j. (1961). de dragers en de mensen. amsterdam: scheltema & holkema. habraken, n. j. (1972). supports: an alternative to mass housing. new york: praeger. habraken, n. j. (1998). the structure of the ordinary: form and control in the built environment. cambridge: mit press. kendall, s. (1996). disentangling parts, disentangling parties: an open systems approach to building renovation. support/infill housing and open building: papers on principles and practice, 89-95. kendall, s. (1999). open building: an approach to sustainable architecture. journal of urban technology, 1-16. kendall, s. (2016, january). open building studies, reports and lectures. retrieved 03 27, 2022, from https://drstephenkendall.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/toward-disentanglement-copy.pdf low, i. (2018, may 14). family business: empower shack in khayelitsha near cape town, south africa by urban-think tank and eth zurich. retrieved from the architectural review: https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/family-business-empower-shack-in-khayelitshanear-cape-town-south-africa-by-urban-think-tank-and-eth-zurich moolla, r., kotze, n., & block, l. (2011). housing satisfaction and quality of life in rdp houses in braamfischerville, soweto: a south african case study. urbani izziv, 22(01), 138-143. moore, r. (2016, april 10). alejandro aravena: the shape of things to. retrieved from the guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/10/architect-alejandro-aravena-pritzker-prize-elemental-housing-iquique-constituciontsunami-defences nokulunga, m., didi, t., & clinton, a. (2018). challenges of reconstruction and development program (rdp) houses in south africa. international conference on industrial engineering and operations management (pp. 1695-1702). washinton dc: ieom society international. osman, a. (2022). open building in the global south. in s. h. kendall, residential architecture as infrastructure (pp. 136-174). new york: routledge. zunguzane, n., smallwood, j., & emuze, f. (2012). perceptions of the quality of low-income houses in south africa: defects and their causes. acta structilia, 19(1), 19-38. figures figure 1: figure-ground of braamfischerville illustrating occupant construction. by author, 2022. figure 2: elemental’s iquique development, chile. archdaily.com, 2016. available from: https://www.archdaily.com/797779/half-a-housebuilds-a-whole-community-elementals-controversial-social-housing/580897bbe58ece3c6600018e-half-a-house-builds-a-whole-communityelementals-controversial-social-housing-image accessed on: 2022/08/25. figure 3: plan and elevation of half a house illustrating the delivered structure in blue and the intended additions and adaptations in orange. by author, 2022. figure 4: occupant infill construction at iquique. theguardian.com, 2016. available from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/10/architect-alejandro-aravena-pritzker-prize-elemental-housing-iquique-constituciontsunami-defences accessed on: 2022/08/25. figure 5: elemental's villa verde project, chile, with additional infrastructure over the incomplete half of the house. archdaily, 2016. available from: https://www.archdaily.com/797779/half-a-house-builds-a-whole-community-elementals-controversial-socialhousing/580897e4e58ece68aa0002dd-half-a-house-builds-a-whole-community-elementals-controversial-social-housing-image accessed on: 2022/08/25. wihan hendrikz, amira osman/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 figure 6: phase three of urban think tank's empower shack prototype in khayelitsha, south africa. dezeen.com, 2017. available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/12/28/empower-shack-urban-think-tank-low-cost-housing-khayelitsha-south-africa/ accessed on: 2022/08/25. figure 7: elevation, section and plan of the empower shack illustrating the hard structure in blue and the softer structure the occupant can readily adapt. by author, 2022. figure 8: ground floor interior of the empower shack. dezeen.com, 2017. available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/12/28/empowershack-urban-think-tank-low-cost-housing-khayelitsha-south-africa/ accessed on: 2022/08/26. figure 9: first floor interior of empower shack. architizer.com, 2017. available from: https://architizer.com/projects/empower-shack/ accessed on: 2022/08/26. figure 10: primary level (blue) completed. by author, 2022. figure 11: primary level: section through the bathroom. by author, 2022. figure 12: secondary level (orange) completed. by author, 2022. figure 13: scenario 1: one house with four bedrooms. by author, 2022. figure 14: scenario 2: one main house with two bedrooms and one rental unit. by author, 2022. figure 15: scenario 3: three independent houses. by author, 2022. figure 16: comparison between entangled and disentangled design processes. by author, 2022. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i1.490 energy rehabilitation of social housing in vulnerable areas case study: a 1950s building in a medium-sized mediterranean city ruá marı́a josé1, huedo patricia1, cabeza manuel2, saez beatriz2, civera vicente1 1mechanical engineering and construction department 2industrial systems engineering and design department. jaume i university abstract in the urban context, buildings play a key role as they are energy consumers. in well-established cities with a high percentage of aged building stock, the focus should lie on sensitive urban areas where the weakest population sectors and the worst physico-economic conditions are usually encountered. in this work, the energy refurbishment of social housing is proposed. a block of municipally owned buildings is selected as a case study to consider that public buildings play an exemplary role according to directive 2012/27/eu. the group is formed by 12 buildings, which account for 120 dwellings. this study is grounded on two levels. first the urban level. the building is located in a prioritised urban area of rehabilitation, renovation and urban regeneration (arru), according to the new local land plan. this area presents multidimensional vulnerability and considers urban, building, socio-demographic and socio-economic features. second, the building presents very low energy performance. it was built in 1959 when a high demand of dwellings and the economic resources then available led to low-quality buildings that are far from meeting today’s standards. some proposals are made, having in mind the specific features of the urban context. the energy refurbishment of the building is proposed, selecting the optimal solution, considering technical, environmental and economic criteria. the energy performance simulation shows a remarkable improvement of the energy performance, resulting in an improvement of the thermal comfort of the dwellers. besides, a reduction in the energy consumption is reached, which would reduce the energy bills and, on the other hand, a reduction of the carbon emissions to the atmosphere, contributing to a better environment quality. having in mind that the building is intended for social housing, energy poverty situations could be avoided, as dwellings are inhabited by low-income dwellers. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords rehabilitation; social housing; energy performance; vulnerability; urban areas 1. introduction cities and urban settlements consume lot of resources and generate emissions and waste, which spells detrimental environmental effects. buildings have a strong impact as they consume resources such as land, water and energy. they are also responsible for one third of the green gases emissions that reach the atmosphere. however, buildings pg. 44 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd are necessary to live in and to conduct human activities. according to the 11th sustainable development goal (sdg) of the united nations, for sustainable cities and communities, the objective is “to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. this implies urban sustainability involving social inclusion. within this new framework, distressed areas should be firstly observed as they present high physical and social vulnerability. the latter implies the incapacity of some groups and individuals to solve their housing needs. therefore, these areas should be prioritised by the authorities to undertake urban plan actions. hence the building should be analysed from a holistic perspective by considering its urban context and interactions with citizens. the well-established urban areas with many initial limitations are especially challenging because very often they present old obsolete buildings inhabited by vulnerable populations. this work proposes the energy refurbishment of social housing. the selection of the building was based on a threefold perspective. on the one hand, the typology of the block of buildings, together with the constructive analysis, show a low-quality building with a typology dating back to a time where resources were scarce and, consequently, energy performance was very poor. earlier studies have identified urban areas in spain with inefficient buildings, which have been linked with their construction period (martı́n-consuegra, hernández-aja, oteiza & alonso, 2016). second, social housing is intended for low-income people at risk of social exclusion. last, but not least, the building is a municipal property, so its refurbishment should reinforce the exemplary role that the authorities play (energy efficiency directive, edd 2012/27/eu) regarding the renovation of existing buildings. 2. methodology some stages were followed (see figure 1) to undertake this work. first, the case study was selected according to three main pillars. on the one hand, the urban area was selected based on a previous work in which vulnerable urban areas of the city were defined. on the other hand, the building’s poor energy performance was the main observed feature. finally, the building’s social housing condition guaranteed vulnerable dwellers, e.g., low-income citizens. figure 1. methodology pg. 45 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd once the building was selected, a diagnosis of its current state was made by analysing the scarce available project information and visiting the site to collect complementary and necessary information. this permitted the building to be simulated in officially recognised software to determine its energy performance. the third stage consisted in analysing the refurbishment solutions and selecting the optimal solution according to a multicriteria analysis after bearing in mind the actual conditions the building was in by looking for a real applicable one. the fourth stage consisted in determining the building’s energy performance after refurbishment. finally, economic feasibility was estimated by the cost-optimal method to acquire an order of magnitude of the investment and other costs. 3. background 3.1. vulnerable urban areas the definition of areas of rehabilitation and urban renovation and regeneration (arru) is included in new spanish urban plans to contribute to sustainable development by structurally intervening in the city (lotup, 2014). this intends to support those responsible for local administration decision making by selecting the urban areas that require priority interventions and to undertake durable actions over time. therefore, the buildings included in an arru would be prioritised when addressing potential refurbishment subsidies. moreover, considering the most vulnerable areas will affect the whole city’s substantial improvement. 3.2. social housing one of the first obligations that franco’s government had to face after the end of the spanish civil war was to reconstruct the country. one major part of this work was to recover urban areas, which entailed not only repairing destroyed heritage, but also constructing new housing that could accommodate a population with scarce resources. to fulfil this purpose, immediately after the civil war was over the first law for low-income housing was introduced, as was the government institution responsible for ensuring the promotion and control of building such housing all over the country, the national housing institute (law 19 april 1939). in this way, apart from updating the legislation on such interventions, governmental institutions sought to tightly control the promotion of public housing, so it was left as a private initiative on the sidelines (gómez, 2004). however, the economic precariousness that the country was in during the first post-war period years did not allow the agreed quantitative targets for the building stock in successive national housing plans to be achieved. during the first two decades of franco’s government, countless laws were introduced (see table 1) to promote building stock growth rather than regulate housing. table 1. main legislation on social housing during franco´s government. 1939 -1975 date introduced legislation repealed legislation 19 april 1939 law on protection for a low-income housing system and establishing the national housing institute law of 12 june 1911 (law on cheap houses) 23 february 1944 order regulating basic hygienic conditions for housing 25 november 1944 law on contributions and tax reduction to build income housing for the middle class. continued on next page pg. 46 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1 continued 19 november 1948 decree-law that amended law 25 november 1944 on protection for a low-income housing system law of 25 november 1944 29 may 1954 decree-law to build social housing: lowincome and minimum-income housing 15 july 1954 law on protection of limited-income housing law of 19 april 1939 law of 25 november 1944 decree-law of 19 november 1948 12 july 1955 order introducing the text of technical ordinances and building standards for limited-income housing 24 january 1958 decree extending the new type of subsidised housing throughout spain 24 july 1963 decree introducing the revised text of social housing legislation all previous legislation 20 may 1969 order introducing the adjustment of technical ordinances and building standards to social housing this objective would definitely not be met until the beginning of the 1960s, in 1963 with the last social housing legislation of franco’s government. governmental institutions would lose the strong interventionist character they held thereafter to behalf of the private promoter who was consolidated as a preferred agent in the building of this type of housing. apart from the limited implementation of successive housing plans, the economic shortage led to restrict the use of materials in the building, especially iron (decree 11 march 1941), to avoid increasing the construction cost of housing buildings. consequently for housing, builders were forced to use building systems from the beginning of the century and use alternative materials in those elements in which steel had become the most suitable option. this meant a delay in the building technology progress made in spain as social housing built during the first two decades of franco’s government brings to light. after the spanish economy opened out to the international scene and thanks to the stabilisation plan of the late 1950s, it managed to overcome years of shortage and, thus, the liberalisation of building stock, which would lose the tight constructive control normalisation by governmental institutions (sambricio, 2004). 4. case study 4.1. the urban scale the development of the new land use plan of the city of castellón de la plana (spain) needs to define arru. this definition was created by using 29 ad hoc selected indicators of vulnerability. they were grouped into four categories: urban (4), building (4), socio-demographic (16) and socio-economic indicators. the arru were those areas where all the categories concurred, so they presented multidimensional vulnerability. as a result, 17 arru were defined in the city (garcı́a bernal et al., 2017; ruá et al., 2017). the building used as a case study in this work is included in one of the arru. the defined arru are indicated in figure 2. the selected block of buildings is included in arru 01. the location of the block is indicated in the top-right corner of figure 2. pg. 47 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 2. situation 4.2. the block of buildings the block of buildings was built in 1959 as social housing by ministry of housing subsidy. the group is formed by 12 buildings, the north façade, with odd numbers 1 to 11, to huesca street, and opposite the castalia football stadium. the south façade is in martı́nez tena street, numbers 2 to 12. figure 3 shows a general view of the block of buildings. the block forms an internal courtyard and each building is formed by one ground floor and four upper floors, with two dwellings per floor, which means 10 houses per block and 120 houses in all, which account for 2339 m2. figure 4 shows the front side view and the side elevation plan, section and roof plan. figure 5 represents a 3d image of the block using the revit software, drawn after the visits made to the site. figure 3. general view pg. 48 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 4. front side view, side elevation, section and roof plans figure 5. 3d image of the block 4.3. the building’s energy performance there are four buildings in the corners of the block, while the rest are terraced buildings which present better energy performance as they are less exposed to the outer environment. the building located in the north-west corner (357º north) is the worst in energy performance terms. in order to simplify simulation, only this building was simulated. there are three types of housing, as seen in the original plans presented in figure 6, where the selected building is indicated. figure 7 shows the floor plan, with dwellings types i and ii, included in the building selected in the block. dwelling type iii is included in the terraced buildings in the block. figure 6. second floor (original plans) pg. 49 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. floor plan of dwellings types i and ii in order to analyze the building’s thermal performance, some starting conditions need to be considered. regarding external conditions, and according to spanish regulation for energy saving, cte db-he1, appendix d, the building is located in climatic zone b3 (winter severity b on a scale from a to e, from the warmest to the coldest; summer severity 3 on a scale from 1 to 4, from the least to the most severe). the thermal envelope characteristics are summarised in table 2, where the layers of the constructive solutions are represented, together with the exposed area and the thermal transmittance data. all this, plus the facilities used to obtain domestic hot water (dhw), heating and cooling services, in this case electric appliances, will be the starting data to simulate the building to estimate its energy performance in its current state: table 2. original thermal envelope thermal envelope constructive solution transmittance u (w/m2k) figure façade 1 bearing wall formed by double leaf brick: exterior masonry wall of ceramic solid brick of 1 footthick with cement mortar joints + inner skin of hollow ceramic brick, 4-cm thick, with cement mortar joints + plastering. exposed area: n 93.41 m2; w 78.93 m2 1.44 figure 8 continued on next page pg. 50 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2 continued façade 2 bearing wall formed by double leaf brick: continuous outer coating with cement mortar + exterior masonry wall of ceramic solid brick of 1 foot-thick with cement mortar joints + inner skin of hollow ceramic brick 4 cmthick with cement mortar joints + plastering. exposed area: n 190.64 m2; w 100.63 m2; e 57.84 m2; s 169.51 m2 1.29 figure 8 windows wood carpentry with single glazing. carpentry: 2.20 glazing: 5.50 figure 9 roof 1 flat roof ventilated, trafficable: finishing ceramic tiles + mortar layer 5 cm + bituminous sheet + ventilated air chamber + reinforced concrete one-way slab 30 cm, ceramic hollow plot + plastering. exposed area: 38.83 m2. 1.37 figure 10 roof 2 gable sloping roof ventilated 16º: finishing ceramic gables + mortar layer + ceramic tiles for roof slope + ventilated air chamber + reinforced concrete oneway slab 30 cm, ceramic hollow plot + plastering. exposed area: 116.03 m2. 1.05 figure 11 figure 8. pg. 51 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 9. figure 10. figure 11. pg. 52 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to evaluate the building’s energy performance in its current state, the ce3x software was used, the official software for energy certification in spain (the open access so ftware provided by the ministry of industry). using ce3x permits energy demand to be known, energy use and carbon emissions associated with the building’s use. the software estimates the annual energy demand linked to heating and cooling in kwh/m2, and the annual co2 emissions due to heating, cooling and dhw in kg co2/m2. the sum of emissions will evaluate energy performance using a scale from a to g, with the best and the worst energy performance, respectively. this software is widely used professionally, but has also been included in research works (alguacil, lufkina, reya & cuchı́, 2018; de ayala, galarraga & spadaro, 2016), specifically to social housing (escandón, suárez & sendra, 2016) to obtain simulation energy performance values. the input data in the software result in the energy performance presented in figure 12. according to the simulation, the building emits 29.5 kg co2/m2 due to heating, cooling and dhw, with 15.98, 5.09 and 8.41 kg co2/m2, respectively. altogether, the building obtains an e energy label, where dhw presents the worst energy performance, with f, followed by heating with e and a medium d for cooling. figure 12. energy certification label for the current building 4.4. energy refurbishment proposal the next stage consists in analysing some refurbishment solutions to improve the building’s energy performance and to select the optimal one. to do so, four perspectives are observed: technical, environmental, economic and heritage. the technical perspective analyses the advantages and disadvantages of actually implementing the constructive solution. the environmental perspective is based mainly on the resulting transmittance of the refurbished solution, together with the reduction of thermal bridges. the economic perspective examines the viability of refurbishment. finally, the building’s heritage value is considered by looking at the aesthetic variation of the building’s external envelope as it can be representative of the building type built at a particular socio-economic period of time, as explained in section 3.2. regarding the thermal envelope, the refurbishment aimed to add insulation layers that did not exist in the original building’s state. insulation material is generally the most cost-effective solution when buildings are refurbished (hamdy, hasan & siren, 2011; ruá & lópez-mesa, 2012). this should be done on façades together with improvements to carpentries, with double glazing solutions, and also in roofs. adding insulation on façades and roofs could be done basically in two ways: on the outer or the inner layer. table 3 shows some constructive solutions (huedo, mulet & lópez-mesa, 2016), along with their advantages, disadvantages and features by bearing in mind the technical, environmental, economic and heritage perspectives. the selected solutions are shaded in grey in table 3 and represented in figure 13. for façades, inner insulation (fi) was ruled out because of the dimensions of rooms. it would mean reducing the areas of rooms as they could not fulfil the minimum required dimensions according to new standards. therefore, the outer solution with the external insulation system was adopted in this case because it was more convenient than the ventilated façade, pg. 53 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and fell in line with different criteria. the convenience of this solution is supported by other studies (sierra-pérez, boschmonart-rives & gabarrell, 2016) and can be applied to both façade types. for roofs, the inner solution proved more convenience when looking at advantages and disadvantages. the same solution involving mineral wool and finishing plaster board could be applied to roof 1(sri) and roof 2 (fri). figure 13. façade, sloping roof and flat roof refurbishment solutions table 3. multicriteria analysis of the constructive solutions for the thermal envelope thermal envelope criteria technical environmental economic aesthetic solution advantagesdisadvantages u thermal bridges c/m2 time external variation façades fo1. ventilated façade medium-high level of difficulty requires scaffolding does not interfere with users high embedded energy due to the aluminium substructure 0.49 reduced 158.50 medium high fo. external insulation system medium-low level of difficulty requires scaffolding does not interfere with users f1: 0.49 f2: 0.47 reduced 90.35 medium medium fi. inner mineral wool and plaster board low level of difficulty interferes with users does not fulfil minimum dimensions 0.48 equal 27.99 short none continued on next page pg. 54 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 3 continued sloping roof sro. xps (extruded polystyrene) under the finishing layer high level of difficulty, the finishing roof layers are removed to add insulation requires scaffolding does not interfere with users 0.44 equal 93.47 long none sri. inner mineral wool and plaster board low level of difficulty interferes with users 0.44 equal 27.99 short none flat roof fro. xps and gravel over the finishing layer adds loads to slab. it requires a structural analysis does not interfere with users 0.49 equal 75.08 short none fri. mineral wool and plaster board low level of difficulty interferes with users the same solution for the two roof types 0.44 equal 27.99 short none theoretically, other measures can be proposed. for example, solar energy to cover a high percentage of dhw demand could have been proposed. however, this would need a further structural analysis to check that the structure would support the new load added by fitting solar energy. the presented proposal is intended mainly to be realistic and economically viable by considering the building’s socio-economic features. 4.5. energy performance after refurbishment the selected construction solutions, together with improved facilities, by going from electrical new boilers to condensed natural gas ones, shows a relevant improvement in energy performance and reduced annual carbon emissions from 29.5 to 15.3 kg co2/m2. table 4 shows the heating and cooling demands, together with emissions, due to different facilities and the savings made after refurbishment. table 4. improvement of energy performance and savings in emissions obtained by the ce3x software current state refurbished saving % heating demand kwh/m2 64.5f 17.5c 72.8 cooling demand kwh/m2 17.8d 14.7d 17.3 heating emissions 16.0e 4.3c 72.8 cooling emissions 5.1d 4.2d 17.3 continued on next page pg. 55 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 4 continued dhw emissions 8.4g 6.7g 19.9 global emissions 29.5e 15.3d 48.1 4.6. economic viability of refurbishment to analyze the economic viability of refurbishment, the guidelines of commission delegated regulation (eu) no. 244/2012, of 16 january 2012, which supplements directive 2010/31/eu of the european parliament and the council on the energy performance of buildings by establishing a comparative methodology framework to calculate cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings and building elements, was used. according to this methodology, energy performance measures are considered an investment and the net present value is used. this indicator is appropriate for long-term investments. buildings are products of a long service life that require maintenance, replacing certain elements, etc. therefore, the global cost, referred to as starting year τ 0, was calculated using the following equation (1) over calculation period , for a set of measures j during year i: cg(τ) = ci + ∑ j [ ∑ τ i=1 (ca,i( j)rd(i)+cc,i( j))−vf ,τ ( j) ]� (1) table 5 presents details for each term of equation 1 and the estimated values using the macroeconomic perspective by considering the carbon cost. the graphic represented in figure 8 shows the accumulated npv for two discount rates, r1% and r4%. npv is c53,184.12 for 1% and is c4,736.1 for 4%. with the starting hypothesis of table 5, we can see that the investment starts to be positive from year 20 and 28 for the 1% and the 4% discount rate, respectively. this is not a surprising result if we consider the private costs and only the carbon price a social cost. some subsidies can be considered in the calculations, if we bear in mind that the building is included in an arru, as mentioned in section 3.1. this would result in a more optimistic scenario with a shorter payback, as calculated in previous studies (alguacil et al., 2017). for example, estimating a hypothetical subsidy of c5,000.00/dwelling, the investment would be returned in less time, as seen in figure 14. table 5. terms for the global cost and hypothesis used for estimations term meaning estimated value and source τ calculation period starting year τ 0 2018 30 years r244/2012 suggests 30 years for residential and public buildings ci initial investment cost for measure or set of measures j cost of refurbishment of façades, windows, roof and replacing boilers (price database) c10,5195.64 in τ 0 ( c10,519.56/dwelling) ca,i(j) annual cost during year i for measure or set of measures j cost of electricity: c0.24/kwh (savings from the original to the refurbished building: 35.16 kwh/m2.year): c6416.70/year maintenance cost: inspection of boiler, mandatory every 5 years: c50/dwelling replacement cost: boiler 15 years of service life: c1800/dwelling maintenance cost: to inspect boilers, mandatory every 5 years, estimated at c50/dwelling. replacement cost: boiler ,15 years of service life continued on next page pg. 56 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 5 continued cci(j) carbon cost for measure or set of measures j during year i values recommended by the r244/2012 (savings from the original to the refurbished building: 14.2 kg co2/m2.year). prices co2: c20/ton until 2025; c30/ton until 2030; c50/ton from 2030 v f ,τ (j) residual value of measure or set of measures j at the end of the calculation period (discounted from the starting year τ 0) the residual value is considered zero rd (p) discount factor for year i calculated as rd(p) =   1 1+ r 100  p where p: number of years from τ 0 r: real discount rate a sensitivity analysis must be performed with at least two rates. from a macroeconomic perspective of 4% (according to the commission 2009’s impact assessment guidelines). sensitivity analysis: r1: 1%; r2: 4% figure 14. façade, sloping roof and flat roof refurbishment solutions 5. conclusions in this work, the refurbishment of a block of buildings located in castellón de la plana (east spain) is proposed. the selection of this building was based on various criteria: first, it is located in a vulnerable area of the city, as the new land plan reflects. second, the year of construction is characterised by socio-economic circumstances, which represents a building typology that entails a heritage value. the scarce economic resources at that time led to poor quality dwellings that can still be found in many spanish cities today. these buildings very often present low energy performance and obsolete quality standards. moreover, in this case, the selected building is the property of the municipality and is intended for social housing. the refurbishment proposal requires a previous diagnosis being made according to its current state. data were collected using the original project, visiting the site for measures, employing first-hand information and drawing new plans. some refurbishment solutions were analysed after bearing in mind the particularities of the case to select the pg. 57 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd optimal solution. the selected refurbishment solution is based on different criteria. although other solutions could have been proposed, the adopted solution was adapted to a realistic scenario by considering the building’s specificities. the energy performance estimation shows major savings in both energy and carbon emissions. the economic analysis conducted by the cost-optimal method shows an initial investment of c10,519.56/dwelling. with the starting hypothesis, the npv is positive. the cumulative npv shows that, in both cases, the npv is over zero after 20 years. this term would be shorter if subsidies could address the building. its location in an arru means that it is an area that should be prioritised to address potential subsidies. refurbishment would also benefit users’ quality of life by improving the thermal comfort of their dwellings as it would make the energy poverty situation more unlikely. besides it would increase the market price of dwellings, which is an aspect that the economic analysis does not consider. 6. acknowledgments the research for this work was carried out in the framework of the project gv/2017/110, diagnosis and proposals for the regeneration of public housing buildings for social inclusion purposes (vivinso), within the research, development and innovation projects developed by emerging research groups gv-2017, funded by the valencian autonomous government. 7. references 1. alguacil, s., lufkina, s., reya, e. & cuchı́, a. (2017). application of the cost-optimal methodology to urban renewal projects at the territorial scale based on statistical data. a case study in spain. energy and buildings,144, 42-60. 2. de ayala, a., galarraga, i. & spadaro, jv. (2016). the price of energy efficiency in the spanish housing market. energy policy,94, 16-24. 3. hamdy, m., hasan, a. & siren, k. (2011). applying a multi-objective optimization approach for design of low-emission cost-effective dwellings. building and environment, 46, 109-123. 4. decree 11 march 1941, on restriction on the use of iron in buildings. official spanish gazette 71, 12 march 1941. 5. escandón, r., suárez, r. & sendra, jj. (2016). protocol for the energy behaviour assessment of social housing stock: the case of southern europe. energy procedia,96, 907-915. 6. garcı́a-bernal, d., huedo, p., babiloni, s., braulio, m., carrascosa, c., civera, v., ruá, mj. & agost-felip, mr. (2017). estudio y propuesta de áreas de rehabilitación, regeneración y renovación urbana, con motivo de la tramitación del plan general estructural de castellón de la plana. retrieved from: https://s3-eu-west1.amazonaws.com/urbanismo/tomo i.pdf https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/urbanismo/tomo ii.pdf, https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/urbanismo/tomo iii.pdf; and https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ urbanismo/tomo iv.pdf. 7. gómez-jiménez, ml., (2004). la intervención administrativa en el sector de la vivienda (doctoral dissertation). universidad de málaga. 8. huedo, p., mulet, e. & lopez-mesa, b. (2016). a model for the sustainable selection of building envelope assemblies. environmental impact assessment review, 57, 63-77. 9. law 19 april 1939, on protection to low-income housing system and establishment of national housing institute. official spanish gazette 110, 20 april 1939 pg. 58 josé / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 10. law 5/2014, 25 july 2014, on territorial planning, urban planning and landscape, valencian community, lotup, 2014. official valencian community gazette 7329, 31 july 2014 and official spanish gazette 231, 23 september 2014. articles 35 and 72. 11. martı́n-consuegra, f., hernández-aja, a., oteiza, i. & alonso, c. (2016). energy needs and vulnerability estimation at an urban scale for residential neighbourhoods heating in madrid (spain), presented at 32th international conference on passive and low energy architecture, proceedings of plea16, 3, 1413-1418, california state polytechnic university pomona, los angeles, july 11-13. retrieved from: http://oa.upm.e s/44264/. 12. ruá mj., lópez-mesa, b. spanish energy rating labelling of buildings and its cost implications. informes de la construcción, 2012; 64: 307-318. 13. ruá, mj., huedo, p., agost-felip, mr., braulio-gonzalo, m., civera, v., garcı́a-bernal, d. & babiloni, s. (2017). defining the areas of rehabilitation, regeneration and renewal in castellón de la plana (spain). using a geographical information system in urban planning, presented at international symposium integration of art and technology in architecture and urban planning, university of science and technology, faculty of civil and environmental engineering and architecture, bydgoszcz (poland), 8-9 june 2017. bydgoszcz: wydawnictwa uczelniane uniwersytetu technologiczno-przyrodniczego. 14. sambricio, c. (2004). madrid, vivienda y urbanismo: 1900-1960. madrid: arkal arquitectura. 15. sierra-pérez, j., boschmonart-rives, j. & gabarrell, x. (2016). environmental assessment of façadebuilding systems and thermal insulation materials for different climatic conditions. journal of cleaner production,113, 102-113. pg. 59 introduction methodology background vulnerable urban areas social housing case study the urban scale the block of buildings the building's energy performance energy refurbishment proposal energy performance after refurbishment economic viability of refurbishment conclusions acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.560 urban public space axis rector of green infrastructure in the current city of ecuador experience ambato marina perez-perez1 1architecture, arts and design faculty, technological university indoamerica, ecuador abstract the current city calls for the reconsideration of a close relationship between gray infrastructure and public spaces, understanding the infrastructure as a set of items, equipment, or services required for the functioning of a country, a city. ambato, ecuador, is a current intermediate city, has less than 1% of the urban surface with use of public green spaces, which represents a figure below the 9m2/ hab., recommended by oms. the aim of this paper was to identify urban public spaces that switches of green infrastructure in the city today, applying a methodology of qualitative studies. with an exploratory descriptive level analysis, in three stages, stage of theoretical foundation product of a review of the existing literature, which is the theoretical support of the relationship gray infrastructure public spaces equal to green infrastructure. subsequent to this case study, discussed with criteria aimed at green infrastructure and in the public spaces of the study area. finally, after processing and analysis of the results, we provide conclusions for urban public space as a definition of the green infrastructure of the current city of latin america; in the latter, the focus is to support this article. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. 1. introduction the current city, fragmented by structures constituted in networks and nodes, has caused urban public spaces to empty, forgetting that these spaces are considered an opportunity to strengthen social relations and that budgets are also allocated to improve the vitality of these spaces . in this sense, the new trends in the configuration of the urban environment, point towards a literacy of space, based on the sensitive perception and imagination of citizen (trachana, 2013), where the current city is seen as a large social space, in which values the practices of its active citizens by and for it (lefebvre, 1978). as a result we obtain a model of public space produced by modernity, far from reality, with this model the state offers an ideal setting for the integrating and mediating function of its inhabitants, with the idea of a public space as a guarantee of democracy and space of freedom, with the opportunity to be an individual. the definition of the city presents different relationship solutions by mixture of uses, continuous, intermittent or occasional: hybridization, when it hosts different activities, public spaces, equipment, etc.; or acupuncture, by repetition of the same activities in sequence along an infrastructure system (mayorga & fontana, 2012), the street. the streets have been ”something rather than a public service, rather than a series of linear physical spaces that pg. 107 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd enable scrolling they are places of encounter and exchange, social or commercial; the medium where people meet, main reason being of cities” (jacobs, 2013). the exorbitant consumption governance, low services to the ecosystem and new behaviors, product of globalization, give as a result urban sustainability indices that define green infrastructure. the scope of the green infrastructure occurs in various scales. based on a three-dimensional model of sustainable development, indicators for the study of the green infrastructure provide the three basic axes, with particular approaches. in the case of social sustainability, the role-played by the participatory processes of the inhabitants of the city becomes relevant. the diversity of classes are manifested in the social middle class and high tends to locate its field of action in its residential spaces and public spaces under private control socially paragraphs, by adopting an indifferent attitude with regard to the public space classic, except in what is related to your travel needs. attitude that has consequences, which imply that the city is taken as a reality outside, inevitable or normal, and their actions are limited to the area where your house, contributing to its territory the nature of public space is located. on the other hand the popular classes, intensely used traditional public space, through its economic practices, mobility, consumption, recreation, imposing its aesthetics, on par with the absence of urban culture that allows assuming public as own and communal, the absence of a culture that guidelines for the care and respect of the public space. low empowerment of public space in the latin-american city resulting in practices forms of use, and appropriation of public space indifferent to the common good. 1.1. the infrastructure in the current city. it is recognized that the decreasing quality of public space is due to causes, such as the impact of changing the function of the meeting space in the communication era. the combination of work, care and personal life leads to whether today’s society needs the vitality of cities, adding the appearance of shopping centers, leisure, etc. they attract a large number of people, generating a set of spaces for collective use. which causes territorial segmentation with problems such as the appearance of borders or the zoning of uses with the consequent loss of diversity and quality of life. the assessment of public space, accounts for the habitability that presents, as urban quality of life, habitable and comfortable conditions. linked to a degree of satisfaction of services and perception of habitable space: parks, green infrastructures. in this multidimensional framework, the public space from its habitability constitutes one of the satisfies of the quality of urban life. the importance of public space is such that a city is valued depending on the experiences that individuals have in relation to their peers(paramo, burbano, jimenez-domınguez & barrios, 2018). in the current context, cities are protagonists of the provision of services, the construction and location of buildings, in facing inequalities and in managing the environment as a contribution to human health (montoya, 2016). in this sense it is necessary to collect spontaneous and emerging processes that build the social space, proposing alternatives to the current urban model, with green infrastructures. the public spaces of the current city are unique compared to the quality of the spaces of the traditional city. working on the regeneration of these spaces requires proposals that come from technical, economic, environmental and social perspectives. the current city claims to reflect on its internal growth, reflection on the possibility of becoming a consolidated city as an urban model based on sustainability, understanding public space as a resource that must be taken care of, maintained, and revalued environmentally, effectively, healthily and habitable infrastructures are decisive in that configuration of the current city, which increases the demand for comfort and mobility. infrastructure brand that relationship influencing the definition of urban spaces, issuing guidelines in the form of the city and defining the potential or shortcomings (ramos, 2015), which affects the surrounding public spaces. the infrastructure found a historical time, through sections that can be read on several levels. this is why infrastructure is considered as the main core, which acts as the current city coalescer. this infrastructure analysis is pg. 108 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd given based on the sum of these differential cross-sections at different spatial and temporal scales (munar, 2015. that you join tangent scenarios’ infrastructure with a formal relationship, defined by the infrastructure. green infrastructure is a wide range of specific practices and a series of definitions. the u.s. environmental protection agency defines the green infrastructure as a durable, cost-effective approach to the management of the impacts of the humid climate, which provides many benefits to the community. in general, green infrastructure is economic, improving security and the quality of life of the community, incorporates both the natural environment and engineering systems to conserve the values and functions of ecosystems and provide a wide range of benefits for the inhabitants of the city. green infrastructure can be designed to meet the needs of the rural life in the city. it includes parks and urban forests, which provide a habitat for the quality of life. in general, smart cities are using the green infrastructure from the streets and green roofs, to bring the benefits of nature to the built environment. it can be a central element of the regional intelligent planning, ensuring the city to have a habitable environment for future generations. the green infrastructure has become a tool for the resilient city to enhance its ecosystems, contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, benefit to the populations and habitat in the sectors of agriculture, forestry, water, in addition to the mitigation of climate change and adaptation in order to strengthen consistency with the needs of the current city. green infrastructure can be defined as “an interconnected network of green spaces that conserve the functions and values of natural ecosystems and provide benefits associated with the population” (benedict & mcmahon, 2002). an idea that emerged in 1900, notwithstanding the concept of green infrastructure reappears in the decade of 2010, with the design and planning of urban and peri-urban environments (eisenman, 2013). gradually the green infrastructure has been included in the definition of urban environments, expanding its presence. hence, in the beginning, the term green infrastructure that was focused on the conservation and maintenance of natural ecosystems, through a network of interconnected spaces, did not include this type of green infrastructure (hellmund & smith, 2006). in the current city, the incorporation of the concept of green infrastructure in the planning process is a challenge. understanding urban green public spaces as infrastructure, is to consider the importance in the preservation of natural resources for future generations, of fragmented and disorganized urban growth (valdes & foulkes, 2016). at the local level, green infrastructure helps maintain landscape integrity and social welfare. the relationship of gray infrastructures with public spaces allows the green infrastructures of the current city to be perfectly enhanced, as well as to define it from a scientific-technical methodology of urban growth analysis, social welfare and environmental protection, emphasizing spaces public spaces for recreation, leisure and relationship with nature. 1.2. the integration of green infrastructure in the current city. despite the relationship between habitat and quality of life, public spaces have evolved unbundled in cities. the activities that were customary to perform in these spaces, have moved to private spaces and have modified behaviors in individuals, making them increasingly frequent less parks, squares, streets. these changes meant that the spaces were replaced by private spaces that sought to complement the activities with safety, comfort and hygiene (paramo, burbano & fernandez-londono, 2016). in countries, developed or developing, cities are synonymous with an alternative to desirable existence. there are a series of factors resulting from these processes, for example, unemployment, the informal economy, among others (castillo-oropeza & alejandre-ramos. the public space of latin american cities is currently the object of management, in order to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of its inhabitants, given the importance that is given to sustain the social practices carried out in the public space (paramo et. al, 2016). the limited success of sustainable urban development is related to the limited availability of information in less developed countries, hence the need to monitor these cities and study their contribution to the right to quality of life (nacif, 2016). the common place to the cultural and the economic, as well as the coexistence of the natural pg. 109 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd environment with the built one, focuses on the re-interpretation of the physical environment for the user through activities and respect for the human scale. activation of the present space at any time of the day with spontaneous character. with expression based on the relationships arising in the public space, the capacity of attraction of the place and the users and that jointly, construct through the public spaces that urban fabric capable of absorbing changes, reacting and increasing by itself its social capital. for latin american cities (where less than 50% of their land has basic services, water supply, sanitation, or transportation), adapt to sustainability, one of the resources are urban indicators, which allow monitoring the public spaces. indicators are essential components in the evaluation of progress towards sustainable development (gallopin, 2006). the relations of the city, in terms of the public space, are expressed in the streets, squares, parks, places of citizen meeting. the public space is the main space of urbanism, urban culture and citizenship (borja & muxi, 2003). the public space is not only considered an indicator of urban quality but also a privileged instrument of urban policy to build a city and to maintain and renovate traditional cities and to give the infrastructure a civic value. the incorporation of the concept of sustainable development in the management and urban planning is the result of research that contributes to enrich the strategies of management and green planning of the city (floresxolocotzi, 2012). the green infrastructure is a term increasingly used among professionals of natural resources, for the purposes of this paper, the green infrastructure is an interconnected network of green spaces that preserves the natural values and functions of the ecosystem and provides benefits to the population . the green infrastructure is the necessary ecological framework for the environmental component of sustainability, and this is where it joins the social and economic one. the green infrastructure is presented as a strategic approach to conservation that addresses the environmental and social impacts of uncontrolled expansion and accelerated consumption and the fragmentation of urban sprawl. in the field of the concept and value of infrastructure, principles for successful green infrastructure initiatives are presented. 1.3. the current city of the mountains of ecuador. ambato case study the demand for green infrastructure in the current city of ecuador is a guiding element for urban management. aligned to the actions of the new urban agenda, which promotes a sustainable and inclusive urban economy, promoting environmental sustainability and adequate. the need to increase efforts to move towards a low carbon economy, contribute to curb climate change and aim for long-term economic growth. the nua recognizes the importance of actions to achieve these objectives with a focus through the implementation of sustainable activities. for the study of green infrastructure, in the current city, it has been applied in a specific case study, with a qualitative quantitative methodology, and an exploratory descriptive analysis, in three stages, the first is the theoretical foundation product to review existing literature to support the exposition of basic concepts and the theoretical support of the gray infrastructure-urban public spaces relationship. after that, the case study is analyzed, with criteria oriented to green infrastructure, analyzing the public spaces of the study area in ambato, ecuador, mappings were made for the registration of the infrastructures. faced with the particularity that ambato is an intermediate city with high seismic character. the territory of ecuador through it mountain systems, with three natural regions, costa, sierra and east. at different altitudes, the coast arrives at the level of the sea, the saw with the highest level the chimborazo to 6.267 msnm and the east located in the amazon region that goes from the 3.353 m to the 300-150 msnm (igm, 2013). figure 1. location of ambato pg. 110 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ambato (fig. 1), 155.80 km., of quito, the ecuador capital, has an area of 1016,454 km2, which equals 29.94% of the province of tungurahua. located in the region sierra at 2.575,00 meters above sea level, is part of the climate equatorial mesothermal dry (pourrut, 1983). between latitude 1◦ 14’ 32.11”, longitude 78◦ 37’ 45.23”. the temperature fluctuates from 13.3 14.7 ◦c variation given by the irregularity of the terrain, reaching the extremes of 7 to 24◦c, relative humidity between 70-80%. according to the records of the past 10 years, next above, measurements of t and rh have been kept without relevant variations. it is traversed by the ambato river which has a length of 26.6 km. the annual water deficit in the area amounts to approximately 1913.35 mm. its geography is differentiated by the western mountains, more than half of the surface, dividing it into two almost equal parts and a high plains area constituted by the andean alley. its orography is rugged with a series of hills, hills, streams and ravines, which considerably limit the existence of broad valleys. ambato, capital of the province of tungurahua, was founded in 1535, 251 years ambato was the victim of three significant earthquakes (1698, 1797 and 1949), the latter caused left an ambato in architectural ruins, giving rise to a new city. the current city of ambato, in addition to being a resilient city is an intermediate city (bid, 2015). with 154,369 inhabitants, with immediate rural surroundings with economic relations of interaction at the regional level (salazar, irarrazaval & fonck, 2017). its main economic activity is trade in regional output. with a periurban incipient growth ambato is an emerging city. figure 2. study area, ambato, ecuador. is defined an area of study that includes the current downtown and its immediate urban expansion, with an area of 343.4 hectares (figure 2), in which the green public spaces are 26.5 hectares (figure 3), representing 0.78% of the surface to such a study. figure 3. study area and area of urban green public spaces. pg. 111 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.3.1. road infrastructure the road system considered one of the pillars of growth, connecting territories and facilitating commercial and cultural exchange, as well as collaborating in the quality of life of the inhabitants. the emphasis on the role of the roads, in mobility, to achieve urban integration and social appropriation, goes in the degree of the infrastructures involved. in which the infrastructure allows articulation of circulation, facilitating the speculative practices of the real estate market, where the formal and abstract design of the city, determined by the disposition of the infrastructure, were related to each other and to the value of used to exchange value of the land (galan, 2017). figure 4. road infrastructure in the study area. the technical and socio-environmental aspects of the road infrastructure claim to follow sustainability indicators, applying the “eco-development” (ordonez diaz & meneses silva, 2015). aimed at the balance between economy and ecology and its inclusion in development models that favor dominated populations, displaced and the third world. in an attempt to improve the living conditions of the current city, a group of latin american countries has identified investment in infrastructure represents a decisive tool to advance towards economic and social development. a good road system is crucial for developing countries to exploit the potential of the economic sector: good roads and good roads are essential, efficient electricity network guarantees to industry and commerce (venanzi, 2014). figure 4 shows the road infrastructure that benefits urban public green spaces in the study area. the traditional infrastructures, the gray infrastructures respond to a limited number due to their complex integration in the territory. being replaced or coexisting with diverse green infrastructures of different dimensions, structured forming networks of natural, semi-natural or artificial elements, capable of offering multiple environmental, social and economic functions (magdaleno, 2017). among the measures for the implementation of green infrastructures are those that are decisive, considering that the gray infrastructures are conventional transport, service, social or commercial structures. they can also be storage (reservoirs and rafts) and conduction (pipes or channels) for wastewater, rainwater or supply. pg. 112 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. electricity network in the study area. figure 6. sanitary energy network in the study area. pg. 113 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. drinking water net work in the study area. table 1. gray infrastructure in the public spaces of ambato (figures 5, 6 & 7) infrastruc ture electric network sanitary network water networklow voltage medium voltage interior lighting network posts piping download well public spaces aerial underground aerial 1. dos culturas si si si si si si si si 2. los sauces si no si si si si si si 3. luis a. martı́nez si no si si si si si si 4. los quindes si no si si si si si si 5. la vicentina si si si si si si si si 6. la madre si si si si si si si si 7. juan benigno vela si si si si si si si si 8. juan montalvo si si si si si si si si 9. cevallos si si si si si si si si 10. doce de noviembre si si si si si si si si 11. plaza sucre si si si si si si si si 12. neptali sancho si si si si si si si si table 1 shows the types of gray infrastructure that each urban public space in the study area has, namely the data on service infrastructures: electricity networks, sanitation networks and drinking water networks (figures 5, 6 & 7). pg. 114 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd they are known as ”gray” because of the lack of connection they exert on ”green” ecosystems, in the largest of cases they are single-purpose, monofunctional facilities, to respond to a specific need of society. high cost, high energy needs, significant impact on the environment, limited integration in the territory. 2. green infrastructure and quality of life the green infrastructure the case study arises in two ways: 1. from a conceptual framework to define the enhancement of public spaces, 2. specific knowledge in the area of study of ambato, with an approach to the issue of climate change by means of the concept of green infrastructure, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, that is close to the way that public spaces urban green as one more strategies for dealing with climate change in cities, with green infrastructure, are considered highly efficient. at the level of design, twelve public spaces of the current city of ambato conducive to both group and individual activities. even with the similarities that may have, there are differences determined from variable location, dimensions and activities, which respond to a geographical location (figure 8, 9 & 10). figure 8. geographical location of urban green public spaces. figure 9. the open public spaces and closed public spaces. pg. 115 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 10. the green public spaces and the equipment. 2.1. comfort, use and enjoyment of the public space. in a previous study directed to stay in public spaces, outdoor activities in the andean region of the ecuador, yield results that dwell time is correlated with the equipment, conditions that allow users to use the space in group activities (basantes nunez & garcia higueras, 2018). coupled with this are the environmental characteristics of the site, where the altitude, temperature and relative humidity determine the enjoyment of public space. the studies carried out, so far, are defined by the sustainability variables; existing infrastructures in relation to urban public spaces represent a favorable for the case study data. in an approximation of the international actions that are carried out on the links between urbanization and its infrastructures, with a view to mitigating the negative effects of uncontrolled urbanization (bazant, 2010), guidelines for the conservation of biodiversity in the cities, in order to strengthen the sustainability of natural resources in an urban context. 2.2. urban green public spaces the green infrastructure of the current city. urban public spaces, in the area of studies of ambato, have little of the classic playgrounds. the playground loss product of urban life, space of the modern city, which arises as a response to keep children away from the street. becoming a playful, formative, normative and educational space, a place to test the civic rules of behavior (stutzin, 2015). ambato urban green public spaces are far from having the value of the playground as a place full of potential for social integration not only of children but also for adults who care for them. while they agree on the way in which to understand public space, they also respond to different ways of conceiving the game and its social function. their level of appropriation is different, the space where users are related to the city and the rest of society, staying in spaces of relations with close peers. if public spaces in which leisure is sought through the cleared space, made as a donation for the leisure, leisure as the capacity to enjoy the world that builds understanding (caraves, 2010). ambato spaces shape leisure, from the act of the ride, whether by user location, is neighbor or not, by distance or proximity, are spaces to be leisurely. in the public spaces of ambato, the relationship between public space and infrastructure defines ecosystem services offered by the green infrastructure, such as those that are some of the recognized ones to face climate change in the current city. in addition, they are classified according to whether they act as mitigation or adaptation mechanisms to climate change. there the importance of improving ecosystem services, as a form of a green infrastructure system, so that the city adapts to climate change (vasquez, 2016). the first aspect recognized in the case study, is the proper location of public spaces, records show that the equippg. 116 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd ment found in the study area, in the vicinity of the public space, allow this diversity of activities, in the most of the cases, protected from noise. relevant elements that characterize green infrastructures (magdaleno, 2017). – the elements that share a green infrastructure network must have a critical dimension and adequate connectivity potential with the rest of the network. – national and european networks of protected natural spaces can be the basis of green infrastructure, due to their capacity to capture high biodiversity and ecosystems in good condition, due to the volume and importance of the ecosystem services they support. however, the green infrastructure must be based on all the major types of land use. – green infrastructures can include both natural and artificial elements, such as core and buffer zones, restored habitats and multifunctional areas. – the socioeconomic potential of green infrastructure is expressed through its capacity to optimize the management of natural capital, reduce natural risks or contribute to the european 2020 strategy. the result of a qualitative analysis, due to the need to understand the public spaces of the current city and in the specific case of the public spaces of ambato, ecuador, a series of mappings was made. faced with the particularity of intermediate city with high seismic character. the systematization of the data has allowed qualitative data to be obtained in the ambato sustainability function. the importance of public spaces also lies in the use they give and the ability to form their identity, also because of the gray infrastructure from which they benefit. the public spaces are places of potential with possibilities of green infrastructure that allows the space to adapt to the developed activity, to the characteristics of the environment and to the population density benefited. 3. conclusions according to the conceptual and methodological foundations for the implementation (magdaleno, 2017), and considering some critical aspects that are currently being discussed in the study area, it is possible to propose some initiatives for the development of green infrastructures, which could be benefit for users. the management and planning of urban green areas gradually incorporated an ecological vision, which has led, in recent years, to a three-dimensional perspective of sustainable development that requires an integral consideration of social, economic and environmental aspects. ecology and economics provide indicators of ecological footprint, green surface, biodiversity, carbon capture, oxygen supply, etc. indicators of importance to assess the environmental importance of urban green areas; they are even the sustenance of one of the indicators of quality of life most used in urban planning: the 9 m2 recommended by oms. considering a classic economic vision of sustainability, environmental economics provides economic values of environmental services of green areas without a market price; values that are useful in the benefits-costs for decision-making in the use of land in urban areas. from a social perspective, sustainability includes citizen participation, gender equity and social inclusion, hence the utility of knowing citizens’ perception of urban green areas. today offer the public space as a space for coexistence and equality is a difficult task. urban public spaces of ambato are solutions that exemplify the importance of the relationship between public spaces urban green infrastructure at different scales, where the infrastructure provides successful or less successful conditions to the urban public space, guaranteeing a weight in the urban sprawl to a greater or lesser extent. promoting the idea of public space as playful and collective space where innovative dynamics are developed, between the need and the creativity of its users and people who act jointly (lefebvre, 1978). the case study green public spaces represent 0.78% of the total area. action that can be seen as an approach to the consolidation of the green infrastructure at the level of the current city of ambato, integrating spatially different pg. 117 perez-perez / environmental science and sustainable development, essd existing and projected green infrastructure. aside from the aesthetic and recreational qualities of public spaces of ambato, the quality of life and sustainable development, the recognition of the multiple contributions of a green space means that a plan or project for its development have a greater political and social support. the improvement of the green infrastructure in terms of design, implementation and a relationship cost-benefit to the local economy, the current latin american city, first requires the definition of a policy of green infrastructure that fosters the planning of natural areas for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, important for human wellbeing. in addition to the preferences of residents in the first instance, and how they relate with the green spaces urban. if it is impossible to imagine the existence of a city without drinking water and sewerage network, collectors of rainwater without infrastructure for the treatment of domestic waste water or infrastructure for education or health care. similarly, the difficulty in the development of the current city without planning, calls for the implementation of green infrastructure, with vital functions for the city. ambato, as intermediate city, with their gray infrastructure networks, the relationship with its surrounding territory is what gives character differentiating with respect to other types of urban settlements of the ecuador. in this way, green infrastructure networks defined urban growth with unique features, facing local governments of intermediate city, largely as a special feature. the improvement of the green infrastructure in terms of design, implementation and a relationship cost-benefit to the local economy, the current latin american city, first requires the definition of a policy of green infrastructure that fosters the planning of natural areas for the conservation of habitat, important for human wellbeing. in addition to the preferences of residents in the first instance, and how they relate with the green spaces urban. 4. acknowledgments this article is the product of research ”sustainable criteria of architectonic spaces public intervention project, according to its urban climate, level of appropriation and social habitat, between the avenues guaytambos, unidad nacional, del rey, quiz quiz y manuela sáenz, of ambato” (uti-citehs-pi-03 territory livability and sustainability research center). special thanks to carlos campoverde, which has made the delimitation of the site map. 5. references 1. bazant, j. 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(2014). gasto p´ublico social y las inversiones en infraestructura para el desarrollo (20002010). revistavenezolana de an´alisis de coyuntura, 1, 71-94. pg. 120 introduction the infrastructure in the current city. the integration of green infrastructure in the current city. the current city of the mountains of ecuador. ambato case study road infrastructure green infrastructure and quality of life comfort, use and enjoyment of the public space. urban green public spaces the green infrastructure of the current city. conclusions acknowledgments references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 105 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.870 development of a user-centered design framework for palliative and hospice care patients for a better quality of life experience shahira assem abdel-razek 1 1 department of architectural engineering, faculty of engineering, delta university for science and technology, mansoura 11152, egypt abstract goal three of the sustainable development goals emphasizes the concept of “leaving no one behind”; a model for inclusivity and coherence. amongst those that are often “left behind” are patients at the end stage of their life due to a terminal illness or a medical diagnosis. these are often left to die without thought to the quality of life that they receive before their demise, and many experience this stage at home due to fear of expenses, or in a best-case scenario at a hospital to help alleviate or manage pain. in many places worldwide, this is where palliative and hospice care come in and focus on the end-of-life care provided to patients who fit the criteria. the number of architecture and design related studies in this field are not numerous, and those that are there do not focus on the patient as a user with rights, but merely as a patient that is there. the concept of a user-centered design is forgotten in midst of all the pain and suffering of all concerned, namely, the patient, his beloved, and his caregivers. however, focusing on this nexus at the core of the design project may help promote this painful and stressful time in life and induce serenity and acceptance in a time that is often dark and ominous. this research aims to develop a design framework for places that deal with end-of-life care and how to provide a better quality of end-of-life experience for terminally ill patients. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords end-of-life care; user centred design; palliative and hospice; leave no one behind; tailored spaces; quality-of-life; 1. introduction the right to quality of life is a focus across many disciplines today, that happens to adhere to both the world health organization (who) recommendations as well as the sustainable development goals (sdgs); for amongst the focus on beneficiaries addressed by goal 3 of the sdgs: “leave no one behind”, are those in need of palliative care(pettus, 2017). the who estimates that less than 14% of all people who deserve palliative care actually receive it (palliative care, 2020), and aims to ensure that individuals have the ability and provisions to live comfortably and happily in existing circumstances(world health organization, 2016). palliative and end of life care do not only fall under the objectives of the sdgs and the capacity of the who, but also as a human right argued by brennan in 2007, the right to health and the right to life bereft of suffering(brennan, 2007). currently, there are almost 2,100 palliative care centers around the world, with more than a third stationed in the united states alone(global directory of palliative care institutions and organizations, n.d.), the who states that each year, almost 40 million individuals around the world become in need of some form of end of life care, with http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 106 more than 70% of that number in low to middle income countries, thus leading to insufficient access to this type of care (who & whpca, 2020). the roots of palliative care stems from the modern hospice movement that focused on the sum of the effect of the different distress stressors; emotional, spiritual, social and physical, on the pain perceived by an individual or what is called “total pain”. the continuous care and support provided to patients in need of palliative care helps decrease frequent unwanted and mostly unbeneficial visits to the hospital and its related cost plus with the help of psychological care provided helps patients and loved ones accept the concept of dying.(zadeh et al., 2018) the existing literature amplifies both the psychological and social dimensions(blakey & abramowitz, 2017; gerlach et al., 2021; hearn & higginson, 1998; price et al., 2006), while not always being able to commit to the physical aspect. the physical component may consist of the right to health, the right to appropriate and comfortable housing, and ultimately housing alternatives, and the right to leisure and recreation, amongst other parameters that may not always be present or may not be up to the expected standard. the problem intensifies in individuals with life ending disease and terminal state illness, as well as old age frailty, and more often than not impacts the quality of life they are subjected to. at the end of life (eol) stage, quality of life of both patients and caregivers is heavily impacted as patients with terminal illnesses’ health deteriorates and they suffer from stressors due to their physical state, these may include insomnia, or general sleep disturbance, anger, fear, fatigue, anorexia, nausea and depression, amongst other factors. the impact of the physical environment on these stressors may help diminish their impact as well as provide beneficiaries of palliative care a comfortable and aesthetic pleasing eol experience. 1.1. disparities between hospice and palliative care the end-of-life (eol) care is an approach that helps alleviate potential suffering and trauma related to terminal disease. it was essentially advocated to help patients have a better quality of life during their last days as well as help families and caregivers cope with the prospect of dying and death of a loved one (mularski et al., 2007). eol care refers to two types of dealing with a terminally ill patient with a life expectancy of up to six months: palliative and hospice care, with hospice being the root for palliative. the main difference between the two types of care is the administration of medicine to cure the present ailment or disease, palliative care tends to take into consideration curing the patient as well as easing his suffering, as much as is possible given the side effects of the medicine used and the interaction between the limitation of specific types of interventions, while hospice care focuses on the patient leading a better quality of life regardless of the idea of curing the patient; having the patient lead a comfortable end of-life experience through pain killers. knowing the needs of each type is a tool to aid architects and designers in providing better solutions to facilitate and ease this stress inducing practice, not only for the patients, but also for both nurses and caregivers. the role of the hospice team is to provide a pleasant end of life experience through relieving pain and stress through focusing on enhancing the social, psychological, and physiological aspects of the patient’s life. it helps celebrate life and provides the needs and measures needed for each specific individual to be able to do so. on the other hand, the main focus of palliative care is the alleviation of pain and suffering through administering appropriate medication while ensuing comfort and support. hospice care, delves on providing help and care, (and even bereavement therapy upto one year post mortem), to patients and their families during the last period of the patient’s life, while palliative care does not deal with the aftermath of the process of dying. (figure 1) both types of care may be administered at a hospital, in an assisted living facility or a nursing home or even at the patient’s residence. the place of care depends on several factors such as projected life expectancy, cost of care, presence of a caregiver, location, and proximity to place to the responsible physician and his team, and willingness of the patient or his first of kin. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 107 figure 1: main differences between hospice and palliative care also, in opposition to hospice care and its numbered team, palliative care is administered through a palliative care therapy unit, consisting of physicians, therapists, physical therapists, and nurses, as the main professions, alongside them, creative therapists (music and art), psychologists, psychiatrists and spiritual healers are also involved, not to mention legal and financial advisors and occupational consultants. the literature does not provide that designers and architects should be incorporated unto this unit nor the important role that they play amongst retailing the experience of quality of life to the end-of-life phase, although there is growing focus on the architecture of death and dying. this research discusses the additional areas of design that may help make the end-of-life experience better as well as develop a user centred design experience tailored to each individual patient in opposition to a one size fits all approach to ensure a better quality of life experience. the study aims to develop a design framework to provide a better end of-life experience for terminally ill patients, it also examines structuring a detailed interview questionnaire for both patients and caregivers to give a better personal aspect to this dire time and provide quality time for all concerned to enhance their quality of life. 2. methodology to better understand the number and amount of relevant publications published with the keywords architectural design, user-centred, palliative and hospice care, the vosviewer platform was used. vosviewer is a map and infographic builder that correlates data from several academic search engine sites such as dimensions, web of science and scopus. the format used to import the data into the vosviewer is a .csv extension. the vosviewer accepts metrics from four specific engines, namely, scopus, web of science, dimensions and pubmed. the two engines used in this research are dimensions and scopus due to them being freely available for researchers. the dimensions.ai search engine searches existing academic articles for more than 13 major publishers including springer nature, plos, wiley, iop, frontiers, emerald publishers, and many others, was used to research the correlation between several keywords and their incidence. the keywords used initially was hospice design, which yielded 156 publications. the main categories of research were then filtered as is shown in (figure 1), and 8 of the 11 categories were chosen, yielding 127 publications, as shown in figure 2. hospice care mitigates symptom management focusing on relief of pain interprofessional care with the help of initial caregivers (either family or hired) palliative care focuses on spiritual, psychosocial, and cultural needs of patients and families does not exlude curative treatment involves a holistically designed interdisciplinary plan author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 108 figure 2: results from the dimensions.ai application showing the number of search items that resulted from the keywords while in scopus database, the term “palliative care design” came up with 123 entries, and “hospice care design” came up with 28, (figure 3 and 4 respectively). figure 3: results of the search query “palliative care design” on the scopus database figure 4: results of the search query “hospice care design” on the scopus database the data was then exported from both dimensions.ai and scopus database, downloaded and imported into vosviewer and a vosviewer bibliometric map was designed.. the keywords are then mapped and a filtration of unnecessary or ineffective words are screened manually, (words like chapter, book, article, proceedings, authors names, countries and other irrelevant data to the point of research) and removed. the resulting bibliometric data shows the incid ence and correlation between certain keywords and the links occurring from their use. the program computes the words into clusters and a visual map result, as is seen in (figure 5). author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 109 figure 5: visualization map resulting from the words selected showing incidences and links between keywords it is evident that the repetitive and keywords in association with hospice is non design related and that the keywords are patients, caregivers, family and care, while those associated with design are few and with little to no links or connectors (figure 6) figure 6: map visualization showing weak links and incidence between keywords such as design process, healing environment and design in relation to hospice a desktop literature review was then carried out to determine the design standards available for these types of institutions and to build upon the findings the criteria to be added in the development of the framework, taking into consideration the elements of personalization that may be added to devise a conceptual design for areas that may aid in achieving a better quality of life for terminally ill patients through a formulation of an interview questionnaire tailored for each individual. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 110 3. literature review while related literature focuses on medical care and medication(bain & weschules, 2007)(gawande, 2014; goldenheim et al., 2014; kohara et al., 2005; russell et al., 2017), and to some extent their psychological care as well(el-jawahri et al., 2011; ferrante & villani, 2021; gola et al., 2016), little emphasis is placed on their surrounding environment (both built and natural) and their immediate wishes to live their last days. and while both hospice care centres and palliative units often focus on the physical comfort of the patient, it does so without tailoring a definitive setting to each individual, a point which affects their perception of care during their last days(ferrante & villani, 2021). architectural design focus on both types of care is not evident and only few researchers have ventured into this domain, as evident in the methodology section. architectural and environmental design are inevitable in the provision of an overall integrated and holistic experience to ensure patient satisfaction and vitality. to better understand the qualitative research done in relation to architecture and either hospice or palliative care, academic search engines were utilized to research the number of publications across the years. the overall result showed that these design guidelines were missing and that was the sole driver of this current research. initially hospice and palliative care were designed to ease the suffering of terminally ill cancer patients, today with the adoption of goal 3 of the sustainable development goals leave no one behind to palliative care, it has become broader to encompass other life-threatening debilitating illnesses, such as organ failure, dementia, extreme frailty due to old age, severe tuberculosis, hiv and anyone who’s level of suffering is affecting his quality of life. palliative care also differs according to the age of the patient, children are dealt with in a different manner than youth or geriatric patients and the expectations of family is different according to the age group. evidence based empirical research shows that palliative care does indeed improve quality of life of the patient as well as the ed of life experience(el-jawahri et al., 2011; kane et al., 1984) research also showed that both patients and familial caregivers showed a higher satisfaction to the efforts administered through palliative care in opposition to usual hospital stays, however, the extent or mode of measurement of this satisfaction was not qualitative with no proper mode of measurement identified. (dy et al., 2008; higginson et al., 2003) another point worth mentioning in regards to satisfaction is that studies done in regards to palliative care cannot be taken as is; context, place, location and patient specifics are important factors that may affect heavily satisfaction outcome and the overall experience(higginson & evans, 2010; mularski et al., 2007) amongst the parameters measured for satisfaction in the palliative care experience, the aspect of architecture and design is often overlooked, although it plays a vital role and deals with the overall quality of life and may help in enhancing the eol quality experience. in one study, amongst 37 factors integrated into a questionnaire to measure satisfaction of patients and caregivers, none of the factors embedded in the questionnaire were related to the built environment or the physical surroundings of the patient. (partinico et al., 2014), this may be due to the fact that at the eol stage, aesthetics and architecture may not be important to some. however, architecture and aesthetics is embedded in the daily perception of individuals to any setting and studies have shown the psychological effect that spatial design has on users. 3.1. barriers to end-of-life care religious, financial, and psychological aspects all contribute to lack of implementation of end-of-life care. most religious beliefs view the time of death as a sacred and unknown instance that cannot be predetermined and as such may not believe the time life expectancy stated by the physician. another point of consequence is a psychological one, where caregivers and immediate family would resist treating the patient as terminal as to not foretell his demise (or jinx), believing that it is ominous to think of a loved one as dead. the third aspect to refusing end of life care is often financial, the cost of care for a person, for up to six months in an assisted living facility is often a cost consuming one and many may not be able to afford it, not to mention the psychological synapsis associated with guilt of putting that person up to be cared by somebody else. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 111 4. results & discussion the idea of investing in an architecturally designed hospice may be a strange notion, not understandable to all, for the mere fact that most people who are on the throes of palliative or end of life care, won’t have design and interior design on their mind and may not even realize its importance. hospices, much like hospitals, come with a very high price tag, on their own without the added component of having them specifically designed and tailored to the individual case or setting. however, the psychological benefits that may arise from embedding design strategies into the eol care setting may be the light at the end of the tunnel needed for families, patients, and caregivers. 4.1. history of palliative and hospice care design the idea behind hospice care, started by dame cicely saunders, in the late forties of the last century was a breakthrough in medical care. saunders took it upon herself to divulge into the care of dying patients and to later open the first dying care home, which she named hospice; originating from hospitality. in 1969, dr. elisabeth kubler-ross wrote the book “on death and dying”, a 500-interview log of dying patients aiming to set in stone the notion of patient involvement in his end of stage care(newman, 2004). the beginning of hospice care design standards came about after a study was done by the joint commission on accreditation of healthcare organizations (jcaho) to assess the number of hospital programs that had a hospice unit, a dedicated nursing unit, or a detailed design compliment for terminally ill patients. based on this empirical research, together with the construction of standalone hospices, certain design elements were embedded within the overall design of these structures; spaces that were uncommon before in the hospital setting came forward, multiusage spaces were introduced to serve several purposes in the same area to allow ease of use and accessibility. interior materials and finishings resembled homelike atmospheres and included residential and domestic elements. new ideas such as places for grieving, spiritual areas, places of respite, therapeutic, restorative and healing gardens were also introduced. places for family accommodations, spatial requirements for therapy and counselling were also made available and encompassed several types and stages (verderber & refuerzo, 2019) in essence, designing for grievance and hospice is designing with compassion, it needs to bear in mind the time of distress that accompanies families, loved ones and caregivers. the idea of a one model fits all approach is not one that will work in terminally ill patients, with each having their own life expectations, experiences and mechanisms for coping, and while the hospice team and unit interview patients and their next of kin extensively to reach an optimum plan of care, it is most likely focused on the medication plan that helps relieve pain, an important factor which is directly related with the relieve of stress. studies have shown that the higher the amount of pain, the worse the stress levels of both patients and caregivers(abdallah & geha, 2017; feuerstein, 2007). however, pain and stress relieve are not the only sides of coping with a terminally ill situation nor will they ensure a better quality of life. this research focuses on devising design outlines that will be tailored to each individual user as per their explicit needs and wants. a detailed interview questionnaire should be structured to help understand the specific needs of each patient, and ultimately aid the design team to focus on how to embed these needs into the design framework to be able to fulfil them duly. optimally this is carried out in the assisted living unit or a nursing home, however it may also be used in the patient’s residence (although it may incur additional costs and expenses). hospitals are not always the preferred place of stay between the four accommodation types due to many reasons, the first being the idea of being surrounded of disease and death as well as the financial toll on governments and insurance bodies as hospitals tend to have a higher need of individualized beds to make way for other patients especially in the case of terminally ill ones. most hospitals do not want to increase their mortality rate and have a terminally ill patient stay and die at their establishment, so even if the idea of costs and expenses are not the issue, the need to make way for other pressing patients with curable diseases is another point that is factored into the equation. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 112 4.2. personalization of interior spaces most end-of-life care design standards revolve around the accommodation’s unit itself; (size, furniture, placement, floor area ratio, window placement and proximity of care). little to no emphasis is placed on the life of the individual at the centre of care. the main aspect of personalization comes from four main pillars physical, social, psychological, and physiological (table 1), each of these components can be dealt with through design to help maximize or diminish its positive or negative effects. table 1: aspects of personalization of spatial design based on user-centred design and tailored to each individual need pillar component design criteria design needs physical the physical surroundings of the patient including his lodging quarters, belongings and everyday activities and practices spatial design of the patients’ surroundings to help in overall support fixtures installations ambient temperature ambient lighting embedding an automated monitoring system for thermal comfort changing the overall scenery inside the space interaction with nature though the different senses digitization of well-being devices such as curtain movement, heater start, sound system levels accessibility social social interactions and connections and their incidence and frequency, whether with family members, friends, acquaintances or others close proximity design of needed social spaces allowing social interaction with peers for meaningful conversations that stay away from the subject of illness and death engaging with therapists and other professionals help ease negative feelings hired listeners access to different age groups and scopes of people psychological deals with the different additives that may impact the patients state of mind and overall mental well-being, this may be due to cultural, genetic, social or religious mandates that may in turn affect the patient’s responsiveness and state of mind design of stress relief areas to decrease the focus on pain, death, and stress these are embedded strategies in the types of activities that the patient may be able to undergo, given his physical and health state, these may include accessibility to places of hobbies, music, art and other leisure activities, they should be formulated and designed in accordance with each individual need and to the level of activity that he is able to undergo. religious areas (according to practice) to help regulate bouts of anxiety and psychological onsets therapeutic gardens and places of general rumination which include birds, flowers, water elements, trees, and other relaxing elements to engage the senses physiological the physiological state of the patient and the levels of medications needed to alleviate the pain, whether they affect any other organ and cause any side effects. they may even render the patient asleep the entire time thus not fulfilling the idea of quality-of-life measure parts of the detailed strategies may be brought to the patient in room to make for his lack of being able to experience these in their own settings scenic landscapes drawn, hologrammed, projected or glued to the interior of the room biophilic design interventions music played inside the room placement of art and other visually appealing items placement of flowers and other arrangements accessibility aids that can be tailored to individual need, weight, and height ease of use of close proximity equipment, like lighting, bell calls, thermal comfort monitors, regulators, and controllers. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 113 each point in table 1 is converted to one or more questions in the interview questionnaire for a more specific usercentred experience. the questions are designed to understand the preferences and taste of the patient as well as his caregiver or next of kin (caretaker not from the nursing staff) as is seen in the sample questions in (table 2). should the patient not be able to undergo these questions, his caregiver is to ask on his behalf and a temporary location may be administered until the patients needs are met and he is satisfied. table 2: sample of interview questionnaire for personalization of personal space sample questions physical attributes what is your preferred method of lighting? (direct/indirect) what is your preferred colour of light? {warm (yellow)/cold (white)} is there a preferred colour of choice for the interiors colour of the walls? would you like access to additional landscape scenery inside your room, or is the garden view enough? would you like to have the sound of nature brought inside the room (birds chirping, rustle of leaves, sound of rain, sound of water) if so, would you like to be able to control it. would you like to have the smell of nature brought inside the room (orange orchids, flowers, fresh grass, smell of the fields) not all terminally ill patients are frail (eklund et al., 2013), some just want to be able to spend their last days in a pain free environment, with the people they love, in a setting they prefer. while homes and personal residences may be the ideal setting, they are often lacking in essential amenities, take their toll on the immediate family, not to mention may be out of reach of physicians and staff. designing end-of-life care facilities to resembles personal homes or the idea of “homeliness” is often mentioned in the research, making the place of care resemble a home as much as possible, and initially, hospice care units were housed in residences donated by their owners as a last resting place. the idea of homeliness is further enhanced through concealing machines and devices. this was harder to adopt earlier due to both the size of the machine and the need to attach it to the patient, however, nowadays with the evolvement of technology and artificial intelligence tools and sensors, both these problems may be dealt with. in the instance of the size of the machinery, the size has diminished considerably and may be masked in either a moving cupboard that resembles a commode, or through placing it in an integrated setting facing the wall, to be turned around only when needed. the other point that has to do with machinery is the constant sound of monitors and other vital signs checks, sensors through small wrist attachments, help send signals and data directly to the nursing units that monitor the patients’ vitals through a monitor and an electronic management system, that may give out an alarm if a specific number is not in accordance with the overall finding. this electronic management system is embedded within the overall computing system of the facility and helps regulate the workload of nurses as well. personalization of the interior space includes personalized thermal comfort, in contrast to a central hvac facility that may become an irritation rather than a convenience (abdel-razek et al., 2022). patients with terminal illness are usually immuno-compromised and may thus be more sensitive to temperature than others, this is also affected by their metabolic rate, medication and type of illness. that is why a tailored experience for each of user is more befitting. proximity of nursing stations and other caregivers is another aspect that has been given vast recognition, not only as a form of function, but also to design spaces, where the caregivers may acquire enough rest to recharge to be able to continue their vocation without its dire negative effects. evidence has shown that the side effects of dealing with a terminally ill loved one leads to stress, depression, mood swings, anxiety, panic attacks, high blood pressure and general misery(boucher & johnson, 2021; connellan et al., 2013; gawande, 2014; petersen et al., 2020; russell et al., 2017). that is where the design process comes in to provide relief to both caregivers and next of kin to be able to author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 114 meltdown; open air spaces, gardens, crying rooms, scenic landscape areas, music rooms, libraries, game rooms, activity areas, places for hobbies, general chatrooms, social areas, each according to their mode of stress reducing activity. nursing stations as proposed in figure 7, should be stationed in a place where they have close access to both patient rooms and social spaces, so as to decrease the amount of time spent back and forth between them. social cultural leisure zones should be divided into clusters to decrease walking time and provide continuous access to all. grievance areas should be placed in a farther away spot to restrain from becoming a place of bad omen to patients and caregivers alike, while places of worship should be coupled into the proximal space to promote spiritual accessibility. (figure 8) figure 7: conceptual design of design relation between patient rooms, social areas, and nursing units and accessibility to the outside figure 8: grievance areas should be secluded and kept at the back of the spiritual zone author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 115 studies have shown that while some terminally ill patients preferred shared accommodations, some felt that it breached their privacy and was not ideal for familial conversations and medical assistance (smith, 2014), the entry interview with patients and caregivers should ask about the preferred choice of accommodation type and work upon it without placing two medically incompatible patients in the same room (same diagnosis shared room is preferred). empirical research has also shown that many inhabitants of assisted homes preferred open space dining in opposite to single room dining and en-suite kitchen services. large windows with internal shading fixtures should be present in all patient rooms. according to one study done to understand what the most important design component of rooms in hospice care units, most patients emphasized the point of more light (eaton, 2008). dim rooms give a sense of foreboding that is often perceived as gloomy or depressing. the internal shades should be operable mechanically using handheld controllers provided to the patient to maximize benefit and facilitate use. another point of importance is the provision of a physical activity place,( not rigorous exercise), evidence-based research has shown that patients with accessibility to places for walking (morris & hardman, 1997; ouf et al., 2021; visvizi et al., 2021), meditation (goyal et al., 2014; innes et al., 2012; scott, 2022), yoga (maddux et al., 2018; shohani et al., 2018; woodyard, 2011), and mindfulness (bartlett et al., 2021; mohammed et al., 2018) are prone to lower stress levels, lower pain levels and overall general improvement, than ones not partaking in these types of activities. this entails that designers design easily accessible areas that fit these types of activities, both inside and outside to accommodate for weather changes. these spaces should be geriatric and child friendly and be fit for all levels of usage. 5. conclusion user-centred design is often forgotten in circumstances of extreme events, like dying. the end-of-life period, often a very stressful and exhausting one, especially to terminally ill patients and their beloved, is a time that should be invested in to provide solace and make memories, as well as help transition loved ones into the process of grief. embedding systems and designing detailed places aimed at improving the overall mood and psyche of the patientcaregiver nexus is crucial to ensure a better end of life experience and help diminish adverse reactions and outbursts. providing a better quality of life to end of life terminally ill patients is a right that is often overlooked or discarded due to the dire circumstances. often enough patients will want to live their last days in a serene place surrounded by friends and family with no pain or suffering, providing them with such is the least that designers and caregivers can do in this crucial and painful time. moreover, loved ones and friends and families need to make memories and celebrate their life, as well as accept the notion of grievance and loss through spending quality time. seeing a loved one in pain and suffering is a agitation inducing sight that many wish to not be subjected to. this research focuses on providing end stage terminally ill patients with a life expectancy a quality of life tailored to their specific need through an entry questionnaire designed to consider all aspects of their everyday life as welk as their hobbies, interests, and preferences to come up with a user-centred design tailored to each individual separately these measures can be taken on the physical, social, psychological, and physiological levels, each on its own or combined to give a better design experience. the proposed initial framework includes several introduced spaces to help ensure the patient is satisfied with his surroundings and has all his favorite pastimes available, it also features a personalization detailed questionnaire to help understand the patient’s wishes and needs the embedded strategies are subtle homelike environments that are tailored to each patient individually, and may be achieved through things like embedding light and colour-changing sensors in the patient’s personal space, including aesthetic placements of specific indoor environments, integrating the utilization of the different senses, all in an effort to help alleviate stress and reduce anxiety and overall pain, to provide a better quality of life during end-of-life care. 6. future research validation and implementation of the interview questionnaire for terminally ill patients as an evidence-based design approach author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 116 references abdallah, c. g., & geha, p. 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(2018). environmental design for end-of-life care: an integrative review on improving the quality of life and managing symptoms for patients in institutional settings. journal of pain and symptom management, 55(3), 1018–1034. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.09.011 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.556 in search of a tool to support planning inside large cities: the sustain-led model giuseppe umberto cantafio1, petros ieromonachou2 1business, university of sunderland in london, 197 marsh wall docklands, london, e14 9sg, london, united kingdom 2business school, the university of greenwich abstract the aim of the present study is to investigate the linkages between local economic development, innovation, and environmental sustainability inside urban areas. can innovation affect the improvement of the quality of life inside urban areas? this research question comes from the consideration that usually innovation and growth in general are considered sources of conflict in affecting the livability of large cities. the objective of the paper is to design a model — the “sustain-led” to connect levels of environmental sustainability, quality of life, and economic development inside metropolitan areas, taking into account also innovation processes, activated by the innovation policies and by the knowledge economy. the study takes in consideration the 53 largest united states metropolitan areas with a population over 1 million, with a time series from the years 2000 through 2015. this has been done because of a two-fold reason: (1) the us among high-income countries is the one with the highest number of universities, patents, and citations; (2) several studies have shown that innovation occurs in large cities. the first part of the present study has carried out the identification of the variables to represent and significantly explain the phenomena – local economic development, innovation, and environmental sustainability – linked to the design of the sustain-led model. environmental sustainability in urban areas in this paper is represented by means of the air quality index (aqi), while the number of workers synthetically quantifies local economic development. correlation and multiple regression analyses are conducted in order to examine the relationship between the three main indicators. the multiple regressions for the year 2015 produced a low p-value, indicating that the predictors are significant in the regression analysis. similar results of p-value are shown in all the years from 2000 to 2013. for 2015, the results showed that part of the variance in the measure of total workers of the metropolitan areas could be predicted by measures of innovation and air quality. higher r2 values have been registered for the years from 2000 through 2013. the development of the sustain-led model could be utilized in urban regeneration processes to help in the design of new urban planning policies inside large cities by means of a better comprehension of environmental and economic implications caused by the implementation of innovation policies. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. pg. 61 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd keywords sustain-led model; sustainability; sustainable development; city planning 1. introduction over half of the global population lives in cities. the trend toward urbanization all over the world is a key challenge that suggests the need for developing models regarding urban organization and sustainable development. while economic development is essential, other factors control the urban areas’ overall sustainability, competitiveness, and growth, including its innovation ecosystem, the quality of the environment, and the quality of life. these factors not only represent an advantage for urban areas in order to achieve economic growth, but also generate a stable economic and social environment. the aim of the present study is to find out whether or not a relationship exists within local economic development and innovation, driven by sustainability, within urban areas. this will be carried out by means of the objective represented by the sustain-led model, developed in order to capture and connect standards of sustainability, innovation, and economic development. the success of a city does occur because of several factors. many of them are localization factors, depending on different reasons. the term “success” can be translated with the use of different criteria that will be utilized in the present study, for measuring the sustainability, innovation, and economic development within urban areas. today, people are attracted to urban areas that offer them not only decent jobs, but also a high standard of living. different studies have highlighted the importance of sustainability and sustainable planning within the cities, not only in the us, but also in most developed countries. as an example, a study made in portland, or (usa) analysed the role of the local government during the creation of green cluster and city development strategies for the transition to a green urban economy (zimmerman, 2013). other studies showed models developed for the application of sustainability to cities (newman, 1999) or regarding growth and innovation inside cities (bettencourt et al., 2007) or others more recently investigated the role of knowledge in urban areas for achieving sustainable and more equitable growth (pastor & benner, 2015). this study takes into account the united states metropolitan areas because among high-income countries, the usa is the one with the highest level of innovation, with the highest number of universities, patents and citations. this selection has been done because several studies have shown that innovation occurs in large cities (sedgley & elmslie, 2011; lee & rodriguez-pose, 2014). other studies provided insightful examinations of how innovation occurs in cities. some other studies endorsed the notion that cities are places of innovation and creativeness (florida, 2010; bettencourt & west, 2010; shearmur, 2012; glaeser, 2014). this is mainly due to three kinds of inputs: human capital, financial resources, and knowledge sharing. for instance, research labs pay experts and engineers to generate valuable new ideas. a recent study points out that cities generate also more unconventional innovation (gaetani & berkes, 2015). this research in the future could help in the decision-making process for the implementation of innovation policies in urban areas, trying to draw possible elements that can be transferred and less positive elements that should be analyzed more in depth before being transferred to other regions. moreover, it could be used as an effective tool for evaluating how urban areas can achieve higher standards of sustainability, innovation and economic development. a better planning of cities could result in different outcomes, such as job creation. in turn, this could result, under a keynesian point of view, in an increase of consumption and tax revenues for the area, which could raise the quality of the services, the gdp of the region and other parameters for achieving a better quality of life. 2. methodology extensive and repeated visits over the last years have formed a knowledge base about many aspects of urban areas in the usa and europe. research during my doctorate as a phd generated quantitative and qualitative data for this study. as an exploratory study the results of the research were not expected at the beginning of the investigation. pg. 62 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2.1. the scope of study there was a time where cities were delimited by their political boundaries. in recent decades urban settlements have been rapidly growing into larger urban areas or metropolitan areas, with the city center as the nucleus of these urban entities. for instance, new york city in 2013 had an estimated population of circa 8m of people, whereas 20m lived in the new yorknewark-jersey city metropolitan area. the broad definition of metropolitan area is that of a core area comprising a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. more specifically, in the united states a metropolitan statistical area consists of one or more counties that contain at least one urbanized area that has a population of at least 50,000 or more inhabitants (2010 census summary file). the present study has considered usa metropolitan areas with a population larger than 1 million. the reasons for this choice are explained in the introduction section; this is supported also by the reason that in terms of innovation larger cities have more advantages than smaller cities, not only because of the larger number of people, but also because of more networks, as new ideas come from the combination of existing ideas. furthermore, in larger cities there is more information spillover; the connections are more varied in larger cities, as there is more possibility to meet diverse people that eventually make something innovative happening more likely, in comparison with smaller cities (johnson, 2011). the us metropolitan areas analyzed in the present study are listed in table 1. the metropolitan areas are listed in alphabetical order. 2.2. the database and indicators for the present study it has been collected a multifaceted database, looking across various aspects of sustainability, technological innovation, and economic development, to get the full picture. the sustainability-innovation-local economic development model (sustain-led model) assesses three parameters: air quality, jobs, and technological innovation. regression analyses within each parameter are carried out in the study. in the following table are clarified the indicators relative to the three main topics included in the development of the sustain-led model. table 2. indicators chosen for the sustain-led model topic indicator units source geographic scale description of indicator inputs environmental sustainability air quality median air quality index environmental protection agency metropolitan areas with population greater than 1 million the aqi is based on the five ”criteria” pollutants regulated under the clean air act: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. innovation utility patents utility patents per 100 workers us patent and trademark office patent technology monitoring team (ptmt) utility patents originated during 2015 (patent origin is determined by the residence of the first-named inventor) continued on next page pg. 63 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 2 continued local economic development employment employment rate over population us bureau of labor statistics and american community 2015 survey 1-year estimates employment / population rate (16 years and over) the reasons for the choice of the three indicators shown in table 2, representing the three main topics of the present study, are now explained: – to represent local economic development, several indicators have been analyzed: total employment, number of jobs of local clusters, wage, specialization (as national employment share), and active population (16 years old). as an outcome of this phase, total employment has been selected as the most appropriate indicator for the research. it is a better fit than employment of local clusters because it comprises all the types of jobs within economy, including the ones related to exporting industry. the total employment helps to explain more and it makes more sense for this investigation. it also represents broader facts affecting the community. – regarding the choice of the parameter representing innovation, there are two separate schools of thought for analyzing innovation at a broad scale. many academics in their studies have utilized patent data (feldman & lendl, 2010; sedgley & elmslie, 2011). another body of researchers believes that the best measure for innovation is represented by surveys. however, a study conducted by (acs, anselin & varga, 2002) determined that patents deliver a reasonably precise evaluation of the geography of product innovation throughout us metropolitan areas (msas), but patents do not control their legitimacy in smaller town or non-urban areas, nor for other types of economic innovation, like for instance non-scientific fields or more humanistic areas. the latter does not represent an issue, since the present study has been carried out with data of large metropolitan areas, with a population of over 1 million. – for environmental sustainability, the median value of the aqi of the metropolitan area has been utilized. the reason that lay behind is that high amounts of air pollution are connected with frequent adverse health effects for example increased risk for heart disease and lung illnesses. the air quality is a measure of the tendency for the adverse health consequences related with air pollution. in this study air quality is quantified utilizing data from the environmental protection agency (epa) through air quality index (aqi). the data provided tells how polluted the air is. an aqi measure of 100 usually corresponds to the national air quality standard for the pollutant, which is the level that epa has fixed to defend public health. the model used for multiple linear regression, given the observations, is: y1 = α | β1x1,1 | β2x2,2 (1) it is useful to recall which variables are taken into account for the study at this level: – dependent variable: number of workers in the american metropolitan areas; y1 in the equation (1) – independent variable no.1: number of patents in the american metropolitan areas; x2,1 in the equation (1) – independent variable no.2: air quality index in the american metropolitan areas; x2,2 in the equation (1) pg. 64 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 1. us metropolitan areas studied in the sustain-led listed by population 1 new york-newark-jersey city, ny-nj-pa 2 los angeles-long beach-anaheim, ca 3 chicago-naperville-elgin, il-in-wi 4 dallas-fort worth-arlington, tx 5 houston-the woodlands-sugar land, tx 6 washington-arlington-alexandria, dc-vamd-wv 7 philadelphia-camden-wilmington, pa-njde-md 8 miami-fort lauderdale-west palm beach, fl 9 atlanta-sandy springs-roswell, ga 10 boston-cambridge-newton, ma-nh 11 san francisco–oakland–hayward, ca 12 phoenix-mesa-scottsdale, az 13 riverside-san bernardino-ontario, ca 14 detroit-warren-dearborn, mi 15 seattle-tacoma-bellevue, wa 16 minneapolis-st. paul-bloomington, mn-wi 17 san diego-carlsbad, ca 18 tampa-st. petersburg-clearwater, fl 19 denver-aurora-lakewood, co 20 st. louis, mo-il 21 baltimore-columbia-towson, md 22 charlotte-concord-gastonia, nc-sc 23 portland-vancouver-hillsboro, or-wa 24 orlando-kissimmee-sanford, fl 25 san antonio-new braunfels, tx 26 pittsburgh, pa 27 sacramento–roseville–arden-arcade, ca 28 cincinnati, oh-ky-in 29 las vegas-henderson-paradise, nv 30 kansas city, mo-ks 31 cleveland-elyria, oh 32 columbus, oh 33 austin-round rock, tx 34 indianapolis-carmel-anderson, in 35 san jose-sunnyvale-santa clara, ca 36 nashville-davidson–murfreesboro–franklin, tn 37 virginia beach-norfolk-newport news, vanc 38 providence-warwick, ri-ma 39 milwaukee-waukesha-west allis, wi 40 jacksonville, fl 41 oklahoma city, ok 42 memphis, tn-ms-ar 43 louisville/jefferson county, ky-in 44 raleigh, nc 45 richmond, va 46 new orleans-metairie, la 47 hartford-west hartford-east hartford, ct 48 salt lake city, ut 49 birmingham-hoover, al 50 buffalo-cheektowaga-niagara falls, ny 51 rochester, ny 52 grand rapids-wyoming, mi 53 tucson, az 3. results and discussion this section shows the results of the linear regression that has been carried out to investigate the linkages between economic development, economic clusters and environmental sustainability inside urban areas. the results have been drawn with the support of the software microsoft excel and stata. data from 2013 have been used for running the first linear regression. the rationale behind it is that local patents and air quality index (independent variables) do have an effect on the total number of workers in the metropolitan area (dependent variable). table 3. summary statistics variable observations obs. with missing data obs. without missing data min. max. mean std. deviation y 53 0 53 305393 7870219 1322172.92 1309411.907 aqi 53 0 53 36 97 50.547 10.5 tot. patents 53 0 53 92 12899 1886.491 2504.574 pg. 65 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd correlation matrix: aqi tot. patents y aqi 1 0.146 0.291 tot. patents 0.146 1 0.569 y 0.291 0.569 1 regression of variable y: goodness of fit statistics (y): observations 53.000 sum of weights 53.000 df 50.000 r2 0.368 adjusted r2 0.342 mse 1127512333648.42 rmse 1061843.837 mape 49.542 dw 1.837 cp 3.000 aic 1473.717 sbc 1479.627 pc 0.708 analysis of variance (y): source df sum of squares mean squares f pr > f model 2 32781479498312.6 16390739749156.3 14.537 < 0.0001 error 50 56375616682421.1 1127512333648.42 corrected total 52 89157096180733.7 as a double-check, the data have been analyzed also using another software, stata 13.0. the robustness check after an ols regression is performed to see if none of the ordinary least squares (ols) assumptions are violated. the ols is a method for estimating the unknown parameters in a linear regression model, with the goal of minimizing the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed responses in the given dataset and those predicted by a linear function of a set of explanatory variables. for the year 2013, the process has shown results as an r-squared for the multivariate correlation a value of 0.368, meaning that almost 40% of the dependent variable can be explained by the independent variables (number of patents and environmental pollution). other results for the r-squared value show a value of 0.569 between the variables y and total patents, meaning that almost the 57% of the number of jobs (taken as a measure of economic development) in the largest us metro areas can be explained by the number of patents (assumed as a measure of technological innovation). the f-ratio tests output, analyzing whether the overall regression model is a good fit for the data, shows that the independent variables statistically and significantly predict the dependent variable, f (2, 50) = 14.537 and p 0.0001<0.0005. this means that the regression model is a good fit of the data. a small p (≤ 0.05), rejects the null hypothesis. this is strong evidence that the null hypothesis is invalid. the analysis of variance single factor (anova) test, for the year 2015 has been performed between the three variables y, total patents and aqi, namely employment, total patents and air quality index in the metro areas. as shown in table 4, the analysis gives an f-value greater than f-critical, being 55.61>3.05. similar results have been obtained for the other years of the time series: in 2013, 2011, 2008, 2005, 2002, and 2000 the f-value obtained was always greater than f-critical in the anova test, therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected. pg. 66 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd table 4. anova test with three variables for the year 2015 anova: single factor summary groups count sum average variance total workers 53 86068566 1623935 2.50995e+12 aqi 53 2708 51.09434 105.202 tot. patents 53 105903 1998.17 7527260.528 anova source of variation df ms f p-value f crit between groups 9.31e+13 2 4.65e+13 55.615 5.84022e-19 3.054 within groups 1.31e+14 156 8.37e+11 total 2.24e+14 158 table 5. anova test with two variables y and aqi for the year 2013 anova: single factor summary groups count sum average variance y 53 86068566 1623935.208 2.50995e+12 aqi 53 2708 51.094 105.202 anova source of variation df ms f p-value f crit between groups 6.98805e+13 1 6.98805e+13 55.682 2.69221e-11 3.932 within groups 1.30517e+14 104 1.25497e+12 total 2.00398e+14 105 the anova test for the year 2015, between the variables y and aqi, namely employment and air pollution, gives an f-value greater than f-critical, being 55.68>3.93 (as shown in the table above). an f-statistic value greater than the critical value is equivalent to a p-value less than alpha and both mean that the null hypothesis can be rejected. similarly, the anova test for 2015 performed for the variables y and tot. patents gives f-value>f-critical, with 55.54>3.93. for the year 2013, the anova tests performed between y and aqi present f-value>f-critical, being 54.03>5.93 and between y and total patents an f-value>f-critical, with 53.88>3.93. therefore, also for the year 2013, the null hypothesis can be rejected. given these analyses, the results of the regression from the data can be considered robust. 3.1. interpretation of the results the f-ratio tests whether the overall regression model is a good fit for the data. the output shows that the independent variables statistically and significantly predict the dependent variable f (2, 50) = 24.56 and p 0.0000< 0.0005 (i.e., the regression model is a good fit of the data). the results show an r-squared value of 0.495, meaning that the independent variables (aqi and i, namely air quality and innovation) explain 49.5% of the variability of our dependent variable y (total employment of the metropolitan area). the same model has been applied for the years: 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2015. for each year all the indicators listed in table 1 have been collected. with the data collected before 2007/2008, we have the opportunity to have information before and after the economic crisis of 2007/2008. in the following chart the r-squared values of the years 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015 are shown. from the following table can be seen that the maximum r-squared value is in 2000, while the minimum is reached in 2015, with a progressive decrease of this value. this means that the correlation among the selected variables has diminished over the years. the variance in the measure of total workers in metro areas predicted by measures of pg. 67 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd innovation and air quality has shrunk from more than 60% in 2000 to about 36% in 2015, as shown in the following table 6. table 6. r-squared results sustain-led model for the years 2000:2015 year r-squared 2000 0.611 2002 0.473 2005 0.442 2008 0.420 2011 0.400 2013 0.368 2015 0.359 figure 1. r-squared coefficient from the linear regressions of the sustain-led model in the years 2000-2015 it is probable that the negative trend phenomenon can be explained with the various economic crises that happened during the years taken into account in the study. in the 2000s an energy crisis swept the western world, known as the 2000s energy crisis since 2003, a rise in prices was produced by continuous global rises in petroleum demand combined with production stagnation, the falling value of the us dollar, and a multitude of other minor causes. another crisis was in 2000–2001, the california electricity crisis, caused by market manipulation by enron and failed deregulation; this resulted in multiple largescale power outages. last but not least, another reason that can explain the results is the financial crisis of 2007–09, also identified as the global financial crisis and the 2008-09 financial crisis, considered by numerous economists to be the worst financial crisis that has happened since the great depression of the 1930s. all these crises had an impact on various sectors of the economy, starting with the financial market, with a drop of various stock market indexes, e.g. in june 2008 the dow jones industrial average (djia) had fallen 20% from its october 11, 2007 high. also, the standard and poor’s stock market index (s&p) 500 lost approximately 50% of its value in the period 2007-2009. other effects of these crises have been seen on the global economy as a whole and on the us domestic economy, with a drop of the gross domestic product with an annual rate of the 6% until 2009, and impacts on the distribution of the wealth. 77% of the richest families had a decrease in total wealth. it is difficult to say which is the cause and which is the consequence in these cases, but we can say that there is a relation among the economic and energy crises of the 2000s. a reason for the job losses from 2008 on lays behind the fact that during the economic crisis period, as the nobel prize in economic sciences paul krugman wrote, “countries faced with economic crisis were urged by washington to raise interest rates, cut public spending and increase taxes”. as a result to the increase in interest rates and taxes, firms stopped investing and hiring workers, pg. 68 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd “as in past periods of depression, the decline in the rate of profit reduced business investment, which in turn resulted in slower growth and higher rates of unemployment” (moseley, 2009). as a result of the cut in public spending, public spending in initiatives for social well-being, such as pollution remediation and sustainability measures decreased after the period of economic crisis. the drop of the r-squared value, representing the variance in the measure of total workers in metro areas predicted by measures of innovation and air quality, as shown in the previous figure, can be explained by the economics and social facts aforementioned. in 2015, the unadjusted multiple r = 0.359, but that the adjusted multiple r is 0.334. this rather small change is due to the fact that a relatively large number of observations are being predicted with a relatively small number of variables. 3.2. linkages between the dependant variable and one independent variable after having analyzed the multivariate function, it is interesting to separately explore the linkages between the dependent variable and one of the two independent variables. the relation between the number of workers and the number of patents has been analyzed, as well as the relation between the number of workers and the air quality. the results of these analyses are interesting for determining the changes over the year of the correlation between innovation and local economic development, and the correlation between environmental sustainability and economic development. the series of data going from 2000 to 2015 shows a negative trend of the r-squared coefficient, namely a diminishing linkage among the dependent variable (number of workers in the metro areas) and the independent variable (number of patents registered in the metro areas). the r-squared value decreased from a maximum value of 0.542 in 2000 to a minimum of 0.254 in 2015. the negative trend of the coefficient of determination could mean that the model was more robust in the first years taken into account for the model, while in the meantime, some other variables could have affected the dependent variables (number of workers). among these variables there could be the 9/11 factor, happened in 2001, and the financial crisis of 2007-2008. these events have shaken the market and could have affected the relationship hypothesized in the model, among innovation and economic development in the american metro areas. figure 2. coefficient of determination (r-squared) patents-workers for us metro areas from 2000-2015 higher results for the r-squared value are provided if two outliers are excluded: the metropolitan area of san jose, because of the presence of silicon valley, which represents a unique case in all the world, given the world-class high-tech companies located in its metro area, and the metropolitan area of detroit, exposed to an economic crisis pg. 69 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd in the automotive industry, the main source of jobs for the workers of the area. figure 3. coefficient of determination trend from 2000 to 2015 between patents and workers for us metro areas with and without outliers. analyzing the relation between the number of workers and the air quality, it has been discovered that there is a weak correlation among these indicators. the r-squared of the regression among these indicators is about 0.09 for the year 2000, while for 2015, the r-square is around 0.15, indicating a rather low correlation. figure 4. r-squared between aqi-workers for the us metro areas in the period 2000-2015 moreover, a positive correlation between air pollution and the number of workers, in this case, represents that the more polluted is the metro area, the more workers are present in the metro area, therefore the hypothesis advocated at the beginning of the study of a relationship between environmental sustainability and economic development cannot be depicted by the indicator of air quality index. pg. 70 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.3. alternative fit to the data the usual correlation between two variables is represented by a straight line. namely, if we increase the predictor by 1 unit, the response always rises by x units. however, not all data have a linear relationship, and the model must be fitting to the curves present in the data. among all the non-linear curves, the one that fits the data collected best is the power function. for instance, the following charts display the number of patents produced and the number of workers per us metro areas in 2005. it can be seen that a power regression is a better fit than the linear regression for the distribution, with an r-squared value of 0.517 instead of 0.344. figure 5. linear and power regression patents workers 2005 figure 6. linear and polynomial regression without two outliers. pg. 71 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd if we keep on exploring at this relationship, eliminating two outliers from the data set, that are the cities of detroit and san jose, we can see from figure 6 that the correlation is even stronger (r2 from 0.344 to 0.637). a better indicator for depicting the quality of environmental sustainability within urban areas is provided by wallet hub, which calculated the “greenest cities in america” (bernardo, 2016). another useful indicator for this purpose could be the one provided by siemens and the economist intelligence unit (unit ei, 2009). in order to define the greenest cities in america, wallet hub’s analysts studied the 100 most populated cities in the united states throughout four main dimensions: environment, transportation, energy sources and lifestyle & policy. some examples of indicators within the gci: median air quality index (aqi), greenhouse-gas emissions per capita, green spaces (percentage of parkland), and water quality. the cons of the study are represented by the fact that the data have been collected at the city level, hence if we want to compare the greenest cities in america with the indicators collected in the sustain-led database, we have to considerate the proxy that the rest of the indicators are gathered at the metropolitan area level (bernardo, 2016). the greenest cities in america for 2016 are somewhat correlated with the number of workers in the metro area, with an r-squared value of the linear regression of 0.0727. if we hypothesize a power regression instead of a linear regression, we can appreciate an r-squared value increased to 0.101. it is interesting also to look at the relationship between the number of patents inside the metro area and the greenest cities in america for 2016, by looking at the following chart (fig. 7). figure 7. regression between patents and green city index for us metro areas in this case, the rationale is slightly different from the one originally hypothesized in the model. in this circumstance, the present study explores if innovation has an impact on environmental sustainability within metropolitan areas. from the data analyzed, it seems that there is a relation among innovation and sustainability. this has been done by utilizing utility patents and the green city index, and more than 41% of the variable of the greenest cities in america for 2016 can be explained by the variance of the number of patents registered in the metro area in 2015, as if there was a cause-effect relationship. if we use a power relation instead of a linear one as a fit to the data, the coefficient of determination goes from 41% to 43.5%, therefore representing a better fit to the data. if we keep on exploring at this relation, eliminating two outliers from the data set, that are the cities of detroit and new orleans, we can see that the relationship is even stronger. the city of detroit, in 2013, filed the largest municipal bankruptcy case in us history, which it successfully exited on december 10, 2014. however, poverty, crime, and urban blight continue to be ongoing difficulties in the urban pg. 72 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd area. the city of new orleans, hit by hurricane katrina in 2005, had devastating effects also on the industrial sector and on the production of patents and trademarks; the average of patents produced in the period 2000-2004 was 145 per year, while in the period 2005-2015 the average fell to 104 patents per year. with the pondered exclusion of the two outliers, the relation between innovation and sustainability is even stronger. the coefficient of determination rises from 0.413 to 0.439, meaning that 43.9% of the variance in the dependent variable (tot. patents in the metro area in 2015) is explained by the independent variable. if a polynomial relation as a fit to the data is hypothesized, the r-squared value rises to 0.474 (without the exclusion of the outliers the value was 0.435). 4. conclusions the aim of the present study has been to find out whether or not a relationship exists within local economic development and clusters, driven by sustainability, in urban areas. nowadays, cities in the world are dealing with sustainability issues. it has become a central topic of discussion in every single decision that has to be made concerning everybody’s life and affecting the livability of urban areas. with regards to local economic development, in this study it has not been intended as mere economic growth. it rather encompasses environmental planning, business development, infrastructure provision, real estate development, and finance. these themes are analyzed in the present research, as the attempt of the present study to merge the three main topics of local economic development, innovation, and environmental sustainability, which at first can seem as distant concepts, but are actually intertwined topics, and they all concur to the development and support contemporary urban areas, helping them to be competitive, inclusive, and economically strong. the present study has carried out an econometric model to find out the significance of the correlation between the three main topics aforementioned. this has been accomplished with a time series from the years 2000 through 2015 in american metropolitan areas with a population larger than 1 million. the results of the year 2015 showed that 35.9% of the variance in the measure of total workers in metro areas can be predicted by measures of innovation and air quality. higher r2 values have been registered for the years 2000 through 2013. the highest r2 value has been scored in 2000, with a r2 value of 0.611, meaning that the 61.1% of the variance in the measure of total workers can be predicted by innovation and air quality. a more consistent correlation that has been found is the one between two variables: the number of patents and workers in metropolitan areas of the us, excluding two outliers. the highest coefficient of determination from the database, excluding two outliers, was 0.76 in the year 2000. concerning the limitations of the model, an improved database and data-retrieval will help to collect more significant data. in the future, we can consider two possible scenarios. will it be more efficient to collect more data, improving the database and utilizing the current indicators? will it be better to choose different indicators in the study? a first attempt has shown that substituting the indicator of air quality index (aqi), representing the topic of environmental sustainability, has produced better results in terms of r2 (coefficient of determination). the problem presented in the results of the negative correlation between sustainability and economic development has been partly solved by using a new indicator representing environmental sustainability, namely the greenest cities in america or another like the green city index (gci). more work has to be done to improve the results of the multivariate regression, by inserting the greenest cities in america inside the sustain-led model and verifying if there is a higher correlation, inserting the data about patents of 2016, that still have to be released by the united states patent and trademark office in their annual report. some potential future work could be the application of the sustain-led model to european urban areas. it could represent an important tool for policymakers, offering a comprehensive picture with the possible implementation pg. 73 cantafio / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of a visual tool like a gis platform for visualizing the parameters taken into account in the present research and that could help policymakers decide which policies need to be implemented to improve the quality of life inside urban areas. 5. references 1. 2010 census summary file 1. 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(2010). a unified theory of urban living. nature, 467(7318), 912-913. doi: 10.1038/467912a 7. feldman, m., & lendel, i. (2010). under the lens: the geography of optical science as an emerging industry. economic geography, 86(2), 147-171. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2010.01068.x. 8. florida, r. (2009). who’s your city?. new york: basic books. 9. gaetani, r., & berkes, e. (2015). the geography of unconventional innovation. 2015 meeting papers, society for economic dynamics, (896). 10. glaeser, e. (2014). triumph of the city. new york: penguin books. 11. johnson, s. (2011). where good ideas come from: the natural history of innovation. choice reviews online, 48(10), 48-5785-48-5785. doi: 10.5860/choice.48-5785 12. lee, n., & rodrı́guez-pose, a. (2014). creativity, cities, and innovation. environment and planning a: economy and space, 46(5), 1139-1159. doi: 10.1068/a46202 . 13. newman, p. (1999). sustainability and cities: extending the metabolism model. landscape and urban planning, 44(4), 219-226. doi: 10.1016/s0169-2046(99)00009-2 . 14. sedgley, n., & elmslie, b. (2011). do we still need cities? evidence on rates of innovation from count data models of metropolitan statistical area patents. american journal of economics and sociology, 70(1), 86-108. doi: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00764.x . 15. shearmur, r. (2012). are cities the font of innovation? a critical review of the literature on cities and innovation. cities, 29, s9-s18. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2012.06.008. 16. unit ei, siemens ag. (2009). european green city index (p. 51). munich: siemens ag. u.s. patent and trademark office. (2000). . 17. united states patent grants by state, county, and metropolitan area (utility patents, 1990 1999). office for patent and trademark information washington, dc 20231. 18. zimmermann, m. (2013). the economy of green cities. springer. pg. 74 introduction methodology the scope of study the database and indicators results and discussion interpretation of the results linkages between the dependant variable and one independent variable alternative fit to the data conclusions references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.561 unlocking the potentials of urban architecture in enhancing the quality of urban life in urban poverty areas through community projects ahmed khaled ahmed elewa1 1associate professor of town planning and architecture design, department of architecture, faculty of fine arts, helwan university, egypt abstract currently more than half of world population are living in cities, while world is witnessing a rapid urbanization process particularly in cities of the developing and emerging countries, where urban poverty areas (upa) with low quality of urban life (qul) and lack of the usual urban spaces are the most significant urban phenomena that characterized those cities. in such an urban context there is a need for an efficient tool that contributes positively to the enhancement of the qul, meanwhile to provide the best use of the rare vacant lands. this study argues that urban architecture as a design field offers a distinctive approach to a special type of buildings made for an urban setting, thus it can enhance the qul in upa through community projects. the study is based on an analytical study of selected cases of community projects in upa that represents examples of how urban architecture through its potentials has a positive impact on its urban context, notably through community projects that strongly linked to real community needs. the results showed that urban architecture as a design approach for community projects have multiple roles that boost the socio-economic daily life, as well it supports various environmental issues towards better qul. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban architecture; quality of urban life; urban poverty areas; community projects 1. introduction the fact that more than half of the world population already lives in cities (un, 2016) explains why cities are gaining more attention from urban specialists and researchers among other types of human settlements. meanwhile the world is witnessing a continuous process of urbanization, which accompanied with a vast growth in urban population, where cities of the global south cities of developing and emerging countries (cde) are leading both the urbanization process and the urban population growth of the world for more than four decades, according to the un most of the world’s fastest-growing cities are located in asia and africa. cdes already have socio-economic obstacles, this is why they represent a special case of world cities that face a real challenge regarding how to deal with the impact of the chaotic urbanization process and the rapid urban population growth, meanwhile to deal pg. 121 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd with their socio-economic and environmental obstacles. these challenges have produced cities with urban defects, where urban poverty areas (upas) are the most significant urban phenomenon that characterizes the majority of cdes. this study concerning a specified type of upas which cannot be considered as shantytowns, as these areas basically consist of permanent buildings and have the potentials to be improved and upgraded (will be discussed later in another section of this study), this type of upas exist in many cdes, the majority of cases are in latin america such as rio de janeiro, sao paolo, bogota, medellin, also there are some cases in asia and africa such as cairo in egypt. it is expected that through the next three decades more upas will appear as well as the growth of the existing ones ”by 2030, projections indicate that two billion of the global urban population will live in slums, mostly in africa and asia” (ezeh, et al., 2016), also according to un-habitat: the absolute numbers of slums continue to grow and the slum challenge remains a critical factor for the persistence of poverty in the world (un-habitat, 2016). this study argued that under the influence of the continuity of chaotic urbanization and the urban population growth in cdes, there is still a need for new and smart solutions to cope with upas, particularly regarding those areas that can be considered as meaningful upas that have the potentials to be upgraded. the study discusses how urban architecture as a design domain can provide multi-dimensional solutions that contribute to the enhancement of the quality of urban life, as well as to unlock the potentials of the urban architecture product which represents a distinctive type of buildings. also to elaborate definitions to some terms that are in the core of the scope of this study, such as upas, urban architecture to a more comprehensive and broader understanding of these terms. 2. urban architecture, towards a broader understanding urban architecture is a term that is wildly used in the practical domain of both architecture and urban design by architects and urban designers to refer to a specific type of buildings that was designed in coordinates with its urban context. in other words, urban architecture aims at integrating the architectural project with its urban context (komez, 2011). this understanding of the term is what this study is looking for, to a broader understanding of urban architecture, to a more comprehensive understanding that is not limited to the patchy imperfection understanding that urban architecture is only comprised of buildings made for an urban setting, (harris, 2018) as it is not designed for a rural setting. however, this understanding of the term has a few scholar research that coped with this definition from a theoretical point of view. here are some definitions that consistent with the intended understanding in this study. this actually broadens the understanding of urban architecture is not relatively a contemporary concept. doxiades in his book ”architecture in transition” published in 1963, realized early how an architect needs in architecture design process to be not limited to the building itself, but must extend to its surrounding environment. he also explained that the architect must deal with the building environment at the local level, the other surrounding buildings, streets, squares, traffic, and moreover at a broader level with other similar activities (doxiades, 1963). however, doxiades literally used the term urban as oppose to rural which somehow makes his definition not very relevant to the broader intended meaning in this study (komez, 2011). however, the contemporary birth of the scholar research regarding urban architecture from a theoretical perspective and as a standalone design approach that engages between architectural design and urban design was in the usa during the1970s and 1980s. in 1981, the second volume of the harvard architecture review was titled urban architecture, it defined urban architecture as a design approach, which promotes architectural design that is responsive to variables of its urban context; city, street pattern, building character, open spaces and communities (the harvard architecture review, 1981). this definition comprises the contemporary understanding of the term urban architecture in this study, another example from the usa during the same period, attoe, and donn in their book: ”american urban architecture, catalysts in the design of cities”, published in 1989 the term urban architecture was mentioned in the title. however, they identified urban architecture in a metaphoric way as it reppg. 122 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd resents a theory called catalytic architecture, which describes the positive impact of an individual urban building or project on the surrounding urban context and the whole city. urban architecture according to this definition have a broader understanding to include not only individual buildings, but it could also be a project that consists of several buildings (attoe, & donn, 1989). besides the preceding definitions, here are some contemporary definitions which correspond to the context of this study. in 2003, matthew carmona defined urban architecture as ”architecture that responds and contributes positively to its context and to the definition of the public realm,” (carmona, heath, oc & tiesdell, 2003). this definition is in line with the intended meaning in this study as well it highlights the positive impact of urban architecture on its urban realm, also robert cowan in 2005 defend it as ”buildings in an urban setting” or “the overall design of an urban area.” (cowan, 2005), according to cowan the main concept of urban architecture is to design buildings in harmony and unitary with its urban context. lastly, in 2009, komez defined urban architecture as a holistic architectural design approach that operates beyond the boundaries of the fields, opposing to the architectural projects that are designed and perceived as objects, urban architecture aims at integrating the architectural project with its urban environment, namely its context (komez, 2011). in light of the previous discussion, urban architecture in this study is a standing architecture design approach that engages between architecture design and urban design in one process. it aims to produce a unique type of buildings in harmony and integration with its urban context, so it generates the potentials to enhance the urban environment by boosting the interactions between users, their socio-economic activities and the urban realm which contributes to a better qul. 2.1. urban architecture as a catalyst for the urban enhancement this study argues that urban architecture through its potentials has a positive impact on its urban context that can enhance its qul, these potentials emerge from the final product of urban architecture as it represents a distinctive design process that gathering the advantages of both the architecture and urban characteristic. accordingly, this argument has a crucial twofold: – the first fold regarding the need to determine what is the product and its characteristics of an urban architecture process? as it produced through a holistic design approach that combining architectural design and urban design. – the second fold regarding how urban architecture contributes to the enhancement of its urban context. 2.1.1. the characteristics of urban architecture product the determining of the architectural and urban characteristics of the urban architecture product is playing a key role in the understanding of how to use urban architecture as a tool for enhancing the qul. it is logical and rational to expect a distinctive product that has the advantages of both architectural design and urban design, based on the reached definition. in this study, the product is a specific type of buildings, which have unique architectural and urban characteristics. attoe, wayne, and donn logan clarified the types and characteristics of the product of urban architecture as a design approach, this product is not only limited to individual buildings, but it includes also projects that consist of buildings and urban spaces (attoe, & donn, (1989). thus, the product may be a single building or several buildings gathered in an urban space within a project. they also determine a large list of buildings that can be considered as urban buildings, said urban buildings include a large list of different types, according to attoe, and donn : it includes a large list of various building types, for example, it might be a shopping mall, in another case a transportation hub and in a third a museum. it could be a designed open space or, at the smallest scale, a special feature like a colonnade or a fountain (attoe, & donn, 1989). in other words, the product of urban architecture whether it is an urban building or a project must be settled for public usage and have functions which operate for their sake. it could even just be an urban space with a landscape feature that has the potential to gather public users. it consists of distinctive types of buildings or projects that pg. 123 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd combine both the advantages of architectural and urban characteristics; thus, it generates livability to its urban context, as it boosts the daily socio-economic activities of its urban community. komez in his notion about urban architecture explained that urban architecture is not a new phenomenon and that its contemporary definition is concerning the urban design, urbanism, and landscape. urbanism provides new ways for integrating buildings with their contexts by adapting strategies developed in these fields (komez, 2011). furthermore, attoe and donn represented a similar concept regarding the characteristics of the product of urban architecture in which they emphasized that the final product of urban architecture (building or project) contributes to the shaping of their city (attoe, & donn, 1989). to be put simply, an urban architecture product is physically and functionally connected and integrated with its urban context. 2.1.2. the catalytic role of urban architecture in urban poverty areas this study claims that urban architecture has positive potentials that can enhance the qul generally in a diverse urban context and particularly in upa cases. in other words, urban architecture, through its products (buildings or projects), acts as an urban catalyst that has roles and functions that go beyond those of ordinary common buildings. many authors promote the crucial role of urban catalysts in enhancing the qul and as a dynamic tool that positively impacts the urban context. in her book, ”urban catalysts in theory and practice”, juliet davis discusses the role of architectural projects which can be defined as ‘catalysts’ to urban renewal, she clarified the meaning of the catalytic role of urban architecture through both the theoretical views of a number of urban and architectural thinkers, as well as through a practical example of an urban architecture project (a specific project – the thames barrier park – that has been referred to as a ‘catalyst’ to the urban renewal of london’s royal docks). she managed to prove the catalytic role of urban architecture that can act effectively as an urban renewal tool (davis, 2010). moreover, according to kateissima francin: ”urban catalysts appear to be interesting tools to improve the quality of the built environment, and hence, the quality of life, by jumpstarting and shaping the urban transformation process of underutilized areas” (francin, 2015). these contemporary views of urban architecture and its catalytic role in urban development as a tool that can improve the qul is in line with the what attoe and donn in 1989 wrote regarding urban architecture as an urban catalyst, they described the product of urban architecture as an urban catalyst which has a positive impact in the urban context and act as an incremental urban regeneration tool. it has a greater purpose than just to solve a functional problem, create an investment or to provide an amenity, it represents ”an urban element that is shaped by the city (its ”laboratory” setting) and then, in turn, shapes its context. its purpose is the incremental, continuous regeneration of the urban fabric” (attoe, & donn, 1989). moreover, urban architecture produces urban buildings with public functions; thus, they ensure and support the validity and rationalistic of this study’s claim regarding its role in enhancing the qul. ernest sternberg described how some types of public buildings such as stadiums, museums and other facilities could be considered as urban catalysts, as they receive public support in order to spur development in the immediate surrounding area (ernest, 2002). 3. urban poverty areas, the intended meaning in this study urban poverty areas (upas) in this study are defined from an urban perspective; thus, it refers to a type of urban areas that suffer from bad quality of urban life (elewa, 2018). according to this definition, upas include not only informal urbanization areas but also formal areas that have a bad qul, so upa as a term has a broader scope than to be limited only to informal urbanization and of course slums, shantytowns, favelas (in south america), or any other similar terms can be considered as upas. upas are often linked to informal urbanism which is the product of the rapid urbanization process in the cities of developing and emerging countries. according to the un: rapid urbanization, if not well managed, will lead to more informal settlements and poverty (un, 2014). therefore, these areas represent the urban product of informality, they are characterized by the low-quality buildings as well as low-quality urban context but even so, pg. 124 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd these low-quality urbanism areas as upas can be easily classified into two main categories regarding their quality of buildings and urbanism. the first type of upas is the type that consists of permanent buildings, and the other type is the type that consists of temporary buildings which often consists of shelters and huts that lack the main infrastructure and represent the worst case of slums which are also called squatter areas or shanty towns (elewa, 2018). however, in this study, the focus is on the first type which is a specific type of upas with architectural and urban criteria that according to the hypothesis of the study, these specific areas can be improved and upgraded through the usual and common upgrading approaches. 3.1. the architectural and urban characteristics of the permanent building type of upas this type of upas often spread in the cdes, witnesses a growing economy, this growing economy is usually accompanied by domestic immigration for socio-economic opportunities. these upas differ in many ways from the usual slums that consist mainly of temporary huts and tin ashes, they are not shantytowns since they consist of permanent buildings. this special type of upas have some potential that makes them meaningful places, in other words, and from an upgraded urban perspective, these areas have the capability to be improved regarding their quality of urban life. this specified type of upas spreads in the major cities of latin america such as mexico city, caracas, bogota, madeline, sao paolo, rio de janeiro and other similar cases. this type also exists in some cases outside south america in africa such as the case of slums in greater cairo which is significantly marked by the red bricks buildings (elewa, 2018), see figure 1. the most significant architectural and urban characteristics of the permanent building type of upas include the following: – the majority of buildings are residential, they were designed to meet the basic needs of the dwellers. they represent the power of the informal socio-economic sector in developing and emerging countries. these buildings mainly consist of multi-story structural buildings with bricks walls. – the urban context is characterized by the high density of the built-up area, and of course, this means less urban spaces and lack of public spaces which is a significant urban defect in these areas. – the urban context in these areas is the product of informality, the available urban spaces were occupied by the basic needs, and in other words, the other usual social spaces in the formal areas were neglected. according to satterthwaite they represent household livelihood or survival strategies (satterthwaite, 1995). – the street and alleys network in the majority of cases represent the original features of the topography of the site or the geometric divisions that is related to the former land use such as the agricultural divisions in some cases of upas in greater cairo. however, in most cases, inaccessibility and irregularity is a common defect. figure 1. examples of the permanent buildings type of upas from cairo, egypt and rio de janeiro, brazil. notice the similarity in the urban tissue and buildings type. source: google earth maps edited by the author. pg. 125 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4. practical cases the selected cases share the same characteristics regarding urban context and socio-economic aspects. they are all permanent building types of upas in cdes. as well as the fact that all the cases represent community projects (in terms of community participatory during the design process, decision making and implementing the project), and were designed through an urban architecture type of design approach. the analytical study aimed at clarifying the role of the potentials of urban architecture as a design approach in the enhancement of the qul in upas. the study based on the hereunder specified criteria: – introduction (a brief description of the basic demographic data of the case, the characteristics of the urban context). – the community participatory – the concept and the strategies (urban architecture as a design approach). – the program and the objectives: (the description of the project components, and the objectives). – the learned lessons. 4.1. tapis rouge, a public space in the informal neighborhood, port-au-prince, haiti. the case of tapis rouge represents an example of the urban architecture’s project as it was described in this study, it has an urban catalytic act that contributes positively to the socio-economic activities in urban communities particularly in the case of upas. also, the project is an example of a community project that delivers the actual needs of the community through their participatory role. the case is about a public space that delivers multi socio-economic functions for the poor dwellers of a upa. 4.1.1. introduction the proposed case ’tapis rouge’ is located in carrefour-feuilles, an informal upa in the southern outskirts of port-auprince, haiti. during the last three decades the metropolitan area of haiti was developed informally, the spread of informal chaotic urbanization is a significant phenomenon that marks the city. according to who, about 74% of the urban population lives in informal neighborhoods (unhabitat, 2017). tapis rouge was one of the most damaged informal neighborhoods during the 2010 earthquake. after the disaster, the site of tapis rouge turned into a tent camp for displaced dwellers. the site occupied the top of a slope overlooking the ravines where the houses cling to the slopes of the ravine. tapis rouge is a landmark all they way from the entrance to the narrow passages, the alleys, and the homes below (archdaily, 2017), see figure 2. figure 2. (a) port-auprince map. figure 2, (b) the dense urbanization of carrefour-feuilles. source: port-au-prince, haiti. © un-habitat. https://unhabitat.org/haiti/. edited by author pg. 126 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd the characteristics of the urban context of tapis rouge reflect the urban product of informality, extreme poverty is a remarkable phenomenon. the homes lack the basic infrastructure, in particular the neighborhood has limited access to electricity. moreover, the neighborhood suffers from inaccessibility, it can hardly be accessed by vehicles and pedestrians due to the narrow alleys and the downhill corridors’ network. as well as the urban fabric remarkably characterized by the lack of public spaces. moreover, the available public spaces lack safety and are predominately crowded due to the high density population, that is why the social life takes place among the tight corners and between the walls of the buildings. the project ’tapis rouge’ is in one of several public spaces in carrefourfeuilles, acting as an initiative under the program of lamika, the abbreviation for the phrase ’a better life in my neighborhood’ for the native people of haiti (archdaily, 2017). the design and the construction supervision conducted by emergent vernacular architecture (eva studio). according to the un-habitat: the construction process depended on local contractors, and by using locally available resources. all the construction materials are sourced from the local market and all the pavers are manufactured in haiti. (un-habitat, 2017). the project was funded by the american red cross, which was implemented by the global communities (an international development and humanitarian aid organization) in 2016. 4.1.2. a community project the case represents a community-oriented project that was designed by eva – emergent vernacular architecture – to respond to the real socio-economic needs of the local community through a participatory approach that allowed the community members to participate in the decision making of the design concept and program. the tasks of the eva studio included the arrangement of workshops with the local dwellers in order to determine the uses of the project and other related issues to the design components. according to the un-habitat: the final project represented suitable and effective design solutions that could address the most urgent needs, ambitions and goals identified by community members. the program of the space and the architectural design have been therefore established in different stages directly with the community (un-habitat, 2017). 4.1.3. the concept and the strategies (urban architecture as a design approach) the design concept was strongly linked to the project’s objectives that were reached through a community’s participatory approach. the concept focused on how to enhance the urban context of the informal neighborhood; meanwhile, in order to respond to the urgent social needs of the community (archdaily, 2017). thus, the design concept was to provide a multi-functional public space that was designed through urban architecture as a design approach. the design concept based on the usage of the potentials of urban architecture through its catalytic role in enhancing the qul in the informal neighborhood. besides the achievement of multi-socioeconomic benefits for the society, according to the un-habitat: the project aimed at exploring the unexpected impact boundaries of architecture, in a context where the values of architecture are unexpected and unfamiliar (un-habitat, 2017). the architecture here refers to urban architecture and its hidden and unexpected potential, particularly in such an urban context. the usage of urban architecture as a design approach in ’tapis rouge’ is in line with the targeted placemaking strategies that is aimed at making the dwellers proud of their neighborhood and to give them a sense of ownership towards the project (unhabitat, 2017). the characteristics of the urban architecture product allowed the users of the project (the neighborhood’s dwellers) to have full accessibility to the entire public space and to make it integrated with the urban context of the informal neighborhood. thus, the project can positively impact both the physical surrounding urban context and the social life of the community as well. for instance, the project included a wall that surrounds the circular borders of the main arena (the amphitheater) which has been transformed into a popular colorful mural by the local artists, the dwellers and their children. the idea emerged as a result of one of the participatory workshops that gathered the designers with the local dwellers (archdaily, 2017). pg. 127 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. (a) general layout of the project. source: wilkinson, t., 2017. (b) ariel view of the project and the urban context. source: eva studio, http://www.evastudio.co.uk/tapis-rouge/ 4.1.4. the program and the objectives the project’s program and objectives reflected the essential role of the usage of urban architecture as a design approach. the project main objective was to meet both the community really needs and to achieve the enhancement of the qul in an informal neighborhood (wilkinson, 2017). the designers aimed at providing a multifunctional public space that provides societal facilities for the local community. the project was shaped to form an amphitheater as a community’s social arena, this central area has been marked as the heart of the project. the edges of the seating steps of the amphitheater are surrounded by small trees which when fully grown will provide shade for the users from the sun. the project contains an open area equipped as an open gym and another area near the colorful mural hosts open greenery terraces, each one is characterized by different plants. figure 4. cross-section and section in the main plaza of the project. source: archdaily, 2017 the project aimed to achieve the following goals: – the provision of a public space that acts as an urban catalyst to unfold an incremental urban reform and enhancement process. this public space compensates for both the lack of public spaces on the urban context level as well as the lack of adequate indoor spaces in the dwellers’ housing. – the public space has social functions to contribute to transform the community from social exclusion and informality towards social cohesion by giving the power for community participation of different population groups to urban life. as well as to give the dwellers the pride of their neighborhood and identity through the community participatory role that provides them with the sense of ownership (archdaily, 2017). – the open public spaces of the project were designed to fit the whole community’s dwellers of different ages. for instance, larger designed playground spaces for children, a green gym for youth and adults, outdoor workout equipment, as well as to provide spaces for relaxation with more comfortable equipment (unhabitat, 2017). – to mitigate the sources of environmental risks in the open public spaces such as floods and landslides, to improve urban accessibility and other needed infrastructure such as lighting for pedestrians’ network. as a result, reducing violence, crime, and other undesired social behavior (archdaily, 2017). pg. 128 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – the project was designed to cope with the lack of basic infrastructure in carrefour-feuilles, the informal neighborhood suffered from extreme urban poverty, limited access to electricity and clean water. the project provided green energy solutions through the installation of solar lights for public spaces and pedestrians’ network. there was also a well incorporated through the project, according to un-habitat: there are storage tanks for the adjacent water distribution station. the well that feeds the tanks and station brings water from 100m below ground. the revenue generated from the sales of water will be reinvested into maintaining the public space (unhabitat, 2017). figure 5. shots showing the project’s urban spaces. source: archdaily, 2017 4.1.5. the results and learned lessons the case of tapis rouge showed several results and lessons extracted from practice; these lessons proved practically the argument of this study. these results and learned lessons include the hereunder: – the establishing of a community’s public space based on an urban architecture approach was a successful decision, the project managed to build a strong connection and interaction with the surrounding urban context. moreover, the project was a way to connect the informal neighborhood physically with the rest of the city, a step towards formality notably that the presence of the local authorities is weak and the urban growth process is chaotic and uncontrolled. – a well designed and quality constructed community’s project in an informal upa means to make a deeper urban impact for a low extra investment (unhabitat, 2017). in the case of the tapis rouge project, it has proved that urban architectural design can merge well designed and functional public spaces with mitigating infrastructures. so simply, a high-quality community’s project does not always mean high financing. – the project supported the sustainability of the local socio-economic system through the facilitating of livelihoods, the project managed to facilitate commercial and exchange between the neighborhood and the rest of the city by improving its image. moreover, the construction of the project relied mainly on local resources, products and workforce. eva studio’s design depended only on local contractors, local materials and available local plants, which resulted in strengthening the local construction chain and of course the entire socio-economic system. – the project supported environmental sustainability, the lighting of the public spaces and the pedestrian’s network relied on solar lamps. these lamps allowed children and their families to use the public spaces after sunset and to make these spaces safer. as well as in such an informal urban context that suffers from the discontinuously of electric supply and is not accessible to everybody, the installation of solar lamps in public spaces simply means to afford equal opportunity for all the community members. – the case highlighted the pivotal role of the active participation of the community members in both the design and construction of community projects in order to deal with the commonly expected issues, particularly in the case of informal upas. issues such as site safety, land tenure and the durability of the project can pg. 129 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd be handled by the community active participatory. according to the un-habitat: the post-occupancy evaluation of public spaces in carrefour-feuilles, have highlighted that in haiti, the more public places provide space and comfort for outdoor activities, the more they acquire value for community members and the more they will provide unsolicited maintenance (unhabitat, 2017). 4.2. a vertical gym for the informal upas of caracas this case also represents the intended meaning by a building that was designed through urban architecture as a design approach, a creative case that showed how buildings can be adapted through urban architecture to deliver more opportunities and more functional spaces under the impact of space shortage in informal upa. 4.2.1. introduction this case represents an innovative idea that was explored through the potentials of urban architecture, it is a case of a vertical gym that was established in 2004 as a pilot project in la cruz an informal upa in chacao, caracas, the capital city of venezuela. caracas is an example of the cdes that suffers from the chaotic uncontrolled urbanization and the existence of informal upas (slums, locally known as barrios). according to brillembourg and klumpner: currently in caracas, about 60% of the city’s inhabitants are living in informal upas and the spreading of these informal districts is a continuous process. despite the continuing urban population growth, only 50,000 to 80,000 social units are being built annually, while at least a million units are needed. the result is more informal buildings and upas (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011). figure 6. (a) caracas map. (b) the dense urbanization of chacao, caracas. source: aerial view of slums in caracas, venezuela. source urban-think tank, 2011. like other informal upas in cdes, la cruz suffers from informality that impacted the socio-economic activities and other aspects of urban life negatively. crime is a challenging and frightening aspect that makes public spaces dangerous particularly at night, the murder rate in caracas is the highest in the whole of latin america. (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011). the lack of social amenities is another problem that faces dwellers particularly children and youth, they lack alternatives. however, the most significant urban defect that characterized la cruz is the extreme shortage of vacant lands for community facilities. the vertical gym in la cruz is a pilot project that deals with the problem of the urban space shortage by expanding vertically. the project was designed by architects alfredo brillembourg and hubert klumpner from the interdisciplinary design practice urban-think tank (u-tt), the project was implemented in 2004. the project forms part of the u-tt’s ambitions to create 100 vertical gyms for the informal upas in caracas. the municipality of chacao, where la cruz is located was the client, the project was implemented at a cost of 1.5 million usd. a german foundation donated a seed funding that was received by u-tt (schwartz, 2012). pg. 130 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 4.2.2. a community project the designers’ team of u-tt views themselves as an agency for research and development and an instrument for social change which aims at empowering the poor through design (brillembourg & klumpner, 2011). moreover, this project’s case like all u-tt’s projects was self-initiated. that is why relationships with the local community in la cruz played a pivotal role in the decision making during the design process, according to amanda hurley: all u-tt’s projects were self-initiated. relationships were what got it built (hurley, 2014). therefore, the vertical gym represents a community project in terms of community participatory. the designers interacted with the community’s dwellers and managed to win them over, the project program and the final concept and ideas were developed by several workshops that gathered the design team and the community members (hurley, 2014). brillembourg and klumpner the project designers commented on the community role in the design process as the key to maximizing the use of the facility is to engage in community involvement from the beginning of the design process. we were on the ground asking residents of the barrio exactly what they wanted and what their neighborhood needed most. this practice gives the community a stake in the construction and design of the structure (cracknell, 2013). moreover, according to justin mcguirk in his book titled ”radical cities”: his first meeting with brillembourg and klumpner (the architects of the project and u-tt owners) was in la cruz, the informal upa in caracas. he described this meeting: ”inaction” in a caracas barrio, striking up conversations, playing a game of basketball with some kids. it is not a job for the shy or ill-at-ease. ”the activist architect is an extrovert or he is nothing” (hurley, 2014). 4.2.3. the concept and the strategies (urban architecture as a design approach) – la cruz as an informal upa was characterized by a very dense urban context that witnesses a continuous dynamic spatial change. the available buildable land is often claimed for housing as a priority, considering community facilities as a type of luxury needs that can be dispensed. therefore, the designers had to redraw and to redesign key elements to accommodate the shifting dimensions of available land. the design concept was based on maximizing the area of the small available land by expanding vertically to accommodate more spaces for diverse activities and making a combination between open outdoor space and inner spaces. moreover, to create innovative outdoor spaces within the building. for instance, the rooftop court to provide a building that is strongly linked to its urban context and to be well accessed to the community (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011). – the designers tend to simplify the design, in other words, they used urban architecture tools to overcome the difficult financial, social and political obstacles. according to brillembourg and klumpner: urban-think tank shares their approach to working in complex environments that call for simple solutions (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011). for instance, the u-tt designers’ team developed an innovative ramp to connect the several floors and to provide a smooth vertical circulation with affordable cost instead of the costly elevators. – the project was designed to be a replicable prototype that can be assembled in other upas with the diverse urban context, thus, the designers followed design strategies that seek achieving a low-cost flexible modular design that provides more effective spaces within the small available land. according to hurley: the consummate u-tt idea, the gym is tactical, replicable, and programmed to the max—to make the most of scarce land in a dense city (hurley, 2014). moreover, this prototype can be easily modified to adapt and fit different programs, social, financial and ecological demands (cracknell, 2013). pg. 131 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. the vertical gym drawings showed how the project is a replicable prototype and the project after implantation. source u-tt. brillembourg, a. & klumpner, h., 2011. 4.2.4. the program and the objectives the project is more than a building as it was designed through urban architecture, the vertical gym is a public project that is well connected with society and positively interacted with the societal activities. in other words, the project is a piece of social infrastructure. the vertical gym occupied a ground area of about 1,000 square meters and through the vertically stacked three floors and an open roof, it provides facilities covering 3,800 square meters (cracknell, 2013). the program aimed at providing an extremely efficient variety of spaces for different recreational activities that targets mainly children and youth through after-school programs, summer camps and sports leagues. this include the following activities: vertically stacked basketball courts, a running track, a dance studio, weightlifting areas, an open-air soccer field., climbing wall, a café and relevant athletic facilities (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011), (cracknell, 2013). the project aimed towards achieving the following objectives: – to solve space shortage in la cruz and upas of caracas that leads to the phenomenon of lacking social amenities. according to hurley: the consummate u-tt idea, the gym is tactical, replicable, and programmed to the max—to make the most of scarce land in a dense city (hurley, 2014); as well as to provide a piece of social infrastructure that aimed through sports and healthy activities at reducing crime rates amongst the youth and adults in la cruz and surrounding upas in caracas. and to also promote healthy lifestyles and strengthened social capital. – to enhance the qul in la cruz by providing a community urban architecture project that would bring socio-economic opportunities for the local community. – the project supports the local environment to be more sustainable. the project was designed to depend on renewable energy technology where ecological conditions allow them to, the project can also be outfitted with solar cells, wind turbines and rainwater collection infrastructure (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011). pg. 132 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 8. the vertical gym in la cruz duringconstruction and after implementation. source: (brillembourg, & klumpner, 2011), (hurley, 2014). 4.2.5. the results and learned lessons the case showed how community projects through urban architecture as a design approach can deliver more opportunities that support the enhancement of the qul in upas. the results and learned lessons from practice include the hereunder: – the architects have managed to accommodate public outdoor recreational areas into a small limited area through an innovative urban architecture design of a vertical gym. this is a lesson on how to design in small spaces in a deeply needy upa that is located in a very dense urban context. – the project clarified the essential role of community participatory in making the success of any project, the project managed to give the dwellers a sense of collective ownership and responsibility. thus, the project contributes positively to reducing crime rates and to attract high-frequency use. according to kate cracknell: the project helped lower the crime rate in this barrio by more than 30 percent since its inauguration (cracknell, 2013). – the vertical gym in la cruz as a pilot initial project provides some important lessons, u-tt’s designers relied on these lessons in standardizing the dimensions and to develop a prefabricated construction system that reduced the construction time and cost (cracknell, 2013). 5. conclusion the argument of this study dealt with urban architecture as an urban design approach that provides a distinctive architectural product made for an urban setting; therefore, it can enhance the qul in upa through community projects. this argument initiated a discussion aimed towards investigating the intended meaning by urban architecture and other related terms that are strongly linked to the study hypothesis. the study defined urban architecture from a broader perspective as a standing domain of architecture design that engages between architectural design and urban design in an integrated design process, it aims at producing a unique type of building that completely merges with the surrounding urban context. moreover, the study discussed the catalytic role of urban architecture in order to clarify, theoretically, how urban architecture can enhance the qul. simply, an urban architecture product is a public project that is physically and functionally connected and integrated with its urban context and delivers multi socio-economic benefits for its urban community. the study highlighted the importance to determine a specific type of upas which is intended in this study to be enhanced by community projects that were designed through urban architecture principals, which is a specific type of upas consisting of permanent buildings with architectural and urban criteria that have the capability to be improved and upgraded through the usual and common upgrading approaches, they are not the worst case of slums and shantytowns. finally, the study through an analytical study of two selected cases aims to prove and illustrate the study’s validity. the two cases provide various lessons from actual practices that clarified how community projects that were designed through urban architecture can positively enhance the qul in upas. pg. 133 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 6. references 1. archdaily. (2017). tapis rouge public space in an informal neighborhood in haiti, emergent vernacular architecture (eva studio). retrieved july 25, 2018, from: https://www.archdaily.com/802993/tapis-rougeemergent-vernacular-architecture 2. attoe, w., donn, l. (1989). american urban architecture: catalysts in the design of cities. berkeley: university of california press. 3. brillembourg a. & klumpner h. (2011). build simply: south of the border. retrieved august 17, 2018, from: http://www.mascontext.com/issues/10-conflict-summer-11/build-simply-south-of-the-border/ 4. carmona, m., heath, t., oc, t., & tiesdell, s. (2003). urban spaces-public places: the dimensions of urban design. oxford: architectural press. 5. cowan, r. (2005). the dictionary of urbanism. tisbury, wiltshire: streetwise press, uk. p. 415. 6. cracknell, k. (2013). the only way is up; 2013. health club management 2013 issue 10. retrieved august 20, 2018, from:http://www.healthclubmanagement.co.uk/health-club-management-features/the-only-way-i s-up/28464 7. davis, j. (2009). urban catalysts in theory and practice. architectural research quarterly,13(3-4), 295-306. 8. doxiades, k.a. (1963). architecture in transition. london: hutchinson. 9. elewa, a. (2018). enhancing the quality of urban life in urban poverty areas through a strategy of integral multi approaches, public spaces as arena for change. proceedings of science and technology, 1(1). doi:10.21625/resourceedings.v1i1.175. 10. ernest, s. (2002). what makes buildings catalytic? how cultural facilities can be designed to spur surrounding development. journal of architectural and planning research, 19(1), p. 30-43. 11. ezeh, a., mberu, b., & haregu, t. (2016). slum health is not urban health: why we must distinguish between the two. retrieved july 20, 2018, from https://theconversation.com/slum-health-is-not-urban-healt h-why-we-must-distinguish-between-the-two-69939 12. francin, k.i. (2015). urban catalyst. mcgill university: school of urban planning 13. hariss, b. (2018). what is urban architecture? retrieved august 5, 2018, from https://www.wisegeek.com/ what-is-urban-architecture.htm 14. hurley ak. (2014). next progressives: going top down. retrieved august 20, 2018, from: https://www.a rchitectmagazine.com/design/next-progressives-going-top-down o 15. komez, e. (2011). urban architecture: urban architectural strategies in three exemplary. saarbrücken: lap lambert academic publishing. 16. lucas, p.k. (2013). norms and space. understanding public space regulation in the tourist city. lund university. 17. satterthwaite, d. (1995). viewpoint the underestimation of urban poverty and of its health consequences. third world planning review, 17(4). 18. schwartz, a. (2012). a prefab vertical gym for urban slums. retrieved august 17, 2018, from: https://w ww.fastcompany.com/1680630/a-prefab-vertical-gym-for-urban-slums 19. the harvard architecture review: urban architecture. (1981). cambridge: mit press. pg. 134 elewa / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 20. united nations. (2014). world urbanization prospects: the 2014 revision, highlights, united nations, department of economic and social affairs, population division. 21. united nations, (2016). the world’s cities in 2016 – data booklet. united nations, department of economic and social affairs, population division. (st/esa/ ser.a/392). 22. un-habitat, (2016). slum almanac 2015 2016, tracking improvement in the lives of slum dwellers. 23. un-habitat. (2018). best practices database: award winners. three public spaces to enhance community resilience. retrieved august 15, 2018, from: http://mirror.unhabitat.org/bp/bp.list.details.aspx?bp id=5 254 24. wilkinson t. (2017). tapis rouge in port-au-prince, haiti by emergent vernacular architecture. retrieved august 15, 2018, from:https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/tapis-rouge-in-port-au-prince-haitiby-emergent-vernacular-architecture/10017643.article pg. 135 introduction urban architecture, towards a broader understanding urban architecture as a catalyst for the urban enhancement the characteristics of urban architecture product the catalytic role of urban architecture in urban poverty areas urban poverty areas, the intended meaning in this study the architectural and urban characteristics of the permanent building type of upas practical cases tapis rouge, a public space in the informal neighborhood, port-au-prince, haiti. introduction a community project the concept and the strategies (urban architecture as a design approach) the program and the objectives the results and learned lessons a vertical gym for the informal upas of caracas introduction a community project the concept and the strategies (urban architecture as a design approach) the program and the objectives the results and learned lessons conclusion references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.919 brownfield land redevelopment strategies in urban areas: criteria contributing to the decision-making process sukhjap singh 1 , dr lydia kiroff 2 , dr rashika sharma 3 1 bachelor of construction graduate, school of building construction, unitec institute of technology, auckland, new zealand 2 senior lecturer, school of building construction, unitec institute of technology, auckland, new zealand 3 senior lecturer, school of building construction, unitec institute of technology, auckland, new zealand abstract urban intensification seems to be a growing trend, especially in the context of severe land scarcity. brownfields offer great potential in meeting the increasing demand for housing in major cities worldwide. redevelopment projects appear to provide immediate solutions to housing shortages that are being experienced due to population pressures in large metropolitan areas. the paper explores the range of factors that property developers need to consider in their decision-making process when assessing the viability of brownfield redevelopments. this research, which employed a comparative case study approach, and examined two brownfield redevelopments in auckland, focused on the economic, social, and environmental criteria that were utilised in the decision-making process. document analysis of the two case studies, site observations, and semi-structured interviews with the property developers were the main data collection methods. the results suggested that the economic aspects of a brownfield redevelopment are the most important criteria that developers consider during the feasibility assessment of proposed projects. projects that offer the potential for quick investment returns for all stakeholders are the preferred choice for developers. brownfield redevelopments offer significant potential for invigorating local areas through urban intensification which boosts local businesses and encourages community revitalisation. the environmental concerns appear to be the lowest priority and little consideration is given to reducing the environmental impacts or incorporating green building practices in the new developments. a major shift from a purely economic focus toward a comprehensive environmental approach to new developments is needed to ensure the sustainable development of cities. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords brownfield redevelopment; high density housing; property developers; economic returns; environmental impacts 1.0 introduction brownfield redevelopment is gaining momentum in urban planning and is now extensively used to fulfil social and economic demands on land availability in major cities. abandoned brownfield sites are now considered a resource, and current global trends promote re-urbanization, urban regeneration, and densification (boudjadja & boudemagh, 2021). urban regeneration enables the utilisation of underused/unused or abandoned urban land, referred to as brownfields, and promotes the redevelopments of core urban property, thus enhancing a region's economic development (pahlen & glöckner, 2004) and adding to urban intensification. there is no universally agreed http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 definition of brownfields, with several authors attempting to define the concept. for example, otsuka et al. (2013) define brownfields as previously economically viable city or countryside properties that have been unoccupied for some time and may potentially be contaminated. an alternative definition by the us environmental protection agency characterises brownfields as properties or sites that have the potential for expansion or redevelopment. however, complications exist in their redevelopment due to the possible presence of hazardous substances, contaminants, or pollutants (epa, 2021). conversely, not all brownfields are contaminated, and therefore a more encompassing definition is needed. in that regard, martinát et al. (2016) offer a helpful definition describing brownfields as "underused, neglected, and potentially contaminated properties (land and buildings), usually as relicts of former industrial, agricultural, residential, military, or other such activities" (p. 79). the increasing demand for housing in urban areas and the lack of prime greenfields has opened avenues for the greater use of brownfields in urban centres (perovic & kurtović-folić, 2012). brownfield redevelopment is trending globally, driven by the increasing urban drift and population increase in major cities, resulting in housing shortages for city dwellers (dulić & krklješ, 2014). for example, the british government aims to build six million more homes in the next 20 years to deal with the uk housing crisis (freeman et al., 2020), resulting from the steady decline in the building of new and affordable homes since the 1970s (marquesini, 2018). the availability of more than 18,200 brownfield sites covering an excess of 26,000 hectares of land could provide an opportunity to build more than one million new homes (tema, 2020). big european cities experience similar housing shortages exacerbated by the current covid-19 pandemic, which caused a surge in the working from home culture. innovative ways are being explored to boost the supply of additional apartments to meet the growing demand for living spaces in stockholm, berlin, prague, and other european capitals. brownfield redevelopment seems to play a crucial role in utilising the land occupied by older airports: 30,000 new homes are planned at the site of bromma airport in stockholm (nienaber & johnson, 2021), and more than 5,000 apartments at berlin's former tegel airport (euronews, 2021). developing an action plan for prague's brownfields is expected to alleviate the need for 8,000 new apartments by 2030 (zábranský, 2019). auckland, the biggest city in new zealand, had a shortage of 75,000 homes in 2020, and in 2021 this number dropped to a deficit of 25,000 houses (hewett, 2021). the reduction in housing shortages can be attributed to the auckland unitary plan (aup), introduced in 2016, which rezoned large bands of land in auckland for more intensive development leading to increased developers’ interest and subsequent redevelopment of brownfields. consequently, the aup has allowed for the construction of one million additional dwellings since 2016. in particular, the period between 2017 – 2020 saw the sharpest growth in consented dwellings in auckland since 1991. additionally, there is a growing trend toward multi-unit dwellings (apartments, townhouses, units), whose share represents 60.77% of all consented dwellings (maharaj & martin, 2021) (figure 1). sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 figure 1. dwellings consented by type in auckland (maharaj & martin, 2021). assertions in local government studies that aucklanders are showing greater acceptance towards high-density housing and increasing willingness to trade off larger dwellings for smaller ones in return for greater accessibility to jobs and amenities (maharaj & martin, 2021) are debatable. economic factors, such as the overpriced housing market that makes it difficult for younger generations to purchase properties, the rise in living costs, and the reduction in retirement income, could also contribute to the perceived acceptance of density. furthermore, recent data shows that 68% of the consented dwellings in auckland in the period 2017 – 2020 have been in brownfields (maharaj & martin, 2021). however, density patterns are uneven across the city, suggesting that a range of other factors, such as proximity to desirable amenities, employment, and supporting infrastructure, could influence the viability of any development. despite the apparent benefits that brownfield redevelopments in auckland could offer, such as using existing infrastructure and making public transport and other amenities more feasible, thus reducing congestion, the uptake of brownfield redevelopment has not been as rapid as expected (martin & norman, 2018). on the contrary, since 2013, the proportion of brownfield residential building consents had fallen, with the most pronounced fall being in 2016 and the first half of 2017, followed by a swift recovery in the second half of 2017 (figure 2). figure 2. brownfield vs greenfield trends in residential building consents in the period 2010-2017 (martin & norman, 2018). even though there is an increasing body of literature on decision-making processes for brownfield redevelopments, there is scarce data available in a new zealand context. brownfield redevelopment is relatively new territory for a country that still aspires to quarter-acre ownership. insights into the decision-making process for potential brownfield redevelopment projects could prove helpful for developers, councils, and other stakeholders who play a vital role in the feasibility or risk assessment processes. therefore, this research aims to understand developers' main criteria as part of their decision-making process before undertaking brownfield redevelopments. the main research question of this study is "what are the main criteria contributing to the decision-making process in brownfield redevelopment?" the three sub-questions explore the economic, social, and environmental criteria contributing to the decision-making process. 2. background brownfield redevelopment is a vital component of urban development, helping revitalise degenerated areas and adding new ambience to a location. redeveloped suburbs attract residents, potentially improve environmental quality, and contribute to economic growth and physical regeneration (dulić & krklješ, 2014). brownfields represent environmentally compromised urban assets that need to be restored to constructive uses to allow for reconnection and integration with the surrounding communities (loures, 2015). the rejuvenated interest in brownfields has been driven by urban sprawl with several european countries, russia, the united states, and china, reconsidering the reuse of derelict urban properties (longo & campbell, 2016). regeneration of brownfield sites has several benefits, such as the possible use of pre-existing city infrastructure and greater access to public transport and other amenities (martin & norman, 2018). furthermore, the creation of jobs, sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 availability of affordable housing, and increased economic growth for neighbouring communities (thornton et al., 2007) can arise through brownfield developments. however, for brownfield redevelopment, several risk factors need to be evaluated in the decision-making process that determines the feasibility of projects. 2.1. economic criteria the economic risks associated with brownfield developments are widely discussed in the literature. the identified risks arise at three stages remediation/infrastructure, development, and investment (adair et al., 2003). greenfield development is considered far less challenging than developing derelict brownfield sites that present various adversities (barlindhaug & nordahl, 2017). several literature sources indicate that brownfield projects cost twice as much as greenfield developments due to additional fees such as increased costs involving partnerships and consultations between planning authorities and developers (guironnet et al., 2016). the expected cash flow, which is essential for investors, is affected by the high equity and long holding periods characteristic of redevelopment areas (barlindhaug & nordahl, 2017). redevelopment projects would often have a higher risk rate and increased development costs, leading to higher contingency fees (de sousa, 2000). land revitalization in brownfield developments is a costly process, especially when there are contaminants and harmful substances that require expensive procedures to treat (haninger et al., 2017). often various remedial actions need to be undertaken to convert brownfield sites into useable land. in such cases, there are costs associated with insurance cover for future liabilities and financial assistance to recover from clean-up costs associated with contaminated land (beiback, 2002). however, there are also economic gains associated with brownfield developments attributed to reduced costs of urban sprawl. brownfields' prime advantages are their central locations and pre-existing connections to infrastructure, including stormwater utilities and roadways, which save on infrastructure expenses (epa, 2020). the location provides increased opportunity for mixed-use developments with possibilities to accommodate housing and retail outlets, offices, workshop spaces and shared public facilities such as parks (rey et al., 2021). generally, infrastructure costs are funded by taxpayers and thus incur no major expenses for private developers (de sousa, 2000), with previously contaminated or derelict land considered more economically viable for developers than the development of greenfields (kotval-k, 2016). decreased construction costs due to reduced infrastructure and public services cost also mean there is a lesser risk of vacancy but a substantial increase in property value (umweltbundesamt, 2005). 2.2. social criteria the social aspects of brownfield redevelopment are associated with potential health risks, and any community concerns need to be addressed before development on site can begin. any contamination risks need to be thoroughly assessed, a full investigation conducted, and remedial measures put in place before the development commences (haninger et al., 2017; hellawell & hughes, 2021). various assessment tools to measure the level of harm concerning toxicity and contamination are mentioned in the literature, such as the quantitative risk assessment (o'reilly & brink, 2006). exposure to asbestos on contaminated sites is of particular concern. this risk factor could affect several site users, such as residents, construction workers, commercial and industrial employees, and site visitors. therefore, risk assessments are conducted to assess the potential risks of contaminants, such as asbestos and further environmental hazards (hallawell & hughes, 2021; squires & hutchison, 2021). o'reilly and brink (2006) highlight the importance of having a brownfield health risk screening matrix to safeguard public health. the chosen screening approach should present a scientific method to assess the health risks of the proposed brownfield redevelopment site. hazardous substances, contaminants, and pollutants on-site can create significant risks for potential developments, requiring the use of valid risk mitigation processes. 2.3. environmental criteria several environmental aspects associated with brownfield redevelopments are identified in the literature. a significant benefit of brownfield redevelopment is the decrease in automobile commute to the city and the subsequent reduction in pollution due to greater and more efficient urban densities (epa, 2020; kotval-k, 2016). according to epa (2020), when brownfields are redeveloped, individuals limit driving times when living or working in urban centres because of a multitude of available transportation options (such as walking, train, bus, ride-sharing, biking), which have apparent environmental and health benefits. hence, brownfield redevelopment in urban areas lessens greenhouse gas emissions and promotes public wellness and health. however, brownfield developments are often situated on contaminated sites and may require remedial works. various chemicals and pollutants, such as lead and other heavy metals like arsenic, acids, asbestos, solvents, pesticides, and hydrocarbons that impend the health and wellbeing of residents have to be removed (adelaja et al., 2010). the availability of communal assets in brownfield developments can create noticeable improvements in the environment, augment communities, and improve residents’ quality of living (bacot & o’dell, 2006). sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 3. methodology the study employed a comparative case study research methodology. a case study is a comprehensive empirical inquiry investigating an event within its real-world setting (yin, 2014) and analyses events, processes, or occurrences in that particular instance (denscombe, 2010). multiple case study research utilising multiple data collection methods is instrumental as it enables a comparison between the cases and a more comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand (campbell, 2010; yin, 2014). hence, this research utilised a comparative case study approach to study brownfield redevelopment in urban areas. the two chosen case studies are in different suburban areas in auckland (auckland city and south auckland) and are of different housing types (stand-alone houses and apartments/walk-ups). furthermore, both developments are at different stages of construction (one that had recently been completed and the other which is currently under construction). the primary data collection methods were document analysis, semi-structured interviews with the property developers, and site observations. the document analysis studied the project documentation and local government documents pertaining to the two case studies. face-to-face interviews with the property developers provided valuable insights into the decision-making process factors. site observations complemented the other two data collection methods and enriched the gathered qualitative data. 4. findings 4.1 case studies description case study a is a completed development for five stand-alone houses in manurewa, south auckland (figures 3 & 4). stand-alone houses are highly valued in the market, with 25,289 new stand-alone houses consented in new zealand in the year ending august 2021 as opposed to 21,164 consented multi-unit homes. however, the statistics are different in auckland, where there were 6957 stand-alone houses consented in the year ending august 2021 as opposed to 12,972 multi-unit homes (edmunds, 2021). the latter set of statistics illustrates recent urban intensification trends and a general orientation to multi-unit homes in auckland. furthermore, the decreasing number of consented stand-alone houses in auckland, where land is premium and scarce, makes them more sought after and desirable. the development commenced in mid-2019 and reached completion in 2020. asbestos contamination was discovered on site, and professional remedial work was undertaken for its removal. the location of the redevelopment site in a well-established urban area with easily accessible public amenities and a strategic transport network made it quite desirable, resulting in the immediate sale of all houses in 2020 shortly after completion. figure 3. location of case study a in manurewa, south auckland (google maps, 2022) sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 figure 4. case study a: 5 stand-alone houses in manurewa, south auckland (completed) (google street view, 2022) case study b, neodomo ellerslie, is located in ellerslie, auckland city (figure 5), comprising of two blocks. block a contains 23 three-bedroom walk-up apartments and 23 car parks. block b is made up of a mixture of one, two, and three-bedroom options (ddl homes, 2022). figure 5. location of case study b in ellerslie, auckland central (google maps, 2022) the development began in january 2020 and is currently in progress (figure 6). all 23 walk-up apartments have been sold off the plans (ddl homes, 2022). this site also had asbestos contamination, which took a week to remove and costed approximately nz$10,000. sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 6. case study b: 23 walk-ups in ellerslie, auckland central (under construction) (authors’ photo, 2021) walk-ups have been used across auckland in the past few years as multi-units to meet the housing demand. there were 3,124 building consents processed in auckland in the year-ending june 2021. the last ten years mark a steady upward trend in the number of consented apartments from 170 in 2011 to over 3,000 in 2021 (statista, 2022). 4.2 document analysis and site observations’ results location and proximity to convenient transport options and local amenities appeared to be significant factors for both developments. the two developments are within a few minutes' drive to state highway 1. case study a is within close proximity to manurewa town centre, and case study b is exceptionally close to ellerslie town centre. primary, intermediate, and secondary schools are within walking distance from both developments. local parks, sports facilities, and other recreation options are in the vicinity of the two developments. all these factors seem to be highly valued by potential buyers, which increases the likelihood of selling properties faster and making a quick return for developers. the original site for case study a was quite large, 1012m2, and had a single stand-alone house. such generoussized sections are hard to find, especially in auckland (figure 7). figure 7. aerial view of case study a in manurewa, pre-development. original section with a single stand-alone house, garage and carports. scale 1:1000 (geomaps, 2021) sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 the original 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom stand-alone house, an ex-rental, was quite modest and at the time of the sale was advertised by the real estate agent as an opportunity to “renovate/develop” (bayleys, 2018) (figure 8). the property was sold for nz$780,000 in 2018. figure 8. the 3-bedroom stand-alone house on the original site (bayleys, 2018). the property is zoned as ‘residential mixed housing urban zone’ under the aup (figure 9), allowing for urban intensification and building coverage of 45%. this type of zoning encourages brownfield redevelopment, especially in areas with easy access to local amenities and convenient public transportation. large sections with development potential located in mixed housing urban zones are especially attractive to property developers and investors as they can maximise their profits. figure 9. zoning for case study a – residential mixed housing urban zone. scale 1:5000 (geomaps, 2021) the redevelopment has created five new housing lots of varying sizes: two lots of 148m2 and three slightly bigger ones of 166m2, 176m2 and 190m2. the growing trend of much smaller property sections is clearly evident in the way the original large section has been maximised. all five new stand-alone houses were sold shortly after completion in 2020 for a range of sale prices: nz$743,000; 2 x nz$760,000; nz$835,000 and nz$865,000 (property value, 2022). sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 existing infrastructure at brownfields is an important factor for developers. the easy access to existing underground services such as power, water, stormwater and wastewater (figure 10) near the property boundaries presents a greater advantage for brownfield development because of the reduced costs associated with extending the required services into the properties. figure 10. underground services: power (yellow), water (blue), stormwater (green) and wastewater (red) for case study a. scale 1:1000 (geomaps, 2021) the original section size for case study b was quite generous, 1917m2, in comparison to the floor area of the single 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom stand-alone house of 179m2 (figure 11). the property with the original house, built in 1920, was sold in mid-2019 for $3,800,000 (property value, 2022). the property is zoned as ‘residential mixed housing urban zone’ under the aup and as such offers great development potential (figure 12). as a result of the redevelopment now there are 23 walk-up apartments with an estimated size of 60m2 each. the size of the apartments is significantly smaller in comparison to the stand-alone houses in case study a. in addition, they are accessible only by stairs so they might seem less desirable. as such they would only suit a particular type of households. however, the more central location and the proximity to the cbd as well as their affordability could compensate for the smaller dwelling size and the complete lack of land ownership. the availability of existing infrastructure in the area, such as power, water, stormwater and wastewater, was a definite advantage (figure 13). sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 figure 11. aerial view of case study b in ellerslie, pre-development. original section with a single stand-alone house. scale 1:1000 (geomaps, 2021) figure 12. zoning for case study b – residential mixed housing urban zone. scale 1:5000 (geomaps, 2021) figure 13. underground services: power (yellow), water (blue), stormwater (green) and wastewater (red) for case study b. scale 1:1000 (geomaps, 2021) the residual effects of urban intensification are evident in the two case studies. for high-density housing, which is a significant feature of brownfield redevelopments, resource availability is challenging, with one example being the availability of car parking spaces. the problem is the same for the two case studies, with a single garage allocation for each house in case study a and a single car parking space for each apartment in case study b. a single garage is not sufficient to cater for families that usually have 2+ vehicles. it is evident from sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 the photo in figure 14 that each house requires a minimum of two car spaces. due to the unavailability of enough parking spaces, vehicles are illegally parked along the ‘right of way’ driveway, which possibly causes congestion and hinders traffic flow. additionally, there is no on-street parking available nearby for tenants or homeowners due to no parking indicated by the yellow roadside markings shown in figure 15. figure 14. cars blocking shared driveway at case study a (authors’ photo, 2021) figure 15. no roadside parking allowed at case study a (authors’ photo, 2021) 4.3 interview results the developers of the two case studies participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. although the participants had a varying number of projects or developments and had unique business goals, their response was proportionately positioned with similar challenges, principles, and decision-making criteria for their developments. 4.3.1 expected return on investment determines feasibility expected development profit is highly influential in meeting the stakeholders’ objectives. according to developer b, stakeholders are mainly interested in the profit margins of new developments, with potential risks weighted against the expected returns. for case study a, the expected development return was set at 31%. developer a mentioned that staying abreast with costs on the feasibility report is vital for the expected 31% return. he mentioned that the accuracy of the feasibility assessment and close match with the quantity surveyor’s valuation of costs and materials was paramount. he further elaborated that utility costs associated with energy supply, water supply, council rates, processing costs, financial costs all needed to be accounted for development success. for case study b, the expected development return was estimated to be 23%. the construction cost per square meter for case study a is nz$1,600, much lower than case study b at nz$2,500. the lower cost per square meter for case study a is attributed to the company developer being a professional builder. hence, his ability to undertake most of the building works by himself. on the other hand, case study b subcontracts all construction works, which adds significantly to the extra cost. consequently, the expected profit of 23% is lower than the expected threshold, mainly due to the threshold being established prior to the company’s involvement in the development. the director of case study b stated that the feasibility report recommended a listed sale price of nz$685,000, before the unexpected increase in value of the properties, which are now selling for approximately nz$850,000 each. the decision to develop or sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 not depends on the development return percentage. the expectation is to make as high a profit as possible. the developer of case study a is flexible on the development return percentage, which is dependent on various social factors and location. however, the developer of case study b had a threshold of 30% for development return percentage as he had to meet the expectations of potential stakeholders in order to obtain funding for the development. 4.3.2 risk and feasibility assessments are critical developer a stated that risk assessment is an important aspect before any investment decision-making process, whether the site is a greenfield or a brownfield. he minimised any risks associated with the development by involving building professionals (architects and engineers) in the project as early as possible in the planning stage. similarly, developer b carried out a risk assessment and a feasibility study with professionals' assistance to minimise any unexpected or hidden risks from emerging later. developer a stated that they did not rely on the advice of town planners and local authorities during the decision-making process and trusted the advice given by other building professionals and his own background checks before making the final call. developer b shared a similar opinion on making one's own judgment calls on a development potential but did consult professionals in the process: "there is always a full feasibility study done, along with pre-application meeting with council to make sure we understand the guidelines. we discuss with planners, architects, traffic engineers, all to ensure that our numbers will stack up in the feasibility and there are no hidden risks or asbestos/contamination that we come across after". 4.3.3 choosing the right location makes all the difference the decision-making process is highly influenced by the location for developer a, who generally targets potential first home buyers and is willing to pay a competitive price for land in a prime location. he stated that buying a development property not close to train stations or a highway intersection was risky as it was not an attractive option for first home buyers. developer b also stated that location influences 90% of his decisionmaking on developments. both developers consider ‘location’ as one of the driving factors for brownfields. auckland appears to be a trendy city for buying property, which has driven the brownfield development trend. developer b added that “brownfields are exploding because of unrealistic values of property evaluated by real estate companies that represent a flawed valuation of land.” 4.3.4 existing infrastructure increases profitability developer a believed that brownfield development capitalizes on land use by providing opportunities to build upwards rather than sideways. the availability of necessary services on-site or within the vicinity of a brownfield site was a positive outcome in terms of time savings and money savings. brownfields are more profitable ventures than greenfields, where substantial money and time are invested in organising basic services. developer b stated that if the profit margin is higher than the 30% threshold, he will develop whether it is greenfield or brownfield, and currently, greenfields are a more expensive investment. developer a also stated that “there are economic benefits for the government from brownfield development as there is already existing infrastructure and capital investment is not required to build new suburbs.” developer b believes that “brownfields allow for medium to high-density housing, which creates economic benefits for all of new zealand and increases the availability of more affordable housing.” both developers shared similar views that brownfield sites are more lucrative than greenfield sites. developer b mentioned that with an increase in first home buyers, brownfield sites had the scope to create a large number of homes. the advantage included the availability of all services, stormwater, and sewer, being already present on the property or close by, so fewer development costs are incurred. moreover, the aup seems to be working for both developers. however, developer a felt that more work was needed in getting the zoning correct in suburbs before effective development could occur. developer b thinks highly of the aup and feels that much consideration has been placed into the new zonings, such as accessibility to public transport, public roads, traffic networks, and existing infrastructures. 4.3.5 environmental impact is not a concern the environmental impact was not a factor of great concern for the developments. the majority of the trees on the case study a site were consented for removal as per council guidelines. however, the developer disregarded the landscaping plan submitted as part of the resource consent application. on the other hand, case study b had a professionally created landscaping plan with a plant schedule as part of the resource consent application. however, both developers only followed minimum council requirements as the environmental impact assessment (eia) was not required for the two sites and, therefore, not completed. creating green spaces was not a major concern for the developers. developer a mentioned that eias were not conducted for his developments, but he does abide by council rules and guidelines to minimise the environmental impact. sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 developer b stated: “we usually have a geotechnical report done; if there is any contamination or uncertified fill, then we will get a contamination report done, which may lead us to get a discharge consent because the contamination could discharge into the local facility”. both developers have also not considered sustainable designs in any of their developments and fulfil council guidelines by complying with minimum requirements for glazing, insulation, and provisions for heating homes. the presence of nearby green recreational spaces is appreciated by developer a, who bases 50% of the decision-making on the proximity of the development to green spaces and school zones. developer a considers green recreational spaces as an essential requirement for the well-being of children. this view is shared by developer b, whose firm contracts professionals for landscape design in his developments. however, green recreational spaces are not a critical requirement and influence only 20% of his decision-making. developer a believes that urban design qualities enhance the city by assisting businesses and contributing to economic growth. however, he feels that lifestyle is impacted due to high-density living, with the most significant impact being on the younger generation. he felt that with smaller sections, children do not have space to grow, impacting their lifestyle and social development. both developers consider the value of green spaces and recreational parks as a way of adding value to high-density living and as a physical characteristic to consider for future developments. 5. discussion 5.1 economic considerations contributing to the decision-making feasibility studies are an essential part of any proposed development. its success is primarily determined by a robust risk analysis of the project, which could help flag any hidden risks in the earlier project stages. these risks include site-specific analysis, socio-economic and political planning, and financial and market evaluations (wu et al., 2017). furthermore, satisfactory high returns on investment are gained depending on the level of risk taken (adair et al., 2003). the interviewees were unanimous that feasibility is a vital criterion fundamental to them; if a project does not demonstrate good feasibility, then the development is considered unviable. the feasibility analysis for the two case studies took into consideration the total cost of the project from start to completion: the land cost, the cost of construction (including landscaping costs and site works), design and management (including professional fees), consent, utilities and contributions, real estate costs. the economic aspects played a crucial part in the decision-making process of both developments. this correlates to assertions in the literature that economic factors are the leading motivator for investors of brownfield developments (de sousa, 2000). the feasibility analysis should show an average expected development return of around the 30% threshold for brownfield projects to be initiated. as the document analysis revealed, that threshold was met by case study a but not by case study b, whose development return was estimated at 23%. the reason was that the property investor had planned the development before setting the threshold. although he initially accepted the lower return, he later realised that meeting the threshold was the best option for maximising returns for the time and money he had invested in the project. investment benefits and returns are of primary concern to developers (wang et al., 2022). as a result of the covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, the delays led to increased materials costs, labour shortages, and higher interest rates from funders and negatively impacted the financial aspects, as well as creating greater risk for the developer. specific risk assessment for projects is completed by consultants or other stakeholders who endeavour to produce superior service (wu et al., 2017). both developers in this research used professional services to investigate the feasibility and risk assessment of the projects. the involvement of professionals was significant for both developers, despite the high professional fees charged, and was crucial at the early planning stage. for both case studies, the valuation cost was included as a separate item and a lump sum. the other professional fees for architects, engineers, land surveyors, etc., were calculated at 4% of the construction costs. brownfield investment projects require full cost planning, including the expenses of valuation professionals, which is often very costly (wu et al., 2017). if a project is deemed unfeasible, then it becomes a financial expense for the developers to forfeit. prime location and proximity to various amenities are crucial factors for property developers when evaluating the economic viability of a brownfield site. promoting a well-balanced structure of compatibility of various urban elements is key (pahlen & glöckner, 2004). the developers in this research favoured their sites' location and closeness to local amenities over any other factor. they determined the success and sale price of the development, the level of intensification allowed, and the amount of building coverage permitted. short traveling distances between home, work, and leisure were achieved on both sites. location is a critical factor for developers as the location of a property influences purchase decisions, which then reflects property prices with buyers willing to pay premium prices for desirable locations (zihannudin et al., 2021). developments in prime locations represent a lower risk for developers to secure funding and realize sales (syms, 1999). sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 higher land value means increased viability for higher-density housing construction and increased profit potential for developers (maharaj & martin, 2021). the proximity to train services and amenities, such as retail and shopping, health centres, schools, and housing, all add value to the development and increase investors' possibilities of higher returns (epa, 2020). as determined by the local territorial authority (ta), the urban zoning of a potential brownfield site is another critical factor that developers consider when determining the economic viability of a project. since its launch in 2016, the aup (auckland council, 2016) has been fundamental in helping ease the housing shortages experienced in auckland by increasing housing supply through the relaxation of various land use regulations, including constraints on residential density (greenaway-mcgrevy & sorensen, 2017). the two case studies are located in a mixed housing urban (mhu) zone and, as such, were allowed to have a maximum building coverage of 45% compared to only 40% in a mixed housing suburban (mhs) zone (auckland council, 2016; auckland council, 2018). developers prefer the mhu zone as it allows for the construction of buildings up to three storeys in various residential categories such as detached dwellings, low-rise apartments, and terraced housing. in comparison, the mhs zone encompasses established residential areas and greenfield sites with standalone dwellings typically limited to one to two storeys in height (tang, 2021). from a developer's point of view, a brownfield site located in an mhu zone in auckland has greater possibilities of higher returns and thus is much more preferable. pre-existing infrastructure is an indispensable feature of brownfield sites that increases their lucrativeness for developers. the developers favoured the brownfield sites of the two case studies in this study as the availability of existing infrastructure, such as power, water, stormwater, and wastewater, was a cost-effective advantage for their projects. the central location of brownfield sites and the reuse of existing public infrastructure enable developers to forego considerable infrastructure costs and result in considerable savings (brown et al., 2016; epa, 2020). 5.2 social considerations contributing to the decision-making brownfield developments have social impacts on residents, communities, and businesses and are essential for the viability of any project. human activities dominate the process of brownfield creation and development (wang et al., 2022). the property developers highly favoured the two brownfield sites in this study, located in close proximity to local town centres, good schools, rail networks, and other public transport facilities. the proximity to transport networks is a significant social benefit to improving liveability and reducing the reliance on private transportation (beames et al., 2018; stubbs, 2002). the single garage provision for each stand-alone house in case study a and the single car parking space for each of the 23 walk-up apartments in case study b encourage the use of public transport, walking, or cycling. the resultant unintentional social benefit is more significant physical activity for residents, such as walking to public transport and improving population health (zapata-diomedi et al., 2019). other social benefits of brownfield developments include creating job opportunities, promoting a revitalised and positive environment, and improving urban quality of life (wang et al., 2011). community revitalisation is often associated with brownfield redevelopments and results in urban regeneration by attracting new business investments which can contribute to community improvement. a redeveloped former brownfield can strikingly improve the area’s quality of life, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas (brown et al., 2016). both developers in this research believed the local community benefitted economically due to brownfield developments as population growth boosted local businesses. as a result, planning authorities often prioritize urban zones that have significant potential to invigorate the local area. furthermore, stakeholders such as financiers and auckland council played a vital role in approving the two brownfield developments in this research. the participation of stakeholders such as regulators and investors is becoming increasingly important to ensure acceptance of proposed redevelopment projects (thomas, 2003). 5.3 environmental considerations contributing to the decision-making the expectation that environmental considerations will be at the forefront of urban development is unrealistic. environmental concerns continue to be overlooked by property developers, with the primary purpose being to maximize the capitalization of developments (de sousa, 2000). a similar focus on economic benefits applies to urban brownfield redevelopments in auckland. to ensure the sustainable development of cities, there is a need to shift away from the economic focus of developments towards the rejuvenation of the natural environment, including prioritising the landscape and biodiversity on brownfield redevelopment projects (cappai et al., 2019). the developers in this research have not taken any extra initiatives to minimise the environmental impacts of their projects. instead, they only made minimal efforts to comply with council guidelines and regulations, with landscaping being the main focus of their projects. however, even those proposed landscaping plans were not implemented as per the requirements, even though both developers believed this was an essential aspect of urban redevelopment. sukhjap singh/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 landscaping creates urban green spaces that impact city residents' health and well-being and contribute to sustainable urban planning and development (kim, 2018; włodarczyk-marciniak et al., 2020). even though spatial and financial restrictions are often the main barriers to establishing new green spaces (kronenberg, 2015), the associated environmental benefits including improvements in air quality, mitigating flood risks, and regulating temperature (brun et al., 2018), far outweigh the obstacles. green spaces become invaluable assets in brownfield developments by reducing meteorological and hydro-related hazards and improving the overall urban ecosystem health (kim et al., 2018). good neighbourhood design is paramount if the inclusion of urban green spaces is required. maharaj & martin (2021) emphasise that the design of neighbourhoods in new developments can significantly impact the quality of life of residents and the sustainability of their communities. however, good design is irrelevant if it is merely reflected in plans but does not eventuate in reality, which is the case with the two developments in this research. therefore, there must be strict guidelines around green space requirements in all future brownfield developments. additionally, adherence to these expectations should be closely monitored. 6. conclusions this research suggests that the economic returns of brownfield redevelopments are the most crucial criterion for property developers in the decision-making process. feasibility studies, which provide a robust risk analysis of the project, are critical to the success of any development. the involvement of professionals, despite the high professional fees charged, to investigate the feasibility and risk assessment of proposed projects is vital to developers. cost-cutting at this early stage of evaluating market viability is not an option as developers realise that such mistakes could be very costly and could compromise the projects’ success. an average expected development return of around the 30% threshold is a rough guide for investors to consider a development as viable. prime location and proximity to various amenities, such as public transportation, local town centres, and good schools, determine the lucrativeness of a project and the rapid economic return on investment for the stakeholders. on the one hand, such brownfields are low-risk investments for developers to secure funding and sales. on the other hand, they generate strong interest and attract potential buyers willing to pay premium prices for desirable locations. other factors that increase the investment returns and impact developers’ decisions are the urban zoning of a potential brownfield site and the availability of pre-existing infrastructure. the former allows for increasing residential densities, and the latter offers cost-effective advantages for the proposed projects. the increase in population growth through urban intensification boosts local businesses. it encourages community revitalisation, which is much favoured by planning authorities as they appreciate the significant potential of brownfield redevelopments to invigorate the local area. therefore, the economic and social considerations in the decisionmaking process appear intertwined and have cumulative effects on the urban quality of life. the environmental considerations, however, are neither prioritised nor given any importance. the prevailing attitude of conformity to planning rules remains restricted to the project’s design stage without being realised at the construction stage. thus, proposed landscaping plans, which simply become unavoidable and necessary design exercises, never see the light of day as they do not get implemented. despite the agreement among developers that they are an important aspect of urban redevelopment, cost-saving considerations and the desire to maximise profits take precedence over any environmental concerns. reducing the environmental impacts of new developments is not a concern for developers, which is evidenced by the complete lack of green building practices. a shift away from the sole economic focus of developments towards the regeneration of the natural environment, including prioritising the landscape of new projects, could ensure the overall sustainable development of cities. future research could 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http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i3.673 optimal sizing and design of isolated micro-grid systems alaa m. abdel-hamed1, kamel ellissy1, ahmed r. adly2, h. abdelfattah3 1 electrical power & machines department, high institute of engineering, el-shorouk academy, cairo, egypt 2 nuclear research center, atomic energy authority, egypt 3 electrical power and engineering department, faculty of industrial education, suez university, cairo, egypt abstract micro-grid and standalone schemes are emerging as a viable mixed source of electricity due to interconnected costly central power plants and associated faults as well as brownouts and blackouts in additions to costly fuels. micro-grid (mg) is gaining very importance to avoid or decrease these problems. the objective of this paper is to design an optimal sizing and energy management scheme of an isolated mg. the mg is suggested to supply load located in el-shorouk academy, egypt between 30.119 latitudes and 31.605 longitudes. the components of the mg are selected and designed for achieving minimum total investment cost (tic) with co2 emissions limitations. this is accomplished by a search and optimization matlab code used with particle swarm optimization (pso) and genetic algorithm (ga) techniques. the use of diesel generators (dgs) is minimized by limiting the gaseous co2 emissions as per targeted allowable amount. a comparison is accomplished for investigating the co2 emissions constraints effects on the tic in $/year and annual cost of energy in $/kwh. the obtained results verified and demonstrated that the designed mg configuration scheme is able to feed the energy entailed by the suggested load cost effectively and environmental friendly. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords micro-grid (mg); optimal design; optimal control; ga; pso. nomenclature bfoa bacterial foraging optimization algorithm der distributed energy resources epf energy pattern factor fc fuel consumption es energy storage ga genetic algorithm mg micro-grid mppt maximum power point tracker pso particle swarm optimization pv photovoltaic soc state of charge http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 tic total investment cost wt total investment cost 1. introduction micro grid is a standalone “a local energy provider which reduces energy expense and gas emissions by using distributed energy resources (ders)”. mg is treated to be a promising choice or even an alternative to existing centralized or traditional grids (zhang, 2013). mgs apply a diversity of distributed generation units. these units includes photovoltaic (pv) modules, wind turbines (wt) and energy storage (es) such as batteries (shi, xie, chu, &, gadh, 2014). it is noted that very large number of population in the developing regions currently lose grid based electric current services. mgs represent an important option for reducing the electricity gap in very parts of developing world in the case of grid extension is unpractical (zhang, 2013). proper selection of ders and optimal sizing for them, for specific goal or objective, are challenging and very important tasks in the designing of isolated mgs. this is because the coordination between the mg units with adds of constraints is complicated (hassanzadehfard, tafreshi, & hakimi, 2011). a nonlinear optimization problem is to be formulated using the basic problem. this optimization problem can be then solved by a desired suitable optimising technique. there are number of optimization techniques which are used for the design of mgs (paudel, shrestha, & adhikari, 2011) such as the graphical construction methods (borowy & salameh, 1996), linear programming (chedid & rehman, 1997), iterative approach (yang & zhou, 2007), ga (zhou, yang, & fang, 2008), and bacterial foraging (noroozian & vahedi, 2010) and so on. the goal for each designer is to determine the best optimal objective/fitness function value for a given configuration whichever the optimization method. rui huang et al. in (huang, wang, chu, gadh, & song, 2014) studied and proposed an approach to find the optimal placements and sizes of a mg components. to solve the optimization problem, ga is used and compared with a mathematical optimization method (nonlinear programming). a comprehensive objective function with practical constraints which take all the important factors that will affect the reliability of the power grid, into account is proposed. the analysis on results shows that ga maintains a delicate balance between performance and complexity. it is concluded that ga performs better not only in accuracy, stability, but also in computation time. authors of (huang, wang, chu, gadh, & song, 2014) did not take the constraints on dynamical power flow into consideration when designing the new power system. a more comprehensive optimization problem need to be studied and solved thoroughly. in (tabatabaei & vahidi, 2013) proposed a model for setting the optimal operation of a mg. diversity of distributed generation sources that usually used in mgs are obtained by their proposed optimization problem. constraints are taken into considerations, in the proposed optimization problem, to reflect a number of limitations which is found in a mg systems. environmental costs have been also considered in the optimization problem. for minimizing the defined objective/fitness function by considering network and load limitations, a new evolutionary algorithm known as bacterial foraging optimization algorithm (bfoa) is applied. although the used technique is a new one, it has some disadvantages such as large number of parameters and complexity in design. in (mohamed & koivo, 2007) suggested a generalized formulation for obtaining the optimal operation strategy and cost minimization scheme for a mg. the mg components from actual manufacturer data are constructed before the optimization of the mg itself. the suggested objective/fitness function considers the costs of the emissions, and the operation & maintenance costs. the optimization method is aimed for reducing the cost objective/fitness function of the system while constraining the objective for meeting the load demand profile and safety of the system. authors of (mohamed & koivo, 2007) did not put the environmental impacts into consideration which should be considered to reduce the emissions level. the proposed cost function takes into consideration the costs of the emissions nox, so2, and co2 as well as the operation and maintenance costs but the the replacement cost is not considered. the abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 optimization aims to minimize the cost function of the system while constraining it to meet the customer demand and safety of the system without taking the environmental constraints into consideration. recently, it is needful to obtain a flexible generalized approach or methodology for any kind of mg design of higher computational efficiency. in addition, the computational optimization methods which use bio-inspired technologies have been significantly developed in recent years. they can effectively increase the efficiency of mg systems by finding the best configuration for optimizing the economic and technical criteria. this paper presents a design of an optimal sizing and energy management scheme of an isolated mg components. amatlab code is proposed for calculating the energy available from mg generation sources according to meteorological data of the suggested location. the proposed optimization scheme has the advantages that it is simple and and can be extended to deal with multi-objective functions besides dealing with more renewable and storage components for the mg. the components of the mg are selected and designed to supply the suggested load under the objective of minimum tic with co2 emissions limitations. the optimization process is carried out via ga and pso techniques. a comparison is accomplished to investigate the co2 emissions constraints effects on the tic in $/year and annual cost of energy in $/kwh. it has been proved that the proposed scheme can robustly and efficiently obtain the optimal mg configuration which is eco-friendly and has great economic benefits. consequently, this research reveals that the mg will operate successfully as an isolated controllable power generation unit for supporting the utility as well as reduces the dependency on the main grid and increases the market penetration of the mg system or mg sources. accordingly, it minimizes the problems associated with central power plants such as power blackout and limitations of fossil fuels. the rest of this article is organized as follows: description and modelling of the components for the mg are introduced in section 2. fitness function and constraints are presented and modeled in section 3. section 4 describes proposed optimization procedures and a case study. section 5 presents simulation results and analysis. finally conclusion is discussed in section 6. 2. complete system modeling the proposed isolated mg system includes wts, pvs, batteries, pv controllers, dg units, and inverters. the schematic diagram for the suggested mg system is indicated by fig. 1. the first step for optimization process is to model the mg components used to supply the load. in the following sections, a modeling description of the components of the complete system is demonstrated. figure 1. schematic diagram for the proposed hybrid multi source mg system 2.1. wt modeling wt uses kinetic energy from wind speed to produce mechanical energy and then this produced mechanical energy is utilized for generating the electrical energy (govardhan & roy, 2012). wt electrical energy is calculated for abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 each time based on site weather and height of installation for wts (bansal, kumar, & gupta, 2013). the speed of wind, at a specific height, can be obtained from “nasa surface meteorology and solar energy”. modification of wind speed to the desired hub height, using the measured speed of wind at the reference height, is significantly required (tito, lie, & anderson, 2015), (hassan, el-saadawi, kandil, & saeed, 2016). the energy output from the wt, at a site wind speed, is obtained using the wt power curve that is denoted by manufacturer. for a given speed profile, the energy available from wind can be modeled using equation (1) (yazdanpanah, 2014): 𝐸𝑊𝑇 = 𝑇ℎ𝑟 ∑ 𝑃𝑜 . 𝑓(𝑣, 𝑘, 𝑐) 𝑣𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑣𝑚𝑖𝑛 (1) where ewt represents the energy output from wt in kwh at a given location, thr represents the time (hours) used in the study, po represents the power output of wt (kw), (vmin, vmax) represents the minimum and maximum speeds of wind, and f(v, k, c) represents the weibull function for a given site wind speed (ν) at a designed shaping coefficient k and scaling coefficient c. the energy pattern factor (epf) approach is required and recommended for more precise determination of c and k coefficients. this is to reduce uncertainties concerning with the output wind energy calculation for wind energy conversion system (wecs) (kidmo, danwe, doka, & djongyang, 2015). 2.2. pv modeling pv modules are systems in which sunlight straight converted into electricity. the energy per year of a pv module, at a certain location with a known solar irradiation and temperature, can be modeled using equation (2). 𝐸𝑃𝑉 = 𝑇ℎ𝑟 ∑ 𝑃(𝑇, 𝐺) 𝐺𝑚𝑎𝑥 ,𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐺𝑚𝑖𝑛,𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 (2) where epv is the energy production per year of pv module, thr represents time (hours) through which the sun hits the pv modules and p(t, g) represents the pv modules output power at a solar irradiation g and temperature t of hourly average values, which is calculated using equation (3) (mohamed & koivo, 2011). 𝑃𝑃𝑉 (𝑇, 𝐺) = 𝑃𝑆𝑇𝐶 𝐺𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝐺𝑆𝑇𝐶 (1 + 𝑘(𝑇𝑐 − 𝑇𝑟 )) (3) where ppv(t,g) represents the pv power at incident irradiance and temperature, pstc represents the maximum power for the pv at stc, ging is the fallen irradiation, gstc represents the irradiation at stc (1000w/m 2), k is the power temperature coefficient (0.5 %/co), tc is the cell temperature, and tr is the reference temperature. 2.3. dg modeling the conventional roles for diesel generations have been the condition of peak shaving and stand-by power (mohamed el al., 2011). in this paper, dgs are supposed for sharing the wind/pv generations for feeding the load demand. dgs powers are related to their fuel consumption (fc). this means that they are characterized by their efficiency and fuel consumption. the dgs operate between 80 and 100 percent of their nominal powers for obtaining higher efficiency use (hassan, saadawi, kandil, & saeed, 2015). the energy that can be generated by a dg is determined by using the following equation (4) (bilal et al., 2012): 𝐸𝐷𝐺 (𝑡) = 𝑃𝐷𝐺 (𝑡). 𝜂𝐷𝐺 . 𝑇ℎ𝑟 (4) https://www.infona.pl/contributor/0@bwmeta1.element.elsevier-4e7f01b1-d1d5-3a17-ab9f-f5afb5cfdb2e/tab/publications abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 where edg is the dg energy per year in kwh, pdg is the dg rating power, 𝜂𝐷𝐺 is the dg efficiency, and thr represents its hours of operations. the fuel consumption of a dg depends on both the load and the size of generator. hourly fuel consumption is given by equation (5) (hassan et al., 2016). 𝐹𝐶(𝑡) = 𝑎. 𝑃𝑜 (𝑡) + 𝑏. 𝑃𝑛 (5) where, (a & b) represents the coefficients for the fuel consumption curve and ( po & pn) are power output and nominal rating of the dg. in this paper, a is taken to be 0.081451 l/kwh while b is taken to be 0.2461 l/kwh (hassan et al., 2016). the total co2 emission amount can be determined using the following equation (6) (hassan et al., 2016): 𝑄𝑐𝑜2 = 𝐹𝐶 . 𝐸𝐹 (6) where qco2 is the total co2 emission amount in (kg), fc is the fuel consumption in (kwh) and ef represents the emission factor for the fuel used in kg/kwh. for the diesel fuel considered in this article, the default co2 emission factor is 0.705 kg/kwh (hassan et al., 2016). usage of a dg is not in line with prevention of air-pollution and minimization of co2 emission. a gas microturbine will be more environmentally friendly solution but it is not practical to be used in our location and its cost is higher besides its complex design. a tax on co2 levels of emissions in any sector did not yet applied by whether industrial or energy production in the site of the proposed mg. however, the department of environment stated, depending on the environmental law4 of 1994, that there is a need to force such a tax for emissions per year of that pollutant and harmful gas. the department of environment enumerated these ratings according to european standards. 2.4. battery modeling battery is defined as an electro-chemical device that stores the electrical energy from ac or dc units of mg for later use. since the output of the renewable sources of the mg is a random behavior, the state of charge (soc) of the battery is constantly changing accordingly in mg system. when the total power output from the wts, pv modules is greater than the load power, the battery is in the soc. when the total output power of the wt and pv modules is less than the load power, the battery is in the discharging state. the soc of battery bank can be calculated from the following equation (7) (wei, 2007): 𝑆𝑂𝐶(𝑡) = 𝑆𝑂𝐶(𝑡 − 1). (1 − 𝜎) + [𝐸𝐺𝑡 (𝑡) − 𝐸𝐿 (𝑡) 𝜂𝑖𝑛𝑣 ] . 𝜂𝑏𝑎𝑡 (7) where, soc(t) and soc(t-1) are the battery bank state of charge at time t and t-1, σ is monthly self-discharging rate, egt(t) is the total energy generated, el(t) is the load demand, ηinv and ηbat are the efficiency of inverter and battery. in this paper, the battery soc model is designed based on the ah method. the capacity of battery bank (breq) required for a mg system can be calculated using the following equation (8) (hassan et al., 2016). 𝐵𝑅𝑒 𝑞 = 𝐿𝐴ℎ/𝑑𝑎𝑦 . 𝑁𝑐 𝑀𝐷𝐷. 𝐷𝑓 (8) where lah/d is the total ah consumption of the load per day, mdd is the maximum discharge depth and df is the factor of discharging and nc represents the autonomous day’s number. abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 the number of parallel connected batteries (np) for giving the ah needed by the mg system is determined using equation (9), while the number of series connected batteries (ns) for giving the system voltage vn is determined using equation (10) (yazdanpanah, 2014). 𝑁𝑝 = 𝐵𝑅𝑒 𝑞 𝐵𝑐 (9) 𝑁𝑠 = 𝑉𝑁 𝑉𝐵 (10) where breq is the required capacity of the battery bank in ah, bc is the the selected battery capacity, vn is the mg system voltage and vb is the battery voltage. the total batteries number nbt is obtained as indicated by equation (11). 𝑁𝐵𝑇 = 𝑁𝑝. 𝑁𝑠 (11) 2.5. pv controller modeling the maximum power point tracker (mppt) controller is implemented as a pv controller which tracks mpp of the pv system. this is achieved throughout the day delivering the maximum amount of the available solar energy to the mg system. mppt controller comprises a number of pv controllers needed for the mg system. the pv controller numbers required for a pv system is calculated by using the equations 12, 13, and 14 (hassan et al., 2016), (hassan et al., 2015). 𝑃𝑝𝑣_𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡 = 𝑁𝑝𝑣 . 𝑃𝑝𝑣_𝑅 (12) 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥_ 𝑐𝑜𝑛 = 𝑉𝑏 . 𝐼𝑐𝑜𝑛 (13) 𝑁𝑐𝑜𝑛 = 𝑃𝑝𝑣_𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥_ 𝑐𝑜𝑛 (14) where icon represents the maximum current which the controller handles from the pv to the battery, vb is the voltage of the battery, ppv_r is the pv rated power at stcs, ppv_rtot is the total power of the pvs at stcs, pmax_con represents the maximum power of one controller, and npv represents the total number of pv modules. 2.6. inverter modeling inverters are generally used as the interface to connect energy between mg components and the load. the selected power inverter must be capable of handling the maximum power expected by ac loads (bilal el al., 2012), (hassan, el-saadawi, kandil, & saeed, 2015). inverters are classified into three main different schemes. these types are standalone, grid tied battery less and grid tied with battery back-up inverters (hassan el al., 2015). in this paper, the stand alone inverter is used. the number of inverters needed for a certain load demand can be modeled and enumerated using equation (15) (solar energy international, (2007). 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑣 = 𝑃𝑔_𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑣_𝑚𝑎𝑥 (15) where pinv_max represents the maximum power that the inverter can supply, pg_max is the maximum power that the mg system generates, and ninv represents the inverter numbers. 3. optimal design of mg configuration the optimal design of mg configuration that can manage the load makes the best compromise between the mg system co2 emissions and the cost of energy to optimize the fitness function in the mg system lifetime. https://www.infona.pl/contributor/0@bwmeta1.element.elsevier-4e7f01b1-d1d5-3a17-ab9f-f5afb5cfdb2e/tab/publications abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 3.1. objective function the objective of the proposed approach is the design of optimal mg configuration scheme that can manage the prescribed load under the suggested objective/fitness function and various constraints. the objective/fitness function in this paper is to minimize the system tic through the system lifetime in the standalone mode. the unknown variables are the number of wind turbines, pv modules, batteries, controller units, inverter units, and diesel generators. these variables represent the number of equipment needed to supply the load at minimum investment cost with co2 constraints. the problem is solved for two scenarios: cost minimization without emissions constraints and cost minimization with emissions limitations. the mathematical model for the general objective/fitness function can be formulated as follows (hassan et al., 2016): 𝑇𝐼𝐶 = ∑ 𝑁𝑊𝑇𝑖 𝑛𝑊𝑇 𝑖=1 . 𝐶𝑊𝑇𝑖 + ∑ 𝑁𝑃𝑉𝑗 𝑛𝑃𝑉 𝑗=1 . 𝐶𝑃𝑉𝑗 + ∑ 𝑁𝐵𝐴𝑇𝑘 𝑛𝐵𝐴𝑇 𝑘=1 . 𝐶𝐵𝐴𝑇𝑘 + ∑ 𝑁𝐷𝐺𝑙 𝑛𝐷𝐺 𝑙=1 . 𝐶𝐷𝐺𝑙 + ∑ 𝑁𝐶𝑂𝑁𝑚 𝑛𝐶𝑂𝑁 𝑚=1 . 𝐶𝐶𝑂𝑁𝑚 + ∑ 𝑁𝐼𝑁𝑉𝑦 𝑛𝐼𝑁𝑉 𝑦=1 . 𝐶𝐼𝑁𝑉𝑦 (16) where nwt, npv, ndg, nbat, ncon, and ninv are number for each type to be selected of wts, pv modules, dgs, batteries, controllers and inverters. cwt, cpv, cdg, cbat, ccon, and cinv are the total investment cost for each type of a wt, a pv, a dg, a battery, a controller, and an inverter. the tic of the dg comprises the capital (ccap), the operating & maintenance per year (co&m), the fuel (cf) and the pollutant co2 emissions costs (cem). the tic for other mg components contains capital (ccap), installation (cins), and operation & maintenance (co&m) costs. the following equations (17 to 22) demonstrates the mathematical model used for calculating the tic for dg, wind turbine, pv module, battery bank, a controller, and inverter, respectively (bilal el al., 2012). 𝐶𝐷𝐺 = ( 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝𝐺𝐷 4 + 𝐶𝑓𝐷𝐺 . 𝐻𝐴𝑛𝑛 + 𝐶𝑂&𝑀_𝑊𝑇 . 𝐻𝐴𝑛𝑛 + 𝐶𝑒𝑚 ). 𝑇𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒_𝑃𝑟 (17) 𝐶𝑊𝑇 = 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝_𝑊𝑇 + 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑠_𝑊𝑇 + 𝑇𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 . 𝐶𝑂&𝑀_𝑊𝑇 (18) 𝐶𝑃𝑉 = 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝_𝑃𝑉 + 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑠_𝑃𝑉 + 𝑇𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 . 𝐶𝑂&𝑀_𝑃𝑉 (19) 𝐶𝐵𝑎𝑡 = 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝_𝐵𝑎𝑡 + 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑠_𝐵𝑎𝑡 + 𝐶𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐵𝑎𝑡 . 𝑁𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐵𝑎𝑡 (20) 𝐶𝐶𝑜𝑛 = 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝_𝐶𝑜𝑛 + 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑠_𝐶𝑜𝑛 + 𝑇𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 . 𝐶𝑂&𝑀_𝐶𝑜𝑛 + 𝐶𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐶𝑜𝑛. 𝑁𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐶𝑜𝑛 (21) 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑣 = 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑝_𝐼𝑛𝑣 + 𝐶𝐼𝑛𝑠_𝐼𝑛𝑣 + 𝑇𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 . 𝐶𝑂&𝑀_𝐼𝑛𝑣 + 𝐶𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐼𝑛𝑣. 𝑁𝑅𝑒 𝑝_𝐼𝑛𝑣 (22) where hann is the number of hours that the dg can be used in one year (6*365), tlifetime is the life time for the project (20 years) and nrep is the number of unit replacements through the lifetime period. in this paper, the lifetime of both pv modules and wt is supposed to be 20 year, the inverter and controller is life time is supposed to be 10 years, and the batteries life time is assumed to be 5 years (bilal el al., 2012). the mg units replacement costs (crep) are considered to be the same as their capital costs. 3.2. constraint for energy balance the total generation of yearly energy (kwh/year) have to exceed or at least equal to the effective energy of the annual consumption. the effective energy of annual consumption is the energy consumed by the yearly load demand divided by the efficiency of the overall system (𝜂𝑠𝑦𝑠 ). the energy balance can be modeled using equation (23) and the overall system efficiency can be determined as equation (24) indicates (hassan et al., 2016). https://www.infona.pl/contributor/0@bwmeta1.element.elsevier-4e7f01b1-d1d5-3a17-ab9f-f5afb5cfdb2e/tab/publications https://www.infona.pl/contributor/0@bwmeta1.element.elsevier-4e7f01b1-d1d5-3a17-ab9f-f5afb5cfdb2e/tab/publications abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 ∑ 𝑁𝑊𝑇 𝑖 . 𝐸𝑊𝑇 + ∑ 𝑁𝑃𝑉 𝑗 . 𝐸𝑃𝑉 + ∑ 𝑁𝐷𝐺 . 𝐸𝐷𝐺 ≥ 𝐸𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝜂𝑠𝑦𝑠 𝑙 (23) 𝜂𝑠𝑦𝑠 = 𝜂𝐷𝐺 . 𝜂𝐵𝑎𝑡 . 𝜂𝐶𝑜𝑛 . 𝜂𝐼𝑛𝑣. 𝜂𝑊 (24) where eload, ewt, epv, and edg represent the energy consumption of the load, generated by wts, pv modules, dgs, in (kwh/year). ηsys, ηinv, ηcon, ηw, ηbat, and ηdg represent overall mg system, inverter, pv controller, connection wires, battery, and dg efficiencies. the average efficiency for dg, battery, pv controllers, inverter, and wires, are shown in table 1. table 1. efficiencies for components of mg. mg components efficiency mg components efficiency dg 0.85 inverter 0.95 battery 0.85 wires 0.90 pv controller 0.95 – – 3.3. much bounds and size of design variables constraints these constraints involve physical limits on the number of mg generation sources according to the available area of the land of the project. it also contains limits with respect to the sizing of the pv units as well as controllers and inverters and constraints to the soc of batteries. these constraints can be modeled as indicated by the following equations (25 to 30): 0 ≤ 𝑁𝑊𝑇 ≤ 𝑁𝑊𝑇_𝑚𝑎𝑥 (25) 0 ≤ 𝑁𝑃𝑉 ≤ 𝑁𝑃𝑉_𝑚𝑎𝑥 (26) 0 ≤ 𝑁𝐷𝐺 ≤ 𝑁𝐺𝐷_𝑚𝑎𝑥 (27) ∑ 𝑁𝐶𝑜𝑛 . 𝑃𝐶𝑜𝑛 ≥ 𝑃𝑃𝑉_𝑚𝑎𝑥 ∑ 𝑗 (28) ∑ 𝑁𝐼𝑛𝑣 . 𝑃𝐼𝑛𝑣 ≥ 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 ∑ 𝑖 (29) 𝑆𝑂𝐶𝑀𝑖𝑛 ≤ 𝑆𝑂𝐶 ≤ 𝑆𝑂𝐶𝑀𝑎𝑥 (30) where nwt-max, npv-max, and ndg-max represent the maximum number of wts, pv modules and dg units. pin, pcon, pmax, and ppv-max represent the maximum output power of inverter, pv controller, load, pv module in watts and soc is the battery state of charge. 3.4. diesel operation constraints dg should have operation time limits for reducing wear and tear. this limitation can be modelled using equation (31). 0 ≤ ∑ 𝑇𝐷𝐺 𝑇=24 𝑇=1 ≤ 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 (31) where tdg represents the time in hours that the dg operates daily and tmax is the maximum permissible time that the dg operates per day. abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 3.5. co2 emissions constraints the co2 emissions amount in kg is an indication parameter for the environmental pollution. it represents the maximum percentage of the co2 emission results in fuel combustion. up till now, there are no maximum governmental permissible limits or level of co2 emissions in country where of the mg project is proposed (hassan et al., 2016). in this paper, a maximum permissible level of co2 (kg) is suggested for investigating the impact of co2 on the optimal mg system configuration and tic. this limitation can be supposed according to equation (32). 𝐶𝑂2 ≤ 𝐶𝑂2_𝑚𝑎𝑥 (32) where co2-max represents the maximum permissible limit of the co2 harmful emissions in (kg). 4. optimal mg configuration approach and case study 4.1. optimal method the mg configuration optimization problem is solved by using the matlab optimal search code. the ga and pso techniques used by authors in (el-wakeel, el-eyoun, ellissy, & abdel-hamed, 2015) are implemented with the proposed modules of matlab code. this is achieved to determine the numbers of wts, pvs, dg units, batteries, pv controllers, and inverters. this configuration supplies the load described in subsection 4.2.1 and reduces the tic per year taking into accounts the pollutant co2 emission limits. the matlab code which is divided into four module codes as shown in fig. 2 is designed to represent and execute the proposed approach. the 1st module calculates the energy generated per year by any given type of wt based on the designed model illustrated in section 2.1. a combination of wts power curve and weibull is used by this module. the input information for that module are: the wts power curves, the resource for wind speeds at both hub and tower height. the energy generated annually by any given type of a pv array, based on the mathematical model explained in section 2.2, is calculated by using the 2nd module. the data entered for the module are: power rating of each wt type, the site temperature and irradiance levels. the 3rd module computes the annual energy generated by any given type of dg based on the mathematical model explained in section 2.3. the data entered for the module are: the diesel generator rated power, the diesel generator efficiency, and its operation time. the 4t h module is the ga, and pso technique (el-wakeel, el-eyoun, ellissy, & abdel-hamed, 2015) used with the objective/fitness function for the optimization of the proposed configuration. all the previous results from first, second, and third modules are the inputs to fourth module besides the data for controllers, inverters, and batteries. this module calculates the optimal number of mg system components supplying and managing the specified load based on minimum tic for all components with co2 emissions constraints considerations. solar cells and solar temperature and radiation code of module 1 code of module 4 (ai techniques) prices, controllers and inverters data wind turbines power curves and wind speed data diesel rated power, efficiency and operation time code of module 2 code of module 3 annual solar energy annual wind energy annual wind energy load data optimal mg configuration for energy mangement figure 2. modules of the suggested optimization scheme abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 a detailed computational procedure of fourth module, for optimal mg system configuration, is indicated by fig. 3. the input data are 1) the data related to meteorological information of the selected location. this data is obtained from nasa. 2) the unit prices of the projected mg system components including installation, operation & maintenance costs, components life time which are acquired from (hassan el al., 2015). 3) other inputs are fitness function, constraints and load data explained previously. the optimal composition of pvs, wts, dgs, batteries, controllers, and inverters from different brands are calculated by using pso and ga as follows: using ga the initial population of the chromosomes that represents the number of each component of the mg is randomly generated. the chromosomes are evaluated according to the selected fitness function described in subsection 3.1. a new population based on the fitness of the individuals is selected from the old one. genetic operators (mutation and crossover) are applied to members of the population to create new solutions. the process of evaluation and new population creation is continued until a satisfactory solution based on specific termination criteria has been satisfied. usually the maximum number of generations is used as the termination criterion. experience shows that mutation should be done with a low probability ranging from 0.1 to 2%, while the crossover rate should be between 60 to 90%. again, the ga has been run for 20 independent trials with different settings until the solutions are very close to each other. according to the trials, ga parameters are determined as: maximum number of iterations/generations =100, population size = 3000, the cross over rate = 0.9 and the mutation rate = 0.001. using pso in the pso algorithm, a population of particles is put into the dimensional search space with randomly chosen velocities and positions knowing their best values so far (pbest) and the position in the d-dimensional space. the velocity of each particle is adjusted according to its own flying experience and the other particles’ flying experience. the fitness function value is calculated for each particle. if the value is better than the current pbest of the particle, the pbest value is replaced by the current value. if the best value of pbest is better than the current gbest, the gbest is replaced by the best value and the particle number with the best value is stored. the operation is continued until the current iteration number reaches the predetermined maximum iteration number. the pso algorithm has been run for 20 independent trials with different settings until the solutions are very close to each other. according to the trials, the pso parameters are determined as: maximum of iterations/generations=100, number of particles/agents = 3000, acceleration constant c1= 0.6, c2 = 1.4 and weighting factor = 0.95. generation of initial condition enter: meteorological data, economical data for function & constraints, techniques parameters evaluation of searching points using equation (14) stopping criteria reached ˀ modification of each searching point using ga or pso display: -optimal solution -mg configuration -tis -co emssions start yes no figure 3. computational procedure flow chart using pso or ga abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 4.2. case study the case study is a typical isolated mg suggested to supply a load located between (30.119 latitude and 31.605 longitude). it consists of different types of energy generation units such as wts, pvs, dgs, and battery banks as a storage system. the optimization scheme is used to find the optimal configuration and energy management of the mg components that satisfy the objective/fitness function discussed previously in equation (16). input data includes the load data, meteorological data of the suggested location, and techno-economical data of the mg system components. 4.2.1. load data it is considered that outdoor and indoor lighting load for educational building located between (30.119 o latitudes and 31.605o longitudes) will be met by a mg system. table 2 shows the daily electrical load requirements, with a load of 50 kw peak. using table 2 and actual load measuring, a load profile is built as indicated by fig. 4. it shows the daily load profile for proposed mg system with a maximum value of 50 kw and an average consumption per day of 516.724 kwh. table 2. daily electrical load requirements purpose entrance outdoor indoor rated power (kw) 1.08 14.588 49.968 operation period (h) 6 11 7 dailyenergy( kwh/day) 6.48 160.468 349.776 total daily energy ( kwh/day) 516.724 figure 4. considered daily load profile 4.2.2. meteorological and techno-economical data the solar radiation and wind speed are obtained from “nasa surface meteorology and solar energy”. the monthly average insulations and air temperature (°c), for the suggested location, incident on a horizontal surface are indicated by table 3 and table 4 respectively. whereas, the average values per month of the wind speed at (50 m) above the earth surface are indicated by table 5. as explained before in section 2.1, it is found necessary to adjust the wind speed to the hub height if the speed is measured at a height different than that of turbine hub height. in this paper the wind towers are taken with a 20 meters height, so that the measured wind speed values have to be modified as it is obvious in table 6. the techno-economic data of the used commercial components in this article are taken as in (hassan el al., 2015) (21 types of wts, 13 types of pvs, 1 types of dgs, 5 types of pv controllers, 5 types of inverters, 20 types of batteries). 0 5 10 15 20 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 hour lo a d c o n su m p ti o n ( k w ) abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 table 3. monthly averaged isolation for the suggested location month jan feb mar apr may jun annual average 22-years average solar radiation (kwh/m2/day) 3.23 3.91 5.11 6.28 6.99 7.69 5.35 month jul aug sep oct nov dec 22-years average solar radiation (kwh/m2/day) 7.33 6.85 5.86 4.48 3.45 3.00 table 4. averaged air temperature/month for the suggested location month jan. feb mar apr may jun annual average 22-years average air temperature (°c) 13.3 13.6 16.0 20.1 23.4 26.3 21 month jul aug sep oct nov dec 22-years average air temperature (°c) 28.2 28.2 26.3 22.8 18.9 14.8 table 5. averaged wind speed/month at 50 m from the surface for for the suggested location month jan feb mar apr may jun annual average measured wind speed at 50 m height (m/s) 4.74 5.01 4.99 4.78 4.80 4.68 4.75 month jul aug sep oct nov dec measured wind speed at 50 m height (m/s) 4.73 4.71 4.78 4.68 4.44 4.71 table 6. averaged modified wind speed/month for the suggested location month jan feb mar apr may jun annual average modified speed at 20m height(m/s) 4.1584 4.3953 4.3778 4.1935 4.2111 4.1058 4.1709 month jul aug sep oct nov dec modified speed at 20 m height (m/s) 4.1497 4.1321 4.1935 4.1058 3.8952 4.1321 5. optimization results and analysis the optimum mg system configuration, that meets the energy required by the previously mentioned load profile with minimum tic and emissions limits, is obtained by performing the designed optimization scheme explained in subsection 4.1. table 7 indicates the bounds and size of design variables constraints used in this paper. the simulation results to obtain minimum tic without and with various emission limits using ga, and pso techniques are explained in the following subsections. table 7. indicates the bounds and size of design variables constraints optimal search limits nwt npv ndg nbat ncon ninv tdg (hours) minimum (lower limit) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 maximum (upper limit) 1 40 20 10 50 10 6 abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 5.1. using pso without co2 emissions constraint in this configuration, table 8 indicates different types and numbers of wind turbines, pv modules, diesel generators, inverters and controller in the designed mg configuration indicated in fig. 2 and explained in details previously in subsection 4.1. number of different battery types is also used for charging the excessive energy in case of generation higher than load and to supply the load in case of generation is higher. in this case, per year total generated energy is of 321650.34 kwh, and per year consumption of energy is 321603.88 kwh. the model represents a mg system configuration with a tic value of $47822.59 with emissions of 15146.06 kg of co2. table 8. mg sizing optimization results without emission constraint mg commercial type rated cap. no. commercial type rated cap. no. wind southwest (air x) 400w 1 bornay-inclin 6000 6000w 1 sw(whisper 500) 3000w 1 are110 2500w 1 ae (lakota) 800w 1 are442 10000w 1 bergey (bwc 1500) 1500w 1 kestrel wind (800) 800w 1 bergey(bwcexcelr) 8100w 1 kestrelwind(3000) 3000w 1 bornay (inclin 600) 600w 1 solacity (eoltec) 6000w 1 bornay (inclin 1500) 1500w 1 – – – pv sharp nd-250qcs 250w 32 csi cs6x-285p 285w 39 hyundai his-255mg 255w 36 canadiansolar250p 250w 33 lightway 235w 40 csi cs 6x-295p 295w 40 trina tsm-pa05 240w 40 canadiansolar300p 300w 40 solartechspm135p 135w 16 canadiansolr255m 255w 37 csi cs6p-235px 235w 21 hyundaihis260mg 260w 37 csi cs6x-280p 280w 40 – – – dg stephil -se 3000d 1900w 11 – – – battery mk8l16 370ah 1 us battery us2200 225ah 2 surrette2ks33ps 1765a 8 us battery us250 250ah 1 surrettes1-460 350ah 1 surrettes2-460 350ah 1 trogan t-105 225ah 2 surrettes530-6v 400ah 2 us battery us185 195ah 1 – – – controller se-xw-mppt-60 1500w 30 outback fm60 1500w 12 outback fm80 2000w 27 blue sky sb3048 750w 8 inverter se-xw6048 6000w 4 fx-2024et 2000w 2 se-xw4548 4500w 2 se-xw4024 4000w 4 tic ($) 47822.5970 co2 (kg) 15146.06 abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 5.2. using pso with co2 emissions constraint for investigating the co2 emissions effect on the tic of the mg system, a predetermined maximum permitted co2 emissions limits introduced. for co2 emissions constraints limited to 6884 kg, table 9 presents the optimization results using pso. table 9. mg sizing optimization results with emission constraint mg commercial type rated cap. no. commercial type rated cap. no. wind southwest (air x) 400w 1 bornayinclin 3000 3000w 1 sw (whisper 200) 1000w 1 bornayinclin 6000 6000w 1 sw(whisper 500) 3000w 1 are110 2500w sw(skystream 3.7) 1800w 1 are442 10000w 1 bergey-bwcexcelr 8100w 1 kestrel wind (1000) 1000w 1 bornay (inclin 250) 250w 1 kestrel wind (3000) 3000w 1 bornay (inclin 1500) 1500w 1 solacity (eoltec) 6000w 1 pv sharp nd-250qcs 250w 40 csi cs6x-285p 285w 40 hyundaihis-255mg 255w 40 canadiansolar250p 250w 40 lightway 235w 40 csi cs 6x-295p 295w 40 trina tsm-pa05 240w 29 canadiansolar300p 300w 39 solartechspm135p 135w 21 canadiansolr255m 255w 40 csi cs6p-235px 235w 40 hyundaihis260mg 260w 40 csi cs6x-280p 280w 40 – – – dg stephil-se 3000d 1900w 5 – – – battery mk8l16 370ah 2 us battery us185 195ah 4 surrette2ks33ps 1765ah 5 us battery us2200 225ah 3 surrette 4-cs-17ps 546ah 4 us battery us250 250ah 3 surrette6-cs-17ps 546ah 2 surrettes2-460 350ah 2 trogan t-105 225ah 4 surrettes530-6v 400ah 5 controller se-xw-mppt-60 1500w 17 se-xw-mppt-80 2000w 15 outback fm80 2000w 23 blue sky sb3048 750w 13 outback fm60 1500w 14 – – – inverter se-dr1524e 1500w 3 fx-2024et 2000w 5 se-xw6048 6000w 4 se-xw4024 4000w 4 se-xw4548 4500w 2 – – – tic ($) 48503.4315 co2 (kg) 6884.5772 abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 it can be concluded from table 9 that by decreasing the maximum allowable co2 emissions limits, number of dgs is decreased and consequently the number of pv modules, pv controllers, and wts are increased. this will increase the installation cost of the mg system and therefore the tic value will be increased to 48503.43$ instead of 47822.59$ without constraints. 5.3. impact of co2 emissions constraint with comparison between pso and ga in this section, comparison of impacts of co2 emissions constraint using pso and ga is made. table 10 indicates the co2 emissions constraints impacts on the mg configurations and also shows a comparison between the results of ga and pso techniques. figs 5 -7 show a comparison between energy generated with and without co2 emissions constraint. table 10. impact of co2 emissions constraints. item no co2 constraints maximum allowable co2 emissions 6884.5772 kg used technique pso ga pso ga energy required by the load 321603.88 321603.88 321603.88 321603.88 generated energy(kwh/year) 321650.34 321605.22 321776.51 321907.14 surplus energy (kwh/year) 46.4619 1.3403 172.6333 303.25 wind energy (kwh/year) 66557.88 46680.87 71602.43 71075.39 pv energy (kwh/year) 216187.10 236019.00 232489.83 233147.50 diesel gen.energy(kwh/year) 38905.35 38905.35 17684.25 17684.25 no. of dg 11 11 5 5 tic ($/year) 47822.59 48553.92 48503.43 48688.70 % increase in tic base base 1.42366 1.8110 annual energy cost($/kwh) 0.14870 0.15097 0.15081 0.15139 co2_emissions(kg/year) 15146.06 15146.06 6884.57 6884.57 %co2 emissions decrease base base 54.5454 54.5454 seeking time (sec) 55.2 88.5 57.6 90.7 abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 figure 5. monthly wind energy in a year with and without constraints using pso figure 6. monthly pv energy in a year with and without constraints using pso figure 7. monthly dg energy in a year with and without constraints using pso abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 it can be concluded from table 10 and figs 5 -7 that by decreasing the maximum allowable co2 emissions limits, the number of diesel generators is decreased. consequently, the designed scheme tends to select higher number of pv modules and wts to overcome the decreasing in energy generated from diesel. this increase in wts, pv units and pv controller will increase the tic (1.4236% in pso which is approximately zero) due to the increase of the installation cost of the system, but the co2 emissions is decreased to the required level (45.4545 %). it is obvious from table 9 that the results obtained by the configuration scheme optimized by pso is better than those obtained by ga. this is with respect to tic emissions and annual cost of energy. fig. 6 shows that the components of mg share higher power in april to august as the radiations of the selected site is higher at these months. 5.4. mg energy management while designing and simulating the proposed mg, it was assumed that the mg is isolated and supplies the rated energy to the load throughout the project lifecycle. from table 9, it is obvious that mg system configuration with a tic of $48503.43 and 54.5454 % decrease in co2 emissions represents the most economical design with lower emissions. thus this configuration is used for mg management and supplying the annual average load described in subsection 4.2.1. fig. 8 shows share of designed individual mg components (wind, pv, and diesel) in supplying the demand electricity for the load profile, whereas fig. 9 indicates the monthly sharing of combined components and fig. 10 shows the charged and discharged energy in batteries over the 12 month of the year. figure 8. load profile sharing using mg components with 6884 kg emissions constraints figure 9. grouped load profile sharing with 6884 kg emissions constraints abde-hamed/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 figure 10. surplus energy lost in batteries with 6884 kg emissions constraints it is evident from figs 8 -10 that with co2 emissions limitation, the dgs share the smallest part of the load profile energy. also wts shares poor energy due to the low wind speed profile of the mg site. the components of the mg share higher energy in april to august as the irradiations and temperature of the selected site are higher at these months. results also proved that pv technology is preferable in this location. 6. conclusion in this paper, an optimal sizing scheme and energy management of mg components, supplying a load demand, is constructed and designed. the objective of minimizing the tic with environmental emissions constraints is achieved. limitations are also added to the optimization problem to take into accounts some of additional considerations found in an isolated mg system. final results proved that the proposed optimization scheme is efficient and robust. also the configuration scheme optimized with the help of pso is better than those optimized using ga with respect to tic, emissions and annual cost of energy. finally, adding extra limits on co2 emissions constraints result in extra emissions reduction of 54.54% and negligible cost increase of 1.43% which emphasizes that the mg is designed economically with low environmental impacts. the meta-heuristic random search and optimization techniques are now emerging as a viable planning tools in smart grid optimization and renewable energy applications. references bansal, a. k., kumar r., and gupta, r. a., (2013).: economic analysis and power management of a small autonomous hybrid power system (sahps) using biogeography based optimization (bbo) algorithm. 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development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.553 sustainable park landscaping as an approach for the development of the built environment: review and employment abdullah haredy1 1department of architectural engineering, school of engineering, al-baha university, al-baha, saudi arabia abstract implementing sustainable principles when landscaping parks is vital for the development of the built environment, and should take into account environmental, social, economic, and cultural aspects, in order to eliminate conflict between developmental requirements, and the need to preserve cultural and natural resources. this paper reviews the guidelines that should be considered for current and future sustainable parks in regions with a moderate climate, in order to ensure that they incorporate ecotourism, cost effective operation and maintenance, a clean environment, the promotion of renewable energy, and resource preservation. a number of parks, located in moderate climate zones, are studied in terms of aspects such as their location, topography, operation, and landscaping characteristics, to demonstrate the prevailing normative values that can be applied to sustainable park design. prince meshari park, in al-baha city, saudi arabia, is employed as a case study for applying all of the guidelines proposed in this investigation, and to highlight some of their merits and limitations in terms of the current situation of the park. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainable parks; cost-effective parks; environmental balance; landscaping; resource preservation; ecotourism 1. introduction in recent decades, the importance of the built environment and its resources has emerged as an issue, especially in countries with a moderate climate that wish to establish parks with limited conditions and resources (ceballoslascurain, 1996). parks should not be considered isolated structures, since they interact spatially, and are functional components of landscape ecosystems (noss, 1987). moreover, parks can be a source of many wider benefits, including purifying the air; providing water; improving urban micro-climates (chiesura, 2004); minimizing stress, and enhancing meditation, thereby revitalizing city inhabitants; promoting a sense of peace and tranquility (ulrich, 1981); extending the lifespan of elderly people (takano, nakamura, & watanabe, 2002); encouraging the use of outdoor space; increasing social integration and interaction among neighbours (coley, kuo, & sullivan, 1997); mitigating the cost of pollution abatement; preventing and reducing the incidence of disease; attracting visitors and promoting a city as a tourist destination; and generating revenue and employment (chiesura, 2004). as such, and for example, (parés-franzi, saurı́-pujol, & domene, 2006) examined how the urban parks in mediterranean cities are distributed, and assessed the ways in which their design and management follow criteria adapted to mediterranean environmental conditions. the authors found that incorporating certain sustainable practices can pg. 1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd significantly improve the environmental performance of these public spaces, under the conditions of a mediterranean climate. moreover, (ayeghi and ujang, 2017) explored the impact of the physical features of an urban park on their users’ attachment to the park, with reference to klcc park in kuala lumpur. they found that the physical features influenced the users’ functional attachment, and active features, such as water features, had a stronger effect on user attachment than passive features. urban managers and urban designers are now able to create pleasing open spaces that attract increased numbers of visitors, due to their sustainable physical features. according to (jim, 2000), there are two crucial aspects of sustainable landscape planning: providing high quality planting, and guarding against subsequent degradation and intrusion. in addition, (tian, jim, tao and shi, 2011) assessed the green space fragmentation in hong kong, and found that the fragmentation index took almost all of the characteristics of the landscape pattern into account, in terms of the size, shape, proximity, connectivity, heterogeneity, and interspersion. meanwhile, (maruani and amit-cohen, 2007) reviewed and compared a number of planning approaches and methods applied to open spaces, and illustrated the differences between these models, claiming that securing a satisfactory and dynamic design for open spaces cannot rely on planning alone, as it also requires a thorough understanding and control of local engineering bodies and stipulations that should be adhered to. the saudi environment possesses certain climatic challenges, since it is harsh and dry, and can be classified as bwh climate, with an average temperature above 18◦c (weatheronline, 2019). the climate and culture are similar in arabian countries, such as saudi arabia and egypt, with the latter characterized by a hot, arid zone with variable day and night temperatures (fathy, 1973). in addition, the challenge of water scarcity means that there is a reliance on non-renewable groundwater supplies to cope up with growing demand (swain, 1998). due to the increasing demand for water in the gulf coast countries (gcc), where water resources are limited, alternative water sources are now sought, such as wastewater reclamation, and desalination (al-rashed & sherif, 2000). according to sutton, anderson, elvidge, tuttle, and ghosh (2009), saudi arabia accounts for 4.6 hectares of ecological footprint per person, which ranks the country among the most environmentally challenged countries in the world. the kingdom of saudi arabia (ksa) has therefore established national parks to motivate tourism, under the supervision of city councils, that are sustainably operated and maintained, employing renewable energy applications, and resource preservation measures. for example, al-baha city possesses a wide selection of green spaces. it is located in the region of al-baha, on the western coast of the ksa, and is affected by the indian ocean monsoons, with an average rainfall of 300 millimeters occurring between october and march, which constitutes approximately 60% of the annual precipitation (weatheronline, 2019). therefore, serious consideration was given to the development of the forests in the region (tourism, 2004), in order to create guidelines and regulations to be implemented for their landscaping and sustainable long-term operation. the present study reviews the planning and design considerations of national parks that are applied at the landscaping stage, and the coordination of these aspects, which together seek to achieve desirable optimum solutions that satisfy sustainable development principles. sustainable parks depend on their design to attract tourists, therefore the design must promote the most effective bioclimatic level in which cost effective maintenance, and a visually pleasing appearance, can be achieved. in this context, it is necessary to consider several aspects: the conservation of limited resources; operational cost; waste reduction; prevention of air, water, and soil pollution; organic fertilizing; the life cycle of the grass; organic pest control measures; the selection of suitable plants and trees that can adapt to the climate and location; and the efficiency of irrigation through the use of renewable energy technologies. this study focuses on the sustainable elements of park planning, and discusses their roles, seeking to conclude a vision and standards for park landscaping that promotes sustainable built environment development, taking into account the majority of the sustainable principles, and applying them to the current design of prince meshari park, al-baha city, saudi arabia, clarify their potential outcomes according to the current situation of the park. pg. 2 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 2. methodology this study assessed certain principles of sustainable design for park planning that contribute to the development of the built environment, and motivate ecotourism, by assessing those employed in projects, such as the internationale bauausstellung emscher park (iba emscher park); the internationale architecture exhibition emscher park in the german ruhr region; klcc park in kuala lumpur, malaysia; horsetopia – run fast live slow, in south korea; and upcycle park, in hong kong. the study also proposed a new design for the case study of prince meshari park, in the ksa, applying sustainable concepts, and discussing the anticipated outcomes resulting from the new design. 3. sustainable park design and ecotourism ecotourism is a form of tourism that is committed to enjoying the natural environment in a way that does not violate the ecosystem, or have a negative impact on the biodiversity. the ecotourist enjoys observing ecosystems, and their constituent animals and plants within their habitat, and also enjoys the historical, cultural, and heritage features that characterize the location. compared with other forms of tourism, ecotourism tends to be more cultural, and less harmful to the environment, since it is green, responsible, and sustainable. as part of this, ecotourism is concerned with the landscaping of parks that contributes to the promotion of ecological balance, and has an interest in maintaining an environment free from pollution, and in improving the environment in general, including preserving the wildlife (newman & jennings, 2012). it should be emphasized that the importance of parks, both for tourism, and as a strategic reserve for natural resources and genetic banks, requires the support of governmental initiatives to provide the necessary scientific research and equipment to ensure the preservation of their resources. ecotourism can contribute to the economy of the built environment if these parks are carefully designed (alsawaf, 1992). as well as the benefits of their natural environment, parks offer many other attractive opportunities, including the ability to demonstrate the customs and traditions of local communities, and to produce publications, souvenirs, and television and radio programes, for example regarding the forest in the park and varieties of trees it includes. the integration of ecotourism into the sustainable parks management plan will contribute to generating a sustainable national income, and to raising awareness of the importance of preserving biodiversity and natural resources. 3.1. park design layouts there are range of potential designs for parks, including the incorporation of geometric shapes, such linear or oval forms, or any other geometric shape that is proportional to the parameters of the location’s topography, whereby symmetry can be achieved. a layout can also involve binary and multiplication symmetry for the flower beds at the side of the main axes of the park, or a design employing circular or radial symmetry, in which the segments of the park are all repeated within a circle. a layout can also be adopted that simulates nature, and avoids the use of geometric shapes, instead using local materials, or the design can involve a dual layout that combines both natural and geometric forms, or a free layout, which releases geometric lines from their forms (motloch, 2000). some of these designs are illustrated in figure 1. figure 1. park landscaping systems (sources: bureau, partners, site-design, n.d.). pg. 3 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.2. sustainable planning principles for parks the planning of parks is generally influenced by the climate, inhabitants, and economy of the place, or city, in which they are located, with every individual accounted for by a specific percentage of its green area (wahid, 1988). in addition, when planning a park, the following set of principles should be observed: – the areas allocated for parks must be commensurate with the density of the population that it will serve. for example, a park that will serve between 2,500 and 5,000 people requires an area of park between 2 and 10 m2 per inhabitant (al-musawi, 2010). – the location of a park should be appropriate for its use, and should preferably be outside any anticipated expansion of the city’s buildings, in order that it remains away from the city’s congestion, and in a safe place away from any highways (hansen, 2010). – the topography of a park’s location should be considered, and the park planned according its the contour lines (al-sawaf, 1992). – the streets surrounding the park should be identified, together with those leading to its entries, taking into account the allocation of parking spaces (motloch, 2001). – if it is established inside, or near a city, the park should be isolated from the surrounding streets with high fences, or thick fences of trees and windbreaks, but if the park is located in a natural landscape, there is no requirement to isolate it (bartholomew, 1975). – a range of recreational elements, such as topiaries, bog gardens, paths and drives, boating lakes, conservatories, and lawns should be provided, in order to meet the needs of the local inhabitants, includes a diversity of vistas, using the cultivation of different types of trees (northam, 1984; piereall, 1979). – the selection of plants is the main component that should be considered when designing a sustainable park, unless it includes imported plants. the plants should be chosen carefully, according to their growth and other properties, and should perform a role that is appropriate to the environment, as well as being postioned suitably, whether individually within green areas, or in groups as edging for the park, or as sensory pathways (al-ghitani, 1982). 3.3. elements of sustainable park design and landscaping according to lidy (2006), the following are elements of sustainable park design and landscaping: plant elements: a number of aspects should be considered when selecting a plant, including its stages of growth; the suitability of the location in which it is to be planted; its eventual size; the purpose of the planting, whether for its aesthetic appearance, to block undesirable views, to divide a spaces, to providing shade, or to minimize air pollution or wind speed, as different plants are suited to different aspects, and might include climbers, grasses, or green spaces constituted of permanent areas of grass; structural elements: the structural elements of parks can be divided into the following: those that are required, such as parking lots; information centers; ticket offices; restrooms; cafeterias and restaurants; and souvenir stores, those that are possible, such as children’s playgrounds, boating lakes, internal transport, and a space for concerts, exhibitions, or fairs, and the disputable, such as new monuments; new buildings, such as pavilions, gazeebos, and tea houses; modern art objects and installations; and sports courts. 3.4. water resources the conservation of water is a cornerstone of sustainable park design and landscaping, and approaches to it can include the harvesting of rainwater for use in irrigation and flushing, and the use of pure groundwater, such as pg. 4 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd wells and springs. if there is an abundance of rainwater, rain catchment is the most appropriate choice for the water supply, provided the necessary treatment of the water is applied if it is to be used for drinking and irrigation. it is also possible to utilize rainwater using traditional methods, such as the stairs and terraces built on the slopes of agricultural mountains, as illustrated in figure 2 (lyle, 1996). figure 2. traces and agricultural debris on the slopes of mountains irrigated with rain water (source: author). the water treatment type depends on the water’s source and quality. groundwater to be used for drinking should be treated with simple processes using sodium hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide. surface water can also be low turbidity water, and in this case, it should be filtered using sand filters, which should then be disinfected with bleach. the water treatment system itself should employ multi-stage filters that use filtering elements with narrow pores, such as ceramics and paper. if the surface water is of a high turbidity, the treatment must include the addition of industrial chemicals, such as alum and urine. the drainage and distribution of the water might employ a system such as that at raghadan park, al-baha city, saudi arabia, which is a buried or descending system that has less impact on the site, but is subject to vandalism. furthermore, local water systems, and traditional irrigation systems should be utilized, such as those constructed on agricultural terraces in valleys, and on the slopes of mountains (loutfy & el-juhany, 2008). 3.5. waste management the management of parks should ensure the prevention of waste, in order to raise the awareness of their visitors and users of this issue, and to train their workers in how to prevent the generation of waste. the systems that can be employed include reusing mixed or digested anaerobic, biodegradable organic waste as soil fertilizer, using methane as an energy source, and adopting other techniques that reuse waste, such as dry toilets, and working without water (beck, 2013). 3.6. control of energy use renewable energy applications can play a central role in sustainable parks, and can have a lower impact on the built environment than traditional alternatives. when planning a park, it is necessary to consider the energy applications that can be adopted to help in reducing energy consumption, such as minimizing vehicle movements within the park, the precise allocation of buildings and services to meet the visitors’ demands, and strategies for using thermal energy and night lighting. solar energy systems can also be used for water pumping irrigation, as illustrated in figure 3 (lindberg & hawkins, 1993). pg. 5 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. solar power water pump (source: nicholls, 2006). 4. examples of sustainable parks the internationale bauausstellung emscher park, emscher region, illustrated in figure 4, germany: this park was created in the 1980s as part of an initiative to promote urban development, and socio-cultural ecological measures as the basis for economic change in an old industrial region (iba, 1999). as a principal contribution of the park initiative, its sustainable landscaping was critical for offering a new perspective on approaches to regeneration. the initiative was based within a framework that ensured the enhancement of biological requirements, and the well being of the local population, thereby eliminating the predominance of economic interests. however, the environmental improvement was also deemed by the park’s planners to be a prerequisite for economic renewal, since business was becoming increasingly connected with environmental aspects. the approach applied to the park’s design was appropriate to the principles of sustainability depicted in figure 5, in which each factor contributes to the overall sustainability, as the environment should contribute to human welfare, the economy should be maintained at a suitable wealth level, and social choices and institutions should be sustained. the design concept of the park was embraced, as it employed brownfield, rather than greenfield sites to accommodate structural change, without requiring spatial growth; secondly, it embraced maintenance, modernization, re-use, and better building techniques to lengthen the life of the buildings and production facilities; and finally, it transformed the production structure in favour of environmentally sound products and manufacturing methods (ganser, 1996). figure 4. the master plan of the international bauausstellung emscher park (source: gruehn, 2017). pg. 6 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 5. the attributes of sustainability (source: author). klcc park kuala lumpur, malaysia: the klcc park in kuala lumpur, malaysia, was designed to illustrate the continuity of the country’s green, tropical heritage through the integration of human creativity. the design of the park is that of beauty and harmony in the bustling city centre, as illustrated in figure 6. it was created in an area of 20 hectares, and designed by the late brazilian landscape architect, roberto burle marx, who employed assemblages of trees, shrubs, cement structures, natural stones, traditional malaysian wood, and multi-static water, blending their shapes and textures with the topography to produce an attractive, state-of-the-art design. the lake was aesthetically designed to be the focus of the park, and to include a musical fountain. there is also a playground for children in an area of 2 hectares. in general terms, the park design provides three basic elements: geometrical formations created by the bodies and channels of water, with a bridge spanning the lake; aesthetic features, such as a dolphin statue made from chrome-clad steel; and planting that includes a range of trees in variety of colours that creates a natural consistency with the surrounding pillars, edging, and terraces (elsayed, 2012). horsetopia – run fast live slow, south korea: horsetopia is a horse park in yeongcheon, south korea. fifty percent of the 1,474,883 site is devoted to horse racing, while the rest hosts horse-related activities. the park adheres to sustainable principles, within its profit-based operation, and its design includes 100% path lighting powered by on-site wind turbines; 95% of the earth excavated reused on site; 450,000 tons of the carbon dioxide produced stored on site within the architecture; five layers of terraced bioswale to remove water pollutants; 45% of the total area reserved for landscaping, in the form of open parkland, to reduce the heat island effect; innovative lighting solutions to reduce light pollution; food grown on-site, and food waste processed on-site; and souvenirs made using food waste and horse waste. the project seeks to elevate the status of horse racing over the next 10 years. in addition, all of the architecture was designed as extension of the landscape, with the contours of the landscape exploited to create zones, and to define boundary-free green spaces. the racing track was designed as the focal point, with various features circling outward from the fast track to create ‘slow’ zones. upcycle park, hong kong: since it is located on the site of the old kai tak airport, and its design includes the reuse of parts of old aeroplanes, upcycle park in hong kong seeks to play a role in entertainment, the economy, and ecotourism. its contextual form was inspired by the master plan of kowloon city airport, and it was designed to create an ecological environment suitable for various native species, with the design also respecting the airport’s history. hence, the airport’s existing platforms serve as a bridge, a pool, and a stair above a canal, and simultaneously connect the surrounding structures into a holistic design. the park employs a multi-layered filtration system as a sustainable approach to watering, and several layers of terracing, incorporating a range of different plants, were built on both sides of the canal to filter the water runoff from the local neighborhood, purifying the water before returning it to the river. some of the water is then exploited for recreational purposes in a pool. repurposing the old structures constitutes an alternative approach to sustainable design, and includes reusing an old aeroplane as a canopy, bridge, tunnel, and outlook tower (architects, 2019). pg. 7 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 6. the master plan of klcc park kuala lumpur (source: magazine, 2005). figure 7. the master plan of horsetopia park (source: (architects, 2019). figure 8. a perspective view and master plan of upcycle park, hong kong (source: architects, 2019). pg. 8 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5. case study: prince meshari park, ksa prince meshari park, or ‘al-zaraieb forest’, is located in the southwest of the ksa, between the nearby cities of al-baha and al-mandaq. the climate is moderate during the summer, and rainy in the winter. the forest is characterized by a wide and abundant variety of vegetation, such as acacia, pines, figs, and juniper. it has been developed in successive periods, and includes children’s play areas, family zones, lighting, internal vehicle tracks, and sports fields, as illustrated in figure 9. however, the park currently requires an environmental management plan, in order to assess the current situation in detail, and provide recommendations to guide the future development of the forest. the plan requires the following elements: – a vegetation survey of the forest. it has been observed that the vegetation has been significantly affected by the lack of rainfall in recent years, which has affected the growth and density of the forest. the project must determine whether this is due to water scarcity, development, and/or the increased use of the forest; – a survey of the wildlife in the forest, and an analysis of historical records, if any exist, to determine the causes of population shrinkage, or extinction; – an evaluation of the existing facilities, such as roads, utilities, gazebos, and street lighting; – and evaluation of the location and use of the seasonal summer shopping festival, which was created by the municipality of the area, and other related matters, such as seasonal pollution. in order to conduct these surveys and evaluations, a number of sites at the park were selected and evaluated, according to a set of systems that integrated planning and design principles, and therefore constituted a strategy for the development and sustainable coordination of parks. the proposed sustainable design of the park allocates sites for different types of activities, such as festivals, sports, and aquatic playgrounds. it includes walkways for horses and bicycles, playgrounds for children, and seating zones, proposing that the park is divided into variety of different environments, including natural environments, a central garden environment, slope environments, and modern environments that can be employed for recreational structures. the landscaping considerations of these environments can be summarized as follows: – create irregular shaped open spaces with various functions and privacy, to facilitate their management within the park, and to allow a partial operation of the park to minimize operational costs; – the central part of the park should be considered a central location for pedestrian movement to allow easy access to all other parts of the park, with an open festival space that can be surrounded by food trucks and pavilion structures; – the eastern portion of the park should include outdoor waterfalls, with the water flowing into ponds that are surrounded by seating zones, which reflect the local and historical design of the nearby city, while maintaining the existing elements, such as rock formations and plants; – the north side of the park should include a garden consisting of a circular pedestrian walkway surrounding an outdoor stage for local arts performances, and exhibitions of traditional tools; – the park levels should be utilized for seating zones, while retaining the existing plants; – in order to connect the different zones of the park, a number of main axes should be designed to link aspects such as the focal points of the park and its green spaces, and the main entrance and the park’s traditional heritage gate with the park’s centre, as well as an axis connecting the monument in the middle of the park with the eastern sector; – the north-western sector of the park should be designated as a zoo area, to be designed in accordance with to the location’s topography, and to permit the animals suitable freedom of movement; pg. 9 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd – a network of secondary paths should connect the park’s different levels. figure 9. master plan of thecurrent situation of prince meshari park, and photographs of the park. (source:author). 5.1. design concept the new proposal for the design of prince meshari park conserves the current natural situation, while also enhancing the park’s context and function, and developing its potential for entertainment. the park should consider issues of sustainability for its structures, such as constructing a green hotel equipped with sustainable energy technologies, as there is currently a saudi governmental initiative that seeks to raise awareness of sustainable development. in the proposed design, the park is divided into different open spaces, using natural and geometrical shapes that allow pedestrians to move within the different levels to explore the natural environment, the processes of which can be articulated through the design, which displays seasonal colours, textures, fragrances, and sound (see figure 10). figure 10. park landscaping concept, dividing the area into different green spaces, on different levels (source: author). pg. 10 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.2. context in the proposed design, the park is divided into a variety of green spaces in natural and geometrical shapes that provide the park with a range of separate spaces that can be easily managed, and which create privacy, and minimize the impression of vast areas, promoting a sense of harmony for the park’s visitors. the central part of the park is designed as the park’s focal point, and serves as an intersection of the park’s movement axes, connecting all of the other areas. this central area contains an open space suitable for hosting local festivals, together with shops overlooking the terraces. meanwhile, in the eastern sector of the park, the proposal includes a man-made waterfall, with water flowing into a group of water basins surrounded by a range of gazebos and souvenir shops. on the northern side, a garden consisting of a circular road surrounded by a square is designed to host the popular arts shows, and exhibitions of traditional tools. in the proposal, this space is surrounded by seating areas, and also includes an open-air theatre for seasonal events (see figure 11). figure 11. the master plan of the proposed park design(source: author). 5.3. functions when designing a park, careful consideration must be given to the architectural identity of its building facades, as an aspect of sustainable practice. in the proposed design, the architectural identity of the park’s structures is influenced by the heritage buildings of the nearby city of al baha, and the design adopts various of its architectural elements into the park’s buildings. the north-western region of the park is designed to serve as an open garden for animals, equipped with corridors that include all of the necessary elements, together with pedestrian paths facilitating movement around the sector, and creating distinctive zones that identify the progression of movement between the entry and the exit, and around the environments that are suitable for the wildlife they house. the landscaped layers increase the resilience of the design to heavy storms, while also creating natural habitats for different native plants, animals, and insects. a number of man-made ponds are located in various niches around the park, and a lake incorporated that is also proposed as an aspect of the animal park, fed by water from irregular channels. meanwhile, the western sector of the park consists of levels throughout its mile-long extent, ranging from 1/2, that are intended to create a long path, incorporating spaces and seating areas at the sides. figure 12. eastern and western perspective view of the proposed park design (source: author). pg. 11 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 5.4. entertaining since a successful park requires public engagement, the proposed plan for prince meshari park provides multiple area for hosting arts and recreational events, such as the open-air theatre that is a safe and clean venue in which the public can enjoy seasonal events. at various locations around the park, the design includes platforms that can be used as basketball courts, fishing platforms, sites for art installation, or as a centre for traditional heritage arts. the design proposes that the entire park is illuminated at night using dynamic lighting that echoes that at the sport facilities, and the laser show in centre of al-baha city. the canals incorporated into the design allow visitors to interact with the water during both the day and the night, while also creating a new feature for nightlife that will promote the park as a hot spot for local residents and foreign visitors alike. 6. conclusion the concept of sustainable parks that the ksa has committed considerable effort to incorporating into new designs, planning, and landscaping must adhere to a variety of practices that respond to environmental issues in terms of their operational management and renewable energy applications. the design proposal for prince meshari park represents a model of a sustainable park, and exemplifies the principles that must be considered when designing such spaces. these are as follows: – consider the local conditions, including the climate, topography, water availability, and soil quality. – satisfy sustainable park design principles, such as unity, interdependence, and repetition in terms of the shapes employed, whether geometrical, natural, or both, in order to achieve a functional fit in the distribution of the elements and activities within the park. – consider the selection of the plants, ensuring that only those that are suitable for the local environment, and can adapt to resist any local harmful insects are selected. this will affect cost-saving with regard to soil fertilization and modification, pest control, and irrigation. – design structural elements, such as pavilions, benches, and walkways that complement the environmental elements. – consider the necessary pest control measures. – use sustainably-harvested wood, and composite wood products for landscaping and other projects, together with the use of flexible wood. – use recycled products, such as glass, and rubber from tires, to create products for use in the paving stones and park furniture. – adopt soil control practices, including the fertilization, maintenance, and enhancement of soils that support diversity in the terrestrial environment. furthermore, the international organization for standardization (iso) standards for smes, industrial, commercial, and residential facilities should be adopted, as energy auditing is a significant factor that can play a key role in achieving energy efficiency, and reducing power consumption, a goal that is included in the ksa’s 2030 national vision. once the new primary energy tariffs are imposed, sustainable parks should optimize their energy usage without affecting their operation and processes, thereby maintaining their overheads and profits, while increasing their energy efficiency and competitiveness. for this reason, energy auditing should become a core requirement, rather than simply a popular trend, therefore technologies such as solar powered trash bin compactors, rainwater harvesting for parks and open spaces, and solar pv systems for energy generation should be adopted. pg. 12 haredy / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 7. acknowledgments the author acknowledges the deanship of scientific research at al-baha university, saudi arabia, for funding this project no (11/1438) in the year of 1438 ah. 8. references 1. al-ghitani, m.y. 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(2011). landscape ecological assessment of green space fragmentation in hong kong. urban forestry & urban greening,10(2), 79-86. 40. tourism, s. c. f. (2004). tourism development strategy in al baha region. saudi arabia: sustainable tourism development plan. 41. ulrich, r. s. (1981). natural versus urban scenes: some psychophysiological effects. environment and behavior, 13(5), 523-556. 42. wahid, a.h.a. (1988). planning and design of green areas. eygpt, cairo: landscape and urban planning. 43. weatheronline (2019). climate of the world-saudi arabia. retrieved from https://www.weatheronline.co. uk/reports/climate/saudi-arabia.htm. pg. 15 introduction methodology sustainable park design and ecotourism park design layouts sustainable planning principles for parks elements of sustainable park design and landscaping water resources waste management control of energy use examples of sustainable parks case study: prince meshari park, ksa design concept context functions entertaining conclusion acknowledgments references pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.884 assessing the impacts of population relocation induced by future sea-level rise scenarios on transportation systems in coastal communities mohamed mansour gomaa hekma school of design and architecture, dar al-hekma university, jeddah, saudi arabia. department of architecture engineering, faculty of engineering, aswan university, aswan, egypt. email: mgomaa@dah.edu.sa abstract coastal communities will be more vulnerable to floods in low-lying areas and seawater inundation as the sea level rises. users will have to take a detour to use alternate roads while the vulnerable roads are closed, increasing travel time. a large amount of literature has been focused on addressing climate change and sea-level rise impacts, vulnerability, economic evaluation, and adaptation. however, few research has been conducted to study the impacts of population dynamics due to sea level rise within future transportation network modeling. this study aims to identify the future transportation infrastructure in the 2035 model that is vulnerable to a two-foot sea level rise in the tampa bay region, florida. the impacts of these changes have been considered within three different relocation scenarios for the affected population in the inundated zones. this analysis uses the two-foot mean higher high-level water surface data and the digital elevation data provided by noaa for 2035. the findings of this study reveal how different sea level rise scenarios could affect the future estimates of the transportation system and could potentially inform future transportation planning decisions. the analysis found that approximately 358 lane miles of highway links will be inundated. moreover, the number of trips produced, and the amount of congestion generated with each scenario were dependent on the population and employment relocation. the key recommendation of this research is to incorporate the potential impacts of population relocation due to sea level rise into transportation modeling. generally, different scenarios for relocating population and employment generate new traffic demands, which could result in traffic congestion. thus, transportation planners should simulate future sea level rise scenarios and evaluate their impact on the current transportation system. findings from this study could help transportation planners and decision makers identify the locations and transportation facilities that are most vulnerable to rising sea levels, allowing them to make more informed decisions about adaptation planning. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sea-level rise; vulnerability analysis; coastal cities; transportation network; tampa bay 1. introduction the term "climate change" has been used to describe changes in the global atmosphere that may be traced back to human activities in one way or another (pörtner et al., 2022; zhongming et al., 2022). climate change's effects are increasingly being recognized based on solid scientific data (brozovsky et al., 2021; lindsey, 2019). as a result of climate change, sea-level rise is considered to be one of the most obvious and certain impacts. as one of the most evident and immediate consequences of climate change, sea level rise has emerged as a critical and urgent issue that threatens the existence of several coastal communities across the world (milliman & haq, 1996). shortly, sea levels are predicted to rise gradually but slowly. coastal communities will be inundated and flooded as a direct result of rising sea levels, causing significant social, economic, and ecological damage (ipcc, 2013; james et al., 2021). international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) http://www.press.ierek.com/ mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development the effects of increasing sea levels will have enormous implications across a variety of industries, including those relating to housing, employment, and infrastructure (cooper et al., 2013; ding et al., 2013; macdonald et al., 2012). transportation infrastructure has been increasingly considered one of the most vulnerable sectors to sea level rise (asariotis, 2020; meguro & ogi, 2018; tewari & palmer, 2018). because of the high population density near the coasts, there is a significant risk that the transportation infrastructure will be flooded. for example, along the gulf of mexico, an estimated 2,400 miles of major roadways and 246 miles of freight rail lines are at risk of permanent flooding (burkett, 2002). this risk is posed by the fact that the sea level is expected to rise in the range of 5 feet over the next 50 to 100 years. as sea levels continue to rise, coastal roads and other types of transportation infrastructure will become more vulnerable to inundation by seawater, as well as low-lying areas that are already prone to flooding (chinowsky et al., 2013). when the roads that are vulnerable to damage are closed, users will be forced to use alternative routes, which will increase the amount of time it takes to travel. increased use of the surrounding open roads may produce even more severe traffic congestion, which will be felt by those already using the highways. numerous studies have been conducted in the last two decades that have addressed climate change and sea level rise impacts, vulnerability, economic evaluation, and adaptation (azevedo de almeida & mostafavi, 2016; dawson et al., 2016; macdonald et al., 2012; pörtner et al., 2022; titus, 2002; vantaggiato & lubell, 2020). much of the existing literature focuses particular attention on evaluating the social, political, economic, and infrastructure implications of climate change and sea level rise on coastal areas (e.g., impacts on housing, employment, transportation infrastructure, ecosystems, etc.)(bayard & elphick, 2011; cooper et al., 2013; dawson et al., 2016; ding et al., 2013; gomaa & peng, 2015; milliman & haq, 1996; papakonstantinou et al., 2020; titus, 2002). few studies, to the best of our knowledge, have attempted to provide a more comprehensive study of the implications on population relocation dynamics and transportation networks, to the best of our knowledge. research about climate change and sea level rise impacts on transportation systems has emerged very recently (asadabadi & miller-hooks, 2017; asariotis, 2020; chen & region, 2019; fishman, 2018; jones, 2017; kwiatkowski, 2017; lykou et al., 2017; meguro & ogi, 2018; papakonstantinou et al., 2020; shen & kim, 2020; tewari & palmer, 2018; tonn et al., 2021; wang et al., 2020; zhou et al., 2019). several attempts have been made to quantify climate risks, adaptation, and transportation planning (bloetscher et al., 2012; burkett, 2002; freckleton et al., 2012; lambert et al., 2013; steyn, 2014; tang et al., 2013; webster et al., 2013). nevertheless, it is necessary to address the restrictions of their work. as an illustration, the majority of these studies only concentrated on addressing the direct impacts of sea level rise on transportation systems (asariotis, 2020; burkett, 2002; lykou et al., 2017; titus, 2002). some of them attempted to identify the physical transportation infrastructure at risk and to assess the vulnerability of transportation systems due to future scenarios of sea level rise (bloetscher et al., 2012; chen & region, 2019; fishman, 2018; shen & kim, 2020; tang et al., 2013; webster et al., 2013). moreover, previous studies have reported the assessment and evaluation of different adaptation strategies and design measures to increase the resiliency and adaptability of transportation infrastructure (asariotis, 2020; kwiatkowski, 2017; meguro & ogi, 2018; wang et al., 2020). the other limitation of existing literature is that these efforts have mostly focused on the direct implications of transportation infrastructure and system performance rather than the economic evaluation of climate change's effects on road traffic (asariotis, 2020; burkett, 2002; dawson et al., 2016; lykou et al., 2017; titus, 2002). recently, investigators have examined the effects of insurance, incentives, and public assistance on achieving transportation infrastructure resilience (tonn et al., 2021). surveys that have been conducted by chinowsky et al. (2013) showed that the assessment of climate change adaptation costs for the us road network has been underestimated. numerous studies have been conducted to estimate the effects that rising sea levels will have on the economy (chinowsky et al., 2013; gomaa & peng, 2015; yevdokimov, 2017). the findings of this research indicated the effects of rising sea levels on coastal elevation, ocean coasts, the sustainability of coastal wetland ecosystems, vulnerable species, population, land use, and infrastructure. inundation, erosion of the coast, and regular flooding are just examples of the direct impacts that these factors have on human communities. some have indirect consequences that could potentially cause problems in the long run, such as the disruption of ecosystems or the extinction of certain mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development species. loss of economic activity and assets will be the result of the effects of continued sea level rise, which will cause these consequences. a large and growing body of literature has investigated the impacts of sea-level rise on transportation and population, vulnerability analysis, and adaptation strategies (bloetscher et al., 2012; chen & region, 2019; dawson et al., 2016; meguro & ogi, 2018; papakonstantinou et al., 2020; tang et al., 2013; tewari & palmer, 2018; titus, 2002; vantaggiato & lubell, 2020). most of the currently available research focuses only on the direct effects that rising sea levels will have on transportation infrastructure. the flooding of transportation systems, properties, and infrastructure is the primary source of direct damage (burkett, 2002). however, few research endeavors have been conducted to study the impacts of sea level rise within a future transportation network model based on different scenarios for population relocation (steyn, 2014). there are a considerable number of indirect effects, such as the loss of employment opportunities and the relocation of affected populations; effects on the housing market in vulnerable and surrounding areas; potential labor loss because some vulnerable property owners may choose to relocate; and the loss of service infrastructures such as roads, utilities, and medical services (macdonald et al., 2012; pörtner et al., 2022). these indirect impacts caused by sea level rise can result in significantly higher economic costs than the direct losses. if these indirect influences are ignored, the potential economic benefits of any adaptation strategy may be greatly underestimated, which could result in the selection of a less effective adaptation strategy (lindsey, 2019; shen & kim, 2020; wang et al., 2020). this study, therefore, aims to identify and assess the impacts of sea level rise on population relocation dynamics and future transportation systems, utilizing data from the transportation model for the year 2035 in the tampa bay region, florida. this research, in contrast to prior efforts for assessing the vulnerability analysis of the effects of sea level rise, takes into consideration not only the direct implications of sea level rise but also the indirect implications on the transportation system, which were considered within three different relocation scenarios for the affected population in the inundated areas. the analysis of this research utilizes the noaa-provided digital elevation data, as well as the two-foot, mean higher high-level sea surface data to represent a worst-case scenario for the year 2035. the study estimated the total population and employment will be affected assuming a homogenous distribution within each transportation analysis zone (taz), as well as the transportation networks that will be affected based on segment direction capacity reduction rates. then, the impact of each scenario has been studied on the transportation system through a series of indicators for vehicular congestion and travel time. this research aims to determine how different population relocation scenarios induced by sea level rise will cause transportation capacity changes. this research identifies these results by developing different relocation scenarios for the affected populations and studying the impacts of each scenario on the transportation model. the key objectives of this research are; 1) to estimate the affected population and transportation infrastructure under the two-foot slr scenario in 2035; 2) to develop different scenarios for the relocation of the affected population, and 3) to study the impact of each scenario on the transportation system. 2. data and methods 2.1. case study area the low-lying and densely populated coastal communities that surround tampa bay, florida, are especially vulnerable to the effects of increasing sea levels because of their terrain and population density (council, 2006; shen, 2014). since it has 700 miles of coastline and a 3.2 million population, many of whom live near tampa bay or the gulf of mexico, the area around tampa bay is especially vulnerable to the rising sea level (council, 2006). the gulf of mexico region is more vulnerable to the rise in sea levels than other locations due to the local subsidence that has occurred there as well as its extensive exposure to the ocean (burkett, 2002). at the rate of 0.25 inches per year (10 mm/year), the ground surface of the mississippi river deltaic plain is sinking. as the sea level rises by up to 1 meter, even the most stable bay in the eastern gulf of mexico will be at risk of being flooded (burkett, 2002). this is because of the effects of climate change. in light of this, it is particularly essential, when it comes to the process mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development of long-range planning, to have an understanding of how coastal communities in the gulf of mexico region would be impacted by the changing sea levels. this has been done to minimize the negative effects of sea level rise. the following is a synopsis of the study region that encompasses the tampa bay region: (pinellas, hillsborough, and pasco counties)(figures 1 and 2).  pinellas county: with a land area totaling only 280 square miles, is the county with the smallest land area. it also has the highest population density in the state of florida, with more than 1,600 people living in every square mile in the year 2020. pinellas county is home to twenty-four different municipalities, with the largest being st. petersburg, which ranks as the fourth largest city in the state. the county’s population in 2021 was estimated to be 956,615 people (council, 2006).  hillsborough county: the population density in hillsborough county is the fourth highest in the state of florida, despite the county's relatively small geographical size of 1,053 square miles. the city of tampa serves as the county seat, and it is also the main metropolitan center in the region. in terms of total land area, tampa ranks third in the state, behind only jacksonville and miami. the population of the county was estimated to reach 1,512,070 in 2021, representing a yearly growth rate of 1.34 percent (council, 2006; shen, 2014).  pasco county: with a land area of 745 square miles, this region contains the greatest proportion of land that has not been developed. its largest urban centers are located in new port richey, dade city, and zephyrhills respectively. in 2021, the county was estimated to have a total population of 539,885 residents (council, 2006). figure 1 the case study area for the tampa bay region figure 2 the two feet slr inundation map, fl under 2035 sea level rise scenario (noaa) 2.2. sea-level rise analysis scenario investigating the various possible outcomes of sea level rise projections for the future is not within the scope of this study. as a result, the sea level rise projection used in this study is fully based on the scientific research regarding climate change that was published by other studies. the projection of the rise in sea level is dependent not only on historical recordings of sea level but also on mathematical models that simulate local estimates for the rise in sea level (james et al., 2021). according to ipcc (ipcc, 2013), throughout the last century, the level of the ocean around the world has risen at a rate that has been on average between 1.7 and 3.1 millimeters per year. between 1901 and 2018, there was a 15–25 centimeter (about 6–10 inch) rise in the average worldwide sea level. satellite radar readings have shown a steady increase of 7.5 centimeters in height since 1993 (ipcc, 2013; lindsey, 2019; zhongming et al., 2022). the global average rate of sea level rise is 3.6 mm per year (0.14 inches per year), and the rate of sea level increase in the tampa bay region is 2.3 mm to 2.4 mm per year, according to long-term tide gauge measurements and recent satellite data (james et al., 2021). the average annual rate of sea level rise along the coast of the united states is greater than 2.5 mm (tampa bay regional planning council, 2006). according to the tampa bay climate science mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development advisory panel (csap), sea level rise might occur in the tampa bay region between 11 inches and 2.5 feet in the year 2050, and between 1.9 and 8.5 feet in the year 2100, depending on the historical data. because different sea level rise projection models primarily rely on various sets of assumptions, it is necessary to use a case-by-case approach when attempting to forecast the rise in sea level (lindsey, 2019). however, due to the uneven distribution of the factors that cause sea levels to rise across the globe, even the same model will predict different sea levels (ipcc, 2013; lindsey, 2019; pörtner et al., 2022). this is because of the feedback loops that are created when one factor affects another (milliman & haq, 1996; spada et al., 2013). as a result, the identification of suitable sea level rise scenarios was adapted specifically for the area covered by the case study. the tampa bay climate science advisory panel published the most recent projection for the area's sea level. the csap has developed a regional collection of slr projection scenarios up until the year 2100 by making use of the most up-to-date and accurate scientific data that is currently available. st. petersburg, florida's relative sea level change (rslc) scenarios, as determined by calculations made with the regionally corrected noaa 2017 data (usace, 2019). the structure of the model incorporates three potential outcomes: a scenario with a low, an intermediate, and a high sea level rise (figure 3). in this research, the high scenarios were chosen to represent the sea level rise analysis scenarios. the high scenario was chosen rather than the low scenario because it better accounts for the potential effects of indirect flooding caused by rising sea levels. studies revealed that the effects of rising sea levels are significantly more substantial than the rise in sea levels itself. to capture the higher projection of global mean sea level rise, the analysis scenario of this study has been selected to be the worst-case scenario, which projects two feet of sea level rise by 2035. figure 3 projected scenarios of relative sea-level change for st. petersburg, florida (usace 2019) 2.3. research design and datasets the research design of this study involved various procedures, including vulnerability analysis, transportation models of different scenarios, and a relevant comparison between three population relocation scenarios. as shown in figure 4, this research has been designed through the following steps: 1) estimating the inundated area, population, and transportation infrastructure that will be affected under the 2ft slr scenario for 2035; 2) developing different relocation scenarios of the affected population and employment; 3) studying the impact of each scenario on the transportation system performance; 4) removing major links between completely flooded areas; 5) proportionally reducing capacity between areas partially flooded. this study utilized the following data sources: a) the transportation model for tampa bay region; b) noaa coastal services center coastal change analysis program which allows researchers to use gis data to determine the inundated areas; c) the number of affected populations in each taz, and d) the number of affected employments in each sector for each taz. for the roadway data, as shown in figure 5, the study utilizes the navteq streets data, which is one of the most comprehensive roadway datasets in the study region. pg. 6 figure 4 the main elements of the research design of the study in this study, cube voyager, a transportation and land-use modeling tool, has been used as the analysis tool because it is specified by the florida standard urban transportation model structure (fsutms). the framework of cube voyager is script-based and modular, which makes it possible to incorporate any model methodology. this includes all from activity-based methods to discrete choice models to typical four-step models. cube voyager features a highly adaptable network in addition to matrix calculators that may be used to determine trip demand and provide in depth comparisons of several possible outcomes. figure 5 navteq road data for the study region 2.4. population relocation scenarios the most extreme local slr projection for 2035 is 49 centimeters, which is equal to 1 foot and 7 inches. as a result, a sea level rise scenario with a height of 2 feet was utilized as the basis for this model during the analysis of this study. this allowed for the impacts on transportation and land use to be evaluated based on the slr worst-case scenario. to assess the effects of the various land use options, we developed three relocation scenarios within the context of the two-foot slr scenario. the following assumptions are used regarding population distribution: pg. 7  scenario i: populations and jobs are relocated inside the same tazs despite the flooding: this assumes that there will be no change in the total number of trips created or the number of attractions that were forecast using the 2035 model. on the other hand, it assumes that both the population and the jobs will be shifted within their existing tazs, acting as though they migrated inland a relatively short distance.  in the second scenario, population and employment will leave the region because of the flooding: in this hypothetical situation, it is assumed that anyone who could be affected by flooding will immediately evacuate the area. that means that the model will not take into account any of the people living in or holding jobs in the tazs that have been flooded.  scenario iii: the flooded population and employment shift in proportion to the growth rate of the taz: the population and jobs that are currently located in regions that will be flooded will be spread out across the study region by the zoning that is already in place as well as the most recent estimate for the growth rate in each taz (figure 6). in this hypothetical situation, construction is assumed to go forward as scheduled, but flooded homes and businesses are left abandoned. figure 6 the base growth rate for transportation analysis zones from 2006 to 2035 2.5. estimates of the capacity of the highway network to evaluate the extent to which slr will impact the capacity of the highway network. using navteq streets data, this analysis identified the actual highway network that would be inundated. to ensure that the model appropriately represents the inundated roadway capacity, it was calculated based on lane miles. the model's network consists of the majority of minor arterials and all major highways. however, the network's capacity in a certain direction through a taz also includes minor and parallel facilities. mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development roads have been classified into three categories: 1) two-lane facilities with one lane in each direction, 2) four or six lane facilities with two or three lanes in each direction; and 3) eight or more-lane facilities with four or more lanes in each direction. category two roads were given five lane miles for every highway mile because the study region has many important fourand six-lane facilities. five lanes were seen as a fair compromise because better data does not exist for all roads, and within the built-up area of the study region, both cross-sections are common. category three roads were given eight lane miles for each highway mile because there are very few facilities in the region with more than four lanes in each direction. many of the inundated roads travel parallel to shorelines, and in some places, roads running perpendicular to the shoreline do not become inundated. this could result in tazs where highway capacity is constrained in one direction but not necessarily in the other. as a result, we calculated the percentage of lane miles inundated in each taz for roads traveling generally north-south (45 degrees from the north) and east-west (45 degrees from the east). the total number of lane miles within each taz was compared to those touching the two-foot inundation to create a separate capacity reduction index for north-south and east-west roads within each taz. the 2035 highway network was then given the capacity reduction factors to represent the overall changes in highway capacity within each taz for each direction. 3. results 3.1. impacts on population and employment the results reveal significant impacts on population and employment by the direct inundation due to the two-foot sea level rise scenario (figure 7). according to the model estimate for the year 2035, the total population of the study region will be a total of 4.13 million residents. as summarized in table 1, assuming an even distribution of housing and employment within each taz, a total of 96,688 people will be directly inundated, while 78,493 jobs will be lost or relocated due to the inundation of the business zones. this research attempted to determine a range of possible population and employment relocation outcomes by developing three possible scenarios. the first scenario will not consider population or employment relocation as the key assumption of this scenario is that the relocation process will be within the same taz. the second scenario assumes that the affected population and employment will move out of the study region. this means that the number of people and jobs lost due to flooding will be subtracted from the total population and employment in each taz. lastly, the third scenario assumes that the inundated population and employment will remain in the study region but will be proportionately relocated to other tazs based on the taz growth rate. figure 7 inundation map under 2ft sea level rise scenario generated using hazus-mh developed by fema pg. 9 author name / environmental science and sustainable development table 1 summary of the model results for the affected population and employment under the relocation scenarios 2035 scenario no change reduced capacity network relocation scenario i relocation scenario ii relocation scenario iii total population 4,130,166 4,130,166 4,033,478 4,130,166 population reallocated 96,688 total industry employment 419,656 419,656 341,163 419,656 industry employment reallocated 78,493 3.2. impacts on total loss of lane miles according to the findings, the direct two-foot inundation scenario will have an impact on a variety of transportation system components. according to navteq data, a total of 357.84 miles will be directly inundated as a total loss of real lane miles. however, the model's findings indicate that a total of 84.09 lane miles will be inundated. figure 8 shows that the total lane miles of east-west roads that will be inundated will be 200.83 miles, while the north-south road networks will lose a total of 157.01 lane miles (table 2). figure 8 calculate share of lane miles inundated at tazs (n-s and e-w) table 2 summary of the model results for the total loss of lane miles under relocation scenarios 2035 scenario no change reduced capacity network relocation scenario i relocation scenario ii relocation scenario iii total real lane miles 43,500 43,142.16 43,142.16 43,142.16 total loss real lane miles 357.84 357.84 357.84 pg. 10 author name / environmental science and sustainable development total in model lane miles 10,150.08 10,065.99 10,065.99 10,065.99 total loss in model lane miles 84.09 84.09 84.09 ew 200.83 200.83 200.83 ns 157.01 157.01 157.01 3.3. impacts on total trips produced the findings indicate that the direct two-foot flooding scenario will have an impact on a variety of types of produced trips. in particular, as shown in table 3, the total number of trips produced by the model before the inundation, including single occupancy vehicles, 2 and +3 persons carpooling, and highway trips, were 10,604,763; 3,252,306; 726,733 and 14,640,202 respectively. when evaluating the total trips for the proposed relocation scenarios, the results reveal the extent to which the inundated zones may affect the estimations. in the first scenario, there will be no major change in the total number of different types of trips. the decrease in total trips was negligible relative to the size of the model. table 3 summary of the model results for the total trips produced 2035 scenario no change reduced capacity network relocation scenario i relocation scenario ii relocation scenario iii total sov trips 10,604,763 10,604,740 10,567,130 10,611,030 decrease/increase 23 37,633 + 6,267 total 2-person carpool trips 3,252,306 3,252,294 3,241,866 3,254,397 decrease/increase 12 10,440 + 2,091 total +3 person carpool trips 726,733 726,729 724,436 727,196 decrease/increase 4 2,297 + 463 total highway trips 14,640,202 14,640,163 14,589,832 14,649,023 decrease/increase 39 50,370 + 8,821 the potential effects of the other two scenarios on the model outputs have been greater. in the second scenario, where the population leaves the region, the total number of trips produced decreased significantly. there will be a drop of 37,633 total sov trips, 12,737 carpooling trips, and 50,370 highway trips (table 3). in the third scenario, where population and employment relocate proportionally based on the taz’s growth rate, there will be an increase in the total trips produced. the total increase in trips produced by sov, carpooling, and highways will be 6267, 2554, and 8821, respectively. 3.4. impacts on total volume-to-capacity (v/c) ratio the volume to capacity (v/c) ratio compares the number of trips assigned to a link with the total capacity of that link. links with v/c ratios greater than one are operating over their capacity and are consequently congested. to compare the performance of various scenarios, it is important to identify the length of the highway network operating above mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development capacity. the scenario with the highest percentage of the network operating with a v/c ratio greater than one was scenario ii, where inundated population and employment leave the region with 16.5% of the network operating over capacity (table 4). the percentages for the baseline scenario, the reallocate within the taz scenario, and the proportional relocation scenario were 16.4%, 16.3%, and 16.4%, respectively (figure 9). this was unexpected, as it was believed that the last scenario would be the least congested. upon further consideration, however, because large employment centers are not as low-lying as residential neighborhoods, this scenario may have required all employers from a wider distance to fill all the positions. figure 9 model results for the total volume-to-capacity ratio for all relocation scenarios; (a) 2035 base scenario; (b) scenario i: relocate within taz scenario; (c) scenario ii: leave region scenario; (d) scenario iii: proportional relocation scenario. (d) (c) (b) (a) mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development the intuition about the v/c ratio is potentially validated by the average v/c ratio for links operating above capacity. the average v/c ratio within the second scenario is lower than the v/c ratio within the reallocated taz scenario. therefore, although more miles are congested in the former scenario, there is a higher level of congestion in each link in the latter scenario. it is also interesting to note that the proportional relocation scenario has fewer miles of congestion and lower average v/c ratios than the 2035 base scenario. this is probably because coastal transportation links are already at capacity and may have longer commutes, so reallocating them to places with excess capacity might relieve some of the congested corridors not affected by slr. table 4 summary of the model results for the total volume-to-capacity ratio 2035 scenario no change reduced capacity network relocation scenario i relocation scenario ii relocation scenario iii total miles v/c ratio greater than 1 2,155.48 2,147.53 2,170.96 2,148.60 percentage of v/c ratio greater than 1 16.4% 16.3% 16.5% 16.4% average v/c ratio for v/c ratio greater than 1 weighted by distance 2.43 2.50 2.43 2.42 3.5. impacts on total congestion the results demonstrate that the direct 2 ft inundation scenario will have an impact on total congestion. specifically, there will be a total of 6,318.93 minutes of total congestion before the inundation (table 5), while the model predicts that there will be a difference in overall congestion due to direct inundation. table 5 indicates that the overall congestion time will increase by 15.24, 19.30, and 78.13 minutes in the three proposed scenarios. however, these times are rather modest in comparison to the model's total congestion time. table 5. summary of the model results for the total congestion 2035 scenario no change reduced capacity network relocation scenario i relocation scenario ii relocation scenario iii total congestion (minutes) 6,318.93 6,334.17 6,338.230 6,397.06 scenario congestion minus the base 15.24 19.299 78.13 4. discussions the rise in sea level will have both direct and indirect effects on population and employment, in addition to influencing transportation networks. as a result of increasing sea levels, low-lying areas are inundated in water, beach, and wetland ecosystems are destroyed, and the severity of storm surges and flooding caused by rainfall is exacerbated. all of these consequences could potentially have an impact on the modes of transportation. according to the findings of this study, the total population and employment that will be impacted (under the assumption of a homogenous distribution within each taz), as well as the transportation networks that will be impacted (based on segment direction capacity reduction rates), have been estimated. after that, we investigated the effects of each scenario on the transportation system by analyzing several indicators for the amount of time spent in traffic and the distance traveled. mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development the findings of this study provide insights into the potential methods in which future estimations of transportation network analyses could be affected by future scenarios of sea level rise. this study proposed three possible relocation scenarios for the affected population and employment and then evaluated how those varied scenarios impacted the transportation model. the scenarios involved the relocation of the affected population and employment. one of the most important findings from this research is that the immediate inundation that would be caused by a rise of two feet in sea level would have a significant impact on both employment and population. this was one of the most significant findings that emerged from this investigation. according to the model estimate for the year 2035 for the tampa bay area, assuming an even distribution of housing and employment within each taz, a total of 96,688 people will be directly impacted by the inundation, and approximately 78,493 jobs will either be eliminated or relocated because of the inundation of the business zones. in addition, the scenario in which there is direct flooding of two feet will influence a variety of components of the transportation system. according to the findings of this study, a total of more than 357.84 kilometers will be lost due to direct inundation in the study region. the second major finding shows that diverse types of trips in the transportation analysis will be affected by the direct two-foot sea-level rise inundation scenario. the evaluation of the total trips for the proposed relocation scenarios reveals the extent to which the inundated zones may impact the model estimations. when comparing different relocation scenarios, the change in total trips was significant. the potential effects on the model outputs have been greater. in one of the scenarios where the population will move out of the region, the total number of trips produced decreased significantly. there was a drop of 37,633 total sov trips, 12,737 carpooling trips, and 50,370 highway trips. while in the other scenario where the inundated population relocate proportionately based on the growth rate, the increase in total trips produced was greater. the total increase in trips produced by sov, carpooling, and highways were 6267, 2554, and 8821, respectively. furthermore, the results indicate that direct flooding will affect both the volume-to-capacity ratio and total congestion estimations. the findings of the volume-to-capacity ratio estimations reveal that the majority of the relocation scenarios exceed network capacity by between 16.3 and 16.5 percent. while in terms of total congestion, there will be a total of 6,318.93 minutes of total congestion before the inundation. additionally, the overall congestion time will increase by 15.24, 19.30, and 78.13 minutes in the three proposed scenarios. the interpretation of the results of this study is not without certain limitations. firstly, the only roadways that have been determined to be impacted by increasing sea levels are those that are located within the flood zones. if storm surges and coastline erosion were also taken into consideration, the impact that rising sea levels have on the transportation network will be substantially more severe. second, because the transportation model has limits on the networks that it uses, this analysis does not take into account all of the transportation networks. inside the taz, local routes that could potentially be exploited as detours have been replaced with centroid links so that traffic can move more efficiently. furthermore, other limitations of this study are related to the proposed distribution scenarios of the projected population and employment. other distribution scenarios should be considered to build more reliable and reasonable relocation models. in addition to the assumptions made in the population relocation methodology, this methodology could not recognize whether an entire portion of the network is cut off by slr or if just parts of the capacity are reduced. a comprehensive survey of the inundated links along coastal routes would need to be performed to identify places where the directional network proportional capacity reduction methodology is inappropriately indicating that capacity is still present within a corridor. numerous concerns could be the focus of future research. first, increasing the number of different relocation scenarios that could occur could lead to a more varied set of results. additionally, in scenario iii, population and employment were distributed in a manner that corresponded to the growth rate of each taz. utilizing several other distribution methods for this investigation would affect the results. in addition, within each scenario, critical links may be identified for preservation, and the model may be approximated to examine the effects of retaining individual links. for instance, it may be more vital to retain a road that connects two large areas that are not at risk of flooding than it would be to preserve a route that serves only low-lying communities because the former road travels through a low lying area. this model and the gis analysis that preceded it would be a valuable starting point for the development pg. 13 mohamed mansouromaa / environmental science and sustainable development of a methodology that would allow for the consistent ranking and prioritization of corridors that should be preserved as part of a regional slr adaptation strategy. 5. conclusions sea-level rise will have considerable direct and indirect impacts on population and employment, as well as on transportation systems and infrastructure. the primary goal of this research is to incorporate the potential effects of population relocation due to sea level rise into transportation modeling. in general, different scenarios for relocating population and employment generate new traffic demands, which could result in traffic congestion. thus, transportation planners should simulate future sea level rise scenarios and evaluate their impact on the current transportation system. then the new transportation planning should take into consideration these possible adverse impacts produced by the relocation development. the results of this investigation show that more than 357.84 miles will be directly inundated in the study region under a two-foot sea-level rise. more than 78,493 jobs will be lost or relocated due to the inundation of the business zones. on the other hand, the evaluation of the total trips for the proposed relocation scenarios reveals the extent to which the inundated zones may impact the model estimations. in one of the scenarios where the population would move out of the region, the total number of trips produced decreased significantly. while in the other scenario, where the inundated population relocates proportionately based on the growth rate, the increase in total trips produced was greater. finally, between 16.3 and 16.5 percent of the relocation scenarios exceed network capacity. in terms of total congestion, there will be a total of 6,318.93 minutes before the inundation. additionally, the overall congestion time will increase by 15.24, 19.30, and 78.13 minutes in the three proposed scenarios. the results of this study have several significant implications for future practice. these findings can assist local transportation planners, engineers, and decision-makers in identifying the most vulnerable areas and transportation facilities to rising sea levels. as a result, these individuals will be able to make more informed decisions regarding adaptation planning and resiliency. references asadabadi, a., & miller-hooks, e. 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(2019). resilience of transportation systems: concepts and comprehensive review. ieee transactions on intelligent transportation systems, 20(12), 4262-4276. mohamed mansour gomaa abstract 1. introduction 2. data and methods 2.2. sea-level rise analysis scenario 2.3. research design and datasets 2.4. population relocation scenarios 2.5. estimates of the capacity of the highway network 3. results 3.2. impacts on total loss of lane miles 3.3. impacts on total trips produced 3.4. impacts on total volume-to-capacity (v/c) ratio 3.5. impacts on total congestion 4. discussions 5. conclusions http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i1.868 analysis of solar radiation towards optimization and location of the urban blocks in the neighborhood units omid veisi1,*, amir shakibamanesh2 1,* faculty of architecture and urban planning, art university, tehran, iran. email: o.veisi@student.art.ac.ir, 2associate professor of urban design, department of urban planning and design, school of architecture and urban studies, tehran art university, tehran, iran. email: a.shakibamanesh@art.ac.ir abstract increasing population causes energy consumption and environmental pollution. it is essential to consider renewable forms of energy, especially solar power, to reduce energy consumption. this requires attention to energy issues in the early stages of urban design and practical and creative solutions for more efficient use of this type of energy. this study aims at calculating the annual solar radiation at a city scale through a novel process and methodology. in this regard, artificial intelligence algorithms and satellite data can help maximize the amount of sunlight in neighborhoods and urban blocks in neighborhood units during the development process. in the simulation process, location, and optimization of the urban form, it is necessary to consider the limitations and resources for field study and simulation of urban blocks. therefore, in this study, farhangian neighborhood in phase 1 of kermanshah, iran, which has a good level of structural diversity and lends itself to field studies, was selected and studied at neighborhood and urban block scales. the case study indicates the significant role of calculating and optimizing the patterns of urban blocks to achieve maximum solar energy. estimates at different levels show that urban block variables effectively access solar radiation energy and, given various scales of development from macro-scale spatial planning to micro-scale local design can improve energy intake by 3 to 5 percent. accordingly, the results show that to accelerate the calculation of energy at the planning scale, the use of 2.5d locating model and 3d optimization contribute to achieving the maximum or minimum solar radiation, respectively. on the other hand, this method can be used to organize calculations and planning for maximum absorption of solar radiation at different stages of development. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords urban morphology, solar radiation, optimization, parametric design, gis, ladybug; 1. introduction efficient energy planning and design denote the relationship between land use and building design. principles of efficient energy planning involve the systematic examination of the city in terms of three scales, i.e., settlement characteristics, building block characteristics, and building characteristics when deciding on land use. therefore, it is necessary to consider ideas for mitigating the effects of climate change and ensuring the efficient and effective use of energy (mert & saygın, 2016). the related literature shows that urban geometry and energy consumption are closely related. in this regard, previous studies have examined in detail the relationship between urban morphological parameters and the theoretical energy efficiency and energy heat generated by the spatial configuration of cities. a http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:o.veisi@student.art.ac.ir mailto:a.shakibamanesh@art.ac.ir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 67 common theme in global approaches to the city and energy revolves around the sun's potential as the most significant energy source available to all urban areas(amado et al., 2016). the process of energy efficiency or, more broadly, improving the sustainability of building quota is not just a matter of technology optimization but also involves decision-makers, investors, and citizens. to promote and regulate such a large and complex process in renovation projects, local authorities, i.e., decision-makers, must have the required knowledge and tools to design plans or programs that integrate the energy model into more comprehensive approaches to urban renovation(pili et al., 2018). in addition, the analysis of constraints on an urban scale makes it possible to determine more realistically the solar potential of construction surfaces. however, the studies of typological factors and their sensitivity and relationship with solar technology can lead to different interpretations by introducing weight indicators for different geometry, typology, and construction constraints that affect the integrity of the solar energy system. despite using solar energy in cities to create sustainability in housing facilities, there is no related commitment in construction. similarly, the amount of solar radiation is usually not taken into account in urban planning decisions. it is essential to know the solar radiation levels reaching those parts of the building used to install solar panels or heat collectors to formulate energy efficiency measures in new buildings (fernández-ahumada et al., 2019). the methods and tools used in the initial design phase should support architects and planners in decisions leading to solar buildings and help further develop and evaluate various solar technologies in the construction phase(horvat & wall, 2012). tool constraints include model configuration and model simulation time for urban projects indicating the need for different solutions and simplifications to increase the speed and accuracy of such models(dogan, 2015). urban morphology significantly impacts solar potential, daylight, and natural ventilation. hence, comprehensive planning largely determines the inherent environmental performance and its blocks. architectural and urban planners should develop a wide range of related guidelines and simulations in their design process. this parametric study, performed by simulation tools in a process-oriented approach at two different scales, is probably the first step to this end because it analyzes the different types of morphological structure and urban blocks and their potential contribution to locally produced energy. this study seeks to find a comprehensive solution to quantify the role of solar energy as a source of renewable energy in various urban morphologies. in addition, it investigates the possibility of achieving the maximum amount of solar radiation through the use of the 2.5d measurement method and three-dimensional data, especially data on the urban block scale and a combination of these two data types. 2. background urban areas have expanded widely in recent decades, and the rise will probably continue in the coming decades. many countries provide excellent opportunities for local generation and energy use, thereby minimizing energy loss or transfer(mohajeri et al., 2016). typology is a tool admired by urban designers. mapping the future of cities in europe from the late 1960s to the 1970s encouraged krier(krier, 1978) to use typological studies to guide design, reintegrate fragmented parts of the town, and emulate the best pre-industrial cities. however, as people's lifestyle changes much more dramatically than in the past, the typology of the city will no longer host it forever, and the elements of the urban form are constantly changing and getting replaced. thus, new typologies emerge, reflecting people's unique lifestyles, though not entirely invented. on the other hand, the building plan usually determines the activities and programs inside the building. after decades of implementation and critique of zoning, the mixed-use approach has become a common strategy for programs on a regional scale (shi et al., 2017). these forms should be considered in line with climate programs and part of a long-term plan based on environmental needs. using the 3d model for analyzing solar radiation due to different limitations, such as large scales and solar direct radiation in urban areas, is always not possible. also, selecting an algorithm for calculating solar radiation by comparing different models is possible, because computational algorithms adopt different models of sky vision and sources for climate data(noorian et al., 2008). in some cases, the researcher utilizes small-scale analysis and statistical models. while others compare the results provided by more well-known tools for urban-scale solar analysis or with more accurate calculations performed by software for building-level dynamic solar analysis. computational time and activities, the demand for setting up basic data, and interpreting results are some of the critical issues that can limit the application of these models in areas with high economic and human resources. building energy performance is influenced by urban geometry, building design, systems efficiency, and residents' behavior. also, these factors are veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 68 under the control of various actors in the construction sector: urban planners and designers, architects, and system engineers(ratti et al., 2005). thus, the calculation in different scales of the cities is divided into three scales: small scale, middle scale, and macro scale. 2.1. solar energy modeling methods on the macro scale in this framework, developing a comprehensive urban planning process based on solar energy and its composition in an urban area is called solar urban planning(amado & poggi, 2012). this approach is used by a variety of planning methods that support the use of solar potential as a significant urban design issue to improve energy supply and productivity in existing urban areas and to promote integrated photovoltaic building (bipv) in new cases(amado & poggi, 2012; lobaccaro & frontini, 2014). predicting the right location for photovoltaic systems on buildings and providing their potential energy is essential in supporting solar urban planning methods(gadsden et al., 2003). therefore, the framework encompasses a combination of technological and strategic solutions that contribute to energy efficiency at the local level if they are still sufficiently organized to deal with the city's conception, development, and management. the energy efficiency challenge requires the development of urban models that lead to energy savings and the installation of photovoltaic systems with the parallel integration of smart grids to develop a framework beyond the single building (amado & poggi, 2014a). in this case, energy efficiency involves changes on a much longer scale. a new study by amado and poggi (2014b) suggests that urban cells should be considered for automated urban planning based on the concept of automata cellular (ca). they offer an approach to discovering the potential of photovoltaic solar power in cities that are divided into urban units by region and neighborhood(amado & poggi, 2014a). in this approach are the scientific perspectives of ca models developed to analyze various aspects of macro-spatial urban development, such as city shape, city size distribution, and population density, which include a set of intertwined methods and tools. so, using these analytical approaches in the urban system, the relationship between solar potential and energy consumption patterns can be effectively investigated, and urban parameters can be turned into a field of urban readjustment(besussi et al., 2010). the concept of parametric models emerged in the second half of the 1990s in technological and computer-aided models, which originated from the development of software created to construct buildings in a digital environment. this generation of new tools, called building information modeling or bim, is basically based on the process of producing and managing all information related to buildings in different phases of design, project, construction, and user usage period. recently, the parametric approach introduced by bim in the architecture industry has been experimentally used on an urban scale(eastman et al., 2011) urban form is a determining factor for the energy efficiency of a city. in a review, abd alla et al. introduced an approach to improve renewable energy technologies' resources in municipal planning and to review urban management policies to strengthen their effectiveness. the analysis emphasizes the potential of solar energy and the local energy needs of the city. it uses an analytical method based on the facades of existing buildings to convert them into gis maps, making it possible to identify areas where investment and unique technology are more efficient(abd alla et al., 2020). in another study, amado et al. used redesign of urban areas and planning of different regions through a cellular model to investigate the energy consumption and solar energy supply with urban morphology parameters and their relationship with electricity consumption. the purpose of the study was to provide a detailed framework of urban planning guidelines to support the optimization, adaptation, and development of energy-efficient cities(amado et al., 2016). another study by chen and norford investigated five simple indicators covering three performance areas, i.e., solar, ventilation, and connectivity potentials. based on two different geometry types, the study showed that geometric data changes could be used to obtain the appropriate urban form to optimize the data. finally, these indicators were developed in the open-source library of pyliburo in python, accessible for designers and researchers to be used in their existing design workflows(k. w. chen & l. norford, 2017). on the other hand, three-dimensional solar radiation models are needed to facilitate the interactive evaluation of photovoltaic potential in complex urban environments. surfsun3d is a visualization-oriented full 3d solar radiation model used by liang et al., who introduced a framework for integrating surfsun3d in a 3d gis-based application for interactive evaluation of veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 69 photovoltaic potential in urban areas to achieve efficient calculations and visualization for 3d urban models(liang et al., 2014). recent efforts have been made to integrate energy considerations into urban planning and design using artificial intelligence(rahbar et al., 2020). the research introduced by lila et al., the adaptation and development of an opensource artificial neural network (ann) with the aim of predicting solar radiation for newly generated neighborhoods in aswan, egypt, as an example of a hot arid zone. the outcomes are the result of training the ann on a database of classified urban geometries and their solar radiation simulation results for local weather conditions(lila et al., 2021). to sum up, the researcher will be investigated to find the integrated result to calculate solar radiation and overcome the constraints of the city and its issues. 2.2. solar energy modeling methods on the mesoscale solar radiation models are used to estimate solar radiation collection at a location on earth. most existing models do not typically consider the effects of urban shading. universal radiation received at a point and in a specific period of time consists of direct radiation, scattered radiation, and reflected radiation. in most cases, the reflected radiation is negligible, and we can ignore them (fu & rich, 2000). solar maps support the localization of the most suitable building surfaces to predict solar system installations and make it possible to minimize the potential for solar energy harvesting. most cities have implemented online solar maps that provide information on the potential of solar energy and generation on the roofs of existing buildings. but some examples consider the solar potential of planned buildings(wall et al., 2017). one of the major research gaps associated with existing solar maps is that most maps related to solar potential estimation are available for small-scale roof installations but are not available for integrated solar facade systems (lobaccaro et al., 2012). most solar maps analyzed based on geometric data (ie buildings, lands, vegetation) are formed by light detection and ranging (lidar) data. 3d information focuses on radiation analysis and energy production by photovoltaic (pv) systems, although solar thermal output (st) is sometimes available (kanters, wall, et al., 2014). so, the best solution for solving this problem is using remote sensing and 3d form to analyze solar radiation. many researchers investigated how to calculate solar radiation by remote sensing(s. zhang et al., 2019) and 3d form in an urban area and urban blocks (shakibamanesh & veisi, 2021). the concept of form-based code is of fundamental importance in modern american urban planning. hence, parametric thinking is used in evaluating form-based code scenarios(zhang & schnabel, 2018). other studies by zhang et al. investigated the context of urban environmental morphology via parametric thinking. studies have shown that parametric techniques can effectively simulate the urban morphology of the environment by producing parametric models. the findings also include a critique of parametric thinking applied in urban environments and insights into the potential applications of parametric techniques to support quality environmental urban morphology(zhang & liu, 2021). in another study, urban building energy modeling (ubem) was used to evaluate the strategies for optimizing the use of building energy to support the building energy goals of a city. the study covered 16 single-family buildings, 16 multi-family buildings, and 14 office buildings. results showed that the standards of prototype building specifications, building dataset, and workflow could be used to create other building prototypes and to support the energy efficiency of the italian national goals for building and environmental protection(carnieletto et al., 2021). several studies at urban block scale have been carried out (vermeulen et al., 2015; vermeulen et al., 2018). in a study conducted by yi and kim on the building scale, the need for specific building codes for each building form in neighborhoods was stressed and deemed as the basis for the right of access to sunlight (yi & kim, 2015). on the other hand, an analysis based on the typology of urban patterns aimed at investigating daylight showed that choosing a specific typology could contribute up to 16% of total energy performance and up to 48% of sunlight in buildings with similar urban density(sattrup & strømann-andersen, 2013). 2.3. solar energy modeling methods in the microscale due to the high demand for monitoring the energy performance of buildings, evidence-based design becomes more important for all actors in the design process, especially in the municipality and city council, by validating various veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 70 design options and selecting the most appropriate options from all points of view. he does(kanters, horvat, et al., 2014). it is generally acknowledged that up to 80% of design decisions affecting the energy performance of a building are made at the initial design stage, which is where architects play a dominant role. the design and management of distributed solar in buildings involve multidisciplinary stakeholders with diverse aims and objectives, ranging from acquiring architectural visual effects to maximizing solar insolation at a given location, maximizing energy generation, and minimizing operation and maintenance costs. wijeratne analyzed the characteristics of 23 solar pv design and management software and four smartphone/tablet apps against 15 important criteria of solar pv design. the findings indicate that the chosen pv design and management tools cannot meet all pv design and management requirements(wijeratne et al., 2019). an international survey of architects on solar design tools and methods found that one of the obstacles for architects to engage in solar design is that some are unaware of the principles of solar design and the capabilities of existing solar design tools. research shows that solar design, the principle of passive solar design and active harvesting of solar energy, is not part of the core curriculum in some areas. this may soon be a problem, as in some municipalities/regions/countries, most of europe, some of the energy needed to operate the building must come from renewable sources. therefore, architects will soon be faced with the fact that they must be actively involved in this aspect of design(wall et al., 2017). reports from the subtask b subset show that there is a wide range of digital tools that architects use today(kanters, horvat, et al., 2014). although these digital tools can be classified into three main categories (caad tools, visualization tools, and simulation tools), only some caad tools and simulation tools can be used for solar design at the initial design stage. thus, analyzing solar radiation need special software based on different scale. in general, studies at different urban scales can be divided into three categories i.e., microscale studies, which cover regions, and cities; mesoscale, such as sub-neighborhoods neighborhood units, and urban blocks and macro-scale studies, which include urban neighborhoods. on a small scale, when architects face a high-rise building or a home, they can handle a wide range of software. but when urban planners, policymakers, and urban designers need limited information for designing or planning, they need to develop a methodology for analyzing different types of energy. general studies in this area are summarized in table1. table 1. studies on urban structure and solar energy intake source tools method / algorithm title data scale (tuhusdubrow et al., 2010) matlab genetic algorithm genetic-algorithm based approach to optimize building envelope design for residential buildings micro scale: building (redweik et al., 2013) grass r.sun algorithm sol lidar data solar energy potential on roofs and facades in an urban landscape (poon et al., 2020) parametric parametric study of urban morphology on building solar energy potential in singapore context (xu et al., 2019) grasshopper optimization genetic algorithm performance-driven optimization of urban open space configuration in the cold-winter and hot-summer region of china (martins et al., 2014) citysim multi-objective optimization nsga-ii from solar constraints to urban design opportunities: optimization of built form typologies in a brazilian tropical city veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 71 table 1 continued (zhu et al., 2020) sun position the effect of urban morphology on the solar capacity of three-dimensional cities middle scale: urban _block (j. zhang et al., 2019) rhinoceros3d ladybug honeybee radiance energy plus geometric parameters impact of urban block typology on building solar potential and energy use efficiency in tropical high-density city (amado et al., 2017) arcgis rhinoceros3d grasshopper diva geographical urban units delimitation parametric modelling a cellular approach to net-zero energy cities (vermeulen et al., 2018) envi-met evolutionary algorithms periodic urban models for optimization of passive solar irradiation (shi et al., 2017) city energy analyst (cea) differential evolution a review of simulation-based urban form generation and optimization for energydriven urban design macro scale: urban _neighbor hood, city (sarralde et al., 2015) arcgis arcmap the generic models for this simulation solar energy and urban morphology: scenarios for increasing the renewable energy potential of neighborhoods in london (makki et al., 2019) octopus grasshopper 3d pareto evolutionary algorithm 2 (spea-2) evolutionary algorithms for generating urban morphology: variations and multiple objectives (k. chen & l. norford, 2017) python ، pyliburo identification and application of the performance indicators evaluating urban forms for comparison studies in the massing design stage (lobaccaro et al., 2019) rhinoceros3d grasshopper honeybee diva revit dayism-based hourly method cumulative sky method simulation modeling, analysis, and processing tools a methodological analysis approach to assess solar energy potential at the neighborhood scale the gaps between research and methods are related to the calculation of solar radiation on different scales. studies show that the most common calculation methods are based on the "3d model in small scales, such as houses, highrise buildings, and urban blocks. while the researcher for calculating solar radiation in middle-scale and macro-scale need to integrate methodology. in this case, research focuses on this scale to find a methodology and their correlation. 3. methodology architects and urban planners often do not have enough knowledge and time to evaluate solar energy potential during the design process. therefore, having a technical background and determining the appropriate time for analysis can help them achieve maximum solar potential and encourage them to study more efficient design solutions for integrating solar systems into building coatings(lobaccaro et al., 2019). realizing solar energy potential in the urban veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 72 context requires determining the related criteria and parameters according to specific issues that should be considered(amado & poggi, 2014b). this study was analytical and was based on sustainable urban development and documented principles derived by the authors in the two fields of urban design and urban morphology. the aim was to compare the ideal situation with the current situation and to achieve the average height codes in urban blocks for future planning by optimizing the current situation. in addition, to speed up the planning process, the study seeks a connection between two-dimensional solar radiation data and calculated and optimized three-dimensional data. also, implementing a comprehensive approach to calculating solar radiation at different urban scales was another goal of this study. the process had been operationalized to help urban planners and designers link urban patterns and energy production factors. then, a customized workflow was designed using the paradigm of parameters and essential indicators at a city scale. a workflow was developed using gis, parametric modeling, and solar dynamic analysis at various scales based on figure 1. figure 1 general analysis of solar radiation at different levels of the city veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 73 simulation tools were generally divided into three categories: building energy performance analysis tools, microclimate analysis tools, and finally, tools that address neighborhood shape and energy consumption(wang, 2010). moreover, solar radiation calculations can be divided into three categories based on the solar radiation model and the tool that classifies the three-dimensional form of the city. these include i) all-in-one model, which couples the modules used for solar radiation treatment with design interfaces or three-dimensional object representation in a single software; ii) cad plugin-based model, which receives plugins from other software capable of performing radiation analysis; and iii) gis-based models (freitas et al., 2015). accordingly, this study had divided research modeling into two different phases. in the first phase, designers and planners, who might not be able to provide accurate information about building construction details and performance details in the preliminary planning and design period of the site (wang, 2010), study a layer of raster geographic information and makes it possible to examine displacement characteristics in the radiation model, such as slope, orientation, and latitude in large areas, on an urban planning scale (macro-scale) (redweik et al., 2013). the second stage, which was in the form of small-scale parametric data, marks the beginning of developing a research method with the ultimate goal of calculating solar energy at urban design and building architecture scales. the next step was to understand how to change urban planners' current design styles (mid-scale and micro-scale). to address the shortcomings of existing micro-scale techniques, the hybrid method of urban building energy modeling (ubems) has been proposed as a new simulation method, which uses bottom-up modeling with physics-based simulation techniques. within ubem, each building was presented as a thermal model based on the same principles of heat transfer that govern individual building energy models (bem). generation of ubem requires the definition of countless input data for building geometry and a large set of non-geometric energy-related parameters (structures, systems, use patterns, loads, etc.). however, the model processes created for individual buildings can be applied directly to the urban scale due to the larger model size and unavailability of data. they require the use of various abstraction and simplification methods. several methods have been proposed for generating building geometry from gis or lidar datasets and converting them to simple thermal models with reasonable simulation time (cerezo davila, 2017). 4. case study the first step in improving the energy performance of buildings is to study and simulate their behavior. many energy models and techniques have been developed for this purpose in recent years. however, these models are usually from the building designer's perspective, as they tend to consider buildings in terms of defined entities and ignore the importance of urban-scale phenomena. in particular, the effect of urban geometry on energy consumption is still controversial. one reason for this shortcoming is the problematic nature of modeling complex urban geometr y(ratti et al., 2005). the study area was the farhangian neighborhood, phase 1, located in region two of kermanshah, iran. this neighborhood is bordered by the bargh neighborhood from the north, sarcheshmeh neighborhood from the south, dieselabad neighborhood from the east, and taxirani from the west. farhangian neighborhood, phase 1, is located in a strategic area of the city in terms of location in figure 2. this neighborhood has excellent potential for vertical expansion and development due to its proximity to the main urban square and is located in the central metropolitan area. such a development is access to more municipal services and high land prices in these areas. therefore, creating indicators and criteria for sunlight access in this area is particularly important. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 74 figure 2location of region 2 in kermanshah and the relative location of the research site region 2 of kermanshah is one of the newly built regions with high economic potential with old patterns due to special blocks. the possibility of vertical development in the region was also increased due to its good access and convenient distance from the city center. in addition, various patterns of blocks can be seen in the area. therefore, farhangian neighborhood of kermanshah was selected as a suitable site for initial analysis. next, a general analysis of the site was carried out, and 2.5-dimensional radar data and two-dimensional data at the urban block level were reviewed to select index block patterns for final analysis. 5. results and discussion energy calculations at different stages of design require a comprehensive approach. though rodríguez-vlvarez adapted thermal and lighting calculations for use at the urban scale (rodríguez-álvarez, 2016). these calculations do not have optimal performance for different scales. on the other hand, various methods and software are used to study energy variables in the analysis and study of urban morphology. depending on the scale and complexity of the study, the study of urban morphology was faced with certain complexities. hence, this analysis can be reduced at largescale data and up to the building scale. entering different energy categories further exacerbates this complexity. therefore, researchers generally studied energy in two general areas. the first area, which includes technology and urban economic models, was investigated via a top-down approach. in contrast, the second area, which was divided into engineering and statistics, involves using a bottom-up method. urban building energy modeling is done through main approaches, i.e., "top-down" and "bottom-up"; the top-down approach involves using known energy consumption for a specific area and period (usually annual) and dividing it into sections attributed to particular groups of buildings. the bottom-up approach takes a reverse path and creates models at the scale of single buildings with the same energy consumption. then, the results were summarized for all buildings in the complex. while both approaches aim to describe energy consumption, the top-down models were limited because they were trained using historical data on consumption levels, construction conditions, economic indicators, etc. the ability to predict relies very small on changes in the status quo and, therefore, cannot model the consequences of technological advances, changes in construction practices, etc. the bottom-up approach did not have such limitations. another advantage was that energy consumption could be divided into final uses right from the beginning, and the results could have a high spatial resolution(cerezo davila, 2017). therefore, analyzing data in the field of energy and the management, calculation, and amount of this energy needs to be studied in various areas of urban modeling. however, studying these areas at different scales is impossible with a single tool to optimize early urban models. the duration of large-scale radiation energy analysis may not be costveisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 75 effective in terms of time and cost. therefore, different tools should be used depending on the process and the area under study. this study provides different models at each level. it analyzes each in terms of management and design studies that can effectively carry out solar radiation analysis within an urban block. 6. solar radiation: modeling city planning various methods have been developed for modeling solar radiation that differs mainly in their scattered radiation estimation. some solar potential estimation methods have been developed in recent years that consider topography from lidar data(bizjak et al., 2015). gis-based models with the ability to display real-world space for visualization and simulation purposes have been the most powerful. in terms of gis presentation, there are two ways to obtain a digital surface model (dsm) in an urban environment: i) achieving a set of three-dimensional points allowing the geometric reconstruction of the elements under study, and ii) using procedural or parametric modeling (machete et al., 2018). the most common is three-dimensional models derived from lidar through automated algorithms or manually devised with a simple cad method and building footprints. the input data are used for defining 2.5d raster layers (building heights, facets, slopes, etc.), which, along with other tool settings, form input data for gis-based solar analysis(pili et al., 2018). various methods should be used to assess the solar potential of urban areas. of these, it has been shown that geographic information systems (gis) help estimates regional renewable energy potential and practical support for urban-scale energy planning decision-making (groppi et al., 2018). the first step in energy analysis was to prepare the maps needed for measurement. there were two ways to receive raster data (dem). first, radar data taken from sources like the united states geological survey can be used. in this case, the map was based on 30*30 big black and white mosaic parcels. the scale of these maps was so large that the entire neighborhood being investigated was summarized in a few parcels, which was a fundamental problem in analyzing solar radiation data. solar radiation analysis performs calculations according to these parcels, and each parcel represents a certain amount of radiation, so fewer parcels means less radiation information. figure 3. algorithm of the generated tool for calculating solar radiation using radar data the second mode for calculating radiation was using data generated by point cloud in google earth software. to this end, we need to create a point cloud on the desired location based on map data in google earth. then, the cloud point was entered into www.gpsvisualizer.com to add height data to these points (visualizer, 2018). the website uses the global dem data to add a third column to the set of issues that show the height code of our intended points. then, this text data was entered into the gis environment and converted into points, which were then converted into a dem file using point to raster tool. the advantage of this method was the creation of a raster map with pixel dimensions of 5*5 meters. this was much smaller than the pixels in the previous process, which provides the user with larger and more detailed maps. this model was selected for the accuracy of its operation. figure 3 summarizes the steps of structural investigations in solar analysis. after the above steps, the data was entered into the area solar radiation plugin in the arcmap tool for research. the output can be seen in figures 4 and 7. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 76 figure 4. solar radiation chart in different seasons of the year the diagrams in figure 4 above show the amount of solar radiation in different seasons of the year based on four variables, each in a particular range based on the radiation amount. two critical variables in this area, which were significant for this study, were radiation duration and direct radiation. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 77 table 2. the amount of total, direct, and diffused radiation of the sun in different seasons of the year winter spring summer fall max min max min max min max min solar radiation 220868 184489 282972 244114 558118 541127 522860 498004 solar direct radiation 159549 123065 210836 171858 435835 418653 407296 382258 solar diffuse radiation 61849 61040 72753 71809 123302 121736 116530 115047 solar duration radiation 900 8431 968 904 1227 1154 1193 1122 figure 5 bar chart comparing different amounts of solar radiation in different seasons comparing different seasons in table 2 and figure 5 in the radar and cloud point data shows clearly that the ratio of direct radiation to total radiation in summer and autumn was higher than in the rest of the year. likewise, natural radiation had a larger share of total radiation than other computational radiations. this was why, in many studies, these two outputs were considered equivalent. figure 6. the amount of solar radiation relative to the earth orientation inspection of the data in figure 6 shows that the distribution of radiation changes at different times of the year was expected, and statistical tests can examine the changes in the data. on the other hand, it confirms that point cloud data provides higher accuracy and more information and can present on-site radiation information for different points with veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 78 different values. this can give planners and city managers more decision-making power when planning land use. therefore, there was a clear need for higher quality satellite data for further research. table 3. correlation among amounts of radiation in different seasons winter_radiation summer_radation spring_radiation fall_radiation winter_radiation 1 summer_radation 0/997508686 1 spring_radiation 0/996560543 0/988235843 1 fall_radiation 1 0/997508686 0/996560543 1 the relationship between radiation variables in figure 5 and table 3 shows a direct connection between the rate of change at different times of a season in a single region. the points that receive more radiation in a season during a year follow the same pattern in other seasons, and the same way can be used in planning. the study of the annual radiation variable using radar data in figure 6 shows a significant amount of radiation in farhangian, phase 1 in kermanshah. what was essential was the use of satellite data for planning on energy and urban scales. according to the 2.5-dimensional dem data, the minimum and maximum amounts of radiation energy for the earth's surface area are 1.4 and 1.6 million kwh, respectively. therefore, a significant difference can be made in the received radiation by choosing optimal locations. figure 7 annual solar radiation in farhangian, phase 1 region of kermanshah using the point cloud technique annual data on solar radiation in different modes confirmed the importance of solar radiation hours during a year. this data was essential because no technology can use all the solar radiation energy, both in the passive and active areas. thus, the duration of time when solar energy was available was more important than its amount. here, the sunshine time was maximum in most parts of the site, as shown in dark blue in figure 7. the maximum annual number of hours is 4365, suitable for using radiant energy in the study site. table 4. the amount of annual radiation in the point cloud method year2020 max min max min solar radiation 1610850 1490940 solar diffuse radiation 378202 373351 solar direct radiation 1235810 1115300 solar duration radiation 4365 4091 veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 79 figure 8comparison of the amount of annual radiation in point cloud method in the study of the amount of annual radiation in the point cloud method, direct radiation was maximum, comprising more than 80% of the total radiation energy. in other words, comparing the radiation time and the amount of direct radiation shows that cloudy days in this region were low, which can further be corroborated by examining climate data. table 5. comparison of annual radiation in the point cloud and radar mode radar point cloud max min max min solar radiation 1610850 1490940 1587260 1515230 solar direct radiation 12358100 1115300 1209970 1139340 solar diffuse radiation 378202 373351 378202 373351 solar duration radiation 4365 4091 4365 4091 figure 9 comparison of annual radiation in the point cloud and radar mode examining the radiation diagrams in figure 9 and table 5 shows two cases in which the changes in the two graphs follow the same pattern and their differences are at an acceptable level. similarly, in places where the amount of point veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 80 clouds is at its maximum, the radar mode was also at maximum, and in cases where the amount of solar radiation energy was at a minimum, the same is valid for radar data. 7. solar radiation: modeling urban design to facilitate simulation and performance evaluation, an integrated workflow using the grasshopper parametric modeling plugin for rhinoceros3d software(scott, 2010) and the ladybug plugin (roudsari, 2017) in grasshopper was created for both solar radiation and building energy. this custom workflow integrates the functions of threedimensional parametric modeling of buildings, performance simulation, calculation of geometric variables and performance indicators, data processing, and visualization of results in an integrated manner. the meteorological data of kermanshah, iran, had been used in the form of an epw file(energyplus_development_team, 2020) as input for solar radiation and building energy simulation, which includes statistical data representing some important meteorological parameters for a particular place, such as global and hourly horizontal radiation, dry-bulb temperature (dbt), relative humidity, wind speed, etc. the study of urban blocks in the intermediate level was done to identify urban blocks and the effects of different types and heights of the blocks of a neighborhood in absorbing the energy radiation of the surfaces. but as the figure below shows, examining all areas of a neighborhood comprising hundreds of blocks and thousands of plots with different height codes was a challenging and time-consuming task, which precludes further investigations by the user. therefore, this study examined the average height of urban blocks in the sub-neighborhood scale. thus, the farhangian neighborhood, phase 1 of kermanshah, was divided into four groups separated by the main routes. this ensures that the impact of the blocks on both sides of the street was minimized and did not interfere with the overall analysis. to study and analyze solar radiation on a local scale, three-dimensional data in the form of mesh surfaces were required in addition to two-dimensional maps. this simulation did not just serve the purpose of a general data analysis but aimed to optimize the height of urban blocks and their research. therefore, among the solar radiation analysis software, the grasshopper plugin in rhino software was used in this study to convert gis maps to parametric 3d maps. the following algorithm was used in the grasshopper environment to create these three-dimensional patterns. figure 10 the final algorithm for solar radiation on a neighborhood and urban block scale veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 81 the final algorithm shown in figure 10 consists of four parts prepared for optimization on microscale dimensions. this algorithm could optimize a set of urban blocks using changes in the height dimensions. in the first part of the algorithm, there were data recorders for storing data on changes in height and the amount of solar energy absorption. the second part placed the variables required for creating three-dimensional volume. the third part includes the variables needed to measure solar radiation. finally, the tools needed to display the amount of radiation and the height dimension were placed on each block, which was an innovative measure taken by the researcher, with the possibility to delete or add other parts to it. the following sections examined radiation at the sub-neighborhood micro scale. figure 11 calculation of solar radiation at sub-neighborhood scale for group a_b in winter and summer veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 82 figure 12calculation of solar radiation at sub-neighborhood scale for c_d group in winter and summer based on the evaluation of the patterns in different seasons in figures 11 and 12, the facade surface data support our previous hypothesis that the energy absorption was constant compared to other surfaces in different directions. this veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 83 means that energy absorption was consistently higher in the southward and westward surfaces of the region than in the northward and eastward ones. the amount of energy absorption in the height variable of 1 to 30 square meters, which was the range of height changes in our four groups, shows that climate change was almost the same for all elevated surfaces. the study of the higher height range was not performed due to the complexity and nature of the research that sought to optimize the status quo. on the other hand, ten residential floors equal to 30 meters were the allowed height limit in local regulations. table 6. investigation of the amount of radiation in the four sub-neighborhoods of farhangian, phase 1 by year and season (summer and winter) year summer winter radiation_groupa 458780000 150240000 80965000 radiation_groupb 201020000 65672000 35684000 radiation_groupc 476250000 154680000 85389000 radiation_groupd 343500000 110970000 62361000 figure 13diagram of changes in the amount of radiation in the four sub-neighborhoods of farhangian, phase 1 by year and season (summer and winter) examination of the amount of radiation in winter and summer in figure 13 and table 6 shows that solar radiation in summer was about 50% higher than solar radiation in winter. this ratio has always been constant in two-dimensional and three-dimensional studies. changes can be seen in other seasons due to the angle of incidence, and other atmospheric factors such as clouds, which prevent radiation from reaching the ground. 8. optimization algorithm in an urban block the radiation and its nature in urban space were associated with many complexities due to many related variables and factors in the city. assuming that the research time was constant, variables such as the height, length, and width of the block, the shape of the league, the number of lots and their orientation and scale, etc., were just a few quantitative parameters affecting solar radiation in an urban block. calculating solar radiation becomes more extended when the number of blocks increases and optimization becomes more complicated. therefore, each of these algorithms had complex calculations and a specific type of method for obtaining the answer. for example, cold metal, genetic, ant colony, etc., are only part of the answer process. given the continuous amount of radiation in a city, this study uses a genetic algorithm. this algorithm continuously examined different parts of the site. it optimized the amount of radiation based on the maximum amount of radiation with height changes in the range of 1 to 30 meters, taking into account changes in height dimension and other variables. this range and restriction in height dimension was the limited optimization time. indeed, the higher the levels of these variables, the longer the optimization time. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 84 figure 14 optimization of urban block variables in winter and summer in group a. the optimization data in figure 14 show that the optimizer modifies its data over time and places a mark on the image by achieving new records. figure 15 shows the optimized data, which was the final result of examining the height variable. figure 15height changes in the existing and optimized states in figure 15, the height dimension changes can be seen for both existing and optimized states. the height dimension changes had been increasing but did not reach the maximum level, i.e., 30 meters, remaining at the average range of 15 meters. according to the results, the difference between summer and winter shows different optimizations, as seen in the figure below. height changes, in this case, needs further investigation, and no definitive conclusion can be drawn. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 85 figure 16optimization of urban block variables in winter and summer in group b. examining more patterns in figure 16 in terms of optimization in the subgroups is further revealing. the average height and the amount of optimization show that the data gradually move towards a more optimal pattern with changes in height variables. however, these patterns in all dimensions of change never moved to maximum height so that the average size is usually 50% of the general state. a careful look at the optimal state marked with gray showed that the amount of radiation absorbed in the urban context has increased by 5 to 10%. table 7. comparison of optimal and existing states based on output variables from genetic algorithm analysis radiation avregie_high count_block max_high minhigh group a_summer 1.4441e+8 12.94 50 29 1 optimiz a_summer 1.5e+8 15.88 50 28 4 group a_winter 7.6861e+7 13.22 50 29 1 optimiz a_winter 8.23e+7 16.22 50 29 1 group b_summer 6.5861e+7 13.69 23 28 3 optimiz b_summer 6.9702e+7 19.04 23 28 2 group b_winter 3.3903e+7 13.69 23 28 3 optimizb_winter 3.8353e+7 15.78 23 26 3 group c_summer 1.5468e+8 12.63 63 18 7 veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 86 table 7 continued optimiz c_summer 1.6e+8 15.93 63 27 1 group c_winter 8.5389e+7 12.63 63 18 7 optimizc_winter 8.9074e+7 16.31 63 29 1 group d_summer 1.1077e+8 14.32 77 27 4 optimiz d_summer 1.15e+8 16.53 77 28 1 group d_winter 6.2361e+7 14.32 77 27 4 optimizd_winter 6.5319e+7 16.29 77 30 1 figure 17 comparison of optimal and existing states based on output variables from genetic algorithm analysis the optimized sample in table 7 and figure 17 shows that the height optimization rate increased radiation energy absorption by only 3 to 5%. however, it should be noted that in this case, factors such as the amount of light absorption for indoor environments, reduced power consumption, and other unusual uses can have a significant effect on reducing energy consumption in large structures. on the other hand, even a one percent increase was energy absorption efficiency can dramatically reduce energy consumption because this one percent gives us usable energy. therefore, it can be expected that only adjusting the height dimension in sub-neighborhoods relative to each other can significantly change the amount of solar energy absorption by 3 to 5 percent. height investigations, in this case, include hundreds of different data subdivided due to the nature of the research. however, studying these sub-neighborhoods requires a comprehensive investigation system that categorizes and analyzes the data. on the other hand, in this case, artificial intelligence was responsible for height optimization, and as galapagos software used for optimization had fixed command codes to keep the optimization process and repeated this process up to 50 steps. it changed the height about 25 to 100 times for each neighborhood, depending on user settings, and re-apply radiation calculations for each step. if about 500 new record analyses did not obtain a new record of maximum radiation, the optimization was stopped. therefore, the optimization process here was incomplete due to time constraints. however, previous researchers had pointed to this incomplete code in the optimization process and suggested a discrete approach obtained from the ant colony method for optimization processes where time was an essential element. figure 18 shows the height investigation in the optimized mode for two seasons of the year. these data are close to each other. we had set the time according to the season at this stage to limit time concerning speed so that the optimization speed can be increased in a shorter duration. it was emphasized that this height code was not the final optimal state, and the optimization process took more time. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 87 figure 18 comparison of optimal winter and summer conditions related to height changes of group a from genetic algorithm analyses our preliminary studies in figure 19 demonstrated the influence of radiation absorption from the earth morphology on the macro-level data. this study shows that radiation absorption in different seasons with the proper location in an urban block can be expected to increase up to 200%, which was beyond the scope of this study. finally, the final analysis of this study is to match the macro-level data and the average height of existing and optimized blocks. in the process of optimization based on genetic algorithm, it was expected that in optimization based on genetic algorithm, height changes occur based on maximum solar radiation in correspondence to changes of solar radiation in the macrolevel data, i.e., satellite data. data analyzed via adaptation of the optimized data and the height change data (figure 19) shows that these data did not change according to the satellite algorithm and the morphological structure of the earth. in other words, these changes were not significant, indicating a need for further research tailored to adaptive algorithms. figure 19: evaluation of the compatibility of macro data at the satellite level and optimized data based on genetic algorithm based on analyses, simultaneous and intelligent use of satellite data in the initial development patterns and matching of height codes with such patterns can help determine the maximum radiation in the urban context. on the other hand, this study shows the need to develop intelligent algorithms based on machine learning algorithms and optimization algorithms in the future. the use of tools and algorithms on this basis can be helpful in the smart development of cities to receive maximum solar radiation and adapt the urban form to other climatic factors. veisi / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 88 9. conclusion although city and urban morphology is subject to numerous dependent and independent variables and reviewing and isolating variables in the research process is the only possible solution at this point, research in the field of energy, especially solar radiation, has always been a challenging topic. the need to produce early models of solar radiation levels for a city and ways to access them has been widely discussed. this study suggests a complete model in which the independent variable of average height and a dependent variable of solar radiation and optimization of the research variables were evaluated to achieve an optimal model in which the amount of solar radiation absorption is increased by about 3 to 5%. the study of simulation at different scales has been assessed in macro and microdomains, each with its algorithm and type of analysis. however, in general, it can be concluded that in the macro-level data used in city planning whose documents and requirements are more related to land use, analyzes and simulations require higher speeds and less information. thus, the process uses 2.5-dimensional dem data, either collected through satellite data or point clouds, as fully described in the previous section. however, at the intermediate level, especially at the micro-level, 3d detailed data is needed, which is done using simulation within longer durations with higher accuracy. the only difference between the micro and the intermediate level is the amounts of variables being measured. at the intermediate level, the number of data should be controlled because the amount of data, in this case, is very high, and there may be an increase in computational error. however, in the micro approach, the independent data is lower, and the analysis speed is naturally higher. the main purpose of this study was to provide an optimal model to evaluate the maximum amount of solar energy absorption at urban block levels. first, the morphological variables at the urban block level were studied. then solar radiation energy at the macro scale and micro scales were investigated. using two radar and point cloud techniques at the macro scale, solar radiation energy was calculated in the study area, which indicated the importance of macro data analysis at the neighborhood scale. and even urban blocks in the field of planning. on the other hand, the results showed that radiation data in different seasons produce fixed spatial data compared to each other. the method of calculating radiation time, a significant variable, was also calculated. then in the next part, the neighborhood was divided into four sub-neighborhoods to measure the impact of different blocks on each other. in this part, optimization was done based on height dimension, indicating that the limitations in optimizer algorithms do not allow the measurement of more variables due to a large amount of information and data. results on the average height at urban block-level showed an increase of 3 to 5%. on the other hand, a comprehensive algorithm was presented, starting a new optimization and architectural algorithms approach, which researchers and relevant laboratories can discuss. adaptation of genetic algorithms to 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(2020). the effect of urban morphology on the solar capacity of three-dimensional cities. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.10.027 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100624 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.08.036 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.01.001 http://www.ladybug.tools/(accessed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.06.028 http://www.grasshopper3d.com/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.05.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.01.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.02.033 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i3.954 what is the general population’s perception of smart motorways in the uk? mr luke lynch1, dr elisavet andrikopoulou2, dr nima dadashzade3 1 msc information systems, university of sheffield, uk 2senior lecturer, school of computing university of portsmouth, uk 3postdoctoral research fellow intelligent transport cluster, university of portsmouth, uk abstract motorway users have various opinions about the types of smart motorways. motorway utilization can be affected if road users have a negative perception of certain types of smart motorways, particularly on the topic of safety. there are three types of smart motorways that can be found in the uk. these are controlled smart motorways (csm), dynamic hard shoulder (dhs), and all-lane running (alr). this study focuses on the comparison of alr and dhs smart motorways as alr smart motorways are developed to replace and improve upon dhs smart motorways. the aim of this project is to understand how the general population perceives smart motorways in the uk. this aim will be achieved by answering a series of these research questions: (1) how does existing knowledge of smart motorways affect the perception of smart motorways; (2) how does age affect the perception of smart motorways; (3) how does car ownership affect the perception of smart motorways? data were collected using an online survey disseminated to the uk adult population of vehicle and non-vehicle drivers via social media and advertisements. descriptive statistics and cluster analysis were used to analyse the dataset and find similarity clusters. the primary research shows that ~57% of the survey respondents had never heard of or did not know the meaning of the 3 different types of smart motorways and only ~13% of respondents fully understand the different types. car owners in both cluster analysis models show substantial variation in the results of the comfort / smart motorway choice variables. this research demonstrates that greater knowledge and awareness about smart motorways are required to improve the perception of smart motorways. it would seem that this is particularly true for all-lane running smart motorways which are both the newest and most physically different type of smart motorway with their removal of the hard shoulder. keywords controlled motorways; dynamic motorways; all-lane running motorways; people’s perception 1. main text motorway users have various opinions regarding the types of smart motorways. motorway utilization can be affected if road users have a negative perception of certain types of smart motorways, particularly on the topic of safety. the three types of smart motorways in the uk are controlled, dynamic, and all-lane running. based on the department for transport 2020 report their current length in the uk is controlled smart motorways: 137 miles, dynamic smart motorways: 66 miles, and all-lane running smart motorways 123 miles. the transport committee (2021) report encourages further rollout of the smart motorways but very little is known about their perception by the uk public. a controlled smart motorway (csm) consists of a minimum of three lanes with a permanent hard shoulder (jallow et al., 2019); hence it always maintains a conventional emergency hard shoulder. this was the first smart motorway implemented in the uk and introduced overhead variable speed or lane indication boards, camera-based traffic monitoring, and vehicle speed recording. unfortunately, the hard shoulder cannot be converted into a live lane for use at peak times (highways england, 2016). http://www.press.ierek.com/ luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 dynamic hard shoulder (dhs) motorways have the ability to convert the hard shoulder into a live lane for use at peak times with the use of refuge areas (national highways, 2021). these emergency refuge areas occur every 800-1,000 meters so that vehicle experiencing an issue has somewhere to pull over even when the hard shoulder is in use as a live lane (transport committee, 2021). often the hard shoulder is used unpredictably to tackle congestion” (transport committee, 2021), introducing risk and discouraging drivers from using the extra hard shoulder lane (callaghan et al., 2017). all lane running (alr) motorways have no hard shoulder with emergency refuge areas occurring up to 1.6 miles (or 2.5km) apart but typically occur every 1.2 miles (transport committee, 2021). they also include a radar-based stopped vehicle detection system that can identify a stationary vehicle in 20 seconds (transport committee, 2021). this is superior to camera-based identification as an operator is not required to identify a stopped vehicle which saves time and should improve road safety. this study focuses on the comparison of alr and dhs smart motorways as alr smart motorways are aiming to replace and improve upon dhs smart motorways. the aim of this project is to understand how the general population perceives smart motorways in the uk. this aim will be achievebygh answering a series of these research questions:  how does existing knowledge of smart motorways affect the perception of smart motorways?  how does age affect the perception of smart motorways?  how does car ownership affect the perception of smart motorways? 2. methodology a pragmatic research philosophy (creswell & plano-clark, 2011) has been chosen for this project enabling the researchers to focus on selecting the best method to answer the research question. data were collected using an online survey disseminated to uk vehicle and non-vehicle drivers via social media and advertisements in the county of hampshire, uk. this study was ethically approved by the university of portsmouth fec committee with an approval number 2021-101659. descriptive statistics were initially used to analyse the dataset and to describe relationships between certain variables in a sample or population (kaur et al., 2018). frequencies, mean and standard deviation was used. cluster analysis is a technique used to combine similar data into several clusters based on the similarity of the values of several variables to each other (sinharay, 2010). in the context of this study, the data records generated by the survey are combined into groups called clusters based on their similarity to each other. cluster analysis was used on all of the demographic questions as well as a select few other questions such as a likert scale question: “i feel comfortable with using smart motorways” and the smart motorway choice question. 3. results the survey received 112 respondents in 3 weeks after which google forms was used to export the responses into an excel document. excel was used to cleanse, format code, and initially analyse the data. data coding was required to represent the text answers seen in the survey questions as numeric data. a data dictionary was created to convert the answers for each question into categorized numeric values (see appendix a). this was the most efficient option as all of the questions in the survey are categorized (e.g., multiple choice or likert scale). the excel spreadsheet was used to produce the descriptive statistics and was then imported into spss for further analysis. 3.1. descriptive statistics this section provides an initial understanding of the factors which are relevant to the three research questions. a total of 112 complete responses were recorded, there was no incomplete response as the survey questions were all highlighted as “required”. figure 1 shows the measures of frequency and table 1 shows the measures of variation for the survey questions. approximately 57% of respondents have never heard of or did not know the meaning of the 3 different types of smart luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 motorways and 13% of respondents fully understand the different types. this shows that the subject knowledge of our sample is low. 54% of the respondents are between 18 and 24 years of age with the other 46% being of older age groups. the majority of the respondents (73%) are car owners with enough remaining non-car owners to be able to complete meaning comparisons. there are more male (58.04%) than female (40.18%) respondents. undergraduate level education (57.14%) is the most common with the general certificate of secondary education (gcse) level lowest at 3.57%. the most preferred smart motorway is dynamic (44.64%). there are slightly more positive perspectives (43.75%) than negative (32.14%) when the respondents were asked about how comfortable they are with using smart motorways. the respondents were asked how safe they feel when using smart motorways and there are slightly more negative perspectives, i.e. not feeling safe (41.96%) than positive (38.39%). although there is a slight difference looking closely at the mean and standard deviation we can infer that the variability is limited. figure 1 frequencies of the entire sample luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 we calculated frequencies with cross-tabulation and we also calculated the mean and standard deviation for all the variables (riffenburgh, 2012, pp. 30–37). most of the variables have a good spread. table 1 measures of variation variables mean standard deviation smart motorway knowledge 2.27 1.03 age breakdown 1.75 0.93 car ownership breakdown 1.27 0.44 gender breakdown 1.63 0.55 education breakdown 3 0.73 smart motorways comfort breakdown 3.15 1.52 smart motorways safety breakdown 3 1.51 smart motorway choice breakdown 2.11 0.73 3.2. cluster analysis two-step cluster analysis “identifies the groupings by running pre-clustering first and then by hierarchical methods” (statistics solutions, 2020). usefully, it also “automatically selects the number of clusters” (statistics solutions, 2020). this approach was chosen due to versatility and ease of understanding compared to other approaches such as hierarchical or k-means clustering. the existing knowledge, age, and car ownership questions were included as part of the cluster analysis due to their direct relationship with the three research questions which measure how existing knowledge, age, and car ownership affect the perception of smart motorways. the twostep cluster analysis consists of the following categoric variables:  “i feel comfortable with using smart motorways”  knowledge of smart motorways  car ownership  age the predictor importance (ibm, 2021) of the four variables has been identified as the most important variable in making a prediction the “feel comfortable with using smart motorways” followed by the knowledge of smart motorways, car ownership, and age. this analysis produced 5 clusters with 13, 18, 19, 28, and 34 records as shown in figure 2. figure 2 clusters of cluster analysis 1 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 knowledge of smart motorways and age comparison was chosen because cluster 5 contains knowledge of smart motorways modal value with 92% of the total cluster values for knowledge of smart motorways. the modal value for cluster 4 contains 63% of values with a cell distribution that is bell-shaped showing only 1 peak at the number 3. figure 3 shows a small increase in knowledge on smart motorway types (2 to 3) may lead to a substantial decrease in feeling comfortable with using smart motorways (2 to 4), there is also a large difference in modal age which could be an influencing factor. figure 3 lower knowledge of smart motorways and age figure 4 higher knowledge of smart motorways and age figure 4 shows clusters 2 and 5 being compared as they contain values of the same modal age with a small increase in knowledge of smart motorways (1 to 2) and similar car ownership figures to the first comparison. this comparison contrasts the first in that it shows a small increase in knowledge of smart motorway types may lead to a very large increase in feeling comfortable with using smart motorways (5 to 2). luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 looking at the above 2 comparisons, it would seem age that this is a key factor in determining a vehicle owner’s comfort with using smart motorways with road users of higher age on average being less comfortable with using smart motorways. however, as these comparisons do not investigate differences in car ownership, figure 5 shows a comparison of cluster 2 and 3 which was made due to the modal car ownership variable consisting of 100% car ownership and 100% non-car ownership respectively. this comparison shows that the clusters are very similar except when looking at car ownership and comfort with using smart motorways. the modal average shows that non-vehicle drivers are very uncomfortable with using smart motorways compared with vehicle drivers. figure 5 car ownership figure 6 comfort with smart motorways luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 6 shows clusters 1 and 5 which contain the respondents who are modally most comfortable with using smart motorways. a comparison between these clusters shows that they both have a model average of 2 or 3 for knowledge of smart motorways, tend to be of a younger demographic, and own cars. a comparison between clusters 2 and 4 in figure 7 shows similarities to the above comparison with the differences being both show car ownership and cluster 2 is less comfortable with using smart motorways than cluster 3. figure 7 car ownership and comfort driving the smart motorways 4. discussion how does existing knowledge of smart motorways affect the perception of smart motorways? the primary research in this project shows that ~57% of the survey respondents had never heard of or did not know the meaning of the 3 different types of smart motorways and only ~13% of respondents fully understand the different types. this level of unawareness and knowledge surrounding the functionality of the roads being driven on is cause for concern and should be improved according to (transport committee, 2021), a stance which is shared by the department for transport and house of commons reports (department for transport, 2020; transport committee, 2021), especially in the case of an emergency. the department for transport and house of commons reports (department for transport, 2020; transport committee, 2021) suggest that an increased level of public knowledge about smart motorways will improve the public’s perception of smart motorways. this is supported by the cluster analysis which shows that an increase in survey respondent knowledge led to an increase in comfort with using smart motorways when all other variables were the same. how does age affect the perception of smart motorways? no literature was found relating specifically to the effect of a person’s age on their perception of smart motorways. this study provides evidence that road users of a higher age are on average significantly less comfortable with using smart motorways than road users of a lower age. it may be that individuals of a younger age are more accepting of the addition of technology to an originally non-technological environment such as a motorway. older individuals may also have an existing positive experience with using conventional motorways and not see the need for smart motorways which can limit the speed that they travel. additional research will need to be carried out to understand the reasoning behind the effects of age on the perception of smart motorways specifically. luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 how does car ownership affect the perception of smart motorways? no literature was found relating to the effect of a person’s car ownership status on their perception of smart motorways. car owners in both cluster analysis models show substantial variation in the results of the comfort / smart motorway choice variables. this is caused by the different clusters which make up car owners having different values for the age and knowledge of smart motorways variables. non-car owners have a single cluster in both models so do not have these variations. looking at the breakdown of the cell distribution for non-vehicle drivers’ comfort with using smart motorways shows a large variation in results including over half of the total 6 (no opinion / prefer not to answer) answers recorded in the whole survey. this data would suggest that respondents of this cluster have varying opinions of smart motorways which may have been caused by different experiences or information about smart motorways which they have encountered. as this cluster consists of non-vehicle owners, it may be that the respondents in this cluster have limited or no experience of driving on smart motorways which may be an explanation for the results seen. 5. conclusion overall, greater knowledge and awareness about smart motorways are required to improve the perception of smart motorways. it would seem that this is particularly true for all-lane running smart motorways which are both the newest and most physically different type of smart motorway with their removal of the hard shoulder. in concordance with the transport committee, (2021) suggestions, a greater understanding of how this type of smart motorway is used may also bring safety improvements, especially in the event of a vehicle breakdown. controlled smart motorways should also be revisited for stretches of motorways which see lower usage due to the familiarity which road users have with them and the safety improvements which they bring over conventional motorways. appendix a. coding dictionary figure 8 data dictionary luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 appendix b. online survey luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 luke lynch/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 references sinharay, s. 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(2021). rollout and safety of smart motorways third report of session 2021–22. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7703/documents/80447/default/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i3.953 recodification of the latin american city: emerging urban legislation in the pandemic era yeimis milton palomino pichihua phd candidate at universidad politécnica de madrid abstract in recent years, urban policies have been transformed in response to the pandemic. the new normality has translated into a new urbanity, in the broadest sense of the word; that is, into new rules that shape daily life and the production of urban space itself. however, in latin america, most of these measures have been contingent on the emergency, as they have not been translated into structural or long-term policies. this research focuses on the changes experienced in urban legislation as of 2020. period where national governments had to simultaneously confront health problems and pre-existing urban dysfunctionalities. this is a descriptive study outlining the landscape of emerging urban policies. it focuses on visible changes at the latin american level, the results reveal that many latin american countries have changed their urban policies during the pandemic, including a growing interest in social housing. among the issues addressed are land regulation, the right to the city, the management of public spaces, informal settlements, etc. in conclusion, the pandemic was the scene of a change of course based on new urban policies. these policies improve the management of our cities and make it possible to build more sustainable and equitable spaces. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords pandemic, urban codes, informality, housing, latin america 1. introduction the pandemic has been an exclusively health problem capable of conditioning the actions of governments, both globally and locally. the threat of an unknown virus led the who to declare it a global problem on march 11, 2020. since then, most nations have implemented measures to reduce contagion, inaugurating a state of sanitary emergency. this is an eminently legal phenomenon, the consequence of an explicit rule that limits individual rights to safeguard the common welfare. in other words, the pandemic has legal consequences that deserve to be analyzed. cities were the scene of the restrictive measures, as they were the hardest hit areas due to large agglomerations, among other factors. consequently, urban space also had to be regulated, as it was the main means of contagion. during the initial stage, social distancing and confinement were the most important measures in the context of an urban state of emergency. public spaces became spaces of militarized control. it should be noted that this situation was produced by national regulations, which were adapted to the evolution of the pandemic itself. this created a scenario of legal uncertainty that had to be corrected on the fly, adapting the measures to the characteristics of the territory and the cities. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 governments recovered the principle of authority and their capacity to manage urban activities from the demand side. that is, from the content of cities: people. many latin american countries experienced for the first time the rigor of norms, since life itself depended on them. cities became docile spaces, in contrast to the traditional evasion of the law or culture of informality. however, this situation was reversed as restrictions became more flexible and citizens returned to occupy the streets with a certain degree of normality. consequently, the city was once again ungovernable. the pandemic has revealed the unsustainability of cities, accentuating numerous urban problems. it has questioned the way we occupy and produce space, as well as the role of norms in these processes. governments have been concerned not only with the health system, but also with the city as a structured and structuring physical space. in other words, there is a new interest in reformulating urban policies and implementing new measures to correct preexisting problems. for a new normality is also a new urbanity; that is, new codes that adapt to emerging demands. in latin america, this implies strengthening existing legislative frameworks. given that the region is characterized by lax regulations, which is the cause of the phenomenon of urbanization without development. 2. theoretical framework cities are as old as humanity itself; they are physical spaces that reproduce social structures. likewise, the strategies for regulating space are just as old; living in a community implies adopting certain norms that maintain harmonious coexistence. urban order is the result of the institutionalization of powers. it was born with the establishment of the first empires, which tried to contain the anarchy of common spaces, in essence plethoric. since the laws of hammurabi, the codes regulated the way of making a city, that is to say, its material foundations. therefore, this is the differentiating factor of the urban: the control of space (talen, 2009). the history of urban planning is complex, as it varies from country to country. however, towards the end of the 19th century, this discipline acquired a new dimension, hand in hand with new tools such as zoning. this fact characterized modern or industrial capitalist urbanism (shertzer et al., 2022). the popular overflow in the cities demanded new measures to contain it and thus return governability to the cities. land and building laws emerged as ad hoc solutions to this problem; a legal framework to manage the physical space of cities. in latin america, one of the first experiences was in buenos aires (1910), where zoning was implemented based on criteria of historical protection, aesthetics, building sanitation and use restrictions. this gave rise to a regulation that detailed the possible ways of making a city, giving identity to the argentine capital (tella, 1996). similar cases occurred in peru (1946), colombia (1949), chile (1951), among other countries. consolidating urban planning in a modern version, which focused on the control of land, uses and building. it also prioritizes the relationship between city and architecture, translated into parameters and restrictions. which implies a sacrifice of property rights in exchange for collective benefit (henao et al., 2019). currently, urban regulation is crucial within the market economy; it creates certainties related to the growth of cities and their economic implications such as the cost of land, housing stock, among others. on a global scale, it promotes the localization and relocation of activities that stimulate national economies. likewise, on a small scale, it specializes the territory to create productive chains in cities. it is the theory of regulation applied from and to space itself (leborgne & lipietz, 1993). in latin america, this approach contrasts with the informality-regulation amalgam; cities have historically grown outside the law. creating sympathies towards deregulation or spontaneous growth, which is usually associated with self-management, collectivism, etc. building the myth of popular capitalism or urban informality that has undermined the authority of the state. however, the panorama has changed as governments have placed greater interest in the regulatory component, the means that guarantees equity in cities. the opacity of the laws is taken advantage of for private enjoyment, at the expense of the collective. it consolidates an "urbanism à la carte" that simplifies the urban to mere investment probabilities, neglecting the social impact of spaces. the pandemic produced innovations in urban norms and codes. cities were the scenes of the emergency. the immediate response was the control of urban activities (content), but as time went by it was necessary to reformulate many more areas of the city (continent). the first stage was characterized by contingency measures, which changed according to the progress of the contagion. that is, temporary measures such as distancing, confinement and reduction pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 of displacements. the need for control turned the urban space into a militarized and fear-producing environment. consequently, governments implemented assistance programs in areas as diverse as food, housing, public services, employment, among others. these palliative measures helped the inhabitants to adapt to the new normality. in general, these actions were focused both socially and spatially, prioritizing attention to the most vulnerable groups. among the global examples, the initiatives of the north american cities of dallas, chicago and new york stand out, where temporary shelters were offered to homeless people, food vouchers, renters' vouchers, tax reductions for small businesses and loans at lower interest rates (shi et al., 2020). in latin america, the subsidies implemented in argentina (emergency family income), brazil (emergency aid), colombia (familias en acción, ingreso solidario, etc.) stand out. however, informality undermined the success of these actions (blofield et al., n.d.). while it is true that these aids are useful in emergencies, they could not become permanent actions, as they represent a greater government expenditure; therefore, they are unsustainable. moreover, they do not reverse endemic urban poverty, which has been present for decades. inequality cannot be solved with subsidies, since it is a condition that reproduces itself atavistically (blofield et al., n.d.; lustig, 2020). during the second stage (flexibilization or de-escalation), more profound and long-term measures were evidenced. faced with the threat of a permanent pandemic, governments devised structural measures. unprecedented urban regulations focused on a variety of issues. these sought to reconcile the new coexistence with existing urban spaces, which had been showing problems since pre-pandemic times. they are provisions to make a pandemic-proof city (angiello, 2021), which stands out for its interest in public space. many cities around the world have implemented temporary and permanent bicycle lanes, adapted streets to pedestrian traffic, created terraces or boulevards, with the aim of encouraging new mobility habits and revaluing local businesses. one of the most outstanding examples were the superblocks in barcelona. this initiative was conceived in pre-pandemic times and saw the opportunity to materialize during the emergency in the face of the restrictions. the city council intervened in nearly 14 blocks, significantly increasing the number of parks and gardens. likewise, new york implemented the "recovery for all" plan, which considers the creation and expansion of the cycling network, as well as permanent open streets. on the other hand, long-term policies were also developed; principles for the reorganization of cities as a whole. for example, mexico city considered the creation of 13 urban corridors for the development of social housing, parallel to the creation of bus rapid transit (btr) routes and urban cable cars. seeking to reorganize the city from the transport oriented development (tod). at the european level, the regenerative urban design initiative was created, based on principles of innovative infrastructure, circular economy, climate neutrality (andreucci et al., 2021); aligning the objectives of sustainable development with the post-pandemic context. on the other hand, urban centralities were questioned to the point of creating initiatives of de-urbanization and territorial balance. such is the case of australia, where population distribution has been debated, seeking to redirect growth towards regional cities or intermediate capitals of the country. promoting digital mobility and the growth of local economies (guaralda et al., 2020). in short, these examples call for a shift towards resilience, supported by new urban policies, laws and specific codes. it should be noted that contingent and structural measures have coexisted during the pandemic; that is, they were implemented simultaneously. the complementarity between the two can be seen in the context of economic recovery and even more so in the last stage or "end of the pandemic". for in 2022, many national governments have repealed the state of emergency. the problem with the return to normality is the disinterest in urban policies or return to the status quo (deslatte et al., 2020; lecka et al., 2022). that is, the lack of experimentation and consequent deterioration of urban living conditions. therefore, it is necessary to analyze the impact of the laws created during the pandemic. for these constitute the new rules of the game of the city. despite their immateriality, the norms transcend socially and spatially. they remain for reasonable times and constitute the dna of post-pandemic cities and territories. the meaning of "the urban" is diffuse, as it is a term that groups multiplicity of approaches and disciplines (azuela et al., 2016). condition that evidenced in the emergency measures, as state interventions were framed in the urban space. even small measures such as the use of masks implicitly acquire an urban character, since they are implemented in the city. therefore, it is necessary to retake the integrality of the urban problem, since it is not only a matter of managing physical spaces but also flows, displacements, employment, location, among other social dimensions (patel pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 & shah, 2020). recognize the city as a complex system where the continent and content have equivalent weights. contrasting with simplifying visions that pigeonhole the urban in the physical space. finally, the pandemic has motivated debates on the governance of cities. for the initial restrictions revealed the capacity of local and national governments to manage urban spaces. these interventions used force and have become examples of extreme urban order. nevertheless, these strategies are valid as they reflect their principle of authority. however, this success brought the threat of authoritarianisms deployed on cities, now turned into biopolitical playgrounds (lorenzini, 2020). the most evident examples of this state of exception can be found in transportation (duarte et al., 2020) and the use of open spaces (santamaría, 2020). consequently, participation emerges as a crucial issue. likewise, collective or community management stands out as an alternative for both the management of future emergencies. in short, the pandemic is an opportunity to rethink both governance and city governance. reclaiming the role of the state and citizenship around the problems that affect the city, in order to build a suitable framework for participation, spaces of possibility for the collective construction of the city (kosovac & pejic , 2021; sánchez-cruzat, 2022). 3. study approach this is a descriptive qualitative research, whose object is the urban policies developed during the pandemic. it focuses on the major legislative changes manifested during this period in latin america. it should be noted that we study the laws and regulations of higher hierarchy, which are usually approved in higher instances such as the congress, deputation, executive power, etc. contrasting with others that arise as a response to an emergency, which are palliative and reversible. the study cannot be a comparative analysis, since the legal system and the structure of government is different in each country. nevertheless, it is possible to outline regional trends in urban policies. therefore, in the first stage, 11 latin american countries were analyzed to identify the most recent reforms. 4. results urban law is the set of norms that structure urban and rural land use, as well as the behavior of its inhabitants. cities are structured from the law, as it has an instituting character on urban activities (azuela et al., 2016; henao et al., 2019). it provides explicit rules that produce urban space from the physical and behavioral dimensions. in latin america, urban law is paradoxical, since the growth of its cities occurs on the margins of the law. a sort of urban irregularity or self-urbanization that expands the conflict between social processes and management of the space of everyday life from jurisprudence (azuela et al., 2016). on the other hand, urban law studies the tensions between property rights and the general interest. living in the city implies adopting rules that affect property and, above all, land use. for this purpose, zoning, a basic tool for urban regulation that allows a redistribution of these rights on the basis of a division of the city (nelson, 1979), is used for the most part. this results in the fragmentation of the city and the differential income generated on the basis of norms. the pandemic has created the demand for a renewed regulatory framework to face the unusual challenges imposed by the emergency. its greatest discovery has been the breadth of "the urban", as it includes provisions on proximity, compatibility of uses, displacements, schedules, among other problems usually ignored by the legislation trapped in the abstract urban space. likewise, the impact of land management on health was evidenced, since physical space transcends the wellbeing of citizens (grant, 2022). there are currently renewing currents in urban law, which can be grouped into three trends: the right to the city, mixture of uses and soft-laws or urban agendas (urbina-mendoza, 2022). all of them value positively the experimentation and improvement of norms, since urban problems are uncertain and therefore the law must adapt to them. in this context, tactical urbanism experiences emerge that intervene the urban space in an immediate and reversible manner, assessing their impact and then converting them into major policies (bolton, 2020; lauren et al., 2021; patel & shah, 2020). however, they must be careful because they can build illusions of change, thus avoiding structural problems. therefore, legislation occupies an intermediate role between experimentation, discourse and structural reflection of recent urban changes. the panorama of urban law in latin america is diverse. its scope varies significantly among countries, due to a differential experience of the pandemic that clashes with the legal system. there is a consensus on the autonomy of pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 intermediate scales of government (regions, municipalities, city councils) in urban issues; the ability to decide directly on the administered space based on local regulations (lecka et al., 2022; neuman et al., 2021). thus, the greatest experimentations were manifested at the small scale: the district, the neighborhood, the block, the house. however, the national regulatory framework proposes general rules that are adapted to the local scale. these create the conditions for the possibility of an urban space resistant to the pandemic (figure 1). figure 1 comparative of latin american urban laws in pandemic. most latin american countries have passed comprehensive urban laws that address a wide range of issues such as housing, land use, equipment, planning, among others. this type of regulation is characterized by establishing the principles of urban planning, which are transformed into regulations that operationalize them. it is a first step that requires greater institutional measures. this is the reason for its importance and, at the same time, its fragility, since new laws run the risk of stagnating due to the delay of the regulations that complement them. this is repeated in the case of public agendas or soft-laws, declarations of principles that are not binding: for example, the bolivian "cities policy". despite this, there is evidence of urban innovation in latin america. also noteworthy are the housing laws, a structural problem of cities. most of the states modified their housing policies in pandemic; strengthening social housing programs and diversifying the acquisition modalities: purchase, social rent, pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 rent to own, concession, among others. of particular note are the creation of social rental programs (argentina and ecuador), extension of the maximum credit term (colombia), increased housing subsidy coverage (paraguay) and the promotion of cooperative housing participation and management (mexico and chile). in general terms, these regulations emphasize the role of the state as a housing promotion agent, granting them greater licenses for the expropriation, purchase and production of land suitable for housing, which must meet minimum conditions of habitability, as well as adequate connection with the urban system. the third issue is urban informality, which translates into informal settlements such as slums, shantytowns, shantytowns, slums and slums. only three countries have passed specific laws related to this issue: chile, colombia and peru. all of them coincide in the creation of a regime of exceptionality and the extension of the terms for the regularization of neighborhoods located on non-urban land. the basic principle is the permanence or continuous possession of the inhabitants, which must be more than 10 years; likewise, for the application of the regulations, effective occupation of the land is required, i.e., abandoned land is not regularized. in all cases, local governments are in charge of guiding the legalization process in order to guarantee safe land for vulnerable families, who usually opt for this type of tenure. it should be noted that in all cases, explicit deadlines for regularization are proposed. once this is finalized, occupations that do not comply with the general management plans will be prohibited. on the other hand, there is evidence of a series of unconnected laws and regulations, which in themselves do not form part of a defined movement, although they express the concerns of national governments on a variety of issues such as the protection of and contributions to public spaces (peru and chile), the protected areas regime (brazil) and the soil classification methodology (ecuador). in most cases, the topic dealt with is soil protection, in the broadest sense of the word. however, their scopes are diverse and even contradictory. for example, measures are proposed to mitigate the impact of large real estate projects on urban space, by means of onerous compensation proportional to the property tax of such developments (chile). in this context, the creation of programs to promote urban and periurban agriculture is also noteworthy, in the case of bolivia and argentina. in both cases, the governments have created the necessary institutional framework for these projects, which involves budget allocations, promotion, training and a sectoral regulatory framework that allows land use to be granted to cooperatives and associations of urban farmers. given that the municipalities are responsible for managing the activities of the city based on a plan of compatibility of use. finally, the issue of transportation and mobility is the most conspicuous absentee in this set of rules. this makes it possible to identify the limits of urban law, atavistically separated from the management of transport itself. this is explained, to a certain extent, by the sectoral or ministerial division of the states; that is, in the competencies assigned to specific institutions and the consequent lack of coordination between them. of all the latin american countries analyzed, only two inaugurated innovative documents related to mobility: uruguay and venezuela. in the first case, the ministry of housing, together with international cooperation, created a manual for sustainable urban mobility, detailing the process of mobility plans and suggesting urban design criteria for roads and other urban elements related to transportation. in the second case, a law was passed to promote urban cycling, which grants benefits to users of this modality such as subsidies, access to loans, preferential attention, among others. it also obliges the municipalities to maintain and expand the infrastructure of bicycle paths and complementary services. on the other hand, it should be noted that this gap in urban law contrasts with the numerous local measures implemented in the pandemic, since, as explained above, the most recurrent responses were the creation of bicycle paths and the promotion of pedestrian spaces. for the purposes of this study, published national laws were analyzed, i.e., norms of higher hierarchy that in themselves presuppose continuity over time. this strategy is also replicated in subsequent stages. 5. conclusions the pandemic was a propitious scenario for experimentation with regulatory measures, most of which were characterized by their temporary and palliative nature. however, this promoted the ideation of more profound and, to a certain extent, structural measures. urban law in pandemic was the object of these changes. for most latin american countries inaugurated new laws and reforms focused on the management of the city, a situation that reveals a growing pichihua/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 interest in "the urban", in the broadest sense of the word. however, the set of norms made in pandemics is disjointed and divergent, as these norms tend to be short or palliative, so that they do not end up being aligned with larger policies. in general, they focus on the housing problem and its implications, and lack regulatory measures on urban transportation. it should be noted that the existence of new laws does not represent a solution in itself. in essence, these are enunciative documents that guide the actions of the different levels of government. however, the absence of complementary rules and regulations jeopardizes their contribution to urban development. the reengineering process of peruvian urban law is slowed down by the slowness of the approval process of documents that materialize the principles of the new laws. for example, the delay of the regulations accompanying the dus law or the law of public spaces, with a wait of a year and a half in both cases. contravening the guideline of not exceeding 60 calendar days. in other words, the law is the first step that should be accompanied by continuous and consistent measures over time. the data reveal that latin america experienced significant advances in the field of regulation. while it is true that these emerged during the pandemic, many of them stemmed from previous initiatives, including historical trends that were recently recovered. in this sense, the pandemic served as a trigger or accelerator of these processes; it maintained the tension of a new normality or social contract that requires new and better rules of the game. therefore, innovations must be contrasted with the preceding norms, to which they are indebted. in other words, the continuity of these measures and their dependence on the trajectory or traditions of latin american urban law must be assessed. finally, the structuring role of urban norms must be rescued, since they together shape our cities. the essence of urban law is to regulate property and favor the common benefit; however, these principles can be distorted to the point of falling into the realm of discretion in the face of the "ambiguity" of the rules of the game in force. in other words, they respond to disciplinary biases and even particular interests. the ideation, proposal, debate and approval are processes that are usually in the hands of political representatives. people who theoretically make decisions in favor of the majorities, but who are occasionally influenced by particular demands. this situation allows and justifies urban corruption, based on a legal system made by stealth from the citizens. therefore, it is pertinent to strengthen citizen participation in the field of urban law; 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(2022). nuevas tendencias del derecho urbanístico global. in dialnet.unirioja.es (1st ed., vol. 47). editorial jurídica venezolana cuadernos de la cátedra fundacional allan brewer-carías. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v7i2.935 neighborhood impact assessment an urban sustainability instrument: analysis in medium-sized cities in são paulo, brazil. emanoele lima abreu1, renata bovo peres2 1 federal university of são carlos, department of environmental sciences e-mail: emanoele@estudante.ufscar.br 2 federal university of são carlos, department of environmental sciences e-mail: renataperes@ufscar.br abstract the neighborhood impact assessment (nia) 1is an important instrument of the brazilian urban policy enacted in the city statute, federal law 10.257/2001. considered by the national academic literature as a relevant instrument for local urban environmental management. however, in brazil, the understanding that the environmental and the urban are part of the same context is not yet a reality within the local public administration sectors, with a deep disconnection of management and governance between the urban and environmental departments. the objective of this work was to analyze the application of nia in medium-sized cities in the state of são paulo and to evaluate its contribution to the local urban environmental management of these cities. we also intend to evaluate the nia integration with other sectors of local public management such as the environment, urban mobility, social housing, etc. as a methodology, we used nia process components, verifying the absence or presence in the urban laws of four (04) medium-sized cities in the state of são paulo. we also interviewed civil servants from the environmental and urban sectors, supplementing information that was absent in laws and official documents. the results reveal that most municipalities do not have a specific law that regulates the nia, and master plans, land use and occupation law regulate this instrument. civil servants emphasize the weaknesses and strengths of the instruments. as potentialities of this instrument, they observed public participation, increased state control in environmentally sensitive areas, greater urban-environmental compensation mechanisms, and so on. weaknesses signalize were: conflicts involving urban land subdivision, interference of the real estate market in the use and occupation of urban land, changes in the master plans by the city councilman aiming to meet the interests of private financial capital. the four cities, which are part of the case studies, have not yet effectively incorporated elements of climate change in their local governance. issues related to social housing, expansion of slums, occupation of protected environmental areas by poor populations are still the most urgent priorities in these cities, as well as in many latin american cities. the improvement and advancement of the articulation of the urban and environmental sectors in brazilian cities must require thinking about better scientific methodological and governmental improvements. © 2022 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords neighborhood impact assessment; latin american cities; medium cities. 1 brazilian authors often use the terminology in english “neighborhood impact study”. however, we chose to use “neighborhood impact assessment” according to (abiko & barreiros, 2014) to facilitate the understanding of the instrument for the international audience, as it has similarities with the impact assessment. however, in brazil, the nia is known as the “estudo de impacto de vizinhança”. http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 1. introduction after a long period of 21 years of a dictatorial regime, the redemocratization of brazil was mainly marked by the promulgation of the federal constitution in 1988 (cf/88). as of cf/88, brazilian cities acquired a central role in the formulation of territorial policies, especially in the creation of regulatory mechanisms and instruments for planning and controlling land use and occupancy. however, although the decentralization of urban and environmental planning has brought more autonomy and protagonism to cities, these processes are still full of obstacles and gaps that need to be better qualified (fernandes, 2008) one aspect to be analyzed is the connection between the action of the public power, responsible for the urbanization and regulation of the territory, with the other agents involved in the production of the city, such as business and real estate sectors, contractors, public service concessionaires, developers and construction companies (rolnik, 2009). often, market interests, to the detriment of fulfilling the city’s social function, mostly drive these connections. these processes have presented new contours related to the commodification and financialization of housing (harvey, 2007; klink & stroher, 2017). with the approval of the national urban policy through federal law no. 10,257/2001, known as the city statute (ec), the socio-environmental dimension was consolidated in brazilian urban planning. however, the socioenvironmental dimension found little support in the instruments instituted by the ec, which are more focused on dealing with real estate speculation. according to schvarsberg (2011), the urban instruments of this law were created in order to establish the separation between the right to build and the right to property, guaranteeing the principle of democratic management of cities. of the instruments presented by the ec, the neighborhood impact assessment (nia) is the closest to the environmental instruments known in the national environmental policy (federal law nº 6938/1981) (peres & silva, 2013). the expression “neighborhood impact” was created to describe a specific group of environmental, urban, economic, social and urban mobility impacts that occur in urbanized areas and are present in the area of influence of a given enterprise or activity implemented in the urban territory. (lollo & röhm, 2005). in this context, the neighborhood impact assessment (nia) is used in brazil to assess the environmental, urban, economic, social and urban mobility impact that the construction or implementation of an enterprise or activity may cause in its neighborhood. it is widely required by the municipal government (in brazil, the municipality/city is the smallest state scale) to authorize the construction and/or operation of these activities. the ec defines that each city must create a local law defining what types of activities need nia to operate within the urban territory, it is also the role of the municipal government to decide the scope of this study and the need, or not, of holding public hearings. thus, the nia simultaneously brings together three characteristics that seek to guarantee sustainable, resilient and fair cities: it is a study of a technical nature; it is a conflict mediation instrument; and is a tool to implement urban policy objectives at the local level (schvarsberg, 2016). in a nutshell, the nia is a legal instrument of urban management, leaving it up to the municipalities to define the types of projects that must prepare nia (inguaggiato et al., 2021). the nia aims to assess urban socioenvironmental impacts, in addition to indicating measures to prevent, correct and mitigate these impacts. through the assessment of impacts, it is possible to infer the conformity of the implementation of the enterprise or activity in the indicated place, establishing the relationship between the city and the enterprise and the enterprise with the city, considering the neighborhood that is inserted (rolnik et al., 2005). in cities where the nia appears in urban laws, norms and/or regulations, it is requested for the approval of projects and activities with the potential to cause impacts on the urban environment, consisting of a step in the urban licensing procedure. it can also present significant integrations with environmental licensing at the local level (lam). (abreu & peres, 2021). the integration of nia in local environmental management is seen as a way to improve municipal management and the environmental quality of cities (araújo & campante, 2017; peres & cassiano, 2019). author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 the understanding of the environment and the urban, as integrated realities is still at the beginning in the management of brazilian cities. in most of these cities, the regularization processes go through urban planning approval and environmental licensing separately and without linkage. the disconnection between the urban and environmental sectors of the same municipal government is evident. (gouvêa, 2021). the nia has some similarities with the neighborhood sustainability assessment tools (nsa). nsa tools are designed to facilitate decision-making in the pursuit of sustainable development (gargiulo et al., 2018; komeily & srinivasan, 2015, 2016; yigitcanlar et al., 2015; yoon & park, 2015). in urban and neighborhood contexts, where various entities and forces act to influence decision-making, it is essential to add the institutional dimension to the three pillars of sustainability. in this case, not only the interactions between non-governmental organizations and governmental organizations involved in decision making, but the set of regulations, laws and norms that guide these interactions (sharifi & murayama, 2013, 2014). according to sharifi & murayama (2013), nsa tools can be divided into two main categories. in the first category are tools derived from construction assessment tools, such as leed-nd and breeam communities. in the second category are tools that are incorporated into neighborhood scale plans and sustainability initiatives to assess their sustainability performance, such as hqe2r, ecocity and scr. the nia seems to fall into this second category, which can be studied in future research. however, the socio-economic context of the country must be taken into account when carrying out such an analysis. some authors have already studied how nsa tools are implemented in developing countries, showing that it is possible to apply these tools (kamble & bahadure, 2019; yigitcanlar et al., 2015). research aimed at nia innovation is needed, incorporating new knowledge and sharing good practices learned in other tools. in reality, however, the nia is still poorly researched in brazil. (abreu & peres, 2021). although the introduction of the nia in the ec is more than 20 years old, its consolidation as an instrument of urban and environmental management is still incipient and several authors point out gaps and challenges regarding its applicability by municipal administrations, leaving gaps, lock-ins and legal inconsistencies (abreu & peres, 2021; pilotto et al., 2013). in this context, this paper aims to verify the presence or absence of the nia process components in the urban legislation of four (04) medium-sized cities in são paulo, identifying advances and limitations in the legislation and its possible articulation with urban environmental management. 2. methodology for the research, we selected four medium-sized cities located in the state of são paulo. this state was a pioneer in brazil in the regulation and implementation of the nia. são paulo has the highest population concentration in brazil and its municipalities have heterogeneous urban legislation, according to their territorial and socioeconomic realities. we chose cities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants because they have greater economic density and have a denser urban space (bitoun & miranda, 2009). considering the analysis of the database of the most current census of brazilian municipalities, carried out by the brazilian institute of geography and statistics (ibge) (ibge, 2019), this range includes municipalities that have had a master plan for a longer time and higher percentages of municipalities (> 95%) that have urban and environmental sectors in the municipal government. the analysis of the legislation followed the methodological roadmap, adapted from peres & cassiano (2019), which defines ten nia process components, which can be considered minimum requirements to be incorporated by municipal jurisdictions, aiming at a better orientation to environmental-urban management for the regulation and application of these instruments. we analyzed the nia laws, regulations, rules and documents for each of these cities based on the nia process components. in order to obtain more information about urban environmental management in these cities, we interviewed at least one public servant from each municipal government. we recorded the interviews and coded them to ensure public servant's anonymity. all subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before participating in the study. the study was conducted in accordance with cns resolution no. 510/2016 and with the author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 approval of the research ethics committee of the federal university of são carlos with protocol caae no. 55867222.3.0000.5504. according to creswell (2009), interviews are considered one of the most important sources of information for a case study, as they allow a more detailed record of particular points of view about a phenomenon. the type of interview selected for this research was the semi-structured focal interview, in which the interviews are spontaneous, but follow a set of questions, conducted by a semi-structured interview script (tab.1). table 1 semi-structured interview questions. questions what is the role of the neighborhood impact assessment (nia) in municipal urban management? what gaps and lock-ins have been experienced by the municipal urban and environmental planning agency? is there a consultative or deliberative council or collegiate body dealing with urban issues in the municipality? (if the answer to the previous question is yes) does this council have any influence on the decision making for the approval of projects that go through the nia process? can you identify conflicts between urban policy and environmental policy in the municipal territory? conducting interviews helped in the analysis of the rationale of the normative panorama of creation and execution of the nia and on the technical-administrative procedures for approving projects that cause urban, environmental, social and economic impacts in the selected municipalities. 3. results and discussion the most recent census of brazilian municipalities indicate a gradual growth in the number of municipalities that presented the nia in a specific law or as an instrument of their master plans, approximately 40% of all brazilian municipalities. when taking into account the population size, it was observed that, in those with more than 100 thousand inhabitants, the regulation of the nia was present in about 90% of the population (ibge, 2016, 2019). the lack of regulation of the nia by the municipalities is one of the main obstacles to its implementation, although difficulties persist for those who have regulation. the frequent postponement of the regulation of municipal urban policy instruments, as well as the lack of physical structure and human resources, are considered important obstacles to the achievement of its objectives (araújo & campante, 2017). figure 1 presents the analysis of the verification of absence, partial presence or presence in current municipal legislation, according to the methodology proposed by peres & cassiano (2019). those who answered up to 25% of the process components presented in the methodology, partial presence from 26% to 75% and presence above 76% were considered as absence. figure 1 synthesis of the analysis of the nia regulation, considering the methodological roadmap of process components. source: adapted from peres & cassiano (2019) author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 the sorocaba legislation does not have half of the nia process components analyzed, while the other half was presented in a partly present form. jundiaí and santo andré have some categories present. americana partly met most components. this, however, does not indicate whether the instrument is fully functioning in municipal urban management. 3.1. presentation of the project proposal jundiaí provided more information and instructions to the technical managers on how to start the nia approval process. the municipality also has a geographic database called geojundiaí, where information about the nia can be consulted and viewed by zone/neighborhood. americana also has a similar system, but with less information. another good practice verified was the availability of project approval flowcharts, since it is a way to present in an integral and synthetic way the procedures of the process, facilitating the understanding of the steps to be overcome and which sectors are responsible (peres & cassiano, 2019). all cities except americana have flowcharts showing all steps for nia approval. the easy access and clarity of information on the elaboration of the nia prevents possible ambiguities in its elaboration (inguaggiato et al., 2021). 3.2. screening of projects that need nia regarding the screening stage, the presentation of typologies subject to nia is present in all municipalities. the use of lists with cut-off criteria can be problematic due to the relative degree of arbitrariness with which they are defined. this methodology possibly originates from the field of environmental impact assessment (eia), where it is common to have both positive lists (with the enterprises and activities that require eia), and negative lists (which do not require eia). they end up being simple and quick to use approaches, however, they are targets of criticism as their inherently arbitrary approaches and that, many times, do not capture all the information of the context of that enterprise or activity (rocha & fonseca, 2017). this methodology must, therefore, be complemented with rules that include unforeseen cases that may be considered by the urban and environmental planning agency as potentially impacting, in addition to clear and defined procedures for the analysis of cases not covered by the law. the incorporation of discretionary power in the municipal executive is important for the definition of rules and negotiation of exceptions. covering all cases that have a significant impact, even if they do not appear in the typologies lists. in americana, the master plan defines what low, medium and high impact is. all high-impact activities and enterprises are eligible for nia. santo andré is the only city that has different types of nia according to the degree of impact of the enterprise/activity, with type 1 being simplified and type 3 more complex, the latter with analysis and approval subject to consideration by the municipal council for urban policy. 3.2. defining the scope of the nia all municipalities presented criteria to determine the scope of the nia: definition of the areas of influence, indication of the main items that the nia must contain, in addition to the components, aspects and impacts that must be analyzed, considering the issues listed in the city statute. the use of the same criteria as the statute shows the influence of the law on the legal structure adopted by the municipalities. however, the simple copy of the questions and instruments of the federal law, both by the specific laws and by the master plans, can evidence the lack of knowledge about the reality of the municipality itself. the availability of the term of reference (tr) by the urban planning agency was found only in jundiaí and sorocaba. it is important that the regulation provides for both the preparation and the supply of trs, with a detailed definition of the scope and guidance for the preparation of the studies, including the characterization of the impact assessment methods, criteria and parameters to be used (araújo & campante, 2017). regarding the definition of neighborhood areas, municipal legislation varies. jundiaí differentiates “area of direct influence” and “area of indirect influence” of the enterprises or activities, concepts brought from the environmental impact assessment (sánchez, 2020). in santo andré, the land use and occupancy law uses the concepts of “mediate neighborhood”, for those installed in lots and blocks that border the activity lot. and author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 "immediate neighborhood", the one located in the project's area of influence and that can be reached by it, covering at least a radius of 500.00 m (five hundred meters) counted from the limits of the lots. sorocaba determines that the type of enterprise or activity under analysis will determine the neighborhood. americana does not provide this information. the definition of the concept of neighborhood was one of the points addressed by polizel (2018) that deserve to be improved in the regulation of the nia. 3.3. preparation of the nia as for the elaboration of the nia, the legislation of americana, santo andré and sorocaba requires a multidisciplinary team, the first two cities require that professionals have specific training, qualified and registered by the city hall. jundiaí legislation did not provide information on those responsible for preparing the nia. the establishment of responsibility for the elaboration of the nia is often absent in the legislation that regulates the instrument and, according to polizel (2018), only 30% of the fifty most populous cities in brazil had such determination. public servants of urban planning agencies in cities in the metropolitan region of belo horizonte (minas gerais, brazil), widely criticize the low quality of the nia presented by the entrepreneurs (merícia, 2018). according to the author, nias have a large volume of pages, but are technically inconsistent and prepared by teams that appear to meet the specific interests of the contracting entrepreneur. araújo & campante (2017) highlight the importance of studies being carried out by interdisciplinary teams with training and specific technical practice to assess impacts in the urban environment. the legislation of americana, santo andré and sorocaba determines the elaboration of a report with the information of the nia presented in an objective way and in accessible language so that the population of the neighborhood can understand. the legislation of sorocaba determines that the information be reproduced in accessible language and illustrated by maps, pictures, photos and other visual resources so that the population can understand the advantages and disadvantages of the project, as well as all the consequences of its implementation and operation. 3.4. analysis of the nia by the municipal public power team all municipalities provide little detail on the nia review process. in jundiaí, a technical group of professionals from different departments carries out the analysis. however, there is no participation of municipal councils at this stage. in santo andré, the municipal council of urban policy has a significant participation in the analysis of the nia. municipal councils are important instruments of social participation, being composed, when constituted on a par, by representatives of non-governmental organizations, universities, organized civil society, business and city hall technicians. the analysis and/or decision by several stakeholders can make the decision fairer and prevent the appropriation of such spaces by the local elite. americana, jundiaí and santo andré indicate the agency responsible for analyzing the nia and in which other agencies the process will proceed. santo andré presents a detailed flowchart of the working hours in the various departments. according to araújo & campante (2017), it is essential to regulate consultation procedures with sectoral bodies and essential that analyzes are carried out in an integrated manner: (...) the most successful experiences being those related to the formation of intersectoral commissions with the participation of the various secretariats and concessionaires, working in a shared way, from the initial stages of formulating the terms of reference and defining the scope of the studies that will be required. the experience of bringing together a santo andré multidisciplinary technical group is consistent with the quote by araújo & campante (2017). interviewee 01 highlighted the relevance of the analysis of the nia involving representatives of various bodies in the municipality of santo andré. the lack of articulation and eventual changes in the competences of urban planning agencies is often one of the main reasons for the increase in bureaucracy and for the loss of efficiency in the project approval processes. author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 3.5. public consultation with neighborhood stakeholders the ec presupposes a society of active citizens, organized and informed about their interests, whose involvement with urban issues is a way of providing social justice. it also establishes that the municipal public power is not the only one responsible for the execution of urbanization projects, nor the main producer of space, so that urbanization requires cooperation between society, private initiative and government sectors, incorporating the population in these decision-making processes (bechelli, 2011; caldeira & holston, 2015) participatory planning and management, however, are still recent themes in brazilian legislation, especially when considering the still recent military dictatorship, the promulgation of the federal constitution of 1988 and the city statute itself. in this way, the stage of public participation ends up being neglected to the detriment of the participation of professionals directly linked to the production of the city, such as architects, engineers, representatives of the real estate market, etc. the segments that represent the interests of communities end up participating only in certain historical moments, as verified by (moura, 2009) in the city of curitiba (paraná, brazil), considered a model in urban planning, as “an exclusion that is confirmed in the inexistence of democratic channels of participation, or the fragility of the few instituted councils”. the city of sorocaba is the only one to present, as a condition for approval of the nia, the consent of the population: neighborhood consent must be proven through the agreement of more than 50% of residents within a radius of 300m from the site. perception surveys with the population have the potential to extract both quantitative data, such as the magnitude of impacts, and qualitative, regarding the aspects to be impacted with the installation and/or operation of the project. . a incorporação dos debates e disputas realizados durante as audiências públicas é uma forma do poder público ouvir, da comunidade afetada, impactos que influenciam a vizinhança e que, entretanto, não foram apreciados na elaboração do nia. apenas jundiaí prevê a inclusão das discussões realizadas nas audiências ao processo de análise do nia. um dos objetivos essenciais do nia é fornecer segurança à comunidade vizinha, informando sobre os efeitos positivos e negativos do empreendimento. é, portanto, um instrumento de justiça social que deve ser tanto elaborado como analisado de forma imparcial, promovendo a devida publicidade e garantindo o direito de participação dos interessados. os espaços de debate do nia, tanto nas audiências quanto nas consultas públicas, como no caso de sorocaba, podem impulsionar as discussões para além de um empreendimento específico, promovendo a produção da cidade de forma participativa e integrada à gestão ambiental municipal (peres; cassiano, 2019). todavia, conforme observado por (araújo et al., 2019): (...) even in cities that have been structuring themselves to apply the nia in a more systematic and effective way, it is the lack of mechanisms for popular participation that, together with the absence of collegiate deliberation bodies, make urban licensing processes more vulnerable to articulations and political fluctuations of each management. the municipal government, through the regulation of the nia, must enable the process of public participation in all stages of project approval, effecting its action in decision-making spaces, consolidating the ideal of participatory democracy established by the cf/88 and the ec (merícia, 2018). the involvement of different stakeholders in all phases of the nia, as well as in the nsa tools and aia, validates the authenticity and functioning of the systems (kamble & bahadure, 2019). 3.6. decision in jundiaí and santo andré, decision-making is the responsibility of the managers after issuing an opinion by the multidisciplinary technical group. in santo andré, the municipal council for urban policy subsidizes the final decision on whether or not to approve a type 3 nia. in the city of sorocaba, the municipal planning council participates in the analysis and approval of the nia. in jundiaí, the legislation does not provide for the participation of municipal councils in decision-making. it is essential to create deliberative collegiate councils representing the public power and organized civil society for the issuance of urban and environmental licenses (araújo; campante, 2017). author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 whether the decision is made by an authority (only the manager of the urban planning agency), or a decision made by the municipal council, clarity of the criteria for formulating and justifying decision-making is essential. the prediction of the participation of municipal councils in the decision phase on the nia gains importance according to the feasibility of including management measures that serve the affected communities (peres; cassiano, 2019). the use of georeferenced databases updated with information on licensing processes, closed or in progress, as an important tool to support decision-making, both in the scope of the assessment of local cumulative impacts and within a context of metropolitan planning. 3.7. monitoring and impact management santo andré is the only one that answered all questions related to the monitoring and management of impacts. all municipalities require the entrepreneur or person responsible for preparing the nia to sign a term of commitment, formalizing the commitment to comply with mitigating and/or compensatory measures. the approval of the nia and the respective license/authorization to build or operate, per se, should already guarantee compliance with those mitigating and/or compensatory measures, in accordance with the law. the signing of a "contract" formalizing this commitment shows that the law is often not complied with. the public servant seeks, with the signing of the term of commitment, to reaffirm the legal obligations of the entrepreneur. santo andré and sorocaba are the only ones that have implemented monitoring measures with definition of costs, actions and schedules. the details of monitoring actions or programs and impact management measures only appear in the legislation of santo andré and sorocaba. both provide for the development of a follow-up and monitoring program for impacts, indicating factors and parameters to be adopted during all phases of the enterprise or activity. in the cities of americana, jundiaí and santo andré, there is an obligation, on the part of the technical responsible, to indicate deadlines, schedules and costs of the monitoring stages. according to (marques & silva, 2015), mitigating measures are important interventions to mitigate the impacts caused by the enterprise or activity, however, they are the counterparts that have the potential to improve the public space where the project is planned. in this regard, interviewee 02, when asked about the possibilities of improving the nia in santo andré, reinforces the importance of these compensations and points out as one of the aspects that need improvements in municipal legislation: so, for example, i will mention the issues of compensation in public facilities. it is somewhat difficult to quantify these impacts depending on the enterprise, right? so we have... we've already tested some formulas, right? and i think there is still a field of improvement for us to – let’s say – evolve in this regard. interviewee 03 cites how the department has adapted itself when asking for compensation in projects that require less demands on public facilities: so i will cite, for example, a project that, according to the calculation of the department of education, would generate a demand for three places within a day care center. there is no day care for just three children: the city hall has a standard day care module that is for a minimum of 120 children and the most common standard would be for 240 children. so either you order a whole outfit or you don't order anything? so we transformed this demand into a value, a value in money. and this amount is paid by the entrepreneur and he goes to the municipal urban development fund, and this resource is transferred to the department of education, for example. in addition, the department uses this resource to reinforce the daycare she has closest, anyway. so this, for example, is a way that was found to give an answer. because at the beginning, you couldn't do anything, if you didn't justify the construction of a complete equipment which is the majority of cases -, or you demanded the construction of a complete equipment which, depending on the case, would be excessive, right? so we still have it, we struggle a little with it, but we have been working more or less along this line project follow-up after nia approval the monitoring stage provides for which body is responsible for inspection and which mechanisms will be used to ensure compliance with the commitments assumed by the person in charge. compliance with the implementation of mitigating and/or compensatory measures must be monitored through an inspection carried out by the licensing author name / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 body, preferably consolidated through a monitoring report from the nia (schvarsberg et al., 2016). all cities, however, have little information related to post-approval follow-up. only the city of jundiaí determines which teams are responsible for carrying out the follow-up after the approval of the nia. the forecast of follow-up inspections was found only in the legislation of sorocaba. it is observed that in many municipalities, after the approval of the nia, impact mitigation actions are no longer monitored and end up being disregarded and abandoned over time. 4. final considerations the regulation of the nia in the four cities showed differences in the way the instrument is applied by the municipal government. most do not have a specific nia law, those that existed previously were revoked by the respective master plans with a forecast of future regulation. the existence of nia legislation does not imply the quality of the instrument and its application by the municipal government. however, the absence of clear legislation can be an obstacle to the application of municipal urban policy, especially when related to licensing and inspection processes. the participation of neighborhood communities in the four cities requires structures that guarantee the right to the city in ways that are more efficient. this could occur through public consultation prior to the elaboration of the nia, in public hearings and/or in the dissemination of monitoring reports of the projects already installed. it is impossible to achieve urban sustainability without strong investment and prioritization of social development. the mechanisms of integration with the local environmental licensing are not clear. there are mentions of environmental instruments in urban legislation, especially in the master plans, but the processes do not seem to dialogue. this point deserves a deeper investigation, which will be carried out in future stages of this research. in brazil, environmental planning and management generally operate in different government departments, with different political or legal interests and structures. which is no different in these four cities. there are still growing conflicts between the green agenda, the brown agenda and environmental justice issues. urban planning is potentially at the intersection of these conflicts. for the issue of urban sustainability to gain relevance, it is necessary to build an agenda that is social and political, a single and comprehensive matrix for understanding the issue. although the discourse of environmental protection and sustainability is present in the speech of many managers who work in the planning of cities, the environmental issue reveals itself as a continuous frontier of clashes and tensions still. in addition to the historic division between the environment and urban environments in brazil, the situation has worsened. this is because successive neoliberal federal governments have year after year dismantling the brazilian environmental policy and urban policy. an example is the recently approved federal law nº 13.874/2019, known as the economic freedom law. this law provides that no abusive compensatory or mitigating measure or provision should be required, without the need for impact studies or other releases of economic activity in urban law. this law weakens the urban policy system, as it deprives cities of their ability to demand compensation in licensing processes. the law mainly interferes in the application of the nia and, in general, in the execution of the urban licensing. these national policies play a crucial factor in guiding the formulation of urban sustainability. faced with the systematic dismantling of the legal-urban-environmental order, perhaps one of the main obstacles is the clash between groups that build a city of the market and financial capital and between groups that seek a city for the public good and that seek to meet the social functions recommended in the city statute. references abiko, a. k. & barreiros, m. 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(2015). comparative analysis of material criteria in neighborhood sustainability assessment tools and urban design guidelines: cases of the uk, the us, japan, and korea. sustainability, 7(11), 14450–14487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su71114450 project follow-up after nia approval http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 research paper received: 15 may 2023, accepted: 22 june 2023, published online: 30 june 2023 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.963 the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities deniz deni̇z assoc.prof.dr., izmir university of economics, izmir, turkey, deniz.deniz@ieu.edu.tr abstract in recent years, cities have started to develop faster than ever, and this improvement has led to crucial changes in terms of social, environmental, as well as cultural conditions. today, people mostly prefer living in cities for many reasons, where cities’ sources have been forced to their limits for adaptation to this growth. in this respect, planners and designers have started to search for sustainable and innovative solutions with the help of technology and digitalization. with this dramatic improvement, not only planning and design professionals but also governments started to take smart and long-term solutions for resilient cities into consideration. sustainable cities are self-sufficient with their natural and cultural environments. they can also manage their economic and social acts from the viewpoint of sustainability. with the increasing demand for technological developments in the age of digitalization, cities should also include ‘smartness’ in order to achieve sustainable development for resilience, where environmental, social, and cultural aspects need to be provided in a sustainable way via creating smart solutions. digital transformation can help fulfill the needs and future expectations of city dwellers by increasing opportunities and cultural values for a sustainable lifestyle as one of the fundamentals of resilient cities. in this regard, this paper mainly discusses how digitalization and smart technologies can help with sustainable development and propose a new model for digital transformation to achieve culturally resilient cities. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainability; resilience; cultural environments; digital transformation; smart cities 1. introduction cities can be defined as ‘smart’ when they provide better planning and design solutions via technology in order to fulfill the expectations. technology has a crucial role to play in creating and maintaining sustainable cultural environments for resilient cities, where they defined as places in which technologies are combined with infrastructure for dealing with the social, economic, and environmental problems. in this case, technological improvements need to be considered by the actors who are responsible for sustaining cities, such as; local governments, ngos, stakeholders, city planners, and designers. these actors should focus on the needs and benefits of city dwellers by using digital and communication technologies for sustainable solutions. smart cities have to provide benefits for their citizens, including a high-quality environment, smart public transportation, safety, real-time info about the city, cultural and educational facilities by using new technologies. creating smart cities requires considering the demands of city dwellers and every ‘intelligent’ activity must be http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 motivated by well-being. digital transformation is becoming increasingly important in everyday life to make the environment more livable and sustainable for people through increasing social participation as well as cultural networks among people and public heritage. in this case, governments, institutions, and ngos must work in collaboration to improve digital literacy, make policies, develop digital skills, etc. digital transformation tools must be developed and used in many areas of everyday life. to do that, a smart city interface needs to be created as a framework that helps municipalities and local governments analyze real-time data to make more feasible design and management decisions. smart cities should also be equipped with basic infrastructure for sustainable development through the application of smart solutions. smart city planning for resilient cities needs to be based on collecting and analyzing consumer behaviors by gathering them via digital elements and using technological tools and developments for possible innovations. in this respect, • citizens’ engagement with social and cultural environments through public information, • protecting and optimizing natural resources via digital technologies and related applications, • encouraging smart and sustainable development for the components of cities through intelligent management systems can be classified as the main components that smart cities need to consider to be identified as ‘resilient’. to reach these goals, the new model is developed with respect to the dynamic nature of cities and their components for sustainable and long-term solutions. 2. components of smart and resilient cities the smart city concept emerged in the 1990s (hollands, 2008) and the term ‘smartness’ is used in a variety of meanings such as creative, digital, and virtual (vanolo, 2016). the term ‘smart city’ has become an inspiration for the future, from the governmental issues to the environmental, social and cultural developments that lead to a sustainable city (bakıcı, almirall and wareham, 2012). smart environments address the efficiency and sustainability of urban life in every aspect, including efficient use of natural resources and energy, environmental and cultural spaces (albino, berardi, and dangelico, 2015). in this case, smart living is defined as improving quality of life by increasing cultural and natural inputs into the daily lives of urban dwellers by transforming city functions into smart environments (giffinger, 2015). smart cities need a vibrant environment among people to be sustainable in terms of social, cultural and educational aspects (toppeta, 2010) by using technological development and digital transformation via better planning and design decisions (neirotti, 2014). therefore, cities need to find their capabilities for smart solutions on a city scale with their citizens (ruhlandt, 2018). with the development of technology, various environmental solutions can be applied to smart cities, addressing environmental and cultural issues through digitalization. ahad (2020) described the features of smart cities in which networked infrastructure enables social and cultural development, emphasizing on creative activities for urban growth (komninos, 2011). smart city planning is mainly based on understanding consumers and combining digital elements using technology for innovation. to do that, ict communication infrastructures should be supported by governance to use resources and technologies in innovative and coordinated ways to develop sustainable and resilient cities (barrionuevo, berrone and ricart, 2012). resilient cities are those that can effectively respond and adapt to various shocks and stresses, and cultural environments play an essential role in making a city resilient, as they shape a city's identity, foster social cohesion, and provide a sense of community. in this context, resilient cities embody the fundamentals of sustainable development and integrate the social, economic, and environmental components of their communities, considering the needs of existing and future generations. these cities also provide a safe and healthy environment, respecting the cultural roots and heritage derived from the city itself (bernardo, 2017). in this case, the needs of dwellers should be crucially considered by using smart technologies and digital transformation tools to contribute to the resilience of the city with all its components. deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 cultural environments also play a crucial role in making a city resilient by fostering social cohesion, promoting cultural exchange, and contributing to the local economy. by valuing and investing in their cultural environments, cities can become more adaptable, innovative, and sustainable in the face of various challenges. communities are dealing with socio-economic inequalities, poverty, social exclusion, and a lack of cultural development (odpm, 2005). in this case, although resilience has been considered in various scientific fields such as ecology and social sciences (vale, 2014), today the term ‘resilience’ mostly describes the interrelated system of adapting capacities for confronting external stressing factors in cities (ahern,2011). in the urban context, resilience aims at enabling cities to respond to shocks and stresses (melkunaite and guay, 2016) while improving the functions and services both on a regular basis and in crisis situations by building new social, economic, and environmental responses (desouza et al, 2013). urban resilience intends to augment the ability of the urban system, including physical, environmental and socio-economic perspectives, to build up its adaptive capacity while diminishing its vulnerabilities (tollin and hamhaber, 2017). considering these definitions, cultural environments in resilient cities can be defined as public spaces, cultural institutions, preserving heritage and creative industries as well as cultural diversity (world bank-crp, 2019). in order to create and maintain sustainable development in cities, cultural sustainability is as vital the economic, social and environmental ones. in this respect, these environments can be mainly divided into five sub-categories, which help to create the structure for sustainable development by encouraging cultural sustainability: figure.1. components of sustainable development for resilient cities (deniz d.,2023) public spaces: resilient cities should have vibrant public spaces that serve as gathering places for the community, because these spaces provide opportunities for social interaction, recreation, and cultural events. cultural institutions: resilient cities should have a diverse range of cultural institutions that provide cultural and educational opportunities for the community. these institutions not only promote cultural tourism, but are also crucial as an important economic driver for the city. heritage preservation: resilient cities should value and preserve their cultural heritage and cultural traditions. this preservation not only protects the city's identity, but also attracts visitors and provides opportunities for cultural exchange. creative industries: resilient cities should have thriving creative sectors, including artists as well as designers. these sectors contribute to the local economy and enhance the city's cultural identity, providing a platform for social commentary and innovation. cultural sustainability economic sustainability environmental sustainability social sustainability sustainable development deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 cultural diversity: resilient cities should embrace cultural diversity and celebrate the contributions of different communities. this diversity fosters social cohesion, promotes intercultural understanding, and enables the city to better respond to crises. 3. sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities through technology after the industrial revolution, the loss of natural resources increased due to changing lifestyle, which led to rapid urban development, and the idea of a smart city derived from the need to accommodate rapid urbanization. digital transformation is crucial to understand the complexity of cities with their built environment, social and cultural components, which create networks among social, economic, environmental, and technological factors. in this context, these transformations should mainly focus on developing opportunities with increased citizen engagement. technological developments and digitalization are important for resilient cities in many ways. there are some crucial aspects that need to be considered for creating urban resilience (figure2), including; preservation of cultural heritage: because technology can be used to preserve cultural heritage sites and artifacts. digital technologies can create replicas of artifacts and structures, that can be used for research, education, and exhibition purposes. in this context, digital archives can also be created to store and preserve historical documents and images. sustainable urban planning: using technology is crucial for sustainable urban planning to create resilient cities. smart city technologies and geographic information systems (gis) can be used to map and analyze data on land use, transportation, and environmental conditions, which can inform urban planning decisions. cultural exchange and communication: technology can facilitate cultural exchange and communication between different communities, both within a city and across the globe, to share information and ideas about different cultures, traditions, and practices. virtual reality technologies can provide immersive experiences that allow people to explore different cultures and environments. education and research: technology can provide access to education and research resources that are critical to understanding and preserving cultural heritage. online courses and digital libraries can facilitate knowledge transfer among people from all over the world. in addition, technologies such as artificial intelligence can be used to analyze and interpret data, which can inform research in fields such as history and cultural studies, as well as anthropology and archaeology. figure.2. fundamentals of urban resilience (deniz d.,2023) smart technologies change the city’s infrastructure in many ways: naturally, culturally, and economically, with the contribution of related partners such as; governments, decision-makers, planners, entrepreneurs, designers, stakeholders, and residents, by finding new methods for optimizing systems for new challenges. improving the u rb a n r e si lie n ce sustainable urban planning preservation of cultural heritage cultural exchange and communication education and research deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 cultural exchange and communication with the help of education, technology can be a powerful tool in creating and maintaining sustainable cultural environments in resilient cities. it can not only help to preserve cultural heritage, but also support sustainable urban planning, facilitate cultural exchange and communication, and provide access to education and research resources. a smart city model through digital transformation smart cities have a great potential for sustaining cultural development, which can mostly be supported by governments and private companies. designing smart cities is a complex issue, and it requires collaborative studies with the contributions of many disciplines, including decision-makers, designers, planners, ict professionals, as well as citizens. at that point, social and cultural dimensions must be considered since the smartness of a city mainly depends on community participation (figure3). citizens have a crucial role to play in sustaining cultural resilience in smart cities to be increasingly connected in cultural places, public networks, and smart transportation, which affect services through digital devices. in this case, the iot needs efficient data and smart objects. data management is also inevitable for smart cities, and the data collected from cities must be generated carefully to develop applications in order to fill this vital gap. figure.3. cultural development in resilient cities through technology (deniz d.,2023) understanding the needs and expectations of the city and combining them with digital elements through technology is crucial for cultural innovation. to do that, ict communication infrastructures need to be supported by governance to use resources via technologies in innovative and coordinated ways to develop smart sustainable cities. in this case, ‘smart and sustainable city model through digital transformation’ (figure4) was created as guidance for further studies which is defined with its components and responsibilities. cultural development in resilient cities sustainability technology driven solutions community participation deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 figure.4. a smart and sustainable city model through digital transformation (deniz d.,2023) although various methods are proposed to develop the smartness of cities, there are some obstacles related actors and responsibilities in the digital transformation process. in this respect, this approach needs to be considered not only by governments or policymakers but also by design professionals to create resilience in cities through the viewpoint of sustainability with its cultural and natural environments. understanding the role and responsibilities of ‘smart governance’ through digital transformation is crucial for smart solutions since they are the main decision-makers for sustainable solutions in cities. because technological developments enable smarter solutions through quick and accurate collection and processing of data for better results. in this respect, smart governance helps to ensure the efficient use of natural, social, and financial sources with well management in addition to provide public services that are accessible for all. besides, encouraging citizen participation and community engagement in decision-making processes should be provided for sustainable solutions. ‘smart environment’ through digital transformation is another aspect of creating a balance between planning and design for resilient cities. to do that, developing alternative tools for the efficient use of environmental, social, and cultural resources for future generations is crucial. ‘smart living’ through digital transformation is also crucial to consider for sustainable solutions in cities by having easy access to information and related technology for increasing social and cultural resilience. ‘smart mobility’ through digital transformation should offer sustainable mobility for fast and easy access to social and cultural facilities for a well-connected community via easy access to public environments, services, and opportunities for everyone. ‘smart economy’ through digital transformation helps to provide new opportunities for resilient cities by supporting entrepreneurship and encouraging leadership to provide an environment in which businesses are productive, efficient, and competitive for developing possible collaborations to reach success. today, digital transformation is at the heart of discussions on creating resilient cities via technological development to build more livable and sustainable cultural environments. to reach that goal, defining the existing problems and providing solutions for them via digital innovation to generate sustainable opportunities and facilitate community participation is inevitable. ‘smart and resilient city’ must be defined as an extension of a sustainable city to create advanced opportunities for people while minimizing environmental impacts with the help of technology and digital transformation. deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 4. conclusion smart cities use digital data and advanced technologies for sustainable solutions to increase quality of life, as well as economic, social, and cultural developments that engage effectively with their citizens. in this respect, cultural transformation for resilient cities via technology facilitates the adoption of sustainable practices and behavior change among city residents. this approach use the power of technology to create a culture of resilience, where individuals and communities are equipped to respond effectively to related challenges. at that point, technology has become crucial to use for promoting cultural transformation in resilient cities in many ways, such as improving smart infrastructure with the help of technological tools, etc. the importance of cultural preservation is undeniable for resilience planning to increase the value of the cultural heritage within the city. by protecting cultural diversity in a city plan, it is possible to improve a sense of belonging among its residents. technology helps to develop and implement resilience plans that are customized to the unique needs of each city. in this case, a resilient city plan should promote social cohesion and interactions among different cultural groups through the creation of attractive public spaces, as well as community events for all. resilient city planning should also consider the existing and potential vulnerabilities of different cultural groups, which have their own unique socio-cultural practices and emergency management strategies to be inclusive and culturally sensitive. this may involve targeted communication and community engagement to ensure that all residents can access their needs equally and in a better way. inclusive decision-making, where a resilient city plan should involve the participation of diverse cultural communities by ensuring that people from various groups can join in decision-making processes to reflect their needs and expectations is also crucial. in this regard, cultural diversity plays a crucial role in the development of a resilient city plan in several ways. thus, as stated in the proposed model, by involving residents, urban dwellers, and other related actors in decision-making processes with the help of technology, cities can boost cultural sustainability and improvement. it is obvious that encouraging social connections and improving networks via technology can also help raise awareness among city residents about the importance of resilience and sustainability. to do that, collaborative platforms must be created to help facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration among related actors. these platforms must be used to share best practices and promote community engagement to encourage cultural development in resilient cities. in order to create smart and resilient cities, economic empowerment will also drive cultural diversity and resilience. by supporting economic initiatives within diverse communities, a city plan can help improve knowledge transfer and the possible resources it offers. this can not only create a more inclusive economy but also enhance the resilience of the city. consequently, cultural diversity should be seen as a valuable asset in developing resilient city plans. in this regard, the use of technological tools and digitalization can play a critical role in promoting cultural transformation in resilient cities. by embracing differences, cities can harness the collective strengths of their diverse populations by fostering social cohesion and building a more resilient future for all. by leveraging technological solutions to foster a culture of sustainability and resilience, cities can create more livable, vibrant, and resilient communities for all. funding declaration: this research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors/individuals. ethics approval: not applicable. conflict of interest: not applicable. 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(2023). the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities. environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), 01–08. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.963 acm: deni̇z, d. 2023. the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities. environmental science & sustainable development. 8, 1 (jun. 2023), 01–08. doi:https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.963. acs: deni̇z, d. the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities. essd 2023, 8, 01-08. abnt: deni̇z, d. the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities. environmental science & sustainable development, [s. l.], v. 8, n. 1, p. 01–08, 2023. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.963. disponível em: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/963. acesso em: 30 jun. 2023. chicago: deni̇z, deniz. 2023. “the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities”. environmental science & sustainable development 8 (1):01-08. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.963. harvard: deni̇z, d. (2023) “the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities”, environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), pp. 01–08. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.963. ieee: d. deni̇z, “the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities”, essd, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 01–08, jun. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan%20.2011.02.021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.06.003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2014.850602 deniz deniz/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 mla: deni̇z, d. “the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities”. environmental science & sustainable development, vol. 8, no. 1, june 2023, pp. 01-08, doi:10.21625/essd.v8i1.963. turabian: deni̇z, deniz. “the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities”. environmental science & sustainable development 8, no. 1 (june 30, 2023): 01–08. accessed june 29, 2023. https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/963. vancouver: deni̇z d. the importance of digitalization for sustaining cultural environments in resilient cities. essd [internet]. 2023 jun. 30 [cited 2023 jun. 29];8(1):01-8. available from: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/963 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 102 doi: 10.21625/essd. essd.v2i1.78 epidemiological study on kawasan waterfalls marife matic mustacisa1, clyde bodiongan2 , vanesa montes3, weneliza morial4 iris april ramirez5, marchee tabotabo6 1 professor in samar state university paranas campus, philippines 2 bohol island state university, tagbilaran city, philippines 3 secondary school teacher in cebu city, philippines 4 secondary school teacher in agusan del sur, philippines 5 professor in bukidnon state university, philippines 6 secondary school teacher in cebu city, philippines abstract a place with clean water is worth living for, however, if it runs counter to the usual, it corollary results in some diseases. this epidemiological study does not intend to give a false image on the kawasan waterfalls of badian cebu, philippines rather, it aids to provide awareness among tourists to at least minimize anthropological activities that could contribute to water pollutants which cause an increased amount of heavy metals present in the water. with the collection of analyte and lab testing for the presence of cadmium, lead, and mercury in the aforementioned research environment, it was found that the water will not pose any health hazard to anyone in and around the river falls and even to any tourist in the place who wants to plunge into its azure water as far as cadmium and lead concentration is concerned. however, the mean concentration of mercury on the water projected a value, which is beyond the permissible concentrations and therefore may harm anyone in the community. thus, it is recommended to strengthen measures to prevent and to control the release of these substances into the natural water. shower facilities should be provided in the place and swimmers should wash first before plunging into the river. as part of an ongoing education and training effort, communicate all information on the health and safety hazards of mercury to potentially exposed individuals on the place. it is also suggested to conduct further concentration analysis of other metals present in the said water falls. © 2017 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords waterfalls; philippines; epidemic 1. introduction it is nice to visit places that are very inviting, seeing the flowing water from the top of the mountain especially with green environment. but in an inquisitive manner and scientific view, are you aware how safe the water where you enjoyed swimming and expose more or less hundred percent of your external parts? http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 103 contamination of the environment with chemical contents has been one of the important concerns in scientific research. exposure to certain levels of harmful chemicals damages the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immunity systems of humans of all ages (darbha, & ray 2007). one of the sources of harms are cosmetics products which contain lead and mercury. these include creams, cleansing milk, shampoos, hair dyes, eye shadows, rouge, lipsticks, powders, and toothpaste (al-saleh, enazi & shinwari 2009, & world health organization 2011 ). in the article of stewart (2016), it was statistically cited that beauty product industries continue to grow year after year. the makeup market has an annual growth rate of 3.7 percent between 2009 and 2013 and is expected to grow within the pattern of 3.8 percent for the period of 2013-2018. in terms of the skincare and lotions, they have the largest category in the global cosmetics industry, accounting to 35.3 percent of the global market in 2014; and hair care is amounted at 24 percent of the industry and is estimated to grow at annual rate of 2 percent. another influencing element which is dispersed into the water is the presence of cadmium that can be drawn from usage of phosphate fertilizers, sewage and sludge, various industrial use such as nickel cadmium batteries, plating, pigments, and plastics (environmental health and medicine, 2013). with those aforementioned facts, human impacts to the environment are in simple ways. it is evident that a common effect is the decreased water quality (martonas, 2017). if we continue to use the products at a high rate, we will unceasingly endure our water surface. imagine a basin with a lot of contaminants and then you suddenly dip your hand for several minutes, what do you think will happen? this paper intends to (1) measure the level of cadmium, lead present in kawasan waterfalls of badian, cebu city. part of its purpose is to (2) trace whether the presence of the said chemical contents may lead to certain skin diseases and other ailments and further (2) provide results to the tourists that suggest that the place has potentially good water quality, which makes this study very significant. kawasan was chosen as the research environment because it has been a recipient of countless country-wide and international recognition. for the years 2000, 2001, and 2002 it is one of the cleanest inland body of water in the philippines in the river category, however, in the successive years the recognition was stopped. 2. literature review 2.1. cadmium cadmium is a metal with an oxidation state of +2. it is chemically similar to zinc and occurs naturally with zinc and lead in sulfide ores. fertilizers produced from phosphate ores constitute a major source of diffuse cadmium pollution. the solubility of cadmium in water is influenced to a large degree by its acidity; suspended or sediment-bound cadmium may dissolve when there is an increase in acidity (ros & slooff, 1987). in natural waters, cadmium is found mainly in bottom sediments and suspended particles (friberg et al., 1986). epidemiological studies of people chronically exposed to cadmium via the diet as a result of environmental contamination have not shown an increased cancer risk. the results of studies of chromosomal aberrations in the peripheral lymphocytes of patients with itai-itai, an epidemic bone disease due to the chronically exposure to cadmium via the diet were contradictory. no reliable studies on reproductive, teratogenic or embryotoxic effects in humans are available. epidemiological studies of humans exposed by inhalation to relatively high cadmium concentrations in the workplace revealed some evidence of an increased lung cancer risk, but a definite conclusion could not be reached (krajnc et al. 1987 & cally 2002). according to the world health organization (1992), high levels of mercury, cadmium, and lead in water bodies are extremely harmful not only to the environment, but also to nearby communities that rely on these water bodies for their daily activities. these toxic metals can easily enter the body either through ingestion or skin contact, where prolonged exposure may result in symptoms such as nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, kidney and liver failure, cognitive and neuromuscular dysfunction and death. mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 104 2.2. lead environmental exposure to low levels of lead has been associated with a wide range of metabolic disorders and neuropsychological deficits (nas, 1980; epa, 1986). the well-known toxic (metabolic and cellular) effects of lead in asymptomatic children include (i) impairments in haeme, vitamin d and red blood cell nucleotide metabolism, (ii) perturbations of calcium homeostasis in the hepatocytes, bone cells and brain cells, and (iii) neurological damage (rosen, 1985; lansdown and yule, 1986). it is tested in the laboratory that lead is a toxicant that is known to induce multiple organ damage, even at lower levels of exposure. this metal is also classified as either “known” or “probable” human carcinogens based on epidemiological and experimental studies showing an association between exposure and cancer incidence in humans and animals (tchounwou 2004 & yedjou 2008) . exposure to lead occurs mainly via inhalation of lead-contaminated dust particles or aerosols, and ingestion of leadcontaminated food, water, and paints (atsdr 1992; 1999). adults absorb 35 to 50 percent of lead through drinking water and the absorption rate for children may be greater than 50 percent. lead absorption is influenced by factors such as age and physiological status. in the human body, the greatest percentage of lead is taken into the kidney, followed by the liver and the other soft tissues such as heart and brain, however, the lead in the skeleton represents the major body fraction (flora 2006). the nervous system is the most vulnerable target of lead poisoning. headache, poor attention spam, irritability, loss of memory and dullness are the early symptoms of the effects of lead exposure on the central nervous system (cdc 2001). 2.3. mercury mercury is of the known elements in the periodic table because of its unique characteristic which is liquid at room temperature. it is very useful to objects that changes temperature at a certain time interval but has no significant role on biological function (gochfeld 2003). a case study of cheuk & chan (2006) showed that exposure to mercury affects the kidney and the central nervous system whether it is inhaled or in permeation. 3. methodology 3.1. research procedure this study is experimental in nature. to gather analyte from the surface of kawasan waterfalls, the researchers first consulted an expert on water testing. they went to san carlos and asked about what particular chemical contents should be considered in order to attain the objectives of the study and the amount of analyte that should be collected. when the chemical contents were already identified, the researchers planned and prepared the materials needed for the water testing. to be done on april 27, 2017, in the collection of the analyte, the researchers made use of scientific steps in safety handling of water samples like using sterilized bottled containers where the sample will be placed, maintaining the temperature of water so it will not be contaminated. potential of hydrogen is also considered in taking subsequently, the analyte will be given to the testing center for the experiment proper to which the researchers are also present to witness that the water treatment is successfully done and to minimize errors that may occur, if not another collection of analyte will be replenished until the sample is sufficient. after the results, the researchers make use of analytical techniques in qualitative form for the interpretation of data which is grounded with literature reviews. in the inclusion of the literature, the researchers considered its relevance as to the level of cadmium, lead, mercury and potential hydrogen that will be carried from the analyte testing. mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 105 finally it will be presented in tabular and provide conclusions and appropriate recommendations for future use of the readers. 3.2. research environment the kawasan falls is a cascading three-layered made up of eleven waterfalls and is a world class destination in the mountain of badian, cebu, philippines. the first level of the kawasan falls has a drop that is around 40 meters high and wide with a very deep catch basin. the second level of the watefall is a 15-minute hike from the first level and has a drop of 20 meters and also a deep catch basin. several cottages are also built near the second level. some mountaineers who climb the osmena peak (the highest peak in the cebu province) usually conduct a traverse from the peak going to matutinao river which passes through kawasan falls. aside from swimming, one of the known activities in the place is canyoneering. other activities do not include tourism like direct selling and washing. 3.3. sample analysis the sample was analyzed for cadmium and lead content using aas flame method (apha, awwa, wpcf. standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 21st ed., usa; apha (2005). cold vapor technique, aas was used for the analysis of mercury (instructional manual, shimadzu atomic absorption spectrometer aa6300, shimadzu corporation, kyoto, japan, august 2006). 4. results and discussion the values of heavy metal content of the sample water are shown in the table 1. it can be gleaned from the table that the mean concentration of cadmium is less than 0.004 mg/ l and lead is less than 0.057 mg/ l respectively present in the water of kawasan falls in badian, cebu. these values are within the permissible concentrations of heavy metals in natural waters for the protection of human health as set by the world health organization (who). these results depicted that the presence of these metals in the water will not pose any health hazard to anyone in and around the river falls and even to any tourist in the place who wants to plunge into its azure water as far as cadmium and lead concentration are concerned. table 1. concentration of heavy metals in water from kawasan waterfalls parameters cncentration who standards who max (mg/ l) permissible limits (mg/l) cadmium (mg cd/l) less than 0.004 0.003 0.005 lead (mg pb/l) less than 0.057 0.01 0.05 mercury (µg hg/ l) 0.3906 (± 0.0074) 0.002 0.144 number in parenthesis, ( ), denotes 95% confidence level however, the mean concentration of mercury on the water is 0. 3906 mg/ l; this value is beyond the permissible concentrations and therefore poses a hazard to anyone in the community. mercury is a very toxic substance that people can be exposed to in several ways. if it is swallowed, it mostly passes through the body and very little is absorbed. if touched, a small amount may pass through the skin, but not usually enough to harm a person. mercury is the most harmful when vapors that are released are breathed in. since mercury accumulates in the body, a single, exposure to a high concentration of mercury can have very serious effects; hence even small amounts may cause serious health problems. generally it may have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes. acute effects include headache, chills, fever, chest tightness, coughs, hand tremors, nausea, vomiting, mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 106 abdominal cramps and diarrhea. chronic or longer term exposure to mercury causes personality change, decreased vision or hearing peripheral nerve damage and elevated blood pressure. mercury overload can even lead to major neurological conditions like alzheimer's or parkinson's disease. hence, there is a need for strengthening measures to prevent and to control the release of these substances into the natural water. shower facilities should be provided in the place and swimmers should wash first before plunging into the river. in addition, as part of an ongoing education and training effort, communicate all information on the health and safety hazards of mercury to potentially exposed individuals on the place. it is also suggested to conduct further concentration analysis of other metals present in the said water falls. appendix a. figure 1. map showing the locale of cebu city, philippines mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 107 figure 2. map showing where kawasan falls is situated in cebu mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 108 appendix b. collections of pictures taken from the research environment figure 3. showing the mess hall area located near the clean water of kawasan figure 4. in the picture are people who enjoyed kayaking out of a bamboo mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 109 figure 5. one of the activities people relished in kawasan is the canyoneering figure 6. kawasan is surrounded by preserved forest figure 7. the passway of kawasan which are made up of big rocks reached by flowing water mustacisa/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 110 references al-saleh, enazi s. & shinwari n. 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(1989) cadmium. us environmental protection agency office of drinking water health advisories. reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology, 107:25–37. world health organization (2011). preventing disease through healthy environments. retrieved from http://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/mercury_flyer, may 3, 2017. who (1992) cadmium. geneva, world health organization (environmental health criteria 134). yedjou gc, tchounwou pb (2008).n-acetyl-cysteine affords protection against lead-induced cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in human liver carcinoma (hepg2) cells. intl j environ res public health, 4(2):132–137. http://www.hkmj.org/system/files/hkm0608p316 http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=6&amp;po=5 http://education.seattlepi.com/effect-human-activities-environment-3653.html http://blog.marketresearch.com/the-market-for-beauty-and-cosmetics-products http://blog.marketresearch.com/the-market-for-beauty-and-cosmetics-products http://www.futurederm.com/how-phhttp://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/mercury_flyer http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i3.955 covid impact on usage of public spaces in brasilia, brazil carla costa1 1msc. urban management and development at institute for housing and urban development studies of erasmus university rotterdam, the netherlands abstract covid 19 has proved to be a challenging time worldwide. for the last three years, academics have researched its impacts through different lenses and perspectives in many significant fields. in the urban academic realm, there has been a growing debate on the potential change in behavior towards public space usage during the pandemic. after compulsory confinent, public spaces became under the mainstream debate of the importance of public spaces for livelihood in times of crisis. still, assessing its impacts on public space is still not widely done, neither quantitatively nor qualitatively. this research brings brasilia as a study case to understand whether the pandemic has affected the usage of the iconic abundance of green spaces of the capital city on the first 18 months, before the introduction of vaccination. brasilia as a garden-city, a concept brought by the modern urban design movement, has always faced criticism for its hygienist design and the ample provision of green spaces. the garden-city features was put to a test after covid 19 through the analysis of five different types of public spaces using surveys and interviews with local residents of plano piloto (n=147). the results show that during the pandemic the usage of local neighborhood parks within walking distance has indeed increased. people tend to use these spaces for exercising but most importantly to socialize with friends and family. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords covid-19;public spaces; brasilia;pandemic. 1. introduction after 2020, it is clear that life has changed due to the global covid 19 pandemic. cities are on the frontlines of this crisis, with economic activity being affected, high rates of infection and inadequate resources. much has been discussed already on how the covid-19 situation will shape the future of cities. it has highlighted the inequalities and fragilities of the way we live. as a component of urban fabric, public space has become crucial in helping maintain people’s sanity during lockdowns. the importance of public space on the quality of life is irrefutable, after all it is where social interactions occur (costa et al., 2020), the source of a community’s collective life, and the foundation of its identity (sepe, 2021). public spaces depend on public life and public life influences the vitality of public spaces (bal, 2008). whenever there is a decline in the usage, there is a decline in vitality of ‘these centers of activity and communication’ (pasaogullari & doratli, 2004, p. 226). whenever there is a constant presence of people using it, public space is considered vibrant, and that extends to the perception of high quality of a particular city. the interaction is clear: life cannot happen without space and space loses its purpose without people. daily life occurs in a physical setting but the provision of public spaces alone is not a guarantee that it will be fully used by its residents. there are unlimited ways to evaluate the interaction of public life and public space. however, gehl & svarre (2013) suggest that although each city or context is exclusive, what happens depends on people’s choices (carmona et al., http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 2010). the activities people choose to do in public spaces can be categorized in three main groups: ‘the necessary activities, the optional activities and the social activities’ (gehl et al., 2006). the interaction of public life and public space has changed as a result of the pandemic: some necessary and optional activities could be done without getting out of the house: work from home, shopping online, exercising with the help of mobile apps all to limit physical contact to a minimum and stop the spread of the virus. public life as we once knew it became digital. nevertheless, the need to go outdoors was an overall longing for everyone, and the provision of public space became a global spotlight. the modernist cities are in a favorable position when it comes to dealing with pandemics. the whole concept of garden city came from the hygienist utopia brought by ebenezer howard and, later, by le corbusier. “covid-19 is not our first pandemic, nor is this the first time planning and design has focused on improving public health. improving the sanitary conditions of cities motivated planners, architects and engineers to re-design cities before and more strongly in the late 19th century (jordi honey-rosés et al., 2020). the idea of opening spaces to prevent diseases affected urban design: green belts, ventilation, large openings on the facades are some of the characteristics of these particular modernist cities. the wide provision of public spaces is one of many attributes, besides the segregation of functions and the car-oriented design. regarding public spaces, jacobs (1992) and holston (1989) were amongst the critics of the brasilia configuration for having ‘infinite public space’, ‘empty spaces’, where it is difficult to promote encounters or, more broadly, where daily life should occur. the general perception of those infinite public spaces is the lack of expectation of public life. like tenorio rightly put it: “in brasilia, we don’t normally expect to see a vibrant public life, therefore it is not a problem when we don’t find it” (tenorio, 2012, p.209). intriguingly, the pandemic has brought new life to those ‘empty spaces’ of brasilia. the hypothesis brought on this research is that after covid-19, public spaces are being used like never before in brasilia. five different types of precincts were selected as case studies to measure this change according to the three different categories of activities (necessary, optional and social) related to the daily lives of the residents in the plano piloto area. these were chosen to explore the diverse range of modernist spaces that are involved in daily life of residents. they all have the potential to provide social distancing, are fully used by different types of people, can host different types of activities and testify to the functional characteristic of public space provided by the modernist urban planning tradition. the diversity of the selected public spaces demonstrates the different levels of usage as not all spaces were meant to have the same level of vitality. 1.1. relevance the relevance of the present research comes from the current situation the entire world is experiencing. the impacts of covid-19 are being researched in different fields such as health, economics, psychology, and politics. in regards to health, there is no better time to study the impacts of public spaces on health than now. the context is exceptional: since the spread of sars covid-19 was widely known, the first wave left the cities with a different image: streets and public spaces were left empty. every person in the world could observe that the synergy between people on the streets have become ‘unfamiliar and distant’ (jordi honey-rosés, 2020). in the urban academic realm, there has been a growing debate on the potential change in behavior towards public space usage during the covid-19 pandemic. weinberg and alexander (2021) have found that public spaces are being repurposed during the pandemic. cook and thorsen (2021) found that public life became more vibrant in public spaces during lockdowns providing ‘social infrastructure’ to local residents. a global research carried by gehl (o’connor, 2020) with more than 2000 respondents in 68 countries from all continents found that 65% of them have used public space daily during the pandemic. it also found that the main reason for doing so relates to physical and mental health activities. there is still much to be answered and no better timing to research the impacts of covid19 than now, since covid is still, unfortunately, an ongoing issue. it is critical to study and measure the changes in usage of public spaces during this pandemic, as a way to inform future planning and public policies in a post-covid world (jordi honey-rosés, 2020). additionally, those impacts have not yet been researched in a modernist city, which provides an opportunity to evaluate the design principles derived from a hygienist concept. carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 1.2 research objective the current research aims to get an insight on what has changed for the residents of brasilia in terms of usage of public space and ultimately make a south american contribution to the global mainstream debate of the importance of public spaces in times of crisis. moreover, it aims to test the hypothesis that public spaces are being used more than ever during the pandemic. the research aims to evaluate the main question: to what extent has covid-19 affected the usage of public spaces by local residents of brasilia? 1.3 limitations since the research was conducted online due to travelling restriction during the first wave of the pandemic, on-site observations were not possible. this limitation prevented the collection of on-site data on usage of the chosen precints, relying only on the feedck given by the respondents complemented by interviews. the number of respondents (n=147) were not representative of the population of the neighbourhood (over 225.000 people), and yet, the spatial configuration of plano piloto is so unique that does not represent the entire city of brasilia. in that sense, the typology of public spaces are confined exclusively in the plano piloto area. figure 1: plano piloto and its five types of public spaces: superquadras (yellow), entrequadras (orange), ‘eixão do lazer’ (pink), paranoa lake (blue) and city park (green). (source of the base map: seduh/gdf, 2021) carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 2. public space 2.1 physical dimension public space within the urban context is the starting point of this research. although some people believe defining public space is rather obvious, a precise definition is a complex challenge. each person defines it according to their own lens. the definition varies amongst authors and researchers. carmona (2010) in his literature review-based paper proposes his own typology of urban spaces with 20 categories after analyzing many proposals. those typologies helped in choosing the five precincts subject of this research: public open space: typically green and available to all. it is located surrounded by residential areas and caters to a diversity of cultural, leisure and contemplative uses for its local adjacent residents. it is normally equipped with sitting benches, playgrounds, gardens, sports courts, hosting different users at different times of the day. see figure 2. left over space: space that has no specific functions other than to separate residential areas or to connect them to others. it has a wide continuous green surface space filled with lawn and fewer random trees with few or no equipment. it has well defined edges and it is perceived often as a deserted area. see figure 3. movement space: space that has as main function to serve vehicular traffic, and therefore it has little pedestrian movement. however, it transforms to a linear park when it is closed to cars during weekends making room for a diversity of activities for local residents. see figure 4. civic space: it is often a point of reference for a number of events that affect public life, having a collective interest. for that, it contains multiple areas that cater to combined uses and different needs such as large greenery surface, water features, barbeque facilities, amphitheaters, sports courts, playgrounds, etc. it is accessible by different modes of transportation and easily recognizable by the residents. see figure 6. natural urban space: as an important natural element within the urban landscape such as lakes, rivers, seashore, and canals, it has a wideness characteristic and has an ecological importance. it is associated as a resting and socializing space that could also host recreational activities. see figure 5. figure 2 (left): aerial view of a superquadra with its inner green areas. the vast empty green area in between superquadras is an entrequadra. (photo credit: joana franca, 2018) carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 figure 3 (right): entrequadra 309/310 north. between two superquadras, this area is perceived as an empty area. under the red polygon, there is a church, one of the common uses for this space. the highlighted area has 1.7 hectares approximately. (base images extracted from google earth, 2021.) figure 6: birdview from city park and its inner lakes. (photo credit: heitor menezes, 2016) 2.1. social dimension: usage of public space from an environmental psychology approach, canter (1977) emphasizes the reciprocal relation between space and human behavior. it is difficult to disassociate the social component from the physical one in trying to define public space. he states, “behavior is related to a particular setting and thus constrained by it” (p.44). additionally, our behavior is determined by our subjective interpretation of our individual experiences (p.22), it is related to what we do, as activities, and what we feel, as perception (p.40). different from other spaces that often relate to a certain type of activities, public spaces seem to have a capacity to host several activities. kaplan & kaplan (1989, p.6) relate people to a natural environment, which includes parks and green areas. although it is about a specific spectrum, we can amplify their findings to all types of public spaces. according to them, human species are ‘strongly oriented to visual and spatial information’. moreover, spatial organization gives substantial information about what one can do in a particular setting. figure 4 (left): aerial view from residential highway axis, also known as ‘eixão’. (photo credit: joana franca, 2020) figure 5 (bottom): birdview from lago paranoa and jk bridge. (photo credit: bento viana, 2018) carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 there are many ways to categorize what one can do in a public space. activities can vary from place to place and from time to time, ‘undergoing continuous change’ (gehl & svarre, 2013, p.19). new activities can appear depending on external factors such as changes in legislation, new technological products or a big event, for instance. due to limitations, the passive engagement, sensorial behavior, stationary activities were intentionally left out since it requires on-site observations (watching, hearing, speaking, standing, sitting). the categories used in this research are derived from gehl et. al (2006, pp. 9-12). they are divided in: necessary activities are related to everyday tasks and do not depend much on the spatial conditions (e.g. working, shopping, walking to school, taking the garbage out); optional activities depend more on willingness and external conditions (e.g. strolling, jogging, reading a book). the optional activities have a higher importance because they relate to peoples’ preferences. if a public space offers better spatial quality, chances are that people will choose to use it more often; social activities can occur in either or both of the abovementioned, and depend on interaction with others (e.g. children playing, playing soccer). 3.0 methodology the strategy for this research is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods. a case study is necessary to explore and describe the unique physical dimension of public spaces in plano piloto neighborhood. regarding accessibility and proximity, public spaces in brasilia can be divided in three types considering the distance from the residential areas: local areas (immediate access, less than 5 minutes walking), adjacent open areas (from 5 to15 minutes walking access), and further public spaces (over 15 minutes walking). the selection of the five precincts were based not only on the levels of proximity mentioned earlier, but also to cover the different typologies of public spaces. the level of recognition by local residents was also a reason for the choosing the abovementioned precincts. multiple case studies can help understand why some places are more susceptible to public life than others are. secondly, an online survey with close-ended questions provided insight to the change in behavior in relation to the chosen public spaces considering the time dimension. the usage of public space was measured by frequency divided in three main groups of activities in each precinct: the necessary activities, the optional activities and the social activities’, proposed by gehl (gehl et. al., 2006). the survey contains the same questions divided in two parts: before and during the pandemic, to evaluate change, yielding a total of 26 variables analyzed. the target population was plano piloto’s residents (n=147) who live in the area, at least, for 2 years in the interest of evaluating change in usage before and during the pandemic, considering that it has officially started in brasilia in march 2020. 4. research findings many scholars are writing about the relation between covid and public spaces and this thesis wants to contribute to this debate. as i write this in the fall of 2021, 18 months after the outbreak of covid-19, we are still learning from the potential and importance of public space, as a ‘socially produced space’ (van melk, filion, & doucet, 2021, p. 16). it can certainly not be dissociated from people within the city. although we might be facing a ‘recovery’ or a ‘reopening phase’ all over the world, the virus is still a threat, and obviously requires more than park provision. we could not be at a better laboratory. as jacobs (1992, p.6) said, “cities are an immense laboratory of trial and error”. interesting choice of the word laboratory for a city where a virus is literally spreading. the city has indeed become a laboratory to test the best practices to avoid spreading the virus amongst its inhabitants. the pandemic has changed the way the inhabitants see and use public space: “the search for essential outdoor and climatic human needs has become more valuable” (gehl, 2020, p. 11). in gehl’s exemplary study in four different danish cities it was found that “people have adapted existing offering of public spaces to fit their physical activities needs (recreation, play, exercise) even in places that don’t have exercise equipment” (gehl, 2020, p. 19). this also applies to the case of brasília, where public spaces closer to residences have few amenities available. the present research demonstrated the impacts of covid-19 on the usage of public spaces in brasilia. the physical dimension of public spaces in plano piloto, unchanged over time due to its heritage-listed condition, set the context where the social dimension of public life occurred. the covid 19 is a mediating variable, an external shock that affected this ongoing relationship. even though the data showed that some residents stopped using public spaces carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 reflecting contagion concerns, there was an overall increase in frequency from those who remained using them. in that sense, the empiric observation was tested and confirmed that public spaces are being used more than ever during the pandemic. moreover, it demonstrated the differences in use between different types of public spaces and how use changed before and during the pandemic. researching the five precincts gave insight on how the usage differs according to the physical characteristics of a public space. the importance of local neighborhood areas within walking distance was the main outcome, supporting the outcomes of gehl’s research in denmark (gehl, 2020). local or neighborhood parks were more intensively used than the ones that are located in the city center, correlating proximity and increase of usage during the pandemic. 4.1 usage before the pandemic when residents were approached to reflect on their usage of public space during corona, it brought a retrospective perspective of what it was like before the covid interrupted our lives. this baseline was necessary to set grounds to a comparison analysis. the subquestion ‘how was the usage of each different type of public space before the pandemic regarding necessary, optional and social activities’ has shown that there was a significant usage of public spaces already in brasilia. the number of respondents and their frequency of usage showed that the five precincts were more intensively than often thought. the usage was especially high on the further precincts: 46% of the respondents said they always used paranoa lake and 42% used the city park always. those places were mostly reached by private vehicles by 69% and 67% of the respondents, respectively. as per types of activities, the closest precincts were mostly likely to be chosen for necessary activities (35% in superquadras and 33% in entrequadras), whereas the paranoa lake was mostly used for relaxing, an optional activity. eixao and city park were precincts chosen mainly for exercising (47% and 35%, respectively). comparing weekday usage with weekend usage, the latter was more intense on eixao, paranoa lake and city park (77%, 65% and 58%, respectively), confirming those public spaces as common weekend destinations. from all the precincts research, city park had the more intense night usage. that outcome contradicts some criticism of the modern tradition itself. holston once said that in “brasilia ‘there are no people in the streets’, the city ‘lacks crowds’ and ‘lacks the bustle of street life”. the absence of an urban crowd has earned brasilia the reputation of a city that “lacks human warmth” (holston, 1989). of course, the vitality will always be a difficult attribute when someone refers to brasilia in comparison to a traditional city. even so, the city has its own dynamics. pinto in his research concluded that the “residents attributed a special meaning to brasilia’s public spaces, a place status that is attached to a way of living. (…), this (place) can constitute a reference to affection, that some can call quality of life, expressing a relation to a place, a spatial reference to one’s life.” (pinto, 2011, p.103). carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 figure 7: difference between the type of usage of the 5 different types of public spaces in abosulte percentage from the survey. it is possible to make comparisons betweens types of public spaces, types of activities and time, considereing the pandemic. (source: the author, 2021) 4.2. usage during the pandemic activities can vary from time to time, ‘undergoing continuous change’ (gehl & svarre, 2013, p.19). the covid 19 pandemic was an external factor that brought new ways of living and new ways to use public space in brasilia. “when i went for a walk here, in the band 700, between the blocks there are some gardens, trees, i noticed people making picnics, they put a chair away from each other, a towel, and they have a snack, under the trees, that got my attention". r10 (female, 53 years old) the research subquestion ‘how was the usage of each different type of public space during the pandemic regarding necessary, optional and social activities’ brought the outcomes regarding change in time on this usage. the results show that even though there might be people who ceased to use the public space after the start of the pandemic, the ones who continued to use the public space are using it more frequently. the number of respondent who answered they use ‘always’ the superquadra open spaces increased 10% in comparison to the usage before the pandemic. on the other hand, the ones who use it ‘rarely’ increased significantly by over 30% on the further precincts (31% at eixão, 31% in paranoa lake and 37% at city park). that confirms the suspicion that proximity plays a major role during the pandemic, when local public spaces have been more used than ever. in the context of brasilia, the way you reach those spaces has not changed much: walking is still the preferred mode to reach the closest areas whereas cars to reach the further ones. in regards to types of activities, there was an overall decrease in socializing, which is predicted in a pandemic scenario. one can say that socializing was mainly happening inside our houses, through digital platforms and social media. the research found that at eixão, paranoa lake and city park there were no respondents who said they have used those carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 spaces for social activities during the pandemic. walking a dog and relaxing had a slight increase both in superquadra and entrequadras areas. exercising increased only in superquadra areas, stating that people would choose closest public spaces not only for necessary activities but also to keep fit during the pandemic. when it comes to weekend preferences, the results were relatively the same, confirming that the further public spaces continues to be the weekend preferred destinations even during the pandemic. figure 8: why do you use the public space? before the pandemic (left) during the pandemic (right). (source: the author, 2021.) figure 9: why don’t you use the public space more often? before the pandemic (left) during the pandemic (right). (source: the author, 2021) prompting for the reasons for not using the public space more often, respondents were asked to think about the public space they use the least. interestingly, the motivations have changed significantly due to the pandemic. the top two reasons for not using public spaces before the corona crisis were lack of time and lack of motivation to go. during the pandemic, one can imagine that time was plentiful and motivation to go out after being stranded at home for a long period was not valid any longer. during the pandemic, the reasons for not going to public space more often shifted to perception of safety and crowds. the safety measures may have played a good part in it. since the question had an open space for respondents to add other reasons, most of them added the distancing and fear of contamination as reasons for not using public space. gehl’s study showed that ‘some local places are becoming full and it is harder for people not to cluster in large groups and keep distance’ (gehl, 2020, p. 30). another finding related to night usage found that in one hand, the number of residents who stated they used the city park during nighttime have decreased during the pandemic on the other it has increased in entrequadra areas, also confirming the importance of proximity in changes in usage behavior. the need for a wider space was the main motivation for using public space during the pandemic: it has increased 6% in comparison to before the pandemic. the main reason for not using more often the public space was the perception they were too crowded, which had an increase of 11% in comparison to before the pandemic. this last finding can also add to the empiric perception that public spaces in plano piloto were being more used than before the pandemic. the relation between residents and public space changed due to a global pandemic. people started to build new relations, relations where the base is the fear of contamination. even with a horrible motivation to use, local residents in brasilia seeked to overcome this difficulty and found in the wide public spaces a safe escape. “i believe that the pandemic revolutionized the way ‘brasilienses’ see their city” r1 (female, 44) carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 moreover, it has shown that there were some activities people prefer to do in public spaces during a pandemic. exercising and relaxing were the main ones, and are probably the ones that would persevere in a post covid scenario figure 9: superquadra 'new normal': celebrating birthdays on public spaces. (photo credit: virginia manfrinato, 2021) figure 10: ‘eixão do lazer’, a highway closed for cart traffic on sundays during the pandemic, in august 2020. (photo credit: acacio pinheiro/agencia brasilia) carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 5. conclusion despite the differences in dealing with the spread with stay at home, compulsory usage of facial mask, lockdowns measures, we have observed that even though there was an initial closure of public spaces (that varies differently between countries and types of public spaces), and then more and more public spaces were getting used, with pressure growing on large urban parks. the small local parks seemed to be undergoing a resurgence (van der berg, 2020). the pandemic has shown how public spaces are more than just nice amenities; they are vital community hubs. through a multi-method impact assessment for knight foundation, gehl documented how public spaces fostered more equitable access and community resilience (weinberg & alexander, 2021). the research has confirmed the empiric observation that, even though people were avoiding encounters due to the pandemic, they used more frequently the surrounding public spaces than before the pandemic. the proximity factor was one of the key attributes that impacted this change in behaviour. the trend was not only observed in brasilia, but in a global scale, where public spaces played a major role during the pandemic. brasilia is a city that its residents have wide access to green areas and public spaces within walking distance, which is a feature that was embedded in its creation in 1960, in the midst of the modern movement trend. the perception of residents during the pandemic changed in a way that they realize the privilege of living in a city with wide provision of spaces. “when you are forbidden to go out, we recognize the importance of having public spaces”. r5 (male, 35) there is a window of opportunity to be taken from this pandemic by identifying options in managing public spaces during a crisis. the complexity of urban issues shows that public life experiences can vary greatly between different groups and that can highlight inequalities from levels other than spatial. a pandemic brought attention on how fast this change can disrupt lives and the urge of having a fast response. the management of public spaces must be realized through intersectional approaches that focus not only in designing policies but also in individual and collective action. discussion a vision for public spaces can rise new possibilities and ideas in the planning and policy realms for the existing and potential open areas. short-term approaches is possible, as many initiatives around the globe can show. in addition, long-term perspectives are also desirable and urgent. our cities should be resilient to the next shock whether is unexpected or not. covid-19 is still a reality, but other pandemics can emerge. what happened with the pandemic is an extraordinary opportunity to learn from other cities and people about change in behaviors, mobility patterns, community business and environmental approaches to strategically improve not only the city planning itself but also our citizens wellbeing. 7. recommendations a further step in academic research would be getting a broader horizon on the subject of public spaces in south america, where there is little literature in this context. an interesting comparison between other modernist cities could bring more in depth knowledge on how the modernist principles affect the usage of public spaces by its residents in a crisis. furthermore, since this research was focused on residents of plano piloto, a broader view could start in comparing this data with similar neighborhoods. noroeste and sudoeste are neighborhoods that have a similar spatial configuration as seen plano piloto. this comparison could bring similarities or differences considering the same types of public spaces. since both these neighborhoods have demographic similarities, another way to improve the comparison would be to compare neighborhood parks from surrounding districts, also known as ‘satellite cities’. as those areas have a completely different spatial configuration, further research could test the proximity to public spaces variable to see how it affects figure 11. waiting for vaccination. photo: roberta saita, september 2021. carla costa / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 usage behavior. moreover, a future investigation can compare whether there was a significant change in usage in a post covid scenario. we can then draw more conclusions on whether covid-19 has indeed transformed the way people use public space. references bal, m. (2008). perceptions, planning and principles of public open spaces (pos): realities of cape town and kosovo informal settlement, south africa. rotterdam: ihs. canter, d. (1977). the psychology of place. new york, ny: st martin’s press. carmona, m. (2010). contemporary public space, part two: classification. journal of urban design, 15(2), 157-173. carmona, m., tiesdell, s., heath, t., & oc, t. (2010). public spaces urban spaces. the dimensions of urban design. new york, ny: routledge. codeplan. (2016). pesquisa distrital por amostragem de domicilios: plano piloto pdad 2015/2016. brasilia: gdf. cook, r., & thorsen, s. (2021, 14 04). social media and social space: studying public life in the time of covid. retrieved from gehl people: https://gehlpeople.com/blog/social-media-and-social-space-studying-public-life-in-the-time-of-covid/ costa, c., mačiulienė, m., menezes, m., & marušić, b. 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(2021). covid-19 pandemic and public spaces: improving quality and flexibility for healthier places. urban design international. tenorio, g. (2012). ao desocupado em cima da ponte. brasilia, arquitetura e vida publica. brasilia: universidade de brasilia. un-habitat. (2020). un-habitat guidance on covid 19 and public space. un-habitat. (2021). cities and pandemics: towards a more just, green and healthy future. isbn number: 978-92-1-132877-6. urban land institute. (2021). the pandemic and the public realm global innovations for health,social equity, and sustainability. washington dc: urban land institute. van den berg, r. (2020, april 10). how will covid-19 affect urban planning? retrieved from the city fix. https://thecityfix.com/blog/willcovid-19-affect-urban-planning-rogier-van-den-berg/ van melk, r., filion, p., & doucet, b. (2021). global reflections on covid 19 and urban inequalities. volume 3 : public space and mobility. bristol: bristol university press. weinberg, l., & alexander, e. (2021, march 24). public spaces: a platform to connect during covid 19 and build equitable cities beyond. retrieved from gehl people: https://gehlpeople.com/blog/public-spaces-impact-assessment/ https://thecityfix.com/blog/will-covid-19-affect-urban-planning-rogier-van-den-berg/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.788 regional resource urbanism, envisioning an adaptive transition for the urbanising periphery of kathmandu ashim kumar manna1 1 urbanism and architecture (osa), faculty of engineering science, ku leuven, 3001 leuven, belgium abstract despite a strong tradition of harmony between the landscape and its settlements, kathmandu's periphery now stands altered due to the contemporary challenges of modernisation. it has become the contested territory where rapid urbanisation and infrastructure projects conflict with the valley's last remaining resources. i.e., fertile soil, floodplains, water sources, forests and agricultural land. the periphery is essential in preserving the remaining agricultural landscape, which is the mainstay of the numerous traditional communities of kathmandu. both the occupants and the productive landscape are threatened due to haphazard urbanisation and future mobility projects, resulting in speculative and uncontrolled sprawl. a detailed investigation was conducted on a site 15km south of kathmandu to address the city's landscape challenges. the chosen investigation frame presented the suitable conditions to study and test strategies posed by the research objectives. the research utilises landscape urbanism and cartography to reveal the landscape's latent capacities, identify the spatial qualities, stakeholders and typologies involved in the production and consumption of resources. the study identifies existing resource flows and their ability to generate future scenarios. systematic design strategies were applied in resource recovery projects by optimising enterprising capacity building within communities after the earthquake. the research recognises the merit in existing practices, community networks, the ongoing post-earthquake rebuilding efforts in offering an alternative design strategy in which landscape becomes the carrying structure for the sustainable reorganisation of kathmandu's periphery. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords kathmandu; landscape urbanism; periphery; resource management; systemic design. 1. introduction kathmandu served as an important trade centre between india, nepal, and tibet and urbanised in capacity by managing natural and cultural resources. settlements flourished with a careful understanding of the landscape and climate, supported by indigenous water and agricultural systems. kathmandu, situated within the central himalayan region and surrounded by high mountains on all four sides (korn 1977). traditionally settlements occupied the higher plateaus, and the productive lowlands were cultivated. sloping lands were used for cultivating forests, orchards and vegetables. production and consumption resulted in the valley's socio-cultural development, marked with celebrations linked to sowing, harvesting crops and water management (korn 1977; slusser 1982; tiwari 2001). significant landuse changes have been observed along the valley's periphery since the adoption of the first land-use plan in 1976, accelerating after the 2015 earthquake (bhattarai and conway 2010; rimal et al. 2017). as one of the crucial employment sectors, the valley's agriculture has now transformed into fertiliser and labour-intensive practice, drawing seasonal migrants from rural nepal (pradhan et al. 2007; rijal, bansal, and grover 1991). the gradual occupation of http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 15 agriculture, forests and floodplains highlight the increasing conflicts between the landscape and the occupants. haphazard urbanisation and post-earthquake reconstruction have also increased water extraction, removal of topsoil for brick manufacturing, and riverbed sand for construction. additionally, fossil fuels used in the construction industry contribute significantly to the valley's deteriorating environmental quality (raut 2003; uprety et al. 2019). declining soil quality, water shortage, climate change and post-earthquake distress are also impacting the traditional farming and animal husbandry sectors. figures 1a-1f provide glimpses of the ongoing transformation in the form of housing, infrastructure, and urban expansion. the periphery's role is critical, as it preserves the agricultural landscape managed by the traditional farming communities. in addition, kathmandu is further exposed to water shortages, growing air pollution, and forest cover's destruction (dicarlo et al. 2018; pradhan et al. 2007). increased urbanisation results in waste generation, which further impacts the peripheral landscape (alam et al. 2008; dangi et al. 2011). the increasing environmental challenges, underlying risks of recurring earthquakes, and the projected urbanisation of the valley add to its vulnerabilities. this research investigates one of the predominantly agricultural peripheries, transforming rapidly to accommodate the urban growth and located in the southern fringe of the kathmandu figure 1. the vignettes from kathmandu's landscape; (a) kirtipur village highlights the traditional logic of occupying higher plateaus for settlements and valley for agriculture; (b) haphazard urbanisation is consuming the productive farmlands; (c) new mobility infrastructure and brick manufacturing in bagmati valley; (d) farmer-craftsmen, engaged in crafts between the planting and harvesting; (e) construction of new road infrastructure gradually consumes the terraced landscape; (f) small vegetable lots utilising household wastewater provide much-needed employment opportunities to peripheral communities during the post-earthquake rehabilitation. source: author. this research analyses urbanising regions such as kathmandu within the himalayan region. it aims to reveal the ecological distress, ongoing contestations and reduced resilience in adapting to climate change in the himalayas (eriksson et al. 2009). it attempts to highlight the challenges of mountain communities that require awareness and innovative response towards environmental change. the study contours the critical issues of the landscape in response to the following questions. first, can a landscape-led recovery guide the future urbanisation in kathmandu? second, can design research help in capacity building in the post-earthquake rebuilding efforts? the paper builds upon the premise of landscape urbanism's ability to offer alternative land-use planning methods using resource potentials within an urbanising context. 2. methods and materials the paper combines interdisciplinary learning, cartography and design research to explore future opportunities within a rapidly urbanising territory. the theoretical lenses of landscape urbanism and concepts of systemic design have been combined to analyse the productive landscape and develop design scenarios. the fieldward and primary data collection for this research was conducted during the post-disaster mission to nepal after the 2015 gorkha earthquake. a detailed spatial investigation was conducted on a study frame of 8 km by 6 km. observations were collected through walking and interviews with farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, artisans, community leaders and local experts. base manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 16 maps were prepared by combining open-source geospatial data, archival data and numerous photographs. interpretative mapping synthesised the opportunities, conflicts, and risks for guiding future urbanisation through spatial design. the statistical and quantitative data was estimated from archival research, case studies, peer-reviewed articles and expert interviews. the author does not claim complete accuracy of the quantitative data presented but provides an accurate representation of the ground conditions and possible opportunities. the results are discussed in two parts. section 3 provides insights into the dynamic qualities of the landscape and transforming relationships over time. it helps identify typologies, wasted potentials and opportunities that guide design strategies. section 4 describes the various design strategies that integrate the historical qualities, combining latent landscape qualities and human ingenuity possibilities through cooperation. the research concludes by reflecting on disasters and how post-disaster reconstruction efforts can stimulate urbanisation as a dialectic process between existing and new development. 3. assessment of landscape resources within a productive periphery since its origins, the valley's geography has been instrumental in kathmandu's resource flows and development. the unique bowl-shaped valley also impacts the availability of essential resources. figure 2a-2c constructs the flows of resources (energy, fuel, water, food and waste) while allowing us to study the urban functioning of kathmandu within nepal. by following the material flows, it is possible to understand the system's functioning and its weaknesses. it can be concluded that the high there is external dependence that is vulnerable due to the valley's position. the material flows are also subjected to the long-distance relationship between material and user through transport corridors subjected to earthquakes and political blockades. most internal flows are subjected to vulnerabilities due to urbanisation, lack of water, and climate change impacts. figure 2. interpreting the geopolitical landscape and its impact on the resource flows within kathmandu valley; (a) nepal's landlocked position; (b) the section of the kathmandu valley highlighting its unique landscape condition; (c) interpreted flows map of critical resources, i.e. energy, water, food and waste; source: author. this section investigates specific cases but positions them to critically review the ongoing transformations of landscape typologies within the landscape. a detailed spatial investigation has been conducted upon an urbanising periphery near bungamati and khokhana, 15 km south of kathmandu. the research utilises a 'framework' measuring 8 km by 6 km to explore the research questions and possible design strategies. the frame is bound by the rivers and mobility corridors and defined by the valleys of bagmati, nakkhu, kodhku and godavari rivers, as shown in figure 3a. the land use in the frame is mainly agricultural, its population involved in farming and crafts, and its landscape threatened by the uncontrolled, mushrooming practices which induce sprawl. the investigation frame is further threatened by urbanisation and future mobility projects, such as the ring road, the fastrack expressway and a rapidly growing brick industry to support the post-earthquake redevelopment that rapidly consumes kathmandu's southern periphery. figure3b-3e illustrates the composition of the landscape. the agriculture practices alternate between dry and wet seasons, irrigated and non-irrigated and the village slopes. water needs for agriculture and animal rearing is manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 17 met chiefly through rainfall, artificial ponds and indigenous water canals. urbanisation and land-use changes have aggravated the loss of irrigated land by the destruction of the water system. most of the agricultural periphery present during the 1950s has been consumed by urbanisation along the ring road and continues to date (shrestha 2013). it further explores the spatial impact of interaction among the natural and human resources. it reveals multiple overlaps of daily and socio-cultural rhythms of life within the valley. the research draws relations between the interplay of ecological and socio-economic activities, intending to highlight associated meanings and collective action related to production and consumption. the periphery produces many products based upon the location of raw materials. each product has distinct or overlapping cycles due to its manufacturing processes, scales of operations, and labour availability, including its impact on the region's social structure. yet each product draws upon the capacity of the natural and human resources potential within the study frame. figure 3. defining the productive frame & impact of resource extractions landscape impacts; (a) map; urban expansions happen quite randomly leading to interesting intertwined urban-landscape morphologies; (b) rainfed farming slopes outside khokhana; (c) traditional settlements ;(d) farming cooperatives in the along the river valley; (e) brick factories within agriculture fields. source: author. figure 3a, shows the productive valleys, traditional settlements and suburbs along roads, brick kilns and farmland within the 8 km by 6 km investigation frame. productive flows concentrate along with the villages, and the critical mobility corridors connecting convey the finished products to markets located within the city. the fieldwork and mapping revealed that bricks and sand mining were some of the most harmful practices within the landscape. many subsistence products and local sales, such as livestock management, floriculture and cooperative farming, require technical upscaling as their efficiency dramatically depends on water and soil. figure 3b-3e highlight the key typologies related to production and resource management. these typologies were distinguished into subsistence agriculture, small scale animal and vegetable farms, commercial farming, and brick kilns during the fieldwork. these print plates are engaging themselves over the base layer of the valley landscape, and they become the producer, processor and consumer of resources. the resource flows' spatial position can provide clues towards continuities, disruptions, scattered, or concentration. it reveals meanings associated with collective actions related to resource availability and productivity, including workforce patterns provided by individual farming households, often by migrant labourers. the impact due to resource extraction is increasing daily due to demands for the growing city. the irrigated lands are getting impacted by the soil extraction for bricks. the loss of irrigation is coupled with water extraction of groundwater by commercial vegetable farming enterprises. they reduce farmlands' productivity, and climate change also impacts farmers to opt for fertiliser-based farming practices. the existing production practices are simultaneously removing soil fertility and also depositing chemicals within the landscape. the post-earthquake rebuilding frenzy has already accelerated the brick making and construction industries, further threatening landscape qualities. yet, these mobilisers of the landscape have significant potential if guided within a framework of cooperation. further manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 18 investigation on resources revealed that these landscape mobilisers leave significantly underutilised or wasted opportunities within the landscape. available as latent, leftover or wasted, these material and human resources can be utilised in meaningful ways. wasted resources were classified into; crop residues, waste or losses from commercial, cooperatives and animal farms, wastewater from residential areas, residual heat and unutilised workforce from the brick kiln and transport network poor producer-consumer relationships. figure 4a-4d presents the interpreted wasted potentials, which can be devised into resource-based recovery processes providing the much-needed opportunities for sustainable growth of the valley's periphery. figure 4a becomes the underlying basis for three key design strategies elaborated in the next section. the resource system analysis highlights the importance of landscape, traditional villages, and specialised markets as equally crucial to the valley's urbanisation. it also highlights environmental degradation, deposition of chemicals, topsoil loss, increased carbon emission, and linear systems creations. figure 4. wasted potentials within the landscape; (a) map highlighting the capacities of crop residues, waste from farms, and waste produced by human activities and brick kilns, combined with market-transport, and workforce; (b) occupation of the productive land for housing plots and commercial farming; (c) soil extraction, removal of topsoil, disruption of irrigation and topography, reduction of farm yield; (d) commercialscale vegetable farming, seasonal migrant families come due to lack of employment and low turnover from agriculture. source: author. 4. connecting resources, envisioning a systematic transition through strategic projects highlighting the spatial relations and underutilised capacities of the landscape previously, the following section elaborates upon three incremental design strategies linked to resource pooling and community collaborations. these projects combine landscape urbanism and systemic design principles to synergise the desired transition (berger and sijmons 2009; shannon 2009). the village armature project reimagines the existing household-farm relationship into an upscaled resource grid connecting bungamati and khokhana. it combines the key public spaces, social and educational institutions, waste collection points, sewage outfalls, and the various crafts/small workshops along its length. household night soil and biodegradable waste are converted into biogas, and manure for the kitchen gardens are enhanced with an anaerobic digester. the strategy allows an average household of five members to extract usable energy in biogas at 2kwh/household, thereby removing methane from the environment and leaving usable manure of approximately 0.3kg/household. it is estimated that household utilisation of 3 kg of wood per day for energy can be covered by the biogas plant (rijal and yoshida 2002). the strategy is scaled from household to village level with the help of the compact urban form of the villages (thomsen, woerum, and haagensen 1968). village or cluster digestors can replace individual anaerobic digesters, increasing efficiency and reducing capital and operational costs. the centralised facility fosters participation and assists in post-disaster rebuilding efforts through efficient energy-nutrient relationships, as illustrated in figure 5. the armature further pools solar energy at the rate of 4kw/10sqm of rooftops as additional electricity to the craftsmen to overcome electricity shortages (jha, stoa, and uhlen 2016). analysis of energy bill during the fieldwork revealed manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 19 that the average household and a craft cluster utilised approximately 8 kwh of energy per day. the combined efficiency of the household biogas at 2kwh (voegeli 2014) and rooftop solar of 4kwh/sqm (gautam, li, and ru 2015; irena 2014) can suffice for most of the energy needs. in the future, the armature can support craft tourism and enable densification. the microgrid allows resource pooling and distribution for energy (solar & biogas), extracting valuable nutrients from human waste as manure for agriculture and promoting agriculture and crafts within energy scarce rural areas. the nature and position of the armature allow us to think beyond its social and spatial capacities, where solid waste, wastewater and energy production, and consumption become the critical elements of the resource armature. it incorporates the existing small-scale infrastructure, with investment from participants and subsidies from renewable energy projects to supply the energy collected from the community biogas digester and rooftop solar harvesting. solar harvesting through rooftop collection produces power for the production units and institutions. the surplus energy can be conveyed to the micro-energy grid, benefiting the small-scale commercial enterprises along the armature. as a collector and generator, a microgrid enables capacity building through pooling its resources, serve as a future tourist trail and enable incremental densification. it will promote upscaling and new economies along the armature, as visualised in figure 6a-6c. figure 5. design strategy developed around the individual household and scaled up at settlement scale. source: author. figure 6. the village-level public path strengthened as the resource armature; (a) sectional expression; (b) key plan of the village street highlighting the 'pooling' nature of the village level armature; (c) aerial view of the incremental transformation at an individual level. source: author. manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 20 the second project demonstrates medium-scale strategies by combining agricultural production, cooperatives, and brick kilns. the brick industry's unidirectional resource flows are a threat to the landscape at large. the brick kilns are temporal and change their location after every seven to ten years. within this period, they exhaust the fertile topsoil essential to local farmers. the entrepreneurial character of the brick kilns combines capital and workforce in altering the landscape. the brick kilns' position and movement can be structured positively for guiding the flow of resources within the landscape. two different sites were chosen for demonstration, one close village and the second along the ring road were selected to test the brick kilns as a hybrid resource management centre. the waste heat from the brick kilns can be utilised for dehydrating and preserving farm produce or incinerating crop wastes, farm waste and household biodegradable waste. on average individual brick kilns results in wasted heat of 25,000mj by burning a tonne of coal in producing between 8000 to 10000 clay bricks within nepal (shah and nagpal 1997). it was calculated that this wasted heat could be utilised to dehydrate or process 1.0 to 1.5 mt/hr of agricultural waste into biomass pellets (unep 2009). the processed farm wastes can be used efficiently as briquettes for household fuels or even within the brick kiln. it can be further used to generate electricity, produce biomass pellets or even electricity if appropriate technologies can be utilised (kafle et al. 2016; nilsson, bernesson, and hansson 2011). cooperative farm units within the proximity can also use the wasted heat and workforce to process the farm produce to increase farm crop longevity. such economic cycles and sharing process allows the nearby settlements enable the villages to engage in entrepreneurial activities and generate additional incomes to offset food costs, promoting food security. the brick kilns can help recharge the shallow aquifer during the wet season through clay ponds and pump the shallow aquifer during dry season use, cutting dependencies upon water from irrigation channels significant to downstream farmers, as shown in figure 7. figure 7. design strategy developed around the brick kiln. positioning the brick kilns' entrepreneurial nature as a hybrid resource centre for rural and suburban kathmandu, with capacities to treat agricultural produce, rural and urban household waste. source: author. the suburban demonstration site highlights the potentials of the valley's brick kilns, their resource pooling capacities, and the city's long-term objectives (bisht and neupane 2015). suburban brick kilns can help deal with waste, as their heat capacities can be utilised for incineration, drying, and biomass energy production to meet various needs of the suburban (shrestha et al. 2014). the energy generated by these kilns can be transferred to the nearby vegetable farms, which can use this energy for cold storage or food processing. the existing transportation system of both brick supply and vegetable farming can connect to the city. the resource armature plays a vital role in the systematic structuring of the landscape. it promotes commercial activities such as recovery from agricultural waste, vegetable processing, and energy by-products. the phasing of armatures aims to achieve the design strategy's dual goals, where the soil excavation results in the creation of developable zones at different levels within the valley. these developable zones can absorb future urbanisation, support the production of high-value crops, and the deepest plinths can be suitable for pisciculture or paddy cultivation. as a collective strategy, we understand the frame study as a dynamic and everchanging region because of the fast urbanisation and external pressure such as landscape risks. as such, we are manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 21 foreseeing a flexible and evolving project that has the means to accommodate future and unpredictable scenarios, as shown in figure 8a-8d. figure 8. sequencing the armature of connected resources and strategising village and suburban resource grids; (a) design plan, highlighting the 'pooling' nature of the armature;(b) view of the central waste collection and processing areas within the village; (c) suburban resource grid and housing; (d) view of the central waste collection and processing areas. source: author. the systemic design strategies combine linear resource cycles into closed or shorter, or recurring loops. they strategize resource management into opportunities for the valley's inhabitants. these strategies draw upon the concept of sharing and producing energy, managing waste, and playing an essential role in the city's southern periphery's structured intensification. agricultural by-products, waste to resources, permanent employment, landscape management shall provide new livelihood opportunities. presently increased animal farming and commercial practices are concentrated along the periphery of the traditional settlements and suburban frame. these farms focus on high-value food production to supply the city markets and manage the organic waste. their position along the city periphery and utilising the market-producer links, the waste can be brought back and converted into helpful animal feed or manure for farms. such processes manage biodegradable waste, prevent greenhouse emissions, and promote new economies that can absorb both the migrant and local populations. the assembly of the design strategies is imagined as an urban-rural transect. the transect enables resource recovery, fostering cooperation amongst communities, entrepreneurs, producers, consumers, and local and regional scale. figure 9a & 9b highlights collaborative loops across scales that promote resilience within the rural landscape, enabling the communities to gain self-sufficiency and become a vital partner to the urban areas and provide sustainable resource management alternatives as a critical role for the periphery. studies have highlighted the importance and benefits of resource recovery, waste management, landscape led opportunities to mitigate urban challenges. though these initiatives are yet to realise their full potential and can be adopted at large, they highlight appropriate landscape urbanism strategies to help the periphery become a more vital partner in the city's growth (lohani et al. 2021; shrestha et al. 2014). returning to the research site in february 2020 revealed that small and medium-sized entrepreneurial activities have commenced within the study areas to support livelihood and food production. lack of robust institutional and financial mechanisms has displayed collaborations amongst producers in waste segregation, composting, poultry and fish farming recycling benefit from agricultural and farming wastes. manna/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 22 figure 9. envisioning a systemic transition to generate shorter loops and directing resource flows into meaningful processes. (a) existing systemic sections interpreting the existing linear cycles and flows of resources; (b) proposed systemic change helps in closing resource loops and promote resilience within the rural landscape. source: author. 5. conclusions the ongoing urbanisation of kathmandu is a classic example of planning-led expansion in the south asian context, where the regional landscape is undermined in planning processes. kathmandu's landscape has been essential to its development in the past, and its absence can expose the city' vulnerabilities, exhaust natural resources and impact livelihoods in future. the transition from a land-use approach into an integrated system requires long term vision, planning and cooperation among society and planning agencies. disasters or large-scale shocks bring forth resilient capacities which enable collaboration and encourage adaptation towards the crisis (solnit 2010). the earthquake is an opportunity to reorganise the crisis problem long-term adaptation strategy through planning. landscape and systemic design approach argue for sustainable interactions amongst ecosystems; resource flows, human linkages, which get disrupted due to disasters and climate change, impacting the 'ambitious' urbanisation processes within the himalayan region and elsewhere in south asia. the research advocates urbanism, which evolves like nature, creating opportunities for small, medium, and large-scale activities to sustainably expand the population. the research also points towards the importance of data collection, surveys and mapping, identifying key stakeholders, utilising entrepreneurship and governance structures. demonstrated design strategies also require the capacity building of the stakeholders, favourable policies, capital and technological investments to foster the sustainable transition. this research advocates an alternative to creating new developments with objectives set to enhance the landscape's capacity by bringing forward its structuring capacity as part of the planning process. the research outlines a possible vision towards avoiding urban sprawl and takes advantage of the ground reality of fostering a 'reimagined' role of the periphery. references alam, r., chowdhury, m. a. i., hasan, g. m. j., karanjit, b., & shrestha, l. r. 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(2014). anaerobic digestion of biowaste in developing countries: practical information and case studies . eawag-sandec. http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 research paper received: 14 april 2023, accepted: 15 june 2023, published online: 30 june 2023 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.961 social sustainability and globalization; and the role of souq mutrah in muscat-oman fatma hilal al-habsi master of science in islamic art, architecture, and urbanism program at hamad bin khalifa university in qatar. email: fatma.alhabsi@gmail.com abstract this study examines the impact of globalization on the historic urban fabric of mutrah, with a specific focus on the coastal neighbourhood of sur al lawatiyah and the development of the souq mutrah in muscat, oman. the city's urban design reflects its challenging and fractured history, marked by fortified walls, towering forts, and a dense, clustered urban fabric, particularly during and after the portuguese occupation. additionally, the study explains how social sustainability, one of the key pillars of sustainability, has been affected by globalization. despite being separated from the surrounding neighbourhoods by massive walls and gates, the souq mutrah, located in the middle, is a crucial public space for people to gather, making it an essential element in islamic neighbourhoods. furthermore, the study examines the effect of the souq mutrah's development on the surrounding neighbourhood of sur al-lawatiyah. the souq has been redesigned and transformed into a larger market that attracts people from all over the world, reflecting the city's multi-cultural identity. although some residents have created physical and social boundaries to protect themselves from visitors, the souq remains an important public space for locals to gather, trade, and work. ultimately, the study concludes that the souq's development has increased social interaction and the sense of space without negatively affecting the surrounding neighbourhood's identity or way of life. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords globalization; neighbourhood; market; social sustainability; sustainable communities. 1. introduction the development of urban spaces and marketplaces plays a crucial role in shaping the social, cultural, and economic fabric of a community. one such example is souq mutrah in the coastal city of muscat, oman. this historic marketplace has undergone significant changes in recent years, influenced by factors such as globalization, tourism, and the evolving needs and preferences of residents and visitors. in this study, i delve into the impact of souq mutrah's development on the surrounding neighbourhood, particularly focusing on the al-lawatiyah neighbourhood. al-lawatiyah is a residential area characterized by a closed space with restricted access, fortified walls, and small dwellings. the neighbourhood's physical and social landscape has been shaped by its proximity to the souq, which serves as an important public space for local gatherings and community interactions. as the city of muscat has experienced rapid growth and transformation, the development of souq mutrah has become an integral part of the urban dynamics. the main aim of this study is to apply a framework for studying http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 social sustainability in souq mutrah and its impact on the surrounding neighbourhood of sur al lawatiyah. the study also has the following related objectives:  to understand the impact of globalization on omani neighbourhoods, particularly in mutrah.  to identify the concept of social sustainability in neighbourhoods and marketplaces.  to analyze the effects of souq mutrah's development on the social fabric and cultural preservation of the surrounding neighbourhood.  to explore the residents' perceptions and experiences of the souq's development, considering factors such as privacy, community cohesion, and the preservation of their identity. to achieve these objectives, a combined research methodology consisting of a historiography study and a qualitative study will be employed. the historiography study will investigate the history of oman, the impact of globalization, and the interactions that have shaped the old neighbourhoods over time, with a particular focus on the history of oman during the portuguese occupation. the qualitative study will involve collecting and analyzing various types of data, utilizing phenomenology to describe and study the structure of human experience, the meaning of objects, and their relationships with other elements (sokolowski, 2000, p. 2). the study will be approached in three phases: data collection, data preparation, and analysis. information will be gathered from journals, books, articles, and other relevant sources. additionally, a case study of souq mutrah will be conducted to examine the social sustainability within the souq and its influence on the surrounding neighbourhood of sur al lawatiyah. by shedding light on the intricate relationship between souq mutrah's development and the surrounding neighbourhood, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities and dynamics of urban change in the context of globalization and cultural heritage preservation. the findings will not only inform future urban planning strategies but also provide valuable insights into the delicate balance between development, social sustainability, and the preservation of local identities within historic urban neighbourhoods. 2. the impact of globalization on the old costal settlements in mutrah oman has a geological history dating back over 800 years and contains the most attractive vernacular and traditional heritage within the arabian peninsula, such as forts, castles, and traditional settlement quarters (hegazy, 2015, p. 2). the diversity of oman's heritage can be attributed to its strategic location on the silk road, which attracted numerous tribes and foreign forces throughout its history, leaving their mark on the urban fabric and building design (figure 1). for instance, the scalloped arches on the minaret of mutrah's mosque reflect mongol architecture, as depicted in figure 2 (benkari, 2017; hegazy, 2010). the dwellings in oman were built with traditional omani architecture and influenced by pre-islamic, islamic, persian, and portuguese styles (hegazy, 2015, p. 3). the trade routes also impacted traditional lifestyles, including language and clothing such as the national dress, "dishdasha", which ensured continuity in the urban context and influenced other countries under oman's rule, such as zanzibar (hegazy, 2010). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 figure 1: interaction between traders in the western indian ocean. source:(bandyopadhyay et al., 2016). figure 2: the lavish minaret in mutrah’s mosque. (photos by the author,2022). during the first global era (1440-1770 c.e), european power colonies such as great britain, france, and portugal controlled the trade routes in the indian ocean and conquered massive lands and numerous ports (al-mahrouqi, n.d.). in the sixteenth century, oman was occupied by foreign armies such as the persians and the portuguese (al-belushi, 2013). around the coasts, the portuguese settled and built military structures (benkari, 2017). they recognized mutrah's best location, which is to the south of a harbour protected by two mountains. the portuguese constructed the famous twin forts, jalali and mirani forts, on each of these mountains and made muscat one of their strategic centres in the arabian sea and the indian ocean (gaube, 2008). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 mutrah was a commercial district, or the heart of oman’s trading empire, filled with baluch and immigrant merchants (david, 2018). the houses in mutrah neighbourhoods were clustered closely together and belonged to one tribe and the same ethnic group. however, the most famous district and the only surviving example of historic buildings in mutrah is "sur al lawatiya," the shiite community. it encompassed its fortified wall, with expansion moving vertically rather than horizontally throughout time due to the challenges of procuring neighbouring construction plots. it consists of 218 houses ranging in height from three to four storeys and contains flat-roofed buildings with small windows on the street sides (dinteman, 1993; hawker, 2008b). whitewashed exterior surfaces, recessed pointed arches, profuse latticework on the windows (known locally as mashrabiyah), and pen-tiered balconies are characteristics of the historic houses in muscat (figure 3), which are mostly similar to those in zanzibar and mombasa (hawker, 2008b). figure 3: mutrah, sur al lawatiyah neighbourhood (photos by the author, 2022). according to salma damluji in her book the architecture of oman, the portuguese are assumed to have founded the settlement of sur lawatiyah because a portuguese army is mentioned there in the seventeenth century (damluji, 1998). however, al-ya'arubi imams freed oman's coastal areas from the portuguese in the 17th century under imam nasir bin murshid (al-belushi, 2013). this period saw the involvement and development of most of oman's traditional settlements, which had consolidated their strategic defensive character, highly influenced by portuguese defence methods (benkari, 2017). however, the ya'ariba imamate ended in 1737 due to a civil war, allowing the persians to retake oman (al-belushi, 2013). during the persian occupation, the most popular irrigation technique was underground tunnels from aquifers, which the persians had first used during the 2500 b.p. achaemenid dynasty (wilkinson, 1977). in 1970, his majesty sultan qaboos bin said's accession heralded the start of oman's modern period (al-belushi, 2013). over the past two decades, spurred by the oil boom, fast modernization, and pressures for fast growth, trade liberalization, and information and communications technology, people have moved from their old houses to newer and nearby residential areas in search of employment opportunities and modern infrastructure (al-belushi, 2013; alsayyad, 1995). although not all houses were abandoned, this affected the pillars of sustainability, namely economic, environmental, and social sustainability. urban development encompasses not only physical changes in cities but also economic, social, and cultural transformations and their underlying reasons (benkari, 2017). 3. problem statement around the world, most countries are losing their national identity, moving from vernacularism to globalism (alsayyad, 1995). however, in oman, the omani identity persists, thanks to the slower and more controlled urbanization process, which was more carefully managed than in other arab countries like dubai and doha (benkari, al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 2017). ronald hawker, in his book traditional architecture of the arabian gulf: building on desert tises, argues that the architecture of the arabian gulf evolved in response to social and environmental factors in the 18th and 19th centuries. the links between the tribe, trade, and outside powers shaped houses, mosques, market centres, and fortified buildings that provided protection and a place for worship, business, communication, exchange, and shelter from the harsh gulf climate (hawker, 2008a). according to ismael david, the neighbourhood of sur al lawatiyah, also known as “the forbidden city,” can only be accessed by members of the lawatiyah community. the neighbourhood is isolated from the souq (a local word for market) adjacent to it by two wooden gates and an enormous fortified wall, and no one knows why the walled quarter was closed for such a lengthy period (figure 4). some scholars speculate that because the lawatis were a small shiite group, they chose to live in seclusion, much like their contemporaries in najaf and karbala. although the walled quarter is no longer officially closed to the public, strangers are still not welcome, even if the gates are open today (david, 2018). nevertheless, souq mutrah, located in the middle of the neighbourhood, is still isolated from the surrounding buildings; there is no access from inside the neighbourhood to the souq, which should be a space for people to gather and socialize. figure 4: view of mutrah area showing sur al lawatiyah neighbourhood and the souq (major & tannous, 2020). in recent years, most countries worldwide have focused on studying the social life of cities and building sustainable cities with strong social sustainability. however, due to globalization, and urban development, some countries have become socially unsustainable (mehan & soflaei, 2017). what does social sustainability mean in neighbourhoods and public spaces such as the souq? can we consider souq mutrah socially sustainable, especially after the souq’s development? 4. social sustainability in neighbourhoods and public spaces the concept of sustainability was introduced by the united nations in the 1987 brundtland commission report, which defined sustainable development as the pursuit of current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. sustainability encompasses environmental, economic, and social dimensions and is often defined as the quality of the society (yoo and lee, 2016; mehan and soflaei, 2017). social sustainability specifically focuses on addressing the fundamental human needs of individuals, irrespective of factors such as ethnicity, age, religion, sexuality, social class, economic status, and abilities. it emphasizes the wellbeing of both individuals and society as a whole, as well as the sustainable development of the built environment (mehan & soflaei, 2017). in 2003, sustainable communities in the united kingdom defined social sustainability as al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 “places where people desire to live and work, now and in the future” (eizenberg & jabareen, 2017). in the urban context, yiftachel and hedgcock defined social sustainability as the “continuing ability of a city to function as a longterm viable setting for human interaction, communication, and cultural development” (yoo & lee, 2016). urban social sustainability has been scoped to three different urban units, starting with macro-level like city, to mediumlevel like urban districts, to micro-scale built environments like neighbourhood and urban public spaces (mehan & soflaei, 2017). figure 5: urban social sustainability has been scoped to three different urban units (prepared by the author). traditional islamic neighbourhoods are an example of harmonious integration between private and public spaces, with street and road networks morphing into thrilling walkways, leading to visual and intellectual delights. neighbourhood planning has several concepts, including privacy, hierarchy in open spaces, courtyards, souqs, neighbourhood councils, neighbourhood centres, streets, buildings, local materials, unity, harmonious community roles, protection, and security (fatani et al., 2017). the built environment of neighbourhoods is critical in achieving social sustainability, with essential environmental design ideas such as a feeling of place, equal access to essential services, appropriate housing, and amenities. meeting places, various building types, and a variety of land uses have all been linked to social sustainability (yoo & lee, 2016). public spaces in neighbourhoods are critical for meeting people's needs, and it depends on the space's functionality and activities (aram et al., 2018). traditional neighbourhoods contain public and private spaces, such as the mosque, parks, and souq, the most important public space in the neighbourhood. however, how can we say this souq is socially sustainable? so far, there have been few studies on how to improve the social role of these markets, which has resulted in increased social interactions among individuals (aram et al., 2018). 5. social sustainability in traditional souqs traditional souqs are typically centred in the city's historic old quarter as iconic inherits (elsayed et al., 2019). they are places for gathering people from different ethnicities and ages to meet their needs, including economic and sociocultural activities (aram et al., 2018). traditional markets reflect the community's lifestyle, history, heritage, and the solid connection of the people there. the traditional souq in the arabian islamic countries is consistently near or around the friday mosque, and it is essential in the urban context because of its functional diversity and social sustainability. these traditional public spaces provide a high level of social communication and interaction between people and play an important role as a hub for commercial and cultural exchange (elsayed et al., 2019). hebatallah a. elsayed and her colleagues argue in their article "traditional market design towards cohesion between social sustainability and bioclimatic approach" that some new traditional markets in the arab world were developed without regard for local identity and lifestyle; they do not promote social stability. they looked at three aspects of the design of al-zall souq in riyadh: morphological language, socio-cultural, and bioclimatic (figure 6) (elsayed et al., 2019). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 6: typological formation analysis model (elsayed et al., 2019). the most important aspect is the socio-cultural aspect, which studies the traditional souq as a complex cultural space and reflects the social and local dimensions. the socio culture criteria are: (a) social interaction, which is the relation or the social communication between two or more individuals at deferent levels; (b) movement/walkability pattern, which enhances access to public spaces, primary nodes, and recreational facilities; (c) livability, which is defined as a set of physical characteristics that combine the natural and built environments to provide comfort and safety, attractive facades, and easy access to services and public transportation; (d) integration value, which examines the boundaries of the souq and how it integrates with the surrounding buildings in the neighbourhood; and (e) safety and security, which is a right for all individuals and groups to be protected and secured (eizenberg & jabareen, 2017; stanislava & chin, 2019). however, these five criteria will be used to study the social sustainability of souq mutrah. 6. case study: souq mutrah souq mutrah is oman's oldest permanent traditional market, dating back to the 19th century. it is known as "souq aldhalam," which means "darkness market," named for its dark and crowded alleyways (major & tannous, 2020). it stretches in a linear pattern from the main entrance on the mutrah corniche waterfront along the coastline in the north, facing al bahri road (corniche), splitting into two ways towards the southern gates facing mutrah high street (major & tannous, 2020). the souq cuts across the old residential walled neighbourhood of "al-lawatiyah," which came into being some 200 years ago (gutberlet, 2016). souq mutrah is a bustling marketplace that offers opportunities for commerce, entertainment, and social interaction, particularly for the local community (al-maimani et al., 2014). it is also a popular destination for tourists who visit to purchase antiques, jewellery, handicrafts, and traditional clothing (major & tannous, 2020). covering approximately 51,200 m2, the souq comprises around 800 shops, all of which are licensed by the municipality of muscat (gutberlet, 2016). most of the shops are owned by the lawatiyah. al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 figure 7: view of the mutrah area (gutberlet, 2016). the mutrah municipality has taken various measures to ensure the long-term sustainability, survival, and viability of souq mutrah as a traditional marketplace. during the development process in 2004-2005, the municipality focused on improving the drainage system, electrical supply, security, safety, and accessibility by constructing northern and southern access points (major & tannous, 2020). they also provided water hydrants, reshaped sections of the souq, built public areas, and replaced the roof with more durable and safer materials (al-maimani et al., 2014). despite the expansion and addition of spaces to accommodate the growing population and development, the question remains: is souq mutrah socially sustainable? 7. social sustainability criteria to assess the social sustainability of souq mutrah, we can use several criteria. one important aspect is social interaction, which can be analyzed by examining social patterns, movement, liveability, and integration value within the community (elsayed et al., 2019). social interaction souq mutrah has three primary gathering node spaces. some of these spaces were open spaces at the souq's main entrances, while others were enclosed as central gathering nodes within the souq's urban fabric. the first is a massive watchtower located at the main gate, with the words "souq mutrah" engraved on it (figure 8). this area serves as a common drop-off point and a parking area for taxis and buses. however, the movement of people in this space is so fast the it reduces the amount of contact. the upper floor of the watchtower links to a tourist restaurant and provides an excellent space for social interaction, with a beautiful view of the sea (gutberlet, 2016). the boundaries and exits of this space provide a sense of safety and protection, and the shade at the entrance adds to the comfort. the lighting at night is appropriate and enhances the spirit of the place (al-maimani et al., 2014). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 figure 8: main entrance to souq mutrah (photos by the author, 2022). the second node is the middle gathering space, which is the most significant enclosure gathering space in the middle of the souq. it has a circular roof covered with glass-reinforced plastic, allowing natural light to enter the space and artificial light from surrounding shops to illuminate the area. however, this space is primarily used for shopping, and people move through it quickly, reducing the amount of contact. the space is only accessible by walking or cycling, and there is no seating area. nonetheless, the space reflects omani identity and culture through the traditional omani jewellery shown in the glass roof (figure 9) (al-maimani et al., 2014). figure 9: the middle gathering space (al-maimani et al., 2014, p.). the third space is the open area at the back entrance from the southwest, which serves as a drop-off area and has a fixed sitting area made of brick blocks. it creates a physical border with the street and provides a sense of safety and support. this sitting area promotes significant social interaction among people of various ages, cultural backgrounds, and genders. it is a socially inclusive space among all three nodes, where users can visit the souq to shop, sit, relax, and socialize. the dimensions of the space, built-in seats, and visibility promote interaction. it can be reached through various modes of transportation (figure 10) (al-maimani et al., 2014). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 figure 10: back entrance from the south-west. (photo source: https://mybrothertraveler.com/trip.php?continent=asia&state=oman&trip=ei_11). movement / walkability patterns the movement and circulation around the entrance and exits of souq mutrah are clearly defined, allowing visitors to navigate the space easily. the main corridor is wide, and all secondary narrower alleyways connect to it (figure 11). additionally, these corridors are designated solely for pedestrians (major & tannous, 2020). the three main public spaces are separated by varying distances and connected to each other by the main corridor. the use of these spaces enhances visitors' spatial awareness, as changes in level, proportion, height, and direction guide their movements and increase their sense of wayfinding, ultimately improving their overall user experience in the souq. however, the narrow alleyways of the souq have often experienced overcrowding, especially during weekends when a large number of visitors flock to the area. this overcrowding has raised concerns regarding safety (figure 12) (gutberlet, 2016). fortunately, with the ongoing development of the souq, significant progress has been made in addressing the issue of overcrowding, leading to notable improvements in safety conditions. additionally, while occasional crowding may still occur in the corridors, such instances are primarily attributed to the arrival of tourists from the ships docking at the port of muttrah. figure 11: circulation inside souq mutrah (major & tannous, 2020). fixed sitting area al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 figure 12: the main corridor in souq mutrah /26 february 2012, around noon (gutberlet, 2016). livability the strategic location of the souq, nestled between residential neighbourhoods, particularly al-lawatiyah, contributes significantly to its livability and enhances the overall quality of public spaces. as mentioned earlier, the majority of shops in the souq are owned by local residents, forging a strong connection between the community and the marketplace. the active involvement of local people in the maintenance and improvement of the souq plays a pivotal role in boosting the local economy. furthermore, the souq's livability is further supported by the presence of other tourist attractions in mutrah, such as museums, the fish market, and the sultan qaboos port (refer to figure 13). many visitors arrive at the mutrah market through cruise ships that dock at port sultan qaboos, enriching the diversity and vibrancy of the souq (gutberlet, 2016). nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the souq remains a popular destination for omanis themselves. its appeal lies in the affordability of goods, with negotiable prices and a wide array of offerings, particularly traditional items. this ensures that the souq caters to the needs and desires of a large number of people, reinforcing its significance as a valuable cultural and economic hub. figure 13: map of the district of mutrah, including souq mutrah and port sultan qaboos (gutberlet, 2016). al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 integration value the souq mutrah's location at the heart of the neighbourhood, seamlessly blending with the surrounding urban fabric, exemplifies a remarkable level of cohesive integration. the boundaries between the souq and its neighbouring areas foster a sense of unity and interconnectedness, as evidenced by their interlocking patterns and shared urban elements (see figure 14). this integration value is a testament to the souq's indispensable role within the community. the significance of the souq extends beyond its function as a marketplace. it serves as a vital hub that caters to the diverse needs of the local population, fulfilling various aspects of their daily lives. whether it's purchasing essential goods, engaging in commercial activities, or seeking social interactions, the souq seamlessly integrates into the neighbourhood's fabric, becoming an integral part of its structure. figure 14: view of the mutrah area showing the integration value (major & tannous, 2020). 8. the identity: the identity of souq mutrah has undergone some changes with the introduction of modern elements such as atms, but it has not lost its character as an omani traditional market. while some residents have concerns about the negative impact of the souq's development on their neighbourhood, they still use the souq as a gathering space, a place to meet their needs, and a place to trade and work. despite concerns about overcrowding, selling cheap mass goods, and the loss of omani identity, the souq's development has brought economic and social benefits to the area, which must be balanced with the needs of residents. according to manuela gutberlet, "mutrah consists of the multi-ethnic population (gutberlet, 2016)". it is a reflection of the vibrant cultural mosaic within the souq. this diversity is an integral part of mutrah's identity, highlighted by the array of stores and imported products available in the souq (figure 15). the rich diversity of cultures in oman is often attributed to the historical trade routes and the settlement of various tribes in the region. this unique blend of cultures is believed to have been shaped by the influx of different tribes and communities due to trade activities. in summary, while the identity of souq mutrah has undergone changes due to the introduction of modern elements, it has managed to preserve its traditional essence. the concerns expressed by residents regarding the souq's development should be addressed, considering the potential impact on overcrowding, commoditization, and cultural identity. however, it is important to recognize the positive economic and social contributions that the souq brings to the area. the diverse nature of mutrah's population and the multicultural offerings within the souq further emphasize its unique identity. finding a balance between development and preservation will ensure the continued success and sustainability of souq mutrah as a cherished cultural and economic landmark. al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 figure 15: imported souvenirs, displayed outside a shop at the entrance to souq mutrah (gutberlet, 2016). 9. the effect of souq development on the surrounding neighbourhood: the development of souq mutrah has brought about significant changes in the surrounding neighbourhood of allawatiyah. previously secluded with limited accessibility, the neighbourhood has now embraced a more open and welcoming atmosphere thanks to the expansion of the souq. while some residents have taken measures to protect their privacy and preserve their way of life, the souq remains a vital public space where locals can gather, trade, and work (gutberlet, 2016). the revitalized souq has emerged as a popular destination for people from around the globe, attracting a diverse range of visitors and reflecting the multicultural identity of mutrah. this increased interaction has fostered a greater sense of community among both residents and visitors (gutberlet, 2016). importantly, the development of the souq has not compromised the identity or character of the surrounding neighbourhood. the traditional architecture, cultural heritage, and historical buildings have been carefully preserved, and the souq coexists harmoniously with the neighbourhood. overall, the impact of the souq's development on the surrounding neighbourhood has been overwhelmingly positive. it has enhanced the neighbourhood's social sustainability by providing a space for community engagement and reinforcing a sense of place. the souq has breathed new life into the area while respecting and celebrating its existing cultural fabric. the ongoing integration between the souq and the neighbourhood contributes to the overall vibrancy and attractiveness of the community. figure 16: the exterior wall of sur al lawatiyah neighbourhood (photos by the author, 2022). main entrance to the neighborhood al-habsi/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 14 10. conclusion the souq mutrah and surrounding neighbourhood of sur al-lawatiyah in muscat exemplify the resilience of historical districts in preserving their cultural heritage amidst the influences of globalization and trade. these areas have successfully maintained their unique character, architectural treasures, and cultural identity, serving as essential components of muscat's rich past. the development of souq mutrah has not only contributed to the social sustainability of the neighbourhood by fostering community cohesion and interaction, but it has also reinforced the local identity. by acting as a vibrant gathering space and a thriving trading hub, the souq has injected vitality into the community while respecting its residential nature. the seamless integration of the souq mutrah within the surrounding neighbourhood, its provision of essential goods and services, and its role as a social and cultural hub all contribute to its enduring significance and impact. this symbiotic relationship enhances the livability of the area, fosters a strong sense of identity among residents and visitors, and exemplifies the potential for sustainable urban development. sur al-lawatiyah, benefiting from its proximity to the souq mutrah, has embraced the advantages of being a secure and private residential community while actively engaging with the dynamic atmosphere emanating from the souq. as muscat continues to evolve, it is essential to strike a harmonious balance between modernization, economic growth, and the preservation of the city's distinctive character and cultural heritage. safeguarding the historic urban fabric, cultural treasures, and sustainable development in mutrah will ensure a thriving future for the city. moving forward, it is crucial to continue valuing and preserving the heritage and authenticity of the souq mutrah and its surrounding neighbourhood. by doing so, muscat can flourish as a multicultural city, attracting people from around the world, while serving as a model for sustainable urban development. this study makes a significant contribution by highlighting the social, cultural, and economic benefits of the souq mutrah's development. by embracing tradition alongside progress, the souq mutrah will continue to be a cherished symbol of muscat's remarkable history and promising future, perpetuating the city's legacy of sustainable growth. funding declaration: this research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors/individuals. ethics approval: not applicable. conflict of interest: not applicable. references al-belushi, m. 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(2016). neighbourhood built environments affecting social capital and social sustanability in seoul, korea. 1–22. how to cite/reference this paper: apa: al-habsi, f. social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman. environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), 10–25. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.961 acm: al-habsi, f. social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman. environmental science & sustainable development. 8, 1, 10–24. doi:https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.961. acs: al-habsi, f. social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman. essd 8, 10-24. abnt: al-habsi, f. social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscat-oman. environmental science & sustainable development, [s. l.], v. 8, n. 1, p. 10–24,[s.d.]. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.961. disponível em: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/961. acesso em: 30 jun. 2023. chicago: al-habsi, fatma. n.d. “social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscat-oman”. environmental science & sustainable development 8 (1):10-24. accessed june 30, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i1.961. harvard: al-habsi, f. (no date) “social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscat-oman”, environmental science & sustainable development, 8(1), pp. 10–24. doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i1.961. ieee: f. al-habsi, “social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman”, essd, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 10–24. mla: al-habsi, f. “social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman”. environmental science & sustainable development, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 10-24, doi:10.21625/essd.v8i1.961. accessed 30 june 2023. turabian: al-habsi, fatma. “social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman”. environmental science & sustainable development 8, no. 1 (n.d.): 10–24. accessed june 30, 2023. https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/961. vancouver: al-habsi f. social sustainability and globalization; a resilient quarter and suq mutrah in muscatoman. essd [internet]. [cited 2023 jun. 29];8(1):10-24. available from: https://press.ierek.com/index.php/essd/article/view/961 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 60 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i2.760 guilty by association: addressing sustainability in architecture education tyana santini 1 1 assistant professor. universidad ort, uruguay corresponding author e-mail: (tyanasantini@gmail.com) abstract despite the growing interest in sustainability, negative associations of this term with naïve discourses, green-washing, or low-quality design are still common within some areas in the discipline of architecture. through a literature review and an examination of the programs of the top ten architecture schools, this article explores the causes and implications of this slight but persistent discredit of sustainability in the field of architecture. the article discusses how some of the perceived downsides of sustainability are reflected on the university curricula, as the fragmented understanding of environmental problems or the overly technical approach to their solution within technology and design. the discussion also addresses the improvements brought by recent multidisciplinary explorations of environmental issues made within the architectural humanities, that provide students a comprehensive historical, social, and cultural understanding of the issue. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords sustainability; architecture education; green-washing; sustainable architecture; environmental humanities 1.introduction over the past two decades, the increasing awareness of environmental issues has encouraged architecture schools to expand their offers on sustainability lectures and programs. many institutions are even integrating architectural schools into the more comprehensive environmental design departments, which have a much more interdisciplinary approach to construction than the traditional architecture education. however, there is still within the discipline a subtle rejection of sustainability —usually stronger among historians and theorists (hurley, 2009; baird, 2011)— that has inadvertently distanced many architects from the entire subject of environmental problems. although negative views of sustainability are not prevalent, they have been nonetheless withholding the full engagement of the discipline with environmental issues, and it is the intention of this article to discuss the reasons behind these negative views. to this end, first, the literature review presents an analysis of the bad reputation of sustainability among architecture professionals and scholars in section 2. the study then places the discussion in the context of education through a careful examination of the programs and syllabi of the world’s top ten architecture schools, which is further explained in section 3. it is not the purpose of this article to cover all the complex problems of the integration of sustainability in higher education, for which there is an extensive array of general and discipline-specific research (wright, 2003; aia, 2006; shari & mohd, 2006; guy & moore, 2007; altomonte, 2009; kahn, vandevyvere and allacker, 2013; iulo, gorby, http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:tyanasantini@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 61 poerschke, kalisperi and wollen, 2013; gale, f., et al., 2015; gucyeter, 2016; higgins, b., & thomas, i., 2016; ismail, keumala and dabdoob, 2017; hassanpour, alpar and ghader, 2017). this discussion article hopes to bring forward a relevant analysis of the particular subject of the negative connotations associated with sustainability among some scholars. moreover, despite the focus on architectural programs of the 2016-2017 academic period, this discussion intends to reach a readership beyond this field and timeframe to share some insights into a problem that may affect other areas of knowledge. 2. architecture and sustainability's bad press architecture is a complex discipline. it involves the creative act of design, the ability to manage strict scientific data for the construction process, and the aptitude to reflect on philosophical matters as aesthetics or the conflicts of our contemporary world. within architecture education, these multiple and interconnected dimensions are addressed on an ever-increasing variety of lectures that allow for various categorizations. howevetr, for the specific purpose of this article, lectures are divided in the traditional areas of building technology, design, and humanities. building technology has been the area most committed to solving the environmental crisis, but it is also the source of some polemics that have encouraged the distrust in the concept of sustainability (czajkowski, 2016; green 2018). for example, the growing phenomenon of green-washing —or ‘false sustainability’— has had a negative impact on the public’s perception of sustainable architecture (jurado, 2016; graham, 2017). authentic efforts of achieving efficient constructions are affected by the misuse of ‘ecogadgets’ that serve more as status symbols than as efficiency enhancers (williamson, radford and bennets, 2003). within architectural research, the international certification systems for green buildings have become a frequent target of criticism. one of the most frequent claims against leading certifications as leed or breeam is that they make too much emphasis on energy efficiency, encouraging a fragmented and limited approach to sustainability (wargo, 2010), overlooking other important problems as resource depletion or pollution (newsham, mancini and birt, 2009). these certifications have also been accused of endorsing deficient assessments of the building’s life cycle (scofield, 2009; blaviesciunaite and cole 2011), of being potentially harmful for local identities (cole & valdebenito, 2013), and of unwisely disregarding the benefits of traditional constructions (dirlich, 2012). still, the biggest limitation of these certifications is that their usefulness is rather symbolic since, on a global scale, the percentage of buildings achieving real sustainability is negligible (jarzombek, 2009; kozak, 2014). within the area of design, attitudes towards sustainability are more complex. trends in this area are usually guided by the built and written work of renowned practitioners, better known in the field as ‘starchitects’ (ponzini, 2018). for the particular purpose of this discussion, starchitects’ postures towards sustainability could be broadly divided into two major approaches, namely, sustainability seen as a guiding element intrinsic to the design process, and sustainability seen as a feature subordinated to other more important interests of the design process, as it is done with plumbing or electric systems. among the most publicized contemporary architects involved with green or sustainable design –the ones representing the first approach– are richard rogers, bjarke ingels, renzo piano, stefano boeri, and ken yeang. the active engagement of these architects with sustainability is apparent in their buildings and discourse. their theoretical production on sustainable architecture is not as extensive as their built work, but there are noteworthy contributions as roger’s book ‘cities for a small planet’ or the development of the concept of ‘hedonistic sustainability’ by bjarke ingels (jacobsen & tester, 2016). for the second group of architects, efficiency is not a central aspect of the design process, and despite the mainstream popularity of sustainability, this is the prevailing approach among architectural practitioners. this, however, does not necessarily imply that these architects are unaware of environmental issues or that their buildings are less sustainable. in the work of these architects, other concerns as formal experimentation or the social role of the building take priority in the design process. some examples of this second group are remment koolhaas or peter zumthor. although most of their late designs do consider efficiency and environmental impact, sustainability or environmental problems are not usually part of their discourse (oma, 2018; zumthor, 2006). when talking about their own production, these santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 62 architects make emphasis on other aspects of architecture as formal issues, the effects created by different spaces, or the relation of the building with its context. within this group, there are architects who straightforwardly condemn sustainable architecture. the most recognized personality in this regard is the american architect peter eisenman, an open critic of contemporary green construction. on a controversial interview from 2009, eisenman stated that ‘“green” and sustainability have nothing to do with architecture’, adding that ‘[s]ome of the worst buildings [he has] seen are done by sustainable architects’ (eisenman, 2009). today most architects would not openly share this view, but there is consensus in that sustainability does not necessarily translates into good architecture, or bad for that matter (moss, as quoted in hosey 2012; kozak, 2016). within architectural humanities, there was until recently a widespread rejection of sustainability as a serious subject of research, either as a general concept or as applied in construction. architecture historians and theorists tend to avoid the term because of its vagueness or ambiguity (pareja and støa, 2004; moe, 2007; fuller, 2010; schroeder, 2018) and it is still common within this area for comments on sustainability to quickly turn into semantic disputes. the lack of serious theoretical grounds or significant architectural contribution of green architecture have also been common reasons to reject sustainability within the humanities. but perhaps the most harmful association has been that of sustainability with the uncritical acceptance of naïve discourses and compliant attitudes (guy and moore, 2007; jaimes, 2016). two decades ago, the professor of urban planning, peter marcuse, stated that ‘the promotion of “sustainability” may simply encourage the sustaining of the unjust status quo’ (marcuse, 1998), while more recently, koolhaas’ analysis of the smart city movement denounced that ‘traditional european values of liberty, equality, and fraternity have been replaced in the 21st century by comfort, security, and sustainability’(koolhaas 2014). besides the harm that these associations made to the image of sustainability, there was a lack of an appropriate body of knowledge on environmental problems, suitable for discussions on architecture in humanities. however, in the last decades the production of architecture history and theory has been accompanying the developments of other environmental humanities in the creation of more comprehensive and critical perspectives of sustainability (rawes, 2013; axel, colomina, hirsch and vidokle, 2018). a new framework for the contextualization of contemporary architecture has become available through the insights on the politics of the anthropocene of bruno latour (2004), while kate soper’s challenging reinterpretation of the good life (soper, thomas and ryle, 2009) offers valuable insights into social changes. similarly, the works of william cronon (1995) and timothy morton (2007) on nature and wilderness are enriching architects’ reflections on the relationship of the built and natural world. 3. sustainability and architecture education despite all the criticism of current practices of sustainability, there is a general agreement on that future architects should be educated on the subject. nevertheless, the integration of any current issue into education is bound to provoke controversies, and sustainability has not been an exception. one of the most vocal critics of the incorporation of sustainability into education is the british architect austin williams. in his view, environmental discourses tend to be misanthropic (williams, 2008) and he argues that sustainability education ‘undermines critical engagement and replaces it with blind loyalty’ (williams, 2013). this point of view is extreme and shared by few (peterson & wood, 2015), but is driven by a premise widely accepted among architects, which is the shortage of critical approaches to sustainability. in order to examine how the shortcomings of sustainability perceived by architects relate to education, a review of the top ten architectural schools was made. the institutions selected were the ones occupying the top ten places of the architectural schools ranking made by the british firm quacquarelli symonds (qs), one of the world’s leading higher education analysts. the schools and departments reviewed belong to the following universities: the national university of singapore (nus) and the university of hong kong (hk) from the asian region; harvard university (gsd), massachusetts institute of technology (mit), and the university of california-berkeley from the unites states; and from europe, the university college london-bartlett (ucl bartlett), manchester university, cambridge university, delft university of technology (tu delft), and the swiss federal institute of technology in zurich (eth zurich). the official programs and brochures that were publicly available of these ten schools were carefully examined. for the seven schools where syllabi were available (nus, hk, harvard gsd, berkeley, mit, tu delft, and eth zurich), a comprehensive review was made of the contents of the lectures offered. a total of 1364 course descriptions were santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 63 examined to determine if and how they addressed sustainability or current environmental issues. the categorization of a lecture as ‘environmentally aware’ was not strictly limited to those that used particular terms as ‘sustainability’ or ‘environment’ — or any of their variations. it was taken into account that references to these subjects were often made indirectly, as for example with the citation of an author highly concerned with environmental problems or with the inclusion of technical means that reduce the environmental impact of buildings. it should be considered that all the lectures surveyed belonged to the architectural departments. this study examines the standard curriculum of the architecture schools and does not consider cross-listed lectures or other options offered in which students tailor their majors or minors with lectures from other departments, making each student’s experience highly individual. the percentage of lectures by area who address the environmental issues is shown in table 1, while table 2 shows the percentage of lectures in the six schools where the available information allowed for a distinction between graduate and undergraduate lectures. it is important to note that the main purpose of the survey is not to conduct an exhaustive evaluation of sustainability in architectural education ⁠—for which the data is not suitable— but to explore the content of programs and syllabi to discuss possible connections with the issues covered in the literature review. table 1. percentage of environmentally aware lectures by area school building tech. (%) design (%) humanities (%) harvard gsd 48% 34% 10% mit 33% 9% 18% berkeley 35% 30% 16% tu delft 44% 43% 25% eth zurich 30% 11% 16% hk 30% 10% 13% nus 33% 45% 35% table 2. percentage of environmentally aware lectures by program and area school building tech. (%) design (%) humanities (%) mit und. 62% 6% 6% mit grad. 10% 12% 30% berkeley und. 38% 45% 20% berkeley grad. 33% 17% 14% tu delft und. 100% 45% 19% tu delft grad. 30% 43% 28% eth zurich und. 22% 10% 19% eth zurich grad. 38% 13% 15% hk und. 29% 7% 18% hk grad. 31% 13% 13% nus und. 50% 48% 33% nus grad. 20% 37% 39% santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 64 3.1. building technology in architecture education, this area provides from the most basic construction knowledge about structure to the most complex computations of hyperbolic rooftops or house automation. this area also deals with all the aspects of human comfort, as thermal regulation, humidity, acoustic control, and lighting. the traditional goal of these subjects has been to teach future architects how to create safe and comfortable environments. nevertheless, in the last decades, building technology has gained the additional responsibility of providing the technical knowledge for an efficient use of resources, low energy consumption, and the minimization of pollution. in accordance with the situation in architectural practice, the predominance of the technical approach to sustainability was apparent in all ten architectural programs. six out of the seven universities with available syllabi had the highest percentage of lectures dealing with sustainability within building technology, with percentages ranging between 30% and 48%. within the universities in which graduate and undergraduate programs could be differentiated, four out of six cases had a higher percentage of sustainability lectures in undergraduate programs, being the highest percentages found in mit (62%) and tu delf (100%). this outcome confirms that the technical instruction on sustainability is seen as part of the basic education that an architect should have, and not only as a specialization. this is also evident in the reviewed schools not included in the tables, as ucl bartlett, cambridge, and manchester school of architecture, where courses on sustainability technology are offered during the first years of undergraduate programs (manchester school of architecture, 2017; ucl bartlett, 2017; university of cambridge, 2017). as discussed in the previous section, one of the causes of the negative image of sustainable architecture within building technology is the emphasis on inefficient certification systems. however, despite the importance of these certifications in practice, the subject is surprisingly absent from technical lectures. to become a professional with leed or breeam credentials it is necessary to undertake a specialized test of such institutions. some architectural schools, as harvard gsd or ucl bartlett, provide courses to prepare these tests, but these are not included in the official architectural programs. the rare lectures that explicitly claim to address sustainability certifications seem to be aware of their limitations, as the mit course ‘design for sustainability’ (ochsendorf, 2016), which covers some requirements of the leed certification, but in combination with a system called life cycle assessment, which is one of the alleged weak points of the system. following the trends of architectural practice, the subject most commonly addressed in sustainable technology lectures is energy efficiency, mainly approached through the enhancement of thermal control, ventilation, and lighting. on the other hand, the appropriate use of water, the management of construction waste, and other issues associated with environmental problems are still rare. however, within the reviewed syllabi there are scarce but valuable examples of lectures dealing with subjects other than energy. at mit, structure courses include the assessment of the environmental impact of structural systems (ochsendorf and mueller, 2016), where a lecture on building materials at eth zurich considers the availability and lifecycle of materials (carmeliet, koebel, trzebitowski, winnefeld, zimmermann, 2016), while at tu delft, the course ‘zero-energy design’ introduces strategies on waste products in accordance to regional plans (broersma, 2016). the growing awareness of the negative effects of the energy-focused approach to sustainability is apparent in the content of new lectures as ‘renewable resources and architecture’ (nus, 2017), where the impact of the construction industry in the natural environment are examined. moreover, the mit course ‘modelling urban energy flows for sustainable cities and neighborhoods’ provides an understanding of the subject that goes beyond the limits of the building, encouraging students to examine environmental issues related to urbanization and greenhouse (reinhart & jones, 2017). 3.2. design courses in which students engage in design practice are considered the backbone of architectural education. this category includes everything from the first drawing and modelling lectures to graduation projects where future professionals must create comprehensive architectural designs. studio-based courses are regarded as the most important for the development of design skills, and at some universities, as ucl bartlett, design studios can reach up to 70% of the required courses (ucl bartlett, 2019). architecture schools offer several studio options with different approaches to design achieved by either integrating art, making emphasis on computational skills, or focusing on the santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 65 conservation of historical areas. it is in design studios where students learn how to integrate the knowledge acquired in other lectures. this fact becomes especially relevant for sustainability since design decisions can have an important effect on the building’s performance. a proper orientation can maximize natural sunlight, the level of insulation changes according to the materials chosen, and facade decisions can hinder or favor natural ventilation. all the programs reviewed have a wide range of design courses fully or partially dedicated to sustainability, but in smaller percentage than in building technology. nus is the only university with the highest percentage of courses claiming to consider sustainability within the area of design (45%). these results reflect the predominant attitude in architectural practice, that takes sustainability as one of the requirements to which constructions must comply, and not as a crucial guiding premise of the design process. still, a positive aspect revealed by the review is that, as in building technology, most universities have a higher percentage of design courses that include sustainability on undergraduate programs. the degree of engagement of design studios with sustainability varies extremely. within studios where environmental issues are not the main concern, students are not normally expected to undertake efficiency calculations, at least not within the framework of the studio requirements. a good example to illustrate this approach is the tu delft studio ‘housing the inner city,’ where the premise is to design a housing project for the city of johannesburg. in this studio, students are asked to conceive an urbanization strategy for an area with a difficult economic and social context of segregation, gentrification, and over-population (brillembourg & klumpner, 2017). within this context, environmental issues are only one part of the complex equation. not all studio proposals are as complex as this one, but students usually have to deal with a wide range of difficult factors while keeping the focus on the overall design. general sustainable measures must be foreseen, as it is done with structures or electricity systems, but detailed specifications are not expected. in most universities, the technical knowledge to achieve an efficient design is taught separately in building technology courses. that is the case of the university of cambridge, where from the first undergraduate year, technical lectures on environmental systems and bioclimatic design are offered with the explicit intention of preparing students to evaluate the performance of their own designs (university of cambridge, 2017). within design courses entirely focused on sustainability, approaches tend to be more technical. for instance, at the university of hong kong advanced computational methods are taught as part of design studios (the university of hong kong, 2016). in this type of studio, efficiency calculations do take precedence over design, but contrary to what might happen in building technology courses, the functional, formal, and aesthetic aspects of the building are as important as the performance of the building. the search for aesthetic quality is understood to be an implicit aspect of design courses. however, the syllabus of some courses as ‘zero energy residential high-rise’ from harvard gds (malkawi & gill, 2017), explicitly state that the aesthetic aspect of the design will be taken into account, possibly in response to the associations of green architecture with poor quality design. unlike courses in building technology, the term sustainability rarely appears in the syllabi of design courses, and when it does, it is frequently written within quotation marks. although the emphasis on technological aspects is predominant, a small group of design studios are providing a more comprehensive approach to environmental issues. the studio directed by the influential rem koolhaas at harvard gsd, focuses on the social consequences that environmental changes have in rural areas and examines, among other subjects, the emerging counterculture communes and the interaction of animals and humans (koolhaas, 2017). in this interdisciplinary studio, students collaborate with experts from fields such as bioscience, anthropology, history, robotics, and environment studies. another interesting example is the studio directed by carola hein at tu delft entitled ‘architecture and urbanism beyond oil’, which also addresses environmental issues from a perspective still unusual in architectural schools. her studio focuses on the current oil dependency, and students are encouraged to think about the larger political, economic, and socio-cultural contexts of architecture and urban design (hein, 2017). these studios —both directed by scholars who have produced theoretical work related to environmental issues (hein, 2009, koolhaas, 2014)— take the examination of environmental issues beyond the subject of energy efficiency, which is essential to explore comprehensive views of sustainability that incorporate social change. santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 66 3.3. humanities courses on architecture humanities deal with the development, aims, and principles of architecture. all courses dedicated to history and theory, as well as classes or workshops dealing with the socio-cultural aspects related to architecture such as sociology or ethics, are considered within the humanities. the complex array of lectures considered as humanities allow students to understand the evolution of styles, reflect on the formal language of architectural movements, and explore the different ideological grounds behind them. one of the goals of the humanities is to guide students in the development of a critical position towards the context in which they will act. currently, environmental issues are an important part of that context (buchanan, 2012). the syllabi examination confirms that, in education as well, humanities is the area less involved with sustainability or environmental problems, where nus and tu delft are the universities with the highest percentage of humanities lectures addressing these issues (35% and 25% respectively). although there are some lectures entirely dedicated to environmental problem, most of these lectures cover the issue only superficially, as it is done with other subjects of our contemporary context such as politics or economy. the hard criticism towards sustainability does not explicitly appear on the programs or syllabi, but it makes itself apparent in the small number of lectures engaged with the subject as well as in the emergence of an alternative vocabulary that replaces the terms that carry negative associations. within the humanities syllabi, references to sustainability or environmental crisis are frequently made while avoiding those expressions, as in descriptions of our contemporary world as anthropocenic (jarzombek, 2016) or by referencing works of authors concerned with environmental degradation as rebecca solnit or j.b. jackson (crawford & stewart, 2017). lectures on architectural humanities are taking references from various environmental disciplines but maintaining the focus on the contents related to social concerns. for example, the lecture offered in nus entitled ‘topics in urban studies shaping liveable places’ explores how the loss of biodiversity and climate change have a negative impact on the citizens’ lives (nus, 2016), while the mit lecture ‘ecological urbanism seminar’ examines the effects of the interacting natural and urban processes in human welfare (spirn, 2016). this way, environmental issues are being integrated into the subjects that have been central to the architectural humanities. few lectures within humanities explicitly address the subject of sustainable architecture. the lecture offered at tu delft entitled ‘aesthetics of sustainable architecture’ is one of the rare lectures that discusses the aesthetic possibilities of sustainable architecture (lee, 2016), while also at tu delft, the class entitled ‘building green: past, present, future’ provides a historical perspective on sustainable architecture that allows students to relate the subject with the ecological, economic, and social sustainability (hein, 2016). literature on environmental history and theory of architecture is still limited, but some lectures are fostering the development of this historiography. a good example is the seminar ‘design radicals: the bay area counterculture legacy’ offered by greg castillo at berkeley in spring 2017, which published the results of its exploration of the ‘ecofreak’ and the beginnings of the ecological consciousness (castillo, 2017). as in other areas, there are some courses that confront environmental issues from a broad perspective, as the hk course called ‘sustainability and the built environment’(the university of hong kong, 2016), which examines sustainable futures in view of recent changes of population, transportation, technology, and energy, or the mit course ‘landscapes of energy’ that analyses systems of energy at many scales, considering the perspectives of critical geography, history of technology, and environmental history (ghosn, 2016). the approach of these lectures reflects the changes in research trends of architectural humanities, which are developing as a broader and more comprehensive analysis of environmental problems that merge the perspectives of technology, design, and the humanities. 4. final considerations the way environmental issues are confronted within architectural education is a reflection of the way the subject is dealt with in research and practice. it could be said that sustainability has already been assimilated within the technical areas of architecture. however, some of the drawbacks that architects perceive in sustainability are reflected on the curricula, which presents the fragmented approach seen in practice and it is overly focused on energy efficiency. there is, however, a promising interest of a small group of lectures in the interaction of the built and natural systems santini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 67 among professionals that is reflecting a cosnideration of the life cycle of materials, water treatment, and even architectural waste. within design studios, the situation is more complex since students must learn to comply with construction specification while creating functional spaces with aesthetic quality, meaning, and in the best-case scenario, even artistic value. while some studios place special emphasis on environmental issues, the tendency is for sustainability to be treated as one of the factors among the many that students must consider when designing a building. most probably, this integrative tendency will continue, and sustainability measures will become as assimilated to the design process as are now, for example, safety measure. irrespectively of positions on the integration of sustainability into design studios, the main agent driving the transition to a more sustainable architecture is the increasing legislation to minimize the environmental impact of constructions. therefore, if design studios keep in touch with the real-world requirements, the inclusion of sustainability will eventually become unavoidable. the engagement with environmental issues of architectural humanities is certainly limited if compared with other areas of the discipline. in the case of architecture education, the knowledge of historical and cultural problems associated with environmental issues becomes particularly relevant since construction happens to be one of the human activities with high impact on the environment (ortiz, castells, and sonnemann, 2009). however, the long-standing architects’ interest in nature has been relatively slow to transform into a sound critical perspective on environmental problems (buchanan, 2012; ursprung, 2017). at present, this situation is rapidly improving since references from environmental humanities are providing the historical, theoretical, and speculative approaches to evaluate the sociocultural dimensions of environmental problems (neimanis, åsber and hedrén, 2015; carr, 2004). moreover, examinations of environmental issues could be integrated into architectural education through indirect paths, as through the growing interest in social problems related to the environment as green gentrification (rigolon & németh 2020) or social justice (marsh, pilkington and rice 2020). universities have the responsibility to keep challenging knowledge claims with prescriptive tendencies (wals & jickling, 2002), and therefore, critical attitudes towards sustainability discourses should continue within architectural humanities, but without undermining the importance of environmental issues. sustainability has become ubiquitous in discussion of all areas of our contemporary world and it can no longer be dissociated from development plans or political agendas. for that reason, and regardless of positions on the subject, architectural humanities must provide students the proper tools to develop well informed arguments and strategies to confront the issue. attitudes towards sustainability within architecture are associated with worldviews, ideologies, and even local contexts, and a unanimous agreement on its meaning and implications is perhaps unachievable. 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(2006). atmospheres: architectural environments, surrounding objects. berlin: birkhäuser. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/students/five-views-on-sustainability-in-architectural-education/8651398.article http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 48 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i2.759 freshwater: towards a better understanding of a wicked problem tom sanya1 1 school of architecture, planning and geomatics, university of cape town, south africa corresponding author email: (tom.sanya@uct.ac.za) abstract water begets intricate and profound linkages between multiple systems. quantitative limits to freshwater availability for human needs, variabilities in the water cycle and environmental water requirements interact with water source pollution. the arising tensions are a great challenge of immense contemporary significance that can best be described as a wicked problem – a problem with multiple dimensions that presents unexpected consequences when engaged. water challenges make vivid the compromises that must be made between the environment and development. these compromises surface in the conflict between ecocentric and technocentric discourse. globally, there is evidence of numerous disciplinary and interdisciplinary water-related studies both in the past and ongoing. but there is no metamapping of various dimensions of such research to give a clear overview of what has been and what needs to be done. consequences of this oversight may include unnecessary duplication of research, difficulty in articulating knowledge gaps and inability to see beyond disciplinary boundaries. the author suggests an outline of how these difficulties can be engaged. this is done through a wide-ranging literature review to identify a range of issues of focus, which issues are then themed into imperatives for water research. these imperatives are subsequently systematised using four normative descriptors: problem, drivers and mitigation measures. in combination, these descriptors articulate a spectrum of the key issues around water research. the key issues are mapped onto various academic disciplines and societal partners to outline a schema for positioning of water research. the proposed mapping can facilitate interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary (idtd) research by allowing researchers to benefit from relevant existing bodies of knowledge while also making explicit knowledge gaps and opportunities for collaboration. by locating academic fields within different worldviews, the outlined schema reveals common ground beyond disciplinary confines around which idtd research can be instigated. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords freshwater; water scarcity; water pollution; worldviews; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary (idtd) research 1. introduction the “blue planet”, earth, is made habitable by water. but more than 97 percent of planet earth’s water is saline (oceans and seas) and hence a mere 2.5 percent is freshwater. vast volumes of freshwater are locked up in glaciers and polar caps. this leaves only 0.77 percent freshwater available for human use in terranean and subterranean catchments (kuylenstierna et al, 1998; shiklomano, 1991). in conditions of freshwater scarcity, tensions arise between human water needs and environmental water requirements. global freshwater includes renewable and non-renewable water. non-renewable water, which constitutes 60 percent of the hydrologic cycle, is the water used by plants in evapotranspiration. though it is important for rainfed agriculture and the natural environment, non-renewable water http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:tom.sanya@uct.ac.za https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 49 is generally out of the realm of control of humans and is not included in water scarcity studies. the remaining 40% is renewable water which is framed in reference to the global demands of two categories: (i) anthropogenic water requirements (ii) environmental water requirements (rijsberman, 2006; smakhtin et al, 2004). due to its cyclic nature, water supply and sanitation cannot be delinked. water occurs in a continuous hydrological cycle that entangles humans with biotic and abiotic systems in multiple pathways. water’s cyclic occurrence and omnipresence, coupled with its indispensability for the survival of humans and ecosystems, defines myriads of systems with mutual feedback loops. securing freshwater for growing populations is a grand challenge in the anthropocene. rijsberman argues that water is critical to an array of global challenges from health, to malnutrition, poverty, and sustainable natural resources management (2006). today, this complex challenge is articulated as the water-energy-food-health nexus (amorim et al, 2018; international water management institute, 2019). it can therefore be argued that the water challenge is a wicked problem. a wicked problem is one which eludes precise definition, whose amelioration demands uncomfortable compromises, and for which intervention in one realm yields unexpected results elsewhere (webber and rittel, 1973). water-focused research spans ecology, social-sciences, engineering and many more disciplines. freshwater research is wide in scope and has yielded numerous disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies. publications have covered such topics as water availability, scarcity and response to scarcity (falkenmark et al, 1989; guppy and anderson, 2017; world economic forum [wef], 2019) 2019; shiklomanov, 1991; kuylenstierna et al, 1998); aquatic ecosystem system services (abell et al, 2019; vörösmarty et al, 2018; costanza et al, 2014); water and climate change (vörösmarty et al, 2000 and arnel, 1999); wastewater and pollution (connor et al, 2017; world health organization [who], 2004; karr and dudley, 1981); and the relatively new field of water sensitive design (o'farrell et al, 2019; sharma et al., 018; howe and mitchell, 2011; wong and brown, 2009; carden et al. 2018). water research also extends to issues of rights and water, social justice, law and discourse analysis. together, these fields outline an impressive spectrum of water-related research. however, critical evaluation of literature reveals that none of these publications provides a strategic overview of water research because they speak to diverse, if overlapping, research fields. the result is that water-related research, though impressive in scope and depth, has not yet, to this author’s knowledge, been systematised to relate its diverse fields and subfields. this paper attempts to derive a comprehensive yet non-prescriptive outline to cover the breadth and scope of water-related research. such an outline can make possible reflexive contextualisation of past, present and future research to facilitate collaborative synergies, identify knowledge gaps, and pre-empt duplication in water-related research. thus, this paper is aimed at enabling researchers to critically position past and ongoing water research and to surface collaboration possibilities in future disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research endeavours. 2. method this paper uses systematic literature review to uncover and characterise different aspects of water-related research. the literature reviewed includes articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, some books and publications from multilateral organisations. endnote is used as a software to organise and theme the literature. after beker (2003), the paper adapts a three part approach to the literature review to cover analytical, normative and operational level literature. analytical level literature focuses on worldviews. normative literature covers definitions, goals, criteria and indicators. and operational literature proposes particular strategies and actions to deal with specific problem situations. first, normative and operational level literature is analysed. referencing the postulate that problems are “the fountainhead” of research (becker, 2006), the paper takes water-related disutilities to society and the environment as a starting point. these disutilises are captured in a set of problems: societal water scarcity; environmental water scarcity; temporal variations in the water cycle (drought and flooding); and water pollution. each problem is discussed in turn. normative and operational level water literature results in a three-part systematisation: problems, causes and mitigation measures. this becomes the vertical dimension of the outline schema for water related research. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 50 apart from the water-related problems, there is emergent discourse which problematises the dominant quantitative water discourse. this is covered separately as part of normative and operational level literature. the next part of the paper is at the analytical level. it focuses on a higher level framing of the normative and operational literature. this part specifically draws from o’riordan (1981), drysek (2013), groat and wang (2002) and naess (1990 and 1973) to situate normative and operational literature within different worldviews. the final part references a classification of different academic fields and locates them within different worldviews. the worldviews together with the academic fields become the horizontal dimension in the outlined schema for water research. mapping the vertical and horizontal dimensions together outlines a schema for systemisation of water related research. 3. water research literature 3.1. societal water scarcity globally, humans abstract over 4 000 km3 (4000 billion m3) of available freshwater annually. 12 percent of abstracted freshwater is municipal water for domestic and commercial purposes (food and agricultural organisation [fao], 2016) such as drinking, food preparation, personal hygiene and sanitation and watering of ornamental landscapes. domestic water scarcity is evidenced by the 844 million people worldwide who lack access to safe water and the 2.4 billion people without access to improved sanitation (united nations international children education fund [unicef] and world health organisation [who], 2015). domestic water scarcity, which occurs mostly in poverty stricken rural areas and urban informal settlements (center for disease control and prevention [cdc], 2015; hou et al, 2014), significantly reduces wellbeing and is associated with a range of health risks. contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis a, typhoid, and polio (who, 2019b). more than 820 000 people die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, poor sanitation, and due to poor hygiene (who, 2019b; unicef and who, 2015). the majority of the world’s population is already urbanised and, driven by population growth and migration from rural areas. the rate of urbanisation is accelerating – particularly in the resource challenged global south (united nations, department of economic and social affairs population division, 2019a and 2019b). therefore, inadequate water and poor sanitation will continue to be a significant challenge. this challenge is proactively acknowledged in sustainable development goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) (united nations, 2017). the research imperative that emerges here is secure safe water and sanitation for those who lack access. at 69 percent, the largest freshwater consumer is agriculture (irrigation, livestock and aquaculture) (fao, 2016). global projections are that, due to growing population, agricultural water demand will continue to grow (conforti, 2011). seventy times more food will be needed by 2050 (conforti, 2011). about 20 percent of freshwater abstracted by humans is used for industrial purposes and energy production (fao, 2016). taken together agricultural and industrial water use is expressed in gdp/m3 of water. that is, like embodied energy, every product contains “virtual water” (hoekstra, 2003; chapagain and hoekstra, 2004). generally, as populations grow and standards of living increase, water use increases proportionately (conforti, 2011). however, others have argued that an efficiency revolution, similar to the energy revolution is possible. indeed, recent evidence suggests that there is not necessarily a linear mapping of population growth and standards of living with water consumption (gleick, 2003). that is, increase of water productivity is possible (gleick, 2003). research into increasing water productivity is paramount. often, water for human use is scarce despite its abundance in natural systems – a phenomenon known as economic water scarcity (rijsberman, 2006). at a macro-level, economic water scarcity is caused by lack of capacity in terms of capital, technology and infrastructure to deliver the water for human consumption. at a micro-level economic water scarcity is faced by poor households that cannot afford to be connected to infrastructure e.g. in informal settlements. poverty and water scarcity, coupled with malnutrition and ill health, result in a vicious poverty-waterfood-health nexus that poses a critical global challenge (amorim et al, 2018; weitz et al, 2014). clearly, sdg 6 (clean water and sanitation) is key to achievement of many other sdgs, such as: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, life below water, and life on land. economic sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 51 water scarcity may also be due to governance failure whereby poor institutions, institutional fragmentation, and lack of transparency and accountability result in societal water scarcity despite its abundance in natural systems (akhmouch and clavreul, 2016). research imperatives emerging here are about: securing clean water and sanitation for vulnerable populations and households. the above biophysical characterisation of water scarcity is extended by critical perspectives that position water availability in rights and social justice. arguing that water cannot be substituted, shiva (2006) posits that water must be free for all people and the environment. she argues that access to water is not a favour but a right. mehta (2003) highlights the variability of the water cycle across space and time to argue that the idea of enduring drought and permanent water scarcity is without basis. she contends that scarcity is essentially transient but modernity made it permanent. she argues that water scarcity is always interspersed with overabundance and that water availability is regularly irregular. she adds that vested powerful interests promote an alarmist narrative of water scarcity to obfuscate asymmetries in water access. in a granulated analysis, metha draws attention to the distributional and relational aspects of scarcity to argue that scarcity is not felt universally by all. this for example is when powerful agricultural and industrial interests and rich elites consume huge quantities of underground water resulting in depletion of poor people’s wells. and large technical solutions such as dams and canals are designed to maximise allocation of scarce water to the powerful agro-industrial interests at the expense of the marginalised poor. in this way, argues mehta (2003 and 2001), the rich are water secure but cause scarcity in poorer communities shiva (2006) highlights the plachimada declaration on water democracy as a victory of community movements against big private interests. the declaration asserts that because water is not a human invention and cannot be bound, it should not be sold as a commodity. water cannot be substituted and all people and the environment have a right to sufficient water. the plachimada declaration is elevated to a symbol of struggle for water rights (shiva, 2006). 3.2. environmental water scarcity on the other hand, abundance of water in human systems does not necessarily imply absence of water scarcity. ecological systems have environmental water requirements (ewr) (smakhtin et al. 2004; rijsberman, 2006). the falkenmark indicator (water stress index) is a combined metric for human and environmental water requirements (falkenmark et al, 1989). when available renewable water per capita per annum is less than 1700m3, the country is defined as experiencing water stress. water scarcity occurs at less than 1000m3 renewable water per capita. absolute water scarcity occurs at below 500m3 renewable water per capita per annum. there is also a variety of other measures of water scarcity (rijsberman, 2006). and, according to the united nations (2015), 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge. depleting lakes and aquifers and rivers drying up before they reach the sea are obvious signs of unsustainable abstraction and environmental water scarcity. the colorado river in the united states and the yellow river in north china, are frequently completely or partially depleted before they reach the sea every year . the aral sea and lake chad are examples of water bodies disappearing because of reduced river inflows (see mekonnen and hoekstra, 2016). a key research imperative therefore is to measure anthropogenic and environmental water scarcity using the falkenmark index or another suitable indicator. smakhtin proposes that environmental water requirements (erw) be determined by classifying ecosystems into four classes: 1. natural (pristine and unmodified); 2. good (slightly modified); 3. fair (moderately disturbed); 4. poor (critically modified and degraded). smakhtin recommends environmental water allocation for each ecosystem whereby the more undisturbed the system, the more water environmental water should be allocated to it to keep it in that condition (smakhtin et al. 2004). a key research imperative is therefore setting environmental management and water allocation objectives by classifying ecosystems. environmental water is essential for ecosystem health and protection of freshwater ecosystem services. freshwater ecosystems provide a range of valuable goods and services such as flood protection, fisheries, recreation opportunities and wildlife sanctuaries (revenga et al, 2000; acreman, 2001, vié et al, 2009). it is estimated that these services are worth trillions of us dollars annually (posteland carperter, 1997). it is argued that freshwater ecosystem degradation has resulted in loss of services valued at 20 trillion dollars annually (costanza et al, 2014). it is therefore in society’s interests that aquatic ecosystem water requirements are met. this means that in regional planning, ensuring sufficient environmental water availability for watersheds is imperative. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 52 most urban areas are fully built up or paved and would hence fall under what smakhtin (2004) describes as “modified beyond rehabilitation to anything approaching a natural condition”. many cities do not have healthy freshwater ecosystems – meaning that they forfeit the immense value of related natural goods and services. however, at the intersection between nature and the urban built environment is ecological infrastructure, which is commonly encompassed under water sensitive design (wsd) (donofrio et al, 2009). water sensitive approaches to urban design and planning can be used to introduce, safeguard and enhance freshwater ecosystems in the city. this is through linking new and existing water bodies and greenery into networks of blue-green natural infrastructure (wong and eadie, 2000; carden et al, 2018; o'farrell et al, 2019). natural infrastructure offers active recreation opportunities such as walking, jogging, cycling, canoeing and fishing. blue-green infrastructure in cities is also known to mitigate the urban heat island effect (brears, 2018). reduced temperatures, opportunities for active recreation and the pollution-cleansing effects of nature result in overall health benefits for city residents (coutts et al, 2013). research into wsd for protection and enhancement of urban freshwater ecosystems is imperative. 3.3. temporal variations in the water cycle water scarcity is complicated by the spatial and temporal variations in water availability due to the dynamic nature of the hydrological cycle. the same place can experience scarcity and flooding in the same year. global warming is increasing the intensity, frequency and duration of extreme weather events (cisneros et al, 2014 and arnell, 1999). the dynamic nature of the water cycle may explain why some authors argue that, unlike biospherical integrity and land systems, freshwater availability is not a critical contemporary limit (rockström et al, 2009). yet, mekonnen and hoestra (2016), in a fine scale spatial and temporal resolution, estimated that 66 percent of the global population lives under conditions of severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year. moreover, 40 percent of the world’s population will be living in seriously water-stressed areas by 2035 (guppy and anderson, 2017 and addams et al, 2009). in absolute terms, there has been a 55 percent drop globally in available freshwater per capita (guppy and anderson, 2017) while by 2030, global demand for water is expected to grow by 50 percent (united nations educational scientific and cultural organisation [unesco], 2012). the world economic forum (wef) warns that water scarcity is amongst the top ten global risks in terms of likelihood and impact (wef, 2019). the relatively affluent are apparently oblivious to this critical problem given that they waste up to 80 percent of potable water on uses for which non-potable water would suffice (sisolak and spataro, 2011). globally, 30 percent of global water abstraction is wasted through leakage (liemberger and wyatt, 2019). the reality of water-stress was emphasised, to rich and poor alike, when cape town almost ran out of water in 2017 and 2018 in what was known in global popular press parlance as day zero (taing et al, 2019; wolski, 2018). thus, for significant portions of global population, water stress is a new normal. this means that it is imperative for research to be focussed on adaption and building resilience in the face of episodic and enduring water challenges. adaptation and resilience building include: diversifying supply; reducing leakage; mainstreaming fit-for-purpose water use to avoid wastage of potable water; developing efficient technologies to reduce water consumption and wastage; nudging consumer mindsets from water wasteful to water mindful; and increasing water productivity. furthermore, civilisations have been known to flourish in historically water stressed geographies because they developed adequate institutions (rijsberman, 2006). mehta (2003) also demonstrates that local people have evolved flexible livelihoods in order to intermittent availability of water. hence, building resilience requires developing appropriate institutions for water governance. but it is not just water scarcity that is at issue. due to the dynamic nature of the water cycle, extreme weather events can cause sudden water overabundance which can result in flooding and landslides. water plays a major role in all disasters. 90 percent of all disasters in 2017 were water related (centre for research on the epidemiology of disasters [cred] 2017). floods and landslides alone accounted for more 75 percent of the disaster-related deaths (ibid). climate change has been foregrounded as a cause of water scarcity. due to climate change, the occurrence and severity of extreme weather events is projected to increase (wef, 2019). hence, adaptation to and mitigation of flooding is another important research imperative. mehta (2006) claims that the attribution of long droughts to climate change is not supported by local data and instead, more attention should be focused on human-induced scarcity due to deforestation and unsustainable irrigation, for example. edwards (2013) argues that, in australia, the narrative of an imminent water crisis induced by climate change is accompanied by neoliberalization of water governance. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 53 bringing water to one area leaves a deficit elsewhere (shiva, 2001). dams upstream create scarcity downstream (hussien, 2017a). dams to provide water and power flood nature, displace communities and cause massive loss of flora and fauna. water can be a political matter. according to yorke (2016), in water scarce countries such as jordan, water is an instrument of patronage and power. and powerful elites consistently ignore or frustrate water demand management aimed at securing sustainable yields. therefore, water demand and supply is not just one of demand and supply but it is also a wider structural problem of national governance. for this reason, hussien (2018) argues, engineering and geological perspectives on water scarcity must be complemented by insights from the political and social sciences. 3.4. water quality and pollution most water consumed and used by humans becomes part of the environment and the water cycle again. this opens numerous pathways for pollution. two billion people worldwide contaminate water with faecal matter (who, 2015). globally, 80 percent wastewater is dumped untreated (un environment). in developing countries, 70 percent industrial waste is untreated. 15 – 18 billion m3 of freshwater resources are polluted by fossil fuel production annually (unesco, 2020). eutrophication from wastewater and agricultural run-off has, according to recent estimates, reduced biodiversity in rivers, lakes and wetlands by about one-third globally. ironically, eutrophication and biochemical oxygen demand (bod) are caused by depletion of valuable nutrients and organics from society (sisolak and spataro, 2011). hence, harvesting nutrients and organics from wastewater before releasing it to the environment simultaneously protects the environment and reclaims resources for agricultural systems. two imperatives emerge here (1) to research pollution of freshwater systems (2) research circular economy systems for wastewater treatment and resource reclamation. 3.5. the vertical dimension the above literature review reveals water related discourse from different perspectives. to find a common thread in the different perspectives, the literature-derived research imperatives are systemised into three distinct but interrelated categories: − problem description − problem drivers − mitigation measures the first category is analysing and describing existing problems in reference to human and environmental systems. this category addresses the scale and scope of problems around water quantity and quality. one of the problems is water scarcity as measured against human and environmental water requirements. another problem is the episodic occurrence of overwhelming amounts of water characterised as flooding. it is also here that the increasingly chronic nature of global water stress and the uncertainties unleashed by climate change are covered. a final problem is around water pollution and its effects. therefore, research focus here is to describe the problem in terms of water quantity (scarcity, flooding and climate change) and water quality (pollution) over a range of spatial and temporal scales [descriptive research]. in the second category, the drivers of each of the problems above are analysed. the focus is to analyse the drivers of these problems [analytical research]. a final category is related to mitigation measures focused on addressing each problem. this includes setting performance targets (normative guidelines) using expert-led and/or participatory processes. it also focuses on generating new solutions or applying existing ones in a different context. this category also covers evaluating past solutions for positive and negative lessons [normative, creative, applied and evaluative research]. the problems, their drivers and associated mitigation measures form a broad spectrum of agendas for water research and constitute the vertical dimension in this paper’s high-level outline. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 54 3.6. water discourse apart from the literature about water, its availability and distribution, there is specific literature that focuses on discourse analysis of water-related research. the same reality can generate different, even opposed, discourses (hussien, 2017a). in the extreme, some others claim that the environment is socially constructed (escobar, 1996: 46). for hussein (2017b), discourses do not just help us to make meaningful stories but constitute a substantial reality imbued with actual agency. discourses define what matters and they foreground some issues and solutions at the expense of others. dominant discourses are deployed across generations through textbooks at the interfaces of formal, practical and popular geopolitics (ide, 2016). for pieterse (1992) participation brings integration, rather than emancipation. participation is problematised as being asymmetrical and manipulative (mehta, 2006). power converges through coalitions of actors sharing the same discourse but not necessarily the same motives. discourses connect local and international arenas to generate huge networks of actors from academic and nonacademic spheres. big infrastructure projects engender conflicting discourse alliances as described by hussien (2017a) for example. discourses and the coalitions they create are alive and mutable. actors, discourses, plans and motives evolve with changes in broader contextual factors. because of the contested context, hussien (2017b) suggests that water discourses ought to be extended from the watersheds to the “problemsheds” beyond. 4. worldviews this section uses worldviews to reflect, at higher level, on the above normative and operational literature. groat and wang (2002) identify three worldviews. the positivist worldview underpins rational science and its quantitative approaches. it aims for value-free research as an ideal. the naturalist paradigm embraces multiple, socially constructed realities and the importance of values in research. in the emancipatory paradigm, there are multiplicity of realities and knowledge that are socially and historically situated. knowledge is seen to be mediated by class, power, gender, economic, ethnic-cultural values. o’riordan (1981) distinguishes between technocentric and ecocentric perspectives. technocentricism is the result of the positivist worldview and science while ecocentrism is associated with the naturalist and emancipatory worldviews. technocentricists who promote limitless growth are described as cornucopians by o’riordan (1981) while dryzek (2013) calls them prometheans. however both authors extend technocentricism to sustainability in the forms of environmental managerialism, ecological modernisation and sustainable development. environmental managerialism and ecological modernisation focus on predominantly addressing ecological issues through continuous innovation. but sustainable development embraces ecology as well as intra and intergenerational equity. in their variety, the above technocentric discourses span approaches ranging from expert-lead, through participatory democracy, to unbridled free-market mechanisms for development. underpinned by scientific rationalism, technocentric approaches are politically and economically dominant (dryzek, 2013). technocentric actors include governments, bureaucrats and technocrats. they operate at local and global levels. local governments work with international bodies such as who, the un and other multilateral national corporations. they may also include compliant ngos that act as intermediaries with various communities. the normative and operational discourse by international bodies discussed above can therefore be said to be technocentric. similarly, the more quantitative approaches to normative and operational level water research are technocentric (including authors like falkenmark, mekonnen, hoekstra, smakhtin, rijsberma, kuylenstierna, conforti, contanza, guppy, others and others). here would also fall those who drive the agenda of climate change. ecocentric approaches on the other hand question the dominance of scientific rationality and question the desirability of perpetual economic growth. framed by naturalists and emancipatory worldviews, they reveal and critically engage the values that underpin normative practice and discourse and challenge man to fundamentally change consciousness (arne naess (1973 and 1990). for dryzek (2013), ecocentrism is synonymous with green radicalism because it agitates for a rupture from the dominant technocentricism. ecocentricism covers fields like deep ecology, critical history, ecofeminism, ecotheology, environmental humanities and posthumanism. from the above normative and operational level analysis therefore, the authors who exemplify ecocentricism include shiva, mehta, edwards and hussien amongst others. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 55 5. academic fields compiling the work of several authors, the website enacademic.com (see enacademic, 2020) identifies five main academic groups: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences, professions and applied sciences. each academic group holds several sub-groups. in turn, each sub-group holds many academic fields each of which the authors describe in some detail. this paper referenced the groups, sub-groups and descriptions by enacademic.com to classify the main academic fields under the worldviews discussed above. this classification will form the horizontal dimension of the schema. natural and applied sciences fall in the positivist paradigm and technocentrism. they use scientific rationality, technocrats, bureaucrats and experts. some social sciences (those that emphasise use of quantitative methods such as controlled experiments and statistics) are also included here. together, these fields are responsible for engineering water infrastructure: designing, constructing, maintaining, managing it. they also include applied sciences such as health sciences and agricultural sciences. multilateral organisations such as the world bank and a range of united nations subsidiaries use methods of the natural and social sciences.. humanities arguably fall in the naturalist and emancipatory worldview. together with the critical fields in social sciences, humanities problematise water discourse through historical and socio-cultural lenses and structures of class and power. together with civil society, they engage in politics through building societal movements and grassroots democracy. particular types of fine arts and literature viscerally reveal underlying social and environmental injustices. spatial design fields such landscape design, architecture, urban design and planning straddle both scientific rationalism and the humanities. as creative fields, they offer visions of sustainable bioregions, water sensitive cities and liveable neighbourhoods. locating the academic fields under their respective worldviews defines the horizontal dimension of the research outline. 6. outline schema for water research the above vertical dimension (see section 3.6) and academic fields in the horizontal dimension are brought together to yield a high-level outline for water research. see figure 1 below. a single cell in the in the schema below is a well-focused water research area that relates to a specific field of study or practice. any vertical column in the outlined schema defines a range of possible areas for disciplinary research. any horizontal row in the schema draws focus to a single water issue around which an idtd team can be mobilised by drawing competencies from relevant academic and societal partners along that row. finally, choosing several cells from the schema without being constrained by cell adjacency or vertical and horizontal alignment enables formation of purposive idtd networked research spanning a diversity of knowledge areas deemed relevant to address a unique wicked water problem. sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 56 figure 1: outline schema for water research sanya/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 57 7. discussion and conclusion water supply is a contemporary global challenge with multiple options for disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. but there is no generic outline schema for articulating the specificities and overlaps between the different research directions. through a rigorous review of existing water-related scholarship, this paper outlines a schema that hinges on societal and environmental water scarcity to delineate a range of research options that cover such aspects as drivers of water problems, solutions and innovations to mitigate scarcity and build resilience. the schema allows positioning of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. this allows an individual or a team of researchers to locate their work vis-à-vis other studies and to identify complementary efforts and synergies. this therefore allows quick scoping, positioning and prioritization of research endeavors while also allowing researchers to avoid unnecessary duplication. this can facilitate collaboration and is hence valuable for accretional bottom-up coalescing of scattered study endeavors into a networked interdisciplinary research program. moreover, the schema can be used to reflect on the current state of the art – for example as an aid in articulating knowledge gaps for future research. at a broader level, the outlined schema can allow an interdisciplinary institute to be critically reflexive about its work and assess whether it is comprehensive in scope and appropriate in focus. it can be used to map existing areas of interest within a diverse interdisciplinary institute. such a map would make explicit the convergences and divergences of the interests of various people involved and thus be a useful aid to the framing of new idtd research endeavors. such an exercise can also illuminate the sorts of knowledge streams that are missing and needed to strengthen interdisciplinary research. at a national level, this can be useful in mapping the state-of-art in water research to identify what is being over-researched and where critical gaps exist, and to come up with measures to address any such asymmetries. this enables research managers to critically assess the field of water research nationally to identify and focus resources where they are most needed. moreover, the outlined schema can be a useful tool in the setting up of a national center of excellence in water research that bring together existing relevant expertise from several universities to undertake highly relevant idtd water-related research that cannot be executed within the confines of a single institution. water research is pulled by the enduring tension between the environment and development. this tension is mirrored in positivist scientific rationalism on one hand and naturalist and emancipatory worldviews on the other. the schema outlined here locates different academic fields within these worldviews. a significant value of the outlined schema is that it readily highlights that, although various strands of discourse may be underpinned by different assumptions 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(2016). jordan’s shadow state and water management: prospects for water security will depend on politics and regional cooperation. in society-water-technology (pp. 227-251). springer, cham. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v8i3.956 addressing housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast: a transformative justice approach caitriona mackel phd researcher at the transitional justice institute, university of ulster, belfast, northern ireland, mackel-c1@ulster.ac.uk abstract belfast is a deeply divided and fragmented city not just politically, socially, and economically but physically. it is a city shaped by its history, its experiences of violent conflict and its post-conflict transition. a collage of so-called peace walls and interface areas segregate neighbourhoods across the city creating some of the most socially and economically deprived areas where inequalities are significantly exacerbated by the tension and sectarianism that segregation reinforces. despite the peace process, historical and new inequalities in the provision and allocation of social housing affect many vulnerable individuals and communities resulting in unequal access to adequate housing; overcrowding; housing stress; homelessness; higher waiting lists and longer waiting times. the challenge of navigating housing in a politically and physically divided city has resulted in failed opportunities to shape policies and procedures to address existing, persistent, and new housing inequalities. addressing the legacy of violence and human rights violations is central to building sustainable peace in transitioning societies. if we acknowledge that socio-economic inequalities are not only a consequence of violent conflict but also a root cause, then we must also acknowledge that correcting these inequalities is an essential component of postconflict policy. transitional justice often overlooks violations of socio-economic rights and the impact of these on victims and wider society. a growing body of literature suggests transformative justice expands the traditional ‘toolkit’ to include measures, not typically employed in transitional justice, to confront violations of socio-economic rights, address the needs of victims and assist in societal transformation more effectively. under a transformative justice approach, my research explores how affirmative action and the role of social movements, such as the right to the city, could be used to address housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. in doing so we could look to the future as well as deal with the past. © 2023 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords housing inequality; transformative justice; affirmative action; divided cities 1. introduction from governments and rulers to philosophers and academics, and even poets and artists, the concepts and challenges of conflict, peace, and rights have occupied human thinking and behaviour for millennia, shaping not only our history and our present but our future. contemporary human rights discourse and models of conflict transformation and peacebuilding have been influenced by centuries old beliefs in universal rights and the pursuit of a set of moral standards to which all societies could be held accountable (marks, 2011). following the atrocities of the second world http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 war the field of conflict resolution moved away from the more traditional focus on conflict prevention towards a model of conflict transformation which pays more attention to: human rights; the underlying causes of conflict; the needs of victims; and a recognition of the complex challenges involved in making the transition from violence to sustainable peace (parlevliet, 2010). nowhere is the relationship between human rights and conflict transformation more intertwined, nor the need to consider root causes more crucial, than in the field of transitional justice. one of the key questions that arises for post-conflict societies is whether and how the legacy of violence, oppression and human rights violations should be addressed during the course of a society’s transition from violent conflict to sustainable peace and the rule of law and/or democracy. this question poses a number of dilemmas: should we confront the past? what wrongs do we need to address? who is to be held accountable? should those responsible be punished? and how do we ensure that wrongs are not repeated or violence refuelled? the concept of transitional justice was developed in order to address these dilemmas by recognising that enabling societies to transition and deal with the atrocities of the past requires more specialised mechanisms than can be provided by traditional judicial and non-judicial structures. since it was coined in the early 1990’s the term transitional justice has gained global significance as an umbrella term to describe an ever expanding range of mechanisms to ‘redress past wrongs, vindicate the dignity of victims and provide justice in times of transition’ (buskley-zistel, et al, 2014, p. 1). the united nations defines transitional justice as ‘the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation’ (united nations, 2014, p. 5). transitional justice is a set of practices, centred around truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, that are not only desirable but necessary in order to make the transition from conflict or oppression to sustainable peace. a range of judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, often referred to as a ‘toolkit’, have evolved to fulfil the core obligations of the field of transitional justice. conflict and oppression undermine the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights nonetheless, civil and political rights violations are often more clearly identifiable and therefore perceived as the most urgent and fundamental rights to be respected on the path to peace. however, ignoring economic, social and cultural rights in the post-settlement phase risks failing to respond to the immediate needs and expectation of those most directly affected (ramcharan, 2004). human rights violations are both a symptom and a cause of violent conflict and the violation of economic, social and cultural rights often functions as an underlying cause creating the grievances and group identities that can motivate civil violence (thoms & ron, 2007). addressing the root causes of conflict, alongside redressing human rights abuses, is therefore essential if transitional justice measures are to prove successful. by focusing on root causes the longstanding question of how civil and political rights affect and are affected by economic, social and cultural rights is renewed and attention is placed on the relationship between violence and poverty, discrimination, marginalisation and social exclusion (marks, 2011). traditionally transitional justice has ignored economic, social and cultural rights instead prioritising violations of civil and political rights as the primary human rights violations to be addressed when seeking justice for past atrocities (cahill-ripley, 2014). socio-economic issues often lie at the heart of conflict and are specifically articulated by affected populations in the transitional period, ignoring violations of socio-economic rights is a risk to both peace and the effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms (cahillripley, 2014). if, as the universal human rights legal framework suggests, all rights are considered to be universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated why are socio-economic rights largely ignored within transitional justice processes? cahill-ripley (2014) and robins (2017) suggest that the narrow legal scope of transitional justice has resulted in the field focusing on criminal justice and those grave violations which can be tried in a court of law. socio -economic rights are often considered as secondary, non-justiciable and equated to policy development rather than as legal entitlements within the remit of transitional justice (cahill-ripley, 2014). by focusing on the use of a limited number of established legal mechanisms transitional justice is constrained by its own ‘toolkit’ preventing the emergence of practices that could deliver broader justice that includes tackling the socio-economic causes and consequences of conflict and ultimately addresses the needs of victims. (robins, 2017). the big question for the field of transitional justice is how its mechanisms can take better account of socio-economic issues and whether these mechanisms are adequate or appropriate (evans, 2018). caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 addressing violations of civil and political rights without addressing violations of socio-economic rights actually undermines the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights (cahill-ripley, 2014). transitional justice therefore must have the ambition to look beyond the civil and political rights violations which often trigger transition towards the structural socio-economic rights violations, such as discrimination and inequality, that are usually part of the root causes of conflict (arbour, 2017). structural socio-economic violations cause both frustration and unrest and if there is no attempt to address these inequalities then the risk is that conflict and violence will resurface despite the best efforts of transitional justice mechanisms. if we consider that structural socio-economic inequalities are an important source of conflict, then we must also consider that correcting these inequalities is an integral aspect of postconflict policy. the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ must therefore be expanded in order to more effectively confront violations of socio-economic rights, address the needs of victims and assist in societal transformation (arbour, 2007). cahill-ripley (2014) suggests that what is required is a broader and more holistic definition of transitional justice that would include mechanisms that investigate and remedy violations of both socio-economic rights and civil and political rights. a broader approach to transitional justice could involve the use of mechanisms, which traditionally fall outside the remit of transitional justice and conflict transformation such as legal reforms, bills of rights or the establishment of new institutions and practices which monitor socio-economic rights. one recent proposition to broaden the scope of transitional justice in order to address structural socio-economic inequalities is yuvraj joshi’s (2020) recommendation that affirmative action should be integrated into the transitional justice toolkit. joshi (2020) suggests that by fixating on a finite and narrow set of mechanisms transitional justice scholars have overlooked the role that affirmative action measures could play in brining attention to structural inequalities, promoting the inclusion of excluded groups, and helping to delineate the boundaries of transitional justice. by focusing on a limited set of mechanisms transitional justice practitioners fail to capture the real-world complexities of transition and give the impression that these mechanisms constitute the complete range of responses available to transitional societies (joshi, 2020). my work, in progress, examines if and how affirmative action could be integrated into the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ to better address socio-economic inequalities in post-conflict societies. an in-depth investigation on the use of affirmative action to address one socio-economic inequality within one transitional setting is required. for the purposes of my study, the problem of new, existing and persistent housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast has been selected as an illustrative case study to demonstrate the potential power of affirmative action in dealing with the past and re-shaping the future. the main objective of this study is to analyse the implementation and effectiveness of existing affirmative action programmes, to address socio-economic inequalities, in the united states (us), south africa and northern ireland (ni) in order to produce a regulatory policy framework for addressing housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. 2. problem statement ireland, and in particular northern ireland (ni), has a protracted history of violent conflict, segregation, discrimination and deep-rooted political and societal divisions, arising from complex disputes over ethno-national identity and the legitimacy of territorial control, which can be traced as far back as the 12th century (dickson, 2012). the 16th century plantation of ireland radically altered the religious balance of the island creating a protestant majority in the north who were loyal to british rule. the subsequent clashes between the protestant settlers and the predominantly catholic indigenous population coupled with their political, religious and social differences led to widespread segregation of the two communities. in order to exert british control, the catholic population, along with protestant dissenters, were suppressed and marginalised through a number of penal laws which not only criminalised their religious practices but barred them from voting, owning land, exercising certain professions and from holding certain offices (dickson, 2012). although the majority of these penal laws were removed during the catholic emancipation process in the 18th and 19th centuries, catholics in the protestant dominated north still faced extensive, overt religious discrimination. the 1921 partition of ireland created a protestant/unionist controlled state, ni, which fastened religion firmly to political disputes over national identity, territory and inequality. in the decades that followed historical and persistent religious, political and social divisions, and the overt discrimination of the catholic minority, increasingly reinforced the segregation of communities along some of the most institutionalised and embedded of structures – housing, caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 education, social and religious life, sporting and cultural activities (kelly, 2012). the continued use of legislation as a tool of oppression coupled with acts of discrimination, such as the deliberate refusal of homes and jobs, and electoral gerrymandering throughout the first half of the 20th century created a widespread sense of grievance among the catholic/nationalist community which could not be channelled through the existing political structures (grech, 2017). ultimately these historical and persistent human rights abuses, inequalities and discrimination, propelled the civil rights campaign of the 1960s and resulted in a slide into a violent conflict that spanned three decades and during which over three thousand people lost their lives. housing is a particularly complex issue in ni. the discriminatory provision and allocation of social housing in ni was both a key theme of the civil rights campaign and a consistent feature of the conflict. claims of discrimination in the allocation of social housing began to surface during the 1950s and the community response to these claims were at the forefront of the civil rights movement (grech, 2017). it was in fact an act of deliberate discrimination in the allocation of social housing, and the subsequent protests against this, which led directly to the outbreak of widespread civil unrest from 1968 onwards (dickson, 2012). against the backdrop of discriminatory practices and the exclusion of catholics from social and political structures, occurrences of overt housing discrimination were a reminder of the institutional inequalities ingrained and dished out by the state (mallon, 2018). throughout the conflict a series of housing reforms were introduced to not only increase and improve the social housing stock but to also de-politicise housing and correct unfair allocation practices (frey, 2014). in 1998 the good friday agreement brought an end to the 30-year conflict and established a new devolved power sharing assembly. with the arrival of peace there was remarkable agreement among those involved in the formulation of housing policy that the time had come for locally accountable politicians to find local solutions to local problems however, many of the issues around discriminatory social housing provision in ni have never been addressed and significant differentials between catholic and protestant communities persist. deprived communities and vulnerable people continue to face significant issues in relation to the limited provision of adequate and affordable social housing, homelessness, housing poverty and stress, segregation, social exclusion and the legacy of conflict. despite an emphasis on the promotion of equality and human rights within the good friday agreement inequality in housing remains, not only within predominantly catholic communities, but across many of the nine identified equality categories here: religious belief; political opinion; gender; race; disability; age; marital status; dependents; and sexual orientation. this is due, in part, to the conplex challenge of power-sharing in a deeply divided society where politicians and policy-makers cannot easily agree on the progession of equality and human rights. in its 2017 ‘statement on inequalities in housing and communities’ the equality commission for ni (ecni) identified 7 key housing inequalities.1 as the largest and most segregated city, belfast is home to the highest number of individuals impacted by the most significant housing inequalities such as: unequal access to adequate housing; overcrowding; housing stress; homelessness; higher waiting lists and longer waiting times (ecni, 2017). one of the greatest contributing factors to housing inequalities, noted by ecni (2017), is the persistence of residential segregation. deep political and societal divisions have not been effectively addressed on the road to peace and as a result when given a choice the vast majority of people chose to live in a single identity area in keeping with their own perceived identity (ecni, 2017). although residential segregation has begun to decline the persistence of segregated residential patterns fragments and limits the operation of wider housing markets. ecni (2017) argues that a wide variety of evidence demonstrates a huge demand and intense pressure for additional housing for catholics, particularly in north belfast, which cannot be filled by the properties left vacant by protestants in the area as the peace line is not transgressed. this challenge is not unique to north belfast but reflects the effect of residential segregation across the city where the ‘lack of stock relative to demand for social housing in sometimes narrowly defined geographical areas may not easily be met by excess supply in other nearby areas’ (ecni, 2017, p. 22). across belfast, a collage of socalled peace walls and interface areas segregate catholic and protestant neighbourhoods creating economic, social and cultural equality barriers that result in: high levels of unemployment; high levels of educational 1 longer waiting times for catholic applicants; limited access to appropriate accommodation for travellers; susceptibility of migrant workers to tied accommodation with poor conditions; vulnerability of racial attacks on the homes of ethnic minorities/migrant groups; limitations on independent living for people with learning difficulties; people with disabilities living in homes inadequate for disability-related needs; and the harassment/safety of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 underachievement; inadequacies and accessibility issues in the provision of housing; low levels of investment; and a lack of development and regeneration initiatives for communities (byrne, 2012). these physical barriers create the divided spaces in which inequalities prevail and reconciliation seems a world away. belfast’s so-called peace walls and the complex challenges they maintain are a bleak reminder that the most vulnerable have been neglected on ni’s road to peace. inequalities are exacerbated by the isolation, fear and sectarian violence that dictates the narrative of everyday life in the shadows of belfast’s defensive architecture. being afforded the right to housing through a country’s constitution, legislation or commitment to internationally binding treaties does not always result in adequate housing for all. ni is no exception. housing policy, and in particular social housing policy, in ni has always been heavily influenced by political considerations. in 1990 the standing advisory commission on human rights (sachr) produced its second report on ‘religious and political discrimination and equality of opportunity in ni’ focused solely on housing. although the report highlighted that affirmative action measures, such as the official monitoring of religious backgrounds, deserved careful consideration political pressures and opposition from the ni housing executive, that such measures would cause a hostile public reaction, resulted in no express recommendation of regulatory measures to address discrimination and establish equality of opportunity in housing (cunningham, 2015). this was in stark contrast to sachr’s first report on discrimination and equality of opportunity in employment, which embraced and expressly recommended a regulatory affirmative action framework to address inequality. these recommendations were taken forward and incorporated into the fair employment (ni) act of 1989 and succeeded in reducing religious discrimination, creating greater employment of under-represented communities, and creating greater employment integration. crucial to the success of this affirmative action measures framework was the implementation of sachr’s explicit recommendations for robust data monitoring which allowed for external scrutiny of catholic and protestant recruitment (cunningham, 2015). the challenge of navigating housing in a politically and physically divided city has resulted in a failed opportunity to adopt a similar statutory framework which could have re-shaped policies and procedures to address historical housing inequalities and prevent new inequalities from arising over the course of the last three decades. 3. significance of the work joshi (2020) argues that affirmative action could reorientate transitioning societies towards a better understanding of socio-economic inequalities. by making affirmative action part of the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ transitioning societies benefit from the attention affirmative action brings to the socio-economic consequences of the past (joshi, 2020). joshi proposes he is the first to offer an integrated approach of affirmative action as transitional justice filling a gap in the current literature by bridging two fields ‘that share several conceptual and normative concerns yet until now have remained largely isolated from one another’ (joshi, 2020, p. 1). in proposing that affirmative action can bridge the divide between the field of transitional justice and the phenomenon of societal transition that it seeks to understand and facilitate joshi (2020) compares the use of affirmative action in two societies transitioning along racial lines: the united states (us) and south africa. although the us is largely excluded from transitional justice discourse joshi argues that when placed in conversation with south africa the us exhibits many characteristics of a transitional society recovering from the legacy of racial oppression and segregation (joshi, 2020). he argues that affirmative action has been a central means to pursue transition in both the us and south africa with tran sitional concerns underpinning the discourse on affirmative action in both societies (joshi, 2020). affirmative action is primarily designed to achieve equality and increase diversity through the deliberate use of race, gender, or other protected characteristics to the benefit of disadvantaged groups. affirmative action therefore requires us to intentionally look at the realities of the differentials between the life chances of different races or genders etc. and implement policies that redress these. in both the us and south africa affirmative action has been highly criticised for being race-conscious, for some ‘affirmative action based on race impedes transition to a non-racial world and is akin to practices that have been historically used to oppress racialized groups’(joshi, 2020, p. 14). however, joshi (2020) argues that shift away from affirmative action practices based on race, or other characteristics, actually impedes transition. ‘affirmative action should therefore occupy a central place among the transitional justice measures implemented to address massive human rights abuses’ (joshi, 2020, p. 19). by taking an integrated approach caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 to affirmative action and transitional justice structural inequalities could be better addressed and transition better facilitated. a robust legal affirmative action framework currently exists in ni in the context of employment and empirical evidence demonstrates that the implementation of this framework through regulatory monitoring and enforcement has resulted in an increased employment share for previously under-represented groups and a significant shift towards workforce integration (muttarak, et al, 2012). in ni, an innovative programme of affirmative action utilises legal enforcement alongside voluntary action plans, to ensure that both catholic and protestant communities enjoy fair participation in employment (mccrudden, et al, 2004). the inclusion of affirmative action within fair employment legislation and practices have proved successful in transforming what was once a highly discriminatory and segregated employment sphere. the implementation of statutory obligations on employers to: register with an enforcement body (ecni); monitor and report on the religious composition of their workforce; and make changes to personnel policies and procedures, has led to both greater employment integration and greater employment of underrepresented communities. mccrudden, et al, (2004) suggest that the success of the ni approach to addressing employment inequalities through affirmative action could have far reaching implications; providing a model not only for other jurisdictions seeking to tackle issues of fair employment but also for other structural inequalities within society including within ni itself (mccrudden, et al, 2004). a missed opportunity to develop similar affirmative action based legislation, despite its consideration, to tackle housing inequalities in northern ireland has resulted in the persistence of historical religious discrimination and the growth of new inequalities over the course of the last three decades. my research seeks to advance further on these arguments by examining the use of affirmative action to address socioeconomic inequalities, through an illustrative case study on housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast, in order to investigate the potential integration of affirmative action into the transitional justice ‘toolkit’. as recently as december 2021 the ni human rights commission has noted that housing inequalities remains on their list of issues still requiring action. it is therefore timely to re-examine the capacity of affirmative action to address chronic housing inequalities as part of ni’s continued transition to sustainable peace. 4. theoretical approach my study utilises a theoretical framework that illustrates why transitioning societies need to prioritise socio-economic rights and how affirmative action could provide the necessary tools for tackling inequality, discrimination and disadvantage in post-conflict transition. by drawing upon the theories of transformative justice, substantive equality and new social movements my study illustrates how these concepts, and the relationships between them, reinforce the overall argument that affirmative action is a legitimate tool to address socio-economic inequalities, discrimination and disadvantage in post-conflict transition. as noted, by focusing predominantly on civil and political rights violations through a narrow set of legal remedies, transitional justice often overlooks violations of socio-economic rights and the impact of harms on victims and wider society. although it may be a complex undertaking, addressing these injustices within post-conflict societies is essential. for transitional justice to be effective different kinds of justice are needed depending on the nature of the injustice, and the level at which the injustice occurred, in the particular society at the moment of transition (daly, 2002). to modify post-conflict structures in ways that are more inclusive, equal and fair we must consider a concept of justice that is more transformative rather than transitional (gready, et al, 2010). transformative justice allows us to look more closely at affected communities within a range of different political settings with the aim of creating communication and pursuing ‘forms of justice that break with the structures that may have led to violence in the first place’(gready, et al, 2010, p. 1). transformative justice broadens ‘the focus of measures aimed at promoting postconflict or post-authoritarian justice for human rights abuses beyond that of transitional justice’ (evans, 2018, p. 37). transformative justice therefore requires the development of a new, specifically focused ‘toolkit’ and as evans (2018) suggests there is a case to be made for the use of existing tools designed to combat inequality, poverty and corruption. in particular, transitional justice mechanisms have thus far proved inadequate in dealing with violations relating to land, such as violations of the right to housing (cahill-ripley, 2014). where the established ‘toolkit’ of transitional caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 justice is considered inappropriate or inadequate for dealing with socio-economic inequalities then the processes through which we pursue transformative justice matters (evans, 2018). although transitional justice is primarily anchored in law, for many transitional societies, such as ni, greater attention must be paid to the issues which lie in the background of legal and human rights discourse such as religion, culture, politics, economics and local tradition (joshi, 2020). dealing with socio-economic inequalities within transitional settings therefore requires the integration of knowledge, theories and tools from a variety of disciplines. taking a more transformative justice approach to transition allows us to step away from the more normative scope of transitional justice, draw upon the insights that can be gained from other fields and give serious consideration to mechanisms which traditionally fall outside of the realm of transitional justice. instead of aiming to treat all people alike substantive equality aims to correct disadvantage by focusing on the detrimental consequences attached to an individual’s status or group identity (fredman, 2011). fredman (2011) suggests that affirmative action advances substantive equality by actively taking steps to redress inequality, discrimination and disadvantage as well as prejudice within one concept. barnard & hepple (2000) suggest that under a substantive approach to equality special measures such as affirmative action can be used to overcome underrepresentation of disadvantaged groups in the workplace or ensure their fair share in the distribution of resources (barnard & hepple, 2000, p. 565). there is no one single definition or model of affirmative action, even the term itself varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may be referred to as ‘positive action’, ‘employment equity’ or ‘special measures’. for the purposes of my research project the term affirmative action will be used as an umbrella term for the range of activities primarily designed to achieve equality and increase diversity through the deliberate use of race, gender, or other protected characteristics to the benefit of disadvantaged groups. a substantive equality framework provides the space for my research project to justify the consideration of affirmative action policies to address housing inequalities in ni. the development of specific targeted affirmative action policies focused on equitable outcomes and opportunities could address discrimination and unequal access. as a root cause of conflict the issue of addressing housing inequalities has been largely ignored as part of ni’s transitional processes. the application of affirmative action as a tool for dealing with these inequalities can only be considered within a transformative justice approach to dealing with the consequences of ni’s violent past. utilising the existing tools of substantive equality, as part of a transformative justice ‘toolkit’, therefore strengthens the overall argument within my research project that affirmative action has a potential role to play in addressing new, existing and persistent housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. because transitional justice remains normatively driven it has been fairly limited in addressing the particular social and political needs of those directly affected by violent conflict, oppression and human rights violations (gready & robins, 2014). typically the externally driven, top-down, transitional justice agenda discourages the participation of affected populations, giving them little or no opportunity to engage in the process or goals of transitional mechanisms. a transformative justice approach on the other hand requires the inclusion of affected communities in shaping the agenda for law, policy and practice thus opening the door to actors typically exluded in transitional processes (evans, 2018). transformative justice encourages the voice of social movements and grassroots groups as opposed to the transitional justice approach of privileging elite actors. by giving agency and voice to affected populations and highlighting socio-economic rights, transformative justice could act as the catalyst for embedding these rights into transitioning societies. participatory processes are therefore a vital component of transformative justice providing affected populations with the means to raise concerns and shape processes which increase the likelihood of legitimate outcomes. social movements and community based organisations play a vital role in articulating the concerns of those most affected by issues such as housing inequalities. evans (2018) in particular, notes that the social movement praxis is ultimately essential for understanding how a transformative justice agenda might be promoted. urban social movements are increasingly considered an important part of urban governance processes with local activists influencing decision-making through participation practices and legal tools (domaradzka, 2018). domaradzka (2018) argues that the global spread of successful right to the city movements illustrates the power of collectives coming together under a common agenda to achieve social justice in the face of growing urban inequalities. the right to the city agenda can effect change by addressing: housing policies which ignore inequalities; property caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 development practices which create housing shortages; and planning policies that create residential disadvantage (united nations, 2016). furthermore, the right to the city implies co-responsibility on governments and populations to claim, defend and promote this right. the rationale for taking a more transformative approach to addressing housing inequalities in belfast is thus further reinforced by the capacity of collective action to reshape policy and practice and effect lasting change across an urban agenda that is broader than just housing. under a transformative justice framework participatory action could be encouraged in communities throughout belfast to fully identify the housing inequalities and needs of those most at risk from the legacy of the past and effect lasting change that achieves housing equality for all. the theories of transformative justice, substantive equality and new social movements explored within my research project provides a unique framework which supports the overall research argument that affirmative action could play a vital role in addressing new, existing and persistent housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. under a transformative justice agenda, that is driven by a bottom-up, context specific and participatory led approach to postconflict socio-economic justice and equality, affirmative action could be utilised to re-shape housing policy and address chronic housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. in doing so we could look to the future as well as deal with the past. 5. methodological approach my research project takes the form of an illustrative case study conducted within an interdisciplinary, socio-legal framework using comparative analysis and semi-structured interviews to investigate how affirmative action could be used to address chronic housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. the purpose of this case study is to illustrate how, through an examination of existing examples, affirmative action could be integrated into the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ for addressing socio-economic inequalities. an illustrative case study approach enables the researcher to explore and understand complex issues through an empirical study of a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context (zainal, 2007). ‘as human rights problems are common to all countries, it is often useful to compare experiences in different countries and situations’ (husa, 2015). utilising comparative analysis methods within my illustrative case study gives access to an extensive range of alternative solutions or ideas that may reveal a way out of ni’s particular dilemma (esser & vliegenthart, 2017). comparative analysis will therefore be conducted on the use of affirmative action and the role of social movements in addressing socio-economic inequalities, including housing, in the us, south africa and ni. the purpose of this comparative analysis is to identify and draw upon the similarities and differences between the selected comparative subjects in order to investigate: how the implementation of affirmative action measures could address housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast; and what role social movements, such as the right to the city, could play in re-shaping housing policy and effecting lasting change. while there are significant legal, political, social and cultural differences between the three jurisdictions selected for comparison in my study, there are, several commonalities in relation to socio-economic inequalities and a deep history of societal division, residential segregation and violence. the issue of housing inequalities in particular is common across all three jurisdictions. most importantly affirmative action policies and programmes have been utilised in each, with varying degrees of success, to address a range of socio-economic inequalities including housing. social movements, particularly right to the city movements, have also played an important role in influencing decisionmaking and shaping policy in relation to land and housing across all three jurisdictions. the comparative analysis will be conducted in three parts. the first part will explore: the impetus and legal framework for affirmative action; the implementation of affirmative action; and the impact of affirmative action in all three jurisdictions in relation to addressing socio-economic inequalities. the second part will follow a similar pattern of investigation to focus specifically on how affirmative action has been implemented to address the effects of housing discrimination and segregation in both the us and south africa in order to identify similarities, differences and lessons learned that may provide insight into how affirmative action could be effectively applied to the context of housing in ni, where no current framework exists. the final part of this comparative analysis will examine the right to the city campaigns which form an integral part of the continued fight against housing inequalities and segregation in all three jurisdictions to establish and evaluate the similarities and differences in the role of social movements in achieving social justice. caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 the comparative analysis will be conducted through desk-based research using a socio-legal examination of legislation, case law, policy documents, reports and academic literature to collect and analyse relevant data on the implementation, enforcement and effectiveness of affirmative action, and the role of social movements, to address socio-economic inequalities, including housing, in all three jurisdictions. by conducting a comparative analysis of legislation, policies, and administrative practices relating to affirmative action, alongside a comparison of the role of social actors in the housing sector, my research project aims to pinpoint potential limitations, implications and benefits for the development of a potential participatory led regulatory affirmative action framework that could be applied to the illustrative case study on new, existing and persistent housing inequalities in post-conflict belfast. as belfast has been selected as an illustrative case study semi-structured interviews to explore local participants’ thoughts on the use of affirmative action in housing will be conducted within ni using a range of appropriate participants selected from the public, private and community sectors. interview participants will include carefully selected representatives recruited from: government departments and agencies; public agencies and bodies; human rights organisations; ngos; political parties; and community organisations. participants who are directly involved in the provision of social housing, the development of housing policy, the monitoring of inequalities and those who represent community interests have been identified as the primary interview targets. a small number of private landlords and property developers who are directly involved in the development and provision of social housing will also be interviewed. participants will include representatives from: the department for communities; the ni housing executive; semi-public and private social housing providers; ecni; the participation and practice of rights; the market development association; and political parties. approximately 20-25 interviews will be conducted using a set of predetermined, open-ended questions designed to encourage participants to openly discuss their views on how the implementation and enforcement of affirmative action could effectively address chronic housing ineq ualities in belfast. participants will also be asked about their thoughts and experiences of social movements and actors in shaping decision-making, policy development and community focused human rights indicators. 6. anticipated findings, conclusions & implications as a work in progress there are as yet no definitive findings, conclusions or implications from my research. the comparative analysis process is currently underway and initial examinations of the data obtained to date indicate that there are a range of similarities and differences between the three jurisdictions being compared. similarities are present in the justifications for the use of affirmative action; the legal foundations of affirmative action obligations; the beneficiaries and domains in which affirmative action is implemented; and in some respects the effectiveness of using these measures to address socio-economic inequalities. however, substantial differences in relation to the boundaries of affirmative action, the role of the judiciary, and the ways in which affirmative action is implemented and enforced cannot be ignored. early data on the use of affirmative action to address housing discrimination and segregation in the us and south africa suggests that despite a firm legal framework in both jurisdictions progress on these issues has been slow as a result of political controversies and failures in the implementation and enforcement of affirmative action obligations. for example in the us, the affirmatively furthering fair housing (affh) rule established under the obama administration in 2015 set out a comprehensive statutory framework for states, local governments and public housing agencies to take meaningful actions to combat discrimination, overcome segregations, foster inclusive communities and promote fair housing choice (us department of housing and urban development, 2015). the affh rule showed considerable potential to increase inclusion, eliminate discrimination and improve equal access to opportunity (bostic and acolin, 2017). however, this potential could not be reached as implementation of the rule was delayed and eventually scrapped by the trump administration in 2020. similarly in south africa, the socio-economic rights institute (seri) outlines that the persistence of discrimination does not stem from the legal and policy framework developed for housing but rather from political pressures and the manner in which this framework is implemented in practice (seri, 2018). the preliminary findings indicate that an affirmative action framework for ni could have the potential to address housing inequalities but the success of such a framework is dependent on political cooperation and the effective implementation of robust monitoring and enforcement procedures. caitriona mackel/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 initial findings from the us and south africa also demonstrate that the meaningful participation of affected populations is essential for the success of an affirmative action framework in housing. affirmative action is designed to redress the specific needs of those most disadvantaged, marginalised, exluded or ignored in society (fredman, 2016). early data indicates that affirmative action measures must be designed not only for, but in conjunction wi th, the participation of affected populations in order to be responsive to these needs and affect lasting change. a lack of participation implies limited power and voice to affect change in the attitudes, institutions and policies which have fuelled discrimination and exclusion in the first place (united nations, 2016). the challenge lies in the ability to incorporate participation in policy-making processes which are primarily conducted by political elites. preliminary analysis of the work of social movements indicates that the solution could lie in their ability to overcome the barriers which exclude civil society from policy formulation (galego, 2021).a comparative analysis of the right to the city social movement in the us, south africa and ni is due to commence and it is anticipated that the data will demonstrate ways in which this movement could be utilised in the policy-making process to create more legitimate, transparent, accountable, and equitable housing policies and practices in ni. semi-structured interviews, for which full ethical approval has been granted, are currently underway in ni. research participants from the ngo and community sector, in particular, noted how public policy, underwhich housing falls, is often obstructed by power sharing tensions and political deadlocks at the heart of government. initial data gathered from these research participants indicates a strong desire for the development of a statutory framework which would place obligations on housing providers to monitor, report on and take action to address inequalities and on government to ensure effective implementation and enforcement. data obtained from interview participants to date, including the nihe and a number of ni’s main political parties, regarding the commitment to effective implementation of statutory monitoring, reporting and enforcement procedures in ni’s employment sector indiates that similar commitments and success could be achieved in the context of housing under a statutory framework. interviews are ongoing and it is anticipated that the data obtained from future participants will not only shape the development of an affirmative action framework but also further demonstrate that the timing is now right to apply affirmative action in the context of housing, as suggested by sachr, to secure the equitable provision and allocation of social housing in ni. it is anticipated that this work in progress while culminate in the development of an affirmative action framework which could be implemented into law and policy by the ni assembly and could be monitored and enforced by the ecni. this framework incorporate similar statutory monitoring, reporting and enforcement process to those which already exist in employment in ni with the addition of monitoring all equality categories in order to effectively address the range of housing inequalities experienced in ni. by considering the role of social movements in influencing public policy my research seeks to incorporate grassroots participation into ni policy processes to achieve reforms that address the needs of those most impacted by ni’s chronic housing inequalities. ultimately, while my research project is context specific it seeks to have wider significance and uncover the potential power of integrating affirmative action into the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ for addressing socio-economic inequalities far beyond the borders of ni's most politically, socially, economically and spatially divided city. references arbour, l. 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(2012). does affirmative action work? evidence from the operation of fair employment legislation in northern ireland. 47(3) sociology. parlevliet, m. (2010). rethinking conflict transformation from a human rights perspective in human rights and conflict transformation: the challenges of just peace. berghof conflict research. ramcharan, b. (2004). human rights and conflict resolution. 4 human rights law review. robins, s. (2017). failing victims? the limits of transitional justice in addressing the needs of victims of violations. human rights and international legal discourse. socio-economic rights institute of south africa. (2018). informal settlements and human rights in south africa. submission to the un special rapporteur on adequate housing 5. thoms, o.n.t. and ron, j. (2007). do human rights violations cause internal conflict. 29 human rights quarterly. united nations (2016). policy paper 1: the right to the city and cities for all. united nations. united nations. (2014). transitional justice and economic, social and cultural rights. hr/pub/13/5. united nation. (2016). leaving no one behind: the imperative of inclusive development. report on the world social situation 2016. united nations. us department of housing and urban development. (2015). affh fact sheet: the duty to affirmatively further fair housing. us department of housing and urban development. zainal, z. (2007). case study as a research method. 9 jurnal kemanusiaan. https://wun.ac.uk/files/transformative_justice_-_concept_note_web_version.pdf http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 doi: 10.21625/essd.v5i2.758 façade solar control and shading strategies for buildings in the mediterranean region santina di salvo 1 1department of architecture of university of palermo *corresponding author e-mail: (arch.santinadisalvo@gmail.com) abstract in recent years, the growing awareness of the possibilities of biomimetic and adaptive materials in architecture has assumed a fundamental importance in the scientific domain, for the high performance of the building façades from an environmental point of view. to meet the housing and comfort needs in climates, such as the ones in the mediterranean zones, characterized by ever-increasing temperatures, architectural technology must collaborate with nature in an even more decisive way, through increasingly smart and sustainable solutions. the paper reviews a collection of good practice examples of advances in material science, and the method used is to analyze the current performance of and building envelopes with smart façade skins, in order to suggest some potential applications in the mediterranean basin and regions of the world with similar climatic characteristics. the latter case studies, especially, show built examples of adaptive buildings that could be adopted for use in mediterranean regions. when the climate characteristics are somehow different, the good practices from elsewhere can be implemented in an innovative way. © 2020 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords shading; building envelope; adaptive façade; mediterranean region, warm climate; biomimetics 1. introduction in the last century, the globalization of the building industry and the almost total reliance on building services engineering for internal comfort, have increasingly led to the construction of standardized buildings that are not related to the local climatic, cultural, and material context. buildings are made the same way in stockholm and nairobi, in shanghai and in sao paulo, suddenly sweeping away millennial building principles (butera, 2004). until recently architecture was considered almost a sort of challenge launched by man to nature, to demonstrate that they are capable of building and living in any context and in any climate. air conditioning systems and technology actually make it possible to live under low ceilings in the tropics, behind thin walls in the arctic and under uninsulated roofs in the desert. all precepts for climatic compensation through structure and form are rendered obsolete (banham, 1969). however, today, the environmental issue and climate change require radical reflections with respect to the indiscriminate use of energy. although within a contemporary technical-constructive language and methods, only a renewed design, capable of integrating choices oriented towards the optimization of both climatic and material local resources, can really open up new eco-efficiency scenarios. http://www.press.ierek.com/ mailto:arch.santinadisalvo@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 1.1. principles of bioclimatic design and passive buildings a design attentive to the reduction of energy consumption and living comfort and capable of exploiting local natural resources and the climate is generally based on a bioclimatic approach which aims to address three aspects of the design at the same time: climatic-environmental, typological and technical-construction. if we try to read a connection of mediterranean architectures with respect to these three facets, it is possible to identify some typical features (lavagna, 2008). mediterranean architecture has always had a climate characterized by notable seasonal variations in temperature, humidity, wind, and solar radiation, which impact the environmental and physical performance of buildings in different ways and requires solutions capable of adapting to these seasonal variations. in addition to the mediterranean climate, the individual buildings respond to the microclimatic conditions of the site, that is to the specificity of the individual places in relation to the conformation of the urban or landscape settlement that influences, and sometimes modifies, the typical climatic conditions of temperature, humidity, wind flow and solar radiation, characterizing the single context with local conditions. with regards to the typological aspects, mediterranean constructions are characterized by the search for a balance between a compact shape in winter, based on the most advantageous ratio between surface and volume with respect to heat loss, and open in summer, based on the possibility of favoring natural ventilation, with variable spaces, openclosed, between winter and summer: porches, loggias, patios, filter spaces, greenhouses. for instance, the typical mediterranean typology is the compact but porous house (fig. 1). the porosity of a building, in this context, describes the fraction of openings in the external envelope used for ventilation. equally effective is also the in-line or terraced typology, which makes it possible to favor compactness but also to identify two privileged exposures, one to the south (to take advantage of the winter solar gains) and one to north (to have a cool side in summer that triggers natural ventilation through the building). in mediterranean architectures, the distribution and orientation of transparent surfaces and their relationship with the opaque surface are particularly critical. transparency is a very important aspect in relation to obtaining an adequate level of natural lighting and the exploitation of direct solar contributions during winter but requires great control of the solar radiation in summer. essentially, mediterranean architecture is therefore characterized by the presence of elements of solar protection, such as shelters and shading devices. with regard to the control of the technical-constructive aspects, mediterranean architecture is characterized by the passive use of solar energy through the exploitation of sunlight both directly (through the windows) or indirectly (through the heat accumulators) and by the presence of an adequate capacitive mass (and thermal inertia) to conserve the heat of the winter contributions (solar capture without inertia is ineffective, since the hours of irradiation in winter are few and the transparent surfaces, during the hours in which they are not irradiated, are very dispersing) and dampen temperature peaks (attenuation and phase shift of the thermal wave input) in summer. mediterranean architecture is, therefore, a traditionally massive architecture, characterized by the use of materials with high thermal inertia, such as stone or brick, in a varied range of construction solutions. to ensure good protection of the building, the orientation, the shape of the building and the characteristics of the envelope building are the aspects on which the designer must focus more (musco, 2006). in mediterranean climates, compactness is advantageous in the winter while porosity is advantageous in the summer: the most interesting examples of mediterranean architecture try to mediate these opposite objectives, designing elements with variable structure that can allow the closure of atriums, patios, galleries and verandas in the winter while also allowing their opening in the summer. di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 figures 1. typical mediterranean massive houses the shape of the building must also be related to the orientation. in mediterranean architecture, southern exposure is preferred as the surfaces thus arranged receive the maximum winter radiation, while in summer the most affected surface is the roof and those located to the east and west. the mediterranean buildings are characterized by a conformation that tends to favor the side facing south, in order to capture the sun's rays through the windows in winter, when the sun is low, and easily shield the glass surfaces from the sun’s rays in summer, when the sun is high, with horizontal overhangs (balconies, loggias). the east and west sides are limited as much as possible since the openings on these sides carry little energy in winter, when the sun is weak and of limited duration (the solar path in winter is short), and overheating in summer, when the sun is low and goes deep. generally, the north side, which never receives the sunlight (except at sunrise and sunset in summer), is characterized by openings reduced to a minimum to avoid dispersion and by a significant increase in the thermal insulation of the walls of buildings (lavagna, 2008). 1.2. building envelope and thermal comfort in mediterranean climates with regard to what has been written so far, it is clear that the building envelope has the task of modulating the external environmental conditions in order to create a more comfortable environment inside. it is a task that it has carried out for centuries, so much so that it has differentiated itself in relation to climatic conditions ( 2004). serra florensa and coch identify six main characteristics that define the energy behavior of the building envelope: insulation, heaviness, permeability, transparency, protection from the sun, color (serra florensa and coch 1995). the insulation of the building must be different in relation to the climatic zone and the orientations (for example, greater insulation of the north-facing facades and the roof is required). reasoning only on the outgoing heat flows in winter and entering in summer, a current of thought has been generated that promotes thermal insulation as the main control element of living comfort and reduction of energy consumption. this interpretation, born in northern europe, is driving the creation of hyper-insulated environments also in the mediterranean areas, with the belief that this can allow for more efficient buildings. but the insulation, in mediterranean climates, is not enough. the wooden envelope, thanks to its insulating power, reduces heat loss to the outside. the stone or brick one does something more: in addition to insulating, it allows thanks to thermal inertia to accumulate and release heat, and therefore allows the internal temperature to remain higher than the external one during the night. in a building with very thick walls, when the windows and doors are not always open, the internal temperature in the absence of heating remains almost constant, and very close to the daily average outside (aelenei, 2016). in warm climates, the envelope must take advantage of the day-night temperature range, in order to maintain an intermediate temperature between the two extremes inside and prevent the entry of solar radiation. so, in these climates, the traditional house is characterized by heaviness, that is, it is made of heavy masonry to take advantage of the thermal inertia of the structure (mordà and duma, 2013; scarano, 2013). erlacher and erlacher, in the book casaclima in massive masonry, emphasize the advantages of massive construction in mediterranean areas and propose a manual of construction solutions for obtaining low energy consumption buildings based precisely on the use of thermal mass. in summer, the effectiveness of the thermal mass in mediterranean climates is linked to the association with natural ventilation. if adequate free cooling at night is not achieved through natural ventilation, by discharging the heat accumulated by the wall during the day during the night, di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 the thermal mass is ineffective for the purposes of comfort and energy saving. here, then, is another element that characterizes mediterranean architecture: the permeability of the walls (erlacher and earlacher, 2007). permeability refers to the presence of openings in the building, which allow the passage of air, and depends on the size and position of the openings themselves. in mediterranean architectures, a reduced permeability in winter is sought (in order not to dissipate heat) and a high permeability in summer (to improve ventilation) through variable configuration solutions. the openings to the south, south-east and south-west allow the entry of warmer air, while those to the north allow colder air: if placed on opposite facades, they favor cross ventilation in the interior. the permeability and breathability of the facade are important in all seasons, also in relation to humidity control and indoor air quality. currently, housing models typical of northern europe are being imported, characterized by a high air tightness to avoid excessive heat loss. however, in this way, in hot-humid mediterranean climates, there is a risk of a worsening of the indoor air quality, which can only be remedied through sophisticated mechanical ventilation systems. mediterranean architecture is also particularly confronted with the management of the transparency of the building envelope. while nordic buildings are characterized by high transparency, dictated by the search for the maximum contribution of natural light, mediterranean architecture is characterized by “closed” solutions, where opaque surfaces or at least screened transparencies prevail. overly transparent buildings, in mediterranean climates, create unlivable environments due to the greenhouse effect. if this condition can be advantageous in winter, it produces overheating in summer, transforming the rooms into real ovens, which can only be air-conditioned with very high energy costs. therefore, the design of the size, orientation and position of the windows must address several other important aspects: the winter solar gain, the summer sun and the consequent overheating, natural lighting and any glare phenomena. in the mediterranean areas, the transparent surfaces of the building are oriented to the south, south-east and south-west to favor thermal gains in winter, providing adequate shading in summer. one of the main solutions is the correct design of the building envelope which must respond effectively to the control of solar radiation. in regions with warm climates, such as in the case of mediterranean countries, shading is one of the most important design strategies for controlling exposure and intense solar radiation; it is not a new approach in terms of architectural solutions. just look at the construction techniques of the greeks who thought of the development of their cities based on solar availability. the solar shading element can be fixed, such as overhangs, balconies, loggias, or mobile and are chosen in relation to the orientation. horizontal shading is used for south-facing facades because the sun is high in the sky, while vertical shading is used for east and west facing facades when the sun is low. to ensure optimal energy efficiency, they must be sized in such a way as to guarantee irradiation in winter and total shade in summer. an objective that can be achieved through the “variable structure” envelopes, achieved thanks to the use of mobile systems that allow to change the ratio between solids and voids, transparency and opacity, insulation of the envelope during the day or over the seasons (santamouris, 2001). mediterranean architecture is characterized, on the one hand, by the use of light colors and, on the other, by the choice of non-reflective materials and surfaces, which could create glare in the surroundings and heat islands. in this regard, studies relating to the control of the microclimate and comfort of open spaces are multiplying in relation to the design choices with regards not only to the morphology of the structures, but also to the materials and colors chosen for the claddings that cover the walls of the buildings and the paving of outdoor spaces. the suitable use of colors for the facades of buildings has been known since ancient times. colors such as light gray, cream, soft yellow and white are highly reflective and reflect up to 75% of the light that strikes surfaces of that color. in fact, the use of white in the mediterranean construction tradition is very widespread and is the result of experimentation and a wise use of local materials that today distinguish a very typical architectural style, also meeting requirements of comfort and livability. (morello and ratti, 2009). since in ancient times the laws of physics were not known but each discovery was made casually or empirically, the reasons that led to prefer white in construction were mainly two: − easy availability, low cost and simple processing / installation of the available white raw materials; di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 36 − having discovered, through its use, that white reflects solar radiation and makes the spaces in which it is used appear larger (martellotta, 2020). 2. materials and methods obtaining the ideal temperature and lighting levels inside buildings with adequate levels of comfort is fundamental. however, environmental conditions change from context to context and it is clear that every existing or newly designed building must be treated in a unique way. therefore, it is essential to focus on the methodological approach of analysis which, according to this contribution, is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. with the support of different disciplines, through the tool of knowledge, we identify the morphological, typological and technical-constructive solutions most suitable for a given context with its typical climate. furthermore, the design of a protection, a shading, an envelope for buildings located in territories characterized by warm climates as the mediterranean area is both a technical and aesthetic architectural operation, since the first impact of an envelope is visual. reading and interpreting the complex relationships between the natural/climatic context and added anthropogenic systems, defining what to design and build to protect and why, in terms of sustainability, even before knowing how to build, provides a valuable tool for a reliable intervention. the analysis of the geographical location and the knowledge of the function of the building built or to be built in an area characterized by a warm climate is an investigation tool with generative, morphological, typological, technological and material parameters which, if not adequately assessed, risk to make any functional building envelope project ineffective. in this article, we have highlighted the main factors to be taken into consideration to design smart solar shading systems and building envelopes in areas characterized by a mediterranean climate, therefore variable. the historical, anthropic and climatic aspects that characterize the mediterranean region intervene both for the value of resources such as history, climate and multiculturalism, and for the critical factors offered by highly anthropized territories and generally resistant to shared transformations. we have correlated the energetic and technicalconstructive aspects to those concerning the improvement of the comfort of the contexts, to reach advances in technological culture. the conscious holistic approach to the system of knowledge, methods of fruition and cultural stratifications structures methodologies and phases of the current research. on the basis of the analysis of some case studies relating to virtuous projects and experiments, conducted in places characterized by warm climates, its potential application in mediterranean areas is evaluated. with regards to the place where a building is located, the first phase is to collect data on environmental and climatic conditions, on the type of protection intervention that can be performed, specifying dimensional and cost data, materials and design guidelines. with regards to the building envelope or shading system, we must collect technical assessments, relating to performance, maintainability, reversibility, duration and effectiveness, both in terms of visual, climatic / environmental impact and its relationship with the landscape. the approach to the concept of protection of living comfort always starts from the deep respect for the place and from the study and knowledge of the identity of the context in which they are located (norberg-schulz, 1979). the place is the physical point in which the site is located, the climatic context that characterizes it, the culture that generated it and the contemporary one that should preserve it. one of the most discussed topics in architecture concerns the common goal of operating in harmony with the environment, having at heart the protection of the building and the context, considering as previously stated, the climate and specific culture of a particular place. norman foster states that the architectural project must be related to the climate and culture of the place (greco, 2002; iacobone, 2016). therefore, in the design of a shading or building envelope we deal with three fundamental issues: di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 37 • the relationship with the natural and geographical context, to guarantee the correct urban and landscape integration; • the relationship with the climate, to guarantee the most adequate protection to preserve the building from atmospheric agents and above all from solar radiation, guaranteeing, at the same time, an adequate natural lighting; • the function of the building, allowing the perception of what happens inside the building. as portoghesi (1999) argues, to operate beyond stylistic fashions and exasperated individualism, today it is necessary to re-propose the persistent validity of archetypes, in a general vision that gives them the authority that can derive from the relationship between history and nature: to build, consolidate, protect the built environment as part of nature, with which people should ally, always setting different conditions corresponding to different levels of understanding of the relationship between nature and architecture. we are aware that contemporary architecture is often called upon to integrate physically and constructively with preexisting structures, which is why a reliable methodology must be valid for both existing buildings and new constructions. nowadays, technological innovation is revolutionizing the shapes that surround us. however, often this new global language does not take into account the identity and climatic conditions of a site. the history of local materials, of construction traditions, as well as of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, is a repertoire of signs to always draw on, to operate within every historical-geographical context and, consequently, to realize architectural and structural solutions more reliable and appropriate. this is why the specificity of building envelopes have to be read as a combination of morphological, climatic, usage, management and technical aspects. the results of this study support a better understanding of how to increase the adoption of sustainable interventions in mediterranean area. 3. case studies 3.1. bioclimatic pergolas the architectural design of a protective canopy or cladding must also take into account the use and consumption of energy in maintaining the comfort of the building and the energy necessary for its use: natural or artificial lighting, ventilation, heating and cooling. the thermal capacities of a shelter represent a fundamental functional aspect on which to reflect. in this regard, the distinction made by hartwig schmidt between protection systems that do not delimit the building, the canopies, and closed protection systems, the building envelope, is paradigmatic. in the case of the building envelope, other energy consumption needs arise, not met by canopy systems, such as internal air conditioning, artificial lighting in addition to or in place of natural lighting or entrance lighting. today, the energy consumed in the production and construction phase with 0 km materials, or local recycled materials such as wood, sand, mud, straw and leaves, is called “embodied energy” (ranellucci, 2009; ferrari 2009). pergolas, when properly designed, can act as passive solar systems and help reduce thermal loads (fig.1). when, in addition to being composed of a roofing solar shading system, they include curtains on the sides to screen the sun in summer and windows that allow solar gains during the winter, they become very simple bioclimatic systems, yet capable of providing enormous energy benefits in all seasons. traditionally, in the mediterranean area the pergolas are structures made up of thin vertical supports and a grid of roof beams, which in addition to providing stability to the structure, act as a support for the vegetation. typically, pergolas are found in gardens and climbing plants characterize the roof, creating a shaded but permeable and ventilated space, in which to shelter from the sun's rays in summer and find relief from the heat. in less natural contexts, the covering vegetation is replaced by alternative solar shading systems, such as packable pvc fabric or slats. in the most innovative systems, the covering lamellas are adjustable to shield the sun's rays but allow the breeze to pass, and waterproof for preventing the passage of rain once closed. di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 38 figure 2. vegetable pergola of the giardino della minerva, salerno. figure 3. bioclimatic pergola (gibus) the pergolas, which offer protection from atmospheric agents, can be completed with opening windows. the pergola, closed on all sides, with the possibility of opening the windows in summer and combining them with shading awnings, offers an ideal microclimate all year round: in summer, the windows that can be opened favor natural ventilation and the curtains shield the interior of the pergola from the sun. in winter, however, the closed windows protect against atmospheric agents. there are companies that have patented systems that, in addition to allowing the structure to be delimited with opening windows, integrate systems for the drainage of rainwater for clean architectural results. an italian company has patented three systems (side seal, twist motion and inner guide) which also make it possible to isolate the perimeter coating and integrate shading blades that rotate to shield the sun’s rays. these can be completed by motorized mechanisms, audio and lighting systems. (fig. 3). when the pergola is placed next to the building it also helps in reducing thermal loads. it contributes to the improvement of comfort in the building, reduces the need for air conditioning, with positive consequences on indoor well-being and energy saving, and creates a new semi-outdoor environment in which the climatic conditions are as comfortable in summer as in winter. di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 39 3.2. the bamboo shell for transpiring buildings in the mediterranean area in mediterranean climate, bamboo is an excellent material for creating breathable buildings in the context of sustainable architecture. an energy-saving breathable building is able to control the internal / external microclimate and to sweat for emitting internal heat and cool naturally. one of these techniques is borrowed from japanese natural architecture. in some areas of japan, the most sun-exposed facades of buildings were covered with an outer shell of bamboo canes. later, water was poured into the pipes which, by evaporating, allowed the temperature to lower even inside the structure. this technique was borrowed from the japanese studio nikken sekkei with the bioskin project of sony city osaki in tokyo, in 2012 (fig. 4). the bamboo canes that define the building envelope have been replaced by thin ceramic pipes, which converge in a collection system of the rainwater. the system allows you to lower the temperature inside the building by 2 ° c, resulting in a reduction in co2 emissions due to a reduced use of air conditioning systems (watanabe, 2001). another relevant example of how contemporary architectures are able to reread the local construction tradition in an innovative way is represented by the bamboo roof (fig. 5). it is an installation created in houston, in texas in 2002 for rice university art gallery, designed by the japanese architect shigeru ban. he has developed a promising construction method in terms of sustainability and efficiency, that uses bamboo and cardboard tubes for its constructions, both residential homes, buildings for emergency situations, and large tensile structures made with unconventional materials. the bamboo roof is characterized by a free-form roof structure that develops with unlimited geometric possibilities. the concept is both simple and complex at the same time. the structure is created by fitting together a series of units of parts, each made up of four bamboo boards connected together by metal pins. finally, the corrugated roof is supported by metal supports. bamboo roof conveys a great sense of lightness and transparency, so much so that one has the perception of being under the canopy of a forest. these techniques represent an important reflection on the developments in the use of bamboo for construction in italy. figure 4. bioskin of sony city osaki,tokyo di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 40 figure 5. bamboo roof, houston figure 6. bamboo forest in the project of bamboo forest, the designer thibaut deprezo uses permanent bamboo scaffoldings as a driving force to promote the revival of these two tower buildings. each scaffolding is fashioned to the needs and wants of the building, giving each a unique identity. the bamboo shell allows residents to expand their dwelling outward in the form of fresh air spaces and vertical gardens. furthermore, towers and bamboo scaffoldings create symbiosis, favoring the stabilization of structures during earthquakes and support an ecological production of energy (figs. 6). di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 41 figure 7. bamboo brise soleil in the stam europe green place office building in milan 3.3. a good practice in milan: stam europe by goring and straja architects the sony city osaki was built taking into account the exposure of the winds blowing over tokyo bay. therefore, in the direction of the winds, the sides of the building are thinner and tend to stretch on opposite sides. the photovoltaic slats, on the other hand, are on the south facade to collect more sun rays. however, their purpose, in addition to producing energy, is to shield the rooms that overlook this side of the building, which is notoriously warmer. the same solar shading system was used in milan. the facade of the stam europe green place is characterized by an external envelope with a side completely covered with a bamboo brise soleil. bamboo creates a filter between the outside and the inside. the green place on viale certosa in milan remains “covered” by bamboo canes, to obtain a green effect and shield it in the parts most exposed to the sun (fig. 7). the building was designed to obtain leed gold certification. the ground floors of the building complex are intended for laboratories, main building entrances and a showroom. the floors are all intended for offices. in addition, it is characterized by the widespread use of glass, aluminum, concrete and bamboo string course structures for the shading systems on the east, south and west fronts. bamboo brise soleil receives a heterogeneous amount of sunshine, thins out, thickens and adjusts according to the inclination and solar radiation, creating a play of density and rarefactions that makes the facades vibrant and changing (giglio, 2017). 3.4. adaptive structures and meteorosensitive shelters adaptive coverings and innovative shelters react to external stimuli and regulate energy flows, heat, ventilation and lighting in relation to seasonal or daily climatic variations, while still guaranteeing the wellness requirements of the site and users (reichert et al., 2015). this goal can be achieved with the adaptive architecture, which involves the construction of structures able to change their shape and react to the surrounding environment. the mechanisms of adaptation between organism and environment provide us with, by analogy, a possible key to interpret the interactions that some structures establish with the places where they fall, places full of meaning and characterized by a ‘dominant nature’ (di salvo, advances in research for biomimetic materials 2018). in this regard, biomimetic or bio-inspired materials applied in the design are revolutionizing the way we invent, heal ourselves and exploit energy (pohl, 2015). these are surfaces, envelopes or ‘technical skins’ made up of special layers, capable of reacting like membranes in which exchanges of attenuated, transmitted, absorbed or reflected energy occur. hygroskin pavilion, designed by achim menges of the university of stuttgart, was commissioned for a permanent exhibition at the frac center in orleans. its envelope building has been realized by superimposing a series of wooden spruce panels over a steel structure, in the central part of which very thin triangular wooden sheets are collocated forming particular openings (fig. 8). di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 42 figure 8. hygroskin pavilion, stuttgart the millimeter precision with which these elements have been carved, thanks to a 3d laser printer robot, allows hygroskin to react naturally to the change of external weather conditions: simulating the behavior of the scales of the pinecone, when it rains and the humidity increases, the openings close up on themselves; while during the sunny days when the internal temperature increases the thin wooden sheets contract, increasing the width of the openings (menges et al. 2015). 3.5. the new frontier of parametric architecture for shading the use of parametric modelling for design allows us to overcome geometric limits and obtain unique shapes and solutions. all thanks to data and parameters that, when modified, create infinite possibilities. new programming and coding languages, modelling and 3d printing, such as grasshopper by rhino, allow to faithfully reproduce the cellular functions and structures of organisms, as well as the systems of organization and evolutionary adaptation typical of natural habitats. this is the sector in which biomimetic architecture, a relatively young science that combines biology and technology, develops (tedeschi, 2011; oxman, 2017). since the era of industrialization, areas closely related to architecture, such as materials science, engineering and construction, have always been seen as separate disciplines in the logic of a rather linear design process. current research in computational design reveals the potential of their integration and interconnection for the development of an architectural project, with particular attention to biomimetic and performance-based eco-friendly materials. the high degree of kinematic freedom that is obtained opens up the possibility of building complex, high-performance, single-material structural connections never made before. buildings become envelopes and structures at the same time (loonen, 2013; alini, 2018). 3.5.1. computational design, the innovation of digital manufacturing for biomimetic buildings the first prototype of a wooden structure made by a robot in the world dates back to 2014. thanks to the computational design it was possible to create, for the first time with the aid of a robot, a biomimetic wooden building. the shape of the shell resembles the skeleton of sea urchins, a modular organism composed of individual elements of connected calcium carbonate. similarly, in the landesgartenschau exhibition hall 2014 pavilion designed at the university of stuttgart (fig. 9), this structure made up of thin multilayer beech plates is created. these sheets are interlocked with each other by means of jointing on the edges, with a precision never achieved before. characteristics of materials, measurements and manufacturing principles are part of a simulation and optimization system in which shapes are drawn robotically. this is an interesting project for future development, because it shows the new opportunities that arise from the integration of design, simulation and numerical control manufacturing processes and resource efficient construction from local and renewable sources of the wood. to sum up, the innovation of digital manufacturing is di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 43 characterized by speed of construction; very precise manufacturing; efficient and advanced detection methods; having a building shell and structure at the same time and striking visual effects inside and outside. figure 9. landesgartenschau exhibition hall, stuttgart 3.5.2. zaha hadid’s architectural and design visions: al janoub stadium, qatar. with regard to the characteristics of permeability and porosity, typical of classical mediterranean architecture, visions of the zaha hadid studio deserve a reference, because thanks to these “we were able to move away from closed forms and perimeter blocks to create a buildings and urban landscapes that are porous, accessible and welcoming” (www.zaha-hadid.com). the malleable nature of the architectural material is essential to be adapted to the context. all elements of architecture are becoming parametrically malleable and thus adaptive to each other and to the context (bifulco, 2019; peluso, 2019). in the case of the al janoub stadium (fig. 10), thought for the world cup to be held in qatar in 2022, inaugurated in al wakrah in 2019, the zaha hadid architects designed the building in conjunction with a new precinct so that it sits at the heart of an urban extension of the city, creating community-based activities in and around the stadium on nonevent days (www.zaha-hadid.com). the shape is inspired by the sails of the traditional arabian dau boats, used by the pearl fishermen of the region. the curvilinear roof and exterior reference al wakrah's history of seafaring, in addition to giving spectators the feeling of being on a ship. the entire structure is therefore designed to resemble the hulls of boats overturned and arranged almost at random to provide shade and shelter. beams placed “in the bow” support the roof system. the main feature of the stadium is the possibility of completely closing the retractable roof with a tensile structure designed by schlaich bergermann partner (sbp.de/en/project/al-janoub-stadium). the roof is made of fabric and ptfe pleated cables, with large arches reaching a length of 230 meters. according to the supreme committee for delivery & legacy (sc) of qatar, detailed microclimatic analyses have shown that the shape of the arena, the aerodynamics and the optimal shading resulting from the roof structure, with a minimum amount of glass present, contribute significantly to control the temperature. a roof like this, which encompasses various functions, could be very useful in terms of energy and shading in mediterranean climates. di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 44 figure 10. al janoub stadium, qatar 4. discussion and conclusions integrating photovoltaics into building facades in italy is an interesting and complex challenge. the areas of the mediterranean, attractive for the strong sunshine, are suitable for an energy issue in step with the times. the identification of integrated systems in the mediterranean house, through the choice of innovative solutions, will make it possible to transform specific architectural components of the building envelope into energetically active components. in particular, solar screens are configured as a characterizing element of the tradition of mediterranean living; fundamental response to the energy saving needs of a building, to guarantee shading, solar control and reduction of the thermal load of a building. the uni 8290 standard for residential houses (www.store.uni.com/catalogo/uni-8290-2-1983) does not consider the shading component and, moreover, in the definition of legislative decree 311/2006 (www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/testi/06311dl.htm) it is defined as a system applied to the outside of a transparent glass surface. in mediterranean architecture, the shading component interacts synergistically with the building envelope. now, shading is not just the pergola or the garden, but it is often a device, a technique applied to the envelope. so why not consider it part of the envelope itself? if it were part of the transparent facade, it would contribute to the enhancement of thermal resistance; as part of the opaque envelope, it would instead contribute to insulation. on the one hand, we want to grasp the suggestions of tradition, identifying the new needs for an adaptation of the built and a better design of the new. on the other hand, we stimulate the research and cataloging of new materials on the market and characterizing national and international research in order to identify new services to meet contemporary needs. buildings built in warm climates are affected by severe overheating problems in summer, which negatively affects people's comfort and health. for these reasons, many users are forced to install cooling systems, leading to an increase in costs, consumption and a meaningful impact on the environment. the examples discussed show the desire to grasp the suggestions of tradition, in response to people's current needs for comfort and well-being. research and experimentation on innovative materials are carried out starting from the analysis of best practices at national and international level, thanks to which performing performances have been identified, suitable to meet the contemporary needs of climate adaptation, energy efficiency and sustainability. in mediterranean architecture, shading systems are configured as a characterizing element of the tradition of mediterranean houses where the shading component interacts synergistically with the building envelope. now, di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 45 usually the system is not just the pergola or the garden, but it is often a device, a structure connected to the design of the envelope. one consideration is that the components could be directly integrated into the enclosure. if, for example, the shading were part of the transparent façade, it would contribute to the enhancement of the thermal resistance. as part of the opaque envelope, it would instead contribute to insulation. it represents a fundamental answer to the energy saving needs of a building where it guarantees shading, solar control and reduction of the thermal load of a building. the results put in evidence that different solutions are considered in order to reach a high level of internal comfort in a building, ensuring the designer identifies the best choice of building materials that compose the envelope. a shading element can also contain integrated photovoltaic elements. the integration of photovoltaic panels in the facades of buildings in italy is an interesting and complex challenge. the areas of the mediterranean, attractive due to the strong sunshine, lend themselves to an energy issue in step with the times. the identification of integrated systems in the mediterranean housing, through the choice of innovative solutions, would make it possible to transform specific architectural components of the building envelope into energetically active components. to sum up, the case studies serve to understand the potential development of multifunctional adaptive facades, stimulating and promoting the translation of multifunctionality of nature into architecture. levels of biological organization can help transfer multiple functions into a single, multi-level hierarchical structure of an adaptive facade. the aforementioned experiments on bio-adaptive structures offer important insights into the potential offered by technological innovation for sustainable protection in the mediterranean buildings. digital technologies can help to provide adequate solutions to the formal and technical complexity of protection systems, causing unprecedented changes also in the conservation process: process transformation, digital design (algorithmic, parametric and generative) based on performance, computational design, simulations with virtual and augmented reality, digital manufacturing and new construction methods, which contribute to a paradigm shift in architecture and a transformation of the contemporary practice (terenzi, 2017; tucci, 2017; bilir mahciek, 2018). the reflection on some intervention strategies assumes a general character that goes beyond the examples discussed and can offer a register of useful guidelines for all designers, which once elaborated can be used in geographical contexts with similar climatic characteristics. innovative applications provide food for thought for an original reading of issues already current for some time on the agenda of those who govern the city and represent a stimulus for new insights on biomimetic-adaptive shelters to be implemented in mediterranean areas. if the copious literature of the last decade promises a central role in the architecture of this millennium for biomimicry, it will increasingly have to characterize the design of shading or buildings envelopes in warm climates, thus stimulating the development of environmentally responsible, socially reactive structures and revolutionary, radical design solutions. an important open question is that a successful facade project should meet several functional requirements and regulate multiple environmental factors. in nature, there is a wide range of organisms specializing in different functions. the translation of biological solutions into adaptive facades would benefit from billions of years of evolution. multifunctionality in nature is the integration of more than one function into a single system where a unified structure is able to control a variety of functions. that is why current studies focus on monofunctional elements assembled into a single system, which is subsequently multifunctional. for instance, the components of a window are designed separately to meet different requirements, such as daylight and exterior view controlled by the properties of the glass, while glare and solar gain are controlled by shading. the facade can manage multiple aspects to meet the functional requirements of a building and protect the interior from environmental factors such as wind, precipitation, humidity, outside temperature and solar radiation. finally, facade systems aim to meet a wide range of various functional requirements which are often contradictory. for example, obtaining optimal illuminance with minimum glare and having a high thermal accumulation with light and permeable structures. di salvo/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 46 many considerations on the development of multifunctionality in facades, always thanks to the integration of the lessons learned from biological structures, can pave the way for further stimulating developments in research and experimentation. references aelenei, d., aelenei, l. &vieira, c. 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(2018). costruire e abitare green – approcci, strategie, sperimentazioni per una progettazione tecnologica ambientale | green building and dwelling – approaches, strategies, experimentation for an environmental technological design, altralinea editrice, firenze. uni (n.d.). ente italiano di normazione. retrieved december,14, 2020, from www.uni.com/ watanabe, h. the architecture of tokyo: an architectural history in 571 individual presentations. edition axel menges, 2001. willis, d. (2016). energy accounts: architectural representations of energy, climate, and the future. routledge. zaha hadid architects (n.d.). architecture. retrieved december, 14, 2020, from www.zaha-hadid.com/ http://www.uni.com/ http://www.zaha-hadid.com/ http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 1 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.787 built morphology and the impact of planning policies: case of small towns in karnataka, india aparna shastri1 1professor and dean (examination and evaluation) at the dayananda sagar college of architecture, bengaluru, india abstract the morphology of a city undergoes transformation over time due to a variety of factors. one such factor is the master plan. the master plan is a powerful legal tool, the implementation of which has a lasting impact on the morphology of a town both built and unbuilt. the template for the master plans in india is the same be it a metropolitan city or a class iii town. the resultant triggers and impact of this master plan are questionable more so in the case of smaller cities and towns. this paper investigates one such small city in the hinterland of karnataka through a descriptive analysis of the compact historic city and the new developments; the impact of the master plan and the resulting changes. through the analysis and arguments presented in the study for the reading of small towns and non metropolitan cities we support alternative readings of these towns and cities. additionally through the analysis of compact city planning methodologies both historical and current we understand how the two aspects; that is small town urbanization and compact planning methodologies can be enmeshed to create new templates for master planning for small towns and cities. our study is limited to the master planning exercise in the context of karnataka and gadagbetageri in particular and needs to be further explored with respect to other urban development policies in order to be applicable to small towns and cities in general in india. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords built morphology;master plan; urban compactness; sustainable urban form; 1. introduction historically cities evolved for a variety of reasons. the making of a acity and the pattern of urban form has been the subject of much discussion by many renowned theorists. kevin lynch proposed the three categories or models of city forms, the cosmic model, the practical model, and the organic model in the good city form (kevin lynch. 1981). spiro kostof talks about the planned cities and the unplanned cities wherein the first type is a created city, its pattern determined once and for all by some overseeing authority (spiro kostof, 1999, p 43) and the other kind is the spontaneous city which develops and grows due to the passage of time, the lay of the land and the daily life of the citizens (spiro kostof, 1999, p 43). edmund bacon talks of the city as an act of will (edmund bacon, 1967). irrespective of their origins, cities grow and expand over a period of time. while historically this expansion evolved with and in answer to the needs and requirements of the city and its people especially in india, in many of tier ii and tier iii cities this expansion was slow and organic in nature. all this changed with the introduction of the jnnurm scheme in 2005 by the government of india. the jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission (jnnrum) was launched in may 2005 with four key objectives in mind: namely; the urban services, inner-city regeneration http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 2 through services, housing for the urban poor, and implementation of the 74th amendment of the constitution which enabled urban local bodies with more powers in the decision making aspects of the cities. the first beneficiaries of the scheme were 65 cities identified by the goi and subsequently more cities were added to the scheme so as to accelerate the development of small towns and cities in india. in order to be a beneficiary of this mission, the cities or towns had to draft a cdp (comprehensive development plan) that outlined the vision for the city and identified the funds required for the implementation of the same. since this envisioned the future development of the city, the development plans invariably laid out a scheme that parceled the city into zones and converted agricultural lands to plotted developments in anticipation of housing and commercial needs, industrial zones, and so on. thus the city which was originally compact and contained was now given permission to sprawl. unfortunately the resultant development pattern; in the built environment, material usage, scale, and many other dimensions are neither sustainable nor critical to that particular region. gadag also known historically by the names of karthu, karduga, gaduga traces its history to the rashtrakutas from the 8th century. it is a city municipal council as well as the administrative headquarters of the new gadag district in the state of karnataka, india with a population of 172,813 and a density of 229 per sq km. gadag is famous for printing, handlooms and is also an important seat of hindustani music in north karnataka. gadag is also an important junction for the south western railways with the railway line bifurcating gadag from betagiri. historically gadag was the center for printing and literature and betagiri was known for its handlooms. together the twin cities were the second largest urban center in the undivided district of dharwad as well as the market center for the surrounding towns and villages. gadag is also an important part of the jain pilgrimage circuit since the first jain temple complexes that came up around the 10th century in lakkundi. the planning exercises that have been in practice since the late '80s have been conservative in their outlook faithfully following the principles of colour coding and zoning and separating the various functions as per the traditional planning rules. this approach to master planning while serving some functions like allocation of resources, finances, infrastructure, and so on fails to look at the unique aspects that are prevalent in that context. should all planning exercises be looked at through the same lens? the planning methods for a metropolitan city like bengaluru should be different from that of tier two cities like gadag, yet the documents differ only in terms of geography and contextual requirements but not the approach itself. this paper investigates one such small city in the hinterland of karnataka through a descriptive analysis of the compact historic city and the new developments and the impact of the master plan and the resulting changes. it questions the singular approach to master planning and investigates other approaches with the intention of finding a new perspective to master planning of small towns and cities that can be tailored to the individual city especially in the context of karnataka. 2. literature review 2.1. sustainability and historic planning historic town planning in india can be traced back to the indus valley civilization which followed the grid iron pattern with a citadel and fortification. evidence suggests a good road network with wide arterial roads and excellent drainage system. the second type was during the vedic period when texts like the manasaram, mayamata and the shilpashatra were written that based town planning on cosmic theory. these texts give elaborate descriptions on the type of planning required based on the topography, location, function and so on. there are few surviving examples of this kind of planning, madurai in south india being one such temple town. here the town/city is planned as a series of enclosures that follow a clockwise direction of movement with preordained spatial designations the third category is the numerous towns scattered across india that came into being for a variety of reasons from as early as the 5th century ad until the 19th century with some intent on planning that were based on the vedic principles. these are administrative capitals, defence towns, commercial towns, religious towns and centres of learning. in the context of karnataka we have historical towns that range from capital cities, administrative cities, defence towns, temple towns, port towns and so on. examples for the various types include, the capital cities or towns like badami, vijayapura; religious towns like sringeri, gokarna; defence towns like anegundi, chitradurga; trading towns like bengaluru, hubballi and administrative capitals like mysore, hampi and so on. eventually all these towns have grown, and transformed into present day towns and cities with the historic districts merging into the town fabric. while there is no evidence to prove that the cosmic theories were applied in the town planning of these towns and cities, we can see shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 3 evidence of intent in the planning and the zoning of the city and the circulation networks with respect to the cardinal directions. the settlements were planned around or in close proximity to a water body either natural or man made with the place of work and stay linked by a pedestrian network. the cadastral patterns respected the topography with the settlements at the higher elevation and the water bodies at a lower elevation. examples for this kind of planning include the pete area of bangalore the old town of badami and many more as also the old town of gadag. this aspect of planning has been intuitively followed in the organic growth of these towns and settlements where the central spines have mixed use and the place of work and stay are closely linked and built form responds to the climatic aspects of the place. thus the tropical sun and the heat generated is countered by narrow lanes that are shaded by the buildings abutting them, a verandah or jagali as it is termed colloquially which acts as a shaded seating area and as a transitional element between the public street and the private house, courtyards and narrow openings with thick walls and skylights in the utility areas like the kitchen and wash area. main streets that were also the commercial spines usually have their own typical mixed use typology which houses the shop on the ground floor at the street level and the residence at the top. throughout karnataka we find such settleforms that have survived for centuries with very little change. the introduction of rcc and the increase in vehicle ownership as well as change in lifestyles is transforming these settlement morphologies that are losing the pedestrian scale as well as the advantage of climate friendly construction. compounding this issue is the planning methods currently followed that are exacerbating and incentivising the move away from traditional which should be translated as sustainable methods to borrowed models of planning. 2.2. analysis of literature on planning methodology of compact cities compact city as a policy became popular in europe in the 1990s as a way of finding sustainable solutions for city planning. first coined by george b dantzig and thomas l satty in 1973, it was a notion that existed prior to that in the form of high-density compact city as proposed by le corbusier in the radiant city concept and jane jacobs's ideas of mixed-use, high density, and pedestrian-oriented living. the ideas gained traction in the 1990s in europe as an answer to the automobile-driven planning that led to sprawl in cities which were increasingly seen as unsustainable. catalyzed by the global sustainability goals as outlined in the brundtland commission report (wced, 1987) and the unced agenda 21 proposals (1993) the theories diverged from the earlier ideas of environmentalism as proposed in the garden city and regional planning theories of howard (1898) and geddes (1968) in the sense that their focus is about the consequences of energy production and consumption and how this is influenced by the urban form. the rationale for this concept stems, according to tadashi matsumoto, "from the fact that urban spatial form may substantially influence the economic, social, and environmental performance of cities" (matsumoto, 2012, p 01) for example, a compact urban form with an efficient transportation system can reduce intra-urban trip distances, which reduces the cost of transporting goods and services as well as the consumption of gasoline (matsumoto, 2012). the literature on compact city concepts is extensive as are the definitions of the compact city. over time the compact city model has found favour with the green and sustainable urban form models as high densities combined with mass transit models are seen as an answer to suburban sprawl. some of the key characteristics of a compact city as defined by many of the definitions are contiguous development patterns, dense built-up areas with mass-transit linkages, accessibility to diverse local services and jobs (matsumoto, 2012) decreasing car dependency; lowering per capita rates of energy use; limiting the consumption of building and infrastructure materials; mitigating pollution; maintaining the diversity for choice among workplaces, service facilities, and social contacts; and limiting the loss of green and natural areas (bibri et al., 2020) increasingly a lot of the research is looking into how urban forms can be more sustainable and a compact form along with good transport and linkages is seen as a sustainable urban form. the world over there is a renewed interest in reading and understanding of historical urban forms as scholarly studies have shown that historical settlements have compact urban forms that are climate and context sensitive. the historical cities of the middle east too followed a compact urban form where the city consisted of mixed use communities with clusters of residential communities with their own urban facilities together formed an urban agglomeration. according to shirazi and falahat (2015) this type of urban form persisted almost until the pre-modern times after which the new developments were a poor imitation of western urban planning patterns. thus the historic cores of cities like tehran, cairo and many others have compact urban forms that are well suited to the climate and culture of the place and new shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 4 developments that surround and in some cases superimposed on the older forms that are more haussmanian are decidedly not compact in their urban structure. the oecd report 2012 lists the benefits of the compact city that include environmental benefits due to reduced automobile dependency thus reducing carbon emissions, economic benefits due to efficient infrastructure, easier access to a diversity of local jobs and services as well as the impetus to new technological innovations and finally social benefits due to lower cost of living and a better quality of life. many models have been tried to achieve the compact urban form; the high rise high-density redevelopment model with mass transit and self-contained new towns; second is the concentrated decentralization where a polycentric model is preferred over the monocentric model where development corridors and transportation networks act as connectors; third is the linear transport oriented development as explore in curitiba very successfully; fourth is the urban regeneration models that explore regeneration of core areas, historic centers, and disused industrial and other lands (burton et al., 1996). according to the latest literature on compact cities from around the world "compact cities emphasize the intensification of development and activities, create limits to urban growth, encourage land use and social mixes, and focus on the importance of public transportation and the quality of urban design" (bibri et al., 2020). while a huge body of empirical work is available on the compact cities in the form of case studies, these perspectives range from planning theory, planning practice, design practice, urban theory, spatial analysis, regenerative design, economics, and discursive theories (bibri et al., 2020) this study approaches the topic of compact planning from the perspective of historic cities in karnataka and how these can aid us in achieving the three goals of sustainability namely the social, economic and environmental aspects of the city.. 2.3. analysis of literature on small town planning in india the indian definition of urban has three criteria that need to be fulfilled, first is a population density of 400 people per sq kilometer, the second that at least 75% of the male working population are in nonagricultural pursuits, and third, a population of at least 5000. the indian definition of urban has three criteria that need to be fulfilled, first is a population density of 400 people per sq kilometer, the second that at least 75% of the male working population are in nonagricultural pursuits, and third, a population of at least 5000. the classification of towns in india is based on the census data and is thus based on the population statistics. therefore, class i towns are those with a population of 1,00,000 and above, class ii towns are those with a population of 50,000 to 99,999, class iii being 20,000 to 49,999; class iv: 10,000 to 19,999; class v 5000 to 9,999 and class vi: less than 5000. thus all towns with a population of 1 lakh and above are placed in the category of class i cities. therefore, both gadag-betageri with a population of 1,72,813 and bangalore with a population 8 million plus are classified as class i cities. while bangalore is acknowledged as a metropolitan and megacity the census classification does not consider this nomenclature. mukhopadhyay et al. (2000) have come up with a classification where class ia is above 5 million, class ib is between 1 and 5 million, class ic is between 100,000 and 1 million, class ii towns are between 50,000 and 100,000, class iii between 20,000 and 50,000. as per this list they classify all towns in class ii and below category as small towns. apart from this a town can be declared a statutory town or a census town. a statutory town will be a town that will have a local body and a census town will not require an urban local body and thus will be declared a village. these classifications are important as they affect the performance aspects of the said town or village. as per the 74th amendment of the constitution of india the urban local bodies and the panchayat raj are given a lot of powers to enable better participation at the grassroots level thus strengthening the democratic process. this coupled with many central government schemes that are aimed at the betterment of villages results in a lot of funds allocated to the panchayats vis a vis town municipal corporations. due to this, there are instances in states where a town has reversed its status from a statutory town to that of a village. in this background the argument of planetary urbanization as espoused by brenner and schmid where they question the boundaries of rural and urban and call for new epistemologies where urban and rural are not geographically defined does not hold much ground as denis et al posit in their theory of subaltern urbanization that "the urban-rural nomenclature remains performative, even as the relevance and the frontier of these binaries are questioned" (denis et al, 2012, 14). in india thus a large part of small-town urbanization is caused due to an increase in the population of a town or village rather than migration, termed as insitu urbanization by mukhopadhyay (mukhopadhyay, 2020). the theory of subaltern urbanization in india demands that small towns shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 5 in india cannot be seen through the lens of megacities or metropolitan cities and be studied for their own autonomous economic linkages and performance. district headquarters like gadag-betageri, badami, kampli, sirsi to name a few in karnataka are the produce markets for the surrounding villages. the huge apmc yards in these cities are where all the surrounding village farmers sell their produce, cattle, buy necessary equipment, and farm necessities. concomitantly, towns like badami with their historical significance have developed a tourist economy that is slowly gaining traction and envied by other towns such as gadag that cannot claim a similar share. mukhopadhayay et al. (2000) have classified the small towns in india under four categories; the first is an influenced town which is in close proximity to a metropolitan town and is thus influenced by it. malpe near udupi is an example for this. the second is an entrepreneurial town that is composed of entrepreneurs and skilled workers and forms industrial clusters. tiruchengod in tamilnadu with its drilling rig industry is a good example for this category. the third category consists of market or administrative towns that have historically been centers of commerce and or administration and governed by urban local bodies. kampli in karnataka is a good example for this category. the fourth category is the emerging small towns that are either large census towns or large urbanizing villages which have a significant portion of their working population moving away from the farm sector. gopalpur in west bengal with its yoghurt industry is given as an example for this category. to this list, i would like to add a fifth category of towns that have a strong historical layer and thus become a part of the tourist circuit which has a significant impact on their growth and development (shastri and subrahmanian, 2021, p. 321). while the population statistics by the census of india classifies gadagbetageri as a class i city, for the purpose of this study we will view gadag-betageri from the perspective of a small town. we will consider the parameters of density, economic diversity and transport to strengthen the argument of why gadag-betageri needs to be seen from the perspective of a small town. gadag-betageri has a density of 3,200 per square kilometre for an area of 54 square kilometres which translates to 32 pph.thus the density parameter shows that gadag-betageri has a density on the lower side compared to the other class i cities which have a density >50pph. the economic mainstay of gadag-betageri is the agro based industries, the apmc yard and other agricultural and administrative related services due to it being the district headquarters. this suggests that the economy of gadag betageri is not very diverse but mainly dependent on and related to agricultural and administrative functions. the third point is about the transport system of gadag-betageri. the old city area which comprises districts 2 and 4 is mostly pedestrian with private and paratransit vehicles supplementing the foot traffic. the city does not have a transit oriented development where transport nodes attract higher densities and development. apart from the city bus station and the railway station there are no transport nodes in the city and of these the railway station only caters to intercity and interstate traffic and not to the city itself. thus in view of all the above stated factors it is more prudent to view gadag-betageri from a small town perspective rather than a class i city perspective. the above-stated analysis about small towns in india helps us draw two sets of conclusions; the first that small towns are not always dependent on big metropolitan cities for their growth and commerce and second that while boundaries between urban and rural are getting blurred increasingly, the nomenclatures matter in the performative and governance aspects. thus we need to look at small towns away from our current understanding of cities and deepen our understanding of them so that it can lead us to a planning process that is more nuanced and discerning than the current processes that only differ in scale but not approach. 3. historical planning in the context of gadag gadag district has many structural temples from the badami chalukya’s reign between the 6th and 8th centuries. historical evidence shows the existence of gadag and its twin city betageri since the rashtakutas rein in the 8th century in the form of stone inscriptions found in the area. ruled as a part of the belavolu three hundred (belavolu munnuru in kannada) administrative area (fig 1), the place was a fortified settlement with learning centers for scholarly pursuit as well as warfare and martial arts. established as an argraharam or brahminical settlement with a royal grant from the kalyani chalukyas the trikuteshwara temple was a walled enclosure within the fort. lakkundi, situated about twelve kilometers from gadag as well as gadag were both known for these argraharams where scholars of both the jain and hindu traditions were engaged in scholarly pursuits. bhisma tank situated towards the south of the fort wall fulfilled the water requirements of the settlement (fig 1). the presence of more than sixteen hero stones or veeragallus dating back to the rashtrakuta period which narrate the battle fought by the hero and his profession as well as the details of the battle tell us that the betagiri area may have had a battlefield in its surrounding and shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 6 probably housed an army contingent as well to protect the settlement. in the 12th century, another walled enclosure was added within the fort with the building of the veeranarayana temple during the hoysala rule. this was an agraharanm as well and the famous kannada version of mahabharatha by the writer/poet kumaravyasa is said to have been composed in the presence of the deity veeranarayana in the 15th century during the vijayanagara rule when the temple was expanded with a larger enclosure. with the change in regimes in the region, gadag-betageri too came under various rules until it was won over by the british in 1818. during the british era gadag was a part of the dharwad region which in turn was part of the bombay presidency and continued to remain a historical town.the establishment of the railway line in 1882 gave impetus to the modernization of gadag. the railway line which first linked gadag to hotagi in maharashtra was later linked to the hubli line (fig 2). gadag with its black soil was a cotton growing region and the establishment of the first mill in gulbarga in 1884 was soon followed by setting up of mills in the gadag region. these mills were set up outside of the old town area towards the north adjacent to the railway line and towards the east beyond the trikuteshwara temple walled enclosure. the setting up of cotton mills led to the first expansion of gadag and its transformation from a historical town into an urban centre. the mills attracted workers and labourers and this led to the densification of the old town between the veeranarayana and the trikuteshwara temple enclosures. the mills attracted ancillary industries of oil extraction and the handloom industry. thus a weaving community was established across the railway tracks to the north in the betagiri area by the early 1910's. the new burgeoning urban centre attracted businessmen from bombay and the javeri bazaar or the jewellers street came up to cater to the new clientele. the introduction of printing presses during the colonial rule and the existing learning and scholarly tradition of gadag from historic times helped set up a strong print and publishing culture which meant the presence of many printing presses in the old gadag area in around the tontadarya matha and the javeri bazaar.while there is no evidence of any specific planning policies applied to the town during the british regime, the railway line and the subsequent establishment of mills impacted the layout of the settlement from an organic form to that of a planned development. while the town did spread due to the interventions during the british rule, it still retained a pedestrian scale. post-independence with the setting up of the taluk offices and other administrative buildings the town gradually expanded east (fig 2). planned residential plots with services started to appear to the east of the hubli bellari highway in gadag and around the missionary hospital in betageri. this was the extent of the town until the 1990's when the first master plan exercise was mooted and the new district of gadag was carved out of dharwad district in 1997 figure 1. historic map showing the walled enclosures of the veeranarayana and trikuteshwara temple precincts and the bhishma tank to the south of the fort. source: joshi, r. 2005 shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 7 figure 2. map showing the old town of gadag and the subsequent developments 4. master plan for gadag and its impact on the town the first comprehensive development plan (cdp) for gadag was approved in the year 1991 for the horizon year 2001 and was deemed to be valid for 10 years. accordingly, a fresh survey was taken up in the year 2001 and a new cdp for the horizon year 2021 was drawn (fig 3). the old town has a compact arrangement with the bus stand at the center with the tank and the railway line forming its boundaries. with a radius of 1.5 kilometers, the town has a very pedestrian scale to it that is slowly getting eroded with every new master plan proposal that keeps expanding the city limits. since gadag-betageri is the district headquarters it is the seat of the government, thus the municipal buildings and the district courts are situated in gadag. old gadag had cotton mills and printing presses and betageri had the looms that provided employment to the townspeople and this was possible due to the cotton fields that surrounded the town which grew the cotton required for the mills. over time the number of farmers who grew cotton diminished as many second-generation farmers chose to migrate to the city to make a livelihood instead of farming; gradually this led to a decline in cotton production which further led to the closure of the mills. the boom in the internet and technology meant that fewer books were getting printed, thus the once-thriving printing industry got hit too. therefore, the two major employment opportunities in gadag gradually became obsolete and the land occupied by the now defunct mills also became obsolete (fig 4) the forming of a new district meant that new government institutions had to be set up in gadag and the fact that this was the town center for all the surrounding villages meant that the government appointed agricultural market yard is situated here as well. the government became the major employment generator in the town and a new kind of planning was required that could house all the employees that were to work in the government offices. thus the planning exercises carried out for gadag had new extensions planned in a sprawl around the old city such that plotted developments to house individual housing units for the expected government employees to stay. as a result of this, the two master plans of gadag thus far have spread gadag farther and farther out into the countryside in anticipation of the expected housing demand. this has resulted in a development that is very sparse and removed from the city center with very poor connectivity and completely at odds with the original pedestrian scale and formation of the city. it has also resulted in huge tracts of land in the city center that are lying waste or underutilized due to the presence of the now-defunct mills. the apmc yard that occupies more than three huge city blocks is also functioning below par as are the newly identified industrial areas in the outskirts of the city. the new farm reforms proposed by the government of india may result in the obsolescence of shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 8 the present way of functioning of the apmc. the city on the other hand continues to grow with new residential extensions sprouting along the highways towards the west and south-west and in the north towards the north-east. . figure 3. comprehensive development plan of gadag-betageri. source: department of town and country planning, gadag figure 4. map showing the apmc yard and the mill areas shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 9 while master plans are obvious requirements and give much needed direction and vision to the growth of the city as well as the allocation of funds the end result is not always right for the city in question. the comprehensive development plan for gadag 2021 divides the city into five planning districts and proposes a slew of infrastructural plans and zoning regulations for the city. the central core of the city falls under district 2 and 4 where in district 4 is the old city and district 2 has all the commercial areas including the apmc yard, while district 5 and 3 form the outlying residential areas. the key areas of focus as per the comprehensive development plan are the population projections for the horizon year 2021, a comprehensive zoning of land use for the planning area together with zoning regulations, traffic circulation pattern for meeting immediate and future requirements, areas for new housing, new areas earmarked for future development and expansion and the stage by which the plan is to be carried out. the cdp which was formulated for a population projection of 15% increase based on the growth rate between 1991 and 2001 but there has been a decline in the growth rate from 2001 to 2011 to 11%. this means the expected land use projections as outlined in the cdp may not be required. further the land use map identifies the existing mill areas and the other light industries in the central district 2 as industrial land use and the now reclaimed land from the squatters in the central district adjacent to the old bus stand as commercial land use. the proposed residential land use is relegated to the outer rings of the city with new industrial land use zoning also proposed at the far edges of the city in all quadrants. this archaic method of zoning the residential separately from the industrial and commercial land uses is resulting in unnecessary spread of the city. the cdp notes that 253.75 hectares of land is vacant within the developed area, which works out to 17.62 % of the total developed area and this could be available for residential development. yet, it does not specify how this can be made possible. mixed land use zoning is completely missing from the proposed land use. a new bus terminus is planned and is already partially operational towards the southeast of the bhisma tank. although this caters to city bus service as well, this terminus is meant for intercity buses and is operated by the state road transport corporation. this is supposed to divest the existing main city bus terminus in the old city of intercity bus traffic and cater exclusively to intra-city bus traffic. two ancillary bus stations at betageri and the pala badami road complete the public traffic infrastructure for the city. these are highly inadequate to cater to the newer extensions of the city which have no other mode of transportation. the cdp does not propose any other means of public transport for the city. with respect to water, the main water source for gadag is the tungabhadra river at a distance of 54 kilometers downhill from the city. during the summer months when tungabhadra has a reduced flow many parts of the city face water shortage. a proposal to increase the water pumped to gadag betageri from tungabhadra by building a new higher capacity pipeline has been approved, which is meant to solve the water problems of the city. the cdp does not propose any alternative methods of augmenting water supply. 5. discussion and strategies on how compact and sustainable planning principles can be integrated into urban planning in the context of small towns in karnataka compact city models as discussed previously in the literature review have innumerable benefits and our historic cities were compact and revolved around the idea of people work and place as suggested by geddes [after munshi, 2000] whose argument that geography, economics and anthropology are closely related and essential to the understanding of cities was substantiated by his studies of cities in india. hence it begs to be reiterated that the social, economic, and environmental aspects of the city are very important for the development of a city. in the backdrop of this our cities continue to reject the benefits of the existing historical planning tools and methodologies while choosing to adapt the global north approach of planning cities that do not resonate in the context of the cities of the global south. the climatic condition of gadag that falls in the arid hot and dry belt of northern karnataka encourages a compact dense built development than a sparsely built spread out city. a similar model can be explored for future city development where the climatic conditions of the city, the lifestyle and the environmental impact of development needs to be assessed. plotted developments that encourage single housing units are a model that has been eschewed of late as unsustainable. the colonial hangover of an idyllic bungalow like setting in the countryside is resulting in master plans that are unsustainable in the present context. in the context of gadag betageri the master plan fails to address how the defunct industrial spaces will be reutilized. the sustainable dimensions of the old city are its pedestrian scale, dense built form and compact arrangement. comparing this with the dimension of compactness and sustainability as inferred from the literature reviews we can look at formulating strategies that would help in gadag retaining its compactness and thus its inherent sustainability in the city structure. shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 10 5.1. strategy 1: the land use dimension strategies to enable a compact city development must look at mixed-use zoning that will prevent sprawl and compact the development within the city limits. the proposed industrial park at the western end of the town on the huballi highway which is functioning below par is a failure of the planning and zoning principles that are borrowed from metropolitan city planning. cotton mills and the other attendant industries associated with it can continue to work within the city center and need to be revived with a component of housing added to it. the industrial park which is currently working below capacity at the city outskirts can house agro-related industries like medicinal herbs, food and fruit processing units, and so on. cotton farming is on the wane due to the non-availability of labour at the harvest time, the seasonal labor that is required to pick the cotton has to be incentivized with the job and housing security. by realigning the land use of the industrial land in the core of the city, affordable housing can be made available for the migrants and the laborers. about 86 acres of land (fig 4) is available in the core of the city that is either lying vacant or is housing defunct mills. even a quarter of the land used for housing and related amenities could make a staggering difference to what the city can offer to attract and retain labour. the proposed master plan allocates a good portion of the land in the city center to commercial use. mixed-use should be given priority over single-use at city centers so that these prime areas are equally accessible to all. 5.2. strategy 2: intensification of activities in the economy of cities (jacobs, 1961) jane jacobs talks about how cities grow and the reason for a few cities to continue to grow and thrive while a few perish. jacobs gives the example of cities like birmingham (jacobs 1961, pp 87-89) having smaller businesses that support the bigger businesses and gradually developing their own competencies leading in turn to a new cycle of innovation that triggers further growth and diversification. similarly, bengaluru in karnataka is a good example where the psu's in the 80's encouraged higher education institutes in the city which in turn attracted mnc's to set up a base in the city due to the availability of a qualified workforce. this resulted in many homegrown software companies. the millennium turn saw the start-up culture taking off in a big way, again due to the presence of a highly motivated and qualified workforce. thus the core strength of the city is being leveraged enabling growth and diversification while intensifying the core competencies. identifying the existing and inherent strengths of gadag-betagiri, which include its cotton and handloom industry could diversify into cotton baling; thread making, cotton textile, and cottonseed oil industries. oil press industries for cottonseed and sunflower seed and groundnut can be encouraged as small-scale industries. gadag houses the apmc yard for the entire district; this asset is currently not optimized to the full extent. infrastructure that can augment the apmc activities like rest houses and truck parking and driver resting facilities need to be bolstered. training centers and skill up-gradation centers need to become a part of apmc yards. strengthening and reviving existing capacities in agriculture, industry, and services would be a sustainable way of planning rather than bringing in a new typology of industries that may not be a good fit for the existing capacities. 5.3. strategy 3: urban form in her essay on urban informality ananya roy argues for a new epistemology of planning that raises three crucial issues about distributive justice, the object of development, and questioning of the best practice model. roy's critique of the best practices model, termed as blueprint utopias are their inability to provide a more realistic sense of politics and conflicts (roy, 2005, pp 156) the old mill areas of gadag are being converted to residential use and this conversion is gradually leading to the displacement of the labor force that was formerly housed close to the mills, especially the dc mill and the old bus station road area. by applying the model planning blueprint, the master plan is proposing a cleanup drive that is already in motion which is relocating the informal settlements to the peripheral areas of the city. thus the poor are relegated to the outskirts away from their source of livelihood and forced to depend on public transport for their travel while they once could sustain all their needs in a walkable radius. this injustice of spatiality as edward soja terms is as much a social evil as a spatial fact. described as a socio-spatial dialect with social processes shaping spatiality at the same time sociality being shaped by it soja calls for a new spatial consciousness that makes us aware of the geographies we live in, as these can intensify our experiences in all aspects of living (soja, 2010, pp 18-19). the urban form and structure of the city cannot just be based on the visual sense and shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 11 be about the aesthetics as described by jaques rancier but has to take into consideration the quality of life for all its citizens in terms of livability, walkability, and other dimensions of sustainability. a compact urban form that ensures the poor and marginalized are not displaced or pushed out to the peripheries will not only continue the historical form of the city with the pedestrian scale retained but also fulfill the sustainability goals as well. 5.4. strategy 4: transport and urban structure sustainable city examples from curitiba to bogota, to the smart city initiatives by the government of india all talk about an urban structure that revolves around an affordable, efficient and accessible transport system. a pedestrian friendly city that allows people to access all their immediate needs in a walkable radius is increasingly seen as the ideal blueprint for city development. yet cities like gadag are moving away from their original model of pedestrian scale planning to unsustainable sprawls. cities do expand and grow, but this need not have to come at the expense of losing their inherent advantages. strengthening the public transport reach and accessibility and planning clusters of development around it could be one way of ensuring spatial justice. the new bus stand located on the south eastern edge of the bhisma tank suffers from poor connectivity from the rest of the city. more nodes of public transport, which can be multi modal to include the local favorite, the three wheeled auto rickshaw, need to be included in the master plan. a comprehensive walkability report that can link the various transport nodes to residential clusters is essential to develop a sustainable transport and connectivity plan. the urban structure should facilitate such a plan with pedestrian friendly neighborhoods and dense clusters of development that are connected through transport corridors. 5.5. strategy 5: climatic considerations climatic strategies could be explored in the following aspects. first in the architectural form; the old city of gadag has narrow lanes which vary between 3 to 6 meters and a dense built form configuration that is typical of hot and dry climates in karnataka. thick walls with recessed narrow openings and a verandah or jagali in the front are typical architectural responses to the climatic conditions. the bigger residences have an inner courtyard with a passage or breezeway around it and the rooms opening off it. the verandah is another architectural element that is common in the older residences of the city. this is both a climatic and a cultural response of the built form. the verandah or jagali as its known colloquially acts as a transitory space between the public and the private, allows for social interaction without having to cross over one's property as well as offers a place of rest for travellers weary from the hot sun; a street thus lined with veranda's becomes a community space that is vibrant and cohesive. these house forms are slowly getting eroded with the introduction of plotted development. plotted developments were introduced to india during colonial rule and have now become the norm in all master plans to accommodate residential development. row housing and walk ups that adhere to the health and safety norms with the incorporation of climatic responses like verandahs and breezeways could be provided in the land now made available in the old city. the planning should distinctly earmark areas that are designated for plotted developments and those that are designated for high density housing. second, with respect to water harvesting; old gadag and its surrounding areas had tanks and step wells that would store and supply water to the settlement around. the average precipitation for gadagbetageri is 668 mm. this suggests that a harvesting system could be explored for the city. third would be with respect to the green networks of the city, the terrain of gadag-betageri is fairly flat with adequate soil fertility levels as per the department of agriculture report, urban forestry could thus be explored in the reclaimed mill lands along with rain water harvesting. clusters of green with water harvesting could be the nodes around which dense built up area could be planned. this would result in a master plan that is more contextual and climate responsive and thus more sustainable. 6. conclusion space is a socially produced construct according to henry lefebvre. he talks of the perceived city that is lived by the people who occupy it and the conceived city as that which is conceived by the planners, urbanists, bureaucrats, and social scientists which is the dominant space and the dominated or the representational space that is the lived space which connects the perceived and the conceived spaces (lefebvre, 1975). the urban revolution theory by lefebvre shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 12 contends that nonurban life ceased to exist in a way that globalization was prevalent everywhere. thus according to lefebvre, the term urban takes on a new meaning where it is not just about a spatial aspect but about a way of life. the twentieth-century urban studies largely debated the categorization of the socio-spatial terrain based on a certain type of settlement units, be it the city, the metropolis, megacity, conurbation, and so on. this epistemological assumption was the base on which most of the urban theory was built upon. the dawn of the new century has brought with it a change in the way we look at urban and the associated epistemological frameworks in the wake of new spatial restructuring that is taking place all around us. new scholarly discourses are questioning these epistemological assumptions [soja, 2010, see also brenner and schmidt, 2015, roy 2005] and as per the united nations world urbanization prospects 2018 report; more than 50% of the population will be residing in urban areas not just in india, but also the world by 2050. urban settlements will thus increase throwing up challenges to house the increasing population and the accompanying amenities. more than a century ago, long before sustainability goals were raised and discussed, patrick geddes suggested that regional studies were important in order to understand the historical evolution of cities and stressed the need for ecological and sociological studies prior to any planning exercise. we need new epistemologies in the planning of cities in india that look at the smaller cities in the hinterlands with respect to the larger regions they are situated in and reimagine the way settlements are planned. master plans are more than spatial plans as they foreground the spatial aspects of the city with the economic, infrastructure, and social aspects. but we may need to move away from viewing and planning for settlements that are geographically contained as cities or urban and rural and return to a more holistic way of planning that includes the natural ecosystems, the terrain and the landscape, and the inherent uniqueness of the place and do away with the rubberstamp approach of planning our cities. in this context, this study proposes a new template for the planning of smaller cities in the context of karnataka and maybe across india. this study demonstrates how small towns and cities differ from large metropolitan cities and how small towns need to be read independently and not understood through the economic and social processes of the large towns. the arguments stated here also clarify a few key takeaways about the planning of small towns. first compact and sustainable planning principles were evident in the earlier morphologies of these settlements and new planning policies are moving away from this. second, the horizontal linkages between these cities and their hinterland and the larger engagement with the national and global economy are autonomous and independent of the larger cities. these needs are strengthened further with the intensification of existing activities and policies to incentivize this. third cities like gadag are complex having banal everyday economic activities that are very settlement specific like the weaving and handloom industry of betageri and the cotton mills and printing industry of gadag which are linked to the natural and human resources that are available locally. fourth private education and tourism and the related hospitality industry are the new employment generation activities that suggest a shift away from agrarian activities preferred by the next generation. the theoretical frameworks suggested here may help in a more complete understanding of cities like gadag such that the planning exercises can be more specific to the town or city and its requirements as the existing generic planning methods have not proved fruitful. references appadurai, a. (2002). deep democracy: urban governmentality and the horizon of politics. public culture, 14(1), 21-47. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-14-1-21 bacon, e. (1967). design of cities, 3rd ed, new york: penguin books. bibri, s. e., krogstie, j., & kärrholm, m. (2020). compact city planning and development:emerging practices and strategies for achieving the goals of sustainability, developments in the built environment, 4(june), 100021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2020.100021 brenner, n., & schmid, c. (2015). towards a new epistemology of the urban?. city, 19(2-3), 151-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712 comprehensive development plan: gadag-betageri 2021, department of town and country planning, gadag, 2010, retreived: dec 10, 2019 denis e, mukhopadhyay,p., & zérah, m. (2012). subaltern urbanisation in india, economic & political weekly; xlvii(30), pp.52-62. halshs00743051 jacobs j. (1961). the death and life of great american cities. new york:random house. jacobs j. (1969). the economy of cities. new york:random house. jenks, m., burton, e., williams, k., jenks, m., & burton, e., (1996). the compact city : a sustainable urban form ? in williams, k., & hillman, m. (eds.), favour of the compact city; routledge. joshi, k. s. (2005). the forts of gadag district, in gopal, r. (ed), the history and archeology of gadag district, department of archeaology and museums, mysore. shastri/ environmental science and sustainable development pg. 13 kostof, s. (1991). the city shaped; urban patterns and meanings through history. london, uk, thomas and hudson; p43. lefebvre, henri. (1974). the production of space, (nicholson-smith, d., trans.), cambridge, ma, basil blackwell; 1991. lynch, k. (1981). good city form, cambridge, masachusatts institue of technology, mit press. matsumoto, t. (2012). compact city policies: a comparative assessment, the world bank seminar, 18. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264167865en shirazi, m., & falahat, s (2012). compact urban form, question or solution? examining the compact city in the middle eastern context: challenges and opportunities, international journal of urban sustainable development, 4:2, 246-259, doi: 10.1080/19463138.2012.694817 mukhopadhyay, p., zérah, m., & denis, e. (2020). subaltern urbanization: indian insights for urban theory. https://doi.org/10.1111/14682427.12917, accessed: jan 5, 2021 munshi, i. (2000). patrick geddes: sociologist, environmentalist and town planner. economic and political weekly, 35(6) 485-491. roy, a. (2005). urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning. journal of the american planning association, 71(2), 147-158. shastri, a., & subrahmanian, r. r. (2021). historic cities in karnataka: policies for conservation, growth and sustenance, th e case of badami and kampli. in nabil m. et al. (eds.) cities’ vocabularies: the influences and formations (pp. 311-324). springer, cham.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51961-2_24 soja, w.e. (2010) seeking spatial justice, minneapolis, min, university of minnesota press. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2012.694817 http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development doi: 10.21625/essd.v4i2.554 brownfield sites as catalysts for sustainable urban regeneration and the demand for objectives, tools and classifications for the support of their redevelopment examples from the city of amman, jordan. deyala tarawneh1 1architecture department, engineering school, university of jordan abstract almost two decades today, the topic of brownfields has extensively been researched in urban sociology, urban planning, and human geography, and numerous western-centric studies have linked the redevelopment of the abandoned, contaminated, vacant or derelict sites to sustainable urban regeneration and achieving smart cities and sustainability goals in general. yet, until this day, the concept has received little academic and practical attention in middle eastern contexts. western contexts on the other hand including europe, uk and usa continue to offer unique perspectives on approaching brownfields in ways that reduce the alarming spatial cluttering and address socio-spatial disparities and spatial segregation in addition to achieving economic and environmental goals, and similar to the global scene, brownfield sites make a large portion of the post-industrial city of amman, the capital of jordan. however, with the lack of a systematic definition for the urban phenomenon objectives, methods to identifying potential brownfield sites and evaluating the prioritisation of their redevelopment that takes into consideration context particularities, and with the absence of participative approaches that include the local community in the decision-making regarding these spaces, city planners fail to include the increasingly growing number of brownfield site that proliferate their cities in the urban planning practice. through the examination of literature discussions on objectives, approaches, classification systems, methodologies, assessment and evaluation tools for the support of design and prioritising decisions for brownfield regeneration in different contexts, and through looking at the numerous potential alternatives for brownfield sites regeneration these contexts highlight, this paper bids to emphasise the importance of developing context specific, localised tools tailored for the middle eastern case. building on the above, this paper identifies five potential brownfield typologies in the context of amman; (1) residual planning outcomes; (2) discontinued mines and quarries; (3) unfinished mega-projects; (4) contaminated and hazardous sites, and; (5) miscellaneous abandoned sites and buildings, and ends on the note that looking at the increasing demand to meeting smart growth and sustainability needs, these urban landscapes may function as catalysts for achieving comprehensive sustainable urban regeneration. © 2019 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. pg. 16 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd keywords brownfield sites; urban regeneration; amman 1. introduction 1.1. brownfield sites regeneration potentials according to doick, sellers, castan-broto, and silverthorne (doick, sellers, castan-broto, & silverthorne, 2009a), numerous european governments place strong emphasis on integrated land use policies including the re-establishment of public open green spaces through brownfield regeneration, in their research on understanding success in the context of brownfield greening projects, they highlight that the uk government considers the regeneration of brownfield sites as a prime tool for delivering regional economic regeneration in addition to neighbourhood renewal as well as international biodiversity commitments. however, they stress that, the lack of monitoring and evaluation —combined with insufficient supporting revenue funds— results in failure to highlight site issues, challenges in local emphasis and ultimately lack of success with respect to project aims and site sustainability. atkinson, doick, burningham, and france (atkinson, doick, burningham, & france, 2014) support this argument and add that brownfield regeneration to green spaces in particular, has been used to help reverse social and environmental decline in europe and north america with typical benefits including increased flood retention capacity, temperature regulation, providing habitat for wildlife, community building, encouraging local engagement and providing space for play and recreation. according to them, setting regeneration objectives is important to maximize the benefit from brownfield regeneration at any given location and identifying the objectives of regeneration is crucial to lever the funding required to pump-prime activity. kristiánová, gécová, and putrová (kristiánová, gécová, & putrová, 2016) also explore the transformation of another specific brownfield typology, old industrial sites, into parks. in their research they argue that the regenerating of former industrial sites into green spaces has numerous benefits including the provision of space for play and recreation in urban environments; enhancing the scenic beauty and neighbourhood appeal; improving the health of urban environments; raising property values; the provision of ecosystem services; habitats for wildlife, in addition to; fostering adaptation for climate change. moreover, in their research on renewable energy potential on brownfield sites in the city of michigan, adelaja, shaw, beyea, and mckeown (adelaja, shaw, beyea, & mckeown, 2010) for example suggest that with the increasing demand to replacing conventional energy sources with renewable energy, brownfields make potential landscapes to intensify renewable energy generation especially that they have relaxed constrains such as ownership, land use or zoning regulations. hartmann, török, börcsök, and groma (hartmann, török, börcsök, & groma, 2014) support the brownfield regeneration for energy generating purposes argument by presenting a multiobjective examination and evaluation method which provides a basis for the business analysis of an energy purpose brownfield regeneration project. understood as the “ . . . intended temporary or final re-use of brownfield sites which are not based on built constructions or infrastructure (‘hard’ re-use)” (bardos et al., 2015), bardos et al. describe that the ‘soft re-use’ of brownfield sites including the creation of public open and green spaces has not been easy to demonstrate in strictly financial terms. accordingly, in their research on optimising value from the soft re-use of brownfield sites, through suggesting a ‘brownfield opportunity matrix’, they propose a value based approach to identify and optimize services provided by the restoration of brownfields to soft re-uses, on a permanent or temporary basis, and explore the links between soft re-use of brownfield sites and sustainability. this notion of temporary use has been increasingly linked to brownfield regeneration and where weak planning was often blamed for failed regeneration attempts, successful examples of tactical non-planned temporary interventions have introduced effective models to approaching brownfield sites and thus became an important area to be considered in brownfield regeneration attempts. in their research on creative interventions in dynamic cities, rall and haase (rall & haase, 2011) for example explore a variety of temporary use projects in recently demolished pg. 17 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd brownfields using a triangular integrated evaluation method combining indicator-generated and questionnaires with experts interviews. their research results indicate that these uses have been more popular and have greater usage rate, however, they conclude that public acceptance for such interventions can be strengthened with more seating, punitive measures for property owners and increased communication about the method and it’s potential as a planning tool. 1.2. brownfield categorisation, typifying and prioritising the debate on brownfield categorisation and typifying has also been little researched. considering the ambiguity of the definition that includes a variety of potential interpretations which is often considered as a major setback to understanding the variety of brownfield sites types and ultimately contributing to hindering their regeneration to begin with. researchers such as loures and vaz (loures & vaz, 2018) have also shed light on this dilemma. in their research on exploring expert perceptions towards brownfield redevelopment benefits according to their typology, they argue that understanding brownfield characteristics and different typologies, between abandoned land, contaminated land, derelict land, underulitised land or vacant land, has a strong emphasis on achieving consistency that enables the creation of new methodologies and frameworks to deal with the redevelopment of these spaces. identifying the specific brownfield typologies they conclude has a great impact on realizing each site’s potentials and result in more benefits on the different dimensions including the economy, community, ecology and health, moreover, they conclude that knowing the exact brownfield typology and the exact dimensions each has positive impacts on may aid designers, planners and decision makers make better informed designs and prioritising. in addition to categorising and typifying, prioritising brownfield sites has also been problematic and literature discussions highlight its importance to the regeneration process. in fact, limasset et al. (limasset et al., 2018) identify five points that need to be taken into consideration when designing tools for regional brownfields prioritisation including: (1) assessing end-user needs and orientation discussions; (2) availability and quality of the data needed for the brownfield prioritization tool; (3) communication and stakeholder engagement; (4) drivers of regeneration success, and; (5) financing and application costs. similarly, bartke et al. (bartke et al., 2016) argue that prioritising brownfields for redevelopment in real estate portfolios can contribute to more sustainable regeneration and land management and that numerous factors must be considered for prioritising actions, especially when adhering to principles. their research suggests several multiple criteria decision analysis (mcda) based on lessons learned from literature on success factor, sustainability assessment and mcda approaches, in addition to the web-based tailored improvement of brownfield regeneration in europe (timbre), timbre brownfield prioritisation tool (tbpt) which they argue facilitates the assessment and prioritisation of a portfolio of sites on the basis of the probability of success and sustainable regeneration or according to individually specific objectives. lastly, and prior to identifying brownfield regeneration measures and tools, factors including stakeholders, perceptions, concerns, attitudes and information with regards to brownfield regeneration must also be identified. rizzo et al. (rizzo et al., 2015) present a participatory methodology applied in order to develop a system to support the categorisation of the needed information and to support the understanding of which typology of information is the most relevant for the specific categories of stakeholders also in relation with their concerns. the engagement process they present consist of five phases; (1) planning and preparatory work; (2) identification of stakeholder categories; (3) engagement activities (e.g focus groups and workshops); (4) submission of a questionnaire, and; (5) provision of feedback to the involved stakeholder. the results of their research they argue created a knowledge base for the future development of tailored and customised approaches and tools for stakeholders working in the brownfield regeneration field. pg. 18 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 1.3. brownfields regeneration objectives, approaches, measurement and evaluation tools in 2002, thomas (thomas, 2002) developed a decision support tool augmented by geographic information system (gis) that provide access to state, regional, and local geospatial databases; several informational and visualisation tools, and; assumptions useful in providing a better understanding of issues, options and alternatives in redeveloping brownfields for decision makers and policy analysts at all levels of governments to establish urban land use policy and development guidelines that may be applicable to related land use issues in a variety of urban and urbanising settings. similarly, one decade later, chrysochoou et al. (chrysochoou et al., 2012) developed an indexing scheme to screen large numbers of brownfield sites in wide areas, including municipalities, counties, states, or other types of districts, in order to develop initial planning strategies for fund allocation and redevelopment. their scheme entailed three dimensions; socioeconomic, smart growth and environmental, each has an index constructed on the basis of location-specific variables irrespective of the target end use. the socioeconomic variables included; population density; property values, and; unemployment. collectively, these variables demonstrate the potential contribution of brownfield redevelopment on economic growth. the second dimension, smart growth, or liveability index as chrysochoou et al. describe, was developed on the basis of the u. s green building council leadership in energy and environmental designneighbourhood development (leednd) evaluation scheme, but isolating location-specific features. the third and last dimension, environmental index, incorporated variables that represent the potential sources of contamination (or past use); pathway to exposure (such as soil permeability), and receptors (including zoning, proximity to water bodies, parks, critical habitats, open spaces, wetlands and floodplains). schädler, morio, bartke, rohr-zaenker, and finkel (schädler, morio, bartke, rohr-zaenker, & finkel, 2011) also introduced an integrated assessment model which evaluates redevelopment options of large contaminated brownfields aiming to support efficient and sustainable regeneration communication between stakeholders. their assessment tool integrates three pinnacles of brownfield regeneration including: (1) subsurface remediation and site preparation costs; (2) market-oriented economic appraisal, and; (3) the expected contribution of planned future land use to sustainable community and regional development. their assessment focused on early stages of brownfield redevelopment which, they argue, is characterised with limited data availability and by flexibility in land use planning and development scope. at this stage, their research found that, revealing the consequences of adjustments and alterations in planning options can foster efficiency in communication between involved stakeholders and thereby facilitate the brownfield regeneration process. their research results indicated that the integrated assessment provides help in the identification of land use options beneficial in both sustainable and economic development. on the complexity of decision support systems for brownfield sites regeneration, stezar, pizzol, critto, ozunu,and marcomini (stezar, pizzol, critto, ozunu, & marcomini , 2013) presented a comparison between two decision support systems (dss)s; the spatial analysis and decision assistance (sada), and the decision support system for the re-qualification of contaminated sites (desyre) with the main objective of showing the benefits of using dsss to introduce and process data and then to disseminate results to different stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. lastly, with regards to brownfield regeneration meeting sustainability demands, in their research on defining the sustainability objectives of brownfield regeneration to green space, doick, pediaditi, moffat, and hutchings (doick, pediaditi, moffat, & hutchings, 2009b) identified the objectives that brownfield regeneration projects must meet in order to be considered sustainable. in addition to the proposed standard set of sustainability objectives, their research suggested designing sites to achieve specific functionality using participatory, context specific methods. the ‘pillars of sustainability’, as doick et al. describe, include economic, social and environmental objectives. the economic objectives include: (1) being economically efficient and self-supporting; (2) providing employment opportunities; (3) promoting local and regional economic regeneration; (4) promoting attractive and functional landscapes, and; (5) promoting social affluence and community prosperity. the social objectives include: (1) encouraging social inclusion and cohesion; (2) promoting health and well-being; (3) providing good accessibility pg. 19 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd to green space and local facilities; (4) facilitating education, and; (5) reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. lastly, the environmental objectives include: (1) minimising the use of un-recycled resources; (2) promoting land, water, soil and air quality; (3) protecting biodiversity and the natural environment, (4) conserving natural and cultural heritage, and (5) combating the impacts of climate change. 1.4. brownfield regeneration in the international context: lessons learned the topic of brownfield regeneration is increasingly becoming popular worldwide. in china for example, chen, hipel, kilgour, and zhu (chen, hipel, kilgour, & zhu, 2009) present a strategic classification support system for brownfield redevelopment based on two characteristics; brownfield effectiveness and brownfield future needs, the resulting classification, they argue, is of valuable aid to cities and governments as they plan and budget their brownfield regeneration projects. in another example from the chinese experience, zhu, hipel, ke, and chen (zhu, hipel, ke, & chen, 2015) provide a framework for establishing and optimising an evaluation index system for brownfield redevelopment projects. their framework involves three steps; (1) the initial design; (2) testing and optimising, and; (3) verification. in the implementation of their project they argue, extensive research has been conducted to ensure the reliability, validity and effectiveness of their evaluation system. moreover, and similar to what this paper aims to achieve and from the chinese experience as well, cheng, geertman, kuffer,and zhan (cheng, geertman, kuffer, & zhan, 2011) attempted to identify potential brownfields and establishing priorities for their redevelopment. the identification of potential brownfield sites was done through a four-step system as follows; (1) defining input sites; (2) verifying environmental liability; (3) confirming tax delinquency, and; (4) cross-checking with industrial classification code. the uk context has also provided extensive research on brownfield regeneration, burke, hough, morgan, hughes, and lawrence (burke, hough, morgan, hughes, & lawrence, 2015), for example, shed the light on the leeds area of the west yorkshire coalfield experience. their research aims to identifying approaches to inform the redevelopment of brownfield sites by demonstrating how certain types of publicly available data allow a greater understanding of the interaction between human activity and natural superficial and bedrock geology. if successful, they argue that, this approach can help lessen the impact of delays and increased financial costs caused by unforeseen ground conditions. the central and eastern european context was also grounds for testing brownfield re-use. alexandrescu, martinát, klusáček, and bartke (alexandrescu, martinát, klusáček, & bartke, 2014) for example look at the role of the entrepreneurial public sector as actors in brownfield regeneration in the czech republic, poland and romania. their research focus on the proactive role the public may play to fostering passive change in the cases of brownfield regeneration whether through mobilising networks or leading by example which, they argue, defines an entrepreneurial path to addressing the regeneration of brownfield sites. the above mentioned rizzo et al. (rizzo et al., 2015)’s research on identifying stakeholders, perceptions, concerns, attitudes and information needed for brownfield regeneration also took place in five european countries, germany, italy, romania, czech and poland. in the czech republic case in particular, martinat et al. (martinat et al., 2018) argued that the re-use plans for current brownfields are market-demand driven or public sector prioritised and do not always meet the requirements of local residents and visitors. by investigating the range of brownfield re-use options as suggested by the locals and visitors their research found that future brownfield uses including culture, sports and children parks are the most popular. their research highlights gender as a fundamental overlooked factor to deciding future brownfield end uses as where women were inclined towards the previously mentioned uses, men were more interested in industry oriented end uses. osman, frantál, klusáček, kunc, martinát (osman, frantál, klusáček, kunc, & martinát, 2015) studied the factors affecting brownfield regeneration in post-societal spaces also in the czech republic case. their research was based pg. 20 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd on two sets of data, one was the database of existing brownfields provided by the national czechinvest agency, while the other was the database for successfully regenerated brownfields compiled by the authors themselves. the main types of functional transformation of space were identified and the factors that appeared to be significant determinants of brownfields regeneration were classified as the result. also, from the czech republic experience, on their research exploring the spatial patterns of urban brownfield regeneration in the case of brno, czech republic, frantal et al. (frantal et al., 2015) challenge the assumption that ‘the closer to the city centre, the better’. their research results highlights that instead, regeneration seemed to be a function of local development potential, local occupier-demand for specific utilities, and planning regulation. their research found that higher rates of regeneration have been detected in densely built-up areas (including inner city zones and housing estates), while lower rates are registered for areas with low population density and with a greater supply of green spaces (including garden colonies, green spaces, industrial zones and villa residential districts). frantal et al. end on the note that the spatial location of brownfield sites has a considerable effect on potential investor decisions and brownfield regeneration. other examples from the european context include the above mentioned stezar et al. (stezar et al., 2013) comparative dsss study which took place in romania; rall and haase’s (rall & haase, 2011) temporary use interventions in brownfield sites which took place in germany; kristiánová, et al.’s (kristiánová, et al, 2016) research on the potentials for transforming old industrial sites into parks which took place in the city of bratislava, the capital of slovakia; hartmann et al.’s (hartmann et al., 2014) multi-objective method for energy purpose redevelopment of brownfield sites which took place in hungary, in addition to; bartke et al.’s (bartke et al., 2016) research on tbpt which also took place in germany, czech republic and romania. in spite of the aforementioned, on the regional scale, little research has been done on the topic of brownfields. in fact abd elrahman (abd elrahman, 2016) points out that, similar to the case of jordan, brownfield sites in egypt undergo independent attempts for development with no identified comprehensive approach. he argues that different state governments identify a variety of redevelopment potentials while others restrict the development to particular uses in order to minimise exposure to leftover contaminants on-site. his research identifies the numerous benefits of brownfield regeneration, yet he ends on the note that the success of such sites redevelopment heavily depends on their successful space utilisation. 1.5. brownfields stakeholders and public participation the lack of participative approaches in decision-making with regards to urban redevelopment in general and brownfield regeneration in specific was also not a problem exclusive to the study case. in fact, in his research on the public versus expert perspectives towards the benefits and barriers of the reuse of post-industrial sites in urban areas, loures (loures, 2015) highlights that post-industrial sites planning and redevelopment are increasingly becoming less the result of design and more the expression of economic and socio-cultural factors, and that designers tend to be primarily focused on aesthetics leaving society’s other main goals to secondary status. his research findings demonstrate that while the general public considers the biological, chemical and physical contamination impacts, liability and clean up to be the main barriers to post-industrial site development, experts look at the high redevelopment costs and the challenges to obtain financial support. furthermore, while the general public consider the creation of open green spaces and the creation of jobs their main priority, experts were more considered with reducing urban sprawl and encouraging recreation and connectivity. although this paper stresses the importance of having measures and tools for the support of brownfield regeneration, it equally emphasise the importance of having specifically tailored tools for the variety of brownfield types in the study context. similarly, bartke and schwarze (bartke & schwarze, 2015) argue that when it comes to brownfield regeneration and achieving sustainability, there is ‘no perfect tool’ that provides a ‘one size fits all’ solution. they highlight that although certain general principles have been proposed for the evaluation of brownfield sustainable development, the practical application for sustainability assessment tools (sat’s) remains contingent pg. 21 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd on the actual requirements of tool users, e.g planners or investors, to pick up such instruments in actual decisionmaking. moreover, and more relevant to the idea of public participation this paper bids to highlight, they conclude that there are no perfect tools for brownfield regeneration and that in order to be meaningful, the user requirements of decision makers including the general public must take precedence in the design of sat’s. numerous studies have recognised the importance of stakeholder involvement in brownfield regeneration with a special emphasis on public participation including the previously mentioned rizzo et al. (rizzo et al., 2015) and alexandrescu et al. (alexandrescu et al., 2014). buchecker, hunziker, & kienast (buchecker, hunziker, & kienast, 2003) for example explored the social barriers associated to participative landscape development almost fifteen years ago today which they argue are mainly connected with the pressure to adopt collective standards and called for the need to embrace new communication instruments and concluded that fostering a participative landscape development requires a long-term learning process. similarly, valencia-sandoval, flanders, and kozak (valencia-sandoval, flanders, & kozak, 2010) argued that in the lack of relevant resource data at appreciate scales to develop community plans, community engagement through the use of participative landscape development may be an effective mean of informing and impacting local policy related to sustainable community development. garcı́a-martı́n, bieling, hart, and plieninger (garcı́a-martı́n, bieling, hart, & plieninger, 2016) also argue that in order to achieve a holistic approach to landscape management, the involvement and coordination between different sectors and stakeholders at many levels must be included. similarly, through looking at the scope, representativeness, timing, comfort and convenience for five public participation in landscape development experiences, eitar and vik (eitar & vik, 2016), identify ten methods that contribute to increase their evaluation criteria thus underline the importance of combining methods to achieve effective participation within the restricted frameworks of concrete spatial planning processes. the shifting focus from traditional top-down to bottom-up and integrated approaches through involving participation of local stakeholders has also been brought up in the work of sevenant and antrop (sevenant & antrop, 2010) as they explored ways to involve ‘the local people’ in an attempt to grasp their aspiration with regards to the landscape features of their surroundings. lastly, the final example on public participation this paper highlights is dramstad and fjellstad (fjellstad, 2011) research towards bridging the gap between science, policy and people where they reflect on the applications of landscape research and the issue of communicating scientific findings to policy, management, landowners and the general public. 2. methods this paper is an extension to previous research conducted for the author’s doctoral thesis and identifies as a qualitative study thus implements qualitative approaches including observation, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. the study targeted five groups of participants; (1) locals of amman; (2) non governmental organisations (ngo)’s projects and initiatives; (3) city authorities represented by greater amman municipality (gam) with its various departments including geographic information system (gis)department, the comprehensive master plan (cmp) department, the regulation department, the legal department, the planning and studies department, the building supervision department, the private sector projects (psp) department, the environmental follow up (efu) department, the social programs and activities (spa) department. in addition to ministries such as the ministry of environment (moe) including the nature protection directorate, sustainable management of land use (smlu) section; the monitoring and assessment directorate –including the environmental monitoring section and the state of the environment and environmental indicators(seei) section—; the environmental inspection directorate –including the environmental inspection section and the emergency management and environmental control (emec)section—; the waste management and hazardous substances (wmhs) directorate–including the solid waste management (swm) section, the hazardous waste management (hwm) section and the dump site division—; the licensing and pollution prevention directorate (lpp) –including the environmental licensing section and the environmental pg. 22 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd impact assessment (eia)section—. the ministry of planning and international cooperation (mop) including the policies and strategies department –including the national economy section, the sustainable development section, and social studies section—; the projects department –including the services and investment infrastructure affairs (siia) unit—; the developmental plans and program (dpp) department; the local development and enhanced productivity programs (ldepp) department –including the civil society institutions section—. in addition to the natural resources authority(nra) including the mines and quarries directorate –including the licensing section; the inspection, monitoring and quality control (imqc) section; the technical studies section and the follow-up section; the geographic information section at the information directorate. in addition to the department of land and survey (dls) and the land registration office (lro); (4) urban planning professionals including the academic and the private sector, and; (5) miscellaneous bodies associated to the research problem including private investors and estate developers in addition to environmental and legal consultants. 3. potential identified brownfield typologies in amman looking at the previously identified thomas (thomas, 2002) gis-based decision support system for brownfield redevelopment; chrysochoou et al.’s (chrysochoou et al., 2012) gis indexing scheme; bardos et al. (bardos et al., 2016) value based approach; bartke and schwarze (bartke & schwarze, 2015) stylised sats’ approaches; hartmann et al. (hartmann et al., 2014) multi-objective examination and evaluation method; limasset et al. (limasset et al., 2018) points of attention for brownfield regeneration tools development; zhu et al. (zhu et al., 2015) evaluation index system for brownfield redevelopment projects; millar, simeone, and carnevale (millar, simeone, & carnevale, 2001) logic model found in both atkinson et al. (atkinson et al., 2014) and doick et al. (doick et al., 2009a), and; pediaditi, doick, and moffat (pediaditi, doick, & moffat, 2010) ‘ideal’ brownfield sustainability monitoring and evaluation tool criteria, and without necessarily specifying a single framework, this paper identifies five potential brownfield typologies found in the city of amman. 3.1. residual planning outcomes the urban planning of amman underwent— and is until this day still undergoing— several attempts to regulate the city which were influenced historically by the early ottoman occupation followed by the british rule and more recently with contemporary global trends. that in addition to population growth and the advancement of transportation and the resulting introduction of paved roads and motorised vehicles had a large impact on the urban plan of the city. as a result of these changes, marginal spaces which are the foci of this potential brownfield typology emerged. according to this research findings, the definition of brownfields partially applies to three types of urban landscapes found throughout the city of amman; the fadlih (english: land leftover); the nutfih (english: land bit), and; the arasah (english: no known translation, but roughly equivalent to intermediate space between properties). the definition also applies to a fourth type called bour (english: unfit for cultivation), however, this type was not taken into consideration as the definition implies it identifies as a rural brownfield where this research is solely investigating urban brownfields. to further elaborate, a fadlih which when taken back to its root word and according to the arabic dictionary translates into: “what remains from something” (almaany arabic dictionary, 2018) and in the planning practice in amman refers to the piece of land which results from the opening of a street. note at the figure below, the red line represents the right of way, the leftover piece of land which resulted from the intersection of the right of way or legal quarter—-understood as the up to 25% of any private-own land the government is allowed to acquire in order to provide public infrastructure including street opening—line and the property outline would be the fadlih (outlined in the red circle). in most cases, the resulting shape is irregular and too small for the building regulations to apply on (i.e. setbacks pg. 23 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd and building percentages) therefore remains vacant and neglected. figure 1. land leftover land-use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 2. land leftover land-use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). on the other hand, a nutfih which when taken back to its root word and according to the arabic dictionary translates into: “little of something” (almaany arabic dictionary, 2018) and in the planning practice in amman refers to the remaining land bit which results from the division or regulation of a previously owned land parcel. the nutfih is also often irregular in shape and too small for the building regulations to apply on. note at the figure below the nutfih’s outlined in blue, unlike the fadlih’s, nutfih’s are given separate lot numbers, also note nutfih’s are given the same land use (residential d in the case demonstrated) and are given special regulations such as lower prices, less setback requirements or increased building percentages to encourage adjacent landowner(s) to buy them. pg. 24 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 3. land bit land-use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 4. land bit land-use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). the third and last marginal planning outcome, the arasah which when taken back to its root word and according to the arabic dictionary translates into: “the wide space between properties where there is no building” (almaany arabic dictionary, 2018) and in the planning practice in amman refers to the land area found between two neighbouring parcels or two constructions in two adjoining parcels. no map was provided for this type as it was undetectable on the gam gis maps due to the setbacks and regulations to each land-use. interestingly, unlike the fadlih and nutfih, the term arasah was found in regional planning regulations in jordan in addition to neighbouring countries such as syria and saudi arabia. landlord and tenants law no. (11) for the year 1994 amended by the law no. 2000/30 and law no. 2009/17 and law no. 2010/43 and amended law no. (22) for the year 2011 and law no. (14) for the year 2014 (dls, 2014) states that; (a) for the owner of a rented arasah for any purpose the right to clear it provided the following two conditions apply; (1) the tenants issued a legal building license; (2) that the owner has notified the tenant(s) through the notary not less than two months in advance. the tenant(s) afterwards have no right to return to the previously rented property and is only entitled to a compensation estimated by the concerned court. (b) if there exists any construction that the tenant(s) got permission from the landlord to build on the arasah to be cleared — excluding kiosks, security rooms or the similar— they are not allowed to be removed unless they have been erect no less than ten years. from another legal point of view regarding the fadlih and nutfih, the property law, article (173) states that unless within the legal quarter, a property owner is compensated for the complete value of the land if the street right of way pg. 25 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd deducts the whole property or leaves a fadlih or nutfih invalid for construction or use which in this case becomes property of the municipality (dls, 2015). in line with this law, the municipality currently owns abundant similar urban landscapes which are unfit for traditional use and construction which is problematic not only as these sites seize to participate in the economic growth, but also became an extra burden on the governmental authorities as they are already serviced with infrastructure and road network for example but fail to generate revenue to balance the acquired services. moreover, the fadlih and nutfih are also problematic to potential property owners for a variety of reasons, at least the two revealed through the investigations for this research, firstly, according to local participants and confirmed by local news, several incidents where buyers would forcibly buy the fadlih or nutfih as a prerequisite to buy the adjacent property were reported and published in local newspapers (al-said, 2015). according to rum news agency, the reported case is currently under investigation at the complaints department of the board of grievances (ibid), moreover, according to the locals statements, this is a recurring situation that often goes unnoticed due to the marginal difference to the property size that the buyer pays for unknowingly. secondly, there are fadlih and nutfih hunters that buy these pieces of land as part of a deceptive scheme, the hunters are interested in fadlih and nutfih for two main reasons, firstly as mentioned earlier, they are often given special regulations and special prices therefore are more affordable, secondly, due to their location between the property and street especially adjacent to un-owned land, the hunters wait until the adjacent property is purchased and occupied to start a series of unpleasant activities such as piling waste or limiting street access which would force the new owner to either buy the fadlih or nutfih for a price much higher than the hunter bought it for or sell their own new property for a price much cheaper than what they bought it for. below are few images of fadlih’s, nutfih’s and arasah’s scattered throughout the city. note their deteriorated physical conditions. figure 5. examples of fadlih’s, nutfih’s and arasah’s 1. source: author (2015) figure 6. examples of fadlih’s, nutfih’s and arasah’s 2. source: author (2015) pg. 26 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 7. examples of fadlih’s, nutfih’s and arasah’s 3. source: author (2015) figure 8. examples of fadlih’s, nutfih’s and arasah’s 4. source: author (2015) 3.2. discontinued mines and quarries with the enactment of the small business relief and brownfield revitalisation act (also known as the ‘brownfield law’), the definition of brownfields was expanded to include mine-scarred lands making these properties eligible for the benefits of the brownfields program. the environmental protection agency (epa) defines mine-scarred lands as “lands, associated waters, and surrounding water sheds where extraction, beneficiation (crushing or separating), or processing of ores and minerals (including coal) has occurred” (epa, 2004). according to epa (epa, 2005), mine sites have a variety of potential uses and their post-mining clean-up for redevelopment provides an opportunity to turn them into lands that have beneficial uses. however, similar to the situation in jordan, complex economic, social and environmental issue face communities planning to redevelop them including finding resources to characterize and remediate sites with potential significant environmental issues; addressing state and local regulatory requirements, and; working through redevelopment issues with the local community and stakeholders. to help address these challenges, the epa through its brownfield and land revitalisation technology support centre, prepared a primer on mine site clean-up for brownfield redevelopment which this study suggests adopting to provide information about the clean-up aspect of mine site redevelopment, including new and innovative approaches to more efficiently characterise and clean up those sites. the use of these approaches to streamline characterization and remediation of mine sites offers the potential for redevelopment at a lower cost and within a shorter time frame (ibid). meanwhile, in terms of the guidelines for rehabilitating mined and quarried land in jordan, the management of mines and quarries post-activity in jordan is extremely modest. the environmental impact assessment does not exceed the role of being a formality or a routine procedure, and despite having environmental rehabilitation guidepg. 27 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd lines, the mine/quarry owners prefers to pay the very little bail condition of half a jordanian dinar per meter square of waste. the lack of follow up is also increasing the problem, according to research findings, in one case for example, where the owner declared they were going with the forestation option, however, the foundation rubble used to fill the site was not corresponding to the required specifications which resulted in landslides that affected the adjacent streets and constructions. in another case, the site was rehabilitated for recreational purposes, however, after few years, the owner filed to change the land use from industrial into residential d and after providing the required documents and studies to the interested parties, the soil test showed the site is not suitable for traditional construction, despite that, the owner eventually attained the residential d land use change permission provided special building techniques are used. unfortunately, the site was sold and construction commenced using traditional methods which led to the collapse of large parts of the site in addition to the new established construction. see below examples of a discontinued quarry which when established was located outside the boundaries of the amman, however, due to urbanisation and urban sprawl has become part of the city boundaries. the surrounding neighbourhoods are endangered of landslides and suffer from constant dust which is causing severe pulmonary problems especially to elderly and children whom are also endangered of falling into the steep cliffs, yet, nothing is being done about this according to the statements of the local area residents. figure 9. quarry site within the urban setting in amman. source: author (2015) note at the figure below a quarry site discontinued since the early 2000s, located within an urban setting and has been given a green space land use as the post-mining end use. today, more than a decade post its closure, the site still awaits treatment. figure 10. discontinued quarry site aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). pg. 28 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 11. discontinued quarry site land use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 12. discontinued quarry site land use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). end land use in the mining industry is increasingly becoming a key consideration guiding the rehabilitation and closure planning and the need to develop comprehensive land use plan prior to conceptualising closure objectives and associated rehabilitation measures is also gaining momentum. towards reinstating post-mining land capabilities to the pre-mining landscape and towards ensuring that mining operations consider ways of reinstating functional end land use that passively contribute towards the future biophysical and societal demands of people living in amman or in proximity to the disturbed environment, mine closure planning (kotze, 2013) which the study argues is missing in amman must be considered, a mine closure planning that provides broad future land use objective(s) for the site, and a plan that describes the final and future land use proposals and arrangements (mprda, 2013). 3.3. unfinished mega-projects the economic boom in the early 2000s had considerable effects on the urban transformation of amman. largescale property development ventures poured into the country and novelty planning methods such as gated communities and high-rise skyscrapers were introduced to the urban fabric of the city. similar patterns of urban change emerged in neighbouring countries such as beirut, cairo, dubai, qatar and damascus –prior to the syrian crisis— (daher, 2013), thus, this section focuses on a typology which is the manifestation of a particular outcome of the economic thrive and shortly following crisis in the context of amman. the socio-economic and political characteristics of amman encouraged foreign investors to extensively operate in pg. 29 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd it. consequently, numerous oil capital projects from arab gulf countries mushroomed throughout the city. the term ‘arab megaproject’ was first introduced by barthel (barthel, 2010) to describe large-scale real estate development which he considered as vectors of contemporary arab town planning and the circulated images of the back then proposals for the majority of mega projects in amman mimicked images of similar western development projects (adham, 2005). moreover, the projects promised the provision of better services for the area; creating a competitive business environment that supports start-ups and entrepreneurs, and; create first-class tourism attractions. however, in addition to other identified effects of the ‘cutting-edge urbanism’ (daher, 2011) in amman such as the excessive privatisation; the abrupt increase in property values; the pressure on the already struggling infrastructure system including transportation, water and power supply; the circulation obstructing urban flagship projects created, as well as; the social impacts such as emphasising the already apparent urban segregation through the promise to create a lifestyle that accommodates the contemporary needs for the elite in the centre of amman and pushing lower-income groups to the city peripheries (daher, 2013). this study therefore identifies another potential brownfield typology which is abandoned unfinished mega projects structures. in order to keep up with the rapid change, benefit from what seemed to be an exceptional opportunity and compete with neighbouring countries to attract potential investments, poorlyplanned extreme measures were implemented. for example, to speed the process, in many cases building permissions were obtained without the provision of all necessary documents such as soil tests, drainage analysis or environmental impact assessment. moreover, the proposed projects were given abundant facilitations such as minimal—to none—setback requirements, additional floors, higher building percentages, and less open/ green space requirements, facilitations that according research findings, gam today regrets. the following paragraphs demonstrate three controversial unfinished mega projects in amman. 3.3.1. the jordan gate (amman gate) project the jordan gate (also referred to as the amman gate) project which belongs to bahrainikuwaiti developers for example commenced in 2005, has been suspended in 2009 post the global economic crisis and until this day remains on pause. the project faced two main accidents during its construction, a fire and collapse incident when fire broke in the eighth floor of the north tower in august 2006, fortunately, nobody was injured, however, one month later in september 2006, three floors of the same tower collapsed killing four workers and injuring 15 (kheetan, 2009). in the second incident, a crane collapsed in may 2009 after being overloaded. weighing 30 tons and hanging 200 meters high, the falling crane injured one egyptian worker, moreover, for the following three days, residents living near the collapse area were evacuated to nearby hotels (jordan times, 2009). another added complexity to the project is that according to research findings, the shorter tower was supposed to become a highend brand hotel, however, in light of the lengthy halt and completion date uncertainty, the company withdrew their investment which put the project at a serious financial dilemma. note below the figure for the project proposal versus the actual situation. figure 13. jordan gate (amman gate) project proposal. source: skyscrapercity.com (2006) pg. 30 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 14. the current situation of the jordan gate (amman gate) project. source: jordan times (2016) the site was previously a public park which the children, youth and elderly of the area today much miss. moreover, the project sits in a very vital area in amman where circulation is already congested and the addition of the towers created a bottleneck affect which adds to the traffic jam. according to the jordan times (namrouqa, 2016), the $400 million project was supposed to commence within days of signing an agreement between gam and the involved stakeholders in may 2016 with a new completion due date in 2018, no further data was obtained. 3.3.2. sanaya amman (limitless towers) project the second example for derelict mega projects this study looks at is the sanaya amman (also known as limitless towers). located in wadi abdoun, also commenced in the year 2005, however, their constructions stopped post the excavation phase leaving the site with 20+ meter deep hole. with a vision to become the largest human capital and talent management in the middle east and north africa (mena) region (sanaya.net, 2006), the venture is currently postponed due to current market conditions (limitless.com, 2016). see below the proposal renders versus the current situation of the project site. figure 15. sanaya amman (limitless towers) proposal render. source; consolidated consultants (2014) pg. 31 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 16. sanaya amman (limitless towers) hole in 2009. source: project: manifesto, holes on hold competition, maiss el-razem (2011) although the latter image has been captured in 2009, it still reflects the current conditions of the site, moreover, this image was selected specifically as it explains the circumstances where a 10-years-old boy who was playing in rain water which created a deep pool in the site and drowned and, sadly, passed away. no news was published on the accident, however, the local children commemorated their friend mus’ab on the strips of metal sheets surrounding the site (see below image. the text reads: may your soul rest in peace mus’ab). post mus’ab’s accident, the hole was filled with sand and gravel. see figures below. figure 17. may your soul rest in peace mus’ab, sanaya amman (limitless towers) project. source: the living voids thesis. amr, mazahreh and muhtaseb. uj (2011) figure 18. sanaya amman (limitless towers) hole post filling it with sand and gravel. source: project: manifesto, holes on hold competition (2011) pg. 32 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd according to the head of the sps department, the project failed due to the lack of preliminary studies, the site is located in wadi abdoun, and as the name suggests, the wadi (english for valley), is below street level from one side, therefore, excavations were impossible unless drainage is taken care of as it was surely to collect rain water which was exactly what happened. 3.3.3. the living wall project the third and last example of derelict unfinished mega projects this study investigates in the city of amman is the living wall project, a 134,000 meter-square mixed-use complex which also commenced in 2006 but put on hold midst construction. see below images of the design proposal and current situation. figure 19. the living wall design proposal. foster+ partners (2006) figure 20. the current situation of the living wall project site. source: project: manifesto, holes on hold competition (2011) according to the head of the sps department, unfinished projects including the living wall are, in addition to being failed and have already cost the government millions of jordanian dinars, a burden to the government. they are hazardous to the surrounding neighbourhoods and are threatening the adjacent street networks, moreover, are a waste of land and building materials. therefore, as a desperate measure, the government is providing further facilitations for investors to redevelop such projects. regarding the living wall project in specific, in addition to the extra facilitations, a land-use alteration is being considered for a saudi investor who is interested in the project under his condition to develop it into a hospital although less than few hundred meters away, the building marked in the red circle is jordan’s hospital. this would violate the jordanian building regulation medical services buffer area guidelines, yet, the offer is still being discussed and might eventually be considered. 3.4. contaminated and hazardous sites under the general brownfield definition, contaminated and hazardous sites are widely recognised. similarly, in jordan, there are numerous types of sites that identify as contaminated or hazardous. however, through the conduct pg. 33 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd of the study, the following three types were the most prominent. 3.4.1. near historical and archaeological sites in amman as in other jordanian cities, many historical and archaeological sites are integrated within the urban fabric. according to gam officials, land parcels that are immediately adjacent to historical or archaeological sites within the urban city are referred to as prohibited areas, prohibited in the sense that no construction or development is allowed in these sites. the areas are often deteriorated due to neglect and abandonment, gam officials note that although the land use codes and building regulations do not allow for construction in those areas, their redevelopment as public spaces or through using temporary structures is a favoured idea. see below example of a prohibited site near amman citadel (arabic: jabal amman) in downtown amman. note the hatched in brown diagonal lines area surrounding the historical site. figure 21. prohibited area site aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 22. prohibited area site land use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). pg. 34 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 23. prohibited area site land use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). 3.4.2. landfills and scrap yards often located at the outskirts of the city, landfills and scrap yard sites in many cases become part of the city during its expansion. according to the head of cmp department and as the example below demonstrates, similar sites are often located outside the boundaries of the municipality regulation, therefore, remain out of its control. however, as the example below also demonstrates, the new regulation aims to remove such sites down the line –transformed into a highway in the example below and highlighted in the red circle–. the situation is often problematic as the residents of the area and the occupants of scrap sites would have already constructed dwellings or established workshops or garages in the area and according to officers’ statements, are not very collaborative and are often aggressive. figure 24. scrap yard site aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). pg. 35 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 25. scrap yard site land use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 26. scrap yard site land use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). 3.4.3. near high voltage electrical lines and towers another typology that falls under the contaminated and hazardous sites category and suggested by the head of the cmp department was the land parcels located adjacent to high voltage towers and along the strip parallel to the electrical line between the towers. such properties are given special regulations, for example, the prices are extremely cheap, the setback requirements are reduced and the building percentages are higher, however, constructions are only allowed to be one floor high –in order not to affect or get affected by the electric current—. according to the statement of a local family in one near high voltage tower neighbourhood, living near the tower caused the father of the family to suffer from cardiac problems, he currently has a pacemaker, moreover, the house in addition to neighbours’ houses suffer from electrical current inconsistency which ruined many of their electrical devices. see at the example below, high voltage towers are circled in red (note their shadows). pg. 36 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd figure 27. near high voltage site aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 28. near high voltage site land use map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). figure 29. near high voltage site land use over aerial view map. source: gamgis for the author (2016). in general, in terms of the contaminated and hazardous sites potential brownfield typology, much of the investipg. 37 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd gations yielded in no significant results. for example, interviews with the assistant managers of the waste management and hazardoussubstances directorate (wmhs) –including the solid waste management (swm)section, the hazardous waste management (hwm) section and the dump site division at moe only uncovered the severe lack of a developed waste management method or cleanup strategy, a situation this study also aims to highlight. moreover, as emphasised earlier, other types of contaminated and hazardous sites exist throughout the country, however, due to the time constraints and limited financial resources, this study was only able to investigate few which it argues will pave the way for broader, more extensive future research to explore the urban phenomenon in more details. 3.5. miscellaneous abandoned sites and buildings whether due to demographic shifts or the constant transformation of the city, abandoned and neglected sites and buildings are dispersed throughout amman. the following paragraphs shed the light on three famous examples. 3.5.1. the king abdullah park established in the 1980s as a recreational urban space with an integrated amusement park that includes a variety of rides, cafes and restaurants, outdoor spaces and plazas in addition to a skating rank and a cable car, the park (arabic: hada’eq al-malik abdullah) was actively thriving in the period 1986-1999 until, according to participants statements, it became known as amman’s “red light district”. while interviewed officials failed to explain what went wrong with this urban space, the statements of local participants attempt to elaborate. one participant for example tells he was a tenant for five shops in king abdullah park, however, once infamous shops started opening and extending work hours to post-midnight, sometimes until next morning, families and schools started visiting the park less. the park was evacuated and shut down completely by gam in 2012 after shop owners have been warned since 2008. according to jo24 (jo24, 2012), a local news agency, the park has been closed after the four-year verbal notice deadline for shop owners with expired profession licenses and/or violations. moreover, the news pointed out gam is seeking alternative rehabilitation and redevelopment options for the 50-acre park which no longer serves the public and has become a disreputable place and a source of disturbance. figure 30. king abdullah abandoned park. source: city seeker (2016) pg. 38 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd 3.5.2. the housing bank complex the second example this study introduces to derelict projects in amman is its iconic housing bank complex (arabic: english: mujamma’ bank al-iskan). figure 31. housing bank complex-amman. source: photobucket.com (2016) established in the early 1980s, the complex consisted of retails shops, offices and restaurants and was thriving until the 1990s. another phenomenon concerned authorities were not able to explain. according to the head of the cmp, perhaps it was the demographic shifts, the urban transformations of the city or the competing highend shopping malls mushrooming throughout amman. however, according to al-ghad newspaper (al-sheikh, 2011), post an acquisition change to a libyan investor in 2001, the complex was bought for 11 million jordanian dinar which forced tenants to pay higher rents or close their shops considering the new considerably lower profit margin. as a result, the parking has been closed, the building has been stripped from banners and signs or any other indication of life inside the building, the closed shops are used informally as storage units and there was no adequate maintenance to the building in general which was becoming derelict day by day. in a failed attempt to rehabilitate and revitalise the complex, a 7 million jordanian dinar budget was allocated. however, according to a previous tenant, the rehabilitation was limited to surrounding the complex with a fence which made the interior darker and the situation worse. he added that the 7 millions could have fixed the situation, however, the absence of governmental censorship and legal accountability on investors and developers is the reason the redevelopment failed. there exists numerous other example of derelict, vacant or abandoned sites in amman, however, as emphasised earlier, due to time constraints and the lack of financial resource, the study will stop at the aforementioned examples. it is important here to note that the study identifies a crucial need for a base-map for the amounts and locations of potential brownfield sites in amman, in fact, having discussed a mapping project with the head of the gis department in gam displayed a genuine interest, however, this remains another potential future research project. 4. conclusions in the lack of brownfield databases and adequate information on the locations and conditions of potential brownfield sites in jordan, and considering the increasing demand on meeting sustainability needs, and with rapid urbanisation whether due to population growth of natural causes or unnatural activities including the surrounding political turmoil and immigration and the resulting refugees infiltrations throughout the city, the demand for smart(er) ways to address contemporary city needs is constantly rising. pg. 39 tarawneh / environmental science and sustainable development, essd through looking at the abundant research aimed for developing tools, approaches, assessment and evaluation methods that support the decision-making, prioritising, categorisation or typifying of brownfields and brownfield regeneration efforts, this paper highlighted the gap in research discussion in middle eastern contexts and accordingly, the urge to develop similar but context specific, tailored tools aimed to addressing the phenomenon in such contexts. it concludes that, supported by almost two decades worth of research today, a focus on the middle east case is long overdue, and as research on brownfields in middle eastern remains insufficient to generate such tools, this paper aims to narrow this gap by presenting a proposed potential brownfield categorisation and typifying aimed to further the understanding of the urban phenomenon, thus, help in the development of these tools. the proposed identified potential brownfields included; (1) residual planning outcomes; (2) discontinued mines and quarries; (3) unfinished mega-projects; (4) contaminated and hazardous sites, and; (5) miscellaneous abandoned sites and buildings. however, as demonstrated throughout the paper, the development of measurements and tools this paper concludes will not be an easy task, it may entail extensive research on multi dimensions including the socioeconomic, sociocultural, geographic and environmental amongst other, let alone the identification of potential typologies. therefore, this paper emphasised that further efforts are needed to establish such tools and only suggest the presented types as ’potential identified brownfield sites’ in reference to the cases found in the literature discussions with a prominent objective to unpack the rhetoric of these emerging urban landscapes to the different stakeholders and identify what establishes them as potential brownfield sites. however, it is important here to note that, although this paper presented a proposed potential brownfield categorising and typifying looking at international, mostly western-specific tools and measures identified in literature discussions, it remains the sole work of the researcher and thus remains liable to subjectiveness and error. therefore, this paper ends on the note that further interested researchers are invited to the discussion table on brownfield regeneration in an attempt to achieve more inclusive and comprehensive approaches that address this urban phenomenon. towards achieving more sustainable and comprehensive urban development, this paper concludes that brownfield regeneration must be put at the top of future development priorities list. similar to the global scene, and according to research findings, this paper concludes that these urban landscapes whether a result of post-industry, experimental planning or natural causes have great potentials to diminish the spatial cluttering, socio-spatial disparities and spatial segregation as well as address urbanisation issues and achieve economic and environmental goals. most popular brownfield regeneration plans in the case of amman, jordan this study found may include cultural and recreational uses including public open green spaces, open street markets and temporary spaces that allows emerging economies and entrepreneurs to experiments with their products and services, yet, these links between brownfield regeneration and the notion of temporary use this paper concludes need to be further explored in future research as regardless to the abundant land that may fall under the definition of brownfields, and in the absence of any frameworks that regulate their regeneration, numerous non-planned examples of temporary practices thrive throughout the city and such practices are increasingly generating. moreover, with public participation as a decision-making tool not being effective in developing countries contexts including the middle east, which can lead to failure in regenerating brownfields, this paper highlighted the importance of the role of the general public in the decision-making through embracing participative approaches that equally includes all genders, ages, ethnicities and backgrounds in the debate around these urban landscapes towards achieving more cohesive, inclusive, accessible approaches that ultimately contribute to realising a better quality of life through the manifestation of brownfield sites as 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(2015). establishment and optimization of an evaluation index system for brownfield redevelopment projects: an empirical study. environmental modelling and software, elsevier ltd 74: 173–182. available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.09.012. pg. 44 introduction brownfield sites regeneration potentials brownfield categorisation, typifying and prioritising brownfields regeneration objectives, approaches, measurement and evaluation tools brownfield regeneration in the international context: lessons learned brownfields stakeholders and public participation methods potential identified brownfield typologies in amman residual planning outcomes discontinued mines and quarries unfinished mega-projects the jordan gate (amman gate) project sanaya amman (limitless towers) project the living wall project contaminated and hazardous sites near historical and archaeological sites landfills and scrap yards near high voltage electrical lines and towers miscellaneous abandoned sites and buildings the king abdullah park the housing bank complex conclusions references http://www.press.ierek.com issn (print: 2357-0849, online: 2357-0857) international journal on: environmental science and sustainable development pg. 24 doi: 10.21625/essd.v6i1.789 land consumption, ecosystem services and urban planning policies: preliminary results of research undertaken in the tuscany region debora agostini1, fabio lucchesi1, francesco monacci1, fabio nardini1, massimo rovai2, iacopo zetti1 1 university of florence department of architecture 2 university of pisa department of department of civil and industrial engineering abstract in the contemporaneity, the issues of land or soil consumption and of the protection of areas that, within the urban areas, provide ecosystem services (ess) is becoming increasingly important also in relation of the 2030 sustainable development goals. the concept of "ecosystem service" appears, in this respect, a fruitful support to define the land consumption effects on the loss of functionality and of settlement quality. following this considerations the pap er presents the first results of a research developed in tuscany and commissioned by the regional government. the research aims to measure the loss of ess in connection with land use / land cover transformations, and to verify the contribution of soil consumption to these variations. the research use methodologies for elaborating of the geographical data required for territorial governance, lucl 2010/2016 and land cover flow (lcf) model and the theoretical model of the “capacity matrix” to provide ecosystem services. © 2021 the authors. published by ierek press. this is an open access article under the cc by license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). peer-review under responsibility of essd’s international scientific committee of reviewers. keywords geographic information systems land cover change; urban development; ecosystem services, ecosystem assessment. 1. introduction this paper aims to inform the scientific community of preliminary developments and of some research methodologies that have been elaborated as part of an ongoinggg scientific project financed by the urban planning and housing policies department of the tuscany region. the objective of this research is to test innovative methodologies for elaborating of the geographical data required for territorial governance. this paper will reflect on tec hniques for monitoring and evaluating transformations in land use/cover and how this information can be used to verify changes in the provision of ecosystem services. 1.1. the 2007-2016 lulc database and the description of settlement growth in 2007, the tuscany region started developing a programme for acquiring and updating information on a three-year basis on the land use and land cover (lulc) throughout the entire region. the database provide multi-temporal readings of land use so it was relatively simple to use it to study the changes in land use that took place between 2007 and 2016. among the many studies which have used this data to analyse changes in land use across the region, those http://www.press.ierek.com/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 25 focusing on quantifying and analysing the dynamics of land consumption have been particularly important (ciampi et al., 2015; marson & lucchesi, 2017). 1.2. the distribution of land use and the recent dynamics of territorial transformations (2010-2016) the map lulc for 2016, at the first level of the classification, shows the distribution and the quantities of land-use in the region. in quantitative terms, land use in tuscany in 2016, according to corine land cover nomenclature, was subdivided as follows: artificial surfaces 8.6% (1,979 km²), agricultural areas 38.2% (8,782 km²), wooded and seminatural areas 52.2%, (12,005 km²), wetlands 0.2% 49 km²) and water bodies 0.7% (172 km²). land use changes that took place throughout the region in the period 2010/2016 were evaluated using land cover flow (lcf) methodology, a system for evaluating transformations in land use that was first developed for the european-level corine land cover (clc) project (feranec et al., 2010) and subsequently applied to national and regional contexts using more detailed maps (lucchesi et al., 2015). the research described in this paper has focused on the transitions of land use towards urban uses, i.e. on ascertaining how much of agricultural and natural land in 2010 had been transformed into artificial surfaces for residential use (lcf2) or for productive and infrastructure use (lcf3) by 2016. in addition to measuring the land surfaces that in absolute terms now belonged to a different lulc category (either lcf2 or lcf3) a “settlement growth” index was created to relate the artificial surfaces that were registered for the first time in 2016 with those that were already in 2010. the lulc database, using lcf classification (lcf 2 and lcf 3), shows that there was a total of 1,894.18 km² of artificial surfaces in tuscany in 2010 (tab. 1, fig. 1). the 2016 data showed there had been a 42.52 km² increase in artificial surfaces since 2010, with an overall settlement growth rate of 2.24% over that time period. the rate of settlement growth was not homogeneous: artificial surfaces for residential use accounted for 931.92 km² in 2010 and a further 7.07 km² in 2016: a 0.76% increase; artificial surfaces for productive and infrastructure uses accounted for 962.25 km² in 2010 and a further 35.44 km² in 2016: a 3.68% increase. table 1. increase in artificial surfaces in the years 2010-2016 divided between growth for residential use and growth for productive and infrastructure uses artificial surfaces in 2010 (km²) increase in artificial surfaces to 2016 (km²) increase (%) development of residential areas (lcf2) 931.92 7.07 0.76% development of infrastructure, commercial and productive areas (lcf3) 962.25 35.44 3.68% agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 26 figure 1. on the left: 2010-2016 lulc variations in tuscany, using land cover flow nomenclature. the lcf2 categories are colored red (urban residential sprawl); the lcf3 categories are colored purple (sprawl of economic sites and infrastructures); the artificial surface present in 2010 and also in 2016 are colored in dark grey. on the right: details of the 2010-2016 lulc variations around florence. the ratio between the two growth indexes shows that the growth of production and infrastructure sites throughout tuscany in the years 2010-2016 was almost five times greater than the growth of residential settlements. with this in view, the research sought to determine what consequences these transformations have had on the capacity to provide ecosystem services. 2. mapping ecosystem services on a local scale using land cover databases ecosystem services (ess) are generally defined as the benefits, direct or indirect, that people can obtain from ecosystems (de groot et al. 2002; costanza, 1997). in the last twenty years, and especially since 2005, the year in which the second millennium assessment study was carried out, research into the classification of ess and their spatial mapping has greatly increased. in europe, the process of spatial identification and ess evaluation was significantly boosted following the definition of the european biodiversity strategy to 2020: the objective of target number 2 was to maintain and improve ecosystems and related services by creating green infrastructure and restoring at least 15% of degraded ecosystems (maes et al., 2016). furthermore, in the context of action n. 5 of this strategy, member states, supported by the maes working group, undertook to map and evaluate the ecosystem services in their countries by 2014. an interesting initiative to map ecosystem is attributable to the formulation of the ecosystem map of italy (blasi et al. 2017) and the monetary values assigned to some ess contained in the third report on the state of natural capital in italy. the ecosystem map of italy identified ecosystems on a scale of 1:100,000 using a system whereby data from the corine land cover project was connected with an archive of potential vegetation. more specifically, the map was developed with a methodology that used data from the corine land cover project up until level 4 for classes 31x and 32x the data of the potential vegetation classes. this methodology made it possible to identify the typologies of ecosystems, but it did not push towards specific elaborations to identify ess. the second project used a completely different methodology which simplified the ecosystem macro-categories and pushed towards a spatial assessment of the monetary value of some ecosystem services at the 1:100,000 scale: recreational, crop pollination, water supply, flood risk regulation (la notte et al. 2017). a survey of the scientific literature reveals that in many studies the mapping of ess has been carried out with proxy methods (chan et al. 2006, egoh, 2008, naidoo et al., 2008; eigenbrod, 2010), using data prepared in other contexts of research to compensate for the lack of primary data (maes et al., 2012). while provisioning ess can often be directly quantified with primary data, most regulating, supporting, and cultural services are less straightforward to be agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 27 put on maps and researchers must rely on proxies for their quantification. land use and land cover (lulc) map are the most common proxy data used, but also environmental indicators such as the evaluation of nitrogen concentration for the measurement of the es of water purification (grizzetti et al., 2008; grizzetti et al., 2012), or the distribution of animal species for the evaluation of supporting ess (eigenbrod et al. 2010) are used. in italy a similar methodology has been adopted for the first time to test the role of protected areas to prevent loss of es with land transformation (scolozzi et al. 2012; scolozzi et al.2014). the availability of lulc themes, readily obtainable from satellite image processing, together with the possibility of quantifying changes in land use over time, has encouraged many researchers to develop ess mapping methodologies which, over time, have evolved at national, regional and local levels (eigenbrod et al. 2010). many of these studies avoid a monetary evaluation of ess, adopting a comparative approach. in this latter case, for each land-use class are assigned scores in accordance with a predefined scale of values measuring the supply capacity of each es. scores are assigned on the base of ratings provided by experts from related disciplines regarding the different es categories (or groups); the scores are then used to evaluate the evolution over time of the performance of an es within a given geographical area (burkhard et al. 2009; burkhard et al. 2012). 3. capacity matrix methodology applied to land in the tuscan region this paper presents the result of preliminary ess mapping trials that were conducted on the tuscany territory, using the methodology proposed by burkhard in his studies on the landscape of central-eastern germany (burkhard et al. 2009; burkhard et al. 2012) and used by many studies at european and international level (campagne, 2020). with the aim of evaluating the capacity of the different types of land cover to provide ecosystem services, burkhard created a relation matrix with on the columns, the 44 types of land cover encoded by the corine land classification cover and on rows 29 ecosystem services: 7 ess able to measure ecological integrity, 11 ess aimed at measuring the provisioning services, 9 ess for the regulating services, 2 ess for cultural services. in burkard's work concerning ecological integrity service (corresponding to the support services as defined by mea, 2005), reference was made to muller, 2005, while, for the provisioning, regulating and cultural services reference to the works of de groot, 2006; mea, 2005; costanza, 1997. therefore, each cell of the matrix reports a value (along a scale from 0 to 5 (0 = no relevant capacity of the land cover type to provide this particular ecosystem service, 1 = low relevant capacity, 2 = relevant capacity, 3 = medium relevant capacity, 4 = high relevant capacity and 5 = very high relevant capacity) which expresses the ability of each lulc class to provide a specific ecosystem service. in burkhard's works, the method used for the attribution of scores is that of consulting with competent experts with respect to the different categories of ess. once the capacity matrix has been built (tab. 2), using gis software, it is associated with the lulc database, for understanding the spatial distribution of service supply and for evaluating the dynamics on different time scales. the twenty-nine indicators proposed by burkhard have been grouped into four categories, according to teeb, 2008: ecological integrity (supporting services), provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services. the score of the four main categories of ess was obtained as the sum of the scores of each es belonging to the specific category. some values have been modified to adapt them to the lulc legend of tuscany region which have some difference from original clc classification (tab. 2). the total scores of the four ess categories were subsequently normalized in the range from 0 to 1 so that the measurements of the four categories of ecosystem services would be comparable. to calculate the ecosystem services capacity of the tuscan territory, the research associated to each of the polygons in the database (for each of the four ess categories) a score equal to the normalized value between 0 and 1 of the single lucl class, multiplied by the area of the polygon. the accuracy of the ess supply is very dependent on the cartographic detail of the data used and its ability to recognize the presence of natural ecosystems that perform ecological functions. small cartographic scales (eg. 1: 100.000) are more affected by the presence of polygons including too heterogeneous areas within them, failing to distinguish the presence of permeable areas and arboreal and shrubby vegetation. this capacity due to the greater detail are very agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 28 important especially in the areas surrounding the small tuscan cities, often characterized by heterogeneity of use and by the permanence of agricultural cultivations. the limits of the cartographic scale are particularly important in proxy methods (eigenbrod, 2010); the availability of a medium-scale lulc cartography for the tuscan territory considerably improves the evaluation of the distribution of ess, partly improving the capability of this data to function as a proxy (fig.2). figure 2. the two maps represent: in blue lulc database from eea project (1:100.000), in red lulc database used as proxy to quantify ecosystem services (1:10.000). the greater cartographic detail of the lulc database at 1: 10,000 scale used by our research allows to map ess provided by agricultural and forest areas and urban green areas not present in the 1: 100,000 scale dataset and to evaluate the effective contribution of artificial areas to the supply of ess. the image on the left represents a portion of the countryside around san gemignano (siena); the one on the right, instead, a portion of peri-urban territory near campi bisenzio (florence) the analysis was carried out by choosing the landscape systems as the territorial unit (rossi et al., 1994) (fig.3). the landscape system map is a classification of the landscape of tuscany created using digital data on altitude, geology and geomorphology, climate and land use. the method is similar to that used in other existing landscape classification maps (amadei et al. 2003; mucher et al. 2010). the landscape system map divides the region in 9 landscape system, within which a further 82 landscape sub-systems are articulated and is often used in environmental impact assessment, protection and management of natural resources and territorial planning policies. table 2 shows the capacity matrix used in our research. the assessment scale reaches from 0 / red = no relevant capacity of the land cover type to provide this particular ecosystem service, 1 / orange = low relevant capacity, 2 /yellow = relevant capacity, 3 / light green = medium relevant capacity, 4 / medium green = high relevant capacity and 5 / dark green = very high relevant capacity. columns with gray headers give sums for the four ecosystem services groups. the table differ from original one builted by burkhard, 2009 in some codes of ucs: 1121 (land of relevance, scattered buildings), 1211 (urban wastewater), 1212 (photovoltaic system), 1221 (roads in forest areas), 1411 (cemetery), 210 (irrigated ed non irrigated arable land), 2101 (greenhouse), 2102 (plant nurseries), 2221 (agro -forestry areas), 3331 (firebreaks). classes 1121, 1211, 1212, 1221, 1411, 2221, 3331 were assigned the value of the class at the third level of classification; the ucs of the tuscany region does not contain, on the other hand, the items of ucs 211 (nonirrigated arable land) and 212 (permanently irrigated land): both these classes are grouped under an item called 210. codes 2101 (greenhouses) have been attributed the value of class 121 while the codes 2102 (plant nurseries) have been given the same value used for the agro-forestry areas. agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 29 table 2. capacity matrix e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty a b io ti c h e te ro g e n e it y b io d iv e rs it y b io ti c w a te rf lo w s m e ta b o li c e ff ic ie n c y e x e rg y c a p tu re r e d u c ti o n o f n u tr ie n t lo ss s to ra g e c a p a c it y p ro v is io n in g s e rv ic e s c ro p s l iv e st o c k f o d d e r c a p tu re f is h e ri e s a c q u a c u lt u re w il d f o o d s t im b e r w o o d f u e l e n e rg y ( b io m a ss ) b io c h e m ic a ls / m e d ic in e f re sh w a te r r e g u la ti n g s e rv ic e s l o c a l c li m a te r e g u la ti o n g lo b a l c li m a te r e g u la ti o n f lo o d p ro te c ti o n g ro u n d w a te r re c h a rg e a ir q u a li ty r e g u la ti o n e ro si o n r e g u la ti o n n u tr ie n t re g u la ti o n w a te r p u ri fi c a ti o n p o ll in a ti o n c u lt u ra l s e rv ic e s r e c re a ti o n & a e st h e ti c v a lu e s in tr in si c v a lu e o f b io d iv e rs it y 111 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 112 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1121 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 121 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1211 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1212 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 122 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1221 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 123 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 124 7 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 131 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 132 8 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 133 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 141 18 3 3 2 1 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 11 2 1 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 3 0 1411 18 3 3 2 1 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 11 2 1 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 3 0 142 16 2 2 2 1 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 0 210 22 3 2 3 4 5 1 4 21 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 5 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2101 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2102 21 4 3 4 2 3 2 3 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 19 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 5 5 5 0 213 20 3 2 5 1 5 1 3 7 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 221 14 3 2 3 1 3 0 2 5 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 0 222 21 4 3 4 2 3 2 3 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 19 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 5 5 5 0 2221 21 4 3 4 2 3 2 3 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 19 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 5 5 5 0 223 17 3 2 3 2 3 1 3 12 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 7 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 5 5 0 231 24 2 2 4 5 5 2 4 10 0 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 1 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 3 3 0 241 18 2 2 3 2 4 2 3 21 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 7 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 242 20 4 3 3 2 4 1 3 9 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 243 19 3 3 3 2 3 2 3 21 3 3 2 0 0 3 3 3 3 1 0 13 3 2 1 2 1 3 0 1 0 5 2 3 244 27 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 14 3 3 2 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 13 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 3 0 311 31 3 4 5 4 5 5 5 21 0 0 1 0 0 5 5 5 0 5 0 39 5 4 3 2 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 312 30 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 21 0 0 1 0 0 5 5 5 0 5 0 39 5 4 3 2 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 313 32 3 5 5 4 5 5 5 21 0 0 1 0 0 5 5 5 0 5 0 39 5 4 3 2 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 321 30 3 5 4 4 4 5 5 5 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 22 2 3 1 1 0 5 5 5 0 6 3 3 322 30 3 4 4 5 4 5 5 10 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 0 0 20 4 3 2 2 0 0 3 4 2 10 5 5 323 21 3 4 2 3 3 4 2 8 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 7 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 6 2 4 324 21 3 4 2 3 3 4 2 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 2 331 10 3 3 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 5 2 332 6 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 4 0 333 9 2 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3331 9 2 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 334 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 410 25 3 2 4 4 4 3 5 7 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 2 2 4 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 411 25 3 2 4 4 4 3 5 7 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 2 2 4 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 420 23 2 3 4 3 3 3 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 3 0 421 23 2 3 4 3 3 3 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 3 0 422 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 423 13 2 3 0 2 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 4 0 511 18 4 4 0 3 3 3 1 12 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 10 1 0 2 1 0 0 3 3 0 10 5 5 512 23 4 4 0 4 4 3 4 12 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 7 2 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 9 5 4 521 25 4 4 0 5 5 3 4 16 0 0 0 4 5 4 0 0 3 0 0 5 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 5 4 523 15 2 2 0 3 3 4 1 11 0 0 1 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 3 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 6 4 2 agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 30 4. the ecosystem capacity of the tuscany region in 2016 in this paragraph we analyse the results of the methodology described above which made it possible to spatialize and quantify the ecosystem services provided by the territory of tuscany in 2016. the maps in figure 4 show the normalized values (scale 0 1) of the ess supply of each ucs polygon and refer to the 4 main categories (support, provisioning, regulating, cultural). table 2 shows the contribution (as a percentage of the total) of each type of landscape to the supply of the 4 categories of ess. this allows us to evaluate the contribution that each sub-region offers in the provision of services on a regional scale. the apennines (ap), the anti-apennine reliefs (ra) and the pliocene hills (cp) are the areas that give the greatest contribution to the supply of the four ess categories while the alluvial plain (pa) and the coastal plain (pc) which are the most urbanized areas, contribute in a more limited way. it should be noted that if, on the one hand, the territorial surface of the different landscape systems shows values similar to those of the ess offer, on the other hand, the most anthropized landscape systems (pa, pc and cp) show lower values of the ess offer than to the surface and more rural and mountainous landscape systems (ap, ra, aa). looking at the contributions of the different landscape systems to the four categories of ess, the apennines (pa), the anti-apennine reliefs (ra) and the apuan alps (aa) highlight the highest values of regulating and cultural services offer while pliocene hils (cp), alluvional plains (pa) and coastal plains (pc) show higher values for the supply of provisioning services and ecological integrity. figure 3. landscape system according to rossi et al. 1994 the division in landscape system was used to calculate the supply capacity of es of the different parts of the tuscan territory agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 31 figure 4. the measurement of ecosystem services in 2016 (normalized values). in the top left-hand corner: support service (ecological integrity); in the top right-hand corner: provisioning service; bottom left-hand corner: regulation service; bottom right-hand corner: cultural service. table 3. contribution of different type of landscape systems to the provision of ecosystem services (support, provisioning, regulating, culturalrecreational). landscape system ecological integrity (support service) provisioning service regulating service cultural service landscape system area % aa 4.02% 3.56% 4.99% 4.92% 3.22% ap 38.87% 37.37% 46.62% 45.58% 33.37% ci 3.67% 3.83% 2.78% 2.95% 3.51% cp 16.48% 18.20% 10.09% 10.99% 18.31% ip 1.97% 1.68% 2.00% 2.36% 2.55% pa 3.37% 3.60% 1.29% 1.41% 4.42% pc 4.92% 5.35% 2.48% 2.84% 6.38% ra 25.79% 25.44% 29.01% 28.23% 27.23% rt 0.90% 0.98% 0.73% 0.72% 1.00% total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100.00% agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 32 5. assessment of changes in ecosystem service delivery 2010-2016 many studies visualize and quantify changes over time and space of ess supply (carreno, 2012; burgi, 2015; ncube et. al. 2018). also in our research, having available the lulc 2007-2016 data of the tuscany region, we have produced maps of the evolution of the different ess for the entire territory of tuscany using the capacity matrix developed by burkhard (tab. 2). the comparison was made taking into consideration the years 2010 and 2016, because the first cartographic survey (2007) is more affected by photointerpretation errors than the others. the capacity matrix developed by burkard (tab. 2) was linked to the 2010 and 2016 land use and land cover classes contained in the 2010 and 2016 lulc database: table 4 shows the absolute and percentage change in the supply capacity of ess in the tuscan territory in the period 2010/2016 for the four categories of ess (support service; provisioning services; regulating service; cultural service). the data (tab. 4) reveal a general reduction of the four ess, with a higher value for the provisioning services and with lower values for the regulatory and cultural services. the quantities of the support services, on the other hand, remain substantially unchanged. table 4. contribution of different type of landscape systems to the provision of ecosystem services (support, provisioning, regulating, cultural). ∆ ecological integrity (absolute value) ∆ ecological integrity (%) ∆ provisioning services (absolute value) ∆ provisioning services (%) ∆ regulating services (absolute value) ∆ regulating services (%) ∆ cultural services (absolute value) ∆ cultural services (%) -2,530.39 -0.15% -142,929.00 -1.41% -176,558.00 -1.83% -43,687.00 -1.30% with the 2007/2016 ucs database linked to the capacity matrix, ess losses or increases in the period 2010-2016 were determined, based on ucs transitions. below are some summary tables related to changes in ucs at the first level of the corine land cover classification. table 5 shows the internal transitions at the same level (e.g. code 141 in ucs 2010 which changes the lulc class to code 112 in ucs 2016), while tables 5, 6, 7, 8 show the variations between the different ucs levels ( e.g. code 311 in ucs 2010 which changes the lulc class to a code 223 in ucs 2016).the result of the query of the ucs 2007/2016 database, linked to the capacity matrix, allows to recognize the losses or increases of ess in the period 2010-2016, according to the specific ucs transitions. table 5. transition 2010-2016 of ecosystem services (support, provisioning, regulating, cultural-recreational): contributions of transitions within the same class classes at the first classification level transi tion type (clc) balance ecological integrity 20102016 (absolute values) impact of the transition on the ecological integrity balance provisioning services 2010-2016 (absolute values) impact of the transition on the provision ing services balance regulating services 2010-2016 (absolute values) impact of the transition on the regulatin g services balance cultural services 20102016 (absolute values) impact of the transition on the cultural services 1-1 165.03 6.52% 6,261.00 4.38% -1,116.00 -0.63% -166.00 -0.38% 2-2 97.48 3.9% 17,633.00 12.34% 16,883.00 9.56% -3,160.00 -7.23% 3-3 -1,117.95 -44.2% -26,593.00 -18.61% -43,730.00 -24.77% -4,789.00 -10.96% 4-4 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 5-5 0.73 0.02% -5.00 0.00% 8.00 0.00% -3.00 -0.01% agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 33 table 6. transition 2010-2016 of ecological integrity: contributions of transitions between different lulc classes at the first classification level. t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (a ) b a la n c e e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (b ) b a la n c e e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty b a la n c e e c o lo g ic a l in te g ri ty ( a )+ (b ) im p a c t o f th e p a ir o f tr a n si ti o n o n t h e to ta l b a la n c e 1-2 622.00 24.6% 2-1 -1,742.33 -68.9% -1,120.34 -44.30% 1-3 172.31 6.80% 3-1 -495.21 -19.60% -322.90 -12.80% 1-5 23.02 0.90% 5-1 -5.75 -0.20% 17.28 0.70% 2-3 -5.16 -0.20% 3-2 -194.26 -7.70% -199.42 -7.90% 2-4 14.40 0.60% 4-2 -1.41 -0.10% 12.99 0.50% 2-5 -2.80 -0.10% 5-2 -1.41 -0.10% -4.21 -0.20% 3-4 -0.03 0.00% 4-3 -2.26 -0.10% -2.29 -0.10% 3-5 -29.48 -1.20% 5-3 -23.05 -0.90% -52.53 -2.10% 4-1 -2.95 -0.10% 1-4 -2.95 -0.10% 4-5 -1.43 -0.10% 5-4 0.13 0.00% -1.30 -0.10% tot. -2,530.39 100,00% table 7. transition 2010-2016 of provisioning: contributions of transitions between different lulc classes at the first classification level. t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (a ) b a la n c e p ro v is io n in g 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 6 ( a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e p ro v is io n in g t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (b ) b a la n c e p ro v is io n in g 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 6 ( a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e p ro v is io n in g se rv ic e s b a la n c e p ro v is io n in g se rv ic e s (a )+ (b ) im p a c t o f th e p a ir o f tr a n si ti o n o n t h e to ta l b a la n c e 1-2 28,154.00 19.70% 2-1 -134,491.00 -94.10% -106,337.00 -74.40% 1-3 3,200.00 2.20% 3-1 -25,621.00 -17.90% -22,421.00 -15.70% 1-5 1,154.00 0.80% 5-1 -635.00 -0.40% 519.00 0.40% 2-3 -15, 00 -11.10% 3-2 8,687.00 6.10% -7,191.00 -5.00% 2-4 -256.00 -0.20% 4-2 90.00 0.10% -166.00 -0.10% 2-5 -2,345.00 -1.60% 5-2 440.00 0.30% -1,905.00 -1.30% 3-4 -14.00 0.00% 4-3 0.00 0.00% -14.00 0.00% 3-5 1,887.00 1.30% 5-3 -4,609.00 -3.20% -2,722.00 -1.90% 4-1 -24.00 0.00% 1-4 0.00 0.00% -24.00 0.00% 4-5 46.00 0.00% 5-4 -10.00 0,00% 36.00 0.00% tot. -142,929.00 100.00% agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 34 table 8. transition 2010-2016 of regulating: contributions of transitions between different lulc classes at the first classification level. t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (a ) b a la n c e re g u la ti n g s e rv ic e s 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e re g u la ti n g s e rv ic e s t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (b ) b a la n c e re g u la ti n g s e rv ic e s 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e re g u la ti n g s e rv ic e s b a la n c e r e g u la ti n g se rv ic e s (a )+ (b ) im p a c t o f th e p a ir o f tr a n si ti o n o n t h e to ta l b a la n c e 1-2 9,777.00 5.54% 2-1 -46,992.00 -26.62% -37,215.00 -21.10% 1-3 3,784.00 2.14% 3-1 -47,517.00 -26.91% -43,733.00 -24.80% 1-5 744.00 0.42% 5-1 -408.00 -0.23% 336.00 0.20% 2-3 1,378.00 0.78% 3-2 -58,920.00 -33.37% -57,542.00 -32.60% 2-4 172.00 0.10% 4-2 -49.00 -0.03% 123.00 0.10% 2-5 774.00 0.44% 5-2 -154.00 -0.09% 620.00 0.40% 3-4 -25.00 -0.01% 4-3 -4.00 0.00% -29.00 0.00% 3-5 -9,569.00 -5.42% 5-3 -1,549.00 -0.88% -11,118.00 -6.30% 4-1 -68.00 -0.04% 1-4 0.00% -68.00 0.00% 4-5 9.00 0.01% 5-4 14.00 0.01% 23.00 0.00% tot. -176,558.00 100.00% table 9. transition 2010-2016 of cultural: contributions of transitions between different lulc classes at the first classification level. t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (a ) b a la n c e c u lt u ra l se rv ic e s 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e c u lt u ra l se rv ic e s t ra n si ti o n t y p e (c l c ) (b ) b a la n c e c u lt u ra l se rv ic e s 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 6 (a b so lu te v a lu e s) im p a c t o f th e tr a n si ti o n o n t h e c u lt u ra l se rv ic e s b a la n c e c u lt u ra l se rv ic e s (a )+ (b ) im p a c t o f th e p a ir o f tr a n si ti o n o n t h e to ta l b a la n c e 1-2 3,051.00 6.98% 2-1 -16,522,00 -37.82% -13,471.00 -30.80% 1-3 2,624.00 6.01% 3-1 -14,295,00 -32.72% -11,671.00 -26.70% 1-5 840.00 1.92% 5-1 -487,00 -1.11% 353.00 0.80% 2-3 4,140.00 9.48% 3-2 -17,926.00 -41.03% -13,786.00 -31.60% 2-4 -34.00 -0.08% 4-2 11.00 0.03% -23.00 -0.10% 2-5 2,697.00 6.17% 5-2 -758.00 -1.74% 1,939.00 4.40% 3-4 -10.00 -0.02% 4-3 8.00 0.02% -2.00 0.00% 3-5 3,101.00 7.10% 5-3 -2,007.00 -4.59% 1,094.00 2.50% 4-1 -15.00 -0.03% 1-4 0.00% -15.00 0.00% 4-5 31.00 0.07% 5-4 -18.00 -0.04% 13.00 0.00% tot. -43,687.00 100.00% agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 35 considering the four categories of ess, in the period 2010-2016, the most significant reduction of ess is given by the passage of some portions of the tuscan territory from level 2 (agricultural areas) to level 1 (artificial areas). compared to the total, the contribution of this transition to the loss of supply of ess was, respectively: -68.9% for support services (ecological integrity) (tab. 6); -94.1% for provisioning services (tab. 7); -26.6% for regulatory services (tab. 8) and -37.8% for cultural services (tab. 9). this loss is partially compensated by a reverse transition from level 1 to level 2 (from artificial to agricultural surfaces); these transitions are mainly due to the presence of areas of relevance for construction for public and infrastructural works in 2010 (code 133) which, in 2016, return to arable land or, in any case, returned to agricultural use. these compensations, while decreasing the loss of ess, nevertheless lead to an overall balance of these transformations very negative values equal to: -44.3% for ecological integrity services (tab. 6), -74.4% for provisioning services (tab. 7), -21.1% for regulatory services (tab. 8) and -30.8% for cultural services (tab. 9). considering all the transitions towards codes 1 as phenomena of land consumption, it can be said that the reduction of support and provisioning services is largely due to the processes of artificialization of the soil. with regard to regulating services and cultural services, both the phenomena of land consumption and the transitions from natural surfaces to agricultural surfaces play an important role in the loss of ess with values equal to -32.6% and -31.6% (tabs 8, 9). the analysis of the data also shows the contribution provided by the internal transitions to class 2 (agricultural land) to the reduction of the loss of supply capacity of ess in the tuscan territory (tab. 5). this is evident, in particular, for provisioning (+ 12.34%) and regulating (+ 9.56%) services, while cultural services recorded a reduction (-7.23%). a contribution determined by the transition from permanent crops (especially olive groves and orchards) to arable land and / or meadows and pastures which, in fact, determine an increase in the ess of provisioning and regulating, but reduce the supply of cultural services (probably linked to the aesthetic-perceptive of the landscape). 6. conclusions burkard’s methodology, applied at lulc data of the tuscany region, was used to develop easy-to-read maps, to identify macro-phenomena of erosion of ess supply and to identify possible conflicts and limits to managing environmental resources with particular reference to land consumption. thanks to the availability of homogeneous data for the tuscany region, the methodology is easy to use, quickly provides results, ensures the replicability of the process and allows to verify the correlation between the supply of ecosystem services and the incidence of anthropic activity described in the lulc archive. however there are also some critical issues: one is related to the difficulties in correlating the delivery level of some ecosystem services to single lulc classes, another to the lack of descriptive detail for some lulc classes, both in natural and urban areas, which makes it difficult to adequate evaluation of the ecosystem services provided by these areas. with regard to the first issue, there is a pressing need for further research to be undertaken on the opportunities offered by combining the use of the lulc data with other geographical data of the tuscany region in order to increase the reliability of the evaluation of the ecosystem services offer that are not closely correlated with the lulc data base. the possibility of using the tuscany region lulc archive to undertake multi-temporal measurements (2007-2016), of the variation in ess supply is a very promising area of research that could lead to the introduction of payment mechanisms for ecosystem services (pes) (pagiola, 2007) between different territorial areas, especially in light of the opportunities provided by law 22/2015 for promoting the green economy and limiting the excessive use of resources: in fact art. 70 of this law envisages the establishment of systems of remuneration for ecosystem and environmental services (psea). the adoption of expeditious standardized methods such as the one proposed in this paper would make it possible to rapidly assess the effectiveness of urban, territorial and sectorial policies and to introduce, compensation mechanisms where required. the introduction of psea between territories requires identifying both the places where the services are generated and where they are used, so that the environmental economic balance is oriented towards sustainability principles. in this approach the maps of ess supply capacities elaborated according to the illustrated methodology and the agostini / environmental science and sustainable development pg. 36 correlation of these with demographic data related to the population, can help to identify the 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