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Topic Review
Ecological Urban Planning and Design
Urbanization is a defining feature of the modern age, yet the current model of urban development profoundly alters the natural environment, often reducing biodiversity and ultimately threatening human wellbeing. An ecologically based urban planning and design paradigm should consider a more harmonious relationship. Through a systematic literature review of 57 papers, this research identified relevant concepts and theories that could underpin this new paradigm. It revealed a noticeable increase in academic interest in this subject since 2013 and the development of concepts and theories that reflect a more holistic socio-ecological systems approach to urban planning and design based on a transdisciplinary integration and synthesis of research. Seven main themes underpin the academic literature: ecosystem services, socio-ecological systems, resilience, biodiversity, landscape, green infrastructure, as well as integrated and holistic approaches. Six of these can be organised into either a sustainability stream or a spatial stream, representing the foundations of a potential new ecological urban planning and design paradigm that applies sustainability-related concepts in a spatial setting. The final theme, integrated and holistic, includes concepts that reflect the fundamental characteristics of this new paradigm, which can be termed ‘urban consonance’
  • 8.0K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Cultural Memory
Historic urban landscapes (HULs) are composed of layers of imbedded tangible and intangible features such as cultural memories. As the collective memories of city inhabitants, cultural memories can affect elements of social sustainability such as health, well-being, community identity, place perception and social engagement. This topic review points to the value of recalling cultural memory features in HULs, which can be used to achieve social sustainability.  In addition, it contributes to sustainable development through the contribution of cultural memory and its influence on the formation of place identity, sense of place, civic pride and quality of life in HULs. 
  • 6.1K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Adaptive Reuse of Architectural Heritage
       Significant architectural and historical monuments become an important point of reference for the local population, increasing their sense of security, and act as a factor shaping social identity. An effort to preserve relevant objects in a city is therefore important both for retaining its unique features and for strengthening the local community. A significant role plays here the adaptive reuse of architectural heritage, which allows for the preservation of architectural objects that are important to the local community, promoting the integrity and historical continuity of the city while restoring the objects’ functional and economic value.         The introduction of a new function in architectural heritage is not only an important impulse for the tangible regeneration of urban tissue, but can also help to reconstruct the image and identity of a city. The local cultural and architectural heritage plays a significant role in the process leading to the creation of positive references and elimination of negative connotations related to an economic or social crisis. These remain an important part of the history of a city and, at the same time, its significance may be reimagined and shown in a new context, that relates to the present day. As a result, artefacts of the past gain new meanings, which are subject to a different, contemporary interpretation through the prism of current needs and ideas. Objects or even groups of objects from the past are being consciously taken into consideration in the activities currently undertaken. The contemporary scale of the phenomenon and complexity of the issues concerning the adaptive reuse of architectural heritage are a consequence of the multi-faceted transformations that have taken place in recent decades in the social, cultural and economic spheres, and, consequently, the contemporary understanding of the role and significance of the architectural heritage.
  • 6.0K
  • 31 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Traditional Najd Architecture
The research focuses on the architectural typologies and the architectural elements of the cultural heritage in the Najd region. Najd is the great central plateau of Saudi Arabia, of which Riyadh is the most important city and the capital. The contribution leads the architects to rethink the constructive and aesthetic approach in designing and constructing new architectures without forgetting the culture and historical context of reference. The expressiveness of architectural language in terms of the formal and aesthetic approach is a feature that should not be secondary in contemporary buildings. The surface, texture, form, representation, and expression should prevail over aesthetic purposes in architecture.
  • 5.8K
  • 19 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Responsive Architecture
Responsive architecture is a type of architecture, an artificial entity, that reacts to data and information collected by a variety of types of sensors. It is also defined as an interactive and collective platform where diverse computing or operating systems are executed, leading to architectural behaviors like changing forms or services.
  • 5.6K
  • 20 May 2021
Topic Review
Transparency for Architecture
Rowe and Slutzky proposed two types of transparency in architecture in the essay, “Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal”. They divided transparency into literal, meaning the material conditions of glass, and phenomenal, as derived from Cubist paintings. “literal transparency” describes the material quality of being see-through, and phenomenal transparency describes the perceptual attributes that allow the mind to discern the underlying governing concepts or spatial concepts. Through their idea of “phenomenal transparency”, they primarily investigated the relationship of visual perceptions using the human eye with superimposed two-dimensional visions of architectural space and the world.
  • 5.1K
  • 27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Architectural Perspective of Ant Nests
Ants are excellent architects in the animal kingdom. The activities of “design”, “material selection” and “construction” of their nests are full of magical secrets. After hundreds of millions of years of survival of the fittest, the nests of each species of ant are generally characterised by reasonable structure and good mechanical performance, and also reflect the law of “obtaining large and solid living space with the least amount of material”. The complex underground ant colony nest system is large in scale, stable in internal environmental characteristics, has excellent ventilation, appropriate humidity and temperature, and makes use of natural barriers, such as thin grasses, trees, sand and stone, around entrances and exits, as well as having good physical structure, resistant to pressure, water, heat and moisture. Ants have very strict requirements on the size, weight, lustre and colour of the building materials for the nest, such as soil particles. As social insects, ants are responsible for the site selection and materials selection of their nests, the design of the whole nest, organising and coordinating the grand construction process, and managing the nest. 
  • 4.4K
  • 26 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Vulnerability of Buildings
Vulnerability is defined for buildings as the degree of loss resulting from a hazard at a certain severity level and depends on the reduction in resistance and the level of decay in the structures as a result of constant exposure to environmental factors (such as seismic actions). 
  • 4.2K
  • 23 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Industrial Heritage in Pakistan
Industrial heritage consists of the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural, or scientific value. These remains consist of buildings and machinery, workshops, mills and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places where energy is generated, transmitted, and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as well as places used for social activities related to the industry, such as housing, religious worship or education. The industrial revolution in Pakistan and the major industrial sites and infrastructure of heritage value, such as seaports and railway infrastructure, can be connected to the British rule of the Indian subcontinent. Unlike industrial sites in the Western world, industrial sites in Pakistan are not recognized as heritage sites and are usually ignored by the authorities. They are not currently considered potential sites for future city redevelopment, and the political instruments to offer new programs for such sites are limited.
  • 2.5K
  • 25 May 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Passivhaus
Passivhaus or Passive House buildings are low-energy buildings in which the design is driven by quality and comfort, hence achieving acceptable levels of comfort through post-heating or post-cooling of fresh air. Additionally, Passivhaus building design follows the Passivhaus design criteria, as described in the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). This article aims to introduce the Passivhaus background, development, and basic design principles. Finally, it also presents a brief description of the performance of Passivhaus buildings. 
  • 2.5K
  • 18 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Impacts of Lighting on Psychology, Physiology, and Productivity
People spend almost 90% of their time in indoor environments. Indoor environment quality has begun to play a more important role in people’s daily lives. The impact on occupants of various environmental factors of buildings has been actively studied. Among them, lighting conditions have been shown to have a significant influence on all aspects of human life and health.
  • 2.5K
  • 30 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Pakistan’s Heritage Management
Improving archaeology policies means fostering search and exploration of ancient sites, promoting protection and preservation actions of architectural remains, and management of cultural heritage.
  • 2.5K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Computer Designed Architecture and Architects
The designs generated by computer algorithms are becoming such a serious part of designers’ work that some are beginning to question whether they are more the work of computers than humans. There are also increasing suggestions that software development will eventually lead to a situation where humans in the profession will become redundant. This review article aims to present the currently used, implemented, and planned computer technologies employed in the design and consider how they affect and will affect the work of architects in the future.
  • 2.4K
  • 06 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Towards A Comprehensive Model of Placemaking Strategy
The title deals with one of the most important issues of the current era after the fragmentation that occurred in urban design and the emergence of many dead places devoid of human presence. Its importance comes in forming a base, a checklist for the development of one of the most important components of the city, (the street), especially the commercial streets, which provide two functions at the same time. A street for movement, linking the city and meeting people's daily needs. Placemaking is an essential and promising step in creating a livable environment. The title deals with a systematic process for converting the vocabulary of previous studies into standards. The theoretical base is comprehensive for all the details of the commercial street. And by reviewing the literature, an integrated set of placemaking steps was identified as a basis for evaluating the commercial street. Accordingly, a theoretical list of dimensions was formed, and then a practical framework for placemaking strategies to form the basis for measuring livability in the commercial street. The higher the level of applying the steps of placemaking, the more livability the street. This is a summary of what the title says
  • 2.3K
  • 24 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Transit-Oriented Development
Transit-oriented Development (TOD) is an urban design model that aims at integrating land use and multimodal transport systems around compact, mixed-use transit villages located around transit stations. TOD is envisioned as a sustainable development model in response to the updated environmental and ecological debate on the contemporary global challenge of climate change in response to city planning and urban design.
  • 2.2K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Aerogel-Based Plasters
Aerogel has entered the construction field in the last two decades as a component of many insulation products, due to its high thermal performance. Aerogel-based plasters allow the matching of high thermal performance and limited thickness. This makes them suitable when retrofitting an existing building and also when restoring a heritage building. This entry presents the state of the art of the research on aerogel-based plasters as a part of the aerogel-products for the building sector.
  • 2.1K
  • 08 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Shared Residential Landscapes
This paper uses the concept of urban commons to develop a conceptual framework to inform the design and management of shared residential landscapes in the UK. The framework is founded on an exploration of the implications of applying the traditional ‘commons’ idea within the urban context. Urban spatial concepts and theories, such as informal urbanism, territory, placekeeping and partnerships, are drawn upon to build these implication into a framework that provides a new urban, spatial and place perspective on the urban commons concept. In addressing the urban implications for commons through spatial theories, four preliminary concepts are developed. These include; 1) the emergent common mindset in a complex-adaptive assemblage, 2) a spatial arrangement that reflects a shared territorial perception of ‘ours’, 3) opportunities for adaption and occupation of space as placemaking and 4) the reorientation of professional roles in delivering urban commons. The framework creates a foundation for further research on the design and long-term management of shared residential landscapes as urban commons to benefit the everyday social lives of residential communities.
  • 2.0K
  • 06 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Circular-economy in the Built Environment
       The circular economy in the building sector is an approach aiming at minimizing waste and emissions, as well as closing water, energy, and material loops. Under a circular built environment, landfilling is no longer an option to handle construction and demolition waste, and design for disassembly has a central role. Design for disassembly is a concept in which buildings and products are designed intentionally for material recovery, value retention, and meaningful next use.
  • 1.9K
  • 12 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Mashrabiya’s Impact on Energy Efficiency and Cultural Aspects
The traditional and indigenous architecture in Saudi Arabia is being replaced by modern, Western-style buildings, resulting from the growing influence of Western culture. This change is evident in architectural elements such as Mashrabiya, which was once a symbol of the country’s Islamic architecture.
  • 1.8K
  • 17 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Interventions to Built Heritage
The expression of genius loci in architecture implies the reflection of memory and symbols, which serve to root the society that can be traced on the cultural heritage and the language of architecture. This property of architecture is essential for human beings to associate themselves with the place since it contributes to culture and cultural sustainability. As stated by Abusafieh, there is a significant link between culture and sustainability, and the rules, values, beliefs, and norms of the culture transfer the sustainability of vitality of the communities.
  • 1.7K
  • 23 May 2022
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