With rapid urbanization in China, an increasing building density has squeezed the urban public space. Community streets are occupied by motor vehicles or other functions, and can no longer sufficiently support children to carry out safe and independent activities. As an important space for children’s daily natural contact and social activities, the lack of the spatial function of streets results in a decline in children’s subjective initiative and social abilities. The United Nations has stressed the importance of community as the basic unit of space for children’s daily activities in building child friendly cities. It is urgent to reshape child-friendly community streets and support children’s healthy growth.

Integrating previous research results on affordance theory and design, children’s growth and environment, and street-game spaces, this study focuses on investigating 23 community streets in four residential communities in Nanjing through questionnaires, interviews, observations, and other methods. Then, from the perspective of cognitive affordance, functional affordance, and social affordance, it analyzes the behavioral possibilities provided by the environment and the needs of the children-user group. Finally, from the perspectives of openness and security, preference and diversity, positive and negative, and reality and potential, it proposes a method to assess the existing environment.

This study aims to extract the significant characteristics of the built environment that effectively support and promote children’s outdoors activities, and explore the design strategy of improving street space sharing through optimizing space elements and structure at the medium and micro levels, so as to respond to multiple goals including livable city development from the perspective of child friendliness. This study also tries to change the logical way of design thinking and provide an eco-psychological perspective on how to build a child-friendly community.

Hutong neighbourhoods, composed of Chinese courtyard dwellings (Siheyuan), are historically and socially significant urban spaces that embody the traditional Chinese way of life and philosophy. As part of the national heritage, there is an increasing research interest in Hutong neighbourhoods, many of which are facing oblivion. This study presents a formal grammar for Hutong neighbourhood generation. This research investigates traditional principles of urban planning of ancient Beijing, based on examples on the historical map Qianlong Jingcheng Quantu, to derive the lost design rules. These rules are used to build up a procedural modelling framework, which reveals the development of Beijing’s urban structure from the Yuan (1271–1368) to the Qing (1644–1911) dynasty. Our findings present a grammar incorporated into the procedural modelling framework to parametrically generate Hutong neighbourhoods, which replicates the morphological characteristics of historic cases. It contributes to the understanding of the generation of Hutong neighbourhoods. In support of heritage sustainability, this grammar can be implemented in a computational environment by visual scripting that enables the generation of new instances of Hutong neighbourhoods, both real and virtual.

Under the global crisis of energy shortage and environmental pollution, the climate responsive strategies used in vernacular buildings have attracted much attention for their potential to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, the relationships between these traditional climatic strategies were not precisely perceived, which may cause the inapplicability of these strategies for contemporary rural houses. In this paper, taking the Turpan vernacular buildings in arid region of China, the climate responsive strategies of buildings in the most significant periods such as the Gaochang period (before 1318), the Khanate and Republican period (1318–1949), the Modern period (1949–2010), and the Contemporary period (2011–present) were summarized. In addition, two different types of climatic strategies organizations, namely multilayer spaces and integrated building envelopes, were identified based on the temperature difference measurement and comparative analysis. The assessment of thermal performance of the organizations was conducted by the methodology of software simulation. Furthermore, the applicability of the organizations in rural areas was discussed, and a new combined organization was proposed. Consequently, this study can contribute to provide the main approaches for climatically responsive rural houses.

This study explores how recent design guidelines have focused on the visual variety of streetscapes making them more attractive. To date, this topic has been one of the most challenging parts of constructing walkable streets. We evaluated the streetscape features of Sejong City, recently constructed as Republic of Korea’s new capital city, and investigated their relationships with design guidelines. Consequently, we identified three principal reasons related to the design guidelines for the visual monotony in the street produced by the most up-to-date design guidelines compared with an ordinary street. First, the design guidelines cannot restrict the construction of large-scale buildings on the street, hindering visual changes caused by the zoning ordinance regulations because zoning regulations took priority when it comes to urban planning and regulatory governance. Second, design standards intending for a consistent street wall of buildings, which were used only in regard to the street enclosure standard, produced less spatial diversity and indistinct building bases, presenting weak vertical articulation. Third, applying the uniform standards for each building created repetitive architecture despite design standards for visual variety, such as recessed top floors, arcades, and retail uses for the ground floors facing a street.

New walking studies have been concerned with the multiplicity of pedestrian experiences. Some consider walking as an activity that unfolds as part of social life, allowing people to create relationships with others, where multiple walking types can be identified depending on these relations. Some contributions, inspired by actor-network theory (ANT), suggest understanding this activity through a networked perspective that associates human and non-human actors, with a focus on their various and dynamic relations between them. The focus on stabilized networks, which emphasizes the recurrence of these relations, helps in identifying and extending themultiplicity of walking activity experience and emerging types. Despite this potential, ANT contributions are still limited. This paper aims to present the ANT potential in unpacking the multiplicity of the walking activity. It utilizes the case of Dahiyat Al Hussain park in Jordan and applies an ANT-inspired ethnographic approach to unpackwalking. It uses desk research, in-depth interviews, go-along interviews, and observations to engage with participants’ views and experiences. By tracing the recurring relational patterns, the paper identifies three instances when walking practice can be considered as stabilized during network shaping, transformation, and interrelations. These stabilizations provide a nuanced perspective into the multiplicity of walking practices.

This paper describes a wood-wood spatial joining system adapted to digital fabrication which has been designated the “Spatial Masterkey”. The wood stereotomy of the joints between the different pieces that make up this joining system is inspired by a three-dimensional puzzle called “snowflake”. The production process used in the masterkey system can be carried out using only a 3-axis CNC milling machine—a relatively affordable and easily accessible tool. By using digital manufacturing for the execution of wood-wood joints, several benefits are obtained including faster machining and greater cutting precision and uniformity in the products produced. These advantages make this joining system both economically competitive and environmentally friendly. Additionally, the versatility of this joining system means that its configuration can be adapted to a wide range of casuistry of encounters between members, which means that it can be used for a number of spatial assemblies. This includes, but is not limited to, the spatial module presented in this document.

Dedicated multi media platforms have the potential to enhance experiences and increase people’s awareness of cultural heritage. It is, however, not clear to what extent and by which functions these platforms accomplish this. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the influence of functionalities offered by a well-designed multi-media web-platform on the awareness and experience of cultural heritage. The multi media platform used is focused on Strijp-S, an industrial cultural heritage in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The platform was created as a prototype based on a study of users’ preferences for contents and media types offered. To collect data, a sample of 302 respondents used the platform to explore and view Strijp-S. To test assumed relationships between different functionalities, awareness and experience in an integrated fashion, the data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results show that information-collection funtionality plays a significant role in improving awareness of cultural heritage, whereas auxiliary functions are particularly helpful for enhancing experiences. The perceived helpfulness of these two sets of functions differ however between users depending on theitr level of prior knowledge. Policymakers and urban planners can use these results to create their own platform based on local heritage to increase the citizens’ awareness of cultural heritage.

The article examines the existing infrastructure of open common spaces within two New Belgrade mass housing blocks (Blocks 23 and 70a) through a typo-morphological analysis. These spaces between the buildings, although the most neglected, underused, and deteriorated components of mass housing neighbourhoods, are at the same time crucial to the quality, vitality and integrated governance of these neighbourhoods. They represent the primary tangible commons in cities and neighbourhoods. The question of urban commons is increasingly present in scientific literature, urban and architectural discourse. Nevertheless, approaches exploring the spatiality of the urban commons are scarce, leading to insufficient understanding of the spatial aspect and potentials of the already existing commons. Therefore, this study includes (1) identification, typological decoding and classification of the common spaces, focusing on the case of New Belgrade blocks, followed by (2) analysis of the spatial patterns and integration of the identified spaces within the blocks. The study confirms the complexity and diverse typology of the common spaces. It finds that the in-between, common spaces contribute to higher integration of different segments of the blocks. The open common spaces have an essential role in humanisation of the blocks, and thus the quality of life in the blocks as integrated neighbourhoods. The findings indicate that the spatial setting of the open common spaces in New Belgrade blocks allows for (re)emergence of collective practices, leading to inclusive and integrated rehabilitation of the neighbourhoods.

The starting point of this research is the urban model promoted by the United Nations through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The importance of public spaces is especially highlighted in Goal 11.7: “provide universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible, green, and public spaces.” The quality of public spaces can be properly assessed by reconsidering the quality indicators and investigating their development potential, which is the main focus of our research. This study is based on a theoretical and methodological reflection on the quality of public space, considering the contributions of some contemporary urban traditions and a few recent experiences. From this perspective, a variety of public space projects developed in the European sphere have been selected and analyzed. The quality parameters identified in this initial analysis were then applied to the analysis of nine representative case studies in three Spanish cities (Madrid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza). The main goal is to propose a methodology that helps to evaluate the quality of those public spaces and determine its relationship with the safety, accessibility, and inclusiveness conditions they offer.

Predicting comfort levels in cities is challenging due to the many metric assessment. To overcome these challenges, much research is being done in the computing community to develop methods capable of generating outdoor comfort data. Machine Learning (ML) provides many opportunities to discover patterns in large datasets such as urban data. This paper proposes a data-driven approach to build a predictive and data-generative model to assess outdoor thermal comfort. The model benefits from the results of a study, which analyses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) urban simulation to determine the thermal and wind comfort in Tallinn, Estonia. The ML model was built based on classification, and it uses an opaque ML model. The results were evaluated by applying different metrics and show us that the approach allows the implementation of a data-generative ML model to generate reliable data on outdoor comfort that can be used by urban stakeholders, planners, and researchers.

This article examines Block A, the first block-style building in Heybeliada Sanatorium in Istanbul. The purpose of this research is to understand its architectural and spatial development and discuss how in fact it was a “prototype” of Turkish sanatoria. Approached with a three-step methodology (documentation/evaluation/results) this research conducts architectural and spatial analysis on Block A. Primary sources like architectural documentation and restitution drawings, the writings of the institution’s head doctor Tevfik Ismail Gökçe, periodicals on tuberculosis (TB), as well as pertinent literature are utilized. The findings demonstrate that Block A’s development (1924—1945) was the result of knowledge transfer that introduced the universal sanatorium design principles, spatial experiments, adaptation to sociocultural norms, and trial-and-error processes. Not only it had a major impact on shaping of the second block-type building in the complex, the “model” Block B, but it also became exemplary of the subsequent Turkish sanatoria. The originality of this article is its exploration of the changing and evolving Block A in its resonation with the cultural tensions of Turkey’s modernization process. This was established via the assessment of budgetary issues, medical developments and climatic experiments, the social issue of scarcity of TB beds in the country, spatial practices to separate the sexes as reflections of local traditions and culture in the shaping of spaces.

This study reflects on the impact that the neighborhoods’ in-between spaces have on: spatial perception, social interaction, and security. These sites, characterized by their abandonment and deterioration, can also be seen as crucial spaces of opportunity for cities, in the architectural, urban and landscape research. This paper aims to analyze the sociospatial relationships in the neighborhoods’ in-between spaces and examine the impact of inbetween space configuration on urban habitability. The investigation draws on a survey of perception to residents about the requirements for a suitable social interaction in these spaces. This study was developed in a neighborhood in the city periphery, characterized by their social dynamics and location in a nature conservation area. The findings indicate that the appropriation process, activities, and collective practices are dependent on the spatial legibility, in this case when this increases, gives rise to improve the habitability and the rehabilitation of the in-between space. Furthermore, the lack of design on in-between spaces substantially affects the use of these spaces and the social interaction among residents.

The present research studies the relationship between place attachment and the perception of form’s visual quality in fifteen outstanding contemporary Iranian architectural cultural buildings. This study puts forward the hypothesis that there is a correlation between the quality of building form and the sense of place attachment, in the sense that creating high visual quality through enhancing the quality of building form increases citizens’ initial satisfaction with and subsequent attachment to the building. High visual quality influences people’s experience of the environment and improves the quality of life. Place attachment highlights how people, on a personal level, recreate a sense of place for themselves. The present study adopts the descriptive-analytical method as its theoretical framework and the survey as the empirical methodology. Questionnaires were developed using the Likert scale and distributed among experts and ordinary citizens. Data analysis using SPSS and the adoption of descriptive-analytical statistics, correlation analysis, and regression showed the relationship among the characteristics of indicators. The results show a positive correlation between form and place attachment mediated through visual quality, and they are causal conditions for one another. In addition, only some of the buildings under study evoke the same level of place attachment.

Global climate change and the accelerated melting of glaciers have raised concerns about the ability to manage ice-snow environments. Historically, human ancestors have mastered the ecological wisdom of working with ice-snow environments, but the phenomenon has not yet been articulated in cultural landscape methodologies that emphasize “nature-culture relevance”. The challenging living environment often compels indigenous people to form a strong bond with their surroundings, leading to the creation of long-term ecological wisdom through synergistic relationships with the environment. This ecological environment is conceptualized as a cognitive space in the form of the landscape, with which the aboriginal community norms and individual spirits continually interact. Such interactions generate numerous non-material cultural evidences, such as culture, art, religion, and other ideological aspects of the nation. These evidences symbolize the intellectual outcome of the relationship between humans and the landscape, and they create the “spiritual relevance” through personification and contextualization. The aim of the study is to explore the traditional ecological wisdom of the Inuit people who live in the harsh Arctic, and analyze the Inuit’s interaction with the landscape through the lens of “associative cultural landscape”, and decode the survival experience that the Inuit have accumulated through their long-term synergy with the Arctic environment. The findings focus on the synergy between the Inuit and the ice-snow landscape, examining the knowledge and ecological wisdom that the Inuit acquire from the ice-snow landscape. Our goal is to develop a perspective of the ecological environment from the viewpoint of aboriginal people and establish a methodology, model, and framework for “associative cultural landscape” that incorporates ethnic non-material cultural evidences. From the results, a total of nine models for interpreting traditional Inuit ecological wisdom are generated based on the “diamond model” of “associative cultural landscape”, covering the transition from the physical landscape to a spiritual one and demonstrating the associative role of the landscape in stimulating potential spiritual cognitive abilities in humans.

The Republic of Korea has the highest suicide rate of older population among OECD countries, and depression is the prevailing factor. While it is well-known that the urban physical environment affects mental health, research on the physical characteristics of spaces remains limited. This study aims to explore relationship-oriented space characteristics that can form social networks and reduce depressive symptoms in older adults. After analyzing the differences in social interaction spaces between high-density and low-density areas for older adults in Seoul, we identified social interaction spaces (parks and traditional markets) that are frequently used based on on-site interview results. Two areas were selected for the questionnaire surveys. The main findings revealed that older adults living in areas with diverse spatial planning and close physical relationships between parks and traditional markets, convenient pedestrian environments, and lower population density of older adults had better social networks and lower depressive symptoms. More significantly, the physical characteristics of parks and traditional markets (convenient accessibility, maximized visibility, connectivity, and territoriality) significantly facilitate social interactions. Those engaging in social interactions within these spaces exhibited significantly better social networks and lower depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the importance of considering relationship-oriented space characteristics in spatial and urban planning.

Human activities on street spaces are affected by both physical and non-physical settings on streets. These two aspects are primarily impacted by land use which results in the uneven distribution of different activities on streets. This research investigates land use patterns and their characteristics in association to user’s behaviors. By using mixed qualitative and quantitative research methods, e.g., place-centered behavioral map, observation, visual encounter surveys, machine learning, the relationship between user’s behavior and land use characteristics along the street is unveiled. All user behaviors along both types of streets were classified into six main categories, with 26 subcategories. The observation results show that the residential use of land along the street was transformed into the commercial use for various types of shophouses based on the resident’s ideas. There is a great correlation between land use and user’s activities. These findings give support to authorities to manage urban streets and develop a sustainable policy for improving street spaces. Further, this research contributes useful information to urban designers and planners in creating a successful street space that is appropriate for the Vietnam Community.

Identifying thermal bridges on building façades has been a great challenge for architects, especially during the conceptual design stage. This is not only due to the complexity of parameters when calculating thermal bridges, but also lack of feature integration between building energy simulation (BES) tools and the actual building conditions. For example, existing BES tools predominantly calculate thermal bridges only in steady state without considering the temperature dynamic behaviour of building outdoors. Consequently, relevant features such as thermal delay, decrement factor, and operative temperature are often neglected, and this can lead to miscalculation of energy consumption. This study then proposes an integrated method to calculate dynamic thermal bridges under transient conditions by incorporating field observations and computational simulations of thermal bridges. More specifically, the proposed method employs several measurement tools such as HOBO data logger to record the actual conditions of indoor and outdoor room temperature and thermal cameras to identify the surface temperature of selected building junctions. The actual datasets are then integrated with the simulation workflow developed in BES tools. This study ultimately enables architects not only to identify potential thermal bridges on existing building façades but also to support material and geometric exploration in early design phase.

Archaeological research at the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex (SBAC), which has been carried out until 2023, aims to complete the chronological data and urbanization process of the ancient Kedah. This study will especially prove that the ongoing urbanization process is aimed at developing the iron smelting industry and trade in ancient Kedah, especially in SBAC. This is because archaeological research at SBAC has proven that with the existence of the ancient Kedah iron smelting workshop at SBAC, river jetties, port management, rituals, and Buddhist monuments began to be erected, all of which can be determined by chronometric dating. The results of the chronometric dating have proven that the ancient Kedah Kingdom existed since the 6th century BC and was oriented towards the trade of iron resources, which allowed the use of the area to grow rapidly. The process of urbanization and land use clearly conforms to Lynch’s principle, which emphasizes the principles of 1) paths, 2) edges, 3) districts, 4) nodes, and 5) landmarks in the development process of land use and urbanization in the complex.

Urban agglomeration is a serious concern due to its high energy usage and impact on the local climate. Developing countries strive to determine the development path to optimize energy usage. The present study aims to examine the local climatic zones (LCZs) performance in warm and humid climate through a multi-objective approach for the residential sector. The performance is assessed by evaluating the urban microclimate and cooling load consumption for both summer and winter months using binomial logistic regression. The study concludes that LCZ 2₃ (compact mid-rise with open low-rise) and LCZ 6_B (open low-rise with scattered trees) perform better for 80% and 50% of total hours in warm and humid climate. It also proves the presence of significant performance differences between mid-rise and low-rise zones. The intra-zonal differences between the climatic variables are higher than the inter-zonal differences due to the impact of land surface temperature (LST). The high aspect ratio and low sky view factor of LCZ 2₃ help the residents in that morphology in enhancing better thermal comfort and reducing cooling load consumption. The present study contributes to building regulation policymakers by providing information on the suitable morphology for warm and humid climate.

This paper takes initial steps towards developing a theoretical framework of contemplative neuroaesthetics through sensorimotor dynamics. We first argue that this new area has been largely omitted from the contemporary research agenda in neuroaesthetics and thus remains a domain of untapped potential. We seek to define this domain to foster a clear and focused investigation of the capacity of the arts and architecture to induce phenomenological states of a contemplative kind. By proposing a sensorimotor account of the experience of architecture, we operationalize how being attuned to architecture can lead to contemplative states. In contrasting the externally-induced methods with internally-induced methods for eliciting a contemplative state of mind, we argue that architecture may spontaneously and effortlessly lead to such states as certain built features naturally resonate with our sensorimotor system. We suggest that becoming sensible of the resonance and attunement process between internal and external states is what creates an occasion for an externallyinduced contemplative state. Finally, we review neuroscientific studies of architecture, elaborate on the brain regions involved in such aesthetic contemplative responses, provide architectural examples, and point at the contributions that this new area of inquiry may have in fields such as the evidence-based design movement in architecture.

The progressive deindustrialisation of many western cities since the 1980s has led to many industrial zones linked to port activities being abandoned or falling into disuse. Cities such as Barcelona, Naples, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Hamburg have port industrial complexes of high tangible and intangible heritage value that could totally or partially disappear, resulting in an irreparable loss of their scientific, architectural, social, technological, and historical values. With that in mind, Adaptive Reuse (AR) of the built heritage allows the industrial memory of the ports to be preserved by turning them into new functional centres within the existing urban structure. That occurs in the context of the contemporary challenges of those cities, such as touristification, the circular economy and climate change, while guaranteeing the life cycle of those buildings. This article analyses two case studies—the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (NDSM) and the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) shipyards, both in the Netherlands—in order to contribute to the knowledge of AR of Port Industrial Heritage. They are two examples of good practices in port industrial heritage interventions, where the factors behind their acclaim can be easily highlighted. A multi-scale methodology is therefore used and tailored to the case of port industrial heritage, based on analysing previous studies of the heritage in different spheres and on different scales. A relationship matrix tool is thus defined. It enables a comparative study to be conducted, using key variables and indicators, and considering qualitative and quantitative data. That provides extensive output information for each case study, which is summarised in the most favourable factors for the success of the AR of this port industrial heritage.

Due to the importance of the historical context of Dezful City, investigating historic buildings is necessary. But unfortunately, a large part of it is being destroyed. For this reason, it is essential to discover the guidelines and logic behind the architectural design of these buildings to help their reconstruction or restoration. Regrettably, there is no logical information about the components of this context and the reconstructions are usually done according to taste and based on architecture tested or personal preference. Therefore, it is necessary to find a logic behind these critical components that support the whole plan or parts of it in a particular style. The purpose of this research is to discover and find the logic behind the design of this building in the historical context of Dezful. Finding geometrical proportions can significantly help to reconstruct buildings better and more accurately. For this purpose, 30 historical houses of Dezful were randomly selected, and their input information was drawn in 2D form in AutoCAD. Then, the length, width, and height proportions were measured, and the obtained ratios were compared with the golden proportions and dynamic rectangles. This paper studies entrance based on ratios of $\sqrt 2$, $\sqrt 3$, $\sqrt 4$, $\sqrt 5$, $\sqrt {1.25}$ and φ (the golden section). The results show that golden proportions and proportions derived from dynamic rectangles are present in the wording of all cases. Moreover, the range of ratios in the plan is from 1.34 to 2, and the content of changes in the section is from 1.22 to 2. The results can help architects, and particularly building owners, to reconstruct based on existing logic by discovering the proportions of the entrances of the houses. It is possible to administer a part of the damaged tissue and estimate its dimensions and sizes because the proportions’ completeness can help revive half-destroyed historical buildings.