Djihed Berkouk

Climate change and rapid urbanization are increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, posing significant risks to public health in cities. Although numerous studies have investigated urban heat islands and heat vulnerability, spatially explicit assessments integrating environmental, demographic, and urban morphological characteristics remain limited, particularly in European cities. This study presents the first Heat–Health Risk Index (HHRI) assessment for the Brussels Capital Region, combining remote sensing, demographic information, and Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework to evaluate the spatial distribution of heat health risk. The HHRI was developed by integrating three components (hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) derived from Landsat 8/9 imagery, WorldPop population data, and LCZ classification generated following the WUDAPT methodology. Hazard was represented by Land Surface Temperature (LST), exposure combined population density and built-up intensity (NDBI), while vulnerability incorporated vegetation (NDVI), surface water (MNDWI), and age-sensitive population groups. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to determine indicator weights, and the resulting HHRI was analyzed across different LCZs using zonal statistics. The results revealed pronounced spatial variability in heat health risk across Brussels, with the highest HHRI values concentrated within the densely urbanized central municipalities and the lowest values occurring in the vegetated southern and southeastern areas. LCZ analysis showed that Compact Low-Rise (LCZ 3) and Compact Mid-Rise (LCZ 2) exhibited the highest proportions of high and very high risk, whereas natural LCZs, particularly Dense Trees (LCZ A) and Low Plants (LCZ D), consistently functioned as urban cooling environments associated with low heat health risk. This study addresses an important research gap by providing the first LCZ-based HHRI assessment for Brussels and Belgium. The proposed open-data and reproducible methodology offer a transferable framework for identifying priority intervention areas and supporting evidence-based climate adaptation and urban planning in European cities.

Achieving net-zero energy and zero-emission buildings is a critical pathway toward decarbonizing the built environment, particularly in cooling-dominated regions where operational energy demand remains exceptionally high. Existing university buildings in hot–humid climates face significant challenges due to intensive cooling requirements, limited passive cooling potential, and the economic burden associated with large-scale renewable energy deployment. This study develops and evaluates a climate-responsive retrofit framework that integrates sequential energy optimization, CFD-based passive-cooling analysis, and on-site renewable energy systems to transform an operational university building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, into a nearly net-zero energy building (NZEB). A high-fidelity DesignBuilder–EnergyPlus model was calibrated using three years of monthly measured electricity consumption data, achieving strong agreement with utility records (NMBE = 2.19%, CV(RMSE) = 7.93%). The proposed framework prioritizes demand-side load reduction through optimized HVAC operation, envelope enhancement, daylight-responsive lighting control, natural ventilation, and Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling (PDEC) before renewable energy integration. The baseline building exhibited an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 613 kWh/m²·year, with cooling accounting for approximately 70% of total electricity consumption. Sequential optimization reduced annual energy demand by 58%, while CFD-supported passive cooling strategies provided an additional 17% reduction in cooling energy and improved indoor airflow performance. Crucially, nearly 80% of total energy savings were realized prior to photovoltaic (PV) deployment. A 1586-kW rooftop photovoltaic system subsequently offset the residual annual demand, achieving a nearly net-zero annual energy balance. Over 25 years, the proposed retrofit pathway reduced life-cycle costs from 7.51 million SAR to 3.13 million SAR. The findings demonstrate that climate-responsive demand reduction is the primary enabler of NZEBs in hot–humid regions, substantially reducing renewable energy requirements and long-term economic costs while providing a scalable pathway to decarbonize existing campus infrastructure.

This study systematically reviews 257 peer-reviewed articles indexed in the Scopus database and published between 2005 and 2025 to characterise research trends, methodological paradigms, geographic distribution, and indicator usage in urban noise and soundscape mapping. The temporal analysis shows that the topic first emerges in 2005 with pioneering studies from Nigeria and Brazil, followed by a pronounced rise in publication activity after 2016, driven primarily by developments in China, India, Brazil, and several Southeast Asian countries. Methodologically, the field has shifted from diagnostic measurements toward integrated systems incorporating in - situ monitoring, GIS, simulation tools, and, more recently, machine-learning methods. Experiential and soundscape-based studies remain limited but are gradually expanding, whereas policy-oriented and health-integrated assessments are still rare. Overall, the review identifies four persistent challenges: geographic and thematic imbalance, limited integration of perceptual and socio-spatial dimensions, weak policy translation, and a notable absence of health and wellbeing focused, human-centered mapping. Addressing these gaps is essential for producing robust, comparable, and policy-relevant acoustic evidence capable of informing urban planning and environmental-health strategies across the Global South.

Earth–Air Heat Exchangers (EAHEs) exploit stable subsurface temperatures to pre-condition supply air. To address limitations of conventional systems in hot–arid climates, this study investigates the performance of a hybrid EAHE prototype combining a serpentine subsurface pipe with a buried water tank. Installed in a residential building in Lichana, Biskra (Algeria), the system was designed to enhance land compactness, thermal stability, and soil–water heat harvesting. Experimental monitoring was conducted across 13 intervals strategically spanning seasonal transitions and extremes and was complemented by calibrated numerical simulations. From over 30,000 data points, outlet trajectories, thermal efficiency, Coefficient of Performance (COP), and energy savings were assessed against a straight-pipe baseline. Results showed that the hybrid EAHE delivered smoother outlet profiles under moderate gradients while the baseline achieved larger instantaneous ΔT. Thermal efficiencies exceeded 90% during high-gradient episodes and averaged above 70% annually. COP values scaled with the inlet–soil gradient, ranging from 1.5 to 4.0. Cumulative recovered energy reached 80.6 kWh (3.92 kWh/day), while the heat pump electricity referred to a temperature-dependent ASHP totaled 34.59 kWh (1.40 kWh/day). Accounting for the EAHE fan yields a net saving of 25.46 kWh across the campaign, only one interval (5) was net-negative, underscoring the value of bypass/fan shut-off under weak gradients. Overall, the hybrid EAHE emerges as a footprint-efficient option for arid housing, provided operation is dynamically controlled. Future work will focus on controlling logic and soil–moisture interactions to maximize net performance.

The urban heat island (UHI) significantly compromises outdoor thermal comfort and public health in hot climates. While urban vegetation is a recognized mitigation strategy, its performance variability across different urban fabrics remains a critical knowledge gap. This research quantitatively evaluates the microclimatic impact of vegetation strategies by comparing two districts with distinct urban morphologies: low-density and high-density. Using the Envi-met software, we simulated a reference case and four vegetation scenarios with constant 50% grass coverage and incrementally increasing tree percentages (0% to 75%). Thermal performance was assessed through key metrics, including air temperature (T_a), relative humidity (RH), mean radiant temperature (T_mrt), and Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). The results reveal that vegetation’s effectiveness is directly correlated with urban density. The most comprehensive strategy (Scenario-D: 50% grass, 75% trees) reduced peak PET by up to 7.5 °C in the low-density El Khazzan, a reduction nearly three times greater than the 2.7 °C achieved in the high-density El Akkad. Similarly, this scenario achieved a maximum daytime T_a reduction of 0.92 K in El Khazzan, compared to only 0.4 K in the high-density district. The study also identifies a critical trade-off: high-density tree scenarios increased nighttime temperatures by up to 0.4 K due to disrupted airflow, whereas the grass-only scenario maintained thermal stability. These findings underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach to urban greening is insufficient. For practical implications, urban planners must abandon generic strategies and integrate a nuanced understanding of local morphology to maximize the thermal benefits of vegetation, particularly in hot, arid environments.

Oases in arid regions are critical ecosystems, providing essential ecological, agricultural, and socio-economic functions. However, urbanization and climate change increasingly threaten their sustainability. This study examines land cover (LULC) and land surface temperature (LST) dynamics in four representative North African oases: Tolga (Algeria), Nefta (Tunisia), Ghadames (Libya), and Siwa (Egypt) over the period 2000–2023, using Landsat satellite imagery. A three-step analysis was employed: calculation of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDBI (Normalized Difference Built-up Index), and LST, followed by supervised land cover classification and statistical tests to examine the relationships between the studied variables. The results reveal substantial reductions in bare soil (e.g., 48.10% in Siwa) and notable urban expansion (e.g., 136.01% in Siwa and 48.46% in Ghadames). Vegetation exhibited varied trends, with a slight decline in Tolga (0.26%) and a significant increase in Siwa (+27.17%). LST trends strongly correlated with land cover changes, demonstrating increased temperatures in urbanized areas and moderated temperatures in vegetated zones. Notably, this study highlights that traditional urban designs integrated with dense palm groves significantly mitigate thermal stress, achieving lower LST compared to modern urban expansions characterized by sparse, heat-absorbing surfaces. In contrast, areas dominated by fragmented vegetation or seasonal crops exhibited reduced cooling capacity, underscoring the critical role of vegetation type, spatial arrangement, and urban morphology in regulating oasis microclimates. Preserving palm groves, which are increasingly vulnerable to heat-driven pests, diseases and the introduction of exotic species grown for profit, together with a revival of the traditional compact urban fabric that provides shade and has been empirically confirmed by other oasis studies to moderate the microclimate more effectively than recent low-density extensions, will maintain the crucial synergy between buildings and vegetation, enhance the cooling capacity of these settlements, and safeguard their tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

With accelerating surface warming trends in urban regions, cities like Algiers are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, contributing to a growing concern over heat-related illnesses. For a comprehensive long-term assessment (2001–2023) of heat-related risks in Algiers, multi-decade satellite, meteorological, and census data were used in this study to map and assess spatial patterns of the Heat Health Risk Index (HHRI) within the framework established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) incorporating hazard, exposure and vulnerability components. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was then calculated to assess thermal stress levels during the same period. Following this, the study addressed a critical research gap by coupling the HHRI and UTCI and identified hotspots using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistical analysis tool. Our findings reveal that the intensity of HHRI has increased over time since “very-low” risk areas had an outstanding decrease (93%) and a 6 °C UTCI rise over 23 years reaching the “very strong heat stress” level. The coupled index demonstrated greater and different risk areas compared to the HHRI alone, suggesting that the coupling of both indicators enhances the sensitivity of heat risk assessment. Finally, persistently identified hotspots in central and eastern regions call for localized, targeted interventions in those areas and highlight the value of remote sensing in informing policymakers and enhancing climate resilience.

This article provides an overview of the advancements achieved by the ANSP project, which focuses on conducting a thorough analysis of noise pollution and soundscapes in the Arab world. By highlighting key progress, findings, and challenges encountered during the initiative, this study specifically addresses the gaps in current regulatory frameworks, the limited representation of this topic in scientific literature, and the lack of understanding regarding urban sound environments in the Arab context. The importance of taking concerted action to tackle these challenges is underscored, beginning with political momentum and the adoption of a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach. This strategy aims to enhance urban interventions by safeguarding public health and improving the quality of life in Arab cities. The article advocates for an integrated approach that involves researchers, policymakers, and communities in order to bridge the existing gaps and create urban environments where sound management and the appreciation of soundscapes are given priority.