Samah El Khateeb

Urban areas in hot-arid regions face extreme temperatures, water scarcity, and deteriorating air quality, intensified by rapid urbanization and climate change. In the Greater Cairo Region, road-network redevelopment has reduced street greenery, increasing the need for strategies that compensate for lost shade, cooling, and ecosystem services. This study evaluates nature-based solution (NBS) configurations in a road-widened street corridor in Zahraa El Maadi, Cairo, Egypt. Seven ENVI-met 5.9.0 scenarios, varying in tree-canopy, grass, green-roof, and water coverage, were compared over a 24 h peak-summer period. Air temperature (Ta), wind speed (WS), relative humidity (RH), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) were assessed at three pedestrian-level receptors at 12:00, 16:00, and 20:00, and i-Tree MyTree was used to estimate complementary carbon, runoff, and air-quality co-benefits for a representative Ficus microcarpa tree. Scenarios with greater tree-canopy cover generally produced lower pedestrian-level Ta, with reductions of approximately 0.4–1.6 °C depending on receptor location and time of day. A one-at-a-time sensitivity analysis of air-temperature forcing (±2 °C) and inflow wind speed (3.0 and 6.0 m/s) showed that the higher-tree-canopy scenario was cooler than the no-vegetation reference in only 21 of 36 comparisons, so its advantage depended on forcing condition, location, and time. The maximum-NBS scenario was not consistently the best performer, highlighting the influence of urban morphology and NBS placement. Water features increased RH but did not consistently reduce PET, while green roofs and grass provided limited direct pedestrian-level benefits. Overall, NBS reduced but did not eliminate heat stress. The study proposes a decision matrix that links site assets, microclimate simulation, ecosystem-service assessment, and water demand, including greywater reuse and efficient irrigation, to support NBS planning in hot-arid urban redevelopment.

Urban greening is frequently advocated as a method to alleviate pedestrian heat stress in hot-arid and hot-humid coastal cities; however, planting schemes are frequently designed according to quantitative objectives rather than performance-based thermal outcomes. The thermal comfort gains achieved by the Al-Yamamah walkway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a result of the corridor’s vegetative transformation between 2008 and 2026 are quantified in this study, which also explores, through a single evolutionary optimization run, whether an alternative tree arrangement lowers mean UTCI in a separate simulation framework/The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was employed to reconstruct and evaluate historical and contemporary tree configurations during peak summer conditions (12:00–16:00, July) using Autodesk Forma. The ground area under very strong heat stress was reduced from 99% to 92% as a result of the nearly three-fold increase in in-walkway trees (from 10 to 25) and an 86% increase in canopy diameter (from 3.5 m to 6.5 m). In Rhino/Grasshopper, a subsequent parametric optimization was conducted using the Galapagos evolutionary solver to maintain a fixed canopy diameter of 6 m. This single optimization run identified a 46-tree configuration as the best solution found in that run, with a mean UTCI of 40.06 °C across the same peak window. Because tree count (25 in 2026 versus 46) and tree placement were varied together, and because this value comes from a different tool and metric than the Forma ground-area percentages reported for 2008 and 2026, it is presented as a separate optimization result and not as a like-for-like improvement over the 2026 condition. The empirical 2008–2026 comparison suggests that comfort outcomes are more strongly associated with canopy maturation than with tree count alone, although the study design does not allow these geometric factors to be statistically isolated from one another. Additionally, the optimization run indicates that layouts with a lower simulated mean UTCI can be found for a fixed 6 m canopy specification, although the separate contributions of tree count and tree placement were not isolated. A transferable, performance-validated framework for aligning Vision 2030 greening investments with measurable pedestrian thermal benefits in Jeddah and analogous coastal cities is provided by the two-stage workflow, which consists of empirical before/after assessment and evolutionary placement optimization.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly acknowledged as a transformative driver in design processes, yet its integration in architectural education often remains limited to image generation and generic productivity tasks. This study explores the feasibility and perceived usefulness of integrating AI into architectural modeling and 3D parametric workflows through an exploratory, observational workshop evaluation. The article reports on an AI-driven parametric architecture workshop held at Smart and Future Cities Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Solutions [SFCL] designed as a research setting aimed at introducing architects to the integration of artificial intelligence within computational design and situating AI as an augmentative, rather than substitutive, design agent. Over five days, participants engaged in a hands-on, design-thinking workflow using Rhino 8 and Grasshopper 1.0 in combination with AI tools including large language models and 3D translation tools to support prompt writing, concept generation, parametric modeling, and high-quality visualization. Data were collected through direct observation of workshop activities and a post-workshop survey assessing participants’ perceptions of usability, relevance, and attitudinal change across design stages, as well as how their views on AI changed from the early design stages to the final visualization. All survey respondents rated the workshop methodology as practical and relevant, and 66.7% reported an improved understanding of AI’s role within parametric workflows, highlighting AI-assisted prompt scripting and visualization as key learning outcomes. The findings indicate that embedding AI tools within architectural education may lower technical barriers and support students’ engagement with contemporary computational design practice; as an exploratory case study with a small convenience sample, these findings are preliminary and not generalized. It introduces a modern methodological framework for AI-driven parametric design.

Urban sprawl and traffic are intensifying air pollution and heat stress, harming human health, thermal comfort, and urban living environments. Vegetation, specifically green walls, offers a compelling strategy to reduce pollutant concentrations and pollution-related hospitalization, in addition to enhancing the microclimate—specifically, human thermal comfort. Its impact is strongly associated with well-planned strategic distribution. However, this pollutant-reduction benefit is largely theorized from studies conducted under different traffic, wind, and coverage conditions, and its applicability to dense, high-traffic corridors in hot arid climates has not been tested. The scientific novelty of this study is the first coupled design assessment of thermal comfort and PM benefits of vertical greening under hot arid conditions in retrofitting contexts—focus on structure-mounted elements. This configuration and climate combination solely is limited and present in temperature and humid climates in the existing literature. In this study, green walls are integrated into a vibrant street with limited urban spaces to examine their effects on particulate matter (PM) and thermal comfort. The current street status, 100% vertical green, and 200% vertical green area coverage on structure-mounted columns scenarios were simulated and compared using ENVI-met 5.9.0. The study is conducted in an urban street in Cairo, Egypt. The street faces severe air pollution and high thermal discomfort. The results showed that vertical greening increased user thermal comfort while having a low effect on PM dispersal and reduction under the specific hot-arid, low-wind, and single-day design of this study. At the maximum 200% coverage, air temperature dropped by up to 0.93 °C and PET by up to 1.71 °C; 100% coverage alone was not sufficient to produce a significant improvement, suggesting a possible coverage response threshold that intermediate scenarios were not tested to confirm. The plant with the higher leaf area index (LAI = 3) produced the greatest thermal benefit, though LAI had no measurable effect on PM reduction. This study helps policymakers and urban planners design retrofitting solutions to improve air quality and thermal comfort by emphasizing the need to examine both variables simultaneously. It should also be noted that the effect is influenced by multiple factors—street characteristics, microclimate conditions, local activities, plant characteristics, and the available space—and that the findings are specific to the single hot arid street canyon and summer design day simulated in this study.

The rapid advancement of digital technologies has reshaped tourism practices worldwide, positioning smart tourism as a key approach for enhancing user experience. Previous studies have either focused on conceptual discussions of smart tourism principles or examined isolated technological applications; limited research has systematically linked theoretical experiential dimensions with the actual tools and systems implemented in heritage contexts. In response to this gap, a structured review of Scopus-indexed studies published between 2015 and the present was conducted to examine smart tourism applications in historical urban areas, identifying the evolution of the term smart tourism, recurring trends, technological interventions, and operational strategies applied in historical urban destinations. Using an inductive comparative qualitative approach, a selected sample of archival studies was analyzed, classifying studies into two distinct yet potentially complementary research families: a philosophical stream and a practical implementation stream. The selected studies are analyzed through a dual lens: (1) Theoretical dimensions and themes discussed in conceptual literature, and (2) Practical tools and techniques applied in empirical case studies. The core contribution of this research is the critical perspective of these efforts and the bridging of these two domains through the Integrated Smart Tourism Transformation Framework (ISTTF). The findings contribute to both theory and practice by offering a framework for policymakers, designers, and heritage managers seeking to implement smart tourism solutions that enhance user experience while preserving cultural integrity.

This systematic review builds upon 51 published empirical studies out of 354 studies that were published between 2020 and 2025 to assess the effectiveness of building-scale digital twins (DTs) in providing thermal comfort and energy efficiency, and improving the indoor environment and system reliability. The results show that there is a rapidly developing field focused on five thematic clusters: system architecture, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-driven control, human-centric engagement, predictive maintenance, and blockchain-enabled cybersecurity. Existing DT frameworks not only achieve real-time building information modeling (BIM)–Internet of Things (IoT) integration with prediction errors under 10%, but reinforcement learning controllers are also able to achieve 25–40% heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) energy savings, and human-centric interfaces increase thermal satisfaction from 0.64 up to 1.2 Likert points. Predictive maintenance models have diagnostic accuracies of 91–97%, and new blockchain applications enhance data integrity, but largely at the prototype level. The cross-cluster convergence signifies the transition towards adaptive, socio-technical systems with an equilibrium of efficiency, comfort, reliability, and trust. The major weaknesses identified in this paper were a lack of longitudinal validation, climatic bias and ethical governance. A framework of a modular six-layer architecture is proposed after the review of 51 studies, which facilitates scalable, interoperable, and ethically robust DT deployments.

Urban streets in hot climates often suffer from inadequate shade, exacerbating pedestrian discomfort, urban heat island effects, and energy demands for cooling. Traditional tree-planting approaches overlook dynamic solar paths, building-induced shadows, and spacing requirements, resulting in suboptimal shade coverage and resource inefficiency. This study introduces a computational workflow in Rhino/Grasshopper to optimize tree placement and canopy radii through analysis of solar radiation and shadow patterns. By prioritizing sun-exposed zones, minimizing shadow overlaps, and ensuring growth-appropriate distances, the tool enhances shade distribution. Integration of parametric modeling and environmental simulations improved thermal comfort, reduced energy use, and evidence-based urban planning strategies. Across ten optimization runs, the workflow achieved a 68% increase in shade coverage, an 11.5 °C reduction in mean radiant temperature (MRT), and a 72% decrease in the spatial extent of high-risk heat-exposure zones, demonstrating its potential for climate-adaptive street design in hot-arid environments.

Several initiatives have introduced traditional green walls as a long-term approach to climate change mitigation. The Industry 4.0 advancements have encouraged the innovative integration of digital technology in design processes. Limited research has investigated the integration of digital fabrication methods, like 3D printing, in modular living wall applications. Through a mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to identify the role and develop a design framework using digital fabrication in modular living wall. A systematic literature review of 39 articles from 2016 to 2025 was conducted by screening Scopus and Web of Science databases using the PRISMA technique. VOSviewer co-occurrence keyword mapping identified four core themes for the study’s content analysis, including design elements, design optimisation, fabrication, and performance evaluation. The findings revealed the widespread use of digital software in design modelling and post-design analysis compared to the limited use of application-based optimisation. A design framework was developed for fabricating an efficient modular living wall through a circular design process involving component identification, conceptualisation, optimisation, and evaluation stages. The structured framework provides a sustainable and efficient pathway for the 3D printing of modular vessels while supporting SDG Goal 11, sustainable cities, and Goal 13, climate action, and contributing to the fields of urban, architectural, and landscape design.

University students are subject to various demands in their role as academics. Such pressures tend to amplify emotional distress, making them more susceptible to mental health hazards. This study investigates the influence of enclosed courtyards on students’ mental health within educational facilities, focusing on their distinct spatial configurations, such as semi-open layouts and vegetation cover, as well as their effects on intellectual functioning and well-being. The research used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine brainwave activity and quantify the influence of the spatial design of enclosed courtyards on the mental and emotional well-being of students. An experiment with 16 students and EEG measurements was conducted in the Faculty of Engineering courtyard at Egypt’s Ain Shams University in Cairo, providing 60–70% statistical power to detect medium effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 0.5, α = 0.05), which is sufficient for exploratory research. The study explores the psychophysiological implications of the brain’s electrical signals as neurological measurements, such as alpha and theta brainwaves, in order to assess individuals’ relaxation, restoration, and attention levels. The findings show that natural characteristics of the courtyard, expansive space, and visual stimuli have a significant effect on restoration and attention. While the sample size is limited and the design is context-specific, the results provide preliminary evidence that meticulously designed enclosed courtyards can improve students’ mental well-being. These findings invite further multi-site validation to assess generalizability. This study contributes to the expanding domain of neurolandscape” by demonstrating the interplay between built environments and mental health in educational contexts.