Journal of Mediterranean Cities

Can Our [New] Cities Survive?

Ugo Rossi — 2022-08-08

The developmental growth of home-improving devices and equipment has ceaselessly progressed from the Industrial Revolution until the present day. From heating systems to lighting equipment and air conditioning, we have now reached the Smart house age. However, in order to be efficient, such a kind of home demands a new city: A Smart City, with devices, networks, and infrastructures that would be fundamental requisites for its functioning. That is why the ancient cities, on the way to becoming an inconvenience for the development of the brand-new ones, are going to find their place in a desert, in a "tabula rasa" devoid of relics, ruins, and debris of their history. This contribution investigates the challenges that architects must put forth in trying to overcome such a condition of exclusion from the process of building a new human landscape.

Designing Alternatives for Residential Apartments in Cairo Using Shape Grammars

Mazen Nassef — 2022-08-08

Through observation, it is noticed that the design solutions of the inner spaces of residential units in Cairo have circulation problems. These problems are represented in direct and indirect separation between different zones in apartments, whether private or semi-private. This is due to; reduced areas, site location, building policies, etc. Such problems obstruct resident’s way of everyday life, and their living quality. After introducing such problems, this paper proposes a set of shape-grammars rules that facilitate designers, through their process to produce a range of design alternatives for the same area. Shape grammars’ rules are set according to three aspects: a) required relationship between zones for Carians culture, b) building policies as a constrain, c) the given building area in different situations (attached to neighbours or free standing, etc.) That rule works as a design tool for any designer in Cairo to select the suitable alternative and facilitate his creativity through the process.

Developing Urban Design Research with VINEX

Alessandro Spennato — 2022-08-08

During the mid-1990s and the first two decades of the 2000s, the Netherlands underwent a super zoning programme called VINEX to redevelop peripheral areas. The initial objective is to change to an urban landscape design project for high-density housing, favouring places that tend to be elitist. This research looks first at the evolution of VINEX on urban landscape design and then at how the recent NR development programme has sought to correct housing speculation. Finally, by comparing the objectives of VINEX and the NR programme, this research aims to highlight how land reclamation can also be achieved through new policies of green landscape and social inclusion and not only through land consumption, a peculiar characteristic of Dutch planning.

Evaluation of the Wind Catcher in the Traditional Cairene Courtyard Houses' Integrated Passive System for Natural Ventilation and Cooling

Ahmed Zaki — 2022-08-08

Many Islamic architectural features have been used continuously in Cairene Courtyard houses as one of the primary environmental standards. Wind catcher represents the keystone of passive green features among other used features. The response of chosen case studies to the thermal environment had proven to vary concerning the type of green features involved and its role in the whole integrated system. The evaluation matrix act as a model in assessing the performance of eco-architecture features regarding the type of integrated system. Wind catcher ended up being effective in expanding the efficiency of passive integration system for ventilation and cooling; especially when the opportunity is taken to involve other green features in the early design phase. It is recommended to take into consideration, the involvement of passive integrated systems in architectural projects. Accordingly, we can conserve energy, mitigate climatic changes, and achieve thermal comfort; besides preserving the local identity of the built environment.

Fire and Explosion Machine Learning Model for the Port of Los Angeles - California Safety Code and NFPA for Fire-Break Zoning

Salvatore Polverino — 2022-08-08

A correlative Hazard case study of Los Angeles Port has been performed on a tremendous dock fire that occurred on 22nd September 2014 at the Wilmington Dock along with a proposed Machine Learning approach concerning remote sensing techniques, a time-related air quality survey, and port safety codes, which are assessed and based on a modern port governance emergency intervention. The methodology of this research embraces a possible case of high fire severity urban zoning of the Los Angeles Harbour, on the occasion of the severe application of Health and Safety Code Section 18930 by the State Fire Marshal to respond opportunely to the recent extensive ignition across California. Set rules, dispatched by LA Port System, are detected following a Landsat 8/OLI (Operational Land Imager) remote sensing-based geospatial comparison with ground-based air samples. In order to target opportunely risk barriers in favour of Oil Tankers and critical garrisons, an extensive pre-processing calibration of spaceborne datasets has been performed for enhancing minor changes on the platforms. Besides, intrinsic limits of the OLI definition do not permit appropriate accuracy of small-scale evaluations; a decision tree model has been therefore engaged by embracing high variance and low bias of these compensated datasets. In this manner, four Regions of Interest have been marked to strengthen the sub-samples of these features. The flexibility of RF computation delivers positive automation for the missing values, categorical and continuous values; on the other side time consuming and interpretability drawbacks, notice a disadvantage of the implementation in terms of computational training, validation, and testing. In defence of this intervention approach, an air-model geostatistical distribution carried out pixel values based on the pre-burn weighted trained model and finally ensembled to buffer protection zones, according to the Safety Code Section 18930 as an endorsement of further sustainable and financial liabilities that are vital parameters in the post-Covid-sars19 crisis and demonstrate growth limits of Ports as periodically issued to theirs Internal Consistency Analysis. The advisory assessment research moreover a hardware performance to support on-time prediction models, by listing variable dependent regressive accuracy samples.

Social Hybrid Architecture for Water Regeneration in Rural Settlements: A Case Study in the Historic Landscape of La Vega del Guadalfeo, Spain

Alegría Pacheco-Montero — 2022-08-08

This article combines two problems such as the eutrophication of seas and oceans with the spontaneous appearance of rural settlements and the infrastructures that support them. According to Koolhaas, the rural world constitutes the new space for work and research. After a bibliographic review of the possible strategies, a social hybrid building is proposed between an ecological purification infrastructure and a social recompositing artefact. As a case study, the problem of dissemination in historic landscape of the Vega del Guadalfeo is analysed. The results show the design of an ecological treatment plant that can recycle wastewater from illegal rural settlements through worm filters and a system of artificial wetlands. This is part of a building that makes up for the lack of facilities that is typical of the scattered one with an exhibition hall and public meeting spaces. The paper proposes recommendations to institutions on the scope of this type of infrastructure in Mediterranean landscapes.

Transit Oriented Development and Sustainable Land Use Theories Impacts on New Mega Transportation Projects in New Capital City in Egypt

Mohamed Youssef — 2022-08-08

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) land use theories have been applied in multiple countries both developed and developing areas of the globe. It has proven its strength in maintaining a more sustainable approach in both urban development and lifestyle. The greater Cairo Region is witnessing huge transportation projects such as Electric Elevated Train that connect old Cairo with the new Capital City in the Eastern desert of Egypt. The New electric Train line is foreseen as a major clean transportation for number of important areas in greater Cairo, nevertheless it lacks more broader urban planning vision to use the transit main spots as a potential of applying a land use planning approach to maximize the urban potentials of these sites. This paper is providing a land-uses planning approach to maximize the land uses around these transits stops by providing the theory of transit-oriented development and propose the suitable solution that TOD offer to create more comprehensive sustainable urban oasis. The paper theorizes TOD land use planning, and what suitable development could be provided for such spots. Analysis of the locations of main train stops are provided, recommendation for one stop TOD development as a replica for other main stops to create more sustainable urban oases in the eastern desert of Cairo New Capital.