Abstract
One of the most important criteria for a city’s sustainability is climate adaptation. Simultaneously, traditional cities in West Asia have achieved harmony between architecture and the environment, depending on the experience and culture of the local community, indicating a fundamental stage of adaptation to the environment and climate. This research attempted to study and examine the traditional urban fabric, in order to diagnose its significance and ability to solve contemporary problems, such as the lack of comfortable and suitable urban housing environments in hot–dry climate areas, which cover most of West Asia. We used two research methods to create an integrated vision to investigate the indicators and their effect on urban form. Four case studies in the urban fabric and housing communities of West Asia’s hot–dry research areas were chosen for the analytical study. Furthermore, inductive analysis was carried out to determine the most critical sustainability parameters in the particular urban fabric. The climate response parameters of the study cities were evaluated using Ecotect simulation tools, and the determinants of sustainability indicators were quantitatively evaluated to assess each indicator’s impact on the sustainability of the urban fabric. Our findings have implications for assessing the relevance of climate adaptation in the sustainability of cities and their effectiveness in combating the impacts of climate change.
Highlights
Several researchers have opined that cities must rise to face climate change [1,2,3,4,5,6].Climate change is a major concern for cities, due to its severe effects and inherent complexity [7], and has been associated with increased emissions, one of the causes of which is excessive consumption in cities and an increased demand for energy from the building sector [8]
In order to be ready for these changes and the effects that they will have on natural systems and human societies, there is an urgent need for climate adaptation [13], and it has become necessary to take immediate action to avoid intergenerational effects
In terms of the urban form and urban fabric, we observed that the strength of relations between activity areas and the required gradation from the private to public areas allowed for the achievement of privacy and safety through small residential neighborhoods with adjacent houses—an organic fabric that serves the climatic requirements in reducing solar radiation gain
Summary
Several researchers have opined that cities must rise to face climate change [1,2,3,4,5,6].Climate change is a major concern for cities, due to its severe effects and inherent complexity [7], and has been associated with increased emissions, one of the causes of which is excessive consumption in cities and an increased demand for energy from the building sector [8]. Due to the escalating population and high economic growth level, West Asian countries are experiencing rapid urban and infrastructure expansion, especially concerning residential districts. This has caused increasingly complex environmental problems and severe risks from climate change impacts, threatening ecosystems, economics [14], and infrastructure that depends on natural resources [4]. The region has a rich historical culture and heritage, an abundance of natural energy, and rich oil and gas fields (representing approximately half of the world’s reserves), many countries in the region suffer from developmental problems, such as a significant deficit in the production of electricity [15,16,17]
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