Samy Afifi

• Doctor of Engineering
• Ain Shams University

This study addresses the challenge of creating agile, adaptable urban environments in the Global South, utilizing technology, innovation, and sustainability to respond to evolving challenges. Through a systematic review and content analysis of materials sourced from multiple databases, the research develops a replicable framework for cities to achi...

Purpose Neuro-urbanism is an emerging field focused on addressing global urban challenges by examining the impact of urban living on stress levels and mental well-being. The restorative environment approach has been widely applied to measure stress and mental health outcomes. Although there is a recognised relationship between neuro-urbanism and re...

The rapid advancement of wireless networking technology has fundamentally altered how people interact in public spaces, leading to concerns about its impact on social interactions. This research identifies factors that influence social interaction in public spaces due to the wireless networking technology by analysing responses from 333 participant...

Real estate projects are capital-intensive and deeply intertwined with economic factors, making them subject to various influences besides local housing needs. This paper aims to comprehensively understand the dynamics of the Egyptian real estate market, examining real estate cycles, driving factors and their correlation and scale of impact. The s...

Place branding studies and practices have gained much attention in the last decades. Specifically in the globalized world, we are witnessing where both economic and marketing strategies transcend geographical boundaries. Nations, countries, and regions usually compete to attract more people to boost their economy. Similarly, districts within a city...

Purpose-Residing in a densely populated urban area possesses its allure; nonetheless, it can significantly impact physical and mental well-being owing to the persistent stress and information overload inherent in Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research The authors extend their gratitude to the editor and anonymous reviewers fo...

Urbanisation in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region has led to environmental challenges, particularly in urban form and its relationship with city structure. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) 11 and 13 have actions at the city level to address this issue. They highlight the significance of assessing neighbourhood...

The “x-minute city” concept gained attention within the global urban discourse on post-pandemic cities. Recently, numerous cities have shifted their attention from considering the x-minute city merely as a theoretical concept to one with practical applicability, rediscovering the proximity dimension to be integrated into urban policies and plans. C...

Purpose The purpose of this article is to examine Cairo's master plans during the past 70 years, including the establishment of the New Administrative Capital City—which is based on two fundamental courses on the phenomenon of urbanisation—and other initiatives to address Cairo's Plans based on the thoughts of three planning schools—Chicago, Los An...

Social interaction is a crucial aspect of social sustainability, aiming to improve quality of life. However, the emergence of gated communities in Egypt has shifted priorities, prioritizing isolation over social interaction. This paper examines the impact of social interaction in gated communities in the West of the Greater Cairo Region from a soci...

Purpose Research on green certificate rankings in the MENA region primarily focuses on building scale, relying on the certified project count. This assessment approach overlooks the spatial factor, failing to capture their influence on the urban built environment, thus potentially undermining other efforts not reflected by the project count. This r...

Purpose Crowded urban regions pose a complex urban challenge that can adversely affect urban residents, encompassing aspects like mental and physical well-being, overall livability and quality of life. The complexity in determining the factors influencing the crowding perception, which encompass subjective and situational psychological factors alon...

After the COVID-19 pandemic, human thoughts have changed in all fields worldwide. People started discovering different activities and realizing the essential role of urban spaces. Human needs and behavior changed through interaction with urban spaces. This article examines the importance of urban spaces in pandemics and how minor interventions can...

Preface: We are pleased to present this atlas, "Heliopolis & El-Nozha Atlas: Practices on Green Neighborhood Rating systems" which represents the culmination of the diligent work undertaken by students during the course "Planning & Urban Upgrading" where we embraced a vision of delivering sustainability on the planning scale through a methodologica...

Coastal vulnerability is a multidimensional and vital issue in many parts of the world, as well as in Egypt. Accelerated human activities such as industry growth, tourism, and urbanization in coastal regions, together with climatic stresses-particularly Sea Level Rise (SLR)-have increased the intensity of potential risk. This review article aims to...

Schools of upper secondary education play an essential role in the development of society. However, the city's architects focus on school buildings with less attention to the surrounding places. The public spaces attached to schools were not initially designed for pupils and resulted from their needs and activities. This paper focuses on the relati...

Abstract— Technology is constantly evolving and has radically changed the way societies behave and operate. These advancements have brought enormous benefits – dramatically highlighted in 2020 by the emerging use of remote learning worldwide. The COVID-19 outbreak has served as a tipping point for the technological advances in architecture educatio...

Several initiatives have taken part in the sustainability assessment tools, especially on the neighbourhood scale. These tools have been developed as neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools (NSATs) in global and local settings. Despite the widespread use of NSATs over the last two decades, research on NSATs in Global South cities is currently...

This study develops a replicable urban toolkit for decision-makers to improve the quality of life in Cairo for residents and visitors affected by traffic noise. Our case study in Cairo was selected using the Aviation Design Environmental Tool (AEDT) used worldwide for airports. To simulate the COVID-19 era and days after, the noise contour mapping...

To limit the spread of Coronavirus, educational institutions had to suddenly shift to remote learning during the Spring of 2020. This study aims to evaluate the adopted remote-learning practices among architectural students and their instructors. To this end, the authors implemented a descriptive cross-sectional approach to highlight the aligned an...

This study tackles the design challenge of urban in fill development which arises from changes in the urban form and daily living experiences. Using the Web of Science to review relevant literature published over the last decade, we found a signi ficant gap in the study of in fill development: it overlooks liveability and conviviality. To fill this...

In the field of urban studies, artificial intelligence technology offers potential applications. There are, however, limited sources on how technology can contribute to the study of user experiences in city contexts. This study examined the factors affecting user experiences around three exits of one of the Cairo Metro stops in Ramses Square in Cai...

Global research extensively discusses artificial intelligence (AI) and thermal comfort in urban studies. The current research design uses Goodvision Video Insights as an application of AI to analyse users' preferences for movement within three exits/entrances of the metro stations in Ramses Square, Cairo, Egypt. This study uses AI technology to tra...

Schools of upper secondary education play an essential role in the development of society. However, the city architects focus on school buildings with less attention to the surrounding places. Public space was not initially designed for pupils and resulted from their needs and activities. This paper focuses on the relationship between the role of v...

Globally, there is a rapid development of urban heat island (UHI) detection tools, and their results can be accepted regardless of their accuracy in measuring the real impact of the phenomenon. In this study, we investigated various UHI measuring tools and analysed their findings to better interpret their reliability. The tools in the current resea...

Planning is a time-sensitive process with spatial characteristics as its core. It is effective to formulate spatially-related decisions on an informative background to maximize benefits and minimize risks. Not only decision makers who affect the space, but also users and owners interact with it, affect the related decisions. Thus, it is healthful t...

Urbanisation is a process associated with the global industrial and technological development. Globally, this process causes a continuous change of the land cover and increases the urban areas. Scholars from various disciplines address these changes that affect the global climatic system, microclimate and the environment. Urban heat island (UHI) is...

Purpose This paper focuses on the competencies and skills needed in preparing graduates of urban planning schools to meet the real-world challenges of professional practices. The present work explores the gap between skills and knowledge required to excel in the urban planning discipline and professional practices. Design/methodology/approach This...

Urban streets in some countries of global south have been struggling for decades and have several problems. Much money is spent on roads construction and maintenance yearly with no significant interest to create places for public life that is different from a city/place to another. This paper addresses the pressing need to review the principles rai...

Urbanisation is a process associated with the global industrial and technological development. Globally, this process causes a continuous change of the land cover and increases the urban areas. Scholars from various disciplines address these changes that affect the global climatic system, micro-climate and the environment. Urban Heat Island (UHI) i...

This paper revisits the concept of singularity, focusing on the kinetic perception of visual aspects. Following a review of the relevant literature that explores the elements that can create unique forms based on Western paradigms, we analyse empirically the conceptual framework of singularity through a comparison between two Egyptian cases. The co...

Obviously, urban streets in some countries of the global south have been struggling for decades and have several problems. Much money is spent on roads construction and maintenance yearly with no significant interest to create places for public life that is different from a city/place to another. This paper addresses the pressing need to review the...