An Approach to Improve Quality of Life and Sustainability in the Centers of Old Cities

The centers of old cities have a special design with a unique urban fabric to record cultural messages with their current citizens or their visitors from the different regions of the city or from outside. It creates spaces that strongly promote social and cultural behavior. Meanwhile, life developments and the stunning technological acceleration along with high population densities have led to many problems for the old cities and their centers, which were not prepared to address these problems. Most of these problems have caused much visual deterioration and economic recession for the centers of old cities, which raise the importance of finding alternative and flexible solutions to prevent damage in urban performance, environmental pollution and lack of requirements that affect the quality of life. The paper aims to present a vision that opens up prospects for subsequent research contributions that may contribute to improving the quality of life, inspired by sustainability and humanization features. The research relies on an inductive analysis method to develop a framework that contributes to the restoration of the old centers for their role, their aesthetic value and their functional importance, while facilitating movement and supporting their valuable architectural features.

Mapping the approaches for investigating Makkah’s architectural vocabularies and AI:A literature review

Makkah has developed unique architectural vocabularies for centuries.The Roushan,Qalalib,Kharja,and Shwabir responded to topography,climate conditions,and socio-cultural aspects.However,demolishing heritagebuildings to expand theHolyMosque has led to thedisappearance of many traditional architectural vocabularies.Then,the imposition ofmodern architectural elements bymodernity increased a feeling of discontinuitywith the past.In addition,globalization has branded Makkah as a city of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings.Megaprojects have emerged since Saudi Arabia announced its Vision 2030,necessitating creative architectural solutions.Although the literature on the architecture of Makkah introduced varied approaches to developing traditional architectural vocabularies,the results were far from anticipated.Most studies assumed that traditional elements should shape the future of architecture in Makkah.The field of architecture suggests analyzing physical forms in reality,while the philosophical attempt proposes exploring them in virtuality.Reality and virtuality must be dynamic in space as methods for innovation;this space should be detached from architecture to challenge physical norms and separated from philosophy to promote practicality.This paper maps the literature to evaluate the approaches that examine the architecture of Makkah.It suggests a third space,outside architecture,and philosophy,utilizing AI to generate Makkah’s architectural elements.The aim is to employ technology,i.e.,AI,not to document but to generate architectural vocabulary based on rising potentials and differentiations,which are the bases of innovation,hence establishing continuity with the past to shape the future.