Mohsen Aboulnaga

Urban areas in hot-arid climatic zones, especially in Egypt, are facing real challenges in responding to heat island effect, providing thermal comfort and adapt to climate change (CC) impacts. Such challenges are mounting due to CC risks that are manifested worldwide, e.g., severe storms that recently slashed the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and Florida, USA. Metrological data indicate that the increase in hot summer days would result in rapid multiplication in heat stress, death cases, and economic impacts. A severe event was observed in Cairo, Egypt, in August 2015, where air temperature was recorded high 49 °C above the normal temperature for 10 days, hence resulting in 200 cases that were hospitalized from heat stress and 98 deaths. The CC direct risks are not only limited to urban areas and public health. Due to the fact that Egypt is highly dependent on fossil fuels to produce electricity, GHG emissions, mainly CO2 will be significantly increasing. Therefore, sustainable and green measures and actions are vital to be considered and implemented in all sectors. Under such adverse CC impacts, it is necessary for all stakeholders to examine current urban projects in order to assess their ability to respond to CC adaptation measures. This paper presents the assessment of a low-income housing settlement that was recently built in Cairo. The Asmarat project is selected as the case study to simulate the long-term impact of CC scenarios by 2080 on one of the capital’s urban settlements and to test the role of passive cooling configurations in mitigating CC effect in cities to identify possible countermeasures. Simulation programs ENVI-met and DesignBuilder were used to assess and measure the resilience and sustainability of the selected urban project. The study simulates the urban microclimate in terms of the urban form by 2016 and 2080 to evaluate CC impact. Six measures were tested including passive cooling design configurations, building elevation, buildings’ envelops, vegetation, and water features, and orientation and high albedo were tested, and results were presented. These findings address adaptation policies, actions and measures, and simulations of the role of buildings’ retrofitting and cities’ upgrading in coping with CC mitigation/adaptation to narrow the information gap and yet understand the challenges facing the adaptation measures in hot-arid zones. The changes in climatic parameters resulted in an increased magnitude of thermal discomfort by 1 point on the PMV thermal sensation scale in the built environment within hot-arid climate zones. In addition, results indicate that adaptation measures through buildings’ retrofitting and upgrading cities’ strategies played a vital role in adapting with CC risks through the enhancement of outdoor and indoor thermal comfort and mitigating CO2 emissions.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has catastrophic impacts worldwide between 2020 and 2021. Such a pandemic highlighted the importance of healthy spaces in all types of buildings, particularly: public, commercial, educational, and residential buildings during the lockdown periods in 2020 and 2021. In light of the urgent need for healthy spaces amid COVID-19, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is significantly vital to provide healthy buildings and cities. Thus, it is imperative to ensure and guarantee thermal comfort, natural ventilation/cross ventilation, daylighting, and sunlight provision to ensure better IEQ and attain liveability. This book chapter presents a review on the impacts of COVID-19 on buildings in terms of IEQ and liveability in the age of COVID-19. It also highlights benefits of IEQ in providing healthy buildings including thermal comfort, natural ventilation, and daylighting and sunlight. This chapter addresses the benchmark for IEQ in the time of COVID-19. Additionally, global examples of best practices are highlighted to deduce the best lessons, standards, and practice models. This chapter also depicts selected contemporary buildings vs. traditional ones that include the main features to attain IEQ and draw the lessons learned from such traditional buildings. The chapter seeks to answer a main question – Can IEQ achieve liveability in the age of COVID-19? – and presents a comparative analysis of assessed buildings (case studies).

Climate change is currently affecting most of the cities across the globe in the past years with its climate severe events manifested in the year 2019. This objective of this paper is to focus on the strategic renewable energy and climate action plans of two seaside cities in Egypt to strengthen clean energy capacity and implementation based on each city’s strategy in 2030. Diagnostic studies were carried out to identify the gap in each city in terms of climate change and renewable energy. Prior to providing a detailed account of the concrete measures undertaken to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote the development of sustainable energy, the national and regional strategies on climate change adaptation and renewable energy capacity and future needs were assessed to draw the gap at the local government level. Climate change risks by sectors in terms of vulnerability have been assessed and presented. The adaptation scoreboard of the Adaptation Cycle-Specific Steps (ACSS) for each city, based on the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) guidelines, including six steps has also been utilised to assess the climate actions in the city. In addition, risk assessment and vulnerability analysis were conducted using a set of parameters and interviews with local government officials. In order to conduct the risk assessment and vulnerability analysis on the city, as a first step, the climate hazard types were identified. Both Hurghada and Luxor were selected to assess the impact of each climate hazard type, where a series of vulnerable and impacted sectors, such as population (public health), infrastructure (transport, energy, water, and social), and the built environment (building stock and materials), as well as economy (tourist and agriculture) and biodiversity (coastal zone ecosystems and green zones) were diagnosed and assessed. The vulnerability analysis, which is based on the Future Cities Adaptation Compass Tool, Governors’ (Mayors) Adapt, and the European Climate Adaptation Platform, is carried out and presented. The results of the adopted climate adaptation actions in the city of Hurghada and the city of Luxor, including impacted sectors, are presented and discussed. Finally, the renewable energy action of upgrading the solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in both the cities from 13 MW to 35 MW is also assessed and highlighted.

Local governments worldwide face challenges to meet the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 and its targets amid the high CO2 emissions. Municipalities should play a major role in addressing climate actions and transform cities to more sustainable energy resources to attain SDGs. The European Union initiated a major project ‘Cleaner Energy Saving Mediterranean Cities’ (CES-MED) from 2011 to 2018, which is under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) to support South Mediterranean countries in developing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans—SECAP. This chapter presents strategic action plans to support and strengthen the capacity of local authorities to embrace and implement sustainable development and clean energy policies in line with existing national regulatory and legislative frameworks yet to understand the energy consumption in all sectors that utilize energy in the city, map energy consumption and CO2 emissions over 1 year, develop priority planned actions and establish climate actions. This chapter also highlights the assessment that was conducted on eight sectors such as transport, residential, tertiary and government buildings, agriculture, industry, waste, wastewater and tourism in two cities (Hurghada and Luxor) in Egypt. The assessment is based on the calculation of energy use and GHG emission according to the methodology of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC). The planned action and climate actions comprise of seven priority actions for the city of Hurghada and five priority actions for the city of Luxor including as follows: (1) transport, urban sustainable mobility master plan; (2) tourism, sustainable green boats; (3) tourism, green and sustainable hotels and resorts; (4) sustainable approach for governorate buildings; (5) sustainable approach for residential building; (6) solar energy development; and (7) green city awareness unit. However, in this paper, the first three priority actions are presented. Results in the city of Luxor (2015) indicate that total energy consumption and the corresponding global GHG emissions are estimated to be 4937 GWh/year and 1797 ktCO2eq/year, whereas these are 3338 GWh/year and 1338 ktCO2eq/year in Hurghada.

The continuous rise in energy demands due to rapid urbanization and human activities puts immense pressure on local governments and cities globally, especially amidst the COVID-19 crisis and economic slowdown. Hence, developing cities and buildings towards net-zero goals is becoming urgent and significantly vital to adopt renewable scenarios in the building sector given the climate crisis. The outcome of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP26) agreed on and declared the Glasgow Climate Pact (GCP) which stated the serious concern of climate and weather extremes and their adverse impacts on people and nature that will continue to increase with an additional increment of rising temperature. The GCP reaffirmed the long-term global goal to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C below-industrial real levels in addition to recognizing that limiting global warming to 1.5 entails rapid, deep, and sustained reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45% by 2030 and to contribute towards climate-neutral cities and reasserted the goal of net-zero by 2050. Hence, city leaders should focus on reducing carbon emissions by 2050. Nevertheless, if global warming is to be limited to 1.5 °C, all cities need to be net-zero by 2050 at the very latest. Therefore, net-zero, low-carbon building and clean mobility can play a great role in achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This book chapter aims to address the urgent need to transform the building industry and cities to become low carbon. The chapter highlights the importance of net-zero low-carbon cities. It also presents global examples of net-zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) and how these models contribute to the net-zero target and climate neutrality. Additionally, current policies, actions, and initiatives worldwide and in Egypt towards NZEB to achieve green and sustainable cities have also been examined and discussed. Ultimately, net-zero carbon and managing “transition” remain a huge challenge for cities and regions, but coupling these goals with innovative thinking for the future is primarily essential if cities worldwide are to become resilient enough and meet COP26 outcomes and the GCP.

This article presents an assessment of sustainability conducted post the opening of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), which underwent vast development that had significant impacts, not only on the global level but also on the international attention towards Egypt’s great civilization. The study investigates the impact of the NMEC’s environmental, social, and economic sustainability and cultural value. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted. The qualitative includes a preliminary study followed by site visits for collecting data and mapping the four sustainability pillars: environmental, social, economic, and cultural. The quantitative approach has been conducted by exploiting 33 indicators to measure five sustainability dimensions in addition to the UNESCO 15 Thematic Indicators for Culture in the 2030 Agenda; the impact of NMEC on social media using the data scraping technique exploiting GitHub. Energy audit results illustrate that the total annual energy consumption is 491,376.00 kWh (79% in the ground fl. & 21% in the Mummies fl.), as well as 19.98 kWh/m2 (Gr. fl.) and 144 kWh/m2 (Mummies fl.); the first matches RIBA’s benchmark for museums, well below the ranking ‘Good’ (50 kWh/m2). Social sustainability impacts indicate that the word count’s effect on social media is 27%, 31%, and 42% on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, respectively, while the number of followers is 92%, 7%, and 1%. On Google, it is 1275 and ranks 4.7, whereas the number of posts is 231, 350, and 258. Economic sustainability assessment has been addressed by calculating the revenues throughout one year since the grand opening, and the total revenues amount to USD 2,794,047. The cultural sustainability assessment showed a positive response to the evaluation recorded for 9 out of 15 indicators. The sustainability assessment of the NMEC plays a key role in assuring livable and regenerative cities.

Throughout history, wood as a building material has been used extensively thousands years ago. It is considered the second known building material after stone; thus, it is recognized as an ancient building resource material. However, wood as a natural rigid material of plant origin has been substituted and associated with man-made common rigid materials in the building construction such as steel and concrete that are characterized with higher carbon emissions and lower sustainability. But with the rise of environmental stewardship in response to the high carbon emissions in cities, sustainable material usage in buildings has reached spotlights. Wood or timber is recently revitalized in contemporary construction as a sustainable built material for being highly renewable and nontoxic and having low embodied energy feature, even though it has been recently used in skyscrapers. In addition, stakeholders are encouraged to integrate timber in all various building types and to reinvest the sustainable material in construction for its recognized insulation, durability, flexibility, affordability, and aesthetic nature, not to ignore the benefits of wood to the building occupants in enhancing their emotional and physical connection with their occupied spaces. This work is intended to compose a significant achievement in educating architects to look at subjects normally ignored and to consider the use of organic material such as wood (timber) in meaningful ways. It focuses on enriching the knowledge base of sustainable wood and lumber in new and existing buildings by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of timber material usage; it also aims at encouraging the sustainable experience of timber and broadens its usability and functionality in the industry. In this book chapter, local and global existing building cases are reviewed and assessed for the integration of timber as a construction material in the structure, skeleton, interior, and façade of these buildings. The advances and drawbacks of timber usage in construction are highlighted through the assessment of cases. Finally, a comparative analysis that emphasizes the sustainability of timber as a building material in different case studies is provided. Further, life cycle analysis of timber usage in buildings is to be studied.

Abstract

Vernacular architecture is the traditional architecture built by indigenous (local) people in a country. It can be considered sustainable as it exhibits the consideration of environmental, social, cultural and economic factors. Vernacular architecture has been built in many countries around the world. It reflects the culture and tradition of indigenous people using simple forms and local materials supported by simple construction skills. Africa has many examples of vernacular architecture using natural resources within reach locally. Also, Latin America, Asia and Europe show various and similar examples. By-and-large, vernacular architecture illustrates many aspects of sustainability and addresses sustainable development requirements in terms of needs and limitations. Nonetheless, vernacular buildings demonstrate compliance with and adherence to basic green principles. This chapter focuses on vernacular architecture in general and presents leading global and regional traditional buildings, including examples in Africa (58 countries) and Middle East (13 countries) to learn about and detect synergies and to assist in better understanding of the vernacular architecture worldwide and the selected cases in Egypt. In this review, building types, materials, elements of structure and forms were illustrated and assessed. Factors influencing vernacular architecture in many countries are presented and discussed. Comparison between vernacular architecture examples in Africa was conducted in terms of building types and climatic region, specifically under parameters such as building shape (form), colour and materials as well as structural and sustainability features. In addition, examples of vernacular architecture in Egypt were reviewed and illustrated, mainly: Aswan, Luxor and Western Desert. A comparison between examples of vernacular architecture in Siwa Oasis in Egypt was conducted in terms of use, building materials, structure and project description as well as social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainability. Finally, lessons learned from global, regional and Egyptian vernacular architecture as well as sustainability guidelines for future development are outlined.

Keywords: Vernacular architecture Sustainability principles Sustainable materials Guidelines Africa Egypt

This book focuses on understanding biomimetic architecture and its role as a sustainable design tool. It presents the role of biomimicry in mitigation and adaptation to climate change and examines how biomimetic architecture can provide healthy solutions to limit the spread of COVID-19 in buildings and cities. Coverage includes global examples of biomimetic approaches and buildings, an evaluation of the performance of biomimicry applications in architecture to illustrate best practices, and an exploration of how nature can offer inspiration in building design to conserve resources and save energy use as well as curb carbon emissions – a reaffirmed goal of COP 26 and an outcome of Glasgow Climate Pact. Finally, the book presents guidelines to enhance urban areas and healthier spaces in buildings to meet COVID-19 social distance regulations and beyond.

Examines global applications of biomimicry in architecture;
Highlights the importance of biomimicry in driving livability in cities and buildings;
Explores the role of biomimetic architecture in mitigating climate change.
“The line of argument developed is highly relevant to the present, in addition to being original and pertinent to research on urban regeneration, especially in regard to the exploration of the use of biomimicry architecture in response to changing urban demands.”

—Alessandra Battisti, Ph.D., Professor of Architecture, University of Rome La Sapienza-

Green urban coverage (green roofs, green walls and urban farming) has been extensively used in many countries around the world to offset the heat-related problems in cities resulting from severe climate change events. Rapid urbanization and population increase contribute to increasing urban heat island effect (UHIE) and climate change in megacities. Hence, utilizing urban green coverage can assist in reducing CO2 emissions and enhance air pollution in megacities. This chapter presents a review study on the policies and laws regulating the design and implementation of green roofs internationally and regionally. The chapter also highlights and discusses policies’ types enacted for implementing green roofs in Europe, North America, South America and Asia as well as Australasia and MENA region. Examples of green roofs, green walls and urban farming are presented and discussed.