https://www.ijumes.com/ International Journal of Urban Management and Energy Sustainability en daily 1 Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0330 Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0330 https://www.ijumes.com/article_737639.html As one of the dimensions of environmental perception, the soundscape of metropolises plays an important role in shaping the mental well-being of citizens. Accordingly, the present research was conducted with the aim of synthesizing and integrating the existing body of knowledge on the relationship between the architectural components of soundscape and citizens' mental well-being in the areas adjacent to the take-off and landing runways of Mehrabad Airport in the metropolis of Tehran city. The research was carried out with a qualitative approach, using the meta-synthesis method based on the seven-step model of Sandelowski and Barroso; reputable domestic and international sources were searched systematically, the quality of the studies was appraised with the CASP checklist and the reporting followed the ENTREQ principles, and after systematic screening forty selected studies were analyzed through open, axial and selective coding and organized into conceptual categories. The findings showed that the architectural components of soundscape can be classified into four main groups and sixteen indicators, which affect the various dimensions of mental well-being among these, while architectural design strategies and soundscape management play a key role in improving the quality of sound perception and the psychological and functional outcomes. Finally, a multilayered conceptual model was presented that explains the interaction between the architectural components, the quality of sound perception and the dimensions of mental well-being and the results of this research can provide a basis for urban design and architectural decision-making aimed at enhancing citizens' mental well-being. https://www.ijumes.com/article_727077.html This study investigates the optimization of energy consumption and thermal comfort in classrooms at the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) in Tehran by integrating daylighting strategies. A multi-objective optimization approach balanced the selection of glazing materials and the design of shading devices to effectively harness natural daylight. Using Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper with plugins Ladybug, Honeybee, and Wallacei X, simulations incorporated Tehran's climate data to model the impact of daylight on energy use and thermal comfort. The research focused on two classrooms, with models representing south-facing (Model A) and north-facing (Model B) orientations. Results highlighted that optimizing window characteristics and shading devices significantly reduced energy consumption and improved thermal comfort, as measured by Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) metrics. For Model A, PMV and PPD improved by 40% and 19%, respectively, while energy consumption decreased from 220 kWh to 190.54 kWh. For Model B, PMV and PPD improved by 17% and 15%, respectively, with energy consumption reduced from 228.78 kWh to 209.03 kWh. The findings demonstrate that integrating daylighting strategies, optimized window characteristics, and shading devices can significantly enhance both energy efficiency and thermal comfort in educational spaces. This approach provides a sustainable and efficient design solution, with potential applicability to various building types and climates. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737799.html The expansion of virtual platforms and the pervasive penetration of internet infrastructures into everyday life have brought the physical boundaries of the home into a new phase of transformation, so that the territory of dwelling is no longer defined merely within the limits of walls and material demarcations, but is formed and extended in a continuous connection with cyberspace. The present research therefore aims to rethink the concept of the home’s territory in the internet age and to explain the manner of interaction between the physical body and cyberspace. Methodologically, the study is designed as a qualitative conceptual investigation that combines an integrative literature review with a theory-synthesis approach to conceptual model building. Sources published between 1966 and 2024 were retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The findings show that the boundaries of the home in the internet age have shifted from a rigid, linear state to a permeable, multilayered, and networked structure, and that the territory of dwelling takes shape as a hybrid condition between physical and cyber space. On this basis, the article presents a conceptual model of the hybrid home territory comprising three levels: physical, digital, and interactive. The model is articulated through four theoretical propositions and introduces the notion of the digital threshold as the mediating mechanism that couples the physical and digital territorial layers. This model can provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the contemporary transformations of the home and for rethinking the spatial organization of the home in the internet age. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737719.html Historical bathhouses (hammams) in Islamic lands, beyond their hygienic and ritual functions, carry dense social and cultural layers, yet the decline of their original function has turned their revitalization into a management problem rather than a purely technical one. This study compares how that problem is managed in two contrasting institutional settings and asks what each can learn from the other. The study adopts a qualitative comparative multiple-case design (Yin, 2018) following a most-different-systems logic. Ten purposively selected bathhouses five in Istanbul, Türkiye, and five in Khorasan Razavi, Iran are analyzed against six management indicators derived from conservation doctrine and the adaptive-reuse literature: institutional–social participation, functional revitalization, physical authenticity and spatial integrity, compliance with conservation standards, monitoring and control, and managerial–economic sustainability. Each case is rated on an explicit four-level rubric using triangulated documentary, technical and field evidence. Findings show, the two settings diverge systematically. The Istanbul cases score higher on functional revitalization, compliance and economic sustainability, sustained by public–private partnership finance, digital survey and modelling technologies, and integration with the tourism economy, but they carry the risk of over-commercialization. The Khorasan Razavi cases retain material authenticity through minimal intervention, vernacular materials and public stewardship, and sustain a strong cultural and ritual bond, but are constrained by financial fragility, weak monitoring and the absence of comprehensive adaptive-reuse planning. The results show transferable scoring rubric for bathhouse revitalization management and an integrated model that treats historical authenticity and economic viability as jointly binding constraints mediated by a values-based judgement, rather than as a trade-off along a single axis. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737863.html The sense of presence a user’s felt experience of “being here” rather than merely passing through is a decisive yet under operationalized quality of successful urban squares, and it is shaped substantially by the environmental features of the space. Although the literature on sense of place, environmental quality and urban vitality is rich, it offers few compact, replicable instruments that translate these ideas into an environment focused measure of presence suited to the historic square. This study addresses that gap by developing and adapting a model of sense of presence indicators for urban squares, foregrounding environmental features, and operationalizing it through a Human Subjective Evaluation (HSE) questionnaire. The research follows a four phase design: a systematic review derives a pool of candidate indicators from the presence, sense of place and environmental quality literatures; a two round fuzzy Delphi procedure with an expert panel screens and refines the pool through triangular fuzzy numbers and threshold de fuzzification; the retained indicators are translated into a five point HSE instrument; and the instrument is structured for onsite perceptual application, with Naghsh-e-Jahan Square in Isfahan proposed as the demonstration case. The model organizes presence around four environment centered criteria physical–spatial, sensory–environmental, social–functional and semantic–perceptual each resolved into measurable sub indicators and each weighted by the fuzzy Delphi consensus. Findings show that the four criteria form a coherent, hierarchically weighted structure in which physical–spatial and sensory–environmental features carry the largest illustrative weights, and that the HSE instrument renders the otherwise elusive notion of presence into a transferable, auditable measure. The study concludes that presence in urban squares is best modelled not as a single perception but as a weighted composite of environmental determinants mediated by subjective evaluation, offering urban designers a diagnostic tool and a research ready template for field validation. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737855.html The optimal location of neighbourhood-scale urban facilities is a foundational determinant of spatial justice, service accessibility, and the long-term liveability of cities, and in large, morphologically heterogeneous metropolises such as Tabriz it becomes a problem of considerable analytical complexity. The central problem addressed in this study is that prevailing location-allocation practice in Iranian metropolitan areas relies on linear, weight-based multi-criteria techniques that cannot represent the non-linear, high-dimensional interactions among the spatial, physical, and socio-economic determinants that actually govern urban suitability, producing inequitable and operationally fragile facility distributions. The objective of this research is therefore to develop, train, and validate an operational framework for the optimal location of neighbourhood facilities by integrating a multilayer-perceptron Artificial Neural Network with a Geographic Information System spatial database, using the eastern zone of Tabriz as a case study. Findings indicate that the trained network achieved a coefficient of determination of 0.974 and a root-mean-square error of 0.040 on the validation set, that residential fabric density, land-use compatibility, and distance to existing services were the most influential criteria, and that approximately 38.7 per cent of the study area was classified as suitable or highly suitable for new facility development, with recommended sites concentrated in identifiable high-suitability corridors. The study concludes that ANN–GIS integration constitutes a methodologically robust, interpretable, and operationally transferable instrument for evidence-based facility location in Iranian metropolitan contexts, materially outperforming conventional linear weighting. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737877.html Diplomatic buildings are among the most important architectural typologies through which governments and nations represent their identity: through their physical body, form, materials and ornamentation, they project an image of the sending country’s culture, history and architectural patterns within the host country. The aim of this study is to extract the physical components of tradition and modernism and to examine the contribution of each component to the formation of identity in diplomatic buildings, together with its implications for the sustainability of urban identity. The research adopts a mixed-methods, qualitative-nested-in-quantitative design: the components were first extracted in the qualitative phase and then analyzed numerically in the quantitative phase. The statistical population comprised 384 academic specialists selected on the basis of the Krejcie–Morgan table, while the case-study buildings were chosen through a Delphi expert panel using Kendall’s W as the criterion of concordance. The results show that, within the tradition dimension, the application of proportions carries the largest factor share (1.000) and physical adaptation the smallest (0.246); within the modernism dimension, solid-and-void volumetric composition carries the largest share (1.000) and freedom from classical geometry the smallest (0.217). These findings indicate that the purposeful integration of the components of tradition and modernism in diplomatic buildings not only strengthens architectural identity but can also contribute to the continuity and sustainability of urban identity and to the symbolic quality of the urban landscape. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737943.html The building sector is a major consumer of energy, particularly in hot-arid regions where intense summer heat, large diurnal temperature variations, and limited naturally comfortable periods increase dependence on mechanical heating and cooling. The aim of this research was to develop an integrated framework for improving thermal comfort in residential buildings in Qom city by combining the principles of Iranian vernacular architecture with contemporary climatic analysis. The research methodology employed a mixed qualitative–quantitative approach. In the qualitative phase, 34 candidate strategies were identified through a review of peer-reviewed studies, books, specialized reports, and documented examples of vernacular residential architecture in Iran’s hot-arid regions. After applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 passive and low-energy design strategies were retained. In the quantitative phase, Qom’s climatic conditions were evaluated using Climate Consultant and the ASHRAE Standard 55 thermal comfort model based on a standardized EPW typical meteorological year dataset (1991–2020), with separate analyses for the cold and hot seasons. The results and discussion showed that naturally comfortable conditions occur during only a limited portion of the year. During the hot season, two-stage evaporative cooling achieved the highest applicability, addressing 80.2% of selected hourly conditions. Solar shading, natural ventilation, building and courtyard orientation, vegetation, and high-thermal-mass materials were identified as the most influential passive design strategies. The conclusion indicates that the integrated screening and climatic validation process produced 20 operational strategies, providing an evidence-based framework for reducing mechanical energy demand, improving thermal comfort, and adapting traditional Iranian architectural principles in hot-arid regions. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738212.html Despite the richness of historical and technical studies in Iranian architecture, the gap in analyzing the psychological dimensions and the role of the unconscious realm in the formation of sacred spaces is one of the research challenges of this field. By moving beyond the traditional stylistic approach, the present study seeks a semantic re-reading of sacred buildings from the perspective of analytical psychology and the structural principles of architecture. Its main aim is to decode Jung’s archetypes and Alexander’s structural principles in the process of creating space, in such a way that they represent the course of human development and the human life-cycle within the architectural body. Adopting a qualitative method and drawing on comparative–interpretive content analysis, this research examines two prominent buildings in Tehran as case studies. The findings show that the fundamental archetypes introduced by Carl Gustav Jung including the self, the persona, the shadow, the anima and animus, the ruler, the creator, the sage, the innocent, the seeker, the destroyer, the warrior, the magician, the jester, the orphan, the lover and the caregiver and the living structures introduced by Alexander including levels of scale, strong centers, boundaries, alternating repetition, positive space, good shape, local symmetries, deep interlock and ambiguity, contrast, gradients, roughness, echoes, the void, simplicity and inner calm, and not-separateness as primordial and universal structures of the human psyche, have played a decisive role in the process of the formation and spatial organization of the sacred places of the mosque and the synagogue. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738214.html Biophilic architecture, as an emerging approach in the design of the built environment, plays an important role in enhancing quality of life and citizens’ mental health by emphasizing the reconnection of human beings with nature. Given rising urban density, the reduced connection with nature and the psychological consequences of living in artificial environments, the present study set out to investigate the impact of the criteria of biophilic architecture on citizens’ mental health. Adopting a qualitative meta-synthesis approach based on the seven-step framework of Margarete Sandelowski and Julie Barroso, the research corpus comprised scholarly articles, doctoral dissertations and credible national and international sources published between 2010 and 2025. After a systematic search and the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 36 studies were selected for the final analysis. The data were analyzed through open, axial and selective coding. The findings revealed that the biophilic architectural criteria affecting citizens’ mental health can be classified into three main components: nature-oriented spatial and place experience, connection with nature, and mental health and environmental perception. The results indicate that criteria such as natural daylight, green elements, environmental quality and visual connection with nature play the greatest role in reducing stress, increasing psychological calmness, strengthening concentration, enhancing cognitive performance and increasing satisfaction with the environment. Finally, the conceptual model of the study explains the causal chain of the impact of biophilic architectural criteria as connection with nature, nature-oriented spatial experience, environmental perception to mental health. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738225.html Global energy demand and climate concerns have accelerated photovoltaic (PV) deployment, yet excessive heat accumulation under high solar irradiance remains a critical barrier to efficiency. Elevated operating temperatures reduce electrical output by approximately 0.5% per °C and accelerate long-term degradation. This study experimentally investigates the integration of Polyethylene Glycol 600 (PEG-600) as a phase change material (PCM) for passive thermal management of PV modules under dynamic electrical loading conditions. Two identical polycrystalline PV modules were tested side-by-side on a rooftop in Tehran, Iran, during peak summer irradiance (June 2024). One module (PV-Ref) operated without modification, while the other (PV-PCM) was thermally coupled to a rear-mounted aluminum container filled with PEG-600 (melting point: 17–22 °C). Both systems were subjected to variable resistive loads (1.5–150 Ω) to simulate real-world electrical demand fluctuations. Temperature, voltage, current, and irradiance were recorded at 10-minute intervals using calibrated sensors. The PV-PCM system maintained significantly lower operating temperatures, with a maximum temperature differential of 37.3 °C observed at 1200 W/m² irradiance under 1.5 Ω load. This thermal regulation translated to an average electrical power improvement of 10.8% compared to the reference module, with peak gains reaching 15.2% during high-load conditions. The PCM effectively buffered temperature spikes during transient irradiance fluctuations. PEG-600-based passive cooling offers a practical, maintenance-free approach to enhance PV performance in high-radiation climates. However, validation through long-term field deployment and techno-economic analysis is required before large-scale adoption. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738411.html Thermal walking has gained prominence in urban design as cities face rising temperatures and expanding urban heat islands. Understanding how pedestrians experience rapidly changing thermal conditions is essential for improving walkability, health, and urban livability. This review aims to: (1) synthesize recent research on outdoor thermal comfort indicators; (2) identify microclimatic and design factors affecting thermal walking; (3) summarize climate-responsive design strategies; and (4) outline key challenges and future directions. A systematic literature review was conducted using Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, covering studies from 2010 to 2023. Peer-reviewed research on outdoor thermal comfort, pedestrian movement, and urban design was thematically coded and compared across climatic contexts, focusing on microclimatic variables, biometeorological indices (PET, UTCI, SET), subjective measures (TSV, TCV), and design interventions. Mean Radiant Temperature consistently emerges as a major determinant of pedestrian thermal sensation. Urban geometry, materials, vegetation, and water features substantially influence radiant flux, shading, and ventilation. No single index fully captures thermal walking; integrating objective and subjective indicators provides the most robust assessment. Advances in thermal imaging, mobile sensing, and CFD modeling enhance evaluation accuracy, though climatic variability, financial constraints, and retrofitting challenges persist. Improving thermal walking requires adaptive, context-specific strategies that combine climate-responsive design, real-time environmental data, and human-centric insights. As climate change accelerates, thermally responsive pedestrian environments will be critical for supporting active mobility, public health, and sustainable urban development. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738407.html Air quality in urban open spaces is significantly shaped by urban morphology, airflow behavior, and pollutant emission sources, and it plays a critical role in protecting public health and improving the thermal comfort of urban residents. Accordingly, this study addresses the problem of how building setback position and configuration influence airflow and traffic-related pollutant distribution in urban street canyons, with the aim of identifying the most effective geometric arrangements for improving outdoor air quality. Research methodology in this study is based on a computational fluid dynamic CFD-based numerical simulation to evaluate airflow behavior and pollutant dispersion under different street-canyon configurations. In this framework, building setback position and configuration were treated as the independent variables, while airflow velocity and pollutant concentration were considered the main indicators of air quality. The analysis included one reference canyon without setbacks and nine alternative cases with different setback arrangements on the opposing building facades. The findings show that the street-center region had the highest level of pollutant accumulation because of weaker ventilation conditions, whereas the windward-sidewalk region generally benefited from more favorable airflow patterns. The results also demonstrate that setback configuration plays a decisive role in air-quality performance. Among all examined cases, the best-performing configuration increased the overall mean airflow velocity by 52.4% and reduced the overall mean pollutant concentration by 25.8% compared with the reference case. In addition, this configuration achieved local pollutant reductions of 46.9% at the windward sidewalk and 36.8% at the street center. https://www.ijumes.com/article_735352.html Historicism is one of the complex and ambiguous concepts in architectural theory, with multiple interpretations ranging from approval to criticism. Rooted in Hegel’s philosophy of history, the concept has been subject to diverse and often value-laden readings after Hegel, some of which led to revolutionary attitudes with historically disastrous outcomes, drawing severe critique from anti-historicist thinkers. On the other hand, historicism can be regarded as a paradigm that emerged in parallel with modernity, opposing the absolutization of natural-science methodology and the causal-descriptive approach of conventional historiography. In this tradition, historical developments including those in architecture are examined through dialectical logic and the spirit of the age. Any thought detached from its historical context is considered erroneous and lacking independent identity and truth. This study seeks to answer two main questions: What does historicism mean in the field of architecture? Is it possible to identify an epistemological interaction between the main perspectives of historicism in architecture? The research employs a qualitative, documentary-based, analytical–interpretive method. The findings demonstrate that historicism, at its core, is a robust methodology for the logical explanation and analysis of historical events and transformations. Although some scholars distinguish two distinct domains explanatory/analytical and ideological/value-oriented the study argues that an epistemological interaction exists between them. From a meta-theoretical perspective, architectural works arising from ideological aspirations and value orientations can be examined under the explanatory–analytical lens, leading to valuable insights. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738695.html Nowadays, many educational environments designed with a child-centered approach especially in girls' elementary schools face significant functional challenges. Inefficient educational spaces that lack flexibility, spatial diversity, and compatibility with children's scale and psychological characteristics cannot provide an appropriate context for improving the quality of education. The aim of this study is to explain the role of design components of child-centered educational spaces based on enhancing mobility and nature-orientation in girls' elementary schools (first cycle) in Tehran city. The methodological approach of the study is survey-based, and data collection was conducted in two stages: first, through library research and a review of literature related to mobility, nature-orientation, and child-centered educational design; and second, through a field study using a closed-ended questionnaire. The statistical population consisted of 290 principals, teachers, and staff members of selected schools with more than five years of work experience. Participants were selected through cluster random sampling. The sample size was determined based on Klein's formula (2 to 5 participants for each questionnaire item). Data analysis was performed using factor analysis in R, Pearson correlation test, and structural equation modeling in AMOS software. The findings indicate that in the cycle of designing child-centered educational spaces, "mobility" and "nature-orientation" play key and determining roles. Designing dynamic spaces enriched with natural elements can enhance spatial diversity, social interaction, and physical movement. Accordingly, focusing on the creation of multi-functional, flexible spaces inspired by nature can increase opportunities for movement, experience, active learning, and environmental exploration among children. https://www.ijumes.com/article_738241.html The location of new housing is among the most carbon-consequential decisions a city makes, because where people live largely determines how far and by what mode they must travel and how much energy their daily lives consume. The objective of this research is therefore to develop and validate an operational model for the optimal location of desirable housing in Tabriz under a zero-carbon approach, by integrating an Artificial Neural Network of the multilayer-perceptron type with a Geographic Information System spatial database. Adopting an analytical–applied design within a post-positivist paradigm, eight carbon-relevant location criteria capturing walkable service access, public-transport proximity, mixed-use intensity, green-space access, education proximity, residential infill, industrial-emission buffering, and river/flood buffering were derived directly from an official municipal land-use layer through GIS spatial operations and used to train a back-propagation network, with performance evaluated against held-out validation and test data and benchmarked against a conventional weighted-linear baseline. Findings indicate that the trained network achieved a coefficient of determination of 0.951 and a root-mean-square error of 0.040 on the validation set, that public-transport proximity, mixed-use intensity, and green-space access were the most influential criteria, and that the highest-suitability housing sites concentrated in the compact, transit- and service-rich central core of the city. The study concludes that ANN–GIS integration under a zero-carbon framing constitutes a robust, interpretable, and transferable instrument for steering housing development toward low-carbon urban form in Iranian metropolitan contexts.