The rapid sprawl in urban areas caused by excessive production and consumption of goods (as driven by local poor social choices) has inevitably resulted in a major burden due to environmental degradation worldwide. Unfortunately, these traditional models of urban planning fail to properly account for the intricacies that permeate a modern city and are deficient in terms of their approach as they shape themselves within an environment largely divorced from natural systems, resulting in vast mismanagement of resources, guiding cities down trajectories where growth destroys both physical and cultural landscapes. As cities suffer from increasing scarcity, we advocate for regeneration and resilience to be embedded in advanced urban design approaches based on natural systems principles. This study explores how engineering synthetic natural systems can be employed to influence the development of urban intelligent frameworks expressed in terms of adaptive solutions that support environmental and social needs for cities. The main objective of this research is to test, explore, and validate the way natural systems (like ecosystems) can be simulated in order to support an improvement in urban intelligence and a qualitatively better quality of life. Through a computational study, the objective of developing models is to mimic important aspects found in natural systems, such as resource use efficiency and resilience, including the separation of adjoining land areas within the urban planning domain. To bridge this gap, we propose an integrated natural system design in urban intelligence to develop a comprehensive platform that deals with multi-faceted urban challenges, including but not limited to air and water quality, and green space accessibility. The research confirms that when natural systems are incorporated into urban landscapes, the outcomes have considerable benefits in terms of resources, environment, and quality of life. This results in better air quality, reduced urban heat islands, and an improved use of resources for cities as they develop green infrastructure or adaptive water management systems, which directly impact temperatures. They also enhance social fairness, as the stimulation of natural systems results in an increase in availability and proximity to green places, which altogether boosts public health. The study also underscores the need for urban intelligence systems that leverage real-time data to dynamically adjust infrastructure planning and operation in response to their environment as well as population changes, ultimately aiming towards long-term resilience for cities. These are the types of insights that can deliver a model for sustainable urban development strategies at scale to policymakers and city planners. ©2025 The authors.
The approach of greening existing buildings, is an urgent necessity, because the greening operation provides the speed and optimal efficiency in the environmental performance, as well as keeping up with the global green architecture revolution. Therefore, greening existing buildings in Iraq is important for trends towards renewable energies, because of what the country went through economic conditions and crises and wars which kept the country away from what took place globally in this issue. The research problem is: insufficient knowledge about the importance and the mechanism of the greening of existing buildings, including its environmental and economic dimensions, by rationalization of energy consumption and preservi
... Show MoreThis work focused on anthropogenic influences of the trace metals distribution in the soils of Kirkuk city. Sequential extraction technique was used to determine the distribution of the chemical fractions of Ag, Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, As, Cr and V in soil of Kirkuk city. This area is affected mainly by burning oil trash. Results show that these heavy metals were primarily restricted to surface horizons and mostly associated with the residual fraction (28.8 – 50%). The remnant fractions (13.8 – 33.1%) linked to the organic matter, 7.9 – 27.2% was bound to Fe-Mn oxide, 0.7 – 27.9 was bound to carbonate. Only a small amount of the total metals in the soil is exchangeable (0.5 – 4.2%) and water soluble (0 – 4.1%) fractions.
... Show MoreUrban land uses are in a dynamic state that varies over time, the city of Karbala in Iraq has experienced functional changes over the past 100 years, as the city is characterized by the presence of significant tourist and socio-economic activity represented by religious tourism, and it occur due to various reasons such as urbanization. The purpose of this study is to apply a Markov model to analyze and predict the behavior of transforming the use of land in Karbala city over time. This can include the conversion of agricultural land, or other areas into residential, commercial, industrial land uses. The process of urbanization is typically driven by population growth, economic development, based on a set of probabilities and transitions bet
... Show MoreThe article includes the concept of aesthetics through what has been dealt with in the literature by philosophers and researchers who have addressed this concept in an attempt to derive indicators of aesthetics. The article adopted a descriptive and analytical methodology by reviewing recent literature on the concept of aesthetics and its relation to urban planning and design issues. Many subjective and objective aesthetics indicators have been identified, some of which are classified under real aesthetics, and some under fake aesthetics. The indicators were applied to the Kufa Mosque complex and Sahla Mosque complex as a comparative case study. It was found that the indicators of real aesthetics have a higher weight in determining
... Show MoreThe traditional city suffers from the decline of the urban image due to urban development and homogeneity with the urban context of the city, and because of the lack of determinants governing the urban image, it is that the center of the city of traditional Kadhimiya suffers from a break in the urban image, Therefore, the research included how to build a distinctive urban image of the center of the traditional city of Kadhimiya and achieve the visual pleasure and comfort of the recipient and the urban image here means is an image not picture which are related to several aspects, including physical, social and psychological as well as the collective memory of individuals and their rela
Despite the importance of sustainable development and its dimensions in developing performance and supporting competitive advantage in economic units, there is a gap and lack of coordination between Combined Assurance providers (management, internal audit, external audit) to report on sustainable development, and the research aims to propose a model for the Combined Assurance report to achieve development sustainable development in the Iraqi economic units, especially the Baghdad Municipality, enables assurance providers to coordinate efforts that lead to the achievement of Combined Assurance, The research found the proposed model for the Combined Assurance report in achieving sustainable development in the Iraqi economic units, es
... Show MoreThe goal of the study is to identify the components of sustainable development—economic, social, and cultural—as recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and how they apply to the foreign language instruction process at Iraqi universities. The development of sustainable development principles is considered while evaluating the importance of two fundamental components of high-quality education: the learning environment and the curriculum. The research employs a qualitative design and uses an observational instrument with a sample of fifty students at second-year English department/college of education (Ibn-Rushd) at Baghdad University. The survey's findings, which sought to learn how st
... Show MoreTo move forward on the path of goodness and peace, we must realize that, in the midst of the great diversity of cultures and forms of human life in the world, that we form one human nation, which God Almighty created to worship Him on His earth and under His heavens and to enjoy His bounties and natural resources that God Almighty has bestowed upon that nation. On one land, and it is governed by one common destiny. Every country has been endowed with a natural resource by God Almighty that distinguishes it from the other country to live in prosperity if these wealth are distributed equally among the members of the same society and societal justice is achieved. We must join together to work for the establishment of a sustainable global commu
... Show MoreLocal communities are in need of self-resources so that they can perform their multiple functions which serve the objectives of the local development, and tax revenues are considered as important sources of their funding. However, despite the efforts of the state to reform the fiscal system and to improve the management in the local administration, tax collection can increase when the state adopts a more effective policy to combat tax evasion and tax fraud. Accordingly, this research aims to shed light on the role of local tax revenues in the local development. A set of conclusions are drawn; the most important one is that Algeria, in order to achieve local development, has taken a set of reforms, which are still valid until now. The mos
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