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There is a robust study on crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) in student housing nowadays, but has a limited utilization of weight-of-evidence (W-o-E) approach. This study aims to assess the extent of CPTED in student housing facilities of universities in Ghana.

Using the on-campus student housing facilities of both private and public universities, the study adopted W-o-E approach that integrates two postoccupancy evaluations from end-users and student housing managers. In addition, observation by professionals as the lines of evidence (LoE) was also adopted. Weighted median was used to normalise the LoE into a W-o-E as the CPTED value in the student housing facilities.

The study uncovered low CPTED in the student housing facilities. Maintenance was identified as the leading CPTED principle present in the student housing facilities.

The study has given the extent of CPTED in students’ housing, an important insight for university students’ housing management. This can serve as a policy alert for the university students’ housing management to adopt building designs that enhance CPTED and the safety of the youth.

This study is different from other CPTED and students’ housing studies commonly situated in the Euro-America context. The study exceptionally applied the use of W-o-E in students’ housing in assessing the extent of CPTED in student housing within the context of sub-Saharan African universities.

This paper seeks to evaluate the factors that contribute to congestion at port entrances, propose a comprehensive approach to managing port gates that addresses the factors causing traffic jams and assess the outcomes of resolving the issue through an optimal model for incoming container truck traffic.

The study employed a one-way ANOVA and a one-way MANOVA to examine the impact of congestion-causing factors on the waiting time of trucks in each lane at the entrance gate. The purpose of this was to comprehend the intricate issue and demonstrate the outcomes of the resolution. We used the identified factors that were causing congestion to develop a management strategy for the port gate. As part of this strategy, we implemented a policy where traffic flows in the opposite direction in certain lanes. The Simulation of Urban Mobility program introduced the microscopic traffic simulation model as a discrete event simulation.

The examination of variables influencing the congestion at the port entrance revealed that there were four factors contributing to the congestion: (1) the quantity of lanes; (2) the level of bookings; (3) the factors related to the traffic signal cycle and (4) the assignment of lane types. The one-way MANOVA analysis of the three factors yielded significant evidence for a single pair of interactions. (1) The factors to consider are the quantity of lanes, the level of booking and the assignment of lane types. If the entrance to the rear alley consists of two lanes with a width of 1.85 at the 50% capacity level, and if the critical value of the uneven queue coefficient is reached, it can result in a maximum reduction of the average waiting time by 15.02%.

This study is unique because it examines the surrounding environment and operational behavior of the port to identify how individual and group congestion factors interact. It uses various statistical tools to determine the allocation of the number of port entrances with a reversible lane policy and appointment level. Additionally, it analyzes the detailed results using microscopic traffic simulation modeling. The established foundational model can assist operators in simulating the queue length and mean waiting time of trucks for this specific waiting line in other ports with comparable entrance characteristics.

The purpose of this paper was to assess the economic impact of investment in different animal welfare–enhancing flooring solutions in Swedish dairy farming.

The authors developed a bio-economic model and used stochastic partial budgeting approach to simulate the economic consequences of enhancing solid and slatted concrete floors with soft rubber covering.

The findings highlight that keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floor surfaces with soft rubber coverings is a profitable solution, compared with keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floors without a soft covering. The profit per cow when kept on a solid concrete floor with soft rubber covering increased by 13%–16% depending on the breed.

Promoting farm investments such as improvement in flooring solution, which have both economic and animal welfare incentives, is a potential way of promoting sustainable dairy production. Farmers may make investments in improved floors, resulting in enhanced animal welfare and economic outcomes necessary for sustaining dairy production.

This literature review indicated that the economic impact of investment in specific types of floor improvement solutions, investment costs and financial outcomes have received little attention. This study provides insights needed for a more informed decision-making process when selecting optimal flooring solutions for new and renovated barns that improve both animal welfare and ease the burden on farmers and public financial support.

This brief is designed to inform disaster risk reduction and management in Philippine jails and prisons. It draws upon research conducted in nine jails and prisons between July 2015 and January 2016. This research included 44 interviews with stakeholders, including inmates and prisoners, and nine focus groups with inmates and prisoners in different regions of the country. The research indicates that natural hazards are one amongst the many threats that inmates and prisoners face in their everyday life. Natural hazards are significant because inmates and prisoners are particularly vulnerable. Inmates' and prisoners' vulnerability stems from a thread of proximate and root causes that range from insalubrious and overcrowded facilities and limited resourcing from the government, to the neoliberal nature of the Philippine state. However, inmates and prisoners are not helpless “victims” in dealing with natural hazards. They display a wide range of skills, resources and knowledge (i.e. capacities) that are grounded in everyday practices and values reflective of the broader Philippine society. This policy brief finally makes some recommendations for strengthening hazard prevention, fostering vulnerability mitigation, enhancing preparedness, and reinforcing disaster management in Philippine jails and prisons. These recommendations emphasise the contributions of a number of stakeholders, including the active role of inmates and prisoners who are the first line of defence in facing disasters in jails and prisons.

This study aims to analyze the extent to which the walking tour in virtual version appeals to the younger generation and still provides lessons about cultural acculturation that can inspire citizenship today compared to an actual walking tour.

This quasi-experimental design uses pre-test and post-test with structured interviews for data collection from five purposive participants who related the experience and storytelling that they experienced from the tours.

This study finds while virtual tours cannot replace physical walking tours because of real multisensory experiences, storytelling and guiding interpretation through virtual tours is more likeable than walking tours Due to some potential disturbance in the field. However, the guiding interpretation related to the message of multiculturalism still reaches tourists both through actual and virtual tours.

This study has limitations regarding the number of participants. A larger number of participants may provide greater objectivity. In addition, regarding the quasi-experimental method used, it is possible to have different results if the actual walking tour precedes the virtual tour, and this can be a broad discussion space for future researchers.

Practically, this walking tour is expected to be a model for civic education, especially in Indonesia, which is delivered in a fun way through a walking tour.

This study offers a novelty regarding the development of a walking tour based on citizenship education, which can be seen from its impact on the younger generation when it is held virtually or actually.

This paper aims to shed light on adaptive reuse in traditional architecture (TA) in Erbil, Iraq.

An inductive approach and qualitative method were used in this study. The inductive research approach was used because there was no clear image of adaptive reuse in traditional cafés (TCs) in Erbil. Besides, there are no studies of TCs in Erbil particularly. Thus, there is a lack of knowledge about what adaptations took place in TCs in Erbil. The qualitative method extracted themes and issues from case studies of four TCs in Erbil citadel's buffer zone. This included a physical survey and observation of the TCs in Erbil and 18 semi-structured interviews with the owners, servers and visitors.

The analysis shows the flexibility of the TCs in Erbil as a face of adaptive re-use (AR) which is explained through the capacity linked to space modifications, the addition of modern devices, the function linked to space modifications, service addition, the condition linked to space modifications and the addition of modern devices. Also, TCs in Erbil has a spatial identity and architectural value that proves it is worthy enough to be preserved through unique spirituality linked to preserving the place.

The findings are limited to the cases of TCs in mountain regain and may not be applicable or appropriate to other cafés in other different countries.

There are three aspects of authenticity in the current research. Firstly, the TCs in Erbil have not been studied before. Secondly, TCs that have been discovered have made AR of themselves whilst maintaining their original function-serving beverages, to stimulate creativity. Thirdly, most of the studies of AR have dealt with historical and heritage architecture, whilst the current research paper is dealing with TA.

This paper analyses changes in the activity pattern of Damascus city from late modern era (late Ottoman rule) to the contemporary era. The research objective is to explore the impact of the socio-historical process on the evolving morphological structure of the urban core and to draw implications for post-war reconstruction.

Space Syntax methodology was employed to trace the historical and morphological changes in the urban core of Damascus. The timeframe was divided into five periods covering the city's socio-political transformation and five maps depicting these periods. Local and global integration measures were used to analyse the changes in the urban core across each period. Normalised angular choice (NACH) measure was used to identify the changes in the city planning system.

The results revealed that the urban core corresponded to the main streets, which had socio-economic importance across history. However, introducing a new planning system influenced by Western planning ideals led to the creation of multi-morphological patterns. At the city level, the study found that the urban core was more accessible in the preplanned areas, while the organic expansion of the informal settlements was exclusive of the core area. At the local level, some informal settlements showed an intense core. Intelligibility analysis revealed that earlier periods showed considerably higher values, implying declines in the ease of navigation of the city over time.

This study did not account for the political, economic and cultural factors that could shape morphological changes in Damascus. In addition, the study adopted historical reference points to understand the morphological changes, as high-quality geospatial data was not available to monitor the recent post-war situation.

The research findings give a foundation for a more contextualised historical understanding of spatial structure and changes, which can contribute to the post-war reconstruction and redevelopment of Damascus city.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to trace historical spatial changes in Damascus from a space syntax approach, weaving together socio-historical and configurational studies. In doing so, it shows how historically informed and spatially aware urban planning and design policies can support policymakers and built environment professionals in planning and redevelopment.

This study aims to explore the relationship between folk religious place-making and the development of urban public spaces and summarize its influence on community network construction and daily behavior to discover the authentic practices and role of folk faith culture in social space.

Taking Macau's Shi Gandang Temple and its belief culture as an example, on-site research, historical evidence and interviews were used to elaborate and analyze the processes of place-making, social functions, management mechanisms and folk culture to establish a new perception of folk religious place-making in contemporary urban spaces.

The article argues that the culture of folk beliefs profoundly influences urban spaces and the social management system of Macau and has a positive significance in building the local community and geopolitical relations. In addition, it suggests that the participation of folk religious places in local practices is important as key nodes and emotional hubs of local networks, reconciling conflicts between communities of different backgrounds and driving urban spaces toward diversity while forming a positive interaction and friendly cooperation between regional development and self-contained management mechanisms, governance models and cultural orientations.

This study takes an architectural and anthropological perspective of the impact of faith on urban spaces and local governance, using the Shi Gandang Temple in Macau as an example, to complement related studies.

This study aimed to explore the spatial accessibility dynamics of urban parks and their driving forces from 1901 to 2010 in terms of the dynamic relationships between spatial morphology and road networks, taking Nanjing City as an example.

This study mapped and examined the spatiotemporal distribution of urban parks and road networks in four time points at Nanjing: the 1910s, 1930s, 1960s and 2010s, using the analysis methodology of spatial design network analysis, kernel density estimation and buffer analysis. Two approaches of spatial overlaying and data analysis were adopted to investigate the accessibility dynamics. The spatial overlaying compared the parks' layout and the road networks' core, subcore and noncore accessible areas; the data analysis clarified the average data on the city-wide and local scales of the road networks within the park buffer zone.

The analysis of the changing relationships between urban parks and the spatial morphology of road networks showed that the accessibility of urban parks has generally improved. This was influenced by six main factors: planning implementation, political policies, natural resources, historical heritage and cultural and economic levels.

The results provide a reference for achieving spatial equity, improving urban park accessibility and supporting sustainable urban park planning.

An increasing number of studies have explored the spatial accessibility of urban parks through the relationships between their spatial distribution and road networks. However, few studies have investigated the dynamic changes in accessibility over time. Discussing parks' accessibility over relatively long-time scales has practical, innovative and theoretical values; because it can reveal correlational laws and internal influences not apparent in short term and provide reference and implications for parks' spatial equity.