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This study aims to trace the transformation in the form of apartment building and the connotations it has in understanding the changes that occurred in the Jordanian society’s lifestyle over the past five decades.

A comparative case study analysis has been conducted amongst 170 apartments, covering 70 design attributes related to aspects of appearance, spatial organisation, parking and access to building, outdoor space and finishing. This was followed by experts and households solicitation to help giving more confidence on the validity and reliability of findings regarding the sorts and justifications for the changes that have taken place in the form of apartments over the studied time frame.

The results reveal changes in design attributes indicating particular alterations in people’s lifestyle. New interests act in formulating recent housing design attributes. People seem to turn into a more open social life within public community but more privatised living amongst family members. People are becoming more attached to indoor modernised lifestyle, in homes and public areas where activities take place. This entails pursuing a more comfortable, facilitating and enjoyable life that presents luxury and tranquillity.

Understanding the relationship between transformations in the built form of apartment buildings and the associated social alterations provides useful insights towards improving housing provision to better match the ever-changing demands of people and respond to alterations in their lifestyles.

Ecologically fit built form and settlement is an outcome of harmonious modes of interaction between the man-made and the natural environment. It is also the prerequisite of a sustainable planning and design process. In building terms, an ecologically fit building involves the existence of appropriate schemes of enclosures and exposures of indoor spaces which is achieved through fundamental building features like relations with the ground, properties of building mass, treatment of the building envelop and roof performance.

While the debate on the conflicting aspects of the two extremes, namely the international style and regionalism, continues to occupy architectural media, a new paradigm of place dependent ecological architecture has to be formulated. In this connection it is not surprising to notice that vernacular built form based on building traditions are ecologically fit and may well constitute a sound source of information. This study aims at deciphering relevant clues to be utilized as design guidelines through the analysis of fundamental building features of vernacular built environments.

The dynamics of globalisation as the increasing interconnectedness between all aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political spaces have seen an unprecedented focus on migrants across the world. Far less discussed though has been the connections between spaces and places during migration - how conceptualisations of proximity/distance, inside/outside; native/migrant; past/present; memories/experiences produce and shape buildings, streets, and urban environments. While it is suggested that the unprecedented movement of people in a globalising world will be particularly significant for cities and urban life, it is also argued that such movement has led to a problematisation of ‘home’ as a particular type of built form in a physical location. This special issue is therefore interested in making the links between three important processes in a globalising world-home, migration, and the city - and their significance for built forms and built environments across the world.

This study aims at understanding the reasons causing the decline in the practice of traditional, regional architectural methods of creating house forms in the Khasia Punji at Jaflong, Sylhet area.

Two main types of traditional and modern house forms were identified and studied in order to document and analyze the aspects of changes in the construction method and material uses, while the interviews together with observational, qualitative and descriptive study formed an insight into the changing socio-cultural dynamics and evolving lifestyle of the tribe. Apart from physical surveys, the primary data on settlement patterns over twenty years' time were reviewed through satellite imaging while the characteristics of local house forms were also collected from tourist photographs through time recorded in Google database.

The findings of this research have pointed out that in the case of the Khasi tribe, the shift in temporal context, accompanied by a shift in technological, socio-cultural and economic aspects, is fueling the transformation in the formal expression, material and methods of the house building.

Limitations were posed in setting up more constructive and informative interview sessions with the Khasi people due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation which limited the survey outcomes in general.

The scope of this study is to understand the changes and advances in socio-cultural, technological aspects of a society and their impact on the intricate patterns of life and customs that are evidently reflected in the transformation of built environments.

This research attempts to understand the causes behind the transformation of vernacular house forms, taking place in the Khasi village of Jaflong, Sylhet.

The purpose of this paper is to define the identity, city identity and architectural identity; to review, analyze and synthesize different pieces from literature to explore and define the factors that shape the city identity; to define the strategies of hybridization process that can be used to re-locate (re-define) the city identity; to examine the most effective factors that shape the identity of Amman city from various perspectives, to examine the relationships/interrelationships between all the factors that shape any city identity from the designers’ perspective, finally, to apply the strategies of hybridization process to re-locate (re-define) Amman’s city identity.

This research used two research methods to collect data as follows: literature review, content analysis and face-face questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the most effective factors that shape the Amman’s identity from different perspectives. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson r) was computed to assess the relationships between all factors that shape the identity of any city from the perspective of Jordanian designers and experts.

This research concluded that the factors that shape the city identity are cultural factors (socio-cultural, historical, economical and globalization factors), environmental factors (geographic, climate and building materials factors) and urban and architectural factors (spatial design organization, architectural style, open spaces and parks, urban structure factors). Additionally, the six urban development factors that responsible for the hybridization process in a city are new architectural typology and new special configuration, urban edges and hybrid textures, public hybridization open spaces, roads highway-scapes, urban redevelopment through super sites by star architects and downtown urban developments. This research found that there are different perspectives about the definition and factors that shape the identity of Amman’s city because of differences in cultures, experiences, knowledge, education level and personal preferences. The city identity is not a constant concept. It is changed according to time, place, people, culture, global trends, economic status and experience. Moreover, the correlation results revealed that the relationships/interrelationships between all the factors that shape the identity of any city have strong/very strong positive linear associations and significant relationships (r > 0.89).

Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) should provide a vision to redefine the identity of Amman city and control over the development pressure, built form and image of the city. This vision should be based on research, analysis and adoption of the most effective road map. GAM and all stakeholders should establish and enforce using specific architectural styles, urban design guidelines, building codes, policy tools and land use regulations to re-define the city identity. GAM should review, assess, approve and supervise all development projects through all design and construction phases especially in sensitive areas. GAM should focus on building capacity, empower its architects and planners, and re-organize (re-structure) their units and administrations especially planning and licensing departments to improve the city image and guide development. This research recommended that architects should design new, diverse and innovative architectural concepts, typologies and spatial configurations. Rapid development and new edges should be planned, designed and managed from the parts to the whole. The heterogeneous landscape and everyday activities will improve the vitality of urban and open public spaces and form of public culture. Architects and star architects ought not to make a clear and sharp separation between old and new development, architectural styles and typologies. Architects and urban designers ought to design hybrid physical urban environments, urban morphology, urban multi-functional activities, mix-use buildings, open spaces for social life, street patterns and furniture, squares, architectural style and typologies, spatial connectivity, green spaces and landscape entities. The designers and planners should consider how to create a city for living, working and recreation.

This research defined the identity, city identity, architectural identity and the factors that may shape the city identities. This research proposed and used the hybridization process as a tool to re-locate (re-define) the identity of Amman city and any city to be more obvious. Additionally, this research examined the relationships/interrelationships between the factors that shape the city identity.

This paper aims to expose the direct and indirect impacts of changing culture and society principles on the built environment, architectural scene and practice. Studying culture-architecture forceful formula in present-day Iraq, as not previously discussed, reveals how cultural shift affects the public image of architectural form, uses and activity system, thus how latter issues highlight or predict society deterioration or collapse.

Comparing and analysing past and contemporary works, highlighting strange values emerged later, personal survey and observing house forms, in-depth interviews, photos and architectural drawings are a set of methodological tools used in approaching research main objective.

Findings include two mutual systematic approaches. The first is to define, acknowledge and understand previous criteria, while the second is to disclose responsible authorities and institutions and their role in addition to necessary procedures to correct or minimize the impact of various changes on the contemporary architectural situation.

Contemporary Iraqi society and culture have been dealt with as distorted and destructive, where various unacceptable values describe its current image compared to the noble form of the inherited. As a true expression and a visible manifestation of culture with which it interacts, degraded architecture and urbanism in contemporary Iraq provide an accurate picture of the current state of society, its values, principles and beliefs.

Entrance edifice of the institutional campus artifice as the visible representation of status in their society. The design shall stand to show the status of the person who develops the setting, it could signify the power of the person or the entire place, and it could sometimes support certain cosmological belief system that prevails in that culture too. This study intended to identify the entrance edifice Physical features that influence observer's perception of the image of the institutional campus. To accomplish this, physical features of the entrance edifice and its characters were identified and developed into questionnaire material. A logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the Physical features of Entrance Edifice. The findings found the followings: (i) Physical features of Entrance Edifice influence the Visual perception of the Institutional Campus. (ii) The Physical features were found to impact the Visual perception of the Institutional campus in the order of Form Identity, Architectural Elements, Scale and Portion, color and material. These variances are based on the observers' perception, which can be integrated into the Institutional Campus Entrance Edifice design to strengthen the Image of the Institutional campus. It is clear that Entrance Edifices have the potential to build the image for a greater content and purpose through its Form Identity, Architectural Elements, Scale and Portion, color and material. Nevertheless, the entrance design could be a powerful element to build up the image of the physical settings it serves.

The Gurgaon district in Haryana represents a region that has little-known remains from the past and craft traditions that are under threat because of the rapid pace of urban development and changing demography. The heritage resources of the towns in the district, such as Farrukhnagar and Sohna, are neither integrated in the development agenda nor acknowledged appropriately in formal hospitality and tourism planning. Local knowledge in the form of traditional crafts, food and building techniques has dwindled over the recent decades. Stories about the heritage resources are embedded in public memory and personal histories, though not necessarily explicit. The purpose of this study is to reveal the possible connections between sustenance of the cultural resources and skill development in the context of these small and medium towns.

The skills, stories, knowledge and historic built form are examined as a part of this research to establish existing and potential community connections. The research entails identification of areas where capacity building is required, to enhance visitor experience and to develop heritage tourism, drawing from existing skill sets and traditional knowledge systems rather than looking outwards.

One of the challenges is the discontinuation of use of traditional building techniques for the physical conservation of historic structures/buildings into heritage hotels/bed-and-breakfast locations and tourism visitation spots. Tackling this gap can help development of homestays or heritage hotels, offering a unique experience for visitors who appreciate historic built form. Poor appreciation and interpretation of the heritage resources by the local community is another significant issue, as is the lack of skills that can help increase the appeal of these towns for the visitor interested in heritage tourism. The question is whether these skills are accessible for the residents of these towns and how this gap is being addressed.

These explorations can result in informed approaches to capacity building and community engagement that are the key to establishing heritage-oriented hospitality and tourism in historic small and medium towns.

The paper brings the heritage of small and medium towns into focus and suggests an integrated approach for hospitality and tourism development through skill development, an area that has been neglected and disconnected till now.

To date, there are no studies in the literature that provide a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between the slenderness ratio and the main design criteria in supertall towers (=300 m). In this paper, this important issue was explored using detailed data collected from 75 cases.

This paper was carried out with a comprehensive literature review including the database of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat(CTBUH) (CTBUH, 2022), peer-reviewed journals, MSc theses and PhD dissertations, conference proceedings, fact sheets, architectural and structural magazines and other Internet sources. In this study, the case study method was also used to gather and consolidate information about supertall towers to analyze the interrelationships. Cases were 75 supertall buildings in various countries [44 from Asia (37 from China), 16 from the Middle East (6 from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates), 11 from the United States of America and 3 from Russia, 1 from the UK].

The paper's findings highlighted as follows: (1) for buildings in the height range of 300–399 m, the slenderness ratio was usually between 7 and 7.9 and megatall towers were frequently built at a slenderness ratio of 10–15; (2) the median slenderness ratio of buildings in the 400–599 m height ranges was around 8.6; (3) a trend towards supertall slender buildings (=8) was observed in Asia, the Middle East and North America; (4) residential, office and mixed-use towers had a median slenderness ratio of over 7.5; (5) all building forms were utilized in the construction of slender towers (>8); (6) the medium slenderness ratio was around 8 for supertall buildings constructed with outriggered frame and tube systems; (7) especially concrete towers reached values pushing the limits of slenderness (>10) and (8) since the number of some supertall building groups (e.g. steel towers) was not sufficient, establishing a scientific relationship between aspect ratio and related design criteria was not possible.

To date, there are no studies in the literature that provide a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between the slenderness ratio and the main design criteria in supertall towers (=300 m). This important issue was explored using detailed data collected from 75 cases.

This research study aims to explore sociocultural factors such as privacy and gender segregation as they relate to the spatial perception of women's spaces within the vernacular Qatari household, and the activities, habits and practiced culture of its inhabitants.

This analysis utilizes the Space Syntax methodology to examine a sample of vernacular courtyard houses with respect to space connectivity, conducting an analytical exploration of the role of women based on the system of activities.

The findings shed light on the spatial complexity and sensitivity of the Qatari household as it reflects the prevailing sociocultural imperatives in Qatari urbanities, including the country's capital, Doha.

This research study thus reinforces the importance of traditional residential architecture in conserving Qatar's distinctive architectural identity, rooted in its sociocultural attributes.

Sociocultural features such as privacy and gender segregation are among the most prominent factors influencing the spatial form of vernacular courtyard houses in the Arabian Gulf country of Qatar.

It is argued that within a typical vernacular Qatari household, women's spaces are the least connected (most segregated) areas, due mainly to the influence of privacy norms and gender segregation on the spatial configuration of the house.