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This paper aims to find ways to optimise the thermal performance of this courtyard design in current urban communities in hot arid regions.

The case study for this research is the Dubai sustainable city residential cluster. After collecting weather data from a site visit, four courtyard configurations were suggested and assessed using ENVI-met simulation analysis software to build a virtual model to represent the base case. This model is used to evaluate the thermal behaviour of outdoor urban spaces. The four courtyard layout scenarios were suggested and tested against the base case model. Scenario one is u-shaped, scenario two is linear, scenario three has central buildings with square courtyards and finally, scenario four has u-shaped buildings with square courtyards.

All the courtyard scenarios achieved an adequate level of user satisfaction, and the wind speed and distribution affected the relative humidity of the outdoor areas. The main findings indicate that courtyard scenario four provided the best microclimatic behaviour within the urban community, as the relative humidity dropped from 56.27% to 48% and the temperature was reduced from 43.03 °C to 41.03 °C.

The study was focused on Dubai and on urban levels, but the findings can be generalized to cover most of courtiers that have similar climatic and environmental contexts.

Architects and urban planners will recognize the potential to reduce energy due to natural ventilation and lower solar radiation.

If the findings be applied, this will lead to energy reduction as well as building foot print reduction.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by comprehensively reviewing the concept of courtyards in hot climate and in a region of shortage of studies conducted. It will draw future recommendations of how and where to design courtyards within urban communities.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of implementing a toxicity tax for heavily polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates. A fast-changing world needs responsive policies to cope with the crisis human beings are currently facing on earth. Implementing a new policy represents a design for a change. Policies come in the form of regulations that have been officially agreed and chosen by either a political party, business or any other type of organization. This paper adopts the policy development cycle in the Australian policy handbook as a practical framework. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two decision makers thoroughly discussed each stage of the “policy development cycle”. A qualitative analysis of the data showed that there is potential for implementing a new tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates (UAE) the most appropriate policy instrument in UAE is a policy enacted through restricted law; it might take more than 3 years to work; the expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year; and there is concern that this new tax would slow Dubai’s preparation for EXPO 2020. These findings will help countries implement this new tax. Following the stages of the policy development cycle and their procedures will, therefore, inspire decision makers to formulate new environmental policies not only in UAE but around the world.

This research adopts the use of “focus groups” as its primary approach to data collection. A focus group is a common qualitative research technique and involves a small number of participants. The main reason for using qualitative research is because participants are asked for open-ended responses that convey their thoughts or feelings. The author of this paper served as the moderator who posed a series of questions intended to gain insight into the group’s views on the implementation of a toxicity tax for heavy polluting vehicles in the UAE. Time and attention were given to what it is that you expect to get out of focus-group research. The group was invited for one full day to a big hall and was seated around one table. The group was sometimes divided to obtain more focused views. Overall, four primary groups participated in this study. A fifth group, consisting of three senior members of a governmental agency who acted as decision makers, took part in one-to-one interviews at their place of work. Table I provides details on the backgrounds of the participant.

Research highlights the policy development cycle to investigate a new transport policy in UAE. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two interviews with two decision makers. There is potential for a tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in UAE. The expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year. The best policy instrument in the region is policy by law. The truck industry will be affected, and there will be a public refusal.

A new policy of implementing tax for high polluting vehicles was, therefore, discussed in this paper. Participants thought the tax would work, but an in-depth feasibility study on both microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects will be required; providing governmental incentives will help support the shift to less-polluting vehicles.

The policy development cycle was utilized as a practical framework for this research.

People were engaged into this study to make the policy viable. People will react positively to this policy.

Due to the lack of such research in this area, this paper will fill a gap in the knowledge. Moreover, the policy will be real implementation based on this publication. The findings will not only help UAE but also many countries that share same environmental and social contexts.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between gender and female leadership styles in a single‐sex academic institution in Saudi Arabia.

Essentially, a qualitative research approach that utilised a single case‐study methodology was adopted. As part of this research, seven in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with senior managers of the all‐women's Saudi academic institution.

Evidence suggests that the interviewed female leaders of Manar College are inclined to adopt stereotypical attributes of feminine qualities of leadership. They also tend to prefer a democratic, interpersonally‐oriented and transformational style rather than autocratic, task‐oriented or transactional style of leadership. In essence their leadership styles seem to agree – to a large extent – with the mainstream view on women's ways of leading.

Despite the depth and richness of collected data, this research – as with all case studies – suffers from a limited ability to generalise the findings due to small sample size. It could thus be of interest for future quantitative‐based research to test the findings and propositions of this research on a representative set of single‐sex academic institutions in order to determine whether their leaders are trapped in stereotyped visions of leadership.

Various studies have examined the relationship between gender and leadership styles in educational establishments. In this regard, the paper argues the need and relevance of considering single‐sex academic institutions, a perspective that has not yet received sufficient attention in the educational leadership literature.

Traditional central courtyards have been advocated for being thermally efficient for hot-climate regions. However, exploring previous literature shows that it is not clear to what extent courtyards are truly thermally comfortable. This study determines the level of thermal comfort in residential courtyards in hot-climate regions, taking Baghdad as a case study.

This study develops a novel Courtyard Thermal Usability Index (CTUI) to quantify the ability of courtyards to provide thermal comfort to occupants. CTUI is the fraction of useable thermally comfortable hours in courtyards of the total occupation hours during a specific period. To operationalise CTUI, the research employs the Envi-met 4.2 simulation tool to determine the annual thermal conditions of 360 courtyards. An adaptive thermal comfort model developed by Al-Hafith in 2020 for Iraq is used to judge simulated thermal conditions and determine CTUI.

CTUI enables determining the level of thermal comfort courtyards offer to occupants by showing the ratio of the thermally comfortable period versus the occupation period. Results show that, in Iraq, annually, courtyards offer up to 38% comfortable hours out of the total potential occupation hours. The rest of the time the courtyard will not be comfortable, mostly due to overheating. When designing courtyards, the most effective geometric property impacting courtyards' thermal conditions is width/height. The most important microclimatic factor impacting occupants' thermal sensation is mean radiant temperature (MRT). This study can be used to inform designing thermally efficient courtyards for hot-climate regions.

This study presents the first assessment of the thermal efficiency of courtyards in hot-climate regions depending on an assessment of their ability to provide thermal comfort to occupants. The study presents a novel index that can be used to quantify the ability of courtyards to provide a thermally comfortable environment to occupants.