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This study aims to investigate the most effective enablers and tools for inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition in public policymaking organizations.

Based on a literature review, the study summarized 51 individual, organizational, technological and inhabitant-related enablers of inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition, as well as 36 technological and social tools. The study assessed the effectiveness of these enablers and tools based on two rounds of a Delphi study targeting 31 policymakers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was assessed to determine consensus among participating policymakers.

The findings indicate that the most effective enablers were inhabitants’ willingness to get involved, information technology (IT) infrastructure, IT staff support and inhabitants’ trust in policymakers. Additionally, the study found that the most effective tools for inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition included meetings, interviews, social media and field visits.

Inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition is an important social and economic force that will drive change in any society by enabling the implementation of innovative ideas and practices. A review of the relevant research shows that despite the usability of inhabitants’ knowledge, the degree to which inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition is integrated into the public policymaking system remains unclear. This study of inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition from the policymaker perspective provides a better understanding of the inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition process in policymaking organizations.

There are several studies showing that end-users' participation in the architectural design process of houses is critical to their satisfaction (e.g. Önder et al., 2010; Ammar et al., 2013). Housing that is not adjusted to inhabitants' needs leads to modification works (Davidson et al., 2007) that could be avoided if their design was defined from the beginning with their participation. Digital technologies, such as 3D interactive visualization, benefit co-design processes by helping non-specialists better understand space and design possibilities (Salter et al., 2009; Schroth et al., 2006). However, the available literature shows that existing co-design digital tools were not developed based on potential users’ requirements. This paper aims to define the user requirements of a co-design tool for housing customization.

Interviews were conducted to gather information on how participatory processes occur in housing cooperatives and identify how potential users can collaborate in the design definition of their houses using a digital tool.

The interviews were analyzed, and requirements were defined.

This work contributes to the advancement of knowledge since the tool is defined based on requirements collected from potential end-users. By using a user-centered approach, the tool can contribute to more effective and informed collaboration.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the contradictions inherent to balconies. Despite the attention given to these architectural elements on that moment, there is a knowledge gap concerning the preferences and expectations of the inhabitants in relation to them. For this reason, this paper aims to conduct a critical literature review of the publications about the inhabitants’ perceptions of balconies in order to identify the most relevant criteria to consider during the design process.

The analysis was based on the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) criteria (technical, functional and behavioural).

The results highlighted the relevance of the behavioural criteria for the valorisation of the balconies by the inhabitants and presented indications to the research about these liminal spaces and the design practice of housing buildings.

According to the authors’ best knowledge, this study represents the more holistic study of the kind.

The ancient settlements of the M'zab Valley in Algeria, called ksour, are still being used by local inhabitants a thousand years after their construction. The main objective of this study was to discover why, despite the formation of new residential areas, these settlements have been able to survive and maintain their original functions.

The authors used the concept of living heritage sites as an analytical framework. The field data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through qualitative content analysis.

This study revealed that the reasons for the survival of these settlements were cultural and social rather than physical. Four main factors play a role in the survival of these settlements: (1) solidarity and unity among the inhabitants, (2) built environment as an ancestral heritage and a symbol of identity, (3) comfort and convenience in ksour and (4) social control and adherence to tradition. However, some concerns have arisen in recent decades that may endanger the viability of these settlements in the future, requiring more attention from the government.

While previous studies on urban heritage and World Heritage Sites (WHSs) have mainly focused on tourism development and conservation issues, this paper emphasized a less-studied aspect of these sites, i.e. continuity and sustainability. All previous studies on the WHSs of the M'zab Valley have addressed the traditional architecture and the climatic design of houses without sufficiently addressing other factors that have contributed to the sustainability and resilience of these settlements.

The provision of online information through the use of digital platforms (websites and social networks) can be helpful for public sector organisations to promote transparency and accountability, thereby bringing it closer to citizens, more accessible and with higher added value for society. Whereas the call for government transparency is manifest and seems to be equal for all parts of government, this paper investigates whether small government entities are able to cope with this demand. In addition, the drivers of digital platforms are investigated in the context of Portuguese parishes.

The paper follows a quantitative research approach based on an original data set with more than 3,000 observations collected in two different time periods (2015 and 2020), which looks at the parishes’ use of website and Facebook.

Findings show that about half of Portuguese parishes, which are mostly small entities with on average fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, have an institutional website, whereas almost three out of four have Facebook. The empirical analyses reveal that a lack of organisational capacity of small entities can be an obstacle for the use of an institutional website and of Facebook. Furthermore, factors from the provider side (e.g. being part of a merger, participation in previous elections) and the user side (e.g. having access to broadband internet) are also found to have an influence on the adoption, use, and dropping of a digital platform.

The use of an original data set with more than 3,000 observations, and the research of the influence of size as a proxy of organisational capacity on the presence of parishes on the internet and Facebook, are innovative elements of this paper. In addition, this study adds to the knowledge about the influence of organisational, political, and socio-demographic characteristics on the use of digital platforms by small government entities.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0171

This paper aims to define the socio-spatial considerations of apartment users in Cairo, during their decision-making process. It provides a set of socio-spatial guidelines for professional architecture designers that are based on regionalist sociological theories and the evaluation of participant responses. These guidelines can also help users choose better plan configurations or make socially conscious adjustments as formal residential interiors in Egypt are not arranged based on social interaction at home or the cultural specificity of the region. On the other hand, users have little clue about choosing better plan configurations for sustainable social relationships. Moreover, the private housing sector has mostly neglected the social boundaries that traditionally shaped home interiors. This is because the designers focus on physical attributes to satisfy market demand and economic aspects.

The research reviewed past literature on the impact of different home arrangements relative to inhabitant and social relationships. Simultaneously, preliminary open-ended sorting surveys were undertaken at the Cityscape 2020 exhibition. Based on the results, a comprehensive online survey was developed to map the socio-spatial preferences of users. Finally, a sample of 150 apartment plans was analyzed by using the justified plan graph (JPG) theory to reveal the most common arrangements in the speculative market, measuring unit depth.

The findings of this study will benefit the following: practitioners, including architects and real estate developers, will be able to learn about end-user preferences and offer better products (residential units). Designers can rely on a reference that visualizes recommended home arrangements in the form of justified graphs. This research will expose the academic theories that currently shape residential plans and those that are overlooked and need to be applied. Academics, on the other hand, will learn about the market, and the extent of the influence of architectural theory.

The value of this paper lies in the gathering of theoretical recommendations on traditional home arrangements and investigating the preferences of both professionals and laypeople when choosing between apartments. The open-ended study in this research will test its efficiency in the Egyptian context and serve as a reference for future social studies. It highlights the importance of cultural adequacy and how to design homes related to local residents’ natural lifestyle, by doing so, people will be able to overview the options available in the market and how to manipulate their own houses to control or encourage different social interactions.

This study aims to examine the awareness of the inhabitants regarding energy consumption in relation to comfort in Tlemcen and analyze the paths of influence and the effects of individual objective and subjective characteristic factors. This determines the factors' level of perception of the importance of energy retrofitting.

As part of an exploratory empirical study, this paper further discusses accompanied survey data from a sample of 208 properties, through a triangulation of in-depth qualitative studies and quantitative studies developed and analyzed by SPSS software (the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).

Analysis of the results of the survey shows that the respondents have a level of awareness on comfort linked to energy savings but they lack guidance and recourse to specialists. The conclusion is that resident awareness is crucial and beneficial and that the key socio-demographic characteristics to determine the perception factors are related to age, occupation, household size and time lived in the house.

By exploring some of the key insights from the survey, this research improves residents' perception of the importance of energy retrofitting in the residential sector, highlighting the importance of priorities. This influences public attitudes and contributes to raising awareness in order to provide useful results for developing, in future studies, motivational strategies for these inhabitants. The present research is expected to add value to existing studies academically and methodologically and provide policy guidance to policy makers and other energy efficiency (EE) practitioners in the Maghreb region and beyond.

Short food supply chains have the potential to facilitate the transition to more sustainable food systems. Related distribution processes, however, can be challenging for smallholder and family farmers. To extend the market reach of farmers without the need for extensive investments, crowd logistics (CL) can be used. The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits and trade-offs of implementing CL platforms in short food supply chains (SFSCs).

A decision support system (DSS) based on agent-based and discrete event simulation (DES) modelling is developed, which closely approximates the behaviour of customers and distribution processes at outlets. Different scenarios are explored to evaluate the potential of CL in rural and urban settings using the example of regions from Bavaria, Germany.

Results show that CL can be used to increase the reach of farmers in SFSCs at the cost of minor food quality losses. Moreover, a difference between urban and rural settings is noted: An urban scenario requires less investment in the driver base, whereas the rural scenario shows a higher potential to increase market reach.

Platform-based food delivery services are still mostly unexplored in the context of SFSCs. This research shows that platform services such as CL can be used to support local agriculture and facilitate the distribution of perishable food items, introducing a simulation-based DSS and providing detailed results on various application settings; this research serves as a steppingstone to facilitate successful real-world implementations and encourage further research.

This paper aims to study possible differences between the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) defined in the designation of Cuenca as a World Heritage (WH) site and its inhabitants' perceptions of heritage value. The study is based on research conducted in the historic centre of Cuenca in Ecuador, which was accorded WH status in 1999.

The research employs both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, providing a complementary approach to the research subject. Quantitative research involved a probability survey of 400 informants randomly selected from the population of the canton of Cuenca, while qualitative research included 40 semi-structured interviews with residents and traders in the historic centre and 150 further written consultations with residents of the city.

Following the introduction, methodology and description, the paper presents the data gathered from the survey and interviews. These indicate inhabitants' perceptions of the meaning, values, and uses of WH in Cuenca and reveal differences between their perceptions and those of the official OUV.

Although there are several studies on WH residents' perceptions of UNESCO OUV, few highlight the mismatch between local community views of heritage and those established by UNESCO. This study reflects critically on the concept of OUV, which is based on technical and political criteria rather than social participation. The study employs methodologies that could be applied in other case studies and used to improve heritage management. This is the only study on local perceptions of Cuenca's OUV.

This study aims to discuss the contribution of street art projects to the place-making of villages and the effects it generates for local stakeholders.

A conceptual framework is developed based on the main characteristics of the place-making process, street art, creative place-making, as well as place identity, revitalisation and regeneration. This framework defines a set of thematic categories for the qualitative content analysis of online information, e.g. websites, media and blog posts, as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders.

This research presents the contribution of street art in place-making involving citizens, local businesses and international artists in a collective act to preserve local identity and revitalise and regenerate villages.

The research is focused only on villages. Cities are not considered in the research.

Street art projects provide villages with several opportunities, such as stimulating place regeneration and revitalisation, giving new shape and decoration to neighbourhoods and streets and attracting visitors and business. Moreover, street art is commonly used to communicate local history, culture, traditions and social and political facts, helping places to vehiculate their identity and their messages to the next generations. Street art is also used as a part of a place branding strategy.

The village gets the opportunity to exploit the street art value proposition to stimulate the restocking of the place, if the primary stakeholders of the place are ready to invest in the new place identity giving trust to the street art project.

Street art projects contribute to the place-making of villages. They are used to communicate place identity, fostering cooperation between local stakeholders and economic and social development.