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This study delves into 17th-century colonial port cities – Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta – examining the impact of British imperialism on urban sustainability and heritage conservation. It explores historical development, spatial organization, and connectivity.

This study intricately explores the interplay among urban sustainability, morphology, and heritage conservation using space syntax analysis. It focuses on examining White and Black Town dispersion during British imperialism.

The investigation reveals varying degrees of dispersion of White and Black Towns, with Calcutta exhibiting the most consistent distribution among the three cities. These findings underscore the profound influence of British imperialism on the spatial organization of colonial port cities, offering valuable insights into their historical evolution and layout.

While this study provides valuable insights, it is limited by its focus on the colonial period and the specific cities of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. The findings may not be directly generalizable to other contexts or time periods. Additionally, the study’s reliance on historical data sources may present data accuracy and completeness challenges.

This study contributes to understanding colonial port cities, guiding sustainable urban development, heritage preservation, and equitable resource access for global sustainability. By focusing on the historical impact of British imperialism, the research provides original insights into the spatial dynamics of these cities, contributing to the broader discourse on urban sustainability and heritage conservation.

This study aims to explore how users’ movement is influenced by different hospital ward layouts, by using space syntax theory. This study also compared four circulation patterns to find the best one for the study goal.

The authors used both qualitative and quantitative methods to study how users’ wayfinding in hospitals depends on various indicators and factors. The study used Depth Map software to do case studies and then analyzed the indicators from theoretical foundations and used the Pearson Test to check the correlation between indicators. This study also looked at Iran’s Ministry of Health standards for ward layouts. Finally, the results obtained from the research data were compared to achieve a suitable model based on the research objectives.

The linear-patterned plan was the best for easy wayfinding and accessibility among four patterns. The optimal hospital circulation patterns can improve wayfinding and reduce wayfinding problems and user movement.

By pioneering space syntax in hospital research, this study unveils the novel interaction between path architecture and user movement. It gives new insights into current trends, helping architects, administrators and policymakers improve health-care design, efficiency and patient experience.

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the cognitive aspects of spatial experiences of paediatric inpatients who receive long-term treatment in a healthcare setting in relation to the syntactic parameters of healthcare environment. It is aimed to investigate how the change in the child’s cognition caused by the environmental stress experienced by the child during his/her stay in the hospital is related to the physical parameters of the treatment space.

The methodology of the study is based on a correlational analysis to identify the cognitive and syntactic factors of the healthcare environment that contribute to changes in the perceptual processes of a sample group of thirty children. The study examined the relationships between the graph and isovist variables, and the cognitive parameters of paediatric inpatients. The two datasets were subjected to regression analyses in order to identify any significant findings, which allowed for a discussion of how the patients’ changing perceptual processes are influenced by the syntactic measures of the healthcare setting.

The study showed that a syntactically intelligible floor plan contributes significantly to reducing environmental stress among paediatric inpatients. The presence of shared spaces within the healthcare environment, where social interaction with peers is possible, emerges as a crucial factor influencing children’s spatial perception. Additionally, the visibility characteristics of shared spaces may also play a key role in enhancing children’s perceptions of safety.

The limitations of the study include the fact that the study was conducted in an oncology and haematology inpatient unit with challenging conditions in terms of the mobility potentials of the children, which might have affected their perceptual processes. A further limitation is that the sample size comprised only 30 children, and the spatial configuration of the healthcare environment was linear and not particularly complex.

By identifying the impact of spatial design on children’s well-being, the study informs the creation and improvement of healthcare environments. Enhanced understanding of factors like intelligible floor plans, shared spaces and isovist values can lead to more child-friendly facilities, potentially alleviating stress for young patients. Consequently, this research may contribute to improved healthcare outcomes, increased comfort for paediatric inpatients, and a more supportive environment for their families, fostering a holistic approach to paediatric care and positively influencing the overall quality of life for children undergoing long-term treatment.

This study contributes to the theoretical discourse on how the constrained physical conditions of a paediatric healthcare environment may influence the perceptual processes of paediatric inpatients. The results of this evidence-based study have the potential to inform the evaluation of design guidelines for healthcare settings, with the ultimate aim of enhancing therapeutic environments.

In response, this study developed a mathematical and computational method, through spatial configurations with justified plan graph (JPG), drawn from Space Syntax to extract essential information of the spatial topology of 13 valuable traditional courtyard houses located in Toon historical city of Iran.

Historical vernacular housing has always been designed to incorporate and reflect the local lifestyle and cultural conditions. “Courtyard” is a fundamental part of traditional Iranian houses. This traditional building type includes a walled boundary and a complex of open, semi-enclosed and enclosed spaces. This study investigates the traditional houses in Toon historical town. Toon is one of the ancient towns in southeast Iran, including old courtyard houses in its heritage context. The spatial influence of the courtyard contributes to the formation of this famous architectural type.

The results show the remarkable impact of this space on dominating the plan of traditional Toon houses configuration compared to other spaces in all cases. Furthermore, spatial accessibility has changed over time, and the Safavid period had a higher level of integration and lower level of accessibility (mean i = 7.03) rather than the Qajar period (mean i = 6.34); also, privacy has decreased progressively.

The knowledge of characteristics of this historical architecture needs to be gathered for the preservation and conservation of the built heritage. Hence, the principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investigated to recognize the difference between the spatial influence of the courtyard and other spaces and the changes in the courtyard over time.

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.

Contemporary coliving is a rapidly developing housing typology, characterised by high-density private living spaces integrated with various shared, mixed-use amenities. The purpose of this research is to quantitatively examine the spatial configurations of coliving building systems, and the integration of programmatic space labels, to provide insights for architects and researchers into the homogeneity and genotypical patterns embedded within these contexts.

Coliving buildings of various scales from the United Kingdom and the USA were examined using small graph matching and inequality genotypes. The former was adopted to identify a genotype signature and assess homogeneity levels, whilst the latter provided a comparative analysis of the ranked integration values for space labels within these building systems.

Although local samples exhibited superior levels of homogeneity compared to the sample population (n = 18), the latter still evinced a marked homogeneity and no statistical difference in building system integration (mean real relative asymmetry (RRA)). Local large-scale samples showed the greatest homogeneity and building system integration of all sample groups, whilst a statistically significant distinction in building system integration was evident between large- and small-scale samples. However, a comparison of space label integration (RRA) across different building scales demonstrated that a potential genotypical pattern exists between small- and large-scale samples.

Through the identification of homogeneity and integration values related to scale and location, this research establishes an empirical, methodological framework for the generalisable spatial analysis of contemporary coliving buildings. Furthermore, genotypical patterns provide insights into space labels that are most likely to encourage copresence and social encounters between residents.

This study explores the spatial adaptive changes to different ancestral origins of Korean vernacular houses in Northeastern China and discusses the influence of changing family patterns on spatial capacity.

This study uses quantitative and comparative methods to explore changes to space arrangement, space area, and furniture forms in Korean vernacular houses. This study also explores the correlation between changes in family patterns and the changing characteristics of spatial capacity.

The results elucidate the changing characteristics of Korean houses' spatial capacity. While the changing individual needs of Korean family members have led to increased spatial accessibility, there is a weak correlation variability in remodelling outcomes and changes in individual needs. Moreover, the per capita living area of Korean vernacular houses has increased, and furniture forms tend to be simpler, smaller, and more integrated. These developments reflect the changes in the way of life, production, and family structure.

This study provides a unique perspective on the sociology and architecture of ethnic minority families in China. Its results can help architects and construction firms more intuitively understand Korean houses. This study also provides a reference for the future renewal of Korean houses in the region.

Although a growing number of studies have examined Korean vernacular houses and family patterns, none have explored the impact of changing family patterns on the spatial organisation of different ancestral origins of Korean vernacular houses. Therefore, this novel study addresses this gap, enriching the literature and providing practical insights.

Network coverage is crucial for the adoption of advanced Smart Home applications. The commonly used log-based path loss model is not able to accurately estimate WiFi signal strength in different houses, as it does not fully consider the impact of building morphology. To better describe the propagation of WiFi signals and achieve higher estimation accuracy, this paper studies the basic building morphology characteristics of houses.

A new path loss model based on a decision tree was proposed after measuring the WiFi signal strength passing through multiple housing units. Three types of regression models were tested and compared.

The findings demonstrate that the log-based path loss model fits small houses well, while the newly proposed nonlinear path loss model performs better in large houses (area larger than 125 m2 and area-to-perimeter ratio larger than 2.5). The impact of building design on path loss has been proven and specifically quantified in the model.

Proposed an improved model to estimate indoor network coverage. Quantify the impacts of building morphology on indoor WiFi signal strength. Improve WiFi signal strength estimation to support Smart Home applications.

In urban planning, sustainability is closely linked to the quality of urban public spaces (UPS). However, some UPS encounter issues of low attractiveness and underutilisation. Vitality serves as a crucial measure in this context. The research perspective on the vitality of UPS centres on the balance between human activities and the built environment. Therefore, this article aims to systematically review critical aspects of UPS vitality evaluation system, including research objects, vitality components and research methods, from the dimensions of crowd activity and the built environment.

A systematic literature review using PRISMA analysed English-language publications from 2008 to 2023 in Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases, employing keywords related to UPS and vitality, with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

(1) Research objects, including parks, squares, waterfronts, blocks and streets. (2) The factors contributing to crowd activity characteristics originate from five dimensions, namely spatial, temporal, visitor, activity and feedback. Environmental factors, both external (accessibility, surrounding function mix and population density) and internal (service facility mix and water presence), significantly impact vitality. (3) The study primarily relies on quantitative data, including traditional surveys and emerging significant data sources like dynamic location and traffic, social media, geospatial and point of interest (POI) data. Data analysis methods commonly used include correlation analysis and comprehensive evaluation techniques.

The findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the vitality evaluation system for UPS from multiple perspectives for urban planners, aiding in identifying key factors and research methods in the vitality evaluation of various types of UPS.

Visual aesthetics are a vital aspect of environmental quality. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the implementation of visibility analysis and visual quality standards on a campus to enhance productivity and effectiveness.

This study has identified the most crucial and valuable metrics for evaluating the visual quality of open spaces through an analysis of theoretical foundations and relevant background information. To achieve research goal, a multi-method approach was employed, incorporating a survey, user satisfaction ratings and ISOVIST simulation techniques. Specifically, this study focused on assessing the quality of open spaces in three open areas located on the campus of the Iran University of Science and Technology.

Based on the study’s findings, the most significant factors that students considered when evaluating the visual quality of open spaces on the Iran University of Science and Technology campus were green areas, gathering spaces and architectural elements such as furniture, color and texture. Among the three open areas examined, “Open Space One” was identified as the most satisfactory location for students. According to the study, “sensory richness,” “complexity” and “mystery” were significant indicators of students' satisfaction in this area. This area also had the widest radius and field of view feasible, which gave it a feeling of openness and spaciousness.

This study explores the influence of students' experiences, behavioral patterns and visual analyses on their use of open spaces on university campuses, with a focus on the Iran University of Science and Technology. By assessing students' satisfaction levels with these spaces, this research provides valuable insights that can guide the initial analysis stage before the design process and facilitate design optimization during the development stages. The results highlight the importance of considering user experiences and visual analysis when planning and creating open spaces on university campuses.

Highlights

1. Conducting an initial analysis before developing a design plan can be very helpful in understanding how users think and behave.

2. The three criteria of visual quality that have the strongest correlation with students' satisfaction with “open space” are “mystery,” “sensory richness” and “complexity.”

3. Two factors, namely the “radius of vision” and the “area” index, significantly influence students' satisfaction with open spaces.

4. Outdoor designers should incorporate “green space” and “gathering spaces” into their designs since the presence of these is effective in attracting and satisfying students.

5. The number of people using an open space has little to do with how satisfied students are with it.

6. Half of the students use open areas between 11:00 and 14:00, so the provision of “canopy” and “shelter” in these spaces is essential.

Conducting an initial analysis before developing a design plan can be very helpful in understanding how users think and behave.

The three criteria of visual quality that have the strongest correlation with students' satisfaction with “open space” are “mystery,” “sensory richness” and “complexity.”

Two factors, namely the “radius of vision” and the “area” index, significantly influence students' satisfaction with open spaces.

Outdoor designers should incorporate “green space” and “gathering spaces” into their designs since the presence of these is effective in attracting and satisfying students.

The number of people using an open space has little to do with how satisfied students are with it.

Half of the students use open areas between 11:00 and 14:00, so the provision of “canopy” and “shelter” in these spaces is essential.