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The policy for spatial organization considers three levels: the first is the distribution between the rural and urban populations, the second is the distribution of the urban population between the metropolitan region and the interior, and the third is the spatial organization of the urban population in the interior.

The objective of this paper is mainly to contribute to and activate, the process of saving and preserving the rich tangible and intangible heritage embraced in the historic center of Al-Najaf city. This was possible through examining the existing historic urban and architectural structures of the city, unveiling the major issues that are threatening both its traditional cultural and architectural identity, and finally analyzing similar examples that proved to be successful in addressing similar problems in order to derive possible strategies for saving, preserving and revitalizing the historical center of Al-Najaf Old City.

This paper addresses the major problems of heritage preservation in Al-Najaf City (750 AD), which is one of the historical and most sacred religious centers especially for Shia Muslims around the world. Despite its importance, the rich cultural and architectural heritage of the city is dramatically neglected and seriously threatened to be lost.

Preservation in Al-Najaf City is proposed as a sustainable development strategy. Top-down and bottom-up strategies are proposed not only for preserving the historic architectural and urban characteristics of the city but also for reviving its social and cultural activities and traditions.

The major issues addressed in this paper include the fragmentation and decentralization of the cohesive traditional urban fabric, the disruption of the spatial organization, the deformation of the traditional architectural characteristics of the city and its skyline, the discontinuity of facades' patterns, the destruction and demolition of historical buildings, the transformation of land use, and the regression of traditional social and cultural activities.

This paper aims to offers an assessment of the current transformation process of Doha's historic centre, which has become a major focus of public development strategies. While the historic centre was neglected during most of the second half of the 20th century, recent public initiatives have been leading to new urban morphologies and typologies. In addition to the redevelopment of the historic market and the investments in museums, a large scale mixed use development, known as Msheireb project, has been launched, which will replace an entire district. The objective of this paper is therefore to clarify how these public initiatives are modifying existing urban structures and to which extent this spatial reconfiguration contributes to major revitalisation objectives, such as diversity, consolidation and identity. The methodologies include a GIS survey to analyse the shift in urban densities, land uses and typologies as well as a Space Syntax study assessing the various levels of spatial integration in the case of the Msheireb project.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of urban design quality on the real estate value of commercial office property. Empirical evidence based on quantitative research into the added value of quality design on real estate performance has seen little advancement during the past two decades. Office sector hedonic analysis has been predominantly characterised by a piecemeal approach focusing on specific attributes and lacking a holistic approach to the effects of design quality on real estate value. This paper brings forward new empirical evidence to assess the added value of quality design based on quantitative analysis of office sector performance in the historic urban core of a UK city.

Using a unique dataset of 279 Belfast City Centre office properties rented during the period 1995‐2009, this study employs regression analysis to estimate a hedonic pricing model based on a composite range of variables. The contribution of this study is the complementary utilisation of quantitative and qualitative methods to generate variables incorporating a holistic approach to design quality at three different levels of investigation: interior; exterior/architectural; and urban scale.

The key findings show that higher design quality specifications in the three levels (interior, exterior and urban scale) can generate rent premiums. Aspects of quality design that include connectivity and building facade distinctiveness enhance corporate image; and material quality appropriateness adds to real estate value whereas the lack of preference for tall buildings and high‐end interior quality specifications in historic cores reflect market reactions to economic trends.

This paper provides investors and developers with insights about those aspects of quality design that are highly valued by office tenants in historic urban cores. This is especially significant in the downturn of the property cycle with investment priorities playing a crucial role in a project's economic viability.

This study bridges a significant gap in the literature concerning hedonic investigation of the added value of quality design on real estate performance. This holistic approach using quantitative and qualitative methods and incorporating urban design variables constitutes a unique approach to quantifying quality impacts on real estate value.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and result of urban public space regeneration (UPSR) plans in Tokyo's urban center under the guidance of Urban Renaissance. It aims to clarify why public space has a close relationship with urbanization and urban regeneration, and why compact and diverse urban public spaces can promote public life.

Firstly, this paper investigated urbanization and urban renaissance in Tokyo, and analyzed the motivation for implementing UPSR from the perspective of urban policy. By on-the-spot investigations and literature materials, this paper introduced urban regeneration measures of Roppongi Hills to Toranomon Hills, and then summarized the similarities and differences between Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills by studying them on the basis of contrast.

UPSR had been an important component of the re-urbanization process and an essential method of strengthening urban vitality. Moreover, it promotes the development of polycentric urban structure and the return of population to urban center. First, the UPSR pattern integrating vertical space and street space can form a net-shaped urban life circle. Second, more diversified public activities can serve more varied groups of people.

This paper systematically analyzes the development reasons and process of UPSR project in Tokyo from both internal and external factors, and summarizes the future development direction of public space through the comparison of the two projects, and provides a reference for urban public space renewal in the future.

With the increasing urbanization rates in emerging countries such as the ones in Latin America and the Caribbean, urban logistics solutions and initiatives are widely needed. Urban planners often consider only passenger transportation and leave freight transportation unattended, thus increasing externalities and degrading the transportation of goods. This chapter presents three urban logistics solutions, which intend to tackle problems related to urbanization and last mile delivery operations challenges by evaluating location models for loading and unloading bays, urban transfer centers location models, and freight trip generation models. The presented solutions were proposed by several researchers of the Institute of Innovation in Productivity and Logistics CATENA-USFQ over the last four years and remain theoretical at the moment. However, we present estimated results of potential implementations in three districts of Quito: Historic Center, Entertainment District, and Corporate District. This chapter not only presents the mentioned urban logistics solutions in Quito but also gives an overview of the followed methodology, which can be replicated in countries and cities of similar characteristics of the region.

The aim is to depict the effects of the rural-urban transformation visible in most western societies during the last few decades by examining the Swedish-speaking part of Finland, a geographically divided region kept together by a common language and culture. Everything from the remotely rural to the very central urban is represented here, as well as all possible types of outcomes of the post-industrial urbanization process: growing metropolitan centres, suburbs and commuting areas, declining smaller regional centres, counter-urbanization, and both viable and declining rural areas.

Population mobility may upset the formation (or preservation) of communities, and while these are vital for any sound and well-functioning society, we see a sense of community as especially crucial for the survival of minority populations. The empirical study consists of an overview of demographic trends during the time period from 1980 onwards to 2012, and in parallel, an overview of mobility patterns between urban and rural areas as well as of commuting.

The late modern trend of counter-urbanization is visible in our material, but still, while this does not extend outside the narrow commuting area, counter-urbanization may not be comprehended as a major trend in the Swedish-speaking regions. The main finding is the effect on communities of urbanization and counter-urbanization depicted by the ability to ‘live in Swedish’ in the different types of areas on the rural-urban scale. The study shows that while an area seemingly thrives, with evidence of population growth and in-migration, a high level of mobility may still hurt the prerequisites for community formation.

Over the past four decades, many urban regions, including the Amsterdam region, have changed from compact monocentric urban entities to - albeit still fairly compact - polycentric urban regions. This has been illustrated frequently and in various ways, for example with daily interaction information. A question relevant to this transformation concerns the implications it poses to the different centres and milieus in the urban region, especially the “old” central city. Is the central city quickly losing position, or is it gaining a new, vital place in the urban region? Can the answer to that be deduced from the population dynamics in the urban region? Is insight into the residential mobility process helpful in understanding the changing residential structure and the functioning of the urban system? This paper addresses these questions, using data that make it possible to analyse urban dynamics.