The need for high-density housing is increasing in Palestine. The dramatic limitation of land and the high demand for housing is greatly influencing urban qualities. Besides which, the current types of settlements contain a lot of disadvantages. These are mostly low-rise, low-density, or high-rise, high-density types of housing, which usually consist of independent typologies. In addition, the traditional typologies are mainly delivered from the courtyard prototype. They form a compact fabric that can contain a high-density of the population. However, the influence of traditional typologies is rarely found in the contemporary housing of Palestine. This paper investigates the values of the traditional typologies in order to propose them as a possible choice for future development. The investigation leads to the following conclusions: the traditional typologies have the advantages of both low-rise and high-rise independent typologies. They also characterize the whole settlement with great values based on socio-cultural sustainability, which are rarely found in contemporary housing: minimal waste of outdoor spaces, ability to growth, adaptability, environmental adequacy, and minimal infrastructure and services.
This paper targets the future energy sustainability and aims to estimate the potential energy production from installing photovoltaic (PV) systems on the rooftop of apartment’s residential buildings, which represent the largest building sector. Analysis of the residential building typologies was carried out to select the most used residential building types in terms of building roof area, number of floors, and the number of apartments on each floor. A computer simulation tool has been used to calculate the electricity production for each building type, for three different tilt angles to estimate the electricity production. Tilt angle, spacing between the arrays, the building shape, shading from PV arrays, and other roof elements were analyzed for optimum and maximum electricity production. The electricity production for each household has been compared to typical household electricity consumption and its future consumption in 2030. The results show that installing PV systems on residential buildings can speed the transition to renewable energy and energy sustainability. The electricity production for building types with 2–4 residential units can surplus their estimated future consumption. Building types with 4–8 residential units can produce their electricity consumption in 2030. Building types of 12–24 residential units can produce more than half of their 2030 future consumption.
Achieving social sustainability is an important aim towards achieving sustainable development goals for 2030. This paper aims to evaluate the compatibility of collective spaces with the contemporary social needs in the residential areas in Palestine. It is hypothesized that collective spaces such as cul-de-sacs have the potential for a contribution towards social sustainability. A field research for urban design architectural components for cul-de-sacs and grid streets in Nablus city was conducted based on social sustainability values. Then, a questionnaire was developed to measure people’s satisfaction with living in such collective spaces in terms of social sustainability values. The results show that the satisfaction in collective spaces rises in the cul-de-sac housing compared to grid street houses. Based on these results, a cul-de-sac is a high-potential approach for enhancing social interaction in collective spaces because it provides the four values of social sustainability: privacy, security, equality, and environmental quality. Such qualities are very basic and essential human needs to be considered in housing design. Finally, proposed guidelines for designing contemporary collective spaces based on learning from traditional cul-de-sacs were introduced to enhance future social sustainability.
This paper assesses the potential of multiplicity in the housing environment for achieving social sustainability compared to singularity. For this purpose, a neighborhood assessment framework was developed to cover three values of social sustainability, namely, stability, continuity, and fairness, as well as several factors related to each value. Two cases were chosen from the neighborhoods in the city of Nablus: Type (1) as an example of multiplicity, and type (2) as an example of singularity. The research data were collected through an architectural survey on the features of both types of neighborhoods, and analyzed in details. On this basis, the two types of neighborhoods were compared based on the said values. The results show that the values of sustainability increase in type (2) at the level of the single building, while growing in type (1) at the level of the residential neighborhood. Multiplicity is a high-potential approach for achieving social sustainability, if the design of the residential buildings caters to people’s needs and wants. In addition, several suggestions were made for improving the neighborhood design in Palestine based on multiplicity.
The paper aims to measure the ability of housing design in Palestine to respond to any emerging functions and needs and the ability to adapt to new and possible sudden lifestyle changes. Four different interior house types were analyzed, two refer to the traditional approach of the closed plan, and another two types refer to the modern approaches of the open plan in terms of adaptation to new needs. These needs are adaptability to work from home, flexibility to change, separate or merge functions, and the adaptability to respond to health issues like quarantine. The study adopts the method of architectural analysis and questionnaire to measure people's opinions about all types in terms of sudden functions. The study takes the COVID-19 pandemic conditions as a case study. The main finding of the study is establishing a relationship between style of housing spatial design and the ability for adapting sudden changes in lifestyle. It shows that the traditional designs adapt to most changing lifestyles successfully, the independent guest room was converted into an office or guaranteed room. Moreover, the modern open plan house design with a T shape of the day wing is the best choice for adapting to the post-COVID-19.
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