Rapid urbanization requires swift infrastructure development, often prioritizing flat areas while leaving behind undulating terrain due to expensive and slow activities required for their preparation. In Pakistan, suburban flat agricultural lands are converted into residential and commercial zones but as demand grows, the undulating areas are levelled hastily sometimes leading to inadequate or no compaction. This study aims to enhance the performance of such loose unsaturated soils by introducing moisture using Vertical Sand Drains (VSDs) in a regulated manner to achieve maximum pre-construction settlement along with shear strength quickly and cost effectively. Simulating freshly levelled areas, indigenous soil was subjected to rigorous testing in an uncompacted and unsaturated state against static loading of self-weight and surcharge to observe the effect of VSDs at various moisture contents. Better moisture distribution and more cumulative settlements were observed when VSDs were used. Maximum enhancement in shear strength was observed when 16-17% moisture content was achieved in the soil mass. Shear strength and cumulative soil settlement increased to 82% and 135.7% respectively when VSDs were used along with surcharge loading. The findings of this study will help in preparing unused lands for infrastructure development on a macro scale rapidly and economically for efficient land usage and thus development of compact and sustainable cities.

Except for addressing landfill requirements, incorporating recycled coarse aggregate into concrete development contributes to the creation of environmentally friendly and sustainable infrastructures. Moreover, among the variety of procedures used to reinforce and repair concrete structural elements, ferrocement confinement (FC) is a very adaptable approach. It stands out from many alternative approaches because of its exceptional features, which include affordability, ease of availability, and simplicity in production by common labor. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating FC into emerging nation construction methods. A detailed investigation was conducted to determine the effects of using FC wrapping on square-reinforced recycled aggregate concrete columns with different cross-sectional areas. Twenty-four carefully cast concrete column specimens in a range of diameters were put to axial compressive loads. Twelve sample were fabricated with recycled aggregate concrete and FC confinement while the other twelve samples were produced as control samples with natural aggerate concrete. The specimens were subsequently divided into four groups, each with a different size but the same slenderness ratio (1:6), to examine the effects of different column diameters on the benefits of ferrocement confinement. The stiffness of FC confined samples was improved by increasing the cross-sectional dimensions of the columns. The strength enhancement factor of confined samples was decreased by increasing the cross-sectional dimensions of the columns. The strength enhancement factor of confined sample 100 x 100 mm size was 2.33 Ks which reduced to 2.14, 2.05, and 1.95 Ks by increasing the side length of columns to 125 mm, 150 mm, and 175 mm, respectively. In addition, a cost-benefit analysis was carried out to emphasize how feasible and urgent it is for the construction sector to implement this technique right away.