The built environment, urban processes, and experience all work together to create the spatial environment of a city. Many urban spaces, especially those that appear to be ‘leftover’, do not reflect a set concept but are constantly questioned and recreated. Recognizing leftover spaces in an urban environment is an important aspect of the urban redevelopment process. Researchers have highlighted the difficulties, circumstances, and relevance of making good use of leftover space. To accomplish environmental and social benefits, these places can be created, changed, and incorporated into the main urban fabric; however, there is a scarcity of knowledge on how to go about constructing such environments. This study explores the visual perception of two groups of people, those with knowledge of the built environment and those with other educational backgrounds regarding leftover spaces in Wellington City. The research, which employs a mixed approach, consists of three studies, beginning with a visual preference study to better understand human perceptions, which might lead to better design solutions. The second study looked at differences in design preferences across the built environment and non-built environment participants. Finally, individuals from the built and non-built environments participants were invited to a focus group discussion for study three. To summarize, the findings demonstrated that adding vegetation is a crucial design feature. The findings refute the hypotheses of non-built environment specialists have different design perceptions for a built environment.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), formalized by Calthorpe and Poticha in 1993, emerged to counter urban sprawl, reduce car dependency, and revitalize historical community centers. Rooted in “new urbanism”, TOD emphasizes integrated regional land-use planning and high-capacity public transportation. In the Middle East, TOD implementation remains understudied, particularly regarding heritage integration and social equity in arid climates. Doha’s rapid social and economic transformation presents both opportunities and risks: growth offers urban revitalization yet threatens to displace communities and dilute cultural identity. Shifts in urban planning have aimed to address sustainability, connectivity, and heritage preservation. This study examines Msheireb Downtown Doha (MDD) to assess how TOD can restore historic districts while managing gentrification, enhancing accessibility and promoting inclusiveness. A mixed-methods approach was applied, including 12 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (Qatar Rail, Msheireb Properties, Ministry of Municipality and Environment), purposive surveys of 80 urban users, site observations, and spatial mapping. Using the Node-Place-People (NPP) model, the study evaluates TOD effectiveness across transportation connectivity (node), built environment quality (place), and equity metrics (people). The findings show that MDD successfully implements fundamental TOD principles through its design, which enhances connectivity, walkability, social inclusiveness, and heritage preservation. However, multiple obstacles remain: the “peripheral island effect” limits benefits to the core, pedestrian–vehicular balance is unresolved, and commercial gentrification is on the rise. This research provides evidence-based knowledge for GCC cities pursuing sustainable urban regeneration by demonstrating both the advantages of TOD and the necessity for critical, context-sensitive implementation that focuses on social equity together with physical transformation.

Urban parks improve the overall quality of life (QoL) by reducing CO₂ emissions, depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Urban green spaces shape our lives by influencing our mental and physical well-being. High-income dwellers of low-density urban areas enjoy a wide range of health benefits because they have better access to sustainable logistics urban parks (SLUPs), while the economically disadvantaged sometimes have fewer chances to access parks in their high-density suburbs in Middle Eastern Countries (MECs). The disparity in accessibility to urban parks raises questions about the inclusivity of civic facilities. Therefore, this study seeks to answer the following question: What challenges do MECs face in the successful implementation of SLUPs? This study aimed to analyze and understand the challenges of establishing SLUPs in MECs. To achieve this aim, this study adopted a mixed-method approach, whereby in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys were utilized to collect and validate the data. The study outcome shows that the gap in stakeholder collaboration and high land prices are the major challenges, whereas sociability issues, lack of awareness, and interest are the minor challenges in establishing SLUPs in MECs.

Neoliberal privatization models, emphasizing economic advancement over universal fairness, present considerable challenges to the urban regeneration process in post-conflict environments. The Solidere project in Beirut shows how architectural development in the Central District establishes social obstacles through its transformation of 1.8 million m² of war-destroyed territory. This research applies UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) framework to distinguish regeneration from gentrification systematically and to assess the impact of privatized governance. By employing rigorous case study methodologies to assess master plans, legal statutes, corporate reports, and academic publications, four evaluation criteria for the HUL: historical layering, social participation, spatial connectivity, and physical integrity, were developed. The results show that while Solidere’s physical reconstruction was successful; it did not incorporate HUL principles fully. This resulted in the forced relocation of between 40,000 and 60,000 individuals, the commercialization of heritage through façadism, with 24% of the original buildings being preserved and 76% being destroyed. Sarajevo serves as a point of comparison, revealing the vulnerabilities of profit-driven approaches. The study shows that market-driven reconstruction efforts lacking public engagement will foster exclusionary gentrification, resulting in the erosion of urban identity and ownership, challenging neoliberal urban theories.

This study investigates the psychological dimensions of Human-AI collaboration in architectural education through a retrospective analysis of pedagogical documentation and student work from a second-year architectural design studio. The concept of algorithmic intimacy is introduced to characterise the emotional and collaborative bonds students develop with Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents, specifically examining how these relationships influence authorship attribution and professional identity formation. The research identifies four key themes: the prompt as a medium of personal expression, student ambivalence regarding authorship during critique defences, the tension between efficiency and deep comprehension in the design thinking process, and the projection of personal identity onto AI-generated outputs. While this inverse, concept-first pedagogical model facilitates rapid conceptual exploration, it presents challenges that may constrain students’ creative agency. Consequently, this study proposes a pedagogy of ‘algorithmic reflexivity’ to assist students in navigating authorship, agency, and ethical practice in an AI-augmented discipline. By shifting the analytical focus from the final design outcomes to the Human-AI interaction itself, this study offers critical strategies for integrating generative technologies into creative education.