Despite the increasing number of flood studies, the interrelationships between urban form indices (UFIs) and flood resilience (FR) have received little attention and hold miscellaneous perspectives. Consequentially, this study identifies how UFIs at various spatial scales affect FR by synthesizing article findings and proposing insights for future research. Scientometric analysis has been used to analyze the gathered peer-reviewed articles from nine research engines without time restrictions. One hundred and eighteen relevant articles were included and thoroughly investigated using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. Our findings indicate that divergent and dialectical perspectives about the efficacy of UFIs are due to multiple disciplines, methodologies, and different case study contexts. The included studies were classified according to urban scale as macro (citywide), meso (districts), micro (block), and multi-scalar analysis by 80.5%, 6.8%, 10.2%, and 2.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the included studies were categorized based on analysis type into realistic case studies, literature reviews, modeling, and hybrid analysis, with 74.6%, 7.6%, 14.4%, and 3.4%, respectively. At the macroscale, city density and spatial distribution degree have the most significant effect on FR. At the same time, mixed uses, connectivity, coverage ratio, block arrangements, and street characteristics are on the meso and micro scales. Further studies on the trade-offs and commonality between UFIs, FR, and overall urban resilience are required to shape climate-adaptive, sustainable communities.

Under rapid urbanization-induced global warming and resource depletion, growing interest in zero-energy building (ZEB) and zero-emission building (ZEB) technologies have emerged globally to improve energy performance in homes and shape sustainable cities. Although several countries have released ZEB-enhanced strategies and set national standards and policies to promote ZEBs, construction projects are still limited to demonstration projects. This paper reviews global ZEB activities and state-of-the-art technologies for energy-efficient residential building technologies [based on an evaluation of 40 residential buildings]. Over 40 residential buildings on different continents were reviewed, and their technical details and performance were evaluated. Our results show that 62.5% of the buildings achieved the +ZEB standard, 25% of the buildings were net-zero energy buildings, and only 12.5% of the buildings were near-zero energy buildings. Solar PV is the most widely used renewable energy source in the studied cases, while in warmer climates, advanced cooling technologies and heat pumps are the preferred technologies. A building envelope and thermal ventilation with heat recovery are essential in cold climates. Our systematic analysis reveals that the thermal performance of the building envelope and solar energy are the most effective mechanisms for achieving energy efficiency and shaping sustainable cities.

Recently, various infectious diseases have emerged, some of which have evolved into world-threatening pandemic outbreaks. Since December 2019, the disastrous COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, claiming many human lives, and dragging the global economy to a standstill with a dramatic recession. Among the ramifications are the transformations of commercial activity because of the prejudicial impact of the lockdown: a shift of sales channels towards online alternatives, accompanied by procedures for temporary closures or a move into the periphery regions with low operational expenses. Our research has significantly identified the influence of the characteristics of commercial uses on human behavioral changes in two Egyptian cities, namely the 6th of October and Sheikh Zayed, as a case study, in achieving self-sufficiency for residents during devastating outbreaks. Depending on geospatial software, descriptive geostatistical analysis, and semi-structured interviews, the study found that in both cities, new small commercial centers and complexes with more open spaces became more attractive than large malls by 74%. Also, new commercial forms are positively correlated with open spaces and negatively correlated with population density (estimated at.992 and − .366, respectively). This result may guide policymakers to transfer from huge malls to smarter, greener, dispersed malls during city planning and from monocentric urban structures to polycentric and linear commercial centers, shaping pandemic-resilient cities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected mental and physical well-being, leading to significant changes in daily habits and preferences. Given that pandemics require the tear down of most social ties and interactions to limit their inevitable spread, this study delved into the extent to which social infrastructures have been affected, focusing on behavioral shifts in essential services such as retail, recreation, groceries, pharmacies, public transport, parks and open spaces, workplaces, and residential areas. Notably, while most social infrastructures saw a decline in public usage, parks and open spaces experienced increased visitation despite public health measures aimed at minimizing social interactions. This striking increase in park and open space visitations has captured the interest of this study to observe the impact it had on the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the underlying causes behind this trend. Since Europe was heavily affected by the pandemic, this study focused specifically on European countries over a two-year period (March 2020 to March 2022), covering the severe period of the pandemic. While parks and open spaces initially showed no direct influence on the pandemic trajectory, when closely observing visitation trends, both increases and declines, opposing insights were revealed. This study found that attempts to reduce park and open space visitation were significantly unsuccessful, leading to substantial increases in both the magnitude and duration of visits once restrictions were eased. This surge in park and open space attendance corresponded to notable spikes in new infections during periods of peak visitation. Therefore, urban planning and public health authorities must prioritize safely accommodating the increased park and open space demand while effectively minimizing virus transmission. This involves considering park sizes and proximity, along with implementing a balanced set of crucial public health strategies to support community well-being and resilience.

Urban flooding has become an increasingly critical challenge worldwide, driven by urbanisation-induced changes to natural drainage systems and intensifying climate-driven precipitation extremes. Previous research on water-sensitive urban design has largely focused on stormwater runoff in simplified urban layouts, while giving less attention to the complexity of real urban form and its effect on flood behaviour. This study addresses this gap by systematically evaluating how diverse and complex urban configurations influence flood flow characteristics. Eight representative urban layouts, including four procedurally generated forms and four realistic forms, were developed within a two square kilometre area (1 × 2 km) using UrbanXTool, OpenStreetMap data, and ArcGIS. Two-dimensional hydraulic modelling was conducted under uniform hydraulic conditions to test the influence of six urban morphological parameters: street orientation, street curvature, street length, street width, mean parcel area, and building setbacks. A mild 1% slope, typical of floodplain environments, was selected to isolate the effect of urban form while limiting external hydrological variability. The results indicate that mean parcel area (0.41), building setbacks (inversely associated with building coverage (−0.64), and street length (−0.09) are the parameters most strongly associated with changes in flood dynamics. High-density urban layouts with irregular street networks produced a 35.65% increase in peak water depth and a 24.30% increase in building damage rate compared with other configurations. These findings provide actionable insights for designing flood-resilient urban environments and advance current understanding of how urban morphology influences flood risk.