Despite the importance of integrated recreation cities (IRC) to the wellbeing of individuals, families, and society, there is only one IRC which is under development in Saudi Arabia (KSA). This research aims to study the potential contributions of IRCs to sustainable development in KSA, the constraints facing them, and effectuation policies to support their applications. To achieve this goal, the research used a documentary inductive approach, which includes a review of related literature and an applied approach that includes field surveys of a random sample of 160 experts and officials. In addition to articulating the most significant contributions of IRCs and the most important constraints facing them, the research was able to provide a number of policies and measures useful in guiding the development of new IRCs in KSA and Dammam Metropolitan Area (DMA) in support of sustainable development. The contributions of this research are aligned with that put forward by the 2030 Vision of KSA, which considers the promotion of “recreational development” a necessary step to achieve environmental, economic, and social sustainability for the Saudi society.

University common spaces are increasingly recognized as critical environments for social interaction and informal learning; yet empirical frameworks that integrate biophilic design, placemaking, and affective post-occupancy evaluation remain limited in educational contexts. This research adopts a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) design to assess how spatial configuration and biophilic placemaking strategies influence emotional experience, social interaction, and perceived inclusion in a redesigned university lobby serving five colleges. A structured questionnaire was administered to 212 users using the Pleasure–Arousal–Dominance (PAD) model, triangulated with systematic behavioral observations and spatial analysis. The results demonstrate that integrating biophilic elements, improving spatial organization, and introducing student-led activity areas yielded high perceived comfort (M = 3.75), balanced stimulation (M = 3.10), and a stronger sense of spatial control (M = 3.16), with significant positive correlations between biophilic integration scores and all three PAD dimensions. These findings introduce and empirically validate the concept of Socio-Biophilic Synergy and propose the Biophilic Placemaking Framework (BPF) as a unified evaluative structure, demonstrating that the intentional spatial design of the university spaces can meaningfully enhance social sustainability and emotional well-being in university environments.