Historical street scenes materialize essential cultural and artistic values for the cities in which they are located and their citizens. However, the visual quality of historical scenes is susceptible to a number of causes that could result in their deterioration. These causes can be environmental or man-made, with either generating elements that may influence the perceived visual quality of historical scenes. Therefore, this research is to assess the visual quality of historical street scenes and identify the elements that can potentially impact them. The study adopted a photo survey approach employing a Likert Scale as the main method to assess visual quality. In addition, a heatmap analysis technique was utilized to identify the elements that impact the visual quality of historical street scenes. The results indicate respondents’ high levels of dissatisfaction with the visual quality of Baghdad’s historical street scenes. The results also showed that modern facade materials, security concrete walls, and degraded buildings’ facades are elements that had a negative impact to the overall scenic quality. On the other hand, historical religious buildings, urban greenery, and unique historical buildings are elements that have a positive impact on the visual quality of historical street scenes. This research represents an approach for evaluating the visual impact and visual quality of historical street scenes, providing a quantitative tool for future initiatives focusing on the visual quality of historical legacy scenes. This research is a starting point for both researchers in urban conservation and architectural history, and municipal offices of improving the visual quality of historic streets scenes.

The merge sections are among the main contributors to traffic congestion on urban expressways. Because of the heavy congestion at the new entrance, the first entrance to the highway, this work will involve determining the impact of traffic at this location to establish the right solutions. Thus, this research selects a merging section on the Mohammed Al-Dora expressway to explore some features of such sections in Iraq. This site has recorded data in the field covering 4 hours. This information was obtained from a video camera located along the expressway in Baghdad, known as the Mohammed Al-Dora Expressway. The AIMSUN program was also incorporated to explore other attributes that are difficult to obtain, such as speed and occupancy, in the existing case. The findings indicated a significant correspondence between the simulated and real data. The AIMSUN program was also considered in this study, working with GEH when it was found to be similar to real-world conditions, and overall traffic operations were further improved through the inclusion of ramp metering strategies and signal cycle optimization. The applications of ramp metering are not employed yet in traffic management in Iraq.