Contemporary urbanisation in hot-arid cities presents coupled challenges related to sustainability, spatial efficiency, and climate resilience. This study applies Research by Design as a preliminary methodological approach to adapt the superblock typology for Riyadh’s Al-Raed neighbourhood, integrating GIS-based territorial diagnosis with Grasshopper parametric iterations. Sixteen geospatial layers, including land use, density, road hierarchy, transit access, service distribution, green cover, and climatic exposure, inform attractor-based scenario generation and a structured comparative evaluation framework assessing regulatory compliance, human scale, connectivity, and environmental and economic feasibility. The resulting loop-and-courtyard configuration reorganises local streets to strengthen first- and last-mile access, shaded pedestrian continuity, and microclimatic comfort, while supporting Saudi Vision 2030 programs, such as the Quality of Life Program, National Transport and Logistics Strategy, Riyadh Public Transport Program, and Saudi Green Initiative. Quantitative spatial indicators are interpreted alongside design-based morphological reasoning to inform spatial decisions, acknowledging climatic and cultural constraints. This study contributes a reproducible, policy-relevant digital workflow for neighborhood-scale urban transformation in Riyadh and comparable hot-arid contexts. As a preliminary Research by Design phase, it structures iterative scenarios and a structured comparative evaluation framework, providing a foundation for subsequent quantitative and empirical validation.

The historic center of Jeddah is an area rich in both tangible and intangible resources that highlight its significant cultural and traditional heritage. This study introduces a Heritage Tourism Inventory Framework (HTIF) that integrates both types of heritage assets into a comprehensive GIS-based inventory. The framework was developed by synthesizing information from heritage tourism and inventory literature, classifying heritage resources, employing GIS-based spatial documentation methods, and conceptually designing a database capable of recording and presenting both tangible and intangible heritage values within a tourism context. The results identified a comprehensive range of tangible heritage assets, including residential, religious, commercial, institutional, and public heritage resources, along with associated intangible heritage values such as pilgrimage traditions, religious practices, craftsmanship, hospitality, merchant culture, food heritage, and collective memory. These resources were integrated into a standardized inventory database using a place-based approach that spatially links intangible heritage to the locations where cultural practices are performed or maintained. The proposed HTIF expands conventional heritage inventories by integrating tangible and intangible heritage within a unified spatial framework, thereby providing a more comprehensive representation of historic urban landscapes. The framework contributes to heritage tourism research by offering a transferable methodology for heritage documentation while supporting heritage conservation, tourism planning, visitor interpretation, cultural route development, and digital heritage management.

Understanding the emergence and evolution of ecotourism opportunities is important for sustainable tourism development, particularly in rapidly transforming destinations. However, limited research has examined how multiple dimensions of ecotourism opportunities interact within an interconnected destination system from a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) perspective. This study therefore examines how ecological, socio-cultural, sustainability, educational, and tourism-related dimensions are interconnected in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and interprets their documented relationships through the concepts of complexity and adaptive tendencies. A qualitative documentary research design was employed using a purposively selected corpus of 20 academic and institutional documents. The evidence was analyzed through structured thematic coding against an established framework comprising five dimensions and thirteen criteria, followed by exploratory system mapping of the documented relationships. The study applied an established framework comprising five ecotourism dimensions and thirteen criteria and developed system diagrams to map relationships identified through qualitative documentary analysis. The documentary evidence suggests that ecotourism opportunities in AlUla are shaped by interrelationships among ecological, socio-cultural, sustainability, educational, and tourism-related components, rather than by isolated development initiatives. The research shows how national policy reforms, conservation efforts, historical preservation initiatives, and tourism investments collectively shape ecotourism prospects. This study contributes by applying an established ecotourism opportunity framework to the AlUla context and interpreting relationships among its dimensions through a CAS perspective and system diagrams. This application provides a structured basis for examining how interconnected ecological, socio-cultural, sustainability, educational, and tourism-related factors shape ecotourism development within a rapidly transforming destination. The study offer actionable insights for tourism planners, regulators, and conservation authorities seeking to reconcile tourism expansion, environmental preservation, and community interests in rapidly changing tourism locales.