عقيل قصي خميس الموسوي

Abstract In the Iraqi context the importance of urban regeneration in improving the conditions of the physical environment is still not recognized. Furthermore, the rise of urban regeneration initiatives in Iraq due to the deterioration of the physical urban heritage in Iraqi cities, leads to raising the questions about the level of success of these initiatives in finding sustainable solutions to the urban problems with regard to heritage conservation. The current study attempts to develop a suitable assessment strategy for local regeneration projects and to explore possible alternatives which can assist in reorienting urban design strategies towards more sustainability based on assessment of the urban design aspects against a set of performance criteria and indicators. The study argues that urban design is integral to the process of urban regeneration achievement and assessment; through identifying the relationship between urban design principles and sustainable development objectives in the regeneration practises. Based on that, indicators were identified to form the skeleton of the assessment strategy to measure the performance of urban regeneration at the local level. These indicators underwent a detailed evaluation process, with the help of local experts. The research methodology and findings would enrich the related academic fields and will help to strengthen the understanding of urban designers and local stakeholders on how to plan sustainable regeneration projects and create sustainable communities. To ensure that the derived strategy is theoretically and practically feasible, an urban regeneration project as case study was selected and assessed against individual indicators. Keywords: historic city centres in Iraq, role of urban design in urban regeneration process, sustainable urban regeneration, urban design

The objective of the paper is to understand the dynamics of land tenure arrangements and their interplays in Iraqi urban areas. This paper was carried out in Iraq, it represents an attempt to evaluate the essential features and roles of land sector agencies in facilitating access to Iraqi urban lands. In order to achieve that, this paper dealt with the Iraqi Land Authorities (ILAs) showing the institutional aspect under the Iraqi current situation which plan and manages the recent land acquisition policies. It was also intended to unravel the role of the Iraqi traditional authorities in the issue of land users’ rights. The paper was motivated by the current situation in Iraq. In this paper, the consequences are not just academic: the lack of measurement is broadly linked to the insecurity situation in Iraq, also less official attention and support for land tenure arrangements and its administration; all reduced the study scope. Nevertheless, these limitations, the data gathered was substantial enough to arrive at the paper’s aim. However, Findings reviewed in this paper will represent an important step in laying out the main indicators, and assessing the land sector authorities that regulate the land tenure issues which are sensitive factors to the development of the land users’ rights and the social context in Iraq. Keywords:Land tenure, Urban Authorities,Urban areas, Land arrangements, Iraq.

One of the techniques that have been used in recent years for urban redevelopment is the cultural regeneration which is seen as a means of restoring and improving urban life quality through the enhancement and development of the unique characteristics of a place and its people. In the Iraqi context the importance of urban regeneration in improving the physical environment conditions and the living standards is still not recognized. Furthermore, previous studies dealing with the local context revealed that many urban redevelopment projects did not fully tackle the problems of urban decay and brought dilemmas with regard to heritage conservation. This study is initiated as an attempt to address the deficiencies of current practices and ascertain the quality of the urban regeneration projects, defining what constitutes a sustainable urban regeneration project and how to implement it. The study argues that urban design is integral to the process of urban regeneration. Therefore the study looks at how heritage quarters are developed in city centre areas, and outlines the ways in which urban design techniques are used as part of the process of wider urban regeneration. In this regard, the study suggested the adoption of a holistic approach to urban regeneration, with policy-makers using heritage as an organizing principle for city management and urban design. The research is an attempt to ‘develop an assessment approach to urban regeneration proposals/projects to be conducted in Iraqi historic cities in particular and Iraqi cities in general by means of urban design’; ‘to identify the relationship between urban design principles and the sustainable development objectives’ and ‘to determine the underlying factors that contribute to sustainable urban regeneration’. Therefore the main aim of the current study is to develop and derive a strategy for measuring the sustainability level of local urban regeneration initiatives (proposals/projects), based on assessment of the urban design aspects against a set of pre-determined performance criteria and indicators. Additionally, this approach can be considered as a framework which could assist policy-makers in determining the sustainability of ongoing urban regeneration as well as in performing dynamic and long-term monitoring of the process. Through comprehensive literature review, urban regeneration practices were clearly identified. Sustainability concept, value of urban design, design considerations enhancing physical sustainable development and their interrelationship were also explained. By adopting various data collection and analyses methods such as questionnaire surveys and general views of Iraqi experts on the status of urban heritage environment in Iraq, the significance of design principles for sustainable development and the underlying factors that account for the variances in their perceptions could be elicited. Based on the factors highlighted, the criteria and indicators of the assessment strategy were identified and its framework was also derived. This framework was used to find out the relative importance of individual design criteria and form the skeleton of the assessment strategy. In order to ensure the validity of the derived assessment tool and its effectiveness in assessing the sustainability level of national urban regeneration projects, a number ofVI schemes and indicators were developed in the current research under various design aspects to measure the performance of urban regeneration projects at the local level. The indicators underwent a detailed evaluation process, with the help of local experts from urban planning and urban design fields, which has revealed that the strategy indicators are an effective and valuable tool to accomplish sustainable urban regeneration projects in Iraq. The research findings will help to strengthen the understanding of urban designers and local stakeholders on how to plan sustainable urban regeneration projects and create a sustainable community afterwards. By combining sustainability concepts with value of urban design, the research methodology and findings would enrich the related academic fields. In addition it introduces an assessment approach to existing urban heritage contexts to help the policy makers in planning their development strategies according to the assessment results. To ensure that the derived assessment strategy by the current study is theoretically and practically feasible, and to ensure that the assessment strategy is able to measure the design quality and sustainability level of urban regeneration projects in real life context, two urban regeneration projects as case studies were selected and assessed against individual indicators Keywords: Sustainable physical redevelopment, Urban Regeneration, Urban design, Role of urban design in urban regeneration process, Historic city centres

Abstract The interest in this topic comes as part of the modern trends to study the architectural heritage of nations. Most of the studies that interpreted the Islamic heritage architecture had a high degree of generalization and narrative approaches that called for precise studies concerned with the main characteristics, patterns and the prevailing shapes amongst different regions and periods. This study attempts to develop an analytical approach by studying the design characteristics of a specific element and discovering its evolution and spread in different cultures, regions and periods. The dome was selected for the study because it represents a symbolic element in different civilizations and conduction of a comparative study identified the design characteristics in these regions. The study adopted a quantitative analysis approach to data collection and data analysis. The developed analytical framework can be employed for different architectural elements or functional types. Keywords: dome, dome in Islamic architecture, Islamic regions, heritage architecture, design characteristics, design variables.