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Heritage cities are challenged by a combination of pressures, including climate change effects, rapid urbanization and abandonment. Conversely, a plethora of new methodologies and instruments are now available, thanks to digital technologies, which hold the potential to support planning conservation of heritage cities. This study seeks to explore the applicability of digital technologies to heritage conservation planning practices, in Jordan, with a more general applicability of some findings to the larger international context. Opportunities and limitations in supporting plans for heritage conservation in heritage cities through digital technologies are discussed. This study analyses several forms of data, including secondary data, semi-structured interviews with heritage experts and focus groups. Recommendations are made to maximise the potential of digital technologies in both eliciting awareness on heritage and documenting it for the purpose of developing more robust and effective conservation plans for heritage cities.

Inclusionary housing is considered a powerful local policy tool that can help address housing affordability and social inclusion issues. This paper draws from empirical research conducted in the City of Santa Monica in California to provide fresh insights on a successful innovative inclusionary housing program, the Affordable Housing Production Program (AHPP). This program was established to increase affordable housing production and enable social integration. Based on the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the General Plan, AHPP seeks to recapture some of the increases in land value resulting from planned increases in the intensity of development. Our research shows that the program increased inclusionary housing production by market-rate developers by 15% over the previous inclusionary housing policy. The study finds that land use policies and planning can, through inclusionary housing, help harness the strength of the real estate market to: 1) increase affordable housing production and, 2) achieve effective social integration in neighborhoods of opportunity.

PurposeAcross the architecture, engineering and construction industry, the application of building information modelling (BIM) as a digital technology for architectural heritage is becoming increasingly relevant. However, scholarly research on the application of BIM for architectural heritage is still in its infancy stage and the research gaps and future directions of this research area are still unclear. This paper therefore aims to fill this gap by using a systematic and robust review using a mixed-method approach to show the gaps of research for BIM and architectural heritage and point to new directions for future works.Design/methodology/approachThe study includes a quantitative scientometric analysis and mapping and a qualitative study. A total of 354 articles related to BIM and architectural heritage were analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative tools. The qualitative study consists of a systematic literature review supported by data collected from stakeholder and training workshops on digital technologies and BIM for heritage.FindingsFindings from this study reveal the gaps in the field of heritage and BIM research according to retrieved articles from different countries and journals. Furthermore, emerging domains for future research were identified and these included: as-built modelling and 3D reconstruction; conservation, preservation and management; documentation; maintenance and restoration; virtual technology and simulation.Originality/valueThe common research challenges were identified as an integrated outcome of the findings revealed from the scientometric mapping and qualitative review and resulted in key BIM and heritage research priority recommendations relevant to researchers within this field.

The impact of digital technologies to the domain of cultural heritage has increased the speed and automation of the processes and practices that involve processing and presentation of digital heritage data. Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) can play a key role towards the conservation, preservation, and management of architectural heritage. This includes the preservation of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage at multiple levels. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of digital storytelling through digital technologies by integrating intangible data and information to the tangible heritage in the scan-to-BIM process. The paper builds on few works that have begun to investigate the classification of intangible qualitative heritage data within a BIM and VR context for heritage assets. This exploration demonstrates that the incorporation of both qualitative and quantitative information about a heritage-built asset has value in the (re)interpretation, documentation and preservation of cultural heritage. The development of HBIM and VR in this paper is to bring together heterogeneous data that has the potential to provide a model for future work in the field of heritage conservation and digital technologies. The city of Surat is used as a case study for exploring the potential of digital storytelling for the city’s urban heritage. Indeed, this holistic integration can enhance the awareness of urban cultural heritage to support the processes of local urban heritage conservation for key stakeholders such as local Government, heritage conservation experts, urban planners and local communities.

The rich architectural and urban heritage of Jordan is under continuing threat not only through means of physical attack but also physical disaster, increasing urbanization and a diminishing value from multiple stakeholders such as owners and users. This research study explores the potential of digital technologies in documenting and preserving urban architectural heritage in Jordan. Data was collected from diverse stakeholders on heritage conservation in Jordan. The findings evidence that Building Information Modelling (BIM) has the potential to create a classification system for heritage buildings under threat and set forth the application of legislation and regulations about heritage . The study demonstrated that the collection of data information needs to be understood through the context of cultural sensitivity. Lack of awareness in the value of cultural heritage from local communities exacerbates the diminishing efforts in preserving cultural assets. In collecting information for the documentation of this heritage, this study categorizes the challenges of preserving urban heritage as either hierarchical or cultural. The collection, management and storing of data for digital heritage requires an awareness of the issues of time and the power structures that are involved in their collection and upon which they have a profound effect.

Currently, heritage is challenged in the Indian city of Surat due to diverse pressures, including rapid urbanization, increasing housing demand, and socio-cultural and climate changes. Where rapid demographic growth of urban areas is happening, heritage is disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite some efforts from the local government, urban cultural heritage is being neglected and historic buildings keep being replaced by ordinary concrete buildings at a worryingly rapid pace. Discussions of challenges and issues of Surat’s urban area is supported by a qualitative dataset, including in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups with local policy makers, planners, and heritage experts, triangulated by observation and a photo-survey of two historic areas. Findings from this study reveal a myriad of challenges such as: inadequacy of urban conservation management policies and processes focused on heritage, absence of skills, training, and resources amongst decision makers and persistent conflict and competition between heritage conservation needs and developers’ interests. Furthermore, the values and significance of Surat’s tangible and intangible heritage is not fully recognized by its citizens and heritage stakeholders. A crucial opportunity exists for Surat to maximize the potential of heritage and reinforce urban identity for its present and future generations. Surat’s context is representative of general trends and conservation challenges and therefore recommendations developed in this study hold the potential to offer interesting insights to the wider planners and conservationists’ international community. This paper recommends thoughtful integration of sustainable heritage urban conservation into local urban development frameworks and the establishment of approaches that recognize the plurality of heritage values.

The Agenda 2030 includes a set of targets that need to be achieved by 2030. Although none\ud of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focuses exclusively on cultural heritage, the\ud resulting Agenda includes explicit reference to heritage in SDG 11.4 and indirect reference to other\ud Goals. Achievement of international targets shall happen at local and national level, and therefore,\ud it is crucial to understand how interventions on local heritage are monitored nationally, therefore\ud feeding into the sustainable development framework. This paper is focused on gauging the\ud implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with reference to cultural heritage, by\ud interrogating the current way of classifying it (and consequently monitoring). In fact, there is no\ud common dataset associated with monitoring SDGs, and the field of heritage is extremely complex\ud and diversified. The purpose for the paper is to understand if the taxonomy used by different\ud national databases allows consistency in the classification and valuing of the different assets\ud categories. The European case study has been chosen as field of investigation, in order to pilot a\ud methodology that can be expanded in further research. A cross‐comparison of a selected sample of\ud publicly accessible national cultural heritage databases has been conducted. As a result, this study\ud confirms the existence of general harmonisation of data towards the achievement of the SDGs with\ud a broad agreement of the conceptualisation of cultural heritage with international frameworks, thus\ud confirming that consistency exists in the classification and valuing of the different assets categories.\ud However, diverse challenges of achieving a consistent and coherent approach to integrating culture\ud in sustainability remains problematic. The findings allow concluding that it could be possible to\ud mainstream across different databases those indicators, which could lead to depicting the overall\ud level of attainment of the Agenda 2030 targets on heritage. However, more research is needed in\ud developing a robust correlation between national datasets and international targets.

Heritage cities are facing unprecedented pressure, due to the combination of climate change impacts, rapid urbanization and uncontrolled growth. Historic urban centres in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are particularly exposed. This paper discusses the benefit of applying digital technologies, and in particular Building Information Modeling (BIM), in supporting heritage conservation, by developing a proof of concept based on a purposely chosen case study, i.e. the traditional Jordanian city of As-Salt near Amman. Building on and moving forward the tradition of paper-based Conservation Handbooks for historic cities, this study aims at exploiting the potential of digital technologies for enhancing the development and implementation of Digital Conservation Handbooks. Documentation and promoting of As-Salt will be conducted through developing a set of virtual models (3D models and BIM objects) suitable to support the construction sector and traditional architecture and heritage, framed and delivered in form of Digital Conservation Handbook. This will be achieved by: developing a new set of BIM (Building Information Modeling) objects related to the traditional architecture heritage in Jordan, suitable to be used by engineers and architects in the development of interventions on the built environment; creating a library of 3D models of exemplar buildings (Jordan heritage and traditional architecture), suitable to be used to promote the tourist image of Jordan. This will set a precedent for further documentation and heritage conservation of traditional cities in Jordan, MENA countries and internationally. Finally, the paper will discuss issues and challenges of documenting traditional heritage and architecture in As-Salt and the impact that such process may achieve in raising awareness across the local communities, thus offering insights to the larger community of architects, conservationists, and planners.

The concept of a smart city is becoming the leading paradigm worldwide. Consequently, a creative mix of emerging technologies and open innovation is gradually becoming the defining element of smart city evolution, changing the ways in which city administrators are organizing their services and development globally. Thus, the smart city concept is becoming extremely relevant on the agendas of policy-makers as a development strategy for enhancing the quality of life of the citizen and improving the sustainability goals of their cities. Despite of the relevance of the topic, still few studies investigate how open innovation shapes the way cities become smarter or focus on the experiences of professionals to understand the concept of a smart city and its implementation. This paper fills this gap and analyzes the processes for building effective smart cities by integrating the different perspectives of smart innovations and using the core components of smart cities according to a conceptual framework developed in previous research. In so doing, it provides useful insights for smart city stakeholders in adopting social and technological innovation to improve the global competitiveness of their cities. The empirical dataset allows examining how &ldquo, smart cities&rdquo, are being implemented in Manchester (UK), and in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego City (United States of America (USA)), including archival data and in-depth interviews with core smart city stakeholders who are involved in smart city projects and programs across the cases. Results from empirical data suggest that the conceptualization of smart cities across the cases is similar with a strong emphasis on social and technological innovation aimed at addressing municipal challenges in the core sub-systems of the cities, which include mobility, environmental sustainability, entrepreneurial development, quality of life, and social cohesion. The results also reveal benefits and challenges relating to smart innovation ecosystems across the cases and the future directions of their diffusion.

Affordable housing remains a serious problem in many countries. Even as the housing affordability crisis deepens, most cities continue to exhibit robust real estate markets with high property prices. The low-income and poor households are unable to access affordable housing and remain excluded. This paper draws from empirical research conducted in the city of San Francisco and focuses on the application of Land Value Capture (LVC) through increased Inclusionary Housing (IH) requirements after plan changes that increased density potential in San Francisco&rsquo, s Eastern Neighbourhoods to evaluate its effects on the goals of increasing both affordable housing and social inclusion. Findings reveal that the increased inclusionary requirements used as LVC mechanism enabled 76.2% of all the affordable housing units produced in the Eastern Neighbourhoods to be produced by market-rate developers in 2011&ndash, 2015 as compared to the rest of San Francisco, where 35.5% of the affordable units were produced from the market through inclusionary policy during the same period. The study demonstrates that upzoning underutilised land coupled with a well-planned LVC mechanism can help harness the strength of the real estate market and increase both affordable housing production and social inclusion.

How far do current assessment methods allow the thorough evaluation of sustainable urban regeneration? Would it be useful, to approach the evaluation\ud of the environmental and social impacts of housing regeneration schemes,\ud by making both hidden pitfalls and potentials explicit, and budgeting costs\ud and benefits in the stakeholders’ perspective? The paper aims at answering\ud these questions, by focusing on a case study located in the Manchester area,\ud the City West Housing Trust, a nonprofit housing association. Drawing from\ud extensive fieldwork and including several interviews with key experts from\ud this housing association, the paper first attempts to monetize the environmental and social value of two extant projects – a high-rise housing estate\ud and an environmentally-led program. It then discusses whether and how a\ud stakeholder-oriented approach would allow more engagement of both current\ud and potential funders in the projects at hand. Findings from both the literature and the empirical data that was gathered show how in current housing regeneration processes, room for significant improvements in terms of assessment methods still exist. Findings additionally show that the environmental\ud and social spillovers are largely disregarded because of a gap in the evaluation\ud tools. This may also hinder the potential contributions of further funders in\ud the achievements of higher impacts in terms of sustainability.

There is currently growing interest amongst the international community of policy makers about finding solutions for accommodating refugees, who currently concentrate mainly in countries located in the MENA region such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine and Libya. Man-made disasters were the main cause for displacing people, whether inside their countries or forced to cross the border. This paper discusses the impact on refugees produced by not adequate accommodations and gathers refugees’ inputs on customizing a suitable place for living. The paper focuses on a case study, the Al Zaatari camp in Jordan, which is the most recent camp of MENA region. The case study is developed through an extensive primary data collection, including interviews with refugees in the Al Zaatari camp. Refugees provided the researchers with their inputs by sharing their needs and desires in a new situation. Further insights were provided by involving NGOs experts and their insights and experiences, through an iteration cycle within the design science method. The main finding from the research is a new perspective opposite to a standardized approach to refugees’ needs, built through listening to what refugees have to say on how to improve their lives in camps.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of commonalities and differences in the concept of cultural heritage in Europe. This was achieved through a comprehensive academic and non-academic literature review focused on different definitions and conceptualisations related to cultural heritage internationally and in the European context. This is complemented with a comparative study in three European countries. This paper frames cultural heritage using the foundation set up by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). It further discusses the European actors involved in defining heritage today. Finally, it focuses on three European countries and verifies that they share an understanding of cultural heritage including classifications, categorisation and heritage values. Findings from the overall study show how the definition of cultural heritage across Europe is reasonably homogeneous, and this is confirmed by the analysis of the three chosen test case studies. This finding is relevant to policy makers as it allows the support of potential common frameworks for heritage management at the European level, including risk management and risk reduction common methodologies. Further studies will shed light on the implementation issues which may arise from the creation of a common European framework for cultural heritage management, with emphasis on risk management and risk reduction of cultural heritage.

Social exclusion is a key issue in the European Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. Despite the magnitude of the problem and the importance recognized by the literature to the spatial component of the city in supporting effective inclusion, policy documents still lack of attention on spatial patterns and their influence on integration. This paper discusses how spatial patterns may influence the outcomes of urban policies addressed to social inclusion, with a particular focus on Roma minorities. Recommendations will be supported by the findings from two case studies located in a Southern European metropolitan area, Reggio Calabria, and include: 1) Avoiding concentration of minorities through appropriate displacement, planned on case-by-case approach and discussed with the interested community; 2) Supporting flexible displacement through appropriate rules and planning regulations; 3) Avoiding displacement of minorities in areas lacking physical and social connectivity.

Although social conflict due to the presence of different groups divided\ud by cultural, religious or ethnic issues plagues many contemporary cities,\ud community and participatory planning methods still pay little attention\ud to segregation in contested spaces as a specific matter of concern. This\ud paper aims to contribute to filling this gap through the development of\ud a novel tool to be implemented during community planning processes\ud in contested cities, particularly in (visual) mapping processes. The pilot\ud area for developing the lexicon has been selected within the city of\ud Belfast, which has been struggling for years with problems related to\ud inter-religious sectarian conflicts. The material effects on the urban\ud structure of the long process of defensive planning during the socalled\ud Troubles and within the post-conflicts peace programmes\ud have been investigated by analysing urban artefacts including edges,\ud borders, barriers, doors, visual control points. The paper suggests that\ud a simple, recognizable lexicon may contribute to honing community\ud planning methods in contested places by integrating the traditional\ud methodology of visual mapping with a tailored taxonomy of elements\ud of urban conflict, which may be used at many stages of the planning\ud process, including developing a visual map, design and planning, and\ud developing and implementing an action plan.

Smart City is becoming increasingly popular all over the word, gaining the status of paradigm for steering urban and regional strategies oriented to improve the citizens' quality of life through IT-led solutions. Despite of its international relevance, still consensus on its most significant components and their reciprocal influence does not exist. Building on a wide scholarship on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Smart Cities, this paper suggests that System Dynamics could provide an appropriate conceptual model for interpreting the dynamic interconnections among the core components of a Smart City-i.e., Smart Infrastructures, Smart Institutions and Smart People-. At this goal, this paper offers a novel application of System Dynamic, which is used to analyze a robust set of new data, collected in three different cities. The model allows modelling and interpreting the role played by each component in implementing the Smart City paradigm and offers a new perspective on how to diversify the concept of Smart City according to site-specific conditions. Findings show that whilst a Smart City in a mature stage is highly influenced by the people and the infrastructure, for a Smart City in a developing country it is mainly the smart infrastructure component that shall be emphasized. © 2018 IEEE.

The 2016 United Nations (UN) New Urban Agenda clearly reaffirms the concept that sustainable cities require intertwined environmental and social sustainability. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11—“Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable”—sets (as a primary target) the provision of sufficient affordable housing. Despite the central role that housing plays in ensuring sustainability and the importance of both environmental and social pillars in ensuring sustainable development, current evaluative methods that support decision making on social housing interventions fail to capture all of the socio-environmental value contained in the UN SDG 11. This paper addresses the issue by demonstrating how Sustainable Return on Investment can successfully describe and analyse a range of externalities related to the sustainable value generated by social housing regeneration schemes. To achieve this goal, a single case study strategy has been chosen. Two extant projects—a high-rise housing scheme and an environmental-led program developed by City West Housing Trust (a nonprofit housing association based in the Manchester area)—have been assessed in order to monetise their social and environmental value through different methods. The findings show that, historically, the environmental and social value of regeneration schemes have been largely disregarded because of a gap in the evaluation methods, and that there is room for significant improvement for future evaluation exercises.

Sustainable Urban Development embeds the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social and economic. The European Commission position on Sustainable Urban Development reflects this concept, recommending an integrated approach paying attention to several intertwined factors, including the quality of public spaces. In European cities poverty issues and exclusion are particularly acute. Inclusive growth is one of the main driver of the Europe 2020 strategy, thus, it is expected that actions for fighting social exclusion are significant in deprived urban areas. However, in the EC approach still policies for social inclusion tend to remain relegated to the socio- economic sphere, with a weak link to the physical element as specific matter of concern. This paper aims at discussing the role played by the spatial quality of public spaces in supporting social integration, by focussing on a case study in Italy. More in details, the paper discusses the effects of public policies undertaken in the 1990s by the City of Reggio Calabria to reduce poverty for Roma people, by displacing those inhabiting squalid and unhealthy camps to council housing in two neighbourhoods with a different quality of public spaces. In one area the displacement happened successfully, in the other, social issues plague the community. The paper aims at investigating the influence of the quality of public spaces on the displacement outcomes. The research methodology is mainly qualitative and is based on field work complemented by photo survey and interviews. The paper suggests that the spatial quality of the public spaces might have contributed to exacerbate social conflict and detachment in the unsuccessful case. It is therefore recommended to incorporate a significant component on public space inclusive design in any socio-economic intervention aimed at overcoming social exclusion.

This paper investigates the use of public–private non-financial compensation in urban planning, aimed at achieving social housing goals. In so doing, it aims: first, to explain the current situation of housing policy in Italy and how it relates to the planning system; second, to explore how non-financial compensatory tools can be included in urban plans and third, to investigate successes and failures of selected case studies, in order to clarify the opportunities and threats of these innovative public–private tools. Drawing from qualitative empirical analysis of three case studies, the paper concludes that public–private non-financial compensatory tools may help to achieve public benefits, including social housing goals; however, it is essential to incorporate them into the ordinary planning instruments, in order to provide them with the appropriate framework through which to control sustainability and urban design quality.

Although the seeds of a communitarian oriented thinking date back to the 19th century, it was in the 1980s that a group of political philosophers started to challenge systematically the individualist liberalism prevailing at that time. The initiative called The Responsive Community stemmed in the 1990s from this emerging movement, focusing on the balance between individual and public good and on the best way to build a "good society", that is, by overcoming the strict dichotomy between state and market. This novel approach led to the launch of a more community- oriented approach also in urban policies, embedded in different urban management instruments. Based on this premise, the research deals with the community based initiatives for urban regeneration in the US and EU, in order to highlight the proactive role played by communities in contributing to local development through enhancing social activation, place branding, preservation of traditional and identitarian places and activities. An in-depth empirical survey conducted in two case studies located in Naples and Boston supports the discussion.

Heritage is the physical expression of the cultural identity of local communities and in most cases it is a key factor supporting the development of the local economy. Due to its own nature, heritage is a non-renewable patrimony to protect for the future generations. The purpose of this paper is to describe reconstruction issues for urban conservation in historic cities, which have been led to destruction by accident, because of flooding, earthquakes, storm, fires, and also war, pointing out the association between conservation and development. In so doing, the paper will focus on the case study of a city listed in the World Heritage List, Kathmandu. A further matter concerns the controversial approach of reconstruction: while restoration aims to bring a monument back to its original state or preserve from further damage, reconstruction instead is accomplished on buildings that are destroyed or constituted of just limited ruins, sometimes even requiring the construction of a new building. After the Second World War the patrimony of the European historic cities was severely damaged, making the population aware of their loss of cultural and national identity and opening the international debate on the proper techniques and theories that should be applied. When it comes to historical cities, rather than a single monument, it does not involve just the physical appearance and the historical value but might allow to reinstate the socio-economic condition and the cultural identity of a place after a period of decline.

The paper aims at investigating how different approaches in the interaction among public institutions, (local) entrepreneurs and communities lead to better perform effective urban regeneration processes. At this aim, purposely selected urban regeneration programs undertaken in some neighbourhoods of Boston are discussed against a conceptual frame drawn from the civic economics theory, trying to unveil the potential of innovative forms of multiple actors’ partnerships acting together to achieve urban regeneration goals. The paper demonstrates how both a conceptual shift of the role of private investors in partnerships for urban regeneration, capable to incorporate traditionally public- led goals into private duties, and a conceptual shift of public and private partnerships mechanisms, capable to incorporate not exclusively market-oriented values but also the value of reciprocity, can led to achieve: a) territorial concentration, obtained through place-based, community- based organisations enacting also central policies; b) continuity over time, obtained through the overlapping actions of multiple- stakeholders organisations covering different goals and areas that complement each other.

Under the umbrella concept of conviviality in public spaces, a research project on the rehabilitation of urban areas for commercial and retail uses--as engine of a complex process of production of places for social and cultural mixité--has been defined. The aim of this research has been to produce useful tools for coping with the abandonment of public spaces in former commercial urban areas, without generating anonymous and globalized commercial districts. Through involving local stakeholders in a participatory process, the first phase of the research here presented needs to demonstrate the possible effectiveness of a pilot action plan in dealing with both isolation and gentrification processes of historical centres. The main hypothesis is that traditional retailers should be considered an essential element to ensure effective public use of urban public spaces. The research methodology is based on a qualitative approach. Focussing on the process of impoverishment within local commercial districts, the research group started working with local stakeholders in order to identify priorities and criticisms for enhancing a regeneration process. The case study to be carried out in Naples is the historical market place of Piazza Mercato in the Città Bassa of Naples (Italy).