Beirut Arab University - Faculty of Architecture, Design & Built Environment Newsletter May, 2022

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OUZAI ROAD SLUMSAN EXPLORATORY STUDY FOR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

The notion of health and wellbeing issues in urban areas has triggered genuine advances in research and applications striving to achieve valid sustainable outcomes for living environments. According to the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference held in Bonn, Germany, the world is becoming attentive to depending on sustainable policies and practices which are supported in several international environmental agreements and conferences that were initially held to tackle the issue of global warming, economy crisis and social equity. This research addresses one of the most compelling problems in Lebanon; informal settlements and the vice of sustainability and related health and wellbeing issues. The research focuses on Al-Ouzai area as a living example of all disintegrated realities in a residential dense settlement. This is an exploratory study that utilizes available secondary data and some primary ones based on observations done in 2017/18. The aim is to furnish a strong base for a future in-depth investigation in the area that is planned to take place in the following year through NCRS. The research utilizes a comprehensive SWOT analysis approach that covers the basic elements of sustainable development thus furnishing basis for future research and planning intervention in the area

ENHANCING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY TO IMPROVE URBANHEALTH

Walking is such an essential human activity and it is a part of every trip. Whatever the main purpose for travel, walking will remain the first and last mode used; no doubt there is a link between walking, urban health, and pedestrian safety. Unfortunately, safe walking has been ignored in the mission of planning for many transportation systems in the cities. The number of individuals killed or seriously injured on Arab cities’ road’s network has significantly increased the late decades. Nonetheless, there has been no meaningful change in the pedestrian facilities throughout the most recent ten years. There are numerous factors that affect and cause this numbers. And the main problem is the Lack of an initiative to decrease pedestrian risks and improve their safety. This research paper will discuss briefly the factors affecting pedestrian’s safety in order to attempt to set some guidelines that will assist in risk reduction, increase the pedestrian safety rates and consequently will improve urban health in Arab communities

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DESIGNING HEALTHIER KIDS’GARDENS: IN TRIPOLI, LEBANON

Nowadays, cities are human’s dominant habitat. Green spaces should be considered during city planning, since researchers indicate that gardens have positive effects on human health and wellbeing. This paper aims to ameliorate the physical health of kids as a main concern, which will consequently enhance their mental health. It also investigates different green spaces, especially public gardens, located in Tripoli, Lebanon. This paper uses observation, designed questionnaire and direct interviews to analyze the current condition of one of the city’s gardens that is devoted mainly for kids.The outcome of this paper is a list of recommendations for having healthier gardens and community in the future

ARCHITECTURE AGAINST CRIME

The accelerated development in the industry of weapons has reshaped the human behaviors, which led to spreading of wars and terrorism. Since World War I, homeless people could not live without making crimes as a source of income. Residential compounds, private proprieties, and public projects have become attraction points magnetizing robbers. Consequently, architects have realized the importance to use design strategies reducing crimes. The scale of crime prevention is varied to cover a single building or a group of buildings. This paper proposes awareness-guidelines for \u27architecture against crime\u27 to be considered before setting the urban design of residential compounds in particular. It is a qualitative research based on a theoretical approach defining the meaning of crime then presenting a literature review highlighting previous architectural attempts in crime prevention. After that the paper deducts specific criteria for reducing crimes in the residential compounds. These criteria will be examined through analyzing three public housing projects; (WOES Public Housing in New York City, Sejong Public Housing Development, Sejong City, South Korea, and Abode at Great Kneighton Cambridge Shire Housing Project, Cambridge, UK). These case studies have been selected for implying certain urban treatments and elements that urban designers provided to reduce crimes. This analysis ends with a comparison between the case studies to conclude general guidelines that can be used as a formal code in the urban design of housing projects. Finally, the paper sets a group of conclusions to be a warning alarm provoking architects and urban designers to think firstly and before anything in life safety

MONITORING DAILY MOBILITY PATTERNS FOR UNIVERSITYSTUDENTS USING GPS TRACKING: TRIPOLI AS A CASE STUDY

Due to the current rapid growth of cities and technology, younger generations are spending more time in vehicles for their daily trips from home to various destinations, including their educational facilities. It is important to understand how people are using these spaces, and measuring this ‘understanding’ would need to consider a huge number of factors. This paper aims to help understand the pattern of movements in Tripoli city by monitoring Beirut Arab University students for a defined period of time using a GPS tracking method, and then comparing it with the spatial configuration of the city. This preliminary pilot study will raise awareness of the habits and methods of movement among the youth – either their use of mobile vehicles or their walking habits. This awareness is essential information that would help decision-makers in establishing appropriate future socio-health plans for the younger generation. The study shows huge variations in mobility and activity behaviour between genders, in terms of the distances covered, the speed of movements, the time spent in vehicles and the locations. In addition, the pattern of movements shows different degrees of correlation with the spatial configuration of Tripoli city in Lebanon

SURVIVING ARCHITECTUREAN EXPLORATION OF THE DESIGN STUDIO’S HIDDENCURICCULUM

the research here tries to expose the less desired habit and attitude patterns and believes promoted by the studio culture, developed mainly to keep up with the stressful and demanding workload. The resulted figures reflect the negative impact it has on the students’ health and wellbeing. The research also provides insights into the current students’ flow pattern, revealing the occurrence likelihood of the most stimulating, relieving and enduring mental state that might help maintain positive engagement with the act of creation emotionally, psychological; and physically. A qualitative research is carried out in the context of the faculty of architecture, design and built environment, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon. In this study, the literature about the studio culture, hidden curriculum and the flow aided drafting the outline of a survey conducted among a sample of 303 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 24 attending the same faculty. factual information about the students’ wellbeing is then linked to their expected mental disorder risks, providing an overview and summary of key analytical points of the survey. The findings place a question mark over the emotional wellbeing and mental health of the next generation of architects

THE ROLE AND EFFECT OF MULTIMEDIA BASED HEALTH ANDWELLBEING AWARENESS PACKAGES FOR CHILDREN ANDYOUTH

Wellbeing is generally understood as the quality of people’s lives. Promoting well-being and public health awareness involves understanding and addressing adults as well as children and young people. The effect of wellbeing education programs on children depends on the method and style in which the information is transmitted. In spite of many conventional methods like small group discussions, large school assemblies, or lecture workshops are addressed, initiative steps could be taken developing a multimedia packages that would be able to assist children in increasing their knowledge and awareness on public health and wellbeing. This paper reports the findings of using multimedia packages in increasing the knowledge and perceived awareness of children on nutrition and physical health. The study was conducted with a sample of 30 children aged 10 – 12 years, traditional Lectures and discussions were held for 15 children (the traditional lectures group), while Multimedia packages program was applied to the other 15 children (Post-test group), both for 4 sessions over a period of 4 weeks. It was found that the children’s nutrition & physical health perception and health-promoting behavior scores were higher at a significant level in the Post-test group. In particular, health-promoting behavior scores in the Post-test group were higher by 21%. The results indicate that nutrition & physical health perception and promoting health behaviors among children was increased after they were exposed to multimedia applications. The aim of this paper is to empower users and decision makers to make informed technological choices and to actively participate in the exploitation and developing of Multimedia programs in the health sector

DESIGNING NON-STRESSED PSYCHOLOGICAL PUBLIC SPACES

Stress is considered the most nervous impact that affects human life due to pressure from many reasons, one of the external factors is the Built environment. The public space as a surrounding context plays a main effective role in human psychological mood whether negative or positive. The paper aims to evaluate urban public spaces, especially from the users’ activities in relation to stress factors, these applied through public spaces in Tripoli city, Lebanon. The methodology will be through an analytical study using observation and a questionnaire to measure the types of users’ activities in public spaces and their sense of pressure and stress. The results of this study are important to develop a methodology to design non-stressed psychological public spaces

CO-DESIGNING A HEALTHIER COMMUNITY:A COMPREHENSIVE MOBILITY PLANFOR SAIDA’S WATERFRONT

Designing and improving cycling and walking as a soft mobility mode of transport has both environmental and social benefits and is a key in promoting healthier communities. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in redeveloping a master plan of Saida city, the gate of southern Lebanon in order to enhance the public realm, but unfortunately, a clear vision to develop comprehensive plan is still lacking. Among all Lebanese cities, Saida is the only city banned from motorcycle use for 20 years ago due to security issues. Moreover, Saida has a flat terrain, therefore it has the potential based on a collaborative platform of redesigning the street networks to encourage of cycling and walking in the urban and waterfront landscape. Using Saida as case study, this paper attempts to generate urban interventions by integrating multidisciplinary skills as a collaborative approach to suggest urban design solutions. It develops a methodology based on theoretical and analytical studies as well as the findings of five urban redevelopment workshops for Saida city attended by key stakeholders. The challenges of Saida municipality, Academia, citizens, private sectors and NGOs over the period 2014-2018 are analysed and discussed. In conclusion, a holistic approach is adopted at the intersection of landscape, urban design and planning by identifying several urban parameters based on a collaborative platform such as legibility, connectivity and mixed used activities and suggesting guidelines for the implementation strategies