Integrated strategies for sustainable urban renewal in hot and dry climate

Abstract

The increase in the world’s population has been paralleled with high rates of migration to cities and rapid urbanization, which cause problems for city management and the environment. One of the great challenges in urban development is mitigating the effects of microclimate on the urban area. The goal of sustainability approaches is to adopt a new view of human, environment, and space to develop mechanisms that link all these elements within a balanced organizational structure of urban clustering. Urban renewal requires a multifaceted strategic approach incorporating both local and regional regulations, developed through multi-sector and multi-agency partnerships. Thus, sustainable urban renewal is a concept to integrate the global concept of sustainability into the urban renewal process. To transform such abstract concepts into real practices, an effective method should be worked out. This study applies the triple sustainable values system, i.e. economy, environment, and social equity into urban renewal projects in order to reduce energy consumption and create a comfortable environment in hot and dry climates. For this goal, a chosen district was analyzed and evaluated in city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, employing a field survey and questionnaires among local residents to identify the existing urban problem in microclimate. In this paper, a model proposes solutions for the study area to support appropriate strategies for sustainable urban renewal, transferable to other districts within the city or even to other cities with same climate in the north of Iraq.