Arts and Humanities

Abstract: Spatial regeneration and the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are paired in policies for China’s traditional villages, yet seldom examined together. This correlational literature review analyzes the full texts of 35 peer-reviewed case studies published in 2017–2026. The corpus was assembled purposively; a later check of two bibliographic databases flagged at least 238 further potentially eligible records, so the 35 papers cover only part of the literature. Each paper was coded for regeneration strategies, CCI categories, village type, governance mode, outcomes, and conflicts, and the analysis combines keyword co-occurrence, φ coefficients, and a qualitative classification of outcomes. Five of six regeneration strategies are reported in more than two-thirds of the papers. Cultural tourism is reported in every paper, followed by performing arts, crafts, and museums, whereas architecture, design, film, and digital content appear in eight papers. No strategy–category association remains significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Of 140 outcome judgments, 47.1% are realized positive, 35.7% mixed, and 10.0% realized negative; negative results concentrate in the social dimension. The sample is too small to test differences by region, village type, or governance mode. In these papers, the link between spatial regeneration and cultural activity is documented almost exclusively through tourism.

Abstract: This article proposes the "pedagogy of risk" as a transformative framework for architectural education amid shifting professional paradigms, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological acceleration. Developed, tested, and refined across diverse international academic settings over a twelve-year period, this research-by-design methodology converts the traditional design studio into a slow, pre-technological experimentation laboratory. The teaching model prioritizes active, self-directed learning and collective inquiry through "object-based cartography", a process in which students construct physical, tactile objects from salvaged materials to sensorially analyze, map, and reinterpret complex and vulnerable contexts. This processual approach integrates material exploration, kinesthetic learning, and public exhibitions to cultivate critical autonomy. Findings from extensive academic implementation demonstrate that this process-oriented framework heightens material sensitivity, mitigates reliance on digital immediacy, drives conceptual innovation, and yields award-winning architectural proposals grounded in adaptive reuse, social engagement, and environmental care. The study concludes that embedding uncertainty, creative risk, and constructive error into design pedagogy serves as an indispensable catalyst for original knowledge generation, ultimately equipping future architects to navigate contemporary socio-spatial challenges with critical discernment, ethical commitment, and environmental responsibility.

Abstract: The adaptive reuse of historic buildings is a conservation approach that integrates heritage protection with the principles of sustainable use; however, the effects of such interventions on users’ psychological experience have received limited attention. This study examines the effects of perceived restorativeness on sense of place and cultural heritage attachment, place satisfaction, and place identity in an adaptively reused historic building. The research was conducted at the Seljuk-period Bedriye Madrasa in Aksaray, Türkiye, which has been converted into a library, study space and café, using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative data obtained from 273 users were analysed with structural equation modelling (SEM), and qualitative data from open-ended questions were analysed through content analysis. The findings show that perceived restorativeness has significant positive effects on sense of place and cultural heritage attachment (β = 0.795), place satisfaction (β = 0.386) and place identity (β = 0.458), and that sense of place and cultural heritage attachment significantly predicts both place satisfaction (β = 0.257) and place identity (β = 0.252). The direct effect of place satisfaction on place identity and the hypothesised mediation paths were not supported. The qualitative findings corroborated the quantitative results, revealing that the historic atmosphere, quietness, natural stone texture and courtyard layout strengthen users’ mental restoration, calmness, concentration and sense of cultural belonging. The study demonstrates that the success of adaptive reuse projects should be evaluated not only through physical conservation criteria but also through users’ psychological experiences and the processes by which they form bonds with place.

Abstract: Paramilitary institutions play a critical role in national security, discipline formation, and public order; however, the quality of their residential accommodations significantly influences personnel well-being, performance, and psychological stability. This study assesses paramilitary accommodation facilities in the NYSC orientation camp at Iseyin, Oyo State, with a focus on the available infrastructural components and how functional they are, spatial planning, environmental quality, privacy, safety, and overall habitability. This research sampled 150 corps members purposively and data were collected using a structured questionnaire designed to capture both quantitative and qualitative data. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and actual counts, supported by charts to visualize infrastructural conditions the corps members were exposed to. The findings concluded that the NYSC camp is equipped with essential infrastructural components, including dormitories, dining halls, toilets, bathrooms, water supply, and electricity, however, high occupancy levels were reported. Physical conditions of the facilities showed functional limitations and maintenance challenges. Movement within dormitories was restricted, issues of poor ventilation, lighting, and sanitation services.

Abstract: Limited evidence quantifies the relevance of cultural heritage during post-disaster recovery. To fill this gap, this paper explores the relevance of cultural heritage in the post-disaster recovery of L'Aquila (Italy), which was hit by an earthquake on 6th April 2009.This manuscript combines sentiment, topic and word frequency analyses of tweets posted on Twitter/X around the tenth anniversary of the earthquake. Sentiment and topic analysis are performed at the tweet and sentence levels, using 4,349 tweets posted from 4 to 10 April 2019 with the hashtag #L’Aquila. Results show that cultural heritage is the main topic in 14 tweets (0.3%) and one of the topics in 243 (5.6%) tweets, which was lower than expected in a town rich in historic buildings and monuments such as L’Aquila. However, our sentiment analysis indicates that the predominant polarity in tweets on cultural heritage is positive at both the tweet (79%) and the sentence levels (85%). The word frequency analysis enabled the identification of the most popular heritage artefacts in L’Aquila. We conclude that the restoration of cultural heritage contributed to the recovery, but its relevance is not immediately visible to the local population.

Abstract: Activities related to the maintenance and conservation of architectural heritage require tools that provide reliable, spatially referenced geometric, diagnostic, and maintenance information on site. This article presents a critical review of the research carried out for Milan Cathedral and outlines a methodological workflow for using Mixed Reality in inspection and maintenance activities. The approach integrates four main components: the semantic and multi-resolution structuring of point clouds through classification and segmentation; the hierarchical organization of information according to the operational requirements of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo; the localization of the device and the spatial registration of digital content within the real environment; and the design of a multimodal interface for consulting and entering data directly on site. The prototype developed demonstrates the feasibility of using classified point clouds directly as queryable information models in MR systems and enables maintenance information to be linked to specific architectural elements within their physical context. The results show that the main contribution of this approach lies not in a specific hardware platform, but in defining a structured, potentially transferable workflow that links digital surveying, information organization, and operational conservation activities.

Abstract: Contemporary domestic architecture treats flexibility as the primary response to the layered, overlapping demands of everyday life. Yet flexibility strategies target the same organizational logic that produces interstitial and residual space. This raises the question addressed here: does the effort to foreclose liminal and interstitial space reproduce the very condition it is meant to resolve? The study examines how residual space is treated as a built condition, not how it ought to be activated. Through comparative case study analysis, it compares three contemporary domestic projects, each answering the demand for flexibility differently. The analysis identifies three foreclosure mechanisms: suppression, prohibition, and exposure. Interstitial space is consumed into the mechanism, restricted by a governing rule, or exposed without anyone to claim it. Foreclosure recurs across three maximally different strategies acting on different building-system layers, suggesting it may be structural to how flexibility itself treats the in-between rather that incidental to execution. This remains a hypothesis for further study, not a settled claim. The study offers this vocabulary as a diagnostic instrument. Its inverse condition, persistence, occupiability, and stability of claim, show where interstitial potential survives or fails in other adaptable dwellings.

Abstract: Additive manufacturing, particularly 3D concrete printing (3DCP), is increasingly explored as a pathway toward faster, more flexible, and cost-efficient housing delivery in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This paper presents a critical review of 3DCP applications in GCC residential housing, examining five built or documented case studies across the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Drawing on company reports, press releases, visual documentation, and published literature, the study develops a comparative analysis of machine systems, printing strategies, and material approaches, and synthesizes these findings into a design framework organized around six recurring considerations: machine-program alignment, on-site continuous versus fragmented production, scalability, site and typology suitability, collaborative fabrication, and transparent performance evaluation. The review finds that machine selection across the cases examined has been driven more by vendor partnership than by deliberate design intent, and that independently verified performance data, on thermal behavior, structural certification, cost, and construction duration, remains almost entirely absent across the industry. As a literature- and case-based critical review, the study does not incorporate primary interviews with project architects or fabricators, an intentional scope limitation given that authorship and technical data for several projects are not publicly disclosed; this is identified as a priority for future empirical research. The paper concludes with a roadmap for advancing 3DCP adoption in GCC housing, positioning additive manufacturing as a significant, if still emerging, contributor to innovation in contemporary residential design in the region.

Abstract: Archaeological remains of Roman amphitheatres in Turkey have always been very scarce compared with those in other parts of the Roman Empire. For a long time, academic literature – and travellers before that – described the remains of only a handful of examples. This stands in stark contrast to the remains of ancient theatres, which are found in considerable numbers. More recent discoveries, however, have brought to light other amphitheatres previously unknown until a few years ago. By analysing the available sources and the latest insights from the international scientific community in the field of conservation, it is possible to accurately assess the current state of knowledge regarding archaeological discoveries of amphitheatres in Turkey, proposing a classification that takes into account uses and transformations even during the late antique period. Furthermore, on this basis, it is possible to identify appropriate strategies for implementing effective conservation and enhancement measures for the sites. It is necessary to identify measures for the archaeological protection in relation to natural forces, human-induced phenomena and connections with the landscape.

Abstract: European cities are undergoing a structural convergence: demographic ageing and migration-driven diversity are not parallel trajectories but co-present conditions negotiated within the same neighborhoods. Yet governance frameworks addressing inclusion, cohesion, and spatial equity operate above the scale at which these dynamics are produced. Consequently, Europe’s inclusion policy remains under-equipped to foster genuinely intercultural, intergenerational, and gender-inclusive urban environments. The everyday thresholds where such integration is enacted—doorsteps, rooftops, street edges—are conceptually rich within architectural discourse but underdeveloped as operative instruments of urban transformation. This paper addresses this gap through TU[fem]III , a dialogical-relational constellation for design research. Its epistemic core, urban interiority, is drawn from Lahore’s Walled City, where a dense, continuously inhabited threshold ecology sustains long-term cohabitation across communities and generations, mobilized here as theory-generating spatial intelligence. Its praxis interface, Inter-Cultural Nodes (ICNs), builds on a tested lineage of design-research in Palermo’s Albergheria/Ballarò neighborhoods. Operationalized in Cardiff, where legislative commitments intersect with multicultural cohabitation, the framework deploys a Threshold Research Toolkit—drawing, prototyping, and staging—to structure an accountable South→North→South exchange. The contribution is threefold: extending interior architecture epistemology to the urban scale; establishing a reciprocity-driven design-research model; and introducing threshold-scale instruments into European inclusion governance.

Abstract: Approved conservation projects that remain unimplemented for years require reassessment before site work begins. This study examines the 2012–2014 conservation project for the Selime rock-cut complex as a record set that may be reactivated for future implementation. The project combined a 54-station local Total Station network with laser and manual measurements, restitution drawings, deterioration records, material analyses, and approved restoration drawings. Historical interpretations were graded as C1 direct evidence, C2 strong inference, C3 bounded hypothesis, or C4 unresolved. Technical validity was assessed through historical/spatial basis (H), current risk (R), and operational compatibility (O), while implementation traceability was recorded separately through U. Applied to eight selected components, the framework shows that safety, circulation, platforms, and service decisions require current verification, whereas stratigraphic and reconstructive interventions remain constrained by evidential strength. The study proposes a two-track reactivation framework separating technical validity from implementation traceability for delayed conservation projects under comparable site conditions.

Abstract: Universities operate beyond their conventional roles of education and research, functioning as socio-spatial environments where public life is continuously produced through everyday interactions. While previous studies have examined either campus spatial configuration or student practices separately, less attention has been paid to how spatial configuration, spatial affordances, and student-led practices interact to produce campus publicness. Addressing this gap, this study investigates the socio-spatial production of publicness across the North and South campuses of Bahçeşehir University (BAU), an inner-city university located in the dense urban context of Beşiktaş, Istanbul. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach that integrates Space Syntax analysis (Angular Segment Analysis and Visibility Graph Analysis), affordance-based observations of in-between spaces, and semi-structured interviews with student clubs. This analytical framework enables an examination of how spatial configuration creates opportunities for co-presence, how architectural affordances support sustained interaction, and how students appropriate these spatial potentials through artistic co-production and collective practices. The findings demonstrate that campus publicness cannot be explained by spatial configuration alone. Rather than occupying either the most integrated circulation routes or the most segregated areas, student clubs consistently appropriate moderately integrated and visually accessible in-between spaces that balance accessibility with opportunities for prolonged interaction. These spaces—including lounges, appropriated classrooms, gardens, and informal thresholds—support repeated rehearsals, performances, and collaborative activities that transform latent spatial potential into sustained forms of collective public life. The study further shows that, while digital communication reinforces these practices, they remain primarily rooted in face-to-face interaction within the campus environment. By conceptualizing this process as specialized campus publicness, the study extends discussions on campus publicness by demonstrating that public life emerges through the dynamic interaction of spatial configuration, architectural affordances, and repeated student practices. It further contributes to urbanism and campus design research by illustrating how inner-city university campuses function as distinctive socio-spatial environments for collective cultural production.

Abstract: Access to home ownership has become an axis of structural inequality between generations, in a context in which the real estate market increasingly operates as a mechanism for transferring wealth from younger cohorts to older ownership cohorts. To propose the theoretical-methodological design of a new composite indicator, the Intergenerational Housing Equity Index (IEIH), aimed at measuring and comparing internationally the disparity in access to housing between generational cohorts, with the possibility of integration into the monitoring systems of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11. A qualitative documentary analysis of academic sources indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, as well as technical reports of multilateral organizations published between 2019 and 2026, was carried out, adapting the ten-step protocol of the Manual on the Construction of Composite Indicators of the OECD and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Four constituent dimensions of the IEIH were identified (economic access, wealth and wealth transfer, regulatory framework and housing policy instruments, and generational housing adequacy), twelve candidate indicators, and a normalization, weighting, and aggregation procedure with sensitivity analysis. The IEIH complements the existing indicators of affordability and housing adequacy by explicitly incorporating the comparative-generational axis, and lays the methodological foundations for its empirical validation through a panel of experts (Delphi method) and a pilot study in Latin American countries.

Abstract: Terraced houses remain the dominant and most widely inhabited housing type in Malaysia, yet their repetitive cellular organisation routinely produces a structural tension between market-standardised spatial layouts and the diverse, evolving practices of everyday domestic life. Over six decades of comparatively limited design innovation have reinforced this standardisation, making the terraced cell an undertheorised site of spatial negotiation. This article aims to describe the position of cellular operation in negotiating the living context of Malaysian terraced-house design. Employing a constructivist, qualitative multiple-case study methodology, the article examines three anonymised contemporary terraced-house cases (CSA, CSB and CSC) through desk review, semi-structured interviews, spatial observation and cross-case interpretation. Thematic data coding and analysis were conducted using ATLAS.ti and organised through the Thematic Analysis Matrix (TAM), a structured qualitative instrument for systematic thematic exposition. Typo-morphological diagramming was applied to spatially visualise operational, abstractive and estrangement dimensions of each case. Findings reveal that cellular operation is not merely a functional matter of plan efficiency; rather, it operates through the negotiation of thresholds, public–private gradients, domestic display, rear and central spatial layering, multigenerational accommodation, family care and gendered domestic practice. Across the three cases, the terraced cell emerges as an active medium through which occupants and designers exercise agency, enact choice, achieve perceived comfort and construct adaptive domestic meaning. The study argues that the living context of terraced housing is best understood as an operational relationship among practice, formality and situation, rather than as a predetermined arrangement of rooms. These findings contribute to housing-environment and domestic well-being research by demonstrating how modest spatial operations—without reliance on high-technology flexibility or extensive post-occupancy renovation—can support everyday well-being, agency and family life within constrained typological boundaries.

Abstract: The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education marks a radical epistemic shift, unsettling long-held assumptions about how knowledge is made, taught, and judged. This paper argues that the theory of living structure offers a timely foundation for liberal arts and whole-person education in the era of AI. Living structure—Christopher Alexander’s term for the recurrent hierarchical order that makes environments feel alive—is treated here as two faces of one phenomenon: living, the right-brain perception of wholeness, and structure, the left-brain order that can be computed through fifteen geometric properties, two fundamental laws, two design principles, and the computable L- and B-scores. From this basis the paper develops a Living Structure + AI paradigm, a new episteme for higher education, deliberately so ordered because living structure is held to be more fundamental than AI: structure is the order of nature and culture, while AI is a tool that gives that order new expression. The argument is grounded in teaching practice led by LivableCityLAB, under its own teaching-research project and in partnership with Residential College 1, spanning architecture and city-science courses or theses, an undergraduate whole-person common-core course (Self and Wholeness), and a new postgraduate course (Experiential Learning: Living Structure + AI Inspired Design). Across these settings, students read built environments structurally, declare a skeleton, and use AI as a structural mediator while making and inhabiting real spaces. Across four campus renovations (total N = 33 students) and the two courses (N = 49 undergraduate; N = 7 postgraduate), structural scores (the L- and B-scores) rose in every renovated case, and these architectural and perceptual measures converged with preference tests and visual-attention analysis; course-embedded, rubric-based assignments provide complementary, though not psychometrically validated, evidence of students’ engagement with the paradigm. The paper closes by arguing that the deepest contribution of Living Structure + AI to liberal arts education is not on paper or on screens but down to earth—in the daily life spaces in which students learn to feel, measure, and remake wholeness.

Abstract: Higher education institutions increasingly seek learning environments that support diverse cognitive needs while advancing sustainability through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Although research demonstrates that environmental factors such as lighting, acoustics, spatial organization, flexibility, and environmental quality influence learning and well-being, architects still lack practical methodologies for translating interdisciplinary evidence into design decisions. This study proposes an evidence-informed neuro-inclusive design methodology for adaptive reuse university learning environments. Building on a previously developed framework comprising five design principles—Sensory Regulation, Lighting Control, Spatial Predictability, Flexibility, and Emotional Comfort—the methodology was comparatively applied to three adaptive reuse learning environments at the University of Naples Federico II. A qualitative multiple-case study approach examined how the framework informed architectural decision-making across different spatial configurations, educational functions, and heritage constraints. The findings demonstrate that the framework provides a consistent evidence-informed design process while generating context-specific architectural solutions rather than standardized outcomes. The study contributes a transferable methodology that bridges interdisciplinary knowledge and architectural practice, supports the design of cognitively accessible learning environments, and demonstrates how neuro-inclusive principles can be integrated into adaptive reuse projects without compromising the architectural integrity of historic educational buildings.

Abstract: The scientific validation of virtual reconstructions requires explicit and retrievable connections between geometry, documentary sources, and interpretative reasoning. This paper presents CRMvr, a CIDOC CRM-aligned application ontology designed to document the 3D modelling of reconstructed architectural heritage. Comprising 25 classes and 113 property declarations, CRMvr formalises the decomposition of heritage objects into architectural components, the geometric construction of their digital representations, the authorship and versioning of alternative hypotheses, and the evaluation of source uncertainty, accuracy, and dimensional provenance. The ontology distinguishes dimensions that are indicated in, deduced from, or interpreted beyond the available sources. CRMvr is implemented in ResearchSpace as a knowledge graph and tested through the virtual reconstruction of the aedicula of the Porta Aurea in Ravenna. In parallel, the HBIM components are classified through a building SMART Data Dictionary grounded in the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus, establishing a shared terminological layer between the IFC model and the knowledge graph. The current implementation links the semantic record to an external IFC viewer, enabling the model and its element-level attributes to be accessed from ResearchSpace. The results demonstrate the framework's potential to improve the transparency, reusability, and long-term accessibility of virtual reconstruction data, while also revealing limitations concerning geometric scope, IFC consistency, and the maintenance of shared vocabularies.

Abstract: The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) into construction companies depends less on software acquisition than on the formation of competent, well-structured teams capable of sustaining collaborative digital workflows across the project lifecycle. The objective of this study was to analyze the roles, competencies, organizational barriers, and emerging technological demands that shape the formation of efficient BIM teams. A qualitative documentary approach, structured as a scoping review inspired by the PRISMA-ScR protocol, was adopted, drawing on 15 sources indexed in Scopus, ScienceDirect, and related academic databases, selected for their direct relevance, methodological rigor, and recency. The findings show that BIM role nomenclature remains highly fragmented, with as many as 35 distinct role titles identified across 36 international guides and standards, while competency frameworks converge on a three-tier structure distinguishing core, domain, and execution competencies. Organizational adoption is shaped by an interacting set of technical, financial, organizational, and human barriers, particularly acute in small and medium-sized enterprises, and is substantially supported by Common Data Environments, whose practical implementation nonetheless remains challenged by tool multiplicity and governance gaps. Industry data indicate that poor communication and inaccessible project information account for up to 52% of rework globally, underscoring the centrality of coordinated team structures. The accelerating integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into BIM workflows is reshaping the competency profile expected of BIM teams, while structured training models remain unevenly available, especially for site-level operatives. It is concluded that efficient BIM team formation requires the simultaneous alignment of role clarity, competency development, collaborative information infrastructure, and organizational culture, with direct implications for construction management practice and for curricular design in architecture and engineering education.

Abstract: Digital survey and three-dimensional modelling have become central tools for the documentation and interpretation of architectural heritage, yet their epistemic role in the study of early Christian architecture still requires critical assessment. This article examines three early Christian sacella in northern Italy—Sante Teuteria e Tosca in Verona, Santa Maria Mater Domini in Vicenza, and San Prosdocimo in Padua—in order to evaluate how digital models can support architectural analysis without replacing direct engagement with the material monument. The study combines terrestrial laser scanning, photographic documentation, point-cloud processing, orthophotos, and architectural drawings to investigate masonry evidence, spatial organisation, roofing traces, and volumetric relationships. The results show that digital models make it possible to compare architectural elements that are difficult to observe simultaneously on site, especially in relation to construction sequences, domed spaces, subsidiary vaulted compartments, and traces of earlier phases. At the same time, the analysis demonstrates that digital visibility remains partial, since material presence, light, scale, and bodily experience cannot be fully reproduced in a virtual environment. The article argues that digital models are most valuable when understood as interpretative mediators: tools that extend observation, support comparison, and encourage renewed attention to the architectural fabric itself.

Abstract: The increasing diversity of museum visitors is driven by globalisation, migration, and re-ligious tourism, posing pressing accessibility challenges, particularly language barriers. Museums in Makkah, as pivotal sites of Islamic heritage, attract millions of visitors of var-ying linguistic backgrounds annually. This research examines the effects of multisensory elements (visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory) on visitor comprehension, spatial en-gagement, and satisfaction in the presence of language barriers. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study begins with a quantitative analysis and examines the role of multisensory elements in the visiting experience using a multilingual survey of 321 international visitors. This is followed by examining the association between these ele-ments and the probability of revisiting the museum to understand a visitor’s behavioural intention to revisit the museum. Finally, a thematic analysis of the open-ended questions was used to identify the pros and cons of using multisensory elements in museums. The findings validate that tactile experience is demonstrated to be a significant predictor of re-visit intention, but auditory experience is not found to be significant. Crucially, the adapted anthropological concept of embodied piety, defined here as the active cultivation of spiritual and historical connection through disciplined physical and sensory engage-ment, emerged as a culturally resonant framework distinct from Western ocular-centric models. However, implementation must balance immersive design with spatial autonomy to mitigate sensory overload and technology usability barriers. Success requires culturally sensitive, co-created spatial design that accommodates diverse cultural scripts regarding physical contact and public interaction. Strategically integrated multisensory design func-tions as a non-linguistic interpretive pathway, enhancing comprehension, engagement, and inclusion for linguistically diverse visitors to Islamic heritage sites, with pronounced cultural variation requiring curatorial calibration rather than monolithic approaches.