Smart cities, metaverses, and the relevance of place

Ancient urban design wisdom offers sustainable lessons for modern smart cities. The 16th-century walled city of Shibam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yemen, demonstrates sophisticated passive environmental strategies—using locally sourced mud and dense street layouts—to achieve thermal comfort in extreme heat without energy-intensive cooling. Unlike contemporary cities like Riyadh, which rely on high-energy steel-and-glass structures, Shibam’s design embeds deep local knowledge, reducing carbon footprints by 70% or more compared to modern alternatives. The study argues that smart city innovations must integrate such context-aware approaches rather than discard traditional designs, emphasizing that technological advancement without place-based understanding risks inefficiency and unsustainability.

Aurigi, A. (2022). Smart cities, metaverses, and the relevance of place. IET Smart Cities, 4(3), 157–159. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1049/smc2.12030