Publications
Using Three- Dimensional Modeling Techniques in Digital Preservation of Urban Plans for the Old Walled City of Shibam Hadramawt
A digital preservation platform for Shibam's historic urban landscape, leveraging 3D modeling and metadata, offers a transformative approach to safeguarding cultural heritage. This method circumvents traditional preservation challenges posed by political and economic instability, enabling efficient documentation of urban elements. The study employed a descriptive inductive approach to analyze theoretical frameworks while developing the platform using practical 3D modeling techniques. By associating metadata with each graphic object, this innovation provides a scalable solution for digital archiving, preserving Shibam's unique architectural and topographic identity for future generations.
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.
The Conservation of the Urban Architectural Heritage of Yemen
Yemen's architectural heritage, particularly the UNESCO-listed Old Walled City of Shibam, has gained global recognition for its millennia-old tradition of high-quality design and construction. This study highlights the unique urban culture in Yemen, where streets serve as multifunctional spaces for living, working, and social interaction, contributing to the preservation of architectural heritage. The research emphasizes the need for international conservation efforts, following appeals by Yemeni governments and UNESCO, to protect these significant cultural sites from degradation.
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