Preface

Chapter 7 **Influence of the Motor Transport on Sustainable Development**

**Section 4 The Influence of Social and Economic Factors in Urban Space**

Chapter 9 **Smart Homes and Sustainable Cities: The Design of a Low-Cost Solution for Comprehensive Home Automation 153**

Chapter 8 **Life Cycle Insights for Creating Sustainable Cities 133**

Hubert Kalala Mukendi and Marco Adonis

Irina Makarova, Ksenia Shubenkova, Vadim Mavrin and Eduard

**of Smart Cities 111**

Mukhametdinov

**VI** Contents

**Conception 131**

Getachew Assefa

Aristotle defined the city as follows: ''A city must be built to provide its inhabitants with securi‐ ty and happiness." Friederich Ratzel defined it as "a sustainable density of human dwellings and people who occupy considerable space and are at the crossroads of a major communica‐ tions road." Cities are essential to humans. For those who live, work, or visit them, as well as for those who rely on growth, the cities generate for both the city and the country. The emer‐ gence of cities on the stage of history was a fiery consequence of the evolution of human civili‐ zation. Originally, the city was created to fulfill a commercial product exchange role and a military (security) role. The first urban civilizations in the world emerged in Asia near ad‐ vanced agriculture systems based on irrigation. The oldest city in the world, Jericho, appeared 7000 years ago in the Jordanian territory. Between the fifth and second millennia BC, flourish‐ ing cities developed in Mesopotamia (Ur, Uruk, Babylon), the Mohenjo-Daro Valley, northern China, and Phoenicia (Tyr, Sidon). Starting with the third millennium BC, cities began develop‐ ing in northern Africa in the Nile Valley (Memphis) and the Mediterranean Sea (Carthage). In Europe, the Minoan civilization created the first urban centers in the second millennium BC (Knossos on the island of Crete). Subsequently, in ancient Greece, there are city-states (Micene, Corinth, Athens). The ancient Greeks also set up numerous colonies in Asia Minor (Ephesus, Miletus) and on the Black Sea coast (Histria, Tomis, Callatis). In the Roman era, cities saw defi‐ nite progress with paved streets, sewerage and water supplies, public utilities, and central fo‐ rum markets. Interestingly, many European cities were built on the ruins of the Roman ones (London, Paris, Vienna, Turin). In the Middle Ages, many cities fell. They were fortified with defense walls and ditches. As a consequence, the city is a well-populated regional body with a high degree of concentration, organization, and social, cultural production, formed under cer‐ tain conditions of space and time. The city can be defined as a spatial, economic, and social formation that cooperates with a multitude of factors with which it is in close interdependence and reciprocity; a body that employs large spaces and has a unique role in polarization or eco‐ nomic gravity factors through production and consumption. We are used to sector-oriented thinking. It is the traditional approach for many local and national initiatives, but in the future, we need to associate traditionally divided sectors. With increased pressure on cities and still fewer resources available, it is imperative that the urban policy of the future be developed in an ever-closer interaction between areas such as transport, business, social, integration, environ‐ ment, and cultural theory. Cities need to help ensure and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants and business attractiveness by providing sophisticated information and communi‐ cation technologies in the fields of education, employment, social services, health, and safety. Our cities must be able to adapt to the threat posed by climate change. Properly designed and properly planned urban development can improve the quality of the environment and reduce carbon emissions. Cities need to achieve these results through innovative preventive, mitiga‐ tion, and adaptation measures that contribute to the development of new industries, and activi‐ ties that generate a low level of carbon dioxide emissions.

It is difficult to determine precisely the date of birth of the sustainability concept in concern to cities. Sustainability in the urban domain appears, at minimum apparently, to have emerged out of the two unified oil crises in the late 1960s and early 1970s: the first of these crises was ecologi‐

cal, the second urban. The environmental crisis was a product of the culmination of large- and small-scale environmental damage that had been brought by rapid industrialization. Sustainable urban development takes place in many cities as densification and transformation. It's the city's goal, first and foremost, to develop within the existing limits so that no larger new areas are included. Many municipalities are working strategically to fortify city centers and to transform function-based commercial and port areas, among other things, to renovate or expand already built structures and regions as well as recycle closed-down commercial properties, port areas, and other functional emptied buildings/land for new purposes. The public functions for the city's life, and environmentally, a large number of urban functions today can be well integrated into the urban environment. To support this, there is a need for methods and tools to help munic‐ ipalities and others to be inspired to plan for existing and future businesses, which need to be in interaction with the city. The properties of the state, regions, and municipalities can also contrib‐ ute to sustainable urban development by, among other things, working with location strategies that combine different institutions in, for example, multipurpose houses, so that operating con‐ sumption can be reduced. Building flexibility can be increased, and proximity to infrastructure can be secured. The concept of densification is that one always tries to think of further and future needs; it goes together with planning and development of healthy cities.

during different historical periods, and use the urban simulation system scSTREAM to evaluate the impact of urban renovation types on urban climate change. The fifth chapter is "Multi-crite‐ ria Spatial Decision Support System for Urban Energy Planning: An Interdisciplinary Integrat‐ ed Methodological Approach." This chapter provides an interdisciplinary integrated methodological framework, which provides guidance to develop a multicriteria spatial decision support system that supports decision-making processes for urban energy planning purposes. The chapter helps in defining and evaluating energy-saving scenarios, taking into account the

Section III is entitled "The Role of Transport in a Sustainable City." This part includes two chapters that begin with Chapter 6 "Electric Two-Wheelers, Sustainable Mobility and the City.". The chapter explores the role electric two-wheelers (including pedelecs, e-mopeds, and e-scooters) can play in urban vehicle ecosystems using the sustainable mobility paradigm. Compared to traditional transport planning, this paradigm has a stronger focus on aspects such as accessibility, people, streets as a space, city livability, as well as environmental impacts. The analysis is based on existing literature in the academic and policy realm, and a comparison with other transport modes, including motorcycles, bicycles, public transport, and cars. The seventh chapter is "Influence of the Motor Transport on Sustainable Development of Smart Cities." This chapter focuses on the benefits of using smart transport in all fields of life as well as intellectu‐

Section IV is entitled "The Influence of Social and Economic Factors in Urban Space Concep‐ tion" and contains two chapters. Chapter 8 is "Life Cycle Insights for Creating Sustainable Cit‐ ies" and focuses on the full life cycle of materials and energy flows as well as their uses in cities. The chapter concludes with recommendations on best practices that potentially leverage life cycle assessment results. It also covers the merits of employing the social life cycle perspective together with the environmental life cycle and economic life cycle in a life cycle sustainability assessment framework that seeks to define the triple bottom line space of lower unsustainabili‐ ty conditions. Chapter 9 is "Smart Homes and Sustainable Cities: The Design of a Low-Cost Solution for Comprehensive Home Automation," and presents a broad overview of the design and development of a web-enabled smart home solution. Web development and control sys‐ tems together form the backbone of modern home automation technologies such as the Internet

This book offers a variety of materials on sustainable cities and eco-cities, and will prove useful to professionals in the field of urban planning and design. We want to express our special thanks to all the authors who contributed to the quality, range, diversity, and richness of this publication with their chapters. A special thanks also go to the kind Mr. Julian Virag, InTech's Publishing Process Manager, for his assistance and efficiency in the management process of this book and his cooperation at various stages of book publication. Last but not least, we wish to acknowledge the superb assistance of the staff at InTechOpen Publisher in the preparation and

**Amjad Almusaed**

Preface IX

**Asaad Almssad**

Jonkoping University, Sweden

Karlstad University, Sweden

participation of stakeholders in an interactive way.

alization of the decision-making process.

of Things and embedded systems.

coordination of this book.

In this book, many leading experts, including urban planners and academics, have collectively expounded and shared their concerns and strategies on the new vision of sustainable city movement in our world today. It will be a "must-read" book for a broad market , including city decision makers, academics and researchers, the public, private sector professionals such as planners, architects, engineers, landscape designers, geologists, economists, etc.

The book is divided into four parts and nine chapters:

Section I is entitled "Introduction to Sustainable Cities Concept," and contains one chapter enti‐ tled "Introductory Chapter: Overview on Sustainable Cities Theory and Practices," which dis‐ cusses sustainability in cities in concept and practice.

Section II is entitled "Energy and Environmental Analysis of Sustainable Cities Models." This include four chapters. It expresses the effect of environment and energy on city configuration and functions. The second chapter, "Towards Adaptive Design Strategies for Zero-Carbon Eco-Cities in Egypt attempts to describe the hidden potentials by way of analyzing successful pri‐ vate initiatives for existing eco-communities in Egypt, where an analytical case study method for tackling different aspects such as renewable energy, permaculture, eco-sanitation, solid waste management, vernacular architecture, green transportation, and green economy was adopted. The chapter contributes by critically analyzing such attempts and concludes with de‐ sign recommendations and strategies on how to reach an environmentally enriched, healthier, resilient, and socially rewarding zero carbon city, running on its own locally available resour‐ ces. The third chapter is "Buildings in Urban Regeneration**.**" In this chapter, the authors try to elucidate that the built environment process is a key element in urban living, where by taking a holistic approach, buildings have the potential to be part of the solution to today's and tomor‐ row's challenges through the creation of sustainable cities. The fourth chapter of the book is "Urban Renovation and the Simulation Evaluation of Urban Climate Change in Residential and Commercial Districts: A Case of Xi'an, China". Urban heat island is the most important issue in this chapter, which requires the monitoring and evaluation of outdoor thermal comfort in cities worldwide, where four microscaled residential and three commercial districts in Xi'an city rep‐ resent the typical urban typology of residential and commercial districts that were developed during different historical periods, and use the urban simulation system scSTREAM to evaluate the impact of urban renovation types on urban climate change. The fifth chapter is "Multi-crite‐ ria Spatial Decision Support System for Urban Energy Planning: An Interdisciplinary Integrat‐ ed Methodological Approach." This chapter provides an interdisciplinary integrated methodological framework, which provides guidance to develop a multicriteria spatial decision support system that supports decision-making processes for urban energy planning purposes. The chapter helps in defining and evaluating energy-saving scenarios, taking into account the participation of stakeholders in an interactive way.

cal, the second urban. The environmental crisis was a product of the culmination of large- and small-scale environmental damage that had been brought by rapid industrialization. Sustainable urban development takes place in many cities as densification and transformation. It's the city's goal, first and foremost, to develop within the existing limits so that no larger new areas are included. Many municipalities are working strategically to fortify city centers and to transform function-based commercial and port areas, among other things, to renovate or expand already built structures and regions as well as recycle closed-down commercial properties, port areas, and other functional emptied buildings/land for new purposes. The public functions for the city's life, and environmentally, a large number of urban functions today can be well integrated into the urban environment. To support this, there is a need for methods and tools to help munic‐ ipalities and others to be inspired to plan for existing and future businesses, which need to be in interaction with the city. The properties of the state, regions, and municipalities can also contrib‐ ute to sustainable urban development by, among other things, working with location strategies that combine different institutions in, for example, multipurpose houses, so that operating con‐ sumption can be reduced. Building flexibility can be increased, and proximity to infrastructure can be secured. The concept of densification is that one always tries to think of further and future

In this book, many leading experts, including urban planners and academics, have collectively expounded and shared their concerns and strategies on the new vision of sustainable city movement in our world today. It will be a "must-read" book for a broad market , including city decision makers, academics and researchers, the public, private sector professionals such as

Section I is entitled "Introduction to Sustainable Cities Concept," and contains one chapter enti‐ tled "Introductory Chapter: Overview on Sustainable Cities Theory and Practices," which dis‐

Section II is entitled "Energy and Environmental Analysis of Sustainable Cities Models." This include four chapters. It expresses the effect of environment and energy on city configuration and functions. The second chapter, "Towards Adaptive Design Strategies for Zero-Carbon Eco-Cities in Egypt attempts to describe the hidden potentials by way of analyzing successful pri‐ vate initiatives for existing eco-communities in Egypt, where an analytical case study method for tackling different aspects such as renewable energy, permaculture, eco-sanitation, solid waste management, vernacular architecture, green transportation, and green economy was adopted. The chapter contributes by critically analyzing such attempts and concludes with de‐ sign recommendations and strategies on how to reach an environmentally enriched, healthier, resilient, and socially rewarding zero carbon city, running on its own locally available resour‐ ces. The third chapter is "Buildings in Urban Regeneration**.**" In this chapter, the authors try to elucidate that the built environment process is a key element in urban living, where by taking a holistic approach, buildings have the potential to be part of the solution to today's and tomor‐ row's challenges through the creation of sustainable cities. The fourth chapter of the book is "Urban Renovation and the Simulation Evaluation of Urban Climate Change in Residential and Commercial Districts: A Case of Xi'an, China". Urban heat island is the most important issue in this chapter, which requires the monitoring and evaluation of outdoor thermal comfort in cities worldwide, where four microscaled residential and three commercial districts in Xi'an city rep‐ resent the typical urban typology of residential and commercial districts that were developed

needs; it goes together with planning and development of healthy cities.

The book is divided into four parts and nine chapters:

VIII Preface

cusses sustainability in cities in concept and practice.

planners, architects, engineers, landscape designers, geologists, economists, etc.

Section III is entitled "The Role of Transport in a Sustainable City." This part includes two chapters that begin with Chapter 6 "Electric Two-Wheelers, Sustainable Mobility and the City.". The chapter explores the role electric two-wheelers (including pedelecs, e-mopeds, and e-scooters) can play in urban vehicle ecosystems using the sustainable mobility paradigm. Compared to traditional transport planning, this paradigm has a stronger focus on aspects such as accessibility, people, streets as a space, city livability, as well as environmental impacts. The analysis is based on existing literature in the academic and policy realm, and a comparison with other transport modes, including motorcycles, bicycles, public transport, and cars. The seventh chapter is "Influence of the Motor Transport on Sustainable Development of Smart Cities." This chapter focuses on the benefits of using smart transport in all fields of life as well as intellectu‐ alization of the decision-making process.

Section IV is entitled "The Influence of Social and Economic Factors in Urban Space Concep‐ tion" and contains two chapters. Chapter 8 is "Life Cycle Insights for Creating Sustainable Cit‐ ies" and focuses on the full life cycle of materials and energy flows as well as their uses in cities. The chapter concludes with recommendations on best practices that potentially leverage life cycle assessment results. It also covers the merits of employing the social life cycle perspective together with the environmental life cycle and economic life cycle in a life cycle sustainability assessment framework that seeks to define the triple bottom line space of lower unsustainabili‐ ty conditions. Chapter 9 is "Smart Homes and Sustainable Cities: The Design of a Low-Cost Solution for Comprehensive Home Automation," and presents a broad overview of the design and development of a web-enabled smart home solution. Web development and control sys‐ tems together form the backbone of modern home automation technologies such as the Internet of Things and embedded systems.

This book offers a variety of materials on sustainable cities and eco-cities, and will prove useful to professionals in the field of urban planning and design. We want to express our special thanks to all the authors who contributed to the quality, range, diversity, and richness of this publication with their chapters. A special thanks also go to the kind Mr. Julian Virag, InTech's Publishing Process Manager, for his assistance and efficiency in the management process of this book and his cooperation at various stages of book publication. Last but not least, we wish to acknowledge the superb assistance of the staff at InTechOpen Publisher in the preparation and coordination of this book.

> **Amjad Almusaed** Jonkoping University, Sweden

**Asaad Almssad** Karlstad University, Sweden

**Section 1**

**Introduction to Sustainable Cities Concept**

**Introduction to Sustainable Cities Concept**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Overview of Sustainable Cities,**

**Introductory Chapter: Overview of Sustainable Cities,** 

Human settlements are the result of the dynamic adaptation of the human community operating in a given territory in the conditions of social, economic and historical relations. The areas on which human settlements are located are distinguished by the components of the physicalgeographic structure, by the diversity and by the potential natural conditions, as well as by the economic and social factors in which the human settlements appear and develop [1]. Human settlements represent the totality of human communities, villages and towns, regardless of their position, size and functions. Human settlement can be considered a geographic landscape integrated with the natural and social conditions necessary for the existence of housing, work and equipment (power supply, water, transport, communications, sanitation, etc.). Human settlement is a body of land known to be a regular form of property with a hearth on which communal and territorial attributes develop [2]. The term "locality" defines a human, rural or urban settlement, delimited according to the number of inhabitants, the nature of the built-up area, the degree of the social endowment, the technical-public amenities, the function, etc. Hence, human settlements or human habitat refers to some components such as population, construction, markets, streets, industrial platforms, recreation and recreation areas. Human settlements support the unity of natural, social, material, spiritual, cultural and organizational factors, including housing, labor, energy supply, communications, water, sanitation, services, social security, administration systems, cultural facilities, recreation, etc. [1]. The village is the oldest form of human habitation that presents ethnographic, historical, economic, social or urban characteristics. A village is a group of houses and people who are leaving their means

> © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Defining the sustainable city, the word sustainability has come into such common usage that it sometimes seems ubiquitous. At the outset, this leads to the need to answer two principal

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82632

**Theory and Practices**

**Theory and Practices**

Amjad Almusaed and Asaad Almssad

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82632

of existence of a determined social space.

**1. Introduction**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Amjad Almusaed and Asaad AlmssadAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

#### **Introductory Chapter: Overview of Sustainable Cities, Theory and Practices Introductory Chapter: Overview of Sustainable Cities, Theory and Practices**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82632

Amjad Almusaed and Asaad Almssad

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Amjad Almusaed and Asaad AlmssadAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82632
