IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i23p10033-d454443.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fostering Urban Sustainability through the Ecological Wisdom of Traditional Settlements

Author

Listed:
  • Naji Akbar

    (Department of Interior Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Ismaila Rimi Abubakar

    (College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Adel Saleh Bouregh

    (Department of Interior Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Several African and Asian countries have embarked on building new towns to address urbanization challenges such as crowded cities, slums, and pressure on existing infrastructure. These projects have been criticized for being inadequate in fostering environmental sustainability. Based on a desk study, this article reviews the environmental sustainability challenges of these projects and recommends some ecologically embedded practices of traditional settlements that wonderfully survived for many centuries with little adverse social and environmental impacts yet offered opportunities for urbanism. The article discusses how the architecture, urban form, and green infrastructure of traditional settlements present excellent cases of ecological wisdom and embeddedness where the local ecosystems are respected, and every human activity, including the creation of the built environment, is defined by the ecological allowances, where resilience is part of the built environment at both micro and macro scales, and where humanity and nature are equal stakeholders living in unison. The article concludes that these instances of successful ecological embeddedness in traditional settlements can provide lessons for contemporary cities to ponder when envisioning more sustainable built environments for the present and future generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Naji Akbar & Ismaila Rimi Abubakar & Adel Saleh Bouregh, 2020. "Fostering Urban Sustainability through the Ecological Wisdom of Traditional Settlements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10033-:d:454443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10033/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10033/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yun Song & Dominic Stead & Martin de Jong, 2020. "New Town Development and Sustainable Transition under Urban Entrepreneurialism in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Laurence Côté-Roy & Sarah Moser, 2019. "‘Does Africa not deserve shiny new cities?’ The power of seductive rhetoric around new cities in Africa," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(12), pages 2391-2407, September.
    3. Claire W. Herbert & Martin J. Murray, 2015. "Building from Scratch: New Cities, Privatized Urbanism and the Spatial Restructuring of Johannesburg after Apartheid," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 471-494, May.
    4. Shanwen Zheng & Baolong Han & Dang Wang & Zhiyun Ouyang, 2018. "Ecological Wisdom and Inspiration Underlying the Planning and Construction of Ancient Human Settlements: Case Study of Hongcun UNESCO World Heritage Site in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Xiaoxiao Cai & Bruno De Meulder & Yanliu Lin & Hong Sun, 2020. "New Towns’ Planning and Construction in the Pre-Urbanization or Post-Urbanization Period: A Case Study of the New Towns’ Development Process of Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-23, May.
    6. Abubakar, Ismaila Rimi & Aina, Yusuf Adedoyin, 2019. "The prospects and challenges of developing more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities in Nigeria," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Barthel, Stephan & Isendahl, Christian, 2013. "Urban gardens, agriculture, and water management: Sources of resilience for long-term food security in cities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 224-234.
    8. Jing Lin & Jianming Cai & Yan Han & Jiansheng Liu, 2017. "Identifying the Conditions for Rural Sustainability through Place-Based Culture: Applying the CIPM and CDPM Models into Meibei Ancient Village," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, July.
    9. R. Keeton & S. Nijhuis, 2019. "Spatial challenges in contemporary African New Towns and potentials for alternative planning strategies," International Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 218-234, October.
    10. Ismaila Rimi Abubakar & Umar Lawal Dano, 2020. "Sustainable urban planning strategies for mitigating climate change in Saudi Arabia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 5129-5152, August.
    11. Tsang, Eric W. K., 2014. "Old and New," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(03), pages 390-390, November.
    12. Francesca Governa & Angelo Sampieri, 2020. "Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: A critical understanding from a decentred view," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 366-382, February.
    13. Xuewen Tan, 2010. "New-Town Policy and Development in China," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 47-58, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Naji Akbar & Ismaila Rimi Abubakar & Ayesha Agha Shah & Wafa Al-Madani, 2021. "Ecological Embeddedness in the Maya Built Environment: Inspiration for Contemporary Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-29, December.
    2. Rosyi Damayanti T. Manningtyas & Katsunori Furuya, 2022. "Traditional Ecological Knowledge versus Ecological Wisdom: Are They Dissimilar in Cultural Landscape Research?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Abdulaziz I. Almulhim & Ismaila Rimi Abubakar, 2021. "Understanding Public Environmental Awareness and Attitudes toward Circular Economy Transition in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-15, September.
    4. Adel Saleh Bouregh, 2022. "A Conceptual Framework of Public Participation Utilization for Sustainable Urban Planning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Jinliu Chen & Haoqi Wang & Zhuo Yang & Pengcheng Li & Geng Ma & Xiaoxin Zhao, 2023. "Comparative Spatial Vitality Evaluation of Traditional Settlements Based on SUF: Taking Anren Ancient Town’s Urban Design as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ismaila Rimi Abubakar & Yusuf A. Aina & Habib M. Alshuwaikhat, 2020. "Sustainable Development at Saudi Arabian Universities: An Overview of Institutional Frameworks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Abubakar, Ismaila Rimi, 2021. "Predictors of inequalities in land ownership among Nigerian households: Implications for sustainable development," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Francesca Governa & Angelo Sampieri, 2020. "Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: A critical understanding from a decentred view," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 366-382, February.
    4. Frances Brill & Veronica Conte, 2020. "Understanding project mobility: The movement of King’s Cross to Brussels and Johannesburg," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(1), pages 79-96, February.
    5. Jorn Koelemaij, 2022. "The world’s number 1 real estate development exporter? Assessing announced transnational projects from the United Arab Emirates between 2003–2014," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(2), pages 226-246, March.
    6. Korah, Prosper Issahaku & Osborne, Natalie & Matthews, Tony, 2021. "Enclave urbanism in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region: Examining the socio-spatial consequences," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Ali Shalizar Jalali, 2018. "Male Fertility as a Bull’s Eye for Mastocytosis," Global Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 3(3), pages 58-60, February.
    8. Hui Yan & Guixiang Liu, 2021. "Fire’s Effects on Grassland Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Michal Plaček & Martin Schmidt & František Ochrana & Michal Půček, 2017. "Do the Selected Characteristics of Public Tenders Affect the Likelihood of Filing Petitions with the Regulators of Public Tenders?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(3), pages 317-329.
    10. Ishak Norziha & Abdullah Rosazlin & Rosli Noor Sharina Mohd & Majid Hazreenbdul & Halim Nur Sa’adah Abdul & Ariffin Fazilah, 2022. "Challenges of Urban Garden Initiatives for Food Security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 41(4), pages 57-72, December.
    11. Nikolov, Plamen & Adelman, Alan, 2019. "Do private household transfers to the elderly respond to public pension benefits? Evidence from rural China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    12. Dana Benešová & Viera Kubičková & Miroslava Prváková, 2020. "Open innovation model in the knowledge intensive business services in the Slovak Republic," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 8(2), pages 1340-1358, December.
    13. Holzmann, Robert & Alonso-García, Jennifer & Labit-Hardy, Heloise & Villegas, Andres M., 2017. "NDC Schemes and Heterogeneity in Longevity: Proposals for Redesign," IZA Discussion Papers 11193, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Selman, P., 2014. "Intercountry Adoption Agencies and the HCIA," ISS Working Papers - General Series 77404, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    15. Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues, 2019. "Historical records of wine: Highlighting the old wine world," EconStor Preprints 193461, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Gabriella Garbarino & Giovanni Pampararo & Thanh Khoa Phung & Paola Riani & Guido Busca, 2020. "Heterogeneous Catalysis in (Bio)Ethanol Conversion to Chemicals and Fuels: Thermodynamics, Catalysis, Reaction Paths, Mechanisms and Product Selectivities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Zhongcheng Yan & Feng Wei & Xin Deng & Chuan Li & Qiang He & Yanbin Qi, 2022. "Feminization of Agriculture: Do Female Farmers Have Higher Expectations for the Value of Their Farmland?—Empirical Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, January.
    18. Hélène Laurell & Leona Achtenhagen & Svante Andersson, 2017. "The changing role of network ties and critical capabilities in an international new venture’s early development," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 113-140, March.
    19. Trine Filges & Anu Siren & Torben Fridberg & Bjørn C. V. Nielsen, 2020. "Voluntary work for the physical and mental health of older volunteers: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    20. Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor & Walid Hamma & Huu Duy Nguyen & Giovanni Randazzo & Anselme Muzirafuti & Mari-Isabella Stan & Van Truong Tran & Roxana Aştefănoaiei & Quang-Thanh Bui & Dragoş-Florian Vintilă, 2020. "Degradation of Coastlines under the Pressure of Urbanization and Tourism: Evidence on the Change of Land Systems from Europe, Asia and Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-43, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10033-:d:454443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.