International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—This paper focuses on a hybrid sustainable design methodology for desert settlement development on a microclimate thermal impact basis. In a 4% inhabited hot arid country such as Egypt, there should be a new development model that stresses on the effect of climate conditions within the sustainable design process. As a development type of desert settlements, the concept of country desert villages is viable as it lies between both urban settled communities in north and south Sinai and the unsettled population in mid-Sinai. Such settlement planning ideas has succeeded in some adjacent countries through combining the interdisciplinary cumulative applied research of different fields such as: desert physical planning, passive solar architecture, prefabrication and low-cost construction methods and materials, building physics and climatology, desert agriculture and renewable energy systems. In order to select pilot development spots around the existing communities in Med-Sinai (which zero energy low-cost housing development can be applied on a microclimate basis using a hybrid passive design methodology), the regional development concepts have been addressed. The suggested Planning methodology focuses on generating a character for patterns in different regions by accommodating people in socially acceptable houses via public participation, economic activity support for village jobs, maintaining acceptable services with outdoor social places, diverse and compact fabric form, prefabrication with low-cost materials and construction, and low or zero energy community. On the other hand, numerical impact assessment for village forms using building simulation tools solves complex aspects of these intersected fields in different locations on a microclimatic basis.

Index Terms—Sustainable development, microclimate, desert settlements.

M. Fahmy and M. Mahdy are with Architecture Engineering Department, Military Technical Collage, Cairo, Egypt (e-mail: md.fahmy@mtc.edu.eg, mmahdy@mtc.edu.eg).
M. F. Abdelalim is with Architecture Department, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (e-mail: mabdelalim@psu.edu.sa).

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Cite: Mohammad Fahmy, Mohamed M. Mahdy, and Marwa F. Abdelalim, "A Proposed Methodology for Planning a Sustainable Village at Mid Sinai Arid Climatic Zone, Egypt," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 804-808, 2017.