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Today, the term sustainability manages to embed itself in all aspects of contemporary life. In Egypt, following the 2011 revolution, there is governmental pressure for rebuilding com-munities and providing long-term strategies for resilient and sustainable development. The pa-per presents a framework for resilient communities through identifying and integrating appro-priate successful social, cultural and environmental sustainability global practices, policies and technologies for adoption in Egypt with particular emphasis on Aswan as appropriate. This framework/road map will identify strategies for improving the biotic, abiotic and social aspects of Aswan city life and will have a positive impact on the economic development and social welfare of the citizens benefitting the poor & vulnerable populations in Egypt. The paper concludes by a set of strategies enhancing the liveability of Egyptian cities and improving the social aspects of city life with reference to Aswan.

Cities have an ever-changing nature according to its citizens needs, but not always for the best. During the past half century, Alexandria’s heritage city center (historic district) has been facing an on-going decay. A struggle between its symbolic significance of Euro-Medi-terranean heritage, urban form, and the distinctive spirit of place and the many economic and political agendas are diminishing its heritage sites and sense of place. There are few attempts being done today to revitalize the identity and spirit of Alexandria’s historic districts that will be discussed in this paper. The paper endeavours to answer the question of what other initiatives should be taken to revitalize/regenerate the Euro-Mediterranean heritage of Alexandria, with a focus of Fouad street that lies in the heart of Alexandria’s historic district, and developing the city center and therefore changing the image and perception of the city as a whole. The paper identifies key performance indicators (KPI’s) of Alexandria’s heritage town center, measuring their current status, to form the basis of setting a list of recom-mendations to develop each criterion affecting the town’s center performance. The paper concludes that a full strategic urban regeneration and revitalization of Alexandria’s historic district is much needed to conserve and preserve what can be rescued in the area. Fouad Street can be central in conveying tomorrow’s economic benefits and welfare of Alexandria’s historic districts, and a holistic regeneration of that street can act as a catalyst of change and regeneration in the area.

This thesis investigates the effect of, various vaulted and domed roof geometries on their solar behaviour under given summer and winter conditions. Roof is the building-envelope element that is most exposed to the sun as it receives a high amount of solar radiation, which is the main cause of summer overheating in hot-arid climates. In addition, to other climatic and physical factors, indoor thermal comfort in hot-arid climates is also influenced by the intensity of solar radiation received by roof surfaces. Therefore, roof form and geometry should be designed with careful consideration to insolation parameters. Domed, vaulted, and curved roofs have been used for a long time in hot-arid regions for historical, cultural, climatic, and structural reasons. The review of previous research work showed that different explanations have been given to the climatic effects of their forms and the environmental behaviour of their enclosed spaces. The research explores the previous attempts that discussed the relevant principles of solar radiation and solar geometry on horizontal and tilted surfaces with different orientations. The previous work that applied these principles and theories to evaluate the solar behaviour of architectural elements with arbitrary forms was also investigated. In order to evaluate the solar performance of flat and curved roofs geometrical configurations, a parametric study testing the received solar radiation intensity (W/m2) on flat, vaulted, and domed roofs with different span-to-height ratios and orientations was carried out using a published solar computer model. The results of this model were followed by validation tests using other two commercially available computer tools to carry out a brief solar and thermal analysis of selected curved-roof geometries. The evaluated curved-roofs solar performance and main findings of the present research have been compared with recently published independent research. It is believed that this research establishes a sound theoretical basis for the validity of various claims of the climatic advantages of different curved-roof forms in hot-arid regions. As part of this research outcome, solar and architectural design-guidelines for curved-roofs are introduced. The research concludes with a discussion of the architectural and solar potential of curved-roof forms, which is believed to be novel contribution to the knowledge and the understanding of curved-roofs solar behaviour and architectural applications in hot-arid climates.