Historic cities such as Old Najaf are challenged with balancing the preservation of their cultural and architectural heritage against the pressures of modern urban development. Being one of the major religious centers for Shia Islam, Old Najaf receives annual millions of pilgrims and tourists, pressuring its infrastructure and threatening its historic façade. The aim of this study was to explore the viability of integrated approaches that balance heritage conservation with sustainable urban development, and lessons learned from international best practices, as well as stakeholder perspectives on this issue in the face of these challenges. This prompted the study to identify the challenges and opportunities for the heritage preservation and sustainable development in Old Najaf. It aims to comprehend the way residents and experts understand the dynamics of these layers through a mixed methods approach as well as derive actionable lessons learned after comparative analyses with case studies in Fes, Morocco and Kyoto, Japan. The study also explores the role that emerging technologies, regulation, and citizen engagement can play in addressing this trade-off education about Artificial Intelligence. The study shows that the major impediments for Old Najaf heritage are unplanned urban growth, inadequate infrastructure and mass tourism. Survey responses show that both residents and experts prioritize stricter zoning laws at the city's level, improved infrastructure for those corridors and sustainable tourism practices. In Fes, a city already leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as digital twins in urban planning, and building on advances made by Kyoto in GIS, comparative insights from both cities show the need to embed advanced technologies within strong policy frameworks supported by community-led initiatives. The findings underscore the need for holistic and context-sensitive strategies to protect the cultural heritage of Old Najaf, in line with sustainable development. ©2025 The authors.
Iraq is one of the most important countries in the world that has received its share of terrorist acts by the terrorist organization the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which has caused instability, especially during the period of ISIS's control of seven Iraqi provinces (2014-2017). This stage has caused a decline in the levels of human and economic development and its inconsistency with the capabilities and needs of the Iraqi population. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the hypothesis that there is a close relationship between the decline in development in Iraq and the brutal practices of ISIS that it committed during his period of control over many Iraqi cities and regions. This study used several method
... Show MoreAbstract In light of the changing conditions that prevail in society, and the intense competition that institutions and countries are forced to face, especially after the opening of markets, and the transformation of the world into what is called a small village, entrepreneurship has emerged as an important tool for dealing with the developments of societies, whether it is related to individual business projects or Economics for national business, leadership was the key to any driving force towards achieving growth. Today, women are no longer captive to a specific orientation, but rather all horizons and fields of work have been opened to them, and they have been able to occupy the most important economic, voluntary, service, and
... Show MoreLaser scanning has become a popular technique for the acquisition of digital models in the field of cultural heritage conservation and restoration nowadays. Many archaeological sites were lost, damaged, or faded, rather than being passed on to future generations due to many natural or human risks. It is still a challenge to accurately produce the digital and physical model of the missing regions or parts of our cultural heritage objects and restore damaged artefacts. The typical manual restoration can become a tedious and error-prone process; also can cause secondary damage to the relics. Therefore, in this paper, the automatic digital application process of 3D laser modelling of arte
Purpose: This research is to identify the most important challenges for the local investment commissions and to develop solutions and proposals to encourage local and foreign investment in local governments in Iraq (the Iraqi provinces are irregular in the region). Theoretical Framework: This research suggests a conceptual framework for the local investment commissions in order to solve their problems, the most important of which was to identify the most critical challenges which are facing the Baghdad Investment Commission BIC and how to overcome them. Design/The methodology approach: Research involved a mixed-methods approach through two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data from all inves
... Show MoreA sense of safety is the first requirement for human stability in a place such as a home. Many local studies investigated Baghdadi houses and their architectural changes, but the relationship between safety and sustainability in Baghdadi houses has not been studied, so the research problem was: What are the architectural elements that relate to the concept of a safe house as a home in Baghdad as a case study? How is it related to the sustainability?
The research aims to identify the architectural elements of the safe house in Baghdad, to work on these elements by architects to enhance the sustainability of the residential environment, and create homes t
Urban Development refers to many topics such as: increased population density, city size, and individual’s production, distribution of technology and the growth of commercial, industrial and service professions. Such development is linked to the coordination of social and cultural trends in order to achieve social progress and economical prosperity. Knowledge as a topic now is known as intellectual capital wich led to upgrae the concept of urban development to be extended into many fields of knowledge, for example, cultural, social and human development to move the level of community culture into a new better standard.
The research adopted the urban transformation based on knowledge as an important factor in gr
... Show MoreTransportation is one of the aspects that enable us to achieve sustainability on a university campus, by taking environmental, social, and economic requirements. Walking is a green mode that can be essential to promoting sustainable transport. This study aims to evaluate the ability of campus physical development planning at Diyala University in creating sustainable transport on campus by determining the problems that exist. The research problem was identified in the absence of a comprehensive view of the importance of greenway network connectivity in the sustainability of the campus and the most important barriers that prevent it from being achieved and the incentives to be activated. The methodology used in this study was the quantitative
... Show MoreThe city has normal natural state, and the man has a usual movement, change and search for the new .Also, the city has a usual change and transform in its time, place and quality (sizes)structures. The city has a solid memory diving into the past and the future and reflects The real present, and this memory has a timing layers change into real materialistic place making the city has accumulated overlapping circles which is hard to break u , and it broadcasts the lockup timing density ,in which there is no visual record precisely, it is just like((the social record)) that evaluates the un visual relationships between the components and parts of the city (community and form) in a visual quiet exhibition and transform change inside.
... Show MoreSequencing technologies have reshaped the study of the subgingival microbiome, but selecting the appropriate method remains challenging because of differences in resolution, cost, host DNA contamination, and computational complexity. This review compares 16S rRNA sequencing, full-length 16S, shotgun metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics with respect to taxonomic resolution, functional output, sample requirements, and analytical limitations. Key practical issues, including low microbial biomass, contamination control, and the choice of appropriate bioinformatic tools, are emphasized to help researchers avoid common pitfalls. A decision-making framework is provided to link study goals to suitable sequencing methods while outlining rea
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