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The notion of privacy represents a central criterion for both indoor and outdoor social spaces in most traditional Arab settlements. This paper investigates privacy and everyday life as determinants of the physical properties and patterns of the built and urban fabric and will study their impact on traditional settlements and architecture of the home in the contemporary Iraqi city. It illustrates the relationship between socio-cultural aspects of public and private realms using the notion of the social sphere as an investigative tool of the concept of social space in Iraqi houses and local communities (Mahalla). This paper reports that in spite of the impact of other factors in articulating built forms, privacy embodies the primary role under the effects of Islamic rules, principles and culture. The crucial problem is the underestimation of traditional inherited values through opening social spaces to the outside that giving unlimited accesses to the indoor social environment creating many problems with regard to privacy and communal social integration.

This paper interrogates the notion of “New Capital” in the context of the hegemony of neoliberal urbanism in the Arabcities in the Middle East from historical, socioeconomic, and spatial perspectives. It reviews the historical narratives of new centres and districts in Cairo, Beirut, and evolving capitalist urbanism and architecture in the Arabian Peninsula in search of the elitist dream of neoliberal urbanism. It offers a comprehensive analysis to the notions of neoliberal ideology and urban policies, neo-Capital city as catalyst for nation-building, and neo-Capitalist architecture as the reproduction of clone structures of western models. The paper focuses its critical analysis on the aspects of liveability in the contemporary Arab City and its socio-spatial structures and everyday urban reality. It reports on urban narratives based on archival records, urban projects, and investigations of governmental accounts to determine aspects of success and failure in projects of new capital cities and districts. It argues that cities are essentially social-spatial systems in which hierarchy is a fundamental element, the lack of which determines abject failure of their anticipated vision.

Traditional architecture and urban form is a harmonious and interrelated blend of social relations, cultural beliefs and religious principles forming coherent spatial organisation living in harmony despite diversity of religious beliefs, social class or cultural practices of different communities. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical background of social cohesion and solidarity in the everyday life of the Mahalla with reference to its religious background in Islam.

The study of Beit Hadawi and Beit Hammadi el-Hassan as distinct evidences of prominent families within the boundaries of Mahallat El Mahdia in Old Hilla offers an empirical investigation on how values of the past informed and, to some extent, governed the very organic organisation of interlocking residential units in Iraq.

It investigates the architecture of home and the spatial organisation of Mahalla’s social activities through highlighting the effect of previous factors in creating a responsive environment that sustained its operational mechanism and fluidity over centuries.

This paper examines how previous values, traditions and rituals are behind the organic tissue of traditional quarters and thus providing an effective criterion to be considered when discussing sustainable development or creating a responsive environment in societies with exceptional privacy.

The nations of Africa, Central and Latin America, and most of Asia are collectively known as the Global South, which includes practically 157 of a total of 184 recognized states in the world according to United Nations reports. Metaphorically, it can be argued that most of the efforts in architectural production, city planning, place making, place management, and urban development are taking place in the Global South and will continue to be so over the next several decades.

Despite the recurrence of earthquakes, responses are usually triggered afterwards, lacking mitigation strategies to diminish risks. Damaged dwellings cannot be immediately reinforced to continue inhabitation, generating disruption. Repairs are usually costly, as large numbers of affected constructions make damage assessment difficult, and post-earthquake reconstruction programmes often lack a heritage-specific approach. This research seeks to address these issues through a methodology based on high-end documentation technologies applied to built heritage and local community engagement.

The methodology proposed combines different recording tools to capture social and built environment data, such as interviews, mapping, drone capture, photography and 3D laser scanning, in the pilot case study of Bela, a historical settlement in the seismic region of Kutch in Gujarat, India, affected by the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. This paper particularly discusses aspects of community engagement around data capture and representation processes.

The introduction of advanced documentation technologies can help speed up the process of damage assessment, analyse social aspects that are key to a respectful re-construction, and enhance community engagement through visual representations, which are relevant to social acceptance and understanding towards a meaningful introduction and sustained use in earthquake risk management.

The methodology proposed can inform similar cases in seismic areas and enhance engagement, helping to develop a sense of awareness in the community regarding the need for preparedness in the face of earthquakes. However, there are technical challenges in using advanced recording technologies in terms of equipment accessibility, skills, knowledge and future uses of the data. Social and cultural aspects, such as caste and gender divisions, also implied disparity in accessing the data and relating it to the research team, bringing forward the need to tailor public engagement to achieve inclusivity.

This study has practical implications. The most relevant one is how the process of carrying out the research served as a way to raise awareness for future seismic events. In this regard, local academic institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are critical mediators in reaching the community in greater depth, from which to bridge to external and/or governmental agencies based on existing links and trust.

This study also shows social implications. As a case study-based research, the link developed with the local community will help coordinate actions in case an earthquake occurs and increase cohesion within the community towards a joint aim, in this case, to reduce the risk of disasters due to seismic events.

This paper accounts for a novel approach to documenting buildings in heritage settlements prone to earthquakes that uses the digital record as (1) a basis to assess and intervene in the built environment and better understand how it supports the local community’s ways of living and maintaining buildings; and (2) a platform for local engagement and agency in planning and re-construction as a post-disaster mitigation measure.