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Urban comfort is becoming increasingly important due to climate change, increasing population and urbanization. Greater use of mechanical cooling is not reasonable due to consuming more energy, discharging anthropogenic heat and CO 2 emissions which all can be minimized by passive strategies. As part of the EPSRC funded project Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agendas, URSULA, two radically different urban regenerations for a site in Sheffield were passively designed and had to be microclimatically assessed upon their thermal impacts. Passive design strategy for the first is wind tunneling and solar shelter effects owed to compact form that provides river bank access by perpendicular streets. The second, park option, offers space for the river to flood into a green channel which provides evaporative cooling. Simulations using ENVI-met BETA4 applied four receptors to record different meteorology and the pedestrian comfort in terms of Predicted Mean Vote, PMV. The increased green coverage showed horizontal shifting of about 0.2 with 2h of urban time lag in PMV records from 14.00-16.00LST in some places. Results give advantage for the park option design but needs more emphasize on indoor performance.

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.

This paper presents a hybrid sustainable design methodology for desert settlement development on a microclimate thermal impact basis. Sustainable development had broadcasting and cumulative interdiscipli nary thoughts through time. Main approaches started in the early 1980s by the UN to define the future strategies for resources as a moral and physical commitment towards next generations. In a 4% inhabited hot arid country like Egypt, there should be a n ew development model that stresses on the effect of climate conditions within 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 med-Sinai. Such settlement/village planning ideas has succeeded in Israel for example through the combined fields of applied research; desert physical planning and passive solar architecture, prefabric ation and low-cost construction methods and materials, building physics and climatology, desert agriculture and renewable energy systems. Despite the early rise for the sustainable development age in the 1980s, till now the two lines of sustainable physica l planning and the radical Egyptian development discipline based on the socialist central housing strategy didn't meet in a hot country like Egypt. This is due to the Just to Accommodate People methodology using only the Traditional Neighbourhood Development fabric forms without considering the conditions of the eight climatic classifications and different social habits of people in Egypt. This work revisits the regional development concepts for Sinai, to select pilot development spots around existing communities in Med-Sinai after which zero energy low-cost housing development can be applied on a microclimate basis using a hybrid passive design methodology. The suggested Desert Village Planning 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 .

The population and urbanization growth will lead to more dependency on mechanical cooling which is not a long term sustainable strategy. Therefore, it is important to ensure all elements involved in urban sustainable developments are well performing. Of these elements, building materials have an essential role to adjusting outdoor heat environment transfer to the indoors. As part of the research society work in Cairo towards minimizing the "black cloud" generated due to burning rice roots and straw after cultivation, this paper studies the thermal performance of a novel manufactured brick using rice straw fibbers on a cement-aggregate mixture basis. It has been designed to provide a recycled constructional biomaterial, to help healthy urban environment and reduce cooling energy demands. E NVI-met BETA5 numerical simulations were held for an existing microclimatic area to assess the impact of this brick on outdoor comfort in terms of Predicted Mean Vote, PMV, as well as for indoor conditions in terms of ambient air temperature. Among the many mixtures to produce the least bricks number suitable for transportation (1000 bricks), only two were optimum for cost, mechanical and thermal properties. In comparison with normal cement brick, PMV records showed fixed values using the selected rice-straw based cement brick mixture. In evening, it recorded less mean outdoor air temperature as different wall heat interaction occurred due to the new brick k-value. This suggests that the new brick balances between indoor and outdoor needs and contributes to further investigations in terms of energy conscious urban planning.