Several African and Asian countries have embarked on building new towns to address urbanization challenges such as crowded cities, slums, and pressure on existing infrastructure. These projects have been criticized for being inadequate in fostering environmental sustainability. Based on a desk study, this article reviews the environmental sustainability challenges of these projects and recommends some ecologically embedded practices of traditional settlements that wonderfully survived for many centuries with little adverse social and environmental impacts yet offered opportunities for urbanism. The article discusses how the architecture, urban form, and green infrastructure of traditional settlements present excellent cases of ecological wisdom and embeddedness where the local ecosystems are respected, and every human activity, including the creation of the built environment, is defined by the ecological allowances, where resilience is part of the built environment at both micro and macro scales, and where humanity and nature are equal stakeholders living in unison. The article concludes that these instances of successful ecological embeddedness in traditional settlements can provide lessons for contemporary cities to ponder when envisioning more sustainable built environments for the present and future generations.

Coastal reclamation for residential, tourism, and commercial developments in the Arabian Peninsula and other global regions has dramatically increased in recent decades. This phenomenon is undoubtedly innovative and novel; however, it disrupts the natural balance of marine environments and degrades coastal and marine resources. Moreover, the long-term sustainability of such developments might be undermined by rising water levels, earthquakes, and the behavior of filling material and others. This paper analyzed the extent of land reclamation in the Dammam Metropolitan Area (DMA) along the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia within the last two decades and its environmental sustainability impacts. The study used satellite images to compare the coastal boundary of the study area from 2000 to 2020. The study analyzed five major reclamation projects and found that a total of 6081 hectares of land has been reclaimed from the Arabian Gulf, thereby altering the coastal profile of DMA significantly. The environmental sustainability implication of these projects includes the degradation and loss of ecosystem services and marine habitat, urban sprawl, and flood risk. Therefore, environmental regulations, such as the strict prohibition of coastal reclamation, and ecosystem-based urban planning, are needed for sustainable coastal land development.

Cities nowadays are the most significant source of environmental degradation threatening local and global ecosystems. Interestingly, many ancient settlements present excellent lessons and inspiration for addressing our current urban predicaments, given their environmental stewardship. This research explores how the ecologically embedded settlement patterns, building configurations, urban agriculture and home gardening, and water conservation of the Maya-built environment can offer insights about mitigating contemporary urban sustainability challenges. Mayans’ respect for nature not only guaranteed sustainable habitats but also engendered one of the most remarkable civilizations in a region that did not offer generous support for human accommodation. The Mayan world view promoted the idea of one spirit dwelling in all humans and other-than-human entities in an environment, making everything sacred and kin to everything else. The regional climate was kept under control by protecting the vegetation that also provided other ecological benefits. Land use was mixed, and residences were constructed with native and recyclable materials utilizing natural light and ventilation. The Mayan civilization inspires us to manage and protect plants, not cut them down; conserve water, not waste it; listen to the environmental feedback, not reject it; and, most importantly, it begs us to embrace nature as our own mother, not disown it as something dispensable. These principles have significant implications on urban land-use planning and policies today.

No abstract