The ultimate aim of a smart city is to enhance the quality of life for its residents and businesses through modern technologies in order to reduce resource deterioration and maintain overall costs. From this perspective, blockchain is one of these technologies that has received much attention during the recent years as it offers new alternatives for individuals and institutions in the smart city context. This study aims to explore the potential and contribution of blockchain in smart cities by studying and reviewing the literature of scientific research on the concept and fundamentals of blockchain, involving its most practical applications. In addition, it summarizes worldwide examples of success in using blockchain as well as exploring the challenges and opportunities related to this technology in smart cities. Thus, this study provides a useful reference for researchers to review all about the new blockchain technology.

Smart sustainable city is that uses the technology to transform their core systems and optimize the exploitation of limited resources; it is a knowledge-based system that provides real-time insights to stakeholders. As a result of the challenges facing the cities of the Gaza Strip regarding population growth, lack of resources, increased demand for materials, the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than twelve years, the smart city approach can contribute to mitigating these challenges and creating opportunities and solutions for many of these problems. Thus, this study aims to promote sustainable urban development through the adoption of smart city approaches using the city's 3D representation and analysis capabilities to reflect and define the current situation and formulate a future vision using GIS and Building Information Modeling (BIM) considering Sheikh Hamad city as a case study. This involves developing a GIS web-based 3D model of the urban landscape of the city and creating a geometric descriptive database that includes the various elements of the city such as buildings, services and other facilities. The constructed database is to be automatically updated and can be used to facilitate documentation, transparency and help in decision-making process. The 3D smart city can also benefit stakeholders, government officials, private sectors as well as the city citizens. Therefore, urban services will be more efficient, and the cities of the Gaza Strip will be able to achieve sustainable development and competition in difficult economic, environmental and social conditions. This study recommends the use of BIM and GIS technologies in the transformation to a smart city concept as well as the rehabilitation of existing cadres to enable them to use those technologies to achieve the goal of improving the quality of life and facilitating the daily lives of people.

This study aims to promote sustainable urban development by adopting the smart city approach by identifying the concept of smart cities in the reality of the cities of Gaza Strip, considering Khan Younis city as a case study. It also focuses on formulating a future vision using geographic information systems (GIS) and building information modeling (BIM) using current city data and plans. For this purpose, a checklist is designed to investigate the current reality of Khan Younis towards the concept of smart cities. It consists of two parts. The first one includes the demographic data while the second part involves nine axes; the availability of institutional infrastructure, availability of physical infrastructure, availability of social infrastructure, availability of economic infrastructure, availability of smart management components, use of smart city tools, achievement of the city's 3D goals, evaluation the level of use of GIS/BIM in decision supporting, as well as assessing the degree of challenges prevent transforming towards the smart city approach. The checklist analysis reveals that Khan Younis has 41.7% of the characteristics features of the smart city and needs further improvements in all axes especially the availability of social and economic infrastructures. Thus, the study recommends training the existing cadres to enable them to use GIS/BIM technologies in transforming to smart cities. It also recommends that society be educated and equipped to ensure that it receives and uses all these things in order to achieve the goal of improving the quality of life and facilitating the daily lives of people.

The main characteristics of potential smart cities in the future, smart citizens, smart energy, smart buildings, smart mobility, smart technology, smart healthcare, smart infrastructure, smart governance and education, and finally smart security are the aspects of smart cities. In the smart city, smart accessible infrastructure creates an inclusive environment for people with disabilities, in which they can integrate into the community and enjoy their civil, cultural, political, social and economic rights and entitlements. The aim of this study is to integrate disabled people into society so that they can actively participate in society and lead to a normal life. An integrated approach is needed to ensure that people with disabilities are not left alone. A combination of mainstreaming and targeted action is required for all interventions. People with disabilities have the same basic needs as everyone else: health protection and treatment, basic services, housing and income. Targeted intervention measures need to complement disability mainstreaming by addressing specific needs identified by general responses, including such interventions need not add materially to the overall cost, especially if the requirements of the maximum number of users are considered in the initial planning. This paper recommends how we can use an appropriate design checklist as a guide for our initial architectural concept and smart city planning to facilities reasonably accessible for people with disabilities in private and public buildings, making our cities smarter and more inclusive and helping to improve the quality of life for all people, especially people with disabilities.

Nowadays our world is faced with various environmental problems. These environmental problems are caused by the increasing pollution in the world, increasing production and consumption of material goods. These problems have serious consequences for human health and also have a major impact on natural ecosystems. This paper discussed sustainable green building in terms of key principles for sustainable building, strategies and guidelines for sustainable green building, and steps for an integrated approach to green design. The study also looked at the status of green building and sustainability, as well as green building materials in Palestine. The study suggested a checklist to help assess the condition of buildings in Palestine and the extent to which they respond to the principles of sustainable green buildings, thus, contributing to help new and existing buildings to adopt a sustainable green building approach, in order to achieve the goals of sustainable green construction in terms of saving energy and resources and reducing waste, therefore, participating in preserving the environment and improving the quality of life.