Courtyard is an important element, a representation of success in social sustainability and architectural quality. The philosophy of courtyard within the urban fabric is an expression of cohesion and community. While courtyard typology sustains in some urban patterns with an adaptation, this continuum has not been achieved in some contexts. Vernacular architecture had to face several challenges and courtyard typology was replaced with profitable mass housing without previous spatial codes at the expense of the human needs and values that guide design decisions. In this context, this paper aims to provide sustainability of the courtyard in contemporary housing with an adaptation such as after-war Syria redevelopment in order to provide a socio-spatial quality and sustainability. The study reviews the sense of courtyard for residential areas and examines the reasons for the absence of this element in contemporary multi-unit housing. Moreover, this study analyses housing examples with courtyard from different periods of Vienna with cause-effect relationship. The study concludes that Vienna has provided a wealth of innovative experimentations of courtyard in contemporary housing successfully which can lead new housing dynamics in urban contexts such as Syria.

Obtaining a home in Syria has been an equivalent to a strategic goal around which the life of the Syrian citizen revolves. Housing was one of the problematic crises before the war, which accelerated due to the war. Moreover, this turned into a humanitarian disaster, and the situation has become more urgent and requires immediate treatment. The solution of this demolition is not limited to an easy rebuilding and needs a more sustainable and qualified policy in order to prevent to turn back to the existing crisis before the war. This paper focuses on finding an appropriate strategy to respond to the housing crisis in Syria in the light of successful implementations of social housing. In order to achieve that, after a literature review of the general context of social housing, the Singapore social housing experience has been analyzed. Considering the housing problems and implementations in Syria (before and after the war) in a comparative evaluation with the Singapore experience, some strategies have been suggested, along with discussing the transfer of this experience to the Syrian context. Although applying a social housing system in a country that has had a failed experiment is not an easy task, the study proposes a list of recommendations for developing a social housing strategy based on a clear legal framework which also provides a base for social housing. In addition to defining all the criteria related to social housing, such as the target groups, the type of housing, the available financing methods, and focusing on urban planning and architecture for the importance of their role in creating a peaceful coexistence in the conflicting societies.