over-urbanization negatively affects on urban temperatures and results in the formation of urban heat islands. Outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) occurs in such exacerbated conditions, influencing health, well-being, and productivity of urban dwellers. Therefore, cities need to urgently evaluate the OTC and act to ensure providing acceptable OTC in built-up settings. As such, many studies envisaged to understand outdoor thermal performance of urban environments based on their geometrical features and suggest mitigation strategies against the negative effects of heat stress. Reviewing the literature reveals that most of the previous studies are focused on the urban scenarios of a single canyon or a limited number of individual buildings with simplified and uniform geometrical features without including the effect of surrounding urban neighbourhoods. Furthermore, most studies only calculate OTC at a certain time and location in the space where field measurements are conducted. Since these field measurements are scattered in time and space, the comprehensive tempo-spatial distributions of OTC cannot be achieved to have a comprehensive understanding of outdoor environments performance. In this regards, the OTC tempo-spatial visualization is essential in outdoor environments. This study aims to develop a framework to comprehensively evaluate the performance of OTC and assess the effect of geometrical features on the spatial and temporal distribution of thermal comfort in residential neighbourhoods. The proposed framework is applied to the case study of Tehran city where three residential urban configurations are selected with different geometrical features (organic, orthogonal and apartments block) to conduct a series of high-resolution simulations. This study follows a step by step process to understand the impact of built-up urban areas on their thermal comfort performance: (1) development of 3-D models of three selected neighbourhoods, (2) tempo-spatial OTC analysis, (3), and understanding the impact of geometrical parameters on the thermal comfort performance. The study reveals that all the selected areas have a significant deviation from the acceptable comfort range with mostly moderate and strong heat stress. The differences in OTC performance of these areas is related to the geometrical features of buildings and canyons including neighbourhood layout and proportion of open and built-up areas and canyons’,profiles (building’,height, aspect ratio and orientation). The spatial variation of OTC is more significant in orthogonal areas and apartment complexes while organic settings provide a less distributive comfort performance with lower hours of heat stress and discomfort. Results show that the cooling effect of organic neighbourhoods is higher due to the higher rate of aspect ratio in canyons. Orthogonal and apartment cases have higher mean radiant temperature mostly above 40°, C. In the apartment complex, open spaces show the highest rate of heat stress, due to the long exposure to shortwave solar radiation. In this area, the most important domain of retrofitting strategies should be focused on landscape planning for green planting and water bodies. The results of this study help to identify design solutions that should be incorporated in the planning studies and as a result, a holistic perspective would be achieved for better decision-making via this tempo-spatial comprehensive analysis.

Introduction: The growing vulnerability of urban environments and human settlements to changing climatic patterns necessitates transformative urban planning and design approaches. Among these approaches, using Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) as a pivotal tool for mitigating urban heat islands, enhancing public health, and improving thermal comfort has garnered significant attention. UGI, as an integral component of climate-sensitive urban design, serves to balance natural and built environments, promoting sustainable and energy-efficient urban spaces while safeguarding natural resources. This study examines the impact of UGI within the framework of climate-sensitive design, with a focus on the Gol Mohammadi neighborhood in Isfahan. By synthesizing conceptual insights and analyzing the microclimatic conditions of the area, the study evaluates the environmental benefits and functional efficiency of UGI interventions.Methodology: A comprehensive mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining qualitative urban design principles with quantitative assessments of UGI’s climatic effects. The study utilized ENVI-met software to simulate and analyze six distinct scenarios, each representing different configurations of UGI, such as variations in vegetation coverage and distribution. Logical reasoning and scenario development informed the synthesis of findings, while   iterative simulations provided a robust basis for evaluating UGI’s impact on critical environmental indices, including temperature, wind speed, and mean radiant temperature. Optimized through comparative analysis, the final scenario was tested to offer actionable insights for integrating UGI into urban design frameworks.Results: The simulation outcomes reveal that UGI scenarios emphasizing increased tree coverage yielded the most substantial improvements in microclimatic conditions. Trees demonstrated a pronounced capacity for temperature reduction and thermal comfort enhancement, significantly mitigating urban heat island effects.Complementary strategies, such as green façades and green roofs, while slightly less effective than tree-based solutions, contributed meaningfully to the overall climatic performance of the neighborhood. The proposed optimal scenario combined strategically positioned trees, façades, and roofs, offering a synergistic model for maximizing UGI efficiency. Moreover, the findings facilitated the development of targeted strategies and policies to integrate UGI into sustainable urban design, ensuring adaptability to diverse climatic contexts.Discussion: The study categorized UGI applications into six scenarios to explore their impact on the neighborhood’s microclimate systematically:Scenario S0: No vegetation.Scenario SN: Existing vegetation.Scenario SG: Maximum tree coverage along streets and gardens.Scenario SF: Existing vegetation supplemented by 100% green façades.Scenario SR: Existing vegetation complemented by 100% green roofs.Scenario SS: Optimized design based on insights from previous scenarios.Comparative analyses of climatic factors indicated that Scenario SG, emphasizing tree coverage, achieved the most significant temperature reductions and enhanced wind flow, making it particularly effective for improving summer thermal comfort. The SF (green façade) and SR (green roof) scenarios also demonstrated measurable impacts, particularly in reducing localized heat buildup. These findings underscore the versatility of UGI in addressing urban climatic challenges, with each type of intervention offering unique advantages.Conclusion: This study underscores the transformative potential of UGI in fostering climate-sensitive urban environments. By leveraging advanced simulation techniques, it demonstrates that tree-based solutions significantly mitigate urban heat islands. At the same time, green façades and roofs complement these effects by enhancing energy efficiency and climatic resilience. The findings highlight the importance of integrating UGI into urban design frameworks to harmonize built environments with natural ecosystems. This alignment fosters sustainable urban growth, optimizes resource use, and enhances urban livability

This paper examines the level of attention to water sensitive urban design approach in Iran, leading to two questions: a) What are the objectives of WSUD? b) To what extent is attention paid to the objectives of WSUD in teaching landscape architecture and urban design fields? The research methodology of this research is combined (qualitative-quantitative). In the first step of the research, the qualitative strategy and content analysis method were used to extract the main and secondary objectives of WSUD from resources. Then, the extracted objectives were examined as measured components, based on the opinions of the panel of experts. In the second step, in order to evaluate the level of attention to the objectives of WSUD in the academic education in landscape architecture and urban design fields, the opinions of academicians in landscape architecture and urban design were collected. In the third step of the research, Shannon quantitative entropy strategy was used to analyze the answers to the questionnaires. Shannon entropy is one of the quantitative methods based on multi-criteria decision making and has an important role in information theory for data processing in content analysis. The analysis of the answers to the questionnaires using Entropy Method shows that among the five main components of WSUD, in urban design and landscape architecture education, the performance component is much more important than other components and the two components of water amenity and water supply are in second rank, water quality is in third place and water quantity is in the fourth position. Among the 20 sub-components, the weight of 14 components (equivalent to 70% of the components) is the same and insignificant, which shows that little attention is paid to them in the process of landscape architecture and urban design education in Iran. The results indicate that the components with quantitative nature have a low position in landscape architecture and urban design education, while many of the qualitative components had attained higher weight than the quantitative components. This shows that the education of landscape architecture and urban design in Iran, especially in water field, is mainly based on theoretical concepts and qualitative issues, and is not successful in preparing graduates of these fields to face the challenges in real projects. To close this gap, it is recommended to review the course descriptions of these two fields and determine how to enhance the knowledge of the teachers about the importance of water for further studies.

Problem statement: Rooted in the Biophilia Hypothesis, biophilic design seeks to intelligently weave natural elements into the built environment to enhance sustainability, human well-being, and the human-nature connection. Nevertheless, despite its innovative potential, the widespread adoption of biophilic principles in Iran has been constrained by challenges such as increasing urban density, the persistence of traditional construction practices, and various cultural and policy-related barriers. Research objective: This study aims to evaluate the environmental, energy, and cultural performance of biophilic design across three representative Iranian cities—Yazd (hot and arid climate), Tabriz (cold and semi-arid climate), and Rasht (humid climate)—by integrating computational simulations with expert interviews. Research method: For the quantitative analysis, high-resolution climatic data were sourced from reliable databases such as Meteonorm and NASA’s POWER database. These datasets were then analyzed using advanced simulation tools like Ecotect Analysis and Grasshopper-Ladybug. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven experts selected through purposive and snowball sampling methods, aiming to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing biophilic design in the Iranian context. Conclusion: The research findings highlight the substantial benefits of biophilic principles in enhancing building performance and the quality of the built environment. For example, in Yazd, the strategic deployment of passive cooling techniques resulted in a remarkable 30% reduction in energy consumption. In Tabriz, improvements in building insulation led to a 20% enhancement in energy efficiency. Similarly, Rasht witnessed a 30% increase in water use efficiency, marking a significant stride toward water resource sustainability. Nonetheless, broader implementation of biophilic strategies in Iran faces obstacles such as economic constraints, limited public awareness, and fragmented, inconsistent policy frameworks.

On the eve of the year 2021, about a century has passed since the establishment of municipalities, and more than half a century has passed since the establishment of development planning laws and the beginning of the implementation of urban planning projects. The purpose of creating these laws and establishing structures and organizations to implement them was to monitor the creation and development of cities to provide suitable conditions for citizens in life. The results of the implementation of urban development projects show that these projects, despite spending a lot of money and energy, in many cases do not achieve their goals. Despite these problems, for many years, the lack of coordination of organizations related to urban management, the lack of appropriate methods for preparing and implementing urban plans and the lack of technical and financial capacity in the organs have been raised as important issues in project inefficiency. But the importance of not paying attention to the infrastructure that can affect urban management and planning has been overlooked and among all the factors, water has the most fundamental role as the main source of life and the basis of development. This grounded theory method first examines the causes and known factors of inefficiency of urban planning in Iran, explains the relationship between this issue and the critical factors of inefficiency and then identifies the effect of paying attention to the pivotal role of water in eliminating many of these factors, By presenting a local model for using the basics of watersensitive city design in urban planning, offers a proposal for operationalizing and making more practical the methods of urban planning, which, if used in the future, can solve the problems of urban planning in the country. Sensibly reduce and eliminate.

Expended Abstract: Introduction: Today cities are facing a variety of complex challenges called “ wicked problems” . Increase in frequency and severity of rainfall and long periods of heat and drought resulted from climate change, urban population growth and its consequences, water crisis and its’ supply challenges, environmental pollutions in all dimensions, and extensive changes in land use are some of these issues. There are different approaches to integrate managing water resources in urban areas, one of which is "Integrated drinking water management" suggested between 1960 and 1970 by the Civil Engineering Society. ...

Introduction: So far, the use of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) has not been investigated in cities of Iran. This issue, for the first time introduced in Australia in 1994, has been implemented in several countries, such as America, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. The main objective of WSUD is to establish a link between urban planning and design, and landscape design with sustainable management of water flows in a city. In other words, this approach tries to revitalize the natural water cycle in the city by presenting urban design-oriented solutions that may have less environmental damages. Material and methods: In this descriptive-qualitative research, the WSUD approach has been firstly addressed; then, its indicators, as integrated water management factors, have been extracted, evaluated, and analyzed in the rainy city of Rasht. In addition, based on findings of the study, some strategies for improving the water management in the city of Rasht have been proposed. Since the extraction of its dimensions and indicators depends on an accurate and exact investigation of the resources and documents, data collection was done by a documentary study. In order to infer the repeatability and validity of the extracted data from the documentary texts, the content analysis was used. The extent of the significance of indicators is not the same. Therefore, after extracting dimensions, components and repeated indicators of integrated water management, the coefficients of the significance of each level at a higher level, based on obtained data from content analysis, have been calculated by data from the experts’ questionnaire (Delphi) which is 5-point Likert scale method. At last, the significance of each indicator was determined. Results and discussion: Based on the findings obtained from experts’ questionnaire, the environmental indicator was the most significant factor in sustainable urban water management, as well as urban river health and rate of rainwater storage with weights of 0. 0469 and 0. 0463, respectively. To analyze the present situation in Rasht city, observation, questionnaire, and statistical databases in the form of Swat Table were utilized as the instrumentation. By weighting the internal and external factors, based on the GOSP matrix, appropriate strategies were introduced in the group of adaptive strategies. In addition, prioritization was done by QSPM matrix strategies on different levels. Ultimately, appropriate policies for applying the water-sensitive urban design approach were made in Rasht city. The outcomes of these strategies can be as follows: transformation of the gray infrastructure network of the city of Rasht into the green-blue infrastructure network, eco-revelatory of green infrastructures instead of underground pipelines, changing attitudes towards the links of water, nature and buildings, and increasing citizens’ awareness of the natural water cycle, preventing urban flooding in passages during rainfall, cleaning up the rivers of Zarjoob and Goharrood as well as wetlands of Rasht and making them the green corridors and major leisure spots, increasing green roofs, green walls and green terraces that have positive effects on the city’ s temperature, air quality, wildlife, and mental health, and reducing drinking water consumption for non-drinking consumptions up to 50 percent (i. e., reduction of five million liters of drinking water only by collecting and handling gray water or rainwater and utilizing it as for rainwater flush tanks of buildings), etc. Conclusion: The WSUD approach, as the latest urban design approach for sustainable urban water management, has been developed for the management of surface runoff quality to a wider framework, i. e., for integrating urban water management in combination with urban design. It is noteworthy that it testifies that there is a possibility of managing surface waters in the city, in such a way that, in spite of existing more than 2000 mm rainfall per year, and even the flow of 200 mm on height over the passageways, the use of urban spaces is not disturbed.

The man-made system, including buildings, transportation and industry, has a significant share in the phenomenon of climate change in the world. Cities are the mainstay of human construction. Inadequate urban planning principles, especially in less developed countries, have multiplied the phenomenon of global warming and climate change in recent decades. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of urban design principles and indicators on the phenomenon of climate change. This research is a qualitative study that has been done in the practical part. According to the purpose, research is categorized as applied. In this regard, the positivist approach has been used. The basis of positivism is the method of logical reasoning. The logical reasoning method uses the ANP model and fuzzy logic in positivism. The results of the research indicate that the buildings with a score of 0.5729 have the highest score in the sixth transect (central city center). Exchange and transportation spaces with the score of 0.1713 in the third transect (middle texture) has the highest score. Natural open spaces, public open spaces and streets with a score of 0.8146 in the first transect (suburbs and pristine areas) have the highest score in influencing the phenomenon of climate change.