Abstract: This study explores the potential of traditional outdoor spaces for the
sustainable development of urban housing in Iraq, with a focus on socio-environmental
values, namely: equality of privacy, safety, and environmental quality. Such values played a
major role in forming private outdoor spaces in Iraq's traditional housing. Thus, this study
discusses possible designs of private outdoor spaces in terms of forms, locations, and
components for achieving these values by designing private outdoor spaces based on socio-
environmental sustainability. To do this, the old city of Koya in Iraq was chosen because it is
rich in architectural heritage and still contains traditional houses inhabited at present. Five
famous types of private outdoor design are chosen in terms of their relationship with the
indoor; four types represent the yard approach in the courtyard houses, and one represents the
strip approach in the individual houses. A questionnaire was also designed to determine the
extent of the residents' satisfaction with the external spaces of these houses. By comparing the
types mentioned above, the benefits gained by the community from following the yard
approach were identified as a recommended future strategy for housing design. Then, each
form of the courtyard houses was analysed to understand the possible uses of each one. The
paper's main finding is to establish a guideline for achieving socio-environmental values in
housing design. This approach can be a high-potential step for achieving sustainable
development in Iraq. The main conclusion of the study sustains that different outdoor
forms—U-shaped, O-shaped, L-shaped, and combined shape of inner spaces—lead to
different benefits that help achieve social and environmental sustainability in different uses,
the most important of which are achieving privacy and safety without affecting environmental
quality, and in a simple manner.

Title

International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development

Publisher

Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development

Publisher Country

Japan

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

None

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

12

Year

2024

Pages

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