Architectural Design in Desert Environments
• Bioclimatic design, thermal comfort and energy efficiency, passive heating
and cooling, lighting and visual comfort, building envelope geometry and
materials, design tools, evolution of desert building technologies
• Monitoring, Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ), Post-Occupancy Evaluation
(POE), retrofit energy upgrade of existing building stock
• Embodied energy and Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Urban Design in Desert Environments
• Urban microclimate, microclimate of open spaces, pedestrian thermal
stress and thermal sensation, sustainable and environmentally conscious
design in arid zones
Urban and Regional Planning
• Urban development patterns in deserts, urban land use, sparsely
populated desert regions, planning and sustainability, sustainable
population growth, inter-regional migration
Disaster Management in Drylands
• Proactive emergency planning and crisis management in drylands, people
and drylands in history, time-series analysis and risk assessment
Pastoralism and Sedentarism
• Agnation in Mid-East societies, nomadic and static pastoralism,
urbanization of Bedouin peoples, villages for shepherds, Bedouin markets
Gender and Feminism
• Gender in cross-cultural perspectives, feminist theories and research
Methodologies
Political Economy of the Rural Sector
• The political economy of agriculture, water politics, development projects in
Less Developed Countries (LDCs)
Social Analysis of the Environment
• Actor/network theory, technological diffusion, green building legislation,
standards, behavioral issues and barriers
