Buildings

The rapid growth of urban infrastructure and vehicle ownership has dramatically increased concrete consumption and waste tire generation, posing significant environmental challenges. This study investigates the feasibility of using waste tire steel fibers (WTSF) recovered from end-of-life tires as reinforcement in concrete to enhance mechanical performance while promoting sustainable construction. A reference concrete mix targeting 35 MPa compressive strength was modified with WTSF at 1%, 2%, 3%, and 5% by cement weight. Workability and compressive strength were evaluated through slump tests and cube testing at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. Results show that fiber incorporation had minimal impact on workability (slump 10–10.5 cm) and significantly improved compressive strength across all curing ages. The 3% fiber mix achieved the highest 28-day strength of 55.94 MPa, a 20.1% increase over reference concrete, while the 5% mix offered superior early-age strength but showed reduced long-term gains due to fiber clustering. These findings highlight an optimal fiber content balancing strength enhancement, uniform fiber distribution, and workability. Reusing tire-derived WTSF reduces reliance on virgin steel, mitigates waste accumulation, and supports circular economy principles. This research demonstrates that WTSF are an effective, sustainable reinforcement material and provides a framework for their integration into high-performance, eco-efficient concrete design. The results demonstrate the potential of tire-derived steel fibers for use in structural concrete applications where enhanced compressive strength and sustainability are simultaneously required.

Owing to the harsh requirements and characteristics of construction projects, such as limited budgets and tight work schedules, construction professionals suffer from various mental health disorders. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects and interaction of work-related stressors and coping mechanisms on the severity of mental health disorders among construction professionals working in emerging countries. Several studies have focused on the correlations between work-related stressors, coping mechanisms, and mental health outcomes (including depression, anxiety, and stress). However, no study has evaluated the interaction effects of stress factors on the severity of mental health disorders among construction professionals nor examined the effectiveness of coping mechanisms enacted to address workplace stressors. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was administered to 491 civil engineers with construction site experience across different emerging countries. The survey included background information, stressor categories, coping mechanisms, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Four hypotheses were developed and tested using multinomial logistic regression analysis. The findings indicate that project-related stressors play a more critical role in triggering mental health disorders than personal-related attributes. Moreover, while certain stressors (managerial, organizational, and mental) do not exhibit significant individual effects, their interaction effects on mental health disorders are statistically significant. The results further reveal that coping strategies can effectively mitigate the impact of work condition-related stressors on depression, anxiety, and stress, although both positive and negative moderating effects are observed. Professional and personalized mental health consulting is therefore recommended to support construction professionals and promote healthier working environments.

Urban parks play a crucial role in shaping the well-being of the community. This study integrated environmental psychology and co-creation to develop psychologically informed park design. It examined users’ psychological reactions to urban parks to establish a theoretically grounded framework for participatory design. Hence, this study integrated Attention Restorative Theory (ART) with co-creation approaches to provide conceptual clarity on translating psychological constructs into design criteria. The primary objective was to identify and rank design criteria within this integrated framework to meet user psychological demands. Also, it is hypothesized that ART could be applied through a co-creation approach. Specifically, this study administered ART scale questionnaires to 202 community members in Erbil City, and the data were analyzed using statistical analysis to provide empirical evidence for incorporating these psychological dimensions into the co-creation process. The findings reveal that validated measurement of community needs enhances participatory design effectiveness. Furthermore, the high inter-factor correlations (r = 0.79–0.88) suggest that holistic design approaches address multiple restorative dimensions simultaneously. Overall, this research demonstrates how environmental psychology can be systematically integrated into co-creation processes, thereby bridging theory and practice in urban park design. The validated framework provides practitioners with evidence-based tools for psychologically informed participatory design environments that can activate users mentally and improve cognitive function.