The Outstanding Universal Value of Historic Jeddah relates to its unique development of the Red sea architectural style and its preserved urban fabric. Its cityscape is the result of an important exchange of human values, know-how of building materials and techniques across the Red Sea region and along the Indian Ocean routes between the 16th and the early 20th centuries. It represents a cultural world that thrived, thanks to international sea trade; possessed a shared geographical, cultural and religious background; and built settlements with specific and innovative technical and aesthetic solutions to cope with the extreme climatic conditions of the region (humidity and heat which made people creative to come up with simple yet effective technologies to cool interiors - while respecting the urban setting and privacy. These elements gave rise to a language of architecture in the region and created a sense belonging.Few studies have explored the principles and practices of traditional settlements and how can be utilized in contemporary situations   The Outstanding Universal Value of Historic Jeddah relates to its unique development of the Red sea architectural style and its preserved urban fabric. Its cityscape is the result of an important exchange of human values, know-how of building materials and techniques across the Red Sea region and along the Indian Ocean routes between the 16th and the early 20th centuries. It represents a cultural world that thrived, thanks to international sea trade; possessed a shared geographical, cultural and religious background; and built settlements with specific and innovative technical and aesthetic solutions to cope with the extreme climatic conditions of the region (humidity and heat which made people creative to come up with simple yet effective technologies to cool interiors - while respecting the urban setting and privacy. These elements gave rise to a language of architecture in the region and created a sense belonging.Few studies have explored the principles and practices of traditional settlements and how can be utilized in contemporary situations  

The lessons derived from vernacular heritage can be applied in the conceptual design of contemporary architecture which provides operational knowledge that might be integrated in the contemporary architectural design process. The research project should approach the concept of sustainability from a transversal, holistic and multidisciplinary perspective. In this approach, the three dimensions of sustainability are defined as follows:

This scope addresses the human capacity of intervention in order to decrease negative impacts on the environment. Human intervention is able to integrate nature and bioclimatic features, to control the production of pollution and waste, to preserve health and prevent from natural hazards impacts.

This scope gathers all social and cultural positive impacts observed on vernacular heritage. It concerns the protection of cultural landscapes, the transmission of construction cultures, the capacity to stimulate creativity, the recognition of cultural values (tangible and intangible) and the reinforcement of social cohesion.

The capacity of reducing the efforts invested during the construction process, the building performance, the maintenance of buildings and all the impacts that contribute to an improvement of living conditions. Vernacular solutions encourage autonomy and local activity, optimize construction efforts, extend the lifetime of the building and save resources.