SMART HAPPY CITY LAMIAA SHAHEEN & MOHAMED ABDEL AAL IBRAHIM Engineering Architecture Department, Alexandria University, Egypt ABSTRACT Although people perceive architecture in a variety of ways, we firmly believe there are key elements of design that can enrich the human experience, facilitating a path towards human happiness and well- being. Through small changes, we can begin making the world a happier place, and architecture is definitely a tool to do so. The environment is essential for all of us, especially since so many of us live in cities; thus, the Egyptian Commission emphasized the value of cities in the lives of so many Alexandrians, by committing to take action in this area. Specific environments have a direct impact on the lives of millions of Alexandrian citizens, and as a result, have a significant impact on the larger environment. More change is required in Alexandria for it to be a Smart Happy City that should offer the kind of quality of life and opportunity that would make people want to live there, make businesses, and want to invest. The main goal is to make Alexandria a Smart Happy City by providing both a common ground and a common language for better understanding use of smart and happy features effectively, specifically to make Alexandria a Smart Happy City within the architecture realm. We explain smart city features, characteristics and happiness factors, and how happiness can be measured. Additionally, we provide examples of smart, happy features. Moreover, we consider what should make Alexandria a Smart Happy City, but as smart solutions cannot be fully reproduced, we evaluate the value of each field. Keywords: Alexandria, old Alexandria, Smart City, Happy City, computer aided architectural design, architectural representation, computational design, happiness in communities. 1 INTRODUCTION Alexandria is a four-season destination. In the winter you will enjoy the breezy mornings and cold nights, and you will also find a lot of rain if you’re a winter lover. Something you need to know about Alexandria is that while summer makes perfect weather, we personally don’t like it as much, as the crowds are overwhelming. Downtown Alexandria’s wide waterfront road is as much a symbol of the city as any of its monuments. It’s here that you get a real feel for the era of cosmopolitan elegance and decadence that marked this city, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much of the architecture from this era still stands along the Corniche, though these days, much of it is heavily dilapidated and falling into disrepair. Alexandria faces problems too, in areas such as: chronic conditions, economic stability, health care access, injury, violence, mental health, neighborhoods, the built environment, obesity, nutrition, physical activity, oral health and reproductive health. Our goal is to make Alexandria a Smart Happy City and to solve all of the above- mentioned problems by following Smart City features implementation, which will lead to a happy community. 2 ALEXANDRIA BEFORE AND AFTER Urban public spaces function to encourage public activity. Fig. 1 shows how the environment can influence the people. Issues like public spaces, air quality and greenness are actually having a big impact on our levels of happiness and wellbeing in our life [1]. A direct view towards the sea was blocked by cafes and concrete blocks, which has a very bad effect on users (Fig. 2). Therefore, quality of life (QOL) as measured by people’s self- reported happiness is a primary goal of urban design. A high QOL tends to be a virtuous cycle that attracts greater economic activity and investment, leading to improved QOL. The Sustainable City XV 527 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 253, © 2021 WIT Press doi:10.2495/SC210431