Beyond form: the design of sustainable courtyards, a PRISMA-guided study of regional and sociocultural drivers

This PRISMA-guided systematic review examines courtyard traditions across the West Asia (Middle East), South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China as an East Asian comparative case. Searches of Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and Google Scholar were conducted between May and July 2025 for studies published from 1985 to 2025. Fifty-six sources were retained after excluding duplicates, image-only webpages, studies without a defined courtyard focus, and publications lacking analytical evidence. Evidence was organised into four domains: architectural design, environmental and experiential performance, cultural and social dimensions, sacred geometry and religious function. Performance and compliance were evaluated through literature-derived ordinal coding using variables, scoring anchors, and comparative matrices. The resulting scores represent the strength and balance of attributes reported in the reviewed literature rather than direct field measurements or universal empirical rankings. Radar charts generated in Python using Matplotlib visualised multidimensional profiles and trade-offs among regional courtyard types. The findings indicate that Middle Eastern courtyards offer the most balanced architectural profile, Iranian qanat courtyards demonstrate the strongest environmental and functional configuration, South Asian courtyards show the broadest socio-cultural alignment, and Javanese courtyards provide the most comprehensive sacred-spatial integration. The framework of this study supports context-sensitive courtyard adaptation in sustainable housing.