SBEUT - Sustainable Built Environment and Urban Transition Conference
The SBEUT conference brings together researchers, experts, and students from across the globe and from a variety of backgrounds to engage in transdisciplinary discourse on challenges and innovative solutions for sustainable solutions. The peer-reviewed conference is held at Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden on 12 - 13 October 2023.
Modernize or Ecologize? Following the footsteps of Bruno Latour into the City of the Anthropocene
Cities were main drivers in the geological shift from the Holocene to the Anthropocene through the ‘Great Acceleration’ beginning in the 1950s. Cities also should be main drivers for the remedy of anthropogenic disasters such as climate change, biodiversity decline etc. The Keynote speech will explicate the reasoning behind Bruno Latour’s option for an ecological and not a modernizing approach to such questions.
Copyright (c) 2023 Niels Albertsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
What Significance does the Forest have for Human Well-Being and Health?
Copyright (c) 2023 Susanne Knutsson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Urban Biodiversity, Human Health and Well-Being
Copyright (c) 2023 Francesco Ferrini https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Urbanization, Cities, and Deep Decarbonization Nexus: What it Means to Limiting Warming to 1,5 degree C?
Copyright (c) 2023 Shobhakar Dhakal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Taking an Urban Approach to Wellbeing Research: How and Why to Involve Communities
Copyright (c) 2023 Jessica Pykett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Emergence of Polycentricity in Urban climate Governance: Lessons from Cities in India
Climate change and urbanization challenges have empowered Indian cities to shift from a top-down hierarchical governance approach to becoming sites of climate leadership and experimentation. Polycentric governance, with its decentralized, networked, and participatory nature, has gained traction in urban governance in India. Cities in India have developed climate action plans, integrated adaptation, mitigation, and resilience, while also joining global climate alliances to commit to targets, report progress, and foster collaborations. This paper argues that Polycentricism can help build capacity for urban climate governance by involving a diverse range of stakeholders in decision making process. How can elements of polycentricity in urban climate governance facilitate experimentation and innovation, and help in developing networks to build knowledge and skills? Can Polycentric approach to governance enable cities to respond quickly to changing circumstances by allowing flexible and responsive decision-making. This paper aims to explore these key questions using explorative and descriptive research methods, focusing on climate policies in two Indian cities, Indore, and Ahmedabad. While the concept of polycentric governance in Indian cities is relatively new, it presents significant potential in promoting sustainable urban development and enhancing city resilience in response to climate change.
Copyright (c) 2023 Anita Yadav, Manish Shrivastava, Naqui Anwer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
An Investigation into the Impact of Green Buildings on Swedish Municipalities’ Built Environment
Objectives: this paper aims to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of the green buildings projects that were financed by Swedish municipalities through the green bonds scheme in Sweden. Data: residential units characteristics as well as geographical information are collected by relying on municipalities’ reports. Such characteristics include the environmental impact, as measured in terms of avoided emissions, and the financial impact, as measured in necessary investments. Proximity to basic services is assessed by relying on the OpenStreetMap initiative. Methodology: environmental impact is assessed by focusing on the emissions reduction potential of each project. Economic impact is assessed by looking at the sources and dimensions of the financial needs of each project. Social impact is estimated by considering the distance of the residential units from basic services and goods providers. Results from the social impact are aggregated using the Shimble Index. Findings: large heterogeneity is observed across the three assessments. While some municipalities have been able to make an efficient use of the resources, as measured in emissions avoided per unit of currency, others have failed to do so and faced high investments costs to be able to reduce the emissions from their green buildings projects. The accessibility index shows a large variance as well: some of the projects have been able to supply housing units that allow people to access basic services as goods within reasonable distances while others have failed to do so. Accessibility to services and goods must be improved in the latter case to make possible for these projects to increase inclusivity and prevent exclusion and isolation.
Copyright (c) 2023 Tommaso Piseddu, Fedra Vanhuyse https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Understanding and Mitigating the Effects of Flooding in Kaduna Metropolis: The Interplay of Climate Change, Urban Expansion, and Effective Management Strategies
Kaduna Metropolis continues to grapple with the impact of seasonal flooding of the Kaduna River, exacerbated by the combined effects of climate change and rapid urban expansion. However, in 2022 despite evidence of rainfall patterns and water levels higher than those resulting in the 2012 and 2015 devastating floods, there were no reported incidents of flooding. This paper explores the complex nexus of rainfall patterns, flood management techniques, the rush to inhabit flood-prone regions, and the execution of dredging as a formidable countermeasure against flood risks. The proposed solution comprises an integrative approach, enlisting diverse stakeholders in flood control activities, with a focus on dredging - a practice of excavating sediment and detritus from water bodies. This strategy is coupled with structural measures, such as constructing culverts and storm drains, and non-structural approaches, like land-use regulation, flood detection systems, and controlled inundation. The paper accentuates the necessity of climate-informed flood management strategies, in preparation for potential extreme weather events. Conclusively, managing Kaduna's floods necessitates a comprehensive approach, acknowledging the intricate interplay of climate, human behavior, and infrastructure. This paper lays the groundwork for bolstering flood resilience in Kaduna, offering valuable insights for other urban environments grappling with the tripartite challenges of climate change, urbanization, and flood management.
Climate change, resilience, and adaptation of urban built environment
Copyright (c) 2023 Aaron John, Praise Agbe, Omotola Bankole https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Urban Heat Island Risk Assessment and Mapping in the Swedish Residential Sector
Although Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, are relatively less vulnerable to climate change, Swedish residential dwellings specifically those constructed before the 1975s are likely to be impacted by current extreme weather events (EWE) such as urban heat islands (UHI). This EWE can worsen air quality, increase heat-related illnesses (particularly among vulnerable populations), and raise maintenance costs and energy demand for cooling in buildings. This study aimed to map UHI risk in Sweden's residential sector using a scenario-based analysis approach. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Remote sensing (RS) imagery data (land surface temperature (LST)) and some statistical data (including the number of houses, building typologies, and characteristics) collected from the SCB (Statistics Sweden) and TABULA database are used. The overall UHI risk maps for Sweden are developed following the risk matrix approach, by weighting and aggregating the created maps for UHI hazard, building exposure, and vulnerability. Here, the geographical information system ArcGIS pro 3.1 was used to carry out the different spatial analysis tasks, including pre-processing of spatial data, developing required maps, and performing raster calculations. The outcomes reveal a range of areas posing risks, with most high-risk zones situated in the southern and southeastern regions. Moreover, there is a discernible impact of the UHI on most of the buildings across Sweden constructed prior to the 1960s. Nevertheless, for structures built between 1961 to 1975, only those in the southern regions display potential susceptibility to the UHI. Furthermore, the western areas exhibit a low UHI risk. Despite the limitation of data used, the findings of this study have practical implications, as they can help homeowners, renovation companies, and policymakers implement appropriate adaptation strategies. The approach used is comprehensive, easily applicable, scalable, and can be replicated anywhere, assisting in the development of climate-resilient buildings not only in Sweden but also in other regions.
climate change, overheating, vegetation, land use, multiple hazard mapping, sustainable development, adaptation, mitigation
Copyright (c) 2023 Charafeddine Mokhtara, Shashwat Sinha, Brijesh Mainali, Krushna Mahapatra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Urban Contribution to Optimized Energy Transition Pathways: a Pilot Study over the Canary Islands
Solar and wind powers play a pivotal role in the transition toward decarbonized electricity systems, serving at the cornerstone of climate change mitigation strategies. However, their integration in the energy mix faces significant challenges due to the intermittency of production caused by weather and climate variability. To address this challenge, an open-access step-wise model called CLIMAX has been recently developed (Jerez et al. 2023; http://climax.inf.um.es/). This model provides actionable strategies for deploying wind and solar photovoltaic facilities that exploit their spatio-temporal complementarity (e.g. solar and wind power curves typically exhibit inverted daily and annual cycles, as well as asymmetric responses to the main large-scale teleconnection patterns over different regions) in order to reduce the volatility of their combined production (Schubert & Fahl, 2013). In this context, the Spanish Government, through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, by Next Generation EU, specifically contemplates the investment in "C7.I2 Sustainable energy on the islands". Through an Agenda for Energy Transition on the Islands, the aim is to achieve greater penetration of the renewable energy in island systems. These investments add up to a wide range of specific energy policies in the Canary Islands, both for the promotion and implementation of Citizen Energy Communities, as well as a Energy transition plan for the Canary Islands (PTECAN). In particular, this energy transition plan foresees to reach a total installed renewable capacity of 3,41 GW in 2030 (with a distribution of 2,04 GW in wind, both on-shore and off-shore; 1,31 GW in photovoltaics). CLIMAX model has been used in this work to generate optimized scenarios of wind and solar installations over the Canary Islands. On the one hand, insulated systems need to be self-sufficient, and, on the other hand, their usually large climatic heterogeneity gives room for wind-solar complementarity to work. For their generation, several constraints are considered, namely the inclusion of operative units, discarded areas due to environmental, accessibility or feasibility reasons, the regulated minimum of a 7.5% of the rooftop area with solar panels, and the maximum capacity density for each technology (Tröndle et al. 2019). The optimized scenarios guarantee the best fit of the daily wind-plus-solar production to the electricity usage in the region both at day- and nighttime, reducing the undesired fluctuations of the production around 30% as compared to the outputs from a random spatial distribution of the facilities. Subsequently, under the umbrella of these scenarios, we evaluate the role of the urban areas in promoting the stability of the Canary energy mix while enlarging the penetration of both variable renewable energies, wind and solar. Given the scarcity of practicable non-urban areas on the islands, the results show that maximizing the rooftop area for utility photovoltaic development would have a twofold positive impact: (1) the leadership of urban areas in leveraging the stability of a renewable-based energy system, and (2) the transformation of idle into profitable land uses for the clean energy transition to achieve net greenhouse gas neutrality. These results should be taken with care as regards the stability, accuracy and feasibility of the scenarios, i.e. their social acceptance and economic pros and cons, their dependence on the training period, the impacts of climate change on the abundance and variability of the resources, changes in the demand side, the reliability of the simulated climate data and the simplicity of the assumptions made for modeling the capacity factors. Nevertheless, these results undeniably underscore the need for continued efforts to navigate a well-thought transition toward net-zero emissions. They also emphasize the relevant role of urban areas in facilitating such transition.
Copyright (c) 2023 Sonia Jerez, Judit Carrillo, Albano González, Juan Pedro Díaz González, Juan Carlos Pérez Darías, Juan Pedro Montavez , Victoria Gallardo, Marcio Cataldi, Nieves Espinosa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Developing a social space coefficient for urban public spaces. Case study: Karlstad's city-center pedestrian corridor
Was there a way of gauging the carrying capacity of city public spaces? Or regulating it? How many people is too many? How many seats are too few? How much area does the public space need to set aside for social activities? According to the researchers, the size of public spaces and their utilization were shown to be roughly correlated, with popular public places having more social activity spaces than less popular ones. The researchers indicate that, the absence of qualitative characteristics makes this link weak, thus the researchers investigated weighting the quality in terms of points to better match, for instance, the association between popularity and sittable space. The study's objectives were to find a means of gauging the carrying capacity of urban public spaces by calculating the social space coefficient for Karlstad's pedestrian-only streets in addition to quantify this approximate relationship while accounting for the weighting factors on a point basis with quality. The social space coefficient refers to the link between the amount of social spaces and the size of the public area as a whole. The method first ascribed qualities to seven social activities that occur on Karlstad's pedestrian-only streets in order to calculate the weighting factors for those activities and their social spaces. These qualities were taken from well-known placemaking toolkits, transportation toolkits, and quality standards from more than 110 academic studies and references. By theoretically examining and objectively evaluating these seven activities' accessibility, traffic, social infrastructure, security, meeting location, senses and experience, architecture and aesthetics, development and maintenance, management, and programming, the weighting factors and effective social areas were determined. Moreover, this determination prompted the creation of a method for calculating the carrying capacity and figuring out the social space coefficient of Karlstad's pedestrian-only streets. Additionally, eight quality-control tools were created in this article to analyze seven social activities in public places. In terms of social space's carrying capacity, the coefficient was 0.37. Municipal planners may utilize these quality-control tools to assess the advantages and disadvantages of public places and implement improvements. Additionally, they will be able to decide the ideal amount of spaces for social activities in the public places. Furthermore, by using this methodology, future study will be able to determine a social area factor that is comparable to the green area factor.
Imagining and testing new urban configurations
Copyright (c) 2023 Karim Najar, William Woxnerud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Socio-spatial Attributes of Age-friendliness in Swedish Municipalities’ Comprehensive Plans: a Content Analysis
Critical voices call for socio-spatial policy interventions to ensure health and well-being of increased proportion of older people. The municipalities in Sweden can decide and influence the socio-spatial environments through comprehensive plans to attain quality of life for older people. Qualitative content analysis of comprehensive plans of three Swedish municipalities – Sotenäs, Älvkarleby and Sundbyberg – was done using spatial justice theory and age-friendliness concept to understand how the socio-spatial justice for older people are portrayed in these comprehensive plans. The findings revealed that ageing population is viewed as welfare challenge and barrier to economic growth. Furthermore, abundance of physical services in promoting ageing-in-place, active and healthy ageing in the accessible private and public spaces and nature partly characterize spatial justice for older people. But there is a tendency of undervaluing the agency of older people by treating them as homogeneously vulnerable group in comprehensive plans which delimit the holistic spatial justice for older people.
Copyright (c) 2023 Tirtha Rasaili https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Evaluation of the Change of Urban Heat Island Intensity in Climate Change Scenarios over European Cities
Introduction The urban heat island (UHI) is defined as the temperature difference between a city and its rural surroundings, with the urban temperature being generally higher (Oke et al., 2017). The UHI effect can have a negative impact on human health (Piracha and Chaudhary, 2022), potentially leading to respiratory or cardiovascular problems, and causes a significant increase in the overall ecological footprint of the cities (Santamouris et al., 2015). Furthermore, it could exacerbate the impacts of climate change, resulting in more frequent and severe heatwaves and increasing the likelihood of heat-related illnesses and deaths, particularly for vulnerable populations. Thus, the goal of this work is to identify and study the UHI and its evolution in regional climate change projections. Data and methods The employed data was extracted from the RegCM4-6 model driven by the ICHEC-EC-EARTH GCM. It was derived from the EURO-CORDEX EUR-11 project, assuring a spatial resolution of 0.11º. The near-surface temperature data was obtained with a 3-hour resolution. The urban fraction, land fraction and surface altitude model inputs were also used. The historical data covers the period 1971-2000. The future data under the climate change RCP8.5 scenario was divided into near future (2021-2050) and distant future (2071-2100) periods. There is not a single way to perform the UHI intensity calculation. In this case, the urban temperature of each city was assigned as the temperature series of the most urbanized grid point, which was later confirmed as the hottest (or one of the hottest) urban points. The reference rural temperature was defined as the mean temperature series of all the valid rural points inside a 1º box centered in the most urbanized point. A rural point is considered to be valid if its rural fraction falls below 5%, its land fraction is greater than or equal to 50% and if its surface altitude is not more than 100 meters higher or lower than the urban point altitude. This leads to a different number of valid rural points for each city. This research presents and compares the historical, near-future and far-future mean annual cycles and distribution functions of the UHI intensity of 12 European cities: Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Porto, Rome and Toulouse. The potential changes in the hourly distribution of the UHI daily maximum and in the UHI mean daily cycle were also studied. Results The RegCM4-6 model was able to successfully identify the UHI effect and its annual and daily cycles. The differences between the historical and future mean annual cycles of the UHI daily maximum show small to no changes in most of the cities, with these small differences being generally negative. Barcelona and Lisbon present greater negative changes, with a reduction of the UHI intensity of around 0.2 ºC in the near future and a reduction of around 0.4 ºC in the distant future (Figure 1). In contrast, Porto and Toulouse present positive differences with an intensification of the UHI effect of around 0.3-0.4 ºC in the distant future. Furthermore, the greatest changes in each city occur during the summer season. No important changes in the hourly distribution of the UHI daily maximum were found. In conclusion, the UHI effect seems to generally not aggravate the rising temperatures due to climate change in urban areas.
Copyright (c) 2023 Eloisa Raluy-López, Sergio Sánchez Fonseca, Juan Pedro Montávez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Planning and Managing Future Green Cities for Human Health and Well-being
As urban environments continue to expand at an unprecedented pace, the world faces a new set of challenges. Rapid urbanization, while fostering economic growth and social progress, also brings a range of complex health issues driven by environmental changes. From the increase in pollution to the expansion of urban heat islands and the pervasiveness of noise pollution, these multifaceted issues are intricately intertwined, creating a nexus of health concerns that are far-reaching in their impact. In this paper, we explore these challenges and delve into potential solutions, focusing on the role of green spaces in mitigating the health risks associated with urbanization. Additionally, the importance of strategic planning in promoting urban green infrastructure is discussed. To make the vision of 'green cities' a reality, an evidence-based approach is needed, one that calls for multi-disciplinary collaboration and active community participation. Beyond the planning stage, there is also a need to address the ongoing management of these green spaces utilizing smart technologies and digital tools, coupled with strong community engagement. In conclusion, while the rapid pace of urbanization presents significant challenges, it also opens opportunities for innovative, health-centered urban planning. By embracing green cities, we can find a balance between urban growth and environmental sustainability, creating urban habitats that foster human health and well-being.
Circular Economy in Wood Multi-storey Building Construction: a Systematic Literature Review
There has been a growing interest in wood-based buildings in Europe in recent years. A reason for this is that sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important in the building and construction sector, which is responsible for around 40% of the total CO2 emissions and between 25-30% of the total waste discarded in landfills, worldwide. Previous studies have shown that linear economic practices regarding used wood in construction and discarding it with minimal reuse or recycling after the demolition of the building results in significant environmental impacts. Therefore, applying circular economy concepts and criteria in wood building construction seems vital. This article provides state-of-the-art literature review of circular economy and its implementation in wood multi-storey building construction. A systematic literature review is conducted in which relevant peer reviewed articles were retrieved and explored to identify the state-of-the-art and current knowledge gaps that require further research. From an initial set of 157 scientific papers, a set of 15 highly relevant papers were selected for in-depth examination. The visualization tool VOSViewer is used to identify and gather the relevant data and information from the following academic databases: Web of science, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. This systematic review provides concepts, indicators and tools for circular economy and circular construction solutions for multi-storey wood building construction. It also highlights the key knowledge gaps that require further research. By addressing these issues, this study aims to contribute to promoting circularity in design, construction, use, and post-use phases of wood multi-storey buildings, which are urgently needed in the construction sector to mitigate climate change.
Climate mitigation and circular economy at urban level
Copyright (c) 2023 Nastaran Khalili, Ambrose Dodoo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Future Thinking for Urban Utopias: How to Transform Mindsets
Treating climate change not merely as a technical problem, but as an adaptative challenge requires a new way of viewing both problems and solutions which includes technical aspects, but also recognizes the importance of mindsets. The European Commission has developed the GreenComp, a sustainability competence framework which aims to foster a sustainability mindset by helping learners develop the knowledge, competences and attitudes to think, plan and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet. One of the four areas is “Envisioning sustainable futures”. A “Futures thinking workshop” is described as an educational experience transversal to different subject areas, aimed to provide an opportunity to build this competence. With a game-based learning approach, students were challenged into a role-play, interpreting different public actors, to shape urban utopias. Participants were assigned two scenarios: one, highlighting scientific data on climate change; the other, a short research-based story on future scenarios, prefiguring dystopic urban configurations. Students were equipped with the awareness that each one of us can contribute to develop a sustainable future, keeping in mind that cooperation between different stakeholders is key to take inclusive, feasible and effective decisions. The results of the role play provide us with 4 distinct urban utopias, based on different values and ideas of wellbeing: a city spread out in nature where citizens live in symbiosis with nature; a city enriched by green areas and bodies of water to enhance biodiversity and to increase people’s wellbeing; a city grounded on a new community-shared constitution which sets circular economy and equal distribution of resources as core values; a city built by citizens which have learned how to prevent the repetition of unsustainable actions. The experience highlights enabling and inhibiting factors to transform mindsets and may be repeated adapting to learners’ needs and the context.
Copyright (c) 2023 Del Gobbo Giovanna, Daniela Frison, Sabina Falconi, Mugnaini Silvia, Francesco De Maria, Giulia Biagi, Chiara Funari https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
How and why integrate health and wellbeing into urban planning projects? An ongoing research project about the dissemination of healthy urban approaches in France
The places we live in, their features and quality impact both our health and wellbeing, and are associated with social inequalities. Healthy Urban Planning (HUP) emerged in the 1980s to address these issues, in line with the principles of sustainable development. In France, healthy urban approaches, inspired by HUP, started to develop in the 2010s. Nowadays, their increased development, implementation, diffusion and sustainability encounter certain impediments, such as mediation with political, economic and technical concerns and, also, with other stakes such as the ecological and social impacts of urban planning projects. Studying the terms and conditions of the emergence, implementation and dissemination of these approaches and the arbitrations that take place at the local level is thus of interest for both stakeholders and researchers, and raise important questions related to the definition of “healthy urban approaches”. This questioning has resulted in the start of a three-year action research project currently implemented through my PhD thesis in Urban Planning, undertaken at Nantes Université, Paris Est Université (France) and at an urban consultancy firm (Paris, France).
Copyright (c) 2023 Lise Patron https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
QUARTIERI SANI HUB: Healthy and Inclusive Neighborhoods for the Communities of the Metropolitan City of Florence
As recognised in the scientific literature, the topic of healthy cities needs to be addressed at the neighbourhood scale, as health has a place-based dimension. The contribution is based on the Quartieri Sani Hub (Healthy Neighbourhoods Hub) ongoing research, aiming to investigate the issue of health and wellbeing through an integrated approach based on spatial and social knowledge, in order to define strategies and design scenarios for an inclusive and healthy neighborhood. The paper presents the methodological approach defined within this research project for merging different aspects of the healthy city, leading to the definition of a transdisciplinary and multi-scalar conceptual framework in which the characteristics of the built environment that promote healthy lifestyles are systemised.
Copyright (c) 2023 Valeria Lingua, Nicoletta Setola, Alessandra Rinaldi, Emanuela Morelli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Integrating Digital Tools in One-Stop-Shop Business Models for Climate-Smart Single Family Home Renovation in the European Union
The ageing building stock in the European Union (EU) is not adequately equipped to deal with the changing climate, posing a significant challenge for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This has driven governmental institutions and private firms to expediate their renovation efforts; integration of one-stop-shop (OSS) regimes for encouraging higher rates of renovation could stimulate the rate of renovation by up to 6% annually, the aimed rate for the 2030 Renovation Wave by the European Commission. While OSS solutions present a great opportunity for addressing the challenges posed by climate change by allowing older homes to become better prepared through climate-smart retrofitting, these solutions have had mixed results in the past. Given the urgency of the situation as predicted in various scenarios by the IPCC, it is imperative to assess the effectiveness of OSS solutions in accelerating the rate of renovation. This research aims to investigate how digitalisation of aspects of the customer journey of an end user participating in an OSS home renovation platform can lead to overcoming challenges faced by previously implemented instances of it. To answer this question, first a systematic literature review of previous OSS schemes implemented in Europe, digital tools commonly applied for renovation, and state-of-the-art strategies and models for the purpose of facilitating customer journeys were studied. Through a characterisation of these mechanisms, opportunities for integration of digital tools were identified and suggested for each stage of the customer journey. It was found that through utilisation of technologies such as application programming interfaces (API), for increased access and real-time updating; blockchain infrastructure for information transparency and symmetry, and urban building energy modelling for predictive assessment, some important pitfalls of OSS implementation can be addressed. This study is expected to contribute to the renovation sector, ultimately leading to improving buildings' adaptive capacity, which is critical for the EU's sustainable development objectives going forward.
Copyright (c) 2023 Shashwat Sinha, Ahmad Mazaheri, Brijesh Mainali, Krushna Mahapatra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Analytical Review of Methodological Approaches for Measuring Circularity in Building Renovation
Circularity in construction industry requires understanding of the complex system dynamics, which are affected by various building layers and societal systems. While the existing building stock offers opportunities to enable re-looping of construction and demolition waste, the assessment of building circularity performance is not straightforward, due to lack of standard database, methods, and tools. This may lead to subjective interpretations by practitioners who rely on lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach complemented with circularity indicators (C-indicators) to know the level of circularity (LOC) of building materials, components, and elements. Thus, these C-indicators requires careful evaluation of the current methodological approaches. The aim of this paper is to map and evaluate the nexus between assessment methodologies highlighting their strengths, limitations, and areas of improvement. In this study, a complementary approach of systematic literature review and design research concept was used to classify seven primary aspects covering 18 key performance indicators, that impact the system thinking approach of the renovation project. The critical analysis of ten distinguished C-indicators show conditional, beneficial and trade-off relationships between various indicators. At the same time, the dynamic aspect of re-looping the resources is missing in these indicators and sustainability is accounted by complementing lifecycle impacts rather than coupling them. Results of this review highlight substantial gaps in C-indicators applicability for renovation projects with emphasis to formulate a practical guidance to assess recirculation of materials throughout the value chain.
Copyright (c) 2023 Roma Almeida, Krushna Mahapatra, Brijesh Mainali https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
SEAWEED House 2.0: Methods and Techniques to Harmonize and Improve the Living and Urban of Future Cities, Imitating Nature
The question arises of appropriate solutions to mitigate climate change within homes and human settlements. Spirulina seems to be the most promising seaweed, with adaptive capabilities, trying to merge Architecture, Urban Planning and Nature, generating sustainable and recyclable environments.
Copyright (c) 2023 Lucrezia Gelichi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Fostering Pluvial Flood Resilience in Heritage Cities: Insights from Practice in the City of Florence
The increase in the frequency of extreme events due to climate change, as well as the evolution of socio-economic scenarios have intensified the water-related challenges of urban socio-ecological systems. In this context, heritage cities represent a hotspot due to their exposure and vulnerability to pluvial flood events that can cause extensive damage to property and people, and loss of unique pieces of art. Indeed, the growth of impervious surfaces very often combined with outdated drainage systems, have increased the necessity to develop suitable strategies of mitigation against pluvial flood risk. Starting from the outcomes of two research projects carried out for the city of Florence (Italy), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this work aims at summarizing the lesson learnt regarding the possibility of fostering pluvial flood resilience in heritage cities. The proposed approaches present flexible assessment techniques that can be replicated in other heritage contexts, providing useful support for defining the most effective strategies to control and mitigate urban flood risk.
Copyright (c) 2023 Enrica Caporali, Tommaso Pacetti, Marco Lompi, Paolo Tamagnone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Geokalkyl – GIS-Assessment of Building Foundation Reinforcement Costs and Carbon Footprints
Geokalkyl is a GIS-based tool used for calculating and visualizing foundation reinforcement costs in municipal development areas. It is used in early stages of planning to assess cost differences between alternative locations (or layouts within the same location). Accordingly, Geokalkyl helps to identify the most favorable terrain and geotechnical ground conditions for housing and infrastructure development. Geokalkyl features not only geotechnical cost estimates but also evaluates carbon footprint, as well as general climate adaption- and remediation costs. The tool requires national level soil- and elevation data and can be combined with additional geotechnical borehole data for better results. Results are visualized both as 2D maps and 3D scenes as well as in tabular spread sheet format. Geokalkyl is a product of SGI and is subject to constant development improving upon features and user friendliness. At present, Geokalkyl consists of a set of toolboxes for Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop 10.5, 10.7 and 10.8 and we recommend a combination of both geotechnical and GIS competence to run the toolbox.
Copyright (c) 2023 Dior Qaderi, Christel Carlsson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adopting Space Sufficiency Interventions as a Means for Accelerating Energy Renovation: Swedish Homeowners’ Perceptive.
Residential energy consumption remains a significant driver of CO2 emissions in European buildings, demanding urgent action in the face of the climate crisis. While prevailing efforts have predominantly concentrated on enhancing energy efficiency and integrating renewable sources, addressing the climate urgency and resource constraints necessitates a paradigm shift towards sufficiency principles. Swedish statistics on Single-Family Houses (SFH) show that more than a third of households inhabit oversized spaces in aging buildings needing renovation. Sufficiency-oriented renovation strategies—optimizing or reducing living areas per capita— present a promising avenue to achieve substantial energy reductions. This approach also opens the potential for space rentals, yielding combined energy and space efficiency advantages. In addition, the literature highlights reduced maintenance costs and potential urban housing crisis mitigation. However, practical implementation faces multiple obstacles. This paper investigates SFH owners' attitudes towards space-sufficiency interventions, focusing on living size preferences and identifying barriers and opportunities for sustainable housing. Through focus group sessions with SFH owners in November-December 2022, qualitative content analysis revealed that reducing living space per capita faces multifaceted challenges, despite potential benefits. These challenges encompass not only personal and psychological considerations but extend to economic, infrastructural, and policy barriers, including issues such as the potential breach of privacy, disruptions due to noise, dilemmas related to ownership and independency, disruptions to work-life dynamics, inadequate familiarity with sufficiency principles, and uncertainty imposed by space constraints. Strategic integration of sufficiency principles into energy-renovation policy alternatives necessitates a holistic approach that addresses these barriers, and some form of incentives may be needed to catalyze the adoption of sufficiency principles effectively.
Copyright (c) 2023 Migena Sula, Krushna Mahapatra, Brijesh Mainali, Katarina Rupar-Gadd, Georgios Pardalis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Biochar Improves the Growth of Urban Sweet Cherry
The use of biochar in urban green infrastructure is increasing in cities. Creating a carbon sink by using biochar is a working technique that is available for the city planners and has been viewed as an attractive soil remediation solution. Biochar is mainly used to improve the soil conditions for urban trees and the long-term effect on tree growth is important to evaluate. Soil amended with biochar may have increased water and nutrient holding capacities, the soil texture may be improved, and the microbial community may change. These characteristics are more or less permanent and the long-term effect on the growth of the trees is important to evaluate. Biochar was added to the construction soil when sweet cherry trees were planted alongside a road in a suburban residential area in Sweden. The growth of the trees was determined for six years after establishment. Trees growing in the biochar-amended soil grew faster than the other trees. The circumference was 35% greater after six years. The N level was higher and the P level lower in the trees growing in the soil with added biochar, indicating that the growth increase may be due to increased N availability in the soil as a response to the biochar addition.
Copyright (c) 2023 Ann-Mari Fransson, Frida Andreasson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The CERAMIC Project: Designing for, with and by Youth
Introduction During the last decades, there has been an increased policy interest in enhancing children and youth participation in development processes. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, and which became a Swedish law in 2020, children and youth have the right to participate in development processes that affect them, which is in line with the precepts of participatory design (Björgvinsson et al., 2012, Hansson 2021). Also, policies like The New European Bauhaus Initiative (2020), and The Swedish Policy for Designed Living Environment (2022) puts particular emphasis on the participation of all in the development of living spaces. Scholars have modeled children’s participation in society in different ways. One of the most well-known models is Roger Hart's (1992:8) Ladder of Children's Participation which in turn revisits Arnstein’s (1969). According to this ladder, different levels of participation can be distinguished from the lowest ones – manipulation and decoration – to the highest one - “child initiated with shared decisions with adults”. This ladder and other normative models categorize and rank different participation schemes, but they say little about how children’s (intended and designed) participation unfold in practice and what are the conditions and consequences of such participatory processes. The interest and practices of children’s and youth’s participation in developing living environments can also be inserted in the long tradition of participatory design in Scandinavia (Ehn and Kyng, 1987). Our contribution focuses on a case where design and craft were used to involve young adults in the shaping of a recreational peri-urban area in Gothenburg, called Linnarhult, and aims at unpacking how the participatory process actually unfolded around a specific craft material, namely clay. Our study shows a process in which participatory design materializes through fast and slow prototyping that emerges and develops over time (Hansson and von Busch 2022). Socially embedded tools – that is tools embedded in and at the same constructing the specific sociality of a place - are developed, making participation possible (Hansson and von Busch 2023). The participatory design process in which we engaged also tried to move away from a “design for design” approach and set up a "design infrastructuring" approach (e.g., Binder et al., 2011, Hillgren and Seravalli, 2011, Björgvinsson et al., 2012), targeting the design situation taking place after the project and to produce “something from which future opportunities can emerge” (Hansson 2021:72). In this paper, we tweak the STS notion of boundary object (Star and Griesemer, 1989) and conceptualize how clay becomes a boundary material - flexible and robust, mobile and rooted at the same time - around which not only youth’s participation in the making of Linnarhult but also their access to many other urban areas develops. The case study and methodology Our case study is located in Linnarhult, a recreational area in the peri-urban North East of Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city. It follows a youth-initiated project, between January and July 2022. The project was organized for, with, and by youth and included eight participants from 15 to 26 years of age. The project emerged as a result of previous research activities taking place in Linnarhult, in which the leader of the youth group was actively involved (Hansson and von Busch, 2022; Hansson and von Busch 2023). Kultur Ungdom, a non-profit organization supporting youth projects in the region, funded the development of the youth-organized project where different art forms were explored with Linnarhult as a base. The group also received other types of infrastructural support from local actors. Part of this project developed around creating ceramics from locally found clay, which is in focus here. After the Kultur Ungdom-funded project ended, the leader of the youth group got into other life-changing engagements, like job and marriage, and the youth’s group was discontinued as financial and time resources to engage the group were lacking (e.g., for coordination, professional support, and food). Thus, one of the authors (Hansson) decided to “stay with the trouble” (Haraway, 2010), and sustain the work. A new project named “The community cup” was initiated where the focus is to re-connect and deepen the relational ties that were established during the clay project. This time, an invitation is made to a broader audience, and the Linnarhult home organization, EAC, is acting as the host to make possible a more long-lasting process. Results and discussion The research shows how a local natural resource, clay, became a "boundary material" (cf. boundary object, Star and Griesemer, 1989) that brought several actors together: the youth, a civic organization, an artist in the surrounding network, public cultural organizations and academia. A social and material “construction site” was formed (Latour, 2005:89), where policies were put into shape. Not only was the clay shaped, but also through the clay new social relations, agencying the youth in new ways, were created. The designer's role was to help shape this construction site and form these linkages. When the project ended and funding was over, the group started to dissolve and the construction site stopped. With the discontinuation of the public funding and the enrolment of the group leader in other engagements that competed with clay-making timewise, the objects created remained, but the process established to create them was interrupted. In other words, the boundary material clay solidified into ceramics stopped working as a boundary material, losing flexibility and rootedness (in Linnarhult) and closing down the range of potentialities of what clay could be and become for, with, and by the youth. Ceramics could not engage funders as much as clay had done. The continuation of the project went back to clay shaping, to remobilize a wide range of actors and played intentionally on the relation between malleable and solidified clay (clay and the cup), between grass-root and institutionalized organizations, and between voluntary and payed-for work. Our case, therefore, points at the shortcomings of a project-based organization of youth’s participation in the city which, rather than shaping and nurturing the relational ties of a lasting infrastructure, establishes a short and performance-driven time horizon. Our interactive, practice-oriented contribution will be presented in the Tiny House on Wheels, parked on the Växjö campus at the time of the conference. Making cups of clay, while drinking coffee in ceramic mugs made in Linnarhult, will allow us to engage with both plastic and solidified clay as a mobile boundary object in a new context.
design infrastructuring, project-based organization
Copyright (c) 2023 Helena Hansson, Elena Raviola https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Integrating Novel Solar Technology into Urban and Rural Spaces
Solar energy has been an attractive alternative to conventional sources of energy ever since the oil crisis of the 1970s. The driving factor for solar energy today is the need to combat global warming and support the electrification now underway in Swedish society. Solar energy systems (heat and electricity) are expanding rapidly. However, space requirements and low efficiencies of conversion are hurdles to be overcome. The Nyroj system is a novel idea for tracking the solar energy efficiently into a Concentrating Photovoltaic System (CPV) for electricity production. The system consists of transparent tubes (solar generators), composed of large, vertically suspended units of “integrated concentrator solar modules" (referred to as lenses in the article). With a novel and simple mechanism, the system is able to pivot these lenses to track the movement of the sun across the sky, focusing its rays on high-efficiency solar cells. Besides vertical constructions on the ground, it is also possible to integrate the system into facades and for street lighting. Coastal areas and islands in the south of Sweden are examples of locations suitable for pilot installations, which will enable one to monitor and study the role played by these systems in harnessing solar energy, along with other sustainability criteria like social acceptability and economic feasibility. This system will play a part in the ‘Energigemenskap’ (energy community) – a concept which is being promoted in the country by avid supporters of green energy and the efficient use of the same.
Concentrating Photovoltaic systems, Energy community, Solar tracking
Copyright (c) 2023 Karim Najar, Are Kjeang, Venkatesh Govindarajan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Quantitative Framework for Multi-risk Analysis of Wind and Rain on Trees
Green spaces are among the most vulnerable areas in urban environments as they experience different levels of damage in extreme weather conditions. The stability of natural elements such as trees, which are valuable assets in urban areas, is threatened directly or indirectly by the occurrence of natural hazards such as wind, rainfall, and drought. This paper illustrates the conceptual foundations and the initial modeling steps of a novel approach for the conduction of multi-risk analysis for urban trees from the combined action of wind and rain. Operationally, the approach relies on the engineering modeling of the mechanical response of trees to the two risk agents and on the definition of vulnerability for relevant limit states.
Copyright (c) 2023 Mahtab Shiravi, Ivan Depina, Marco Uzielli, Gianni Bartoli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Comparative Study of the Size and Management of Standalone Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Remote Locations in India
Electrification of rural areas is a challenging task, as it is more expensive than in urban areas. This study aims to identify the most efficient and sustainable combination of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) to meet the energy demands of rural areas cost-effectively. The research focused on the size optimisation of standalone hybrid photovoltaic–wind turbine–biogas–battery systems using HOMER software based on the availability of the sources at the study location. Different HRES combinations are compared based on technical performance, costs, and electricity production. The findings of the study for the most economical HRES configuration are compared with each other to provide a reliable and cost-effective solution. In this work, the COE per unit for the various combinations has been calculated following the analysis of the resources. Combining PV, a WT generator, and biogas is the least expensive and most practical alternative, with a battery storage system having a COE of around ₹17.24/kWh.
Copyright (c) 2023 Ameer Faisal, Naqui Anwe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Co-development of a Framework for Circular Building Adaptability in Adaptive Reuse: A Participatory Study
Population growth, market volatility, building obsolescence and property vacancy are triggers for adaptive reuse. Thus, adaptive reuse is an investable practice that needs to be facilitated by the means of adaptable design. Furthermore, adaptive reuse aligns with the principles of circular economy (CE), as it promotes the reuse of buildings and their longevity; thereby, reducing the need for new materials. In this regard, promoting the so-called circular building adaptability (CBA) in adaptive reuse could provide different benefits to the built environment, including long-lasting functionality and material reversibility. However, no guiding tool has been developed yet to practically guide practitioners on how to promote CBA in adaptive reuse. Therefore, this study aims to develop a guiding framework for CBA in adaptive reuse. First, a content-wise guiding framework was synthesized based on lessons learned from the relevant literature and case studies. The framework brings together a series of passive, active and operational strategies alongside their enabling and inhibiting factors. Second, a co-creation workshop was conducted and triangulated with three interviews to validate and expand the defined strategies. Based on the findings of this participatory approach, the developed framework encompasses 33 strategies. This framework can be seen as a legitimate and informative tool for practitioners, as it was constructed based on acquiring knowledge from theoretical research, empirical research and participatory research.
Copyright (c) 2023 Mohammad Hamida, Hilde Remøy, Vincent Gruis, Brian van Laar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0