Expanding Boundaries: Systems Thinking in the Built Environment
Expanding Boundaries: Systems Thinking in the Built Environment

Author: Guillaume Habert

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2016-08-15

Total Pages: 760

ISBN-13: 372813774X

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Consuming over 40% of total primary energy, the built environment is in the centre of worldwide strategies and measures towards a more sustainable future. To provide resilient solutions, a simple optimisation of individual technologies will not be sufficient. In contrast, whole system thinking reveals and exploits connections between parts. Each system interacts with others on different scales (materials, components, buildings, cities) and domains (ecology, economy and social). Whole-system designers optimize the performance of such systems by understanding interconnections and identifying synergies. The more complete the design integration, the better the result. In this book, the reader will find the proceedings of the 2016 Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) Regional Conference in Zurich. Papers have been written by academics and practitioners from all continents to bring forth the latest understanding on systems thinking in the built environment.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Buildings
Environmental Impact Assessment of Buildings

Author: Wahidul Biswas

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2020-02-05

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 3039282433

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This Special Issue covers a wide range of areas—including building orientation, service life, use of photocatalytically active structures and PV facades, implications of transportation system, building types (i.e., high rise, multilevel, commercial, residential), life cycle assessment, and structural engineering—that need to be considered in the environmental impact assessment of buildings, and the chapters include case studies across the globe. Consideration of these strategies would help reduce energy and material consumption, environmental emissions, and waste generation associated with all phases of a building’s life cycle. Chapter 1 demonstrates that green star concrete exhibits the same structural properties as conventional concrete in Australia. Chapter 2 showed that the use of TiO2 as a photocatalyst on the surface of construction materials with a suitable stable binding agent, such as aggregates, would enable building walls to absorb NOx from air. This study found that TiO2 has the potential to reduce ambient concentrations of NOx from areas where this pollutant becomes concentrated under solar irradiation. Chapter 3 presents the life cycle assessment of architecturally integrated glass–glass photovoltaics in building facades to find the appropriate material composition for a multicolored PV façade offering improved environmental performance. Chapter 4 shows that urban office buildings lacking appropriate orientation experienced indoor overheating. Chapter 5 details four modeling approaches that were implemented to estimate buildings’ response towards load shedding. Chapter 6 covers the life cycle GHG emissions of high-rise residential housing block to discover opportunities for environmental improvement. Chapter 7 discusses an LCA framework that took into account variation in the service life of buildings associated with the use of different types of materials. Chapter 8 presents a useful data mining algorithm to conduct life cycle asset management in residential developments built on transport systems.

Research Anthology on Environmental and Societal Well-Being Considerations in Buildings and Architecture
Research Anthology on Environmental and Societal Well-Being Considerations in Buildings and Architecture

Author: Management Association, Information Resources

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-05-28

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1799890333

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When it comes to architecture, there has been a focus on sustainable buildings and human well-being in the built environment. Buildings should not only be environmentally friendly and sustainable, but dually focused on human health, wellness, and experience. This includes considerations into the quality of buildings, ranging from ventilation to thermal comfort, along with environment considerations such as energy usage and material selection. Specific architectural choices and design for buildings can either contribute to or negatively impact both society and the environment, leading research in the field of architecture to be focused on environmental and societal well-being in accordance with the built environment. The Research Anthology on Environmental and Societal Well-Being Considerations in Buildings and Architecture focuses on how the built environment is being constructed to purposefully enhance societal well-being while also maintaining green standards for environmental sustainability. On one side, this book focuses on the specific building choices that can be made for the purpose of human well-being and the occupants who will utilize the building. On the other side, this book also focuses on environmental sustainability from the standpoint of green buildings and environmental concerns. Together, these topics allow this book to have a holistic view of modern architectural choices and design. This book is essential for architects, IT professionals, engineers, contractors, environmentalists, interior designers, civil planners, regional government officials, construction companies, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in architecture and how it can promote environmental and societal well-being.

Proceedings of the 75th RILEM Annual Week 2021
Proceedings of the 75th RILEM Annual Week 2021

Author: J. Ivan Escalante-Garcia

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-03-10

Total Pages: 1029

ISBN-13: 3031217357

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This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of sustainable construction materials and structures, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 75th RILEM Annual Week (75RW 2021), held in Merida, Mexico on August 29 – September 3, 2021. It covers topics such as supplementary cementitious materials, durability and Life Cycle assessment in urban and marine conditions, additive manufacturing of concrete in construction, structural performance and design, non-Portland cements and Alkali activated cementitious materials and eco-concrete, cultural heritage, non-destructive testing techniques, bituminous materials, and construction materials (polymers, timber, bamboo, recycling and masonry). The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-review process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

New Trends in Eco-efficient and Recycled Concrete
New Trends in Eco-efficient and Recycled Concrete

Author: Jorge de Brito

Publisher: Woodhead Publishing

Published: 2018-11-16

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 0081024819

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New Trends in Eco-efficient and Recycled Concrete describes different recycled materials that have been used in eco-efficient concrete, reviewing previous publications to identify the most effective recycled materials to be applied in concrete manufacture. New trends on eco-efficient concrete are presented, filling a gap in the market. Sections cover various recycled materials applied in concrete production, present the latest on the lifecycle analysis of recycled aggregate concrete, detail new trends in recycled aggregate concrete research, and finally, present updates on upscaling the use of recycled aggregate concrete and structural reliability. - Focuses on new trends in recycled aggregate concrete and its applications (rather than the more subjective 'sustainability' aspects) - Contains very important contributions from researchers in eco-efficient concrete, including Chi Sun Poon, Jorge de Brito, Valeria Corinaldesi, Francisco Agrela, etc. - Presents a 'one stop' reference for a graduate course on sustainable construction

Embodied Carbon in Buildings
Embodied Carbon in Buildings

Author: Francesco Pomponi

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-01-28

Total Pages: 519

ISBN-13: 3319727966

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This book provides a single-source reference for whole life embodied impacts of buildings. The comprehensive and persuasive text, written by over 50 invited experts from across the world, offers an indispensable resource both to newcomers and to established practitioners in the field. Ultimately it provides a persuasive argument as to why embodied impacts are an essential aspect of sustainable built environments. The book is divided into four sections: measurement, including a strong emphasis on uncertainty analysis, as well as offering practical case studies of individual buildings and a comparison of materials; management, focusing in particular on the perspective of designers and contractors; mitigation, which identifies some specific design strategies as well as challenges; and finally global approaches, six chapters which describe in authoritative detail the ways in which the different regions of the world are tackling the issue.

Keeping Up with Technologies to Create the Cognitive City
Keeping Up with Technologies to Create the Cognitive City

Author: Aleksandra Krstic-Furundzic

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-23

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1527526844

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This volume represents a selection of papers presented at the Third International Academic Conference on Places and Technologies, held at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Belgrade, Serbia in April 2016. The conference brought together researchers, PhD students and practitioners, in order to create a platform for sharing knowledge in the fields of growth, new technologies, and the environment, as well as particular aspects of achieving the concept of cognitive city. The book will appeal primarily to members of the academic community in the fields of urban design, planning and architecture, engineering and technical sciences, and the humanities and social sciences. It will also be of interest to professional institutions and companies, governments, and NGOs, who will directly benefit from the knowledge presented here.

A ‘Triple Bottom Line’ Approach to Advanced Project Evaluation
A ‘Triple Bottom Line’ Approach to Advanced Project Evaluation

Author: Grace Ding

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2020-03-06

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1527548287

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The concept of ‘the triple bottom line’ has recently emerged to describe a new framework for development aimed at achieving economic and social balance while maintaining the long-term integrity of ecological systems. This requires measuring not only the economic viability of projects, but also their impact on the environment and their contribution to society. We live in a world where most people are aware of the importance of our environment. The way in which this realisation came about has, in hindsight, not been as simple as could have been expected. Systematic evaluations of the economic viability of projects using discounting date back to the beginning of the last century and are something which has been readily accepted, especially over the last few decades. However, an integrated approach, including environmental and social aspects, is much more recent, and even now, the methods and methodologies for such an approach are still being developed. This volume details the state of the art of the development towards the triple bottom line. It indicates where there is still debate about fundamental principles, where theory has been overlooked in the name of convenience, and where there are still unresolved problems. The discussions provided here will serve to provide a more detailed understanding of what we do in our calculations, what they mean and the limitations thereof.

Thinking in Systems
Thinking in Systems

Author: Donella Meadows

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2008-12-03

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1603581480

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The classic book on systems thinking—with more than half a million copies sold worldwide! "This is a fabulous book... This book opened my mind and reshaped the way I think about investing."—Forbes "Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community, or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind."—Hunter Lovins In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, Limits to Growth—the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet—Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute’s Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world—war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation—are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. While readers will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.