This open access book is the first to systematically introduce the principles of urban informatics and its application to every aspect of the city that involves its functioning, control, management, and future planning. It introduces new models and tools being developed to understand and implement these technologies that enable cities to function more efficiently – to become ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’. The smart city has quickly emerged as computers have become ever smaller to the point where they can be embedded into the very fabric of the city, as well as being central to new ways in which the population can communicate and act. When cities are wired in this way, they have the potential to become sentient and responsive, generating massive streams of ‘big’ data in real time as well as providing immense opportunities for extracting new forms of urban data through crowdsourcing. This book offers a comprehensive review of the methods that form the core of urban informatics from various kinds of urban remote sensing to new approaches to machine learning and statistical modelling. It provides a detailed technical introduction to the wide array of tools information scientists need to develop the key urban analytics that are fundamental to learning about the smart city, and it outlines ways in which these tools can be used to inform design and policy so that cities can become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity.
Urban Climates is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates. The book begins with an outline of what constitutes an urban ecosystem. It develops a comprehensive terminology for the subject using scale and surface classification as key constructs. It explains the physical principles governing the creation of distinct urban climates, such as airflow around buildings, the heat island, precipitation modification and air pollution, and it then illustrates how this knowledge can be applied to moderate the undesirable consequences of urban development and help create more sustainable and resilient cities. With urban climate science now a fully-fledged field, this timely book fulfills the need to bring together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is an ideal resource for students and researchers in fields such as climatology, urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering and urban design.
The building sector contributes up to 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from energy use during the life time of buildings. Identifying opportunities to reduce these emissions has become a priority in the global effort to reduce climate change. This publicatiion provides an overview of current knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, and presents opportunities for their minimisation.
"This book explores how cities around the world consume energy, assesses innovative ideas for reducing urban energy consumption, and discusses why energy efficiency will determine which cities thrive economically in the future"--Provided by publisher.
This book comprises a selection of the top contributions presented at the second international conference “Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2017”, held in March 2017 in Bolzano, Italy. Featuring forty-six papers by policy-makers, academics and consultants, it discusses current groundbreaking research in smart and sustainable planning, including the progress made in overcoming cities’ challenges towards improving the quality of life. Climate change adaptation and mitigation of global warming, generally identified as drivers of global policies, are just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to smart energy transition. Indeed, equally relevant towards this current transformation – and key topics in this volume – are ICTs, public spaces and society; next economy for the city; strategies and actions for good governance; urban-rural innovation; rethinking mobility. The book’s depth in understanding and insightfulness in re-thinking demonstrate the breaking of new ground in smart and sustainable planning. A new ground that policy-makers, academics and consultants may build upon as a bedrock for smart and sustainable planning.
The global energy scene is in a state of flux. Large-scale shifts include: the rapid deployment and steep declines in the costs of major renewable energy technologies; the growing importance of electricity in energy use across the globe; profound changes in China's economy and energy policy, moving consumption away from coal; and the continued surge in shale gas and tight oil production in the United States. These changes provide the backdrop for the World Energy Outlook-2017, which includes a full update of energy demand and supply projections to 2040 based on different scenarios. The projections are accompanied by detailed analyses of their impact on energy industries and investment, as well as implications for energy security and the environment. The report this year includes a focus on China, which examines how China's choices could reshape the global outlook for all fuels and technologies. A second focus, on natural gas, explores how the rise of shale gas and LNG are changing the global gas market as well as the opportunities and risks for gas in the transition to a cleaner energy system. Finally, the WEO-2017 introduces a major new scenario - the Sustainable Development Scenario - that outlines an integrated approach to achieving internationally agreed objectives on climate change, air quality and universal access to modern energy.
"World Energy Outlook 2008 draws on the experience of another turbulent year in energy markets to provide new energy projections to 2030, region by region and fuel by fuel, incorporating the latest data and policies. "