Evaluating and Managing the Energy Transition Towards Truly Sustainable University Campuses

This thesis is about the current role of university campuses to contribute to a fair and sustainable transition towards a low-carbon society. The fundamental argument is that there is a serious gap between the aspiration of higher education institutions in relation to sustainability and the current reality. Whilst formally moving towards sustainability within their curricula and resources management, universities are still immersed in all the complexity, the uncertainty, the scarcity of resources and the leading green-washing paradigm of the cities they are in. This thesis uses the Politecnico di Torino as the main case study, compared with universities in Italy, the UK, Japan, and Mexico, to answer the following questions: (1) What are universities doing in their sustainability efforts that has the potential to be measurable and transferable? And (2) How can we evaluate if universities are truly sustainable? This thesis treats university campuses as small cities nested in bigger cities; heterotopies expressing otherness and maintaining reciprocal relationships within the context. It is proposed that the immediate impacts deriving from educating and practising a wiser use of waste, water, energy and the built environment in universities help to create long term effects toward resilient, fair, and environmentally aware communities. Comparable clusters of universities, bottom-up management schemes and transferrable lessons for the wider urban and global practices are presented and discussed across the different case studies. To facilitate the dialogue between the economic, the social and the environmental fields of action, embedded within university’s sustainability metrics and the attempts to operationalise urban resilience determinants in the campus management, this thesis helps in tailoring appropriate assessment methodologies and operative strategies towards truly sustainable university campuses

Laurentian University habitat for holistic healing and wellness: growing spaces for fostering a culture of ritualistic self-care

If the built environment can affect wellbeing, could a design approach that is centered around fostering reflective lifestyle habits in post-secondary student wellness centers improve the cultural perception of spaces for mental health?In health, “mind and body dualism represents the metaphysical stance that mind and body are two distinct substances, each with a different essential nature.” 1 This frame of mind has distracted academic “focus away from the dynamic nature of human beings, [and] their relationship with the environment.”2 Contrary to mind-body dualism, this thesis argues that the built environment plays an intrinsic role in holistic wellbeing. Historically places for mental health have been about isolation away from society, and there is still an element of stigma or shame that shrouds these spaces. Contemporary society is at the crux of a cultural shift which hopes to see mental health maintenance as a fundamental element of holistic health. Architecture can mediate and promote this shift by providing spaces which, contrary to asylums or psychiatric offi ces, empower those struggling with their mental wellbeing.3 Employing an approach called the ‘measure-free recipe’ methodology, this thesis proposal endeavors to curate texture, path, context and light; tactfully manage concepts of self, control, security and time; and architecturally manifest an environment which would promote phenomenological experiences of empowerment, curiosity, comfort and decompression. Development of the ‘measure-free recipe’ derives from a review of atmospheres which have negatively impacted cultural perception of holistic health, in comparison to phenomenologically positive atmospheres. Details of this approach will be further articulated later in the text. Importantly, the design of the Laurentian University Habitat for Holistic Healing and Wellbeing serves as the first ‘measure-free recipe’ taste test for growing spaces which foster ritualistic self-care.Master of Architecture (M.Arch

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

Archaeology of the Moving Image (Volume 1, Summer 2022)

A compilation of postgraduate student research projects written between 2017 and 2021 for a module titled Archaeology of the Moving Image in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Archaeology of the Moving Image is a course that encourages students to undertake independent investigations of the relationship between the past, present and future of moving image culture

The Red Carpet Experience A video based spatial augmented reality platform

This research investigates screen based public space experiences that require little to no verbal or written instructions. The purpose of the research was rooted in observations and experiences developing screen based interactive and reactive public space installations for commercial use in the fields of marketing and advertising. The research initiated with an experimental prototype called “Walk The Red Carpet”, which evolved through experimentation into a platform for video based spatial augmented reality (SAR) experiences. Using the research approach of reflective practice, the first prototype was followed by a review of applicable concepts in the field of human computer interaction (HCI) and related social and cognitive psychology. The findings of this research, which are summarized and the conclusion of this work, is that video based SAR that effectively embodies the user’s form in the experience requires little or no written or verbal instructions in order for users to engage

A Broad View on Robot Self-Defense: Rapid Scoping Review and Cultural Comparison

With power comes responsibility: as robots become more advanced and prevalent, the role they will play in human society becomes increasingly important. Given that violence is an important problem, the question emerges if robots could defend people, even if doing so might cause harm to someone. The current study explores the broad context of how people perceive the acceptability of such robot self-defense (RSD) in terms of (1) theory, via a rapid scoping review, and (2) public opinion in two countries. As a result, we summarize and discuss: increasing usage of robots capable of wielding force by law enforcement and military, negativity toward robots, ethics and legal questions (including differences to the well-known trolley problem), control in the presence of potential failures, and practical capabilities that such robots might require. Furthermore, a survey was conducted, indicating that participants accepted the idea of RSD, with some cultural differences. We believe that, while substantial obstacles will need to be overcome to realize RSD, society stands to gain from exploring its possibilities over the longer term, toward supporting human well-being in difficult times

Post-Zoo Design: Alternative Futures in the Anthropocene

abstract: Public awareness of nature and environmental issues has grown in the last decades and zoos have successfully followed suit by re-branding themselves as key representatives for conservation. However, considering the fast rate of environmental degradation, in the near future, zoos may become the only place left for wildlife. Some scholars argue that we have entered a new epoch titled the “Anthropocene” that postulates the idea that untouched pristine nature is almost nowhere to be found. Many scientists and scholars argue that it is time that we embraced this environmental situation and anticipated the change. Clearly, the impact of urbanization is reaching into the wild, so how can we design for animals in our artificializing world? Using the Manoa School method that argues that every future includes these four, generic, alternatives: growth, discipline, collapse, and transformation , this dissertation explores possible future animal archetypes by considering multiple possibilities of post zoo design.Dissertation/ThesisHistorical Zoo timelineDoctoral Dissertation Design, Environment and the Arts 201

Environment 2.0 : the 9th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, 26-28 September 2011, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

On behalf of the Environmental Psychology Division of the German Association of Psychology, the 9th Biennial International Conference on Environmental Psychology is organized by the Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) group of the School of Innovation Sciences of the Eindhoven University of Technology. The HTI group is internationally acclaimed for perception research, and has become established as a major centre of excellence in human-technology interaction research. Bringing together psychological and engineering expertise, its central mission is investigating and optimizing interactions between people, systems, and environments, in the service of a socially and ecologically sustainable society

\u3ci\u3eThe Symposium Proceedings of the 1998 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG), Volume 3\u3c/i\u3e

UNOAI Report 98-5https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/facultybooks/1157/thumbnail.jp

Layers of the Law: A Look at the Role of Law in Japan Today

In 1967, Professor Kawashima wrote about a world of vaguely defined rights and norms in Japan. This article argues that world still exists. But it now co-exists with a world that commonly defines rights, in great detail, and regularly invokes them. There are layers of the law in Japan. Primary ordering of relationships and services is often based on complex, legalistic contracts and regulation; secondary ordering is often based on equity, Japanese notions of equity. Examples from contract, employment, and environmental law and practice illustrate this. For each, this paper examines both sides of the coin—transactional ordering and litigated outcomes. Leases may be so detailed that they address liability for a broken toilet paper holder. Yet, if challenged in court, leases may be re-written to reflect current economic circumstances or the “consensus of society.” Employment contracts may start with indemnification requirements and end with termination rights, but if they are litigated, the courts will look for just cause. Volumes of regulation govern when a nuclear reactor may operate, but the final decision is based on a “gentlemen’s agreement” and local consensus. As a result, negotiation occurs first in the shadow of detailed rights and obligations, and, if contested, then in the shadow of law, equity, and local consensus. The role of law in Japan has changed enormously since 1967, and will change in the decades to come, but an accurate description of what it is now starts with Professor Kawashima’s discussion of vaguely-defined rights and an understanding of the layers of the law described in this paper