A holistic approach to the evaluation of sustainable housing

Residential housing is often evaluated against single or at best a limited number of similar criteria. These include quantifiable indicators such as energy use and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. It might also include material consumption from an embodied energy or resource use perspective. Social factors or qualitative indicators may be evaluated but are rarely placed or juxtaposed alongside these quantifiable indicators. A one-dimensional approach will be limiting because sustainable development includes both environmental and social factors. This paper describes the methodologies that have been developed to assess housing developments against five quite different criteria. These are: energy use, resource use, neighbourhood character, neighbourhood connectedness and diversity. In each case, high and low sustainability practice has been identified so that ranking is possible. These methodologies have then been tested by evaluating a typical precinct (approximately 400 m by 400 m) of a 1970-80s housing development in a suburb of Geelong. The rankings of the particular precinct have then been combined in a visual way to assist in the evaluation of the housing in a more holistic way. The results of this evaluation method are presented, along with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies. The research is the outcome of collaboration by a cross-disciplinary group of academics within Deakin’s School of Architecture and Building

A Recursive Definition of Goodness of Space for Bridging the Concepts of Space and Place for Sustainability

Conceived and developed by Christopher Alexander through his life's work: The Nature of Order, wholeness is defined as a mathematical structure of physical space in our surroundings. Yet, there was no mathematics, as Alexander admitted then, that was powerful enough to capture his notion of wholeness. Recently, a mathematical model of wholeness, together with its topological representation, has been developed that is capable of addressing not only why a space is good, but also how much goodness the space has. This paper develops a structural perspective on goodness of space - both large- and small-scale - in order to bridge two basic concepts of space and place through the very concept of wholeness. The wholeness provides a de facto recursive definition of goodness of space from a holistic and organic point of view. A space is good, genuinely and objectively, if its adjacent spaces are good, the larger space to which it belongs is good, and what is contained in the space is also good. Eventually, goodness of space - sustainability of space - is considered a matter of fact rather than of opinion under the new view of space: space is neither lifeless nor neutral, but a living structure capable of being more living or less living, or more sustainable or less sustainable. Under the new view of space, geography or architecture will become part of complexity science, not only for understanding complexity, but also for making and remaking complex or living structures. Keywords: Scaling law, head/tail breaks, living structure, beauty, streets, citiesComment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Assessing regional integration and business potential in the Western Balkans

This paper extrapolates the patterns and volume of business development within the Western Balkans region. This is a war-torn area with social, cultural, religious and political specificities. Despite noticeable institutional and growth progress of the individual countries, regional business is still lagging as persistent state rigidities create trade distortions. We argue that intra-regional business clusters, embedded in shared socio-cultural characteristics, can be the alternative to underdevelopment. Political willingness is the prerequisite, as market forces in transitional areas seem to be of secondary importance to regional business development and integration. New analytical approaches are needed to capture the complex reality.Regional development; business clusters; transition economies

SUSTAINABILITY LEVEL OF DENSELY POPULATED AREA: JATIMULYO URBAN COMMUNITIES, LOWOKWARU DISTRICT, MALANG CITY

Large cities still peak the interests of some Indonesian society. Big city development as the center of economic activity is a powerful pull for society, influencing high workforce from both inside and outside of the city, causing a strong current of urbanization. One main problem that always accompanies urban areas development is density population. Urbanization has caused a very rapid explosion in the city population; one implication is the clumping workforce in large Indonesian cities. The high number of people who choose to settle in the city increase the number of both legal and illegal settlements. In the high-density settlement, many houses are not liveable and irregular. The densely populated settlements find many houses unfit for habitation and irregular. The research aims to formulate the sustainability level of Urban communities, Lowokwaru District, Malang City using quantitative method through sustainability level calculation. Jatimulyo Urban Communities is measured by the sustainability criteria of density, diversity, mixed-use, and compactness to formulate the related sustainable urban spatial structure. Interpretation of the calculation results references similar research. The calculation result shows that Jatimulyo Urban Communities is included in the moderate sustainability level, where density is moderate (101.1-200 people/ha), has a moderate building density (20-40 buildings/ha), has a random diversity level (1.0) and an entropy index (0.51), and compactness is near perfect inequality (Gini Coefficient 0.99)

The Winners' Choice: Sustainable Economic Strategies for Successful 21st Century Regions

Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, urbanization, new technologies, rapid labor-saving productivity growth in primary industries, and improved highways combined to create large-scale rural-urban functionally integrated regions. These forces have raised the stakes for regions in their pursuit of economic development and growth, making successful regional policy even more important. Changes to the governance structures consistent with the increased interdependence within broad rural-urban regions will improve the region's competitiveness; adopting fad-based approaches and policies aimed at “picking winners†will be less fruitful. Going forward, continuing globalization and environmental sustainability have the potential to fundamentally reshape relative regional attractiveness.

The Winner's Choice: Sustainable Economic Strategies for Successful 21st Century Regions

Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, urbanization, new technologies, rapid labor-saving productivity growth in primary industries, and improved highways combined to create large-scale rural-urban functionally integrated regions. These forces have raised the stakes for regions in their pursuit of economic development and growth, making successful regional policy even more important. Changes to the governance structures consistent with the increased interdependence within broad rural-urban regions will improve the region's competitiveness; adopting fad-based approaches and policies aimed at “picking winners” will be less fruitful. Going forward, continuing globalization and environmental sustainability have the potential to fundamentally reshape relative regional attractiveness.Regional Policy, Rural Development

Urban requalification in the suburbs - development of a strategic axis in Agualva-Cacém

Mestrado em Arquitetura Paisagista - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaUrban centres and cities are par excellence representations of complexity of human landscapes and environments. In the context of a rapid urban growth and a technologic centred world, these places are the stage for dynamic changes, and reveal a heterogenic spatial, human and ecologic composition in both hemispheres of the World. Having this complex space in mind, the present dissertation intended to frame the field of action of landscape architecture in a specific type of urban settlement - the suburban one, in a way of establishing good quality public spaces while combining social/cultural and ecological concerns. The case study was the “satellite” city of Agualva-Cacém, located between Lisbon and Sintra - an important Portuguese city for its cultural landmarks and ecological context. In this sense, an analysis of the concept of “quality” in the outdoor space was made, as well as a reflection upon good design practices for public parks and urban streets. Secondly, design strategies in the case of Agualva-Cacém were proposed, considering environmental and social concerns: in one hand, to contribute to a more sustainable management of water, soil and to contribute to the green infrastructure of Agualva-Cacém; in another hand, to change the image of the city and improve the quality of life within a contemporary urban environment characterized by spatial fragmentation, dependency on the use of the automobile and daily pendular movements of people. This was achieved through the proposal of requalification of urban spaces confined in a delimitated strategic axis, composed by an avenue and two different public parks. The three public spaces of this axis are then interconnected, forming a continuous system of water circulation, green continuity, soft mobility and public spacesN/