Environmental implications of privatised public space in gated residential neighbourhood: case study of China's small residential district

Gated neighbourhood is well-defined by enclosed walls and gates with clear physical boundaries. The most distinctive feature of gated neighbourhoods is that their public spaces are normally privatised. The construction and operation of the public space within a gated neighbourhood consumes energy and resources, and sequentially has impacts on the environment. This paper argues such environmental impacts from the construction and operation of the public space should be also “privatised”, i.e. it should be jointly owned by all property owners of a gated neighbourhood. Through examining a case study neighbourhood in China, this research indicates the environmental outcomes due to the privatisation of the public space cannot be ignored. De-privatising the public space from gated neighbourhoods through sound urban planning can help to improve environmental sustainability as well as social sustainability in tandem

Environmental impacts and embodied energy of construction methods and materials in low-income tropical housing

This paper evaluates the current conditions of Ugandan low-income tropical housing with a focus on construction methods and materials in order to identify the key areas for improvement. Literature review, site visits and photographic surveys are carried out to collect relevant information on prevailing construction methods/materials and on their environmental impacts in rural areas. Low quality, high waste, and energy intensive production methods, as well as excessive soil extraction and deforestation, are identified as the main environmental damage of the current construction methods and materials. The embodied energy is highlighted as the key area which should be addressed to reduce the CO$_2$ emissions of low-income tropical housing. The results indicate that the embodied energy of fired bricks in Uganda is up to 5.7 times more than general clay bricks. Concrete walling is identified as a much more environmentally friendly construction method compared to brick walling in East African countries. Improving fuel efficiency and moulding systems, increasing access to renewable energy sources, raising public awareness, educating local manufacturers and artisans, and gradual long-term introduction of innovative construction methods and materials which are adapted to local needs and conditions are some of the recommended actions to improve the current conditions.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from MDPI via http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su706786

Improving Thermal Comfort in Low-income Tropical Housing: The Case of Uganda

The average temperature in East African countries is estimated to rise by 3-4 °C during the next 70 years due the global warming. Uganda is one of the East African countries which will be greatly affected by the global warming. Due to their vulnerable living conditions, low-income people will be hit the worst by the consequences of climate changes. Around 38% of Uganda’s population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day and more than 60% of the country’s urban population live in slums. On the other hand, due to various social and practical reasons, sustainable locally available construction methods and materials, such as adobe and thatched roofs are being gradually replaced with environmentally harmful materials such as concrete and iron sheet roofs. This situation in addition to imminent thermal discomfort caused by the global warming as well as defective design and inappropriate construction methods may considerably affect the health and wellbeing of low-income people the majority of whom live in substandard overcrowded homes. This paper intends to evaluate the effects of different construction methods and materials on the risk of thermal discomfort in low-income houses in Uganda. Dynamic thermal simulations are conducted in EnergyPlus and adaptive model Category II, defined in BS EN 15251, is used for the thermal comfort evaluations. The results reveal that roof construction methods/materials are the key factor in reducing or increasing the risk of thermal discomfort in naturally ventilated buildings in tropical climates. Compared to iron sheet roof, thatched roof provided up to 15 times better conditions by reducing the number of hours during which internal operative temperature exceeded the “limiting maximum acceptable temperature”. Hollow concrete block walls with iron sheet roof was found to be the worst construction method which dramatically failed all three thermal comfort criteria defined by CIBSE TM52

A holistic review of off-site construction literature published between 2008 and 2018

Off-site construction (i.e., OSC) has become an emerging research domain in the recent decade. Through a three-step holistic review approach incorporating bibliometric search, scientometric analysis, and in-depth qualitative discussion, this study contributes to the body of knowledge in OSC by critically reviewing and summarizing: 1) the latest research keywords and main research topics in OSC; 2) the performance of OSC compared to that of conventional construction approach; 3) current research gaps in integrating OSC with other emerging construction concepts; and 4) future research directions in OSC. OSC is a domain that can be extended to cross-disciplinary research from the perspectives of engineering, management, and technology. Existing research have been focusing on many research disciplines, such as structural behaviors and joint connections of prefabricated components, scheduling and planning of off-site activities, as well as performance evaluation of OSC. However, further research is needed in integrating the emerging digital construction technology, integrated project delivery method, lean construction, and issues of sustainability of OSC. There are still limited studies linking OSC to the concept of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly. Future research should also adopt a larger database and allow for comprehensive evaluation of OSC performance

A set of 99 healthy city indicators for application in urban planning and design

Despite much interest in healthy, sustainable cities, currently they are often on the margins of urban planning and design, not the centre. Part of the reason for this is technical. Many planners are interested in designing healthier cities but wonder how to link their objectives with actions. This study develops 99 indicators for a healthy city. The basis for the development of indicators was the 11 objectives of a healthy city according to the World Health Organisation. Application of these indicators helps push healthy city objectives to the centre of urban planning and design in two ways: (I) the indicators can show gap with each objective; and (II) monitoring the indicators over time can show the performance of solutions for each objective. It is possible to explore synergies and trade-offs between the 11 objectives of healthy cities by examining the relationships between their 99 indicators. Trade-offs between healthy city objectives in some contexts might require local adjustment of these objectives. This, in turn, would require adjustment of their indicators. Thus, the set of 99 indicators can be used as a starting point in an iterative process of adapting healthy city objectives and indicators to local circumstances

Space and social distancing in managing and preventing COVID-19 community spread: An overview.

The spread of COVID-19 at a large scale and at a rapid pace indicates the lack of social distancing measures at multiple levels. The individuals are not to be blamed, nor should we assume the early measures were ineffective or not implemented. It is all down to the multiplicity of transmission factors that made the situation more complicated than initially anticipated. Therefore, in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, this overview paper discusses the importance of space in social distancing measures. The methods used to investigate this study are literature review and case study. Many scholarly works have already provided us with evidence-based models that suggest the influential role of social distancing measures in preventing COVID-19 community spread. To further elaborate on this important topic, the aim here is to look at the role of space not only at the individual level but at larger scales of communities, cities, regions, etc. The analysis helps better management of cities during the pandemics such as COVID-19. By reflecting on some of the ongoing research on social distancing, the study concludes with the role of space at multiple scales and how it is central to the practice of social distancing. We need to be more reflective and responsive to achieve earlier control and containment of the disease and the outbreak at the macro level. [Abstract copyright: © 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A holistic review of off-site construction literature published between 2008 and 2018

Off-site construction has become an emerging research domain in the recent decade. Through a holistic review approach incorporating scientometric analysis and follow-up in-depth qualitative analysis, this study contributes to the body of knowledge in off-site construction by summarizing the latest research keywords and main research topics. This study also identifies the current gaps in research and practice, as well as proposing future research directions in this research area. Off-site construction is a domain that can be extended to cross-disciplinary research from the perspectives of engineering, management, and technology. Existing research have been focusing on many research disciplines, such as structural behaviors and joint connections of prefabricated components, scheduling and planning of off-site activities, as well as performance evaluation of off-site construction. However, further research is needed in integrating the emerging digital construction technology, integrated project delivery method, lean construction, and the issues of sustainability of off-site construction. There are already limited studies linking off-site construction to the concept of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly. Future research should also adopt a larger database and allow for comprehensive evaluation of off-site construction performance

Smart Eco-CityDevelopment in Europe and China: Opportunities, Drivers and Challenges

The policy pointers presented in this report are the result of a three-year (2015-18) research project led by Federico Caprotti at the University of Exeter. The project, Smart Eco-Cities for a Green Economy: A Comparative Analysis of Europe and China, was delivered by a research consortium comprising scholars and researchers in the UK, China, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. The aim of the project was to investigate the way in which smart city and eco-city strategies are used to enable a transition towards digital and green economies. While previous work has considered smart cities and eco-cities as separate urban development models, the project considers them together for the first time. We use the term ‘the smart eco-city’ to focus on how green targets are now included in smart city development policies and strategies. This report presents a summary of policy pointers, or ‘lessons’, learned through our work on the cities we studied in the UK, China, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Specifically, we studied, in depth, the cities of Manchester, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Bordeaux, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo and Wuhan. This work included interviews with policymakers, urban municipal authorities, tech firm executives, and grassroots and community representatives and stakeholders. Our work also included intensive and in-depth qualitative analysis of documentary sources including policy and corporate reports and other materials.The research undertaken to produce this report was supported by funding from: the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through research grant ES/ L015978/1; the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project number 71461137005; the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) through research grant 467-14-153 and the Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) through research grant 530-6CD108; the French National Research Agency (ANR) through research grant ANR-14-02; and the German Research Foundation DFG through research grant SP 1545/1-1

COVID-19 and household energy implications: what are the main impacts on energy use?

This study explores the impacts of COVID-19 on household energy use. Some of these impacts are associated with longer-term energy demand changes and some could just be temporary. The study intends to present the results of a small pilot study conducted in China, by addressing household energy use. The samples are from 352 households and particularly focus on primary energy use in three periods of pre-pandemic (and pre-lockdown), start of COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, and post lockdown. Each period is identified as a timeframe of 2.5 months, from November 2019 to late June 2020. The samples of this study highlight the primary implications of energy use, some that are understood as interim changes and some that may appear to be more prolonged. The results from the study highlight a variety of impacts on household energy use as well as prolonged impacts on transportation use. The primary household energy use are assessed in six fundamental elements of (1) transportation for commuting and leisure (for both private and public modes), (2) cooking, (3) entertainment, (4) heating and cooling, (5) lighting, and (6) the others. The results are summarized in three sections focused on major impacts on transportation use (comparison between private and public modes), cooking and entertainment, heating/cooling and lighting. The results could provide early suggestions for cities/regions that are experiencing longer lockdown. Furthermore, this study provides insights for larger-scale research in assessing household energy use/demand during times of health emergency and crises, such as the event of a pandemic