Model for the environmental impact assessment of neighbourhoods

In order to move towards a sustainable built environment, modern cities need to be planned and organized differently, focussing not only on the characteristics of individual buildings but also on the relations between buildings and infrastructure works. Based on an existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method for buildings, this paper proposes a model to assess the environmental impact of building clusters, together with the required road infrastructure. A hierarchic assessment structure, using the principles of the “element method for cost control” and a subdivision in different scale levels, is presented and methodological issues are discussed. To illustrate the methodology, abstract neighbourhood models are compared consisting of different dwelling types and the related amount of road infrastructure. The results revealed substantial environmental impact differences between the analysed alternatives, showing the importance of optimizing the layout and density of neighbourhoods.status: publishe

The distribution of wealth in the presence of altruism for simple economic models

We study the effect of altruism in two simple asset exchange models: the yard sale model (winner gets a random fraction of the poorer player's wealth) and the theft and fraud model (winner gets a random fraction of the loser's wealth). We also introduce in these models the concept of bargaining efficiency, which makes the poorer trader more aggressive in getting a favorable deal thus augmenting his winning probabilities. The altruistic behavior is controlled by varying the number of traders that behave altruistically and by the degree of altruism that they show. The resulting wealth distribution is characterized using the Gini index. We compare the resulting values of the Gini index at different levels of altruism in both models. It is found that altruistic behavior does lead to a more equitable wealth distribution but only for unreasonable high values of altruism that are difficult to expect in a real economic system.Comment: Accepted in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Application

Consequences of increased longevity for wealth, fertility, and population growth

We present, solve and numerically simulate a simple model that describes the consequences of increased longevity on fertility rates, population growth and the distribution of wealth in developed societies. We look at the consequences of the repeated use of life extension techniques and show that they represent a novel commodity whose introduction will profoundly influence key aspects of economy and society in general. In particular, we uncover two phases within our simplified model, labeled as 'mortal' and 'immortal'. Within the life extension scenario it is possible to have sustainable economic growth in a population of stable size, as a result of dynamical equilibrium between the two phases.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, uses elsart.cl