From Problems to Potentials - The Urban Energy Transition of Gruž, Dubrovnik

In the challenge for a sustainable society, carbon-neutrality is the critical objective for all cities in the coming decades. In the EU City-zen project, academic partners collaborate to develop an urban energy transition methodology, which supports cities in making the energy transition to sustainable lifestyles and carbon neutrality. As part of the project, so-called Roadshows are organised in cities that wish to take the first step toward zero-energy living. Each Roadshow being methodologically composed to allow sustainability experts from across Europe to co-create designs, strategies and timelines with local stakeholders in order to reach this vital goal. Following a precursory investigative student workshop (the SWAT Studio) Dubrovnik would be third city to host the Roadshow in November 2016. During these events the characteristics of Dubrovnik, and the district of Gruž in particular, were systematically analysed, leading to good insights into the current problems and potentials of the city. In close collaboration with local stakeholders, the team proposed a series of interventions that would help make Gruž, and in its wake the whole city of Dubrovnik, net zero energy and zero carbon, by validation of carbon emission calculations. The vision presented to the inhabitants and its key city decision makers encompassed a pathway towards an attainable sustainable future. The strategies and solutions proposed for the Dubrovnik district of Gruž turned out to be capable of reducing the current carbon sequestration compensation of 1,200 hectares of forestland to 67 hectares only, an area achievable by urban reforestation projects. This paper presents the City-zen methodology of urban energy transition and that of the City-zen Roadshow, the analysis of the city of Dubrovnik, proposed interventions and the carbon impact, as calculated by means of a carbon accounting method discussed in the paper

CAAD in Pedagogical Practice

The course on CAAD at the KU Leuven is part of the course on design methodology and theory from which it is the most recent and natural extension. Attached to this course a series of assignments has been developed which bring the students in 45 hours to a non-trivial level of acquaintance with CAAD. Our assignments are primarily directed towards practice. They are built on top of AutoCAD to which we have added in-house developments in order to focus on specific pedagogical goals within a very limited time. After a general introduction on Windows (file management) and AutoCAD (basics) students make the following assignments (main pedagogical goals in between brackets). colophon (working with blocks), detail (2D-drawing, hatching, editing), facade design using a built-in system of proportion (slides, scriptfile), extraction (linking alphanumerical and graphical entities), container (level of detail, icon menus, viewports), surface modelling (modelling 3D-objects with surfaces), fractal tree (recursion in Autolisp), solid modelling (Leicester engineering building), lighting (integration of drawing and computation of illumination levels), pressure lines in an arc (interactive design of an arc), demos. The paper presents and comments these assignments and shows results from the last 2 years

Design for the ecological age: Rethinking the role of sustainability in architectural education

While sustainability has become a mainstream concern in design thinking and practice, the debate is fragmented and the concept of sustainable architecture remains contested. We interpret this as symptomatic of a widening gap between architectural academe and the world of practice. Inspired by the "pluralist imagination," we propose a meta-framework based on analyses of competing discourses at three levels: conceptual, performance, and pedagogical. With the intention of inspiring a critical attitude among designers, the value of such a framework lies in its ability to promote dialogue across theoretical boundaries in order to impede both notions of theoretical determinism and panacean interpretations of proliferating sustainable practices.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

In vitro susceptibilities of 180 clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae to ampicillin, amoxycillin/clavulanate, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, clarithromycin, and azithromycin

One hundred eighty consecutive, unduplicate isolates of Haemophilus influenzae from clinical specimens collected from November 1994 through February 1995 in nine general hospitals throughout Belgium were examined for beta-lactamase production using a nitrocefin-based test, and for their in vitro susceptibilities to ampicillin, amoxycillin/clavulanate, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, clarithromycin and azithromycin by means of the NCCLS agar dilution test. The isolates were all from respiratory tract specimens. The prevalence of capsular type b was 1.1%, and the overall rate of beta-lactamase production 16.7%. Rates of beta-lactamase production were higher in isolates from children (22.0%) than in those from adults (15.3%), and in isolates from upper respiratory tract specimens (22.0%) than in those from the lower respiratory tract (15.1%). Beta-lactamase-negative ampicillin resistance amounted to 1.1%. Cefotaxime had the highest activity on a weight basis [MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) for 50% of the isolates tested (MIC(50)) less than or equal to 0.06 mu g/ml], followed by ampicillin (MIC(50) of 0.25 mu g/ml), amoxycillin/clavulanate and cefuroxime (MIC(50) of 0.5 mu g/ml), azithromycin (MIC(50) of 2 mu g/ml), cefaclor (MIC(50) of 4 mu g/ml), and clarithromycin (MIC(50) of 8 mu g/ml). Cefotaxime was also the most active drug in terms of susceptibility rates of the isolates (100.0%), followed by amoxycillin/clavulanate and azithromycin (98.9%), cefuroxime (97.2%), cefaclor (89.4%), clarithromycin (82.8%), and ampicillin (82.2%). In conclusion, amoxycillin/clavulanate and cefuroxime retain an excellent activity against H. influenzae, while cefaclor lost some of its activity. The rate of susceptibility to azithromycin was markedly higher than that to clarithromycin; however, its ability to accumulate intracellularly while concentrations in serum and interstitial fluid remain low, should be considered, as it may represent a major drawback to its use in H. influenzae infections