A broader consideration of human factor to enhance sustainable building design

The link between ergonomic/human factor and sustainability seems to be clearly evidenced mainly in relation to social dimension of sustainability, in order to contribute to assure corporate social responsibility and global value creation. But the will to establish an equilibrated connection among used resources in human activities, supported by the sustainability perspective, evidences that the contribution of ergonomics/human factors can be effectively enlarged to other aspects, especially in relation to building design. In fact a sustainable building is meant to be a building that contributes, through its characteristics and attribute, to a sustainable development by assuring, in the same time, a decrease of resources use and environmental impact and an increase of health, safety and comfort of the occupants. The purpose of this paper is to analyze in a broader sense the contribution of ergonomic/human factor to design of sustainable building, focusing how ergonomics principles, methodology and techniques can improve building design, enhancing its sustainability performance during all phases of building lifecycle

A Research Agenda for Sustainable Human Centred Design

There is a growing attention in exploring the synergies between Sustainability and Ergonomics (HFE), as both disciplines aim to investigate the relations between humans, living ecosystems, and artefacts used to perform informed tasks. Furthermore, a holistic interplay between human behaviours, creative practices, and contexts of use can be identified within the Human Centred Design domain (HCD). Whilst ergonomic interventions performed under the Sustainability domain must employ design-driven strategies, there is the need to further investigate the new contributions within HCD. This work aims to conceptualize a suitable research agenda for future explorations on Sustainable HCD. Results achieved in this study define a set of thirteen informed actions for Sustainable HCD, which allow to affirm that there are grounds for developing new research avenues linking HFE and Sustainability

Environmental design for social inclusion: the role of environmental certification protocols

Architectural and urban design is at the center of a recent scientific and disciplinary debate investigating several limits and contradictions: on one hand, concerns due to modified social practices; on the other hand, regulatory densification, scarcely capable to intercept inconsistencies and varieties of social innovation. Although it is widely accepted that environmental certification protocols at the buildings scale pay little attention to social dimension of sustainability, their recent evolution at the neighborhood scale is leading to a greater integration of human factors issues and participatory practices, able to pursuit aims of social justice, enhancing the design ethical dimension

Emergent dwelling. Requests for designing a human-scale and climate-proof lifetime house

This contribution presents part of the results produced by the University of Naples Federico II in the project PRIN 2017 TECH-START. The research investigates how the challenges of the circular economy and climate mitigation, combined with digital technologies, require new organisations for contemporary dwelling, including the need for healthy and safe environments. The contribution studies the concept of emergent dwelling with the aim of achieving a set of design requirements consistent with the many, diverse forms of living. These requirements apply to the project of a multigenerational lifetime house, selecting those most suitable for a smart residency that integrates the socio-productive and health care chain into the territory, with particular reference to the elderly population and the most fragile groups in a life-course perspective

Special needs in pleased-based products design. A case study

The chapter presents predicting needs criteria in design of products for people with special needs, overcoming the efficacy and efficiency product requirements, and giving particular attention to the identification of product characteristics for users’ satisfaction. A case study is presented concerning the study of special needs of people with movement disorders, in order to identify design principles and products requirements. Then a user-centred design process of a domestic telephone for people affected by Parkinson’s disease is shown, in which the component acceptability has been previously emphasized. Design criteria for telephone likeability and easy of use have been defined