Contribution of infrastructure to the township's sustainable development in Southwest China

Townships in Southwest China are usually located in mountainous regions, which are abundant in natural and cultural landscape resources. There are additional requirements for the township’s sustainable development in these areas. However, insufficient infrastructures, due to limited resources, constrain the sustainable development of these townships. Sustainable contribution of infrastructure (SCOI) in this study is defined as the performance of infrastructure as a contribution to the coordinated development among economic, social, and environmental dimensions of township’s sustainable development. It is necessary to assess these infrastructures according to SCOI and provide choices for investment to maximize resource utilization. Therefore, an assessing model of SCOI with 26 general indicators was developed, which covers five most urgently needed infrastructures of these townships in Southwest China, including road transport, sewage treatment, waste disposal, water supply, and gas. In this model, quantitative and qualitative methods are combined to acquire different SCOI of each infrastructure. The result of the SCOI would be an important reference for infrastructure investment. A case study of Jiansheng Town, that is located in the Dadukou district of Chongqing, demonstrates the applicability of the model. It shows the assessing model of SCOI is efficient to identify the most valuable infrastructure that is appropriate for investment with the goal of township’s sustainable development. This study can provide insights for infrastructure investment and management in townships or areas

Exploring the Adequacy of Massive Constructed Public Housing in China

Public housing programs are an effective strategy to provide adequate housing, not only in developed countries, but also developing countries. This study holistically investigates the sitting occupants’ perception of adequate housing towards their public housing units using Chongqing, a typical city in western China, as a case study. Results showed that generally, the public rental housing (PRH) programs were perceived to be adequate by their residents in the estates sampled. The components of neighborhood environment, housing unit, and affordability were the top three factors affecting the overall housing adequacy. The importance of physical aspects as well as the nonphysical aspects of adequate housing is likely to change according to their residential purpose. Therefore, the residential purpose of residents should be taken into consideration when planning the physical and nonphysical elements of public housing programs. Meanwhile, socioeconomic characteristics of age, family income, family members, residence length, and housing types have significant effects on overall housing adequacy and its components. These findings shed some useful insights on the sustainable development of public housing in China and provide a useful reference for future public housing developments in developing countries. The provision of adequate housing also helps to attract and retain talent, which consequently improves the competitiveness of the city

Indicators for assessing the sustainable contribution of infrastructure to the mountainous townships

Infrastructure has significant impacts on economy, society and environment, which is called “sustainable contribution” in this study. However, the infrastructure is poor in Chinese townships especially in mountainous regions as the result of limited funds. There are still many types of infrastructure in townships while impossible to invest at the same time. The degree and angle of contribution are different according to different infrastructure. So, in this study, the most important infrastructures were extracted and a general index system for assessing their sustainable contribution was set up, which will benefit to make more appropriate decision on infrastructure investment with limited financial capacity

Effects of occupant behaviour on energy performance in buildings : a green and non-green building comparison

Purpose: Occupants are one of the most impacting factors in the overall energy performance of buildings, according to literature. Occupants’ behaviours and actions may impact the overall use of energy in more than 50%. In order to quantify the impact that occupant behaviour has in the use of energy, this study simulated interactions between occupants and the systems present in two actual buildings. The main aim was to compare the deviations due to occupant behaviour with the actual conditions and energy use of the two buildings. Design/methodology/approach: The buildings used as a case study in this research were green buildings, rated according to the Australian Green Star certification system as a 6-star and a non-rated building. The two buildings are university buildings with similar characteristics, from Western Sydney University, in Sydney, Australia. A comparison was performed by means of building simulations among the use of energy in both buildings, aiming to understand if the green rating had any impact on the energy related to occupant behaviour. Therefore, to represent the actual buildings’ conditions, the actual data related with climate, geometry, systems, internal loads, etc. were used as input variables in the simulation models of the green and the non-rated buildings. Both models were calibrated and validated, having as target the actual monitored use of electricity. Findings: Occupants were categorized according to their levels of energy use as follows: saving, real and intensive energy users. Building simulations were performed to each building, with varying parameters related with lighting, plug loads, windows/doors opening, shading and air conditioning set points. Results show that occupant behaviour may impact the buildings’ energy performance in a range of 72% between the two extremes. There is no significant relationship between the green rating and the way occupants behave in terms of the energy use. Originality/value: This study intends to show the impact of different categories of occupant behaviour in the overall energy performance of two university buildings, a non-rated and a green-rated building, having as reference an actual representation of the buildings. Additionally, the study aims to understand the main differences between a green-rated and a non-rated building when accounting with the previous categories