scholarly journals ANN-BASED DECISION MODEL FOR THE REUSE OF VACANT BUILDINGS IN URBAN AREAS

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin-Hao HSU ◽  
Yi-Kai JUAN
Keyword(s):  
Business Strategy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Model Assessment ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Effective Decision Support ◽  
Operational Plan

Because of global urbanization and sustainable development trends, reusing vacant buildings is a crucial strategy employed in urban development and management. Reusing and adjusting the future service values of unused buildings to extend building life cycles is a sustainable approach that benefits society, the economy, and the environment. However, repurposed spaces are easily re-discarded because a comprehensive system and operational plan for assessing the effects of building reuse remains unestablished. The research framework adopted in this study was based on the seven factors of the AdaptSTAR model; assessment criteria for building reuse were then created. In addition, 62 types of reused building cases in Taiwan were investigated and a decision model for reuse type prediction and business strategy was constructed on the basis of artificial neural networks. The results indicated that the proposed decision model yielded a reuse type accuracy of 89% and a business strategy accuracy of 78%. This systematic approach can be adjusted according to local conditions and applied as an effective decision support tool.

A decision support tool for the assessment of air quality in urban areas: An application for Athens, Greece

1999 ◽  
Vol 69 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
D. Deligiorgi ◽  
C. Cartalis ◽  
G. Kouroupetroglou ◽  
C. Moutselos ◽  
E. Kambitsi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Support Tool

scholarly journals Urban rent control: a decision support tool for the optimal resources allocation between urban forest projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Maria Rosaria Guarini ◽  
Antonio Nesticò ◽  
Pierluigi Morano ◽  
Francesco Sica
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Multicriteria Analysis ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Quality Level ◽  
Rent Control ◽  
City Development ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
The One

Green areas in urban agglomerations are strategic resource for the sustainable city development. The implementation of Urban Forestry Projects (UFP) allows on the one hand to raise the environmental quality level, improving the microclimate and preserving biodiversity, on the other hand to promote urban regeneration and promote socio-economic development by creating eco-systemic s er vices for the population. The result is a more rational land use and an increase in real estate values. Although the EU Directives show the need to promote the sustainable territory growth through the recover y and redevelopment of the built environment, the implementation of investments based on eco-system logic is rarely counted as a priority action for the city, often preferring a different allocation of available resources. The present work aims first to define an indicators set useful to express the value components – financial, social, cultural and ecological- environmental – for the UFP. These indicator s are the reference terms for the characterization of an innovative protocol of multicriteria analysis for the public operator who wants to establish the optimal distribution of funds between UFP units in limited areas of the urban fabric. The protocol uses the algorithms of mathematical programming and is tested on a case study about urban areas to be redeveloped.

SFD Promotion Initiative: Cap-Haïtien, Haiti

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Biscan ◽  
Sergio Pérez Monforte ◽  
Lars Schöbitz ◽  
Anthony Kilbride
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Flow Diagram ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Urban Sanitation ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Involved Field ◽  
The City

The Shit Flow Diagram (SFD) graphic is an advocacy tool that aims to assist technical and non-technical stakeholders to implement plans and programs related to urban sanitation. The SFD methodology is increasingly being used to analyze the extent of safely managed sanitation in urban areas, providing a valuable picture of the prevailing sanitation conditions, from containment to disposal. As such, it is a widely recognized advocacy and decision support tool that aims to understand, communicate, and visualize how wastewater and fecal sludge move within a city or town. As stated on the SuSanA website, the SFD methodology offers “a new and innovative way to engage sanitation experts, political leaders, and civil society in coordinated discussions about excreta management in their city”. The production and publication of an SFD report for Cap-Haitien (Haiti) would help to visualize the current sanitation situation in the city, resulting in a potential to shift current activities and efforts towards more efficient investments in the places along the sanitation chain that need more attention, improving the urban sanitation situation and the surrounding environment of the city. The structure of this SFD report consists of an executive summary and the SFD report. The latter includes: i) general city information describing its main characteristics; ii) sanitation service outcomes, with a thorough explanation of the SFD graphic outcome and the assumptions made; iii) the service delivery context analysis, which contains information on the regulatory framework of water and sanitation at country and city levels, and describes the city plans, budget and future projects to improve the sanitation situation and; iv) a detailed description of the surveys, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted, as well as the key stakeholders involved, field visits carried out and references used to develop this SFD report.

scholarly journals Automated Toolkit for Encouraging a Producer to Use Innovative Technologies in Environmentally Oriented Economic Development of Mining Regions

2019 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 03020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Medvedev ◽  
Ivan Kislyakov ◽  
Yevgheniya Prokopenko ◽  
Maria Semenkina ◽  
Kristina Brester
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Control Center ◽  
Best Available Technologies ◽  
Regional Control ◽  
Mining Region ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
Effective Decision Support

The automated toolkit for assessing environmental and investment attractiveness of a mining region and the results of its application are discussed in the article. This toolkit includes the optimization mathematical model, the algorithms for the interaction between a regional control center and a producer within the territory, as well as the automated software package for their analysis. The use of the optimization mathematical model makes it possible to take into account the maximum economic potential of a producer, which determines, respectively, a mining region’s environment pollution potential. Accounting for environmental risks will allow the control center or other decision makers to identify not only the optimal pattern of eco-economic interaction in the region, but also reflect changes in the environmental and investment climate as a combination of economic potential and involved risks. The model and the algorithms of interaction between a regional control center and a producer, as well as the results of their numerical analysis given in this paper, allow considering this toolkit as an effective decision support tool aimed at improving environmental and investment attractiveness of a mining region by encouraging a producer to use the best available technologies and conserve the natural environment.

scholarly journals A spatial decision support system for enhancing resilience to floods. Bridging resilience modeling and geovisualization techniques

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Heinzlef ◽  
Vincent Becue ◽  
Damien Serre
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Spatial Decision Support System ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Spatial Decision Support ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Resilience Indicators

Abstract. In the context of climate change and increasing urbanization, floods are considerably affecting urban areas. The concept of urban resilience may be an interesting means of responding to urban flood issues. The objective of this research is to propose a spatial decision support tool based on geovisualization techniques and a resilience assessment method. The goal is to localize the level of resilience modeled in different territories. The methodology proposed consists in integrating three resilience indicators applied to a case study in Avignon (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur Region, France) and the use of geovisualization techniques: using GIS for data processing and analysis, visualization, mapping and model processing. The methodology integrates decision-making by identifying characteristics capable of improving urban resilience and facilitating its understanding using a visual tool. The results demonstrate the usefulness of modeling resilience using geovisualization techniques to identify the potential for local resilience, integrate local stakeholders into a process of clarifying the concept through the contribution of visualization, and consider easier access to this concept based on data analysis, processing and visualization through the design of maps.

On the Design of a Sustainable Production Line: The MetaCAM Tool

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos Fysikopoulos ◽  
Theocharis Alexopoulos ◽  
George Pastras ◽  
Panos Stavropoulos ◽  
Georgios Chryssolouris
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Production Line ◽  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Industrial Sectors

Nowadays, manufacturing enterprises face enormous environmental challenges, due to complex and diverse economic trends, including shorter product life cycles, rapid advances in science and technology, increased diversity in customer demands and globalization of production activities. Consequently, the cost is highly affected by environmentally related factors. Energy efficiency is one of the main factors, which together with waste management, affect manufacturing decisions. The complexity and diversity of the factors that determine energy efficiency require intelligent systems for their optimization at each “manufacturing level”. Manufacturing decisions should be taken as fast as possible and with the highest possible accuracy. Artificial intelligence/machine learning tools have made significant progress during the last decade and are suitable for such applications. The main objective of the current study is that an architecture for the development of a networked, online, decision support tool, be provided towards achieving sustainable value chain management. The main idea behind the proposed design is that stakeholders be assisted in taking decisions towards improving the energy and eco-efficiency of the entire value chain or parts of it. This is suggested within the context of a multi-objective optimization procedure, taking into account other important decision making attributes, such as flexibility, quality and time for the final reduction in the overall cost. This architecture incorporates real time information modules that interact with online monitoring systems, using any available information within the value chain and the existing IT tools. A partial realization of the proposed idea is implemented in the form of a user friendly software tool (the MetaCAM tool). This based, decision support tool aiming to optimize a current production line or to propose alternatives for the manufacturing of a product. The tool performs optimization based on a set of predefined criteria, namely energy, waste, cost and time. For each of these criteria, the end-user selects the desired weight factor in order to drive the optimization procedure accordingly. The tool presents the characteristics of the setup of the proposed optimized line and maintains all used data and calculations in order to be reused when necessary. For the tool’s validation, three real case studies from different industrial sectors have been used. The first case study comes from the domestic appliances sector (refrigerator door panel), the second one from the automotive sector (a two seat bench for light commercial vehicles) and finally, the third case study derives from the aeronautics sector and deals with the production of the loading ramp hinge of a military aircraft.

scholarly journals Water balance modelling of alternate water sources at the household scale

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 1873-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hunt ◽  
Martin Anda ◽  
Goen Ho
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Water Efficiency ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Small House

Alternate water sources are being implemented in urban areas to augment scheme water supplied by a water utility to homes. These sources include residential wells, rainwater tanks and greywater systems. Greater water efficiency can be achieved when these systems are designed to match a water source to a given demand based on both water quantity and quality parameters. In this way the use of an alternate water source can be maximised and the use of the high quality scheme water minimised. This paper examines the use of multiple alternate water sources sequentially to supply the same demand point potentially optimising the use of all available water sources. It also allows correct sizing of such water systems and their components to reduce scheme water demand. A decision support tool based on water balance modelling was developed that considers such water options at the household scale. Application of this tool to eight scenarios for both large and small house lots shows that using alternate water sources individually can result in significant scheme water savings. However by integrating these sources additional scheme water saving can be made.

scholarly journals Spatialized flood resilience measurement in rapidly urbanized coastal areas with a complex semi-arid environment in northern Morocco

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1101-1118
Author(s):  
Narjiss Satour ◽  
Otmane Raji ◽  
Nabil El Moçayd ◽  
Ilias Kacimi ◽  
Nadia Kassou
Keyword(s):  
Composite Index ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Arid Environment ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. Enhancing resilience is critical for coastal urban systems to cope with and minimize flood disaster risks. This issue is certainly more important in Africa, where the increase in flood frequency is a significant concern for many areas. In this context, urban planners need accurate approaches to set up a standard for measuring the resilience to floods. In Morocco, this issue is still not fully covered by the scientific community despite the obvious need for a new approach adapted to local conditions. This study applied a composite index and geographic-information-system approach to measure and map resilience to floods in three northern coastal municipalities. The approach is also based on a linear ranking of resilience parameters, offering a more optimal classification of spatial resilience variation. The results allowed us to identify specific areas with different resilience levels and revealed the relationship between urban dimensions and the flood resilience degree. This approach provides an efficient decision-support tool to facilitate flood risk management, especially in terms of prioritizing protective actions.

scholarly journals Development of Decision Support Tool for Evaluation of Urban Water System Metabolism Efficiency

10.29007/r6xs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Nikolic ◽  
Darko Joksimovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Sustainable Solutions

The revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront presents the largest urban redevelopment project currently underway in North America. With respect to planning the waterfront’s urban water systems (UWS), a number of studies considered a range of criteria in search for sustainable alternatives. However, a comprehensive assessment of the integrated source-drinking-wastewater-stormwater systems over their life cycles has not been developed. According to the main postulates of the integrated approach, hybrid water systems can offer potentially more sustainable solutions than traditional centralized systems. This paper discusses the development process of a decision support tool designed to facilitate evaluation of alternatives based on UWS metabolism concept while addressing some typical challenges of hydroinformatics. This decision-making support tool analyses and compares the sustainability performance of alternative decentralized solutions against a baseline conventional approach on a neighbourhood level. The tool uses a set of criteria, adopted by the large group of stakeholders involved in the development process, that are not typically considered in the decision-making process, such as energy savings, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate change resiliency, chemical use, and nutrient recovery.

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