scholarly journals Sustainable architecture and urban design: a tool towards resilient built environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Sijakovic ◽  
◽  
Ana Peric ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Universal Approach

Simply understood as ‘seeking opportunities out of crises’, resilience seems to be a universal approach to cope with contemporary global challenges, such as changing climate, rapid urbanisation, loss of biodiversity, migrations, etc. As a majority of the current problems are of urban origin – i.e. they emerge in cities, where they also cause significant consequences on people, ecosystems and infrastructures, it is a city and its territorial sub-elements (district, neighbourhood, site, and building) that provide a prolific field for exploring the mechanisms towards resilient governance, planning and design. Under such an overarching agenda of urban resilience, in this paper, we focus on exploring the components of architectural and urban design as a tool for mitigating climate change. More precisely, as carbon dioxide emitted from the built environment is released into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, we explore the design patterns that help reduce CO2 emissions to finally lessen the vulnerability index of urban systems. Scrutinising the relationship between the climate change and construction industry, we elucidate the concepts like sustainable construction, green buildings, and design for climate, among others. Finally, through the assessment of the adaptive reuse project in London, this paper identifies strategies of sustainable architectural and urban design aimed at curbing the effects of climate change and helping increase urban resilience.

scholarly journals Sustainable architectural design: towards climate change mitigation

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Sijakovic ◽  
Ana Peric
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeExcessive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) undoubtedly lead to climate change, which directly affects both the natural and the built environment. Observing the impact of climate change on the construction industry, this paper examines sustainable architectural design as a tool to mitigate climate change.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the previous goal, the authors conduct a comprehensive documentary analysis of three types of sources: (1) scholarly articles in the fields of climate research, sustainable construction, green buildings and sustainable architecture; (2) contemporary global reports on climate change and its impact on the built environment and (3) practitioners' guides explaining practical architectural solutions to the climate crisis.FindingsThe systematic analysis provides three types of results: objectives, strategies and principles of sustainable architectural design aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. On the one hand, the research results provide a solid basis for further conceptual research into architectural design responsive to the effects of changing climate. On the other hand, the detailed strategies and principles are relevant for urban designers and architects.Originality/valueAmong a range of literature in the field of climate change and its effects on the built environment, a particular value of the paper is in addressing a very local level, i.e. the level of individual building and its immediate surroundings. More specifically, this paper provides concrete design components that help reduce CO2 emissions, finally decreasing the vulnerability index of urban systems.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Influence of Governance on the Built form:  The Redevelopment of Wellington, New Zealand’s Waterfront Precinct

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Colin O'Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Built Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Processes

<p>Because there are many ways of structuring and managing a land development process, this research asks the question: What influence do different decision making approaches have on the built form of the Wellington waterfront redevelopment?  The form of the built environment is shaped by existing physical and economic conditions; the values of those involved in the planning and design of it; and, the activities of those who occupy it. However, the social structure and mechanisms of decision making (i.e. the governance) within the urban planning and design stages of the development process act as a filter for identifying and prioritizing factors that will have the greatest influence on the form. Because of the filter effect, this thesis argues the governance of a development process has observable effects on the built form of the associated development project.  A review of urban design, urban morphology, and land development literature identified related research on the governance-built form relationship. Studies in urban design and development processes have generally identified single, overall governance approaches for development projects and have not effectively identified relationships with the built form. Recent work in the field of urban morphology has more effectively identified relationships between governance practices and the evolution of the built environment; however, these studies have tended to treat governance as a single process rather than a sequence of different governance approaches. Therefore, this study examined the redevelopment of the Wellington waterfront to look for and identify the different governance approaches that were used over the study period and how these influenced the resulting built form.  To address the question of what effect different governance approaches had on the built form, the history of the redevelopment was analyzed in depth. Through analysis of written records, semi-structured interviews with participants involved in a variety of redevelopment related roles, and site visits, it was possible to characterize different governance approaches within the overall project and how these have influenced the form of the built environment. Triangulation of the three methods was used to provide a richer description of the redevelopment and improve confidence in the findings.  Between 1974 and 2012, Wellington transitioned through seven separate governance approaches, each having some influence on the form of the redevelopment. Each governance approach was marked by different driving values and forms of stakeholder involvement that affected the redevelopment. For example, periods dominated by top-down or corporate approaches resulted in larger and more internally focused buildings and building sites than periods with more inclusive governance arrangements.   Characterizing the governance approaches and their effects on the built form provided a useful tool for evaluating and understanding the development process and the evolution of the built form of the Wellington waterfront. This level of understanding of the different governance approaches and their influence on the built form has not been previously described in the literature. While the findings cannot be assumed to be descriptive of other development projects, they do identify patterns that should be investigated in other development contexts. The approach and findings from this thesis therefore contribute to the literature on the relationship between the processes and products of urban design, and the social structures of development processes.</p>

Arab Middle Eastern Urbanization

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Postwar Reconstruction ◽  
Morphological Studies

This article explores urbanization in the Arab countries of the Middle East and covers contributions published in English. The literature offers a wide diversity of topics, some of which represent cross-cutting themes across the entire region (e.g., the diffusion of Dubai’s urbanization model throughout the Middle East under the “contemporary urbanization trends” theme) while others are context-specific to a sub-region (e.g., the Levant or the Arab Gulf), a country, or even a city (e.g., Beirut’s postwar reconstruction). A thematic presentation highlights the areas of concentration and those of omission that warrant further exploration vis-à-vis each context whether theoretically and/or empirically. Urban governance is one of the most broached topics, particularly the roles of civil society and the market. Indeed, studies abound on the political economy of place, namely the impacts of neoliberalism and globalization and the transfer of contemporary urbanization trends from the Gulf to the rest of the region. Paralleling this focus on high-end urbanization is a focus on urban informality whether in its strict form in Cairo, or in the form of refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Postwar reconstruction and place memory have received much attention and are connected, especially in Lebanon, to urban rehabilitation. Notably, the emphasis in the literature remains, for the most part, on capital cities with far fewer contributions on other urban centers within each sub-region/country. Also, while studies abound on urban heritage, there is a need for contributions that connect the rehabilitation of historic urban landscapes (HULs) to housing availability and affordability. In terms of omissions, there is a dearth in contributions pertaining to urbanization and environmental sustainability, particularly environmental planning, urban ecosystems, and ecological designs (nature-based solutions), and also climate change including risk and vulnerability assessments, mitigation (decreasing greenhouse gas emission), adaptation (urban systems’ adjustments to climate change), climate justice, and urban resilience. Throughout, there is little variation in the theoretical framing and the empirical methods among the abundant contributions. While the prevailing qualitative empirical approaches offer valuable insights, there is an evident lack of quantitative studies probably attributed to the challenges in the availability and accessibility of census and geospatial data. The latter may also be the reason for the near absence of urban morphological studies throughout the region.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Influence of Governance on the Built form:  The Redevelopment of Wellington, New Zealand’s Waterfront Precinct

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Colin O'Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Built Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Processes

<p>Because there are many ways of structuring and managing a land development process, this research asks the question: What influence do different decision making approaches have on the built form of the Wellington waterfront redevelopment?  The form of the built environment is shaped by existing physical and economic conditions; the values of those involved in the planning and design of it; and, the activities of those who occupy it. However, the social structure and mechanisms of decision making (i.e. the governance) within the urban planning and design stages of the development process act as a filter for identifying and prioritizing factors that will have the greatest influence on the form. Because of the filter effect, this thesis argues the governance of a development process has observable effects on the built form of the associated development project.  A review of urban design, urban morphology, and land development literature identified related research on the governance-built form relationship. Studies in urban design and development processes have generally identified single, overall governance approaches for development projects and have not effectively identified relationships with the built form. Recent work in the field of urban morphology has more effectively identified relationships between governance practices and the evolution of the built environment; however, these studies have tended to treat governance as a single process rather than a sequence of different governance approaches. Therefore, this study examined the redevelopment of the Wellington waterfront to look for and identify the different governance approaches that were used over the study period and how these influenced the resulting built form.  To address the question of what effect different governance approaches had on the built form, the history of the redevelopment was analyzed in depth. Through analysis of written records, semi-structured interviews with participants involved in a variety of redevelopment related roles, and site visits, it was possible to characterize different governance approaches within the overall project and how these have influenced the form of the built environment. Triangulation of the three methods was used to provide a richer description of the redevelopment and improve confidence in the findings.  Between 1974 and 2012, Wellington transitioned through seven separate governance approaches, each having some influence on the form of the redevelopment. Each governance approach was marked by different driving values and forms of stakeholder involvement that affected the redevelopment. For example, periods dominated by top-down or corporate approaches resulted in larger and more internally focused buildings and building sites than periods with more inclusive governance arrangements.   Characterizing the governance approaches and their effects on the built form provided a useful tool for evaluating and understanding the development process and the evolution of the built form of the Wellington waterfront. This level of understanding of the different governance approaches and their influence on the built form has not been previously described in the literature. While the findings cannot be assumed to be descriptive of other development projects, they do identify patterns that should be investigated in other development contexts. The approach and findings from this thesis therefore contribute to the literature on the relationship between the processes and products of urban design, and the social structures of development processes.</p>

scholarly journals Healthy cities — walkability as a component of health-promoting urban planning and design

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minh-Chau Tran
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Healthy Cities ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Urban Planning And Design ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Mode Of Transport ◽  
Building Practice ◽  
Health Impairments

Health impairments due to inactivity are related to the car-oriented urban development of recent decades, along with sedentary lifestyles. A health-maintaining environment must therefore not only reduce direct health risk factors (pathogenic concept), but also contribute to health chances that may indirectly support health (salutogenic concept). Walking has been identified as the most influenceable behavior; it is also the most environmental friendly mode of transport, social and health. From the planning view, the concept of walkability therefore aims at a built environment facilitating physical activity. It is increasingly recognized that walkability has become an important topic in the field of planning, urban design and health, since the built environment affects certain behaviors. From practice, concrete guidance is demanded as to the type of urban design features to be captured or applied to evaluate the walkability or to create active cities. The measurement of features of the built environment plays a special role in this context, but also the question of how research results can reach policies as well as planning and building practice

scholarly journals USING SCENARIO PLANNING TO ENHANCE COASTAL RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE: COMMUNITY FUTURES IN THE ESTUARINE LANDSCAPES OF BRISBANE WATER, CENTRAL COAST, AUSTRALIA

2020 ◽  
Vol VI-3/W1-2020 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
A. V. Mirti ◽  
S. Hawken
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Scenario Planning ◽  
Coastal Hazards ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Central Coast ◽  
Local Authorities

Abstract. Local governments face daunting urban planning challenges in the face of rapid population growth, increasing demand for affordable housing and climate change and divergent community perceptions. There is currently insufficient action to meet these formidable and dynamic challenges. Greater know-how and capacity development need to be invested in local planning and political authorities to promote knowledge-based action. More than two thirds of Australians reside along the coastal cities with over 15 million addresses across 544 local government areas at risk from coastal hazards from 2020 onwards (XDI, 2019). This makes it an urgent priority for local government to fast track adaptation planning for its residents in the low-lying hazard prone areas as well as Council services and infrastructure. In 2019, UNSW students from the Master of Urban Development and Design and Master of Landscape Architecture programs addressed these challenges within a design studio environment. In the studio they developed strategies for urban resilience for a network of five communities surrounding the Brisbane Waters on the Central Coast. The studio adopted an urban scenario planning approach using open source data and on-the-ground evidence to develop diverse community resilience strategies. For each community three scenarios were developed to test alternative urban design strategies and provide insight on possible contrasting futures. This paper demonstrates the benefit of evidence-based scenario planning for local authorities. Such approaches contextualise complex abstract problems and provide new insights for local climate adaptation in accessible and transparent ways. This proactive approach emphasises the need to build the urban design and planning capabilities of local authorities to enhance coastal adaption and resilience to climate change.

HERITAGE IN THE LIVED ENVIRONMENT OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND THE GULF REGION

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph John Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Spatial Features ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Values

This paper examines how the architectural, social, and cultural heritage of the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries may contribute to better development of this region’s lived environment. Modern urbanism has largely neglected heritage in architectural design and in social and private spaces, creating inauthentic places that foster a hunger for belongingness in the UAE’s built environment. The paper reviews recent urban developments in the UAE and the Gulf Region, and identifies elements of local heritage that can be incorporated into contemporary planning and design. It proposes that adapting vernacular architectural heritage to the modern built environment should not be the principal goal for heritage-informed design. Instead we may examine the social processes underlying the traditional lived environment, and aim for social sustainability based on the lifeways and preferences of local peoples, especially in kinship and Islamic values. Among the most promising precedents for modern social sustainability are social and spatial features at the scale of the neighborhood in traditional Islamic settlements. Interviews with local Emiratis will also recommend elements of traditional knowledge to modern settings. 

The Missing Dimension in the Built Environment: A Challenge for the 21st Century

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Leo R. Zrudlo
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
City Design

This article addresses architects, planners, and developers but should also interest any other professionals involved in the creation of the built environment. It begins by stating that the built environment is principally made up of buildings and groupings of buildings. Therefore, architecture and urban design are the major focus of the article. Definitions of architecture are then presented from a variety of authors and architects. An argument is made that there actually is a missing dimension in the built environment illustrated by quotations from architects, architectural theorists, amid critics. It becomes evident that architecture is unable to satisfy the emotional and aesthetic needs of people and also that the profession itself, which admits that modern architecture has created bleak and insensitive environments, is in profound disagreement on how to rectify the situation. Under the heading “Architecture–The Object” arguments for and against different architectural movements or stylistic tendencies are highlighted by quotations from the proponents of tile various styles and theories. A similar approach is taken for cities under the heading “Urban Design–The Juxtaposition of Objects.” The fact that something is missing from architectural and city design is concluded, and examples of a preoccupation for the spiritual aspect of architecture and urban design are used to illustrate this growing concern for a dimension that has been much neglected in tile previous several decades. The notion of “spiritual” is then defined, followed by a list of spiritual qualities. Two important principles, unity in diversity and consultation are discussed before presenting some concluding thoughts on how the designers of the built environment can begin finding ways of infusing their designs with a spiritual dimension.

scholarly journals Landscape Design toward Urban Resilience: Bridging Science and Physical Design Coupling Sociohydrological Modeling and Design Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4666
Author(s):  
Yoonshin Kwak ◽  
Brian Deal ◽  
Grant Mosey
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Landscape Design ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Planning Support Systems ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
Resilient Communities ◽  
Study Support ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Resilient Design

Given that evolving urban systems require ever more sophisticated and creative solutions to deal with uncertainty, designing for resilience in contemporary landscape architecture represents a cross-disciplinary endeavor. While there is a breadth of research on landscape resilience within the academy, the findings of this research are seldom making their way into physical practice. There are existent gaps between the objective, scientific method of scientists and the more intuitive qualitative language of designers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to help bridge these gaps and ultimately support an endemic process for more resilient landscape design creation. This paper proposes a framework that integrates analytic research (i.e., modeling and examination) and design creation (i.e., place-making) using processes that incorporate feedback to help adaptively achieve resilient design solutions. Concepts of Geodesign and Planning Support Systems (PSSs) are adapted as part of the framework to emphasize the importance of modeling, assessment, and quantification as part of processes for generating information useful to designers. This paper tests the suggested framework by conducting a pilot study using a coupled sociohydrological model. The relationships between runoff and associated design factors are examined. Questions on how analytic outcomes can be translated into information for landscape design are addressed along with some ideas on how key variables in the model can be translated into useful design information. The framework and pilot study support the notion that the creation of resilient communities would be greatly enhanced by having a navigable bridge between science and practice.

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