scholarly journals Socio-spatial analysis of the vulnerable urban fabric in the city of Barcelona

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Sara Vima-Grau ◽  
Còssima Cornadó ◽  
Pilar Garcia-Almirall
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Resident Population ◽  
Helpful Tool ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
The City

<p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">Socio-residential vulnerability is one of currently increasing challenges for cities and metropolitan areas in addressing the interaction between the vulnerable resident population and the need to improve the building stock, particularly after the financial crisis of 2008 and the consequent regression of public investments.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">Recent studies have measured and described the levels of vulnerability in the city of Barcelona and their results highlight socio-spatial similarities between urban fabrics that happen to be morphologically, historically and geographically very different.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">The present research focuses on the assessment of physical and social shortcomings of vulnerable areas in the city of Barcelona. With this purpose, a sample of buildings in some of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods are statistically analysed through a set of variables at building scale related to both the need of improvement of residential existing buildings and the characteristics of their inhabitants.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">An extensive sample of cases is described through several profiles according to the simultaneity of indicators both from a physical and social perspective. As a result, the cross-analysis of indicators and profiles according to each neighbourhood and urban fabric, contributes to better understanding the specificities of each area. Moreover, the cartography of results provides information on how certain indicators and profiles manifest geographically in the urban fabric and the city.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">The observation of the combination of shortcomings in the different urban fabrics is a helpful tool for the design of future polices that aim for the improvement of living conditions in vulnerable residential buildings from an integral perspective that aims at addressing both physical and social issues.</p>

scholarly journals Art nouveau in Zagreb: The new movement's significance to the profession of architecture

Spatium ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
Melita Cavlovic ◽  
Mojca Smode-Cvitanovic ◽  
Andrej Uchytil
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Important Determinant ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Art Nouveau ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
City Block ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Block System ◽  
The City ◽  
Working Processes

This paper traces the implications of Semper's Bekleidung theory on working processes in the field of architecture in Zagreb. The idiosyncrasies of the work of freshly graduated architects in a peripheral Austro-Hungarian city are analysed, both in the context of developing and spreading the city block system and the appearance of the new Art Nouveau style. Buildings in this new modern style, which appeared in 1897, were built sporadically throughout the city's urban fabric, which generally consisted of historicist residential buildings at the time. Parallel to historicism, the demand for Art Nouveau from clients grew, especially around the turn of the 20th century. At the time, typical migration processes resulted in the arrival of a well-educated populace that would commission Art Nouveau buildings in the coming years. The unique characteristics of Art Nouveau style, especially its ability to directly engage citizens and transmit messages of modern times, proved to be an important determinant in its increasing popularity in the city. Many professions and products were advertised on the fa?ades and ornamentation of buildings, the main bearers of Art Nouveau style.

scholarly journals LEED Scores of Residential Buildings in Poor Cities: Kabul City Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6959
Author(s):  
Najib Rahman Sabory ◽  
Tomonobo Senjyu ◽  
Adina Hashemi Momand ◽  
Hadya Waqfi ◽  
Nilofar Saboor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Building Industry ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Water Transportation

Urbanization and technology have proven to be detrimental to the environment. Buildings contribute a significant portion of this damage. This issue motivated governments, builders, engineers, and architects to seek ways to reduce buildings’ environmental footprints. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is one of the most widely used strategies to ensure energy efficiency and a clean environment in buildings. In Afghanistan, where there are no active regulatory frameworks for energy saving and efficiency for the building sector, it is imperative to promote the transformation of the building industry and practices towards sustainability. In this regard, the role of the residential building sector is of utmost importance due to its major share in the country’s energy consumption and GHG emissions profile. Thus, this study assesses the energy efficiency and environmental impact of existing buildings in Kabul city concerning the LEED rating system. This research suggests practical steps to improve the sustainability of the residential building stock in Kabul city. Robust sets of data on existing residential buildings in Kabul are collected, classified, evaluated, and compared to LEED standards. This research reveals and concludes that most of the existing buildings in Kabul city are in poor conditions and do not meet the minimum requirements to be a candidate for LEED certification. A detailed analysis of the results has led to recommendations on how these buildings could improve to meet the LEED criteria. This is the first study of its kind conducted for Kabul city residential building. Considering the cross-sectoral nature of the building industry, the findings of this study will contribute to many other areas such as water, transportation, ICT, health, energy and the environment.

scholarly journals The Effect Of Balcony Enclosure Retrofits On The Performance of Murbs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Building Structure ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Weak Point ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
The City

The City of Toronto has been undertaking retrofit projects to refurbish an aging building stock and increase performance in multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs). These retrofit considerations include solutions proposed for balconies, a common weak point in the building structure. A balcony enclosure retrofit was one such solution, using overcladding to insulate the exposed balcony slab and parapet, enclosing the open portion of the balcony with glazing. The effect of the balcony enclosure differed depending on the balcony type, varying with characteristics such as balcony to façade ratio, orientation and the projection type of the balcony, whether inset or projecting. When models were retrofit with balcony enclosures, results showed an overall decrease in energy use as the enclosures raised internal air temperatures, lowering demand for heating. The balcony characteristics which showed the largest decrease in energy use when retrofit with balcony enclosures were inset balconies with high balcony to façade ratio.

scholarly journals Automated classification metrics for energy modelling of residential buildings in the UK with open algorithms

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Beck ◽  
Gavin Long ◽  
Doreen S Boyd ◽  
Julian F Rosser ◽  
Jeremy Morley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Automated Classification ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Ordnance Survey ◽  
Built Form ◽  
Energy Modelling ◽  
The City

Estimating residential building energy use across large spatial extents is vital for identifying and testing effective strategies to reduce carbon emissions and improve urban sustainability. This task is underpinned by the availability of accurate models of building stock from which appropriate parameters may be extracted. For example, the form of a building, such as whether it is detached, semi-detached, terraced etc. and its shape may be used as part of a typology for defining its likely energy use. When these details are combined with information on building construction materials or glazing ratio, it can be used to infer the heat transfer characteristics of different properties. However, these data are not readily available for energy modelling or urban simulation. Although this is not a problem when the geographic scope corresponds to a small area and can be hand-collected, such manual approaches cannot be easily applied at the city or national scale. In this article, we demonstrate an approach that can automatically extract this information at the city scale using off-the-shelf products supplied by a National Mapping Agency. We present two novel techniques to create this knowledge directly from input geometry. The first technique is used to identify built form based upon the physical relationships between buildings. The second technique is used to determine a more refined internal/external wall measurement and ratio. The second technique has greater metric accuracy and can also be used to address problems identified in extracting the built form. A case study is presented for the City of Nottingham in the United Kingdom using two data products provided by the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain: MasterMap and AddressBase. This is followed by a discussion of a new categorisation approach for housing form for urban energy assessment.

scholarly journals The Effect Of Balcony Enclosure Retrofits On The Performance of Murbs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Building Structure ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Weak Point ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
The City

The City of Toronto has been undertaking retrofit projects to refurbish an aging building stock and increase performance in multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs). These retrofit considerations include solutions proposed for balconies, a common weak point in the building structure. A balcony enclosure retrofit was one such solution, using overcladding to insulate the exposed balcony slab and parapet, enclosing the open portion of the balcony with glazing. The effect of the balcony enclosure differed depending on the balcony type, varying with characteristics such as balcony to façade ratio, orientation and the projection type of the balcony, whether inset or projecting. When models were retrofit with balcony enclosures, results showed an overall decrease in energy use as the enclosures raised internal air temperatures, lowering demand for heating. The balcony characteristics which showed the largest decrease in energy use when retrofit with balcony enclosures were inset balconies with high balcony to façade ratio.

scholarly journals Re-imagining Suburban Living in Residual Urban Space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Suburban Sprawl ◽  
The City

<p>The attraction of the suburban lifestyle for many, is the comforting uniformity and lack of density, the desire to own your own little patch of land to use however you please. However, the lack of diversity this lifestyle offers is also a key reason as to why certain demographics are choosing to relocate back to urban centres. A significant number of young adults are rethinking where they want to live, work and play, and they are choosing the city. They are revitalising entire neighbourhoods, making urban living fun and safe for all ages. In choosing the city, they have begun to dream something different to the lifestyle defined as the traditional “Suburban Dream” (Breen & Rigby, 2004).   As the population continues to increase, available land for development decreases, resulting in suburban sprawl. The consequences of this pattern of suburban sprawl include social issues such as a lack of human contact and a declining sense of community. As people are having to spend longer travelling to and from work in the city, they therefore tend to stay in their homes once they return at the end of a long day. Other key consequences include increased traffic congestion and the resultant environmental problems such as increased petrol consumption, reduced air quality and farmland destruction (Breen & Rigby, 2004). In contrast, the urban neighbourhood has a sense of community about it, many features are within walking distance and the footpaths and walkways promote a friendly, social environment, which may be lacking or hard to access in the sprawling suburbs.   This research portfolio aims to develop and present an alternative approach to living in inner city New Zealand. A new strategy that will bridge the gap between the typology of the spacious suburban home and over developed, inner city apartment blocks by adapting unused or underutilised sites already existing within the urban fabric. Often people are reluctant to downsize from the commodious suburban homes that they have grown accustomed to. Therefore, this proposed housing must take the fundamentals of suburban housing and condense it into a compact model suitable for the urban environment while also meeting the needs and expectations of the intended occupants.   The objective is to create compact homes that will beautify and give new purpose to unused spaces in the urban environment. As a way of reducing urban sprawl by adapting vacant spaces which already exist within the urban fabric. Learning from, and developing upon successful infill strategies already employed throughout the world dealing with the issue of underutilised urban space. These homes should not detract, but rather add to the appearance of the present streetscape for current residents. Repurposing vacant sites and spaces into condensed, compact, comfortable housing solutions to encourage those looking to relocate from suburban to urban therefore reducing the suburban sprawl.</p>

On the Seismic Vulnerability of Existing Buildings: A Case Study of the City of Basel

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Lang ◽  
Hugo Bachmann
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Vulnerability ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Target Area ◽  
Seismic Action ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Earthquake Scenario ◽  
The City ◽  
Vulnerability Functions

In order to assess the seismic risk for Switzerland, and particularly for the city of Basel, the seismic vulnerability of the existing buildings needs to be evaluated. Since no major damaging earthquake has occurred in Switzerland in recent times, vulnerability functions from observed damage patterns are not available. A simple evaluation method based on engineering models of the building structures suitable for the evaluation of a larger number of buildings is therefore proposed. The method is based on a nonlinear static approach acknowledging the importance of the nonlinear deformation capacity of the buildings subjected to seismic action. Eighty-seven residential buildings in a small target area in Basel were evaluated. The results are vulnerability functions that express the expected damage as a function of the spectral displacement. In order to extrapolate the results to other residential areas of the town, building classes were defined for which the vulnerability is presented in a probabilistic form that can be used directly for earthquake scenario projects.

scholarly journals Re-imagining Suburban Living in Residual Urban Space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Suburban Sprawl ◽  
The City

<p>The attraction of the suburban lifestyle for many, is the comforting uniformity and lack of density, the desire to own your own little patch of land to use however you please. However, the lack of diversity this lifestyle offers is also a key reason as to why certain demographics are choosing to relocate back to urban centres. A significant number of young adults are rethinking where they want to live, work and play, and they are choosing the city. They are revitalising entire neighbourhoods, making urban living fun and safe for all ages. In choosing the city, they have begun to dream something different to the lifestyle defined as the traditional “Suburban Dream” (Breen & Rigby, 2004).   As the population continues to increase, available land for development decreases, resulting in suburban sprawl. The consequences of this pattern of suburban sprawl include social issues such as a lack of human contact and a declining sense of community. As people are having to spend longer travelling to and from work in the city, they therefore tend to stay in their homes once they return at the end of a long day. Other key consequences include increased traffic congestion and the resultant environmental problems such as increased petrol consumption, reduced air quality and farmland destruction (Breen & Rigby, 2004). In contrast, the urban neighbourhood has a sense of community about it, many features are within walking distance and the footpaths and walkways promote a friendly, social environment, which may be lacking or hard to access in the sprawling suburbs.   This research portfolio aims to develop and present an alternative approach to living in inner city New Zealand. A new strategy that will bridge the gap between the typology of the spacious suburban home and over developed, inner city apartment blocks by adapting unused or underutilised sites already existing within the urban fabric. Often people are reluctant to downsize from the commodious suburban homes that they have grown accustomed to. Therefore, this proposed housing must take the fundamentals of suburban housing and condense it into a compact model suitable for the urban environment while also meeting the needs and expectations of the intended occupants.   The objective is to create compact homes that will beautify and give new purpose to unused spaces in the urban environment. As a way of reducing urban sprawl by adapting vacant spaces which already exist within the urban fabric. Learning from, and developing upon successful infill strategies already employed throughout the world dealing with the issue of underutilised urban space. These homes should not detract, but rather add to the appearance of the present streetscape for current residents. Repurposing vacant sites and spaces into condensed, compact, comfortable housing solutions to encourage those looking to relocate from suburban to urban therefore reducing the suburban sprawl.</p>

scholarly journals MAPPING AN URBAN CITY CENTRE FOR SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT: APPLICATION TO VALENCIA (SPAIN)

2020 ◽  
Vol XLIV-M-1-2020 ◽  
pp. 817-824
Author(s):  
L. Basset-Salom ◽  
A. Guardiola-Víllora
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Risk ◽  
Seismic Vulnerability ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Urban City ◽  
Historical Archive ◽  
The City

Abstract. Seismic risk in urban city centres may be high, even when the city is in low to moderate seismic areas, due to the vulnerability of the residential buildings. To assess the seismic vulnerability and estimate the expected damage in case of occurrence of an earthquake, an up-to-date detailed and comprehensive information of the residential building stock, such as number of dwellings, location, age, geometry, stiffness irregularities, structure, constructive system and practices, among others, is needed. This paper presents the authors experience, describing the step by step procedure followed to obtain the required information to classify and catalogue the residential buildings of the historical neighbourhoods of the city of Valencia into a database. Official sources, like the Cadastral Database, the website of the Urban Planning Service of the city of Valencia, the Municipal Historical Archive of Valencia, and the Historical Archive of the Valencian Architects Society, but also unexpected references are shared, pointing out the information that has been retrieved and its reliability. Additionally, relevant information must be obtained with an on-site data collection. This field work is essential not only to prove the accuracy of the abovementioned data but also to define some of the parameters related to the building vulnerability.The built database, included in a GIS system, has been used by the authors for seismic risk studies. This procedure can be implemented in future assessments at an urban scale.

Roman Thoughts on the Rebuilding of Rome

2019 ◽  
pp. 198-235
Author(s):  
Christopher Siwicki
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
The Past ◽  
Seneca The Younger ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores how Rome’s inhabitants responded to the destruction and rebuilding of the city of Rome as a whole. The discussion revolves primarily around three authors—Seneca the Younger, Martial, and Tacitus—who all experienced and wrote about the dramatic transformation of Rome’s urban fabric in this period. We see that the way in which these authors characterize the development of the cityscape is indicative of, and informed by, a series of related attitudes towards the historic built environment. In short, that innovative restoration tended to be positively received, that the destruction of existing buildings could often be perceived as a positive occurrence, and that there was no sense of nostalgia for lost structures as architectural relics of the past.

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