Sustainability Approaches to Urban Planning: Re-Cycling Urbanism

While the growth of global urban centres is primarily attributable to population growth, Slovenian towns are stagnating due to suburbanization. The urban centres have failed to timely adapt to new forms of living, climate change and excessive energy consumption; in consequence they are becoming cramped, unhealthy and wasteful. This has led to criticisms of existing development paradigms and operative lack of responsiveness on the part of sustainable policies. Based on relevant literature on sustainability – urban policies, concepts, and urban forms –, the paper shows that town planning approaches in Slovenia still primarily deal with solving problems of necessary investments, leaving comprehensive urban solutions based on long-term visions on hold. Meanwhile, the global contemporary town planning approaches based on sustainability principles tend towards interventions into existing urban space. One such approach is urban recycling; a form of urban intervention aimed at adaption of the urban environments to contemporary needs on the basis of comprehensive approach which includes collecting and analysing data on the existing situation and integrates observations with practice.

Public Transportation as a Spatial Marker

Potential benefits of public transportation as a spatial element are going to be examined. This can relate to permanent infrastructure such as rail tracks, physically separated bus lanes, subway stations etc. These are visually noticeable or otherwise significant built spatial elements and are relatively permanent, which might increase the popularity and use of a public transit service in an area by reassuring potential users of the authorities’ strategic commitment to providing high quality transit as well as by becoming part of an areas’ identity. Other physical elements and their design – signage, vehicle appearance, public space redevelopment along corridors etc. – are important in this regard as well, and could either enhance the benefits of permanent infrastructure, or they could be used alone to attempt to achieve the same positive effects. The degree to which these elements can be successful depends also on how they are distributed through space, which in this paper is linked to network or line structure. The network should be clear and easy to understand, enabling users to orient themselves, while also making it easier to apply physical elements which represent the system in space. Thus, the degree to which a public transportation service is represented in space through described elements and their spatial distribution, determines its strength as a spatial marker.

Nexus Between Urban Green Streets and the Sustainability: Case on Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Area, Bangladesh

Rapid Urbanization in Bangladesh has created a negative impact on the ecosystem and it’s resulting a change in the climate. In this research, Khulna City Corporation (KCC) is chosen to be the study area. The main objective of this study is to propose feasible models of green streets to reduce environmnetal pollution. Then it proposes green belts to alleviate the effect of harmful gases while maintaining ecological balance to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11th goal. The study is completed in three phases. Firstly, Land Use Land Cover (LULC) detection and public opinion survey was conducted considering the existing scenario. Secondly, green street system was proposed in different intersection points, highways and neighborhoods of Khulna city on the basis of some successful cases and finally a conceptual framework for achieving SDG’s 11th goal is shown. This research shows that about 5% vegetation has decreased over the last 20 years. Also it shows the total amount of carbon-di-oxide (CO2) that can be consumed by big trees after 10 years is approximately 32,340 kg per year. The total amount of CO2 that can be consumed by shrubs is 34,810 kg per year. According to user satisfaction survey more than 90% people like the idea of green street and more than 60% people thinks that using the streets will be more convenient after its implementation. The successful adoption of green streets will help to achieve livable and healthy communities and also it will push the urban area towards sustainability by achieving SDG’s 11th goal.

Construction Waste as a Resource in a Sustainable Built Environment

The built environment requires ever-increasing amounts of raw material resources and at the same time bears the responsibility for the resulting waste. Waste is generated throughout the life cycle. In the initial phases it is referred to as industrial waste, while during construction, reconstruction, and demolition it is called construction waste. Construction waste is most voluminous but it also has a great potential in circular economy that aims at the closed loop cycle where already used construction materials and components are recovered as raw materials. Sustainable building principles include four basic strategies, waste avoidance, construction materials and components re-use, continued use, and recycling. The possibility of construction waste treatment and its possible recovery in the building process depends on the type of prevailing materials that are contained in building elements as well as on detachability, separability and inseparability of structural joints and components. The architect plays a responsible role in decreasing the volume of construction waste as the conception of a building represents the key factor in sustainable construction waste management. Planning a construction with a good dismantling potential at the end of the building’s life cycle includes a number of factors such as the choice of building materials with a low environmental impact, the design of detachable composite materials and structures as well as the design of mono material structures. This article focuses on waste resulting from the built environment and discusses architectural concepts with a potential of reducing the volume of construction waste and its potential recovery as a construction resource.

Fundamentals of Natural Ventilation in Buildings

When environmental factors, such as the microclimate, in-depth knowledge is important in understanding spatial issues related to health. We spend most of the day indoors, so ventilation conditions are especially important, given their impact on our well-being, satisfaction, productivity, and health. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of modern methods of ventilation of individual indoor spaces with special attention paid to natural ventilation. The key questions raised for this purpose are: What systems are in use today, what are their shortcomings and the challenges that we face, how had the problem of ventilation been addressed in the past, and how can traditional knowledge be applied in modern architecture? To be able to answer this, clear physical laws must be defined. The article presents the standard methods of ventilation of buildings around the world and gives suggestions for their use in the design of quality and sustainably designed open and closed spaces (buildings and their indoor spaces). Examples of the use of natural ventilation and samples of combining established ventilation principles, considering the legality of microclimatic factors, with modern technologies of mechanical ventilation and permeable facade systems are collected. The core of the article refers to the question: What are the possibilities for the ventilation of buildings that ensure the appropriate indoor air quality while simultaneously allowing for the ambient integration with the natural environment?