Search results for "Built environment"
showing 10 items of 69 documents
From disuse to the caring-use for the built environment : a further key strategy to enhance the inner areas
2022
Abandonment characterizes the inner areas: in fields, infrastructures, public spaces, productive and residential buildings, the use which constitutes an indispensable reference in analytical, evaluation and design approaches concerning the built environment has now almost completely ceased. The restitution of a use is often indicated as the goal of strategies for revitalization; however, use is not enough as a tool in itself, if it does not meet the multifaceted requirements of sustainability, acting as a ‘caring-use’, in which users are custodians and not carefree profiteers. After having extended some considerations on sustainable use from the architectural heritage to the common built en…
Global architecture: rehabilitation and regeneration
2022
Using architecture as a "global phenomenon", holistically integrating solutions inspired by new scientific progress in the field of urban ecology, is a proactive way of responding to the challenges and precariousness of the contemporary city. In this paper, which illustrates a process of building and urban regeneration developed within the framework of the agreement between the University of Palermo and CICOP "International Centre for the Conservation of Heritage" with the research entitled "G.A. Transition&Regeneration "*, it is necessary to evaluate all the opportunities and benefits that the inclusion of green spaces and lungs bring to building contexts in a perspective of eco-sustai…
Associations Between Built Environment Characteristics and Walking in Older Adults in a High-Density City: A Study From a Chinese Megacity
2020
The built environment is an important factor affecting physical activity, especially walkability. Walkability is used to characterize the user friendliness of outdoor physical activity. However, studies on walkability and physical activity are mainly concentrated on low-density Western cities. Study on the walkability of high-density cities in Asia, especially with the elderly, is seriously lacking. And walkability is often used as a composite indicator. This study mainly re-examines the relationship between the common indicators of walkability (population density, street connectivity, land-use mix, and retail density), transport-related walking, and leisure-time walking with older adults i…
Identification of differential risk hotspots for collision and vehicle type in a directed linear network
2019
Traffic accidents can take place in very different ways and involve a substantially distinct number and types of vehicles. Thus, it is of interest to know which parts of a road structure present an overrepresentation of a specific type of traffic accident, specially for some typologies of collisions and vehicles that tend to trigger more severe consequences for the users being involved. In this study, a spatial approach is followed to estimate the risk that different types of collisions and vehicles present in the central area of Valencia (Spain), considering the accidents observed in this city during the period 2014-2017. A directed spatial linear network representing the non-pedestrian ro…
Strategie ecosistemiche e infrastrutture verdi in simbiosi con il costruito
2022
Il numero 11 di AGATHÓN raccoglie saggi, studi, ricerche e progetti sul tema Vegetazione | La sua Simbiosi con il Costruito richiamando il ruolo che la Natura in generale e la Vegetazione in particolare possono svolgere nel breve periodo per affrontare l’attuale sfida del surriscaldamento globale e dei cambiamenti climatici causati da deforestazioni e incendi boschivi, urbanizzazioni selvagge, uso indiscriminato di materie prime non rinnovabili e incremento delle emissioni di anidride carbonica, tutti fattori che determinano un impatto devastante sul nostro ormai fragile ecosistema, sulla società e sull’economia. Se Simon aveva intuito già nel 1969 il potenziale di una ‘nuova ecologia’ in c…
Methodological frontier in operational analysis for roundabouts: a review
2016
Several studies and researches have shown that modern roundabouts are safe and effective as engineering countermeasures for traffic calming, and they are now widely used worldwide. The increasing use of roundabouts and, more recently, turbo and flower roundabouts, has induced a great variety of experiences in the field of intersection design, traffic safety, and capacity modeling. As for unsignalized intersections, which represent the starting point to extend knowledge about the operational analysis to roundabouts, the general situation in capacity estimation is still characterized by the discussion between gap acceptance models and empirical regression models. However, capacity modeling mu…
Impact of Building Layouts on Wind Turbine Power Output in the Built Environment: A Case Study of Tsu City
2014
In city planning, it is important to consider the future growth of renewable energy systems in the built environment. Wind speed analysis in the built environment is very important for analysing the wind turbine performance installed in the built environment. In this work, building topologies / layouts in Tsu city are considered for investing the wind speed distributions and directions. Wind speed profile in the built environment are developed by using CFD-ACE+. This work focusses on the analysis of the wind speed directions and distribution characteristics for finding out the proper location of the wind turbines in the built environment. The wind speed profiles and their directions and win…
Evaluating the thermal-radiative performance of ENVI-met model for green infrastructure typologies: Experience from a subtropical climate
2022
Abstract Microclimate knowledge has been intensively integrated into urban planning and design to improve the buildings’ energy performance and outdoor thermal comfort. To assess the climatic mitigation strategies, numerical modeling is gaining higher relevance. ENVI-met, a microclimate model to simulate the complex surface-vegetation-atmosphere interactions in the built environment, is receiving increasing popularity. This study aims to systematically evaluate the thermal-radiative performance of the ENVI-met model based on its recent updates. First, a field measurement was conducted in a subtropical city. Thermal-radiative parameters were collected besides three green infrastructure (GI) …
Assessing the effectiveness of green roofs in enhancing the energy and indoor comfort resilience of urban buildings to climate change: Methodology pr…
2021
Abstract The effects of climate change on the built environment represents an important research challenge. Today, green roofs (GRs) represent a viable solution for enhancing energy and urban resilience in the face of climate change, as they can have a positive impact on the building's indoor thermal comfort and energy demand, as well as inducing various environmental benefits (easing urban heat island effects, improving the management of runoff water, reducing air pollution, etc.). Thus, it is important to be able to assess their effectiveness, both today and under future climate conditions, in order to evaluate whether they can also provide a valid long-term solution. In this paper, a sim…
Ethics and Politics of the Built Environment: Gardens of the Anthropocene
2017
This book is a reflection on the role of gardens in our thinking about our environments, and on the role of urban gardening in our acting and for our environments. More generally, it is an exploration of the ethical and political station of individuals in the Anthropocene - this new epoch in which the Earth is being remade by human activity. The book argues that, in the new epoch, urban gardens and gardening are to become 1) conceptual models for reflecting on the human station within the wider workings of things; 2) contexts and practices of stewardship that enable the fulfillment of individual moral obligations against important global challenges - including food security, climate change,…