Search results for "Environmental design"
showing 10 items of 12 documents
Reviving the lost spaces under urban highways and bridges: an empirical study
2019
Purpose The fast development of urban movement infrastructures has created neglected urban places in cities. This study aims to provide users’ preferences for designing lost spaces that are a by-product of elevated urban highways (UHs) and bridges to develop a conceptual model for better environmental design. Design/methodology/approach This research is conducted by a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first phase, to explore the citizen’s environmental preferences based on the Q-sort technique and in-depth interviews, the ideas of 50 users were considered up to data saturation. The preferences of people for designs under urban bridges were extracted by conten…
Multi-Dimensional Interacting Constraints on Physical Activity Behaviours in the Finnish Population
2016
Finnish sports organisations, local and federal government, and healthcare organisations have widely adopted the World Health Organization and national recommendations for physical activity for different age groups. However, studies have indicated that only 46 % of 3-year-old preschool children, approximately 50 % of primary school students (7–12 years), 10–17 % of secondary school students (13–15 years) and 16 % of Finnish adults (20–54 years) attain those recommendations. In Finland there are 33,620 built sports facilities and over 9000 sport clubs, meaning there are many possibilities for physical activity, yet people are still rather inactive. In this paper we argue that availability of…
The user’s perspective in architectural heritage
2019
Currently, the awareness has been widely acquired that appropriate use is an important condition for saving architectural heritage: as well as many others requisites (manageability, maintainability, and security) similarly accessibility has become common to any settlement, including the built heritage. Keeping in mind this general framework, the paper will outline the link between architec- tural heritage and the user’s perspective, intended as the paramount basis both of technological design and health science. The intertwined relationships between socio-cultural and economical aspects clarify the features of the use of this specific form of built environment, proposed as a thought provoki…
Covering the Gap for an Effective Energy and Environmental Design of Green Roofs: Contributions from Experimental and Modelling Researches
2021
AbstractGreen roofs are components of the building envelope that have become increasingly popular in urban contexts because other than providing numerous environmental benefits they are also capable of reducing building energy consumption, especially in summer. However, despite all these advantages, green roofs are still affected by some limitations. Specifically, there are some gaps affecting the energy modelling consisting in the absence of a proper database, information (growth stage, leaf area index, and coverage ratio) relative to the different green roof plant species, which technicians could use in case of lack of actual field data to perform energy analysis of buildings equipped wit…
Education, practice and professionalism: a comparative history of the development of urban and regional planning in Italy and Australia
2014
This paper outlines the historical relationship between planning legislation, planning practice and planning education in Italy and Australia by identifying the positive and negative roles of institutional influences and the emergence of professional planning communities. The key findings revolve around the gap between plan preparation and plan implementation, and the role of institutions and professional communities in resisting political interference and maintaining a technocratic imperative within planning systems. While the exertion of professional power can be seen to achieve positive planning and development outcomes, it is often at the expense of the democratic traditions that have c…
Forest planning across Europe: the spatial scale, tools, and inter-sectoral integration in land-use planning
2014
New approaches to forest planning are needed to support the transition of European forests to sustainable management. The aim of this study is to review forest planning systems already in place throughout Europe by exploring a set of case-study countries reflecting the main silvicultural schools of Western Europe, including Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, and Slovenia. A literature review and case-study data were used to assess the scale factors (vertical logic) as well as the relationships between forest planning and other environmental6 land-use planning sectors (horizontal logic). The influence of EU policy on the development of forest planning is also discussed. As assessed u…
Air movement representation as a tool for urban and architectural environmental quality
2017
Air movement is a measurable physical phenomenon that produces indirectly measurable effects on people and on the environment. It is an essential prerequisite for the comfort and the hygiene of the built environment and it is highly relevant to the passive cooling strategies. The relationships between air movement and built environment have to be analysed under a multi-scale vision. They fall within the field of urban and architectural design because they can be influenced by artificial expedients, although they are always caused by natural factors. This paper discusses the need for a complete and objective representation of different kinds of air movement, to improve the urban and architec…
Environmental and Forest Planning in Italy: Conflicts and Opportunities
2016
Abstract The necessity of a more sustainable use of lands and environmental resources in general, throughout specific programming and management tools at different scale levels is nowadays widely shared. Forests and woodlands are a key asset of the environment and the traditional and current landscapes. With regards to the state of art of forest planning and management tools in Italy, in this short paper, after a synthetic analysis of the tools currently adopted at different levels, some critical aspects of the relationships of forest planning instruments with other planning tools involved in environmental management (landscape plan, energy plans, basin plans) are investigated, enlightening…
TRANSIZIONE AMBIENTALE E SVILUPPO SOSTENIBILE
2021
This paper explores the issues related to the principles of eco-sustainability by proposing a case study of sustainable regeneration in Sicily, whose intervention choices were made with respect for the environment and local traditions. General guidelines: reduction of energy consumption; use of recycled and recyclable materials; improvement of thermo-hygrometric conditions. Programming is based not only on performance control, but on an idea of global sustainability based on the use of urban greening systems.
Built environments and inherited landscapes: culture, signs and bionimetic models of the resilient city / Ambienti costruiti e paesaggi ereditati: cu…
2018
La cultura è "memoria ereditaria di una collettività ed esprime un sistema determinato di segni e di modelli". Vi sono segni e modelli materiali e immateriali finalizzati alla comprensione e all’interpretazione di un determinato ambiente costruito. Gli ambienti costruiti “ereditati” sono la scena di trasformazioni culturali e storiche eterogenee e sono formati da un numero illimitato di segni e di modelli in reciproca connessione e “interferenza”. Tra le forme dello spazio naturale e quelle dello spazio costruito c’è materialmente una aggregazione. Talora questa aggregazione è coesa mentre altre volte risulta discordante. Molti paesaggi ereditati sono caratterizzati da una incompatibilità p…