Inanici, M. (2019). Tri-stimulus Color Accuracy in Image-based Sky Models: Simulating the Impact of Color Distributions throughout the Sky Dome on Daylit Interiors with Different Orientations. Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA. https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2019.210585.
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Abstract
Spectral properties of daylight surpasses any other light source. Its dynamic intensity and spectra across the full spectrum facilitates sustainable daylighting practices, produces best color rendition, and regulates circadian rhythms in all living beings. However, simulation models do not typically include spectral variability; daylight is modelled as a uniform, equal energy white source. In this paper, tristimulus calibration procedures are utilized to create spectrally accurate High Dynamic Range (HDR) photographs. HDR photographs of skies are collected and utilized as an input to image based lighting (IBL) simulations. The impact of color variations across the sky dome and between different sky conditions are studied. Per-pixel photopic luminances, tri-stimulus chromatic distributions, Correlated Color Temperatures (CCT) and circadian luminance and illuminance values are quantified for image-based daylighting simulations, and compared with standard colorless Perez skies.
Keywords
color based skies; image based lighting; daylight simulations; high dynamic range imagery; color calibration
De Almeida, Catherine. (2019). Performative By-Products: The Emergence of Waste Reuse Strategies at the Blue Lagoon. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 13(3), 64-77.
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Abstract
Materials and landscapes associated with waste are perceived as objectionable. By reactivating and embracing waste conditions as desirable opportunities for diverse programmes rooted in economy, ecology, and culture, designers can form hybrid assemblages on waste sites through the exchange of waste materials—a landscape lifecycles approach. This frame-work is applicable to not only design research, but also as a critical lens for evaluating the landscape performance of existing projects that engage with waste reuse. The Blue Lagoon in southwest Iceland materialized as a spa industry out of geothermal waste effluent from the adjacent Svartsengi Geothermal Power Station, reusing undesirable materials and transforming a waste landscape through diversified material recovery strategies. Featuring an industrial by-product turned economic generator, this case study reveals the opportunities for reusing geothermal ‘waste’ in these emergent landscape conditions, which hybridize economies with recreation, research, and ecology, and shift the conventional relationship with waste from passive to performative.
Keywords
Waste reuse; Blue Lagoon; material lifecycles; Iceland; landscape reclamation
Hess, Christian; Walter, Rebecca J.; Acolin, Arthur; Chasins, Sarah. (2019). Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets. Cityscape, 21(3), 159 – 186.
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Abstract
Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are calculated at the 40th percentile of the U.S. postal ZIP Code instead of the metropolitan area in an effort to capture localized rents to expand choice for voucher holders to access housing in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Existing studies on the potential and actual outcomes of SAFMRs demonstrate that findings vary for different types of housing markets. Furthermore, the decisions public housing authorities (PHAs) make in the implementation process affect PHAs' program budget and the rent burden and locational outcomes for voucher households. This study aims to address how these implementation factors are affected by local rental market conditions for three PHAs-Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio Housing Authority, and Seattle Housing Authority-in diverse housing markets. By comparing different sources of market rent estimates with SAFMRs in each location, we contribute new information about how this rule is likely to produce different residential outcomes in terms of increased access to low-poverty neighborhoods and adjustments to payment standards in low-rent neighborhoods. The findings reveal differences across rent measures in terms of estimated levels and relative differences across ZIP Codes. These findings suggest that housing authorities may face challenges in meeting the objectives of the SAFMR final rule without some form of local adjustments.]
Abdirad, Hamid; Dossick, Carrie S. (2019). Restructuration of Architectural Practice in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): Two Case Studies. Engineering, Construction And Architectural Management, 26(1), 104 – 117.
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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify that while integrated project delivery (IPD) methods can be momenta for restructuring architectural practice, they do not predetermine specific patterns of restructuration for the roles, responsibilities and services of architects. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a multiple case study design; two IPD projects were theoretically sampled and studied. The data collection methods included semi-structured interviews and observations. An inductive data analysis approach was applied to frame the phenomena, conduct cross-case comparisons and develop propositions. Findings While IPD implementations set expectations for new structures for practices, it is the project participants' situated decisions that lead to the restructuration of some dimensions of architectural practice. The dimensions in this study included team formation, design leadership and collaboration and architectural services. IPD project participants locally changed and redefined conventional roles, responsibilities and project artifacts (e.g. drawings and models) that concerned design development and coordination. Practical implications - IPD context, by itself, does not predetermine a fixed pattern of change in establishing designers' roles, responsibilities and services because restructuration is highly negotiated amongst the IPD parties and can lead to different responses to this contractual setting. Contracts set expectations for collaborative behavior, but the fulfillment of these expectations is situated and emerging as project participants negotiate to develop practices. Originality/value - While IPD research and guidelines aim to provide recipes for IPD implementation, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by clarifying that IPD is a context in which unprecedented ways of practice restructuration could emerge.
Keywords
Construction Industry; Contracts; Data Analysis; Human Resource Management; Innovation Management; Organisational Aspects; Project Management; Team Working; Architectural Practice; Case Studies; Integrated Project Delivery Methods; Specific Patterns; Responsibilities; Design/methodology; Multiple Case Study Design; Ipd Projects; Data Collection Methods; Observations; Inductive Data Analysis Approach; Cross-case Comparisons; Ipd Implementation; Practices; Design Leadership; Architectural Services; Ipd Project Participants; Conventional Roles; Project Artifacts; Concerned Design Development; Coordination; Practical Implications; Ipd Context; Designers; Ipd Parties; Different Responses; Practice Restructuration; Contractors; Ipd; Architecture; Integration; Design Management; Case Study; Integrated Project Delivery; Integrated Practice; Restructuration
Habibnezhad, M.; Puckett, J.; Fardhosseini, M.S.; Jebelli, H.; Stentz, T.; Pratama, L.A.. (2019). Experiencing Extreme Height for the First Time: The Influence of Height, Self-Judgment of Fear and a Moving Structural Beam on the Heart Rate and Postural Sway During the Quiet Stance. Arxiv, 9 pp.
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Abstract
Falling from elevated surfaces is the main cause of death and injury at construction sites. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, an average of nearly three workers per day suffer fatal injuries from falling. Studies show that postural instability is the foremost cause of this disproportional falling rate. To study what affects the postural stability of construction workers, we conducted a series of experiments in the virtual reality (VR). Twelve healthy adults, all students at the University of Nebraska were recruited for this study. During each trial, participants heart rates and postural sways were measured as the dependent factors. The independent factors included a moving structural beam (MB) coming directly at the participants, the presence of VR, height, the participants self-judgment of fear, and their level of acrophobia. The former was designed in an attempt to simulate some part of the steel erection procedure, which is one of the key tasks of ironworkers. The results of this study indicate that height increase the postural sway. Self-judged fear significantly was found to decrease postural sway, more specifically the normalized total excursion of the center of pressure (TE), both in the presence and absence of height. Also, participants heart rates significantly increase once they are confronted by a moving beam in the virtual environment (VE), even though they are informed that the beam will not hit them. The findings of this study can be useful for training novice ironworkers that will be subjected to height and steel erection for the first time.
Keywords
Biocontrol; Biomechanics; Construction Industry; Ergonomics; Injuries; Mechanoception; Medical Computing; Occupational Safety; Personnel; Statistical Analysis; Virtual Reality; Extreme Height; Moving Structural Beam; Heart Rate; Postural Sway; Injury; Construction Sites; Labor Statistics Reports; Fatal Injuries; Postural Instability; Foremost Cause; Disproportional Falling Rate; Postural Stability; Construction Workers; Participants Heart Rates; Height Increase; Moving Beam
Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2019). Introducing Supergrids, Superblocks, Areas, Networks, and Levels to Urban Morphological Analyses. Iconarp International Journal Of Architecture And Planning, 7, 1 – 14.
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Abstract
Urban morphological analyses have identified the parcel (plot), the building type, or the plan unit (tessuto in Italian) as the basic elements of urban form. As cities have grown in geographic size disproportionately to their growth in population over the past seven decades, new elements have been introduced that structure their form. This essay describes these new elements and proposes that they be formally recognized in urban morphology. It introduces a conceptual framework for a multilevel structure of urban space using areas and networks and including supergrids and superblocks to guide morphological analyses.
Keywords
Morphological Elements; A Posteriori Approach; A Priori Approach
Tobey, Michael B.; Binder, Robert B.; Chang, Soowon; Yoshida, Takahiro; Yamagata, Yoshiki; Yang, Perry P. J. (2019). Urban Systems Design: A Conceptual Framework for Planning Smart Communities. Smart Cities, 2(4), 522 – 537.
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Abstract
Urban systems design arises from disparate current planning approaches (urban design, Planning Support Systems, and community engagement), compounded by the reemergence of rational planning methods from new technology (Internet of Things (IoT), metric based analysis, and big data). The proposed methods join social considerations (Human Well-Being), environmental needs (Sustainability), climate change and disaster mitigation (Resilience), and prosperity (Economics) as the four foundational pillars. Urban systems design integrates planning methodologies to systematically tackle urban challenges, using IoT and rational methods, while human beings form the core of all analysis and objectives. Our approach utilizes an iterative three-phase development loop to contextualize, evaluate, plan and design scenarios for the specific needs of communities. An equal emphasis is placed on feedback loops through analysis and design, to achieve the end goal of building smart communities.
Keywords
Urban Design; Planning Support System; Resilience; Sustainability; Economics; Human Factors; Big Data
Acolin, Arthur. (2019). Housing Trajectories of Immigrants and Their Children in France: Between Integration and Stratification. Urban Studies (sage Publications, Ltd.), 56(10), 2021 – 2039.
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Abstract
Immigrants have been found to exhibit different housing tenure patterns from the rest of the population in a number of contexts. This article tests whether observed differences in tenure in France can be explained by differences in socio-demographic characteristics or whether unexplained differences might result from housing market mechanisms that affect immigrants differentially from the rest of the population, and extends this to the second generation. The article relies on data from TeO, a survey of 21,761 persons designed to oversample and identify immigrants and their children, providing information about the outcomes of children of immigrants that is otherwise lacking in French statistics. The results indicate that while immigrants are significantly less likely to be homeowners, even after controlling for compositional difference, the gap in homeownership between the second generation and the rest of the population is smaller and not statistically significant. This suggests a progressive integration in the housing market over time and over generations rather than overall stratified housing trajectories. Differences in terms of the share of social housing residents, the level of residential crowding, and housing and neighbourhood characteristics also decline across generations. However, children of immigrants from some non-European origins are experiencing higher levels of stratification than other groups, with continued significant differences in tenure.
Keywords
Immigrants; Housing; Home Ownership; Children Of Immigrants; Housing Market; Social Stratification; France; Homeownership; Housing Trajectories; Tenure; Segmented Assimilation; Location Choices; Wealth; 2nd-generation; Discrimination; Segregation; Inequality; Quality; Markets; Demographics; Homeowners; Neighborhoods; Crowding; Statistical Analysis; Residential Patterns; Children; Trajectories; Residents; Residential Areas; Integration; Statistics; European Cultural Groups; Sociodemographics; Stratification; Demographic Aspects; Second Generation; Property; Public Housing; Noncitizens
Habibnezhad, M.; Puckett, J.; Fardhosseini, M.S.; Pratama, L.A. (2019). A Mixed VR and Physical Framework to Evaluate Impacts of Virtual Legs and Elevated Narrow Working Space on Construction Workers Gait Pattern. Arxiv, 7 pp.
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Abstract
It is difficult to conduct training and evaluate workers' postural performance by using the actual job site environment due to safety concerns. Virtual reality (VR) provides an alternative to create immersive working environments without significant safety concerns. Working on elevated surfaces is a dangerous scenario, which may lead to gait and postural instability and, consequently, a serious fall. Previous studies showed that VR is a promising tool for measuring the impact of height on the postural sway. However, most of these studies used the treadmill as the walking locomotion apparatus in a virtual environment (VE). This paper was focused on natural walking locomotion to reduce the inherent postural perturbations of VR devices. To investigate the impact of virtual height on gait characteristics and keep the level of realism and feeling of presence at their highest, we enhanced the first-person-character model with "virtual legs". Afterward, we investigated its effect on the gait parameters of the participants with and without the presence of height. To that end, twelve healthy adults were asked to walk on a virtual loop path once at the ground level and once at the 17th floor of an unfinished structure. By quantitatively comparing the participants' gait pattern results, we observed a decrease in the stride length and increase in the gait duration of the participants exposed to height. At the ground level, the use of the enhanced model reduced participants' average stride length and height. The results of this study help us understand users' behaviors when they were exposed to elevated surfaces and establish a firm ground for gait stability analysis for the future height-related VR studies. We expect this developed VR platform can generate reliable results of VR application in more construction safety studies.
Keywords
Civil Engineering Computing; Construction Industry; Gait Analysis; Medical Computing; Occupational Safety; Virtual Reality; Construction Safety Studies; Mixed Vr; Virtual Legs; Construction Workers Gait Pattern; Immersive Working Environments; Postural Instability; Serious Fall; Postural Sway; Walking Locomotion Apparatus; Natural Walking Locomotion; Inherent Postural Perturbations; Vr Devices; Virtual Height; First-person-character Model; Gait Parameters; Virtual Loop Path; Stride Length; Gait Duration; Gait Stability Analysis; Safety Concerns; Vr Platform; Height-related Vr Studies
Moudon, Anne Vernez; Huang, Ruizhu; Stewart, Orion T.; Cohen-Cline, Hannah; Noonan, Carolyn; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Duncan, Glen E. (2019). Probabilistic Walking Models Using Built Environment and Sociodemographic Predictors. Population Health Metrics, 17(1).
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Abstract
BackgroundIndividual sociodemographic and home neighborhood built environment (BE) factors influence the probability of engaging in health-enhancing levels of walking or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Methods are needed to parsimoniously model the associations.MethodsParticipants included 2392 adults drawn from a community-based twin registry living in the Seattle region. Objective BE measures from four domains (regional context, neighborhood composition, destinations, transportation) were taken for neighborhood sizes of 833 and 1666 road network meters from home. Hosmer and Lemeshow's methods served to fit logistic regression models of walking and MVPA outcomes using sociodemographic and BE predictors. Backward elimination identified variables included in final models, and comparison of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves determined model fit improvements.ResultsBuilt environment variables associated with physical activity were reduced from 86 to 5 or fewer. Sociodemographic and BE variables from all four BE domains were associated with activity outcomes but differed by activity type and neighborhood size. For the study population, ROC comparisons indicated that adding BE variables to a base model of sociodemographic factors did not improve the ability to predict walking or MVPA.ConclusionsUsing sociodemographic and built environment factors, the proposed approach can guide the estimation of activity prediction models for different activity types, neighborhood sizes, and discrete BE characteristics. Variables associated with walking and MVPA are population and neighborhood BE-specific.
Keywords
Walking; Confidence Intervals; Research Funding; Transportation; Logistic Regression Analysis; Built Environment; Socioeconomic Factors; Predictive Validity; Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves; Data Analysis Software; Descriptive Statistics; Psychology; Washington (state); Active Travel; Home Neighborhood Domains; Physical Activity; Physical-activity; United-states; Life Stage; Adults; Attributes; Health; Associations; Destination; Pitfalls