Darko Amos, Weerasinghe Lichini Nikesha Kumari, Chan Albert Ping Chuen, & Wu Lingzi. (2025). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling of Challenges to Existing Residential Building Net Zero Carbon Retrofitting. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(8), 05025005. doi:10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-16471
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Abstract
Residential buildings play a significant role in global energy usage and carbon emissions. In Hong Kong, they contribute to 27% of energy usage and associated carbon emissions. Retrofitting residential buildings to net zero carbon (NZC) is an efficient way to lower carbon emissions and prevent climate change. However, the widespread adoption of NZC retrofitting in the industry has been limited by several challenges, which have rarely been addressed in research. This study intended to evaluate the linkages among various challenges while assessing their impacts on NZC retrofitting of existing residential buildings. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey with 123 residential building occupants in Hong Kong, whose perspectives are largely ignored in existing building retrofit research. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Outcomes indicated that technical and social challenges have a considerable negative effect on residential building NZC retrofitting. In addition, this study highlights the connections between challenge categories and presents a predictive model illustrating the relationships between challenges and residential building NZC retrofitting. Theoretically, the outcomes of this study provide new insights into the relationships between residential building NZC retrofitting challenges and their interactive effects, revealing that the challenges influence one another and do not exist in isolation. Practically, the findings could be useful to policymakers and practitioners seeking to promote NZC retrofitting by enabling the development of effective policies and strategies to mitigate the identified challenges.
Meen Chel Jung, Karen Dyson, Marina Alberti, Urban landscape heterogeneity disaggregates the legacy of redlining on land surface temperature, Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 261, 2025, 105406, ISSN 0169-2046, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105406.
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Abstract
The lingering effects of redlining are linked to contemporary heat inequities observed across US cities. Residential security maps created by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) have been widely used to analyze neighborhood-level disparities in land surface temperatures. However, the use of aggregated spatial units often fails to capture internal landscape heterogeneity and the heat vulnerabilities associated with redlining. In this study, we introduced urban landscape heterogeneity by incorporating granular development levels captured at different resolutions within HOLC-graded neighborhoods. This approach combined Landsat-based National Land Cover Database (NLCD) data, Sentinel-based WorldCover land cover data, and HOLC map layers. We examined the role of urban landscape heterogeneity in revealing additional patterns of heat inequities beyond those explained by redlining-based macro spatial units, using grouped boxplots and mixed-effects models across three major cities in the Northeastern US: Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By accounting for urban landscape heterogeneity, our findings revealed that: (1) the well-documented trend of higher land surface temperatures in lower HOLC grades becomes systematically fragmented, (2) statistical models show improved performance in estimating land surface temperature, and (3) the cooling effect of tree canopy exhibits a varying, non-linear threshold pattern. These results highlight the need to consider micro-scale landscape dimensions to better understand the persistent, unequal distribution of temperatures associated with redlining. Municipal and community-led tree planting initiatives should consider comprehensive landscape characteristics to develop spatially targeted heat mitigation strategies and promote equitable climate outcomes.
Keywords
Redlining; Land cover; Spatial resolution; Land surface temperature; Tree canopy cooling; Heat inequity
Shah, S.H., Haverkamp, J.A., Guzmán, C.B. et al. Beyond unintentionality: considering climate maladaptation as cyclical. Climatic Change 178, 77 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03922-7
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Abstract
Climate adaptation is imperative; however, instances of maladaptation are increasingly documented in sectors and locations around the world. Despite the prevalence of maladaptation, researchers and intergovernmental actors, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, consistently frame it as “unintentional.” Drawing from environmental injustice, critical development studies, critical race theory, and coloniality scholarship, we argue the impossibility of characterizing maladaptation—now a global-scale phenomenon—as an unintended consequence of well-intentioned adaptation planning. This paper reframes the (re)production of climate maladaptation as a foreseeable result of the unequal systems of colonial racial capitalism through which adaptation is implemented and refracted. Systems-level change that confronts uneven relations of power, rather than incremental institutional reform, can address the prevalence of maladaptation. Treated as such, tackling climate maladaptation becomes a “political project”— not merely a “planning project.”
Keywords
Climate maladaptation; climate vulnerability; transformative adaptation; Longue durée; colonialism, injustice
Feng, R., Li, G., Alberti, M., Wang, F., Liu, S., & Yu, G. (2025). Optimizing Urban Greenspace Landscapes to Mitigate Population Exposure to Extreme Heat in 21st Century Chinese Cities. Environmental Science & Technology, 59(11), 5510–5520. doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c11345
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Abstract
Urban greenspace (UGS) is a crucial nature-based solution for mitigating increasing human exposure to extreme heat, but its long-term potential has been poorly quantified. We used high spatial-temporal resolution data sets of urban land cover and population grid in combination with an urban climate model, machine learning, and land use simulation model to assess the impact of UGS on population exposure to extreme (high-heat exposure, HHE) and its potential spatial optimization strategies. Results showed that the UGS and HHE have a strong spatiotemporal dynamic coupling in 21st century Chinese cities. Moreover, UGS shrinkage increased the HHE by 0.58–1.15 °C, while UGS expansion mitigated it by 0.72–1.26 °C, both stronger in the SSP3–7.0 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios. Different from common impressions, spatial relationships, rather than quantities of UGS, are more influential (1.3–1.8 times) on HHE. Our solutions suggest that simply enhancing the spatial dynamic connectivity between patches can mitigate HHE by 9.1–21.1%, especially for the eastern and central cities. Our results provide an example of how to improve climate adaptation in urban ecological space designs and strongly promote research on optimal spatial patterns for future robust urban heat mitigation.
Keywords
Urban greenspace; extreme heat exposure; mitigation effects; optimization solution; future projection
Linyan Chen, Amos Darko, Fan Zhang, Albert P.C. Chan, Qiang Yang,Can large language models replace human experts? Effectiveness and limitations in building energy retrofit challenges assessment,Building and Environment,Volume 276,2025,112891, ISSN 0360-1323,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112891.
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Abstract
Retrofitting existing buildings is essential to improve energy efficiency and achieve carbon neutrality in the fight against global climate change. Large language models (LLMs) have recently attracted significant attention for their ability to process data efficiently. While LLMs have emerged as useful tools for various tasks, their potential to replace human experts in assessing building energy retrofit challenges remains unexplored. This research explores the potential of replacing human experts with LLMs by evaluating four mainstream LLM chatbots and comparing their performance against a human expert benchmark through semantic similarity and text correlation metrics. It answers the research question: can LLMs replace human experts in assessing the challenges to building energy retrofits? Prompt engineering techniques, including zero-shot and chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting, were employed to guide LLM responses. Results show that LLMs perform well in identifying challenges but are less reliable in ranking them. CoT prompting improves challenge ranking accuracy but does not enhance challenge identification. Incorporating domain-specific knowledge in prompts significantly enhances LLM performance, whereas prompts designed to simulate experts have notable limitations in improving LLM performance. Furthermore, there are no significant performance differences among LLMs, including their advanced versions. While LLMs can streamline the initial identification of building energy retrofit challenges, they cannot fully replace expert judgment in ranking challenges due to their lack of tacit knowledge. This research provides valuable insight into the capabilities and limitations of LLMs in the challenge assessment, offering practical guidance for industry practitioners seeking to integrate LLMs into their building energy efficiency practices.
Keywords
Large language model; Building energy retrofit; Challenges assessment; Prompt engineering; Generative artificial intelligence
Celina Balderas Guzman, Networked shorelines: A review of vulnerability interactions between human adaptation to sea level rise and wetland migration, Global Environmental Change, Volume 92, 2025, 102985, ISSN 0959-3780, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.102985.
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Abstract
Facing urgent climate risks, many human and non-human actors are adapting to climate change with adaptations that sometimes shift vulnerabilities to other actors. Shifting vulnerabilities is a type of maladaptation and understanding them is a critical component of adaptation planning given the growing incidence of maladaptation across many sectors and regions. This review creates an analytical framework, called the Vulnerability Interactions Framework, to identify instances of shifting vulnerabilities from across the natural and social science literature and interpret them using a systematic approach. To demonstrate its utility, the analytical framework is applied in the context of coastal adaptation to sea level rise on the topics of coastal squeeze and wetland migration. Along certain shorelines, humans are building protective infrastructure, such as sea walls and levees, to protect themselves from sea level rise. Meanwhile, coastal wetlands—one of the world’s most valuable ecosystems—are able to adapt to sea level rise when they can migrate landward. This wetland adaptation is often blocked by human shoreline development and infrastructure—a phenomenon known as coastal squeeze. Yet migrating wetlands may also impact human actors in negative ways. This review identifies 53 distinct ways that vulnerabilities can shift across human and non-human actors on physical, economic, environmental, social, cultural, and institutional dimensions. These interactions reflect particular biophysical and social contexts and can operate on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Because of these complex interactions, adaptation planning must look towards developing solutions that are cross-sectoral and cross-scalar in scope, place adaptation within a larger socio-ecological context, consider a phased approach, engage with communities, build local adaptive capacity, and address personal, social, and cultural losses inherent in coastal transformations. Overall, the Vulnerability Interactions Framework can be used as a research or planning tool to map observed or hypothetical shifts in vulnerability.
Keywords
Vulnerability; Adaptation; Maladaptation; Sea level rise; Wetlands; Socio-ecological systems
Mix, E. C., Hamele, M., Dannenberg, A. L., Freitag, R., & Errett, N. A. (2024). Integrating climate change into state hazard mitigation plans: A five-year follow-up survey of state hazard mitigation officers. PLOS Climate, 3(10), e0000385-. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000385.
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Abstract
Climate change is making disaster events more frequent and intense, increasing the risk to economic security, ecosystem health, and human health and well-being. Hazard mitigation planning, overseen in the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), aims to reduce disaster risk by identifying hazards and taking action to reduce their impact. While FEMA policy requires states and territories to consider the risks of climate change in their plans, guidance remains broad. As a result, jurisdictions have taken different approaches to integrating climate change into their hazard mitigation plans (HMPs). Thirty of 56 U.S. State and Territorial Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs) responded to a survey concerning climate planning, building on a similar survey conducted in 2018. A majority of respondents recognized that their jurisdictions are vulnerable to climate change and agreed that climate change is a threat to their jurisdictions both now and in the future. Respondents were motivated to integrate climate change into their HMPs by factors including increased evidence for climate change projections and disaster events in either their jurisdictions or neighboring ones. Among the most frequently reported barriers was reliance on historical patterns of hazard exposure. Most respondents had incorporated at least one climate change adaptation strategy into their HMPs but reported having insufficient resources to plan for and implement climate-related hazard mitigation activities. Findings suggest that state and territorial hazard mitigation planning programs are taking more steps to integrate climate change into their plans and that SHMOs are more aware of the risks that climate change poses than in 2018. Further research is needed to explore how best to support state-level hazard mitigation program response to climate change.
Tetteh, M. O., Darko, A., Boateng, E. B., & Chan, A. P. C. (2024). Energy Efficiency Retrofitting of Existing Building Stock for Net Zero. In Rethinking Pathways to a Sustainable Built Environment (pp. 142–158). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003317890-9
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Abstract
Existing buildings’ retrofits improve energy efficiency and are a crucial part of global decarbonization plan. There is a need for a better understanding of public sentiment toward energy efficiency retrofitting of existing buildings (EEREB) to effectively promote its widespread adoption through policy interventions. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that assess the general public's sentiments toward EEREB. This chapter utilizes social media data to assess the overall public's sentiments of EEREB. Sentiment analysis was used to analyze a total of 3,306 comments from the social media platform YouTube. The concerns and perceptions of the public were analyzed using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model, which identified nine main themes. These themes include ventilation, energy efficiency, indoor environment quality, comfort and occupant behavior, cost considerations, community engagement, technology usage, implementation knowledge, and social impact. The public expressed stronger positive sentiments, with about 64% reporting favorable views of EEREB and acknowledging its benefits. In addition, interesting patterns of perceptions shaped by a combination of generic and local-specific factors were identified. This chapter enhances the understanding of the general public's needs, concerns, and views on EEREB. Additionally, it could provide valuable insights for policymakers to refine or develop more effective actions in support of EEREB.
Adabre, M. A., Chan, A. P. C., Darko, A., Edwards, D. J., Yang, Y., & Issahaque, S. (2024). No Stakeholder Is an Island in the Drive to This Transition: Circular Economy in the Built Environment. Sustainability, 16(15), 6422-. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156422
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Abstract
Ensuring optimum utilisation of the Earth’s finite resources engenders the circular economy (CE) concept which has attracted the attention of policymakers and practitioners worldwide. As a bifurcated strategy which involves both scientific knowledge, advanced technologies and behavioural changes, the CE transition is sociotechnical in nature. Yet, prolific studies focus on scientific knowledge and technologies alone, while studies on promoting CE practices or built environment stakeholders’ behaviour are limited. Using Stakeholder Theory, a comprehensive literature review on CE drivers was conducted. Through a questionnaire survey of professionals, key drivers identified were deployed to develop a 20-driver model for CE transition in the built environment. The model is relevant to policymakers and practitioners because it highlights essential drivers for optimum resource allocation. Moreover, the findings apprise policymakers of the drivers that pertain to key stakeholders (i.e., professional and higher educational institutions, society and clients, government and firms), thus stating the requirements for driving each stakeholder to achieve this sociotechnical transition.
Keywords
circular economy; sociotechnical transition; sustainability; drivers; stakeholder theory; waste reduction
The University of Washington’s Life Cycle Lab, with Lab Director and Professor of Architecture Kate Simonen, has been awarded a $10 million, 5-year collaborative research project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project is entitled “Validating and Extending Research and Education for Life Cycle Assessment (VERE-LCA)” and the work will be done in partnership with collaborators from Howard University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and CBE UC Berkley. Read more about the EPA funding and other projects that were awarded…