The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in the second of its two cycles. A grant was awarded to Manish Chalana, faculty member with Urban Design and Planning to help support his efforts to carry out archival research and fieldwork in India for his new book exploring the history and memory of non-dominant groups…
Research Theme: Natural Resources & Sustainability
Use or conservation of resources as well as broader notions of sustainability in the built environment
How Urban Ecological Land Affects Resident Heat Exposure: Evidence from the Mega-urban Agglomeration in China
Feng, R., Wang, F., Liu, S., Qi, W., Zhao, Y., & Wang, Y. (2023). How Urban Ecological Land Affects Resident Heat Exposure: Evidence from the Mega-urban Agglomeration in China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 231.
Abstract
Resident heat exposure (RHE) is becoming more severe in the coming decades owing to rapid urbanization and climate change. Urban ecological land (UEL) provides important ecosystem services, such as mitigating the urban heat islands effect. However, the impacts of UEL on RHE remain poorly understood. This study quantifies the effects of UEL and its interaction with the natural-anthropogenic environment on RHE in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a mega-urban agglomeration in China. The results showed a tight spatial–temporal coupling between the UEL and RHE: UEL transitioned from degradation-fragmentation in 2000–2010 to recovery-agglomeration in 2010–2020, while the RHE distribution evolved from intensification-expansion-inequity to mitigation-contraction-equity. The average explanatory power (q value) of UEL and its structure on RHE also increased by 75.99% and 70.79%, respectively. UEL patch diversity gradually dominated the RHE distribution, and the spatial marginal effect of UEL dominance increased by 234.97%. Moreover, RHE shifted from being dominated by UEL and anthropogenic heat emissions interactions to being jointly driven by UEL and natural-anthropogenic factors (especially the interaction of patch fragmentation with topography and built-up land expansion). The results of this study provide valuable information for nature-based (i.e., UEL) landscape planning and management to develop “human-centric” RHE mitigation strategies.
Keywords
Urban ecological land; Resident heat exposure; Spatial-temporal effects; Natural-anthropogenic factors; Interaction effect; Mega-urban agglomeration
Kiyonori Kikutake: Between Land and Sea
Oshima, K. T. (Ed.). (2016). Kiyonori Kikutake: Between Land and Sea. Lars Müller Publishers.
Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability
Dannenberg, A. L., Frumkin, H., & Jackson, R. (Eds.). (2022). Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability (2nd ed.). Island Press.
Performative By-Products: The Emergence of Waste Reuse Strategies at the Blue Lagoon
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.
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
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Concrete Produced with Recycled Concrete Aggregates
Okechi, Ikechukwu K.; Aguayo, Federico; Torres, Anthony. (2022). Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Concrete Produced with Recycled Concrete Aggregates. Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction, 11(2), 65-74.
Abstract
This study presents a comparison between the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of concrete produced with natural aggregate and that of concrete produced with recycled concrete aggregate. In order to achieve this, natural aggregate concrete (NAC) specimens were produced, tested, then crushed and sieved in the laboratory to obtain recycled concrete aggregates, which was then used in the production of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) specimens. The RAC samples were then tested and compared to the NAC samples. The CTE testing was carried out using a AFTC2 CTE measurement system produced by Pine Instrument Company. In addition to CTE testing, the water absorption, specific gravity, and unit weight of the aggregates was determined. A vacuum impregnation procedure was used for the water absorption test. The recycled aggregate properties showed a significantly higher absorption capacity than that of the natural aggregates, while the unit weight and specific gravity of the recycled aggregate were lower than that of the natural aggregates. The average CTE results showed that both the NAC and the RAC samples expanded similarly. The results show that the CTE of RAC depends on the natural aggregate used in the NAC, which was recycled to produce the RAC. Also, there was no significant difference between the average CTE values of the RAC and that of NAC that could discredit the use of recycled aggregate in concrete.
Keywords
Coefficient of thermal expansion; Recycled concrete aggregate; Natural concrete aggregate.
A Global Horizon Scan for Urban Evolutionary Ecology
Verrelli, Brian C.; Alberti, Marina; Des Roches, Simone; Harris, Nyeema C.; Hendry, Andrew P.; Johnson, Marc T. J.; Savage, Amy M.; Charmantier, Anne; Gotanda, Kiyoko M.; Govaert, Lynn; Miles, Lindsay S.; Rivkin, L. Ruth; Winchell, Kristin M.; Brans, Kristien I.; Correa, Cristian; Diamond, Sarah E.; Fitzhugh, Ben; Grimm, Nancy B.; Hughes, Sara; Marzluff, John M.; Munshi-south, Jason; Rojas, Carolina; Santangelo, James S.; Schell, Christopher J.; Schweitzer, Jennifer A.; Szulkin, Marta; Urban, Mark C.; Zhou, Yuyu; Ziter, Carly. (2022). A Global Horizon Scan for Urban Evolutionary Ecology. Trends In Ecology & Evolution, 37(11), 1006-1019.
Abstract
Research on the evolutionary ecology of urban areas reveals how human-induced evolutionary changes affect biodiversity and essential ecosystem services. In a rapidly urbanizing world imposing many selective pressures, a time-sensitive goal is to identify the emergent issues and research priorities that affect the ecology and evolution of species within cities. Here, we report the results of a horizon scan of research questions in urban evolutionary ecology submitted by 100 interdisciplinary scholars. We identified 30 top questions organized into six themes that highlight priorities for future research. These research questions will require methodological advances and interdisciplinary collaborations, with continued revision as the field of urban evolutionary ecology expands with the rapid growth of cities.
Keywords
Urban Ecology; Sustainability; Cities & Towns; Ecosystem Dynamics; Urban Growth; Ecosystem Services; Urban Research; Climate Change; Sociopolitical; Urban Evolution; Urbanization; Human Health; Biodiversity; Adaptation; Challenges; Dynamics; Management; Invasion; Science
Back to the Future: Reintegrating Biology to Understand How Past Eco-evolutionary Change Can Predict Future Outcomes
Thompson, Cynthia L.; Alberti, Marina; Barve, Sahas; Battistuzzi, Fabia U.; Drake, Jeana L.; Goncalves, Guilherme Casas; Govaert, Lynn; Partridge, Charlyn; Yang, Ya. (2022). Back to the Future: Reintegrating Biology to Understand How Past Eco-evolutionary Change Can Predict Future Outcomes. Integrative And Comparative Biology, 61(6), 2218-2232.
Abstract
During the last few decades, biologists have made remarkable progress in understanding the fundamental processes that shape life. But despite the unprecedented level of knowledge now available, large gaps still remain in our understanding of the complex interplay of eco-evolutionary mechanisms across scales of life. Rapidly changing environments on Earth provide a pressing need to understand the potential implications of eco-evolutionary dynamics, which can be achieved by improving existing eco-evolutionary models and fostering convergence among the sub-fields of biology. We propose a new, data-driven approach that harnesses our knowledge of the functioning of biological systems to expand current conceptual frameworks and develop corresponding models that can more accurately represent and predict future eco-evolutionary outcomes. We suggest a roadmap toward achieving this goal. This long-term vision will move biology in a direction that can wield these predictive models for scientific applications that benefit humanity and increase the resilience of natural biological systems. We identify short, medium, and long-term key objectives to connect our current state of knowledge to this long-term vision, iteratively progressing across three stages: (1) utilizing knowledge of biological systems to better inform eco-evolutionary models, (2) generating models with more accurate predictions, and (3) applying predictive models to benefit the biosphere. Within each stage, we outline avenues of investigation and scientific applications related to the timescales over which evolution occurs, the parameter space of eco-evolutionary processes, and the dynamic interactions between these mechanisms. The ability to accurately model, monitor, and anticipate eco-evolutionary changes would be transformational to humanity's interaction with the global environment, providing novel tools to benefit human health, protect the natural world, and manage our planet's biosphere.
Keywords
Rapid Evolution; Ecological Interactions; Niche Construction; Climate-change; Phenotype; Community; Selection; Fitness; Consequences; Variability
City Planning Policies to Support Health and Sustainability: An International Comparison of Policy Indicators for 25 Cities
Lowe, Melanie; Adlakha, Deepti; Sallis, James F.; Salvo, Deborah; Cerin, Ester; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Higgs, Carl; Hinckson, Erica; Arundel, Jonathan; Boeing, Geoff; Liu, Shiqin; Mansour, Perla; Gebel, Klaus; Puig-ribera, Anna; Mishra, Pinki Bhasin; Bozovic, Tamara; Carson, Jacob; Dygryn, Jan; Florindo, Alex A.; Ho, Thanh Phuong; Hook, Hannah; Hunter, Ruth F.; Lai, Poh-chin; Molina-garcia, Javier; Nitvimol, Kornsupha; Oyeyemi, Adewale L.; Ramos, Carolina D. G.; Resendiz, Eugen; Troelsen, Jens; Witlox, Frank; Giles-corti, Billie. (2022). City Planning Policies to Support Health and Sustainability: An International Comparison of Policy Indicators for 25 Cities. Lancet Global Health, 10(6), E882-E894.
Abstract
City planning policies influence urban lifestyles, health, and sustainability. We assessed policy frameworks for city planning for 25 cities across 19 lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries to identify whether these policies supported the creation of healthy and sustainable cities. We systematically collected policy data for evidence-informed indicators related to integrated city planning, air pollution, destination accessibility, distribution of employment, demand management, design, density, distance to public transport, and transport infrastructure investment. Content analysis identified strengths, limitations, and gaps in policies, allowing us to draw comparisons between cities. We found that despite common policy rhetoric endorsing healthy and sustainable cities, there was a paucity of measurable policy targets in place to achieve these aspirations. Some policies were inconsistent with public health evidence, which sets up barriers to achieving healthy and sustainable urban environments. There is an urgent need to build capacity for health-enhancing city planning policy and governance, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries.
Keywords
Physical-activity; Population Health; Walkability
On the Tradeoffs between Embodied and Operational Carbon in Building Envelope Design: The Impact of Local Climates and Energy Grids
Echenagucia, Tomas Mendez; Moroseos, Teresa; Meek, Christopher. (2023). On the Tradeoffs between Embodied and Operational Carbon in Building Envelope Design: The Impact of Local Climates and Energy Grids. Energy & Buildings, 278.
Abstract
The building envelope has a substantial influence on a building's life cycle operational and embodied car-bon emissions. Window-to-wall ratios, wall assemblies, shading and glazing types, have been shown to have a significant impact on total emissions. This paper provides building designers, owners, and policy makers with actionable guidance and a prioritization framework for establishing co-optimized lifecycle carbon performance of facade assembly components in a broad spectrum of climate contexts and energy carbon intensities. A large parametric study of building envelopes is conducted using building perfor-mance simulation and cradle-to-gate embodied carbon calculations in 6 US cities. The authors derive the total carbon emissions optimization for commercial office and residential space types using standard code-reference models and open-source lifecycle data. Comparisons between optimal total carbon solu-tions and (i) optimal operational carbon and (ii) minimum required assemblies, show the impact of under and over investing in envelope-related efficiency measures for each climate. Results show how the rela-tionship between embodied and operational carbon is highly localized, that optimal design variables can vary significantly. In low carbon intensity energy grids, over investment in envelope embodied carbon can exceed as 10 kgCO2e/m2, while under investment in high carbon intensity grids can be higher than 150 kgCO2e/m2.Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords
Facades; Building-integrated Photovoltaic Systems; Carbon Emissions; Carbon; Building Performance; Building Designers; Building Envelopes; Refuse Containers; Building Performance Simulation; Embodied Carbon; Operational Carbon; Parametric Modeling; Environmental-impact; Search