Frontiers in Sustainable Cities最新文献

{"title":"A sustainability assessment of the modern method of construction in Saudi Arabia","authors":"Kamel Almutairi, R. Alahmadi, A. Halawani, Yasir Almutairi, Abduallah Alsehaimi","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1439024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1439024","url":null,"abstract":"By 2030, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is seeking to increase homeownership to 70%. This has led to a considerable investment in residential construction, with the Housing Ministry establishing a stimulus program to enhance the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). These technologies offer several benefits, including cost and time reduction, improved quality and productivity, and job creation. This study quantitatively analyzes the economic impacts of MMC adaptation on the Saudi economy using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model. It considers incentives to adopt MMC, its technological advancements, and the skills currently available in the Saudi labor market. Moreover, the embodied carbon emissions of MMC are calculated using the Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment Approach (IO-LCA); the detailed environmental emissions from the transportation phase, accounting for material reduction, are assessed using the COPERT model and compared to conventional construction. The results reveal an increase of 1.92% in Saudi GDP, along with improved welfare of $28.5 billion and a notable increase in the sectors related to construction. Job creation is demonstrated by an increase in the employment of unskilled and skilled labor by 2.02 and 1.5%, respectively. The paper concludes that MMC’s total embodied carbon emissions were approximately 77 million metric tonnes CO2, while its transport-related emissions are less than conventional approaches.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"75 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141922314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: New frontiers in evaluation, management, and technologies for sustainable cities","authors":"F. Tajani, Francesco Sica, F. Di Liddo, D. Anelli","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1462758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1462758","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"40 22","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141928349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainable urban growth patterns based on environmental fitness","authors":"Marisol Ugalde-Monzalvo","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1382180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1382180","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the sustainability of urban growth, described by patterns of environmental fitness. The main assumption is that resource use—energy, materials, electricity, water, fossil fuels, soil, and humans—describes growth patterns whose sustainability can be categorized according to environmental fitness, which is assessed by the availability of environmental resources (characteristics of the environment) and the adaptation of the city to this availability (characteristics of the built environment). The article offers an innovative perspective by proposing a model for categorizing the sustainability of urban growth based on environmental fitness, but also by providing a mean to understand the city as a process and the city as a satisfier of needs. The methodology comprises two parts: (1) creating a matrix of indicators of urban environmental fitness and (2) constructing an urban growth sustainability index. From this methodology, six patterns emerged: (i) Economizing growth: available resources with maximum urban adaptation; (ii) Weak growth: availability of resources with minimal urban adaptation; (iii) Efficient growth: availability of resources with appropriate urban adaptation; (iv) Deficient growth: availability of resources without urban adaptation; (v) Efficient growth and of investment: lack of resources with urban investment; and (vi) Deficient growth and of degradation: lack of resources with urban deterioration and wear. The finding of these sustainable urban growth patterns demonstrates the concrete application of environmental adaptation theories and an understanding of the global behavior of cities. The empirical results support the assertion that urban growth presents challenges and potentials in terms of reduction, of reuse, and recycling; of urban sprawl, urban renewal, redevelopment and infill growth, and the efficiency and maintenance of urban infrastructure as guidelines for urban sustainability.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"117 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141802054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Re-naturalizing the built environment. Plants, architecture, and pedagogy in contemporary green schools","authors":"L. Chiesi, Paolo Costa, Fabio Ciaravella, Bianca Galmarini","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1397159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1397159","url":null,"abstract":"This study discusses the essential need of re-naturalizing the built environment, focusing on schools. Leveraging research on the impact of nature on health, children’s development, and learning, we analyze case studies from America, Asia, and Europe with distinct trajectories of interplay between architecture and pedagogy. Using a theoretical framework on plant-architecture relationship, we identify effective re-naturalization solutions in some applications of biophilic design in rural and urban contexts, cautioning against superficial nature incorporations in schools. Our study asserts that technological sustainability is needed but insufficient, emphasizing the necessity of concurrent efforts in architecture and education to create meaningful student-nature connections.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"47 27","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141809566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A systematic literature review exploring the nexus between circular economy and communities","authors":"A. Ceddia, Stefano Oricchio, Grazia Barberio, C. Innella","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1404279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1404279","url":null,"abstract":"Circular Economy (CE) studies often focus primarily on technical and economic aspects of the transition process. Recently, some authors have started to enquire the social processes connected to of the CE, often referring to communities. This article provides a Systematic Literature Review on the nexus between CE and community to investigate its features according to the experiences reported in the collected documents. The retrieved corpus has been analyzed recurring to consolidated frameworks, as the R hierarchy, the societal areas challenges identified by the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda developed by the EU project CICERONE, and to the spectrum of participation provided by the International Association for Public Participation. The participative dynamics found in the corpus are analyzed also considering the type of communities, tools, methodologies and goals reported in the retrieved documents. Besides descriptive statistics about the mentioned aspects, the article includes a discussion on some CE social aspects, problematizing and questioning the retrieved stakeholders engagement practices, recurring to a qualitatively selected literature. Conclusions address the main findings related to the most commonly found R strategy, community type, societal challenge areas and type of participative dynamics according to the analytical components chosen in the methodology. Research implications are illustrated, suggesting possible directions for future research to widen the analysis on the nexus between CE and communities.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":" 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141832170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Policy evaluation and performance assessment for sustainable urbanization: a study of selected city corporations in Bangladesh","authors":"Imran Hossain, A. M. Haque, S. Ullah, Yonas Kassa, A. Ahamed","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1377310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1377310","url":null,"abstract":"Bangladesh is going through an unprecedented period of urban growth, and its cities are having to deal with rising service, housing, and infrastructural needs. It is critical to comprehend how urban government promotes sustainable development as the nation struggles with the intricacies of urbanization. This study aims to investigate how urban governance impacts sustainable urbanization at the city corporation level in Bangladesh, focusing on Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Agenda, which is “sustainable cities and communities.” The study selected Rajshahi and Gazipur City Corporations as case studies and employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and descriptive statistics methods to gather data from primary and secondary sources. The findings of the study reveal gaps in urban governance, highlighting inconsistencies between the expectations of stakeholders and the reality on the ground. Stakeholders express high expectations for housing access, infrastructure development, disaster management, transportation, and environmental sustainability, but the current state falls short in several areas. Further, the study proposes several recommendations to enhance urban governance, including fostering participatory approaches, ensuring sufficient budget allocation for infrastructure development, addressing housing challenges, enhancing women’s safety in transportation, and strengthening disaster management systems.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"6 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141648463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mycelium-wood composites as a circular material for building insulation","authors":"Alessia Candido, Ali Amiri, S. Junnila, Francesco Pittau","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1412247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1412247","url":null,"abstract":"In Europe, buildings account for 40% of the energy consumption and produce 36% of CO2 emissions. Renovation could be a great tool to decarbonize the building stock since it allows for a decrease in the operational energy required for buildings and is less material-consuming than new construction. Further benefits are brought by the usage of bio-based insulation materials that can drastically reduce embodied emissions and transform structures into factual carbon sinks. This study focuses on a particular kind of biogenic material, mycelium-wood composites, consisting of organic matter bound by the root structure of fungal organisms. This innovative insulation material was compared with traditional ones for the renovation of the building stock, with a focus on vertical components like walls in the Helsinki metropolitan area. To characterize mycelium-wood composites, density and carbon content information were gathered from the samples realized in the Politecnico di Milano MaBa.SAPERLab, while the production processes were included in a SimaPro model to obtain the GWP value. Different scenarios were then defined by two variables: the renovation rate of the building stock and the market penetration of mycelium-wood composites. For each scenario, the overall GWP and CO2 stored values were calculated. Results show the great potential of the innovative material that grants carbon storage in the building stock that could even surpass the amount stored in the 32,500 ha of forest in the area. However, this possibility is heavily influenced by factors independent of the type of insulation used that should be further investigated.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"22 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141662489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The (re)production of health in climate change","authors":"Judith Schröder, Susanne Moebus","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1359930","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1359930","url":null,"abstract":"To date, health in the context of climate change has mainly been considered from a biomedical perspective, whose pathogenic focus on health risks has primarily promoted curative and/or behavioral problem-solving strategies. This article therefore examines health in climate change from a perspective of Urban Public Health and political science, which has received less attention so far. The aim is to address existing constructions of health in climate change and their implications for dealing with the climate crisis, in particular regarding the design of urban environments. In doing so, it adopts a regulation-theoretical approach that allows for a theoretically grounded analysis of health in climate change, taking the triangle of nature, society and the individual as the object of research and revealing the significance of existing constructions of health—understood as a social relation—and its (re)production in climate change. This theoretical approach is extended to aspects of different spatial forms and the productions of space in social relations. The theoretical foundation makes it possible to recognize that there are understandings of health in climate change discourse that largely exclude the causes of climate change and thus make its treatment selective. As a result, broad socio-ecological transformation processes are obstructed, while the structural causes of climate change are preserved and stabilized despite their crisis character. An understanding of health that also sees health as a resource in a salutogenic sense and that strengthens the promotion of health by means of structural changes is being pushed into background. Positioning climate change as a public health issue requires a shift from curative, individual and behavioral interventions toward a focus on structural health promotion, especially through the development of health-promoting, just and climate-friendly urban environments. It also means that health must once again become more of a political issue and that existing boundaries between the private and public spheres must be questioned.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"17 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141660951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate adaptive solution for artificial turf in cities: integrated rainwater storage and evaporative cooling","authors":"Marjolein H. J. Van Huijgevoort, D. G. Cirkel, J. Voeten","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1399858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1399858","url":null,"abstract":"The number of artificial turf fields in cities has increased due to increased pressure on outside sport facilities caused by a higher population density. Downsides of these fields are changes in thermal conditions and decreased infiltration of rain. Artificial turf can reach very high surface temperatures leading to unfavourable playing conditions and contributing to the urban heat island effect. In this study the possibilities of a subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system for evaporative cooling of artificial turf based on rainwater capture, storage and reuse are investigated. The system consists of an 85 mm water-retention subbase with capillary columns, a capillary shockpad and a natural infill. First, a laboratory experiment was conducted to test the evaporative potential of the system with different types of infill and artificial turf. Next, four research plots were designed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which consisted of natural grass, conventional artificial turf and two versions of the cooled artificial turf system (non-infill and standard). Evaporation from the cooled artificial turf reached maximum values around 4 mm/d during summer and surface temperatures were significantly lower than at the conventional artificial turf. Rainwater was stored below the fields. By combining these functions, these fields can help cities adapt to climate change.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"104 48","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141666264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validating decarbonisation strategies of climate action plans via digital twins: a Limerick case study","authors":"Niall Byrne, Susan Pierce, Lorenzo De Donatis, Ruth Kerrigan, Niall Buckley","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2024.1393798","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1393798","url":null,"abstract":"The European Green Deal (EGD) represents the response of the European Union (EU) to the climate crisis and a strategy to mitigate against climate change and the associated environmental degradation. European Climate Law supports the EGD by setting the legally binding target of climate neutrality for the EU on a time horizon of 2050 and mandates that member states develop and implement their own Climate Action Plans (CAP), which are strategic roadmaps outlining steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Within the Irish context, the CAP focuses on six specific sectors, three of which, namely the energy grid, the built environment and transportation are considered in this research. This policy proposes the retrofitting of all residential buildings in the country to a B2 energy performance certificate (EPC), all public transport and 60% of private vehicles electrified and the full decarbonisation of the electrical grid by 2050. This study aims to implement the targets and goals outlined within CAP 2021 in an urban area of Ireland, specifically a historical city centre. The research leverages digital twin technology developed by IES to model the carbon emissions associated with the built environment, while also incorporating GHG emissions associated with transportation and the grid. Furthermore, CAP scenarios are applied systematically and strategically, prioritising building retrofits based on buildings with similar characteristics, typologies and performance. This study has assessed the performance of CAP about two future grid scenarios (1) business as usual and (2) a decarbonised grid. In both scenarios, CAP was not sufficient to achieve the targets set out, resulting in a shortfall of between 25 and 33%. Based on this outcome it may be concluded that any decarbonisation targets specified should be tested and validated before their implementation in policy. Moreover, current state-of-the-art digital twin technologies can facilitate the rapid holistic appraisal of complex multi-sectoral policy at the urban scale, which, depending on data availability, could prove useful in future iterations of CAP at both national and international levels.","PeriodicalId":509132,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":"166 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141674188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}