Carbon emissions and in-building open public spaces: a case study on hypothetical building models in Shanghai

PurposeCurrent policies and research on carbon emissions focus on operational emission but overlook the importance of embodied and user-transport emissions in residential buildings. This study built a comprehensive framework to assess the impact of life-cycle carbon emissions on different in-building open public spaces (open roof, open vertical garden, and open ground floor) in affordable housing.Design/methodology/approachA parametric model of a typical affordable housing building in Shanghai, China was constructed and 36 variations of open public spaces studied. Embodied, operational, and user-transport carbon emissions were quantified over 50 years.FindingsThe results show that the life-cycle carbon emissions decrease with the application of the open public space. In addition, the paper found that the carbon reduction due to user transport is seven times higher than the carbon increment due to construction and over long-term operation.Originality/valueThis paper provides quantitative evidence for carbon emissions and in-building open public spaces, and the authors suggest taking multiple aspects into account in addition to the structure of the building is crucial to sustainable building development.