News
This series of perspectives considers personal comfort systems: decentralized building thermal control, in which occupants control their local environments with personal devices while the amount of central space conditioning (HVAC) is scaled back.
The 'Level(s)' provides professionals with a framework guiding the sustainability performance assessment of buildings.
Is trade body information accurate about the embodied carbon in concrete?
RESEARCHERS DECLARE! A series of specific recommendations for action were recently created by the research community for policymakers, industry and society.
New research shows how building design influences the economic diversity of a neighbourhood
Watch short presentations & responses from "Making Mass Retrofit a Reality" outlining what capabilities & capacities are needed for implementation.
Read this vital series of essays providing multiple perspectives on expected and needed outcomes from COP26.
Join us for the launch of Briefing Notes - a new kind of article for practitioners - to discuss adaptation at two related urban scales. 30 June 2021, 12:00 - 13:30 BST
Which combination of policy measures are most appropriate for reducing urban emissions? New peer-reviewed research shows how economic, technology and urban building energy models can be combined and used to evaluate policy efficacy.
This peer-reviewed paper consolidates lessons from 20 years of post-occupancy surveys
A new peer-reviewed paper examines the literature on the influence of urban density on the diffusion of Covid-19.
Watch the presentations and respondents on "Zero Carbon: Can Built Environment Education Deliver?" outlining how built environment education and training needs to urgently change.
A new peer-reviewed Methods article provides energy researchers with processes and guidance for improving the quality of their work.
Join us for the launch of the B&C special issue "Education & Training: Mainstreaming Zero Carbon"
Watch the Climate Metrics presentations discussing approaches to measuring and managing mitigation in the built environment. From the special issue launch event at the "Beyond 2020" conference.
Watch the Climate Justice presentations discussing what built environment professionals can do to address climate justice.
Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content
Simulation and the building performance gap [editorial]
M Donn
Developing criteria for effective building-sector commitments in nationally determined contributions
P Graham, K McFarlane & M Taheri
Reimagining circularity: actions for optimising the use of existing buildings
R Lundgren, R Kyrö, S Toivonen & L Tähtinen
Effective interdisciplinary stakeholder engagement in net zero building design
S Vakeva-Baird, F Tahmasebi, JJ Williams & D Mumovic
Metrics for building component disassembly potential: a practical framework
H Järvelä, A Lehto, T Pirilä & M Kuittinen
The unfitness of dwellings: why spatial and conceptual boundaries matter
E Nisonen, D Milián Bernal & S Pelsmakers
Environmental variables and air quality: implications for planning and public health
H Itzhak-Ben-Shalom, T Saroglou, V Multanen, A Vanunu, A Karnieli, D Katoshevski, N Davidovitch & I A Meir
Exploring diverse drivers behind hybrid heating solutions
S Kilpeläinen, S Pelsmakers, R Castaño-Rosa & M-S Miettinen
Urban rooms and the expanded ecology of urban living labs
E Akbil & C Butterworth
Living with extreme heat: perceptions and experiences
L King & C Demski
A systemic decision-making model for energy retrofits
C Schünemann, M Dshemuchadse & S Scherbaum
Modelling site-specific outdoor temperature for buildings in urban environments
K Cebrat, J Narożny, M Baborska-Narożny & M Smektała
Understanding shading through home-use experience, measurement and modelling
M Baborska-Narożny, K Bandurski, & M Grudzińska
Building performance simulation for sensemaking in architectural pedagogy
M Bohm
Beyond the building: governance challenges in social housing retrofit
H Charles
Heat stress in social housing districts: tree cover–built form interaction
C Lopez-Ordoñez, E Garcia-Nevado, H Coch & M Morganti
An observational analysis of shade-related pedestrian activity
M Levenson, D Pearlmutter & O Aleksandrowicz
Learning to sail a building: a people-first approach to retrofit
B Bordass, R Pender, K Steele & A Graham
Market transformations: gas conversion as a blueprint for net zero retrofit
A Gillich
Resistance against zero-emission neighbourhood infrastructuring: key lessons from Norway
T Berker & R Woods
Megatrends and weak signals shaping future real estate
S Toivonen
A strategic niche management framework to scale deep energy retrofits
T H King & M Jemtrud
Generative AI: reconfiguring supervision and doctoral research
P Boyd & D Harding
Exploring interactions between shading and view using visual difference prediction
S Wasilewski & M Andersen
How urban green infrastructure contributes to carbon neutrality [briefing note]
R Hautamäki, L Kulmala, M Ariluoma & L Järvi
Implementing and operating net zero buildings in South Africa
R Terblanche, C May & J Steward
Quantifying inter-dwelling air exchanges during fan pressurisation tests
D Glew, F Thomas, D Miles-Shenton & J Parker
Western Asian and Northern African residential building stocks: archetype analysis
S Akin, A Eghbali, C Nwagwu & E Hertwich
Latest Commentaries
Building-Related Research: New Context, New Challenges
Raymond J. Cole (University of British Columbia) reflects on the key challenges raised in the 34 commissioned essays for Buildings & Cities 5th anniversary. Not only are key research issues identified, but the consequences of changing contexts for conducting research and tailoring its influence on society are highlighted as key areas of action.
Lessons from Disaster Recovery: Build Better Before
Mary C. Comerio (University of California, Berkeley) explains why disaster recovery must begin well before a disaster occurs. The goal is to reduce the potential for damage beforehand by making housing delivery (e.g. capabilities and the physical, technical and institutional infrastructures) both more resilient and more capable of building back after disasters.