Introducing a new a new type of article aimed at practitioners
Welcome to Briefing Notes - a new type of article. Consistent with Buildings & Cities' objectives, Briefing Notes aim to make research topics more accessible and relevant to the end users of research: practitioners, clients, occupants and policymakers. Briefing Notes will provide readers with a concise summary, in plain English, of a what is known in a particular research field or topic and how to act on the results available.
Scope
Briefing notes will contain collated,
research-based information about the built environment intended to support
complex decisions made by the wide range of actors involved in its regulation, design,
construction, operation, management, renewal and redevelopment. The scope of
the notes will be multi-scale, multi-domain and life cycle oriented.
Practitioner Panel
An international Practitioner Panel will advise on strategic issues and the content of Briefing Notes:
Reviewing
To ensure their robustness and value, Briefing Notes will
be peer-reviewed just like other papers B&C publishes. However, due to their important
role in knowledge transfer/exchange, Briefing Notes will have two broad types
of reviewers:
Rohinton Emmanuel
A summary is presented of current knowledge and key considerations in urban climate mitigation that have a bearing on planning practice in temperate climates. Urban climate is the intended or unintended local climate consequence of planning decisions at the street, neighbourhood and even city scales. Such local climate change adds to the changing global climate, where it both interacts with as well as exacerbates the human, energy, built environment and urban consequences of climate change. Although a relatively new field of study, knowledge about urban climate has sufficiently grown in recent decades to be of practical value to decision-making in the design and planning arenas. The climatic, wellbeing and carbon impacts of urban climate change are summarised along with best practices in mitigation and their relative merits. Key action points involve mapping heat vulnerability as well as enhancing heat resilience. It is hoped this briefing note will raise awareness of the wide range of issues involved in responding to the urban climate anomaly, whether in planning new districts or infilling existing ones.
KEYWORDS: cities, climate change, climate-sensitive design, heat stress, microclimate, thermal comfort, urban climate, urban form, urban heat island, urban planning
Kevin J. Lomas
Summertime overheating in both new and existing dwellings is widespread and increasing, even in temperate climates. There is an urgent need to solve the problem. Flats (apartments) and small dwellings, especially those in cities, are particularly at risk. Elderly and vulnerable people are particularly affected. This briefing note presents current knowledge about this problem and what might be done about it. It is directed at planners, designers, policymakers as well as local authorities, housing associations and other organisations that manage stocks of dwellings.
KEYWORDS: apartments; design; dwellings; flats; housing; inhabitants; overheating; refurbishment; thermal comfort; vulnerability
Thomas Lützkendorf & Maria Balouktsi
Embodied carbon is becoming an object of assessment not just in research but also in design and decision-making. It is becoming a key action to reduce GHG emissions. Embodied carbon assessment and reduction are being increasingly mandated in national regulations. Clients and designers (as key actors in the supply chain) can harness new knowledge and tools to reduce embodied carbon as part of a strategy to reduce overall GHG emissions. Appropriate methods, data, benchmarks and tools are being further developed and operationalised to support the processes for specifying and designing low carbon buildings. An overview is presented of the state of knowledge and current developments. Constructive recommendations are provided for actions that clients and designers can take.
KEYWORDS: building; building design; embodied carbon; environmental performance; greenhouse gas emissions; life cycle; net zero
Matti Kuittinen
The consumption of materials and energy for construction is a serious challenge to contain global warming below 2°C. Rapid and drastic reductions in global carbon emissions and robust approaches to climate-related events are required urgently to remain within the planetary boundaries. A paradigm shift is needed: solving society’s spatial needs without considering new buildings as the first solution. Instead, existing buildings should be used and renovated as far as possible. A new hierarchy for solving spatial needs is required: the Global North should avoid making new buildings, where and whenever possible. Instead, using existing spaces, renovating, adapting or extending the existing buildings would be much preferred. Such a hierarchy must be applied with context sensitivity. Especially the social needs of developing countries or communities recovering from humanitarian disasters should be adequately met, including the option of new construction. However, for most developed regions where populations are stable, new construction should require considerable justification. New design, business models and legislation are needed to successfully implement this approach.
KEYWORDS: built environment; climate change; construction; consumption; planetary boundaries; resources; sufficiency; trends
Evaluating mitigation strategies for building stocks against absolute climate targets
L Hvid Horup, P K Ohms, M Hauschild, S R B Gummidi, A Q Secher, C Thuesen, M Ryberg
Equity and justice in urban coastal adaptation planning: new evaluation framework
T Okamoto & A Doyon
Normative future visioning: a critical pedagogy for transformative adaptation
T Comelli, M Pelling, M Hope, J Ensor, M E Filippi, E Y Menteşe & J McCloskey
Suburban climate adaptation governance: assumptions and imaginaries affecting peripheral municipalities
L Cerrada Morato
Urban shrinkage as a catalyst for transformative adaptation
L Mabon, M Sato & N Mabon
Maintaining a city against nature: climate adaptation in Beira
J Schubert
Ventilation regulations and occupant practices: undetectable pollution and invisible extraction
J Few, M Shipworth & C Elwell
Nature for resilience reconfigured: global- to-local translation of frames in Africa
K Rochell, H Bulkeley & H Runhaar
How hegemonic discourses of sustainability influence urban climate action
V Castán Broto, L Westman & P Huang
Fabric first: is it still the right approach?
N Eyre, T Fawcett, M Topouzi, G Killip, T Oreszczyn, K Jenkinson & J Rosenow
Gender and the heat pump transition
J Crawley, F Wade & M de Wilde
Social value of the built environment [editorial]
F Samuel & K Watson
Understanding demolition [editorial]
S Huuhka
Data politics in the built environment [editorial]
A Karvonen & T Hargreaves
European building passports: developments, challenges and future roles
M Buchholz & T Lützkendorf
Decision-support for selecting demolition waste management strategies
M van den Berg, L Hulsbeek & H Voordijk
Assessing social value in housing design: contributions of the capability approach
J-C Dissart & L Ricaurte
Electricity consumption in commercial buildings during Covid-19
G P Duggan, P Bauleo, M Authier, P A Aloise-Young, J Care & D Zimmerle
Disruptive data: historicising the platformisation of Dublin’s taxi industry
J White & S Larsson
Impact of 2050 tree shading strategies on building cooling demands
A Czekajlo, J Alva, J Szeto, C Girling & R Kellett
Social values and social infrastructures: a multi-perspective approach to place
A Legeby & C Pech
Resilience of racialized segregation is an ecological factor: Baltimore case study
S T A Pickett, J M Grove, C G Boone & G L Buckley
Latest Commentaries
Time to Question Demolition!
André Thomsen (Delft University of Technology) comments on the recent Buildings & Cities special issue ‘Understanding Demolition’ and explains why this phenomenon is only beginning to be understood more fully as a social and behavioural set of issues. Do we need an epidemiology of different demolition rates?
Where are Women of Colour in Urban Planning?
Safaa Charafi asks: is it possible to decolonialise the planning profession to create more inclusive and egalitarian urban settings? It is widely accepted that cities are built by men for other men. This male domination in urban planning results in cities that often do not adequately address challenges encountered by women or ethnic and social minorities. Although efforts are being taken to include women in urban planning, women of colour are still under-represented in many countries, resulting in cities that often overlook their needs.