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EBookClubs

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Book Regreening the Built Environment

Download or read book Regreening the Built Environment written by Michael A Richards and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regreening the Built Environment examines the relationship between the built environment and nature and demonstrates how rethinking the role and design of infrastructure can environmentally, economically, and socially sustain the earth. In the past, infrastructure and green or park spaces have been regarded as two opposing factors and placed in conflict with one another through irresponsible patterns of development. This book attempts to change this paradigm and create a new notion that greenspace, parks, and infrastructure can indeed be one in the same. The case studies will demonstrate how existing "gray" infrastructure can be retrofitted with green infrastructure and low impact development techniques. It is quite plausible that a building can be designed that actually creates greenspace or generates energy; likewise, a roadway can be a park, an alley can be a wildlife corridor, and a parking surface can be a garden. In addition to examining sustainability in the near future, the book also explores such alternatives in the distant and very distant future, questioning the notion of sustainability in the event of an earth-altering, cataclysmic disaster. The strategies presented in this book aim to stimulate discussions within the design profession and will be of great interest to students and practitioners of environmental studies, architecture, and urban design.

Book Regreening the Built Environment

Download or read book Regreening the Built Environment written by Michael A. Richards and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-09-18 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in its second volume, Regreening the Built Environment provides an overview of physical and social environmental challenges that the planet is facing and presents solutions that restore ecological processes, reclaim open space, foster social equity, and facilitate a green economy. Healing the planet requires a combination of strategies networked across multiple scales of development, including buildings, sites, communities, and regions. Case studies from a range of locations in the United States, Denmark, Vietnam, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom, among others, demonstrate how existing gray infrastructure can be retrofitted with green infrastructure and low-impact development techniques. From this, the author shows how a building can be designed that creates greenspace or generates energy; likewise, a roadway can be a parkway, an alley can be a wildlife corridor, and a parking surface can be a garden. This new edition also includes case studies that have successfully reconnected communities that were fragmented by unjust planning practices and irresponsible patterns of development, resilient design solutions in response to natural disasters, passive design strategies that can make interior spaces more efficient and healthier, and expanded discussions on capturing carbon, renewable energy, agriculture, waste, public transit, and adaptive reuse, including innovative ideas on how to reimagine the shopping mall in the era of e-commerce. The strategies presented in this book will stimulate discussions within the design profession and will be of great interest to students and practitioners of environmental studies, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

Book Greening the Built Environment

Download or read book Greening the Built Environment written by Maf Smith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work aims to provide a possible specification of the problems involved in greening the built environment and an articulation of the solutions. It begins with a discussion of sustainability as a concept and its applicability to contemporary towns and cities. The following chapters take up particular aspects of the built environment and sustainability in greater depth and include the construction industry, transport, health, planning, community and equity issues, employment and the economy. The links between environmental damage, poverty and the economy are all themes in this book which also focuses on interconnections and on solutions to these three problems. The final chapter explains how the achievement of sustainable development is, in the authors' opinion, dependent on detailed solutions to everyday problems of modern society.

Book Greening Governance

Download or read book Greening Governance written by Ellen van Bueren and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After twenty years of sustainable building policies, the issue of environmental impact of buildings and urban environments remains. Policy makers still have difficulties addressing the ambiguous, contested and dynamic goals encapsulated in the term 'sustainable development'. How to decide between using zinc or PVC gutters, when knowledge and valuation of environmental risks of both keep changing? How can we accommodate urban growth, now that compact cities turn out to be urban heat islands?" "Greening governance identifies how policy makers can deal with these contested questions. The book draws on policy network theories that consider stakeholder interaction, negotiation and learning as conditions for policy success. By understanding these conditions from an evolutionary viewpoint it provides a new perspective for governance. The concepts of generative variety, selective retention and regeneration will help policy makers to prioritize and select contested alternatives while also focusing on more long term and ambitious policy goals. The book is of interest to policy makers and scientists concerned with both the practical and theoretical issues of sustainable built environments." --Book Jacket.

Book Transforming Markets in the Built Environment

Download or read book Transforming Markets in the Built Environment written by Susan Roaf and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an urgent need to build human capacity to make the often vulnerable and exposed buildings and communities we live and work in more resilient to the changing social, economic and physical environments around us. Extensive research has been done over the last decades on both mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the built environment, but the outputs of much of this research have failed to result in the wider uptake of effective greenhouse gas emission reduction solutions. This volume introduces credible 'fresh thinking' on how this may be done. For the first time an emerging generation of research is brought together that is directly concerned with understanding, influencing and leading the transformation of markets and thinking in the built environment. Chapters cover: defining values setting targets consumer motivation selling existing ideas better developing new design principles, paradigms and programmes optimizing solutions to ensure that when change does happen, it does so in the right direction. Papers are contributed by leading experts in fields ranging from philosophy, the social, political and physical sciences, engineering, architecture, mathematics and complexity science. The resulting volume will be essential reading for all those involved with changing the mindsets of a generation on the need to, and ways to, build resilience to rapid change and transforming markets in the built environment.

Book Paradise Regained

Download or read book Paradise Regained written by Greg Matloff and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-07-17 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What was our planet like before the advent of our modern civilization? What effects has our civilization had on the planet and its ecological systems? Paradise Regained discusses these questions and then creates a scenario for the re-greening of Earth. The authors introduce new and innovative ideas on how humankind might use the resources of the solar system for terrestrial benefit. Earth would then become a place for a technologically advanced human civilization to live in synchronization, if not in harmony, with the environment which gave us birth. Since the formation of our solar system, the resources and ecological state of Earth have undergone many changes. The environmental challenges facing humanity today, as the authors posit them, will not be resolved simply by conservation and Earth-based alternative technologies. Paradise Regained considers the environmental dilemma and highlights the risk of humankind's future extinction from environmental degradation. Human population growth, climate change, and the strained sustainability of the few remaining habitats for wild life are all discussed. The authors, however, are not discouraged and offer a potential solution through the development of space. Not only will extraterrestrial resources help avert environmental disaster, but will also provide the basis for continued technological and societal progress. The resources of the solar system will help meet our projected industrial needs and feed our industry once terrestrial sources are depleted. Space-based power generation systems will work synergistically with Earth-based conservation. Paradise Regained concludes with the discussion on how closed ecological systems in space will help us to build a prosperous and sustainable future for all humanity.

Book Sustainable Built Environment   Volume I

Download or read book Sustainable Built Environment Volume I written by Fariborz Haghighat and published by EOLSS Publications. This book was released on 2009-11-10 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable Built Environment is a component of Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Environmental conservation and technological innovation are two principal forces that drive the building industry toward the future. Technological innovation offers many opportunities to make buildings more dynamic and comfortable, and occupants more comfortable and productive. The necessity of environmental conservation, on the other hand, compels all types of developments and human activities to be environmentally responsive. The content of the Theme on Sustainable Built Environment is organized with state-of-the-art presentations covering several topics: Urban Design ; Emerging Issues in Building Design; Environment, Energy and Health in Housing Design; Culture, Management Strategies, and Policy Issues in the Sustainable Built Environment; Using Technology to Improve the Quality of City Life; Urban and Regional Transportation, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Book Sustainability  Energy and Architecture

Download or read book Sustainability Energy and Architecture written by Ali Sayigh and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2013-09-25 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique volume offers insights from renowned experts in energy efficient building from the world over, providing a multi-faceted overview of the state-of-the-art in energy efficient architecture. It opens by defining what constitutes a sustainable building, suggesting bases for sorely needed benchmarks, then explains the most important techniques and tools available to engineers and architects exploring green building technologies. It covers such pivotal issues as daylighting, LED lighting, integrating renewables such as solar thermal and cooling, retrofitting, LEED and similar certification efforts, passive houses, net-zero and close-zero structures, water recycling, and much more. Highlighting best practices for commercial buildings and private homes, in widely varied climates and within vastly different socio-economic contexts, this illustrated reference will guide architects and engineers in making sustainable choices in building materials and methods. Explains the best methods and materials to support energy efficient building Features case studies by experts from a dozen countries, demonstrating how sustainable architecture can be achieved in varied climates and economies Covers both new constructions and retrofitting of existing structures

Book Recovering Caribbean Nature

Download or read book Recovering Caribbean Nature written by James A. Kushlan and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2024-10-29 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Caribbean is a global biodiversity hotspot; half its resident bird species are found nowhere else, yet, a quarter are threatened with extinction. Nearly all its native amphibians and reptiles and thousands of plants also are endemic. Yet, less than 1% of the landscape can be considered natural; and apart from reserves, most land is privately owned. Despite the challenges of such habitat fragmentation, the Caribbean’s distinctive fauna and flora can be preserved through planning and managing a connected network of sustainable naturalistic landscapes, reserves, parks, and private gardens. This book uniquely provides both a theoretical background and practical applications to restoring nature within the tropical Caribbean. Packed with beautiful color photographs, it offers unifying principles that can be applied across the tropics and synthesizes information on the Caribbean's environmental uniqueness and globally significant biodiversity. It also provides explicit guidance on establishing sustainable and more naturalistic landscapes from large public lands to private yards and gardens. The book is essential reading for academics and researchers studying the Caribbean environment, resource management professionals, and scientists and.educatos from nongovernmental organizations who provide programs and advocacy for conservation and regional sustainability. Moreover, it highlights the importance of private lands and gardens, where the greatest gains can be made, and so offers a handbook for knowledgeable private landowners and their professional advisors.

Book Rethinking Sustainability Towards a Regenerative Economy

Download or read book Rethinking Sustainability Towards a Regenerative Economy written by Maria Beatrice Andreucci and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is based on work from the COST Action RESTORE - REthinking Sustainability TOwards a Regenerative Economy, and highlights how sustainability in buildings, facilities and urban governance is crucial for a future that is socially just, ecologically restorative, and economically viable, for Europe and the whole planet. In light of the search for fair solutions to the climate crisis, the authors outline the urgency for the built environment sector to implement adaptation and mitigation strategies, as well as a just transition. As shown in the chapters, this can be done by applying a broader framework that enriches places, people, ecology, culture, and climate, at the core of the design task - with a particular emphasis on the benefits towards health and resilient business practices. This book is one step on the way to a paradigm shift towards restorative sustainability for new and existing buildings. The authors want to promote forward thinking and multidisciplinary knowledge, leading to solutions that celebrate the richness of design creativity. In this vision, cities of the future will enhance users' experience, health and wellbeing inside and outside of buildings, while reconciling anthropic ecosystems and nature. A valuable resource for scientists and students in environmental sciences and architecture, as well as policy makers, practitioners and investors in urban and regional development.

Book Greening Our Cities  Sustainable Urbanism for a Greener Future

Download or read book Greening Our Cities Sustainable Urbanism for a Greener Future written by Alessandra Battisti and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Regreening the Earth in the 21st Century

Download or read book Regreening the Earth in the 21st Century written by Michael Richards and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Black and White Edition)A paradigm shift needs to occur between the relationship of architecture and nature. In the past, the two have frequently been treated as separate entities ' design a building, a road, or a parking lot and place it on the land. A different approach would be to first examine the land and surrounding environment and formulate a design solution that minimizes destruction to habitat and open space and aesthetically fuses the structure with the surroundings. It is quite plausible that a building be designed that actually creates greenspace; likewise, a roadway can be a park, an alley a wildlife corridor, a parking surface a garden. It is really a matter of shifting our preconceptions of how we define space, structure and nature. The three can be indeed be one in the same.

Book Stewardship of the Built Environment

Download or read book Stewardship of the Built Environment written by Robert A. Young and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When we think of green building, we tend to picture new construction. But Robert A. Young argues that the greenest building is often the one that has already been built. In Stewardship of the Built Environment, he shows how rehabilitating and reusing existing structures holds untapped potential for achieving sustainable communities. Students and professionals alike will discover the multifaceted benefits of reuse. Young begins by describing how historic preservation in the United States, often overlooked because of the predominant focus on new construction, is actually an important sustainable design strategy. He then examines the social, environmental, and economic benefits of preservation—from the societal value of reusing existing buildings to financial incentives available for rehabilitation. Young concludes with insights into the future of reusing buildings as a sustainability strategy. He also provides several informative appendices, including a glossary of key terms and acronyms and recommendations for further reading. Readers will become familiar with essential terminology; sustainability and historic preservation metrics; government oversight processes; and opportunities for smart growth afforded by rehabilitation. This knowledge is key to preserving the past while building a sustainable future.

Book Small Scale Urban Greening

Download or read book Small Scale Urban Greening written by Angela Loder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-02 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small-scale urban greening projects are changing the urban landscape, shifting our experience and understanding of greenspaces in our cities. This book argues that including power dynamics, symbolism, and aesthetics in our understanding of the human relationship to urban nature can help us create places that nurture ecological and human health and promote successful and equitable urban communities. Using an interdisciplinary approach to current research debates and new comparative case studies on community perceptions of these urban greening projects and policies, this book explores how small-scale urban greening projects can impact our sense of place, health, creativity, and concentration while also being part of a successful urban greening program. Arguing that wildness, emotion, and sense of place are key components of our human–nature relationship, this book will be of interest to designers, academics, and policy makers.

Book Planning for the Common Good

Download or read book Planning for the Common Good written by Mick Lennon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appeals to the ‘common good’ or ‘public interest’ have long been used to justify planning as an activity. While often criticised, such appeals endure in spirit if not in name as practitioners and theorists seek ways to ensure that planning operates as an ethically attuned pursuit. Yet, this leaves us with the unavoidable question as to how an ethically sensitive common good should be understood. In response, this book proposes that the common good should not be conceived as something pre-existing and ‘out there’ to be identified and applied or something simply produced through the correct configuration of democracy. Instead, it is contended that the common good must be perceived as something ‘in here,’ which is known by engagement with the complexities of a context through employing the interpretive tools supplied to one by the moral dimensions of the life in which one is inevitably embedded. This book brings into conversation a series of thinkers not normally mobilised in planning theory, including Paul Ricoeur, Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor. These shine light on how the values carried by the planner are shaped through both their relationships with others and their relationship with the ‘tradition of planning’ – a tradition it is argued that extends as a form of reflective deliberation across time and space. It is contended that the mutually constitutive relationship that gives planning its raison d’être and the common good its meaning are conceived through a narrative understanding extending through time that contours the moral subject of planning as it simultaneously profiles the ethical orientation of the discipline. This book provides a new perspective on how we can come to better understand what planning entails and how this dialectically relates to the concept of the common good. In both its aim and approach, this book provides an original contribution to planning theory that reconceives why it is we do what we do, and how we envisage what should be done differently. It will be of interest to scholars, students and practitioners in planning, urban studies, sociology and geography.

Book Decarbonising the Built Environment

Download or read book Decarbonising the Built Environment written by Peter Newton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-06-07 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the challenge that Australia faces in transitioning to renewable energy and regenerating its cities via a transformation of its built environment. Both are necessary conditions for low carbon living in the 21st century. This is a global challenge represented by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the IPCC’s Climate Change program and its focus on mitigation and adaptation. All nations must make significant contributions to this transformation. This book highlights the new knowledge and innovation that has emerged from research projects undertaken in the Co-operative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living between 2012 and 2019 – an initiative of the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Technology that is tasked with responding to the UN challenges. Four principal transition pathways were central to the CRC and provide the thematic structure to this volume. They focus on technology, buildings, precinct and city design, and human behaviour – and their interactions.