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One of the recurring motifs in Herta Müllerʼs work is the experience of the city, which often becomes a space of threat, violence, uncertainty, and finally repression and death. The German Nobel Prize laureate describes urban spaces, where the fate of the city is intertwined with the fate of the protagonists, depicting a world of people who are downtrodden, lost, defeated, and yet not without hope. This article discusses selected works by Herta Müller, in which the multidimensional image of the city opens up new fields for reflection and allows us to gain insight into how a totalitarian state functions. The cities the author describes are reflective of all Romanian cities under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu; they are places of depravity and terror. This article also explores the aesthetics of ugliness which affects the understanding of the role of cities in Herta Müllerʼs prose, and analyzes important urban symbols such as asphalt, apartment blocks, parks and the flora and fauna characteristic of communist cities. In many of Müllerʼs texts, cities form a dramatic backdrop for acts of violence and repression against ‘the Stranger’ – for instance, the German minority, the Roma community, and women. Thus, the experience of an individual becomes the experience of the whole community, which makes Herta Müllerʼs work enduringly relevant.

This article considers changes regarding the social physiognomy of apartment blocks in urban housing in the densely built neighbourhoods of Athens City Centre. The aim is to illuminate the changes that have been a main consequence of the residential mobility that began during the post-World War II period and continues today. Thus, I will provide evidence of two apartment blocks located in the Kypseli neighbourhood of the Municipality of Athens that I have thoroughly investigated. These blocks are among the 28 I have previously examined in a project about Athenian apartment blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article estimates the effect of vertical segregation – across floors of apartment buildings – on educational attainment in the metropolitan area of Athens. This context offers an opportunity to evaluate and discuss the complementarity between horizontal segregation (across neighbourhoods) and vertical segregation. Using census microdata, we observe that the share of individuals dropping out of school early is much higher for young residents of disadvantageous lower-floor apartments than for those living in upper floors. This gap remains significant after controlling for all relevant personal, household, and neighbourhood characteristics. This result suggests an effect of vertical segregation on educational outcomes in addition to neighbourhood effects and individuals' socio-economic status. Moreover, the findings of this article corroborate the claim that the target for public policies to increase social mix is not enough to address inequalities at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main challenges of the twenty-first century is to increase the sustainability level of our cities. However, a town, to be considered sustainable, must, above all, be safe, particularly against natural hazards, which in Europe are mostly related to climate changes (e.g., hurricanes, floods, storms, and landslides) and seismic events (earthquakes). Unfortunately, sustainability is still not a prerogative of most European cities, especially those placed in seismic countries such as Italy, where at least 50% of the residential stock is earthquake-prone, while over 80% of the same stock is highly energy-consuming and carbon dioxide-emitting, thus contributing to trigger hazards related to climate changes. In this context, renovation actions, which combine both energy and seismic issues are strongly needed. Nevertheless, several technical, organizational and financial barriers considerably limit the real possibility to extensively undertake this kind of renovation. This study analyzes such barriers, with particular reference to the Italian scenario, suggesting and discussing possible solutions and underlining the advantages of increasing energy and seismic performances at the same time. The proposed solutions may be effectively extended to many other countries with similar socio-economic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupants of apartment blocks tend to wear less clothing and exhibit lower metabolic rates than occupants of other building types. Further, the use of air conditioning systems to maintain certain comfort levels within living spaces automatically generates financial cost. Therefore, in this study, an acceptable comfort range that differs from the conventional normative comfort range was established. A thermal comfort control method was designed to satisfy both the economic and comfort requirements, and experiments were conducted accordingly. Subsequently, empirical data on cooling were obtained via surveys and measurements and employed to derive regression equations for the thermal sensation vote, comfort sensation vote, and percentage dissatisfaction, which indicate occupant comfort. The derived regression equations were used to graph the comfort range, and the overlap region was plotted on a psychrometric chart to enable identification of an acceptable comfort zone. The suggested acceptable comfort zone, which applies to apartment blocks in Korea, is outside the conventionally recommended comfort zone and can satisfy various occupant preferences, contribute to reducing energy consumption, and facilitate maintenance of comfortable living environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct electricity is widely used for heating purposes in Norway, leading to significant strain on the electricity grid during the heating season. Conversion to 4th generation district heating (4GDH) is an effective method for reducing the need for large investments in the electricity grid, while simultaneously improving the energy efficiency of district heating systems. This article evaluates the possibility of reducing the supply temperature in existing Norwegian apartment blocks by improving the thermal envelope and reducing the temperature levels for the heating system. The analysis is based on simulations in IDA ICE (IDA Indoor Climate and Energy) focusing on whether the reduced supply temperature guarantees thermal comfort in the building, considering the coldest room with a heating setpoint of 22 °C. Based on a recommended minimum acceptable indoor temperature of 19 °C from the Norwegian building regulations (TEK), it should be possible to lower the radiator supply temperature from 80 to 60 °C for apartment blocks newer than 1971. For older buildings, an “intermediate” renovation is necessary to maintain temperatures above 19 °C, however, a “standard” renovation is recommended to ensure thermal comfort and improve the energy efficiency of the building stock.

In order to improve the energy performance of apartment blocks in a cold region of Iran via passive heating, we propose a design modification to the sunspaces/balconies of these buildings. To find the optimum performance dimensions for this proposal, six sunspace configurations with different ratios of glazed to opaque surfaces are simulated. The impact of the main design criteria such as the orientation, the number of glazed surfaces, the orientation and inclination angle of the surfaces, the glazing material, the common wall material and the optimum form and dimensions of the sunspace is evaluated. The results reveal that an optimum designed sunspace is an efficient system for passive heating in cold periods of the year. There are overheating problems during the warmer seasons, which may be eliminated by appropriate shading and ventilation. Our proposed design reduces the heating load of the space under consideration by up to 46%. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is an attempt to point, on concrete examples, the most important aspects which occur at almost every successful revitalization of settlements made in industrialized technology. "Concrete slabs" is present in almost every Polish city. Western countries, at least partially faced problems that are associated with apartment blocks. In the very foreseeable future, in Poland, we cannot pretend not to see that in the prefabricated housing people live in bad conditions, that there are more social pathologies, or that the settlements are depopulated. Thermomodernization itself is not enough to restore a healthy and full of energy life to the dying blocks.

In this study, heating and cooling requirements in existing and new built apartment blocks were investigated based on the projected impacts of climate change for three different cities of Turkey, i.e. Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir representing cold, temperate-humid and hot-humid climate conditions. The Hadley Centre Coupled Model Version 3 (HadCM3)-A2a, A2b and A2c experiments was applied to evaluate future climate for the time period 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s. It was found that relatively high effect on heating and cooling loads may occur in residential buildings in Turkey. Although the decrease in the annual energy demand of new built and existing apartment blocks for heating is predicted to vary between approximately 9% and 29%, cooling demand increases between 1.7 and 30-times up to 2080s according to local climate and climate change scenario; HadCM3-A2a, A2b and A2c. Therefore, usage of the passive cooling strategies is essential in residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Turkey, reinvestments in the existing housing stock are entirely dependent on households' decisions in the free market. There are no policies to consider reinvestment processes, and the body of knowledge on households' reinvestment decisions is scant. Understanding how individual reinvestment decisions are determined is vital to devise policy measures to improve the condition of the existing housing stock and neighbourhoods. In this study, an attempt is made to identify the basic motivations and factors underpinning the owner-occupants' performed and planned reinvestments in the apartment flats of Ankara. The results display that consumption considerations, particularly circumstances of necessity and urgency, are the basic motivation for undertaking reinvestment works among the surveyed owner-occupants. Higher household head age, shorter duration of occupancy, higher house value and maintained installations and infrastructure in common parts of the apartment blocks are displayed to increase the probability of having undertaken reinvestment works. Also, perception of the dwelling to be in disrepair and landscaped common outdoor space of the apartment are identified to increase the probability of having reinvestment plans for the future. The analysis suggests that policy measures are required both to trigger reinvestment capacities of households and to monitor the tendencies of reinvestments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The concept of solar energy conscious design has emerged worldwide with the growing number of high-rise apartment buildings. It is important to think of maximizing solar energy utilization in buildings through architectural design strategies. This should lead to the setting up of mandatory regulations on both urban and building design levels. This study analyzes the current building regulations of Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) from the standpoint of solar accessibility. It suggests new regulations that ensure adequate solar accessibility in new constructions of residential apartments in Amman. Computer simulations associated with sun masks analyses have been conducted to obtain a firm judgment towards setting up new dimensions of setbacks and building heights for apartment blocks in Amman. The study gives clear and flexible guidelines for urban and architectural designers to determine the number of sunlit floors based on the desired distances between apartment blocks. To achieve the goals of this study, the authors suggest that the current urban regulations in Jordan be modified on energy-based design strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper presents a model that describes the process of selecting dwelling maintenance contractors. The model is based on a multi-criteria evaluation of maintenance contractors, the determination of their utility level for the building''s users and a bid price in negotiations that are made according to the results of the multiple criteria analysis. The proposed model could further be applied to plan dwelling maintenance operations. The criteria of maintenance contractor evaluation are selected by taking into consideration the interests and goals of the building''s users as well as factors that influence the process of maintenance''s efficiency. The correlation of the criteria characterizing maintenance contractors from various perspectives was determined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Direct electricity is widely used for heating purposes in Norway, leading to significant strain on the electricity grid during the heating season. Conversion to 4th generation district heating (4GDH) is an effective method for reducing the need for large investments in the electricity grid, while simultaneously improving the energy efficiency of district heating systems. This article evaluates the possibility of reducing the supply temperature in existing Norwegian apartment blocks by improving the thermal envelope and reducing the temperature levels for the heating system. The analysis is based on simulations in IDA ICE (IDA Indoor Climate and Energy) focusing on whether the reduced supply temperature guarantees thermal comfort in the building, considering the coldest room with a heating setpoint of 22 °C. Based on a recommended minimum acceptable indoor temperature of 19 °C from the Norwegian building regulations (TEK), it should be possible to lower the radiator supply temperature from 80 to 60 °C for apartment blocks newer than 1971. For older buildings, an "intermediate" renovation is necessary to maintain temperatures above 19 °C, however, a "standard" renovation is recommended to ensure thermal comfort and improve the energy efficiency of the building stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are growing dramatically. At the same time, we are witnessing the obsolescence of the existing building stock due to its low performance in terms of structural stability, energy efficiency and, last but not least, beauty. Especially in Italy, a highly seismic country, most of the buildings erected between the 1950s and the 1980s are not only earthquake-prone but also aesthetically unpleasant. In this perspective, the urgency of improving the existing building stock in terms of seismic vulnerability opens up the opportunity to also work on its architectural image. This article draws from the assumption that the search for beauty represents an important and often neglected dimension of the search for sustainability. In particular, the presented study suggests and combines the use of parametric design and the structural shape of steel exoskeletons to renovate a typical earthquake-prone apartment block from the 1960s in Italy. The results show that the proposed parametric approach can provide and select different effective renovation solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]