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The global challenges regarding sustainability and the guarantee of minimum habitability requirements have led to the transformation of construction practices, where research has failed to achieve sufficient dissemination and findings. The purpose of this research is to promote sustainable and resilient patterns in construction in vulnerable neighbourhoods in emerging countries by disseminating techniques and mechanisms through in situ transfer workshops and by raising awareness of the environmental importance of construction. Regarding materials and methods, this paper contributes innovative insights by combining training workshops and awareness-raising sessions to promote both environmental education and sustainable and optimised habits in construction. These methods are applied and tested in a real case study in El Salvador. Subsequent to carrying out a multi-disciplinary assessment analysis, the outcomes and results have led to the design of prototypes that have obtained a global EDGE certificate on sustainable construction and efficient use of resources once the users' testimonies, weaknesses, and strengths have been addressed. The conclusions indicate that families, volunteers, and technical workers need to be trained by promoting environmental awareness in social housing and establishing a plan for dissemination to communicate across universities and public and private institutions in order to replicate guidelines across American dry-corridor countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Low-carbon energy retrofitting in buildings plays an important role because 75% of European buildings are considered inefficient and more than 40% are currently over 50 years old. The economic reinvestment of energy retrofit actions through reduced energy bills, as energy directives promote, greatly depends upon the energy consumption patterns. In support of the decision-making process towards a low-carbon energy transition in multi-family buildings, this paper introduces a novel assessment method that evaluates the profitability of energy efficiency measures, according to standard operating conditions derived from energy performance certificate procedures and real occupant energy consumption scenarios, through a parametric analysis. The aim is to assess the real energy and economic savings of retrofitting actions, depending on different energy-related occupant scenarios, and to enable comparisons with other buildings, providing a valuable model to identify the most feasible and low-carbon energy strategies in residential energy retrofitting. A Spanish multi-family building from 1942 is taken as the reference case study. The results show that energy savings for dwellings vary up to 80%, and the net present value per dwelling differs by up to 20,000€ between different energy consumption patterns. The most appropriate energy efficiency measures according to low, medium or high consumption scenarios are highlighted. Highlights • Novel method to support the decision-making process in energy retrofitting. • A parametric analysis is made based on different energy consumption patterns. • Consumption profiles based on standard conditions and real behaviour of occupants. • Energy saving and return on investment are evaluated for each consumption scenario. • The method fulfils two main purposes of official procedures from energy directives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the global challenges of the 21 st century is to guarantee adequate residential conditions for the ageing population, by regenerating obsolete urban environments. In addition to compliance with environmental policies through energy retrofitting, a sustainable urban renovation process involves ensuring optimal conditions in security, habitability, and comfort through residential adaptation to the new requirements. This research develops a new method for the analysis and decision-making process in residential retrofitting. This is an open and flexible methodology that has been applied in three reference case studies in Spain and Portugal. Starting from a technical and social diagnosis, the set of measures is analysed through multiple sustainable issues, structured into four main blocks: Technical Requirements and Peoplés demands; Constructive Process; Social benefits; and Economic revaluation. The results show the overall and detailed assessment of each measure, and a cost-benefit ratio, which informs the promoter as to ascertain the benefits and drawbacks of each measure. There are measures that exceed 80% of the maximum benefit and achieve an integral revaluation of the property value, as well as measures that exceed 50% of the benefit with investments of less than 1,000 € per dwelling, thereby achieving significant improvement in their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New interdisciplinary method to achieve urban regeneration and population targets. • Architectural and Psychoenvironmental Retrofitting Assessment Method (APRAM). • Decision support system for owners or public agents in building renovation. • Integral diagnosis of retrofitting interventions from various perspectives. • Close connections between architectural diagnosis and residents' perceptions. Current European policies aim to promote the sustainable urban regeneration of housing stock while ensuring aging in place. Following these targets, this research proposes the Architectural and Psycho-environmental Retrofitting Assessment Method (APRAM) as an interdisciplinary decision support system, specifically designed to be applied in building renovation, which considers architectural demands and residents' perceptions. This method generates an integral diagnosis that combines an architectural evaluation, through technical inspection grids, and psycho-environmental perceptions, by gathering residents' responses from a participatory survey, in order to facilitate decision-making regarding renovation proposals. Retrofitting interventions, structured in public space, building, and dwelling scales, are assessed using architectural priority levels as well as social and engagement indicators of satisfaction, attachment, social need, and willingness to participate, thereby establishing a decision support system for property owners or public entities. APRAM is applied and tested in a residential neighbourhood of Lisbon (Portugal), for which its architectural, social and economic reports are defined in a summary table and a graphical display that show the integral performance of each intervention. Over 80% of responses involve major demands for which the proposed method shows close connections between the architectural diagnosis and residents' perceptions for the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]