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The pedestrian block, famous for its entertainment and commercial vitality, plays an important role in our daily life. The use of this space is determined by the outdoor thermal comfort which can directly affect human's thermal sensation and commercial value. A field questionnaire survey is carried out simultaneously with collecting the microclimatic data in this area. The thermal acceptability and the thermal comfort sensation votes are assessed based on the PET, in addition, a three-dimensional microclimatic modelling tool Envi-met 4.0 is used to evaluate the outdoor thermal comfort and validate the accuracy of the software through comparing the measured data with the simulated data. After putting forward some suggestion for redesigning this area, the result shows that there is as strong improvement in broadening the cooling time, early morning (8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) and after 18:00 p.m. are the most comfortable time for visiting.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management has become a problem in China, mainly since there is no uniform standard for MSW management charges, causing conflict between local residents and the government. An intelligent garbage sorting system (IGSS) is an effective sorting approach for MSW management. To explore the predictors of local residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the IGSS, this study applied an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model by adding an antecedent environmental concern (EC) prior to the main predictors of the TPB model (attitudes, subject norms, perceived behavioral control). The WTP of Beijing residents for MSW management and the determinants of WTP were analyzed. The specific amount of WTP was predicted by a contingent valuation method (CVM) in an online questionnaire, and the mean WTP was estimated to be USD 49.93 per household per year. The results showed a positive connection between EC and residents’ WTP, and most of the participants were willing to pay for the IGSS for MSW management.

In the context of the Chinese rural revitalization strategy, the unique residential characteristics of local vernacular dwellings formed by profound historical and cultural accumulation, climate characteristics, and residential lifestyle have undergone profound change in the gully regions of the Loess Plateau. Accordingly, the contradictions of traditional vernacular dwelling protection, increasing living requirements, and ecological protection have intensified. In this paper, with the aim of optimizing courtyard layout for vernacular dwellings, the thermal performance and regional adaptability of different courtyard layouts were analyzed using Ladybug and Honeybee tools. According to the thermal simulation within the courtyard, the current optimal layout type was determined, and then, several ecological optimization designs were proposed for the further improvement of it. The results revealed that the improved vernacular dwelling model has better regional adaptability, which corresponds to the local living culture and living habits, saves land resources, and provides a better thermal comfort performance. This research not only has a positive function for the protection of local architectural culture, but also plays an essential role in improving residents’ living comfort and living standards. We hope that the research results are meaningful and can be used as a reference for future rural construction in the Loess Plateau.

Understanding the factors influencing the aesthetic experience of architectures is an important topic in empirical aesthetics. In this study, we examined the effect of three architectural factors, i.e., ceiling height, openness, and contour, on viewers’ aesthetic appreciation through a series of experiments. In previous studies on architectural aesthetics, participants were usually asked to view an image of an architectural space for a few seconds. The long viewing time allows them to focus on different parts of the architecture and then make an aesthetic judgment. The long viewing time, however, also makes it difficult to obtain viewers’ aesthetic scores for a large number of architectural spaces in a short period. In this study, we shortened the visual presentation time to 200 ms, which allowed the viewers to have only one fixation on the image, and asked the viewers to make an aesthetic judgment. It was found that the experiment with a 200-ms viewing time could establish how the three architectural factors influenced aesthetic judgment as well as previous experiments with a 3,000-ms viewing time, suggesting that aesthetic judgment could be made within one fixation. Additionally, we investigated the impact of color on architectural aesthetic judgment by presenting grayscale images. We found that the three architectural factors influenced aesthetic judgment in similar ways for both color and grayscale images. In summary, we found that color was not a main factor modulating viewers’ architectural aesthetic judgments, and we also presented a way to quickly obtain aesthetic scores for architectural spaces.

The urban heat island effect in Beijing is significant, which has become a serious environmental problem posed to Beijing citizens. As an important measure to alleviate the urban heat island effect, cool roof is recommended in relevant Evaluation Standard for Green Building of China. In order to elicit policy implications, this paper investigates Beijing residents’ willingness to pay for promoting cold roofs to alleviate the urban heat island effect and its determinants. This research applied double-bounded discrete choice format and face to face interview to elicit public’s willingness to pay. 841 Beijing households were randomly selected and interviewed. For 242 (29%) respondents refuse to pay, the spike model was introduced to process the data for it has been proved to outperform the conventional model in dealing with zero responses. The average annual willingness to pay was computed as 1510.854 Chinese Yuan, which is 220.562 US dollars per household. In addition, In terms of the determinants of residents’ willingness to pay, other than conventional demographic characteristics, we added and estimated covariance with regard to environmental knowledge and the theory of planned behavior. The result indicated that social norm, perceived behavior control, and previous knowledge of urban heat island effect and cool roof are statistical significantly related with residents’ willingness to pay. This research suggests that timely information disclosure with regard to urban environment management and pro-environment education are urgently needed in promoting public participation in alleviating the urban heat island effect.

China's capital city, Beijing, has been suffering from sand and dust weather with high frequency since 2000. Billions of dollars have been invested into overcoming this hazard, but research with regard to the economic benefit of mitigating this hazard. This paper employed the contingent valuation method research, attempts to investigate the Beijing households' willingness to pay for sand and dust weather mitigation and its determinants. The willingness to pay data were obtained from a double-bounded discrete choice format. Because of 149 respondents (18% of the total samples) refused to pay for the goods, we applied the spike model for processing the data. The annual mean willingness to pay is 404.35 Chinese Yuan. Beijing households are willing to pay a total amount of 2.18 billion Chinese Yuan annually for mitigating sand and dust weather. Furthermore, respondents' income, presence of children, and social norm are significantly correlated with the willingness to pay. This paper suggested enhancing pro-environment education and that government credibility and will be of great importance in promoting public participation in sand and dust weather management.

This paper investigates the energy performance of an office building with a ventilated composite Trombe wall for winter heating application. The heating potential of composite Trombe wall for an office building was estimated using the dynamic thermal load calculation software, THERB for HAM. We designed a new composite Trombe wall which is oriented on the south side of the office building, and designed pipe with the fan that can control thermo-circulation, located in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. The office building satisfies the Japan thermal regulation. The central concrete core of the wall is covered with a layer of dark paint, to improve absorptivity of the wall. In addition, to control air flow from the ventilated air layer to the indoor, the ventilation rates of the fan were controlled at 40 m3/h. The effects of those fans that is turned on and off at different time were also investigated. The temperature of the air layer of composite Trombe wall and the room is simulated. The investigation showed that the composite Trombe wall with optimized ventilation can reduce annual energy cost up to 3.7% compared to the composite Trombe wall without air supply.

Urban heat island is one of the most notorious climate features of urbanization, and is becoming a serious environmental problem of Beijing. To help alleviate this problem, the Beijing government plans to promote the construction of urban green roofs at a rate of 100,000–120,000 m2 per year from 2015 to 2020. Since there has been limited attention on the economic benefits of mitigating this phenomenon, this paper empirically investigates the willingness of Beijing residents to pay for the benefits of green roofs in mitigating the urban heat island effects and their determinants. The data were obtained from a contingent valuation survey using a double-bounded discrete choice format. Since a large number of zero responses (comprising 57% of all respondents) appeared in our research, we used the spike model to process the data. The results show that the spike model fits our data well. The average household is willing to pay 148.582 Chinese yuan per year. Moreover, other than the conventional determinants of respondents' income and education, factors identified by the theory of planned behavior - such as attitude, perceived behavioral control, and social norm - can significantly affect respondents’ willingness to pay. This paper suggests that enhancing government credibility will be of great importance in promoting public participation in mitigating urban heat island effect.

The commercial pedestrian block, famous for its entertainment and commercial vitality, plays an important role in humans’ daily life. The use of this space is determined by outdoor thermal comfort which can directly the commercial value of this region. So far, few studies have been conducted on outdoor thermal comfort in hot-summer and cold–winter area of southern China. The Dao He Old Block locates in Tai Zhou city which belongs to hot-summer and cold-winter climate zone of southern China. In order to develop the local tourism, the local government has provided guidance for the appropriate directions and opportunities for future development of this region. This study investigates the thermal comfort conditions in microclimate of this block and put forward some suggestion for the tourists determine the best time to visit, also help managers choose their business hours. In this region, humans’ thermal acceptability and the thermal comfort sensation votes are assessed based on the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). About the future redesigning plan of this block is shown in three stages: increasing the building height; adding tree canyon coverage; changing paving material. Along with performing field measurement in this intended block, in addition, a three-dimensional microclimatic modelling tool ENVI-met 4.0 is used to evaluate the outdoor thermal comfort and validate the accuracy of the software through comparing the measured data with the simulated data. The existing scenario shows that almost the whole area is not comfortable for visiting from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm in extreme summer. After putting forward some suggestion for redesigning this area, the result shows that there is a strong improvement in broadening the cooling time, which means the more suitable time for visiting is given, the new result shows that early morning (8:00–11:00 am) and after 6:00 pm are the most comfortable time for visiting.

The comprehensive and coordinated sustainable development of residential dwellings requires a response to the multidimensional environment. In this study, typical traditional Tianshui dwellings are selected as research objects, through the methods of field investigation, in-depth conversations, and on-site monitoring, in order to investigate the potential of traditional Tianshui dwellings reacting to natural conditions as well as social environment. The performance of traditional dwellings in the process of regional adaptation expounded and discussed based on seven elements under the conditions of two dimensions: (1) an objective regional response to the natural environment, namely, site selection, courtyard layout, orientation, structure, and envelop enclosure; and (2) a subjective regional response to social environment, namely, spatial order, construction technology, and decorative arts. The results show that traditional Tianshui dwellings are well adapted to local natural conditions and the social background, and that they meet both the physical and psychological needs of residents. In conclusion, this paper summarizes the features of the sustainable development of traditional dwellings learning from the principles obtained from the process of socio-environment responsive strategy analysis. These valuable experiences and design principles can provide references and guidelines for the long-term development of modern architecture not to only reduce energy consumption, but also to increase local social influence.

There are numerous buildings in existing residential areas in Hangzhou City, which results in much carbon emissions and the formation of greenhouse gases that have exerted significant ad-verse impacts on the living comfort of citizens in Hangzhou City. It is imperative to conduct a greening renovation of buildings in existing residential areas in Hangzhou City. Vertical greening, as a significant measure of renovation, has received much attention. In this paper we use double-bounded discrete choice format to elicit public’s willingness to pay (WTP), and the economic benefits of vertical greening reduces greenhouse gases in Hangzhou City were preliminarily estimated, and the factors that affect residents' payment and participation. A total of 1089 valid samples were obtained via the face-to-face field interview. There were 250 (23.0%) respondents who refused to pay, whose data were subject to processing with Spike model, which had been proved to be more advantageous than traditional models in dealing with zero response problems. Families in Hangzhou City would pay 702.55 Chinese yuan (CNY) each year. The economic benefit of the project is 1.141–1.433 billion CNY. The factors affecting WTP were explored by demographic characteristics,social psychology༌knowledge of the environment and theory of planned behavior. The results showed that there were obvious statistical relationships between the age, income, family members, cognition of vertical greening and subjective norms of respondents and their WTP. Meanwhile, the feedback information was collected and analyzed, with the results showing that increasing income, setting up compensation mechanism, promoting the publicity of environmental protection, and disclosing the flow of funds would conduce to residents' participation in the renovation of vertical greening.

Wood is an ideal building material since it is renewable and environmentally friendly. However, due to its lack of dimensional stability and durability, it may be limited in structural applications. As a result, modification is required to address the problems mentioned above. Significant developments in wood modification have occurred over the past three decades; high temperature and pressure treatment are regarded as the most efficient since it does not need chemicals. This paper gives an overview of the effects of improving wood quality under high temperature and pressure treatment. This study used a qualitative method and structured literature study. The parameters observed were wood modification, thermally based processes, high temperature and pressure treatment, as well as their effect on improving physical and mechanical properties such as mass loss, equilibrium moisture content, dimensional stability, changes in anatomy, crystallinity, and wood color. In conclusion, this paper will contribute to the recent updates in wood modification under high temperature and pressure treatment and summarize data collected by the authors by systematically comparing the findings.

Sustainability is one of the biggest issues in green buildings. Many researches are done for finding optimization of building that can be implemented from the design phase to the building operation. One of the strategies to reduce energy is using sun shading devices. This paper shows one possibility of using small L-shaped mini louvers to reduce cooling energy. Rather than using custom devices and advance technologies, this research focuses on simple and widely available materials that can be applied without the needs of specific skills and maintenance. Several L-shaped mini louvers designs as shading device are simulated using computer software to show their performance of reducing cooling energy. The use of a double glass panel window without shading device will be the base case for cooling energy comparison. The simulation will be done in Grasshopper using ladybug and honeybee plugins which have widely used and validated energy simulation engines: EnergyPlus. These shading devices will be simulated in three different cities: Mumbai, Mexico City, and Lagos. The simulation will be done in one-year cycle for eight different orientations. In total, 168 simulations will be analyzed to show the results and draw conclusion of these shading devices. The conclusion shows that L-shaped mini louvers can be used as one of the strategies to achieve more energy-efficient buildings, notably reducing annual cooling energy by 30–32%.

This paper discusses an improved approach to the Trombe wall: an insulated panel is installed on the inner side, and vents are installed at the top and bottom to connect the outer and inner air layer with the interior. Direct current (DC) fans are installed in the upper vents for stable control of the air circulation. The study first analyzed the thermal performance of this composite Trombe wall, for which the heat load was 27.3% less compared to the classic Trombe wall and 32.1% less compared to the case without the Trombe wall. However, its efficiency for heating the room temperature was not high without heating. Then, we optimized the ventilation efficiency, the proportion of the Trombe wall in the room, and the type of glazing. The highest heat load savings could be achieved when the ventilation openings used high ventilation with temperature-controlled fans and the Trombe wall about 3% of the house floor area. With the use of Low-e double-glazing, we were able to save nearly 41.3% of the heat load than that with the regular single-glazing. For the composite Trombe wall, after taking into account the optimization factors, the room temperature was significantly higher, and could save nearly 52.3% of energy compared to the pre-optimization period.

Under the background of Chinese Rural Revitalization Strategy, how to improve rural regional environment and living quality is very important and urgent. At present, residential buildings in gully regions of the Loess Plateau have poor insulation and high-energy consumption. Thus, better ecological design can largely save energy and improve living comfort. The findings of this paper provide an insight into the ecological design potentials for reducing energy demand across rural regions in China. In this paper, we select three main types of residential buildings in gully regions and build energy demand models based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The results show that the energy demand in the building use stage is extremely high in all three typical buildings, which account for around 90% of the whole life cycle. The energy demand of the traditional adobe residential building is lower than the brick-concrete structure buildings. The LCA method used in this paper can quantify the energy demand in each stage of life cycle, which helps to put forward the corresponding ecological design strategy. The research results can be used as a reference in the future development of this region and other rural regions in China.

Against the background of the Rural Vitalization Strategy in the gully regions of the Loess Plateau, large number of residents living in gullies move to tableland. On the one hand, this causes the disappearance of slope villages and gully villages, on the other hand, it increases ecological pressure on tableland, which was originally densely populated. The villages&rsquo, locations, the developing conditions, and the ecological carrying capacity of the surrounding villages have influence on the development direction of these villages and regional system planning. Through comparative analysis of different analysis methods for determining ecological carrying capacity, this paper takes the limiting factor analysis method as the main method and improves it according to the local conditions. Through the analysis of maximum ecological carrying capacity, current carrying capacity, and current population, we can determine which villages have the potential to support more immigrants and which ones should be integrated with others to improve the human settlement environment. At the same time, villages are graded so that the present and future human settlements&rsquo, environment can be further analyzed and predicted, which can be also adopted as an important guide for the local villages&rsquo, relocation and combination. Finally, we select a representative region to prove the general applicability of our planning method in the Loess Plateau.

The current construction industry faces many challenges, such as low productivity, low material application rates, and poor environmental benefits. Robotic and automated construction (RAAC) technologies represent a breakthrough from traditional construction methods and are considered an effective way to improve productivity, ecological efficiency, and sustainability in the construction industry. However, the high cost of research and development and the lack of investment in the construction field have discouraged Chinese construction companies from innovating. In this paper, an evolutionary game model between the government, construction firms, and public universities is constructed around the choice of RAAC innovation, and the evolutionary stabilization strategy (ESS) of the three parties is discussed. Establishing a compound incentive policy of financial and reputational rewards and increasing the share of RAAC scores in academic evaluations can accelerate the realization of ESS among the government, construction companies, and public universities. This study informs policymakers to develop RAAC innovation strategies, and stakeholders such as the government, construction companies, and public universities should consider and jointly promote the development and application of RAAC technologies to improve productivity and environmental sustainability in the construction industry.

Albasia (Albizia falcataria), known as sengon wood, is a fast-growing tree species commonly found in Indonesian forests and community plantations. However, the low-density, hardness, and strength significantly restrict its commercial application. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of densification on the physical properties of Albizia falcataria under high-temperature and -pressure. Different temperatures were applied to the Albizia falcataria board (100 °C, 120 °C, 140 °C, sandwich 140 °C). The densification process influences the density properties, color changes, thickness, compression ratio, equilibrium moisture content, and anatomical properties of the material. With this procedure, the density can be increased to 0.62 kg/L, a gain of approximately 112.78% over untreated wood. The density of wood increases, resulting in the decomposition of its chemical components, especially hemicellulose, which darkens the wood color and stabilizes equilibrium moisture control. As a result, the thermal compression modification treatment under high-temperature and -pressure is a highly effective method for enhancing the physical properties of fast-growing wood species, such as Albizia falcataria.

This paper presents a study on a mechanically ventilated Trombe wall that adds additional windows to the storage wall. The mechanically ventilated Trombe wall is located on the south side of the house with a central air conditioning and air circulation system. To reduce the heating load, during the heating period, the heat from the Trombe wall air channel is sent to the air conditioning room, from where it is then distributed and stored throughout the house by way of air circulation. Taking a house located in Miyazaki, Japan as an example, we conducted an actual survey to understand the situation of heat utilization of the Trombe wall and used numerical simulations to examine the effective method of heat utilization of the Trombe wall. Results showed that in all-day air conditioning, even when sending the air in the Trombe wall to the air-conditioned room, the temperature of the Trombe wall remained high. The heating load was reduced by sending the air from the Trombe wall to the central air-conditioned room and installing the large heat capacity material on the floor in the Trombe wall.

Patented in the 1880s and having a longstanding industrial history, expanded metal sheet has a remarkable reputation for its application. However, despite the benefits of its use and numerous studies has been conducted on window shading and its daylight evaluation, research on extended metal shading’s daylight performance is still limited. This paper investigates the role of expanded metal shading to assess Daylight Glare Possibility (DGP) in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan, utilizing parametric design approach and Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO). The simulation and analysis were undertaken to determine how expanded metal can optimize DGP, the significance of improvement, the relationship between the View (aperture) and the DGP, and which parameters have the most influence in driving the aperture size and the DGP value. Analyzing 2322 solutions and 88 Pareto frontiers resulted from the MOO, several findings has been portrayed. Firstly, the shading View (aperture) shows a significant positive correlation to the DGP. Secondly, parameter Strand/W was identified as the most influential parameter that drive the objectives. Thirdly, the validation process portrays optimization in DGP by 38%. The results of the proposed methodology are expected to become an immediate geometry and performance feedback for designers and industries, supporting design decision-making processes during early design phase.

Over the past few years, increasing tourists have generated interest in social media and shared their trip pictures and experience on it. As revealed from existing studies, tourists' preference of posting pictures of their trip on a social media site(s) may be associated with their purchasing behaviors. In the present study, Choice-based Conjoint Analysis (CBCA) was conducted to examine tourists' souvenir preferences based on various frequencies for posting trip pictures (PTP). As indicated by result that tourists exhibiting a higher PTP frequency are more inclined to purchase souvenirs of higher availability. Furthermore, the group of tourists exhibiting the highest PTP frequency reported the highest willingness to pay (WTP) for the souvenir with a high level of "Availability", while tourists with the lower PTP frequency are inclined to purchase souvenirs exhibiting higher uniqueness. The present study is recognized as one of the initial attempts to cross-pollinate the research streams of souvenir purchase behavior and social media usage. The mentioned findings suggest that producers and sellers are required to adjust souvenir promotion and design by complying with the PTP data.

Along with the enormous impact on computational development in architecture and urban design, the way in approaching the built environment is shifting and intended to look closer to performance and evidence-based design. This development holds promise in handling complex computation to approach desired targeted design goals. However, the implementation of form-finding and design performance optimization still lacks, particularly in Japan’s sub-tropical climate. This paper describes the parametric design and design exploration process’s implementation through the generative algorithm platform to develop a benchmark model to predict building energy and daylight performance and find possible design solutions from the iteration process during the early phase of the design process. The variables incorporated related to the glazing ratio, the length of the overhang, and building orientation. Grasshopper, a parametric-based plugin that works in Rhinoceros, is used to arrange a parametric definition for the overall experiment. The tools used to investigate the environmental analysis and energy consumption are Ladybug and Honeybee, and the exploration process will be conducted using Design Explorer. The context will be situated in Orio district and uses the EPW file of Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka, Japan. The results of this research furthermore can potentially be a comparison for more dynamic factors.

The traditional residence with protogenetic spatial arrangement is regarded as a critical carrier of social logic of space, which makes it an ideal object for studying the relationship between the spatial form and social context. To this end, a comparative analysis is conducted using Depthmap Software. This study is based on space syntax theory between two groups of proxies of sharp differences in spatial organization in one geomorphic unit where the natural factors show little variations, while the human factors present a bifurcating distribution. Furthermore, the study clarifies the differences among genotypes of the domestic space system. Finally, combined with historical material, it proves the dual division of regional sociocultural factors as decisive forces shaping the traditional living space and its constructed manifestations.

Recently, Jakarta has implemented a new standard for new building construction to reduce the energy consumption of office buildings. This has to meet the minimum overall thermal transfer value (OTTV) of 35 watt/m2. In tropical countries, the most effective passive design strategy method is the use of shading devices. Dense shading will more effectively reduce energy consumption but will reduce visibility through the opening. Sudare is a traditional Japanese blind made from bamboo.Its original function was to prevent direct solar radiation and introduce natural ventilation. The characteristic Sudare form makes it possible to see through to objects outside the house. The aim of this research is to identify an alternate mode of facade configuration using external horizontal blinds based on the Sudare form to meet the minimum standard of Indonesian National Standard (SNI), with greater efficiency in terms of thermal energy use to minimize energy consumption and maintain visual comfort. Ladybug and Hon...

Systematization for the maintenance of buildings enables their supporting system to be more practical than before. This study aims to make the maintenance and the long-term repairs for the buildings to be easier. In Japan, 30-40-year-old buildings seem to have been planned and built with little thought about their future maintenances, which have made them very difficult to be repaired on a large scale. This is why effective management systems about dealing with the data should be strongly suggested. Since the Building Standard Law was amended on April 1, 2008, in Japan, the regular investigation and report for particular buildings are legally obligated every three years, thus a variety of useful data can be obtained through Kitakyushu City cases as well as former data personally obtained. With those data used usefully, systematization for the maintenance of the buildings will produce satisfactory results by building up a connection between those data and the long-term repair planning.

A modified periodic inspection reporting system based on Article 12 of the Building Standards Act was enforced on 1 April 2008 in Japan. The Periodic Inspection Reporting System based on the article entered its 11th year since its enforcement in 2019. We investigated more than 100 residential building inspection reports based on this article in Kitakyushu of Japan and found what kind of defects can be reported in this investigation system. In this paper, we show the typical defects and related problems of Japanese residential buildings. According to the data, we scrutinized existing building inspection and maintenance procedures defining the problematic areas of older housing complexes and outlined some deterioration trends. We analyzed, in particular, the state of building foundations, exterior and interior walls, roofs, evacuation passages, facilities, and the state of exterior tiles in the function of solar orientation, and quantified the number of problems correlated to the age of the buildings. In parallel, we reviewed the current state of the laws and policies applied to building quality and management in Japan. We analyzed the whole building inspection process, identifying some flaws that limit its effectiveness and reach, due mostly to miscommunications between the property owners, local government, and the contractors. Based on that, we proposed an alternative and improved building management system.

Ling Nan Tian Di block is in Fo Shan city, which is in the hot-summer and warm-winter climate area of China and is a very important scenic spot. A pedestrianized zone aims to provide a commercial and recreational center for tourists. The utilization of it is determined by the outdoor microclimate, which affects not only humans&rsquo, thermal sensation but also the commercial value, thus, putting forward the best time of day to visit this region in extreme summer is very necessary. Using the result of this work, tourists can choose the most comfortable time of day with the most suitable thermal conditions to visit this pedestrianized zone. To this end, we conducted field measurements and numerical simulations to analyze thermal sensation. In addition, a field questionnaire survey was utilized to evaluate the thermal comfort range for tourists. The analyzed result shows that the thermal comfort range of tourists is a physiological equivalent temperature (PET) of 22 to 28 &deg, C and the neutral PET is 25 &deg, C. The final thermal calendar shows that the whole commercial zone is within the comfort range after 7:00 p.m. During the daytime, except for the open space without vegetation, the whole region is in the comfort range from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Population decline is leading to a shrinking city size in industrialized countries. In some developing countries, because majority of the population is concentrated in big cities, the population in undeveloped cities has begun to decline. Japan experienced rapid urban expansion surrounding industrial districts, including steeply sloped areas, between the 1950s and 1970s. In the past forty years, Japan&rsquo, s population has decreased, and the average age of the population is increasing. The reduction in the size of cities, following population decreases is becoming an important issue, and the study of sustainable, concentrated urban planning to cope with shrinking city size is, therefore, necessary. We have conducted a case study using Yahatahigashi-ku to determine its redevelopment potential, based on a combination of urban geographic data. This paper (1) presents a typical case study using Geographic Information System (GIS) data to evaluate an aging and shrinking society, (2) explores the GIS design approaches configured for an aging society, and (3) evaluates the optimization of environmental performance for an urban regeneration plan. The primary factors related to this urban design case study included, a declining population, mixed urban land use, and the placement of public facilities. We developed a method involving the slope degree to evaluate land-use to model the importance of informational evaluation in the urban planning process. This method could contribute to the urban regeneration for an aging society and could also be applied to other aging and shrinking cities, in mountainous regions.

Space cooling is currently the fastest-growing end-user in buildings. The global warming trend combined with increased population and economic development will lead to accelerated growth in space cooling in the future, especially in China. The hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone is the most densely populated and economically developed region in China, but with the worst indoor thermal environment. Relatively few studies have been conducted on the actual measurements in the optimization of insulation design under typical intermittent cooling modes in this region. This case study was conducted in Chengdu—the two residences selected were identical in design, but the south bedroom of the case study residence had interior insulation (inside insulation on all opaque interior surfaces of a space) retrofitted in the bedroom area in 2017. In August 2019, a comparative on-site measurement was done to investigate the effect of the retrofit work under three typical intermittent cooling patterns in the real-life scenario. The experimental result shows that interior insulation provides a significant improvement in energy-saving and the indoor thermal environment. The average energy savings in daily cooling energy consumption of the south bedroom is 42.09%, with the maximum reaching 48.91%. In the bedroom with interior insulation retrofit, the indoor temperature is closer to the set temperature and the vertical temperature difference is smaller during the cooling period; when the air conditioner is off, the room remains a comfortable temperature for a slightly longer time.

Energy consumption is a major sustainability issue. One of the largest portions of energy consumption in buildings comes from cooling. This paper proposes the use of L-shaped minilouvers as shading, which both improve useful daylight illuminance (UDI) and reduce cooling-energy consumption. Jakarta, Indonesia was chosen as the study location since it has driving factors for higher cooling energy, ranging from those of demographic to the environment. An open office was chosen for simulation in Rhinoceros 3D with the Grasshopper, LadyBug, and Honeybee plug-ins, which utilize the EnergyPlus engine. Following the UDI and cooling-energy simulations, surveys were conducted to gather the information of the price of materials for shading and electricity. Savings from cooling energy were compared with the cost of shading application to obtain the simple payback periods. The best shading was provided by L-shaped minilouvers, which can achieve a simple payback period of 0.86 years, reducing cooling-energy consumption by around 18% while improving around 16.78 UDI in comparison with the base case with the average of all the orientations. All simulated L-shaped minilouvers also performed better than the overhang did, which is a more common form of shading in the simulated location.

This study aims to characterize the Japanese household properties, meanwhile investigates the electricity consumption by end-use of 12 households in electric-only apartments in Kitakyushu, Japan. Achieved electricity data from the measurement and household surveys, the author perceived significant relationships between the household characteristics and Electricity End-Use. Since the investigation conducted in the winter, heating systems become the primary consuming appliances with 38 % in total usage. Energy-related behavior closely linked to the room's function and house appliance ownership than floor areas, while the distribution of energy varied according to each lifestyle circumstance. Living rooms seemed to get more usage priority at these residential apartments, while private spaces indicated less often used. By classifying pair groups of participants in common and different traits, comparison analysis carries out numerous relationships among energy consumption, housing characteristics, and household characteristics. Finally, the study lays a platform for applying energy monitors and household surveys, which defines the contribution of detailed data in analyzing household energy-related lifestyle. Thus, the energy performance reports can help to elevate awareness of saving energy in residential apartments. This paper suggested a combination of experiments, surveys, and questionnaire methodology to give an example for future studies regarding energy-related lifestyle and energy-saving strategies.

To explore the applicability of rammed earth in China's rural buildings, we took the Anji RE house for study. This paper performed an analysis on materials and envelope thermal characteristic, results showed that the average heat transfer coefficient of the RE wall is 1.52W/(m2·k) which meets the related thermal codes. After roof modification using the lightweight clay measuring which the conductivity coefficient is 0.1216 (W·m-1·K-1), the average heat coefficient of two roofs (air-insulation roof and lightweight clay roof) are respectively 0.654W/(m2·k), 0.268W/(m2·k) that also meet the related codes.

After the war, with the economy recovered, the changing of population structure in Japan is immense. Because of the low birth rate and the average age of old people continually augment, Japan soon had entered into the aging society period. Aging speed is faster than most of the European countries. And Japanese society had influenced by the arises problems, especially the housing problem. The functional performance of building needs to consider more about old peoples’ safety, comfort and convenience. And also should consider about their psychological problem. In this paper, first I’m going to present an overview of the Japanese people's living problems under the aging society. And then I will describe some case studies of housing for elderly now in Kitakyushu City of Japan, including the countermeasure about planning details, caring system and the relevant policies.

The gully region of Loess Plateau is one of the earliest human settlement areas and the most ecologically sensitive areas in China. It has been facing challenges for future development. Gully village is the smallest social units on Loess Plateau that owns large amount of agricultural population. However, due to inappropriate development planning and lack of developing directions, they are gradually disappearing. Based on the practical investigations of the Gully Regions of Loess Plateau, this paper aims to explore a new way for the future development of gully villages. Firstly, it classifies the gully villages by the distribution of location. Secondly, selecting ecological construction evaluation factors of gully village and completing the quantitative evaluation are applied on the suitability and sensitivity of ecological sustainable development classification. Thirdly, according to the comprehensive evaluation, the developing condition of each gully village is divided into “Good”, “General” and “Poor”. Finally, this paper figures out the future developing direction for gully villages in different developing conditions.

Robotic tectonics have been integrated into the architectural profession through automated construction for more than a decade, advancing sustainability initiatives in the industry and increasing the quality of building construction. Over the years, avant-garde architects have explored the feasibility of this new design paradigm through the integration of newly-developed digital design software into automated construction. This robotic digital workflow continues to push designers to re-think the complete architecture process (from design conception to physical construction) and guides the building industry towards more precise, efficient, and sustainable development. However, in the current environment of architectural education, professional courses can be fragmented, thematic, and overly academic. Such content is not inherently compatible with the latest technological developments. The lack of understanding and application of digital technological can subsequently lead to the lack of sustainable development in architectural education. In this paper, we aim to introduce a new didactic pedagogical approach that is reliant on the principles of robotic tectonics and is defined through linear development in four distinct, developmental stages (based on information gleaned from four “Robotic Tectonics” workshops and various other rich teaching practices). This pedagogical framework provides interdisciplinary knowledge to architecture students and enables them to use advanced digital tools such as robots for automated construction, laying the groundwork for the discovery of new and complex building processes that will redefine architecture in the near future.

Sektor konstruksi dan bangunan, terutama hunian dan bangunan komersil, berkontribusi hampir 40% dalam mempercepat proses pemanasan global. Hal ini disebabkan oleh konsumsi energi berlebih oleh penghuni bangunan dalam upaya beradaptasi dengan perubahan suhu pada tempat tinggalnya. Walaupun demikian, hal ini dapat diantisipasi oleh stakeholder terutama arsitek dan desainer dengan menerapkan model desain yang berorientasi pada perfoma bangunan pada saat tahap awal desain. Perancangan arsitektur masa kini banyak mengalami perubahan dikarenakan pengaruh dari perkembangan komputer. Digital design salah satu cabang yang berkembang dalam arsitektur memiliki peran yang sangat penting dalam membentuk pola pikir desain arsitektur masa kini. Sebut saja Parametric Design dan Generative Algorithm, yang merupakan suatu pendekatan desain yang mengandalkan kemampuan komputer dalam mengambil alih perhitungan-perhitungan matematis yang komplek dalam proses perancangan arsitektur. Penelitian ini akan membahas penggunaan platform tersebut dalam menginvestigasi peran dan fitur dari komponen fasad diantaranya panjang kanopi jendela, luas permukaan bukaan, tinggi ambang atas dan bawah dari jendela dan derajat perputaran orientasi bangunan dengan studi kasus Institut Teknologi Sumatera, dengan iterasi secara generative untuk mengukur target goal dari proses perancangan seperti Operative Temperature, View Percentage, Daylight Simulation, Surface Temperature, Sun Hours Simulation. Hasil yang didapatkan dari proses iterasi pada 34 generasi menggambarkan preferred solution adalah individual yang memiliki sudut perputaran 6 derajat, Panjang cantilever jendela 0.9 meter, glazing ratio 0.2%, tinggi ambang atas dan bawah jendela adalah 3,5-meter dan 10 cm.

This paper aims to find the microclimate aspect within the building form and configuration of five low-cost apartments (henceforth rusun) in Bandung, Indonesia. There are parallel, square, and interspersed plots investigated with specific discussion on the microclimate aspects that gain human perception of outdoor thermal comfort. The microclimate prognostic model, i.e., ENVI-met, was used to determine the mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), which was then used to describe the living quality of outdoor thermal comfort, i.e., PET (physiologically equivalent temperature) in a hot-humid climate context. A parallel plot with building orientation toward north-south was found as the most beneficial building form and configuration. Somehow, the parallel plot toward the west-east orientation did not provide similar performance. Nevertheless, the square plot provided uncomfortable perception as there was an absence of building shade within the wide open space and ground cover to absorb the insolation. The interspersed plot can be considered for the building configuration because it generates more wind among other plots. The building form and configuration of rusun with passive design seems to not be able to achieve outdoor thermal comfort. The highest PET value of Model D with the square plot had PET = 41 &deg, C (hot) while the lowest PET in Model A with the parallel plot (N-S) had PET = 34.2 &deg, C (slightly warm).

In this paper, the thermal performance of a sunspace attached to a house with a central air conditioning system was experimentally investigated. The house with a south-facing sunspace is located in Miyazaki, Japan, where heating is required in winter. In order to reduce the heating energy in winter, the hot air from the attached sunspace is sent to the central air conditioning room, from where it is then distributed and stored throughout the house by way of air circulation. Only when the temperature in the sunspace exceeds 24 °C is the hot air in the sunspace sent to the central air conditioning room. The air circulation between the attached sunspace and central air conditioning room is 500 m3/h. The temperature of the attached sunspace and each room were measured. The results showed that a house with a sunspace can save about 12.2% of energy compared to a house without a sunspace.