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The increased focus on mental health and well-being in the past few decades has brought renewed attention to our urban environments, where more than half of the world’s population live. Happiness in cities, often measured by tourist dollars or a city’s ability to recruit and retain skilled professionals or estimates of general satisfaction and wellbeing, has fostered a competitive nature between cities. Helsinki (Finland), Aarhus (Denmark), and Wellington (New Zealand) are internationally recognised, ranking as the top three happiest cities in the world according to the World Happiness Report of 2020. However, a close examination of the Happiness Report, the manner in which data is captured and the congruencies between the top cities raises questions about the ability of a second-tier city to ever rank highly. This research investigates the section of the report that addresses the design of cities and compares it with the literature on those elements of the built form that can improve the happiness of city residents. After extracting the key elements of urban design for a happy city, it then uses these constructs to examine a second-tier city in New Zealand and uses the example of an unhappy city to illuminate improvements that might make it happier. The research finds some alignment with the Happy City predicates but also finds sufficient additional complexity in second-tier cities to warrant a set of independent measures.

There is a growing need to develop cheap and efficient means of energy storage for electrification of transportation and harnessing solar and wind energy associated with intermittency in order to meet the goal of decarbonization. Among the various energy storage options, lithium (Li) batteries have revolutionized portable electronics and emerged as the frontrunner for transportation and grid storage. The high energy density, long life and stringent safety requirements of transportation and grid storage have made it challenging to use the current state of the art Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, the moderate energy density of current Li batteries means that electric vehicles have limited range and are more expensive than the gas-powered equivalents. The limited range of batteries coupled with a lack of public charging infrastructure results in severe range anxiety among potential customers, hampering the adoption of electric vehicles. Some studies have shown that a majority of range anxiety is a result of the lack of charging infrastructure rather than the limited range of electric vehicles as the current range is about where customers would need it to be. Solving this issue in infrastructure is not as simple as installing more chargers wherever it is convenient to do so. Improperly placed chargers will likely see low utilization rates, negatively impacting the economics of that charging station, and will inadequately service the demand. Determining where to place chargers requires an understanding of the complex interactions between the city dynamics, vehicle dynamics and battery dynamics and how each of those are impacted by the local climate. In this dissertation, I build a complex system analysis tool that can be used to analyze the large scale dynamics of an electric vehicle fleet and use that to optimally place charging stations. I start by developing the different battery models that can be used within the algorithm to capture the dynamics of the battery. Battery models can range in complexity from a simple equivalent circuit model all the way to multiple partial differential equations describing the intricate electrochemical processes that go on inside the battery. The main trade off of these models is made between accuracy and computational cost. Simple battery models can be quickly computed but will often miss the more intricate details of the battery dynamics; while a more complex model will accurately capture those effects in exchange for additional time to compute. Thus, a balanced model must be chosen so that the large complex system model that is run can capture some of those intricate details while not taking too long to resolve the model. The analysis then transitions into studying the performance metrics of both terrestrial electric vehicles and electric air taxis. In these models, a physics model is developed to calculate the power required of the electric vehicles in order to successfully complete their tasks under average conditions. The power profile is then sent to a battery model to compute the battery performance metrics necessary to successfully electrify that vehicle. While the average conditions can be used to evaluate the general performance conditions and corresponding trade-offs, it is not enough to evaluate the electric vehicle performance in a real scenario. Further, other models make large assumptions about the operating conditions of the vehicle which can inaccurately represent the average operating condition of a vehicle within the various environments it might encounter. To augment this investigation, a complex system analysis model is created which will allow for a more dynamic prediction of the performance metrics for the electric vehicles. The model will do so by creating a realistic distribution of simulated vehicles, using the population dynamics inherent to the location, and then calculates the vehicle power requirements based on the environment in which it is operating. The power dynamics are then sent to the battery model which uses the chemistry of the battery within the vehicle and the temperature to determine how the power required by the vehicle dynamically depletes the battery. By tracking the vehicle and battery performance over all of the simulated vehicles, a series of statistics around the performance of the electric vehicle fleet can be determined. This statistical information can be used in a variety of applications such as charging infrastructure as will be described later in this work. To demonstrate the results that can be produced by the software, terrestrial fleet case studies were performed in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Arizona and Colorado where, in each study, the application of each input was weighed against the model with no environmental considerations while a variety of battery chemistries and spawn conditions were tested. An analysis of the model’s applicability to charging infrastructure was explored using Massachusetts and Colorado as the target locations. Throughout these studies, battery chemistry and opportunistic charging is applied to determine how they impact the public charging infrastructure that is needed. A scaling approach to charging infrastructure is then developed and used to compare these results to demonstrate some of the key differences that can emerge. This study is then concluded with a look at the model’s applicability to electric aircraft which is an emerging technology that will be deployed in a variety of cities over the coming years.

Skateboarding is diversifying and gaining popularity amongst women and girls, neurodivergent, gender diverse and disabled folks. It is a self-paced, unstructured sport, tied to the urban environment, and is relatively affordable and accessible. There is increasing recognition of the social and cultural value of skateboarding in cities (Borden, 2019), as an activity that activates disused public spaces, and could contribute to making spaces safer for other users (Eden, 2016). It could be argued that a liveable city is a skateable city. Despite this, the planning and design of urban spaces typically either overlooks the potential program of skating (missing opportunities to make spaces skateable), or actively defends against skating, in the use of hostile metal ‘skate stoppers’ on ledges and furniture. These approaches work to relegate skateboarding to the confines of skateparks, but in Aotearoa New Zealand there is a shortage of dedicated urban skateparks, and most of the existing ones are outdated, weathered and not fit for purpose. This paper presents a collaborative project from Wellington, in Aotearoa New Zealand, which involves local government, designer-researchers and the skateboarding community working together to involve skaters in the redesign of an important but problematic central city skatepark. The project centers the voices of skaters, acknowledging their skills, expertise and experience, in order to create a future city that supports and fosters skate culture, as an exemplar of an inclusive, and collective approach to design and planning, that recognizes the valuable cultural and social contribution that skateboarding makes to a city. Borden, I, Skateboarding and the City: A complete History. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019. Eden, Gustav, quoted in Free Skate Magazine, 2016. https://www.freeskatemag.com/2016/11/09/inside-man-gustav-eden/

In the face of the climate crisis, many countries are intensifying cities in a bid to reduce urban sprawl and minimise carbon production. In Aotearoa New Zealand we are observing similar trends, with many new-built homes having smaller living spaces and private outdoor areas. Aotearoa is a small, colonised country, where the legacy of 20th century suburban backyard sections impacts cultural expectations of how people socialise and spend time outdoors. As our major cities intensify, it is critical that the public amenities grow alongside to off-set reduction in private space whilst also reclaiming cultural narratives and honoring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These new public spaces need to recognise the social and cultural shift that they facilitate. This paper presents an interdisciplinary design research project that explores how industrial design and urban design combine to create solutions that better meet the needs of communities in Pōneke Wellington (NZ). The project analyzes the shifting built and social environments of Wellington, and proposes new possibilities for industrial design interventions that support and foster a cultural shift toward social inhabitation of urban spaces. The project is a provocation for rethinking the social potential of public space, exemplifying an approach centring the cultural and social needs of users and communities in order to enrich and transform urban environments. Underpinned by indigenous knowledge and values (Tikanga Māori), the research promotes ‘manaakitanga’ or generous hospitality, and aims to develop inclusive, accessible, culturally responsive, and generous social spaces supporting a transition to a more livable, lower carbon city.

A research team at the Carnegie Mellon University Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics has developed a Smart Surfaces Guidebook for city policymakers to use as a decision-making guide. Rapid urbanization is replacing natural land with dark, impervious surfaces. This has led to dire urban consequences including rising temperatures and stormwater deluge, resulting in significantly higher energy costs, greater stormwater damage, and associated health and comfort impacts. These issues can be mitigated using smart surfaces, those with high reflectivity and permeability, which can achieve sustainable and regenerative cities. The current literature on the benefits of urban surfaces is very segmented, focusing on either one specific surface type or one property of surfaces. A smart surface taxonomy with correlated heat and water metrics has been developed to fill this gap. A range of city surfaces in three broad categories - roofs, streets and sidewalks, and parking lots - have been identified with various levels of reflectivity, and permeability. The development of a smart surface taxonomy with quantified benefits for mitigating or adapting to climate change will be critical for decision-makers to make informed decisions on city surface choices. The Guidebook includes real-world case studies that had applied Smart Surfaces strategies, an introduction to the Smart Surfaces Taxonomy with appealing graphics in surface details, and various Smart Surfaces investment scenarios for policymakers to consider.

In preparation for the proximity to hazards dashboard (PHD) upgrade dealing with environmental justice issues in Chicago, and as part of the community-based participatory design approach, we are adding new exposure sources of concern for communities and improving the interface's functionality. A preliminary analysis of this information revealed that most asphalt plants and rail yard support facilities are primarily in Chicago's southwest side. These rail yard support facilities require elevated truck traffic levels to accommodate the high volume of containers passing trough the intermodal terminals. In addition, the prevailing wind direction and the location of all these sources are likely to enhance the environmental burden on some downwind communities in the SW.

The article explores the technological features and mechanisms of realization of VR, AR, MR, etc., and illustrates how XR promotes participation in the field of architecture. On this basis, it explores the prospective trend of a combination of participatory design and new technologies.

© 2015 IEEE. This paper shows the progress of an ongoing digital heritage research focusing on Kashgar, a unique historical city in the westernmost part of China. The project aims to decode intangible heritage with the help of tangible characteristics representing Kashgar architecture. Narrow alleyways of Kashgar accommodate multifunctional usage formed by the local distinctive culture. The presented study follows a 'research through design methodology'. The interpretation of the heritage information is a game design that feeds research. Through an architectural game alternative agglomerations are generated that employ 'design-grammars' developed on the basis of Kashgar's architecture and vivid street life. The study reveals the first step of photogrammetry documentations and aerial views of a specific part of Kashgar's old town, 'Gaotai' (- Kozichiyar Beshi).

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This booklet provides an account of the Newton Fund project Repositioning Graphic Heritage, undertaken by researchers at Loughborough University (UK) and Tongji University (China) between 2018–2021. It contains eight case studies, four from several cites in the UK and four from Shanghai in China. It features extensive photo-documentation and an overview of activities organised as part of the project. The text is in English and Chinese.

This research brief presents baseline qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with park advocates and their perception of safety and crime in their park, involvement in park programming, and their use of communication and marketing tools to inform others of park events.

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9ABSTRACTThe current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has challenged urban mobilities of all kinds. Micro-mobility had been long recognised as an alternative transport mode for short-distance trips, but has been largely ignored in New Zealand cities in response to safe and alternative urban mobilities during the pandemic. Using Auckland in New Zealand as a case study, this paper explores micro-mobility devices used during the pandemic. It shows that in Auckland, the reactive way of comprehending micro-mobility in the city created confusion about the current and future use of such devices and services, impeded infrastructure management, especially the pedestrian environment, and challenged the right to the public realm. Apart from future research projects, this paper suggests that, with clear policies and regulations, not only can micro-mobility be an additional option for frontline workers and citizens during a time of uncertainty, but they can also be part of the integrated transport system and an alternative for personal and short-distance trips that are mostly undertaken by cars. This paper will further contribute to UN’s Sustainable development goal 9, which advocates the resilient infrastructure, and promote sustainable industrialisation and technological innovation.

Temporary interventions in public space are becoming important tools for rethinking and changing urban environments. They prompt a more democratic approach to change because they facilitate knowledge around participation, appropriation and use of public space. From a case study approach, this paper will describe how temporary interventions can respond to new democratic needs while progressively generating new social life and a sense of place. This research will consider the Tory Street temporary project as a case study from which to extract applicable knowledge. The Tory Street project was the product of a partnership between Landscape Architecture/School of Architecture/Victoria University of Wellington (SoA/VUW) and Wellington City Council (WCC), New Zealand. Using participatory processes, the parties collectively designed and implemented a temporary intervention with local stakeholders. Research around new ways of decision-making and use of public space was developed from the case study. The analysis methodology of the use of a temporary public space innovates by using parametric data to highlight how time, environmental conditions and spatial components shape the type of users and activities. Through practice-based research, this paper showcases how the space was colonized and how a progressive sense of place was experienced. It presents how tensions arose between different types of users and how conflicts were minimized by introducing changes to the space. Finally, this research demonstrates the value of temporary interventions for developing more democratic approaches to urban change.

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9ABSTRACTCommunity-led housing was initiated in Myanmar in the late 2010s to counter the housing shortage faced by the urban poor. It has been helping the urban poor to secure the tenancy and ownership of affordable houses. However, the lack of design guidelines with the limited technical knowledge and finance resulted in sub-standard housings which led to the residents implementing modifications in their own houses to fulfil their needs. This study, thus, identifies the self-modifications patterns and the responsible reasons in the community-led housings in Yangon. Using case-study method, the study found that the residents made spatial extension, material changes and added supplementary building elements. The changes are done mainly due to the low performance of house caused by problems such as material wear-off, space limitation and poor indoor environmental conditions. Unlike the initial design, the modified dwellings had become more urban-oriented, durable and aesthetically pleasing. This study reveals the residents’ changing needs and preferences while also raise the awareness of the housing flexibility and the indoor environmental quality as the design considerations. It contributes to the development of design guidelines for community-led housing that is both liveable and affordable for low-income families.

SPARC 2021 Poster No. 2The green agenda is high on the national government agenda, with a new £40 million scheme to encourage a sustainable recovery alongside policies, such as the 25 Year Environment Plan and other tools, pushing more investment into the area. With this push, we are now seeing innovation in urban green infrastructure: from pocket parks to the Americanised models of community gardens, becoming more frequent across our cityscapes. This paper critically explores the rise of ‘radical sustainability’ and the need to embrace new forms of urban green infrastructure. We present a case study of a multifunctional forest school in Salford, reflecting on our work in enabling the project, along with its potential impacts. The multidisciplinary team made up of an urban geography, a contextual studies scholar, and an illustrator, also present a visual methodology framework which could be replicated in future studies. The paper demonstrates the transformative nature of radical schemes and calls for more funding to push forward the practice in the North West and beyond.

SPARC 2021 Poster No. 7Regenerating cities and adapting them to contemporary life circumstances is essential for improving cities' economic, social, and cultural situations. In order to regenerate cities, we, therefore, need to pay more attention to the cultural aspects of how they were developed and maintained. The research aims to examine the concept of creative hubs, based on their cultural context, to regenerate cities based on social, economic, environmental, and cultural innovations. The creative hub concept aims to build strategies for achieving a new sustainable development model that is consistent with the spirit of the time in response to the following question: How can cities achieve sustainable development through the concept of a creative hub? Moreover, how can we use the interaction between Art & Culture, Knowledge-based organizations, and Community projects to regenerate cities? This research builds on the relevant literature to demonstrate the importance of the links between local culture and the urban sustainable development process. Culture-led sustainable urban development encompasses multiple steps that may include complementary quantitative and qualitative criteria and multiple decision-makers. Therefore, in this research, a hybrid Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach is used for identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision-makers. The MCDM model integrates the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM)", fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method for identifying the priorities of factors that affecting and challenging sustainable development and meanwhile finding the best strategies to overcome these challenges.

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9ABSTRACTOver the past century, population growth and climate change have affected most cities in developing countries, being damaged extensively at different scales. For instance, in Iran, the historical sustainable blue-green infrastructure (BGI) is under pressing pressure. However, sustainable BGI could support the environmental, social, and economic sustainability and mitigate as well as adapt to climate change. Qazvin, the historical Persian garden city in the middle of Iran, is a valuable sample of sustainable adaptation to drought and water shortage. Due to the urban development process, population growth, and climate change during the last century, Qazvin has lost a significant part of its historical blue-green infrastructure. This paper aims to assess the effects of population growth and climate change on sustainable BGI in Qazvin and offer appropriate solutions for conserving and rehabilitating sustainable BGI. The research methodology is the case study method. Hence, the principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability dimensions in the blue-green infrastructure are identified. Data related to population growth, climate change, and urban development in Qazvin are collected, and the effects of these factors on sustainable BGI are analyzed. Finally, the proposed mechanism implementing the sustainable BGI adapted to climate change and urban development has been introduced.

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9ABSTRACTResidential neighbourhoods in urban China have witnessed great change over the last forty years due to rapid urbanisation. This has placed great pressure on landscape urban design to provide quality outdoor environments that support community interaction, recreation, wellbeing and place attachment for residents. Currently, there are two typical residential models: one, mid-rise apartment blocks with unrestricted street patterns built in the 1980s and 1990s; the other, high-rise towers in gated superblocks built in the past 20 years. Using a comparative case study of these two residential models, this study investigates the attributes shared outdoor environments to identify those that may contribute to place attachment. Theories of place attachment, urban spatial design and environment-behaviour studies provide the conceptual framework for this study. Three methods were used: (a) semi-structured interviews with adult residents; (b) a questionnaire with adult residents; (c) and participant observation of the outdoor areas. Data analysis will be used to identify the convergence and divergence of residents’ experiences of shared outdoor environments in each of the two residential models. This study is timely in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for evidence-based design practice in landscape architecture in relation to the design of outdoor settings in residential neighbourhoods in China.

SPARC 2021 Poster No. 24As the effects of climate change spread across the globe, sustainable solutions from different walks of life continue to emerge. Sustainable practice of greening the built environment continues to receive great attention as part of the solution to mitigate the effect of climate change. Living wall system refers to planting on the vertical surfaces of buildings either upright or sloping surfaces. Living wall system as climate mitigation tool modifies negative environmental issues due to its numerous benefits. There is need for more empirical data on living wall system to enhance its application. While living wall systems are an integral part of strategies to mitigate against environmental impact of climate change in Europe, the technique has not been explored in sub-Saharan Africa especially Nigeria. This research aims to review the living wall systems and subsequently determine their potential application in parts of Nigeria and other semi-arid regions of the world. Plant species that thrive in the region will be reviewed from literature and their relationship with living wall design will be evaluated. Furthermore, the generated knowledge will be investigated under various scenarios using the envi-met simulation model. The outcome from this research would provide design guidelines for building professionals and government on implementation of the living wall system.

The concept of Form-Based Code is of central importance in American New Urbanism. There is an increasing concern on Form-Based Code’s components and adoptions in cities and countries in the USA. This paper aims to extend Form-Based Code’s study to high-density cities of Asia. It explores the methodology of embedding parametric thinking into the multi-scenario evaluation of Form-Based Code. The methodology framework is developed by taking advantage of parametric modelling instruments which visualizes the coding procedure on software interfaces. Using Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong as the experimental site, the paper concludes with a parametric evaluation system towards a walkable and accessible environment in the volumetric urban morphology of high-density cities.

Temporary interventions in public space are becoming important tools for rethinking and changing urban environments. They prompt a more democratic approach to change because they facilitate knowledge around participation, appropriation and use of public space. From a case study approach, this paper will describe how temporary interventions can respond to new democratic needs while progressively generating new social life and a sense of place. This research will consider the Tory Street temporary project as a case study from which to extract applicable knowledge. The Tory Street project was the product of a partnership between Landscape Architecture/School of Architecture/Victoria University of Wellington (SoA/VUW) and Wellington City Council (WCC), New Zealand. Using participatory processes, the parties collectively designed and implemented a temporary intervention with local stakeholders. Research around new ways of decision-making and use of public space was developed from the case study. The analysis methodology of the use of a temporary public space innovates by using parametric data to highlight how time, environmental conditions and spatial components shape the type of users and activities. Through practice-based research, this paper showcases how the space was colonized and how a progressive sense of place was experienced. It presents how tensions arose between different types of users and how conflicts were minimized by introducing changes to the space. Finally, this research demonstrates the value of temporary interventions for developing more democratic approaches to urban change.

Submitted Abstracts for the 4th APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 14-18 December 2020

Hong Kong’s building density is one of the highest in the world. Since ventilation is a key element in sustainable and environmental design, there is a need to evaluate local wind environments of high dense cities such as Hong Kong. In recent years non-standard curvilinear residential buildings that don’t follow conventional rectilinear block structures are becoming increasingly more popular. Though various studies of ventilation conditions of conventionally design buildings have been made, research of non-standard curvilinear building layouts is still limited. Previous research mainly explored rectilinear block-shaped layouts that typically cause a so called ‘Wall-Effect’ by blocking adequate ventilation on street- and mid-levels around buildings. Our paper presents and summarizes the analysis of airflow and ventilation of non-standard curvilinear buildings based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The Flow Simulation of Solidworks has been used as our analysis software tools. Its technology is based upon the use of Cartesian based meshes and solving the Navier-Stokes equations. Nonstandard and curvilinear shaped building arrangements are categorized into various groups and analyzed in respect to their performance of ventilation on street and mid-levels using a case study of high rise buildings in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s climate is subtropical warm and humid in summer, subsequently a higher ventilation is needed and building design has to accommodate good airflow around the buildings. Our findings show that curvilinear buildings lead to a more favourable ventilation environment since they have a smaller wind resistance. Non-standard curvilinear designs perform better in terms of general ventilation since the airflow around the buildings is faster and less turbulent. Our simulations present that convex-shaped buildings have a better overall wind environment than concave-shaped ones. We conclude our paper with a classification of various nonstandard curvilinear buildings that offer a general better airflow and ventilation due to their shape. This classification allows designer to understand quickly wind resistance, airflow, and turbulences that a non-standard curvilinear design has on the immediate environment.

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9ABSTRACTAt the beginning of the 21st century, as rapid urbanization becomes a global phenomenon, smart city becoming more and more a future-proof solution for cities with rising unprecedented challenges of congested infrastructure, population density, energy inefficiency and global public health. In this context, digital twin was initially introduced by Dr Michael Grieves in 2002 as a key enabler technology to improve product manufacture and complex systems, and later bloomed as a new concept to promote better design, system integration and troubleshooting of the physical city through simulation, automation and visualisation. This paper, in aiming to understand how digital twin was rapidly adopted by a number of pioneer entrepreneurs, cities and nations, provides a narrative and categorical perspective of digital twin appearance in literature and explores the extents where a real-time cyber presentation of the city can support mediating urban issues within the context of global pandemic. In result, a longitudinal section of digital twin and smart city development has been introduced, including the evolvement of digital model, digital shadows to digital twin, as well as the rising interest of academia and private sector to the technology.

Presentation

The profile of New Zealand housing has for some time been dominated by the stand alone suburban house. However, this pattern absorbs considerable land resource and leads to socially stagnant environments, heavily dependent on private motorcars. For these reasons the largest New Zealand cities have declared limits to peripheral growth. Such limits coupled with changes in lifestyle lead naturally to intensification of existing residential areas. Urban planning and design objectives that underpin residential intensification are sound; greater densities can provide for improved social opportunities, bolster economic circumstances to enable a greater range of services to be offered and can make better use of existing physical infrastructure. However, experience shows that the built outcomes are patchy and that many infill projects fall short of meeting expectations for on-site amenity and/or appear to be at odds with the character of the surrounding area. In late 2005, Housing New Zealand Corporation organised an architectural design competition for comprehensive redevelopment of a large site in the Auckland region. On the basis of this representative cross section of designers, research aiming to evaluate achievement by New Zealand designers in terms of residential amenity and fit with the surrounding context was conducted. A review of literature, including the design brief and a number of design guides for infill housing, informs criteria addressing key urban design and architectural amenity issues specific to medium density housing. The criteria were used to assess the entries using a five point scale. The methodology generates data that are used to compare entries and analyses relative strengths and weaknesses seen across all schemes. The results provide a snapshot of contemporary practice in New Zealand, suggesting where strengths and weaknesses lie with respect to planning and design of medium density housing.

A reflection of transcoding is projected in the context of museums as cultural heritage institutions that seek innovative ways for converting and tapping into the realm of mass and social media. In parallel with the New Museology movement having been discussed since 1970s critiques of traditional curatorial practices argue that ordinary objects are more informative than precious elements. Based on critical reflections of the novel The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk, this paper presents an analysis of its main stakeholders (object, visitor and collector) in the context of heritage. Hereby the New Aesthetic that employs variety of digital technologies is discussed of how a contemporary curatorship sits in contrast to conventional comprehension of arts in respect of the phenomena itself. Arguably critical to Kant’s philosophy, object-oriented ontology suggests to go further than the relations between humans and computers. The argument between opponents and supporters of the movement is whether a machine can define our aesthetic apprehension; whether we can experience the world through their eyes; or rather if transcoding from digital to cultural is worthwhile. Having provided all these background information to ground its focus on its place, this paper is limited to a comparatively analyse of Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence and a digital heritage project, The Museum of Gamers in terms object-oriented perspective as contribution to the aforementioned knowledge.

This paper explores the development of Augmented Spaces that involve embedding within the built environment, digitally responsive recognition of human presence. Contemporary digital media provides the opportunity to enhance physical space with the property of immediate interaction, which results in a high level of user engagement and responsiveness. Through the addition of digital media, emotional and reflective value can be added to the built form. If space is designed to be reactive, rather than passive, a dialogue can be established between the user/inhabitant and the environment. We report on the establishment and analysis of a set of prototype digital interventions in urban space that react to human presence. One is in a building threshold space; one an urban street. We describe the development of a digital particle system with two inputs; the first being the geometry that generates the particles and the second being the geometry that displaces the particles. The research goals that we report on are driven by three overriding response criteria, Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective.

© 2002 IEEE. Recently, virtual environments (VE) have been increasingly used as settings for design and research. Using VE to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design, the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space, solid and void, without translations to and from a two dimensional media. The goal of the authors' studies was to identify how designers use and communicate early design ideas by using immersive three-dimensional (3D) VEs and how they describe 3D volumes using a different media. A series of experiments were undertaken, including navigation- and perception-tasks, designing in IVE, transcription of design, remote communication between design partners and controlled observations. They explored initial intentions of 3D-immersive design schemes, textual descriptions and collaborations within IVE. They discuss frameworks and factors influencing how architectural students communicate their proposals in an immersive Virtual Environment Design Studio, and how this approach of design studio enables to understand volumes and spatial relationships.

Rapid urbanization is replacing natural land with dark, impervious surfaces. This has led to dire urban consequences including rising temperatures and stormwater deluge, resulting in significantly higher energy costs, greater stormwater damage, and associated health and comfort impacts. These issues can be mitigated using smart surfaces, those with high reflectivity and permeability, which can achieve sustainable and regenerative cities. The current literature on the benefits of urban surfaces is very segmented, focusing on either one specific surface type or one property of surfaces. A smart surface taxonomy with correlated heat, and water metrics has been developed to fill this gap. A range of city surfaces in three broad categories - roofs, streets and sidewalks, and parking lots - have been identified with various levels of reflectivity, permeability. Through literature review, the taxonomy reveals surface temperatures that range from 29.7°C for a green roof to 74.3°C for a black roof. Also, the taxonomy reveals Rainfall retention potential ranging from 1.27 mm for impervious pavement to 86.4 mm for bioswales. The development of a smart surface taxonomy with quantified benefits for mitigating or adapting to climate change will be critical for decision-makers to make informed decisions on city surface choices.

This report has been prepared by researchers from the University of Sheffield for built environment, water, and public health professionals in the UK. It collates and presents evidence about the potential benefits of designing Blue Green Infrastructure (BGI) to enhance mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. We hope it will help professionals to advocate for health-promoting BGI to policymakers; to integrate health-promoting BGI into policy, investment, and master-planning; and to design BGI in a way that maximises health benefits. The report identifies three key attributes of BGI that provide health-relevant environmental impacts. Firstly, BGI can be used to promote a healthy physical environment: to diminish noise, reduce heat stress, and improve air quality. Secondly, BGI has beneficial aesthetic and sensory qualities: its appearance, sounds, smells, and tactile qualities can have therapeutic potential even where communities are unable to walk through the area directly (e.g. a pocket park on private land). Thirdly, there are benefits to physically accessible BGI spaces, which can promote exercise and social interaction by allowing a wide range of people with varying mobility needs to pass through them. Together, these aspects of BGI mean that well-designed spaces can make a very real difference. As well as helping to improve general health and wellbeing, they can reduce social and health inequalities in the UK. Research suggests that such health inequalities are currently widening, at a time when the impacts of climate change are also disproportionately impacting poorer communities. We show that BGI offers the opportunity to tackle these two problems together, and thus to build a society that is fair and sustainable for future generations. The COVID-19 pandemic has reemphasised the topicality of this focus, as the quality of people’s local environments is an issue that has been at the forefront of public debate during lockdown. Sections 1 and 2 explain the scope of the report, outline key terminology, and summarise methodological issues. Sections 3-8 then review the literature on the contribution that BGI can make across six specific categories of health impact: noise reduction; heat stress reduction; improved air quality; stress reduction and cognitive restoration; decreased loneliness and enhanced social interaction; and increased physical activity. In section 9, evidence about the potential for BGI to address inequalities is considered. Section 10 then presents the evidence that these impacts can lead to improvements across five wider health outcomes: improved mental health and wellbeing; reduced physical illness; reduced mortality; improved birth outcomes; and healthier body weights. Key design findings are summarised in Section 11. The work was carried out under University of Sheffield Ethics approval no. 022919

Heat services are essential for all households in the Netherlands, because warmth is a basic need (Halse, 2008). Currently, this service is delivered to 95% of households in the Netherlands in the form of natural gas. The earthquakes in Groningen as a result of natural gas extraction have resulted in the fact that this exploitation will stop (S. E. Raad, 2018). For the reason of security of supply, the Netherlands prefers not to rely on foreign countries for the supply of gas. Therefore, the transition from natural gas to alternative sources of heat has been started. The Paris Agreement has set goals for carbon dioxide reduction to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. On top of this, the Dutch Climate agreement has formulated the ambition to reduce CO2-emissions with 49% in 2030, compared to 1990 (S. E. Raad, 2018). These ambitions support the transition from the fossil fuel, CO2-emitting natural gas, to alternative, sustainable and renewable sources of heat.Because of the importance of heat services to secure a basic human need (warmth), it is undesirable to accept large differences in the affordability or access to these services between different groups of society. Currently, the trends of decentralization, increased citizen responsibility, the focus on CO2-emission reduction targets and the previous decades of liberalization, all lead to concerns about the effects of the heat transition (Goldthau, 2014; Szulecki, 2018). These effects are largely unknown to date and will depend on political choices that are made, underpinned by public values. Currently, these values are overshadowed by the urgency of a rapid transition. In order to address these values, the academic field of studying energy justice has emerged, in which justice principles are applied to the field of energy production, consumption, policy, activism and security (Jenkins, McCauley, Heffron, Stephan, Rehner, 2015). Energy justice aims: “to provide all individuals, across all areas, with safe, affordable and sustainable energy” (McCauley, Jenkins, & Forman, 2013).

This thesis argues that Melbourne’s suburbs could better adapt to changing environmental and social needs if residential areas were considered with the same level of spatial complexity as more urbanised centres. By shifting the typical frame of spatial inquiry from the private dwelling to the thresholds in between dwellings, the research examines the lived qualities of contemporary suburbs at a collective level. Design speculations investigate how the assembly of semi-public spaces in residential areas could amplify a range of social economies (identified through the spatial analysis) as catalysts for ongoing transformations, revealing new design possibilities in an evolving (sub)urbanism.

This thesis develops and tests a new tree-scape design approach that is simultaneously visual and functional, responds to critical climatic challenges of heat and flood, as well as complex urban spatial conditions to inform crucial decisions about placement and species choice of trees in urban streets. The thesis findings demonstrate that emerging modelling technologies from gaming, animation and architectural sciences can be combined with techniques from geospatial analytics, algorithmic botany and urban forestry, to create a performance-based design-decision-support system, which can assist landscape architects to coalesce divergent criteria of visual, spatial and functional aspects of tree-scape design.

The large growth of cities over the years has led to a greater resource demand in urban areas. Subsequently, after usage, those resources end up in large waste flows to be transferred to the outskirts of the city and its hinterlands. Moreover, those resources put high pressure on existing urban systems which have to deal with more complexity. An integration of systems is needed to move towards more sustainable cities. The construction sector can be seen as one of the largest contributors to the problem. Although cities are aware of the urgency, their building plans often seem to be in tension with the environmental aims set. The city of Amsterdam has for example planned a significant number of new building projects in the coming years; however, it also has to comply with the national vision set which states the ambition to decrease the amount of raw materials that are used. In order to meet both aims, interventions have to be found for Amsterdam’s building projects in which raw materials can be substituted by reused materials.

Presentation by Dr Robert Harland at the Urban Perspectives on Design Literacy Summer School at Loughborough University, 20–21 June 2019. Robert asked participants to explore how the communication of heritage impacts on the city. Imagine discovering a dead king under a car park, or the unlikely occasion that your local football team wins the football championship. As if! How might such events impact on the presentation of place? In this session delegates explored how we experience heritage through graphic objects. Using a framework tool for discussion, participants were encouraged to think about the role of design in constructing the heritage message.

Every fall semester, the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture conducts an Urban Lab for students in their fifth year of architectural education, a dynamic learning experience that focuses on interaction with community members as the foundation for urban design. Neighborhoods around Pittsburgh are chosen as areas of study, and the students set out to create an urban design intervention by analyzing and mapping their sites, interacting with real community members, and designing a catalytic intervention based off of their gained knowledge. For the Fall of the 2005, the chosen neighborhood of focus was Pittsburgh’s Northside, the once vibrant area of the city that suffered significantly from failed urban renewal efforts in the 1960’s, and the terribly invasive construction of Interstate 279 in the 1980’s. Students embarked on a semester long journey, documented in these pages, to discover and learn about the history and heritage of the Northside, document, map the strengths and weakness of each of its’ distinctive communities, develop frameworks for studying those communities, then generate strategies to form the basis of a final catalytic intervention to illustrate how a small scale urban design and architectural design can influence the 40 year future of a whole community. Along the way students learned how to interact with community members, develop visions for the future, and come to understand and respect the Northside and its’ citizens for all the wonderful assets they contributes to Pittsburgh.

This fall the Urban Laboratory has collaborated with the Pittsburgh community of Larimer. This historic neighborhood sits in the center of Pittsburgh’s vibrant and resurgent East End. Over the last twenty years Larimer has remained cut-off from the success of the surrounding communities, suffering from extreme vacancy, disinvestment and concentrated poverty. This studio has explored how physical urban design strategies could address this situation to reimagine and revitalize Larimer. Collaborating with two major community organizations, East Liberty Concerned Citizens and The Kingsley Association, and working with the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, our students have examined two radically different approaches to how the neighborhood could evolve over the next 40 years.

Publication of proceedings (in Chinese) for Design for Heritage in Theory symposium held at Tongji University College of Design and Innovation on 15 October 2019. Each paper is accompanied by an abstract in Chinese and English. The document also includes a reprint of a conference paper initially published in proceedings for the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) conference held at Manchester Metropolitan University between 1–4 November 2019, titled 'Defining urban graphic heritage for economic development in the UK and China'.Please note that the images in the paper may be under a different licence to CC BY-NC. Please refer to the copyright of each image before reproducing this document.

This PhD research investigates the potential of catchment-scale thinking as a new, emerging approach for the spatial integration of water landscape in urban infill situation in the context of climate change. The research proposes a series of exemplary water-sensitive demonstration projects in Melbourne that can serve as adaptable models for other ‘growing water cities’. To this end, the PhD uses design research, computation and generative design as the main research methods.

YeeKee Ku (2020) Measuring intensity and frequency of human activities, Ali Ghaffarianhoseini, et al (eds), Imaginable Futures: Design Thinking, and the Scientific Method. 54th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association, Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), 11 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-9923835-7-2 https://doi.org/10.26188/12782321.v10https://anzasca.net/category/conference-papers/2020-conference-papers/https://anzasca.net/paper/measuring-intensity-and-frequency-of-human-activities/

The Fall 2007 Urban Laboratory consisted of three studios studying a large urban brownfi eld adjacent to the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hazelwood. The studio explored reclaiming and reprogramming this post-industrial urban terrain by reconnecting it to surrounding human and natural ecologies, exploring programmatic scenarios, and designing a piece of sustainable contemporary urbanism. Working in pairs, students examined how the site could be transformed into a new sustainable urban neighborhood combining residential, retail, offi ce, institutional, and research uses. The studio explored the tenets of good urban design, and then attempted to advance them to fi t the requirements of a fi rst-rate twenty-fi rst century “new town” with local, regional and global connectivity.

Sigradi 2018 presentation + Presentations

The current food-system is highly unsustainable as it is responsible for up to 50% of all anthropogenic environmental pressure. Therefore, there is a need to transform the current food-system, in particular the demand-side. Cities form the agglomeration of food consumption with limited capacity for food production. Addressing urban consumption and the inherent environmental impacts are considered key factors for climate change mitigation. In order to develop sustainability strategies for a city, a baseline assessment of urban food consumption and environmental impacts is required. A bottom-up approach is suggested to be suitable for consumption-based accounting of urban food-systems. However, there is no consensus on this approach nor the implementation of it due to a lack of modelling experience and data on urban food-consumption.The aim of this thesis was to explore the bottom-up modelling approach for consumption-based accounting of urban food consumption. Almere was used as a case-study to explore how a robust bottom-up model can be designed. Hereby, the study aimed to contribute to the debate on suitable modelling approach and the otherwise lack of urban food-systems studies. Lastly, it aimed to provide recommendations for Almere to develop sustainability strategies.The hybrid UM-LCA method was used to develop a bottom-up model for Almere. Dietary data was used as a basis to model the annual consumption of the city and therefrom the associated food-system was modelled. Primary data acquisition on the food purchasing behaviour of the citizens of Almere was done by means of a survey (N=663).The annual consumption of Almere is estimated at 156 k tons of food per year. This includes food that is eaten and wasted by retail, food-services and households. The environmental impacts on air, water and land were modelled for the food-system of Almere by using three indicators. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) was estimated between 351 - 411 k tons CO 2 eq. emissions per year. Freshwater Eutrophication Potential (FEP) was estimated between 153 - 169 tons P eq. deposition and the Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO) between 174 - 189 km 2 per year. However, further research is recommended for both the FEP and ALO to increase reliability. Production and processing of the food were responsible for the largest share of environmental impact for each indicator (≥86%). The food categories with the highest impact were meat, dairy and beverages. Therefore, it is recommended to encourage dietary shifting in Almere. Besides production and processing, a considerable share of environmental impact was generated by the distribution of food to suppliers (15% of the GWP). In particular, air freight had a significant contribution and therefore it would be recommended to avoid this mode of transport. Additionally, grocery shopping had a considerable impact as the majority of travel was done by motorized modes, mainly cars. It is recommended to decrease this by encouraging modal shifting to bike and walking. Currently, only 0.85% of the consumed food is purchased directly at the farmer. Further research into the flows of regionally produce through other retailers is needed to determine the total share of regional production of Almere's consumption.In general, it is relevant to explore the opportunities to receive consumption data from retailers, as dietary data is considered an essential element in bottom-up modelling of urban food-systems. It can be concluded that bottom-up modelling of food-systems is challenging but provides much-needed insights to start the transformation towards a sustainable food-system.

Fault Lines Exposed intends to understand inequality across Australian cities and towns. Social and economic change in Australia has resulted in the emergence of disparities in advantage and disadvantage between metropolitan communities and regional localities, towns and cities. In 1999 the book Community Opportunity and Vulnerability (Baum et al.) considered the disparities that existed between communities using 1996 census data. This new book, available both online and in print, uses up-to-date data to reanalyse the patterns and consider the important policy issues that arise from the patterns identified. Fault Lines Exposed provides insight into advantage and disadvantage at an aggregate community or locality level. Such insight is necessary if we are to better understand what is happening in society. It helps us plan effective solutions to problems that impact not only on individuals and families but also on communities. Each of the chapters outlines the main findings from the typology of advantage and disadvantage. The book concludes with a strong policy orientation, addressing possible options and raising more policy questions. Fault Lines Exposed will be essential reading for academics, researchers, students, policy makers and other professionals working in the areas of geography, sociology, economics and social work. “We had escaped our societies. Nobody was watching us. We could be free, we could behave as we liked. We had found the meaning of our existence. The real meaning of existence was there all the time of course, in the simple pattern of the island which we had annexed as our own primitive milieu, but after a time we could not see it for the mired footprints of our own excesses.” George Johnston, Clean Straw for Nothing “They had a larger-than-life, a mythical quality. They drank more than other people, they wrote more, they got sick more, they got well more, they cursed more and they blessed more, and they helped a great deal more. They were an inspiration. They had guts. They were real, tough, honest. They were the kind of people you meet less and less.” Leonard Cohen, on George Johnston and Charmian Clift

The proliferation of digital connectivity and mobility is having a profound impact on collaboration practices and coworking spaces in urban environments. This chapter focuses on nomadic patterns of designers, freelancers, hackers, and creative professionals, and seeks to map the urban spaces that they occupy and navigate in order to go about their work practices. After a brief introduction on the use of office space and recently emerged city bound working practices, we first review previous studies and current literature about the impact of digital connectivity and mobility on collaboration and coworking spaces. Two cases (the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto, Canada, and The Edge, a digital culture centre at the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia) will be introduced as examples of social practices in, and uses / employments of coworking and collaboration spaces. The subsequent discussion of best practices and future designs of collaboration and coworking spaces will focus on three distinct themes: First, the tension between universal vs specialised demands on space; second, the need for perpetual messiness, and; third, the unfolding urban ecology of work spaces. Finally, we will conclude with some considerations on the configuration and promotion of collaborative working practices especially with regards to urban planning.

This thesis aims to support future sustainability transitions by considering the role of urban design and urban development. The built environment is first conceptualised as the product of multiple different urban systems, and as such, any work to introduce new ideas needs to acknowledge this multiplicity. Three case studies are examined of WSUD within Melbourne in the mid 2000s, to assess the role of the designers in helping to get these innovative urban environments constructed. The results show that designers played a critical role in the delivery of WSUD by linking ideas across disciplines and sectors. A preliminary foray into thinking about how these insights can be used to inform urban development to support sustainability transitions concludes the thesis.

Publication of proceedings (in Chinese) for Design for Heritage in Theory symposium held at Tongji University College of Design and Innovation on 15 October 2019. Each paper is accompanied by an abstract in Chinese and English. The document also includes a reprint of a conference paper initially published in proceedings for the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) conference held at Manchester Metropolitan University between 1–4 November 2019, titled 'Defining urban graphic heritage for economic development in the UK and China'.Please note that the images in the paper may be under a different licence to CC BY-NC. Please refer to the copyright of each image before reproducing this document.

The article discusses design communication and participation of laypeople in a virtual participatory urban design process. We speculate that an immersive virtual environment facilitated instrument can allow laypeople to take part actively as designers in the early stage of urban design ideation and generation. We have developed a design communication framework where laypeople can participate in design discourse on a neighborhood's future urban form. The strategy describes an urban design intent, which is informed by the development procedure of an instrument and workflow to engage participants. The integration of the instrument and the engagement procedure enable continuous designing of urban form by laypeople. A protocol analysis has been undertaken to investigate design communication. A coding scheme is applied to investigate, analyse, and understand how laypeople communicate with the design instrument and control design in the virtual environment. Through engaging non-experts, the research impacts on the perceptual affordance created by immersive 3D buildings artifacts and verbal conversation. The protocol analysis validated the setup so that subsequent studies can address the meaningfulness of such design conversations.