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Flood is a reoccurring disaster throughout the world. With the increasing effects of climate change, the occurrence of floods is predicted to increase, impeding development and growth. Moving forward towards 2030, the United Nations calls for a strategic recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction that embodies the "build back better" approach. Existing disaster risk reduction efforts for floods have focused on restorative and preventive measures through an integrated architectural response that encompasses the experiential and inherited knowledge of communities living in flood-prone areas together with technological and disaster risk reduction operations for flood resilience. The study utilised current literature reviews to identify environmental, social and governance (ESG) domains for risk reduction and three key strategies from the ESG domains, extending towards urban design for disaster management opportunities. Results were collated and analysed through a thematic literature review from local and international knowledge. The findings suggested that it is vital to respond to and attend to the ESG-integrated approach to promote and sustain resilient urban design and architecture. The study presented a holistic urban design framework towards flood resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of various pedagogies is essential to aid the complex learning of architectural students, especially due to tools for visualising design becoming advanced. Accordingly, experiential learning by simulation or physical presence and case study-based learning in teaching and learning architecture are essential. Using virtual reality (VR), students are able to experience the simulation of daylighting virtually in their modelled case study from various places in the world. Thus, this study investigated the students' perception of using VR in learning daylighting in architecture. The study's objectives were to (1) understand the learning process using VR, (2) assess students' acceptance level of the use of VR, (3) compare VR and traditional methods of architectural learning and (4) suggest improvements needed for using VR for teaching and learning in architectural undergraduate programmes. A mixed methodology consisting of a questionnaire and observation was used for this study. A questionnaire was distributed to 15 students who had gone through a workshop on visualising a case study that was modelled in three dimensions to simulate daylight. Students found that using VR was very useful in understanding daylight and daylight use in space. The study found almost all students (93.4%) agreed that using VR enhanced their learning skills and 80% of the students responded that visualising daylight in VR enabled them to establish their tasks more quickly. This workshop helped students construct their knowledge, enhance the learning experience and motivate learning of daylight using VR. This study concludes that VR is a great tool for teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reproduction suitability of urban birds reflects the health status and service level of urban ecosystems. Therefore, studying the relationship between the nest density of urban birds and environmental factors has certain reference significance for guiding green space management. In this study, 67 green spaces of Liupanshui city in the Wumeng Mountain Area were selected as study sites. Through the statistics of the number of bird's nests in the plots in 2020, a stepwise regression analysis was conducted on 10 environment-influencing factors. The results show that the nest density of birds in urban green space is not significantly correlated with the plot size, noise, light pollution, vegetation diversity, proportion of paved land, proportion of native plants, or distance from water body, but is significantly correlated with the canopy coverage of arbor, spatial openness, and distance from non-artificial environment to plot. The research identified the environmental factors affecting nest density, and frames a method to compare the density of bird's nests in urban green space. Based on this, strategies for the construction and management of green space are put forward, so as to provide reference for ecological city construction and alleviate the correlation between the expansion of urban construction land and the deterioration of bird habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]