What's On Display at Feldberg Library

Sustainability is to become the guiding principle of social action and economic activity. At the same time, its ways and means are far from clear. As a holistic praxis, sustainability must combine technical and material as well as social, economic, ecological and also ethical strategies, which have multiple complex interactions and all too often also conflicting goals and priorities. In no other field can these be better observed, addressed and influenced than in architecture and building. Each volume of "Building Better - Less - Different" details two fundamental areas of sustainability and explores their specific dynamics and interactions.

Rapid urbanization, demographic changes, environmental changes, and new technologies are changing the views of urban leaders on sustainability, as well as creating and providing public services to tackle these new dynamics. Sustainable development is an objective by which the processes of planning, implementing projects, and development is aimed at meeting the needs of modern communities without compromising the potential of future generations. The advent of Smart Cities is the answer to these problems. Digital Cities Roadmap provides an in-depth analysis of design technologies that lay a solid foundation for sustainable buildings.

The volume contains papers that present the last advances in the field of sustainable materials and structural elements in construction. This volume focuses on four main topics, ranging from the investigation of the mechanics of composite materials to the discussion of the important issues connected to durability and reliability, from the analysis of corrosion of rebars embedded in exotic matrices to assessing life cycle (LCA) and end-of-life provisions of partially recycled composites.

This volume includes four chapters that describe the properties and characteristics of a variety of building materials. Chapter One considers the features of sol-silicate paints obtained by mixing a silica sol with sodium water glass. Chapter Two analyzes the presence of radon in various building materials. Chapter Three uses a qualitative research method to present a comprehensive typology of concrete blocks in different types of building construction. Lastly, Chapter Four examines the case of stabilized mud blocks as filler material and discusses the engineering viability and properties of such stabilized mud blocks.

This book presents the meaning of green infrastructure and its concerns to the contribution of materials and applications. It explores the evolving contested material under "green infrastructure" covering timber, concrete, soil, and pavement. It discusses the resistance to the ambiguity of managing the construction of green infrastructure and drawing on wider debates around applications and processes on construction.  These contributions are by no means definitive, but rather an attempt to provide a detached and holistic perspective on the engineering "green infrastructure" concept.

This book brings together a selection of the scientific results of the RI ADAPTCLIM project (International Network on Risk Assessment and Climatic Adaptation of Civil Engineering and Buildings Works). Funded by the Pays de la Loire region in France as part of the 2014 Stratégie Internationale call for projects, research teams from the scientific group LiRGeC (ECN, UN, IFSTTAR, CSTB) and several international partners contributed their human, experimental and digital resources. RI-ADAPTCLIM was established to study the short- and medium term effects of climatic conditions on buildings, infrastructures and the ground. Following an integrated, interdisciplinary and multi-physics approach, the researchers proposed decision support tools that would increase the resilience of structures and buildings against the impact of hazards due to climate change.

Sustainable Steel Buildings reviews steel and its potential as a sustainable building material and shows how steel can be used to deliver buildings and structures with a high level of sustainability. The book's main focus is on the advantages and disadvantages of steel and how those characteristics can be used under a range of international certification systems (DGNB, LEED, BREEAM, openhouse etc).

Building with Nature offers a proven, innovative approach to creating Nature-based Solutions for water-related infrastructure that harnesses natural forces for the benefit of the environment, the economy, and society. EcoShape is a consortium of contractors, engineering firms, research institutes, NGOs, and governmental authorities. In the past decade, it has conceptualized, implemented, and analyzed Building with Nature projects in several countries. These projects demonstrate the capacity to build Nature-based Solutions at scale so as to create sustainable flood protection and cultivate resilient, ecologically rich living and working environments.

Cities are the world's future. Today, more than half of the global population--3.7 billion people--are urban dwellers, and that number is expected to double by 2050. There is no question that cities are growing; the only debate is over how they will grow. Will we invest in the physical and social infrastructure necessary for livable, equitable, and sustainable cities? In the latest edition of State of the World, the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute, experts from around the globe examine the core principles of sustainable urbanism and profile cities that are putting them into practice.

In which ways does a "green building" contribute to the ecology of its surroundings? And how can ecologically designed urban districts, with their green and blue networks, link up with the elements and technologies of building design? All dimensions of "green building" are investigated in this book in an effort to understand and evaluate some of the most recent and innovative Dense+Green Cities in Asia, the Americas and Europe.

For sustainable architecture to become a reality, the way we design buildings needs to change. Many architects are concerned that sustainable technologies may interfere with a building's aesthetic appearance, and so these are often 'added on' once the design process is complete. Elements of Sustainable Architecture solves this dilemma by helping students to develop the design skills they need to create sustainable buildings - ensuring that ecological considerations are applied throughout the design process. Restoring the primacy of aesthetics and creativity to sustainable design, the book focuses on strategies that have the greatest impact on building design. It also shows the influence of sustainability considerations on choices about aspects such as composition, form, space, tectonics, materials, color, textures, proportion and position.

Energy performance feedback is an essential tool in addressing the current climate crisis. However, this is not simply another theoretical text about energy performance in buildings. Energy, People, Buildings draws extensively on the findings of studies, UK government-funded building performance evaluations and on original research into seven case studies from across the UK and abroad that have achieved exemplary energy use through building performance feedback.

How do we design in a climate emergency? A new social and ecological prerogative demands appropriate material choices, a re-invention of construction and evolving building programmes that look at lifecycle, embodied energy and energy use. Highly illustrated with practical information and simple explanations for design ideas, this book is the perfect introduction to sustainable design for architecture students. It presents key concepts in relation to the embodied energy of construction, material properties and environmental performance of buildings in an accessible way. In explaining the principles and technologies by which we heat, cool, moderate and mitigate, it demystifies environmental design as a technical exercise and enables students to create sustainable buildings with impact.

Smart design can make solar, wind, and geothermal energy beautiful, affordable, and accessible to all. Thirty-five projects from around the world demonstrate that clean, healthy energy is within reach in every sector and field. Projects include homes at all scales and for all climates, schools, parks, and offices, and even power plants. Harmonizing nature, technology, and space, each project in Good Energy shows how design can improve planetary well-being while producing cost savings and creating green jobs.

Today the challenges facing our nation's metropolitan regions are enormous: demographic change, aging infrastructure, climate change mitigation and adaptation, urban sprawl, spatial segregation, gentrification, education, housing affordability, regional equity, and more. Unfortunately, local governments do not have the capacity to respond to the interlocking set of problems facing metropolitan regions, and future challenges such as population growth and climate change will not make it easier. But will we ever have a more effective and sustainable approach to developing the metropolitan region? The answer may depend on our ability to develop a means to govern a metropolitan region that promotes population density, regional public transit systems, and the equitable development of city and suburbs within a system of land use and planning that is by and large a local one.

A fascinating insight into university accommodation. Current design modes of student residences are facing challenges of both philosophy and form. Past approaches no longer sustain new demands and require innovative thinking. The need for a new outlook is propelled by fundamental changes that touch upon environmental, economic, and social factors.

The future of our cities is not what it used to be. The modern-city model that took hold globally in the twentieth century has outlived its usefulness. It cannot solve the problems it helped to create--especially global warming. Fortunately, a new model for urban development is emerging in cities to aggressively tackle the realities of climate change. It transforms the way cities design and use physical space, generate economic wealth, consume and dispose of resources, exploit and sustain the natural ecosystems, and prepare for the future.

It's widely accepted that our environment is in crisis. Less widely recognized is that three quarters of environmental damage is due to cities - the places where most of us live. As this powerful new book elucidates, global sustainability is therefore directly dependent on urban design. In Living Architecture, Living Cities Christopher Day and Julie Gwilliam move beyond the current emphasis on technological change. They argue that eco-technology allows us to continue broadly as before and only defers the impending disaster. In reality, most negative environmental impacts are due to how we live and the things we buy.

'Sustainable' urban planning, policy and design professes to solve sustainability problems, but often depletes and degrades ever more resources and ecosystems and concentrates wealth and concretize social disparities. Positive Development theory holds that development could create more net ecological and social gains than no construction at all. It explains how existing conceptual, physical and institutional structures are inherently biased against the preservation and expansion of social and natural life-support systems, and proposes explicit reforms to planning, design and decision making that would enable development to increase future options and social and natural life-support systems - in absolute terms.

Soak up carbon into beautiful, healthy buildings that heal the climate "Green buildings" that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren't enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon -- the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported -- comprising some 10% of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate. It doesn't have to be this way. Like never before in history, buildings can become part of the climate solution. With biomimicry and innovation, we can pull huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it up as walls, roofs, foundations, and insulation. We can literally make buildings out of the sky with a massive positive impact. The New Carbon Architecture is a paradigm-shifting tour of the innovations in architecture and construction that are making this happen.

Sustainable Design and Build provides a complete reference for engineers and scientists who want to conduct sustainability research. The book begins with a rudimentary discussion of environmental pollution and energy that is followed by their applications for solving problems in construction processes and practices governing advanced building design, infrastructure and transportation, and water and sewage. Other topics include engineering invisible roads and bridges, smart building technology, building information modeling, energy modeling, resilience in urban and rural development, engineering invisible roads and bridges, zero emission vehicles and flying transportation technology. This book presents a valuable guide to sustainable design and construction processes and methods.

Embodied and Whole Life Carbon will change the way buildings are designed, yet carbon emissions associated with the construction and life of buildings are not yet wholly understood by the profession. Energy is assumed to be the province of services engineers, yet energy from materials is as big an issue. Architects have the opportunity to take the lead in redefining how buildings are designed to achieve a low carbon future.

The future of smart cities has arrived, courtesy of citizens and their phones. To prove it, Daniel T. O'Brien explains the transformative insights gleaned from years researching Boston's 311 reporting system, a sophisticated city management tool that has revolutionized how ordinary Bostonians use and maintain public spaces. Through its phone service, mobile app, website, and Twitter account, 311 catalogues complaints about potholes, broken street lights, graffiti, litter, vandalism, and other issues that are no one citizen's responsibility but affect everyone's quality of life. By unpacking when, why, and how the 311 system has worked for Boston, The Urban Commons reveals the power and potential of this innovative system, and the lessons learned that other cities can adapt.

The author of this book aims to encourage an awareness of sustainability as it is implemented across all areas of planning and design, and the ability to think and act on this knowledge. This book will explore in genuine depth the sustainable strategies that could be applied, along with the practical work of key figures in the built environment, setting these against historical experiences and traditional cultures. It also aimes to revive the discourse around these subjects. Achieving this will require the involvement of architects and structural, energy and environmental engineers, construction businesses and specialists, research institutes and universities.