The residential stock is one of the key consumers of energy and hence is important in the drive to reduce both national and global CO2 emissions. A comprehensive domestic stock energy and carbon model is seen as a useful tool to provide policymakers with estimates for the effectiveness of policies and can help to identify the most beneficial technological measures. This thesis describes the development of the first domestic energy and carbon model in Serbia which has been used to investigate the technological feasibility of achieving space heating energy consumption and associated CO2 emission reductions within Belgrade’s housing stock by 2030. BElgrade’s Domestic and Energy and carbon Model combines external and on-site generated data, the whole building dynamic energy simulation software ‘TRNSYS’, and a generic optimisation program called ‘GenOpt’. Whilst this model is primarily demand side orientated, it also considers changes in energy efficiency on the supply side. The BEDEM model has been used to develop five probabilistic explorative scenarios, namely: a ‘Base Model’, a ‘Demand 1’, a ‘Demand 2’, a ‘Supply’, and a ‘Demand 2 and Supply’ scenario. The overall results suggest that the largest domestic space heating energy reductions could be achieved by combining the energy-efficiency performance upgrade of dwelling fabrics and district heating system seasonal efficiency improvement. Yet, in the shorter-term, the improvement of the district heating system’s seasonal efficiency is the most beneficial measure. While the model is of considerable value as a policy tool, the results of uncertainty analyses revealed that a lack of knowledge of just a few key input parameters generate rather large uncertainty in the model predictions. Therefore, for any recommendations based on model predictions to be of use in policy formation, the models need to be validated against existing data and uncertainties within the model investigated thoroughly and, where possible, quantified.

This study examines the effect of an area-wide pedestrianisation scheme linking town centre attractions with pedestrianised streets, considering the impact on commercial activities in a large town centre. Currently, pedestrianisation is required to play a role as a linkage for pedestrians between attractions and nearby stations. However, this is still an individual approach by improving streets around an individual attraction, paying little attention to an area-wide approach of pedestrianisation linking attractions to each other to create an urban street network for pedestrians. Area-wide pedestrianisation could be more effective in a large town centre that has many attractions and stations within walking distance of one another. Moreover, the effectiveness of area-wide pedestrianisation could be attributed to the street configuration of pedestrianisation rather than the size of a pedestrianisation area. Accordingly, in a large town centre, area-wide pedestrianisation could enhance the effect of individual pedestrianisation between attractions and nearby stations by linking attractions to each other. This study works on a key research question about whether area-wide pedestrianisation could be more effective than individual pedestrianisation in terms of the benefits of pedestrian accessibility and economic viability. To answer the question, a pedestrian flow model and commercial land-use model are developed based on multiple regression analysis with empirical data to predict effects on accessibility and economic viability from the individual and area-wide pedestrianisation schemes. Then, an assessment of the schemes is conducted with the implementation of a simulation using the developed models in a case study area by identifying the most effective street configuration of each scheme. The West End area in Central London is employed as a most-likely case study area to expect the effects of the area-wide pedestrianisation scheme. The result of this study shows that area-wide pedestrianisation has a greater effect than individual pedestrianisation.

A building is not simply an outcome; and a sustainable building is not a fixed goal. They are more than structures contrived from planned associations amongst industry professionals. Instead, a building involves processes of engagement amongst different groups, technologies, materials and methods. It is these processes of socio-techno engagement which contribute to the uptake of the sustainability agenda, and in turn can create sustainability effects. The following research sets out problems associated with the traditional staged approach to development and conceptualisations of building sustainability as an output. It proposes instead a network approach as a conceptual framework for understanding processes of socio-techno network engagements with the sustainability agenda. To this end, three research questions are presented: one empirical, one analytical and one conceptual, each of which focuses on the application of a network approach to the study of urban development and the uptake of the sustainability agenda. The network approach adopted draws on key facets of Actor-network Theory and Social Network Analysis. A qualitative methodology is employed to investigate a case study London sustainable prime commercial building process: the PricewaterhouseCoopers new headquarters development, 7 More London. Analysis of interview data is coded and mapped using ATLAS.ti software. Empirical research focuses on identification of social and technical actors involved in building networks, and understanding the mobilisers and intents of their actions. There is also an explicit focus on boundary objects: how common objects and objectives, and translations of them, effectively facilitate and delimit engagement both in the development process and with the sustainability agenda. 5 key findings emerge from detailed analysis which collectively help answer the research questions and raises some new questions of their own. This thesis concludes with proposals for future research.

The Taiwanese people have suffered severe challenges and several changes to their national imaginations and cultural identifications during the country’s period of modernisation since the late 19th century. In particular, following the political liberalisation process in the 1990s, nationalism and national identity has become a rising and controversial issue in Taiwanese society. This thesis explores the relations between architectural production and the formation of national identity in Taiwan’s modernisation history. By putting Taiwan and its people as the research subjects, this thesis examines how different political authorities propagandised the imagined communities and promoted national identities to people through architectural production and disciplined spaces. Influenced by ideas derived from semiotics and postcolonialism, this research sees the formation of national identity as a signification process in creating myths, and as a power struggle between the authority and the people. Architecture, as the symbolic representation of national identity, needs other cultural references and discursive narratives to gain its meanings; and, as the spatial construction of national identity, it also needs functional programmes and social contexts to discipline people’s living and activities. By exposing the power structure of the signification process and the spatial administration, this research de-mystifies the authenticity of national identity. Based on different power authorities that dominated the construction of national identity, this thesis explores four national identities and imaginations which appeared in Taiwan from 1895 to 2008: first is colonial identity under Japanese colonisation; second is Chinese identity under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration; third is the prevalence of the American influenced modernist ideology; and fourth is the rise of Taiwanese nationalism. This thesis thus undertakes a comprehensive historical examination of how the state powers manipulated national imaginations and constructed national identities through architectural production and people’s daily lives.

The construction industry, one of the significant sectors of most regional and national economies, is being continuously urged to improve its performance at project and organisational level. The urgent need to improve the processes of construction projects and organisations has been highlighted in a number of industry reports. In this regard, organisational learning has been considered as essential to facilitate process improvement, innovation and sustaining the competitiveness of construction organisations, and also of the sector as a whole. Although there are a number of initiatives to facilitate organisational learning in construction contexts, literature reveals that the organisations are still finding it difficult to identify ways to effectively facilitate learning to improve their processes and performance. Therefore, this research aims to bridge the gap by developing a framework to facilitate organisational learning in construction contexts. In doing so, the process improvement perspective has been taken into consideration. Given the constructive nature of the research, design science was used as the overarching methodology. Within this overall approach, case studies were used to inform, develop and validate the research process and the outcomes. An extensive literature review, document analysis, workshops, participant observations are the key techniques used to achieve the research aim. The main outcome of this research is the framework to facilitate organisational learning within construction context. The research further highlighted the complex adaptive nature of the construction contexts and processes, and it has been incorporated into the Procurer, Provider and User (PPU) framework. In addition, the integration of the role of process maturity and time dependent meta roles of stakeholders in the context of complex construction projects, to facilitate learning and improvement, is one the significant contributions to the body of knowledge. The developed framework could be adopted by any organisations, which are contracting, consultancy, client’s organisations and/or regulatory bodies when they seek to improve their processes while facilitating organisational learning. It is recommended that industry practitioners / strategic level decision makers take consider their time and stake dependent meta-role and the resultant information flows as a basis for evaluating and updating their current organisational processes.

Information management has been identified as an essential requirement for the structural engineering sector in a highly competitive AEC marketplace. In the field of structural engineering, information management represents a challenging discipline due to several factors such as a lack of clarity in the adoption of novel technologies, the multitude of different and ambiguous standards available, and the lack of human resources readiness. This research demonstrates that information quality plays a very important role in structural engineering information management as poor quality of structural engineering design information leads to reworks and failures in tendering and construction of projects. 80% to 90% of failures in buildings, bridges and other structures result from errors in design. Novel technologies and workflows have to be adopted by structural engineering organisations, which also need to improve the readiness of their human resources to enhance information management during conceptual, detailed and technical design phases. It is but natural for project teams in structural engineering organisations to expect proper quality of information during the bidding procedure, while providing documents for constructors and also while reporting to clients to make assured accurate decisions. A review of relevant literature revealed that Building Information Modelling has a contributory role in addressing the challenges of information management in various disciplines of the AEC industry. However, to ensure effective contribution of BIM on structural engineering information management, a clear determination is needed to improve information quality. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework for the adoption of BIM to enhance the quality of information in structural engineering organisations of the UK. In this research, an interpretivism philosophical position has been adopted that understands the real world and solves related problems over interpretations provided by participants. This research triangulated case study and survey approaches to the investigation of the research objectives in order to enrich confidence in presenting findings. A qualitative and quantitative approaches (or mixed-method approach) were used to thoroughly explore factors that have a key role in developing a framework for improving information within the AEC industry. Data collection involved the use of semi-structured interviews followed by scale questionnaires that were given to design experts in the UK. The qualitative data comprised of 12 interviews with experts performing the role of structural engineers, BIM managers and design managers in two structural engineering departments of two different large multidisciplinary organisations in the UK. In the context of quantitative data collection, 125 respondents replied to the researcher within two months. Finally, both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed and conceptual framework was developed and validated. This research points out that at present the UK structural industry is dissatisfied with the quality of structural engineering information and holds the opinion that catastrophic failure in the construction process may result from inadequacies in the information management system. From this research, it is evident that the key dimensions for structural engineering information quality can be explained by information accuracy, information accessibility, and information interoperability and information security. This research examined the key criteria that need to be considered while adopting BIM technological tools, workflows and human resources in the context of structural engineering sector. An initial conceptual framework developed by reviewing the existing literature illustrated the potential power of BIM to contribute to the level of information quality management in structural information management. Primary data collected in this research explored the role of crucial factors of BIM implementation in promoting the key dimensions of information quality management. This research contributes to knowledge by developing a conceptual framework which can be implemented in the ACE industry to improve upon information quality by assisting decision makers associated with structural engineering information management to adopt appropriate technological and workflow protocols, and also to ensure organisational human resource readiness in the contest of BIM. Avenues for further research in this area of information quality management in the structural engineering sector were also recommended by this study.

Despite the importance of regular physical activity for maintaining health, large proportions of the population are sedentary or inactive, presenting a considerable challenge to public health. It is argued that the best way to increase the activity of those who are least active is through encouraging more everyday activities such as regular walking. There is a large body of research demonstrating that more walkable urban characteristics such as high density, mixed land use, better connections and closer destinations, are positively associated with walking. However, questions remain about the nature of the environment-walking relationship. Critics of walkability suggest that the detected association may be due to spatial difference rather than behavioural change. The aim of this study is to explore how neighbourhood environment is related to walking and physical activity in Scotland. There are three research objectives: firstly to ascertain whether there is an association between urban form and physical activity in Scotland, secondly to evaluate the effect of neighbourhood selection and thirdly to provide a meaningful account of these relationships. The study uses mixed methods, with semi-structured interviews being the main research component. A special version of the Scottish Health Survey (N>36,000) is used to create a logistic regression model for predicting habitual walking, showing that walkability significantly predicts variations in habitual walking. Analysis of the City Form data corroborates these findings showing that residents of inner city areas are more like to walk or cycle. For the qualitative investigation, residents were recruited who had recently (< 3 years) moved into one of the three case study areas in Edinburgh: Dalry, Restalrig and Corstorphine. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 residents, exploring accounts of relocation, neighbourhood use and attitudes toward being active. 12 participants also completed an accelerometer and diary exercise. The findings highlight how neighbourhood relocation is contingent on resources, life events and life stages. Self-reported activity and the accelerometer data illustrates how mundane walking can significantly contribute to overall physical activity attainment. Corresponding with the quantitative analysis, participants from walkable neighbourhood report walking more regularly. However, some participants are more active than others regardless of neighbourhood environment. In conclusion the evidence supports the viability of developing more walkable neighbourhoods to increase physical activity in the Scottish population. Furthermore it is argued that future research could better conceptualise walking as an ambient activity: something enjoyed as part of, rather than incidental to, everyday life.

Fire following an earthquake (FFE) is a hazard that is not usually accounted for in either earthquake or fire resistant design of structures. There have however been many instances in the past of FFE events causing even greater damage and even loss of life than the original earthquake. The potential damage associate with this hazard is increasing considerably with increasing urbanisation in seismically vulnerable regions. It is reasonable for users to expect that structures should maintain their integrity for a long enough period in an FFE event allowing emergency crews to assist the most vulnerable occupants to evacuate the building safely. Because of the lack of regulatory requirements there is naturally very little research on the response of structural frames under FFE events so far, but given the reasons discussed earlier, it is clearly a matter of increasing importance that engineers should develop a better understanding of the behaviour of seismically damaged structural frames in fire. This thesis project was fortunate to have occurred at a time when a set of full-scale fire tests were taking place at IIT Roorkee in India, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh to address exactly this topic. This thesis research was undertaken to model these experiments (to determine the fire resistance of a reinforced concrete frame first subjected to simulated seismic damage). The open source software framework OpenSees was chosen for the modelling work as it was considered to be the best software tool for modelling structures under earthquake loading. The first part of this thesis reports the development work done on OpenSees for adding thermomechanical analysis modules to enable the modelling of FFE events using this software framework. The code developed for OpenSees has been allowed the introduction of features not available in commercial software such as ABAQUS. Many new classes were developed, such as ThermalAction, ThermalElement, ThermalSeciton, TheramalMaterial, etc. The newly developed code was tested using a number of benchmark problems and modelling of real fire experiments on steel and composite framed structures. The results from these tests showed that the new developments were successful. The second part of the thesis describes the modelling of the reinforced concrete (RC) frame tested at IIT Roorkee, which was first subjected to cyclic displacement loading (to introduce damage in the frame similar to that of a seismic event) and then to a one hour kerosene fire. The modelling was first used to provide predictions of the performance of the test frame under the proposed loading, to fine tune the design of the experiment. The modelling subsequent to the tests was gradually improved to achieve better comparisons with the test results and to develop a detailed understanding of the behaviour of seismically damaged RC frames in fire, which was also compared to the behaviour in fire of undamaged frames.

Managing quality in the construction industry is a challenge, especially in developing countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi construction industry has been criticised for poor quality-related performance. Some Saudi construction firms achieved ISO-9001 certification, but failed to maintain it, suggesting that Saudi construction firms struggle to sustain their quality performance. Considering the importance of the Saudi construction sector to the national economy, it is imperative for Saudi construction firms to improve their quality performance. Saudi construction firms need to look at a long-term sustainable quality management strategy in order to improve their overall quality performance. Total Quality Management (TQM) has been a subject of extensive academic and practical interest since the 1990s. However, most research focused on adopting a one-off and shortterm strategy for managing quality. TQM maturity was used in the research; it refers to an organization’s progression through incremental steps in quality improvement. System Dynamic modelling (SDM) was used to track firms’ progress through quality levels over time. Such models can track firms’ maturity towards higher TQM levels allowing them to make strategic decisions at different stages to speed up their progression towards a more mature TQM performance. The assessment of the maturity level of TQM in construction firms would help to recognise the areas of improvement needed to improve quality, and achieve the main organizational goals. This research involves investigating the complexities in the dynamic interaction and causal relationships between the aspects that Saudi construction firms must focus on (enablers), and the organizational goals related to quality management. The SDM technique evaluates this dynamic interaction, based upon the European Foundation for Quality Management, EFQM Excellence quality model. The EFQM model comprises five sets of enablers: Leadership, People, Policies & strategy, Partnership & Resources, and Processes. These five enablers affect the TQM performance (in terms of achieving TQM related goals) of the organisation. The components of the EFQM enablers were adapted to contextualise the EFQM model for the Saudi construction industry. Data was collected using two questionnaire surveys. The first survey was conducted with 43, ISO-9001 certified Saudi construction firms. This involved identifying the relationship between variables in the TQM maturity model. The second survey was conducted with 20 experienced individuals. The weighting for the enablers, specifically for the Saudi construction industry, was estimated in the second survey using AHP analysis. SDM investigated the dynamic interaction among variables in the model. Two case studies of the Saudi industry were selected to apply the simulation, and to investigate different policy decision interventions. The findings show that leadership is one of the key factors that can help Saudi construction firms achieve high levels of TQM maturity. This may be explained by the high-power distance culture of Saudi Arabia, which is top driven and centralised. The second most critical factor is the people focus. Focusing on people aspects is critical because of high levels of diversity in the Saudi construction industry, and the collectivist nature of Saudi culture. Consideration of these two enablers is likely to improve other enablers, as well as leading to an overall rise in Saudi construction firms’ ability to reach higher maturity levels. However, the impact of these two enablers only works to a certain extent; improving them beyond that level, shows no marked improvement in firms’ progression towards higher TQM maturity levels. Improvement in the initial value of other enablers also provides significant improvement in the firms’ ability to achieve higher TQM levels within shorter time spans. This research supports the case for using a system-thinking perspective when considering implementation of TQM in organisations. A holistic organisation wide approach is required for implementation of TQM. The research recommends adopting a sustained long-term approach towards implementation of TQM, which is likely to generate long term benefits. Despite any kind of policy interventions, there is a gap between the time when enablers are activated and when firms begin to realise the benefits of its TQM strategy. Firms must persist with their TQM strategy and consider the long-term benefits when making decisions to pursue a quality-focused strategy.

Sustainability is a very broad term which encompasses a variety of principles, concepts and practices -the majority of which are concerned with reducing negative impacts on the natural environmentand encouraging the more judicious and careful utilization of natural resources. For the purposes of this thesis the main aspects of sustainability being focused on, in the context of university campuses, relate primarily to organisational and infrastructural/ technological change -particularly with regard to energy efficiency and the organisation's overall carbon footpri nt. The decision-making approaches associated with (and ramifications of) those changes are also of central interest. To a lesserextent, but still incorporated as part of the research study, is the important issue of social engagement in the adoption of pro-environmental practices at HEIs in Saudi Arabia. The central aim of this PhD is to explore the extent to which planning and action on sustainability by Facilities and project management (F&PM) decision makers within HEIls in Saudi Arabia is currently being made -and to examine the opportunities and challenges associated with encouraging and enabling further progress to this end. This aim was addressed through the investigation of several key interrelated factors including: • The influence of decision makers' personal knowledge and perceptions within F&PM departments regarding sustainability; • The constraints faced by F&PM decision makers with regard to the promotion of sustainability on campus; and • The influence and impact of organisational factors that relate to the success orfailure of implementing initiatives designedto improve the overall sustainability'status' ofa Saudi university campus. This exploration was supported by the developmentof a theoretical framework that draws on the methods and techniques of rational choice theory (RCT) and organisational change theory (OCT). In order to provide depth of insight and understanding the research adopts a predominantly qualitative and exploratory case study approach with the administration of face-to-face semi-structured interviews forming the primary technique for gathering information on the perspective of representative decision makers from within F&PM departments in selected Saudi universities. The rationale forthe sampling strategy is explained in the methodology chapter (Chapter 4) of this thesis. A total of eight universities were included in the first, exploratory phase of the research programme. From these, three cases were selected to form the main focus for the study -each representing one of the triad of prevailing university 'types' in the Kingdom as revealed inthe exploration phase (i.e.:( 1) well-established institutions; (2) affiliated institutions that later became independent; and (3) emerging institutions). Findings from the interviews are subjected to a rigorous comparative analysis involving, discursive synthesis ofthe chiefinfluential and prevalent principles, practice and culture. The research reveals mixed levels of prevailing knowledge and awareness towards sustainability among F&PM decision makers within the case study university campuses -but nevertheless with a general sense of urgency and importance attached to the issues by the majority of those taking part. Most participants shared similar concerns relating to their perceived importance of sustainability in terms of the university's physical capital and social activities. There was noticeable variation in respect ofawareness and knowledge between the interests and preferences of F&PM decision makers and university senior management decision makers, which the findings clearly demonstrate often lead to less tangible support being afforded to environmental/sustainability issues compared with a range of other competing priorities. Cost visibly came across as a dominant influence on F&PM decision makers' choices and decisions, and it undoubtedly plays an important role in shaping decision¬making process alongside other key organisational factors such as structure, decision-making leadership and the prevailing institutional culture . A number of barriers facing the incorporation of sustainability emerged with clarity. These include(i) lack of sustainability knowledge and awareness among senior management; (ii) lack ofsupportive leadership; and (iii) an absence of sustainability-related legislation policy or strategic direction in the HEIs concerned. Overall the research carried out for this PhD highl ights the organisational and decision-related restrictions that currently serve to impede a more progressive transition of Saudi HElstowards pragmatic action for enabling on-campus sustainability. The noticeable exception to this trend is demonstrated in one of the case study universities, where a combination of proactive leadership and the formation of a dedicated sustainability department has served to improve the ability of F&PM decision makers to pursue a strategic programme of practical sustainability initiatives across the campus. Drawingon the enabling factors demonstrated here - as well as the constraining/inhibiting factors highlighted in the research brings together a 'model' model for designing and delivering successful sustainability strategies on HEI campuses across Saudi Arabia.