The environmental impact of human behaviour on the design, construction and operation of buildings is often overlooked, frequently resulting in sub optimal performance over the lifecycle of the building (credibility gap and value-action gap). An over-reliance on technological and market solutions (false positivity) throughout the design, construction and operation of sustainable buildings means changing user behaviour is not currently envisaged by all but the most sustainability-minded built environment professionals. This study aims to develop an understanding of the dynamic and complex systems by which responsible environmental, social and economic action (sustainable behaviour) emerges from the relationship between people and the built environment. The primary research question asks to what extent sustainable buildings encourage sustainable behaviour, with broader research objectives covering the need for sustainable buildings and their social, environmental and economic benefits; a clear definition of sustainable behaviour and sustainable buildings; identifying opportunities for behavioural change from current best practice and how behavioural change theory can be applied to the built environment to encourage and optimise sustainable behaviour. Literature review reveals existing theory and practice in the fields of sustainability, architecture, behavioural psychology and pedagogy applied generally to the design, construction and operation of sustainable buildings. Five exemplar sustainable buildings with pedagogical functions are also investigated. The primary empirical research methodology uses grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology through interview and survey data analysis, highlighting common best practices and innovative approaches, as well as revealing barriers to achieving sustainable built environments that encourage sustainable behaviour. The research reveals that there are numerous opportunities for behavioural interventions at critical stages throughout the lifecycle of buildings where ‘value-action’ gaps between our intentions to be more sustainable and our often sub-optimal actions or behaviours are identified. Strategies includes education, information provision, training, experiential learning, feedback, participation and regulation. The research contributes original knowledge by relating the way building mechanisms for change can be understood through the lens of behavioural psychology and the synthesis of the three disciplines of sustainability, architecture and pedagogy.

This thesis contributes to a growing literature on identity and the home. The study's findings enrich understandings of the way people organize the material culture of their homes, and the way objects and practices are drawn into their self-storying. The study reveals the agency in homemaking as a creative practice and highlights the particularity of homemaking experience. It expands the context for understanding the creative work of designing and producing the contemporary home. Home is a key site of intensive consumption and emotional investment in identity. Possessions in the home and in our interactions with them are integral to our experience and construction of who we are in the world. We make our interior landscape visible to ourselves and onlookers through our choice of objects, arrangements and practices. And yet insight into the lived experience of everyday homemaking is elusive. This calls for empirical research to engage directly with the subjective world of individuals. My thesis examines an archive of rich experiential data gathered in informal conversations conducted with homemakers in twenty-five middle-class London homes. Their narrations of subjective experience have been used to explore how people think and feel about their homes, and how and why they arrange certain things in certain ways within those homes. Identity is understood as a storied accomplishment and homemaking is formulated as a means of organizning experience. Material is part of self-representation and is regarded as a narrative resource. A reading of narratives and images in the light of this conceptualisation reveals the meaning in the object and the object in narrative. The theses demonstrates the endeavour of homemaking as a form of creative production that is empowered by individual agency and fuelled by storying interaction.

he Department of Energy names executing and integrating high-performance sustainable design and green building best practices a Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan goal under the Executive Order 13514 (U.S DOE, 2009). As sustainability becomes a primary goal for engineers, a decision making framework is needed to guide their choice of materials and processes; and then to carry out the evaluation of their chosen design. Sustainable design process, and the products developed through its application, work concurrently with functionality and sustainability evaluation methodologies to cultivate a continuous loop of design, implementation, assessment and improvement. In this context, an alternative insulation prototype exploring the use of evacuated packets of pyrogenic silica substituting for conventional insulation for refrigeration applications was developed and assessed. Assessment criteria included experimental comparison of heat transfer characteristics and the energy efficiency of the new insulation as well as its life cycle as it related to environmental sustainability. Results indicate that by utilizing alternative insulation design, heat flux decreased by an average of 36%, and energy efficiency improved by 5.1% over a 24 hour period. The new insulation design also resulted in improved environmental sustainability, resulting in a savings of 0.257 metric tons of CO2e over 20 years for a single unit. Results provide an alternative insulation design for use in commercial insulation applications, and a framework by which to assess the efficiency and environmental performance of similar products.

Environments that support physical activity (PA) engagement are now seen as an important part of the solution for accumulating daily physical activity which confers health benefits, particularly transport-related PA (TPA). Despite this recognition, understanding the determinants of health-related PA has traditionally focused on identifying associations between the social environment and non-specific PA domains. As such, prior to commencing this thesis little was known about the relationships between the built environment and overall PA engagement within the New Zealand context. Little was also known about associations between TPA attitudes and behaviours, and urban design. This research sought to overcome this paucity of knowledge by investigating associations between overall PA and TPA engagement and perceptions, health outcomes, urban design, and socio-demographic variables from a public health perspective. The body of research was initiated with two literature reviews that formed the context for the following six empirical chapters. Data in the empirical chapters were drawn from three self-report surveys using adult samples. The research commenced by examining associations between urban design and overall PA engagement, and then narrowed towards TPA-specific relationships. TPA relationships were identified through the development and implementation of a reliable survey that captured associated behaviours and attitudes. Several new findings were drawn from this body of work. Overall, 21% of adults recognised they could replace automobile journeys on at least two days per week, and walking was deemed an acceptable travel alternative. Adult TPA engagement levels were low; 7% commuted to place of work/study and 32% travelled to the convenience shop by TPA modes. Furthermore, when compared with those who commuted to an occupation by TPA, respondents who used motorised travel were less likely to be classified as active (odds ratio (OR)=0.5) and be of normal body mass index (OR=0.5). No significant health relationships existed for convenience shop travel. As well, 4% of adults reported no automobile availability. When this group was compared with those with unrestricted automobile availability, they were less likely to be classified as active (OR=0.3), but were more likely to engage in TPA modes to access destinations (occupation, OR=6.3; convenience shop, OR=9.8). Occupation-related commute distances also revealed interesting findings. Overall, 50% of respondents perceived they could, and 10% of the sample actually did, commute by TPA modes for distances less than five kilometres, and relationships were strongly mediated by distance. Other urban design variables were objectively assessed with TPA engagement for occupation-related commute distances less than five kilometres. Those who travelled along the most connected street networks were more likely to engage in TPA modes (OR=6.9) when compared with respondents travelling along the least connected networks. No relationships were found with other urban design variables and TPA engagement.This research substantially contributes to this research area by identifying associations between overall PA and TPA engagement and perceptions with urban design. It is likely that shifting the perceptions of adults who recognise they can employ TPA modes, into actual TPA engagement will result in promising population health gains. Future PA initiatives with adults should consider promoting walking for transport as a sustainable solution. A lack of TPA interventions is evident; however, methodological issues need to be resolved before developing such initiatives. Although strategies aimed towards changing perceptions may be valuable for future TPA interventions, it is likely macro-scale urban design modifications (e.g., improved job-housing balance, highly-grained street networks) and legislation (e.g., automobile restrictions) will have the greatest success for increasing TPA engagement in the adult population.

BACKGROUND: Active transportation, such as using a bicycle to get one from one place to another, has definite benefits over driving or some other form of travel that requires less exertion; the most obvious of these is that it helps a person meet the daily recommendations for physical activity. College campuses tend to have higher rates of bicycle-commuters than non-campus environments, although Georgia State University faces unique barriers to bicycling due to its downtown location. In 2009, a cross-sectional study was conducted to assess bicycling attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. In the two years that followed, a faculty-student collaborative known as GSU Bikes implemented efforts to try to increase bicycling on campus. Campus bicycle count data between the two years showed positive increases. In 2011, the study was repeated to examine if bicycling attitudes, knowledge, and behavior had changed since 2009. METHODS: 211 Georgia State University undergraduate and graduate students were surveyed in Fall 2011. The data they provided were then analyzed and compared to the 2009 bicycle data using independent-samples t­-tests and a chi-square analysis to identify significant differences between the two data sets. RESULTS: Few significant differences between the two sets of data were identified. Participants in 2011 had significantly higher agreement that they could locate information regarding bicycle safety and repairs, as well as reported a significantly greater likelihood of bicycling to campus if educational programs to, from, and around the GSU campus were implemented. Written feedback suggested that fear of collisions was still a major barrier; many students suggested a campus bicycle-share program and more information disseminated to students about bicycling to campus. DISCUSSION: The results from this study demonstrate that efforts aimed at encouraging students to bicycle to campus, between the 2009 and 2011 data collections, may not have been as effective as they were intended. Bicycle promotion that reaches a greater number of Georgia State University students is suggested. Because of the method of data sampling in this study, the data analyzed may not be truly representative of the Georgia State University population. In the future, an improved survey that is disseminated electronically may result in a larger sample size, increasing statistical validity and ability to generalize findings.

This study aimed to examine how the characteristics of the road network and the built environment influence the frequency of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Pedestrian crashes (2000 – 2007) on major roads in DeKalb County of Georgia were obtained from Georgia Department of Transportation. Hotspot analysis was performed on locations with frequent pedestrian incidents to determine their built environment characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems, the built environment was characterized using road grade, curvature, population density, the amount stores and restaurants, bars, and public transit stops nearby. A negative binomial regression model was used to examine the influence of the built environment characteristics on pedestrian crashes. The results showed that all the variables except for road grade were positively associated with increased number of pedestrian crashes. Findings provided insights into the influence of built environment characteristics which is important for injury prevention to improve pedestrian safety.

This study aimed to examine how the characteristics of the road network and the built environment influence the frequency of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Pedestrian crashes (2000 – 2007) on major roads in DeKalb County of Georgia were obtained from Georgia Department of Transportation. Hotspot analysis was performed on locations with frequent pedestrian incidents to determine their built environment characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems, the built environment was characterized using road grade, curvature, population density, the amount stores and restaurants, bars, and public transit stops nearby. A negative binomial regression model was used to examine the influence of the built environment characteristics on pedestrian crashes. The results showed that all the variables except for road grade were positively associated with increased number of pedestrian crashes. Findings provided insights into the influence of built environment characteristics which is important for injury prevention to improve pedestrian safety.

Many studies have examined the relationship between youth physical activity and their built environment. However, most of them used subjective measurement tools to measure built environment because of their low cost and convenience. The application of geographic information system (GIS) in this study greatly supported the research in this field because it can provide more detailed objectively measured data of built environment. Three hundred and thirty-eight Hispanic low-income youth enrolled in a local San Antonio Youth Center program participated in the study. The first study examined the association between youth's household income, and the availability and accessibility of recreational and utilitarian facilities. Results indicated that youth from low income families had longer distances to and less available number of recreational and utilitarian facilities within their neighborhoods. The second study focused on nutrition environmental features, such as, availability and accessibility of fast food outlets and supermarkets. Findings suggested that the average distance to supermarkets was almost two times that of fast food restaurants. These results indicated that participants need to walk more to access a supermarket compared to the closest fast food restaurant. On the whole, supermarkets were less accessible compared to fast food restaurants for the participants in the study area. The third study provided some important supplements to the first two studies by examining both features related to physical activity and dietary behavior with youth's BMI. Results indicated that the available number (availability) of physical activity- and food-related facilities contributed significantly to youth BMI. Lower BMI was related to more available utilitarian (e.g., shopping malls), recreational facilities (e.g., parks) and some food stores (e.g., supermarkets). This study indicated that youth's individual features (e.g., age and SES) had some associations with their health conditions (e.g., BMI) and built environments (e.g., accessibility and availability of facilities and food outlets). These results may provide some evidence to improve the understanding of the relationship between individual, environmental, and social characteristics, which may be useful to promote children and adolescent health behaviors (e.g., physical activity and eating behavior) in public health.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / The campus environment faces many of the same challenges of building quality pedestrian experience that urban environments do. Environmental psychology, related to the built environment, investigates how elements of the built environment affect the mental image and pedestrian experience within places. This study aims to investigate the planning history of the Historic, Science, and Highland districts of the University of Arizona campus, and what elements of each district influence the mental image for pedestrians, and what can be done to better each district. Pedestrian-scale architectural features, accessible natural features, and cohesive pedestrian-oriented plans with mixed uses were found to create successful districts or the lack there of to reduce the quality and use of districts on the University of Arizona campus.

Colour contributes to our everyday experience. The purpose of this research is to explore how landscape architects can use colour in the hardscape of outdoor public spaces to enhance functionality and human experience. Based on a literature review of architectural history and current trends in western architecture and landscape architecture, a Colour Assessment Framework for urban parks was developed to assess functionality of colour in outdoor spaces. Using this framework along with photo documentation, colour treatment of three contemporary parks in Europe was assessed. Results revealed various techniques of colour application in hardscape features that delineated spaces based on the categories of spatiality, identity, relativity, and instrumentality. This research is valuable because it allows designers to consider how the positive attributes of colour can be better incorporated into design to improve landscape function and human experience.