Richmond, Virginia is defined by our connection to the James River. The James River Park system stretches over 550 acres of natural beauty. The park is broken into 14 different sections from the Huguenot Bridge in the west to a half mile beyond the I-95 Bridge in the east. The James River includes water features that appeal to the young and curious to the most experienced river-adventurer. The James River Park System boasts idyllic shorelines, peaceful meadows, and miles of challenging hiking and biking trails that appeal to the community and guests alike. Every year thousands of people come to Richmond for activities and events like the XTerra Races, Dominion RiverRock, the Folk Festival and many more. Amazingly, at this time, there are no convenient downtown or riverfront facilities to allow locals and guests of Richmond to interact with the James River Park system. With use of the Pattern Building at Tredegar Iron Works, this project will combine the ideas of biophilia, and eco-tourism to design a boutique hotel that will cater to outdoor enthusiasts. In addition to guest suites, this boutique hotel will offer an outdoor recreation rental, retail and repair facility that will offer bikes, kayaks, tubes, paddle-boards, climbing equipment and other essentials for outdoor exploration. A small cafe will offer healthy, locally sourced, farm to table snack and drink options. Both indoor and outdoor seating areas and/or lounges will be available for relaxation. The outdoor patio will feature an interactive garden and give guests a place to enjoy scenic views, practice yoga, meditate and relax. In addition this space could be rented to host special events. The term Biophilia was first used by a German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973), which described the term as “the passionate love of life and of all that is alive”. Later the term was used by American biologist Edward O. Wilson in his work Biophilia (1984), that proposed that humans tendency to focus and affiliate with nature and other life-forms has a genetic basis. Humans biologically gravitate toward the rich and diverse shapes, colors and life that exists in the natural world. As we are drawn to the natural world, we also benefit from it. Nature nurtures us and has a positive effect on our health, well-being and happiness. Research led by Yoshifumi Miyazaki at Chiba University sent 84 subjects to stroll in seven different forests, while the same number of people walked city centers. Overall, those who spent time in the forest, showed a 16% decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, a 2% drop in blood pressure, and a 4% drop in heart rate. Although we spend nearly 90% of our lives indoors, those interior environments often do not reflect the characteristics of nature, trigger a positive emotional response, and are not often designed in a sustainable manner. Too often, our surroundings are designed in a way that deteriorate the environment and separate us from the natural world. The built environment of this project will emphasize the human need for contact with nature that is good for physical, emotional and physiological benefit and satisfaction. While Eco-Tourism is not a new concept the popularity of Eco-tourism increased in the 1980’s when large scale educational efforts by the government touted the benefits of conserving and protecting the environment and planet. Eco-Tourism is a piece of the “Green Movement” (scientific, social and political movement addressing environmental issues) but since there has been an increase in information about how people are negatively impacting the planet. The travel industry has been considered a strong influence and a demand for green hotels, restaurants and transportation is on the rise. Eco-Tourism is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education”. Tourism often comes with its footprint on the environment. Tourism and hospitality must be sustainable. How can we still enjoy the natural wonders of the world yet minimize our impact? By exploring the concepts of Eco-tourism this project will reflect a positive environment and educate visitors on how to make their own changes. Guests will be encouraged to interact with the natural wonders of Richmond in a low impact manner, so that it may remain for others to enjoy. Research begins by understanding terms like sustainability, Eco-tourism and biophilic design and continues by researching and experiencing examples of them. By studying cases like Frank Lloyd Wrights project “Falling Water” and Mies van der Rohe’s project “Farnworth House,” understanding of a unique connection to the organic environment can occur. By studying Swedish architects Martin Videgard and Bolle Thams project “Tree Hotel” ways to incorporate travel with nature will be discovered. Finally by studying Agence Ter’s project the “Pudong Left Bank” in Shanghai inspiration on how to encourage a city to interact with its natural environment will occur. The goal of this project is to understand the relationship between human and nature and how it can be controlled and how we can benefit from an Interior Environment.

Transhumant pastoralist are highly dependent on their landscape. Their economic, cultural and political systems are directly shaped by and shaping space. The nomadic nature of transhumant pastoralists have therefore created unique pastoral socio-spatial relations. Due to their close interaction with local landscapes, land use change can heavily impact their socio- spatial relations and their spatial justice. This study therefore studied the impacts of the case of the Great Green Wall, a large-scale land use change project focusing on afforestation and land management, on transhumance pastoralists from a spatial justice lens. The study focused on de jure spatial justice through policy documents and perceived spatial justice through interviews with stakeholders, specifically in terms of recognition, procedural rights, and distributional effects. This study found that (1) the project did not recognise the socio-spatial relations of pastoralists and instead, pastoralists were perceived as having a negative influence on the landscape, (2) de jure procedural justice was lacking, and stakeholders perceived the role of pastoralists in the governance and implementation of the project as limited, and (3) policy documents revealed a lacking focus on the distributive effects on pastoral socio-spatial relations, and the perceived spatial justice in terms of mobility and access to spatial resources was low. Overall, the levels of both de jure and perceived spatial justice were interpreted as low, meaning that the Great Green Wall has negative impacts on pastoral socio-spatial relations and pastoralists’ ability to influence these.

Despite the widely acknowledged contention that pollution control measures would be less beneficial than pollution prevention technologies in the long run, pollution control approaches remain a popular solution for organizations seeking, or coerced, to engage in corporate environmentalism. Drawing on the conceptual underpinnings of the Theory of Planned Behaviour as an integrative framework, this study combines the tenets of five major management theories - institutional, stakeholder, planned behaviour, resource-based view, and life-cycle management - to examine how and why small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) embrace dissimilar approaches to implementing green initiatives under different circumstances. This research adopted a nested, multiple-case design to explore why some organizations have been able to obtain beneficial effects from their green initiative implementation while others have not. The findings, based on the experiences of s even SMMEs, which implemented a total of 27 green initiatives in their production operations, reveal that legislative requirements, stakeholders' expectations, organizations' natural environmental orientation, as well as their environmental resource base and capabilities, jointly drive corporate environmental strategies. The case study found that the higher the external pressures, a combination of legislative requirements and stakeholder expectations, the more likely it was for SMMEs to adopt quick-fix, off-the-shelve solutions, which typically carried limited short-term benefits with associated high long-term costs. By contrast, less intense external pressures offer firms the opportunities to explore plausible options and exploit internal resource capabilities to advantage, giving rise to the adoption of more sustainable approaches. The study further discovers that experiential learning, i.e., a firm's ability to learn from its green initiative implementation experience, separates SMMEs capable of capital izing on the values of their implemented green initiatives to gain competitive advantages and redefine competition from those that are immersed in a cognitive lock-in, unable to free themselves from an unproductive green wall. The findings suggest that nurturing organizational learning among environmentally resistive firms could transform them into environmentally responsible enterprises. The study concludes by interpreting its findings into a number of theoretical propositions for theory building in corporate environmental management.

La Grande muraille verte est le nom d’un programme régional de lutte contre la désertification au Sahel lancé en 2007 sous l’égide de l’Union africaine et des organisations régionales. Il consiste à favoriser le reboisement des territoires semi-arides le long d’un tracé reliant Dakar à Djibouti et traversant onze États, afin de créer un « bandeau végétal dressé face à l’avancée du désert ». Cette thèse a pour but de proposer une lecture géographique et critique de ce projet insolite, appréhendé ici comme une utopie environnementale. À partir d’enquêtes de terrain principalement menées au Sénégal (région du Ferlo) et enrichies par les apports de la political ecology, elle met en lumière la tension qui existe entre d’un côté, la formulation d’un projet de territoire au nom du développement des zones semi-arides et de la gestion des ressources naturelles et, de l’autre, la promotion d’un instrument d’extraversion politique et économique permettant de capter de nouvelles rentes environnementales : en quoi la territorialisation du projet est-elle subordonnée à une quête de visibilité globale ? La première partie montre comment la Grande muraille verte recycle dans un moment historique favorable des pratiques anciennes en matièr ede lutte contre la désertification. La deuxième partie décrit le déficit d’ancrage territorial de ses aménagements à l’échelle locale. La troisième partie montre que l’appropriation globale du projet est la source principale de sa grande résilience. / The Great Green Wall is a regional initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel. It was launched in2007 under the leadership of the African Union and other regional organisations. The program supports reforestation of drylands from Dakar to Djibouti, and aims to form a line of trees protecting against desert encroachment. In a geographical and critical perspective, it can regarded as a green utopia. This thesis, based essentially on field research carried out in Senegal (Ferlo region) supplemented by political ecology insights sheds light on the existing tension between two approaches to the project : one, the objectives of this local project are to develop drylands and better manage natural resources, and two, it can also be seen as promoting an instrument of political and economic extraversion, producing newrent-seeking opportunities. To what extent can the territorialization process of the local project be impaired by the search for global visibility ? The first part shows how the Great Green Wall, at a historical moment, is reactivating traditional techniques to combat desertification. The second partdescribes the lack of territorial anchorage and its local applications. The third part shows that the project derives its great resilience mainly from global ownership.

This diploma thesis deals with the assessment of the influence of the green interior wall to the microclimate of the room. The experimental part of the thesis assesses the thermal-humidity microclimate, the microbial microclimate and the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the air. In the project part, a variant solution for the ventilation of an office building was prepared. In the first variant, mechanical cooling was used to cover the heat load, while the second variant used passive cooling and direct adiabatic cooling with a green wall.

No description available.

Much like other cities Stockholm has traditionally used a technical system for managing stormwater. With time this system has become overburdened and has led to large environmental concerns. To reach water quality goals set by the EU Stockholm needs to decrease pollution released to recipients by 70-80%.  Green infrastructure (GI) has increasingly been used as an alternative and addition to technical stormwater systems. Many studies have been conducted on different solutions and their stormwater management performance. The City of Stockholm have done research on numerous solutions to evaluate their performance in the context of Stockholm as well. However, implementation in the inner city is slow, thus this study explores why this is the case, and how Stockholm’s stormwater management goals can be reached. Stockholm predominately uses trees planted in plant beds using structural soil, and a combination of constructed wetlands and wet ponds for stormwater management. In new developments there is no real concern, as the GI can be included in planning at an early stage. Including these solutions in existing environments causes issues related to space, both above and below ground, and costs. Therefore, other solutions need to be found. This study explored green roofs, green walls and permeable pavements as possible options. Additionally, it found that finding new space that has previously not been used for GI could be an option. To mitigate financing issues new ways of promoting investment into GI from private property owners could be utilized, but that there also is a mismatch between supposed support for sustainable stormwater management on the political side and funds allocated. Finally, the study recommends that Stockholm takes the technical systems into account and explores what GI measures best work together with it to more effectively decrease pollution.

This practicum is a reference for vertical gardeners in cold climates. Winnipeg, Manitoba is explored, however findings may be applied to other cities in similar climates. First, the history of vertical gardening is discussed, then the types of vertical gardens currently on the market are described. These can be classified into two categories: soil bearing or non-soil bearing. Most designs are modular pre-planted systems that can be attached to any wall, as long as it satisfies the structural requirements recommended by the manufacturer. The benefits of vertical gardening have been shown to be rather extensive, covering a wide range of areas. Aesthetic improvement, reduction of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, improvement of air quality, stormwater absorption, noise reduction, native habitat integration, reduction of heating and cooling costs for buildings, food production, marketing, and biophilia are all benefits explored in detail. Difficulties associated with vertical gardening are discussed, specifically the lack of knowledge and awareness of vertical gardens, lack of empirical evidence (or missing details in existing research), overall cost and lack of financial incentives, lack of industry codes, and various associated risks. Design framework exists within microclimate conditions unique to vertical gardens, as well as neighbourhood and regional (micro)climates. Theories relating to the study of green walls covered include the human ecosystem model, urban reconciliation ecology, habitat templating, the urban cliff hypothesis, and wall ecology. Suitable habitat templates identified for vertical gardens in Winnipeg are cliffs, sand dunes, alvars, mixed grass prairie and prairie potholes. Design parameters to be followed for vertical garden design in Winnipeg are to ensure that lightweight materials are used, to provide insulation to protect plants from sudden temperature changes, to choose plants that grow in the region and are adapted to grow in areas with limited soil, increased wind, varying degrees of sunlight (depending on orientation), and increased pollution and salt spray depending on location. / October 2015

This diploma thesis presents a project documentation for construction of a community centre with a restaurant. Its construction site is located on the outskirts of town Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, Poděbradova street. The building is composed from three parts, which are connected to each other. The first part houses the restaurant with its facilities. This part is a single floor structure covered by a flat green roof. Its façade is formed by white boards composed into an asymmetrical pattern. The second part serves as a backstage area where all the necessary facilities are located. This second part of the building is as the first part a single floor structure covered by a flat green roof. Its façade is formed by façade timber boards. The main entrance is located in the middle part, which is the third part the building. It has two floors and it houses an auditorium, a bar and amenities. Its façade is formed by trapezial boards. The construction system is formed by load bearing walls and by prestressed concreted floor panels or in some parts by cast-in-place reinforced concrete slabs. The building has strip foundations. Its interior walls are built from sand-limestone bricks with acoustic properties. The perimeter walls are covered with ventilated façade with mineral wool thermal insulation. The heating of the community centre is powered by gas boiler connected to single-vent chimney with ventilation shaft.

The topic of this diploma thesis is systems of energy efficient buildings with a focus on the building envelope. The first theoretical part describes the quantities that we consider when designing the building envelope. The second half of the theoretical part is with reference to the experimental part of the thesis focused on a special type of vertical perimeter structure, namely walls with live vegetation installed from the outside of the structure. The second, practical part of this work, deals with the design of heating and hot water supply for a multifunctional building. The design is elaborated in two variants - heating by means of radiators in the first variant and in the second variant by means of floor heating for residential units of the solved building. The third part define an experiment, which had the task of comparing the measured quantities on two types of vertical perimeter structures, namely a structure with growing greenery from the outside and an identical structure only without a layer of greenery. At the same time, the task was to check the possible influence of the applied greenery on heat losses, and thus the design of the heating system.