Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / The idea of using nature, as a design model in building construction is not a new one; this innovative technique is known as biomimicry in architecture. This study focuses on biomimicry and its application in three buildings; The University of Arizona’s new Environmental and Natural Resource Phase 2 (ENR2) building; Architect Mick Pearce’s Eastgate Centre in Harare Zimbabwe; and Council House 2 (CH2) in Melbourne Australia. The research in this paper is centered around the ENR2 building, it examines the extent to which biomimcry is applied in terms of aesthetics and performance, by comparing it to the Eastgate Centre and CH2 buildings.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / In a society growing towards alternative modes of transportation, this study explores the phase 2 streetcar expansion for the Tucson area. Using case studies and research articles, a criteria of factors were created to best judge three predetermined expansion routes. A case study was then done on these routes to determine which route would be best for the area. In this study, the factors that were looked at and used to rank the three routes included; population density and average annual income of the surrounding area of the route (400 meter buffer), accessibility and connectivity, which includes; bus stops, bike lanes, walkability, traffic counts and possible park & ride development. The last factor used in the case study was proximity to destination, specifically how many ‘big destinations’ (destinations that experience high volumes of people) each route had. The proximity to destination factor also determined how good of a balance each route had with housing, work and amenities/leisure destinations.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / Abstract Suburbs have long been a place near and dear to the hearts of many, they provide private property, large homes and a sense of security. They have traditionally been located far from city centers and also far from jobs. The following paper researchers whether or not suburban homes can be updated to compensate for the extra distance their inhabitants have to commute to work. The study looks at three case houses in the focus area of Continental Ranch, a Pulte suburb. The follow research was performed using a cost benefit analysis on three case homes and four case vehicles. The results were calculated using available data, estimates and website based calculators. The five upgrades calculated were CFL/LED light bulb replacement, water fixture upgrades, fridge replacement, rainwater harvesting and installation of solar panels. The case homes varied in size from 1,369 to 3,609 square feet and were built between 1989 and 2001. The homes have between two to five bedrooms and two to three bathrooms. The cars chosen as vehicle options for comparison were the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic, the Honda Odyssey and the Chevrolet Tahoe, all 2016 models. The results found that all three homes could be upgraded to compensate for the annual cost of gas consumption of all four car options. It should be noted that these calculations did not take into account the cost of the upgrades, but rather the savings it would procure.

<p>Though mandatory to be pursued, improved energy efficiency is not the only target to reach. The quality of energy has to be assessed as well. Most of the overall energy use in residential building is for low temperature heat, i.e. temperatures relatively close to the outdoor conditions. From a thermodynamic point of view, this is a degraded form of energy with low potential to be converted into work. On the other hand energy demand is mostly met with high quality energy, such as electricity and natural gas. There is a mismatch between supply and demand, which is not clearly shown by the sole energy analysis. Target of this thesis is to analyze the energy use in buildings from the point of view of its quality, to provide effective theoretical and calculation tools to investigate this mismatch, to assess its magnitudo and to propose improvements aiming at a more rational use of the energy. The idea behind the quality is clarified with the concept of exergy.</p><p>The potential for improvement in space heating is shown. In no heating system the overall exergy efficiency is above 20%, with fossil fuels. Using direct electricity heating results in exergy efficiency below 7%. Most of the household appliances processes have low-exergy factors but still are supplied with electricity. This results in poor exergy efficiencies and large exergy losses.</p><p>Systems are poorly performing because little consideration is explicitly given to energy quality. Policies to lower the energy demand, though vital as first step towards an improved use of energy, should not neglect the exergy content.</p><p>The problem is then shifted to find suitable supplies. Electricity can be exploited with low exergy losses with high-COP heat pumps. Use of fossil fuels for heating purposes should be avoided. District heating from cogeneration and geothermal proves to be a suitable solution at the building level. The issues connected to its exploitation forces to shift the boundary layers of the analysis from the building level to the community level. A rational use of energy should address the community level. The system boundaries have to be enlarged to a dimension where both the energy conversion and use take place with reduced energy transportation losses. This is a cost-effective way to avoid the waste of the exergy potential of the sources with exergy cascade and to make it possible the integration of with renewable sources. Exergy efficiency of the buildings is a prerequisite for a better of energy in this field.</p> / IEA ECBCS Annex 49: Low Exergy Systems for High Performance Buildings and Communities / ESF Cost C24: Analysis and Design of Innovative Systems for Low-EXergy in the Built Environment: COSTeXergy

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This thesis examines the mechanisms of site-specific installation in photography, drawing on contemporary architectural debates around relationships between image and space, as well as debates in fine art around participatory practices involving installation. The project has involved a synthesis of practical research, through the production of artwork, throughout the research period. I consider the outcomes of writing, photographing and photographic installation to be at parity with one another, in the spirit of what Jane Rendell calls 'critical spatial practice'. The focus and physical context for this inquiry is the former Lilian Baylis School, built in 1964 by the Architects' Co-Partnership (ACP) for the London County Council in the Borough of Lambeth. It served its function as a school up until 2005 after which it was used for community programmes. In 2011 the site, by then Grade II listed, was restored and converted into new flats. The concept of visual memory serves as a theoretical basis of my project. I take up architect Aldo Rossi's idea of acting as a way of tracing a process of transformation, and also using these traces as a form of site-specific intervention, as an action in relation to this transformation. These aspects of transformation inform the work of making visible the memory of a place through photography and its spatial installation, engaging viewers in this process.

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.

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.