An Urban Approach To Climate Sensitive Design

The need to respond to the rapidly changing city climate is particularly urgent in the tropics where the urban transition is currently at its peak. While the need is clearly felt by the tropical urban dwellers, texts that provide an overview of the problem and indicate possible design solutions are rare. This comprehensive reference will be welcomed by student and practising architects as well as other built envronment professionals engaged with the environmental effects of building in worldwide warm and humid climates.

The need to respond to the rapidly changing city climate is particularly urgent in the tropics where the urban transition is currently at its peak. While the need is clearly felt by the tropical urban dwellers, texts that provide an overview of the problem and indicate possible design solutions are rare. This comprehensive reference will be welcomed by student and practising architects as well as other built envronment professionals engaged with the environmental effects of building in worldwide warm and humid climates.

The first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates, suitable for students and researchers alike.

In an era defined by climate change, huge resource consumption, a lack of social cohesion, rapidly accelerating technological innovations, economic shifts, and the transformation of political systems, solutions must be pursued at every level of action. This book shows how solutions from urban design and planning can, by integrating the approaches of multiple disciplines, be the first steps toward envisioning the sustainable, energy-efficient, and climate-sensitive city of the future. This book is compiled for readers from a range of professional backgrounds. Its intended audience includes the government bodies, municipalities, urban planners, engineers, architects, civil servants, and citizens who are part of urban development, from initiation through implementation. The facts and findings presented herein are relevant to any national or international debate concerning urban development which aims to create sustainable, resource-efficient, and climate-sensitive urbanization processes. The text and visuals of this book are intended to serve as a comprehensive decision support tool, taking into account that current and future urban challenges and planning tasks can only be tackled through an interlinked and stakeholder driven iterative process. As a result of the Young Cities research project, this book acts as a multilayered reference manual by providing: (a) a brief outline of the MENA region’s urban challenges; (b) a proposal for generic principles and actions for creating an energy- and resource-efficient as well as environmentally sustainable urban environment; (c) the opportunities and impacts of each discipline involved in an integrated planning process; and (d) the findings of the applied principles in the 35 ha “Shahre Javan Community” pilot project.

Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design: Potential, Design, Ecological Health, Economics, Policies and Community Perceptions covers all aspects on the implementation of sustainable storm water systems for urban and suburban areas whether they are labeled as WSUD, Low Impact Development (LID), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) or the Sponge City Concept. These systems and approaches are becoming an integral part of developing water sensitive cities as they are considered very capable solutions in addressing issues relating to urbanization, climate change and heat island impacts in dealing with storm water issues. The book is based on research conducted in Australia and around the world, bringing in perspectives in an ecosystems approach, a water quality approach, and a sewer based approach to stormwater, all of which are uniquely covered in this single resource.

Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.

Smart, Resilient and Transition Cities: Emerging Approaches and Tools for Climate-Sensitive Urban Development starts with a presentation of three widespread Urban Metaphors, which are gaining increasing attention from urban planners and decision-makers: Smart City, Resilient City and Transition Towns, being all of them focused on the need for enhancing cities’ capacities to cope with the multiple and heterogeneous challenges threatening contemporary cities and their future development and, above all, with climate issues. Then, the Authors provide an overview of current large-scale and urban strategies to counterbalance climate change so far undertaken in different geographical contexts (Europe, United States, China, Africa and Australia), shedding light on the different approaches, on the different weights assigned to mitigation and adaptation issues as well as on the main barriers hindering their effectiveness and translation into measurable outcomes. Opportunities and criticalities arising from the rich, ‘sprawled’ and ‘blurred’ landscape of current strategies and initiatives in the face of climate change pave the way to a discussion on the lessons learnt from current initiatives and provide new hints for developing integrated climate strategies, capable to guide planners and decision makers towards a climate sensitive urban development Smart, Resilient and Transition Cities: Emerging Approaches and Tools for Climate-Sensitive Urban Development merges a scientific approach with a pragmatic one. Through a case study approach, the Authors explore strengths and weaknesses of institutional and informal practices to foreshadow innovative paths for an adaptive process of urban governance in the face of climate change. The book guides the reader along new governance paths, characterized by continuous learning and close cooperation and communication among different actors and stakeholders and, in so doing, helps them to overcome current ‘siloed’ approaches to climate issues. Links resilience, smart growth, low-carbon urbanism, climate-friendly cities, sustainable development and transition cities, being all these concepts crucial to improve effective climate policies Includes a number of case studies showing how cities, different in size, geographical, cultural and economic contexts are currently dealing with climate issues, grasping synergies and commonalities arising from current institutional practices and transition initiatives Provides strategic and operative guidelines to overcome barriers and critical issues emerging from current practices, promoting cross-sectoral approaches to counterbalance climate change