| 1. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Crossing dichotomies and breaking mental patterns: Green business development when all else fails?
- 2017
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Ingår i: 8th International Scientific Conference “Rural Development 2017: Bioeconomy Challenges”, 23–24 November, 2017 Kaunas, Lithuania.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Obtaining sustainable and inclusive societal organization is not merely a simple matter of ‘doing it’ by subscribing to some winning formula. Given that conceptual frameworks always guide our thoughts, judgments and actions (Latour, 2013; Harvey, 1996; Dennett, 1993), the ways in which we relate to concepts chosen to serve as guiding forces for future development will eventually determine its outcome. As scholarly evidence continuously suggests the concepts ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ are increasingly recognized as artificial barriers for conducting sound and integrated development endeavors in a globalized reality of interconnectedness. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to eradicate poverty, shield the planet and safeguard prosperity for all, commitment to universal access to healthy food year round has become an important agenda point. This, however, has been exacerbated by binary thinking and separate ways of doing policy. This paper aims to share experiences from a unique project launched in the northern parts of Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city. While the area offers ample resources and immense opportunities for areal economies, it at the same time remains one of Gothenburg’s most segregated, with high levels of unemployment, ill health and crime. The uniqueness of the project lies not only in its way of abridging the rural-urban divide, but also by consciously deferring from the debilitating rhetoric of previous ‘immigrant policies’, and instead focusing on agricultural productivity, small-scale food producers and sustainable food strategies. Such exhortations to bridge between philosophical and material polarities, however, have not come without conceptual and practical challenges, something this paper aims to subsume and open up to debate.
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| 2. |
- Silfwerbrand, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Performance-based requirements in design-build contracting for highway construction and maintenance
- 2019
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Ingår i: FIB 2018 - Proceedings for the 2018 fib Congress. - : Federation Internationale du Beton (fib). ; , s. 470-478, s. 470-478
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Design-build contracts with performance-based specifications are believed to raise productivity and the innovation rate. However, performance-based requirements used in specifications for highway and bridge contracts may suffer from being too detailed or too difficult to verify. A Swedish research project has been devoted to this issue. The aims were (i) to develop a definition of performance-based requirements and (ii) to evaluate performance-based requirements used in Swedish design-build contracts. The project consisted of three parts: (i) literature survey, (ii) investigation of current documents produced and used by the Swedish Transport Administration for design-build contracts, and (iii) case studies of six design-build contracts with performance-based requirements, including an analysis of specification documents and interviews with both client and contractor project managers. Current performance-based specifications show different degrees of detail. Measurable requirements are more frequently used on roads, and in particular on road surfaces, than on bridges. Further development is needed to promote technical innovations. Less detailed specifications and a shift to design-build-operate contracts with prolonged maintenance responsibility would also encourage the choice of more durable and long-lasting (=sustainable) solutions. The emphasis on Life Cycle Cost (LCC) in the reformulated contract award criteria in the EU public procurement directive might be insufficient to strengthen the competitive power of concrete pavements as compared to asphalt pavements, unless specifications are supported by Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and the choice of contract type is reconsidered.
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| 3. |
- Ek, Kristine, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-criteria decision analysis methods to support sustainable infrastructure construction
- 2019
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Ingår i: IABSE Symposium, Guimaraes 2019: Towards a Resilient Built Environment Risk and Asset Management - Report. ; , s. 1084-1091
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction of infrastructure projects represents a large sustainability impact, both positive and negative. Increased positive and reduced negative impacts can be achieved through better design and planning of the construction. To make more sustainable choices, well‐defined predictive sustainability assessment methods are required. Multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a well-suited method for predictive sustainability assessment. This paper evaluates two MCDA methods for sustainability assessment of infrastructure construction and exemplifies their application with two case studies. The aim of this paper is to discuss if the methods are suitable for identifying the most sustainable alternative during the procurement process of an infrastructure project. It is recommended that MCDA methods are further developed to comply with the recently published EN standard on sustainability assessment of civil engineering works.
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| 4. |
- Kurkinen, Eva-Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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Energy and climate-efficient construction systems : Environmental assessment of various frame options for buildings in Brf. Viva
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the collaborative forum Positive footprint housing® Riksbyggen is building the Viva residential quarter, which is a sustainability project at the very forefront of what is possible with contemporary construction. The idea is that this residential quarter should be fully sustainable in ecological, economic and social terms. Since 2013, a number of pilot studies have been completed under the auspices of the Viva project framework thanks to financing from the Swedish Energy Agency. The various building frame alternatives that have been evaluated are precast concrete, cast in-situ concrete and solid wood, all proposed by leading commercial suppliers. The report includes a specific requirement for equivalent functions during the use phase of the building, B. An interpretation has been provided that investigates the building engineering aspects in detail, as well as an account of the results based on the social community requirements specified in Viva, durability, fire, noise and energy consumption in the Swedish National Board of Building, Planning and Housing building regulations (BBR), plus Riksbyggen’s own requirements, Sweden Green Building Council’s Environmental Building Gold (Miljöbyggnad Guld) and 100-year life cycle. Given that the alternatives have different long-term characteristics (and also that our knowledge of these characteristics itself varies), these functional requirements have been addressed by setting up different scenarios in accordance with the EPD standard EN 15978. Because Riksbyggen has specified a requirement for a 100-year life cycle, we have also opted for an analysis period of 100 years. The results show no significant differences between concrete and timber structures for the same functions during the life cycle, either for climate or for primary energy. The minor differences reported are accordingly less than the degree of uncertainty involved in the study. The available documentation on the composition of the relevant intumescent paint coating on solid wood frames differs from source to source, so it was not possible to fully allow for the significance of this. The LCA has not included functional changes in the building linked to load-bearing characteristics, noise, moisture, health or other problems that may result in increased maintenance and replacement. The concrete houses have been dimensioned for 100 years, for instance, in accordance with tried and tested standards and experience. The solid wood house is not dimensioned in the same way, and this has led to us having to assume various scenarios.The results also show the following:• The uncertainties involved in comparing different structures and alternative solutions are very significant. The results are affected by factors such as life cycle, the functional requirements taken into consideration, transportation, design and structural details, etc.• Variations in the built items and a considerable degree of uncertainty in the assumptions make it difficult to obtain significant results on comparisons. Only actual construction projects with known specific data, declared from a life cycle perspective that takes into account actual building developer requirements and involving different scenarios (best, documented and worst-case) for the user stage can currently be compared.• In the other hand, comparisons restricted to different concrete structures only, or to different timber structures only, ought to involve a lower degree of uncertainty. These would then provide results that are significant as well as improvement requirements that are relevant.• There is potential for improving concrete by imposing requirements on the material• There is potential for improving solid wood frames by developing and guaranteeing well-documented long-term characteristics for all functional requirements.The LCAs were performed as an iterative process where all parties were given the opportunity to submit their viewpoints and suggestions for changes during the course of the work. This helped ensure that all alternatives have been properly thought through.Because, during the project, Riksbyggen opted to procure a concrete frame, in the final stage the researchers involved focused on ensuring the procurement process would result in the concrete frame as built meeting the requirements set out above. As things currently stand, the material requirements for the concrete are limited by the production options open to the suppliers, and this is therefore being investigated in the manufacture of precast concrete frames for the Viva cooperative housing association.
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| 5. |
- Mangold, Mikael, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Building ownership, renovation investments, and energy performance - A study of multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg
- 2018
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 10:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950-1975. In many European countries, the building stock from this time needs to be renovated, and there are opportunities to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process. Information availability and increasingly available analysis tools make it possible to assess the impact of policy and regulation. This article describes methods developed for analyzing investments in renovation and energy performance based on building ownership and inhabitant socio-economic information developed for Swedish authorities, to be used for the Swedish national renovations strategy in 2019. This was done by analyzing measured energy usage and renovation investments made during the last 30 years, coupled with building specific official information of buildings and resident area characteristics, for multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg (N = 6319). The statistical analyses show that more costly renovations lead to decreasing energy usage for heating, but buildings that have been renovated during the last decades have a higher energy usage when accounting for current heating system, ownership, and resident socio-economic background. It is appropriate to include an affordability aspect in larger renovation projects since economically disadvantaged groups are over-represented in buildings with poorer energy performance.
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| 6. |
- Mathern, Alexandre, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainability-driven structural design using artificial intelligence
- 2019
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Ingår i: 20th Congress of IABSE, New York City 2019: The Evolving Metropolis - Report. ; , s. 1058-1065
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction industry is responsible for a large share of the global environmental impact. The need for addressing sustainability and increased competition calls for the development of innovative design methods that include sustainability in a transparent way. The aim of this work is to propose a framework to use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for structural design optimization based on sustainability and buildability criteria. AI opens up new possibilities to optimize and assess structures early in the planning and design stages. In that way, it is possible to decrease the negative and enhance the positive environmental, economic and social impacts and create a more time‐ and cost‐effective design process. The work is meant to serve as a first step toward the development of AI‐based methods in the construction industry, which can bring digitalization in the construction industry to a new level and create new services and business models.
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| 7. |
- Rempling, Rasmus, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Automatic structural design by a set-based parametric design method
- 2019
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Ingår i: Automation in Construction. - : Elsevier BV. - 0926-5805. ; 108:December
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Modern structural design faces new challenges, such as addressing the needs of several stakeholders and satisfying the criteria for achieving sustainability. The traditional design process does not allow resolution of these challenges. The purpose of this project was to investigate the applicability of a Set-Based Parametric Design method to the structural design process of bridges. The focus was on the early design stage, in which the design team evaluates design alternatives against a chosen set of criteria. The main challenge in this stage of design is that the process should be cost- and time-effective while allowing comparison of the different alternatives and their evaluation in terms of the different design criteria. Certainly, structural design is often performed by a discussion between the different stakeholders involved in this process, i.e. the client, contractor, and engineering team. An evaluation of alternatives against criteria requires a more detailed design, which is contradictory to the early design stage when information is scarce. The selected approach was to develop a script that can generate information for decision-making, automate the structural design process, perform common routine design tasks, and control the numerical analysis. The method combined Set-Based Design, Parametric Design, Finite Element Analysis and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. Three existing bridges were selected to demonstrate the applicability of the developed method. The method was successfully applied and it was observed that it resulted in bridges that were more efficient in terms of material costs and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions compared with existing bridges. By delaying the decisions and developing the sets of alternatives, various alternatives can be assessed and evaluated, in the design stage, against different sustainability criteria.
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| 8. |
- Roupé, Mattias, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Immersive visualization of Building Information Models
- 2016
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Ingår i: Living Systems and Micro-Utopias: Towards Continuous Designing, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA 2016). - 9789881902672 ; , s. 673-682
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The design process of a building often involves many different actors and people with different experiences, level of knowledge and ability to interpret information. The most common information media in these processes are 2D-drawings, documents and 3D images of design. These media can be difficult to interpret and understand and could cause communication difficulties and design errors. However, in this context, Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) have been shown to offer an efficient communication platform. In this paper we present and evaluate a portable immersive visualization system that uses the BIMs directly from the design tools. The system is validated in a real construction project, where the dif-ferent disciplines in the design process used the system. The result was collected through interviews and observation during usage of the system. All the participants expressed that this type of visual interface helped them to get another level of understanding and perception of space, which lead to better decision-making process and resolving of design issues.
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| 9. |
- Estévez Mauriz, Laura, 1982
(författare)
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The urban form and the sound environment - Tools and approaches
- 2017
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cities are always confronted with transition and adaptation. Awareness on urban environmental quality is leading the vision about the built environment’s resilience and sustainability, highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary framework for urbanisation processes. One of the main concerns is the negative impact of outdoor noise due to road traffic, whereby controlling the sound environment through good quality spatial production is a priority. Europe and other parts of the world are experiencing a chronic traffic congestion problem. The environmental impact of this situation is overwhelming, where 90 % of the health impact due to noise exposure is estimated to be caused by road traffic noise. In this regard, noise maps are seen as a powerful tool in the development of new urban areas, where its noise level underestimation can endanger the wellbeing of citizens. At this rapid urbanisation, divided pronouncements on decision-making are devastating. The aim is to overcome negative aspects derived from a late intervention by including urban sound planning as an opportunity to the user’s experience and wellbeing, avoiding poor patches in the urban configuration and economical burden. The present work is committed to the development of tools for controlling, communicating and designing the sound environment on a level beyond today’s solutions, capable to be included at the early stages of the planning process. First, the study goes through the importance of the quiet side and the implementation of an engineering method as a powerful tool in the urban development, obtaining accurate results compared to measurements. In an attempt to study time variations of traffic within cities and its relevance regarding noise emission (normally overlooked in current noise mapping calculations), a microscopic road traffic modelling tool is developed in the second study, giving useful output for noise level predictions as function of time. The time-pattern analysis opens the possibility to test traffic configurations and explore a large variety of results in the form of descriptors as statistical indicators, calm periods and noise events, and outcomes as difference maps and contribution maps. The third study extends toward the evaluation of the effects of spatial heterogeneity (considered a key strategy to increase the liveability of spaces) on the environmental performance and resilience capacity of the transportation system through the study of noise pollution and its economic impact. The studies presented are using real case scenarios as a test-bed not only for implementation, but mainly for the development of tools.
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| 10. |
- Jalilzadehazhari, Elaheh, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Achieving a trade‐off construction solution using BIM, an optimization algorithm, and a multi‐criteria decision‐making method
- 2019
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Ingår i: Buildings. - Basel, Switzerland : MDPI. - 2075-5309. ; 9:4, s. 1-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Energy Performance of Building Directive obligated all European countries to reduce the energy requirements of buildings while simultaneously improving indoor environment quality. Any such improvements not only enhance the health of the occupants and their productivity, but also provide further economic benefits at the national level. Accomplishing this task requires a method that allows building professionals to resolve conflicts between visual and thermal comfort, energy demands, and life‐cycle costs. To overcome these conflicts, this study exploits the incorporation of building information modelling (BIM), the design of experiments as an optimization algorithm, and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) into a multi‐criteria decision‐ making method. Any such incorporation can (i) create constructive communication between building professionals, such as architects, engineers, and energy experts; (ii) allow the analysis of the performance of multiple construction solutions with respect to visual and thermal comfort, energy demand, and life‐cycle costs; and (iii) help to select a trade‐off solution, thereby making a suitable decision. Three types of energy‐efficient windows, and five types of ground floors, roofs, and external wall constructions were considered as optimization variables. The incorporation of several methods allowed the analysis of the performance of 375 construction solutions based on a combination of optimization variables, and helped to select a trade‐off solution. The results showed the strength of incorporation for analyzing big‐data through the intelligent use of BIM and a simulation in the field of the built environment, energy, and costs. However, when applying AHP, the results are strongly contingent on pairwise comparisons
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