Reprint

Energy and Seismic Renovation Strategies for Sustainable Cities

Edited by
June 2019
252 pages
  • ISBN978-3-03897-944-9 (Paperback)
  • ISBN978-3-03897-945-6 (PDF)

This book is a reprint of the Special Issue Energy and Seismic Renovation Strategies for Sustainable Cities that was published in

Business & Economics
Environmental & Earth Sciences
Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities
Summary

The principle of sustainability should be strictly connected with safety, since both aim to conserve resources: in the case of sustainability, the resources are typically thought of as environmental, while in the case of safety, the resources are basically human. In spite of this common ground, discussions on sustainability usually give insufficient attention to safety. In the last years the EU has made large investments to increase the energy efficiency of the existing building stock, paving the way for a low-carbon future; however, less effort has been made to enhance its seismic resilience. Therefore, the safety and, consequently, the sustainability of towns situated in earthquake-prone countries remain inadequate.

In such countries, energy renovation actions should be combined with seismic retrofitting. However, a number of barriers considerably limit the real possibility of extensively undertaking combined retrofit actions, especially for multi-owner housing and high-rise buildings. These barriers are of different kinds: technical (e.g., unfeasibility and/or ineffectiveness of conventional retrofit solutions), financial (e.g., high renovation costs, insufficient incentives/subsidies), organizational (e.g., occupants’ disruption and relocation, renovation consensus by condominium ownerships), and cultural/social (insufficient information and skills, lack of adequate policy measures for promoting renovation actions).

This book aims to overcome these barriers and to bridge the gap between sustainability and safety, so to conserve both human and environmental resources.

Format
  • Paperback
License
© 2019 by the authors; CC BY-NC-ND licence
Keywords
seismic retrofit; energy retrofit; sustainability; safety; policy measures; apartment blocks; building envelope; energy efficiency; seismic improvement; sustainability; energy retrofit; seismic analysis; nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB); Annex 56; cost-effective; optimization; historical building; seismic and energy retrofit; combined interventions; U-value; historical masonry; seismic retrofit; energy retrofit; historic urban fabric; building rehabilitation; energy efficiency; seismic reinforcement; historic massive envelope; cultural value; energy performances; damage mechanisms; pre-diagnostic process; seismic improvement; energy savings; Eastern Sicily; green infrastructure; seismic retrofitting; energy retrofitting; ecosystem services; urban planning; technological design; energy performance; seismic vulnerability assessment; risk analysis; masonry building aggregates; building envelope; innovative product; translucent panel; multifunctional component; energy efficiency; BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic); dry-assembly system; mechanical resistance; high-rise building; façade; sustainability and aesthetics; architectural image; parametric design; exoskeleton; seismic renovation; apartment blocks