Search Results (548)

Public open spaces (POS) in old communities are important settings for daily neighborhood life, yet many renovated POS remain underused after physical upgrading. Existing evaluations often rely on subjective perceptions, providing limited evidence on how facilities are associated with vitality. This study analyzes the associations between facility provision and POS vitality in 63 renovated POS across 11 old communities in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, China. POS vitality is operationalized through two behavioral dimensions, use frequency and stay duration, derived from video detection and tracking using YOLOv8 and ByteTrack. Facility provision was then classified by facility type and examined in relation to the vitality indicators through descriptive analysis and Generalized Estimating Equations models. Descriptive evidence indicates substantial heterogeneity in both facility provision and POS vitality. Resting amenities and landscape elements are more commonly provided, whereas children’s facilities show the lowest provision and greater spatial selectivity. Higher use frequency and longer stay duration are concentrated in some POS. The Generalized Estimating Equations analysis further indicates that facilities are not associated with vitality in a uniform way. Children’s facilities show the strongest positive associations with both use frequency and stay duration despite their limited provision, supporting their key role in POS vitality. Landscape elements and lighting facilities are more closely associated with stay duration, highlighting the role of environmental support in sustaining longer use. In contrast, the negative associations for fitness facilities, together with the non-significant results for resting and sanitation amenities, suggest that not all facility provision translates into stronger vitality. Taken together, renovation performance should be judged not by the quantity of upgraded facilities alone, but by whether facilities support the behavioral dimensions of vitality that a POS is expected to achieve. Full article

Rapid population ageing in China urgently demands improved attention to elderly friendly community green space design. Despite national efforts toward community renovation and urban regeneration, existing projects often overlook the systematic optimisation of green spaces explicitly tailored to elderly residents, leading to environments that inadequately support their physical, psychological, and social needs. Given that home-based care remains the predominant preference for elderly populations in China, creating optimised community green spaces is essential to facilitate healthy ageing-in-place effectively. This study systematically investigates the discrepancies between elders’ observed usage patterns and their stated landscape design preferences in two residential communities in Suzhou, China. By integrating year-round observational data with subjective interviews, the research identifies critical mismatches between elderly individuals’ actual behaviours and expressed preferences, highlighting significant deficiencies in current landscape designs. Comparative analyses reveal that prioritising microclimate comfort, accessible pathways, and targeted seating arrangements significantly enhances elderly usage frequency and satisfaction. Ultimately, this study provides practical, policy-aligned recommendations for designing climate-adaptive, elderly centric community green spaces, effectively contributing to sustainable urban renewal and the Healthy China 2030 initiative. Full article

Renovations aimed at improving energy conservation in older urban residential areas are essential for sustainable urban development; however, they encounter obstacles such as energy inefficiency and issues in sustaining long-term sustainability following renovation. Based on resource-based theory and collaborative governance theory, this study investigates how organisational resilience affects the efficacy of energy-saving renovations and confirms the mediating role of resource allocation efficiency. A mixed-methods approach was used in this investigation. Grounded theory was first used to establish the components of organisational resilience. A questionnaire survey was then used to gather information from those participating in energy-efficient renovation of old urban residential complexes. System dynamics (SD) was applied for empirical validation and simulation analysis across many intervention scenarios after structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to develop and evaluate study hypotheses. The results show that rather than the support of any particular strategy, the crucial elements in improving the efficacy of energy-saving renovations are efficient interdepartmental coordination and rational budget allocation. Notably, all energy-saving renovation outcome measures in this study are based primarily on stakeholder perceptions and survey responses rather than objectively measured energy consumption data. Full article

In the context of intensifying global climate change, high-altitude mountain ecosystems play a critical role in climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and the advancement of sustainable human development. Plateau regions, such as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, are particularly sensitive and responsive to global climatic fluctuations and function as essential ecological barriers supporting development across Asia. These areas occupy a strategic position within Asia’s ecological security framework and the broader international community, influencing not only regional ecological stability and social cohesion but also sustainable development pathways. However, owing to their fragile ecosystem structures, limited regenerative capacity, and the ongoing expansion of urbanisation and human activities, these regions frequently suffer from habitat fragmentation and degradation of ecological functions. This issue is especially acute in natural protected areas adjacent to plateau cities. Consequently, there is an urgent need for quantitative assessments of ecological restoration effectiveness within natural protected areas, alongside investigations into development approaches that underpin long-term regional stability and sustainability. Focusing on Chokpori Mountain—the “urban green heart” of Lhasa, a principal city on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau—this study develops a three-dimensional assessment framework encompassing ecological, economic, and social dimensions. By integrating the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, remote sensing inversion techniques, field monitoring, and questionnaire surveys, the research systematically evaluates the effectiveness of ecological restoration and proposes insights for sustainable governance. The findings indicate that ecological restoration elicited positive ecological responses, evidenced by a 69.2% increase in soil retention post-renovation, an increase in vegetation coverage, and modeled total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) export loads demonstrating enhanced nutrient retention potential and improved water purification potential; (2) economic stimulation was evident, as demonstrated by an increase in average weekend daily visitor numbers from 876 to 1567 and a 24.2% rise in average monthly revenue of shops within a 1 km radius; and (3) social well-being improved, with ecological satisfaction reaching 89.2% and recognition of cultural communication attaining 67.3%. An integrated analysis indicates a synergistic enhancement of ecological environmental quality, regional vitality, and public perception. Accordingly, the outcomes of this study provide both theoretical insights and practical guidance for the ecological restoration and sustainable management of urban protected areas in high-altitude plateau regions worldwide. Full article

Healthcare facilities are among the most energy-intensive public infrastructures due to their continuous operations, complex systems, and critical service requirements. In this context, Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) have gained increasing attention as a strategic tool for enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability in healthcare facilities. This paper investigates the potential and implementation of EPCs in the hospital sector, with a particular focus on their integration within Public–Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks. The study addresses that gap through a cross-case analysis of fourteen hospital EPC projects implemented in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries and Central-Eastern Europe, mapping their technical scope against a three-family taxonomy (envelope, plant systems, regulation and monitoring) and benchmarking their energy and economic performance. All figures reported derive from project documentation and contractual monitoring records. The results show that envelope-led configurations deliver the deepest reductions in primary and final energy consumption (up to 50% on the baseline), while plant-side measures, and trigeneration in particular, generate the largest absolute CO₂ savings (from approximately 500 to 17,000 tCO₂eq/yr); lighting, and building management systems (BMS) retrofits, although ubiquitous, account for a 20–25% band when deployed in isolation. The findings reframe EPCs as a configurable contract for decarbonization in healthcare environments and offer practitioners a reading grid for scoping future hospital retrofits under this framework. Full article

Power grid technical renovation projects are implemented through project-based supply chains involving equipment procurement, logistics coordination and on-site construction under market, delivery and carbon constraints. Their final cost is jointly affected by engineering quantities, supplier behavior, lead-time uncertainty, material price volatility and sustainability requirements. Existing studies usually emphasize technical parameters and direct expenditure, whereas supplier reliability, green procurement, carbon intensity and procurement contingency effects are only indirectly incorporated. This study develops a dynamic Bayesian model for carbon-adjusted cost forecasting and investment priority support in power grid technical renovation projects. Based on 800 anonymized project-level records, a random forest is first used to identify informative engineering, supply chain and sustainability variables. These variables are then organized in a Bayesian network that links observed evidence, intermediate cost nodes and the carbon-adjusted cost target. A dynamic evidence-weighting mechanism updates posterior cost beliefs as supplier, logistics, market and carbon information become available during implementation. Compared with static Bayesian inference, XGBoost, an improved BPNN and GRA-based benchmarks, the proposed model yields lower MAE and RMSE. Ablation and scenario analyses further show that supply chain and sustainability variables improve both predictive performance and decision interpretability. The results provide a quantitative basis for budget control, green procurement adjustment, contingency allocation and sustainable asset renewal prioritization in energy enterprises. Full article

Urban areas are increasingly vulnerable to climate-related stresses such as heatwaves, flooding, and resource inefficiencies, requiring integrated, data-driven strategies to enhance resilience and sustainability. This study presents a modular assessment and planning framework that combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Building Information Modeling (BIM), City Information Modeling (CIM), microclimate simulations (ENVI-met, SWMM), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and remote sensing within a unified decision support interface (DSI). The framework operates across multiple spatial scales—from individual buildings to entire cities—to assess climate vulnerability, support evidence-based urban regeneration, and inform sustainable renovation strategies. It enables the identification of multifunctional interventions that reduce climate risks while improving energy efficiency, resource management, and environmental quality. Urban areas are classified based on their exposure and sensitivity to climate stressors, providing a systematic basis for prioritizing adaptation and mitigation measures. The approach is validated through a case study in Daegu, Republic of Korea, a city facing an aging building stock and increasing climatic pressures. The framework is presented as a conceptual design operating at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3–4, indicating that it has passed its proof-of-concept, with key components including ENVI-met microclimate simulations and Sentinel-2/Landsat remote sensing processing demonstrably operational for the Daegu context. Illustrative performance benchmarks drawn from the peer-reviewed literature demonstrate that framework-guided interventions can achieve urban heat island reductions of 1.5–4.0 °C via green roof and reflective surface combinations; stormwater runoff reductions of 30–60% through sustainable urban drainage systems; and building energy savings of 25–45 kWh/m²/yr from deep façade renovation. Its modular and transferable design ensures applicability across diverse urban contexts with similar climatic and infrastructural challenges. Full article

Decoration waste, because of its complex composition and the presence of volatile toxic and hazardous substances, has always been a difficult point in the management of urban construction waste. And with the continuous expansion of the town scale, the volume of decoration waste is gradually expanding, which constitutes a major challenge to the sustainable development of the construction industry. In order to solve this difficult problem, this paper took Henan Province as an example, and realized the accurate control of decoration waste based on GF-2 remote sensing images and a BP neural network model. The results of GF-2 remote sensing image interpretation and analysis showed that the spatial distribution of construction waste in the study area was extracted through a combination of manual visual interpretation and machine learning recognition, and as of 2021, the construction waste pile occupied a large proportion of the land area, of which the proportion of decoration waste was about 10%. Based on the trained BP neural network, the goodness-of-fit result was R = 0.95463. Selecting the research data from 2010 to 2021, the error of the predicted annual generation of decoration waste in Henan Province compared with the actual value was less than 15%, which had a high prediction accuracy. Based on the arithmetic sum of the projected figures for each year from 2022 to 2030, it is estimated that by 2030, the cumulative volume of construction and renovation waste generated in Henan Province will reach 49,827,200 tons. Visualization of spatial and temporal distribution characteristics was realized through ArcGIS, and the high production area of decoration waste was distributed from the beginning to the end of the distribution of multi-points to show the characteristics of a concentrated large area distribution, centrally located in southwestern and southeastern Henan Province, with the key cities of Zhumadian City, Luoyang City, Zhoukou City, and Xinyang City, which had obvious regional characteristics. At the same time, as the provincial capital, Zhengzhou has long ranked first in the province in terms of absolute case numbers and is therefore also a key focus of control measures. Uncertainty analysis indicates that the 95% confidence interval for the long-term forecast values is approximately ±12%. It is recommended to use the upper limit of this interval for the redundancy design of the absorption facilities to enhance the robustness of the decision. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the governmental supervision of decoration waste during the development of national urban agglomerations, effectively solves regional urban planning and construction management problems, and promotes the sustainable development of the construction industry. Full article

The building sector is a critical component of the European Union’s strategy to achieve climate neutrality, as it accounts for 30–40% of total energy consumption and significant greenhouse gas emissions. While sustainability certification systems like BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, and HQE have established frameworks for environmental assessment, their widespread adoption in the residential sector faces challenges related to complexity and technical barriers. This paper provides a state-of-the-art literature review on streamlining sustainability certification for residential buildings in the EU. It examines the transition from established private schemes to harmonised frameworks such as Level(s), alongside the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The review identifies key obstacles, including data interoperability issues, the need for automated quantity extraction, and the lack of technical expertise among stakeholders. Findings suggest that streamlining requires advancing semantic data models and digital twins to enable real-time performance monitoring and automated compliance checking. Furthermore, the alignment of national building codes with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the European Green Deal is essential for fostering a more cohesive certification landscape. The study concludes by outlining pathways for reducing the administrative and technical burden of certification to support the EU’s decarbonisation and renovation goals. Full article

Residential buildings are a major source of urban carbon emissions, yet the uptake of smart home retrofitting remains far below the level required to meet decarbonization and sustainability targets. While technical solutions for energy-efficient renovation are well established, less is known about how behavioral, psychological, and institutional factors jointly shape household retrofit decisions and their broader sustainability implications. This study develops an integrated analytical framework that combines UTAUT2 with perceived risk, trust, innovativeness, and regulatory pressure, interpreted through a socio-technical systems perspective, to examine smart home retrofitting in Thailand and its contribution to Sustainable Community Development Goals (SCDG). Survey data were collected from 448 households in Bangkok and Chonburi and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that traditional UTAUT2 predictors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence do not significantly influence adoption intention in this high-cost retrofit context. Instead, innovativeness, trust, price value, perceived risk, and regulatory pressure emerge as key behavioral and institutional drivers, while facilitating conditions and habits shape actual use behavior. Actual retrofit behavior is found to generate significant economic, environmental, socio-cultural, technological, and public-policy sustainability outcomes aligned with SCDG. These findings demonstrate the limitations of conventional technology acceptance models in infrastructure-based contexts and provide a mechanism-based explanation of how retrofit adoption is driven in high-cost sustainability contexts. Full article

This study develops an Industry 5.0- and IoT-enabled roadmap for green transformation in manufacturing, with a particular focus on Turkish industry. The study combines a structured literature review, bibliometric keyword mapping based on Web of Science records, and interview-informed framework refinement drawing on the sustainability departments of five large-scale manufacturing firms operating in Türkiye. Rather than treating green transformation as a single initiative, the roadmap organizes it into five interrelated modules: emission reduction, clean and reliable energy, circular-economy mobilization, energy- and resource-efficient construction and renovation, and zero-pollution waste management. The main contribution is a five-level qualitative maturity model that shows how firms can move from compliance- and governance-based foundations to integrated, data-driven, and predictive sustainability practices. The framework clarifies which factors are foundational, enabling, or advanced at each level and is intended to be used as a practitioner checklist and strategic assessment tool rather than as a fixed quantitative scoring model. The interview insights were used to refine the sequencing of actions, identify implementation bottlenecks, and adapt the framework to the realities of Turkish manufacturing. By linking human-centric Industry 5.0 principles with operational sustainability priorities, this study offers both conceptual novelty and practical guidance for firms and policymakers seeking to align industrial upgrading with long-term environmental competitiveness. Full article

Sustainable renovation of existing residential building stocks is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy performance, and support long-term climate-neutral housing strategies. However, decisions based only on operational indicators may overlook important product-stage embodied impacts, especially in highly integrated renovation solutions. This study evaluates how alternative renovation pathways for a public residential building portfolio in the Comunitat Valenciana (Spain) perform from a stock-level sustainability perspective, comparing five INFINITE industrialised retrofit kits (Kit 1–Kit 5) with five paired conventional renovation scenarios (S1–S5). A bottom-up building stock modelling workflow is applied, combining building-energy simulation to quantify operational performance and emissions (B6) with a screening life-cycle assessment of product-stage embodied carbon reported as GWP (A1–A3). To relate upfront and in-use impacts, the study computes carbon payback, cumulative emissions avoided, and a horizon-based partial life-cycle climate indicator, PLC(H), assessed for 2030, 2035, and 2050. The results show a clear sustainability trade-off: renovation packages that sharply reduce operational emissions often require higher upfront embodied carbon, shifting net climate benefits towards longer time horizons. Low-embodied options provide earlier benefits, with Kit 1 reducing PLC(H) by 15.5% by 2030, whereas deeper decarbonisation packages achieve stronger long-term outcomes, with S5 reducing PLC(H) by 70.7% by 2050. A bounded electricity-decarbonisation sensitivity further shows that these long-horizon rankings are affected by lower grid-emission factors, particularly for highly electrified pathways, although the strongest 2050 pathways remain robust across the tested cases. Overall, the findings show that sustainable stock-level renovation planning should jointly consider operational and embodied carbon, carbon payback, and milestone-based cumulative impacts in order to support balanced portfolio sequencing between broadly deployable fast-payback measures and selective deep retrofits. Full article

The construction industry is one of the major sources of carbon emissions, and green retrofitting of buildings is an effective pathway to promoting sustainable development in the sector. However, existing research and implementation strategies often struggle to reconcile the needs of governments, businesses, and residents. Therefore, this study proposes a comprehensive research framework that employs bibliometric and text analysis methods to examine implementation barriers in retrofitting projects across four dimensions: policy, cost, technology, and resident satisfaction. The results indicate that retrofitting costs are the primary factor, while technology is a secondary factor. Furthermore, existing policies feature vague technical standards, insufficient incentives, and a lack of differentiation. Conflicts of interest and challenges regarding cost allocation persist throughout the renovation life cycle. Decision-support tools and renovation technologies face limitations and issues regarding applicability. Residents face constraints from multiple factors, including their knowledge base and economic capacity. Based on these findings, the government urgently needs to improve a differentiated policy system and encourage technological R&D and knowledge dissemination. Enterprises must actively respond to policies and optimize their technologies and management practices. Residents need to enhance their energy-saving awareness, participate in retrofitting efforts, and improve their energy consumption behaviors. Full article

The sustainable renovation of ageing industrial buildings presents both a challenge and an opportunity to enhance energy efficiency while preserving architectural and structural integrity. This study develops an integrated methodological framework for assessing and optimising multilayer wall systems in such conversions, combining thermal, environmental, and durability analyses. Six composite wall configurations were designed and numerically evaluated using steady-state 2D heat conduction and vapour-diffusion models. The results reveal substantial thermal improvement compared to the reference uninsulated brick wall (U = 1.41 W/m²·K). The proposed systems achieved U-values between 0.351 and 0.172 W/m²·K, meeting or surpassing European energy standards. The BP–EPS wall exhibited the lowest U-value (0.172 W/m²·K), while the FC–EPSR configuration achieved superior corner performance with a 2D surface temperature (Tsi) of 17.99 °C and the highest surface temperature factor (fRsi = 0.943), along with a reduced condensation risk, indicating more balanced overall performance. Weight and thickness reductions of up to 80.5% and 52%, respectively, were observed, enhancing retrofit feasibility and space efficiency. Life Cycle Assessment results indicated that optimised wall configurations reduced embodied carbon (A1–A3) by up to 78% and total life cycle emissions (A1–A3 + B6) by over 86% relative to the reference case. Vapour-diffusion analysis confirmed the FC–EPSR wall’s lowest condensation fraction, indicating excellent hygrothermal durability. Multi-criteria evaluation using the simple additive weighting method and Monte Carlo robustness analysis verified FC–EPSR as the most balanced and reliable system. Overall, the findings present a validated and replicable pathway for the sustainable renovation of industrial buildings, supporting the goals of European carbon neutrality and the circular economy. Full article

Though the European Commission has repeatedly stated that the necessary energy transition in Europe should leave “no one behind”, this paper describes a building refurbishment case that has entailed economic hardships for the low-income families involved. The project is located in the area of P. D. Orcasitas in southern Madrid, led by a grassroots neighbours’ movement, comprising one hundred and seven housing blocks, containing more than 2000 dwellings. The main source of funding for the operation consists of subsidies granted by the Madrid City Council; however, Spanish legislation requires the state Agency of Tax Administration to classify these subsidies as capital gains derived from lucrative transfers. Based on the tax data of vulnerable beneficiaries, the conclusion is that the recipients have ended up returning part of the subsidies to the State through their Income Tax Return. In addition, the Spanish Social Security Institute requires the return of social benefits associated with non-contributory retirement pensions and the Minimum Living Income. Apart from tax accounting, regulations are revised to draw conclusions. Unlike most actuations of this kind, in this case the negative effects are obvious. Although intended to alleviate fuel poverty, the initiative has exacerbated vulnerability due to the impact of the imposed penalties on household income. In conclusion, unless preventive measures are implemented, the mandatory refurbishment of inefficient buildings may place an undue burden on vulnerable low-income occupants and hinder the effective implementation of energy-efficiency regulations. Full article