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Building Refurbishment and Urban Rehabilitation for Sustainability

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2020) | Viewed by 13659

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Manuel Duarte Pinheiro

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Guest Editor

CEris—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Georesources, Lisbon University, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: building energy; sustainable built environment; sustainable construction; life cycle assessment; energy life cycle; rehabilitation and sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Fatima Farinha

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Guest Editor

CEPAC–Center for Studies in Heritage, Landscape and Construction, Civil Engineering Department, Universidade do Algarve, Campus da Penha, 8005-309 Faro, Portugal
Interests: building rehabilitation; sustainable construction; net zero energy buildings (NZEB); intelligent buildings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our great pleasure to invite you to submit your most recent research related to the process, rehabilitation and sustainability of buildings or sustainable urban rehabilitation for this exciting new special Issue.

Existing buildings and urban areas are essential for human life and, in most cases, have a lack of maintenance or are even degraded. During life cycle they must be adjusted and upgraded for different services and needs increasing flexibility and, durability, as well as, having in consideration other aspects, as: improving energy and water consumption; lower pollution; integrating ecological aspects; answering to climatic challenges; contributing to a good environment; providing an economic and social balance.

Urban areas have large environment impact. It is time and the opportunity to lower negative impacts and provide a significant contribution to sustainable development.

This Special Issue on “Building refurbishment and urban rehabilitation for sustainability” wants to reflect on this problem and to give sustainable solutions on refurbishment existing buildings and urban zones.

This Special Issue focuses on papers that identify and analyze better approaches, tools, assessment models (environment, social and economic), solutions and case studies (buildings and urban areas), best practices analyses and their limitations.

Contributors from academia, designers, industry and managers that allow a broad perspective and wide-ranging approaches and discussions on sustainable building refurbishment and urban areas are welcomed. Papers submitted to this Special Issue are of interest to all those involved in area.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Duarte Pinheiro
Prof. Dr. Fatima Farinha
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Sustainable Refurbishment
Building Process
Urban Rehabilitation
Sustainable Built Environment
Sustainable Buildings
Sustainable Building Materials

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 8425 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Conservation of a Difficult Heritage in South Korea: Mapping the Conservation Resources of Sorok-do Island, Hansen’s Disease Site

by Seong-Gon Jang, Hyun Kyung Lee and Dong-Jin Kang

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6834; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12176834 - 23 Aug 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2828

Abstract

South Korea’s Sorok-do island bears witness to the 100-year history of the Sorok-do hospital and the village for Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients. All the facilities of Sorok-do were established by the Japanese imperial authorities, and the collective memories of social isolation and discrimination against Hansen’s disease patients were deeply embedded in this island during the colonial and post-colonial periods. Despite changing perceptions toward the conservation of the island’s history since the 1990s, the island’s deep collective memory remains at risk due to the increasing number of incoming settlers and the shrinking number of Hansen’s disease patients since the opening of the Sorok Bridge in 2009. Taking into consideration the historical lack of critical engagement with difficult heritage conservation in South Korea, this paper introduces a novel approach to sustainable conservation, using as a case study the Sorok-do island. We collected data using archival research, participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews, and analyzed them by using a position-mapping method. This paper examines the island’s multifaceted, shifting processes within its history, urban structure, and changing social meanings, and offers a new set of criteria for long-term strategies that will ensure both tangible and intangible types of conservation resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Refurbishment and Urban Rehabilitation for Sustainability)

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27 pages, 4459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Harmonised Classification of the Causes of Defects in a Global Inspection System: Proposed Methodology and Analysis of Fieldwork Data

by Clara Pereira, Jorge de Brito and José D. Silvestre

Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5564; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12145564 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2021

Abstract

This research results from the development of a global inspection system based on previous studies about individual expert inspection systems for 12 types of elements/materials of the envelopes of current buildings. The research focuses on the rational harmonisation of the causes of defects in a global classification list, established from 12 individual lists. The process considers predetermined criteria, including guidelines for merging, splitting and combining causes to reach a comprehensive and simple list. The frequency of the prescription of causes of defects is analysed and the causes “C-D12 Dampening of the cladding system” in painted façades and “C-B7 Use of unprescribed, inadequate, incompatible, low-quality, non-certified and/or non-approved materials” in natural stone claddings stand out. Additionally, when analysing the relationship of causes with defects, some causes are highlighted because they are considered direct causes of defects in a broad range of building elements/materials, namely: “C-C9 Accidental collisions with the cladding”, “C-C7 Intentional collisions/vandalism”, “C-D2 Excessive, insufficient or differentiated solar radiation”, “C-D8 Presence of rainwater or snow” and “C-D12 Dampening of the cladding system”. The proposed list of causes successfully gathers causal knowledge on the pathology of the non-structural building envelope in a single component, homogenising the vocabulary used for several building elements/materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Refurbishment and Urban Rehabilitation for Sustainability)

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19 pages, 5247 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Form Analysis and Sustainable Development Research of Traditional Residential Buildings

by Hai-fan Wang and Shang-chia Chiou

Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 637; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12020637 - 15 Jan 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3747

Abstract

Three courtyards nine halls is an important cultural asset in eastern Zhejiang. This paper takes Three courtyards nine halls dwellings in the eastern part of Zhejiang province of China as the research object, collecting data with field research, measurement, interviews and other research methods, to analyze the spatial characteristics and construction culture of traditional dwellings. Research findings: First, influenced by the natural environment, artificial environment and social environment, three courtyards nine halls is a complex of residential buildings with san-ho-yuan as a unit, extending vertically and horizontally. Second, with the influences of the Confucian culture, the architectural layout is symmetrically distributed along the central axis, and the architectural space presents a high degree of consistency. Third, the architectural complex was formed by the same clan. The last one is that the architectural form and culture show consistency, which implies the idea of harmony between man and nature, the farming and studying hand down from generation to generation. On the one hand, with the acceleration of the urbanization process, living conditions have been greatly improved. On the other hand, due to the weak awareness of residents’ protection of traditional residential cultural assets, lack of systematic study on traditional residential construction methods, construction techniques and space culture, new buildings are not in harmony with traditional dwellings, therefore, traditional dwellings are seriously damaged. This paper discusses the sustainable development of traditional residential culture by studying the construction and environmental elements of Three courtyards nine halls, taking the residential space as a principal part to analyze the characteristics, functional attributes, organizational principles, order, and sense of place. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Refurbishment and Urban Rehabilitation for Sustainability)

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23 pages, 1004 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Influencing Residents’ Intention toward Green Retrofitting of Existing Residential Buildings

by Qing He, Haiyang Zhao, Lin Shen, Liuqun Dong, Ye Cheng and Ke Xu

Sustainability 2019, 11(15), 4246; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11154246 - 06 Aug 2019

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4521

Abstract

The green retrofitting of existing residential buildings is an important approach to realise the sustainable development of stock buildings. In addition to the new technologies and materials related to green retrofitting, the intention of residents toward the green retrofitting of existing residential buildings must be understood. However, the factors affecting such intentions are still unclear. Hence, this study refers to the extended theory of planed behaviour and constructs a theoretical model of the intention toward the green retrofitting of existing residential buildings. On the basis of the data from 507 questionnaires collected from eastern and western China, the theoretical model is tested via structural equation modelling (SEM). Multigroup SEM is used to analyse the differences in population characteristics and the intention of residents toward the green retrofitting of existing residential buildings in residential areas. Research results reveal the following: (1) the most important factors affecting residents’ intention toward green retrofitting are policy factors, followed by cognition of green retrofitting, behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control; (2) policy factors not only directly affect residents’ intention toward green retrofitting but also indirectly affect their intention toward existing residential green retrofitting through perceived behavioural control; (3) residents’ cognition of green retrofitting exerts no significant direct impact on their intention toward green retrofitting, but it does indirectly affect their intention toward green retrofitting through behaviour and subjective norms; (4) behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control have direct and significant influences on intention toward green retrofitting; (5) demographic characteristics (gender, age, monthly family income, education level, and occupation) and regional variables (east and west) present significant differences in different influence paths. The conclusion of the study provides a targeted path reference for the promotion of the green retrofitting of existing residential buildings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Refurbishment and Urban Rehabilitation for Sustainability)

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