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The global energy crisis has spurred increased investments in energy efficiency and clean energy initiatives; however, the results have fallen short of expected effectiveness. Concurrently, population growth and urbanisation drive a persistent surge in energy demands, especially within the residential sector, significant to overall building energy consumption. Current research focuses on residents' responses to one-shot investments for energy efficiency or clean sources. The renovation wave, involving a massive number of existing buildings, calls for the mobilisation of huge investments that can be hard to afford in the short run. Sustainable behavioural change is complementarily rising as a key asset for maximising the overall estimated energy saving potential. Despite significant efforts to analyse household energy use and promote behavioural transformations, the literature remains gaping about future users, particularly the younger generation, as future leaders of sustainable development who exhibit a more responsible approach towards climate-related issues but also a strong dependency on digital-based solutions, which may influence energy use patterns and living habits, also impacting relations among peers and overall societal sustainability and energy efficiency. This article proposes a systematic literature review to analyse the variables affecting young people's energy behaviour at home. The aim is to investigate the engines and gaps between strategies or tools for behaviour change and the expected effects, then find potential methods to address that barrier to identify a more promising approach, encouraging the younger generation to translate towards more sustainable energy behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty is a significant social, economic, and health issue which increasingly affects millions of households worldwide. Both climate change and the socio-economic crisis have aggravated this phenomenon, making families unable to keep adequate comfort conditions at home because of economic constraints and/or dwelling inefficiencies. Considering the recent inflation trends, as well as the global effort to reduce the building sector's carbon emissions, energy retrofitting of buildings emerges as the most forward-looking strategy to cope with energy poverty risk. In the case of large building stocks, which are typical for social housing complexes across the EU, deep and fast energy retrofitting might prove challenging, especially considering the resource shortages and disruptions to occupants that may arise. Therefore, this article investigates the relationship between the envelope's insulation ratio and the risk of energy poverty for households. To this end, diverse scenarios are defined, corresponding to progressive increases in the percentage of building envelope that is insulated. The resulting energy needs are calculated for each of them and correlated with local average incomes and relative energy expenses of households. This is tested on an Italian social housing demo case. The results confirm a predictable but not linear correlation between thermal insulation and reduced energy needs for heating, and an interesting side effect on cooling needs for scenarios that perform better in winter. As for income, energy cost has a greater effect on the energy poverty risk when monthly rent is lower, while energy prices have a major role when rent per month is higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent literature emphasizes the significance of occupants' behavior in shaping home energy demand. Several policies have been defined and tools and technologies have been developed to raise people's awareness and encourage energy-saving practices at home, but households' energy demand keeps rising. The thesis is that the fundamentals on this topic are still unclear and that available tools, strategies and measures should be approached in a more integrated way, as they are not now effective enough to encourage energy savings. How these could be successfully combined is still a major knowledge gap. Thus, this article proposes a critical review of the literature to discuss the potential role of end users in energy conservation at home, preparing the ground for truly effective engagement strategies and tools to encourage behavioral change. To that end, a systematic literature review is performed, including over 130 relevant articles. According to the critical interpretation of their content, after years of technologically driven strategies, the most promising approaches capable of overcoming the intention–action gap are those more user-centered. However, relying solely on the social aspect is not effective. Synergistic integration of the two main clusters of studies has been identified as a promising field of research for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the effects of climate change and urbanisation intensify, liveability and comfort in outdoor spaces decrease. Because of large spaces exposed to solar radiation and low crossing of airflows, courtyard buildings are extremely vulnerable in this regard. However, there are significant gaps in the literature on outdoor comfort in courtyards, especially regarding the effect of border configuration (including gap position and features), as well that of tree density. The study proposes a methodology—to be used during preliminary design—to compare the effect of alternative scenarios for courtyard buildings on outdoor microclimate, varying both the building perimeter configuration and courtyard vegetation layout. A matrix is set to combine the two variables and select relevant scenarios, which are then simulated in ENVI-met focusing on air temperature, wind speed and physiological equivalent temperature (PET). A case study in Bologna, Italy (humid subtropical climate) is presented as an example of the implementation. The resulting outdoor microclimate maps and frequency diagrams are compared and discussed. It emerges that both variables have a role in outdoor comfort: while gap configuration affects air temperature more (up to a difference of 1 °C), tree density impacts PET by up to 2 °C difference. The methodology can be replicated in several other contexts to support the optimisation of courtyard building design from the early stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has aggravated the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, particularly in flood-related hazards. Cities nowadays face significant challenges in stormwater management from frequent heavy rainfalls. Traditional urban drainage systems can no longer cope with large amounts of surface runoff; cities are searching for new ways to deal with urban stormwater. Green roofs and other nature-based solutions have been widely used for stormwater management by combining water purification and retention functions but have not yet fully solved the flood problems. This article aims to (1) explore the different aspects of urban water management, particularly the urban stormwater topic, and (2) identify the existing solutions and discuss the potential and barriers to integrated solutions implementation. By introducing the concept of four domains and finding the overlapping area to investigate, we analyzed different solutions to reduce rainwater runoff from the roof and ground level, aiming at building and district scales. This paper proves that further research direction could constitute an integrated system to work together for urban stormwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last ten years, due to the increase in frequency and severity of climate change effects, resilience in buildings has become a growing topic in the current global discussion on climate change adaptation. Designing both sustainable and resilient constructions would help to face such effects; however, sustainability and resilience in design have been mostly treated separately so far. Since sustainability has been considered more than resilience, paying deeper attention to the latter is indispensable to reducing building vulnerability. The purpose of this article is to examine the commonalities between the sustainability and resilience of buildings using two different approaches: (i) a systematic literature review, taking into consideration a 10-year period for selecting records, and (ii) an analysis of five green building rating systems and five resilience rating systems and guidelines selected according to their popularity and number of certified buildings. There is an overlap in some indicators between the two domains at the building level, as shown by the results from both paths. These aspects could assist in considering sustainability and resilience from the very beginning of the design process. This will ensure that buildings may be designed more effectively by considering and enhancing the synergies between the two domains. This paper targets potential stakeholders who may be interested in including such an integrated implementation in their designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is the main environmental impact generator (62 %) of the whole building sector, but it also has the greatest reduction potential. Enhancing its performance is thus crucial to sustainable development. Social Housing (SH) represents a critical asset within the residential segment, due to the recurrent investment shortage and several environmental, social, and economic related implications. In Italy, SH is held by around one hundred public agencies facing endemic resource constraints for both maintenance and retrofitting, which are limited further by a diffused lack of information regarding the conditions and features of the buildings they manage. In cooperation with an Italian SH agency (ACER Bologna), we developed a speedy tool to compare the technical and economic effects of different refurbishment scenarios on a case-by-case basis. This is not a tool to manage retrofitting works, as the many already available, but a means to help large housing managers overcome the intention-action gap that limit their capacity to properly prioritize interventions based on reliable information. The research focuses on the validation of the fast procedure for estimating the baseline energy scenario, arguing that the relatively small inaccuracies are irrelevant for the scope of the tool and are compensated for by the time saved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing sustainable and, at the same moment, resilient buildings is a necessity to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, these two building design approaches - sustainability and resilience - are usually treated separately. Typically, resilience-improving strategies are placed only after a disruptive event and not at the design stage. It is clear that there is a substantial intersection between sustainability and resilience and this manuscript aims to determine more precisely the commonalities and contradictions seen in building design sustainable and resilient approaches as crucial elements for improving their cooperation in buildings. To accomplish this, the authors qualitatively analysed two case studies - respectively claiming to be sustainable and resilient - to understand if a sustainable building can also be considered resilient and vice versa. This paper is addressed to the private and public sectors that have a decisive role in building design and are determined to take tangible steps to influence decision-making and resilience-based solutions already at the design phase. In conclusion, once the commonalities of resilience and sustainability are highlighted, a building designed as sustainable or resilient will be in line with both long-term perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the influence of the emissivity of façade materials on outdoor microclimatic comfort. The developed methodology is based on the collection of input data regarding the site, the geometrical and technological characterization of the building envelope and the definition of the associated emissivity, the development of alternative emissivity-driven scenarios, the scenario simulation to obtain Outdoor Microclimate Maps (OMMs), and their interpretation and discussion. The operative steps of the proposed simplified method are applied to a specific case study in the city of Bologna made of a mix of buildings, including some towers overlooking an inner courtyard. The emissivity of the façade materials is assumed as the main variable. The results show how, by properly addressing the design choices, it is possible to achieve significant improvements in the outdoor microclimate for the space in-between the considered volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive façades represent a viable and effective technological solution to reduce the building energy demand for cooling while achieving interesting aesthetic effects on the building envelope to screen solar radiation. During the last decade, many different design solutions, including those based on shape memory alloys, have been experimented to obtain appropriate responses without being dependent on electro-mechanically actuated systems. Several recent and ongoing studies have been published in the scientific literature regarding the different actuator typologies, as well as the different properties of the materials used, which usually determine the adaptive solution characteristics after a series of complex and time-consuming simulations using specialised dynamic modelling software. Due to the time and resources required, this kind of evaluation is usually delivered during the last and more advanced design stage as a form of assessment of already-taken architectural and technological choices. The study reported in the paper aims to offer a quick, time-saving simplified algorithm to calculate the response of an adaptive façade, according to the ISO 13790 standards, to be adopted during the early design stage to evaluate the possible effects of design decisions. The study includes three main steps: (a) the conceptualisation of the adaptive solution considering the context conditions; (b) the definition of the calculation algorithm; (c) the application of the method to a test room in a case study building located in Bologna for supporting the discussion of the related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, most descriptions of low-energy buildings assume that the envelope acts as a barrier against energy loss. However, this approach does not focus on the potential exploitation of favorable contributions from the surrounding environment that could lead to additional improvements in performance. Adaptive building envelopes (ABEs) offer a number of different options for this. However, many of them require the supply of a certain energy amount to operate. A viable alternative is offered by self-sufficient solutions that adopt responsive materials-based actuators, which are capable of modifying some of their properties in response to environmental stimuli (e.g., temperature, humidity, light, and others), which determines the dynamic behavior of the envelope without requiring additional energy inputs and minimizing technical complexity. The research field into self-sufficient adaptive envelopes (SSAEs) has received a significant boost recently. Given the heterogeneity of the proposed solutions, this paper will report on a taxonomical investigation that will be performed on the available studies that deal with SSAEs, which highlight their role in innovation and will provide a systemic classification for applications to support future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huge efforts have been made in recent decades to improve energy saving in the building sector, particularly focused on the role of façades. Among the explored viable solutions, climate-adaptive building shells [CABS] consider promising solutions to control solar radiation, both in terms of illuminance and heating levels, but are still piloting these solutions due to their complex designs and necessary costs. The present study aims to provide a speedy but reliable methodology to evaluate the potential impacts of adopting active/passive CABS systems during the preliminary design stage. The proposed methodology allows the evaluation and comparison, when multiple options are considered, of the effects of each solution in terms of the energy needs, thermal comfort and lighting, while reducing the required effort and time for an extensive analysis of the overall building level. This is based on the use of a "virtual test room" where different conditions and configurations can be explored. A case study in the city of Bologna is included for demonstration purposes. The achieved results support the decisions made regarding energy behavior (over/under heating), indoor comfort, lighting and energy at an early design stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sense of uncertainty and fragility due to the effects and magnitude of global challenges we are facing (from the circumstances of the pandemic to the impacts of climate change) requires—much more than in the past—the capacity to generate a visionary and forefront design approach in the young generation, with an aim to stimulate their reaction attitude rather than providing consolidated tools from past conditions that no longer exist or will rapidly evolve. Within this general framework, we have investigated the effectiveness and impacts of experienced-based methods of learning and innovative educational tools in architecture that are aimed at shaping expertise that addresses the aspects of environment and climate change in the context of socio-cultural dynamics, real potentialities and constraints, and their transdisciplinary trajectories. We analyzed five international pioneering teaching experiences that provided the opportunity to understand the outcomes of collaborative and experiential learning processes by which the educational activities leverage dialogue between diverse communities (including academia, citizens, policymakers, and practitioners). The study outcomes show that shifting the pedagogical paradigm towards experience-based models can improve the awareness of future practitioners for the climate implications of architectural design, implement their analysis and project skills, and trigger processes of knowledge transfer and co-production at the community level. Experience-based models also allow them to better address the societal and cultural issues involved in decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]