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The target towards carbon neutral cities emerges as a new way to mitigate the environmental pollution and the indisputable climate change, but it can also be the chance for the overall improvement of the quality of life by promoting the upgrading of the often low aesthetic quality of the urban environments. The objective of the research is to investigate renovation strategies at the city scale that will not only reduce the energy demand, but they will also promote the improvement of the city's aesthetics. Two different typologies of urban block forms of the Greek city are examined, and four scenarios of renovation interventions are analysed according to energy and aesthetic criteria. The heating and cooling load demand is calculated through simulations for the four renovation scenarios which include: _ The improvement of the thermal insulation of the building's shells. _ The use of phase change materials. _ The construction of green roofs. _ The integration of passive solar and shading systems. The findings of the research prove that the energy interventions at the urban block scale can define the degree of efficiency in the energy performance level without compromising aesthetics, as the added value resulting from higher aesthetics is a basic criterion for the overall improvement of the quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sustainability has been connected to form and compactness of the urban tissue. At the same time the relationship between urban form and energy efficiency is strongly affected by climate. This paper investigates the effect of climate conditions on the relation between urban morphology and energy efficiency of urban blocks, focusing on the Greek city context. A set of building block typologies is analyzed with regard to their form factors such as S/V ratio, coverage ratio and building ratio for the climatic conditions of two cities, each one belonging to a different climatic zone. Heating and cooling loads are calculated at an urban block scale for the climate of the city of Thessaloniki (zone C) and of the city of Heraklion (zone A) in order to draw conclusions about the relation between geometry factors and energy efficiency. The results of the research indicate that there is a strong relationship between urban morphology factors and energy efficiency and that the total load demand of urban blocks can be described as a function of form parameters. Results of the research, concerning the energy demand calculation, are valuable since they indicate the energy profile of each typology according to climate and can be used for defining different urban strategies towards sustainability in a context-based climate dependent analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban form is a decisive factor for the energy efficiency of the city. The compact city has been suggested as the most sustainable urban form, but it has been questioned as well by many researchers. Urban morphology is not a simple aggregation of geometry factors, but also the interaction among a set of parameters, that include constructional, functional and building regulation constraints concerning a range of different scales as well. This paper examines in which way the interaction of such parameters affects the energy efficiency of the urban tissue focusing in the Greek city context. A set of building block typologies are analyzed with regard to their geometry factors such as S/V ratios, plot ratio and building ratio. Thermal loads are calculated in order to draw conclusions about the relation between geometry factors and energy efficiency. The results of the research indicate that there is a strong relationship between urban morphology factors and energy efficiency. The theory of compactness of the urban form is generally confirmed by the results of the study which are valuable, since they indicate the energy profile of each typology and can be used for predicting the performance of potential energy demand of urban blocks with similar geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complicated nature of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) (thermal, visual, acoustic comfort, etc.) dictates a multi-fold approach for desirable IEQ levels to be achieved. The improvement of building shells' thermal performance, imposed by the constantly revised buildings' energy performance regulations, does not necessarily guarantee the upgrade of all IEQ-related aspects, such as the construction's acoustic quality, as most of the commonly used insulation materials are characterized by their low acoustic performance properties. From this perspective the SUstainable PReconstructed Innovative Module (SU.PR.I.M.) research project investigates a new, innovative preconstructed building module with advanced characteristics, which can, among other features, provide a high quality of acoustic performance in the indoor space. The module consists of two reinforced concrete vertical panels, between which the load bearing steel profiles are positioned. In the cavity and at the exterior surface of the panel there is a layer of thermal insulation. For the scope of the analysis, different external finishing surfaces are considered, including cladding with slate and brick, and different cavity insulation materials are examined. The addition of Phase Change Materials (PCM) in different mix proportions in the interior concrete panel is also examined. For the calculation of the sound insulation performance of the building module the INSUL 9.0 software is used. The results were validated through an experimental measurement in the laboratory in order to test the consistency of the values obtained. The results indicate that the examined preconstructed module can cover the sound insulation national regulation's performance limits, but the implementation of such panels in building constructions should be carefully considered in case of lower frequency noise environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]