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This paper explores sport mega-events' impacts and their relation with urban sustainability based on physical, environmental, economic, and social–cultural dimensions. The physical impacts are singled out because, in the case of sport mega-events taking place in cities, it is advisable to incorporate this new dimension for lack of proper fit of the costliest Olympic projects in the three established dimensions: environmental, economic, and social–cultural. It examines the alignment of event planning and implementation actions with a set of urban sustainable development goals selected through 63 indicators derived from literature review spanning from 2000 to 2016 on a range of outcomes and impacts of the most recent sport mega-events. The intensity of the Olympics' impacts was assessed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which hosted the last games, through a survey of Brazilian experts. The ranking of impact intensity pointed out that this sport mega-event had much larger negative than positive impacts in Rio in all four dimensions, especially in the environmental dimension. Weaknesses of planning and development control, high consumption of water and energy, nonrecyclable waste, and price increase of goods and services were the highest negative impacts in the city. The increase of international reputation and exposure was the social–cultural factor that received a more positive evaluation from the Brazilian experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of an initial attempt of using iron ore tailings (IOTs) to develop greener engineered cementitious composites (ECCs). ECC is a unique class of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites featuring high tensile ductility and durability. However, the high cement usage in ECC limits the material greenness and increases the material cost compared with normal concrete. In this paper, IOTs in powder form are used to partially replace cement to enhance the environmental sustainability of ECC. Mechanical properties and material greenness of ECC containing various proportions of IOTs are investigated. The newly developed versions of ECC in this paper, with a cement content of , exhibit a tensile ductility of 2.3-3.3%, tensile strength of 5.1-6.0 MPa, and compressive strength of 46-57 MPa at 28 days. The replacement of cement with IOTs results in 10-32% reduction in energy consumption and 29-63% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in green ECC compared with typical ECC. Thus, the feasibility of producing greener ECC with significantly reduced environmental impact using IOTs, and maintaining the mechanical properties of typical ECC, is experimentally demonstrated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the most current topics of interest related to the field of housing and residential building construction. It addresses issues related to industry-wide residential construction trends, policies, innovative technology adoption, construction management, sustainability, energy efficiency, building science, and the need for education, especially regarding architectural concerns. The authors discuss several key technical aspects of residential building, such as structural concerns, building enclosures, and indoor environmental quality issues. Emphasis is placed on the need for renewed research and development efforts, outside-the-box thinking related to financial and investment structures for housing, improved models for adopting innovative technologies in residential construction, new construction management approaches, incorporation of more advanced building science in conjunction with advanced engineered features and architectural design, embracing green and sustainable design and construction, and consideration of the health of the occupants. The authors, who have varying specialties, identify critical issues that need more investment to support technical studies and developments as well as education, training, and awareness efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach to life-cycle sustainability (impact) assessment and interpretation procedure on the basis of multiple criteria is developed in this paper for the comparison and evaluation of alternative road pavement designs. A case study reported in the literature, which compared pavement structures with virgin materials as well as industrial by-products such as coal ash, crushed concrete waste, and granulated blast-furnace slag, was examined in the context of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the proposed approach. The environmental loadings assessed during the life cycle of the pavement structures included natural raw materials and secondary products, energy and fuel consumption, emissions of carbon dioxide (), nitrogen oxides (), sulphur dioxide (), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO) and particles, dust emissions, compounds leaching into the soil, and noise. The proposed qualitative decision approach to life cycle-based environmental impact assessment, similar to lexicographic methods in MCDA, relies purely on the qualitative relative importance preferences specified by the decision maker and logical inference. The decision procedure employs dominance testing using the aggregated relative importance preferences to identify which pavement design alternatives dominate the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building regulations and governmental policies create pressure on the construction industry to minimize the environmental impacts that are caused by buildings. Achieving energy efficiency, and thereby low-carbon construction, is only possible by cooperation among the participants in the construction supply chain. Clients in particular have an important role in promoting environmental sustainability. In this paper, the carbon-reduction process is analyzed from a construction client's perspective. A framework is developed to analyze the interrelated components of this process, including the drivers, initiatives, challenges, facilitators, solutions, and achievements. A qualitative case study methodology was employed to gain a better understanding of the project-based practices and corporate policies in achieving energy efficiency. The study presents the results of three award-winning construction projects from the U.K. in which innovations for improving environmental sustainability were based on the Code for Sustainable Homes. The study outlines the initiatives and strategies of clients for carbon reduction, obstacles faced by project teams, mechanisms that helped overcome the difficulties, and low-carbon solutions applied to design, construction, and operation in the selected cases. Effective leadership, corporate responsibility, a focus on end users, repeatable nature of projects, and integrated teams are found to be the main success factors. The findings of this study are expected to guide construction professionals in implementing innovative low-carbon practices in collaborative project environments. The proposed framework can be used to better understand the carbon-reduction process in other projects and other countries where different regulations and conditions prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]