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Political decision-makers need to consider the various challenges and opportunities that climate change can bring, and they must take decisions under high uncertainty to achieve resilient cities. Here, we synthesise the push and pull approaches reported in the literature and employed in practice to achieve sustainable and resilient cities. First, we present a literature review which identified the major research fields on transition theories, frameworks and methods that underpin this concept. We analyse the conditions for change, identify enablers or triggers for change at governance level for transitioning a city towards sustainability and resilience. We discuss the theories, frameworks and methods which can be used to address the urban climate change challenge at city level. Second, we present an empirical approach based on stakeholder participation that we conducted to detect the conditions for change. We report on the design and implementation of stakeholder exercises that helped us detecting the conditions for changes. Third, we combine the information obtained from these stakeholder exercises with that extracted from the literature in order to provide a fuller picture on how stimulate the transition and transformation to achieve sustainable and resilient cities. Based on our literature review and empirical approach, we formulate an integrated conceptual model for transition that enables the design of adaptation (and mitigation) strategies that consider the triggers of change. Uniquely we identified 8 triggers of change, including authority and political leadership, learning from disasters, co-responsibility, increased public-private interface, social participation and the living lab approach to innovation. The proposed model can be applied to the whole city or to a certain sector of the city (e.g. energy). We demonstrate that triggers of change help to overcome planning and implementation barriers and move the socio-ecological and socio-technical systems of any city towards those of a resilient city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An alternate approach to urban and regional planning is presented that considers the wastewater infrastructure from an energy consumption and carbon production perspective. The existing wastewater infrastructure from four counties in North East England region is investigated, which includes energy and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) data from 87 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (16 activated sludge (AS) and 71 biofilter (BF) plants) and 196 pump stations across the region. This study provides a rigorous and novel way of justifying new investments for retrofitting treatment technologies to the wastewater network. Mass and energy balances are performed across the network utilising a spread-sheet based model. Overall, energy use and CO 2 emissions are greatest in biological wastewater treatment (relative to other network elements) with estimated median levels of 0.37 kWh/m 3 and 0.40 kg-CO 2 /m 3 , respectively, per waste volume processed. However, energy-use and CO 2 emissions differed according to treatment technology with AS plants using significantly more energy (median = 0.4 kWh/m 3 ) and producing more CO 2 (median = 0.4 kg-CO 2 /m 3 ) than BF plants (medians: 0.2 kWh/m 3 and 0.3 kg-CO 2 /m 3 , respectively). Hence, directed interventions within WWTPs themselves will have the greatest positive influence on energy use and CO 2 emissions. Given water companies are often locked-in with their infrastructure, retrofitting existing treatment networks is strongly suggested. For example, adding BF pre-treatment to existing AS plants will reduce energy use, whereas anaerobic or photosynthetic technologies may be useful for reducing energy and CO 2 emissions in new-builds. This study confirms energy and carbon dioxide inefficiencies exist in modern wastewater networks, but uniquely identifies targeted actions to reduce inefficiencies, especially retrofitting existing WWTPs to reduce CO 2 emitted and energy used in the wastewater infrastructure to make major advances towards achieving climate change reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities publish climate change mitigation strategies and other policy measures to support the wide spread uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs). This paper investigates the effectiveness of these strategies and the provision of infrastructures in 30 UK cities, with a specific emphasis on those strategies that are within the remit of cities and local authorities. The climate mitigation strategies and supporting documents were obtained from 30 UK cities recommended by the Urban Audit Methodology. We show that 13 cities mention EVs in their strategies. Analysing EV registrations and the EV infrastructures that is provided by cities we found that there is no statistical difference in the number of charging points or EVs between the cities that have EVs as part of their climate change mitigation strategy and those that do not. It was shown that EV uptake was more generally associated with other factors (such as local vehicle population or income) rather than any documented EV/climate mitigation strategy. We demonstrate that local strategies are failing in achieving the much needed step change and make suggestions how to improve EV uptake as an even more radical thinking and policies may become necessary to achieve carbon reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Stakeholder approaches have been applied to the management of companies with a view to the improvement of all areas of performance, including economic, health and safety, waste reduction, future policies, etc. However no agreement exists regarding stakeholders, their interests and levels of importance. This paper considers stakeholder analysis with particular reference to environmental and waste management systems. It proposes a template and matrix model for identification of stakeholder roles and influences by rating the stakeholders. A case study demonstrates the use of these and their ability to be transferred to other circumstances and organizations is illustrated by using a large educational institution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• An accelerated EV program is needed to meet 2050 CO2 emission targets for the UK. • Even under accelerated uptake, few CO 2 benefits will be seen before 2030. • The lack of impact before 2030 derives from slow vehicle stock turnover. • With embedded production CO2, 2050 UK targets will need intense grid decarbonisation. • There is an urgent need to pursue both EV uptake and demand side solutions. The decarbonisation of the road transport sector is increasingly seen as a necessary component to meet global and national targets as specified in the Paris Agreement. It may be achieved best by shifting from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars to Electric Vehicles (EVs). However, the transition to a low carbon mode of transport will not be instantaneous and any policy or technological change implemented now will take years to have the desired effect. Within this paper we show how on-road emission factors of EVs and models of embedded CO 2 in the vehicle production may be combined with statistics for vehicle uptake/replacement to forecast future transport emissions. We demonstrate that EVs, when compared to an efficient ICE, provide few benefits in terms of CO 2 mitigation until 2030. However, between 2030 and 2050, predicted CO 2 savings under the different EV uptake and decarbonisation scenarios begin to diverge with larger CO 2 savings seen for the accelerated EV uptake. This work shows that simply focusing on on-road emissions is insufficient to model the future CO 2 impact of transport. Instead a more complete production calculation must be combined with an EV uptake model. Using this extended model, our scenarios show how the lack of difference between a Business as Usual and accelerated EV uptake scenario can be explained by the time-lag in cause and effect between policy changes and the desired change in the vehicle fleet. Our work reveals that current UK policy is unlikely to achieve the desired reduction in transport-based CO 2 by 2030. If embedded CO 2 is included as part of the transport emissions sector, then all possible UK EV scenarios will miss the reduction target for 2050 unless this is combined with intense decarbonisation (80% of 1990 levels) of the UK electricity grid. This result highlights that whilst EVs offer an important contribution to decarbonisation in the transport sector it will be necessary to look at other transport mitigation strategies, such as modal shift to public transit, car sharing and demand management, to achieve both near-term and long-term mitigation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space habitats, facing extreme conditions in space and on other planetary bodies, should have redundancy and versatility. Although the main challenges in the field have been identified as changes in gravity, radiation protection, extreme temperatures (fluctuations), changes in daylight patterns, and lack of (or less) atmosphere, more (unknown) challenges will inevitably emerge. Therefore, space habitats should extend beyond redundancy and adapt to their surroundings. There are many adaptability strategies for terrestrial habitats but none of these strategies were developed to work in the extreme conditions of outer space. This paper proposes application of a novel adaptability strategy, the Rhythmic Buildings strategy, which aims to develop buildings that adapt to the rhythms of the building's context (frequency, speed, and intensity of changes occurring on the case study location). The strategy is applied to the case study of a Martian habitat at Jezero Crater. The Rhythmic Buildings strategy includes the Rhythmic Framework and its 33 parameters (such as daylight and outdoor temperature) as well as analytical, technical, and design tools – collectively the Rhythmic Toolbox. First, the Framework tool was used to map the changes in the context following the environmental, economy, and society aspects. The rhythms of the case study context include local temperature, pressure, solar radiation, strong weather events (i.e. storms), but also comfort needs of the crew. These rhythms were then translated into a habitat design using an adapted version of the bubble diagram method. Lastly, novel technologies and materials were selected to address the rhythms which includes adaptive properties of materials. Results of the study show that the context's most important challenges are the daily temperature fluctuations and weekly crew schedule, while the most promising adaptability opportunity lies in the daily daylight rhythm. The design that followed the Rhythmic Buildings strategy directly addresses nine out of the 33 parameters and indirectly addresses a further five parameters. The proposed Martian habitat utilises the rhythms of daily temperature cycles and the 24 h daylight rhythm to reinforce the materials structures. The habitat is adaptive and responsive to its surroundings and the crew's needs. In the discussion, speculations are made on how space architecture can develop itself by intrinsically adapting to the rhythms of the environment and evolve into their own typologies, distinctly different than Earth architecture. • Introduces an adaptability strategy for Space Architecture called Rhythmic Buildings. • Using a novel analysis and design Toolbox to design a Martian habitat. • Design of a habitat that responds to the rhythms of the context. • Outlines criteria for the use of responsive materials and ISRU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The increasing use of recycled materials in asphalt pavements calls for environmental assessment of such impacts as the energy input and CO2 footprint. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is being accepted by the road industry for such purpose. It aims to quantify and collate all the environmental impacts from the life time of the product or process. This paper reviews relevant LCA resources worldwide, identifies the knowledge gap for the road industry, and describes the development of an LCA model for pavement construction and maintenance that accommodates recycling and up-to-date research findings. Details are provided of both the methodology and data acquisition. This is followed by a discussion of the challenges of applying LCA to the pavement construction practice, and recommendations for further work. In the case study, the model is applied to an asphalt paving project at London Heathrow Terminal-5 (LHR), in which natural aggregates were replaced with waste glass, incinerator bottom ash (IBA) and recycled asphalt pavements (RAP). Production of hot mix asphalt and bitumen was found to represent the energy intensive processes. This is followed by data analysis and sensitivity check. Further development of the model includes expanding the database to accommodate the recycling and maintenance practice in the UK, and taking into account the effect that roadwork has on traffic emissions. The LCA model can be further tested and calibrated as a decision support tool for sustainable construction in the road industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With nearly 70% of the world population expected to live in cities by 2050, assessing the sustainability of urban systems, both existing and future ones, is becoming increasingly relevant. Making cities more sustainable is a global priority, which is highlighted by 'Sustainable Cities and Communities' being listed as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015. This Virtual Special Issue (VSI) explores the implementation and assessment of policies and technologies that contribute to the transition to a sustainable, energy efficient and regenerative society. We organized the issue according to four main research themes: 1) Renewable Energy Systems (i.e., different types of systems, qualitative assessments and public acceptance); 2) Sustainable Built Environment (which includes construction, operation and refurbishment); 3) Multi-Scale Models (considering urban sustainability transition from building to districts, or cities and regions to multi-country comparisons and their scaling across different countries); and 4) Governance and Policy (climate change mitigation and adaptation plans/policies that are reported across countries, urban services and infrastructures). This paper serves two purposes. The first is to provide an analysis about patterns, correlations and synergies found across the different topics that have been addressed over the last 20 years in the literature about cities' sustainability paths. A bibliometric analysis and a contingency matrix show the degree of correlation between scientific journals and main topics addressed by published articles. Secondly, the paper acts as an Editorial to the VSI, introducing the wealth of research articles and topics included in it. Both the bibliometric analysis and the papers published in this VSI demonstrate the interconnectedness of energy consumption, pollutant emissions and the competition for finite resources. The aim is to present advances and challenges of this exciting and ever-evolving research field to inform and guide future studies of urban sustainability. • We carried out a bibliometric analysis of the literature using the Cortext Manager platform· Using network analysis of a corpus of paper spanning 20 years we identified 8 major clusters. • The paper serves also as editorial for a virtual special issue dealing with urban sustainability pathways. • The virtual special issue is organised in four main themes, which touch upon different Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides firstly a comprehensive review of studies on measuring the impacts of different biodiesel blends on exhaust emissions characteristics of urban busses under real-world operating conditions. Secondly, this paper discusses the errors that can be made in conducting case studies. Thirdly and finally, it shows lessons learned and provides guidelines to setup case studies, conduct the measurements, perform the statistical analysis and report the results to policy makers and the wider audience. To achieve climate change mitigation targets, using alternative fuels, e.g., biodiesel, hydrogen or electricty (EVs) for the urban fleets requires an in-depth analysis of the impacts under real-world operating conditions. Such experiments are generally very complex as numerous factors could directly or indirectly interfere with the results produced and potentially jeopardize the integrity of the research and the conclusions drawn. Results of the present research show that some vital parameters were ignored by many of the studies performed including the statistical uncertainties, driving cycle uncertainties and fuel uncertainties. Lack of appropriate experimental designs or clear assertions about the level of significance for differences in emissions/fuel consumption between alternative fuels (i.e. biodiesel) and the reference fuel used (i.e., diesel) could be regarded as the main weaknesses. Moreover, many other overarching and very influential factors (e.g., covariates/confounders) can interfere with the research outcomes as these were mostly overlooked by the reviewed studies. A careful and complete experimental design for assessments of alternative fueled vehicles (are critical when conducting real-world operating condition tests. The study findings help to formulate the guidelines for assessing real-world operating condition experiments to achieve the most feasibly and meaningful research outcomes that will have significant implication for local and global policy makers. The guidelines are of use for all types of research studies that want to evaluate the effects of alternative fuels for any transportation fleet. Image 1 • Real-world driving tests on urban buses were examined and discussed. • Key issues were uncertainties related to statistical design, driving cycle, and fuel. • Lack of appropriate experimental design was the main weakness in most studies. • Covariate/confounder factors were mostly overlooked. • Guidelines to perform more complete real-world diving test studies were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities across Mediterranean Europe face common climatic threats. They are highly vulnerable and very likely to suffer losses and damages due to heat waves, droughts, wildfires, landslides, and extreme coastal events. To this date, however, there is no systematic understanding of how cities in Mediterranean Europe are preparing to adapt to these impacts. To address this question, we analyse local adaptation plans in 73 cities located in 51 regions across 9 European countries along the Mediterranean Sea (France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta). We also investigate upper levels of planning to understand the influence of policy environments. Across the sample, 67 % of regions have adopted a plan, but only 30 % of the cities. The most common climate-related hazards these cities prepare for are extreme temperatures and rainfall, followed by drought and water scarcity, as well as floods and landslides. Without legal obligations, neither regional nor national adaptation policy frameworks seem to influence the development of urban plans. In some cases, cities are ahead of national policy. This paper sheds light on the progress of local adaptation planning in Mediterranean Europe and paves the way for further research in this climate-threatened geographical area. [Display omitted] • ME faces severe climate hazards, faster and stronger than global averages. • We analyse adaptation plans in 73 cities across 51 regions and 9 ME countries. • 30 % of cities and 67 % of regions in Mediterranean Europe have adaptation plans. • Regions plan more for adaptation when action plans from national governments are in place. • Common concerns are urban temperature and rainfall, drought, and water scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short ‘product lives’ and disposable packaging result in premature disposal of valuable resources. Industrialisation, mass production and global supply chains have resulted in a disconnect between people, places, materials and design. Upcycling is reuse of discarded materials which results in an increase in ‘value’. We discuss the potential for creative upcycling to reconnect people with materials and establish cultures and communities of making. The reaction of the public to creative reuse is explored by creating a café structure made entirely from recycled materials, and this provides the starting point to consider the contexts in which upcycling occurs, the motivations for (and barriers to) reuse and upcycling, the potential benefits of upcycling in the context of affluent Western 'consumer' societies, and the scope for designers to imbue objects with the potential for creative reuse. We argue that designing to enable creative upcycling allows the future lives of objects to be contingent on context and culture, rather than being prescribed by the designer, with potential for widespread social, economic and environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decisions on waste management systems are subjected to multiple sustainability criteria, including environmental, social, and economic criteria. Decision makers therefore can benefit from systematic approaches to evaluate different waste management options considering multiple sustainability criteria. This study reviews multi criteria decision making (MCDM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches that assess the sustainability of waste management systems. We present a framework for integrating LCA-MCDM approaches. First, we identified the most used MCDM methods for waste management systems published in the literature and highlight the technical and sustainability criteria used in the literature. Then, key issues in LCA studies of waste management systems were reviewed and discussed. The review results indicated that there are only a limited number of studies that integrated LCA and MCDM to assess the sustainability of waste management systems. Furthermore, more than half of the studies that did use the integrated approach failed to consider all three pillars of sustainability. There is also a lack of detailed information on the life cycle inventory used for the LCA part which reduces the reproducibility and clarity of the studies. In addition, the normalization and weighting methods to convert environmental impact categories for each scenario into single scores were often neither clearly explained nor justified. Also, the detailed information about experts involved in the decision-making process as well as the procedure of acquiring their opinions were not fully presented. Finally, the LCA and MCDM approaches, relevant sustainability criteria and related standards were used to present a set of recommendations for performing an integrated LCA-MCDM study that ensure scientifically robust, meaningful and reliable decisions. [Display omitted] • Integrated decision-making approaches are needed to evaluate MSW systems • MCDM and LCA to assess the sustainability of MSW systems were reviewed • Integrated LCA-MCDM facilitates dealing with huge number of alternative scenarios • Integrated LCA-MCDM could incorporate different sustainability aspects • A framework to perform comprehensive sustainability assessment was proposed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion Batteries (LIB) are an essential facilitator of the decarbonisation of the transport and energy system, and their high energy densities represent a major technological achievement and resource for humankind. In this research, it has been argued that LIBs have penetrated everyday life faster than our understanding of the risks and challenges associated with them. The current safety standards in the car industry have benefited from over 130 years of evolution and refinement, and Electric Vehicle (EV) and LIB are comparably in their infancy. This paper considers some of the issues of safety over the life cycle of batteries, including: the End of Life disposal of batteries, their potential reuse in a second-life application (e.g. in Battery Energy Storage Systems), recycling and unscheduled End of Life (i.e. accidents). The failure mechanism and reports from a range of global case studies, scenarios and incidents are described to infer potential safety issues and highlight lessons that can be learned. Therefore, the safety risks of LIBs were categorised, and the regularity requirements to create and inform a wider debate on the general safety of LIBs were discussed. From the analysis, a range of gaps in current approaches have been identified and the risk management systems was discussed. Ultimately, it is concluded that robust educational and legal processes are needed to understand and manage the risks for first responders and the public at large to ensure a safe and beneficial transition to low carbon transportation and energy system. [Display omitted] • Reviews and analysis of recent Lithium-ion Battery (LIB) related incidents. • Comprehensive evaluation of the risks around LIBs over their full lifecycle, including second life and recycling. • Provides a categorisation matrix including the "Unscheduled" End-Of-Life (Vehicle Accidents). • Proposes Risk Management Systems for LIBs. • Suggests Best Practice in handling and disposing LIB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, more than 14 million tons of edible oils are consumed each year, which could result in a staggering amount of waste cooking oil that needs to be discharged. Converting the waste cooking oil to biodiesel can reduce environmental emissions and achieve economic value. As the recycling supply chain is not matured, the Chinese government is trialing various policies to improve the management of waste cooking oil. However, evidence shows that current policies have shortcomings, which reduce the efficiency and sustainability of the supply chain, recycling and biorefineries capacities. It is not trivial to quantify the impacts of policies and only limited amount of research has reported the supply and value chain of waste cooking oil to be used as biodiesel. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes an optimization-based model to quantify the likely impacts from policy interventions, i.e. integrating and opening the third party take-back supply chains, motivation policies, subsidy policies and demand adjustments due to policy changes. A case study, which includes 63 stakeholders in Shandong Province, China, is selected to demonstrate the impacts such changes can have. The new research method and computational results of the economic and environmental assessments show that the integration of stakeholders and markets increase efficiency and sustainability. Whilst the opening markets option does make fairer profit allocations across the stakeholders, but does not increase efficencies to the same level. In addition, and to the best of authors' knowledge for the first time, it is shown that unfair profit allocations will decrease the amount of recycled materials. This research has wider applications to policy developments and governmental interventions that aim to promote cleaner production of goods and services. For example, the optimization model can be applied to other circumstances such as electricity supplies, raw material extraction or the recycling of other materials like construction and demolition wastes or plastics. Image 1 • A policy evaluation approach is proposed for the WCO-to-biodiesel supply chain. • Cooperative game theory is considered in the optimization model. • Integrating and opening markets and management modes are compared. • Four different policy interventions are evaluated. • A real case in Shandong province is studied to validate the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]