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The transport sector accounts for around 30% of Europe’s final energy consumption. It is important to quantify the energy savings potential in technology, infrastructure, and planning to meet the EU’s decarbonisation goals by 2050. This study analyses the European transport sector in the context of traditional and energy-efficient urban development. The latter demonstrates a scenario where accessibility results from enhanced proximity to a destination rather than increased mobility, shifting mobility from roads and aviation towards the rail. This development is ensured by, among other things, investing heavily in urban and inter-urban transport systems and abstaining from building new freeways and airports. The results indicate that shifting towards an energy-efficient transport system is desirable and economically beneficial. The development of the European transport sector in the proposed trajectory significantly reduces annual final energy demand. The reduced road transport cost pays back the investment in new infrastructure for rail, bikes, and walkable urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of sustainability transitions has become increasingly prominent in academic and policy discourses during recent decades, but the importance of the link between knowledge-producing epistemic practices and urban governance has been underappreciated in this discourse. Based on a case study of cycling in Copenhagen between 1900 and 2015, and drawing upon a governmentality-inspired analytical framework, this research demonstrates that transformative governance may be initiated by epistemic practices that render urban systems visible in other ways. Urban cycling has been reconstructed over time in Copenhagen as a traffic safety ‘problem’, a component of the experiential and liveable city, and a health-producing (and hence economically valuable) regional transport mode. The research findings emphasise that epistemic practices can provide a powerful stimulus for creating changes in urban governance. The results also provide support for initiatives to broaden the terms of academic debate on sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sustainable buildings have often been niche products, but in recent years a new approach has emerged in Denmark aimed at mainstreaming and normalizing this mode of construction and seeking to attract ordinary Danes through market conditions. The aim is to present an alternative conceptualization of sustainable buildings to the ecocommuni-ties' vision and to involve traditional building firms in their design and development. From a theoretical perspective, the mainstreaming of sustainable buildings can be seen either as an example of ecological modernization or techno-logical transition. The new conceptualization has implied a narrower approach to sustainability and a lack of social sustainability measures. While earlier paradigms of sustainable buildings emphasized themes such as community building, self-provisioning, local empowerment, and shared facilities, such objectives are largely absent in the new types of sustainable buildings. We question to what extent it is possible to design sustainable settlements without social sustainability. By viewing sustainable buildings as technological configurations, we argue that the multiactor approach, fragmentation of roles, and absent initiatives for social sustainability influence the buildings' environmental performance and should be important for the next generation of these structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explores the challenges, advantages and limitations of the pro-active use of the social construction of technology (SCOT) to improve the methods applied in the development of technology for use by a broad range of actors. Our example is the development of environmental indicators for buildings (EIFOBs). We compare the pro-active use of SCOT with both the ‘traditional’ use of SCOT and with the ‘traditional’ way of developing EIFOBs. pro-actively applying SCOT in developing EIFOBs has the potential of bridging some of the communication gaps at the boundaries between the various professional groups in a multi-actor decision-making process. Using SCOT in a pro-active way means the research becomes action research and the researcher goes beyond the role of a mere observer and becomes an actor too. This means the researcher has to consider the criteria for valid action research when designing and carrying out the research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Within the built environment, stakeholders tend to implement well-known design solutions, even though sustainable alternatives exist. The key question posed in this paper is: what characterizes successful processes of implementing sustainable design solutions? In an attempt to answer the question, the work focuses on examples of successful implementation in an attempt to understand the competences required. Danish frontrunner projects are described and analysed: one case concerns the implementation of lowenergy houses and another describes innovative planning processes in the water sector in order to ensure consideration of sustainable design criteria in the early phases of building projects. In the first case, the public authority succeeds in supporting design managers and other stakeholders to implement sustainable design solutions; in the second case, establishment of new multidisciplinary networks and creative work forms constitutes the outset for change. The work is inspired by the actor-network theory, emphasizing the momentum of prevailing practices, and the need to (re)develop networks to support implementation of sustainable design solutions. Conclusions point to the importance of design managers and others to develop socio-technical networks and storylines to integrate sustainability in the design and building processes. Implementation of sustainable design solutions takes more than courage; it requires key competences in catalysing network changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental indicators for buildings have the potential to serve as a means of making the environmental impacts (and possibly benefits) of buildings visible to all relevant actors. In addition, indicators facilitate the consideration and management of an array of environmental issues in the relevant decision-making situations. The broad acceptance of indicators across different groups of decision-makers in different phases of a building's life cycle is especially important when indicators are not mandatory, but are to be used in voluntary bottom-up initiatives. The objective of the present study was to investigate if (and to what extent) a consensus on environmental indicators for buildings as ‘a common language for green building’ can be reached among core actors in the Danish building sector and what such indicators could look like. Based on an analysis of current indicator systems and a qualitative investigation of the views of different actor groups on environmental indicators for buildings, the areas of consensus and lines of conflict between the actor groups were identified. Four different technological frames were used to identify four different perceptions of environmental indicators. Applying the theory of the social construction of technology (SCOT) in a prospective way, the findings show that a closure of the indicator-debate on the basis of an all-actors consensus within the near future is unlikely. Instead, three likely scenarios are described for the future development of the indicator debate and the directions for different actors are identified to create a common language for the use of green building indicators. Les indicateurs environnementaux applicables aux bâtiments peuvent être un moyen utile pour rendre visible l'impact des bâtiments sur l'environnement (et, éventuellement, de leurs avantages) à tous les acteurs concernés. En outre, ces indicateurs facilitent la prise en compte et la réponse à un ensemble de questions environnementales lors du processus décisionnel. La large acceptation de ces indicateurs par les différents groupes de décideurs lors de diverses phases du cycle de vie d'un bâtiment est particulièrement significative lorsque ces indicateurs ne sont pas obligatoires mais qu'ils doivent être utilisés dans le cadre d'initiatives volontaires initiées per le terrain. L'objectif de la présente étude était de savoir si (et dans quelle mesure) on pouvait atteindre un consensus sur les indicateurs environnementaux applicables aux bâtiments et considérés comme ‘langage commun pour des bâtiments verts’ pour les principaux acteurs du secteur de la construction au Danemark; il s'agissait également de savoir à quoi pouvaient ressembler ces indicateurs. Sur la base d'une analyse des systèmes actuels d'indicateurs et d'une analyse qualitative de l'opinion des différents groupes d'acteurs quant aux indicateurs environnements applicables aux bâtiments, on a pu recenser les domaines consensuels et les axes de conflits entre les groupes acteurs. On a utilisé quatre cadres technologiques différents pour recenser quatre perceptions différentes des indicateurs environnementaux. Lorsque l'on applique la théorie de la construction sociale de la technologie (SCOT) de manière prospective, il apparaît qu'il est peu vraisemblable que le débat sur les indicateurs s'achève sur la base d'un consensus de tous les acteurs dans un proche avenir. Au contraire, l'auteur décrit trois scénarios possibles concernant l'avancée du débat sur les indicateurs et recense les axes d'évolution pour des acteurs différents afin de créer un langage commun permettant d'utiliser les indicateurs applicables aux bâtiments verts. Mots clés: élaboration d'un consensus, système d'aide à la décision, indicateurs environnementaux, bâtiments verts, construction sociale de la technologie (SCOT), évaluation de la durabilité [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present a planning tool for comparing and assessing the sustainability of different wastewater systems. The core of the planning tool is an assessment method based on both technical and social elements. The point of departure is that no technique is inherently sustainable or ecological in itself, but that the sustainability of thetotal system of technologies for a particular settlement in a given location must be assessed in a holistic and transparent manner. A pilot case is used to demonstrate the structure and the results of the assessment method. The assessment method is still under development, and this paper discusses crucial points in the development of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]