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Outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) has considerable impacts on the health and life of different groups of people. Older people are one of the most vulnerable groups to climate-related diseases. Heat-related deaths are likely to increase due to an increasing proportion of adults aged 65 and over in the total population. Reviewing literature shows that very few studies have investigated OTC for older people compared to indoor environments. This paper aims to present a comprehensive literature review of the recent literature that discusses differences in OTC sensations and preferences between older people and other age groups. Also, this research reviews effective parameters that should be considered during the planning of outdoor places. These parameters are mainly categorized into two groups of environment-and human-based parameters. Existing comfort models are not fully developed to consider the effects of both environment and human-based parameters for OTC assessment for older people. It is important that the ageing aspects of the OTC being taken into account to shed light on the complex factors of OTC studies. Therefore, holistic agendas and comprehensive masterplans can facilitate communication between policy-making entities, scientific institutions, and urban planners to present healthier urban development for the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing public space can take an interdisciplinary approach to urban space design by highlighting the relationship between urban design research and practice. This research attempts to educate students as 'researcher-designers' by applying practical techniques such as Place-check and Gehl's public life-tool in a review of how public space design is taught in a studio course on our Master's degree in Urban Design. This study uses action-research to engage 30 students attending the course entitled 'urban design studios' which focuses on Tehran's historic neighborhoods. The results indicate that applied 'evidence for design' based on soft and hard evidence can provide improved practical understanding of environmental quality issues in urban space design. Findings indicate that inviting citizens' opinions during the design phase leads to more reliable and useful design and planning processes. These initial steps in encouraging designers to solicit citizens' feedback could prove the stimulus for further participative action research which builds on students' improved understanding of design contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the elders' health as the main priority of ageing in place, recent research focuses on a better understanding of the elders' needs of perceived safety especially the older women as the vulnerable group in urban open environments. This study aims to explore the perception of older women about safety and its related features in outdoor spaces according to promoting Active Ageing. We carried out a mixed-method study in which the data collection was conducted through content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were held with 54 older women (mean age 78.40 years). The participants were recruited in open spaces of Tehran applying the purposeful sampling and continued saturation during summer and fall of 2018. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative content analysis was used to extract sub-themes and main themes. In order to prioritize the extracted concepts, analytic hierarchy process was applied in quantitative analysis (AHP) in the quantitative phase. According to results, the perception of safety in female elders can be described in three main themes consisting of psychological, functional and environmental safety, in that order of priority. Psychological safety includes fears of falling, getting lost, social limitation, anxiety, and social support or capital, while functional safety consists of concerns about public transportation, walkability, and physical activity. Finally, environmental safety comprises of apprehension of road traffic accidence, criminals, upkeep, incivility, and nuisance. Our findings provide both personal and environmental features that can be targeted and require implementation from policymakers and urban developers to meet the needs of growing older vulnerable population to achieve global active ageing goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several countries are planning urban districts as knowledge and innovation spaces (KISs) to achieve economic and cultural goals. The literature shows that urban planning qualities such as place quality play a paramount role for the knowledge-based economy to flourish. This study develops a theoretical framework based on local experts' opinions to assess KISs developments. Following the development of this framework, this study identifies major criteria for KISs in urban planning, and consequently the most effective field-based indicators for KISs development at the precinct scale. This research has been developed in two steps using qualitative and quantitative techniques. In the first step, a desk study is used to identify KIS related indicators from literature. Next, by using a three-round Delphi survey, the local experts have modified, validated and prioritised these indicators to form the theoretical framework. Results show the significant interrelation of place qualities and the innovation concept in the context of good governance. Good governance has been proved to be one of the major foundations for this framework, facilitating effective urban management and planning by taking advantage of innovation spaces. The suggested methodology and presented framework assist policymakers and planners to deliver the localised KIS developments in precinct scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic systems are one of the most promising renewable energy technologies for on-site generation. Most of the techno-economic studies consider distributed standalone photovoltaic generation with little consideration of community-based standalone photovoltaic systems. Location-based case studies are required to provide economic and reliable photovoltaic systems to meet the peak loads of residential neighbourhoods in an optimized manner. This paper devises an integrated evaluation methodology; a combination of white-box energy modelling and black box photovoltaic design optimization. This research uses optimization methods to develop a quantitative optimized model for analysing the opportunities of centralized systems to adequately meet the demands of a residential neighbourhood and support the grid. This analysis includes three metrics including the level of the energy production, reliability of system for peak power and finally the capital cost of implementation in residential districts. Results indicate that the size of a centralized photovoltaic installation is less when compared to distributed installations to support a similar single peak load. The required converter size is reduced for the centralized system owing to the reduced system size. Centralized installations require fewer batteries to store surplus energy produced due to increased interaction of energy flows. Centralized installations are economically more viable than distributed ones. • An evaluation methodology is developed to compare the feasibility of centralized PV. • Centralized PV installations ensure an optimized PV system size. • Feasibility metrics include energy production, reliability and capital cost. • Centralized PV systems are the optimal choice for sustainable planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last century, rapid growth in human settlements has caused the fragmentation of spatial structure of urban and rural areas. This study explores the dimensions of physical integration between new and old developments of human settlements. In this regard, a mixed-method was applied for Qehi village as a historic place in two steps. In phase 1, about 20 residents were asked to discuss their perception about physical integration between the old and new parts of their settlement. Then, a 16-item questionnaire was developed based on the interview responses, literature review and field observation. In phase 2, the self-reported questionnaire was incorporated into the results of interview with 34 architects, urban planners and designers that worked in the Qehi development project. The experts' insights were analyzed and fitted into 4 effective categories of physical integration. Finally, the validity of mentioned dimensions was conducted by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in SPSS and AMOS. This paper illustrates the confirmed dimensions, namely connectivity, anchor points' continuity, continuity of the place identity, and quality of life for the physical integration. The findings of this research can be applied as a model for new developments especially in the case of rural settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between built infrastructure are complex and nuanced; changes to any one component can have disproportionate effects on the system as a whole. For instance, adoption of heat pumps or electric vehicles by a significant proportion of a population in an urban centre would place new demands on both electricity transmission and distribution networks. It is essential that planners – both national and local – can understand and share information about the resource demands that this type of change places on national and local infrastructure. Access to integrated sources of information – from building component to national levels – is key to supporting policy makers and decision takers. However, over time, information – and as a consequence, the software that manages it – has evolved into functional silos; this has, in turn, affected the definition of data exchange standards. This limits the ability of experts in functional areas to exchange data and implement broader decision support systems. This paper describes the use of linked data approaches to permit queries across large, diverse information sources to provide reasoning about complex questions at multiple scales. The methodology defines a central context to which various external sources can be attached. These distributed sources are, in themselves, registered in a central catalogue; they remain, however, under the control of their source organisations. In this way a large, extensible, interconnected network of distributed data describing, for example, a built environment or electricity transmission network; this network of data resources can be queried centrally to provide customised views of subsets of the data, and so provide a richer view than one source in isolation. The approach was applied to prepare and integrate information about Ireland's transmission grid and administrative boundaries, along with domestic housing stock into a single data source. The resulting data network is queried by a scenario exploration tool. This tool successfully allows analysis, at a national level by economists, of the effects of the adoption of new technologies on the national grid of Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) directly impacts on health and wellbeing of inhabitants while it increases cooling energy demand of buildings. In this regards, different computational models and tools are developed to investigate the impact of built environments on pedestrian thermal comfort. However, in most of these models, the coeffects of solar radiation and local wind velocity are not simultaneously investigated where models are either simplified on solar calculations when are focused on wind or vice versa. This paper proposes a novel simulation framework to develop a high-resolution, but computationally efficient procedure, to couple radiative and convective fluxes in outdoor environments using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and building energy simulation (BES) approaches. The workflow is implemented in Grasshopper platform fed by outputs of ANSYS-Fluent as the CFD tool and EnergyPlus as the BES tool. The performance of the framework is evaluated using a case study, representing a simplified neighbourhood on a typical hot day. In comparison with the traditional models, results highlight on a considerable change in the OTC values using the proposed model. Results show that the alteration is highly related to the temporal aspects and OTC results experience changes from 5% to 40% in compared to the original OTC values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast growth of megacities population has resulted in severe traffic issues. Developing highway networks is considered as one of the major strategies in Iran's capital city. However, health, environmental, and social consequences have been observed due to increased motorization and megaconstructions. This study aims to explain how residents perceive the effects of urban elevated highways (UEH) on their quality of life. Therefore, the effects of Sadr highway before and after the double-deck construction are examined via pre- and post-phase assessments. Most studies have focused on the experts' opinions to investigate the effects of UEHs on the quality of life and place, while more attention is required to residents' experience and their perception. The methodology includes two steps: (1) identifying the influential factors of qualities of life and place in the context of UEH impacts based on focus group discussions (FGDs), designing a questionnaire as an assessment tool; and (2) surveying to assess the residents' perceptions regarding the impact of Sadr UEH on their quality of life and place. Results showed that low volume of residents reported life improvements over the development of the UEH, and two criteria of liveability and environmental qualities have been significantly reduced. However, some factors such as branding and private investments have not been reported to be as significant as other qualities. Also, results indicated that two indicators of comfort and place identity are the most influential factors on residents' perceptions. This research highlights the significance of residents' opinions and preferences for developing transportation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing BEPS models which predict energy usage to a high degree of accuracy can be extremely time consuming. As a result, assumptions are often made regarding the input data required. Making these assumptions without introducing a significant amount of uncertainty to the model can be difficult, and requires experience. Even so, rules of thumb from one geographic region are not automatically transferrable to other regions. This paper develops a methodology which can be used to determine useful guidelines for defining the most influential input data for an accurate BEPS model. Differential sensitivity analysis is carried out on parametric data gathered from five archetype dwelling models. The sensitivity analysis results are used in order to form a guideline minimum set of accurately defined input data. Although the guidelines formed apply specifically to Irish residential dwellings, the methodology and processes used in defining the guidelines is highly repeatable. The guideline minimum data set was applied to practical examples in order to be validated. Existing buildings were modelled, and only the parameters within the minimum data set are accurately defined. All building models predict annual energy usage to within 10% of actual measured data, with seasonal energy profiles well-matching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]