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On 25 September 2015, the member states of the United Nations approved an initiative in New York called “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” [...]

How can urban policies and planning approaches help in achieving a safer mobility and carbon reduction in the transport sector? The attention of planners and policy makers towards the promotion of sustainability and reduction of environmental impacts has grown in recent years. This paper investigates the role that Urban Planning plays in the long term towards a safer and climate friendlier mobility, highlighting the need for integrated approaches gathering spatial planning and mobility management. After a review of several urban policies and planning strategies, initiatives, and approaches, mainly based on the urban scale, the paper presents an urban regeneration case study leading to an increase of pedestrian accessibility at the neighborhood level. This can be seen as a support tool to foster sustainable, safe, and climate friendly mobility in cities. The results of the performed analysis show a dependency of accessibility from two different factors: the distribution of services and the capillarity of the soft mobility network, which can contribute to creating a more walkable space.

AbstractSociety requires companies to adopt ethical and responsible behavior with regard to environmental policies in order to achieve sustainable development. One of the most controversial sectors in terms of sustainable production is the fashion industry. This study analyzes the extent to which seven of the biggest fashion brands in Spain and around the world communicate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies (specifically, those related to sustainability). To this end, we identify the social media platforms used the most by the target audiences for these brands, and apply an exploratory, descriptive methodology to a content analysis of communication about their CSR policies, both formal (corporate websites) and informal (social media). The objective is to identify whether these companies communicate their sustainable activities and practices in the context of their CSR. Our findings confirm that the brands analyzed have integrated sustainability and environmental protection initiatives into their CSR policies. However, although they do communicate this on their corporate websites, they rarely do so on social media. We thus conclude that the seven fashion brands analyzed could make better use of social media to raise awareness and educate customers about environmental sustainability.

Temporary housing units (THUs), which are provided after disasters, are crucial in terms of sustainability pillars (economic, social, and environmental). In general, THUs, which are regular houses with minimum space and facilities, incorporate some negative aspects of the building industry. Additionally, as large numbers of THUs are usually provided in a short time and under emergency situations, some negative impacts of these units escalate. In this context, this study aims at reducing some negative impacts of THUs by applying a novel optimization model that maximises sustainability indexes by simulating the design of interior geometries for THUs. This method is based on the coupling of artificial intelligence and a multi-criteria decision-making model for sustainability assessment. The proposed model generates optimal solutions using a backtracking algorithm together with a binary search. To evaluate the sustainability indexes, an Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment (MIVES) is applied. This novel method enables decision makers to automatically generate the most suitable alternative solutions for the early design stage of THUs. The results confirm that small changes in the interior geometric design can remarkably affect the sustainability indexes of THUs. The authors would like to acknowledge the kind support offered by professors and researchers from Shahid Beheshti University, Islamic Azad University, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and experts from the Housing Foundation of Islamic Republic of Iran (HFIR), who supported this paper for collecting and improving data. Additionally, the authors would like to thank UPC's Centre for Development Cooperation (CCD) for funding the authors (NO.: 2017-U006 and 2018-U012), which enabled the authors to follow and analyse the recovery program of Kermanshah earthquake. Peer Reviewed

The climate agenda in France and several other countries is a complex combination of unilateral commitments with regional and international objectives. When analyzing national policies, the findings of worldwide analyses are of limited accuracy and the large aggregates on which they are built level out most local specificities and inertia. Specific. assessments are hence needed. This paper quantifies the dynamic evolution of carbon values for French climate and energy policy. Its time dependency over successive periods and the effects of setting intermediate targets are evaluated using a long-term optimization model. Addressing critical issues for France, we produce consistent energy, emissions and carbon value estimates with a 5-year time step. Our results are situated above the upper range of carbon value estimates of world models with an overlapping zone. We show that the official policy guideline value is only consistent with an optimistic combination of assumptions. The central estimates are 4 times greater than the guideline carbon value for 2050 and up to 14 times greater in 2020 because of short-term inertia that are costly to move. We also find that with intermediate objectives, the carbon value's dynamic is more than a simple upward curve and that its variability is itself time dependent

Due to climate change and current efforts to reduce emissions in the construction sector, this study evaluates and discusses the results of a comparative cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), with a main focus on Global Warming Potential for functionally equivalent carbon-reinforced concrete (CRC) and steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) façade panels for the first time. The novelty of this study is the focus on construction waste and, in particular, the worst-case application of non-recycled construction waste. The use of CRC requires a lower concrete thickness than SRC because the carbon fiber reinforcement does not corrode, in contrast to steel reinforcement. Façade panels of the same geometrical dimensions and structural performance were defined as functional units (FU). Assuming an End-of-Life (EoL) scenario of 50% landfill and 50% recycling, the Global Warming Potential (GWP, given in CO2 equivalent (CO2e)) of the CRC façade (411–496 kg CO2e) is shown to perform better than or equal to the SRC façade (492 kg CO2e). Changing the assumption of CRC to a worst-case scenario, going fully to landfill and not being recycled (single life cycle), turns the GWP results in favor of the SRC façade. Assuming a 50-year service life for the SRC façade panel and relativizing the emissions to the years, the more durable CRC façade performs much better. Finally, depending on the system boundary, the assumed EoL and lifetime, CRC can represent a lower-emission alternative to a functionally equivalent component made of SRC. The most important and “novel” result in this study, which also leads to future research opportunities, is that delicate adjustments (especially concerning EoL scenarios and expected service life) can lead to completely different recommendations for decision-makers. Only by combining the knowledge of LCA experts, structural engineers, and builders optimal decisions can be made regarding sustainable materials and building components.

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is the phenomenon of altered increased temperatures in urban areas compared to their rural surroundings. UHIs grow and intensify under extreme hot periods, such as during heat waves, which can affect human health and also increase the demand for energy for cooling. This study applies remote sensing and land use/land cover (LULC) data to assess the cooling effect of varying urban vegetation cover, especially during extreme warm periods, in the city of Munich, Germany. To compute the relationship between Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Land Use Land Cover (LULC), MODIS eight-day interval LST data for the months of June, July and August from 2002 to 2012 and the Corine Land Cover (CLC) database were used. Due to similarities in the behavior of surface temperature of different CLCs, some classes were reclassified and combined to form two major, rather simplified, homogenized classes: one of built-up area and one of urban vegetation. The homogenized map was merged with the MODIS eight-day interval LST data to compute the relationship between them. The results revealed that (i) the cooling effect accrued from urban vegetation tended to be non-linear; and (ii) a remarkable and stronger cooling effect in terms of LST was identified in regions where the proportion of vegetation cover was between seventy and almost eighty percent per square kilometer. The results also demonstrated that LST within urban vegetation was affected by the temperature of the surrounding built-up and that during the well-known European 2003 heat wave, suburb areas were cooler from the core of the urbanized region. This study concluded that the optimum green space for obtaining the lowest temperature is a non-linear trend. This could support urban planning strategies to facilitate appropriate applications to mitigate heat-stress in urban area.