Digital Commons Network^™

Developing Amenities To Create More Sustainable And Inclusive Human Settlements, Jeremy Thobo Gibberd Dr

CIB Conferences

Sustainable human settlements are the totality of any organised human community whether a city, town or village. This includes amenities such as parks, sports facilities, libraries, schools and clinics. Rapid urbanisation and a lack of resources in many developing countries, such as South Africa, mean that some human settlements may not have these amenities. A lack of amenities in human settlements affects the quality of life and hampers the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those for health (SDG3), education (SDG4), inequality (SDG10), and sustainable cities (SDG11). In South Africa, a lack of amenities in human settlements also affects …

Addressing Urban Blight For Cities Under Uncertain Conditions, Analysis Within Un Sdg 11, Qadri H. Shaheen, Sameer Abu-Eisheh, Hafez Shaheen, George Berghorn

CIB Conferences

Background: Urban blight, the deterioration of previously developed urban areas, manifests through physical decay and social neglect, posing challenges to sustainability. This study examines urban blight within the framework of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), which aims to create inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities, with a focus on Nablus, Palestine, under uncertain socio-political conditions.

Objective: We seek to analyze blight’s impact on the built environment and propose solutions aligned with SDG 11, emphasizing resilience and inclusivity in cities facing prolonged uncertainty.

Methodology: Through a case study of Nablus, we analyze blight characteristics using spatial mapping, statistical …

A Reliability-Based Conceptual Framework For Carbon Trading Management In The Construction Sector, Linna Geng, Robert Moehler, Patrick X.W. Zou, Yingbin Feng

CIB Conferences

The construction sector is increasingly impacted by carbon trading policies across its supply chains in various countries. These policies require construction entities to purchase carbon permits if their emissions exceed allocated limits, while those with lower emissions can sell excess permits. A key challenge is the effective allocation of carbon responsibility, which directly affects the cost-effectiveness and the success of carbon trading in reducing the sector emissions. However, quantifying uncertainty in carbon emissions remains a significant challenge. This paper introduces a reliability-based framework that captures uncertainties and interactions between carbon emissions and allocations under a shared responsibility model between construction …

Strategies For Mitigating The Challenges Of Post-Disaster Reconstruction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review, Alexander E. Omoraka, Temitope Egbelakin, Sittimont Kanjanabootra

CIB Conferences

The impacts of disasters range from social to physical, which comprise psychological impacts, economic impacts, casualties, damage to buildings and infrastructure, etc. While developing countries like Nigeria and Nepal are prone to suffering more human casualties, the effects of disasters in developed countries like Australia and Japan are felt more in buildings and infrastructure. Disasters leave the affected areas deprived of the capacity to function normally without support. Construction projects constitute the greatest loss component in the event of major disasters and thus render people homeless, insecure, and susceptible to unpleasant conditions. This makes post-disaster reconstruction a must in places …

Strategic Solutions To Align Contractor Capacities With Water Infrastructure Demands: A Case Study, Hamidreza Peivastehgar, Monty Sutrisna, Mostafa Jelodar, An Le

CIB Conferences

This research investigates solutions for bridging the gap between future water infrastructure demands and the contractor capacities in Watercare’s service zone. Using forecast models to evaluate urban infrastructure requirements and contractor capabilities, this study identifies significant discrepancies and explores three strategic approaches: capacity enhancement, project rescheduling, and external contractor attraction. The methodology includes data-driven forecasting, scenario analysis, and stakeholder consultation. Findings highlight the importance of proactive planning to ensure alignment, with implications for policy development and infrastructure management.

Evaluating Key Performance Resilience Indicators For A Public-Private Partnership In Critical Infrastructure, Godslove Ampratwum, Robert Osei-Kyei, Vivian Wy Tam

CIB Conferences

Many studies have advocated for public-private partnership (PPP) as a medium to build critical infrastructure resilience. Considering how PPP is greatly advocated for in critical infrastructure resilience, the performance measurement of public-private partnership has yet to be explored. As such this study aims to evaluate key performance resilience indicators (KPRIs) that can be used to assess the performance of PPPs formed to build critical infrastructure resilience. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted with experts in PPP and critical infrastructure resilience in Ghana. Mann-Whitney U test and Mean score ranking was used for data analysis. The results indicate respondents from public …

Heat Recovery Chiller For Education On Low Carbon Hvac Technologies, Ivan Nunez, Ehijie Ebewele, Ajay Dalal, William Hutzel

CIB Conferences

Reducing carbon emissions during the life cycle of a building is critical for mitigating the impacts of climate change. This problem is particularly challenging in the U.S., where buildings account for nearly 40% of annual CO2 emissions for heating, cooling, lighting, and other routine operations. Although a variety of new energy efficient technologies for buildings are being deployed, that alone is not sufficient for success. It is also critically important to provide technical training for facility managers so that these new technologies operate as intended once they are installed in buildings. Delivering this technical training is the rationale for the …

Assessment Of Interdependency For Building Components In Facility Management, Ashish Kumar Pampana, Soojin Yoon, Theodore J. Weidner

CIB Conferences

This research presents a systematic approach for assessing component interdependencies within building subsystems in relation to unplanned maintenance (UPM). Utilizing a three-step methodology—quantitative content analysis, component causal relationships, and interdependency analysis—the study leverages work order description data to identify key components and their interactions. By applying social network analysis to top keyword and term frequency data, the study examines component centrality, revealing critical interdependencies that impact maintenance needs. Findings show that specific components, such as the steel damper and supply fan, play prominent roles within the subsystem network, with significant ripple effects in case of failure. This methodology not only …

Open Building And Its Implementation In Architectural Education: From Reality And Practice To Pedagogy, Beisi Jia

CIB Conferences

The open buildings movement was one of the important architectural movements in the late 20th century. Open buildings have significantly contributed to the criticism of modernism and promoted sustainable architecture. However, the teaching concepts and methodology of open buildings still need to be integrated into traditional architectural design methods. In this work, a design course is introduced and analyzed on the basis of a joint teaching program with three universities in China. This study aims to demonstrate a set of teaching methodologies for students to experience the concepts of stability and mobility in design. The study first introduces the objectives, …

Balancing Density And Greenery: Addressing Urban Heat Islands In Transit-Oriented Development, Esraa Elmarakby, Hisham Elkadi

CIB Conferences

This study explores the relationship between urban form, green infrastructure, and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in Manchester's Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) neighbourhoods: Manchester Piccadilly and East Didsbury. The research investigates how urban density, characterised by deep street canyons and lack of green spaces, influences the intensity of UHI effects. Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were mapped using remote sensing techniques to identify spatial patterns of heat intensity and vegetation coverage, respectively. The analysis revealed significant negative correlations between NDVI and UHI intensity in both areas, with East Didsbury exhibiting a stronger correlation than Manchester …

Water Quality Sensing System Based On Sdgs: A Case Study Of Penghu Taiwan, Feng-Jun Huang, Hao Yang, Ming-Ta Yang

CIB Conferences

To support SDG 14, this study presents a buoy-based water quality monitoring system designed for cage aquaculture in Penghu, Taiwan. The system floats on the sea, enabling continuous water quality monitoring with real-time location tagging. It consists of three main components: an offshore buoy, an on-site client, and a remote server. The offshore client, controlled by an NI myRIO, integrates various water quality sensors and a GPS module to accurately measure pH, oxidation-reduction potential, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, and conductivity. GPS data is transmitted to the remote server for real-time location display.The server, programmed with LabVIEW, handles data processing …

Dynamics And Synergistic Mechanism Of Green Building Transition: Helix Model And Helix Culture, Jingqing Hong, Isabelle Chan

CIB Conferences

The Green Building Transition (GBT) represents a critical long-term socio-technical shift towards sustainable modes of production and consumption in urban areas. However, a research gap exists in comprehending the intrinsic motivations and synergies among stakeholders involved in promoting and implementing green building practices. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the dynamics of GBT by introducing a novel theoretical framework based on Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz's Helix model. The results indicate a deficiency in the existing GBT frameworks regarding the comprehensive comprehension of interactions among multi-level key stakeholders involved, as well as the absence of a quantitative assessment of …

Integrating Nature Into Norms: Evaluating Biophilic Design Attributes In Building Rating Systems, Hoda Alemrajabi, Ruichuan Zhang, Tanyel Bulbul, Annie Pearce

CIB Conferences

This paper examines the integration of biophilic design attributes within building rating systems. Biophilic design, which emphasizes human connections to the natural environment through the use of natural elements in architectural and landscape design, has been increasingly recognized for its positive effects on human well-being and environmental sustainability. Despite its growing popularity, the extent to which biophilic design principles are incorporated into existing building rating systems remains unclear. To address this gap, our study systematically reviews 29 prominent building rating systems worldwide, identifying and categorizing credits that align with biophilic design attributes, such as sunlight, natural shapes, and water. Through …

Determinants Of Work Location Choice In Academia, Alessandra Migliore, Chiara Tagliaro, Ying Hua

CIB Conferences

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most workers to work from home (WFH). At first glance, this seems not to be a significant change for academics, who, even in regular times, are used to performing their research activities autonomously and balancing on-campus and off-campus locations. Instead, precisely because of their flexible habits, it is interesting to study where academics worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and which factors relate to their location choices. This paper addresses these issues using survey data from 7,865 Italian-tenured academics. First, cluster analysis unveils four main location choices of Italian academics during the COVID-19 pandemic depending on …

Advancing Off-Site Construction: Assessing Organizational Maturity And Capabilities In The Canadian Construction Industry, Rejsha Khoteja, Rashmi Khatri, Nicole Odo, Alexandra Thompson, Amirhossein Mehdipoor, Brandon Searle, Jeff H. Rankin

CIB Conferences

The construction industry, despite being a vital sector for societal growth, has struggled to match the accelerated growth seen in other peer industries. Over the past two decades, productivity within construction has remained stagnant, posing challenges to meeting societal demands and sustainability targets. Recognizing the potential of digitalization to revolutionize construction processes, this research addresses the critical need to assess and benchmark organizational maturity and capabilities in the Canadian construction industry, particularly in the context of off-site construction methodologies. This research project aims to establish a comprehensive method for assessing organizational capabilities related to off-site construction, thereby providing insights into …

Vacancy To Vibrancy – External Effects, Finance Models And Collaboration In Heritage Building Revitalization. Framework, Hanna Sophie Bonekämper, Judith Nöfer, Kunibert Lennerts

CIB Conferences

Vacant buildings can negatively impact a city's social and economic appeal. Addressing this issue is crucial, and the revitalization of these buildings becomes imperative. Revitalizations often require large investments, especially when it comes to listed buildings. Listed buildings are significant buildings that are legally protected to preserve their cultural heritage. Therefore these listed buildings must be revitalized in a sensitive way to preserve their unique character. This leads to discussions wether this high level of effort and costs is in relation to the building's long-term impact. At this point, it is sensible to incorporate external socio-economic effects such as the …

Connecting Possibilities: Common Data Environment For Dynamic Information Platforms, Amy A. Mccormack, Toomaj Ghalandar, Carmel M. Lindkvist

CIB Conferences

Common Data Environments (CDE) play a crucial role in the development of building life-cycle information management platforms, such as digital twins. However, the evolution of CDEs has traditionally been driven by the needs and perspectives of building projects and their developers. This work shifts the focus to facility management (FM), exploring the potential of positioning CDEs at the center of digital twin development for enhanced FM outcomes. The literature review highlights persistent challenges in developing CDEs, particularly issues related to interoperability and trust. These challenges are echoed in the survey results, which also emphasize the need for a two-fold approach. …

Research On The Protection Of The Castle-Type Villages Of Ming-Dynasty Great Wall In Yanqing District Of Beijing, Wen Ouyang, Wanrong Chen, Zuozheng Shi

CIB Conferences

Yanqing is connected to the Shuo Desert in the north, the south is in the middle, and the north gate of the Beijing Division is controlled in the west, which has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, and it is also a fusion zone of grassland culture and Central Plains culture. Today, peaceful development is the main theme of the times. The strategic value of castle-type villages has declined, and the historical relics and features have been damaged to a certain extent, and the current situation of protection is not optimistic. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the …

Research On The Adaptive Design Of Commercial Farmhouses From The Perspective Of Rural Revitalization: A Case Study Of Yanqing District, Beijing, Wen Ouyang, Hanshi Dou, Zuozheng Shi

CIB Conferences

Since the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, the quality of life of rural residents in China has improved significantly. At the same timeSimultaneously, the villagers' demand for housing functions has also undergone a huge change. With the continuous advancement of agricultural and rural modernization, the villagers' desire to use their own farmhouses to openset up shops with their own houses has become an increasingly prominent contradiction with the reality of the lack of complex commercial farmhouse design and construction. This paper introduces the concept of adaptive design, and analyzes the key influencing factors in the design and construction of …

How Innovation Is Impacting Productivity In The Construction Industry: A Review And Case Study Of The Canadian Research Landscape, Brandon Searle, Jeff H. Rankin

CIB Conferences

The construction industry is undergoing a paradigm shift focused on innovation leading to increases in producitivity and sector sustainability. This paper explores opportunities for innovation and collaboration to influence productivity within the construction sector, encompassing project delivery and organizational structures, project management practices, and the development of construction materials and products. Recent innovations include the adoption of modern construction methods like prefabrication and modular construction, which have been proven to increase producitvity, minimize waste and reduce emissions while enhancing worker safety and product quality. Digital technologies play a crucial role in improving management and planning accuracy, coordination, and the optimization …

Towards The Achievement Of Sustainable Built Environment: The Role Of Community-Based Facilities Management Of Urban Public Spaces In Cape Town, Uche Ordor Mr, Kathy Michell Professor

CIB Conferences

Rapid and often unsustainable urban growth is a challenge that cities of the world face. Challenges faced include rapid population growth, urbanisation, which leaves municipalities playing catchup with the provision of infrastructure and services, as well as accessible public spaces. These challenges tend to foster the development of slums, selective access to economic opportunities, social exclusion, and urban poverty. Arguably, the development of informal socio-economic systems occurs at various levels in response to the lack of access to formal socio-economic activities and jobs and ultimately threaten the sustainability of the built environment (BE). The City of Cape Town, South Africa, …

Unraveling Urban-Rural Sustainable Contradictions, Carmel M. Lindkvist, Morten T. Gjerde, Amy A. Mccormack Ms, Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Brita Fladvad Nielsen

CIB Conferences

While Norway has a vast amount of land in relation to its population, the ongoing development of land in rural mountainous and coastal areas is having an impact on nature. Strategies for implementing densification in cities must also consider the impact on rural areas. Within this research we address the contradictory imbalance of the consumption of nature for leisure/urban escapism with that of the conservation of nature in rural areas. Rural areas are often viewed as an escape from the urban chaos and within Norway fall under a right to have access to nature. This right to nature is primarily …

Using Blockchain And Digital Land Registries To Enhance Land Management And Tenure, Johnny Mahlangu, Godfrey Taunyane, Basiiraa Moosa, Chioma Okoro

CIB Conferences

In many cases, land tenure and rights are not formally recorded, and land administration systems are inaccessible to rural communities. This research study examined the benefits and attendant challenges of using blockchain and digital land registries for land tenure security and management/administration processes. Secondary research using an integrative review was undertaken with materials identified from Google Scholar. Thematic analysis revealed that the benefits include increased transparency and verifiability, automation, increased efficiency, reduced cost and time, simplified processes, reduced conflicts and better access to credit. The challenges include institutional/political factors, market settings, technical and legal requirements, cyber security risks and data …

Sustainable Healthy Communities: The Contested Role Of ‘Region’ In The Housing Development Sector, Graeme D. Larsen Dr, Ange Lee, Megi Zala

CIB Conferences

The English housing development sector is frequently described as being in a state of crisis, presenting challenges for a range of stakeholders. The research is tensioned against structural shifts in the housing development sector, with an agglomeration of a handful of large housing developers shaping the narrative, set against the decline of regional SMEs developers. The aim is to unpack the prevailing discourse and the common reductionist metric of ‘units’ built, in order to reintroduce notions of regionalism, place and sustainable healthy community into the debate. Central to this is unpacking what is meant by ‘region’ or ‘regional’. Contemporary perspectives …

Examining The Impact Of Socio-Economic Factors On Residential Water Use In An Aquifer-Based Urban Environment, Assessing Urban Hydrology: A Case Study Of Four Communities In Alachua County, Florida, Shirley N. Tandoh, Robert J. Ries, Jian Xiaoxun

CIB Conferences

One of the key challenges to urban development is balancing water demand with availability, particularly in rapidly growing populations, which is central to the United Nations' sustainable development goals. In aquifer-dependent water delivery systems, addressing water shortages requires a focus on urban hydrology, preserving groundwater levels, and understanding the interactions within the water cycle. Additionally, socio-economic dynamics significantly impact water use and must be considered in this balance.

This study developed a GIS-based Python simulation to assess the water cycle components using an urban water balance model. The simulation examined land use changes and cultural factors affecting water use, including …

A Discussion On Sustainability In Terms Of Building Production And Use For Smart Urbanization, Salih Demirkaya, Harun Tanrivermis, Deniz Besiktepe, Yesim Tanrivermis

CIB Conferences

Technological developments and population growth have caused many effects in the construction sector and triggered developments in the construction of cities. Effects such as energy use, construction conditions, building economy draw attention as a war of technology and naturalness within the framework of the concept of sustainability. Constraints such as the need for building production and capacity increase needed by the population, labor and resource use are effective in decision-making. While technology enables the building sector to produce rapidly, it causes negative effects on the balance of nature. Production factors should be evaluated with a holistic approach and systems that …

Mapping Responsible Workflows For Geospatial Data Science: Developing The I-Guide Data Ethics Toolkit, Peter T. Darch, Kyra M. Abrams, Ivan Y M Kong

I-GUIDE Forum

AI workflows in geospatial data science offer significant societal benefits but raise ethical, transparency, and reproducibility challenges. Current ethical frameworks and tools are often hard to integrate into daily research practice. This paper introduces the I-GUIDE Data Ethics Toolkit (DET), a lightweight suite designed for users of the NSF-funded Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE). Based on a longitudinal mixed-methods study, including surveys, interviews, and observations, we identified five design priorities: usability, anticipatory planning, distributed responsibility, comprehensive coverage, and policy compliance. We integrated existing AI and data research lifecycles into an eight-stage I-GUIDE Research Lifecycle, serving …

Evaluating The Evaluation Matrices: Integrating Spatial Assessment In Geospatial Ai Model Training And Evaluation, Fangzheng Lyu

I-GUIDE Forum

This paper examines the limitations of current evaluation metrics in GeoAI. Through two case studies on deep learning models—a building detection classification problem and a remote sensing image fusion regression problem—this paper demonstrates how traditional statistical evaluation matrices alone can be misleading in geospatial problems. The findings indicate that traditional metrics (e.g., RMSE, MAE) used in current GeoAI models can have difficulty capturing the spatial dimensions inherent to geospatial problems. This paper suggests that the model evaluation process in GeoAI should move beyond traditional evaluation matrices by integrating spatial thinking throughout the modeling pipeline—not only incorporating spatial accuracy in model …

Expanding Access To Cybergis-Compute Through Support For Heterogeneous Workflows, Alexander C. Michels, Ian Zhang, Anand Padmanabhan, John Speaks, Rebecca Vandewalle, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

CyberGIS-Compute is a geospatial middleware tool designed to lower technical barriers to High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources. It provides end-users with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for submitting models to HPC and allows model developers to contribute their workflows by adding a manifest to their repositories. However, the simplification of the user interface and streamlining of model contribution have unintentionally limited the scope of models that could be run on CyberGIS-Compute. In this paper, we discuss recent developments to the CyberGIS-Compute project that are aimed at supporting a wider variety of workflows including performance enhancements, supporting additional configuration options for jobs, …

Assessing Vulnerabilities Associated With High-Risk Dams In Utah, Courtney Flint Dr., Michael Englert, Upmanu Lall Dr.

I-GUIDE Forum

Across the United States, the age of dam infrastructure presents a substantial threat. The potential for structural failure associated with these aging dams is exacerbated by increased climate uncertainty and the threat of dam overtopping due to extreme and prolonged precipitation events. These compound threats place downstream areas at pronounced risk. These downstream areas vary widely. Some are relatively free of vulnerable elements, while others have a complex mix of infrastructure, populations, and ecologically important elements. This paper highlights the risk situation associated with aging dams and hydroclimatic extremes, the methodological and geospatial challenges and opportunities associated with mapping the …