Environmental Design Commons^™

From Building To Dwelling: Unfolding Infinity Through Bioregional Fulfillment, Sanjana Bhatnagar

Pitzer Senior Theses

The causes of anthropogenic climate change touch every feature of our modern-day existences. Approaches to sustainability tend to focus on material actions, but unsustainable practices are guided by an ontological orientation of individuality and human exceptionalism. This thesis provides an alternate account of being that decenters individuality through weaving the metaphysics of Fazang of the Huayan School of Mahayana Buddhism with the metaphysics of Martin Heidegger. To encompass the whole of the relational network that constitutes and conditionally defines our existence, I expand Heidegger’s account of locales as relational sites which are put forth solely by humans to an account …

Techno-Economic Evaluation And Environmental Benefit Of Pv-Based Electric Vehicle Charging Station On University Campus, Rania Rushdy Moussa

Architectural Engineering

Smart utilities comprise an important aspect of modern smart cities. The aim of this work is to present a case study for implementing a solar- energy-based electric vehicle charging station (for the first time on a campus in Egypt) at the British University in Egypt. The total amount of energy needed for charging each electric vehicle (EV) was estimated to be 13.3—16.2 kWh. The EV is operated by 12 batteries. The station was designed to provide energy sufficient for charging up to two vehicles daily during summer. Thus, the station sizing was based on the provision of 16.2 KW and …

Blue Carbon Science, Management And Policy Across A Tropical Urban Landscape, Daniel A. Friess, Yasmine M. Gatt, Tze Kwan Fung, Jahson B. Alemu I, Natasha Bhatia, Rebecca Case, Siew Chin Chua, Danwei Huang, Valerie Kwan, Kiah Eng Lim, Yudhishthra Nathan, Yan Xiang Ow, Daniel Saavedra-Hortua, Taylor M. Sloey, Erik S. Yando, Hassan Ibrahim, Lian Pin Koh, Jun Yu Puah, Serena Lay-Ming Teo, Karenne Tun, Lynn Wei Wong, Siti Maryam Yaakub

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Bicycling For Sustainable Urban Mobility: Comparing Urban Transformations In Paris And Bogotá, Luba Masliy

Pomona Senior Theses

Promoting cycling is one of the low-hanging fruits to decarbonizing transportation, with further extensive benefits to quality of life. The main deterrent to the adoption of cycling for transportation is the lack of safe and connected infrastructure. This thesis explores and compares the case studies of Paris and Bogotá, where cycling modal shares grew significantly within the last decade. Plans outlining ambitious goals around sustainable transportation were put in place, and total bicycle network lengths increased rapidly in both cities. My work focuses on examining policy and infrastructure developments that lead to increased adoption of cycling over time in Paris …

Our Journey To “Concourse D”: A Student-Developed Space For Creating, Collaborating, And Developing Community In The Library, Katy Kelly, Adrienne Ausdenmoore

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

This case study describes an academic library’s student-developed communal space for the purposes of creating, collaborating, and project development. The story begins with an exciting process and partnership developed between University of Dayton (UD) Libraries and UD’s Institute of Applied Creativity for Transformation (IACT). An IACT experiential learning program led 12 students to research and reimagine the role of the campus library, which resulted in Concourse D, “where projects take flight,” a prototyped transdisciplinary project development studio. This mutually beneficial process led the library to a user-centric mindset as they reimagined space as service; patrons as creators; and a new …

Feasibility Of Earthships As Sustainable Homes In Brookings County, South Dakota, Whitney Sunkwah Yeboah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addressing the issue of housing deficit while providing affordable and sustainable homes is a significant problem in the United States today. This has prompted architects to design homes with less adverse environmental impacts despite their affordability, hence the birth of sustainable housing. Earthships are sustainable homes built from recycled materials, utilize solar or wind energy, and function as self-sufficient units. The study's main aim is to assess residents' perceptions of earthships and their willingness to adopt earthships in Brookings County, South Dakota. The research employs online surveys to garner data from residents, and data are analyzed using mixed methods. Results …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

Interdisciplinary Design Studio: Programming Document Visioning For A Robotic Demonstration, Research, And Engagement Dairy, Steve(N) Hardy, Nate Bicak, Sarah Alduaylij, Noor Al-Maamari, Devyn Beekman, Kelsey Belgum, Lauren Chubb, Nicholas Forte, Mitchell Hill, Joshua Holstein, Dylan Lambe, Phuong Le, Mia Leriger, Elizabeth Loftus, Josh Lorenzen, Megan Lovci, Alex Martino, Zade Miller, Hannah Morgan, Annabelle Nichols, Collin Shearman, Rebecca Sowl, Nalin Theplikhith, Angela Vu, Shaylee Wagner, Ethan Watermeier, Trever Zelenka

Architecture Program: Student Creative Activity

The 2022 COLLABORATE Design Studio brought together students from various disciplines to address a complex, real-world project which required collaborative input from different perspectives. The studio worked to advance the co-creation of knowledge between external stakeholders, students, and instructors. The course was co-taught by faculty from different disciplines, and areas of expertise. During the semester, Nate Bicak and Steven Hardy worked with students from Architecture and Interior Design in collaboration with students in Dr. Tami Brown-Brandl’s students in Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Science to explore the values, spatial qualities, and area requirements of a Robotic Demonstration, Research, and Engagement …

Reviving Knowledges Through Play And Resistance: The Case Of Navajo Conceptions Of Space, Daniel Ness, Richard D. Sawyer

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

The authors explore a possible cause of epistemicidal predispositions of the dominant Eurocentric curricula. They posit that one way to determine a plausible contributing factor of this increasing devastation is to consider epistemicide through the lens of intellectual development. To do this, the authors examine parallel patterns of behavior in the domains of developmental and cognitive psychology. The authors then discuss an alternative framework to the Western conception of space within formal K-12 education by presenting the Navajo conception of space and play. Throughout the paper, the authors argue that all students—and especially those living in poverty in commercially constructed, …

Travel Behavior Change And Economic Transition In Gentrified Neighborhoods, Maryam Izadi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Post-industrial cities in the US have experienced social and economic transitions, mostly in declining downtown neighborhoods. This process, known as gentrification, typically involves revitalization that reverses the decline and disinvestment in inner-city neighborhoods. The industrial shift increased the demand for housing near downtown. The employment of college-educated and high-skill workers has been centralized, while low-skilled jobs continue to decline downtown. While the impacts of gentrification on housing and residential displacement is frequently investigated, little attention has been given to its impact on travel behavior change and economic transition, which is the focus of this research. Change in travel behavior is …

Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook

Sustain Magazine

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly spread from country to country and continent to continent in 2020, governments and scientists needed a way to track COVID-19 through populations in order to position public health interventions in the most impactful locations. Having a decision-based risk framework may help to guide policy creation that could minimize or prevent possible outbreaks and surges of infection within communities. The University of Louisville in partnership with Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness tested this strategy in 2021 and 2022. This Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook describes the decisions and actions of that academic and public …

Evidence Of Alliesthesia During A Neighborhood Thermal Walk In A Hot And Dry City, Yuliya Dzyuban, David M. Hondula, Jennifer K. Vanos, Ariane Midell, Paul J. Coseo, Evan R. Kuras, Charles L. Redman

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. As temperatures in cities continue to break extreme heat records, it is necessary to develop and test new approaches capable of tracking human thermal sensations influenced by microclimate conditions, complex urban geometries, and individual charac-teristics in dynamic settings. Thermal walks are a promising novel research method to address this gap. During a ther-mal walk in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, we examined relationships between the built environment, microclimate, and subjective thermal judgments across a downtown city neighborhood slated for redevelopment. Subjects equipped with GPS devices participated in …

Digital Library Of Georgia (June 2022), Mandy L. Mastrovita, Donald Summerlin, Camie Williams, Deborah Hakes

Georgia Library Quarterly

New Digital Library of Georgia collections completed in Q2 of 2022

Evidence Of Alliesthesia During A Neighborhood Thermal Walk In A Hot And Dry City, Yuliya Dzyuban, David M. Hondula, Jennifer K. Vanos, Ariane Midell, Paul J. Coseo, Evan R. Kuras, Charles L. Redman

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. As temperatures in cities continue to break extreme heat records, it is necessary to develop and test new approaches capable of tracking human thermal sensations influenced by microclimate conditions, complex urban geometries, and individual charac-teristics in dynamic settings. Thermal walks are a promising novel research method to address this gap. During a ther-mal walk in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, we examined relationships between the built environment, microclimate, and subjective thermal judgments across a downtown city neighborhood slated for redevelopment. Subjects equipped with GPS devices participated in …

Cityengine As A Tool For Visualizing Neighborhood Change: An Initial Study, Zach Noyes

City and Regional Planning

Urban planning is reliant upon genuine public engagement to ensure that planning and policy decisions reflect the ideas shared by the public. Because planning is a profession largely focused on the physical and built implications of more abstract planning concepts, effective graphic communication is critical to securing public support and understanding of policy decisions. ESRI's CityEngine uses procedural modeling technology to render personally-tailored scenes to non-planner members of the public, and shows potential to positively change the way that planners generate graphic representations of physical impacts of policy changes. This initial study establishes a methodology for determining the efficacy of …

A Circular Economy Approach To Improve E-Waste Recycling In California: Economic Potential And Policy Options, Kripa Shah

Master's Projects and Capstones

The higher consumption rates of electronic devices along with their short life cycles and few repair options poses a huge challenge for E-waste industries to manage them effectively. E-waste comprises of hazardous materials and toxic constituents that can affect the environment and public health through improper disposal. However, they also contain few valuable materials that, if recovered, can reduce the dependence on virgin raw materials. Circular economy has the potential to utilize these valuable materials and gain environment and socio-economic benefits. The research explains how the adoption of a circular economy approach can help improve the E-waste recycling in California …

Chattahoochee River Front: Creating A Public Space For The City Of Atlanta, Samantha Manders

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The city of Atlanta lacks public spaces. Atlanta is characterized by many high-rise buildings, and a bare urban fabric that is accessed by automobile-oriented roads rather than pedestrian streets. Dense city centers such as Buckhead, Midtown, and Downtown, lacks proper public places that support social cohesion. While the city is renowned for its green spaces and the tree canopy, much of the public space is dedicated as green parks rather than plazas as extension of the street network. When the development of Atlanta began, it was designed as a railroad city. This took the focus off its natural course of …

Using Anaerobic Digesters As A Sustainable Approach In Creating Sustainable Cities In Egypt, Rania Rushdy Moussa, Laila Atef Elsawaf

Architectural Engineering

The first digestion plant was built in Bombay, India, in 1859. But since 1895, anaerobic digestion has been used to recover gas as a waste management system in England. Anaerobic digesters are one of the most well-known systems that are used worldwide to get rid of waste and generate energy, yet they have never been employed in Egypt. This research aims to determine the economic, social, and environmental impacts of anaerobic digesters in Egyptian cities and districts. From an economic perspective, the study estimates the energy produced from storing organic wastes in anaerobic digesters, using a quantitative approach to measure …

Using Remote Sensing Technologies In Relocating Lubrak Village And Visualizing Flood Damages, Ronan Wallace

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As weather patterns change across the world, there are communities impacted by climate change that are left unnoticed. In the Himalayan mountain range, communities have suffered, experiencing an increase in flash flooding and droughts. For Lubrak Village in Lower Mustang, the community faces the threats of flash flooding. Over the last ten years, the amount of flash flooding has increased, occurring more than once each monsoon season. After every flood, concrete-like sediment is left behind, hardening across the riverbed and increasing its elevation. As the riverbed elevation increases, this sediment encroaches on Lu-brak Village’s agricultural fields and ancient mud buildings, …

A Playworker’S Musings On The Perceptions And Importance Of ’Mess’ In A Play Space., Angus Ian Gorrie

International Journal of Playwork Practice

The aesthetics of any given play environment is often subject to immense scrutiny, often at the behest of adult agendas. This paper will, from a playwork practitioner’s perspective, discuss how aspects of perceptive mess in a play space positively affect play, the physical opportunities for children, their wellbeing, sense of belonging and their ability to create a sense of order as they see it. This will be juxtaposed against the situations in which children find themselves, by adult design, that paradoxically have the opposite effect. The author has drawn heavily from aspects of playwork theory and practice in the development …

Regenerating Agroecosystems By Overcoming Human Exceptionalism In Designing For Increased Equity Of Benefits From Ecoservices, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Our commentary explores three critical issues related to ecosystem services. First is how ecoservices are currently designed and implemented primarily for human benefit without concern for how these impact other species. We conclude that awareness of this imbalance is the first step toward meaningful change. Second we observe that human exceptionalism guides most decisions, and ask whether we can overcome this mind-set to embrace ecoregeneration and design of resilient and mutually beneficial agroecosystems. Our attitude toward the challenge and moving toward greater humility about human roles that guide management decisions in the ecosystem is a requisite for change. Third we …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings, …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings …

Relief Revival Reincarnation, Lisa Moon

Theses and Dissertations

there is a complex connectivity that we have with the built environment that goes beyond visual aesthetics and stimulates each of our senses. this connectivity is tied to our identity and the way we contextualize our experiences and our world. inspired by ethnographic observations, oscar newman’s seminal work, + the pruitt-igoe documentary, the project seeks to study the elements of this connectivity or in some cases the reduced connectivity within a public housing residential environment.

what contributes to this reduced connectivity?

newman examined it from an architectural perspective, exterior elements of building, space designation, corridors, skip|stop elevators, circulation patterns, natural …

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Diversity Of The Construction Workforce, Anil Baral, Yunping Liang, Mingshu Li, Marilyn Gonzalez, Mohsen Shahandashti, Baabak Ashuri

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Construction industry employment has been severely impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US construction labor market. This study contributes to the state of knowledge by (1) revealing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted construction employment across different demographic groups and geographic regions in the US, and (2) identifying vulnerable demographic groups (e.g., minorities, women, older workers) in the construction workforce that are disproportionally impacted by the pandemic. Employment data from the Current Population Survey and Current Employment Statistics (CES) programs, which are administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are …

Tales Of Urban Livability－ Vermont Avenue In Los Angeles As Told By Tree Canopy Cover, Hoi Cheng Wong

Pomona Senior Theses

As city-goers and residents of urban and suburban spaces, we are constantly on the move. It is no surprise that we often neglect the static trees and plants that seemingly blend into the background of our day-to-day rush to our next destination. Unfortunately, once we do have a chance to pause to take a look around us, or to pause long enough to feel the heat of the sun beaming down on our bare skin, we are decades too late in realizing the absence of trees at the location in which we are standing. This thesis contributes critical insight to …

Cruser Place Green Streets Plan, Neal Friedman

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Combining green and complete street design techniques leads to multiple environmental, social and economic benefits that often enhance each other's effectiveness. In urban areas confronting increased pressures of sea level rise, green streets, which incorporate landscaped features or vegetative areas to manage stormwater within the right of way, can be crucial pieces of pedestrian oriented urban design and multimodal planning frameworks that consider and plan for diverse, complementary transportation options. This plan works with the Colonial Place and Riverview Civic League as well as the Norfolk Preservation Collective to come up with green street design recommendations in order to strengthen …

The Aesthetic Effect Of Photovoltaic Cells On The Building Facades, Khloud Khalid Eldamshiry

Architectural Engineering

Technological advancement in building incorporated photovoltaic (BIPV) has transformed the façade of the building into a generator powered by renewable energy sources. The BIPV facades are designed to provide energy production alongside traditional design goals such as aesthetics art and environmental control. However, the problem is that architectural design goals sometimes conflict with energy performance such as visibility and daylight versus maximum power output. In this context, the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy seems to be worthwhile as they are numerous and have enormous environmental and economic prospects. This study aims to provide a new entrance …

Agents At Work: Modeling How Space Can Influence People In The Workplace, Jovan Poposki

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

People interact with space in ways that are important to consider when designing an office. Not considering this relationship has led to the dissatisfaction of employees post-occupancy. In this thesis, I present an agent-based model that incorporates several characteristics of agents, such as work ethic and sociability, and explores their behaviours and social interactions in the workplace. The model is first tested on a commercial workspace, varying agent parameters to see how they change the behaviour of the model. I find that agents with extreme personalities are happiest, and show a bimodality in the distribution of time spent in various …