Editorial

Citation

Yang, J. (2015), "Editorial", Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Vol. 4 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-11-2015-0039

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Volume 4, Issue 3.

Urbanisation is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It creates problems as well as opportunities – opportunities for economic development and poverty alleviation, and problems of pollution, waste and traffic congestion. Recently I travelled to the most populated cities in China and had firsthand appreciation of these issues. The new-found wealth and high-speed trains are impressive. But the smog enveloping the cities left me with a sense of despair. Urbanisation and industrialisation created prosperity in the developed countries. How the rest of the world can take on the lessons learned, avoid their pain and identify shortcuts will be highly desirable for world leaders and researchers alike.

Among the various aspects of developing a smart and sustainable built environment, infrastructure and urban renewal gave me plenty of food for thought during my travels. After more than 20 years of non-stop development, new builds are slowing down in China. Where buildings and infrastructure facilities should last much longer, many have already shown “early signs of aging”, even only after 10 or 15 years of use. Regardless of the causes, which may be linked to materials, craftsmanship and facility management, the focus will now shift to operations, maintenance, upgrades, renewal and rebuilds during the next phase of development. However, this is not a problem unique to China or developing countries. It presents a timely and important research topic for us all. To this end, Smart and Sustainable Built Environment provides a perfect platform, as we aim to identify and promote research and the practice of integrated development, such as the integration between buildings and infrastructure facilities, and the integration between design, construction and regeneration.

Our last issue was a special issue on Urban renewal for metropolitan cities. To keep the momentum, this issue continues the probe into how older buildings need to adapt to new requirements. The paper by Adan and Fuerst identifies why energy efficiency is a priority concern in the retrofitting of existing residential building stock and what needs to be contemplated during investment decision making. Acre and Wyckmans then remind us of the need to consider non-technical dimensions, such as spatial quality. Through a case study, they explore how renovation of dwellings for energy efficiency influences spatial quality.

In a viewpoint, Birkeland argues that geographical considerations on urban forms dominate current proposals for changing the city-nature relationships. Designers need to have improved understanding and skill sets to better appreciate design issues and opportunities. Two other papers deal with air pollutant issues but from different angles. Rasdorf et al. characterise the relationships between air pollutant from emissions and project goals, such as scope, schedule and budget. From a highway construction perspective, they normalise total emissions based on project size, duration and cost, to develop novel, emissions estimating metrics. McGill et al. respond to the current concerns over deterioration of indoor environmental quality as we seek building energy efficiency. Through case studies, they provide relevant data on the applicability of air-tight, mechanically ventilated homes, with particular reference to indoor air quality improvement.