People across the world are becoming more aware of the need for the buildings and cities they live and work in to be sustainable, but the issue of how to be sustainable can seem a confusing and complex one. These rules of thumb provide universal guidelines for the sustainable design of both buildings and the urban realm. It’s a global primer and textbook for anyone interested in understanding sustainability in the built environment, an ideal starting point for students as well as an aide memoir for more experienced readers and practitioners interested in this field.

Buildings and construction are a major contributor to the climate and biodiversity emergency. They account for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It is more important than ever for architects to design responsibly and create low-carbon, low-energy buildings for a sustainable future. 101 Rules of Thumb sets out the essential elements of low-energy architecture in a fresh, intuitive way. Where ever-changing technology and complex legislation can cloud the designer’s thought-process, this book equips you with the fundamentals you need to minimise CO2 emissions, design for low-energy use and work with, not against, the forces of nature. With reliable, simple rules of thumb, each page focuses on a single piece of guidance along with a clear hand-drawn illustration. The emphasis is on passive low-energy principles, and the rules of thumb cover all the design fundamentals from site and location to orientation and form, peppered with ideas to help the designer think outside the box, drawing inspiration from traditional methods, photoperiodic plants, and the black-tailed prairie dog. An extended, fully updated narrative bibliography explores the sources in detail and provides a valuable springboard for further study. Applicable throughout the world in any climate region, 101 Rules of Thumb is a global primer to be dipped into at any time as a quick means of re-focusing on what’s important when designing a new or retrofitted low-energy building. The rules cover: Site and location Orientation and form The low-energy building envelope Carbon free heating, cooling and lighting Passive low-energy principles.

101 Rules of Thumb sets out the essential elements of low energy architecture in a fresh, intuitive way. In an area where ever-changing technology and complex legislation and can cloud the designer’s thought-processes, this book encourages the designer to think clearly and intuitively about the fundamentals of low energy buildings. With reliable, simple rules of thumb that will provide new ideas and refresh the designer’s palette, each page focuses on a single piece of advice or guidance along with a clear hand-drawn illustration, while there are also plenty of tips and more detailed information for those who wish to dig deeper. The emphasis is on passive low-energy principles, and the rules of thumb cover all the design fundamentals from site and location to orientation and form, peppered with some which will help the designer to think ‘outside the box’ about the design process itself.

We are in a climate emergency. Architects must be part of the radical change needed. This book guides architecture student to create truly sustainable designs. Demonstrating holistic design approaches through 10 key themes, it guides students through the different stages of the design process in five illustrated chapters. Reflecting the years of study, it provides step-changes towards eventual architecture practice. Unique features include key checklists, case studies, student examples and an extensive glossary.

This thoroughly revised and updated fourth edition of The Sustainable Urban Development Reader combines classic and contemporary readings to provide a broad introduction to the topic that is accessible to general and undergraduate audiences. The Reader begins by tracing the roots of the sustainable development concept in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through classic readings. It then explores dimensions of urban sustainability, including land use and urban design, transportation, ecological planning and restoration, energy and materials use, economic development, social and environmental justice, and green architecture and building. Additional sections cover tools for sustainable development, sustainable development internationally, visions of sustainable community, and case studies from around the world. The Sustainable Urban Development Reader remains unique in presenting a broad array of sustainable city readings, each with a concise introduction placing it within the context of this evolving discourse. Presenting an authoritative overview of the field using original sources in a highly readable format, this book is a valuable resource for general readers as well as students and researchers in urban studies, environmental studies, the social sciences, and related fields.

The promotion of sustainable urban development and livable cities in the past three decades has effectively merged the themes of urban health, urban sustainability, and urban livability into an integrated research field. As more people are predicted to live in a relatively confined space, the balance between the physical/built environment, social environment, and urban dwellers becomes more delicate. Urban systems have evolved to be more complex than ever during this process. While complex systems often offer relative stability, delicate balance requires carefully designed plans and management to avoid collapse. It is, hence, of great interest and importance to know what future sustainable and livable cities look like. Intersecting Health, Livability, and Human Behavior in Urban Environments considers how to improve the quality of the environment and healthy living in contemporary and future urban environments. Covering key topics such as environmental health, smart cities, and urban health, this premier reference source is ideal for policymakers, government officials, scholars, researchers, academicians, instructors, and students.

The book provides new perspectives from leading researchers accentuating and examining the central role of the built environment in conceiving and implementing multifaceted solutions for the complex challenges of creating resilient communities, revealing critical potentials for architecture and design to contribute in more informed and long-term ways to the urgent transition of our society. The volume offers a compilation of peer-reviewed papers that uniquely connects knowledge and criticality broadly across practice and academia; from new technologies, theories and methods to community engaged practice on many scales, and more. The book is part of a series of six volumes that explore the agency of the built environment in relation to the SDGs through new research conducted by leading researchers. The series is led by editors Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen and Martin Tamke in collaboration with the theme editors: - Design for Climate Adaptation: Billie Faircloth and Maibritt Pedersen Zari - Design for Rethinking Resources: Carlo Ratti and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen (Eds.) - Design for Resilient Communities: Anna Rubbo and Juan Du (Eds.) - Design for Health: Arif Hasan and Christian Benimana (Eds.) - Design for Inclusivity: Magda Mostafa and Ruth Baumeister (Eds.) - Design for Partnerships for Change: Sandi Hilal and Merve Bedir (Eds.)

This book explores how the concept of ‘region’ has evolved over time and shaped architectural culture and practice. It questions what the words ‘region’ and ‘regional’ mean for architecture, cities and landscapes past and present, and speculates on the forms they might take in the future. Region is explored in many thematic guises: as a real geographical site of evolving socio-economic activity; as a mythical locus of enduring value; as a gatekeeper of indigenous crafts and vernacular techniques; as a site of architectural and artistic imagination; as a repository of contested, conflicted and mobile identities. The contributing chapters take these themes from the theoretical and literary page through to architectural and urban practice, and from the scale of the domestic hearth through to the ocean archipelago and international law, enriching the long-standing trope of viewing architectural regionalism purely as a matter of style. Curated into four key thematic areas – Theorised Regions, Contested Regions, Heritage Regions and Future Regions – the book incorporates the values, concerns and approaches of a truly diverse international community of scholars, curators and practitioners, as well as the design work of international students tasked to explore what region means to them.

The Whole Building Handbook is a compendium of all the issues and strategies that architects need to understand to design and construct sustainable buildings for a sustainable society. The authors move beyond the current definition of sustainability in architecture, which tends to focus on energy-efficiency, to include guidance for architecture that promotes social cohesion, personal health, renewable energy sources, water and waste recycling systems, permaculture, energy conservation - and crucially, buildings in relation to their place. The authors offer a holistic approach to sustainable architecture and authoritative technical advice, on: * How to design and construct healthy buildings, through choosing suitable materials, healthy service systems, and designing a healthy and comfortable indoor climate, including solutions for avoiding problems with moisture, radon and noise as well as how to facilitate cleaning and maintenance. * How to design and construct buildings that use resources efficiently, where heating and cooling needs and electricity use is minimized and water-saving technologies and garbage recycling technologies are used. * How to 'close' organic waste, sewage, heat and energy cycles. For example, how to design a sewage system that recycles nutrients. * Includes a section on adaptation of buildings to local conditions, looking at how a site must be studied with respect to nature, climate and community structure as well as human activities. The result is a comprehensive, thoroughly illustrated and carefully structured textbook and reference.

The second edition of Sustainable Construction provides a masterclass on the principles and techniques involved in the design and delivery of practical, affordable, high quality sustainable buildings and places. It presents precedents, theory, concepts and principles alongside 120 wide ranging case studies that highlight current best practice and encourage implementation. Topics in the book include: • the history of ideas in sustainable construction • policy • materials • cost issues • appraisal techniques • environmental design • energy • water • construction processes • and urban ecology. The book is heavily illustrated in full colour and is an ideal, contemporary, accessible primer to courses in Architecture, Construction, Building Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Project Management, Landscape, Urbanism and Development.