The realisation of an urban design involves many players, such as designers, critics, politicians, journalists, public relations specialists and residents. In order to consult with each other they make use of drawings, but also frequently of words, to be able to interpret the drawn objects in the plans. But are these urbanistic notions used by everyone in the same way? And have there been noticeable changes in their usage or meaning over time? This urbanistic and linguistic doctoral research ...

The ne-xt facades conference is the official International Mid-term Conference of the European COST Action TU1403 ‘Adaptive Facades Network’, an international scientific cooperation with the aim to harmonise, share and disseminate technological knowledge on adaptive facades on the European level. During the mid-term conference first results are presented to stakeholders from industry and design and to the public. The goal is to share knowledge and discuss novel facade concepts, effective ...

While the consideration of functional and technical criteria, as well as a sense of coherence are basic requirements for solving a design problem; it is the ability to induce an intended quality of aesthetic experience that is the hallmark of design expertise. Expert designers possess a highly developed sense of design, or what in this research is called aesthesis. Reflection on 25 years teaching design in the USA, Hungary, and China led to the observation that most successful design students...

The aim of this issue of A+BE is to create a deeper understanding of the current rise of co-housing in Europe, and what it could mean in urban policies addressing energy transition and climate change. Studying co-housing is timely because the residents' associations become 'prosumers'; uniting the supply (production) and demand (consumption) of energy, housing and services in their projects. As such, they are increasingly seen as partners in the co-creation and maintenance of urban space.

The...

Het doel van het Haagse Hitte-project is het beter begrijpen van stedelijke warmte in Den Haag om vandaaruit een verband te leggen met de kenmerken van de fysieke ruimte van de stad en de gezondheid van de Haagse bevolking, met als resultaat aanbevelingen voor acties. Die inzichten moeten de stad Den Haag en haar inwoners bewuster én weerbaarder maken ten aanzien van het Haagse warmte-eiland effect, hier ook wel Haagse hitte genoemd.

The traditional thematic realms of urban design, such as liveability, social interaction, and quality of urban life, considered to be closely related to urban form and specifically to public space, have long since been recognised as important, and have given the discipline a certain identity. The book Realms of Urban Design: Mapping Sustainability is certainly rooted in this fundamental urban design thinking, but its main contribution belongs to the second part of the book’s title – disco...

The purpose of this book is to present ongoing research from the universities involved in the project Creating the Network of Knowledge Labs for Sustainable and Resilient Environments (KLABS). The papers published in this book show that the recent and current research in those institutions focuses on the directions of development of IUP, the processes that support sustainable use of natural resources and their application in the Western Balkan and some other European countries. Each essay aim...

The Parana River is the third largest river in the American continent, after the Mississippi and the Amazon. Instead of flowing directly to the sea, it flows to the Rio de la Plata (located between Argentina and Uruguay) through a complex delta system.

Although this delta can be considered an extreme and particular case, many of the conflicts that can be found in this area replicate in other deltas around the world. Urbanizing deltas are subjected to pressures related to urban growth and clim...

Adaptive façades are designed to actively regulate the exchange of material and energy flows and thus improve the balance between comfort and energy consumption. However, their technical complexity leads to higher development efforts, maintenance and costs, and ultimately fewer implementations.

Embedded adaptive functions could be an opportunity to reduce these drawbacks. If embedded adaptivity is to work within a design, the particularities of geometry and material arrangements must be co...

There are several dimensions of occupant behavior and energy consumption of dwellings: dwelling characteristics including the energy and indoor comfort management systems, building envelope, lighting and appliances; occupant characteristics including the social, educational and economical; and actual behavior, including the control of heating, ventilation and lighting of spaces, and appliance use, hot water use, washing, bathing, and cleaning. Attempting to understand this complexity asks for...