Technological Imagination in the Green and Digital Transition


Book Description

This open access book addresses the pressing need for sustainability in urban development and the use of technology, with cities to serve as the main stage for strategies that seek to meet the targets and the cross-sector priorities indicated in the EU’s Next Generation program, all in pursuit of a solid recovery on the part of the European economy, along lines of ecological transition, digitalization, competitiveness, training, and inclusion to overcome social, territorial, and gender differences. The international study encounter is meant to promote visions shared by architectural technology and other disciplines, which, though they may appear to differ, are closely interconnected, with the aim of achieving an open, interdisciplinary integration capable of proposing concrete projects regarding topics held to be of strategic importance to the future of the built environment. These are identified to draw up evolving scenarios of architecture and cities suited to reflection, at various levels, on innovative models of process and product.




ETHICS: Endorse Technologies for Heritage Innovation


Book Description

This book outlines, within the Italian national framework, the current and potential paths oriented towards a new concept of Architectural Heritage, through actions referring to Innovation and Experimentation and Protection and Transformation of the Architectural Heritage. The development of the themes is articulated in two sessions dealing with the aspects related to the analysis and mapping of Architectural Heritage to face the context of the current Climate Crisis and the development of projects and experimentations oriented to the Green and Digital Transition. The evolution of the concept of Heritage, as conceived by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and in the Green Deal and New European Bauhaus, aimed at constructing an inclusive and universally recognised definition to support supranational objectives of sustainable human development, gives rise to innovative strategies, methodologies and technologies that—in a direction of mitigation, contrast and adaptation to climate change—allow for the safeguard, renewed management and a hope for valorisation of Heritage on a national scale. In this direction, the understanding of Architectural Heritage as a 'non-renewable resource' determines the need to activate design experimentation laboratories oriented towards regeneration, articulated and complex, which require, in order to respond to the challenges posed by our era, a sensitive and dialogic multidisciplinary vision of a holistic type. In fact, on the one hand, it is necessary to redefine the usability and management methods of built heritage through the adoption of digital, mobility, energy, ecological, social, green and blue infrastructures; on the other hand, it is necessary to introduce new qualitative and quantitative parameters and performance indicators, adequate to verify the validity of the implemented strategies in a perspective of adaptation to climate change, able to clarify contents, processes and tools to contrast future risks. The pursuit of these objectives refers to the innovation of training paths, professionalising procedures, administrative regulations, and public policies that involve citizens and the private partnership towards a different project qualification and empowerment of stakeholders, inhabitants, professionals, and clients. The Technological Project makes it possible to activate different interventions aimed at acting, in an integrated manner, on assets, context and communities, according to an approach that reinterprets them on a common score, as proposed by the European Next Generation programme in three priority aspects: digitalisation and innovation, environmental transition, increased resilience and social sustainability of national economies. In this scenario, the interventions aimed at outlining sustainable development actions will have to place these concepts at the centre in a harmonious vision that starts from the recognition and enhancement of the Architectural Heritage, recognising it as a fundamental asset of the territories.




Green Approaches in Building Design and Management Practices


Book Description

This book examines green transition and circular economy in the fields of building design and Real Estate management. By outlining windows for seizing the opportunity to integrate circular approaches in current building practices, the book provides information tools to support building stakeholders (e.g. building designer and managers, manufacturers, Real Estate owners, maintenance operators, facility managers, etc.) in: (i) understanding circular re-strategies (e.g. reuse, remanufacturing, repurposing, etc.), the related requirements and the pre-conditions for their implementation within building design and management practices; (ii) reviewing design approaches at the product and building scale, also highlighting new circularity-related contents for the Briefing Documents; (iii) developing circular organizational and contract models for the procurement of Facility Management services, also integrating new circularity-related contents in Invitations to Tenders (ITTs); and (iv) assessing the quality and the effectiveness of circular practices, also highlighting circularity performance metrics and indicators in the context of corporate sustainability reporting.
















Enabling the Digital Green Transition: A Study of Potentials, Challenges and Strengths in the Nordic-Baltic Region


Book Description

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2021-044/ This study performed by the think tank Mandag Morgen and funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers examines the digital green transition in the Nordic-Baltic region. The study consists of three main parts. The first part maps the current policy initiatives relating to the digital green transition in the countries. The second part analyses positions of strength within the Nordic-Baltic region in relation to the EU and the world. The third part presents 10 recommendations for policy initiatives to accelerate the digital green transition in the Nordic-Baltic countries.




Smart Learning Ecosystems as Engines of the Green and Digital Transition


Book Description

The book brings together the contributions of the 8th International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Development aimed at promoting reflection and discussion on the relevance of smart learning ecosystems for regional development and social innovation (e.g., schools, campuses, working places, informal learning contexts) and on how the effectiveness of the relation of citizens and smart ecosystems can be boosted. This forum is interested in understanding how technology-mediated instruments can foster the citizen’s engagement with learning ecosystems and territories, namely by understanding innovative human-centric design and development models/techniques, education/training practices, informal social learning, innovative citizen-driven policies, technology-mediated experiences, and their impact. This set of concerns contributes to fostering the social innovation sectors and ICT, economic development, and deployment strategies alongside new policies for smarter proactive citizens.




Powering the Dream


Book Description

Few today realize that electric cabs dominated Manhattan's streets in the 1890s; that Boise, Idaho, had a geothermal heating system in 1910; or that the first megawatt turbine in the world was built in 1941 by the son of publishing magnate G. P. Putnam -- a feat that would not be duplicated for another forty years. Likewise, while many remember the oil embargo of the 1970s, few are aware that it led to a corresponding explosion in green-technology research that was only derailed when energy prices later dropped. In other words: We've been here before. Although we may have failed, America has had the chance to put our world on a more sustainable path. Americans have, in fact, been inventing green for more than a century. Half compendium of lost opportunities, half hopeful look toward the future, Powering the Dream tells the stories of the brilliant, often irascible inventors who foresaw our current problems, tried to invent cheap and energy renewable solutions, and drew the blueprint for a green future.