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1. Analytical framework of the factors affecting sustainability that were embraced in this research project.
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It is widely assumed that the “dense vertical city” is more sustainable than the “dispersed horizontal city.” This concept has certainly been a large factor in the unprecedented increase in the construction of tall buildings globally over the last few decades, especially in the developing world. The concentration of people in denser cities — sharin...
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... The relatively modest portion of embodied CO 2 e emissions assigned to the landscape and infrastructure category (22%, including 12% from car parking facilities) is consistent with existing research findings. Previous urban LCA and material flow analysis studies demonstrate the inherent correlation between infrastructure stock and urban density (Du & Wood 2017;Nichols & Kockelman 2014;Norman et al. 2006). More dispersed urban settings tend to see an increased share of materials and climate impacts linked to infrastructure and landscape. ...
... Drawing on existing research, a broader approach could include operational energy or compare embodied impacts across different urban contexts (e.g. Du & Wood 2017;Norman et al. 2006) or development scenarios within the same area (e.g. Cerezo Davila & Reinhart 2013;Riera Pérez & Rey 2013;Trigaux et al. 2014). ...
The urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the increasing share of embodied carbon in life-cycle impacts underscore the necessity of mitigating construction and demolition impacts to align with the Paris Agreement. Urban planning significantly influences material flows, with a substantial portion of construction occurring in planned urban development areas (UDAs), such as 76% in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, research on UDAs is limited, with most life-cycle assessments (LCAs) focusing on individual buildings. This study examines the embodied CO2e emissions from buildings and infrastructure in a newly developed UDA, using an archetype-based LCA approach that combines both on-site and average data, which can serve as a stepping stone for a more comprehensive analysis. The study shows that most emissions in the studied UDA occur upfront and are attributed to new building construction. The studied UDA featured several refurbished buildings, repurposed into housing and offices, but their reuse only made a small difference when considering embodied emissions for the entire UDA. Other UDAs may exhibit a different emission profile. Lastly, the study compares neighbourhood and city-scale impacts to absolute environmental boundaries, highlighting the significant climate impacts of urban planning, particularly in UDAs. Policy relevance Urban planning has a significant influence on climate impacts. The substantial amounts of embodied CO2e attributed to planned UDAs, particularly emissions occurring upfront and relative to absolute environmental boundaries, suggest the need to rethink current urban planning frameworks to better align with absolute environmental boundaries and the goals of the Paris Agreement. The results offer insights for developing contextual mitigation measures; the large share of CO2e emitted by new buildings underscores the potential of low-carbon technologies and materials and the broader impact of regulatory targets. Moreover, the limited relative impact of reuse in the studied UDA suggests the need for planning models that prioritise existing building inventories over new construction. Ultimately, the findings may also suggest the need to reconsider the overall scale of permissible building rights altogether.
Dedicated to our speaker, Prof. Werner Sobek, in honour of his 65th birthday
In 2017, the University of Stuttgart started a Collaborative Research Centre with the title Adaptive Skins and Structures for the Built Environment of Tomorrow. The goal of this research project is to find an answer to today's most urgent social and ecological questions as the global population continuously increases and the available resources remain limited. As the central approach to the solution of this problem, adaptive elements will be included in the structure, the interior and the façade of an experimental 37 m tall building. This paper introduces the topic of adaptivity in building structures and provides an overview of the research topics applied in this globally unique adaptive high‐rise building. Due to the complexity of research topics of this Collaborative Research Centre, this paper only covers the research concerning the experimental high‐rise building.
