ABSTRACT On-site sorting of construction waste has been perceived as an effective measure for promoting sustainable construction. Previous studies have identified factors influencing the implementation of such construction waste sorting activities on-site. Most of them, however, focused on examining the factors from a single standpoint, disregarding the interrelationships between them. This paper seeks to investigate influential factors in implementing on-site construction waste sorting activities, with particular emphasis on their interactive relationships. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with ten experienced professionals. The intricate interactive relationships among these factors were described and analyzed through the application of an Interpretive Structural Modeling approach and a Matriced’ Impacts Croises-Multipication Applique a Classement analysis. This yielded 13 principal factors that could be sorted into four categories: autonomous, dependent, linkage and driving—with six being considered as fundamental for successful on-site construction waste sorting; i.e., difficulty in sorting materials from mixed construction waste, limited space & environment at the site, low benefits from this activity, interference causing regular disruptions to site activities, immature recycled material market, and lack of government regulation support. In contrast to prior studies, the lack of manpower is no longer seen as being as critical an issue as before. Factors such as the difficulty in sorting materials from mixed construction waste, the limited benefit from on-site construction waste sorting, and the lack of government regulation support have become more critical. This study not only helps to identify the critical elements that affect on-site sorting of construction waste and their relationships, but also assists policymakers and practitioners in understanding the priority of measures needed to increase on-site sorting of construction waste.

ABSTRACT Numerous environmental issues have been addressed as a consequence of rapidly increasing global energy consumption. Building energy consumption has risen considerably in the last few decades. In recent years, the zero energy building (ZEB) concept has attained worldwide attention and is now commonly identified as the future criteria for building design. However, there is a lack of uniform definition in this field. This study combines bibliometric and visual analysis of Scopus database publications from 1977 to 2022 to investigate ZEB-related studies. Five topical clusters formed as a result of evaluating the co-occurrence network of the keywords. Finally, the most popular research trends were determined by investigating the overlay network. The scientific knowledge concerning zero energy buildings has been mapped by employing the results of this paper. In addition, they have been utilized to highlight future opportunities and gaps and illustrate the connections between various subject areas.

ABSTRACT This work tackles the development of green biocomposite insulating panels out of fungi mycelia and to replace petroleum-based foam-expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels. These biological prototypes have advantages over expanded polystyrene foam panels, since they do not pollute, they are not flammable, and they are 100% biodegradable. They have been developed growing Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) and Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) mycelia on different agricultural substrates inside different types of moulds (up to 21 × 30 cm). As a result, the most suitable combinations of fungi species and agricultural substrates have been determined to grow biological insulating panels. Prototypes obtained were subjected to accelerated ageing tests to evaluate their resistance and changes in durability against water filtration and humidity changes in the event that they are used as insulating panels. Some technological properties have also been determined to evaluate their use as construction materials. The results obtained allow us to claim that biodegradable fungi-based insulating panels are viable to replace polluting foam-based insulating panels for the construction industry.

ABSTRACT Traditional rural houses are characterized by high energy consumption, low energy efficiency, waste of energy resources, and high carbon emissions, which are detrimental to China's energy consumption as well as to the environment. It is therefore important to promote green rural housing construction. However, rural villagers' low level of participation has led to a dearth of successfully implemented green rural housing projects, a situation that a lack of relevant research has no doubt contributed to. This paper therefore studies the factors influencing villagers' participation in green rural housing projects based on Bourdieu's theory of practice. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in Yancheng, China, and descriptive analysis, analysis of variance and multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis were performed to understand the participation behavior of villagers and influencing factors of villagers' participation in green rural housing construction. Results indicate that participation of the surveyed villagers is generally not high, and most villagers participated superficially. No differences were detected in villagers' total participation in terms of gender, leisure time, housing type, government propaganda, government management, and government role orientation. Moreover, social network, social economy, construction cost, interest appeals, attention to current affairs, awareness of green environmental protection and total family population are found to affect villagers' total participation. The findings will help the government devise measures to encourage villagers to actively participate in the construction of green rural housing, and thereby realize the goal of low carbon sustainable development of rural communities.

ABSTRACT In daylighting performance simulations of façade systems, a trade-off is often required between processing speed and prediction accuracy. This is particularly relevant at design onset, where plausible simulation outcomes are essential to drive decisions between several alternative façade configurations. To help address this trade-off, this paper presents a sensitivity analysis evaluating the influence of key input parameter settings, namely ambient bounces and grid size, on the convergence of performance outcomes and on simulation run times. The results provide statistical evidence that, although lower precision settings mostly accelerate calculations, they decrease the accuracy of prediction estimates, particularly for complex façades. Conversely, the relative increased accuracy resulting from higher precision simulations might reach a point where differences have a negligible practical impact. The paper concludes with a range of recommendations to support the early-stage selection of parameter settings and contributes to more robust simulation outcomes towards reducing the gap between simulated and measured data.

ABSTRACT 3D printing technology is currently one of the fast-emerging technologies in the infrastructure construction field. Ancient Sub-Saharan African building construction made extensive use of a wide range of earthen materials and vernacular structures. The main goal of the research discussed in this paper is to learn from historical building construction in Africa and adapt the methodology, material use, and geometry or form to 3D print sustainable and green residential houses in tropical and arid regions. The study addresses the current 3D printing technology for construction of houses using Sub-Saharan African historical sustainable and green materials such as cob, bamboo, and hemp-material based structures. Earthen materials are cost-effective, naturally insulated, and environmentally friendly, which makes them stand out from other sustainable construction materials. Two main geometry models are designed in this study for a 3D printing construction method based on the Sub-Saharan African historical housing forms. Moreover, the study contributes to achieving a green building that satisfies the UN sustainable development goals.

ABSTRACT Complex stimuli in urban environments often lead to cognitive fatigue in residents. As a result, there is a growing demand from residents for restorative environments. Previous research has shown that the pure natural environment in the wild can help people achieve cognitive restoration. However, little attention has been paid to cognitive restoration through exposure to green infrastructure. Based on Attention Restoration Theory (ART), this study conducted an eye-tracking experiment in a controlled laboratory environment to investigate the effects of two view types, green infrastructure and urban, on individuals’ cognitive restoration. The results show that green infrastructure has a positive effect on the cognitive functioning of the participants in the experiment. The positive effect of green infrastructure on cognitive restoration is reflected in the restoration of directed attention. Less cognitive effort is an important factor contributing to cognitive restoration. Nature-relatedness plays a vital role in the eye movement behaviour of individuals when viewing landscape pictures and in the restorative benefits of cognition.

ABSTRACT Through a pedagogical study on the culture-oriented residential design over the past several years, a course of mountain residential design based on the Chinese mountain-dwelling spirit is developed for those students in their senior year of an undergraduate architectural design program. In this program, three design steps, i.e. overall planning, unit organization and house type design are integrated with three aspects of the mountain-dwelling spirit, i.e. “hugeness and tininess,” “precedence and subsequence” and “external and internal.” Meanwhile, different levels of two methods, i.e. topography and schema were taken into consideration. This stimulates students’ critical thinking of the tradition spirits, combines the prototype of tradition with sustainable design, and keeps balance between theory and practice. Finally, three design cases from the course are introduced to enlighten the reinterpretation of Chinese mountain-dwelling spirit.

ABSTRACT Green building is a promising solution for reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings. Government involvement is the driver to overcoming obstacles and the rapid development of green buildings. However, reviews are unavailable on green building-related strategies and policies adopted by the government at a national level. To fill this gap, this paper first gives an up-to-date summary of the overall development status of green building projects in Singapore, which is considered an active pioneer for the green building industry. Then, the policy instruments adopted by the government were reviewed systematically. The results reveal that the Singapore government launched a wide variety of green building policies in different stages of green building development. Furthermore, developing a scientific and reliable rating tool is a fundamental strategy for green building. At present, inadequate green building-related regulatory systems are still the main obstacles to the implementation of green building in many nations. In this regard, this paper will provide a valuable reference for policymakers to develop effective and efficient strategies for promoting green building.

ABSTRACT With its numerous benefits, the concept of green walls can be used as one of the solutions to address global warming and climatic changes while improving the natural vegetation in dense urban areas. However, perception about the initial and maintenance cost of green walls along with lack of awareness about operational cost savings seems to influence the slow uptake of green wall applications. In that context, this research aimed to assess the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of green walls in comparison to a conventional wall towards exploring the operational cost benefits which are the most convincing decision criteria for clients/investors. The study involved a case study analysis of an indirect green façade and a comparative conventional wall. The data required to perform the LCC analysis were collected through documentary reviews and on-site temperature measurements. The analysis shows that the initial cost of a green wall is 15% higher than a comparable conventional wall. However, operational and maintenance costs of green walls result in 64% and 25% savings due to potential energy cost-saving, and minimum external redecoration time interval, respectively. This results in an overall LCC saving of 45% over conventional walls with a reasonably expected lifetime of fifty years. As a departing point of previous studies, this study provides empirical evidence on the LCC of green walls in comparison to a conventional wall in a residential facility, from a tropical climate perspective.