Branka Dimitrijevic

Planning for resilience

We live in a rapidly changing world characterised by increasing unpredictability and its associated risks. Many forces combine to add complexity to our once ordinary twentieth century pathways. Extremes of weather, climate change, costs of food, raw materials and energy and a destabilised global economy pile unprecedented pressures onto our lives. A plethora of factors affect the ways in which plan, design and build buildings and cities in a multiply-changing climate. Scotland is leading in many aspects of climate change research and this chapter on Planning for Climate Change is very timely, reflecting rapid changes in the field, in pace with the changing climate and the knock-on socio-economic impacts. Never since the emergence of the UK Planning Profession has there been a time when so much change has been imposed on the profession. The lessons contained in this chapter are key to the evolution of Planning here and around the world. The chapter starts with a brief overview of the background science of climate change and touch on the impacts of a warming world and more extreme weather on the following topics:

Innovations for Sustainable Building Design and Refurbishment in Scotland

About CIC Start Online.- Context and Policies.- Planning.- Building design.- Technologies.- Construction.- Refurbishment.- Performance.- Conclusions.

Is radical innovation in architecture crucial to sustainability? Lessons from three Scottish contemporary buildings

ABSTRACT Radical innovation is largely recognised as a medium for advancement, a source of growth for economies and a trigger for progress in different economic sectors. Often, this type of innovation is identified with technological advancements, disruptive phenomena and the creation of new systems and dynamics. Yet, within the context of a changing world, in which principles of economic, environmental and social sustainability are largely adopted as common objectives, a reflection on the type of progress and the need for radical innovation is necessary with the aim of informing on their impacts and effectiveness. This work presents an analysis of a number of contemporary Scottish architectural designs, developed under the aegis of sustainability principles, and explores the types of sustainable innovations introduced and the results achieved by analysing the type of design change that triggered specific sustainable results, demonstrating alternative innovation strategies, other than the radical one. This analysis provides a basis for discussion on the need for radical innovation in the context of sustainable architecture and explores the role of other types of innovation against the results achieved. This discussion could contribute to a better understanding of the current state of practice in architectural design, as well as in policy-making in regard to the design and management of the future built environment.

Sustainable reuse of modern movement heritage buildings: problems and solutions in Scotland and Italy

Many buildings which were built in the 20th century, and due to their exceptional architectural value included in the lists of built heritage, are sometimes standing vacant for different reasons. This paper investigates the problems that need to be resolved to enable a sustainable reuse of various types of modern heritage buildings. The investigation is undertaken through case studies of some modern heritage buildings in Scotland and Italy in order to identify common problems and regional differences in enabling the reuse of those buildings. In addition, some examples of the reuse of modern built heritage are presented to highlight what has contributed to the reuse, and whether and how that meets the current environmental requirements, and the local social and economic needs. The research indicates how public and private organisations have contributed to the successful reuse of modern built heritage and what problems they encounter in the efforts to provide new uses for the remaining vacant buildings. The investigation examines how economic, social, environmental, functional, structural and design aspects impact on defining new uses for modern heritage buildings. The analysis of the above requirements through the selected case studies leads to the recommendations on the key issues, strategies and tactics that should be considered to enable an appropriate and timely reuse of the 20th century built heritage.

Towards the integration of sustainable infrastructure into the existing built environment

The construction sector in the United Kingdom is dominated by small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) which have less than 250 employees and usually do not have research capacities to develop a range of low carbon innovations applicable in the construction sector. Various European and national funding programmes have addressed this problem by providing funding for research collaboration between universities and SMEs. The paper provides a selection of the outputs of academic/industry research, undertaken by seven Scottish universities through the project CIC Start Online from September 2009 until February 2013, related to low carbon planning, building design, technologies, construction, refurbishment and performance. The studies either contributed to the further development of existing products or processes, or tested new products or processes, often developed for a specific project with a potential for application in future projects. Online dissemination of the project outcomes has assisted in attracting membership across Scotland, the United Kingdom and internationally. Along with the low carbon building products and technologies, new low carbon infrastructure is being planned and developed in order to provide connections and services for energy generation from renewables, energy storage and decentralised distribution, water management (harvesting, saving and reuse), waste management (reduction, reuse and to-energy), transport (electric vehicles, cycling and walking) and information communication technology (ICT) for monitoring and managing infrastructure systems. The second part of the paper outlines how innovations for integration of sustainable infrastructure into the existing built environment will be supported through the follow-on joint project of nine Scottish universities, named Mainstreaming Innovation.