The concept of sustainable development introduced issues of urban growth and climate change to the domains of geography, urban planning and architecture, becoming major components in research, teaching and practice. The IPCC reports have heightened awareness on climate change and put pressure on the need for action to bring about real-world changes to the built environment. Climatologists note that global urbanisation has greatly influenced the spatial distribution and intensity of carbon emissions and is having a negative impact on climate change. However, they emphasise that well-planned cities with densely populated centres produce numerous benefits if good access to infrastructure and services is guaranteed (energy efficiency and air quality in particular). In this context, Transit Oriented Development becomes a key concept for sustainable urbanization, and Geodesign gains stage as a method to support design decisions in such projects, across domains.

Depuis l’avenement de l’expression ≪developpement durable≫, les enjeux de la croissance urbaine et du changement climatique sont devenus des elements majeurs de la recherche et de l’enseignement dans toutes les ecoles de geographie, d’urbanisme et d’architecture du monde. Les rapports du Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’evolution du climat (GIEC) renforcent la prise de conscience de l’urgence a agir et mettent la pression sur l’importance de la recherche-action pour modifier concretement le cadre urbain. Les climatologues notent que l’urbanisation planetaire a grandement influence la distribution spatiale et l’intensite des emissions de carbone, et qu’elle affecte negativement le changement climatique. Pour autant, ils soulignent que des metropoles bien planifiees, avec des centres densement peuples, produisent des benefices nombreux si une bonne accessibilite aux infrastructures et services est garantie (economies d’energie, qualite de l’air, notamment). […]

With the growing demand for sustainable accountability, the European Directive 2014/24/EU (EU 2014) pushes architects to deliver Building Information Models (BIM) as a part of procurement processes for public buildings. In the Netherlands, BIM model data is relevant to the building permitting process, which involves an environmental performance calculation (MPG). This assessment takes into consideration the embodied carbon of materials in a building. Although this analysis is performed by a qualified expert in late design phases, architects benefit from integrating carbon data in early design decision-making. Design methods supported by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) values are needed before involving expert collaborators, and not only when applying for a building permit. The existing carbon assessment tools require detailed data from BIM models, which are often not available at early design phases. Simplified tools have been discussed in theory, and explored in their potential applications, however, there lacks scientific literature discussing the hurdles designers face in their attempt to create such tools in practice, for their internal use throughout early design phases. This paper focuses on the architecture professional practice and design methods supported by digital and computational technologies, regarding embodied carbon data. It investigates the challenges in integrating embodied carbon data in the design workflow, through the development of a digital tool made by designers, for designers. This paper conducts an empirical investigation within a Rotterdam-based architecture office, with a broad portfolio in BIM usage and public building projects, to identify and categorize the factors affecting carbon data integration into the design workflows. It proposes a taxonomy of challenges within the architecture office, to better communicate the designer's needs to the data providers and software developers with architects as a target user. Amongst the bottlenecks encountered are: access to data (data inclusiveness), data literacy and connecting data usage with design decision-making.

With the growing demand for sustainable accountability, the European Directive 2014/24/EU (EU 2014) pushes architects to deliver Building Information Models (BIM) as a part of procurement processes for public buildings. In the Netherlands, BIM model data is relevant to the building permitting process, which involves an environmental performance calculation (MPG). This assessment takes into consideration the embodied carbon of materials in a building. Although this analysis is performed by a qualified expert in late design phases, architects benefit from integrating carbon data in early design decision-making. Design methods supported by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) values are needed before involving expert collaborators, and not only when applying for a building permit. The existing carbon assessment tools require detailed data from BIM models, which are often not available at early design phases. Simplified tools have been discussed in theory, and explored in their potential applications, however, there lacks scientific literature discussing the hurdles designers face in their attempt to create such tools in practice, for their internal use throughout early design phases. This paper focuses on the architecture professional practice and design methods supported by digital and computational technologies, regarding embodied carbon data. It investigates the challenges in integrating embodied carbon data in the design workflow, through the development of a digital tool made by designers, for designers. This paper conducts an empirical investigation within a Rotterdam-based architecture office, with a broad portfolio in BIM usage and public building projects, to identify and categorize the factors affecting carbon data integration into the design workflow. It proposes a taxonomy of challenges within the architecture office, to better communicate the designer’s needs to the data providers and software developers with architects as a target user. Amongst the bottlenecks encountered are: access to data inclusiveness), data literacy and connecting data usage with design decision-making.

The LCS DATA-HUB is an interactive report for the LCS (Low-Carbon Stations) Workshop. The workshop held in March 12th of 2024, in TU Delft, gathered experts from academia, industry and public authorities to exchange knowledge and experiences pertinent to the integration of data (embodied carbon) in design of the built environment.

The event “Low-Carbon Station Workshop: A roadmap for integrating carbon data in cross-scale station design" was organized by PhD Candidate Halina Veloso e Zarate and Assistant Professor Dr. Manuela Triggianese, as methodological support to one of three empirical investigations of Zarate's PhD research.

The workshop aimed to explore the integration of data about embodied carbon in construction materials through low-carbon design methodologies for architecture and urban design, with a specific focus on stations and station areas.

In this platform, you can find the documentation of the event and navigate through the data that supported the hands-on design case of Lombardijen Station.

For the past three decades, the shift toward digitization propelled the implementation of data-supported design into contemporary practices and research in Architecture and Urbanism. The growing availability of data and broader accessibility to software and skills are introduced to designers and city makers as enablers of sustainable design solutions, aiming to address the global challenges of rapid urban growth and climate change. This brings an opportunity to explore the use of a specific type of data – geospatial data – in design methods. This paper focuses on understanding the relationship between the process of digitization and the use of data to support design in Architecture and Urbanism, through a literature review and case study. Adopting transport nodes as a type of project for the investigation of such methods, the paper brings in the case of the Sustainable Los Angeles 2050 project to explore how the use of geospatial data can influence the design of transport nodes.

Resilience needs consent to reach scale. Bold, audacious, and daring design can be a powerful tool to motivate stakeholders to engage in building resilience and ensure their commitment and participation in long-term adaptation. When we think of resilience, we think of pragmatism, and restraint. However, we believe that “beauty and wonder” are crucial ingredients of every successful urban adaptation strategy, as they catalyse the will to change. Using six principles, MVRDV endeavours to transform vulnerabilities into drivers for optimistic, robust and daring designs, challenging communities, investors, developers, and stakeholders to co-create an adaptive urban future that works in concert with nature. The Case Study illustrates several lessons from the comparison of two projects. These inform our practice, and commitment to creating scalable solutions for resilient environments that foster consensus through surprising and intriguing solutions using “wonder” to motivate adaptation towards a sustainable future.

Preparing our response to disruptive events is crucial to use their power as accelerators towards a sustainable future. MVRDV's "White Swan Resilience" calls for an optimistic approach, turning vulnerabilities into opportunities and highlighting the importance of a desirable, positive vision of the future.

With Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, Gunnar Hand and Halina Zarate co-led the research initiative RegenCities, a 2018 American Planning Association Smart Cities Award-winning research initiative by SOM.

The Web-series is composed by 5 videos: 1. What is a Regenerative City, 2.Building a Regenerative City: Equity, 3.Building a Regenerative City: Access, 4.Building a Regenerative City: Nutrition, 5.RegenCities: Economic Regeneration in South L.A.

99% preservation and 1% densification. A case for urban density along the Wilshire Corridor as a strategy to preserve the urban character of the city, improve the quality of life, and protect the environment for LA's current and incoming 1.5 million people by 2050.

The Grand Challenge: in 2050, Los Angeles County will have 1.5 million more residents and two to three times as many extreme heat days. If LA is to thrive in the next century it must strive to achieve 100% renewable energy, 100% local water and enhanced ecosystem health by 2050.