Topic Review
Vertical Barriers for Land Contamination Containment
Soil pollution is one of the major threats to the environment and jeopardizes the provision of key soil ecosystem services. Vertical barriers, including slurry trench walls and walls constructed with soil mix technology, have been employed for decades to control groundwater flow and subsurface contaminant transport.
  • 767
  • 30 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Ventilation System
An additional window frame with a ventilation function is applied to the existing window. Thus, when the window is closed, a cavity, which is created between window frames, serves as an air path for ventilation. The additional frame has the same material and finishing as the existing frame, thereby ensuring design consistency. On the outside, the frame does not show any application of the mechanical system. Another advantage of the proposed system is that, as the width is 65 mm, it occupies as small an area as possible and minimally affects the view from the inside. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a generally used material for windows, is used for the ventilation system, and this system is formed in a "U"-shape consistent with the existing window frame. This system can be attached or detached on the existing window frame and does not generate either a gap or a distance in the process of installation for airtightness. The cavity is 45 mm in width, 20 mm in depth, and 1940 mm in height and serves as an air path connected to the outdoor air intake and the indoor air supply outlet.
  • 656
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Using Waste Plastics as Asphalt Modifier
The use of waste products in the production of asphalt binders and asphalt mixtures has become widespread due to economic and environmental benefits. In particular, the use of recycled waste plastic in asphalt binders and mixtures is gaining more attention. Overall, the incorporation of plastic waste into asphalt mixtures can significantly improve high-temperature performance and has potential economic and environmental benefits. The performance of modified asphalt is highly dependent on multiple factors, such as waste sources, waste plastic dosages, blending conditions, and the pretreatment methods for waste plastic.
  • 1.5K
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Use of Zinc Oxide in Asphalts
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a wide-gap semiconducting material which is chemically stable at high temperatures and has been shown to be compatible with asphalt binders. Additionally, semiconducting nanoparticles such as ZnO could help to improve urban air quality. This has encouraged the use of this material as a binder and asphalt mix modifier. 
  • 251
  • 20 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Use of Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy method is a method of bond characterization that could be used quantitatively and qualitatively with X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and electron energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) to study the chemical composition, compound composition, microstructural morphology, and their elemental compositions in CB applications, respectively.
  • 647
  • 14 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Urban-Scale Physics-Based Building Energy Modeling
Urban building energy modeling (UBEM) is a practical approach in large-scale building energy modeling for stakeholders in the energy industry to predict energy use in the building sector under different design and retrofit scenarios. UBEM is a relatively new large-scale building energy modeling (BEM) approach which raises different challenges and requires more in-depth study to facilitate its application. 
  • 439
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Urban Water Consumption
Urban water (here referred as urban water consumption) is defined by European Environmental Agency as the water abstracted for urban purposes which include domestic uses (households), small industries, municipal services, and public gardening [EEA]. Over the last three decades, the increasing development of smart water meter trials and the rise of demand management has fostered the collection of water demand data at increasingly higher spatial and temporal resolutions, especially for the domestic sector (i.e., household water use). Counting these new datasets and more traditional aggregate water demand data, the literature is rich with heterogeneous urban water consumption datasets. They are characterized by heterogeneous spatial scales—from urban districts, to households or individual water fixtures—and temporal sampling frequencies—from seasonal/monthly up to sub-daily (minutes or seconds).  This entry is based on  the review paper "Urban Water Consumption at Multiple Spatial and Temporal Scales. A Review of Existing Datasets" by Di Mauro et al. 2021 The review analyzes 92 water demand datasets and 120 related peer-review publications compiled in the last 45 years. The reviewed datasets are classified and analyzed according to the following criteria: spatial scale, temporal scale, and dataset accessibility. This research effort builds an updated catalog of the existing water demand datasets to facilitate future research efforts end encourage the publication of open-access datasets in water demand modelling and management research.
  • 1.3K
  • 19 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Urban Resilience Assessment
This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the state of knowledge on urban resilience assessment through mapping the knowledge domain and highlighting emerging trends during different periods. The objects of study were 420 papers published in the Web of Science from 1998 to 2020. Science mapping was done using VOSviewer and CiteSpace, two widely known software tools for bibliometrics analysis and scientometric visualization. The results show that research published on urban resilience assessment was very limited and fragmented until 2009, and the focus has mainly been on risk mitigation and vulnerability assessment. The intellectual base grew between 2010 and 2014, when a paradigm shift from approaches based on robustness and reliability toward more adaptation-oriented approaches occurred. Finally, the annual publication trends have grown rapidly over the past five years and there has been more emphasis on climate change adaptation and flood resilience.
  • 608
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Urban Heritage Facility Management
Urban Heritage Facility Management (UHFM) is an urban-scale function that integrates the management of all the supporting services to the people, place, processes, and technology necessary for the preservation of the significance, value, and authenticity of the urban heritage area leads to the creation of a strong, mutually supportive and non-exploitative community.
  • 1.0K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Urban Green Infrastructure for Thermal Comfort
The elements of urban green infrastructure (UGI), such as green roofs, green walls, and green facades, represent a natural base solution to break the vicious cycle by providing thermal comfort to urban residents without placing an additional burden in terms of urbanization and global warming. Integrating UGI into urban design can improve the urban microclimate, achieve energy-demand savings, and create temperate outdoor spaces. Studies show that UGI is effective for controlling UHI and improving air quality; it leads to positive health effects by reducing asthma, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, obesity, and circulatory disease. The indirect positive health impacts associated with socio-economic factors include child cognitive development, elderly longevity, and strengthened immunity. The incorporation of UGI in urban design can help cities to tackle the challenges of limited access to resources and a lack of green space due to urban development, but the success of UGI implantation requires input from the city authorities, businesses, and other institutions, working together to investigate different options to adapt a variety of urban spaces.
  • 381
  • 06 Sep 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 45