Precipitation is a relevant climatic variable for building and urban design in hot climates, because of its potential to naturally mitigate heat excess in buildings and cities by evaporative cooling; and as a primary source of water to artificially reproduce this cooling mechanism, particularly in the humid tropics and subtropics.

Parenting responsibilities in the context of children’s mobility have been subject to a substantial change over the last few decades. Children’s current activities and travel patterns are significantly different to the previous generations when they were at the same age. Today’s children are exposed to increased car use and are chauffeured for the majority of their trips.

Smart grid components such as smart home and battery energy management systems, high penetration of renewable energy systems, and demand response activities, require accurate electricity demand forecasts for the successful operation of the electricity distribution networks.

Throughout the world, the reliability of public transport systems is constantly under review. Questions of reliability are particularly applicable to bus services, as they commonly share road space with other vehicles.

Low carbon community programs that encourage citizens to reduce their carbon emissions have been subject to various government and civil society trials in recent years. Behaviour change programs using ‘social marketing’ techniques have had mixed success in community carbon reduction because of a focus on individual control and lack of systemic context.

Abstract: English

Buildings are responsible for a large share of the global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions generation. Most emissions are produced during the operation of the buildings.

Sustainable waste management requires an integrated planning and design strategy for reliable forecasting of waste generation, collection, recycling, treatment and disposal for the successful development of future residential precincts.

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect can result in higher urban densities being significantly hotter (frequently more than 4 °C, even up to 10 °C) compared to their peri-urban surroundings. Such artificial heat stress increases the health risk of spending time outdoors and boosts the need for energy consumption, particularly for cooling during summer.

Highlights

Urban structure, hard surfaces and shortage of vegetation cause an artificial temperature increase in cities, known as the urban heat island effect. This paper determines the daily patterns of urban heat in Adelaide, Australia.

Progressive cities worldwide have demonstrated political leadership by initiating meaningful strategies and actions to tackle climate change. However, the lack of knowledge concerning embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of cities has hampered effective mitigation.