Engineering

Improving Urban Environments
Strategies for Healthier and More Sustainable Cities

Editor: Marco Ragazzi, PhD

Improving Urban Environments

Published. Now available.
Pub Date: May 2016
Hardback Price: see ordering info
Hard ISBN: 9781771884167
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-77463-698-5
E-Book ISBN: 9781771884174
Pages: 300 pp w index
Binding Type: hardbound / ebook / paperback
Notes: 54 b/w illustrations

Now Available in Paperback


This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.

Because cities are such complex systems, creating sustainable urban environments is a challenging goal. No single strategy—or even several strategies—will be enough to achieve tomorrow’s healthy and sustainable cities. The challenges resist compartmentalization, because the factors intersect and overlap. The articles in this compendium were chosen to expand the understanding of these complicated issues in a non-linear way. The editor, himself a respected and experienced researcher in this field, has selected research in the following topics:
  • improving urban air quality
  • municipal solid waste alternatives
  • municipal water management
  • reducing urban energy consumption
The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary strategies found in these chapters will be useful to both researchers and practitioners, helping them work together more effectively to solve the complex challenges of reaching healthy and sustainable urban futures. The book suggests the concrete implications of the various strategies for different user groups, such as urban planners, politicians, researchers, and business interests. It will be useful to graduate-level students of urban studies, urban planning, and sustainability, as well as policymakers and sustainability advocates around the world.

CONTENTS:
Introduction
Part I: Overview
1. Environmental Assessments in the Built Environment: Crucial yet Underdeveloped
Jukka Heinonen, Arpad Horvath, and Seppo Junnila

Part II: Improving Urban Air Quality
2. Critical Analysis of Strategies for PM Reduction in Urban Areas
Gabriela Ionescu, Tiberiu Apostol, Elena Cristina Rada, Marco Ragazzi, and Vincenzo Torretta
3. Application of Strategies for Particulate Matter Reduction in Urban Areas: An Italian Case
Vincenzo Torretta, Massimo Raboni, Sabrina Copelli, Elena Cristina Rada, Marco Ragazzi, Gabriela Ionescu, Tiberiu Apostol, and Adrian Badea
4. Infrastructure and Automobile Shifts: Positioning Transit to Reduce Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts for Urban Sustainability Goals
Mikhail Chester, Stephanie Pincetl, Zoe Elizabeth, William Eisenstein, and Juan Matute
5. Recent Photocatalytic Applications for Air Purification in Belgium
Elia Boonen and Anne Beeldens

Part III: Municipal Solid Waste Alternatives
6. Case Study: Finding Better Solutions for Municipal Solid Waste Management in a Semi Local Authority in Sri Lanka
Bandunee Champika Liyanage, Renuka Gurusinghe, Sunil Herat,
and Masafumi Tateda

7. Incineration of Pre-Treated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) for Energy Co-Generation in a Non-Densely Populated Area
Ettore Trulli, Vincenzo Torretta, Massimo Raboni, and Salvatore Masi

Part IV: Water Management
8. Innovative Urban Water Management as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy: Results from the Implementation of the Project “Water Against Climate Change (WATACLIC)”
Giulio Conte, Andrea Bolognesi, Cristiana Bragalli, Sara Branchini, Alessandro De Carli, Chiara Lenzi, Fabio Masi, Antonio Massarutto, Marco Pollastri, and Ilaria Principi
9. Full-Scale Implementation of a Vertical Membrane Bioreactor for Simultaneous Removal of Organic Matter and Nutrients from Municipal Wastewater
So-Ryong Chae, Jin-Ho Chung, Yong-Rok Heo, Seok-Tae Kang, Sang-Min Lee, and Hang-Sik Shin

Part V: Energy Consumption
10. Energy Benchmarking of Commercial Buildings: A Low-Cost Pathway toward Urban Sustainability
Matt Cox, Marilyn A Brown, and Xiaojing Sun
11. Energy Pattern Analysis of a Wastewater Treatment Plant
Pratima Singh, Cynthia Carliell-Marquet, and Arun Kansal

Part VI: Conclusion
12. Sustainable Urban (re-)Development with Building Integrated Energy, Water and Waste Systems
Thorsten Schuetze, Joong-Won Lee, and Tae-Goo Lee
13. Urban Ecosystem Health Assessment and Its Application in Management: A Multi-Scale Perspective
Meirong Su, Zhifeng Yang, Bin Chen, Gengyuan Liu, Yan Zhang, Lixiao Zhang, Linyu Xu, and Yanwei Zhao
Index


About the Authors / Editors:
Editor: Marco Ragazzi, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy

Marco Ragazzi has a PhD in sanitary engineering from Milan Polytechnic, Italy. The author or co-author of more than 150 publications, he is currently a member of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trento, Italy. His research interests include solid waste and wastewater management, environmental engineering, and environmental impact risk assessment.




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