bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Digital Twin Models Supporting Cognitive Buildings for Ambient Assisted Living
Authors: Corneli Alessandra , Binni Leonardo , Naticchia Berardo , Vaccarini Massimo 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe rapid and global aging of population is outlining the need for environments that can provide support for these individuals during their daily activities. The challenge of an aging society is being addressed through the incorporation of new technologies into the home environment, which is nothing less than Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). To date, some of the AAL solutions exploit AI models to recognize the elderly’s behaviors through data collected by sensors. In recent times, Digital Twins (DTs) at building level have begun to appear on the construction domain. These are still under development but through the integration of users into assessments, they improve efficiency, prevention, and prediction of likely events through real-time AI computing. The integration of DT and AAL defines cognitive buildings which aim to learn at scale, reason with a purpose, and co-operate with users in a natural way. This research aims to develop DT models to achieve scenario awareness to provide support to elderly people living alone and suffering from cognitive disorders. The proposed multi-agent architecture is based on a five-layer system that autonomously develops high-level knowledge to detect anomalies in the home environment scenarios and therefore support the user. Bayesian networks (BNs) are exploited to perform high-level deductive reasoning on low-level multi-modal information, thus recognizing senseless or dangerous behaviors, environmental disruptions, changes in behavioral patterns, and serious medical events. Bi-directional user-system interaction provides user support by leveraging Speech-To-Text and Text-To-Speech AI agents. Three main functions were tested: real-time data integration, anomaly detection, and two-way interaction.
Less Automation More Information: A Learning Tool for a Post-occupancy Operation and Evaluation
Authors: Tonelli Chiara , Cardone Barbara , D’Autilia Roberto , Nardi Giuliana 
Published: June 2023

AbstractClimate change and the pandemic generated an urgent need to have an efficient urban habitat that includes technological innovations to deal with the ecological and digital transitions. Italy counts about 14 million buildings, 12 of which are houses, responsible for more than 40% of final energy consumption, most of which is ascribable to users’ behavior and lifestyle. The increase in buildings’ energy performance is strongly related to a smart management of the demand and self-consumption, as well as a more effective and active involvement of the occupants: it is, therefore, pivotal to come up with user-friendly tools to measure and monitor the performance of the buildings and users’ habits. Tools to encourage the choices toward the environment’s comfort, rather than automation technologies, allowing the occupants and information systems to move in the direction of ecological transition. The aim is to create an aware “energy citizenship” for people living in efficient buildings. The proposal is a system that uses IoT technology and provides a global evaluation of the state of the house, from which can be extracted suggestions for better and virtuous behavior. The overall ecological footprint is measured based on five “cycles”: energy; environment; water; waste production; food. Collected data create an urban database that, along with big data, constitutes a set of boundary conditions that are crossed with single units’ data. The measures related to single units can be applied to a wider network in order to create a smart city, involving dwellers in a serious game on their homes’ performance. The proposal is part of the research on post-evaluation occupancy, in the belief that even the best model-houses perform worse in use, rather than the predictions expected on paper.
A Prosumer Approach for Feeding the Digital Twin. Testing the MUST Application in the Old Harbour Waterfront of Genoa
Authors: Viola Serena , Novellino Antonio , Zinno Alberto , Di Ludovico Marco 
Published: June 2023

AbstractSupporting the settlement systems’ life cycle management through synchronisation of the real world with a virtual platform constitutes the horizon for the MUST team research (Maintenance Urban Sharing Tools) with the Departments of Architecture (DiARC) and Structures for engineering and architecture (DiSt) of the University of Naples, Stress Scarl and ETT SpA. Living digital simulation models are based on information analysis and constant data supply. The research identifies the involvement of the settlement systems users through creating collaborative information flows, one of the driving factors of the digital revolution. The paper introduces the connotative aspects of the MUST application (Smau Innovation Award 2019, Campania Start-Up 2020 funded project) to identify the building and urban system loss of functionality. With the support of an experiment conducted in the waterfront area of the old harbour of Genoa, the paper identifies strengths and weaknesses in using the MUST application to support and streamline the Digital Twin that ETT S.p.A. is implementing with the DSH2030 (Digital Sustainable Harbor 2030) project. A prosumer perspective is the foundation of this research focusing on the sense of responsibility of communities towards the built environment and on the willingness of individuals to invest in care actions. The paper returns the research results achieved to date with an open and public model design, equipped with different interfaces to meet the diverse needs of the groups involved, allowing expert citizens to interact and report in progress feedback.
Quality-Based Design for Environmentally Conscious Architecture
Authors: Roura Helena Coch , Garrido Torres Pablo 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe discussion is focused on the view that technological innovation, in order to move toward a green transition, must take advantage of the opportunities and focus on quality-based design rather than quantity-based design. It is argued that true technological innovation requires a major mental shift. It is not about making processes better and more efficient, but about rethinking them outright. Three strategies are proposed at the urban and building level that support this higher quality as a way to go toward a sustainable approach as stated in the Brundtland report. The strategies proposed to reduce the amount of resources required to satisfy citizens’ demands are based on a more in-depth study of their real needs. Innovative design and technological solutions could lead us to a healthier and more environmentally friendly life.
Soft Technologies for the Circular Transition: Practical Experimentation of the Product “Material Passport”
Authors: Caroli Tecla 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe change of mind regarding waste conceived as resource is possible if the transition toward circularity is actualized. Design and build in a reversible perspective allow to enable circular strategies on a constructive system at the end of its service life. These strategies and solutions toward reversibility are defined Hard and Soft Technologies. If the first ones are the reversible constructive technics used on different elements of the building; the second ones consist in the operative aspects, regarding to tools and methods that allow the realization of reversible processes, projects and products. Specifically, the MP is a Soft Technology that facilitates the second use of a constructive systems that has residual performances once disassembled. As tool, the Material Passport collects the technical and operative information about the product, tracing the resources employed, maintaining their value over time and reducing the grade of uncertain about the circular potentiality of disassembled elements. The paper demonstrates the importance of Soft Technologies for the development of Hard Technologies and reports the outcomes of a practical experimentation developed. The application consists in the development of the Material Passport of a product of the manufacturing company Cel Components and in the definition of reversible practices for the generation of the circular transition of the company. The MP is processed within the BIM model of a company-produced panel, used for façade, false ceiling, internal partition or flooring systems, to elaborate a framework for the data entry. The application provides a user-friendly framework for designers and manufacturers.
Imagining a Carbon Neutral University
Authors: Violano Antonella , Cannaviello Monica 
Published: June 2023

AbstractUniversities are the main centers where the drivers of innovation for sustainability and decarbonization of the built heritage are investigated and developed. But are existing university buildings sustainable? If zero carbon buildings are to be our goal in 2050 (EU Green Deal), what is the current carbon footprint of these buildings? How can we enhance post-occupancy evaluation and drive technological and energy retrofits for participatory environmental design? This is the focus of the research carried out within the MedEcoSuRe (Mediterranean University as Catalyst for Eco-Sustainable Renovation) Project, funded by the European Union under the ENI CBC MED Program, which analyses and compares a number of sustainability assessment methods for existing university buildings (Green Metric, Stars, GRI, …) in order to develop the most effective indicators, not only to highlight the really virtuous buildings, but also to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the university building stock and to implement the most appropriate redevelopment strategies. According to the Renovation Wave Strategy, these approaches are aimed at improving not only the energy performance of buildings but will also improve the quality of life of people living in and using university buildings. The research considered multiple aspects concerning not only the environmental and functional performance of buildings, but also the direct satisfaction of users (providing a safe, healthy and comfortable environment for students, teachers and staff) and the strategies to manage energy, water, green and material resources during the operational phase (Xue et al. in Sustainability 12(1):294, 2020). The evaluation of environmental and functional performance of educational buildings should ensure that the effectiveness of buildings is maximized not just in terms of occupancy costs but also with respect to user satisfaction (Ekekezie et al. in Int J Progressive Res Sci Eng 2(8/202):388–397, 2021).
Towards Climate Neutrality: Progressing Key Actions for Positive Energy Districts Implementation
Authors: Romano Rosa , Andreucci Maria Beatrice , Giancola Emanuela 
Published: June 2023

AbstractPositive Energy Districts (PEDs) represent an emerging urban transition paradigm, an advanced framework to effectively attain decarbonization targets, as well as a holistic approach to foster more resilient and livable cities. However, implementing PEDs is challenging, demanding substantial planning, design, and operations changes. Mainstreaming PEDs calls for innovative legal, institutional, business, and organizational frameworks, as well as an active involvement of the main actors (i.e., cities, municipalities, communities, investors, industry players, and service providers), to co-design and jointly progress ambitious agendas, multiscale plans, flexible instruments, and adaptive structures. Benefitting from the authors’ cooperation within the Horizon 2020 project, Cooperation in Science and Technology COST Action ‘Positive Energy Districts European Network’ (PED-EU-NET in PED-EU-NET | COST ACTION CA19126, 2020), the proposed contribution addresses relevant issues and opportunities characterizing the development of PEDs in Europe, relating attention to effective implementation, context-specificity, replicability, and upscaling. Among the results achieved in the first year of the COST research activities, the authors present an understanding of the PEDs policy landscape in Europe, and a catalogue of the key lessons learned from PEDs in progress. In detail, some comprehensive and interrelated aspects (stakeholder-oriented strategies and technological and system innovation) that have emerged towards enabling conditions for upscaling PEDs structure are analyzed. Through the investigation of existing framework conditions, barriers, and enablers of piloting projects, as well as emerging impacts at international level, the authors provide original insights, and formulate key recommendations for take-up and advancement towards climate neutrality, making a timely and original input to enhanced scholarly understanding of PEDs.
Territorial Energy Potential for Energy Community and Climate Mitigation Actions: Experimentation on Pilot Cases in Rome
Authors: Marrone Paola , Montella Ilaria 
Published: June 2023

AbstractOne of the conditions toward mitigation and a zero-emission economy is to plan the transition to a sustainable urban energy system. The dimensional and typological variety of urban pattern, and the functional contribution of inhabitants, represent an important potential to reduce energy consumption and climate-changing gases. Despite this evidence, many studies focused on the energy transition have given limited attention to issues of scale, space, and context in urban settings and how they can shape different energy systems. This article deals with renewable energy communities in the urban context and, by presenting some results of research that, through pilot cases in Rome, aims to test mitigation and adaptation solutions in proximity spaces. In particular, it investigates how the different forms of already built urban fabrics, together with social and environmental resources, can influence the form and implementation of the decentralized energy system and vice versa.
Toward a New Humanism of Technological Innovation in Design of the Built Environment
Authors: Paris Spartaco 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThis paper offers a reflection on the dialectical relationship between technological innovation and the culture of design for the built environment, hypothesizing a scenario in which the outdated interpretation of the merely instrumental role of technology may be plausibly recognized and overcome. Because it is increasingly complex, sophisticated, and pervasive in the life of and in the space inhabited by people, technology requires a renewed, humanistic approach in order to be governed, selected, and used, for the purpose of improving people’s fragile living conditions on the planet. On the other hand, people are, in and of themselves, characterized by continuous exploration and invention to extend their abilities through technique, and given the uncertain future facing us, technique will once again be our friend, renewing a relationship that may be called one of philotechny rather than of pure fideism—or of anachronistic antagonism—toward technique. Although starting from a specific, low level of technology, the construction sector is absorbing the extraordinary, accelerated advances of the technologies belonging to the digital sphere; this may help guide the construction industry toward a new form of production, and at the same time, it may transform the designer’s tasks, roles, and responsibilities. The designer of the future that faces us will have to be able to operate collaboratively within a system of vast competences, which will be mediated by the potency and accessibility of new tools and methods belonging to the digital technologies.
Digital Twins for Climate-Neutral and Resilient Cities. State of the Art and Future Development as Tools to Support Urban Decision-Making
Authors: Ricciardi Guglielmo , Callegari Guido 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe increased effects of climate change in the built environment require a rapid and effective response to adapt urban settlements to the main impacts related to heatwave, extreme precipitation, sea-level rise, and so on. At the same time, there is not much time to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change and limit the mean temperature of the planet within the 1.5 °C imposed by the Paris Agreement. In this perspective, cities around the world have a key role toward carbon neutral and resilient targets. In parallel in the last years, we are witnessing the impacts of a big amount of data and information available at the city scale. There are many data coming from different databases that can be processed and managed to support the urban climate action planned and designed by decision-makers and urban practitioners, for example, to assess the carbon emission of the building sector or to simulate the effects of extreme precipitation or urban heat island and consequence behavior of the built environment. In this scenario, in the last years, among many different digital enable technologies available in the Industry 4.0 ambit, it has gained more attention in the field of urban planning and urban design the digital twin concept that could synthesize in a digital representation of the real-world data and information flow that could exchange from the physical side to digital representation and vice versa. The aim of the paper is to analyze the urban digital twin developed in last years in Europe to evaluate if and how they consider the climate change issue, in order to understand the state of the art, the applications developed for climate change and which is the level of experimentation in order to study and develop guidelines to build urban digital twin as a support tool for a climate-neutral and resilient city.
A BIM-Based Approach to Energy Analysis of Existing Buildings in the Italian Context
Authors: Morini Marco , Caffari Francesca , Calabrese Nicolandrea , Centi Giulia 
Published: June 2023

AbstractIn the important challenge set at the EU level of doubling the annual energy renovation rate of buildings by 2030, building information modelling (BIM) represents a remarkable opportunity for its many advantages, in all stages of the process. For example, BIM allows for the creation of accurate models of buildings at both current and refurbished state that can also be imported in software for specialized analyses such as the energy performance study and, at the same time, constitute digital, easily searchable, and updatable databases of all sorts of information about a building. However, several barriers still hinder the full use of BIMs for energy analyses, such as issues in interoperability among software and lack of technical knowledge of professionals. The research, whose methodology and objectives are introduced in this paper, moves from these considerations and can be divided into two main phases. The first one (“from BIM to energy analysis”) focused on the identification of interoperability issues between BIM authoring and Italian certified energy analysis software, starting from the application on case studies. The aim is to draft recommendations, targeted at the professionals in the sector, for the definition of building as-is models, optimized to make the importation in energy analysis software as seamless as possible. In the second part (“from energy analysis to BIM”), a series of parameters, to be included firstly in the form of custom property sets, were individuated to populate those models with the main results of the energy analysis. The objective of these actions is to support and, at the same time, valorize the work of the professionals carrying out energy audits while highlighting the potential of BIM for greater knowledge and digitization of the building stock.
Sustainable Reuse Indicators for Ecclesiastic Built Heritage Regeneration
Authors: Pinto Maria Rita , Bosone Martina , Ciampa Francesca 
Published: June 2023

AbstractIn the context of anthropogenic impacts on pollution and global warming scenarios, reject from the construction sector accounts for 36% of European waste. This waste percentage includes disused and abandoned buildings that have lost the value of their function over time. In order to reduce the ecological footprint they generate, the paper rethinks Recovery in its circular meaning to put these buildings back into a normal circuit of usability, improving the creation of resilient urban habitats. In particular, decommissioned ecclesiastical buildings constitute a huge quantity and significant quality heritage, as by cultural, perceptive, morphological and material values. The sustainable reuse of this heritage must act on its double impacting value: the tangible one linked to the material culture of the buildings and the intangible one, linked to the identity values of sediment instances. Through a comparison desk research of more than 140 cases of reuse on a European scale, the contribution arrives at a system of indicators that allow evaluating the reuse sustainable compatibility of these buildings, able to promote prosperity, inclusiveness and social equity. These indicators make it possible to assess the appropriateness of design actions aimed at mediating between the conservation of the built heritage and the transformative needs of contemporary instances. The results provide scenarios tool of sustainable recovery, capable of transforming waste into a resource, extending the life cycle of the ecclesiastical heritage and thus mitigating its environmental impact, as well as the cost related to the loss of cultural values and identity for the community.
Adaptive Building Technologies for Building Envelopes Under Climate Change Conditions
Authors: Milardi Martino 
Published: June 2023

AbstractFollowing the widespread recognition of the urgency of environmental and energy issues, cities, now under the influence of the pandemic crisis, are called to cope with them through adaptation strategies to future scenarios that are constantly changing. At the same time, the implementation of adaptive building envelopes seems to be a promising alternative to achieve higher quality levels in the built environment, especially to counter and mitigate climate change, in line with EU directives. Adaptive envelopes can modify physical or chemical characteristics, exploiting environmental stimuli such as solar heat, temperature, airspeed, or atmospheric humidity. In this scenario, the experimental research in progress wants to define a new adaptive model by using innovative materials. It can be applied to curtain wall systems, intended as an element vulnerable to the effects of extreme events in a Mediterranean climate and more stressed by external energy flows. In this work, the author presents some parts of the research results, in which a necessary phase involved the reasoned recognition of adaptive materials for extreme applications or materials that can respond actively to possible external stresses. Research efforts are focused on the choice of the most suitable material to define the levels of environmental adaptability of the model, its constructability, and technological characterization. Finally, the performance verification of the adaptive model will be carried out at the TCLab section of the BFL of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria to develop prototypical lines that can facilitate the new approach to high environmental quality adaptive envelopes.