1,720,959 research outputs found
Architectural project appraisal: An active learning process [Valutazione del progetto architettonico: un processo di apprendimento attivo]
Full text linkReflecting on how economic evaluation is taught in architecture courses opens up a discussion between those who structure problems with design and those who structure problems with different approaches (specifically estimation approaches) and where this design and these methods can intersect and hybridise. The paper presents some reflections, and a methodological proposal, related to the way of teaching economic evaluation in architecture courses. The aim of this paper is to propose an integrated assessment operative framework applied according to the active learning strategy, aimed at supporting students in dealing with design decision-making processes in a structured way and providing them with a problem representation scheme. Specifically, with respect to the assessment of building transformation scenarios, the framework con-siders: i) the analysis of the real estate market, in order to estimate the most probable market value of the con-sidered spaces; ii) the analysis of demand through sur-veys and their reporting through descriptive statistics indicators, in order to investigate the context and the in-terests of future users, with a view to innovative and sat- isfactory solutions; iii) Storytelling (ST) and/or the Strategic Choice Approach (SCA) as support for the construc-tion of design solutions; iv) finally, the Discounted Cashflows Analysis (DCFA), to verify the economic feasibility of the chosen scenario . The proposed methodological framework can be de-fined as a hybrid of active and traditional learning: the techniques are applied by the students in an active way, collaborating in working groups in a co-operative way; however, in order to make the application possible, it is unavoidable to prepare frontal lessons that provide the necessary theoretical concepts. According to this scheme the student has the opportunity to learn and develop, on the one hand, the estimation skills necessary to assess and estimate the feasibility of a project, and on the other hand, s/he has the possibility to ac-quire specific skills to structure the design process in order to relate spatial, economic, environmental and technical issues. This integrated framework is illustrated through the application to a case study concerning the transformation of a building located in the city of Turin, Italy
Assessing social sustainability for achieving sustainable architecture
Full text linkSustainability is an inherent urban and architectural problem. It is simultaneously characterized by many different dimensions, pursuing heterogeneous and often conflicting objectives. To help address these complexities in a structured way, this paper illustrates an integrated assessment framework to tackle social sustainability, in order to support the decision-making process towards sustainable architecture. This integrated decision support framework was applied to a case study concerning a new cultural centre at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. The aim of this paper is to propose a decision support methodological framework for the analysis, graphical visualization and evaluation of social sustainability of architectural projects. It combines three methods first, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, to get a guided understanding of the project and detect the best design strategies; second, the Stakeholder Analysis (SA), to develop a strategic view of the actors involved; third, the Social Return of the Investment (SROI) as a methodological tool for social impact assessment. This framework, presented through the discussion of some project solutions, helps us analyse the architectural material effect of social sustainability and answer the question: Are we investing properly and creating spaces sufficiently functional to build better conditions for our community and our city
How covid-19 influences the 2030 Agenda: Do the practices of achieving the sustainable development goal 11 need rethinking and adjustment?/ Come il Covid-19 influenza l’Agenda 2030: le pratiche di raggiungimento dello SDG11 devono essere ripensate e aggiornate?
Full text linkOur cities represent the crucial nodes of intervention to improve living conditions and promote sustainability. Therefore, the current pandemic, combined with the climate emergency, translates into an urban emergency. In light of the devastating effects of Covid-19 and the rethinking of the concept of sustainability, the goal of developing inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements pursued by the Sustainable Development Goal 11 may now require revision in terms of the indicators used for its monitoring. Indicators are crucial since they help to make sustainable development visible and transparent, enable comparison, build and harmonize databases and provide information relevant to decision-making processes and urban and territorial policies by facilitating communication across arenas. The aim of this paper is to provide a picture of the indicators currently used to monitor SDG11, to present a series of critical reviews of them in light of the Covid-19 emergency, and to suggest the introduction of some new indicators, thus opening a scientific debate on the topic
Surfacing Values Created by Incentive Policies in Support of Sustainable Urban Development: A Theoretical Evaluation Framework
Full text linkThe development of sustainable cities involves improving the performance of the built environment and its effects on its context as one of the multiple intervention points. Indeed, outlining and implementing building artefacts does not constitute a simple act of generating a physical place, but represents a process that cannot ignore the positive and/or negative impacts that these transformations can have on the environment and societies in which it is embedded. Since in a profit-driven logic, a private investor's interest in environmental and social values may be limited in favour of economic value, a positive push towards urban sustainability can be found in government-promoted fiscal building incentives. Indeed, these tools offer direct actions for more favourable urban conditions, supporting private entities in meeting the intervention costs. This paper aims to define a theoretical evaluation framework through which the "sustainable" value creation potential of building incentives can be assessed. Through this framework, the research analysed the main Italian building incentives, observing how they support the creation of economic, environmental, and social values for the benefit of society, the environment, and urban areas. This paper discusses the usefulness of the framework in supporting public actors in the potential revision, definition, and communication of such incentive policies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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