Describes all aspects of sustainable conversion adaptation of existing buildings and provides solutions for making urban settlements resilient to climate change This comprehensive book explores the potential to change the character of cities with residential conversion of office space in order to withstand the negative effects of climate change. It investigates the nature and extent of sustainable conversion in a number of global cities, as well as the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal drivers and barriers to successful conversion. The book also identifies the key lessons learned through international comparisons with cases in the UK, US, Australia, and the Netherlands. Building Urban Resilience Through Change of Use covers the benefits and aspects of sustainable conversion adaptation through the whole lifecycle from inception, planning, and design, to procurement, construction, and management and operational issues. It illustrates and quantifies, through empirical research, the changes that have been achieved or delivered in sustainable conversion adaptation. The book gives an overview of all aspects of performance characteristics and the conversion adaptation of existing buildings. In the end, it enables planners to make more informed decisions about whether conversion adaptation is a good choice—and if so, which types of sustainability measures are best suited for projects. Provides detailed, empirical knowledge based on real-world research undertaken in five countries over three continents on both a citywide scale and on individual buildings Case studies and exemplars demonstrate the application of the knowledge in North and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and in Europe Addresses the key themes of technology, finance and procurement, and the regulatory framework The first research-based book to examine how to improve resilience to climate change through sustainable reuse of buildings, Building Urban Resilience Through Change of Use is a welcome book for researchers and academics involved in building surveying, urban development, and sustainability planning.

This handbook is a resource for enhancing disaster resilience in urban areas. It summarizes the guiding principles, tools, and practices in key economic sectors that can facilitate incorporation of resilience concepts into decisions about infrastructure investments and urban management that are integral to reducing disaster and climate risks.

The concept of resilience has arisen as a “new way of thinking”, becoming a response to both the causes and effects of ongoing global challenges. As it strongly stresses cities’ transformative potential, resilience’s final purpose is to prevent and manage unforeseen events and improve communities’ environmental and social quality. Although the resilience theory has been investigated in depth, several methodological challenges remain, mainly related to the concept’s practical sphere. As a matter of fact, resilience is commonly criticised for being too ambiguous and empty of meaning. At the same time, turning resilience into practice is not easy to do. This will arguably be one of the most impactful global issues for future research on resilience. The Special Issue “Bridging the Gap: The Measure of Urban Resilience” falls under this heading, and it seeks to synthesise state-of-the-art knowledge of theories and practices on measuring resilience. The Special Issue collected 11 papers that address the following questions: “What are the theoretical perspectives of measuring urban resilience? What are the existing methods for measuring urban resilience? What are the main features that a technique for measuring urban resilience needs to have? What is the role of measuring urban resilience in operationalising cities’ ability to adapt, recover and benefit from shocks?”

This book brings together a series of theory and practice essays on risk management and adaptation in urban contexts within a resilient and multidimensional perspective. The book proposes a transversal approach with regard to the role of spatial planning in promoting and fostering risk management as well as institutions’ challenges for governing risk, particularly in relation to new forms of multi-level governance that may include stakeholders and citizen engagement. The different contributions focus on approaches, policies, and practices able to contrast risks in urban systems generating social inclusion, equity and participation through bottom-up governance forms and co-evolution principles. Case studies focus on lessons learned, as well as the potential and means for their replication and upscaling, also through capacity building and knowledge transfer. Among many other topics, the book explores difficulties encountered in, and creative solutions found, community and local experiences and capacities, organizational processes and integrative institutional, technical approaches to risk issue in cities.

This book explores key theoretical and empirical issues related to the development and implementation of planning strategies that can provide guidance on the transition to climate-compatible and low-carbon urban development. It especially focuses on integrating resilience thinking into the urban planning process, and explains how such an integration can contribute to reflecting the dynamic properties of cities and coping with the uncertainties inherent in future climate change projections. Some of the main questions addressed are: What are the innovative methods and processes needed to incorporate resilience thinking into urban planning? What are the characteristics of a resilient urban form and what are the challenges associated with integrating them into urban development? Also, how can the resilience of cities be measured and what are the main constituents of an urban resilience assessment framework? In addition to addressing these crucial questions, the book features several case studies from around the world, investigating methodologies, challenges, and opportunities for mainstreaming climate resilience in the theory and practice of urban planning. Featuring contributions by prominent researchers from around the world, the book offers a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners alike.

This is one of the first few books to discuss the Covid-19 crisis as an urban phenomenon and illustrates this through the case of Singapore and its pandemic response efforts. The book describes the implications and impacts of the pandemic on Singapore’s urban landscape, economy, and society. It also assesses the urban interventions that have emerged in response to the pandemic. It examines the spatial implications and challenges of delineating safe distancing in various public and commercial spaces and evaluates the effectiveness of these interventions. The book also explains how Singapore’s smart city capabilities help with its Covid-19 response. This book will be of great interest to urban planners, healthcare professionals, and policymakers across the world, particularly those who are hoping to learn from the success and limitations of Singapore’s Covid-19 responses.

Describes all aspects of sustainable conversion adaptation of existing buildings and provides solutions for making urban settlements resilient to climate change This comprehensive book explores the potential to change the character of cities with residential conversion of office space in order to withstand the negative effects of climate change. It investigates the nature and extent of sustainable conversion in a number of global cities, as well as the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal drivers and barriers to successful conversion. The book also identifies the key lessons learned through international comparisons with cases in the UK, US, Australia, and the Netherlands. Building Urban Resilience Through Change of Use covers the benefits and aspects of sustainable conversion adaptation through the whole lifecycle from inception, planning, and design, to procurement, construction, and management and operational issues. It illustrates and quantifies, through empirical research, the changes that have been achieved or delivered in sustainable conversion adaptation. The book gives an overview of all aspects of performance characteristics and the conversion adaptation of existing buildings. In the end, it enables planners to make more informed decisions about whether conversion adaptation is a good choice—and if so, which types of sustainability measures are best suited for projects. Provides detailed, empirical knowledge based on real-world research undertaken in five countries over three continents on both a citywide scale and on individual buildings Case studies and exemplars demonstrate the application of the knowledge in North and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and in Europe Addresses the key themes of technology, finance and procurement, and the regulatory framework The first research-based book to examine how to improve resilience to climate change through sustainable reuse of buildings, Building Urban Resilience Through Change of Use is a welcome book for researchers and academics involved in building surveying, urban development, and sustainability planning.

A deep understanding of the implications of green roof retrofit is required amongst students and practitioners to make the decisions and take the actions needed to mitigate climate changes. Green Roof Retrofit: building urban resilience illustrates the processes undertaken to develop this new knowledge and thereby embed a deeper level of understanding in readers.Illustrative case studies and exemplars are drawn from countries outside of the core researched areas to demonstrate the application of the knowledge more broadly. Examples are used from the Americas (North and South and Canada), Oceania, Asia and other European countries.The book describes the multiple criteria which inform decision making and how this provides a way forward for making better decisions about green roof retrofit in different countries and climates.