Browse

This paper analyses a multi-apartment residential building undergoing staged renovation during the heating season using real-time, hourly metered heat consumption data over two consecutive winters in a temperate-cold climate. The renovation is implemented in clearly identifiable phases, which enables an empirical, measure-by-measure assessment of changes in heating demand as works progress. The analysed interventions include insulation of basement heat distribution pipework, attic insulation, external wall insulat...

This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary traffic survey approaches, focusing on advanced data acquisition platforms and AI-based video analytics. The study highlights a significant transformation in traffic engineering, where traditional data collection methods are being complemented by modern solutions to provide detailed behavioral and safety-related insights. Central to this shift is the use of surrogate safety measures (SSMs) based on traffic conflicts and near-miss events, such as T...

This paper analyses how designing the same single-family building to different energy performance standards affects its life-cycle costs. The study compares five design scenarios for one building, starting from the current national minimum energy performance requirement, moving through a typical nearly zero-energy building solution and an enhanced NZEB variant, and progressing towards a highly energy-efficient Passive House and a Passive House PLUS solution with on-site photovoltaic generation. Each scenario is ev...

Omnicopters are fully actuated UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) with some special properties, such as the ability to fly in an arbitrarily chosen orientation. However, many of their characteristics, including their resistance to wind gusts, remain poorly understood. This paper presents a new multirotor design that can be used to conduct comparative studies. The proposed platform is an eight-engine aircraft, and its main advantage is the ability to rearrange four of the motors between two configurations when landed,...

With the dynamic development of the internet, we are observing the development of modern technologies to facilitate the quality of public life in urban spaces. Therefore, in the context of urban development and urban space management, the concept of "smart city" has emerged, aspiring to be one of the most important research areas and topics of the 21st century. GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technologies play a key role in the development of smart cities, particularly in the area of environmental protection....

The Creative Urban Workshop provided by architects and artists from RTU at Vienna SGEM international conference at December 2025 regarding Islandes Square, Kipsala, Riga, invites international experts and activists to give collaboratively envision a vibrant, multifunctional, and ecologically responsible public space. Positioned as the future -gate- to the RTU campus, Islandes Square offers a unique opportunity to integrate human-scaled urbanism with sustainable design. The workshop includes an introductory talk, o...

To increase the adoption of recycled plastics in the construction industry and to make this material economically viable, it is of outmost importance to develop technological processes that can make contaminated or dirty plastics useful. This study applies an Euler-Lagrange numerical approach to evaluate the suitability of injection moulds for optimized structural elements made from contaminated recycled polyethylene and to check if the mould shapes are compatible with a normal injection technological process. The...

The construction industry plays a critical role in global carbon emissions, contributing significantly to climate change. Embodied carbon, which encompasses all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the extraction, production, transportation, and construction of materials, has become a critical focus in sustainable design. Building Information Modeling (BIM), with tools such as Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Forma, One Click LCA and Tully, among others, offers opportunities to streamline embodied carbon analysi...

The development of UAV-based (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) diagnostic methods has created new opportunities for evaluating high-rise and industrial structures. While traditional multirotor drones are commonly used for visual and thermal inspections, their limited authority control reduces precision when operating close to complex surfaces. This review paper examines the capabilities of omnidirectional UAVs (omnicopters), which offer full control across six degrees of freedom by decoupling translation from rotation. S...

In 2015, the United Nations set 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030. Among them, the 11th goal is - sustainable cities and communities. Taking into account such factors as increasing urbanization, challenges of well-being in the urban environment, the imbalance of resources, the issue of sustainability of urban areas is becoming more and more relevant. It requires solutions that balances sustainable development in economic, environmental and social dimensions. Urban agriculture is a practice wi...

The article aims to develop the concept of environmental safety as a science and practice in the digital era in accordance with the goals of sustainable development. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the development of new models for predicting environmental risks based on machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. This includes forecasting climate change, air, water and other ecosystems pollution. Using the methods of systematic analysis and modelling of environmental safet...

Changes in land use and architectural renovation are a normal process in historic urban centres, and as a consequence there are changes in the occupation of properties, such as the loss of vegetation cover and filtering soils that could be integrated into the urban green system, which is now almost entirely concentrated in the public space. In this study, a series of orthophotographs of the historic centre of the city of Loja were analysed to determine the changes in vegetation cover and its distribution among squ...

The present research evaluated a facade alternative to reduce the indoor temperature of buildings in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Yantzaza, Ecuador). Three scale models were compared: one with a gabion facade and leafy vegetables (onion, lettuce, basil, chamomile, and cabbage), one with a gabion facade only, and one with a clay brick (traditional) facade. Thermal data from inside the models were analyzed in March (warmest month) and January (coldest month). The results showed that between 13:00 and 15:00 in January and ...

This article arises from a joint project between the universities of Jaen and Malaga (Spain), which are developing outdoor prototypes at the University Campus -called Smart-Trees- to improve the quality of exterior spaces for the university community. The starting point for creating these outdoor canopies is using recycled material and elements from other buildings, such as from demolition or disassembly operations. The first prototype was developed at the Malaga University Campus, and the second at the two campus...

This paper outlines the methodology of a technical due diligence preparation for the reconsolidation process of an abandoned building. The structure highlighted in this paper is an existing but incomplete building that has been abandoned for more than over a decade. For this study a technical due diligence was performed to assess the current condition of the asset presented on the next chapters of this paper. A technical due diligence represent the research and analysis discovery process which helps to collect ess...

In 2011, it was decided that the carrying public transport system in Bratislava would be tram transport. Today's transport system is based on radials, it was created as part of Bratislava's first comprehensive transport concept in the ?70s. One of the disadvantages of Bratislava's public transport system is the few tram lines in the city centre, which, with a large number of radials, causes vehicles from different radials to cluster together at dense and poorly spaced intervals. The disadvantage of the radial syst...

The variety of urban landscapes, especially of urban green spaces provide a wide range of human well-being opportunities, physical recreation, sport activities, and urban heat mitigation. Therefore, there are many studies applying remote sensing and GIS methods, which were related to the sustainable city development focused on the -green network-, -green spaces- and land use. Conversely, illegal landfills in and around settlements and rivers have a negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. Therefore, their...

By steady scientific research carried out in the last decades was possible to register wanted technological advance oriented also to succeed in shaping sustainable smart cities. Nowadays several cities on European level and not only are starting the implementation of smart city design strategies, which are foremostly developed by access to needed databases as well as by specific approaches related to location intelligence supporting by this shaping appropriate policies on local level. Smart cities imply effective ...

An ambitious reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is set by the political initiative -The European Green Deal- and -Fit for 55- package. The municipalities, which carry out the strategic management of the district heating systems, will have to ensure the sustainable development of the territory in a way that includes a significant increase in energy efficiency both in the building stock and in the related district heating system. The aim of this research is to study and develop an easy-to-use methodology and an a...

This paper presents a model for super-rapid charging stations powered by renewable energy sources and conducts an analysis of land suitability based on climatic parameters. Initially, data on temperature, solar radiation, and specific humidity were collected for three designated areas, followed by an examination of the variations in these values. Among the three cities, Cernavoda, Medgidia, and Ovidiu, two equal segments of approximately 30 kilometers each were established for the installation of photovoltaic pane...

The report explores spatial connectivity options for housing modules for post-disaster and emergency shelters. Various high-density module clustering archetypes are being explored and sustainable solutions are elaborated regarding saving usable space, utilizing resource efficiency and implementing environmentally friendly materials. Usually, the people affected by disasters are accommodated in unfavorable conditions, so the study explores decisions that ensure comfort during temporary habitation along with a regar...

The transition of built heritage towards energy efficiency is a complex process, encompassing a wide range of aspects and challenges. Moreover, the ongoing climate change, marked by rising average temperatures and an increase in extreme weather events, amplifies the urgency to improve energy efficiency and the overall performance of buildings. This necessitates the crucial adoption of appropriate solutions. Within this scenario, the discussion brings to light two key elements that define the current situation. The...

A miniaturized on-board platform for optic sensors stabilization is the proposed concept developed and tested by a multidisciplinary team of engineers under a UEFISCDI (the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding in Romania) research funding. The need for a UAV to capture images and give in-depth information of ground objects is fulfilled by the developed three-axial stabilized optical system. Modern techniques, technologies and state-of-the-art electronics are employed ...

This article compares daylighting in administrative building located in different climatic zones - Sweden, Czech Republic and Greece. Theese locations were chosen to best demonstrate the different lighting conditions across Europe. One room was selected and modelled, for which the daylighting in each country was then simulated and calculated. The values of the daylight factor were observed for simultaneous identical changes in window geometry and wall reflectance in all cases. Depending on the changes in window ge...

The creation of public spaces is currently quite conditioned by the impact of the idea of sustainable mobility and efforts to improve the environment in urban spaces. On the one hand, there are ideas and thoughts for improving public spaces, on the other hand, outdated legislation prevents these ideas from being sufficiently implemented. One of the most important elements for changing the division of transport work in urban conditions and thus improving the perception and appearance of public spaces is to increase...

Several types of transport integrates transit nodes. Transit nodes are located in built-up areas, inside cities or on the outskirts of cities, urban agglomerations. Transit nodes are an important part of public passenger transport. The article is about transit nodes on the regional railway line between Bratislava and Dunajska Streda. The transit nodes are the railway stations on this line. Intercepting parking lots are part of the transit nodes outside large cities. It is important to compare travel times from sou...

Global warming is a dangerous phenomenon caused by anthropogenic environmental pollution. Renewable energy sources (RES) contribute to minimizing CO2 emissions. At the 26th meeting of the conference of the Parties (COP26), goals to reduce net emissions were set as soon as possible. At the same time, the European Commission has set the goal of achieving zero net emissions by 2050. Thermal transformation of conventional energy carriers causes the depletion of natural resources, the formation of secondary waste, and ...

Urban agriculture has become increasingly topical in recent years due to both social trends and challenges of sustainable development. Although functions of the urban agriculture, especially economic and social, have been widely explored since the 1990s, the focus is mostly on regions where urban agriculture practices are strategies for survival and basic food security or on highly metropolitan cities, with little focus on countries and cities with a relatively medium or even low population density, thus excluding...

The article focuses on the Landscape Architect profession and the competencies that a person must have in order to be able to conduct research and analyses of green areas, organizing the space optimally, making informed management decisions and finding economically sound solutions. A landscape architect possesses specialized knowledge and skills that are directly involved in designing and managing the green infrastructure and its various components. The importance of this profession is undoubted in the process of ...

Bicycle transport is usually perceived as environmentally friendly alternative of car transport. From the point-of-view of everyday mobility, the bicycle is relatively fast, inexpensive, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport, which helps people to overcome the dependence on the car. For this reason, promoting cycling is one of the key concepts of sustainable mobility, which influences the creation of mobility management plans in recent decades. However, not everything is so bright. This article re...

Transport is part of our lives. We live in an accelerated time and this also affects our transport demands. We need to move from one place to another faster. People often use own cars to move faster. The individual automobile transport has advantages. I tis flexible, fast and comfortable. But the automobile transport disadvantages. Many cars cause traffic jams, have a negative impact on the environment and the public roads are load. Individual car transport competes with public transport. In our country the public...

A significant percentage of nowadays furniture is made of melamine faced chipboard. Even if the surface has a high resistance to aggressive factors, at the time of damage the commonly accepted solution is to replace the board or the entire affected assembly, even if the furniture is relatively new. Surface repair, in addition to being difficult, does not serve the interests of furniture or raw material manufacturers. The study verifies the possibility of repairing the surface of different melamine chipboard boards...

With the current worldwide trend of increasing individual car traffic in the urban road network, sustainable transport has become one of the key issues for the sustainable future of transport in cities. In fact, most of the journeys in the urban area are on shorter distances where we can substitute the car very easily. The contribution deals with the current state, after two months from the first appearance of shared e-scooters in the capital of Slovakia - Bratislava. We analysed the shared e-scooters from a mobil...

One of the greatest challenges in restoring the urban landscapes consists in getting data as accurate as possible on the historically evolving landscape. This case study of the historical ensemble of Ciacova, Timi? County in Romania, presents the methods for interpreting data from particular historical and archaeological research that contributed to establishing the principles for the restoration of the ensemble. On the one hand, the research provides the necessary data for the restoration process, on the other ha...

Public transport is a key component of sustainable mobility in cities. One way to increase attractiveness of public transport to citizens is to offer shorter travel time compared to other transport modes. Ensuring faster and smoother transit of road-based public transport vehicles (buses, trolleybuses, etc.) is possible by active prioritizing of these vehicles at signalized intersections. The article describes technologies and principles of decentralized GPS-based priority system operation with two-way real-time d...

This paper intents to present some of our results concerning a CAD based application which can provide a simple architectural procedure for the refurbishment of existing and abandoned courtyards in the historical center of Timisoara, Romania. Starting from the Local Urbanism Plan Map, this application could import the AutoCAD quotes and, based on these elements, could automatically add architectural elements, especially green areas, or other architectural objects, without using sophisticated architectural programs...

When thinking about sustainable design, social sustainability appears to be a fundamental feature that must be considered when shaping people and communities. This broad subject is narrowly approached within the present article following one specific viewpoint; social sustainability can be defined in the design process by analyzing materials? potential in crafts` and industries` activities alike. Paper`s potential on both these levels, in developing, through its production process, small scale communities and larg...

?Dimensioning all the elements in the urban layout should not be executed in any other way but that which is in accordance with human scale? [1], [2]. Evolution of the development of towns and cities resulted in the development of various models of spatial layout and the relations between urban units and human beings. Ancient and medieval towns demonstrated compact spatial arrangement, which resulted in generating shorter journeys and provision of security for the inhabitants. However, the very dense network of st...

The analysis of the productive landscape of Poieni and F?r??e?ti villages has been part of an extensive research of the cultural landscape of wooden orthodox churches in the ethnographic area of F?get, in Timi? County, Western part of Romania. The research was developed within the restoration project of the Saint Paraschieva church (1676), part of the national and universal heritage, located in Crivina de Sus village. This work aimed to answer the question ?what are the cultural assets of the Pietroasa commune, an...

This study outlines the solution to the problem caused by too large numbers of hiking tourists and skiers walking on top of the Kasprowy Wierch Mountain in the Tatra National Park, between three ski stations (one cable car and two chairlifts). Their choice of route is limited mostly due to a large difference in altitude between the top chairlift station on the Gasienicowa Glade and two other ski stations. To improve the conditions in the area of those ski stations a solution was sought that would permit an easy pa...

In the last years, turbo-roundabouts replace conventional multi-lane roundabouts with aim to ensure a higher level of traffic safety and capacity. The most important feature of turbo-roundabouts is a spiral course of the circulatory carriageway allowing drivers easily pass through the roundabout from the entry пїЅ circulatory carriageway пїЅ to the exit without a need to change traffic lanes. Despite of an original proposal assuming the physical separation of spiral lanes, in many countries, the lanes are пїЅsepar...

In many practical cases a composite column can be made-up as completely encased section or a concrete- filled section. In case of the composite steel-concrete members, the mechanism by which shear stresses can be transferred over the interface between the structural steel component and the encased concrete are adhesion, interface interlocking and friction, which are referred to as the natural bond. If the natural bond is not enough to achieve the required shear resistance there is the possibility of using mechanic...

As a result of increasing of urban population cities are currently facing a growing demand for space for residential, commercial, industrial or leisure use. Brownfield sites are very common in Romania, especially in big cities like Timisoara and in former industrial cities. Reusing brownfields is a way forward for the Romanian cities. There are many inspiring examples of brownfields regeneration in the EU, but every site is unique (including regulations, landowners, market attractiveness etc.) and all these partic...

The main goal of this present study is to determine the performance you can obtain from the implementation of fixed Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) on one family houses. The study will use a comparative method on one family houses between a flat roof, and a piched roof with two slopes, with different orientations of the plot. These various scenarios respond to urban implementation rules that are particular in urban planning. The calculations were made for a single family house with a built area of 100sqm ...

The proper selection of the structural steel grade has to take into account a lot of factors and, for structural steels, a minimum ductility is required so that the material shall have sufficient fracture toughness to avoid brittle fracture of the tension elements at the lowest service temperature. In this paper we present the methodology for selecting the toughness of structural steel with respect to EN 1993-1-10: 2003 and SR EN 1993-1-10: 2005. Establishing the steel sub-grade for the steel main girders of a rai...

This article looks at courtyard spaces in large scale housing estates as places to support social cohesion, by the same time promoting sustainable development. Being planned as multifunctional spaces, courtyards in large scale housing estates in Riga now face lack of activity, are overcrowded with cars and green areas are often described as monofunctional and in bad condition. In the cityпїЅs territory planning documents the land-use of courtyard spaces varies between green territories, residential development ter...

The continued effort for economic design of steel structures leads to decrease their weight by shape and material optimization through the using of thin webs, high-strength steels and their effective combination with usual structural steels. The efficiency of high-strength steels using and their combination with usual structural steels is evident in the case of beams mostly subjected to bending loading. But from the complex optimization analyses follow, that the using of high-strength steels and their combination ...