Towards sustainable housing in Switzerland: housing size as a link between tenants' residential decisions and environmental impact

Housing size is a key variable in determining the environmental footprint of residential buildings. Besides the environmental aspect, housing size is the result of residential decisions made by households, which are influenced by the interplay of factors on an individual level and of the surrounding social structure. Therefore, considering residential preferences is crucial in efforts towards housing sustainability, however, research has so far hardly combined the two perspectives. We have employed an interdisciplinary approach by investigating into the relations between housing size and the environmental impact of dwellings based on literature and consequently analysing the potential of a reduction of housing size by considering households’ willingness to move to smaller dwellings if they were to shrink in size. The quantitative analysis of a survey with tenants from Switzerland revealed that 40% of the respondents would not be willing to move and 25% would be willing to move, suggesting that a reduction in household size was not widely considered a trigger for moving. We found not being willing to move related to the attachment to the current dwelling and its location which can overshadow financial benefits from moving to a smaller dwelling, especially for the more affluent households. This effect is enhanced by the difficulty of finding a satisfactory and cheaper dwelling on the rental market. To overcome such constraints, we suggest systematic incentives and facilitation of downsizing moves, together with ensuring a supply of adequate dwellings meeting diverse needs and providing high quality of living while using resources efficiently.

Urban renewal and sustainability

Maria Gracia Riera Perez

Many studies have shown that urban sprawl, which typifies most European cities, leads to: waste of land, increased energy demand, environmental impacts and high infrastructure costs. It is therefore necessary to renew the existing urban fabric to provide a good quality environment for a growing population, enable efficient management of economic resources, energy and environment. The aim of the project is to develop a decision support tool at the neighborhood scale, integrating sustainability into the dynamics of urban renewal projects through a multi-criteria assessment method including socio-cultural, economic and environmental aspects. This research project aims to promote a transparent, conscious and responsible decision-making, but also to contribute to the creative process of the future vision through a reliable and structured source of information on the neighborhood and its context.

2012

Towards the reduction of environmental impacts of temporary event infrastructures

Loïc Vivien Fumeaux

In the context of temporary events, the use of structural systems suitable for short-term use, is a key strategy in terms of organization. However, this type of infrastructure currently requires the implementation of significant resources, for which the characteristics of flexibility and economic efficiency most often prevail over considerations related to sustainability. This lack of sustainability exists due to several attributes of a temporary building. Firstly, the distance between the place of storage and the one of use requires transportation, which can sometimes represent a significant share of consumption and environmental impacts. Furthermore, heat energy required to achieve an acceptable level of indoor comfort in a building with little or no thermal isolation is disproportionate to the short time of use. Finally, the materials used, in most cases, have a significant life cycle in terms of embodied energy required for their manufacture and respectively their disposal. However, many parameters are not as yet subject to specific studies. Contributing to remedy this lack, the present paper aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of current temporary event infrastructures and to compare them with the expected performances of an alternative proposition, the On STAGE Project, the design of which refers to architectural quality and high level of comfort with an optimal use of resources and a minimization of environmental impacts.

2014

Towards the reduction of environmental impacts of temporary event infrastructures

Loïc Vivien Fumeaux

In the context of temporary events, the use of structural systems suitable for short-term use, is a key strategy in terms of organization. However, this type of infrastructure currently requires the implementation of significant resources, for which the characteristics of flexibility and economic efficiency most often prevail over considerations related to sustainability. This lack of sustainability exists due to several attributes of a temporary building. Firstly, the distance between the place of storage and the one of use requires transportation, which can sometimes represent a significant share of consumption and environmental impacts. Furthermore, heat energy required to achieve an acceptable level of indoor comfort in a building with little or no thermal isolation is disproportionate to the short time of use. Finally, the materials used, in most cases, have a significant life cycle in terms of embodied energy required for their manufacture and respectively their disposal. However, many parameters are not as yet subject to specific studies. Contributing to remedy this lack, the present poster aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of current temporary event infrastructures and to compare them with the expected performances of an alternative proposition, the On STAGE Project, the design of which refers to architectural quality and high level of comfort with an optimal use of resources and a minimization of environmental impacts.

2014