Fab City Foundation’s Post

📢 SEEDS 2025 - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 📢 We are delighted to announce the return of our International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference which will take place at Loughborough University on 03, 04 & 05 September 2025. This year we will focus on 'pursuing sustainability from an auxiliary commitment to a core priority, beyond common-sense, in a changing political and socio-economic landscape.' Across previous years, our understanding of the influence of the socio-economic characteristics on sustainable practices has seen a significant advancement. However, the political characteristics contribute little to our understanding of sustainable behaviour amidst change in national policies, housing, contribution to the natural environment, use of innovations, value for money, and overall impact of power within relative markets. For some, the impact of any change on the political landscape would ultimately mean an impact on the adoption of sustainable solutions, while for others, such a change does not necessarily entail a primary course of action. Amidst a change of political agendas, we now yet again find ourselves overlooking various scenarios that challenge the core tenets of Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS). Without delving into the plausible adverse effects of political decisions, and often also the indecisions, we stand to offer a little more than applied commonsense, as commonsense to promote these tenets may now need to be crafted in a slightly distinctive way. This year we ask... How do we redefine the ways we convey sustainability and ecological engineering, from a rather often seen auxiliary solutions to fit within the core values of any upcoming change? HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT & THEMES: Please submit abstracts by 13 January 2025 via the SEEDS MyPortal platform: https://lnkd.in/e4qtzur9 Follow the link above to also download our flyer and to find out more information about SEEDS 2025. ☝ #sustainability #ecological #engineering #design #conference #academicexcellence #research #sustainabilityconference #researchpaper #abstract #researchers #academicresearch Ali M. Saad, PhD Chris Gorse Saheed Ajayi Colin Booth Professor Darryl Newport Alison Pooley

Today at the #CATConference, attendees have had the chance to get a taste of what it's like to study on a CAT postgraduate course through joining talks by some of our Graduate School lecturers. 🌳The twin human-driven challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss are beginning to affect all aspects of the planet’s life-support systems. CAT lecturer Dr Alexandra Hamer delved into how we can navigate these challenges. 🏡 On a walking tour of the green buildings across the CAT site, CAT lecturer Tim Coleridge discussed the impact and emissions linked to the building industry, the pros and cons of sustainable materials and constructions, and how we can use low-impact, natural building materials. ⚖️The climate and biodiversity crises are inextricably linked with social injustice - CAT lecturer Dr Sam Saville discussed the need to address these injustices when tackling the environmental problems we face. Find out more about how you can explore #SustainableSolutions and gain the skills to make a real difference on our postgraduate and Masters courses👇 https://lnkd.in/eriqjgSU

Since 2000, as students at the Universidad del Atlántico, we have been implementing sustainability and bioclimatic design strategies. This image shows our winning project at CLEFAXX in Chile-2003, where the 1st Latin American student biennial was held, calling for a competition whose theme was the Reconversion of public spaces from an environmental perspective. This project started from a detailed urban analysis of the municipality to finally physically and culturally rehabilitate 3 neighborhoods of Sahagún, highlighting this intervention in a deteriorated public space, we proposed: photovoltaic systems, Biogas, elements of the Zenú indigenous culture, native landscaping, cultural hall, passive and active recreation, among others. Authors: Vladimir Tovar, Julio C. Pérez.

WHO IS EDL? WHAT DO WE DO? HOW DO WE WORK? The Ecological Design Lab is directed by Professor Nina-Marie Lister at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, with Lab Manager Sabrina Careri, to test strategies, develop evidence-based next-generation practices, and find tangible solutions to sustainability and resilience, as we rethink, remake, reinvent and renew our relationship to nature in the city. Creative, evidence-based thinking, community-collaborative planning and informed, inspired design are composite, requisite criteria for active and informed responses to complex socio-ecological problems. Our goal is to stimulate collaboration, and narrow the gap between research, practice and decision-making through the co-generation of knowledge and its transfer between researchers, students, citizens, municipal decision-makers and design professionals. Visit our website: https://lnkd.in/gcecjHdc for more! #EcologicalDesignLab #UrbanEcology #SustainableCities #ResilientDesign #NatureInTheCity #SustainabilityResearch #UrbanResilience #CommunityPlanning #CollaborativeDesign #SocioEcologicalSystems #ClimateAdaptation #BiodiversityInCities #NatureBasedSolutions

Read the new Regional Studies Association Policy Impact book, 'Going Circular: Unlocking the Potential of Regions and Cities to Drive the Circular Economy Transition'. 📖 Co edited by Professor Joanna Williams who also contributed two chapters, the book is the result of a collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft. It explores the concept of a circular economy (CE) and its transformative potential for cities and regions. 🔗 Find out more: https://lnkd.in/ecBXZ7ZV

"Labs have evolved to be more than just highly technical work boxes; they are social buildings in much the same way as other building types, needing collaborative spaces for scientific interaction and healthy indoor work environments. And they can be more sustainable than ever." In this Quick Take with Arlen Li, the national leader in HGA’s Science + Technology market sector shares early experiences and influences that shaped his dedication to environmental design, emphasizes the importance of prioritizing responsible materials and highlights strategies our teams employ to deliver sustainable research buildings for leading academic and corporate life sciences clients. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/gnX7dtvp

I am delighted to share that my article, "Cultural Sustainability in the Historic Environment: An Application of Structural Functionalism Theory," has been published in The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice. This work originated from my thesis dissertation. The article explores sustainable regeneration within a historical context and presents a conceptual model of sustainability based on structural functionalism theory from social science. In the final section, I provide a practical example of this model through the historic environment of Dardasht in Isfahan City.

📢 SEEDS 2025 - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - DEADLINE EXTENDED - 31 JANUARY 2025 📢 We are delighted that our International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference will take place at Loughborough University on 03, 04 & 05 September 2025. This year, we will focus on 'pursuing sustainability from an auxiliary commitment to a core priority, beyond common-sense, in a changing political and socio-economic landscape.' Across previous years, our understanding of the influence of the socio-economic characteristics on sustainable practices has seen a significant advancement. However, the political characteristics contribute little to our understanding of sustainable behaviour amidst change in national policies, housing, contribution to the natural environment, use of innovations, value for money, and overall impact of power within relative markets. For some, the impact of any change on the political landscape would ultimately mean an impact on the adoption of sustainable solutions, while for others, such a change does not necessarily entail a primary course of action. Amidst a change of political agendas, we now yet again find ourselves overlooking various scenarios that challenge the core tenets of Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS). Without delving into the plausible adverse effects of political decisions, and often also the indecisions, we stand to offer a little more than applied common sense, as common sense to promote these tenets may now need to be crafted in a slightly distinctive way. This year we ask... How do we redefine the ways we convey sustainability and ecological engineering, from a rather often seen auxiliary solutions to fit within the core values of any upcoming change? HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT & THEMES: The deadline to submit abstracts has been extended to 31 January 2025. Please submit abstracts via the SEEDS MyPortal platform: https://lnkd.in/e4qtzur9 Follow the link above to also download our flyer and to find out more information about SEEDS 2025. ☝ #sustainability #engineering #research #conference #sustainabilityconference #researchpaper #abstract Ali M. Saad, PhD Chris Gorse Saheed Ajayi Colin Booth Professor Darryl Newport Alison Pooley

🚀 Our second blog in our series on public-private cooperation is now live! 🚀 In this blog, Jennie Dodson, Suzy Glass, Lewis Howard, James MacPherson, PhD and myself explore the headline findings from our research project exploring the critical conditions and roles for effective public-private cooperation. 🗣️ Throughout the research process, we heard time and time again from the 60+ practitioners we interviewed, the literature we reviewed, and the 30+ case studies we identified that the world needs new normative architecture that enables business, government, finance and civil society to work together on the shared missions that will enable co-investment to address the most complex and urgent sustainability challenges. 🔜 In our next blog, we will pull the curtain back on what we think this new normative architecture could look like, and how we could go about building it. 📚 Read the blog to explore our headline findings and let me know what you think in the comments below! https://lnkd.in/e6y64Hj9

🎉 100 Citations Milestone! 🎉 I'm excited to share that my article "Fundamentals of Building Deconstruction as a Circular Economy Strategy for the Reuse of Construction Materials" has reached 100 citations as of September 21, 2024! This achievement highlights the growing interest in building deconstruction as a key strategy for circular economy and the reuse of construction materials and encourages me to keep contributing to research and innovation in urban planning and sustainability! #CircularEconomy #BuildingDeconstruction #Sustainability #Research #UrbanPlanning