This paper addresses two typically separate issues contributing to urban quality of life: increasing noise levels and declining quality of public green space. Drawing from environmental psychology, ecology and acoustical methods, this interdisciplinary research studied the soundscapes of three green spaces in a UK city through interviews with 70 park users, the measurement of habitat and recording of sound levels. The data reveal a prevalence of mechanical sounds and a hierarchy of preference for natural over people and mechanical sounds. There was a link between sound levels, both objective and perceived, and the type of sounds heard. The presence of these sounds varied across sites in part due to the ecological qualities of the place, specifically the presence of birds and shrub vegetation. The results suggest that people's opportunity to access quiet, natural places in urban areas can be enhanced by improving the ecological quality of urban green spaces through targeted planning and design.

Cities are increasingly adopting potentially sustainable climate plans. Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into these plans could help stabilize the climate while generating jobs, narrowing equity gaps, fostering innovation, and delivering other sustainability benefits. Yet, how much cities are integrating the SDGs into climate plans remains poorly understood. This article shed light on this question with a text analysis of SDG “keywords” in climate plans for two British and two Japanese cities. The results revealed that none of the surveyed cities have connected climate with socioeconomic priorities covered in SDG1 (poverty), SDG8 (employment), SDG5 (gender), and SDG10 (inequalities). Meanwhile, the United Kingdom cities made more connections between climate and responsible consumption and production (SDG12) than the Japanese cities. Further, Kyoto, Japan shares a climate-SDGs linkages profile that resembles the United Kingdom cities more than Kawasaki. Though not without limitations, text analysis can facilitate the city-to-city peer learning needed to make urban climate plans sustainable within and across countries.

A technique to measure arbitrarily complex luminous fluxes across large areas is presented. The technique is founded on high-dynamic range (HDR) imaging technology and can be achieved using a standard consumer digital camera and everyday materials such as printer-grade white paper. The same approach can also be used to determine the direct and diffuse components of illuminance. The technique has been named transmission illuminance proxy - high dynamic range imaging or TIP-HDRI.

Energy-efficient building performance requires sophisticated control systems that are based on realistic occupant behaviour models. To provide robust data for the development of these models, research studies in real-world settings are needed. Yet, such studies are challenging and necessitate careful design in terms of data collection methods and procedures. This paper describes and critiques the design of a mixed methods approach for occupant behaviour research. It reviews the methodology developed for a longitudinal study in a real-world office environment where occupants’ experience with a novel facade technology (electrochromic glazing) was investigated. The methodology integrates objective physical measurements, observational data and self-reported experience data. Using data from one day of the study, this paper illustrates how the different sources can be combined in order to derive an in-depth understanding of the interplay between external daylight conditions, characteristics of the facade technology, occupant interaction with the technology and the resulting occupant experience. It was found that whilst the individual methods may be affected by practical limitations, these can be partially offset by combining physical measurements and observations with self-reported data. The paper critically evaluates the individual techniques, as well as the benefits of their integration and makes recommendations for the design of future occupant behaviour studies in real-world settings.

Intelligent cameras, or smart cameras as they are often referred to, appear ubiquitously in our everyday lives, both at home and at work. In our pockets, bags, cars and homes we are now experiencing and interacting with a new generation of smart cameras that far surpass the ability to merely capture images - they can provide high-level descriptions of the environment and analyse what they see. Recently, researchers at De Montfort University have developed a low-cost, low-power intelligent camera system that incorporates a 2.8" touchscreen and a fisheye lens, is capable of capturing visual environment data, performing algorithms to extract metrics and wirelessly transmit them to the cloud for further analysis. Having the advantage of a short focal length and wide field of view, our fisheye camera system can provide information for a multidisciplinary audience including image processing, camera technology and embedded systems, and support a wide variety of applications such as surveillance, home monitoring, motion analysis, facial identification and intelligent transportation systems. This paper describes a first generation prototype camera system that gathers luminance data by capturing High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery that is comparable to the data acquired with costly and cumbersome research equipment. The paper also explores the requirements for, benefits of, and challenges faced when developing an even smarter intelligent camera system.