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Prof. Dr. Male Pons Valladares
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

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0 Architecture
0 Concrete
0 Sustainability
0 Technological Advancement
0 Building Assessment

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Sustainability
Concrete
Architecture
Circular economy and zero waste

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Short Biography

Oriol Pons has been an architect since 2004, professor of Architectural Technology at ETSAB, UPC since 2008 and doctor since 2009. His professional experience as an architect, for example, in the construction of Barcelona’s Basilica Sagrada Familia (2013-17) and in the Precast company Planas (2004-8 and 2011-12), is strongly related to his research projects: sustainability and new technologies in architecture. He is an expert in educational, off-site and post-disaster architecture as well as in construction using concrete and recycled materials. He has led and participated in competitive projects on these areas of expertise at the UPC since 2009 and at the iMat Research Center (2008-11), being the author of several patents and presenting the results in numerous conferences, publications and patents.

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Journal article
Published: 13 June 2021 in Journal of Building Engineering
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Temporary housing units (THUs), as a solution for accommodating displaced population (DP) in the aftermath of disasters, are critical in terms of the three main sustainability pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Furthermore, the need for these units could grow due to the currently increasing social vulnerability and climate-related hazards. Thus, to enhance the sustainability performance of THUs, which incorporate the most negative aspects of the building industry, is required. One of the THUs less-studied features, which could have considerable impacts on the main pillars of sustainability, is unit configuration types. Therefore, this study presents a novel model that enables decision-makers to select the most suitable THUs configuration types based on the characteristics and requirements each case has. This model combines several methods for the first time, learning from these methods numerous former uncombined applications. This model assesses THUs sustainability using the Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment (MIVES) combined with DesignBuilder®, a simplified life-cycle assessment (LCA), interviews and sensibility analyses.1 This project applies this model for the first time to assess different THUs suggested for Bam's earthquake recovery program. This application has validated the model demonstrating that semi-detached units perform as the most suitable configuration types alternatives for Bam's THUs. This is especially the case of two-story types, although several social issues should be improved in future DP housing. Furthermore, after this pioneering research paper in the subfield of THU configuration types, future projects should enlarge upon its findings to move towards better THUs for the future.

ACS Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini; Leila Farahzadi; Oriol Pons. Assessing the sustainability index of different post-disaster temporary housing unit configuration types. Journal of Building Engineering 2021, 42, 102806 .

AMA Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini, Leila Farahzadi, Oriol Pons. Assessing the sustainability index of different post-disaster temporary housing unit configuration types. Journal of Building Engineering. 2021; 42 ():102806.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini; Leila Farahzadi; Oriol Pons. 2021. "Assessing the sustainability index of different post-disaster temporary housing unit configuration types." Journal of Building Engineering 42, no. : 102806.

Journal article
Published: 17 February 2021 in Building and Environment
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Green roofs are environmentally-friendly architectural solutions that contribute to air quality improvement, especially in an air-polluted metropolis like Tehran, where space is scarce and expensive. At present, there are different types of green roofs available, with the intensive, semi-intensive, and extensive the most feasible for urban settlements. This project aims to develop a new model to find the most suitable green roof to reduce air pollution in cities. To achieve this, after an initial study of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, this study combines the agile multi-criteria decision-making method MIVES with an analytic hierarchy process and sensitivity analysis. This new model has successfully evaluated the suitability of the aforementioned three alternatives in Tehran's residential buildings. This assessment confirmed that this new approach can assist urban managers, architects, and constructors in selecting the most adequate green roof solution to contribute to improving air quality in cities. Nevertheless, all three evaluated solutions require improvement in terms of sustainability. This article recommends, for this specific case study, the application of an optimized version of the semi-intensive alternative by replacing its most expensive and large embodied energy components with eco-efficient and cost-effective materials, such as bio-waste and recycled materials.

ACS Style

S. Hamed Banirazi Motlagh; Oriol Pons; S. M. Amin Hosseini. Sustainability model to assess the suitability of green roof alternatives for urban air pollution reduction applied in Tehran. Building and Environment 2021, 194, 107683 .

AMA Style

S. Hamed Banirazi Motlagh, Oriol Pons, S. M. Amin Hosseini. Sustainability model to assess the suitability of green roof alternatives for urban air pollution reduction applied in Tehran. Building and Environment. 2021; 194 ():107683.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. Hamed Banirazi Motlagh; Oriol Pons; S. M. Amin Hosseini. 2021. "Sustainability model to assess the suitability of green roof alternatives for urban air pollution reduction applied in Tehran." Building and Environment 194, no. : 107683.

Review
Published: 22 November 2020 in Sustainability
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Considering the serious challenges our planet is facing, the building environment and construction sector must minimize their high negative impacts and maximize their contribution to sustainability. Many alternatives could promote this change, but to effectively optimize our architecture, we must take the step of quantifying and qualifying the sustainability of our constructions by choosing the best assessment alternative in each case. Many assessment methodologies and tools exist and there have been numerous reviews of them. The main objective and novelty of this review is to present an updated critical overview of all the sustainability evaluation alternatives developed in research studies in the fields of architectural design, construction, refurbishment and restoration. To achieve this, the analysis follows a specific methodology based on recent similar reviews. The result is a database with 1242 eligible documents analyzed in this review and attached as supplementary material available for future studies. As a main conclusion, rating tools and life cycle methods were found to be the most commonly applied methodologies, while the most recent tendencies use combined methods and probabilistic scenarios. This review could be useful to move towards a more sustainable building environment.

ACS Style

Oriol Pons-Valladares; Jelena Nikolic. Sustainable Design, Construction, Refurbishment and Restoration of Architecture: A Review. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9741 .

AMA Style

Oriol Pons-Valladares, Jelena Nikolic. Sustainable Design, Construction, Refurbishment and Restoration of Architecture: A Review. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (22):9741.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Oriol Pons-Valladares; Jelena Nikolic. 2020. "Sustainable Design, Construction, Refurbishment and Restoration of Architecture: A Review." Sustainability 12, no. 22: 9741.

Journal article
Published: 18 August 2020 in Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
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One of the main challenges in assisting displaced persons who have lost their homes as a result of a natural hazard is the provision of adequate post-disaster accommodations, such as temporary housing. Although the need for temporary housing has increased around the world in recent years, it has been criticized on economic, environmental, and social grounds. A universal approach to post-disaster accommodations cannot successfully deal with this issue because each recovery process involves a unique set of conditions. Therefore, rather than defining a specific strategy, this study aims to present an approach capable of producing customized strategies based on contextual and social conditions. To this end, first, the main factors influencing the choice of post-disaster accommodations are identified through five case studies. It is concluded that all of the factors can be organized into three main vertices to simplify the highly complex issues involved in post-disaster accommodations. The case studies also show that the decision-making process consists of two main parts. To date, a recurring failure to distinguish between these two parts has led to unsuitable outcomes. Thus, this paper presents a new decision-making methodology, consisting of multiple steps, phases, and indicators based on the main vertices.

ACS Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini; Albert de la Fuente; Oriol Pons; Carmen Mendoza Arroyo. A Decision Methodology for Determining Suitable Post-Disaster Accommodations: Reconsidering Effective Indicators for Decision-making Processes. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 2020, 17, 1 .

AMA Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini, Albert de la Fuente, Oriol Pons, Carmen Mendoza Arroyo. A Decision Methodology for Determining Suitable Post-Disaster Accommodations: Reconsidering Effective Indicators for Decision-making Processes. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 2020; 17 (3):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini; Albert de la Fuente; Oriol Pons; Carmen Mendoza Arroyo. 2020. "A Decision Methodology for Determining Suitable Post-Disaster Accommodations: Reconsidering Effective Indicators for Decision-making Processes." Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 17, no. 3: 1.

Journal article
Published: 12 July 2020 in Journal of Building Engineering
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This article presents a pioneering experimental campaign on waste materials that rigorously tests numerous specimens to study their degradation behavior and the unreported mechanical properties of aged samples. The novel results of these tests, along with the mechanical properties and fire properties which new waste samples obtained from a previous article have are analyzed to check the feasibility of employing these household wastes in educational workshops for the self-construction of façades. Numerous previous studies on plastics degradation have analyzed the tensile strength reduction of polymers that compose the household waste studied in this project. However, no similar research projects on the degradation behavior of unprocessed Tetra Pak containers are reported in the literature. Most former studies were carried out in laboratories while few research projects studied waste degradation under real environmental conditions. The main results are: finding the unreported Tetra Pak mechanical properties of aged samples, discarding polystyrene household waste and some glues for exterior applications, and succeeding in introducing a TiO2-based finishing for Tetra Pak elements.

ACS Style

Saeid Habibi; Oriol Pons; Tobias Abt. Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Degradation behavior and mechanical properties of aged samples. Journal of Building Engineering 2020, 33, 101573 .

AMA Style

Saeid Habibi, Oriol Pons, Tobias Abt. Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Degradation behavior and mechanical properties of aged samples. Journal of Building Engineering. 2020; 33 ():101573.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Saeid Habibi; Oriol Pons; Tobias Abt. 2020. "Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Degradation behavior and mechanical properties of aged samples." Journal of Building Engineering 33, no. : 101573.

Journal article
Published: 09 May 2020 in Materials
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Sprayed mortar or shotcrete is a construction technology that could enhance existing masonry buildings’ resilience by reinforcing low-safety load-bearing walls. Many factors affect the resistance of shotcrete-reinforced structures. One of the most important is the bond strength at the interface between the shotcrete and the reinforced wall. According to previous technical literature, bond strength usually has two evaluation criteria: shear and tensile strength. The experimental campaign described in this article focused on the bond strength between sprayed mortar and three masonry materials without the influence of normal force or constraint, as well as the roughness of these materials. The analysis of these tests focused on determining the relation between bond strength, roughness, and material strength. The analyses revealed that material strength has a more significant effect on bond strength than roughness, and bond strength is related to shrinkage of the materials. On the basis of previous theories, these researchers found that when there is no obvious influence due to normal force and constraint, the shear strength and tensile strength are different, and the shear strength is likely to be the cohesion force of the two materials. Finally, this article concludes with a novel logarithmic relationship between these strengths.

ACS Style

Dawei Huang; Oriol Pons; Albert Albareda. Bond Strength Tests under Pure Shear and Tension between Masonry and Sprayed Mortar. Materials 2020, 13, 2183 .

AMA Style

Dawei Huang, Oriol Pons, Albert Albareda. Bond Strength Tests under Pure Shear and Tension between Masonry and Sprayed Mortar. Materials. 2020; 13 (9):2183.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dawei Huang; Oriol Pons; Albert Albareda. 2020. "Bond Strength Tests under Pure Shear and Tension between Masonry and Sprayed Mortar." Materials 13, no. 9: 2183.

Journal article
Published: 20 January 2020 in Journal of Building Engineering
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An important amount of human household waste can be reused, as it is presently done all over the world in numerous social initiatives such as “Do It Yourself” proposals. Some waste containers have sufficiently good mechanical properties that make these containers promising candidates as some architectural elements. For example, this waste can become non-load bearing façade components, which have to withstand much smaller stresses than structural elements such as columns and beams. This article is part of a broader research project that is developing low-cost new solar control devices for school façades reusing household waste. These façade components will be assembled during workshops by elementary school communities. This present research paper studies this cladding use of the household waste and analyzes these waste-based components mechanical and fire properties by carrying out laboratory tests. These test results will be the base of future simulations and friendly-use tables for children during the aforementioned workshops. Conclusions for this research article are: a) that plastic waste materials have similar properties to new plastic materials for construction although they have been built for packaging purposes and their implementation in façades requires further studies and caution; b) tetra pack has particularly interesting properties which had been largely unexplored.

ACS Style

Oriol Pons; Tobias Abt. Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Mechanical and fire properties. Journal of Building Engineering 2020, 29, 101202 .

AMA Style

Oriol Pons, Tobias Abt. Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Mechanical and fire properties. Journal of Building Engineering. 2020; 29 ():101202.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Oriol Pons; Tobias Abt. 2020. "Evaluation of household waste materials for façade components in primary educational workshops. Mechanical and fire properties." Journal of Building Engineering 29, no. : 101202.

Journal article
Published: 14 November 2019 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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A model to evaluate the sustainability of structural elements is developed. MIVES is proved to be an adequate sustainability assessment tool in these cases. Girders and trusses made of timber, concrete and steel are analysed. Timber and concrete trusses achieve the highest global sustainability indexes.

ACS Style

I. Josa; O. Pons; A. de la Fuente; A. Aguado. Multi-criteria decision-making model to assess the sustainability of girders and trusses: Case study for roofs of sports halls. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 249, 119312 .

AMA Style

I. Josa, O. Pons, A. de la Fuente, A. Aguado. Multi-criteria decision-making model to assess the sustainability of girders and trusses: Case study for roofs of sports halls. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 249 ():119312.

Chicago/Turabian Style

I. Josa; O. Pons; A. de la Fuente; A. Aguado. 2019. "Multi-criteria decision-making model to assess the sustainability of girders and trusses: Case study for roofs of sports halls." Journal of Cleaner Production 249, no. : 119312.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2019 in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
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ACS Style

Ana Nadal; Daniel Rodríguez-Cadena; Oriol Pons; Eva Cuerva; Alejandro Josa; Joan Rieradevall. Feasibility assessment of rooftop greenhouses in Latin America. The case study of a social neighborhood in Quito, Ecuador. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 2019, 44, 1 .

AMA Style

Ana Nadal, Daniel Rodríguez-Cadena, Oriol Pons, Eva Cuerva, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall. Feasibility assessment of rooftop greenhouses in Latin America. The case study of a social neighborhood in Quito, Ecuador. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 2019; 44 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ana Nadal; Daniel Rodríguez-Cadena; Oriol Pons; Eva Cuerva; Alejandro Josa; Joan Rieradevall. 2019. "Feasibility assessment of rooftop greenhouses in Latin America. The case study of a social neighborhood in Quito, Ecuador." Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 44, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2019 in Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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Fiber-reinforced concrete has been used in structures without any additional reinforcement when the design is determined by transient load stages (precast segments for tunnels), in elements with favorable boundary conditions, and in structures subjected to low load levels (pavements or pipes). Recently, the material has been used as the primary reinforcement in elements with greater structural responsibility, such as building column-supported slabs. Several dozen buildings have incorporated this new technology, and research is being conducted on how to optimize the design while guaranteeing the required reliability levels. However, in some cases, fibers have not been used as the primary reinforcement in concrete slabs for economic reasons. In most cases, the solution is compared with existing alternatives (traditionally reinforced concrete) considering only the direct material costs and disregarding indirect costs, social aspects, and environmental factors. The building construction sector lacks sustainability rating tools to assess structural components separately (e.g., columns, floors, panels, and façades). This paper presents a new method that can be used to assess the sustainability of concrete slabs by means of a multicriteria decision-making approach including fiber-reinforced concrete. It used rigorous analyses of current concrete slab technologies and sustainability assessment tools. Criteria, indicators, weights, and value functions were specifically selected, defined, and calibrated for this research.

ACS Style

Albert De La Fuente; Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio; Oriol Pons; Jaume Armengou. Sustainability of Column-Supported RC Slabs: Fiber Reinforcement as an Alternative. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 2019, 145, 04019042 .

AMA Style

Albert De La Fuente, Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio, Oriol Pons, Jaume Armengou. Sustainability of Column-Supported RC Slabs: Fiber Reinforcement as an Alternative. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 2019; 145 (7):04019042.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Albert De La Fuente; Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio; Oriol Pons; Jaume Armengou. 2019. "Sustainability of Column-Supported RC Slabs: Fiber Reinforcement as an Alternative." Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 145, no. 7: 04019042.

Conference paper
Published: 21 June 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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While the majority of the recent studies report on sustainability assessment of buildings as a whole, research on the sustainable performance of building independent elements (e.g., envelope and façades) is scarce. Façades, as the first line of defense against the undesirable external impact, may contribute to the building sustainability by reducing the amount of energy consumption and providing thermal comfort for the inhabitants, thus minimizing the environmental impact on both the building and on the environment. Despite the significance of this issue, there are a few studies that focus on sustainability assessment of façades that consider economic, environmental and social aspects; however, these aspects are generally taken into account in a decoupled manner and, often, not objectively measured. In this respect, a set of criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability of residential façade systems is presented and discussed in detail herein. In addition, a new model for assessing objectively sustainability of building façades is also presented. This approach has been obtained by using MIVES, a Multi-Criteria Decision Making model that integrates the main sustainability requirements (economic, environmental and social) and includes the concept of value functions.

ACS Style

G Gilani; Oriol Pons-Valladares; A De La Fuente. Towards the Façades of the Future: A New Sustainability Assessment Approach. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 290, 012075 .

AMA Style

G Gilani, Oriol Pons-Valladares, A De La Fuente. Towards the Façades of the Future: A New Sustainability Assessment Approach. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 290 (1):012075.

Chicago/Turabian Style

G Gilani; Oriol Pons-Valladares; A De La Fuente. 2019. "Towards the Façades of the Future: A New Sustainability Assessment Approach." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 290, no. 1: 012075.

Journal article
Published: 22 May 2019 in Sustainability
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At present, university professors lack the tools to know which is the most sustainable activity and/or strategy that should be incorporated into large-group theoretical classes in order to improve our students’ learning process whilst taking each scenario into account. These scenarios have different order thinking levels, numbers of students, available time, classroom size and professor skills, among other factors to consider. In architecture schools we have this problem in theoretical lectures. This project has developed and applied a new multi-criteria decision making tool incorporating a mathematical algorithm in order to choose the best set of active learning activities for each case for these lectures in architectural technology courses. This process has relied on seminars involving experts and the use of The Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment. This tool has been very useful to solve the aforementioned problems because architecture professors have been able to choose the most sustainable activity for each scenario considering the alternative sustainability indexes. This first application has been highly useful to assist professors to incorporate active learning methodologies in their classes and to promote lecturers’ management of their course contents and time. Future improved versions of this tool will increase its interactivity and broaden its scope.

ACS Style

Oriol Pons; Jordi Franquesa; S. M. Amin Hosseini. Integrated Value Model to Assess the Sustainability of Active Learning Activities and Strategies in Architecture Lectures for Large Groups. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2917 .

AMA Style

Oriol Pons, Jordi Franquesa, S. M. Amin Hosseini. Integrated Value Model to Assess the Sustainability of Active Learning Activities and Strategies in Architecture Lectures for Large Groups. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (10):2917.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Oriol Pons; Jordi Franquesa; S. M. Amin Hosseini. 2019. "Integrated Value Model to Assess the Sustainability of Active Learning Activities and Strategies in Architecture Lectures for Large Groups." Sustainability 11, no. 10: 2917.

Conference paper
Published: 17 December 2018 in Proceedings of IFoU 2018: Reframing Urban Resilience Implementation: Aligning Sustainability and Resilience
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Natural and man-made disasters and conflicts occur constantly around the world, leaving displaced and vulnerable people every year, especially in the developing countries. Among other urgent necessities, this population needs to rebuild their houses. Due to the scarcity of resources in these disaster contexts, many of them opt for self-build or community-based construction of simple houses. Community-based construction can be a solution in these situations, maybe the only one available, but arises other problems such as a scarce awareness and prevention of the labour risks and scarce construction knowledge and skills. Taking into account all the factors, a possible solution to this, proposed by the authors, could be an ‘assisted self-build construction’. That is to say, a self-construction by a community, in which the members have been specifically trained in the labour risk prevention and construction materials and techniques they are going to use. This involve a previous analysis with the following steps: (1) study of the local and traditional materials and construction techniques of vernacular houses; (2) study of how they could be improved by incorporating new current construction knowledge; (3) design of different low-tech but high-knowledge housing appropriate for self-building; (4) evaluation of the sustainability of the alternative designs, including the labour risks during construction, and selection of the best one; and (5) definition of the teaching content and plan. The selected design should integrate the local and traditional construction materials and knowledge, which are usually available and sustainable, with the current knowledge, in order to improve the traditional design and make it more resistant to natural hazards such as earthquakes and, at the same time, create a more comfortable house. The labour risks during self-construction should be evaluated, the construction process adapted in order to minimise the risks, and preventive measure defined.

ACS Style

Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio; S.M. Amin Hosseini; Albert De La Fuente; Oriol Pons. Optimisation of post-disaster assisted self-build housing construction and labour safety in developing countries. Proceedings of IFoU 2018: Reframing Urban Resilience Implementation: Aligning Sustainability and Resilience 2018, 1 .

AMA Style

Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio, S.M. Amin Hosseini, Albert De La Fuente, Oriol Pons. Optimisation of post-disaster assisted self-build housing construction and labour safety in developing countries. Proceedings of IFoU 2018: Reframing Urban Resilience Implementation: Aligning Sustainability and Resilience. 2018; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Del Mar Casanovas-Rubio; S.M. Amin Hosseini; Albert De La Fuente; Oriol Pons. 2018. "Optimisation of post-disaster assisted self-build housing construction and labour safety in developing countries." Proceedings of IFoU 2018: Reframing Urban Resilience Implementation: Aligning Sustainability and Resilience , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 07 November 2018 in Journal of Industrial Ecology
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Cities are rapidly growing and need to look for ways to optimize resource consumption. Metropolises are especially vulnerable in three main systems, often referred to as the FEW (i.e., food, energy, and water) nexus. In this context, urban rooftops are underutilized areas that might be used for the production of these resources. We developed the Roof Mosaic approach, which combines life cycle assessment with two rooftop guidelines, to analyze the technical feasibility and environmental implications of producing food and energy, and harvesting rainwater on rooftops through different combinations at different scales. To illustrate, we apply the Roof Mosaic approach to a densely populated neighborhood in a Mediterranean city. The building‐scale results show that integrating rainwater harvesting and food production would avoid relatively insignificant emissions (13.9–18.6 kg CO2 eq/inhabitant/year) in the use stage, but their construction would have low environmental impacts. In contrast, the application of energy systems (photovoltaic or solar thermal systems) combined with rainwater harvesting could potentially avoid higher CO2 eq emissions (177–196 kg CO2 eq/inhabitant/year) but generate higher environmental burdens in the construction phase. When applied at the neighborhood scale, the approach can be optimized to meet between 7% and 50% of FEW demands and avoid up to 157 tons CO2 eq/year. This approach is a useful guide to optimize the FEW nexus providing a range of options for the exploitation of rooftops at the local scale, which can aid cities in becoming self‐sufficient, optimizing resources, and reducing CO2 eq emissions.

ACS Style

Susana Toboso‐Chavero; Ana Nadal; Anna Petit‐Boix; Oriol Pons; Gara Villalba; Xavier Gabarrell; Alejandro Josa; Joan Rieradevall. Towards Productive Cities: Environmental Assessment of the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus of the Urban Roof Mosaic. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2018, 23, 767 -780.

AMA Style

Susana Toboso‐Chavero, Ana Nadal, Anna Petit‐Boix, Oriol Pons, Gara Villalba, Xavier Gabarrell, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall. Towards Productive Cities: Environmental Assessment of the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus of the Urban Roof Mosaic. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2018; 23 (4):767-780.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Susana Toboso‐Chavero; Ana Nadal; Anna Petit‐Boix; Oriol Pons; Gara Villalba; Xavier Gabarrell; Alejandro Josa; Joan Rieradevall. 2018. "Towards Productive Cities: Environmental Assessment of the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus of the Urban Roof Mosaic." Journal of Industrial Ecology 23, no. 4: 767-780.

Journal article
Published: 06 November 2018 in Sustainability
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Part of the large amounts of waste generated by human activities could have a second use while solving social problems. In this sense, the authors are carrying out a research project involving the participative development of innovative solar control devices integrated into school architecture using household waste. In general, the objectives of this research project are to: (a) optimize pupils’ learning process by improving lighting and thermal comfort levels and (b) reduce the generation of Spanish household waste by reusing part of it and increase the teaching community’s awareness about this waste. This research article reports on the steps taken to achieve these objectives by characterizing the most sustainable types of the waste-based solar control device. In this sense, this research paper defines and applies a new methodology which combines General Morphology Analysis (GMA), a new tool based on The Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment and Focus groups. First, up to 96 different types of solar control devices composed of household waste have been defined using GMA and, second, these 96 types and conventional roller shutters have been assessed using this new tool. Based on these article results, one of the best alternatives has been prototyped during an initial workshop.

ACS Style

Oriol Pons; Saeid Habibi; Diana Peña. Sustainability Assessment of Household Waste Based Solar Control Devices for Workshops in Primary Schools. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4071 .

AMA Style

Oriol Pons, Saeid Habibi, Diana Peña. Sustainability Assessment of Household Waste Based Solar Control Devices for Workshops in Primary Schools. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (11):4071.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Oriol Pons; Saeid Habibi; Diana Peña. 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Household Waste Based Solar Control Devices for Workshops in Primary Schools." Sustainability 10, no. 11: 4071.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2018 in JIDA
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ACS Style

Oriol Pons Valladares; Jordi Franquesa. Actividades y estrategias de aprendizaje activo para clases teóricas en grupos numerosos. JIDA 2018, 1 .

AMA Style

Oriol Pons Valladares, Jordi Franquesa. Actividades y estrategias de aprendizaje activo para clases teóricas en grupos numerosos. JIDA. 2018; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Oriol Pons Valladares; Jordi Franquesa. 2018. "Actividades y estrategias de aprendizaje activo para clases teóricas en grupos numerosos." JIDA , no. : 1.

Chapter
Published: 17 August 2018 in Urban Ecology
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Increasing population of urban areas by 2050, especially in areas highly prone to natural hazards, could potentially threaten vulnerable cities in the face of future disaster events. Alternative temporary housing (TH) needs to be assessed as an important element of local resiliency. In this regard, there are some interrelated factors that can have antithetical impacts on the different cases of TH. Thus, proper decision-making models can be highly useful to deal with this complex multifaceted process. These models should be flexible and adaptable to existing local and boundary conditions since a TH strategy could lead to different satisfactions and perceptions. This chapter aims to present a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method for choosing the most sustainable temporary housing alternative. To this end, general requirements of the decision-making process for dealing with temporary housing selection are specified and organized based on the assessed cases. Finally, all possible decision-making methods are assessed to determine the most suitable one based on correspondence between the methods and the requirements. As a result, this study concludes that a robust MCDM method should incorporate concept method to objectively measure the satisfaction degree of every stakeholder involved. In this sense, the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment (MIVES) is a suitable method for assessing the sustainability of temporary housing since this includes the value function method (based on the utility theory).

ACS Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini; Oriol Pons; Albert De La Fuente. Suitability of Different Decision-Making Methods Applied for Analysing Sustainable Post-disaster Temporary Housing. Urban Ecology 2018, 207 -220.

AMA Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini, Oriol Pons, Albert De La Fuente. Suitability of Different Decision-Making Methods Applied for Analysing Sustainable Post-disaster Temporary Housing. Urban Ecology. 2018; ():207-220.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. M. Amin Hosseini; Oriol Pons; Albert De La Fuente. 2018. "Suitability of Different Decision-Making Methods Applied for Analysing Sustainable Post-disaster Temporary Housing." Urban Ecology , no. : 207-220.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2018 in Science of The Total Environment
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Today, urban agriculture is one of the most widely used sustainability strategies to improve the metabolism of a city. Schools can play an important role in the implementation of sustainability master plans, due their socio-educational activities and their cohesive links with families; all key elements in the development of urban agriculture. Thus, the main objective of this research is to develop a procedure, in compact cities, to assess the potential installation of rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) in schools. The generation of a dynamic assessment tool capable of identifying and prioritizing schools with a high potential for RTGs and their eventual implementation would also represent a significant factor in the environmental, social, and nutritional education of younger generations. The methodology has four-stages (Pre-selection criteria; Selection of necessities; Sustainability analysis; and Sensitivity analysis and selection of the best alternative) in which economic, environmental, social and governance aspects all are considered. It makes use of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory and Multi-Criteria Decision Making, through the Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessments and the participation of two panels of multidisciplinary specialists, for the preparation of a unified sustainability index that guarantees the objectivity of the selection process. This methodology has been applied and validated in a case study of 11 schools in Barcelona (Spain). The social perspective of the proposed methodology favored the school in the case-study with the most staff and the largest parent-teacher association (social and governance indicators) that obtained the highest sustainability index (S11); at a considerable distance (45%) from the worst case (S3) with fewer school staff and parental support. Finally, objective decisions may be taken with the assistance of this appropriate, adaptable, and reliable Multi-Criteria Decision-Making tool on the vertical integration and implementation of urban agriculture in schools, in support of the goals of sustainable development and the circular economy.

ACS Style

Ana Nadal; Oriol Pons; Eva Cuerva; Joan Rieradevall; Alejandro Josa. Rooftop greenhouses in educational centers: A sustainability assessment of urban agriculture in compact cities. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 626, 1319 -1331.

AMA Style

Ana Nadal, Oriol Pons, Eva Cuerva, Joan Rieradevall, Alejandro Josa. Rooftop greenhouses in educational centers: A sustainability assessment of urban agriculture in compact cities. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 626 ():1319-1331.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ana Nadal; Oriol Pons; Eva Cuerva; Joan Rieradevall; Alejandro Josa. 2018. "Rooftop greenhouses in educational centers: A sustainability assessment of urban agriculture in compact cities." Science of The Total Environment 626, no. : 1319-1331.

Chapter
Published: 20 May 2018 in Sustainable Development and Biodiversity
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Food security in cities is an increasing concern due to the impact of climate change and the concentration of world population in cities. Urban agriculture (UA) aims at enhancing food production in urban areas, providing potential environmental advantages by reducing food transport, packaging and waste generation. Among UA alternatives, rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) are greenhouses built on top of urban roofs, in which mainly soil-less agriculture systems are used to produce food. When RTGs are integrated into the metabolism of their buildings, they exchange CO2, energy and water to improve their performance. This alternative is called integrated RTG (i-RTG). This chapter analyses the use of i-RTGs to improve buildings and cities’ metabolism and its particular application in the area of Barcelona. This analysis aims to define a new agricultural system from a technological and sustainability approach focusing on Mediterranean cities. Our research is based on the development and results of the Fertilecity project. A particular experimental analysis was conducted at ICTA’s i-RTG lab located near Barcelona. The main factors of interest are architectural and engineering requirements, urban integration, CO2 emissions management, energy consumption, food production, social integration and rainwater harvesting. This analysis has used different methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and semi-quantitative assessments. Multiple integrated results were obtained both at the building and city scale. For example, we proved that the i-RTG and its flow exchanges with the building could help to save heating energy, waste generation, water consumption and CO2 emissions.

ACS Style

David Sanjuan-Delmás; Pere Llorach-Massana; Ana Nadal; Esther Sanyé-Mengual; Anna Petit Boix; Mireia Ercilla-Montserrat; Eva Cuerva; Maria Rosa Rovira; Alejandro Josa; Pere Muñoz; Juan Ignacio Montero; Xavier Gabarrell; Joan Rieradevall; Oriol Pons. Improving the Metabolism and Sustainability of Buildings and Cities Through Integrated Rooftop Greenhouses (i-RTG). Sustainable Development and Biodiversity 2018, 53 -72.

AMA Style

David Sanjuan-Delmás, Pere Llorach-Massana, Ana Nadal, Esther Sanyé-Mengual, Anna Petit Boix, Mireia Ercilla-Montserrat, Eva Cuerva, Maria Rosa Rovira, Alejandro Josa, Pere Muñoz, Juan Ignacio Montero, Xavier Gabarrell, Joan Rieradevall, Oriol Pons. Improving the Metabolism and Sustainability of Buildings and Cities Through Integrated Rooftop Greenhouses (i-RTG). Sustainable Development and Biodiversity. 2018; ():53-72.

Chicago/Turabian Style

David Sanjuan-Delmás; Pere Llorach-Massana; Ana Nadal; Esther Sanyé-Mengual; Anna Petit Boix; Mireia Ercilla-Montserrat; Eva Cuerva; Maria Rosa Rovira; Alejandro Josa; Pere Muñoz; Juan Ignacio Montero; Xavier Gabarrell; Joan Rieradevall; Oriol Pons. 2018. "Improving the Metabolism and Sustainability of Buildings and Cities Through Integrated Rooftop Greenhouses (i-RTG)." Sustainable Development and Biodiversity , no. : 53-72.

Journal article
Published: 01 March 2018 in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
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In the aftermath of natural disasters, decision-makers often clash when tackling the challenge of choosing suitable temporary housing unit (THU) site locations. Site location considerably impacts temporary housing (TH) delivery time and the displaced population's (DP's) satisfaction. At the same time, selecting a suitable site is important to help increase the performance of the THUs in their subsequent life. To this end, this study aimed to design a new model for selecting site location based on sustainability concepts. The new model combines the integrated value model for sustainable assessment (MIVES) and the Knapsack algorithm to identify a subset of sustainable sites amongst the possible options based on the required area. The new model was applied to determine the best subset of sites for THUs for a seismic hazard along the Mosha fault in Tehran, Iran. The results show that weighting techniques can result in inappropriate weights for some indicators.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

ACS Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini; Oriol Pons; Albert de la Fuente. A combination of the Knapsack algorithm and MIVES for choosing optimal temporary housing site locations: A case study in Tehran. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 2018, 27, 265 -277.

AMA Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini, Oriol Pons, Albert de la Fuente. A combination of the Knapsack algorithm and MIVES for choosing optimal temporary housing site locations: A case study in Tehran. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 2018; 27 ():265-277.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S.M. Amin Hosseini; Oriol Pons; Albert de la Fuente. 2018. "A combination of the Knapsack algorithm and MIVES for choosing optimal temporary housing site locations: A case study in Tehran." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 27, no. : 265-277.