Rapid urbanization has accelerated land use and land cover changes, and generated the urban heat island effect (UHI). Previous studies have reported positive effects of neighborhood landscapes on mitigating urban surface temperatures. However, the influence of neighborhood landscape spatial patterns on enhancing cooling effects has not yet been fully investigated. The main objective of this study was to assess the relationships between neighborhood landscape spatial patterns and land surface temperatures (LST) by using multi-regression models considering spatial autocorrelation issues. To measure the influence of neighborhood landscape spatial patterns on LST, this study analyzed neighborhood environments of 15,862 single-family houses in Austin, Texas, USA. Using aerial photos, geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing, FRAGSTATS was employed to calculate values of several landscape indices used to measure neighborhood landscape spatial patterns. After controlling for the spatial autocorrelation effect, results showed that larger and better-connected landscape spatial patterns were positively correlated with lower LST values in neighborhoods, while more fragmented and isolated neighborhood landscape patterns were negatively related to the reduction of LST.

Recent technological improvements have made substantial changes in construction industry. In specific, some technical applications, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), open up many possibilities. Some studies have articulated the use of BIM and its advantages in construction, but most of them are theoretical, not practical. This study is to provide an insight to obstacles in BIM research. By investigating a real project that could utilize BIM in planning and construction phases, the authors try to investigate a possible outline of advantages in BIM implementation. The study area was set to a railway construction site in South Korea. The site covers multiple railway tracks, stations, telecommunication facilities, infrastructure facilities, railway structures, and so on. In the site, the authors have identified 12 errors in 7 projects that could be prevented if BIM was utilized before the construction. The total upfront costs required to provide a BIM for the seven projects was $116,348. On the other hand, the total costs required to fix the errors in the seven projects was $166,486. This can be regarded as the benefit of using BIM, because if BIM was implemented then the associated errors could easily be replaced. Therefore, the benefit–cost ratio can be estimated as 1.32 for one-month delay and 1.36 for a three-month delay.

Building information modeling (BIM) has opened up many possibilities for the construction industry. However, most studies focus mainly on its overall uses and management areas. By investigating real projects that could utilize BIM in the design phases for railway construction, the authors examine the possible advantages and disadvantages in BIM implementation. To do so, the authors have selected three projects that utilized BIM implementation during the design process and three other projects with a non-BIM, traditionally designed working environment. Similar-scale projects were carefully chosen, and their differences in costs, man-hours, and labor forces were analyzed quantitatively. In addition, an in-depth interview was conducted with four BIM-designing firms to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the advantages and issues in BIM implementation. The average results showed that BIM-implemented projects spent USD 65,800 less than their counterparts and could increase productivity by about 2.9%. More importantly, the primary difference between BIM and non-BIM projects are in their man-hours. BIM-adopting projects spent 103.5 days less than non-BIM projects on average, and required three fewer professional labor forces during the entire design process.

A tropical storm Chaba hit the southeastern part of South Korea in 2016. Ulsan, the 8^th largest city in terms of the number of population, was especially damaged with heavy flooding, and the calculated damage was approximately $500 million. By using Normalized Differences in Vegetation Index (NDVI), four districts and 46 sub-districts in Ulsan city, South Korea. Analysis results indicate that having a higher proportion of green space inside a city could have a reduction effect on flooding risks. 1 km² of increase in green space could reduce financial insurance payment of flooding by $44,099. In addition, an increase in non- green space also could have raised insurance payment by $691,094. The result confirms that green space inside floodplain is more effective than its existence outside floodplain. The difference is about 21 times ($44,099 vs. $953,755). Green space can mitigate flooding impact to a certain degree and it could be used to determine how natural disaster policy in municipal level should be organized. In addition, it can also provide a foundation for claiming insurance payments to those facilities without careful considerations on environmental planning.

The authors provide a holistic perspective to enhance BIM working environment for more efficient smart construction settlements. An in-depth survey with 40 questionnaires was distributed to 100 professionals in construction, design, engineering, government. Although 45% of the respondents have received a certain form of BIM education, more than 94% of the respondents have answered that there should be a formal BIM education. Both design and construction experts have reported that the biggest advantage of using BIM is in its error checking ability. It can reduce design errors and increase construction ability. More than 79% of the respondents agreed upon a proper compensation for BIM implementation. The majority of opinions have revealed that there should be an increase in construction and design fees. There are a number issues for a successful BIM application: (1) guidelines and details for BIM work and delivery; (2) more standardized BIM education; and (3) a proper compensation system for BIM work. The results show that BIM professionals are ready to adopt the consequences of using BIM, but administrative and institutional preparations are not available beforehand. There should be a higher level of regulatory concern and provision of administrative solutions for successful BIM applications.