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Residential buildings in Greece constitute an important portion of the existing building stock. Furthermore, most of these buildings were built prior to the first Thermal Insulation Code of 1981. The article focuses on existing, typical residences built after 1920, which are found mostly in suburban areas and settlements all around Greece. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the effect of simple bioclimatic interventions focused on the improvement of their diurnal, inter-seasonal and annual thermal performance.

The applied strategies include application of thermal insulation in the building shell and openings, passive solar systems for the heating period and shading and natural ventilation for the summer period. The effect of the strategies is analysed with the use of building energy analysis. The simulation method was selected because it provides the possibility of parametric analysis and comparisons for different proposals in different orientations.

The results show that the increased thermal mass of the construction is the most decisive parameter of the thermal behaviour throughout the year.

The typical residences under investigation are often found in urban and/or suburban surroundings. These mostly refer to free-standing buildings situated, which, in many cases, do not have the disadvantages and limitations that the geometrical characteristics of densely built urban locations impose on incident solar radiation (e.g. overshadowing during the winter) and air circulation (e.g. reduce natural ventilation during the summer). Nevertheless, even in these cases, the surrounding built environment may also have relevant negative effects, which were not taken under consideration and could be included in further, future research that will include the effect of various orientations, as well as of neighbouring buildings.

Existing residences built prior to the first Thermal Insulation Code (1981) form an important part of the building stock. Consequently their energy upgrade could contribute to significant conventional energy savings for heating and cooling, along with the inter-seasonal improvement of interior thermal comfort conditions.

The proposed interventions can improve thermal comfort conditions and lead to a reduction of energy consumption for heating and cooling, which is an important step against energy poverty and the on-going energy crisis.

The proposed interventions only involve the building envelope and are simple with relatively low cost.

This study aims to the perceptions of the administration of Greek universities on sustainable development and the role of the administration in the implementation of corresponding practices. Specifically, it examines management’s perception and contribution to sustainable development and assesses the sustainability initiatives taking place in universities and the factors that influence their implementation. The obstacles and motivations in the implementation of these actions are also investigated.

For the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted during the period March–June 2022, addressing questionnaires to 12 rectors or vice rectors dealing with the sustainability of the respective 12 Greek universities. Secondary data about their sustainability practices were also collected from the institutions’ official Web pages.

The results show that management’s perception of sustainable development mainly concerns the conservation of resources for future generations and the balancing of the economy. Moreover, the findings indicate that universities play a significant role in achieving sustainability by contributing to the educational process, conducting research and serving as a model of sustainability for both the educational community and society as a whole. Financial and institutional barriers are characterized as the most important obstacles for adopting sustainability practices. The most popular motives to promote sustainability issues are financial support of universities, in addition to the governmental support of the leadership and, in particular, of the rectorate authorities.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first conducted among the Greek universities that focuses on administration’s viewpoint and contributes to the international dialogue on the implementation of sustainability by higher education institutions. The results provide preliminary evidence of top management responses to endorse sustainability activities at the higher education institutes in the broader area of Eastern Europe.

One of the greatest challenges faced by the 1994 post-apartheid government in South Africa is the housing problem that has persisted for almost 30 years into democracy. Innovation in research and practice is required to address this problem. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

This paper presents an argument for housing knowledge management as one part of a much larger system of housing provision and critically compares information variations on one hypothetical, low-cost housing unit adapted for varying climatic regions. It aims to enquire if there is an overlap in information.

The findings do confirm a noteworthy overlap in the information of the varying units. Therefore, knowledge management of the information would prove effective and may contribute in part to housing provision.

The study is limited to assessing the information changes made to the contract documentation of the housing unit.

The paper argues that knowledge management of this overlapping information could impact housing provision by providing knowledge power to those affected by the housing problem.

The findings are a unique perspective presented through a knowledge management lens. In addition, the said knowledge management lens provides a platform to raise additional questions. When seeking answers to these questions, it is expected that research sub-themes would be identified focussing further research studies towards finding answers.

This paper aims to provide an exemplary application of an indicative post-occupancy evaluation (POE) on an organizational multistorey residential apartment building.

This research comprises of mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches. The methodology commences with a review of the recent literature, identification of performance elements, conduct of walk-through, distribution and collection of users' surveys and the development of short and long-term recommendations, where an adequate sample of users were approached for conducting a focus group interview session.

The research identifies 74 performance elements that were clustered into technical, namely (thermal, acoustic and visual comforts, indoor air quality and safety and security), functional, namely (design adequacy, finishing, furnishing, fittings and equipment and building surroundings) dimensions and behavioral, namely (apartment building attributes and managerial and logistical support). The questionnaire survey aimed to solicit users' opinions upon the occupied case study residential facility.

The research identifies areas of occupants' satisfaction and dissatisfaction in a typical multistorey residential building, as a part of a community housings for a mega organization, located in Saudi Arabia. The identification of these areas serves as a lesson learned for future developments, design considerations and implications. Hence, improving the well-being and comfort of its employees.

The adverse impacts of climate change coupled with rapid informal urbanization in the Southern African region are increasing the vulnerability of already sensitive population groups. Consequently, these urban regions are highly vulnerable to urban heat island effects and heatwaves due to exogenous and endogenous factors. While the dynamic interplay between the built environment, climate and response strategies is known, this paper highlights the lived experience of informal settlement residents. It presents work from a project undertaken in Melusi, an informal settlement in Tshwane, South Africa, as a multi-disciplinary project focusing on improving the local resilience to climate change associated heat stress.

Following a mixed method approach, a semi-structured observational analysis of the spatial layout and material articulation of selected dwellings along with the continuous monitoring and recording of their indoor environments were undertaken.

The paper presents the research results in terms of the dwelling characteristics, as spatial and material-use strategies and documented heat stress exposure in these structures. The findings highlight that informal dwellings perform poorly in all cases due to endogenous factors and that inhabitants experience extreme heat stress conditions for between 6 and 10 h daily during the peak summer period.

Currently, there are little empirical data on the heat stress residents living in informal settlements in Southern Africa are experiencing. This article provides insight into the indoor environments of informal dwellings and hopes to contribute future guidelines or heat health policies.

This article explores the impacts of the changing land-use on urban heat island (UHI) in an urban transformation zone in Ankara (Türkiye). Identifying a characteristic rural landscape until the 1950s, the study area experienced a drastic land-use change by razing the fertile landscape of the city and replacing it with a sealed surface. Development of the squatter houses after the 1960s and, subsequently, the implementation of a new housing morphology have introduced new sceneries, scales and surface conditions that make the study area a noteworthy case to analyze.

Regarding the drastic spatio-temporal change of the study area, this research assesses the impacts of the changing land-use on UHI based on three periods. Using 1957, 1991 and 2021 aerial imaginaries and maps, it analyzes the temperature alteration caused by the changing land-use. To do so, different surface types, green patterns and built-up areas have been modeled using Ankara climatic data and transferred to ENVI-Met to calculate the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) values.

The calculation has been developed over a transect covering an area of 40 m × 170 m, which includes diversity in terms of architecture, landscape and open space elements. To encourage future design strategies, the research findings deliberate into three extents that discuss the lacking climate knowledge in the ongoing urban transformation projects: impervious surface ratio and regional albedo variation, changing aspect ratio and temperature variation at the pedestrian level.

Urban transformation projects, being countrywide operations in Türkiye, need to cover climate-informed design strategies. Herein, the article underlines the critical position of design decisions in forming a climate-informed urban environment. Dwelling on a typical model of housing transformation in Türkiye, the research could trigger climate-informed urban development strategies in the country.

The amount of energy consumption of buildings has obtained international concern so the concept of zero energy building becomes a target for building designers. There are various definitions and evaluation methods for efficient buildings. However, detailed research about the critical parameters that have a major effect through the operational time to reduce the energy consumption is not emphasized as this paper represents. The main aim of this study is to identify the effect of applicable interventions on energy consumption parameters with their sensitivity to each other to reach zero energy building. Relatedly, the cost of energy reduction is also determined.

Energy consumption parameters were defined as area lightings, space heating, space cooling, ventilation fans, pumps, auxiliary equipment and related miscellaneous equipment. The effect of each applied intervention on energy consumption was classified as high, medium, low, very low, no effect and negative effect by utilizing a sensitivity analysis. The base case's energy model is created by utilizing energy performance software such as e-Quest. Accordingly, energy performance improvement scenarios are developed by applying interventions such as lamp replacements, sensors, heat pumps and photovoltaic panels’ integration. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses of each intervention were developed for consumed energy and its cost.

Results indicated the electric consumption is more effective than gas consumption on primary energy and energy cost. Solar systems decline primary energy by 78.53%, lighting systems by 13.47% and heat pump by 5.48% in this building; therefore, integrating mentioned strategies could rise the improvement rate to 100%, in other words, zero amount of energy is using from the grid that means saving $ 5,750.39 in one year.

The study can be applied to similar buildings. It is worthwhile to investigate suggested methods in diverse buildings with different functions and climates in future works.

This study aims to investigate of energy consumption of an educational building in the Mediterranean climate to convert an existing building into a zero energy building by saving energy and renewable sources. Subsequent purposes are analyzing the effect of each strategy on energy consumption and cost.

The novelty of this study is filling gaps in sensitivity analysis of energy consumption parameters by not only identifying their effect on overall energy consumption but also identifying their effect on each other. Some interventions may have a positive effect on overall consumption while having a negative effect on each other. Identifying this critical effect in detail not only further improves the energy performance, but also may affect the decision-making of the interventions.

This study aims to examine the historical development, present state and potential future directions of the integration between building information modeling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) in the field of construction. Additionally, this paper identifies current problems while offering insight into worldwide BIM research trends.

This study uses text mining on unstructured abstracts, a novel approach not previously documented in BIM research. By conducting a comprehensive systematic assessment of academic literature, this work uses advanced bibliometric approaches to examine the developmental trajectory of the integration of BIM and LCA. The research incorporates co-citation and keyword co-occurrence mapping, providing a complex visual depiction of the interconnectedness of information across different periods.

The results of this analysis reveal the historical development of the integration of BIM and LCA, including its roots and the initial research that established the foundation for further investigations. The aforementioned seminal works signify the inception of the discipline, serving as a source of inspiration for current scholarly investigations. Currently, there is a complex network of interdisciplinary cooperation that can be observed, combining knowledge and perspectives from the fields of design, engineering, construction and sustainability.

This research contributes novelty to the scholarly discourse by offering a holistic and up-to-date panorama of the dynamic BIM and LCA research landscape. It identifies emerging trends, influential contributors and uncharted territories, thus providing a foundation for scholars to contribute meaningfully to the advancement of knowledge in sustainable construction practices.