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This paper aims to propose a set of flexible design principles for enhancing the flexibility of street furniture to deal with the diverse and changing urban environment. Flexibility is an important but less considered element of public design (otherwise called public environment and facility design), especially in regard to the street furniture that is encountered in everyday life. Taking Hong Kong as a case study, this paper gives an overview of the concepts of flexibility and flexible design, and identifies the current limitations and problems of the current street furniture design practices with respect to the diverse and changing urban environment.

Based on a review of the current literature and relevant documentation, interviews with government officers and different groups of users (including those with special needs), and field observations in Hong Kong’s urban areas over a period of four years, the policies relating to street furniture design in Hong Kong and its management and implementation were evaluated.

The results indicate that the current street furniture in Hong Kong is unable to adapt to or resist changes, can easily cause safety and management problems and is not adaptable to new developments. This paper proposes six principles for the flexible design of street furniture, namely, custom in use, multifunctional use, responds effectively to changing circumstances, easily and conveniently managed, universal in use and sustainable in use.

It is difficult to understand the diverse needs and preferences of different users in urban environments. The findings in this paper are based on intensive field work and broad industry experience. To deal with the rapid and ongoing urban change, this paper recommends a further long-term and in-depth study of street furniture.

Based on the findings, this paper proposes six flexible design principles for designing street furniture that is sufficiently flexible to meet the rapid and ongoing urban change and diverse users’ needs.

Different societies and urban areas faced different types and levels of changes. Therefore, a flexible approach to street furniture design is important and necessary.

The findings of this paper and the proposed six flexible design principles can provide insight and direction for government officials, design and planning professionals, developers, utility and management companies and communities on how to embed public design (i.e. policy, implementation and management) in the future.

This study aims to examine the key components to facilitate flexible work arrangement (FWA) and the issues and challenges arisen in preparing the workplace for FWA during Covid-19, and to recommend better approach of FWA implementation in workplace.

This study adopted extensive literature review and case studies approach using interviews and observations to determine the key components to facilitate FWA and the issues and challenges arisen in preparing the workplace for FWA during Covid-19, and to recommend better approach of FWA implementation in workplace. Three offices that owning FWA experience during Covid-19 and featuring flexible workspace concepts, elements and layouts in Klang Valley, Malaysia were chosen as case studies.

Findings have suggested that there are four components required to form flexible workspace for FWA adoption, such as open plan workspace design, task-oriented space, hot desking policy and IT infrastructure. Interestingly, the interview findings do not support the idea that the flexible furniture can facilitate FWA; instead, they believe that versatile, acoustical and aesthetical furniture may be installed when necessary. Among the issues and challenges faced were rearranging and designing open office plan layout, hot desk relocation and reconfiguration of spaces where people may congregate. Lastly, this research recommends that innovative planning software and tools, smart technology and apps, modern IT technology and infrastructure, and digital apps can be introduced to the workplace to help FM manage and monitor the facilities operations, workplace situations and occupancy rates.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, FWA such as “Work From Home” and remote working have become the mainstream in the workplace, affecting how the workplace looks and feels as flexible working is fundamentally related to the flexible workspace. From Facilities Management (FM) perspective, FWA is the biggest consequence of Covid-19, but it also presents opportunities and certain challenges to incorporate a new office environment and employees’ needs in terms of FWA into the corporate culture.

Traditional industry was initially built with kinship, cultural value, and unique characters representing a particular system of production. However, current industry challenges pressurized traditional industry bond of primordial system with the need of adaptations to survive. Some traditional industry may resist the twenty-first-century challenges and pressures, but many of them are transforming their cultural and production characters to adapt modern business competitions. Indonesian traditional furniture industry Jepara has their familial system of productions which constitute “flexible specialization” where particular kinship and work contract created from a very specialized household small-scale furniture producer. However, this production system in fact struggles and is contrasted with the community needs to survive in the industry. The likely occurring progress of traditional industry are then remaining on the senior members of the industry to preserve knowledge which has empowered over many generations, while the younger generations consider transforming their ability for survivability and better financial rewards.

This chapter is the further elaboration of how Indonesian rural traditional furniture industry in Jepara presents its survivability and whether it is sustainable. This chapter exemplifies participants’ quotes and statements which create anxiety toward their future, cultural value, bond of industry kinship, and doubting their ability to withhold global and local pressures.

This study investigates the relationships between the built environments of learning commons and user productivity, such as collaborative and individual work productivity and overall environmental satisfaction.

A case study was conducted in a learning commons building at a higher education campus in the USA. The data collection and analysis were conducted with the survey responses of satisfaction with indoor environments and perceived productivity as well as the objective indoor environmental quality (IEQ) measurements. Statistical analysis was performed, including descriptive analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), regression analysis and ANOVA test.

The study presents that satisfaction with noise level is positively associated with individual productivity. The results imply that the spatial properties of open-plan commons, such as visibility and accessibility, are associated with space users' interactions and collaborative productivity. Overall satisfaction is in a positive relationship with lighting satisfaction, study supporting artifacts and furniture configuration. The results of this study reveal the importance of meeting the standards in IEQ factors on individual productivity and the spatial features preferred by space users that facilitate tasks and activities.

The mixed-method approach, including subjective and objective data collection of IEQ, is rarely utilized to show the relationships with perceived productivity. This study investigates a unique building design feature such as step seats in relation to space use and perceived productivity. The findings inform library leadership about environmental characteristics related to the user experience in learning commons, a new format of academic libraries.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the Long Island University Brooklyn Campus Library's experience with a Smart Space Project. This paper recounts how the library creates new instructional spaces, through the use of smart technologies. This study illustrates challenges facing the library, recounts collaboration with other campus units, and describes support service provided by Library Information Technology. This account contributes to the sharing and discussion of experiences among modern academic libraries regarding needs assessment, space planning, and utilization of technology to support library services.

The literature review includes space planning, building renovation and construction, and instructional technology. Various aspects of the Smart Space Project are described and analyzed. Studies and experiences from other academic libraries are also discussed.

Space renovation projects may be complex, requiring a systematic approach encompassing vision, needs assessment, funding, planning, technological considerations, and collaboration with other campus units. Creativity, flexibility, open‐mindedness, and attention to details are keys to the success of renovation projects.

In the areas of library space, student learning behaviour, utilization of technology, and smart technology's impacts on online/distance library instruction, more research needs to be conducted.

This account provides useful information and first‐hand experience for library administrators and faculty planning instructional space projects.

This article provides a snapshot of the efforts of a mid‐sized urban library to address issues of limited space, budgetary constraints, growing collections, and increasing user needs. It provides practical lessons and suggestions for other library administrators and faculty seeking to make building and instructional technology improvements. It also offers valuable information for library information technology units implementing smart instructional projects.

Aligned with the United Nations 2030 agenda of leaving no one behind, a project called The Nest was initiated to create an in-house intentional learning space at two public housings in Klang Valley. In a small unit of public housing, most children in these houses sit on the floor in the living room to do their schoolwork or study with the TV switched on. Poor indoor environmental quality and lack of personal space are among the main reasons that lead to children not being able to study at home comfortably.

The research employed a quasi-experimental approach as the research field setting was not randomly assigned. Observation on the change in the quality of space and post-evaluation interviews with beneficiaries were conducted.

The findings show that besides the tangible space that the Nest project has created, it also has created in-tangible space. It has shown that even small spatial changes to existing spaces could improve children's active learning and the participation of parents in their children's learning.

This study focuses on the home learning experience and parental involvement in their children's learning, so perhaps future research can be done to measure the impact of home learning space on academic achievement.

The research outcomes show that a good quality of learning space influences the children's learning experience at home and the parents' involvement. It will also contribute to the development of the building regulation for high-rise affordable housing in Malaysia. Particularly in improving the optimum requirement to achieve better comfort quality for the learning space at the residential unit.

The Nest project will contribute to raising the awareness among all residents of public housing on the importance of in-house learning space and encourage them to build their own learning spaces through the Do-It-Yourself Guidelines.

The research outcomes show that both parental involvement and the quality of learning space influence the children's learning experience at home. It will contribute to the development of the building regulation for high-rise affordable housing in Malaysia. Particularly in improving the optimum requirement to achieve better comfort quality for the learning space at the residential unit.

According to architectural research, modifying environmental features has the potential to create an appropriate sensory environment for autistic children. Considering the design of public environments, it is difficult to accommodate the diverse requirements of each autistic child. The main objective of this paper is to find out the most prevalent architectural strategies and to prioritise them for the design of the public spaces addressing autistic children's needs.

This research is designed in two stages: (1) descriptive approach in which architectural strategies are extracted from theories on autism design to determine a theoretical test module; and (2) quantitative approach in which the frequency of gained strategies are studied in two groups of references: general references and key references (i.e. most cited and well-reputed researchers in autism architecture) while universal design strategies and the timeline of each strategy is considered for the conclusion.

The following strategies were highly significant: (1) acoustical control, (2) visual control, (3) legibility, (4) safety and security, (5) predictable spaces. Acoustic was frequently considered in both control and general groups while it was highlighted in timeline study and universal design strategies.

The main limitation is that these strategies have been prioritised according to their frequency in some limited articles and a control group including the pioneer of autism design researchers while verifying these strategies may not be strong enough. Likewise, the conclusion related to these data cannot be accurate enough. Establishing a case study survey that provides an opportunity to test all these strategies directly on a majority of autistic children and measure their prevalence is advised. Finally, it should be considered that although the five mentioned strategies are all the most prevalent strategies among autistic children, as each autistic child differs from others, generalising the conclusion for all the public area would be impossible, as though we need to study it for each group of them.

Seeking to improve the strategies' prioritisation as determined by previous researchers, this article aims to define the most essential strategies categories in this field to eliminate the confusion of researchers and designers.

This paper serves as a case study, detailing an academic library’s three-year process of redesigning, implementing, and using a library electronic classroom. The purpose of this paper is to share the challenges and successes of a library’s attempt to create a high-tech space that both accommodates active learning and is entirely flexible and free of wires. The paper provides technical details for implementing features such as wireless screen sharing and offers practical advice for librarians who are creating new teaching and learning spaces at their institutions.

This is a descriptive case study, which details the lessons learned in implementing an active learning space that incorporates technology such as wireless display to multiple screens.

There are still major challenges in having a truly wire-free classroom including authentication policies, wireless display technology, instructor’s station mobility, and student laptop control. Successes include flexible furniture, battery-power management solutions, and using multiple wireless devices in a single room.

Practical implications of this paper include recommendations for planning this type of upgrade in a library electronic classroom.

The unique feature of this case was the effort to combine the mobile features of a flexible learning space with some of the robust technology of a hardwired active learning classroom. This paper features technical details beyond what can be found in the library literature. For example, very little has been written about the issues involved in wirelessly displaying a computer screen to multiple devices in a classroom.

Flexible working practices are now firmly established in many organisations. Cottaging, hot desking and hotelling using the technology of the 1990s can free up office space, benefit the environment and provide the flexibility demanded by workers today. Analysing and planning are the keys to providing the necessary facilities management support to ensure that flexible working is the most effective way for staff to operate and makes best use of available space. It is not a matter of replacing one rigid system with another but of testing non‐traditional ways of working that may or may not prove more efficient. For facilities managers a working knowledge of front office procedures becomes just as important as their expertise in the back office environment.

Companies large and small, in every industry, face a common challenge: do more, better, with less. The organisational problems to be solved, while meeting this kind of corporate mandate, are also widely shared: attract and retain high quality employees; strengthen brand identity; increase flexibility in the face of highly uncertain market conditions and new technologies; assimilate mergers and acquisitions; accommodate frequent changes in group and team size and structure. This paper describes findings from research that examined the workplace strategies of independent small startup initiatives, as well as those initiated inside large corporations. The findings suggest that it is possible to identify aspects of overall workplace planning and design that reduce costs and increase flexibility while maintaining or enhancing organisational effectiveness.