FTiS: A new model for effective urban management: A case study of urban systems in Iran

Cities ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 394-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Akhondzadeh-Noughabi ◽  
Somayeh Alizadeh ◽  
Ali-Mohammad Ahmadvand ◽  
Behrouz Minaei-Bidgoli
Author(s):  
Mohit Arora ◽  
Felix Raspall ◽  
Arlindo Silva

Cities have been the focus of recent sustainability and climate change mitigation efforts primarily because of unprecedented urban growth and ever-increasing resources consumption. A worrying trend has been the ever-decreasing life of buildings in cities because of premature building obsolescence. Premature building obsolescence has been cited as the major driver of demolition waste which accounts for more than 40% of total waste generated annually. This waste stream poses a bigger challenge as the pressure on natural resources increases with urban growth. A traditional way of looking at the urban sustainability has been from the perspective of the environmental sciences and waste management methods. Analyzing urban areas with design science perspectives could provide novel insights to improve existing resource consumption patterns and transform sustainability growth in cities. This study focuses on the problem of demolition waste arising from the premature building obsolescence in cities. It applies a design research methodology framework for identifying existing problems associated with demolition waste and generating strategies to transform cities into more sustainable urban systems. In the problem clarification phase, a detailed literature review was supported with stakeholder’s interviews to identify the state-of-art for building demolition process and demolition waste. Research was further extended to descriptive study-I phase to carry out a demolition case study and generate support tools to enable transformation in the existing scenario for achieving a desired state. Singapore, a dense city state of South-East Asia has been taken as a case study in this research. Results show that applying design research methods could help open-up a new dimension to solve urban sustainability challenge for built environment. It highlights that material reuse could lead to significant improvement in the built environment sustainability but the challenge associated with realization of material reuse practice needs to be addressed. Descriptive study-I concludes with the strategies on creating a reuse market through entrepreneurial innovation and an alternative material supply chain of secondary materials for regional housing demand. These results highlight the role of design research methods for tackling complex systems level problems in cities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Cristian Lucas Endler ◽  
Pedro Paulo de Andrade Júnior

This article aims to propose a new model of technological innovations, as well as using it in a case study in the automotive industry. After an analysis of the main scientific databases, it was verified that the present work is unprecedented in presenting a unified model of identification and management of technological innovations. In methodological terms, the bibliometric and systemic analyzes were performed in order to identify the main technological innovations inherent in the automotive industry. In terms of research results, a cohesive innovation model was obtained, which, once based on the concepts of sensitive innovation and latent innovation, allows the identification and the consequent valuation of the economic potential of the main technological innovations in the area desired by the manager who will apply it. As an example, the model was applied specifically in the automotive sector, but its methodology can be generalized to any area of industrial production.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-98
Author(s):  
Peter Hugo Nelson

ABSTRACT Students develop and test simple kinetic models of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Microsoft Excel is used as the modeling platform because it is nonthreatening to students and it is widely available. Students develop finite difference models and implement them in the cells of preformatted spreadsheets following a guided inquiry pedagogy that introduces new model parameters in a scaffolded step-by-step manner. That approach allows students to investigate the implications of new model parameters in a systematic way. Students fit the resulting models to reported cases per day data for the United States using least squares techniques with Excel's Solver. Using their own spreadsheets, students discover for themselves that the initial exponential growth of COVID-19 can be explained by a simplified unlimited growth model and by the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model. They also discover that the effects of social distancing can be modeled using a Gaussian transition function for the infection rate coefficient and that the summer surge was caused by prematurely relaxing social distancing and then reimposing stricter social distancing. Students then model the effect of vaccinations and validate the resulting susceptible-infected-recovered-vaccinated (SIRV) model by showing that it successfully predicts the reported cases per day data from Thanksgiving through the holiday period up to 14 February 2021. The same SIRV model is then extended and successfully fits the fourth peak up to 1 June 2021, caused by further relaxation of social distancing measures. Finally, students extend the model up to the present day (27 August 2021) and successfully account for the appearance of the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The fitted model also predicts that the delta variant peak will be comparatively short, and the cases per day data should begin to fall off in early September 2021, counter to current expectations. This case study makes an excellent capstone experience for students interested in scientific modeling.


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