What are known as two of the main characteristics of the so-called ‘compact cities’?
Multi-layered and complex environments with integrated and connected services and infrastructures
High-rise environments with integrated and connected services and infrastructures
Multi-layered and complex environments with many different and separated layers of infrastructures
High-rise environments with many different and separated layers of infrastructures
What are the key roles of ICT in upcoming concepts for alternative lay-outs of infrastructures and essential services?
Real Time response support, Optimizing matching of demand and supply and Cheaper systems
Real Time response support, Optimizing matching of demand and supply and Feedback to users and stakeholders
Cheaper systems, Feedback to users and stakeholders and Management at distance
Cheaper systems, optimizing matching of demand and supply and Management at distance
What are the two discerned extremes regarding the future paths of sustainable development of infrastructures?
Autonomy/self-sufficiency and Interconnection/heteronomy
Decentralization and Localization
Centralization and Clustered infrastructures
Clustered infrastructures and Decentralization
Which general aspects determine the selection of the implementation scale for renewable generation?
Climate, demographics, economical and subsoil related aspects
Spatial, technical, social and economical aspects
Subsoil, social, economical and climate related aspects
Economical, spatial, climate and subsoil related aspects
The implementation of controversial policies to improve liveability benefits from a so-called champion. What did the majors of Curitiba in Brasil, the Dutch city Groningen, and the city of London successively implement?
Free parking places in the inner city, shopping malls, and more and fast roads.
Reduction of traffic lights, more sidewalks, a tram based transport system.
A bus-based transport system, a reduced role of motorized transport in the inner city, and a congestion charge.
The urbanisation trend is tremendous. The global urban population increases by the entire population of France every…?
Every day
Every week
Every month
Every year
Which two scale levels are important in creating more sustainable systems and behaviour in cities?
The neighborhood or local area and the metropolitan area (city and hinterland).
The city district and the metropolitan area (city and hinterland).
The individual building and the neighbourhood or local area.
Which two scale levels are important in creating more sustainable systems and behaviour in cities?
The neighborhood or local area and the metropolitan area (city and hinterland).
The city district and the metropolitan area (city and hinterland).
The individual building and the neighbourhood or local area.
What is the first step measured or registered in Space Syntax that gives an indication of the change in socio-economic life in cities?
The change of the spatial integration of the street network.
The change of the value of the properties in cities.
The change of the flow of movement through urban areas.
The change of the location pattern of shops.
As we aim to build socially sustainable cities and to create fossil-free energy landscapes in the future, we need a thorough understanding of the complex interactions between governments, architects, engineers, designers, planners, artists, oil sub-contractors and oil-related industries, as well as citizens. What is seen as the contribution of the global corporations of the oil industry to the built environment?
With the support of public actors, they transformed the built environment and have influenced how we conceive of, use, and design it.
They produced artistic works, films, and literature or every-day language which represent ‘oil’ in the built environment.
They changed the imaginary scapes by implementing sustainable energy in the urban environment as an important step in creating fossil-free energy landscapes.
Related to the topic of Urban Transport, what did many Western cities during the end of the 1960’s start to realize?
Cars will remain important for decades, so one challenge is to shift to more roads and better parking places in the inner cities.
Building more roads and parking places in the inner cities was not the way to proceed.
Traveling by public transport will be less important in the future.
The attractiveness of the inner city depends on the number of parks.
Complete the sentence below: The environmental Kuznet curve describes the idea that with increasing wealth….
a turning point will be reached where natural resource use and environmental impact diminish.
natural resource use and environmental impact will increase linearly.
natural resource use and environmental impact will increase exponentially.
Scalability of data is crucial. For scalability, is it better to collect and store data at the lowest scale possible (e.g. block or neighbourhood level) or at the highest scale (e.g. city level)?
At the lowest scale.
At the highest scale.
The scale of data
collection is not important.
What should governments do about autonomous vehicles?
Governments should change the travel and activity behaviour of citizens to improve safety and control and to control traffic flow.
Governments should set the rules and decide which vehicles would be allowed to drive autonomously, where and when.
Governments should appoint large companies to develop the support systems and control the integration of these vehicles into the urban environment.
Nothing, since the urban transport system is primarily the responsibility of companies, the so-called private sector.
Data and mapping are powerful instruments to address urban challenges. An interdisciplinary data and mapping approach requires:
One main focus to be on bad public space and poor housing quality at the building level and the neighbourhood level.
The retrieval of waste flows at the building level because this leads to energy neutral or energy positive buildings at the neighbourhood level.
One not to move from the building level to the neighbourhood and the city levels because when starting at the city level, only the ‘reduction of demand’ is important.
The mapping of the social, economic and spatial issues as well as the energy and water issues.
How can the usage of Geographical Information System (GIS) data improve the average health situation of citizens?
GIS data can effectively improve cooling systems in houses and on the neighbourhood level.
A GIS can be used to combine the data about the quality of a house and with the quality of a neighbourhood.
Health care services can use the GIS data to real time improve their care and transport routes.
The usage of GIS data cannot improve the average health situation of
citizens.
Spatial planning is still done mainly based on 2D maps and databases with geo-information that supports location-related policies. Why is this a problem?
With the current technologies, it is not possible to understand the noise impact of the surroundings at different heights.
There is no lack of appropriate 3D data for urban applications to experiment with alternatives to interventions.
Important information is lost when our 3D reality is made flat to fit within 2D map-based data.
3D environmental impacts cannot be delivered without post-processing.
Using 3D data for sustainable urban development also poses challenges to a 3D data infrastructure and its data providers.
How can these challenges be summarized?
Adopt a clear definition for windmills, for example.
Collect identical data from a secondary source.
Good data governance is only needed for 3D data.
Collect it once, use it many times.
Why can brownfields be important for urban agriculture?
Brownfields describe areas in the city with very fertile (i.e. brown) soil, they can, therefore, be used for farming.
Brownfields are abandoned areas (often of industrial heritage) in cities that provide space which can be used for agriculture.
Brownfields are always located in the city centre and are, therefore, in highly dense areas that are perfect for urban agriculture because higher densities make collection of waste products cheap and easy
They are not important.
For which of the following resources could a peak of extraction and subsequent decline potentially be avoided?
Multiple answers possible
Coal
Copper
Phosphorus
Natural gas
Plastic
What does the food, water, carbon nexus describe?
The fact that nutrients, water and carbon are essential for food production and essential for life.
That all these elements are in short supply and need to be recycled as much as possible.
That substitution between these elements is possible, for instance, more carbon in soils can reduce water shortage due to higher water holding capacity when soil organic matter is high.
What is the advantage of source separation of household waste and wastewater?
Less transport of waste because it can be reused almost directly on site
There are none, it just requires more infrastructure while recovery of nutrients and other valuable elements can also be achieved from mix wastes and wastewater
Recovery and reuse of nutrients and generation of energy from waste are more efficient when source separation is applied
What are the three main benefits of urban farming in cities in developed countries?
Improved micro climate, reduced urban heat island effect and better urban water management
Community development, better access to fresh food and opportunities for reuse of nutrients and water
Expansion of green areas, opportunities for youth and other social activities and reduced air pollution
Opportunities for leisure, improved waste management and improved climate control
Which of the following resources required for food production are scarce and put the food security at risk?
Multiple answers possible
Potassium
Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Carbon
Fresh water
Which of the following household waste streams contains the least amount of carbon?
Kitchen waste
Blackwater
Urine
Brownwater
Greywater
What do policies for the better use of resources and the decoupling of resource use from economic growth intend?
To reduce the costs of recycling, reuse of both virgin and mixed materials, and / or recycle resources by upgrading the materials.
To reduce the specific residual flows, reuse organic flows, and / or recycle at the same value level.
To reduce the usage of scarce materials, reuse all materials that are on the European Critical Raw Materials list, and / or recycle heavily taxed materials.
To reduce the demand for a resource, reuse waste streams, and / or recycle resources by putting them to new uses.
Thinking in value chains helps to assess…
whether recovered products are used at the same level of value as the original product.
how much you should invest in resource recovery technology.
how expensive a resource will be when all environmental and human health impacts (measured as monetary value) are added together.
We compare rural areas with unpaved surfaces to urban areas with paved surfaces. In urban areas…
more water flows through the soil instead of overland.
infiltration is more difficult.
more water can be stored in the soil.
What types of urban design interventions substantially change longwave (i.e. warmth emitting) radiation? (multiple answers possible)
Changing façade materials
Changing pavement materials
Changing the colours of materials
