With a foreword from Paul King; Chief Executive; UK Green Building Council and Chairman; Zero Carbon HubAs concerns over climate change and resource constraints grow; many cities across the world are trying to achieve a low carbon transition. Although new zero carbon buildings are an important part of the story; in existing cities the transformation of the current building stock and urban infrastructure must inevitably form the main focus for transitioning to a low carbon and sustainable future by 2050. Urban Retrofitting for Sustainability brings together interdisciplinary research contributions from leading international experts to focus on key issues such as systems innovation; financing tools; governance; energy; and water management. The chapters consider not only the knowledge and technical tools available; but looks forward to how they can be implemented in real cities by 2050.
#3850999 in eBooks 2013-04-18 2013-04-18File Name: B00HWVCJY0
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Ears Are Better Than EyesBy AcuVoxSince I first heard Stevie Winwood sing about his choice between deafness and blindness; I have known that my ears where primary. This book is the authoritative confirmation.Barry Blesser defines a "New Science" in this book; which mirrors his leading-edge career. This is a shining example of Nexialism (the Science of Everything) because it integrates conventional divisions of science and painstakingly assembled factoids into a raft of fresh multi-disciplinary theses. It represents a decades-long study utilizing creative insights; and flows with well written; compelling examples without sacrificing rigor.I met Barry at the 1978 Convention of the Audio Engineering Society; where he was demonstrating the first professional digital reverberation generator. This mathematical room simulator was the starting point for elucidating how our ears provide us with more and better information about our environment than our eyes.Aural acuity and aurally generated mental maps have been largely lost in our visual culture; starting with Guttenbergs enabling of widespread education through reading alone and continuing to television and Internet where LCD monitors have replaced most direct human contact. This has been exacerbated by the Industrial Age which has filled the aural environment with the noise of motors; controlled explosions and collisions. Further insult and injury to our hearing sense comes from audio production by alarms and annuciators and sound reproduction by increasingly cheaper transducers. Modern architecture has produced terrible acoustic environments; some masquerading as suitable concert and conference venues as well as residence and office."Spaces Speak" is a clarion call to re-gain this lost ground. It describes how detailed and precise hearing can be; and how to achieve a synthetic aural environment as healthy as the natural world for which our sense evolved.Thank you; Mr. Blesser; and BRAVO!I commend this book to all my colleagues in the AES; CAS; ASA and AIA.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Bless BlesserBy G. HallI am acquainted with the author; who has an unmatched background to write on this topic. Barry Blesser was instrumental in and contributed to the development of one of the worlds very first digital audio delay lines (the Gotham Audio Delta-T 101); as well as the very first commercial digital reverberator (The EMT 250).By a long shaggy-dog story; he was also responsible for the coming-into-existence of Lexicon Inc.; where I worked for several years in late 70s and 1980s). That led to the development (by Dr. David Griesinger and Lexicons team of hardware engineers) and perfection (through Dr. Griesingers insatiable thirst for the perfect reverb algorithm) of the Lexicon 224 and (later) 480L which dominated professional digital reverberation in the 80s; 90s; and beyond. In those years; I had the honor to work directly with Dr. Griesinger (a true genius) and to witness the birth of classic hardware and software for sound artists. Dr. Blesser I knew more distantly; but have the highest regard for.I am just now beginning; but avidly anticipate the enjoyment of; reading Dr. Blessers ground-breaking work on the subject of human perception of acoustic spaces. Ill report again when I finish. Thank you; Barry Blesser!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating stuffBy Rachel WestAn interesting book that opens your mind to a different way of perceiving your surroundings and the way we look at architecture and spaces.
