Building | community resilience: Identifying relationships that reduce disaster-related building downtime, improve functionality and build capacity

Lisa D. Iulo, Maria Hurtado Ortiz, Danial Mohabat Doost, Mamak P. PourabdollahTootkaboni, Louise Comfort

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Buildings, including those of historic significance, are increasingly at risk due to climate change, man-made and natural disasters. Capacity of a building to recover and adapt is informed by both internal and external factors that must be holistically considered. This paper explores related concepts of building functionality and recovery in reducing downtime and postulates that the retrofit of a building with the integrated and redundant systems often associated with sustainable design can enhance a buildings overall resilience. The preliminary factors needed to establish the functionality/recovery model are examined for San Francisco, California (USA), a city exposed to recurring risk of earthquakes and recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation for its resilience planning (100resilientcities.org). Two established community programs, BORP and SPUR, are analysed. An objective is to identify factors affecting downtime with a particular focus on those external to the building. The capacity of organizational and technical systems is considered thereby allowing a building to be understood in the broader context of a community's resilience. An example for building recovery is proposed that accounts for both internal functions and externalities, such as utilities, in order to inform buildings that are better able to recover and adapt in the face of future events.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of 33rd PLEA International Conference
Subtitle of host publicationDesign to Thrive, PLEA 2017
EditorsLuisa Brotas, Sue Roaf, Fergus Nicol
PublisherNCEUB 2017 - Network for Comfort and Energy Use in Buildings
Pages3070-3077
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780992895754
StatePublished - 2017
Event33rd International on Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: Jul 2 2017Jul 5 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings of 33rd PLEA International Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017
Volume2

Conference

Conference33rd International on Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference: Design to Thrive, PLEA 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period7/2/177/5/17

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

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