Church Buildings as a Driver in the Real Estate Development of Cities

In Europe Church congregations facing a challenge to find re-uses for their church buildings. Based on a rising lack of members and financial incomes, which are needed for the maintenance of their buildings. Due to this financial critical situation, new usages and users must be found. On the one hand the re-use is a cultural question touching many aspects of heritage and community value, but on the other hand it is certainly facing the real estate market. Buildings are often in a very central location, which is suitable for usages, which demand a high number of customers. Re-use means also that the conversion has an enormous impact in the building structure and asks usually for an enormous investment. Besides the physical task how to handle the building, the way how it becomes reused is various. Different usages like community-based solutions, mixes usages can also be found like commercial or residential reuse. The solutions are mainly based on the building type of the church, on the financial possibilities of the owner but also on the location

Wie kommt die Smart City in die Stadt?

Smart-City-Initativen sind in verschiedenen europäischen Ländern Bestandteil der Entwicklungsstrategien von Städten geworden. Das Land Österreich nimmt dabei eine besondere Stellung ein, da bereits 2007 der Klima- und Energiefonds europaweit als einer der ersten Fördergeber seine Smart-Cities-Initiative aufsetzte. Diese ist auf die Entwicklung von Strategien, Technologien und Lösungen ausgerichtet, mit der Absicht Städten den Übergang zu einer energieeffizienten, klimaverträglichen und leistbaren Planung zu ermöglichen. Mittlerweile hat sich das Programm auf die Umsetzung der praktischen Realisierung der „Smart Cities Demo“ gerichtet, um intelligente, grüne Technologien in einer „Zero Emission City“ oder „Zero Emission Urban Region“ einzurichten. Die Frage, die innerhalb der Präsentation behandelt werden soll, ist, inwieweit die Förderungen im Rahmen der Smart-City-Initiativen sich von bisherigen Programmen in Österreich und auch Deutschland unterscheiden? Gibt es spezielle Smart-Cities-Förderungen oder handelt es sich nicht um bekannte Programmarten, die unter einem neuen Namen firmieren? Eine grundsätzliche Frage soll auch aufgerissen werden, welche Rolle die Smart City im Rahmen der Stadtentwicklungsplanung einnehmen kann

Wie kommt die Smart City in die Stadt?

Smart-City-Initativen sind in verschiedenen europäischen Ländern Bestandteil der Entwicklungsstrategien von Städten geworden. Das Land Österreich nimmt dabei eine besondere Stellung ein, da bereits 2007 der Klima- und Energiefonds europaweit als einer der ersten Fördergeber seine Smart-Cities-Initiative aufsetzte. Diese ist auf die Entwicklung von Strategien, Technologien und Lösungen ausgerichtet, mit der Absicht Städten den Übergang zu einer energieeffizienten, klimaverträglichen und leistbaren Planung zu ermöglichen. Mittlerweile hat sich das Programm auf die Umsetzung der praktischen Realisierung der „Smart Cities Demo“ gerichtet, um intelligente, grüne Technologien in einer „Zero Emission City“ oder „Zero Emission Urban Region“ einzurichten. Die Frage, die innerhalb der Präsentation behandelt werden soll, ist, inwieweit die Förderungen im Rahmen der Smart-City-Initiativen sich von bisherigen Programmen in Österreich und auch Deutschland unterscheiden? Gibt es spezielle Smart-Cities-Förderungen oder handelt es sich nicht um bekannte Programmarten, die unter einem neuen Namen firmieren? Eine grundsätzliche Frage soll auch aufgerissen werden, welche Rolle die Smart City im Rahmen der Stadtentwicklungsplanung einnehmen kann

New Places for Urban Development – the Space between Historical City Centres and Post-War Expansions Areas

This paper deals with the development and identification of urban zones, which used to function as a transition zone between the historical city and the outskirts. Usually these zones contained functions like car dealers, supermarkets, hardware stores, workshops, etc.. In summary these functions have in common that they need space and good connectivity, while their location nearby to the city was also of importance. During the last 20 years and encouraged by rising demand the pressure has increased on centrally located areas and plots, and forced a change of usage in these transition zones towards functions which are more profitable. Besides the change of the functions a major challenge was the need to rethink established formal methods of urban planning, like legal strategic plans or city development master plans. The present paper will therefore examine whether such urban districts offer prerequisites for alternative (informal) development methods. In this paper, a typology of urban districts will be generated to define a generic type. However, due to their size and heterogeneity, these urban districts can hardly be developed in their entirety with the help of the established, formal urban planning methods. It is therefore the task of urban planning to consider different informal and individual urban planning concepts and to act accordingly

Development of a Communication Tool to Frame a Vision for Changing Neighbourhoods

Post war neighborhoods all over Europe are facing different kind of challenges in order to adapt them for the use in the future. The predominant factor in many concepts of neighborhood refurbishments is the energy demand of the buildings. In connection, many research projects focus on the reduction of CO2 emissions omitting the fact that this specific value does not have any immediate benefit on the residents themselves, neither on a psychological nor on an economical level. Benefits are solely on a macro-economic level, which rarely is calculated and most likely cannot be communicated as a benefit to the residents in a comprehensible fashion. The methodological approach presented in this paper reflects an iterative process of establishing a vision for a neighborhood development strategy. Its core is an iterative process, using the tools of questionnaires, workshops and focus group discussions, which includes the owners of the buildings, the local energy provider, policy makers, representation of the residents and research experts. Singular priorities were harmonized in the form of a questionnaire and multiple workshops. Based on this process, five key areas of action (energy, living space, open space, social and mobility) have been identified. It is valid for an urban area with mostly social housing, erected between 1966 and 1976. The reference neighborhood houses approximately 2,500 inhabitants and is situated in the town of Salzburg/Austria. The developed iterative process is multipliable and transferrable to comparable urban areas, which share a set of similarities. It is the basis for future decisions and gives orientation to the building owners, the energy provider and policy makers. Besides the methodology the outcome of this process are a poster, a folder and a detailed catalog of measures. The poster and the folder visualise the neighborhood development strategy. A set of characters, icons and photos including easily comprehensible comics were developed. Those design features are important in order to create a recognition value and to stimulate acceptance among the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Moreover, the low-threshold approach of the design facilitates future communication with the concerned public. The methodology of the neighborhood development strategy guarantees the inclusion of all stakeholders and supports a prioritization in order to decide on future measures that can lead to a more energy-efficient and liveable development of neighborhoods in need of adaptation

The Inclusive City of Johannesburg and the Challenge of Affordable Housing

Johannesburg, as South Africa’s largest city and the most important economic center, still suffers under the patterns of inequality of the past. Although the spatial change has been rapid since 1994 after the post-apartheid era, the spatial divisions along class lines still remain. Strategic spatial planning strategies of the last two and a half decades were targeting the reduction of spatial patterns of inequality and exclusion by fostering compact and integrated spatial development on national, regional and urban level and currently the local provision of inclusionary housing. This study, based on literature review and census data evaluation, investigates the current challenges of Johannesburg, such as growing population, existing inequalities and the affordable housing backlog. Moreover, the current affordable housing programmes and new policy requirements in Johannesburg are described and analysed. Despite the release of numerous city-wide policies, such as the Spatial Development Framework 2040 (2016) or the Inclusionary Housing Policy (2019) the research shows that the situation has not significantly improved yet, which is indicated by a lack of restrictions in the requirements, implementation deficiencies and limited policy uptake in planning practice

Recycling of polystyrene-based external thermal insulation composite systems - Application of combined mechanical and chemical recycling

The material recycling of complex waste streams such as external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) is challenging, which is why their recycling in the sense of a circular economy is currently hardly established. Therefore, the combined mechanical and thermochemical recycling of ETICS based on expanded polystyrene (EPS) is investigated experimentally and by simulating full process chains in order to evaluate circular economy opportunities. Model ETICS as example for building and construction waste is pretreated mechanically, followed by either pyrolysis and / or gasification steps, and full mass and energy balances are derived. By the combined recycling, inorganic compounds can be separated to a large extent allowing a pre-concentrate generation. The plastic-rich pre-concentrate is converted into either pyrolysis oil with a high styrene monomer content of 51 wt% or to synthesis gas in the subsequent thermochemical conversions. The holistic approach enables a high carbon recycling rate between 53 and 68 wt%. In addition, the investigation reveals technology limitations and opportunities to be further developed and optimized

Human mesenchymal stromal cells inhibit platelet activation and aggregation involving CD73-converted adenosine

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are promising cell therapy candidates. Clinical application is considered safe. However, minor side effects have included thromboembolism and instant blood-mediated inflammatory reactions suggesting an effect of MSC infusion on hemostasis. Previous studies focusing on plasmatic coagulation as a secondary hemostasis step detected both procoagulatory and anticoagulatory activities of MSCs. We now focus on primary hemostasis and analyzed whether MSCs can promote or inhibit platelet activation. Methods: Effects of MSCs and MSC supernatant on platelet activation and function were studied using flow cytometry and further platelet function analyses. MSCs from bone marrow (BM), lipoaspirate (LA) and cord blood (CB) were compared to human umbilical vein endothelial cells or HeLa tumor cells as inhibitory or activating cells, respectively. Results: BM-MSCs and LA-MSCs inhibited activation and aggregation of stimulated platelets independent of the agonist used. This inhibitory effect was confirmed in diagnostic point-of-care platelet function analyses in platelet-rich plasma and whole blood. Using inhibitors of the CD39–CD73–adenosine axis, we showed that adenosine produced by CD73 ectonucleotidase activity was largely responsible for the LA-MSC and BM-MSC platelet inhibitory action. With CB-MSCs, batch-dependent responses were obvious, with some batches exerting inhibition and others lacking this effect. Conclusions: Studies focusing on plasmatic coagulation suggested both procoagulatory and anticoagulatory activities of MSCs. We now show that MSCs can, dependent on their tissue origin, inhibit platelet activation involving adenosine converted from adenosine monophosphate by CD73 ectonucleotidase activity. These data may have strong implications for safety and risk/benefit assessment regarding MSCs from different tissue sources and may help to explain the tissue protective mode of action of MSCs. The adenosinergic pathway emerges as a key mechanism by which MSCs exert hemostatic and immunomodulatory functions

On-Line Monitoring of Biofilm Accumulation on Graphite-Polypropylene Electrode Material Using a Heat Transfer Sensor

Biofilms growing on electrodes are the heart piece of bioelectrochemical systems (BES). Moreover, the biofilm morphology is key for the efficient performance of BES and must be monitored and controlled for a stable operation. For the industrial use of BES (i.e., microbial fuel cells for energy production), monitoring of the biofilm accumulation directly on the electrodes during operation is desirable. In this study a commercially available on-line heat transfer biofilm sensor is applied to a graphite-polypropylene (C-PP) pipe and compared to its standard version where the sensor is applied to a stainless-steel pipe. The aim was to investigate the transferability of the sensor to a carbonaceous material (C-PP), that are preferably used as electrode materials for bioelectrochemical systems, thereby enabling biofilm monitoring directly on the electrode surface. The sensor signal was correlated to the gravimetrically determined biofilm thickness in order to identify the sensitivity of the sensor for the detection and quantification of biofilm on both materials. Results confirmed the transferability of the sensor to the C-PP material, despite the sensor sensitivity being decreased by a factor of approx. 5 compared to the default biofilm sensor applied to a stainless-steel pipe