Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Ecolodge design'

Master of Landscape Architecture
Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning
Jessica Canfield
Nature based tourism is a growing trend across the world today. Ecotourism is a specific nature based tourism type, defined by the International Ecotourism Society (TIES) as “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” The ‘ecolodge,’ is a term that refers to the site and structure where ecotourists stay and where ecotourism activities occur. The intention of an ecolodge is to find a balance between three factors: conservation, local communities, and interpretation for travelers and workers. Every ecolodge is unique in form and function to uphold sustainability best practices and to meet specific environmental and climatic needs of a region. As more and more tourists choose to travel to environmentally sensitive areas of the world, ecolodge use must increase in order to preserve environmental and cultural assets (Honey, 2008). In other countries, like Costa Rica and Kenya, many ecolodges have successfully balanced these three components creating an overall trend towards ecolodges and ecotourism operations, shifting away from traditional accommodation types. However, as the U.S. tourism market continues to grow, there is yet to be a notable ecolodge presence. Some ecotourism experts would argue that true ecotourism--equally finding balance between conservation, guest interpretation, and community support--will never be possible to create in the U.S. Many believe it is the ‘supporting local communities’ aspect of ecotourism which cannot be met. The treatment of indigenous people, as well as the structure of the nation’s economy in the U.S. is different compared to developing countries where ecolodge design has found success. Interestingly, certified sustainable site development is becoming prevalent in the U.S. Frameworks such as LEED and SITES are used to improve the rigor of sustainability design. Design guidelines for ecolodges share similar goals with LEED and SITES. But ecolodge design is not prevalent in the U.S. This may be due to the lack of an international ecolodge certification system. If the ecotourism industry can progress from ecolodge guidelines (which are largely unknown) to an international ecolodge certification, truly authentic ecolodges will become the standard (Mehta, 2007). To explore how ecolodges can be used in a U.S. National Park, this project focuses on the Flamingo District in the Everglades National Park, Florida. A projective design methodology is used. The data collection methods include precedent studies, interviews, on-site observation, and site analysis. Flamingo, located in the southernmost point of the Everglades was destroyed by hurricane Katrina in 2005. The National Park Service is seeking a business concessioner to 1) oversee the construction of new lodging area, and 2) operate all business activities—recreation rentals, marina operations, general store, and dining—in the district. The goal of this research project is to create an ecolodge design that can serve Flamingo’s needs and serve as a model for future ecolodge design in U.S. National Parks.

We know very little about the ecology of our designed world. Contrary to all appearances, design is not about making objects. It is rather about structuring the conditions for life. Design is our second nature, naturalising changes in our ways of living. Yet it also conceals dangers and diminishes our sensitivity to respond to them. The security offered by the televisual image � and the solace of design�s promise to remove all environmental risks � are fictions. Ecology of the Image is a critical exploration of idealism in design. Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology, socio-cultural and design theory, it argues that design is not a value-free practice but structures epistemological attitudes into the world. Ideas are material elements of our environments. This thesis offers an explanation of how idealism circulates within the designed world, fashioning our minds, bodies and environments. The televisual is analysed as a normative phenomenon that inducts us into a way of seeing and understanding the world. Its vision of the affluent good life inspires and gives purpose to desire, and sustains what Manzini has called �product based well being�. The thesis argues that the televisual puts us out of touch with the consequences of its vision; it diminishes our capacity for forethought. This results in the generation of unacknowledged, yet self-endangering environmental feedback. Environmental problems force us to take account of design�s hidden rationales. Only at five minutes to midnight, for example, do we realise that the stock and supply of potable water is endangered. The problem is not so much this late recognition, but that design led us to believe in water�s abundance. This situation demands the development of an ecological understanding of our designed worlds that can inform future actions. The sign, particularly as it has been mobilised in cultural theory, plays a leading role in this design situation and the perceptions it supports. The sign is utilised for its ability to denaturalise appearances � to �read� design�s claims on the world. Finally, the thesis turns to the designer-in-training in the process of acquiring instrumental skills and worldviews. It proposes a research strategy that inscribes environmental consciousness into the design process � situating the designer in the midst of semiotic and material worlds. Through its observational methodology it outlines ways of first understanding, then of intervening and generating changes in our �ideal� world.

The devastating effects that unsustainable design practices have on the natural world and other species with whom we share this planet have gained widespread awareness and are the driving force behind attempts to develop more sustainable design approaches. These efforts tend to focus on minimising the negative effects that design has on the natural world by reduced material and energy usage. However, the possibility that design may have an active role in mitigating the erosion of biodiversity has only entered the discussion in recent years and remains a marginal activity for design. Following an ongoing paradigm shift calling for the inclusion of a greater diversity of wild animals within human-dominated habitats (as a way of addressing both the erosion of biodiversity and humankind’s alienation from nature), this research proposes that there is a growing need for a design practice capable of responding to the needs of wild animals, while addressing questions of human-animal interaction. In this thesis, Multispecies Design is proposed and developed as a theoretical framework for supporting the shift to more biodiverse human habitats. The research addresses both the physical and socio-cultural requirements of such a shift. Three distinct views define this emerging design approach: recognising animals as clients of design, recognising human-animal interactions as designed experiences and the view of manmade systems as further extensions of ecological systems. The methodological implications of Multispecies Design have been explored in a case study design project concerned with the ecological enhancement of a coastal outfall pipe on a highly frequented beach in Cornwall, UK. The case study explored ways of designing to address the needs of both people and of wild animal species, as well as the interactions between the two groups. It focused on identifying and developing design approaches and tools for studying and representing wild animals in design projects to facilitate their integration into built environments. These tools were further refined in a series of workshops with design and art students carried out during the PhD research. The insights from the practical work, together with the theoretical framework developed alongside them, have led to the development of Principles of Multispecies Design and practical and conceptual Tools for Multispecies Design.

In recent years, ecological issues have grown to become some of the most significant sociopolitical concerns of our time - something which has been reflected by an explosion in engagement with such issues across every area of arts and culture. Across most major art forms, this trend has been identified, analysed and promoted both by critical studies in the growing field of ecocriticism, and by the curatorial recognition of new 'ecological' genres; however, to date there has been no equivalent ecologically-focused engagement within sound art. This can be recognised as the product of two significant gaps in sound art scholarship: the first critical in nature, regarding the lack of ecocritical engagement with sound art; and the second curatorial, regarding the failure to recognise the growing number of ecologically-engaged works of sound art as a distinct genre in their own right. The research detailed within this thesis will address each of these gaps by conducting a comprehensive investigation into ecology and environmentalism in contemporary sound art. The critical gap will be tackled by coupling a thorough analysis of the field of ecocriticism with an investigation into the ways in which ecological principles manifest within sound as a medium and listening as a means of engagement. This will then be used to develop a new ecocritical framework specifically designed for sound art, which will be employed to conduct ecocritical listenings to a selection of canonical and contemporary sound works. To address the curatorial gap, meanwhile, a new genre of 'ecological sound art' will be proposed, with a second set of ecocritical listenings focused upon a selection of ecological sound works in order to determine the precise nature of their ecological engagement, and to develop both a comprehensive definition and an initial catalogue of works for this important and timely contemporary movement.

Many interactive products and services have made the move from stationary or desktop applications to dedicated mobile devices. Sonys Playstation has evolved into the PSP (playstation portable), Apples iPod is fully integrated with iTunes, Microsoft’s new media player is rumored to carry the Xbox brand and browsers like Internet Explorer and Opera can be used on pocket PCs, cell phones and Smart Phones. A very interesting example of this development is the global telephony company Skype that offers free calls over the Internet as well as instant messaging, video conferencing among many other things. Skype is making its way from the desktop to a wide array of devices, stressing the need for a unified brand experience. This thesis seeks to explore the different interactive aspects that constitute the user experience of a specific brand. Through listing the use qualities fulfilled by the services in the primary product and examining their requirements and dependencies in the user interface, this thesis proposes a method to foresee potential confinements in the brand experience when distributing an interactive product or service to a new platform. The thesis also aims at examining how the method can be used in the design process.

This body of work aims to discover opportunities for industrial design to support sustainable ways of living in a materialistic society. At first glance, sustainable living and product design seem incongruent. Perhaps through investigation of the nature of product design and models of sustainability, a plan can be established which actually strengthens the reality of each in light of social, economic and environmental issues.
Master of Science

We have, within the last years, witnessed horrifying tragedies within the transportation domain. Planes fall down, trains crash, boats sink, and car accidents are one of the most frequent causes of death throughout the world.

What is more, technology seems also to fail in settings that are more mundane. In his book "the trouble with computers: Usefulness, usability, and productivity", T.K. Landauer shows that the productivity has, within the western world, decreased by about 50% from the period 1950-1973 to the period from 1973 to 1993, and claims that this effect is mostly due to the introduction of technology. Even closer to home, technology is still anxiety provoking for most people. One of many everyday observations to support this fact can be seen at the airports. Have you wondered why most people line up, even for hours, without daring to go near the automatic check-in machines?

What has become of the grandiose promises from the heydays of artificial intelligence? What happened to the mind-machines of Newell and Simon? Where is HAL 9000? The distance between the massive technology positivism observed in the west, and the contemporary role of technology in the society, is, I believe, one of the largest paradoxes of our time.

What is particularly interesting to note, is that the parody of the AI of the 60s, seems to be recycled every now and again, both within entertainment, the financial world, and within academia. At the turn of the century, we have seen the popularity of movies like The Matrix, we have seen high hopes become sober reality at NASDAQ, and the reductionism of Newell and Simon is alive and well, in disguise of the magic buzzword connectionism. Universities around the world are now buying MRI – scanners on the thousands. We are, yet again (!), on the verge of discovering the mysteries of the mind.

The slogan "Vorsprung Durch Technic" used by Audi displays something that lies deep within the western mind, namely the tendency to define ourselves and our culture in terms the inherent qualities of technology; precision, logic, rationality, reliability, punctuality, determination and power. Technology is, in many respects, the totem of the western culture. Maybe this thesis should have been about Techno-Totemism. But it is not.

This thesis, on the other hand, attempts to explore what technology might have looked like, had it not been for techno-totemism, i.e. the prevailing idea within western culture and sciences, that humans are literally machines. This notion makes engineers design technological products as if humans actually were machines, or worse imperfect machines. The imperfect machine metaphor leads directly to the notion of "human error", which is often used in a particularly stupid fashion.

In this work I lean, on the contrary, on aspects of human cognition that are not machine-like whatsoever, and advocate a change in design focus, from an emphasis on technology to an emphasis on ecology. I have attempted to present my programme positively; that is, to give indications on how, in practical, real life settings, such an approach might be carried out. At certain points, however, it has been necessary to point out the difference of my approach from the traditional cognitive-based Human Factors tradition, to make my points explicit. I apologize to cognitivists and human factors specialists for occasionally making a straw man of their theory. There are many excellent contributions made by these traditions, which are not reflected in this thesis.

Humankind has lived on earth for a geologically brief time. Our species has proven a remarkable ability to adapt to our environment through the development and use of tools and technology. Little evidence suggests when our need to tame nature took hold in our collective cultural consciousness, yet throughout western history, human needs and activities have been perceived as separate from the natural world. We stand at the beginning of a new millennium, aware of the cycles which govern the flows of life on our planet, yet far from understanding the specifics of how they work. This building, an Institute for Urban Agriculture, seeks to challenge that notion of separation. The design expresses architecturally the ways in which the technological systems and organic systems work together to sustain the mission of the Institute. Through every aspect of the building design, the perceived separation of those systems is woven together to express an holistic view of the building as a fully integrated system. Human intervention is a necessary part of a healthy urban ecosystem, and positive relationships with the natural world contribute to the qualities of human health. Inspired by careful observation and experience of the surrounding urban landscape, this design recognizes those interactions and builds upon their social, ecological and economic values. Architecture becomes the medium for communicating transformed ideas about our relationships with the natural world to the building inhabitants and to the public at large.
Master of Architecture

Theme of this diploma thesis is design of residental yacht, focused on applying of modern technologies with aim to make the work flow more efective. I would like to achieve better results in question of fuel saving and ecology, by using hybrid engine systém and solar power. My next aim was interlacing of construction and ergonomic parameters in the way to achieve comfort and save enviroment for the travelers.

The aim of this thesis has been to develop and document a research project that takes the form of a strategic response by a furniture designermaker (Philip Koomen Furniture) to the challenging ecological issues raised by the Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and detailed in the document Agenda 21: Sustainable Development for the 21st Century. A Literature Review contextualises this research project in relation to issues around global resources and sustainable practices and considers various models of sustainable design in relation to the commercial mainstream but more particularly with regard to the role of the furniture designermaker in contemporary society. The thesis explores the rationale for what became termed the “Signed & Sealed” project and describes the development of an associated body of designs through the negotiation of the degraded state of the U.K.’s native woodlands and the location of three critical strands which together came to define the “Signed & Sealed” brand – strands identified by the terms semi-bespoke, local cycle and unique signature. These terms are illuminated in turn by discussion of the commissioning processes favoured by designer-makers and by consideration of the economic and aesthetic problems to be found in connection with the sourcing, development and use of local, noncommercial timbers. The thesis also describes the project’s formal presentation in the exhibition “Out of the Woods” (River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, 17 September 2004 to 7 January 2005) and the two conferences “Our Woods in Your Hands” (River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, 25 September 2004) and “Out of the Woods: Design for Sustainability” (River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on- Thames, 20 October 2004) and considers the peer reviews and responses which followed these events. Finally, the thesis offers a critical evaluation of the PhD research process which framed the project together with some discussion of further potential avenues of research and development.

This research project explores opportunities for sustainable design in New Zealand. Recently a new framework for sustainable design was proposed by environmental chemist Michael Braungart and architect William McDonough who suggest that the current paradigm of cradle to grave product development is unable to provide a solution to the world’s current ecological crisis, and a “cradle to cradle” framework is more appropriate. They suggest that their approach, based on examples from nature, ensures that all human activities have a positive ecological footprint, capable of replenishing and regenerating natural systems, as well as guaranteeing that we are able to develop a world that is culturally and ecologically diverse. A group of New Zealand scientists was asked to evaluate the Cradle to Cradle design framework in an attempt to determine the potential of this, or other sustainable approaches, to design New Zealand products. The key findings from these interviews are described and were utilised to propose a new sustainable design framework – “design for ecosystem function”. In design for ecosystem function, biodiversity is placed central to the design decision-making process, alongside human user needs. This framework was then used to help explore the relationship between science and design, while developing three new, innovative and ecologically beneficial products. The three products, or ecological interventions, represent a design response to a range of ecological problems. They include a toy to help children reconnect with nature in urban ecosystems, a trap to assist lizard monitoring and conservation, and a shelter designed to enhance tree survival, and the colonisation of biodiversity in native forest restoration plantings.

This thesis is based on two observations. First, that conventional buildings cause two major losses that involve non-human nature – the loss of native biodiversity and the loss of non-human nature experience for the buildings’ human inhabitants – and that these losses both contribute to a perceived separation between humans and the rest of nature. Second, that there appears to be a growing interest in connecting buildings with nature but there is little agreement on what it actually means to ‘design with nature’. As such, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to describe the meaning of ‘designing with nature’ in current architectural practice and provide a working definition of nature-based design, and (2) to explore how this can be interpreted to encourage human connectedness with non-human nature, while addressing the two major losses mentioned above. It is thus an attempt to reframe the role of building as one that provides for all inhabitants of a site, both human and non. A framework was developed that captures and summarizes the dominant ways in which design draws on nature. The framework emphasizes the importance of using ecosystems not only as models, but foremost as context. The core concepts of the framework can thus be discussed from the perspective of buildings that act like an ecosystem and that interact with their ecosystem, and are described as: ecological sense of place, regenerative ability, ecosystem health, mutually beneficial relationships, context, appropriate management, functions, ecosystem principles, values, patterns, conditions, and adaptations. Although the concepts presented in the framework are themselves not new, the way in which they are organized does contribute a new perspective on the field of nature-based design. In addition to providing a graphic model that summarizes the essence of an evolving field, the research highlights the role of scale and place in linking building design, native biodiversity, nature experience and connectedness with nature. It thus acts as a backdrop on which to bring a discussion of ecological citizenship into the architectural dialogue.

This research was conducted in corresponding to energy crisis and the global warming effects of utilizing non renewable energy sources (fossil fuels). Contributing to high Co2 emissions. The study proposed bioenergy sources as a sufficient alternative for power supply in building sectors for domestic use as it achieves a multi scale solution for the addressed problem; being safe, efficient in electrical power generation, cost effective, waste treating, easy to implement in domestic use, easy to use, reproducible and available. In this extent an experimental study on bioelectricity generation employing microbial fuel cell device was conducted based on previous research review, analysis and scientific interdisciplinary study developed for the case based design. Including introduction to interdisciplinary sciences, mainly biotechnology, tissue engineering, bio materials, synthetic biology, bio informatics and biodigital design involved in the embedding and integration of microbes in design for ecological purposes, bioluminescent activity physio-chemical basis and biological synthesis potentials and possible design application. Bioelectricity bio-electro chemical basis and introduction of fuel cells and microbial fuel cells devices technology as a specific bioreactor for exploiting natural exoelectrogeneses of microbes. The experimental study surveyed various microbial species for optimum production of indicator enzyme (laccase) that is the main precursor agent in the oxidation-reduction reaction of bioelectricity generation; the potent strain was molecularly identified as Aspergillus sydowii NYKA 510, and further optimized for its growth condition to be employed in a single chamber membrane-less MFC for bioelectricity generation and optimization. The system achieved at 2000 Ω, 0.76 V, 380 mAm-2, 160 mWm-2, and 0.4 W. the MFC needed initialization time of 4 days for generating steady current, and maintained steady performance of 6 days before the need to be recharged with fresh medium and dispersed spores. A self-sufficient lighting unit was implemented by employing a system of 2 sets of 4 MFCs each, connected in series, for electricity generation. The self-sufficient cluster design involved the inner system of the MFCs and the outer container, which gave the cluster its final form. The formal design included patterned customized mass depending on bio digital design procedures through utilizing scanning electron microscopy images of A. sydowii NYKA 510 in algorithmic form generation equations. Patterned customized mass approach were developed by the authors and chosen for application in the design. Following this, a multidisciplinary study based on biological imagery and dynamic mathematical modeling was carried on, in order to achieve coupling between form and function in the self-sufficient bioelectricity generating system. This phase involved a review of scientific bases of biological imagery study and mathematical modeling of biological behavior and categorization according to physio-chemical pathways and stochastic dynamics basis; as cellular automata, agent based, partial differential equations, and introduced the basis of complex intelligence systems. Followed by another experimental phase of designing a cellular automata-agent based combined model of biased random walk that simulate the fungal cells complex behavior in oxidation-reduction reaction responsible for bioelectricity generation inside MFCs (including nutrients search, chemotaxis, oxidation-reduction reaction active site). This reaction was chosen for the study in order to achieve coherence in coupling form and function. Results were employed in extensive design study of the design methodology and criteria of embedding microorganisms in interior design elements to achieve space ecology through case-based design approach. Resulting in two main categories of bioactive devices (applied in this thesis scope and coherent to its objectives), and bioactive hybrids or bioactive materials of system which is a material for further investigation.

City greenspaces are often considered as refuges for wildlife living in the urban area.At the same time, the original function of greenspaces is providing relaxing places forpeople. So, to provide suitable area for both humans and wildlife in the city, it isimportant to learn about the preference to city greenspace design by humans and birds.In this study, I selected 45 city greenspaces from Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, andused opportunistic citizen science bird records, environmental parameters ofgreenspaces analyzed by GIS and an online social survey to compare the preference ofbirds (using bird diversity as a proxy for preference) and humans living in urban areawith respect to certain environmental parameters of city greenspaces. I found that bothpeople and birds prefer greenspaces with large area, and some water area in or aroundgreenspace. I also found some conflicting preferences in that people more preferredgreenspaces near the city center but bird diversity was higher in greenspaces fartherfrom the city center. These results might bring new mind for urban ecology researchand ecofriendly city greenspace design. Greenspaces with larger area and water areawould be preferred by both people and birds.

I write this thesis based on the premise that many environmental problems are the result of conventional community design. I argue that conventional community designs are "anti-ecological" because they consume too much energy, produce an extraordinary amount of waste, are car-oriented, ignore any relationship with the natural environment, and reflect the irresponsible attitude of man conquering nature. However, I suggest that ecologically responsible community design alternatives do exist. I refer to these alternatives as "ecological communities". These communities attempt to function as ecosystems that conserve natural resources, are self-regulating, and produce little waste.
I present the central principles of ecological communities, and then explore the validity of these assertions. Using five ecological communities from Northern Europe, I examine the following principles: (1) alternative energy systems at the community-scale, (2) wastewater treatment and water reclamation, (3) waste management in the community, (4) ecologically sustainable landscapes, and (5) environmentally responsible housing.
Finally, I present my observations and conclusions. The observations are intended to help community designers to understand the characteristics of ecological communities, and perhaps some of the conditions necessary for these communities to exist. The hope is that these observations may assist community designers avoid common mistakes on similar projects. The observations may shorten the time designers require to transfer their ideas from theory into practice. I conclude that when compared with conventional communities--not with perfection or the utopian dream--ecological communities and what they represent can provide designers with viable development alternatives.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Urban and Environmental Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-311).
From the eastern seaboard of the United States to coastal cities in Southeast Asia, severe weather events and long-term climate impacts challenge how we live and work. As the debates over cities, planning, and climate change intensify, governments are proposing increasingly ambitious plans to respond to climate impacts. These involve extensive reconfigurations of built and "natural" environments, and massive economic resources. They promise "ecological security" and the perpetuation of capitalist growth. Yet they often involve intractable social questions, including decisions about how and what to protect on sites that are home to already marginalized urban residents. Scholarship on urban adaptation planning has tended to reinforce divisions between social and spatial, drawing a line between designed and engineered solutions and sociopolitical measures. It often assumes urban politics to be contained and cohesive. And it has relied on static conceptualizations of the city as a bounded territory, neglecting interconnections across networks and broader processes of globalization, urbanization, and geopolitics. This dissertation, on the urban spatial politics of climate change adaption, is posed as a conceptual and methodological counterpoint to the dominant discourse. Exploring what I call a political ecology of design, I investigate sites and strategies in three cities, New York, Jakarta, and Rotterdam. Looking, on one level, at city and national initiatives, including Rebuild By Design in New York, the "Great Garuda" sea wall plan in Jakarta, and Rotterdam Climate Proof, my dissertation also searches out alternate narratives, the "counterplans" - including community resiliency in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and grassroots design activism in the informal "kampungs" of Jakarta - and new global/urban networks - the multiscalar, multilevel connections through which urban concepts travel, transform, and embed. I focus on the contested visions, the interrelationships of local and global, and the role of design in urban adaptation. I ask, in the face of climate change and uneven social and spatial urban development, how are contesting visions ofthe future produced and how do they attain power? I ground my research in theories of sociospatial power relationships - the social production of space (Lefebvre 1991), urbanization and uneven development (Harvey 1985; Smith 1984), spatial justice (Soja 2010), and the geographies of policy mobility (Peck 2011; Roy and Ong 2011). I also look to theories of the interrelationships between social, ecological, and technological processes in and through cities (Bulkeley et al. 2011; Hodson and Marvin 2010). I develop a method of urban relational analysis to study disparate yet highly interconnected sites. On one level, this is a mixed methods study of multiple design strategies across different cities, combining semi-structured interviews with field and participant observation, and spatial and visual methods. On another, I build on frameworks for a more reflexive approach to case selection and analysis (Burawoy 2003; McMichael 2000) and a relational reading of sites - each understood through the others (Amin 2004; Massey 2011; Roy 2009). In Ananya Roy's words, "to view all cities from this particular place on the map." I find that, 1) in this new landscape of climate policy mobilities, urban adaptation projects, globally constituted, are reformatted by and to local urban sociospatial systems, 2) climate change motivates relationships, but plan objectives often transcend climate-specific goals, and 3) the production of alternative visions - "counterplans" - opens terrains of contestation, enabling modes of organizing and resistance to hegemonic systems. These findings emphasize the agency of marginalized urban communities, the sociopolitical role of design, and the embeddedness of climate change responses within multiple scales and levels of global urban development. They imply that planners committed to just socio-environmental outcomes engage across the range of urban scales and networks, and learn from critical social and political imaginaries and practices. I end with speculations on an insurgent, networked, urban ecological design practice.
by Kian Goh.
Ph. D. in Urban and Environmental Planning

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008.
Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 18, 2008) Degree granted by Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as University of Missouri-Rolla. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-73).

Traditional trails near backcountry stream corridors are often designed with disregard to their potential ecological impact. Ecological and trail related literature show that riparian landscapes are sensitive to recreation impacts. This thesis examines concepts for designing trails in ecologically compatible ways near backcountry stream corridors. The synthesis of the literature regarding the biophysical processes of stream corridors and the effects of trails on the environment is used to help develop principles and guidelines for locating trails near backcountry stream corridors. In turn, these principles and guidelines assisted in the development of a trail assessment manual useful to scientists, planners, and designers. Seven trail impacts are assessed: excessive soil erosion, wet trails, water on trails, excessive trail widths, multiple trails, root exposure, and stream sedimentation. Three backcountry study sites from the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province of Virginia are evaluated. A ranking and measurement procedure is developed to characterize environmental, use, design/siting, construction, and maintenance factors because each of these influence the degree of impacts along studied trails. Results show that many steep trail segments, especially those without proper drainage features have incised or eroded trail treads. Likewise, many trail segments without drainage features located along flat adjacent landforms have wet soil and water on trail impacts. Overall results show that as use amount or type increase there is a parallel in trail and environmental degradation. Finally, a stream crossing and trail drainage concept is developed illustrating ways to reduce sediment inputs into nearby streams.
Master of Landscape Architecture

Temporal variation in the first day of egg-laying of the Blue Tit within a deciduous woodland is accounted for by the small but significant spatial differences in microclimate, particularly temperatures. The warmer areas, which are confined to the southern half of the wood, are also characterised by larger clutch sizes and greater survival of nestlings into the local population. Furthermore, examination of the total breeding avifauna of this wood shows densities to be highest in the warmer areas and particularly along the south-facing edge zones. Investigation of 16 woodlands (range 0.01-14.9 ha) shows that bird species richness increases with increasing woodland area but that there is an inverse relationship between breeding bird density and woodland size. However, the total species number and breeding density of 14 small woods are markedly higher than those of a single large wood of roughly equal size. These differences are accounted for by the high proportion of edge zone within a group a small woodlands (86%) compared with the single larger wood (24%). The clear importance of small woodland patches to the total avifauna of East Leicestershire, and presumably other parts of lowland England, is stressed. The proportion of edge zone is influenced by woodland size, shape, internal structure (including the presence of rides and clearings), slope and aspect. Combinations of these factors can result in edge zone depth being considerably increased in a woodland. The importance of the edge zone to maximising species numbers is described in relation to various strategies of woodland nature reserve conservation. One such strategy advocates that species numbers and breeding densities in a very large wood can be enhanced by careful attention to management proposals such as ride-widening, tree-thinning and coppicing. The influence of these findings on future large-scale planting is also discussed.

The loss of ecological integrity as a result of urban spread and construction threatens the overall biodiversity of urban areas and prompts us to consider means of better including ecological biodiversity within development projects. The UK’s best practice tool for ensuring the integration of ecology into such projects is the Building Research Establishments Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). This thesis seeks to identify the efficacy of the current approach to ecological integration within BREEAM, and enable development to foster biodiversity and ecology more positively in the urban environment. Qualitative and quantitative research techniques were used to develop a new approach to the integration of ecology within an existing and nationally recognised model. This began by exploring the efficacy of and the main flaws in the present system by a survey of ecologists with experience of the BREEAM process. This led to a new approach to establishing the ecological value of urban ecology utilising a new calculation methodology, adapting the current scheme to focus on land use change as a result of urban land use planning and development. This new approach utilises habitat changes at its core to measure positive and negative change and indicate potential design solutions in land use planning within a development. The innovative methodology was tested using an in depth case study to review and discuss its effective application. The outcome was a new way to address the important variables of habitat integration and linkages maintaining ecological integrity and provision of ecosystem services. It is considered that the outlined approach of the new Land Use and Ecology section of BREEAM is suitable for integration into the next iteration in 2010, which will enable development to positively foster biodiversity and ecology in the urban environment.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-209). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Theme of the diploma thesis is design of an urban electric car. The main aim of my diploma thesis is to create a concept of a vehicle which will benefit from advantages of utility vehicles and small urban cars . In my thesis I think about using of ecological materials, effective production technologies and requirements for car in present.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2007.
Pages 146 and 147 blank.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-137).
Open Source strategies have become powerful tools for the development of innovative products in various industries (Von Hippel, 2006). Success stories in computer and clothing manufacturing signify that the adoption of Open Source practices may improve service standards and productivity (Clayton, 2001; Thomle & Von Hippel, 2002). Although Open Source strategies have been adapted in many design industries for satisfying customer demands in customized products, no one has successfully implemented an effective process for integrating Open Source into the building industries (Herbert, 1981, Larson et al., 2004). In an attempt to overcome many of the same barriers to product maturity such ineffective collaboration, lack of data management (Shah, 2003; Rothfuss, 2002), and limitations of product distribution channels, a new participative Open Source platform for transforming building design processes and economics is suggested (Larson et al., 2004). This thesis reexamines the basic assumptions of how building products are distributed through the Open Source environment.
(cont.) By analyzing the impact of e-Business and Internet technology driving community participation, the integration of (1) four online Business models: Dell, Open Source, iTunes, and eBay, and (2) the advent of mass- customization through the revolution of Internet technology, Computer Aided Design (CAD), and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) for architecture and architectural product design and development will be established. The results of this evaluation identify the effective factors for the Internet augmentation framework to achieve the usability of Open Source for the design-build housing industry, and reinforce the changing relationship between homebuyers, architects, and manufacturers prior to making a final housing product.
by Kalaya Kovidvisith.
S.M.

-Design of a conceptual bus using results to determine current trends in public transport. -Integration of electronic mirrors to increase safety, use of clean electrical components without emissions, use of lidar sensor built into the lights, air purification -Electric bus design in terms of design, production technology and ergonomics, production of a physical model and posters. -Work brings insight into current trends in public transport, and offers solutions for integration into design.

Future challenges for human civilization, especially in the developing world, will increasingly be characterized by both an urban and global condition. What will be the response by design in the face of the implications of this unprecedented scale of development? The thesis is a speculative analysis of the essential nature of the phenomenon of the global mega-city, and is a necessary first step in creating a framework to answer this question. The Brazilian city of São Paulo is chosen as this thesis case study because it is a 'matured' version of this Modern urban phenomenon. Underlying and guiding the creation of this picture of the mega-city is the assertion that the fundamantal nature of the phenomenon of São Paulo is essentially an ecological one. Like any other ecological analysis, the first stage of the inquiry is to identify the motivating force that orders the system and propels the change of the urban ecology. In the case of São Paulo, the thesis develope a picture of an urban agglomeration that has been driven by the unrestrained forces of the aspirations of global Modernism and the exploitation of growing urban multitudes by the personal avarice of capitalism. São Paulo is seen as an urban experiment that rests in the tacit gamble that the economic aspirations underlying São Paulo are limitless in the face of the obvious limits of the city' and globe's biosphere. This relationship between urban organism and host ecology is characterized as parasitic and like the economic and social propelling forces of Modernity, forms the fundamental underlying relationships of the ecology of São Paulo. These relationships in juxtaposition with the propellant force of Modernism, form the sketch of a framework that the thesis proposes for a responsible position for design in the mega-city. In light of this ecological sketch of São Paulo, the underlying perpective for design in the mega-city seeks to strike a balance between economy, ecology and should be founded on a view of the city as an investment that can be evaluated for its performance in providing the context for human flourishing in relations to its use of natural resources.

As population increases, the need for public recreation facilities and resources increases. The U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and other recreation providers are constrained by limited time and funding to plan for, and implement, recreational facilities for the areas that they serve. Poorly located and designed recreational trails increase maintenance costs, resource degradation, and the inefficient utilization of public resources. The potential application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to this specific type of problem is examined through the comparison of hypothetical trail routes generated by several different methods, existing trail field surveys, office design, GIS user-assisted design, and cost-path analysis design. Each method is compared statistically and qualitatively by GIS methods and office based methods. Each hypothetical trail is ranked according to effectiveness of design, providing insight into trail design methods. The office designed hypothetical trails were consistently ranked highest by an expert forest road designer.
Master of Science

Across the academic sphere, much research has been conducted into the development of water-sensitive elements to address issues around urban water management. However, these elements are commonly investigated in isolation, with little consideration for initiatives from other disciplines that may support their success. This research aims to demonstrate the value that an architect may bring in incorporating ideas drawn from various disciplines to create a water- sensitive design solution with multiple ecosystem benefits, taking into account the human experience of space and place-making. In doing so, the design demonstrates that a water-sensitive building is aesthetically pleasing, viable and achievable. The feasibility of water-sensitive designs has been noted as a focus area by the South African Water Research Commission; one which is particularly pertinent in our present water-scarce environment in South Africa. This applied study is based on a previous Master of Architecture (Professional) dissertation building design, which is used as the unit of analysis. The building focuses on restoring the quality of water in the Liesbeek River in Cape Town using passive filtration methods. The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the design process and planning of water-sensitive architectural buildings, which assists in understanding when collaborating across disciplines. The research is guided by Deep Ecology, phenomenology and Ecological Urbanism. Research by Design is used as the method of the study, in which different design iterations based on the raw data of the original building are investigated and analysed, as well as evaluated by specialists from various disciplines in order to create a best-fit design solution. The revised building takes into account the practical, site-specific and architectural qualities of a water-sensitive design to create a people-centred building that incorporates ecological and engineering demands in greater detail. Key outcomes of the study include a typical design process for a WSAD and architectural guidelines for water-sensitive buildings, grounded in the diverse values of water and its relationship to people and nature. The dissertation aims to contribute to the academic discourse around water-sensitive design. Further, the guidelines developed may be used to inform the design of conventional buildings.

This thesis analyses the concept of sustainability as applied and reflected in industrial design practice in a theoretical way. The discourses on sustainability in general are explored in terms of ecology, economics and politics. The underlying motives resulting in unsustainable ways of production and consumption practices are attempted to be located in contemporary society.

Malgrat representar només el 2,7% de la superfície del planeta, les ciutats del món són responsables del 75% del consum d'energia, i el 80% de les emissions de gasos d'efecte hivernacle.
Encara que el focus d'atenció per mitigar el canvi climàtic s'ha centrat en els combustibles alternatius, vehicles, i la generació d'electricitat; la millora del disseny urbà, representa una oportunitat important que sovint no es valora prou. Aquesta tesi estén l'anàlisi de l'Ecologia Industrial a l'avaluació ambiental de les obres civils en l'entorn urbà, incloent parcs de serveis en zones urbanes.
Pel que fa al sector serveis, el capítol II avalua, des de la perspectiva de l'Ecologia Industrial, l'eficiència energètica dels serveis dins del Parc urbà de Montjuïc i determina el seu impacte ambiental global. A més, aquest estudi determina quins són els serveis més intensius energèticament i analitza la seva eficiència per visitant o unitat de superfície.
El consum d'electricitat representa gairebé el 70% de l'energia total consumida pels serveis en el Parc de Montjuïc, i la superfície forestal necessària per absorbir les emissions de CO2 equivalent produïdes pel cicle de vida de l'energia consumida representa 12,2 vegades la superfície del Parc.
El capítol III analitza l'optimització ambiental de les voreres a les zones urbanes. Encara que una àmplia gamma de materials i solucions constructives estan disponibles per a la pavimentació de les voreres, aquest estudi es centra en tres solucions constructives de formigó molt comunes. Cada solució constructiva té característiques diferents que afecten la seva funcionalitat en: trànsit, característiques de la superfície, i manteniment.
Pel que fa a principals aportacions, aquest estudi fa una descripció general i proveeix l'inventari dels sistemes de vorera estudiats. Segons l'Anàlisi de Cicle de Vida (ACV), el sistema de panot és el que presenta valors més elevats d'impacte ambiental, tanmateix és el tipus de paviment de vorera més utilitzat en l'àrea d'estudi, degut principalment a les preocupacions estètiques i els imperatius del manteniment dels serveis urbans subterranis.
Restringir l'ús dels paviments de formigó per a vianants amb una major capacitat estructural a aquelles seccions de carrer que en realitat els exigeixen podria reduir els impactes ambientals fins un 73,8% a les àrees exclusives per vianants.
Els capítols IV i V utilitzen la metodologia de l'ACV per analitzar el tipus i origen dels impactes ambientals relacionats amb les xarxes de distribució de gas natural i calor.
Per a la xarxa de gas natural, els resultats mostren que l'impacte per habitatge en les categories ambientals estudiades és d'entre 1,9 i 4,8 vegades més gran en un barri de baixa densitat, en funció de la categoria d'impacte. A més, a les zones d'alta densitat el principal impacte s'origina a partir de components i materials relacionats amb els edificis i habitatges, mentre que en zones de baixa densitat el principal impacte s'origina a la xarxa de barri. Tenint en compte aquest últim resultat, s'avalua la conveniència de substituir la xarxa de barri per un sistema discontinu basat en tancs de propà. El resultat indica que quan es necessita una canonada de barri de més d'1 km per arribar a un usuari, és ambientalment preferible per a totes les categories d'impacte utilitzar el sistema de tancs de propà.
Per a la xarxa de distribució de calor, els resultats mostren que les fonts d'impacte no ubiquen especialment a la xarxa principal (menys del 7,1% de contribució a totes les categories d'impacte), que és el subsistema que ha centrat l'atenció en la literatura; sinó que aquest es troba a les plantes de generació energètica i als components dels habitatges. Aquests dos subsistemes contribueixen conjuntament entre un 40% i un 92% a l'impacte ambiental en funció de les categories d'impacte. Pel que fa als components, només un nombre reduït són responsables de la majoria dels impactes ambientals.
Com a conclusió general, l'enfocament de l'Ecologia Industrial aplicat als sistemes urbans, estudiant el metabolisme de les ciutats, barris, sectors econòmics o les infraestructures, proveeix de dades sobre el metabolisme dels sistemes urbans, assenyala els punts febles des d'una perspectiva ambiental i assenyala les oportunitats de millora dels nostres sistemes urbans. Per tant, l'Ecologia Industrial es converteix en el primer pas per orientar els processos de disseny ecològic a escala de barri o d'infraestructura.
A pesar de representar sólo el 2,7% de la superficie del planeta, las ciudades del mundo son responsables del 75% del consumo de energía, y el 80% de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero.
Aunque el foco de atención para mitigar el cambio climático se ha centrado en los combustibles alternativos, vehículos, y la generación de electricidad; la mejora del diseño urbano, representa una oportunidad importante que a menudo no se valora suficientemente. Esta tesis extiende el análisis de la Ecología Industrial en la evaluación ambiental de las obras civiles en el entorno urbano, incluyendo parques de servicios en zonas urbanas.
En cuanto al sector servicios, el capítulo II evalúa, desde la perspectiva de la Ecología Industrial, la eficiencia energética de los servicios dentro del Parque urbano de Montjuïc y determina su impacto ambiental global. Además, este estudio determina cuáles son los servicios más intensivos energéticamente y analiza su eficiencia por visitante o unidad de superficie.
El consumo de electricidad representa casi el 70% de la energía total consumida por los servicios en el Parque de Montjuïc, y la superficie forestal necesaria para absorber las emisiones de CO2 equivalente producidas por el ciclo de vida de la energía consumida representa 12,2 veces la superficie del Parque.
El capítulo III analiza la optimización ambiental de las aceras en las zonas urbanas. Aunque una amplia gama de materiales y soluciones constructivas están disponibles para la pavimentación de las aceras, este estudio se centra en tres soluciones constructivas de hormigón muy comunes. Cada solución constructiva tiene características diferentes que afectan a su funcionalidad en: tráfico, características de la superficie, y mantenimiento.
En cuanto a principales aportaciones, este estudio hace una descripción general y provee el inventario de los sistemas de acera estudiados. Según el Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV), el sistema de pavimento hidráulico es el que presenta valores más elevados de impacto ambiental, sin embargo es el tipo de pavimento de acera más utilizado en el área de estudio, debido principalmente a las preocupaciones estéticas y los imperativos del mantenimiento de los servicios urbanos subterráneos.
Restringir el uso de los pavimentos de hormigón para peatones con una mayor capacidad estructural a aquellas secciones de calle que en realidad los exigen podría reducir los impactos ambientales hasta un 73,8% en las áreas exclusivas para peatones.
Los capítulos IV y V utilizan la metodología del ACV para analizar el tipo y origen de los impactos ambientales relacionados con las redes de distribución de gas natural y calor. Para la red de gas natural, los resultados muestran que el impacto por vivienda en las categorías ambientales estudiadas es de entre 1,9 y 4,8 veces mayor en un barrio de baja densidad, en función de la categoría de impacto. Además, en las zonas de alta densidad el principal impacto se origina a partir de componentes y materiales relacionados con los edificios y viviendas, mientras que en zonas de baja densidad el principal impacto se origina en la red de barrio. Teniendo en cuenta este último resultado, se evalúa la conveniencia de sustituir la red de barrio por un sistema discontinuo basado en tanques de propano. El resultado indica que cuando se necesita una tubería de barrio de más de 1 km para llegar a un usuario, es ambientalmente preferible para todas las categorías de impacto utilizar el sistema de tanques de propano.
Para la red de distribución de calor, los resultados muestran que las fuentes de impacto no se ubican especialmente en la red principal (menos del 7,1% de contribución en todas las categorías de impacto), que es el subsistema que ha centrado la atención en la literatura, sino que éste se encuentra en las plantas de generación energética y los componentes de las viviendas. Estos dos subsistemas contribuyen conjuntamente entre un 40% y un 92% al impacto ambiental en función de las categorías de impacto. En cuanto a los componentes, sólo un número reducido son responsables de la mayoría de los impactos ambientales.
Como conclusión general, el enfoque de la Ecología Industrial aplicado a los sistemas urbanos, estudiando el metabolismo de las ciudades, barrios, sectores económicos o las infraestructuras, provee de datos sobre el metabolismo de los sistemas urbanos, señala los puntos débiles desde una perspectiva ambiental y señala las oportunidades de mejora de nuestros sistemas urbanos. Por tanto, la Ecología Industrial se convierte en el primer paso para orientar los procesos de diseño ecológico a escala de barrio o de infraestructura.
Despite representing only 2.7% of the world's surface area, the world's cities are responsible for 75% of the world's energy consumption, and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Although much attention on mitigating climate change has focused on alternative fuels, vehicles, and electricity generation, better urban design represents an important yet undervalued opportunity. This thesis extends the analysis of Industrial Ecology to the environmental assessment of civil works in the urban environment, including service estates in urban areas.
Concerning the service sector, chapter II evaluates, from an Industrial Ecology perspective, the energy performance of the services inside the Montjuïc urban park and determines their global environmental impact. Additionally, this study determines which are the most energy demanding services and the efficiency of their energy use per visitor and per surface area unit.
Electricity consumption represents nearly 70% of the total energy consumed by the services at Montjuïc Park. The forest surface area required to absorb the CO2-equivalent emissions produced by the life cycle of the energy consumed at Montjuïc Park represents 12.2 times the Park's surface area.
Chapter III analyzes the environmental optimization of concrete sidewalks in urban areas. Although a wide range of materials and constructive solutions are available for sidewalk paving, this study focuses on three very common concrete-based systems with different functionalities in terms of traffic, surface characteristics, and maintenance.
In terms of main findings, this study provides a comprehensive description and inventory of the sidewalk systems under study. According to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the slab system has the highest environmental impacts; this happens to be the most widely used sidewalk type in the area studied, mainly due to aesthetic concerns and the imperatives of maintaining underground urban services. Regardless of the thickness of the concrete base, the slab system has the highest impact in all categories compared with the other two sidewalk types.
Restricting the use of concrete sidewalks with high structural capacity to street sections that actually require them could reduce environmental impacts by up to 73.8% in pedestrian-only areas.
Chapters IV and V use the LCA methodology to analyze the type and origin of environmental impacts related to natural gas and district heating distribution networks.
For the natural gas network the results show that the impact per dwelling in the environmental categories studied is between 1.9 and 4.8 times higher in a low density neighborhood, depending on the impact category. Besides, in high density areas the main impact originates from components and materials related to the buildings and dwellings, whereas in low density areas the main impact originates on the neighborhood network. Given this last result, the advisability of substituting the neighborhood network by a discontinuous system based on propane tanks has been evaluated, obtaining as a result that when a single neighborhood pipe, longer than 1 km, is required to reach one user, it is environmentally preferable for all the studied environmental categories to use the propane tank system.
For the district heating network, the results show that the sources of impact are not particularly located in the main grid (less than 7.1% contribution in all impact categories), which is the focus of attention in the literature, but in the power plants and dwelling components. These two subsystems together contribute from 40% to 92% to the overall impact depending on the impact categories. Concerning the components, only a reduced number are responsible for the majority of the environmental impact.
As a very general conclusion, the Industrial Ecology approach applied to urban systems, studying the metabolism of the cities, neighborhoods, economic sectors or infrastructures, provides clarifying data about the metabolism of urban systems; identifies the environmental flaws and improvement opportunities of our urban systems and becomes the first step for guiding ecodesign processes on an infrastructural or neighborhood scale.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 74-75).
In this design-based research project, I developed two simulations to be used as student tools in a massively multiplayer online game targeted at STEM education, the Radix Endeavor. I designed both the underlying agent-based model as well as the user interface for each simulation, and furthermore designed quests for my simulations for the purposes of playtesting. My final ecological prototype is able to authentically model fairly complex food webs of six or more organisms, and my final evolutionary prototype can handle complex fitness relationships between the individual traits of a single population and various environmental factors. In my thesis, I discuss the design and implementation of these simulations, the feedback we received from students, the overall effectiveness of my prototypes, and recommendations for further work.
by Mark Zhang.
M. Eng.

Brazil is the country with the second-largest number of cataloged bee species in the world, about 2,000. Among these we have stingless bees, with around 250 different species; these live in society, produce honey, and unlike the European Apis Mellifera, do not sting. Sadly, most Brazilians only know of the existence of a single bee species, which is the invasive European bee. Native bees are not only the most important pollinators of our native flora but are also part of an intricate and fragile web of life that is currently under threat. For each bee species that go extinct, there are far-reaching consequences for the entire ecosystem it belongs to, therefore it’s imperative to protect and care for our native bees.In this project, I've worked alongside the Terra Mirim foundation. I’ve compiled information on native bees, their biology, the native history of beekeeping, societal behavior, their importance, risks, etc. I started this work in collaboration with Terra Mirim, a foundation that works on the recovery of the Atlantic Forest and has over 60 native beehives under their care, they also receive many visitors throughout the year who are looking for closer contact with nature. I believe awareness, knowledge, and proximity are important starting points for developing empathy towards other forms of life, so along with the photographs I’ve been taking, I am transforming the information I compiled into signboards to promote awareness among Terra Mirim’s visitors.

Au Burkina Faso, les biocarburants suscitent de nombreux espoirs quant au développement de l'accès à l'énergie en zone rurale et à la substitution des carburants fossiles importés. Plusieurs initiatives de production de biocarburants à partir de Jatropha ont été lancées au cours des dernières années par des ONG et des opérateurs privés. Le gouvernement envisage de définir une politique d’accompagnement pour le développement de ce secteur. Les bénéfices potentiels issus de cette activité, en terme de contribution au développement durable, doivent donc être soigneusement étudiés afin de prendre les décisions adéquates. L’objectif de ce travail est d’évaluer les opportunités de développement des biocarburants, en définissant les possibilités techniques dans le contexte et en analysant à quelles conditions et dans quelle mesure elles peuvent contribuer au développement durable. L'approche repose sur la modélisation des procédés impliqués dans la production, couplée à des outils d'évaluation environnementale et économique. L'efficacité économique est évaluée par une analyse de la valeur ajoutée produite au sein des filières, ainsi que sa distribution sous forme de revenus, aux employés, aux agents de la filière, à l'état et aux banques. Les impacts environnementaux, notamment les émissions de GES et la consommation d'énergie fossile, sont évalués à l'aide d'une analyse de cycle de vie. Trois produits finaux différents ont été envisagés : l'huile végétale brute (HVB) ou raffinée, destinée à des applications stationnaires et le biodiesel dédié aux transports. Une analyse individuelle de chaque procédé a permis d'identifier les paramètres les plus sensibles au niveau local. Pour tous les procédés, le prix de la matière première conditionne largement le coût de production. Pour la production d’HVB, le rendement en huile et la teneur en huile des graines ont une importance capitale. Les performances économiques du raffinage et de la transestérification de l’huile sont largement influencées par la capacité de transformation des procédés en raison d’économies d'échelle, et dans une moindre mesure, par la technologie et les ressources utilisées pour la fourniture énergétique. Dans le cas de la production de biodiesel, le prix du méthanol est également un facteur crucial. La méthode d'évaluation développée a été appliquée à plusieurs scénarios de production de biocarburants à partir de graines de Jatropha produites par les petits exploitants. Les résultats montrent que la méthode permet d’apporter des informations essentielles pour la prise de décisions politiques. Sur la base d'un prix de marché des graines de 100 FCFA/kg, les trois types de biocarburants envisagés peuvent être produits de manière rentable. Dans certains cas, l’utilisation de technologies avancées pour l'approvisionnement en énergie et la valorisation des sous-produits est indispensable pour atteindre un coût de production compétitif. Cela pourrait aussi être une solution pour augmenter le prix des graines afin d’assurer des revenus plus élevés aux agriculteurs. La production d'huile raffinée pour la production d’électricité est particulièrement coûteuse et nécessite une production à grande échelle pour être rentable. Les filières impliquant une usine de biodiesel approvisionnées par plusieurs huileries décentralisées constituent une solution pour contribuer à la fois à l’amélioration de l'accès à l'énergie en zone rurale et à la substitution des combustibles fossiles. Les revenus perçus par l'Etat sont directement liés à la valeur ajoutée et aux bénéfices générés par les producteurs de biocarburants. Enfin, les impacts environnementaux de la production d’huile sont relativement faibles, en termes d'émissions de GES et de consommation d'énergie fossile, en particulier si la fourniture énergétique est basée sur une ressource renouvelable. En revanche, les impacts de la production de biodiesel sont largement affectés par l'utilisation de méthanol
The development of biofuel production in Burkina Faso, raises high expectations regarding the development of rural energy access and the substitution of imported fossil fuels. Several initiatives for biofuel production from Jatropha oilseeds were launched in recent year by NGOs and private operators.The government is planning to define a policy framework to support the development of this sector. To this end, the potential benefits from this activity needs to be carefully investigated in regard to sustainable development objectives.The goal of this work was to investigate these opportunities by determining the technical possibilities regarding the context and in what conditions and to what extent they can contribute to sustainable development objectives. The approach was based on the modelling and simulation of production processes coupled with environmental and economic assessment tools. Specific experiments were also led whenever data were not available, as for the determination of the oil yield of a screw press. Economic efficiency was assessed using value chain analysis, which consists in calculating the value added generated by the different activities involved in a supply chain, and the distribution of this value in the form of income to the employees, the supply chain players, the state and the banking institutions. Environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions and fossil energy consumption, are evaluated using a partial life-cycle assessment. The production of three different final products was investigated, i.e. straight vegetable oil (SVO), refined oil aimed to be used for stationary applications (power generation, shaft power, pumping…) and biodiesel dedicated to transportation. The analysis of individual processes allowed to identify the most sensitive parameters at a local level. As a general trend for all processes, the price of feedstock dramatically affects the production cost. For SVO production, the oil recovery and the seeds oil content are of paramount importance. The economic performances of the refining and transesterification processes are largely conditioned by the processing capacity, due to economies of scale, and to a lesser extent by the solution employed for energy supply. In the case of biodiesel production, the price of methanol is also a crucial factor. The developed assessment method was applied to several prospective biofuel supply chains, all relying on the production of Jatropha seeds by smallholders. The results have shown that the method can bring crucial information to policy makers. Based on a seed market price of 100 FCFA/kg, any type of biofuel can be produced in a cost effective way. In some cases, the implementation of advanced technologies for energy supply and by-product valorisation is needed to reach the required production cost. This could also be a solution to increase the price of seeds so as to provide higher incomes to farmers. The production of refined oil for power generation appears to be rather expensive relatively to the target, which imposes large processing scales. Supply chains involving a biodiesel plant supplied by several decentralised SVO plants constitute a solution for addressing at the same time rural energy access and the substitution of fossil fuels. Then the income perceived by the State is directly determined by the value and the profits generated by biofuel producers. Eventually, the environmental impacts related to seed processing, in terms of GHG emissions and fossil energy consumption, is relatively low especially when energy requirements are supplied from a renewable resource. By contrast, the impacts of biodiesel production are systematically impaired by the use of methanol of fossil origin in the process

Wind energy, although mostly a clean and increasingly efficient energy source, is known to affect communities of flying vertebrates. Mortality by collision with turbines is one of the main impacts on birds and bats associated with wind energy. Soaring birds are particularly vulnerable due to their collision prone behaviours, low manoeuvrability, and their slow population recovery rates. The focus of this thesis is on the identification of areas that are intensively used by soaring birds in order to inform wind turbine placement and minimize collision risk. This thesis is particularly concerned with predictions of bird-use intensity that are based on flight trajectories mapped by observers from vantage points. This survey technique is standard practice during the environmental impact assessment of wind energy facilities, although its virtues and limitations are largely untested. Flight trajectories are counted, timed and mapped during these surveys. However, most assessments ignore the spatial information contained in the trajectories, and mappings are often reduced to metrics such as closest distance to a turbine or whether a particular habitat is visited. In this thesis, I use visual mappings of flight trajectories to estimate the long-term distribution of bird activity using: i) a kernel density estimator adapted to calculate the density of flight trajectories, and ii) modelling flights as being driven by a stochastic process under the influence of a potential field. Acknowledging the subjectivity introduced in the mapping of trajectories by field observers, I also study the discrepancy between mapped and true trajectories. Finally, I showcase the application of the various analytical techniques with a case study, in which I compare collision risk predictions with actual observed fatalities at a wind farm in South Africa. Kernel density estimation proved to be a good exploratory technique, and the estimator designed to estimate trajectory density outperformed other methods that ignore the temporal structure in trajectory data. Nevertheless, kernel methods are limited by its inability to predict bird activity outside areas observed from vantage points. Potential-based models allowed predictions in unobserved areas based on landscape characteristics, and showed promising results identifying areas of high collision risk. I found that the difference between true and mapped trajectories can be substantial, and it should be accounted for in any spatial analysis of vantage point observations. Although based on a single study case, the results are promising and show that the spatial distribution of collision risk predicted with the suite of methods presented in this thesis correlates well with the distribution of observed fatalities. The framework proposed to predict collision risk improves existing procedures in that it uses movement and spatial information contained in the observed trajectories. In addition, it accounts for all known sources of uncertainty throughout the modelling process.

Evaluation of Experimental Design Options in Environmental Nano-Science Research As an experimental research design plays a pivotal role in executing a research problem, it is imperative of a researcher to develop a suitable and sound research design. Utilizing robust statistical methods can further enhance the study power and thus allow drawing a logical conclusion. The same holds true for basic environmental science research, including research related to the effects of engineered nanomaterials in the environment.

Up to 75 percent of new construction between 2000 and 2030 may â be redirected inward or into more compact, mixed-use suburban developments (Nelson, 2004). If this assertion is even nearly true, and if the goals of the Clean Water Act are to be met in the next generation of American cities, then we must find feasible and effective ways of improving urban watershed health using retrofit and infill development as a primary means. The aim of this study is to evaluate the patterns and approaches of suburban infill developments in order to determine which methods and extents are deemed capable of improving the health, sustainability and natural services of urban streams and watersheds. Water is considered to be foundational to urban and suburban sustainability and is treated as a primary indicator of overall health and sustainability within the context of this study. This thesis presents three pilot studies that examine urban watershed health using a single case as a vehicle. The studies, in the order they are presented, are: 1) Form- analyzing the relationship between landuse patterns and imperviousness, 2) Planning- relating questions of development scale planning and design to natural and cultural systems at the watershed scale and 3) Valuation- illustrating three possibilities for determining the economic value of improving urban watershed health.
Master of Landscape Architecture