Geographic Information Systems for Facilitating Audits of the Urban Built Environment

Constantinos A. Balaras (), Andreas I. Theodoropoulos and Elena G. Dascalaki
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Constantinos A. Balaras: Group Energy Conservation, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD), National Observatory of Athens (NOA), P. Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
Andreas I. Theodoropoulos: Independent Researcher, 13451 Athens, Greece
Elena G. Dascalaki: Group Energy Conservation, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD), National Observatory of Athens (NOA), P. Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-26

Abstract: Data collection and large-scale urban audits are challenging and can be time consuming processes. Geographic information systems can extract and combine relevant data that can be used as input to calculation tools that provide results and quantify indicators with sufficient spatial analysis to facilitate the local decision-making process for building renovations and sustainability assessment. This work presents an open-access tool that offers an automated process that can be used to audit an urban area in order to extract relevant information about the characteristics of the built environment, analyze the building characteristics to evaluate energy performance, assess the potential for the installation of photovoltaics on available building rooftops, and quantify ground permeability. A case study is also presented to demonstrate data collection and processing for an urban city block, and the relevant results are elaborated upon. The method is easily replicable and is based on open data and non-commercial tools.

Keywords: GIS; audits; built environment; cities; sustainability; energy performance; buildings; rooftop space; ground permeability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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