Physical Environment Study on Social Housing Stock in Italian Western Alps for Healthy and Sustainable Communities

Yuqing Zhang, Bin Li, Luca Caneparo, Qinglin Meng, Weihong Guo and Xiao Liu ()
Additional contact information
Yuqing Zhang: School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Bin Li: School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Luca Caneparo: Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Qinglin Meng: School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Weihong Guo: School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Xiao Liu: School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-27

Abstract: Climate change has reduced the comfort of community environments, and there is an urgent need to improve the health and well-being of low-income residents through design and technical measures. Therefore, this paper conducts research in the context of an ongoing social housing renovation project in Aosta, Italy, in a cold winter and hot summer Alpine environment. The study combined interviews, field measurements, and multiple software simulations to analyze the home of an older adult experiencing energy deprivation. The study found that the indoor acoustic environment quality meets the requirements of various sound-related standards. Still, the lighting and thermal environment must be designed to reduce glare and western sun exposure, and the air quality could improve. Residents’ demand for renovation is low technology, low cost, and high comfort. Therefore, suggestions for combining active and passive transformation measures and maximizing the use of climate and resources are proposed. The lighting and thermal environment are optimized based on the green wisdom of the Haylofts building of the Walser family in the Alps: increase ventilation and reduce indoor air age to improve air quality. Overall, a comprehensive assessment of extreme climatic conditions facilitates the quantitative and qualitative study and control of social housing environments, improves occupant comfort, and decarbonizes such social building stock.

Keywords: older adults; residential building; Alpine environment; integrated modeling and simulation; onsite measurement; building stock renovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1468/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1468/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:7:p:1468-:d:1200599

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().