An Overview – Net Zero by 2050
When the John Lewis building closed in early 2021, a much loved part of Sheffield was lost. The council now has the opportunity to transform an empty building into something with a positive impact on the city.
The Future of the Former John Lewis Building in Sheffield
When the John Lewis building closed in early 2021, a much loved part of Sheffield was lost. The council now has the opportunity to transform an empty building into something with a positive impact on the city.
Paper: A scalable data collection, characterisation, and accounting framework for urban material stocks
Building stocks represent an extensive reservoir of secondary resources. However, common stock characterisation methods are still not suitable to adequately inform circular economic strategies.
Is your car’s navigator wiser than you? And how about your new electric car’s navigator?
If tomorrow I handed you the keys to a new electric vehicle (EV) for moving around your region, would you keep the same itinerary? The answer to this probably depends on your confidence in the vehicle, your knowledge of the area, where you are driving and with whom.
Monitoring Green Roofs to Estimate Evapotranspiration
Stormwater management is a vital process for cities and towns. [...]
Vertical Extension and the Sustainable Future of our Cities
Researchers from The University of Sheffield’s Department of Civil and Structural Engineering seek to understand the potential of vertical extension as a means of sustainable post COVID-19 recovery and beyond.
RF Spectrum – An unseen, under-valued, much-used resource…
The Urban Flows Observatory is concerned with the use of [...]
Climate: Introducing Air Quality to Architecture Students
At the start of the 2019 academic year, the Urban Flows Observatory were invited to get involved on a project with the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. Always keen to find ways to share our work with a new and eager audience, we readily accepted.
As Sheffield Danced In and Out of the Lockdown
The effects of the recent and still ongoing pandemic have been manifested in several ways across the UK. Deserted streets on a Monday morning does not only signify the sudden stop of most (if not all) activities, but is also a measure of how quickly and effectively local and national authorities managed to spread the message. Road traffic is a fine proxy for economic activity and, while for a direct look onto economic activities we may need to wait for data on monetary transactions, for the traffic, we can enjoy real time coverage. The Urban Flows Observatory, in collaboration with Sheffield City Council, tracks the traffic evolution in the city of Sheffield through a network of 600+ sensors.
Building Designers: Your building data is needed!
With the built environment contributing around 40% of the UK’ total carbon footprint, the construction industry has an undeniable key role to play in the UK’s journey towards sustainability. We need data on building projects (both newly built and retrofit) so that we can evaluate the circular economic potential of existing buildings and benchmark their circularity potential.