Renewable energy key to sustainable cities, new academic book argues

Building Sustainable Futures: Design and the Built Environment by Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology at Leeds Beckett, argues that alternative and renewable energy is essential in the sustainable development of urban infrastructures.

Published in collaboration with Ian Strange, Professor of Spatial Policy at Leeds Beckett and Head of Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management (CUDEM), and co-editor Dr Stephen Selkowitz, Senior Advisor for Building Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the book presents the research findings of practitioners and academics from across a broad spectrum of specialisations.

Professor Dastbaz said: “This book reflects the multi-faceted efforts required to successfully meet sustainability challenges.  It presents research in the context of practical implementation, enhanced by case studies from industry leaders in order to create a pragmatic reference across policy areas where environmentally-aware decision making is required.”

The second book to be published by Professor Dastbaz and Professor Strange on the subject of sustainability, Building Sustainable Futures: Design and the Built Environment clarifies the impact of emerging technologies on sustainable development, provides strategic frameworks in critical areas such as sustainable design, construction, and urban planning, and highlights ‘critical success factors’ that can make or break a project.

Professor Dastbaz’s research over recent years has been focused on the use and impact of emerging technologies in society, particularly learning, training and the development of ’eGovernment‘. Professor Dastbaz has led EU and UK based funded research projects and has been the Symposium Chair of Multimedia Systems in IEEE’s Information Visualisation (IV) conference since 2002. Author of over 50 refereed publications, Professor Dastbaz is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and the UK’s Higher Education Academy.

Professor Ian Strange’s research experience and expertise lies within the areas of urban governance and art, cultural and heritage policy. His research work includes contracts for the European Commission, UK Government departments, and cultural and arts organisations.  Professor Strange has completed extensive work on European spatial development policy through the European Spatial Planning and Observation Network (ESPON) projects.

Dr Stephen Selkowitz has 40 years of experience in the field of building energy performance, with an emphasis on research, development and deployment of energy efficient technologies and design practices. Selkowitz participates in a wide range of building industry, government, and professional activities in the US and internationally, and is author of over 170 publications and holds 2 patents.