Image-based prediction of residential building attributes with deep learning

Building attribute, Building form, CSBE news, Machine learning, Urban sustainability

This study estimates building attributes—floor area and age—using image-based machine learning. Building age and floor area are key inputs to the studies of urban metabolism, material stocks and flows, and embodied greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the built environment....

Embodied GHG Symposium

CSBE news

On March 13th 2024, over 200 delegates gathered at the University of Toronto to discuss embodied GHG, total GHG budgets for the architecture, engineering and construction sector and pathways to build more with less. The symposium focused on: How can Canada meet the...

Student Design Competition: Small housing for sustainability

CSBE news

Canada is simultaneously facing two disruptive 21st Century challenges 1) in light of a growing population, there is an increasing need for housing and supportive infrastructure and 2) the need to reduce consumption to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in...

Embodied GHG of missing middle

Building form, CSBE news, Urban form

Residential building form and strategies for more efficient housing In this paper, we quantify the impact of residential form on embodied emissions. Specifically, we look at the reduction potential of missing middle (low-rise multi-unit) housing, compare missing...

Future Infrastructure Growth Model

Building form, CSBE news, GHG budgeting, Optimization, Structural design, Urban form

Rising social and economic pressures to build more housing and infrastructure are in tension with the need to rapidly reduce GHG emissions from resource extraction and use. This paper presents the Future Infrastructure Growth (FIG) model: an open data, bottom-up,...

GHG Emissions in Canada’s Construction Sector

CSBE news, GHG budgeting

This paper examines the tension between needing to build more infrastructure and housing and simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. This study uses an Environmentally Extended Input-Output...