TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Underground Engineering for Sustainable Urban Development SN - DO - 10.17226/14670 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/14670/underground-engineering-for-sustainable-urban-development PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Engineering and Technology AB - For thousands of years, the underground has provided humans refuge, useful resources, physical support for surface structures, and a place for spiritual or artistic expression. More recently, many urban services have been placed underground. Over this time, humans have rarely considered how underground space can contribute to or be engineered to maximize its contribution to the sustainability of society. As human activities begin to change the planet and population struggle to maintain satisfactory standards of living, placing new infrastructure and related facilities underground may be the most successful way to encourage or support the redirection of urban development into sustainable patterns. Well maintained, resilient, and adequately performing underground infrastructure, therefore, becomes an essential part of sustainability, but much remains to be learned about improving the sustainability of underground infrastructure itself. At the request of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Research Council (NRC) conducted a study to consider sustainable underground development in the urban environment, to identify research needed to maximize opportunities for using underground space, and to enhance understanding among the public and technical communities of the role of underground engineering in urban sustainability. Underground Engineering for Sustainable Urban Development explains the findings of researchers and practitioners with expertise in geotechnical engineering, underground design and construction, trenchless technologies, risk assessment, visualization techniques for geotechnical applications, sustainable infrastructure development, life cycle assessment, infrastructure policy and planning, and fire prevention, safety and ventilation in the underground. This report is intended to inform a future research track and will be of interest to a broad audience including those in the private and public sectors engaged in urban and facility planning and design, underground construction, and safety and security. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Dominic Brose A2 - Yasmin Romitti A2 - Ryan Anderson A2 - Alison Macalady TI - Transitioning Toward Sustainability: Advancing the Scientific Foundation: Proceedings of a Workshop SN - DO - 10.17226/23533 PY - 2016 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23533/transitioning-toward-sustainability-advancing-the-scientific-foundation-proceedings-of-a PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - In 1999 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a landmark report, Our Common Journey: A Transition toward Sustainability, which attempted to “reinvigorate the essential strategic connections between scientific research, technological development, and societies’ efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable improvements in human well-being.”1 The report emphasized the need for place-based and systems approaches to sustainability, proposed a research strategy for using scientific and technical knowledge to better inform the field, and highlighted a number of priorities for actions that could contribute to a sustainable future. The past 15 years have brought significant advances in observational and predictive capabilities for a range of natural and social systems, as well as development of other tools and approaches useful for sustainability planning. In addition, other frameworks for environmental decision making, such as those that focus on climate adaptation or resilience, have become increasingly prominent. A careful consideration of how these other approaches might intersect with sustainability is warranted, particularly in that they may affect similar resources or rely on similar underlying scientific data and models. 
 To further the discussion on these outstanding issues, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on January 14–15, 2016. Participants discussed progress in sustainability science during the last 15 years, potential opportunities for advancing the research and use of scientific knowledge to support a transition toward sustainability, and challenges specifically related to establishing indicators and observations to support sustainability research and practice. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. ER -